I was working in Essex last week and discovered my B&B was B and no B so I had to go hunting for my breakfast. I headed for Dedham where I had heard there was a very good tea room which opens at 9am and served breakfast. Essex Rose Tea House is owned by Wilkin and Sons, famous for the Tiptree preserves.I ordered the Welsh Rarebit made with Tiptree mustard. Perfect, as was the service and the pot of tea.
Nipping through Stowmarket today I saw this street food van and the homemade cakes and soup caught my eye. I bought a pot of Butternut Soup and a small Apple and Blackberry Crumble to take home. Then I started chatting to the chirpy owner, Caroline.She told me that she had made the soup and the crumbles the night before. She also had a heart shaped cake and tubs of homemade rice pudding. The sign for the stall said Colin's Catering Services so I asked Caroline where Colin was. "Oh! There isn't a Colin. That's the board that came with the trailer when I bought it!"
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Ben, bangers and a new restaurant in Bury St Edmunds.
Written by Ruth
His name is Ben Hutton. His restaurant is called Ben's. He has just opened in Bury St Edmunds and here is the link to his story. The food is all locally sourced, with pork reared by Ben himself to create his own recipe Ben's Bangers. The bangers come served on pancetta mash with shredded cabbage, buttered carrots and onion gravy. They were very good indeed. You can't beat bangers and mash on a cold winters night. We also tried the Trio of Jacob lamb prime cuts, which were shoulder, a lamb cutlet and liver. I would argue that liver is not a prime cut and is in fact offal, but I like offal and was happy to order it. It was served with boulangere potatoes, rosemary jus, root veg and savoy cabbage. The lamb was sourced from the local Culford flock and was tender, with plenty of it. I would have liked more gravy. Yes, I call it gravy. Puddings we tried included a selection of the local Alder Carr ice creams ...heaven.. and a cheesecake of the day which was stem ginger and honey. Light, not cloying and very well flavoured. A homemade tuile biscuit perched on the top, some lovely citrussy honey sauce drizzled over and unnecessary squeezy chocolate sauce garnish on the plate. It is good to see a new independent restaurant open in a town which is over run with chains.
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We nipped into Bury St Edmunds last weekend to the Christmas Fair which was running throughout the town. Fancying a little street food, it turned out that we were too late at 7.30pm, with many outlets sold out. So the second plan was to nip to Bury's latest fine dining opening on Angel Hill called 1921(the one that used to be Graze)to try their bar canapes. Chef Patron is Zack Deakins, formerly from The Bildeston Crown and now heading up his own business.Canapes are £1 each but we went for the offer of all eight for £6.What a bargain!All were delicious and we played Canape Roulette. Spin the pen to see which canape to eat next. That kept us amused as did coming up with a cocktail. We tried for an Aperol Spritz, sorry no can't do that, Margarita? No, don't have the ingredients. So,we bought a bottle of Prosecco, a shot of Cognac and asked for a bowl of sugar lumps, all happily provided and made our own Prosecco Cocktails. A fun night out.
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This is the most fun I have had buying produce from a farm shop in ages. Driving past the Flixton Aviation Museum into Bungay, I came across the Milk Shed at Fen Farm Dairy. Being a sucker for raw milk(you can't beat that creamy layer that appears on the top after a few hours in the fridge) I stopped and was amazed to find inside, the milk dispensing machine and the self serve fridge packed with eggs and the delicious farm made, Brie style Baron Bigod cheese. Put a pound coin in the machine (there is a change machine if you don't have the coins) place the container under the spout and out comes a litre of milk. Better than playing a fruit machine any day, you win everytime.
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Delicious Brie style Baron Bigod. Better than the French make!
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Cheese and eggs to self serve.
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The milk dispenser fridge. Pop in a pound, out comes the milk.
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For those of you that think that I have the dream job. Here are the figures. Last month I dined out 60 times, averaging 15 meals a week in either cafes, pubs, hotels or other dining establishments. I ate belly of pork 6 times, 8 curries, 8 fish pies, a handmade burger on 9 occasions, 4 sausage rolls, 5 slices of cheesecake(assorted) 4 lemon possets and a selection of confit meats, fish and vegetables. I drove 1600 miles and consumed an average of 1,128 calories a meal, making that a total of 67,680 calories for the month. No wonder my trousers are tight!
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fish goujons and chips
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lime cheesecake
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haddock rarebit
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slow roast pork belly
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lemon posset
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roast beef
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Haven't been to Alder Carr Farm for months and so set off for a sunny Saturday lunch with Mum. It was very busy - because it clearly has some of the best produce in the area and an interesting lunch menu that goes on until 3pm. We shared a paté dotted with pistachios, venison pie (with chips - sometimes I just have to have the gravy with chips...) and then a dessert pear, served with their own first rate coffee ice cream. It was all tasty and great value. The seasonal and locally sourced evidence is right there in the huge display of bright orange pumpkins and squash - to remind us that autumn is here.
There is floor to ceiling tea here at T2; different varieties and combinations including White, Black, Oolong, Tissanes, Floral and more. Tea paraphernalia like those specialist tea strainers and infusers that you can't find anywhere else that are essential for herb leaf tea, and lots of tea making for tasting - which when I got there was the perfect late morning pick-me-up (I tried French Earl Grey and Irish Breakfast). There is a Tea Society, a High Tea Society and a Secret Tea Society and a weird teapot that pours it out of the bottom...and they're from Australia, and have just arrived in the UK.
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Quail, grouse, venison, lambs kidneys, wild mushrooms, blackberries, damsons and figs...there's all sorts of delicious Autumn Gameyness on this menu. It declares its honourable local intentions by highlighting the relevant items with two stars for Wyken produced food and one star for those from either Norfolk or Suffolk. We had a friendly, interested and well-informed waitress to help us get to the nitty-gritty of the provenance and anyway we saw the fantastic fig trees on the way in and we know it's true; Wyken has a long and proven reputation. The hits of the meal were the grouse (not starred) served off the bone and as tender as any we have ever had, and the damson trifle (two stars). The meat eaters seemed more favoured tham vegetarians with bigger portions (we didn't all have the grouse - we shared...) and red cabbage on two of the dishes is a bit of a short cut in the kitchen. But for just under £50 a head for three courses, including an on-trend aperitif - Prosecco with Campari and bitters - and a glass of their excellent and award-winning wine, we were happy. As the farmer among us pointed out, why not provide that unctious, golden Hillfarm rapeseed oil to dip the bread in, instead of importing the olive, and then we will send all our Suffolk visitors here.
Well they chose the right name for this! As suffolkfoodie had complimentary tickets we went to take a look at Meatopia at London's Tobacco Dock, and taste everything of course. At £5 a go for small portions it was hard on the pocket but once we had fought our way through the smokers, the smoking barbecues and the hacking of bones we found the most exciting thing there...whole Somerset goats wrapped in chicken wire on the outdoor fire pit ... and a very long queue for the roast ox which was going to be at least another four hours according to the woman basting it every few minutes. Great delicious tasting food - but now all I really want is some lentils.
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Cutting up the goat meat
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Goat wrap with chili
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marrow bone and curry sauce
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marshmallows
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the ox roast...
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still going...
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smoked pig cheek with foie gras
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spatchocok chicken and mustard sauce
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the Tobacco Dock
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One of my best meals this week. Chinese Pork and Halloumi Cheese, cooked on the washing machine drum barbeque at the AlsYaGal scrap heap caff.
I took Johny Cakes out for a cup of tea today to one of my favourite, unconventional tea rooms in Norfolk. Caroline Dwen runs the quirky and tiny Rosy Lee's Tea Room in Loddon. Expect the warmest of welcomes, an enormous snack menu, local crab sandwiches and homemade cakes freshly baked by the W.I. Caroline suggested tea in the secret garden, across the road. Jack delivered the tea in a hamper basket. The pot of tea for two with two big slices of cake was £5.60.
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