Remote places, busy cities and lettuce

May 22 2003

Nigel Slater’s halloumi with tomatoes with spring onion from Observer Food Monthly

This week

I visited the Cosmic House in Holland Park, London, an example of post modern architecture designed by Charles Jencks aided and abetted by Piers Gough. Find out when the next tranche of tickets are on sale sometime in early June here and be quick as the last lot sold out in half an hour. I could see them vanish as I booked. 

We strolled through Notting Hill afterwards to have lunch in the bar of the Pelican in All Saints Road, W11, with spider crab on toast, monkfish scampi, sausage roll and roasted pepper with lemon verbena.

When friends came for dinner, I made Nigel Slater’s salmon with grapes and mango chutney and Jane Lovett’s raspberry and white chocolate cake from her book Simply Delicious.

Travel

I am struck by this article in the Telegraph about over-tourism and how stretched and crowded some cities are, such as Venice and Amsterdam. By serendipity, there’s lots of information about more uncrowded areas and remote places in the papers this week.

UK

Salisbury Plain is in The Telegraph. They highlight trips to see the great bustard, with The Great Bustard Group’s and Salisbury Plain Safaris’ private two-hour tours£160.  I want to go in the summer on Imber Bus day where you catch an old London bus from Warminster to the abandoned village of Imber and then out to other parts of Wiltshire. 

Norfolk ghost villages in the Telegraph which have abandoned churches also sound inviting in these noisy, crowded times.. The article concentrates on Godwick and also mentions Babingley, Eccles on Sea, Pudding Norton and Torrington. 

There’s a great list of places to eat in Suffolk in the FT including The Greyhound Inn at Pettistree which was already on my list when I go for a weekend next month to stay at Bawdsey Hall (my husband won a competition). Also the Pinch Café at Maple Farm near Saxmundham and Acre Farm with its micro bakery.

The Daily Mail on the Yorkshire town of Knaresborough 

The Orkneys in the Sunday Times as you can now fly from Heathrow to Kirkwall with LoganAir which ironically will mean more tourists,

Europe

The best restaurants in Europe in the Guardian as well as readers’ choices and advice from Felicity Cloake to focus on the food on holiday.  Scroll through the articles to see if there’s anything featured where you are going. I’ve found Chez Mattin in Ciboure for Basque cuisine for my summer holiday. There’s also a gastronomic tour round Northern France in the Independent which could provide more inspiration .

The Standard has under the radar islands in Greece and walking in the mountains of Albania in the Guardian.

How to plan the perfect pintxos crawl in Bilbao in the Independent and recommendations on hotels and restaurants in Barcelona which was mentioned as one of the overcrowded places in the Telegraph article above.

Restaurants 

In the FT, Tim Hayward visited Rambutan in London SE1, thought the food was very good but to avoid getting too many small plates and ‘to focus in. That way you’ll have a great meal.’ 

In the Guardian, Grace Dent went to New Malden in Surrey, to a Korean restaurant, Cah-Chi and thought it an ‘umami-drenched patch of extreme deliciousness’.

In the Observer, Jay Rayner went to Everest Curry King in Lewisham, London SE13  and said ‘it’s a simple place, but oh so good’

In the Standard, Jimi Faruewa sampled the Midland Grand Dining Room at Kings Cross in London with chef Patrick Powell who previously worked at Allegra and was impressed by its ‘unabashed grandness’. He said blowouts still exist and this is a better place to have one than most. They have bar food as well but using my ‘burgerometer’ - designed to work out how expensive a restaurant is - a cheeseburger au poivre is £21 with £7 for chips. It had better be good.

In the Telegraph, William Sitwell was in Devon at the Harbour Beach Club in Salcombe and reported that ‘the menu is a happy, crowd-pleasing mix of surf and turf so from the shellfish, seafood, burgers, other main courses and starters you can build a classic pub dinner or posher restaurant meal to suit all the family.’

In the Times, Giles Coren went to the Parakeet, a renovated pub in London NW5, website here, with chefs Ben Allen and Ed Jennings, who previously worked in the kitchen of Tomos Parry at Brat. 

Recipes

Summer is coming with Mark Hix in the Telegraph with three easy ways to cook asparagus with Jersey Royals, asparagus and bacon salad, an easy asparagus tart recipe and an asparagus hollandaise fondue recipe. There’s also Ravneet Gill’s recipe for strawberry and custard tart, Rachel Roddy’s oat and raisin biscuits, Ottolenghi on lettuce in the Guardian with recipes for green salad with grated carrot and pistachio, grilled lettuce with orange, almond and feta and mapo tofu gem lettuce with pickled cucumber in the Guardian.

Nigel Slater’s early summer recipes in Observer Food Monthly including tomato and bulgur wheat salad with a date syrup and chilli paste dressing, grilled halloumi with tomato and spring onion and crumbed mozzarella with rocket among others. ( link to be added when it comes online.) And five food writers’ comfort food for a midweek meal including Honey and Co onion rice, and Tarunima Singh’s crumpet and uttapam love butter as well as aa solo meal, Georgia Levy’s lemon, Parmesan and rocket pasta.

Diana Henry is also planning on eating solo in the Telegraph with recipes for chicken schnitzel with Caesar mayo, plaice with butter and parsley sauce and spiced lamb chops with green beans, peas and cauliflower

Tandoori-spiced fried chicken by Ravinder Bhogal recipe which she says is a recipe so crowd-pleasing, she daren’t put it on the menu of her restaurant, Jikoni.

Eleanor Steafel with sliced sirloin with persillade salt and garlic crème fraîche in the Telegraph

Books 

Simply Raymond: Recipes from Home by Raymond Blanc, 

I could have sworn I’ve seen these before but the extract in the Times includes recipes for our family favourites: baked Camembert, celeriac remoulade and moules marinière.

Et Voila! by Manon Lagrève

Easy French dessert recipes from an ex-Bake Off contestant, Recipes for Maman’s rice pudding, Far Breton and crêpes. I wonder about the over publishing of cookbooks.

Yiayia by Anastasia Miari

In the Times, the author travelled round Greece with an interview here and recipes here on how to make dishes like a Greek Granny including milopitakia (mini apple pies) from Karpathos, makarounes (homemade pasta) from Karpathos and Mediterranean roasted vegetables from Corfu.

Mark Hix’s asparagus with Jersey potatoes and pancetta