Seeing Out 2015 Pt. 2

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 
Before we get too far into January, it's time to finish off telling you the tail end of 2015 (see my previous post here).

Avoiding the Christmas panic, The Chap and I took some time out for ourselves and spent a few well earned weekends doing the things we love most. 

Firstly, Brunch... Instead of heading out to a café, myself and another blogger buddy, Roseann from Honeybourne Line (check her out), arranged a brunch date at hers. Obviously, The Chap and her other half Kinglsey, of Kingsley Leather (check him out too), were in on it as well. 

We all first met at last year's Diamond Rush, boozily sipping Champers in Beard's after finding our gems, little did we know that we had so much in common! A few diamond winner dinners later, and here we are; a food blogger's brunch (accompanied by two hungry food loving fellows), and having each made a sweet and a savoury option, we had loads to go round. 

Roseann and Kingsley whipped up Jamie O's Pancetta Hash with Eggs & Apple Salad along with what's essentially a deliciously sweet yorkshire pudding - Dutch Baby with Fresh Berries. The Chap and I turned up with our make-ahead-transportable-goods, Ruby Tandoh's Broccoli, Gorgonzola & Walnut Quiche and the best readers' recipe from the OFM Awards 2015, Masala Chai Banana Bread with Coconut, Cream Cheese & Cardamom Icing. Washed down with tea, coffee, buck's fizz and prosecco, we somehow grazed our way through 4 whole hours! Job well done I'd say, and we'll definitely have to do it again.

Tivoli Wines Christmas Wine Fair is our annual indicator that it is in fact coming up to Christmas. Every year we lower the tone in The Bacon Theatre, stumbling around, trying as much as is humanly possible. Thankfully, The Chap's brother and sister in law joined us this year, so we weren't drunkenly chatting and embarrassing ourselves alone - haha! As always, it was a cracking night. Pop it in your diary now - the last Friday of November.

As a Christmas present to ourselves, we booked a trip to London to eat, drink and be merry in the places we love best. We stayed at the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green, which I'd wholeheartedly recommend to anyone; it's stunning. There's a snazzy restaurant within the building - The Typing Room - and a shit-hot cocktail bar, Peg + Patriot. The Piccadilly Circus with daikon infused Nikka Whisky, fermented rice, purple shiso, Belsazar White Vermouth, sesame oil and dried seawater is incredible. 

Street Feast's #HawkerHouse has become a bit of a winter tradition between us, so we managed to get a visit in just before it finished it's residency at Canada Water. Whisky roulette, Smokestak ribs, Kamm & Sons cocktails, wine, and so much food made for a pretty special night. 

Oysters are a must on any Scott and Lucie adventure, and in two days we managed to have them twice! The brand new Noble Rot Bar & Restaurant was the top of our 'to do list', and having some seriously good wine paired with half a dozen oysters as soon as we arrived in the big smoke set the tone for the weekend pretty well. The other oysters came from Decatur at Druid Street Market; chargrilled Maldon rock oysters with butter, cajun spices and hot sauce. These totally sorted out our hangovers, and not having tried cooked oysters before, we're now desperate to give them a go at home!

Other eats in the Druid Street/Maltby Street area included the mega Reuben at Monty's Deli. We've tried various times to try the salt beef sarnies after seeing them on Tom Kerridge's TV programme yonks ago, and with a full on arch, rather than just a stall, we finally got our chops around one. It was everything we wanted it to be, I'm only sad that I had to share.

40 Maltby Street is a no reservations natural wine bar that serves up some wonderful food alongside some quirky wines. Avoiding the crappy weather, The Chap, my bestie and I pulled up a pew and spent a few hours sipping vino and munching on fried pheasant.

As you might have guessed from previous posts (and the start of this entry), brunch is a sure fire hit with me. I torture myself by perving on all the London Food Instagrammers on a daily basis, but it's so useful in gauging where's best to go when we're in town. Nine times out of ten it's bang on, but unfortunately we got struck with that 1/10 this time. Kopapa's Turkish Eggs are Instagram famous, but I felt the taste wasn't quite as good as the hype; the chilli butter could have been spicier, and paying a tenner for the privilege seemed a little steep. The Chap's experience was the clincher though, his pot of tea arrived cold and his Chorizo Hash came with two non-runny fried eggs. I so wanted it to be good, but I fear it's a case of Social Media making things look better than they are (see Jay Rayner's Observer article on this). 

The Grape Escape's December wine tasting was a Christmas special; 4 rounds - fizz, whites, reds and sweets - with 3 wines for each... Dreamy. Though it was even more significant for me, as I offered my services and rustled up some food to accompany each round! Coming back (hungover) from London on Sunday afternoon, I cooked a hoofin' turkey, and didn't stop in the kitchen until the tasting started on Monday night (note the last photo above). The menu was:

Fizz: Parmesan biscuits. Pork, apple, apricot & thyme sausage rolls. Stilton & walnut balls.
Whites: Smoked salmon blinis, Prawn cocktail lettuce cups.
Reds: Devils on horseback. Turkey, cranberry and stuffing sandwiches.
Sweets: Mince pies. Chocolate puddles. Clementine cake.

Had I not gone to London and had the whole weekend to prep, I'm sure it would have been a much easier task, but I'm still pretty chuffed with how it all turned out. And a thank you present in the form of Broc Cellars Carbenet Franc Fizz made the last minute stress all worth it.

Finally, after months of people prying, I asked my two favourite ladies to be my bridesmaids. Having not seen one of them since my birthday, we organised a day trip to Birmingham to celebrate, and what better celebration than Afternoon Tea?! The Edgbaston, which is a bit of a trek out of the centre, was recommended to me, and as soon as we got there and saw the black and gold Art Deco decor, I knew we were in for a treat.

We started with a cocktail (because their cocktail list is mega), and I had the Smoke & Mirrors, which arrived in a glass dome filled with smoke; Glenfarclas, Smoked PX Sherry, Cherry Liqueur and Chocolate Bitters. Yes.

Our afternoon tea started with an amuse bouche cloaked in dry ice; carrot cake crumble, carrot purée and spiced brandy ice cream. Being December, everything had a festive twist, and we even had a turkey and cranberry sandwich in our selection. The warm scones - one fruit, one plain - were crisp on the outside, sweet and fluffy on the inside, and piled high with jam and clotted cream, I was in heaven.

The patisserie/petit fours were the highlight though; green apple meringue Christmas trees. mini mince pies, passion fruit and coconut macaron snowmen, berry meringue mushrooms and a rum and chestnut tart (which was my favourite).

It's £25 per person for The Edgbaston's Afternoon Tea, or £33 to include a glass of Champagne. Money well spent.

So that's 2015 done and dusted. Here's to a more exciting year ahead! 

A Postcard from London Pt. 2

Day two of our London feasting began with a breakfast of epic proportions. We were staying at No. Ten Manchester Street in Marleybone, which houses the Italian restaurant Dieci, so out with your usual buffet brekkie, and in with a naughty menu of all the Benedict's, pancakes and meaty eats. I had Italian poached eggs, which had the darkest yolks imaginable, served on english muffins, with Norcia black truffle ragout on top. Truffles for breakfast, I really can't think of a more extravagant start to the day.

Bermondsey's Maltby Street Market (with a friend, pictured above!) was our main aim of the day, and after seeing it on Tom Kerridge's programme last month, we couldn't wait to go check it out. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side, but brollies up, we made it in time for Monmouth Coffee catch-ups before lunch. The market on the Ropewalk, has a number of stall holders, both outside and under the railway arches, and is a more concise version of the famous Borough; less crowded and seemingly more sincere. The smaller scale makes it a little easier (not much) for greedy folk like me. When there's too much choice, it becomes almost impossible to decide what to eat (usually I want it all).

Anyway, Monty's Deli has a bit of a reputation - Jewish style, pastrami, swiss cheese, rye, pickles kind of thing - and with a sign on the door saying 'sold out' and a queue still poking out of the archway, there was no chance. We plumped for Market Gourmet's big brioche buns instead, with a tumbler of red wine from the stall opposite. Beef brisket with rarebit and horseradish, and a mean pulled pork with onion/apple/cranberry. If I had to pick, the beef was the winner, and with a 72 hour sous-vide recipe, I'm not surprised.

For dessert, which we had to take away with us for laters, we made a b-line to Poppy & Sebastian's domed delights. I'd seen and heard of the perfectly made patisserie before, mainly thanks to The YBF's (Young British Foodies), in which Poppy won the baking category earlier in the year. The chap had a take on a 'Snickers' (seen above); creamy, chocolatey, peanutty, with a luxurious salted caramel and chocolate pastry base. I had a pistachio green coloured one with a yellow flower on top; it was autumnal, with quince and custard, and almost too pretty to eat. Easily the most exciting patisserie I've ever seen/had.

As we hit the evening, drinks before dinner took us to Beard To Tail; 'Shoreditch Sisters' with Callooh Callay (award winning cocktail bar) but focussed just on meat and whisky, simples. There's a dirty Americana vibe; big meats, big flavours, pickles, bourbon, rye and whisky spelt with an 'ey' - we'll forgive them for that - and it's all very industrial chic, you know the sort. With an impressive looking bar as you walk in, filled with eager boozers, and stuff to look at on the walls, we made ourselves at home. I chose an 'Elegant Illinois', FEW Bourbon, black cherry and violet liqueur, topped with champagne, whilst the other half had his spirit straight up. Down they went, and off for our dinner reservation.

Rotary Bar Diner was our restaurant of choice tonight, if that's what you'd call it. In their words, it's an all day until late-night bar/diner/music; great food, serious booze, and a DJ busting out the tunes in a 70s-teak-retro-kitchen-get-up. It's a pop-up of sorts. It's had it's home here near Old Street for quite a while, but sadly, after a 10 month stint, the building is going to be demolished and re-developed at the end of the year. You'd better go now or regret it later - there's only 21 days left!

Working with Carl Clarke from Disco Bistro, they serve US style food - buns, BBQ, grills - which you can eat in or take away, alongside craft beers and pint sized cocktails for a tenner. They also do a flight of six Mezcals, which, if you polish them off, you get your name up on the hall of fame. The idea of fried foods, dips, slaws, and the likes, doesn't sound like it could carry itself with much finesse, but Rotary goes against those presumptions, and the hype behind it is most certainly deserved.

Armed with a margarita that was bigger than my face, I went for one of the specials, Dexter Veal sirloin cooked on wood, with fermented kimchee and crispy onions. There were so many interesting flavours and textures on the plate, and I had a very generous amount of rosy veal; I'm salivating just thinking about it now. The chap chose Hickory Smoked Belly Ribs, which had a Korean twist, and came with pickles, potato salad and jalapeno cornbread, then some naughty dripping chips on the side. Instantly I had some jealousy, and demanded I try some. Frankly, it was perfect. I don't know whether it was because we weren't expecting it, or what, but it blew us away and we both agreed it was the best food we had eaten out in a long time.

Following that, we had one last mission - Hawker House. No doubt you'll have heard about Street Feast; London's pioneering night market, where the best street food traders, chefs, restaurants and bars come together to take over car parks, warehouses, builders merchants, old tube stations, to 'create a haven for lovers of great food and drink'. Well, this is the latest venture; found somewhere between Hackney and Broadway Market, it's a warm, indoor, knee's up every weekend in the run up to Christmas.

We didn't have any room for anything remotely solid, we were only here for liquid top ups, but if we did find ourselves peckish, there was plenty of choice - BOBs Lobster, Breddos Tacos, Slider Bar, Smokestak, and more. It's free to get in before 8pm, but after that it costs 3 bucks, you do get a 'Hot Shot' on entry though, and you can stay til 2am, so it's a done deal. Drinks wise, Rotary man the main bar, serving up all the staples and more giant cocktails. Street Vin take charge on the wine front, and there's a hot bar, dishing out steamy beverages; boozy hot chocs, hot buttered rum, and the most delicious orangey mulled wine.. Quite festive if you ask me. The main attraction is the whisky bar, choose from a list of 50 or let the Gods decide with the Random Whisky Generator. Or, if you're like me, go for a cocktail - sours, manhattans, old fashioneds - the classics, all served in big milkshake paper cups with a straw.

All year I've been following Tweat_Up/Street Feast on Twitter, absolutely green with envy because of the momentary happenings, effortlessly stylish food and creatively crafted drinks. Now, finally, I've managed to get to one of their events, and it was everything I hoped it would be. I only wish I had a bigger belly to fit all the goods in.

Eat responsibly. Drink dangerously. That's my motto.