Tuesday 19 April 2011

A trip to London!

Last weekend I whizzed off to London to catch up with friends and sample some different food experiences/inspiration. First stop Bronte Heights for a few pints of exquisite gin and tonic and I hit the sack! Only to wake up the next day with a horrendous hangover! The cure: Brixton indoor market. A wondrous mix of exciting dining experiences and normal market fare. We sat down at gingham clad tables at Brixton Cornercopia which had a stunning menu and really cool dining experience. I love the menus really simply done (knife and fork on a photocopier) but so fit for purpose. A beautiful bunch of anemones in a milk bottle as a simple table decoration . The menu offers local produce lovingly transformed into classics with inspiring twists like:Poached duck egg, toasted muffin & chili bearnaise sauce, and more off the wall brunch ideas like Salmon, saffron and mussel herb gratin, potato and watercress salad. Anyway as beautiful as the place looked and the menu sounded it was booked out for a party of 25 so we had to move on(next time!). We ended up in Hive sitting on the pavement eating poached eggs and burgers soaking up the city sun. All very inspiring!




Next stop Volupte a burlesque supper club, for a friends’ 30th. A great show a truly amazing belly dancer however the food was in true London style on the expensive side. I would like to share some photos but I got so drunk they are all a bit shaky (a sure sign of a good night)! I have one vivid memory of an opera singing bar man (sounds like a scene from fear and loathing in Las Vegas!).
Final stop Hackney! To the home of The Political Pop Up Restaurant. There idea is to create a “1970s-style consciousness raising exercise *cum* trendy east-end pop-up restaurant’
20 people come to a pop-up restaurant in the Old St area for an evening of a great, affordable dinner and an engaging, manageable (yet authoritative) presentation on how to make sense of everything that’s going on with the recent financial crisis and government spending cuts to public services; arts, higher education, disability allowances, etc.”
 scrumptious bean and feta salad with beautiful roast veg and carrot salad (just what you need when you have drunk too much!)
 home made garden table(flower pot!)
 Susanna bringing on the Patatas bravas!

No pop up unfortunately but we had our own political debate and wonderful veggie food created by Susanna (chef) in her lovely garden by candle light. We constructed garden furniture with a making do and getting by ethic! I’m hoping that John and Susanna will come and do a political pop up in Nottingham some time soon (fingers crossed). But if you can’t wait for that email him on politicalpopup@gmail.com and attend his next event.

A truly inspirational but tiring weekend!

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