Coffee Revolutionairies

Are you a tea or a coffee person?Ultimately you are one or the other. Personally I like tea, but I love coffee. Since the coffee revolution kicked off, we have had some dreadful baristas in Starbucks, Nero and Costa. However there is a new revolution, artisan coffee! Proper coffee is out there! Nearly every part of London boasts a local able to serve up a proper coffee. Here I will focus on the old and the new revolutionaries.

In London bridge and Covent Garden Monmouth reigns supreme. The founding fathers of quality whole sale and filter coffee, have certain beliefs. There is only one size, only whole cane sugar and only whole milk. No grande, sweetener, soya coffees here! These beliefs truly make an extraordinary brew though! The flavour is always there, not burnt or bitter or weak. With queues pretty much throughout the day these guys certainly know what they are doing! Don't be fooled though just because your local cafe uses Monmouth beans doesn't mean they can make coffee like Monmouth!

Secondly I would like to champion the very misunderstood new coffee shop chain Harris and Hoole. Named after two coffee drinkers in Samuel Pepy's diary H+H was set up by the Tolley siblings Nick, Andrew and Laura. They also own another set of coffee shops called Taylor St, which can be found in Mayfair, Bank, Shoreditch, Liverpool St and Canary Wharf. Mad about good coffee and believing everyone deserves a better coffee they approached Tesco to fund H+H. Now this is very important Tesco are acting like a bank and so own a 40% share but they do not run the company like some people have printed. H+H are expanding fast currently they are in London bridge, Barnet and Amersham however they will be opening in canon street in the summer and more besides. They believe there is 11 steps to make an espresso! So far I haven't had a bad coffee from Harris and Hoole and service is fab too, hopefully they will knock Starbucks off the high street!

Real Smoked Salmon

Smoked salmon is a personal favourite food. Whether in bagels, on poached eggs, canapés or in mousses I'm there! The smokiness, flavour, salt and texture all work for me. However not all smoked salmon can get this omnivore salivating. Supermarkets have mass produced this once beautiful and luxurious of cured meats. With the increase in salmon farming and food prep machines, we are loosing out on the smoking and the texture. Instead we end up with wet, greasy, tasteless odds and ends of fish.

Never fear however there is a century old family company still smoking and selling salmon the right way! H. Forman and Son est 1905, use both wild and farmed Scottish salmon and cure it in Stratford on Fish Island! Smoked salmon was introduced to us by Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century. They had ben buying their salmon from Europe until they realised Scotland had its own stock, plus it tasted better! So there you have it smoked salmon is a Jewish product using a Scottish ingredient and in England anyway, originated in east London! Formans use their "London cure" to perfect their salmon. They hand fillet every fish and hand slice every side of smoked salmon. An art that is rare to find now a days, Fortnum and Mason is the only place in London I have seen it done. The main slicer at Formans holds the world record for carving smoked salmon and it is a sight to behold:http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=bGJ6o09q0fQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbGJ6o09q0fQ&client=mv-vf-uk&safesearch=always

Forman's smoked salmon whether wild or farmed is full of flavour and has a dry unique texture not found any where else. Also because it is hand sliced there is no bitter edge found massed produced salmon. Forman's is currently sold in upmarket food halls like Fortnum's but also in good Waitrose and soon to hit some major Sainsburys stores! Go and try it compared to water injected mass produced muck.

Slammin Street Food!

Today I thought I would put you on the trail of two of my favourite street food vendors. Easter weekend there was a street food festival on south bank. As you would expect I was was there ready to fill up on the best. I've found when you go to these type of things it pays to look at all the stalls before making a definitive choice. In this case I went with two tried and tested vendors, "The Pizza Pilgrims" and "Bell and Brisket."

I started off with arguably the best salt beef in town. Bell and brisket was started up in 2010 by Bel Shapiro, she not only makes traditional salt beef, but also the pickles that add the tang and texture. There are a number of different types all with various pickles, with cheese or without, but The Lord Rupert is my personal favourite. You can also choose whether you have it on rye bread or in a bagel both delicious and traditional sandwiching material. The pimped out horse box they use to flog these exceptional sandwiches, can be found in various place around the capital. On Fridays they hang out with Kerb either at Kings Cross or at the Gherkin. While on Sundays they have a fixed position at Haringay market. Or if you want you could even hire them for your own party!














For my second course I went for pizza from the Pizza Pilgrim boys. These guys have had great success with a book out in May coinciding with the opening of a permanent residence in Soho. But what's so great about pizza!? I hear you cry. Well this isn't just any old crappy dominoes or pizza express. These guys make a great fresh pizza base, but what sets the pilgrims apart is the serious flavour they add on top! Try the "N'Duja" spicy pork! The owners Thom and James Elliot really did go on a pilgrimage to Napoli, gathering all the traditional techniques and flavours to allow their pizzas to stand out! Great ingredients and experience made in minutes out of their converted Piaggio Ape van/oven. The boys can be found most days at Berwick street market in Soho well worth a pilgrimage of your own!

Is Korean the food trend of 2013?

Is Korean food 2013's new trend? With "Kimchi cult" popping up at the Black heart and "Kimchee to go" opening up this week on the strand, are we seeing an obvious development of two of last year's trends? Korean food consists of BBQ and noodles, strong trends in 2012 and indeed this year. American BBQ and Japanese Ramen are still very popular in Soho and the wider London food scene. Kimchi the most famous korean dish is everywhere nowadays, but what is it? There are many different variations but most common is a combination of the following: shredded Napa cabbage, daikon radish, garlic, ginger, fish paste and sugar, along with a generous helping of chilli powder. This is left for a few days fermenting in a glass jar to give it that wonderful texture and flavour!

Kimchi Cult are doing there very own version of Asian fusion cooking by combining kimchi and western fast food. The simplicity of they're offerings is thus, the kimchi burger, a perfectly normal beef burger with kimchi added, equals heaven! Fries plus kimchi and cheese equals the best cheesy chips you've ever had! You get the idea this magical ingredient adds so much to a meal the texture, vinegar and heat it gives off can combine with most anything! However Kimchi cult's take on chicken wings doesn't need kimchi, but instead uses a Korean sauce called yangnyeom. Now I have no idea what yangnyeom is made up of, but what I do know is that when added to chicken wings, which are then twice fried and sprinkled with sesame seeds, it causes me too lose my shit! These wings are immense if I hadn't have filled up on burger, I would have ordered two more boxes instead of just the one!

Despite the fact they have chosen to set up shop in a rather dark, rocker bar in the back streets of Camden, Kimchi Cult are selling some gloriously simple and delicious fusion food. Be warned though during the week the Black Heart doesn't open till 3pm and you need cash to pay for the food, I was caught out on both points.

If Korean food is the food trend of 2013 I will be very happy, as they probably have a few more unpronounceable sauces and pickles to tantalise the taste buds. Lets just hope Kim Jung-un discovers call of duty soon, so he can play soldiers on line instead of over the 38th parallel.

You Damn Dirty... Burger?

So I would imagine that a large proportion of you would either have heard of, or been to Pizza East. Pizza East is owned by the Soho House group. After opening the first Pizza East below Shoreditch house they have opened up a second on Portobello Road and a third on Highgate road in Kentish town. However the third opening had two more establishments adjoined, both as good if not better than the Pizza joint. Chicken Shop and Dirty Burger have both become incredibly popular! Chicken shop in the basement usually has a queue for its rotisserie spiced chicken. While the burger shack out back serves up burgers from 7am-midnight and 1am at the weekends!

This three in one establishment opened last summer and has fast become many north Londoner's favourite burger, chicken and pizza joint. Modeled on a similar burger bar in NYC, dirty burger is a simple shack with a hatch to order. Your number is called out when your food is cooked and you serve yourself your drink from an old wooden fronted fridge.

 Dirty Burger is indeed DIRTY! Up until recently there was only one burger on the menu, a cheeseburger. The burger buns are fried in the burger grease like a proper American diner, to give them that extra beef buzz. Like meat liquor these burgers are greasy but outrageously good! How then can you make them even better? Add two thick cut slices of bacon and call it a Dirty Pig, oh yeah that'll work! Served up with crinkle cut fries and a vanilla shake and you have yourself a show stopping or should I say heart stopping meal! The Onion fries are amazing, they aren't your normal onion rings these have a good deal of batter around them making them almost onion donut bites, delish!


Now I haven't been for breakfast yet but until 11am you can have sausage and egg or bacon and egg for £3.50 with bottomless coffee. Beers on draught include Camden Pale Ale and Berra Moretti plus other ciders and alcohol makes this the perfect late night snack spot for a pub crawl as its open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

This back shed burger shack steals the show at the Kentish town Pizza East and is well worth a visit. I would suggest going for a drink at the nearby Southampton Arms (best London pub 2010) then after last orders stroll down for a dirty pig and a night cap at Dirty Burger!

Poppies the Best Fish & Chips in London!

Poppies has recently expanded from Hanbury road Spitalfields to Camden. Poppies is named after Pop Newland who grew up in east end during the 40s and 50s. He has recreated this era in his restaurants. The new Camden restaurant is made up to look like a 50s diner complete with jukebox and air siren.

Poppies prides itself on quality fish sourced from Petershead fisheries a third generation, sustainable billingsgate trader. Great fish and chips aren't the only thing Pops serves up her,e he mixes in British pies, jellied eels and craft beers as well. All sourced in London the craft beers come from meantime and the Camden brewery. While eels come from Mick's a well known east ender.

Just for the hell of it I had the Halibut! Ha! And it was darn good as were the chips, the portion sizes are pretty big, I struggled to finish which is unusual. My girlfriend had fish cakes which I sampled and were delightful light and crispy with a good deal of herbs. The mushy peas were unlike any I have had before, good texture and with a good peppery flavour. You can also order the entire menu to take away.

The desserts are also made by great British suppliers. Ruth Wakeling supplies delightful apple pies and Cartmel does the sticky toffee pudding a long term favourite of mine. Poppies is doing great things in their two restaurants serving up wonderful fish and chips in quirky 50s settings. Above all else this is a delightfully British restaurant championing quality suppliers, so definitely deserves a visit!