Food For Friends – Revisit – Tuesday 6th October 2015

The lovely people at Food For Friends invited me back to try the new menu and see the freshly revamped restaurant, so I popped along with my trusty foodie sidekick, Jen, to check it out. I hadn’t realised that it was two whole years ago that I last went there for dinner (see my review here), and it was a bit of a ‘game of two halves’. I returned earlier this year to try the afternoon tea – results of that visit can be found here.

It’s obvious that the place has had a lick of paint all round; the stark white has gone and has been replaced with lots of muted greys. There’s new artwork on the walls, new furniture and the bar top is now shiny white marble. Apparently there’s been a lot of money spent behind the scenes too with a new kitchen layout and up-to-date kitchen equipment and the loos have got new sinks and have been re-tiled.

(These first three photos were supplied by FFF. I’m just going to insert the usual obligatory apology for the other photos here; they’re a bit yellowy – I came up against the bloggers’ nemesis once more – low lighting).

There’s an area to the left of the entrance with a table – a booth, if you will – that seats about 8-10 and is walled on three sides so it’s kinda private. Ish. Great for a dinner with mates.

And for all you cooks and chefs out there, a spot of kitchen porn…mmm, shiny.

Anyhoo, to the food…we were given menus and offered water while we decided which wine to have.

There was a fantastic range of starters and it was difficult to choose, so after asking a few questions, we settled on a sharing platter. This is what was on it *takes deep breath*

Scotch egg with chickpea and grated carrots with sweet chilli mayonnaise; feta, avocado and quinoa salad with sweet potato crisps, semi-dried tomatoes, mangetout, baby leaves, roasted nuts and seeds in a honey, lemon and chilli dressing ; warm goat’s cheese, garden peas and basil arancini with a tomato relish; fig, basil and smoked ricotta salad with pickled ginger crisps and toasted pine nuts in an agave mustard dressing.

We hoovered this up and both agreed that we’d be more than happy with one of these each for our main course – delicious! Especially the scotch egg and the arancini, which were both light and crisp. The selection of salads was great too, a great mix of sweet, bitter, salty and crunchy. A great start.

We took our time choosing the main courses. We both preferred the look of the salads, but wanted to try a range of food, so I chose the open ravioli of roasted butternut squash, beetroot, walnuts and wilted spinach with a white wine and Brighton blue cheese sauce, and Jen went for piquillo peppers stuffed with crispy saffron battered herby rice balls with pine nuts, wasabi pea purée and salsa verde.

Underneath that top layer of pasta were huge slabs of butternut squash and beetroot, just cooked – I would have preferred them to be a little more cooked, but they weren’t under by any means. Just a personal preference. The blue cheese sauce was delicious; not too overpowering and plenty of it.

The pasta was tasty with just the right amount of bite. I’m not sure about the whole concept of open ravioli though – this would have worked better for me if the veg had been cut smaller and mixed through the sauce along with the pasta. It all felt a bit separate, so everything just tasted of itself and didn’t gain any flavours from the things around it. Picky? Moi?

Jen’s dish was quite hefty and she found it too heavy overall, especially with the prospect of a dessert still to come. The rice balls were battered and fried which wasn’t actually mentioned on the menu. She tried the crispy coating, but found that it didn’t have much flavour and was just too heavy. Interestingly, the description differs on the online menu and not just for this dish – something that I think should be addressed. I believe that you shouldn’t have to ask too many questions when you choose your dishes, the menu should provide everything you need to know – I’m fine with asking tons of questions, as I like to know EXACTLY what I’m getting, but I still get some nasty surprises occasionally. Jen enjoyed it overall, but left the outer battered bits of the rice balls.

And so to the important business of dessert. Ordinarily, I’d forego this as, by this stage, I usually have no room for a third course, But today, I was taking one for the team (that’s YOU – don’t say I never do anything for you). We chatted with the waitress about options and it was at this point that young Jennifer started to get quite excited. She’s dairy intolerant and is all too used to skipping dessert as everything comes with ice cream, cream or custard. Not today! There were dairy-free options all over the shop! She chose a classic sticky toffee pudding with (vegan) ice cream.

Before I talk about my dessert I’d just like to say that I tried Jen’s pud and OH MY FRICKIN’ GOD it was so bloody good! I’m already planning when I can go back so I can have one of these all to myself. Seriously, save room for this bad boy, it’s nothing less than awesomeness in a bowl. Jen was chuffed too…although I probably nicked more than I should. (Sorry Jen xx)

So I opted for a crème brûlèe – not usually my thing, but I thought there was a chance I might be able to finish it as they’re fairly light. I was told that I could have the vegan option made with coconut milk, so I opted for that, so that Jen could try it too. It came with a coconut sesame biscuit and a blood orange sorbet.

It was horrible. No other word for it. The waitress had said that it would be an unusual texture, but that was fine. It was the flavour – yuk. It had an overwhelming after-taste of soap. I had two spoonfuls to be sure. Double yuk. On the plus side, the biscuit was good and the sorbet was really good.

The waitress was very kind and brought me another dessert (I had a feeling my reaction may have been a common one). She recommended the coconut and black sesame ‘arancini’ which were like the inside of a Bounty bar wrapped in a doughnut. Very sweet but really delicious. They came with a trio of mango, including a sorbet which again, was excellent. Jen was really keen on that too, especially being dairy free. We also sampled the vegan chocolate truffles. These were also excellent. (Remember I said how full I was? I sneaked one of these and a coconut arancini into a convenient plastic box I had in my bag and I ate them the next day – heh).

In summary, we had a lovely meal. We were both more taken with the starters and desserts than the main courses, but all were good and we agreed that the overall experience was better than a certain local supposedly high-end vegetarian restaurant which seems to win all the accolades *taps finger on side of nose and winks*

The food doesn’t have me in states of ecstasy and I still think there could be more variety on the menu, especially where the main courses are concerned, but they really excel when it comes to gluten free, dairy free and vegan options. I’d avoid the crème brûlèe though…

Service: Service here is always excellent and always with a smile. The staff are well informed about the food and the options and will bend over backwards to ensure you have a good experience.

Decor: The new refurb has made a big difference. It may not look completely different, but the subtle changes have breathed new life into a place that was starting to look tired round the edges.

Toilets: Very impressed with the loos! Everything worked, nothing weird, decent hand dryer, plenty of loo roll – and CLEAN

Prices: Starters and desserts average around £6.50 and main courses around £12.50. The starter sharing platter for two is £18.

Grrs: Nothing that really gets my back up here…although I always come away slightly frustrated that they could do more. They obviously have some very talented chefs, but I don’t think the menu really shows their full potential. Oh and….the website says that they’re based in the South Lanes. As we all know…there’s no such place as the South Lanes. It’s in The Lanes *sigh*

AOB: Food For Friends have a brand new kids menu which you can see here and they are now taking bookings for Christmas; you can drool over the menu here. As well as a good selection of wines, they also serve a range of cocktails, including alcohol free. Recent accolades include a position in the Good Food Guide 2015 and runner-up as Best Ethical Restaurant in the UK in the Observer Food Monthly Awards. I also note from today’s Twitter feed that they’re now selling gift cards – nice idea huh?

I was invited to review Food For Friends and I didn’t pay for the meal myself. 8/10

Food for Friends, 17-18 Prince Albert Street, The Lanes, Brighton BN1 1HF Tel: 01273 202310 Open: Mon-Thurs: 12noon-10pm, Fri-Sat: 12noon-10.30pm, Sun: 12noon-10pm (serving roasts from noon), Afternoon tea served daily 12noon-5pm. You can book a table online, by calling the above number or by emailing manager@foodforfriends.com

 

 

 

 

Food For Friends – Thursday 16th April 2015

My last visit to Food For Friends was pretty disappointing to say the least; brown food on brown plates that left me with my bottom lip sticking out. But that was eighteen months ago and this was an entirely different kind of grub – afternoon tea. GET IN.

I went along with my best girlfriend for a spot of tea, cake and chat and we were given the prime people-watching table in the sunny, curved window. This actually turned out to be less lucky-lucky than we first thought, but I’ll get to that. The place itself has always felt a bit stark to me. It’s a difficult place to give a cosy feel to as the windows are huge and it can make the room feel cold when it’s not. I think it could use some real statement lighting and a few more pictures or ornaments on the walls. The chairs are looking a little tired too. Great food photography though.

We were given menus and asked to choose what type of tea we’d like and in the meantime, we were given a glass of Prosecco with rose and hibiscus flower which was sooooo good and a really lovely start.

I opted for lemon and ginger tea and my buddy went for silver tips white. Our teas weren’t poured, but were given to us ready to go with heavy Japanese teapots full of hot water so we could pour when we’d finished our bubbles. We were given a little biscuit with the tea, which seemed a bit unnecessary with the impending cake-fest!

Then the serious business of afternoon tea began. A three tiered display of luscious looking goodies – time to dive in. I was HUNGRY!

We tucked into the bottom layer which consisted of three ‘sausage’ rolls, filled with an intense mushroom mix, and a triangle of filo pastry stuffed with spinach and feta. We demolished these pretty quickly – they were crispy and flaky and delicious, though my buddy found the mushroom rolls a tad too strong for her tastes. They had a bit of a spicy kick to them and they came with a little pot of sweet chilli dipping sauce too. I tend to enjoy strong flavours, so I liked the concentrated taste.

I would have preferred either two slightly larger rolls or four small ones; it seems strange to serve up odd numbers when it’s meant to feed two people. Same with the filo parcel; two small ones instead of one big one that we had to split would have been better.

The next layer was the traditional scones with cream and strawberry jam – light fluffy scones liberally covered in icing sugar (I’m always suspicious of this – I’ve seen too many disasters on TV where the cooks have tried to hide burnt tops with this method) and perhaps a bit more jam would have been nice. They weren’t burnt though. NEXT!

The top and most interesting looking layer of the cake stand was heaving with sweet stuff which looked like it would be a major challenge after scoffing the first two layers. This was not for the faint hearted. *deep breath*

(The photo below may look arty but was meant to be of the whole plate but I screwed it up. What ya gonna do.)

So by this time (about 3pm) the sun was positively blazing through the windows and had melted the shard of chocolate that had initially stood proud on the top. (At this point I really should have asked if we could move tables as I was BAKING, but I was distracted by cake.) We divided up the sticky toffee cake – nothing much to say here except it was delish. Enough with the icing sugar though.

The berry crumble came in the tiniest pot in the world and was now also covered in melted chocolate. It was OK, but difficult to really appreciate because it was so teeny for two people; there was probably a heaped teaspoon each *disappointy face*

In contrast, there were two large pieces of passion fruit frangipani. Now frangipani and basically anything involving almonds is amongst my favourite things when it comes to puds, but this was a bit tame really. I couldn’t taste the passion fruit at all, it wasn’t very almondy and it was all a bit flaccid. We left the second piece, it was a bit too much.

The hazelnut and apple cake was really good though; denser than cake, more like one of those lovely slices you get in coffee shops, piled high on plates by the till to tempt you in while you’re paying for your frappamochalatte. It was good, apart from the weird coffee and almond cream that came with it. Both me and my buddy tried this (we weren’t sure how to eat it so we dunked the cake in the little pot of sauce). We pulled faces at each other. Don’t like it. Tried it again to be sure. Definitely don’t like it. It was like a cold cup of coffee – yuk. That was the only bit that I really disliked. The rest of it was great.

I think overall, the balance of sweet and savoury was a bit off. The last tier was generous, but the savoury tier fell a bit short. Maybe an option to have sweet or savoury scones would be nice? I would have preferred a good cheese scone…mmm, cheese scone….so that it wasn’t so heavy on the sugary stuff.

Or perhaps just make smaller versions of the top tier offerings (two of each please). Anyhoo, just a thought.

Overall, it compared well to other afternoon teas I’ve had. It was nice to have the pastries instead of bread and the large choice of teas is a nice touch. Service was excellent (and we were offered a table out of the sun to finish our teas).

We were lucky enough to be invited to Food For Friends to sample their Fancy Friends Afternoon Tea (awesome name). They offer various options. This one costs £25 without the glass of bubbles and £32 with. It’s good value, but come hungry. They have a smaller cheaper option called the Perfectly Simple Afternoon Tea for only £6.95 which sounds like a bargain to me. See their website for full details and beware of that sunny window seat from about 3pm!

Food for Friends, 17-18 Prince Albert Street, The Lanes, Brighton BN1 1HF Tel: 01273 202310 Open: Sun-Thurs: 12noon-10pm, Fri-Sat: 12noon-10.30pm, Sun: 12noon-10pm (serving roasts from noon), Afternoon tea served daily 12noon-5pm

The Creperie – Friday 22nd August 2014

As Mr BMB and myself have a few days off work *air punch* we decided we’d do some proper tourist stuff and head down to the Brighton Wheel to see what stuff looks like from way up in the air. AMAZING! You have to do this if you haven’t already.

First we thought we’d have a light lunch so we headed to the The Creperie, somewhere we’ve been meaning to try since the good feedback started to filter through the social media channels. Twitbuzz, if you will. I love a made up word.

First impressions were good; the tables were full of happy eaters, the lady behind the counter was smiley and friendly and the decor had a bright, clean feel to it – tick, tick, tick.

We were directed to the downstairs seating area and told that we’d need to order at the counter when we were ready. It has the same bright airiness as the ground floor, even though there’s no natural light. The area that connects through to the main room has the obligatory bare brick wall on the right, with some well designed, brightly coloured prints showcasing some of the pancake fillings, but the thing that really detracted from those was the handwritten chalkboard sign.

Here’s a tip: if you’re going to get someone to write your special offers, events, etc on of these boards, get someone who has good, clear handwriting and more importantly, someone WHO CAN SPELL.

*twitch*

The main seating area was suffering a bit from ‘waiting-room-itis’, with huge expanses of bare white wall, (which isn’t always a bad thing – I’ve seen some very odd pictures in restaurants), but it did have some fabulous industrial style angle-poise lighting.

It could really use some of the touches that have been applied upstairs though, where there are kitchen implements hung on peg boards; it would definitely help to make the room feel a little more cosy, especially when you’re the only people in the room as we were. It just felt a bit stark. Love the wallpaper and the low tables in the area under the stairs though, the space has been used really well.

OK, I can hear you telling me to stop wittering and get to the important matter of the food. They have a good range of options, both sweet and savoury, including galettes which are made with buckwheat flour and are therefore gluten free, lots of vegetarian options and a kids meal deal.

I ordered a mushroom medley galette – wild mushrooms, crème fraiche, white wine, dill and spinach leaves – and a glass of house red (shut up, I’m on holiday) and Mr BMB chose the crepe de maison – traditional French tartiflette with potato, bacon, onion, reblochon cheese and cream. They arrived quickly and were both served with a small pot of coleslaw and a salad.

Mushroom Medley Galette

Crepe de Maison

(Yes, I know, you can’t see the filling – we ate them pretty fast and I realised too late – sorry)

The galettes were just as they should be – wafer thin, light and lacy. My filling was tasty though I’d have preferred a little more of it….Mr BMB’s was good, but cold in the middle. Also, I got a little surprise in my coleslaw, you can just make it out in the photo; a little paper sticker that had found it’s way from a box of veg or something similar. I didn’t eat it fortunately, I just found it on my plate after I tipped out my coleslaw. It happens, I’m over it. If it had been a hair or a human finger I might have made of an issue of it. The salad had a really tasty dressing on it and the coleslaw was fresh and clearly home-made and wasn’t drowned in mayo. All good. Mr BMB wasn’t too fond of the glass he was given for his beer though. It made him frown.

On the way out, we treated ourselves to a scoop of gelato supplied to The Creperie by local ice-cream heroes Gelato Gusto – I had pistachio and Mr BMB went for his usual salted caramel. MMmmmmmmm.

Service: Fast and friendly and we were told to order at the counter so we weren’t left hanging around waiting for service.

Decor: The counter area, seating and decor has obviously been well thought out, as has the branding. The clean colours, bleached wood and simple,modern graphics are well suited to the seaside location. The paper napkins and crockery had the logo emblazoned proudly on them, it was unfortunate that I was reminded of the Tesco value logo though – just me?

Toilets: Wow – niiiice toilets. A proper loo roll with a holder, a full length mirror, lighting that doesn’t make you look like an extra from Shaun of the Dead and a clean, functional, flushing loo. See? It can be done.

Prices: You can grab a traditional sugar and lemon crepe or even a waffle on a stick to take out, both at £2.95.  My mushroom galette was £5.95 (take out price £4.95) and Mr BMBs crepe de maison was £6.95 (take out price £5.95). A scoop of gelato is £2.50. The kids meal deal for under 10s is £6.95 and for that you get a crepe, wrap or waffle with up to two toppings, a scopp of gelato and unlimited drink refills. There’s a great dinner deal for £6.50 too which gets you a savoury galette and a glass of wine. See the full menu on their (beautiful) website for details.

Grrs: More filling (and less paper stickers) for me please! Hotter filling and a proper beer glass for Mr BMB please! And PLEASE sort out your chalkboard – I’m twitching again just thing about it.

Overall, a perfectly located place to pop in and grab a quick bite that won’t break the bank. Kids will love this place just as much as the grown-ups. It has a seasoned chef in Karen Samuel who was at Food for Friends for 25 years, she clearly knows what she’s doing and is going to do extremely well here. I’ll be returning soon to have a sweet crepe and a Small Batch coffee. 7/10

Do visit the website as the photos are much better than mine! I neglected to take photos of the upstairs as I didn’t want to attract attention or disturb the other diners. I’ll re-visit and take some pics and will post them ASAP.

The Creperie, 2 Ship Street, Brighton BN1 1AD Tel: 01273 323830 Email: info@thecreperiebrighton.com

 

 

 

 

The Cyclist Refreshment Room, Brighton Train Station – Sunday 6th July 2014

It’s so nice to try somewhere a little different, don’t you think? The Cyclist is a refreshing alternative (pun intended) to the kind of unwelcoming boozer you used to get in railway stations, although it’s taken an even bigger step further back to the refreshment rooms of the late 1800s, when it was a comfortable place for both men and women, yes women, to grab a drink and a bite to eat before boarding their trains. It’s still difficult to imagine that you’d go to the railway station specifically to eat and drink, but I really recommend that you change that way of thinking. That’s exactly what these guys want to do.

Firstly, you can’t help but be bowled over by the décor – everywhere you look there’s something unusual and interesting that catches the eye; the bar constructed from old suitcases, a nod to one of the premises’ previous incarnations as a lost luggage office;

the steam engine proudly displayed in a glass case and utilized as a stand-up bar;

the lights sourced from European railway stations and the collection of vintage and upcycled furniture sitting alongside brightly striped upholstery and colourful prints.

I could spend an age wittering on about the interior design of this place, the attention to detail is stunning, a real credit to the founders of Greenwell & Tipple, Rupert & Jo Clevely. I took a few photos but you should really go see for yourself, it’s a treat for the eyes!

The manager, Ed, didn’t know we were there to review, but greeted us warmly, asking us if we were local or just visiting. He also gave us a potted history of the business and the premises and told us that the food was locally sourced and that they were a freehouse, meaning they could stock whatever beers they liked. He was genuinely pleased to talk to us and a really lovely fella to boot. The service was fast and friendly throughout – first class (another pun – geddit?)

And so to the food. We were HUNGRY and both quickly decided on burgers.

I chose a special, the Devilled Burger; a beef patty (I’m told it’s 80% prime beef and 20% fat) sourced from a butcher in Handcross, accompanied by jalapenos, wafer thin chorizo, manchego cheese, red onion, the chef’s secret recipe spiced tomato sauce and little gem lettuce on a brioche bun. I can’t express enough how pleased I was not to have soggy iceberg lettuce on my burger. JOY!

I can hand-on-heart say that this burger just made it to the No.1 spot in my favourite burger chart. It wasn’t just the flavour and succulence of the meat, it was the balance of flavours in the whole thing. Perfect. This cost £10 and fries were an extra £1. Yes that’s right, they DON’T charge you an extra £3 for chips with your burger. (Though you can order them on their own or as a side with other main dishes for £2.50).

My companion opted for the Cyclist Beef Burger which comes with the same spiced tomato relish, lettuce, red onion and gherkin, with cheese as an optional extra. The burger on its own is £7, with cheese £7.50 and with chips £8.

Neither of us could fault the food, it was easily as good, if not better than any other local burger establishments’ offerings – controversial? Try it yourself. The ingredients have clearly been carefully chosen and lovingly cooked, the chef takes pride in his work, and it’s not over-priced. I can even forgive the little enamel cup that the chips came in. Just another one of those trends that I’m not fond of…

To be clear, The Cyclist doesn’t just offer burgers; it has a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu with daily specials too. Examples include the all-important fry up at £8, Sticky Pork Shoulder and Wasabi Peas at £6 and Mussels with Fennel and Cider at £6.50.

We mustn’t forget the drinks here – there’s a huge range of beers, ciders and wines and they do great coffees from Small Batch and cakey treats and puds too. The outside seating area has also been given the care and attention of the inside and the station is so bright and airy it does feel like you’re in the open air and it’s PERFECT for people watching.

After experiencing the calm and comfort of the venue, the friendly service and outstanding food, I’ll definitely be back soon for dinner and will make a point of arriving early for my train at EVERY opportunity. 9/10

This review was originally written for the We Love Brighton website and can be viewed here

Website: http://www.thecyclistbrighton.co.uk/

Opening times – Mon-Fri 8am-1030pm Sat-Sun 10am-10pm

Twitter: @cyclistbrighton

Treacle & Co – Saturday 26th April 2014

Treacle & Co don’t really give much away about themselves on their website. They don’t have a Twitter account and their Facebook page just gives their location and contact details. Personally, I find this odd. I know that social media isn’t for everyone, but when you see new businesses regularly going bust within a year, you’d think you would want to raise your profile as high as you can. Apparently, not so for Treacle & Co.

The (good) word has spread despite this defiant refusal to big themselves up; they’re constantly full to bursting with customers, both bums-on-seats and takeaway, so it’s obvious they’re doing something very right.

So today, we’re here to sample their cream tea. It’s very traditional with two fruit scones, clotted cream and raspberry jam (not strawberry – controversial?)

The scones aren’t huge, but that suits me fine. If I scoffed two massive scones at 4pm, I’d be stuffed for the whole evening.

I shouldn’t have worried though. They were beautiful and light, with a good amount of fruit. Obviously, they were made even more delicious with a big blob of clotted cream and a spoonful of jam on top.

Mmmmm, look….at….THAT. *wipes dribble from chin*

The cream tea also includes a pot of tea, as you would hope.

They use traditional old fashioned mismatched china plates and the tea is in proper china teacups – no mugs here.

They have a wonderful counter positively HEAVING with cake (which I forgot to take a photo of because I was too busy oggling the massive selection – duh. There are a fair few photos on Trip Advisor though).

They have a really good range of gluten free cakes too, for example, orange and almond cake with chocolate mousse and ganache.

We decided to take a couple of the salted caramel chocolate tarts home with us for a Sunday afternoon treat. They were recommended by @sidewinderbtn so a MASSIVE thanks to them. We inhaled them with some fresh coffee and I can honestly say, this was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever put in my mouth. This is a very dangerous thing as I go past here four days a week on the bus. I’m just going to have to try and make sure that they’re shut when I go by or I’m going to get VERY fat VERY fast indeed. The pastry was crumbly and thin, the chocolate was rich but soft and the salted caramel centre oozed gorgeousness and had just the right hint of salt. PERFECTION.

The cakes aren’t cheap here by any means. The tarts are £2.75 each which is pretty steep, despite being so luscious and the cream tea is £4.50 for one person. Saying that, the portions are mostly very generous and as I said, quality is high

There are some quirky little touches in the decor like animal nightlights on the tables, birds on the wallpaper and kitsch sugar bowls….

They also have a limited selection of breakfast and lunch options along with a good variety of teas and Monmouth coffee (also served at Mr Wolfe, so I know this is really good). They don’t list their teas and coffees on the site. If you’re looking for a celebration cake for a birthday, anniversary or even a wedding, they bake to order and there are a selection of photos on the site.

It’s not entirely without its faults though. Space is very tight. I had to wait a minute or two to sit down as one of the staff was taking an order from the table next to us, so I couldn’t pull the chair out and I was left standing in the aisle while he finished. This would have been fine, had he acknowledged me, but no dice and when I got to sit down, my chair felt more than a little wobbly. I’m so paranoid about wobbly chairs ever since one collapsed under me when I was eating in the now defunct Sanctuary Café. I was lucky that I didn’t have my legs tucked underneath me or it could have been properly nasty. They dealt with it really badly too!

While we’re looking at the negative points, I adore old, flowery crockery, but some of these are starting to get a tad on the scruffy side, with noticeable chips on a saucer and the teapot.

On doing a quick trawl of the net for more info, I had a quick look at the reviews on Trip Advisor which makes for some interesting reading. It would seem that no-one can really complain about the food, it gets top marks all round, but the service seems to be a little hit and miss. On my first visit, I found the staff a little aloof. Today, the service was basic, not unfriendly, but they don’t exactly engage with people. There’s no warm friendly welcome or a ‘Thanks – please come again”, just generally the bare minimum “What can I get you?”

I also read a few accounts of people being rushed so that others could come in to take the table.

It’s a shame because it would be nigh on perfect if they could work a bit more of that quirkiness and personality that the decor hints at.

I’ll definitely go back, despite the faults, though if I was to experience the terrible service that some of the reviewers talk about on Trip Advisor, that would be it for me. I’m a stickler for the full experience and no matter how good the food, if the staff are rude, I ain’t never goin’ back, nuh-uh.

Until that day comes, I say go get some of this wonderful cakey action. It really is too good to miss. 8/10

Treacle & Co, 164 Church Road, Hove BN3 2DL Tel: 01273 933695 Open: Mon-Fri 8.30am – 5.30pm, Sat 9am – 5.30pm, Sun 12pm – 5pm (for tea, coffee and cake only)

 

Recipe: Hazelnut & Chocolate Cupcakes

I was lucky enough to get Amazon gift vouchers for Christmas this year, so as well as some lovely new boots, some earrings and a pair of Converse (lordy, I adore Chucks), I got the best-selling recipe book by Tarek Malouf, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. The book has a huge reputation as one of the best; you only have to read the reviews. With this in mind, I was hopeful that they would all be tried and tested recipes, baked in a home kitchen with domestic ovens, so that the little person (me) can get good results. I followed this as much to the letter as I possibly could, so….we’ll see shall we?

(The choice of cover endorsement from Gwyneth Paltrow is a little odd I feel).

It was Mr BMB’s birthday at the weekend, so I promised I’d bake him whatever he wanted from the book. He usually goes for chocolate cake, so no surprises here then; hazelnut and chocolate cupcakes are go.

Ingredients for 12 cakes:

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g butter

120 ml whole milk

1 egg

120g hazelnut & chocolate spread

hazelnuts to decorate

Here’s what the book says are the ingredients for the frosting, but as you’ll see when I get to this bit, I found there was wa-a-a-ay too much. But I guess it depends on your preference for cake to icing ratio:

250g icing sugar, sifted

80g unsalted butter

25 ml whole milk

80g hazelnut & chocolate spread

First things first: Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F), Gas mark 3. Measure out all your ingredients before you start, it makes things sooo much easier than measuring as you go. Sounds obvious I know, but if you’re a tad impatient with cooking & baking (like me), you’ll fall into this trap and it’s a messy, frustrating trap, let me tell ya.

Prepare a 12-hole bun tray with cake cases. I used the standard little white cake cases and these held just the right amount of batter.

I’d also recommend that your butter is left in a warm-ish place to get REALLY soft. Mine was left at room temperature as per the recipe instructions, but as it’s currently witch’s tit-like in my kitchen, I needed to soften it first. I’d recommend Mary Berry’s clever tip which has changed my baking life:. I saw it on the Great British Bake Off Masterclass and it is hands-down one of the best baking tips EVER. Linky-link HERE.

All praise our Queen Mary, for she is AWESOME.

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter into a bowl (or your electric mixer). I really like my little electric hand-mixer, even though we have a fancy-shmancy Kenwood mixer.

The one disadvantage of this method of mixing is that my hand-mixer doesn’t have a particularly slow speed, so when you start it sends clouds of icing sugar and cocoa powder all over the shop. For this reason, I’d say, start the process by hand with a wooden spoon, just until most of the powdery element has merged with the sugar. Or you can try draping a tea-towel over the bowl for the first 30 secs or so. The book doesn’t tell you this, so I looked like I’d been antiqued a-la-Jackass. You live and learn. Continue mixing until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Then slowly add the milk while still mixing and once that’s all combined, add the egg and beat well until you get a sloppy batter that makes ribbons on the surface that disappear after a few seconds. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of your bowl so you don’t get any rogue crunchy sugary bits in your mix *shudder*

Spoon the mixture into your cases up to about two thirds full and bake in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes, then check them to see if they bounce when touched lightly. If it leaves a dent, put them back in for another 3-5 minutes. Once you’re happy that they’re done, take them out and leave them to cool in the tray for 10 mins then turn them out onto a rack to completely cool down.

Once they’re cool, scoop out a small circular hollow in the centre of each cake with a sharp knife.

Eat all of the little scooped out hats before the OH knows about it – cook’s privelege :o)

Fill each little hollow with a teaspoon of the chocolate spread. Try and resist the temptation to eat a spoonful of spread straight from the jar in a ‘one for the cake, one for me’ style. This results in you feeling quite sick and not wanting to eat any of the cakes when they’re done. Trust me on this.

And now the frosting. I’m going to tell you exactly what happened when I followed the recipe and let you decide how much frosting to put on your cakes. For me there was probably about twice as much as I wanted, so I have a container of leftover frosting in my freezer now. I’ve no idea how well it will keep, but I’ll edit the post at some point in the future to let you know if it’s worth making too much for future cakes.

Place the icing sugar and SOFTENED butter in a bowl and beat them together, bearing in mind what I said earlier about coating your entire kitchen in a light dusting of icing sugar. I ‘pushed’ the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until all the powder was abosrbed. Then add the milk gradually using the electric mixer to continually blend everything together. When all the milk is incorporated, turn the mixer to a high speed and beat until it’s light and fluffy, for at least 5 minutes. Then stir in the chocolate spread and smother each cake with your preferred amount of frosting. I used a butter knife but I guess you could use an icing bag and pipe it on. It’s a good consistency for doing either.

Then top each cake with either halved or chopped hazelnuts. (I actually used chopped mixed nuts for this because they were so much cheaper than hazelnuts.)

Et voilà!

This is obviously the first recipe I’ve tried from this book, but if they’re all as easy to follow as this, and if all the results are as good as this, I’ll be more than happy with the £4.99 I paid (or actually, didn’t pay, as it was a present) for it. The only gripe I had with this recipe was the amount of frosting I had left over (pictured below), but, if you happen to like your cakes to be half and half (yak) then by all means, pile it high.

The cake was just chocolatey enough and the frosting was a lot better that others I’ve tried (notably, the cakes I’ve scoffed from Angel Food Bakery have a very sickly frosting which I don’t like at all) and the addition of the chocolate spread was just enough to give it an extra bit of PHWOOOOAR.

You can read about The Hummingbird Bakery and it’s owner and author of the book here.

Mr Wolfe Café – Sunday 22nd September 2013

Skip, skip, skippety-skip….I’m off to grandmother’s house! Skip, skip….no, no, wait…..I’m off to see Mr Wolfe to fill my face with some of this amazing cake I’ve heard about. Mr Wolfe opened in February 2012 and has been quietly feeding the very selfish locals since then. I can see why its punters were reluctant to shout about it, they clearly want to keep it all to themselves. The café is run by husband and wife team Travis & Kat who hail from Melbourne, moved to the UK and worked in North East London as graphic designers for 12 years. They toyed with the idea of a café/coffee house for some time before deciding to move to Brighton and give it a go. Their interest in architecture and design shows in the interior which is unfussy, with charcoal grey walls and a lovely wooden counter with more than a hint of a Scandinavian flavour. Mind you, it’s made all the prettier by the array of bread and cakes sitting on top…

…but I’ll come back to that.

I went along to Mr Wolfe accompanied by my lovely brunch buddy, and we ordered a coffee and settled into the window seats, taking in the surroundings (aka, staring at the cakes) and listening to PJ Harvey which was playing at a nice, unobtrusive level. They serve Monmouth coffee and, as a self-confessed coffee snob, I can honestly say it’s one of the best cups of coffee I’ve EVER had. Apart from the fact that’s it tastes fantastic, Mr Wolfe told me that they chose Monmouth because they deal with farmers on a direct trade basis and they really like their business ethic. They also sell coffee from other small UK roasters like Workshop, Squaremile and Roasting Party which they sell on rotation. If tea is more your bag (BDUM-TISHHH!!! I’m here all week), they have a huge range which comes from a Sussex based tea company. Such care in the choices of their suppliers is clearly one of the reasons they’re so popular.

The food choices have been neatly handwritten on the blackboards and it’s clear that the menu isn’t extensive.

Again, this is a positive thing: so many small places try to do too much and end up producing below par dishes. I ordered avocado with lemon juice on sourdough toast and my brunch bud went for the goats cheese and roasted red pepper sandwich.  Also on their blackboard are a selection from Magpies Pies, another small Brighton based company, and sandwiches/toasties which are all on bread bought in from Glynde-based Flint Owl Bakeries. The Wolves have particularly fond memories of sourdough in Melbourne, so they especially wanted to offer that as an option. They found Flint Owl Bakery and Magpies Pies at a local market and signed them up. My avocado on toast was simple and wonderful and is my new favourite snack; who’d have thought it? Just that hint of lemon juice and black pepper made it stand out and the sourdough was so good.

I tried my buddy’s lunch too – I loved it and I can’t stand peppers usually!

And so….the best bit…. Kat is responsible for the mouthwatering display of cakes, including Aussie favourite, Lamingtons. Kat is a self-taught baker, but she’s great at making lots of things and is apparently a dab hand with power tools! His personal cakey-fave is the luxe chocolate one that she often makes at the weekends.

And so, after much changing of minds, I opted for a chunk of the pistachio, almond and orange blossom cake, with a creamy mascarpone icing. Oooohhhh, so good. My brunch buddy had a choc brownie, (which I sampled in the name of research of course); rich, chewy and very special indeed. And check out the pretty plates!

To wash it down, I had a pot of Japanese cherry tea and it came in a beautiful teapot. Their crockery is mismatched, as is the latest trend,  but you can see that it’s all been carefully chosen to fit in with the overall style of the café. Lovely tea too, I need to find out where I can buy this so I can drink it at home.

So now that I know where this hidden treasure is, I’ll definitely be paying it regular visits. It’s so great to find somewhere of this calibre that isn’t in the middle of the scrum that Western Road can be at times. If you visit Mr Wolfe, and I strongly recommend that you do, try and plonk yourself in the best seat in the house: right by the counter. You get to eye the spread of pastries and cakey wonders AND you can draw a picture or scrawl a message for the next lucky punter on the chalk board table.

So go see Mr Wolfe; all the better to treat you with my dear. 9/10

Service The staff here were laid back, but friendly and attentive. The lovely beardy bloke that served us was definitely a coffee nerd and was very knowledgeable about all aspects of it. I got the impression that he was properly passionate about it, which makes a refreshing change. It took a little while for our coffees to arrive, but nothing excessive and they were really worth the wait.

Decor Minimal and simple with the food doing all the talking.

Toilets Just the one, which is upstairs. The only gripe I had with this was that there was no mirror above the sink (trust me, I NEED a mirror. I frequently wander around with bits of food on my face and in my hair). Kats DIY skills need to be used in here! From what I remember, there was nothing to dry your hands on either.

Prices All sandwiches came in at less that £4 unless it’s toasted which costs an extra 30p. Cakes start at around £1.30 and go up to about £3.40 for the big multi-layered ones. OINK!

Grrs Nothing much to find fault with, apart from the loo which could do with a little more attention. Everything else was spot on. Personally, I found the website a little difficult to find my way round too.

P.S. Mr Wolfe is playing host to some of the acts playing at the Oxjam event this coming weekend 26-27 Oct. Check the Mr W Facebook page for details.

Mr Wolfe, 15 Montpelier Place, BN1 3BH Brighton Tel: 07972 252787 Opening times: Mon-Frid 8-5, Sat 9-5, Sunday 10-5

Mr. Bake at Brighton Street Diner – Saturday 10th August 2013

So those of you that follow me on Twitter know that I have a sweet tooth. Yep, I lerv me some cake (and yes, that IS a Cronut that I use for my Twitter avatar).

I found out about the now legendary Cronut™, brainchild of French chef Dominique Ansel on 9th May 2013 when I read an article in The Metro on my way to work. I wasn’t beside myself with excitement, it’s only a cake after all. However, the pastry loving residents of New York City decided that it wasn’t just a cake and have gone BATSHIT CRAZY about it. Seriously, can you ever remember a time when people have gone this mental over baked goods?

I’ve watched the reports of people queuing round the block for hours on end and even paying upwards of $55 each on the black market. Only in America. Or not. This thing has gone worldwide. The imitators/imposters have had to come up with an alternative name for their creations as Ansel has trademarked the Cronut name to disassociate himself from the copycats; these include dossant, doissant, fauxnut, cronot and crescent doughnut, whilst other pretenders haven’t pretended at all and have gone with the original Cronut tag. Risky.

So knowing that I won’t be getting my mitts on the real thing any time soon, I was intrigued and a teensy bit excited to hear that a new trader at Brighton’s brilliant new street food market Street Diner would be bringing along his take on the legend. *GASP*

I hadn’t heard of any other locals giving these a go, so I hot-footed it down to Street Diner to grab me some sugar. (At this point I feel I should tell you that I stuck to my own personal rules of ‘savoury before sweet’, which probably stems from being told as a kid that I couldn’t have pudding unless I finished my dinner first. So I was a good girl and had some lush fritters from Sultan’s Delights, a favourite of mine whom I will review in the near future.)

So here it is:

I was told by the boys at Mr. Bake that it was a lemon dossant, and off I went to sit on the grass and indulge.

First thoughts: it tasted like a doughnut. I couldn’t really see the relationship to a croissant at all. Now, after reading a LOT of articles on the Cronut, I know that it took Ansel a long time to perfect and that it wasn’t just a case of deep frying doughnut-shaped croissant dough. You only have to look at a pic of the real thing to see that there are stacks and stacks of layers of fine pastry with air in-between each one. This wasn’t dense but it wasn’t light either.

And for my tastes, it was too sweet. Yes, you heard me right; there was too much sweet glaze and I found it lingered on after the dossa…crois…cakey thing had long gone. I was on a sugar high for a good couple of hours afterwards. It wasn’t unpleasant at all, but I think it also would have been nice to try a ‘naked’ one, to see how it tasted in all its undressed glory. Apparently Mr. Bake has been experimenting with cream fillings, so I’ll wait to get my chops round one of those in the near future. And for your delight and delectation, here are some pics of some of Mr. Bake’s other wares that he had for sale that day. I’ll DEFINITELY be returning to sample THOSE goods.

Dossant: 6/10

Contact Mr. Bake through the website http://www.mrbake.co.uk/, Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mrbakeuk or via Twitter https://twitter.com/MrBakeUK

Macarons

Quickie No.1: Went to town and decided a small treat was in order, so popped into Julien Plumart Boutique Salon Du Thé…I know this is a mouthful (no pun intended) but I haven’t come up with a decent abbreviation yet.
Me and the OH got a macaron each. It was a VERY difficult process choosing from the completely amazing and beautiful array of colours and flavours on offer.

I was given a chocolate box style menu to help me with my decision but instantly decided I wanted one of everything. that wasn’t going to work…there were 24 options. Yes, 24.
I went for a ‘Mediterranean Yogurt & Raspberry’ and the OH chose a ‘Sea Salt Caramel’.

Oh my. These things should probably be illegal. With just the right amount of sweetness and chew, words cannot express how absolutely DIVINE these things are. I’ve had a few macarons from different places in the past and they’re almost always too sweet. Not so with these little beauties.

I honestly can’t wait to try more. I haven’t tried anything else from the Boutique yet (still working on that abbreviation), but I have it on good authority that the croissants are equally mouthwatering and the coffee is top quality.

Guess that gives me an excuse to go back soon.

For now, the macarons get a resounding 10/10.

Julien Plumart Boutique et Salon Du Thé, 27 Duke Street, Brighton BN1 1AG Tel: 01273 208997 Open: Mon-Sun 9.30am-7pm