St John Bread & Wine - for those in need of steadying

St John Bread  and Wine

Looking back through my posts, I'm struck by how much St John (in the form of Fergus Henderson rather than the saint) has informed my thinking and tastes over the years, and continues to do so.  Yet I've never written about my favourite of the three St John restaurants, St John Bread and Wine.  Having eaten several perfect lunches there recently, now is the time for me to rectify this glaring omission. 

This monastically plain square room prepares you for the straightforward food you can expect to eat.  It provides "everything you want and nothing you don't need", which is what Fergus Henderson is all about.  He sees good food and drink as steadying and uplifting, and that's just how I feel when I've eaten there.  You will not find over-elaboration or gimmickry at his restaurants.  He is, however, tireless in his pursuit of the best.  No matter how plain the dish set before you, and some are very plain indeed, it will be the best it can possibly be.  It may be a stunningy fresh sea bass or mackerel, brought to the table whole, or rich brown crabmeat on toast with a spoonful of mayonnaise and half a lemon.  That's not to say you won't get some beautiful plates of food too.  In spring you may be offered a plate of fresh peas, pea shoots and Ticklemore cheese, a drift of purple pea flowers making it look positively pretty, but everything on the plate contributes to the savour of the dish.

British food is St John's thing.  Meat dishes can be hearty, from a simple Gloucester Old Spot pork chop to Boiled Beef and Dumplings, or as delicate as a plate of Roast Quail.  At Bread and Wine you'll find a lot of the food on the menu is offered as small plates so it's a good idea to order a few of these to really get a taste of what the place is about.  Dishes like Cold Roast Beef on Dripping Toast, Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad, Hereford Snails and Oak Leaf Lettuce, Confit Pig Cheek and Dandelion, Kedgeree, Soft Roes on Toast.  Mains are substantial and often shared.

A few dishes have stood out recently: a salad of Potatoes dressed with mayonnaise, Spring Onion, Soft Boiled Duck Egg and Sorrel, a transcendent combination of Smoked Anchovies, soft boiled duck egg and crispy potato stacks and a deeply comforting dish of Oxtail Stew with Turnip Mash.  You will eat sublime versions of classic English puddings:  Bread pudding (or sometimes ginger cake) with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream, Treacle Sponge and Custard, Summer Pudding, Crumbles such as Blueberry and Peach, the fruit changing with the seasons, and Brown Bread Ice Cream.

You can eat at St John Bread and Wine from Breakfast to Dinner.  Their bacon sandwich with home-made tomato ketchup is just the best start to the day you can have, but there is always porridge and prunes, granola, and gorgeous poached seasonal fruit with yogurt and honey served with toasted brioche too.  To fill that odd hour between 11.00 and lunch you can take an uplifting glass of Madeira wine and seedcake.  Lunch can be had well into the afternoon, until 4pm in fact, though be warned some dishes will be sold out.  There's barely a pause before dinner is served from 6pm.  There's quite an extensive wine list and a wide range of prices.  You can also buy wine, bread and some just-baked sweet things to take away with you.  Enjoy a great breakfast for £10 a head or lunch with a glass of wine for as little as £30 each, including service.  Dinner comes in at a shade more.  

Go, and you too will feel steadied and restored.  Just don't all go at once as, up to now, I've never had to book for lunch.

St John Bread and Wine
94-96 Commercial Street
London  E1 6LZ
Tel: 020 3301 8069
http://www.stjohnbreadandwine.com/

Roti Chai Indian street kitchen - Food Find

Portman Mews sounds a bit of a swanky address for what turns out to be an unpretentious Indian "Street Kitchen" serving street food from around India.  In fact the location for this useful little Food Find is an unremarkable alley at the Oxford Street end of Baker Street.  In an area not exactly bursting with decent places to eat, Roti Chai serves up the kind of simple, fresh food you can buy from street cart vendors, roadside dhabas and railway stations when travelling around India.  Dishes from Keralan, Gujarat, Kolkata, Punjab, Bengal and Andhra Pradesh include good spicy Tarka Dhal and Samosas, Papri Chaat (wheat crackers spread with sweet chutney and topped with potato and chickpeas, yogurt and coriander), Idli Sambar (lentil and vegetable stew), Macher Jhol (fish curry) and Railway Lamb Curry.  Desserts include cooling Kulfi and Payasam.  Good food, laid back ambience but focused staff.

Roti Chai
3 Portman Mews South, London W1H 6HS

Les Fines Gueules - natural wines and good food

Les Fines Gueules
Paris

While some good natural wine bars are springing up in London, it's worth remembering that they have been popular in Paris for much longer.  Les Fines Gueules is, I think, one of the best.  Not only does it have interesting wines but very good food to match. 

I stumbled upon it by chance one evening back in 2008 en-route to that old stalwart Chez Georges.  Heading for place des Victoires, it was getting late and panic was setting in - not having a dinner reservation in Paris used to be anxiety inducing.  The 17th century townhouse on the rue Croix des Petits Champs is a Jules Hardouin Mansart (architect to Louis XIV) beauty and all lit up on a rainy night it looked too inviting to pass by.  The welcome was warm, the wine good and the food delicious.  This small bar with a few tables and two small dining rooms, a 3 minutes stroll from les Jardin du Palais Royal and just off Place des Victoires, has been a firm favourite ever since if I happen to be in the 1st arrondisement.

I'm always happiest eating in a bar.  I like the constant activity, the ebb and flow of customers, the chance to see everything that's going on, and not to miss out on any of it.  Owner/Manager Arnaud Bradol sources organic, biodynamic and natural wines as well as top quality ingredients for the kitchen.  Suppliers are name-checked - Desnoyer for meats, Poujauran for breads, even butter and vegetable suppliers are proudly listed on the website - if you want to know they are pleased to tell you but no big deal is made of it.  Everything about this place is understated.  They are confident enough to serve up a delicious plate of what we would call 'Heritage' tomatoes simply dressed with best olive oil.  Good charcuterie is sliced on a 1947 Berkel hand-operated slicing machine which is squeezed into the narrow space behind the bar. The daily changing menu is chalked on a board and is reassuring seasonal. 

I understand the chef has changed in the past year but I didn't detect any fall in standards.  On this visit two of us sampled a natural Beaujolais listed on the board, which was so good we stuck with it.  Ask for the wine list if you want to sample something from the huge cave of wines below the bar.  We shared a starter of burrata, mozzarella and San Daniele ham with fantastically fresh toasted almonds, and a dressing of fragrant olive oil.  The burrata wasn't the creamiest I've had but it was very good.  A dish of Carré de Porc arrived as a huge, perfectly cooked chop on a bed of silky early season mushrooms.  The star dish was Noix de Veau, an exquisite and generous piece of rose veal with a tranche of pan-fried foie gras on pureé  de pommes de terre and finished with an aromatic truffle oil and a scattering of borage (I think) flowers made the plate pretty as a picture (sorry, I didn't whip my camera out but I was too busy eating). Sadly we had no room for pudding but I know from previous visits that they do a gorgeous pear clafouti around this time of year.  We spent 90 Euros on 4 glasses, one starter and two mains and it was worth every Euro.

Les Fines Gueules does get busy, though I have to say I've never booked and they've always managed to squeeze us into the bar.  In good weather you'll want to sit outside.  Inside it's cosy with lovely lighting, bar stone walls, a zinc bar and knee-to-knee dining.  On the second Sunday of each month there are jazz sessions.  You know, I've never been back to Chez Georges since.

Les Fines Gueules
43 rue Croix des Petits Champs (1er)
75001 Paris
Tel: +33 1 42 61 35 41
Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner
Metro M3 Bourse or Sentier
Metro M4 Les Halles

Rose Bakery, and more, on rue des Martyrs

Sweet Chestnuts

On a quick trip to Paris this week I decided to look up what I guess now could be called an old favourite.  I don't remember what had taken me to rue des Martyrs that day in 2003 but it was the intriguing wrought iron decorated door which caught my eye and the aroma of baking which lured me in.  If I had needed any more impetus to enter Rose Bakery it was provided by the sight of a familiar face glancing up to greet customers. 

In 1988 the Anglo-French team of Jean Charles and Rose Carrarini set up one of the most influential food shops cum café/restaurants in London.  With their treasure of an epicerie fine, Villandry, they drew people from all over the capital to their tiny space in what was then a rather jaded Marylebone High Street.   In the early days, the shop was stocked with continental foods mostly unheard of anywhere else in London – Italian Pagnotta and French Poilane breads, perfectly ripe French cheeses, top quality cured meats and bacon, preserves, wines and an ever-changing array of sweetmeats.  These were supplemented by savoury and sweet tarts, cakes, and biscuits.  Ingredients sold in the shop were used to produce deliciously simple dishes for the café.  It was a joy to have the flexibility to walk through the shop and select a perfect Saint Marcellin to eat in the café with good bread, a glass of wine, a perfectly dressed mesclun salad and followed, perhaps, by a slice of fig tart.

The atmosphere was quirky, the staff laid back, and the attitude unpretentious.  A strong design eye was evident in the second-hand furnishings and the eye-catching, ever changing window displays.  Back then this was pioneering stuff in London and everyone who aspired to open their own traiteur or deli checked out Villandry first.  The Carrarini’s left Marylebone High Street, when the property owners, Howard de Walden Estates began their gentrification of the area.  Leila's in Calvert Avenue is a welcome, more recent, embodiment of what I think of as those Villandry principles.

It was that style which I subconsciously recognised when I was stopped in my tracks and drawn into Rose Bakery on a perfect autumn day in the 9th arrondisement.  Although I was surprised, in fact it made perfect sense for them to be here.  Instead of bringing France to London as they did for many years, they have, since 2002 been bringing Britain to an appreciative Parisienne clientele.  Jean Charles' design background is visible in the eclectic mix of second hand furnishings, stark paintwork and concrete floors, enlivened by a hand-painted mural on the rear wall of the café.  It’s a look which suits this narrow space, a former chartil, where fruit and vegetable sellers stored their carts.  

The kitchens at either end of the shop are the domain of Rose.  She is supported by an energetic brigade who constantly pass through the café laden with the latest trays of baking fresh out of the oven.  Carrot cake, scones, shortbread, slab cakes, crumbles and brown betty go down a storm.  Savoury dishes include kedgeree, bangers and mash, organic Irish smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, soups, tarts and pizzettes.  Seasonal risottos and dishes such as Braised Artichoke, Lemon and Lamb Chops make use of what is best, and preferably organic, at that moment.  British cheeses from Neal’s Yard Dairy confirm the French have developed a taste for British food at its best.  Even Christmas cakes and puddings are lapped up in December.  

An exceptionally good value ‘formule’menu is available weekday lunchtimes, always including a mix of salads which the French clientelle expect.  Saturday brunch of eggs, bacon, tomatoes and toast, or soft boiled eggs with marmite soldiers, porridge or pancakes is popular.  The ethos is simplicity and quality.  Customers are predominantly French with some expats.  The young, multinational staff can get a bit distracted, but Jean Charles does not miss much, and they are so damned nice you forgive them any lapses.  Prices, it has to be said, are on the high side, reflecting the quality of the ingredients so you may want to consider their take-out instead of eating in. 

Rose Bakery is not the only draw on rue des Martyrs.  Paris' 9th arrondisement is bordered by the Gares du Nord, de l'Est and St-Lazare.  This may not sound like the most appealing location to recommend to you, but stick with me.  Rue des Martyrs snakes uphill  from Boulevard Haussmann (rue Lafitte becomes rue des Martyrs) to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur in Montmartre.  It's also an easy 15 minute walk from Gare du Nord, so a perfect place to either start or end a visit to Paris.  Food now dominates the street with good fromageries, traitteurs, boulangeries, patisseries, cafes, a poissonerie and more.  The latest opening is La Chambre aux Confitures dedicated to preserves and honeys.  Using four suppliers, who prepare the confitures with the lowest possible sugar to fruit ratio, which varies to suit the particular fruit, they are presented with typical French style by the charming Lise.

The Carrarinis have not totally cut their ties with London.  You can visit a scaled-down version of Rose Bakery on the top floor of the ultra-cool Dover Street Market in W1. Rose's book, ‘Breakfast, Lunch, Tea’ still sells well.  It is based on the food at Rose Bakery and almost twenty years of dedication to good food.  Rose is not a trained chef and this is not simply a list of recipes but also an expression of the philosophy and style of the Carrarini’s.  It conveys a deep love for good ingredients and a passion for cooking and feeding people which all true cooks should have.  Further Rose Bakeries can be found in Japan and, I understand, will continue to open to spread the philosophy.  

Rose Bakery

46, rue des Martyrs, 75009 Paris

Also at: 30, rue Debelleyme, 75003 Paris

and now at La Maison Rouge Foundation, 10 Boulevard de la Bastille 75012 Paris
Dover Street Market, Dover Street, London W1

Terroirs - Natural Wine Bar

I finally got round to trying Terroirs when I met a friend who was staying in a hotel between the Strand and the river and we needed somewhere local to eat and catch up.  This was the opportunity to enjoy more, natural wines and, after all, I had enjoyed Brawn over on Columbia Road.

Terroirs was buzzing and the crowd had spilled out onto the pavement in one of the most unlikely streets around Trafalgar Square for a good wine bar. After stepping down into the basement room I was struck immediately by the weight of the leather clad wine list handed across the bar.  As I struggled to select a suitable red, a friendly voice from the other side of the bar invited me to try an unusual blush white which they had decanted and which reminded me of the cidery “nose” often found on natural whites at Gergovie Wines.  With advice and a tasting to confirm, I selected an Italian red (Trinchero) from Piedmont and we were set for a good evening.

The food menu was short but interesting with small and larger plates.  As I had heard, the charcuterie was good.  The freshest sardines were served whole with a salsa to cut the oiliness of the fish.  Fegato Veneziana came with a side dish of soft polenta.   One gripe I had was that bread and butter (and not the greatest bread), a staple accompaniment to charcuterie, was extra, and a request for more incurred a further charge.  Note to restauranteurs: parsimony is not an attractive trait.   

All in all it was an enjoyable experience, too noisy for a quiet chat, but another triumph for natural wines and the culture of enthusiasm and knowledge they seem to engender.  Of the 200 wines on offer, there was little under £20 a bottle.  The bill for two - four dishes, wine and service (and not forgetting the bread and butter) - came in at £90 including service.  Well, it is the west end so you can expect west end prices.  Making the inevitable comparison with Gergovie Wines, I will be back at my seat at the bar at 40 Maltby Street in Bermondsey, next opportunity.

Terroirs
5 William IV Street
London WC2N 4DW
Tel: 020 7036 0660
http://www.terroirswinebar.com/index.htm

Early autumn foods

Still life with crabs at
Gergovie Wines

The days have shortened and the sun has lost some of its heat but the food larder just gets more interesting.  Jars of jams, bottled beetroots, compotes and candied fruits all await their moment when, in the depth of winter, a twist of the wrist releases those heady summer fragrances.

Apples and pears have arrived a little early this year, perfumed Norfolk Royal Russets and silky Red Beurre Hardy pears are amongst the first.  Wet walnuts, sweet chestnuts in their spiky overcoats and luscious purple figs have arrived from France.  Greengages and other plums have been fleeting this year but Damsons are still available for making into crumbles or Brown Betty.  Ceps and chanterelles are appearing at market, the latter being particularly abundant right now and, consequently, well priced.  Game birds and venison are plentiful, and cuts of pork come back into favour, all pairing well with our varied autumn fruits. 

The photograph above of a dish of crabs on the bar at Gergovie Wines  (now additionally open Thursday evenings) at the weekend speaks for the beauty of our shellfish at this time.  Simply boiled and served with mayonnaise as it was here, it beats lobster hands-down for me.  According to Fergus Henderson, cooking time (from boiling point) is roughly 15 minutes for the first 500g then 5 minutes per further 500g.  He also warns against boiling your crab in insufficiently salty water (it "must be as salty as the sea") or it can result in a wet flesh to the crab.  Jane Grigson advises salting the water until an egg will float.  When cold, pull away the main shell and remove the fluffy greyish gills either side of the body (the' dead mens' fingers') and discard.  St John Bread and Wine serve a deliciously simple dish of brown crabmeat on toast with mayonnaise, which requires only a squeeze of lemon to make it perfect.

As September rolls on, pumpkins and squashes are just beginning to make an appearance, but let's not rush things.  The mellow days of autumn have only just begun.

Gergovie Wines
40 Maltby Street
London SE1 3PA
Currently open Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday  10.00 to 5pm
http://www.gergoviewines.com/
http://www.maltbystreet.com/

St John Bread & Wine
94-96 Commercial Street
London E1 6LZ
http://www.stjohnbreadandwine.com/

Brogdale Fruit time at Neal's Yard Dairy - Food Find

The season of mellow fruitfulness is here.  The Brogdale Farm fruit has arrived at Neal's Yard Dairy.  This week crates of Red Beurre Hardy pears and apple varieties Cox, Norfolk Royal Russett, Ribston Pippin and Oaken Pin are stacked outside the shop on Park Street SE1.  You'll also find them at Neal's Yard Covent Garden shop.  Varieties change by the week so it's a great opportunity to try some of the hundreds of varieties of apples and pears which Brogdale, home of the UK's National Fruit Collection, does so much to preserve.  Make the most of the next few weeks of availability.

Borlotti Bean Bruschetta

Borlotti beans

It's been a strange year for growing fruit and veg in England.  As in the flower garden, my vegetable plot has raced through spring and summer with each crop being a fleeting affair.  Even courgettes were not so prolific this year whereas last summer I was sinking under the weight of the crop.  Borlotti beans have fared a little better. They are neither the easiest nor the most productive, but they are certainly the most beautiful legume to grow.  Personally I dislike runner beans - the only vegetable I turn my nose up at - so I grow these beauties instead.

I have no time or space for starting plants off under glass so I plant straight into the ground around the second week of May and provide a wigwam of 2m canes for them to twine their way up.  The pods start off green and go through to deep pink/white then purple marbling if you leave them on the plant long enough.  It's best to harvest the pods when deep pink and obviously plump with beans.  Leave them too long in the UK and they become vulnerable to pests and disease, particularly in wet weather.

If I get a good crop I leave some pods to dry on a well-ventilated windowsill for a couple of weeks before podding them and storing the beans in a jar.  Later in the year I'll rehydrate them for use in a Ribollita soup, but mostly I'll use them fresh within a day or two of picking.  This recipe is a favourite in my family.  The method for cooking the beans is borrowed from Sally Clarke, though she uses a mixture of fresh herbs instead of gremolata to flavour the beans.  I prefer the punchiness of this classic garlic, lemon zest and parsley mix.

Borlotti beans with gremolata 

Borlotti Beans with Gremolata

Fresh Borlotti beans (you are unlikely to have a huge amount so whatever you have)
1 small onion
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
stalks from the parsley leaves used in the gremolata
1 clove of garlic
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

For the gremolata:
1 clove of garlic, crushed to a paste
zest of half a lemon
a handful of parsley leaves, chopped

Pod the beans and place them in a pan.  Add a few rough chunks of onion, carrot and celery, a bay leaf and a crushed garlic clove.  Cover with water, bring to the boil then simmer for 30 minutes until the beans are tender.  Add a good pinch of salt and a grinding of pepper and leave to cool in the liquor.  You can refrigerate for 2-3 days at this point. 

Drain the beans and remove the pieces of veg and the herbs.  Put the beans in a bowl and marinate in olive oil.  Mix the gremolata ingredients together and stir into the beans and olive oil.

I like to serve this on grilled sourdough as bruschetta, but it also goes well with slow-roasted tomatoes and mozzarella.

TIP: If only it was possible to preserve the wonderful colours of the uncooked beans.  The reality is cooked beans lose almost all of that marbling.  My friend, the chef, Carla Tomasi recommends adding a few drops of vinegar at the start of cooking and I'm convinced this does preserve a little of the colouring.

Fish suppers I have known

Fish and Chips at 149 has won first place in the national Fish and Chip Awards for 2011.  Matthew Silk and Tracey Poskitt have years of experience in fish frying and, finding themselves competing for the same premises, decided to join forces in 1988 to open this award winning chippie.  Surely, I thought, I don't have to go to Bridlington, East Yorkshire for perfect fish and chips. 

Bridlington is not the easiest place to get to from London but I have to say I'm tempted.  Having grown up in the North East when a decent fish and chip supper was taken for granted, I've struggled to find it in the South and it's not for want of trying.  The best I've eaten in recent years came from Rick Stein's chippie in Padstow, Cornwall.  We drove from Fowey on Cornwall's South coast to Padstow in the North to get them.  It was pouring with rain so we committed the cardinal sin of eating them in the car.  Sitting in cosy comfort with steamed up windows knowing we would regret it tomorrow when we got into the car to that unmistakable odour.  But it was worth it.  The freshest cod steamed in the crispiest, light batter and perfect crisp and fluffy chips, which you only get from using Maris Piper potatoes. 

There is something about the seaside and fish and chips.  I can go for months in town without thinking about a fish supper but as soon as I hit the coast I must have one.  I suppose we think we're by the sea, we must be able to get good fish.  Sadly, it's not always so in England but somehow our expectations remain high.  Not having the time or opportunity to go to either Bridlington or Padstow last week but, craving a whiff of ozone, we took the train to an English coastal town in the South East.

The town is trying hard to resurrect itself but sadly this shiny new chippie, which I won't name as I don't do hatchet jobs, isn't going to draw me back anytime soon.  Pallid, floppy chips, thick undercooked batter, which masked what might have been good haddock, left us regretting our decision for some time afterwards.  Overall, it lacked attention to detail.  So, it's so long thanks for all the ozone - but I'll eat elsewhere.  Having read how Fish and Chips at 149 are so particular about the temperature of the batter they use (it's kept at 6C) it's disappointing to see how many chippies place the batter container on the fish fryer 'warming nicely'.  Oh, and while we're at it, can we have more than a nod to sustainability.

So, I think I'll just make that trip up to Brid next time I get the craving, unless you can offer a recommendation nearer to home.  This year the award for 2nd place went to Peck-ish Fish & Chips in Camelford, Cornwall in South West England and 3rd to Seniors at Marsh Hill in Thornton, Lancashire in the North West of England.

http://www.fishandchipawards.com/
http://fishandchipsat149.co.uk/


 

The Ice Cream Union - Food Find

Another artisan ice cream maker joins the Bermondsey Trail.  The Ice Cream Union is now open Saturdays under the railway arches at 4 Voyager Business Park (just 3 doors up from Kappacasein).  One of their signature flavours is Dulce de Leche, based on the sweet, sticky Argentine caramel.  Maybe I need to do a taste-off between this and Real France's Salted Caramel.  Union also deliver - see the website for more info.

www.icecreamunion.com/

http://www.maltbystreet.com/