Leeds food fest 2013

It’s that time of year again and the build up to Leeds Food fest 2013 has already started.

 

 I’m mega excited so here’s a quick summary of some of the more interesting events coming up you may want to attend:

·        Cocktails in the City – 30^th May – £15 ticket gets you 2 free cocktails and entrance to the event full of music food and main stage demonstrations within Leeds Town hall. http://www.cocktailsinthecity.co.uk/leeds-ie8.html

·        The Pink Shed – 24^th May – 9^th June - £20 gets you an intimate dining experience in the pink box in Leeds Trinity, with set menus from some of Leeds best restaurants and bars. Looks really good value for £20. Sadly most of this is already booked up unless you want to go for lunch midweek. http://trinityleeds.com/news-events/the-pink-shed-pop-private-dining

·        Cream tea in the Park – 1^st June – West Yorkshire Play house is to be transformed in to a country park with live music and scones with jam and cream all for £4. http://www.visitleeds.co.uk/Leeds-Cream-Tea-In-The-Park/details/?dms=13&venue=1583220&feature=1079

·        Yorkshire Food and Drink Show – 7^th – 9^th of June – The grand finale in Millennium square, if last years was anything to go by it should be a really good show and it’s free!

Last years show was amazing and the weather was very kind to us, I got extremely sunburnt/drunk whilst eating twice my own weight in good food. My favourite bite from last year had to be this little offering from chino Latino. Rumour has it their stall will be back again this year.

Shit I nearly missed national Sandwich week!

So I love a sandwich, probably even more than the next guy loves sandwiches. Despite my love of scrummy sarnies I still had never heard of the BSA. Oh I’m sorry  you haven’t heard of them either? Well would you believe it they’re the British Sandwich Association!! But wait it gets better Last week was the official National Sandwich week for the UK.

God knows who is funding all of this or paying to run their website, but not only have they declared this week as national sandwich week but they’ve actually got an active group of members who get together and talk about sandwiches HA!

Here’s a few of their upcoming events in June.

JUNE 

• 12^th – BSA Annual General Meeting and Member Luncheon (London)
• Technical Group Meeting at Bel UK, Sevenoaks

The best one has to be the Technical Group Meeting. God knows what they talk about there. Anyway I fully intend to join and hopefully this time next year I’ll make it to the Member Luncheon woooop.

So to celebrate National Sandwich week I decided to make a sandwich. Over the years my sandwich taste has evolved and a lot of it depends on how I’m feeling on the day or more importantly what’s in the fridge. I used to like them packed with 10+ ingredients now I appreciate a more simple considered approach.

With this new approach in mind I have chosen 4 Ingredients to go in my Celebration sandwich, chorizo, mozzarella, rocket and piquillo dip. I’m gonna talk you through in a bit more detail about each element, seeing as it is sandwich week.

Chorizo – I only have the naff plasticky kind of chorizo because it what my mum gave me for free last time I was home, ideally I would go for the softer fresh version which needs cooking before eating in this sandwich.

Mozzarella – you don’t have to go for buffalo mozzarella in this sandwich I would hedge a bits to mild to tackle chorizo anyway, just make sure you buy the fresh balls of mozzarella not the crappy grated stuff.

Rocket - I like rocket, but any salad leaf will do preferably something which can stand up to cheese. Just not lettuce.  (I couldn’t get hold of rocket so used some watercress)

Bread – were talking crusty roll here e.g French baguette or ciabatta that kind of thing, just make sure its not to thin so you can pack loads of filling in without it all spilling out. The bread I used was shit because I couldn’t get hold of anything any better on a Sunday.  It was a loaf cut into giant chunks, to much bread to filling ratio.

Piquillo dip - I had this for the first time last weekend at my mums, it a dip made form blended piquillo peppers with garlic, lemon and herbs. There is loads of variations for this dip and if you can’t find jarred or tinned piquillo peppers just use some other pre roasted tinned red peppers and if you can’t get them roast your own J.

Piquillo Dip recipe:

Fresh Parsley – 1 large bunch

Fresh Coriander – 1 mall bunch

Fresh oregano – 2 large chopped pinches (if you can’t find any just use half the amount of thyme)

Garlic – 3 Cloves

Piquillo peppers – 3 Jarred

Extra-virgin olive oil – a good glug

Sherry vinegar – 2 tablespoons. (any vinegar will do except malt)

Lemon Juice – ½ a lemon (you may want to use less but I wanted to cut the grease of the sandwich)

Instructions to make the dip are as follows – Shove it all in a blender and season to taste.

 

Sandwich Recipe: makes 2 large ones

Chorizo – 400g

Mozzarella – 500g

Rocket- 2 handfuls

Piquillo dip – 4 big tablespoons

Baguette – sliced and cut into 2 halves.

To make the sandwich fry off the chopped chorizo in a frying pan, once cooked tear up the mozzarella and lay on top of the chorizo. Turn of the heat and leave the mozzarella to melt. Spoon some of the oil from the pan onto the bread then slather in piquillo dip. Spoon In the cheese and sausage mixture and shove a handful of rocket leaves in and season with salt and lots of black pepper.

ENJOY your belated celebration of sandwich week. See you at next year’s technical group meeting, hahaha

http://www.sandwich.org.uk/

National Sandwich week - Some thoughts on a ham sandwich

Building on from my previous post about Meat liquor and the upcoming review of the Delaunay in Aldwych, I thought I’d tell you about something very strange that happened to me on the same day I visited these venues.

It all started with a ham sandwich from Pret A Manger and I know where you think this is going but I assure you it isn’t (there’s no hidden finger nails in this cake).

Long story short I went into Pret and got a ham sandwich and I am deeply sorry to admit this but it was the most delicious thing I ate day.

I’ve been telling people to try Meat liquor for about 2 years now and I’d finally made the pilgrimage there only to find it trumped earlier in the day by a prefab ham and pickle sandwich made by a corporate monster. I should also point out that I had afternoon tea for 2 later that day at the Delaunay which came to £53 and none of the sandwiches on offer there came close to this baby.

I don’t know about you, but this bombshell has kept me awake recently. What kind of crack are they lacing the sandwiches with at Pret A Manger to make it taste better than a double cheese burger with a side of chilli cheese fries?

So let’s find out. I’ve been on the Pret website (yes I’m that sad, but I write a food blog so you knew this already) this is what they say goes in their sarnie:

• Malted Wholegrain Bread
• Wiltshire-cured Ham
• Pret Pickle
• Freshly sliced Tomatoes
• Free-range Mayonnaise
• Salad Leaves
• Pret Seasoning 

“Pret Wiltshire cured ham is hand filleted and slowly matured in a live Wiltshire cure, which gives it a deep tangy taste. The hams are then slow roasted and trimmed of fat before being sliced into this simple, delicious sandwich featuring our dark, sticky Pret pickle and our four leaf crunchy gourmet mix”

I can’t really describe what this sandwich tasted like to be honest, because it sort of crept up on me. I wasn’t expecting to be emotionally overwhelmed by this little morsel of bread and ham, so when it kissed me with its creamy mayo goodness I was for want of a better saying, caught with my pants down.

I’m not really sure where to take this post from here, I’m as baffled as you are that this sandwich was as good as I say it was. Maybe the planets aligned on that fateful morning or maybe I was just starving and a bit hung over, which worked in the sandwiches favour.

I do know one thing, if I’m ever to sleep again I’m going to have to march down to Pret A Manger in Leeds and buy of these sandwiches and take it

Meat liquor

Meat liquor.

Yep I finally went to meat liquor. It didn’t live up to my high expectations spawned from 2 years of waiting for a visit.  I’m bitterly disappointed that is was merely good and not amazing. The burger was nice the meat was tasty but it didn’t blow my mind. The chilli cheese fries had nothing on Almost Famous’s version in Manchester and to top it off about 18 months ago I told my GF this was meant to be the most amazing burger on the planet, she wasn’t that impressed I’d dragged her away from the Disney store for this vaguely average offering.

So I’m going to go cry myself to sleep. Please leave me in peace. Here are some pictures. 

 R.I.P two years of lofty anticipation.

7/10 (I was expecting 12/10)

www.meatliquor.com/

74 Welbeck St  London W1G 0BA
020 7224 4239

Angelica, Leeds trinity - Bar Review

Angelica, Leeds trinity.

The entrance to Angelica can be found on the top floor of the Trinity shopping centre or from the lift out the back off Boar lane near Holy Trinity church. It’s Bar/Restaurant situated above Crafthouse, the other offering from the D&D London.

Let me just start by saying I wanted to hate this place! I tried to come here on the opening night of the Trinity shopping centre but I was refused entry to Angelica by the doorman because I had trainers on and there was about 2 inches of snow outside! Anyway I can see where the management was coming from on the opening day keeping out the riff raff. After all Crafthouse and Angelica are D&D’s first offering  outside London and only the cream of the northern crop should expect to visit.

Second time around I came after work suited and booted and was allowed to venture inside this time. I would like to point out the dress code doesn’t seem as strict now as it did on opening night, some cheeky chops had made it in, in his trackies (I salute you sir).  

 

So no food this time I just popped in for a quick drink, the menu looks good for light bites and lunch and they have a raw seafood bar which grabbed my attention maybe next time I’ll order some sushi. We sat on the outdoor terrace which has some great views of the city, I can see it being packed out here when the weather picks up i.e. bank holiday Monday coming up. There is plenty of heating outside as well to try and compensate for the glorious British weather. We had a cognac I can’t remember which but it was about £5, a glass of white wine and a bottle of Timothy Taylor’s landlord beer. It came to around £16 with a tip for table service included, which I think is very reasonable when you take the luxurious surroundings, table service and the view into account.

 

Get your self here for a bite to eat and a drink on a sunny day, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather go in the city centre if the weathers nice?

Level 6 Trinity Leeds 70 Boar Lane,

Leeds, LS1 6HW

http://www.angelica-restaurant.com/

Da Breakfast Club, Soho.

Da Breakfast Club, Soho.

Yes I know everyone in London has already been to one of the Breakfast club’s branches, but I haven’t so I went and I’m going to tell you about it.

After queuing for half an hour from 9:15am on a Saturday morning, we finally made it in to the Soho venue of the Breakfast club. This places reputation precedes itself when it comes to breakfast in London and to be honest I don’t why? I can’t tell you any specific reason why I felt I had to go on Saturday morning, maybe they’ve just hit the nail on the head with the name? “Where shall we go for breakfast? How about the Breakfast club.” Who could say not to that?

Anyway we went so it doesn’t really matter now. The place is bright yellow and crammed full of tables with some trendy looking staff and a great soundtrack thrown in the mix. Top that off with loads of bacon and pancakes and were cooking on gas woo.

I was determined to pick something I wouldn’t normally eat this time of the morning so I went for Huevos al Benny (eggs Benedict with chorizo peppers and fresh chillies). It was bloody lovely I must say, except the yolks weren’t very runny in my poached eggs L . I’ve always been a fan of peppers and spicy food with eggs on a morning, ever since I had migas with chorizo and fried eggs one morning. Oh and after my friend’s American gf convinced me that hot sauce on a cheese omelette is amazing. The charred peppers hiding under the poached eggs were particularly good on this dish and the addition of fresh chilli really helped cut through the rich hollandaise, the chorizo was pretty good quality as well. So we’re in agreement then it was good even without a runny yolk.

The other thing we went for that morning was the classic full works pancakes, these were pretty good as well, a nice errrby sausage, eggs and loads of bacon and unlimited maple syrup yummmm. They really don’t skimp on the bacon in this place, it comes in a giant tangled ball straight out the deep fat fryer I think.

So there you go, you probably know all about this place already anyway it’s not exactly a hidden gem anymore. My advice it’s worth the queue if you get there early enough. When we were leaving at 10:30am the queue had grown to about 30 ppl, so I wouldn’t bother turning up any later than 9:30am.

P.S. check inside the drawers in the tables, I had a good 10 mins of delight leafing through the notes and poems previous customers had left in there.

8/10 (would be 9 with a runny yolk)

www.thebreakfastclubcafes.com