GOURMET LOVERS BRUNCH CLUB : UNEXPECTEDLY AWESOME FLAVOUR COMBINATIONS

Why hello lovers. We're back on the air after a brief summer hiatus moving house and other crazy stuff. Although we have squeezed in a few sneaky private events in that time. For those of you who have emailed not to worry we will have some exciting new dates (and venues) to announce in the coming weeks. Stay tuned Gastronatus!

Just wanted to share some of the photos and menu from probably one of our greatest brunch clubs yet. Fearlessly avant garde this was led and styled by our masterful mash-up masticating magician James. The brief? Unexpectedly awesome flavour combinations. Think Mackerel and cherry. Raspberry and blue cheese, Salmon roe with truffles and pork with rhubarb. The menu as it was devised included: 

Pickled apple pancakes with slow cooked bacon 

and an orange and cardamom syrup

A fairly modest start - so as not to scare the horses. The secret was the intense and zingy syrup which carried and married all of the flavours together. The slow cooked bacon joint was moist and tender and deliciously salty to balance out the sweet and sourness of the pickled apple and spicy syrup. A lovely dish. 

Tea smoked mackerel and cherry tart

Not going to lie. This dish caused me mild consternation on paper. As it did a few of our guests going on the early discussions in the room. But it really delivered - and turned out to be several guest's favourite. James had done his testing and confirmed it was awesome and we trust him implicitly in such matters so we went with it and my god was it good. I guess it felt intimidating because Mackerel is a fairly intense and oily fish and pairing it with cherry seems unusual. We smoked it ourselves which was novel and rather fun but I'm afraid to say the smokey tea got lost in the larger flavour profile. But making up the mackerel mousse with creme fraiche and a few other secret ingredients we did a lot of work to balance and season and draw out the relative flavours of each component. Results were epic.   

Secret blue cheese raspberries 

with watercress and hazelnut

Going with the surprising element - we hid little bursts of creamy blue cheese wonderment inside some of the berries as well as using a combination of frozen and fresh berries to change up the flavours and textures with a nice hazelnut oil dressing to pull it together. A nice and light cleansing dish to prepare for the final three rounds. 

   

Deep fried mushroom with truffled quails egg and salmon roe 

Ok ok so truffles, mushrooms and poached egg aren't the most surprising combinations! Of course they go together and my god are they good. However adding a little zingy fishy salmon roe and it took on a new dimension. 

Pork & Rhubarb crumble 

Right so onto the main event. It immediately grabbed your eye on the menu and the whole room was buzzing once it had been served. It was our playful take on a rhubarb crumble. Rhubarb being a surprisingly good flavour combination to pork being somewhere in between apple and lemon. We slow cooked a pork shoulder for five hours with fairly neutral marination to ensure we had a good solid pork flavour as a base. We pulled that apart with a fork and put in a hearty layer in the base of the glass with some pan juices. We then had some roasted rhubarb which was on the verge of becoming a compote. A nice generous layer of that on top of the pork. 

The crumble? We made our own crunchy pork scratchings by deep frying some pork belly skin (a highly dangerous and terrifying prospect for the uninitiated- make sure you cover your oil!) We added some deep fried bread crumbs and crispy shallots for good measure and crumbled the combination on top. If this is making you salivate then you are not alone. I'm drooling just typing this. Needless to say this dish is a keeper and will be making a re-appearance at an event very soon. 

Poached pears with shaved cheddar and red wine jelly

That crumble was a hard act to follow, but we kept surprising our guests with a slightly savoury dessert that wasn't too challenging. Hints of christmas in this dish we poached the pears to soft firm texture in a light red wine syrup and then served with aged cheddar and red wine jus jelly. And that was that! 

A nice way to round of an epic menu. The feedback we got on this menu and event was fantastic. We've certainly got some adventurous gourmet loving fans out there who just lap this stuff up so we promise to be ever bolder and braver with our food in the future. 

Heartfelt thanks must go to one of our guests James W. who took the wicked photos for this post. Look forward to having you back buddy!  

Keep an ear and an eye on the FB community and your emails as we've got some exciting events popping up in London and Barcelona soon. 

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HIP HOP SUPPER CLUB: VOL 1

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity. To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment. Would you capture it or just let it slip? Yo... 

On Friday 8th of June as promised the Gourmet Lovers crew pulled out all the stops to put on a gastronomic event like no other in the capital.  Following on from our ever popular theme Hip Hop Brunch theme we thought we'd extend the idea to a more debaucherous night time affair complete with DJs, hilarious Hip Hop games, a b-ball hoop and a fair few gin and juices.

We were excited to collaborate once again with the amazingly talented Douglas Santi. The guy has cheffed in renowned three star michelain kitchens and has worked in and led kitchens all around the world including Brazil, France, U.S, UK and Italy and brings an amazingly varied set of influences into his food.

When we told Douglas the Hip Hop concept his eyes lit up and and started speaking about his experience working in New York and together we devised a fitting menu of American style hip hop inspired food with a signature Douglas Santi 'Gastronomique' twist.

The menu was five courses and with three tables of 20 people (appropriately named 'East Coast' 'West Coast' and 'Dirty South') and around 7 staff to feed this was by far our biggest and boldest supper club yet. Our Hip Hop Supper menu comprised of:

Lil' Wangz

secretly-spiced fried chicken wings with wild garlic pesto

De La Soul Food

authentic pork and prawn jambalaya New Orleans style

Moo Tang Clan

marinated spiced grilled rib eye, slow cooked pork belly with chargrilled vegetables

Ghetto-Soup-a-star

strawberry soup with cristal jelly

Choc it like its hot

cheeky chocolate petit four

'Lil' Wangz' - these were slow cooked in a stock pot for four hours before 

being lightly battered with a spicey flour blend which included za'atar 

and flash fried. Crunchy on the outside and falling off the bone inside

'Moo Tang Clan' - we had one of London's best meat suppliers bring us two 

whole 28 Day aged Angus Rib Eye. Absolutely stunning. With meat this good

 some gentle marination and speeding grilling over coals keeping it very rare 

was all that was required 

Shout outs of course must go out to our entertainment, kitchen and floor crew. On the kitchen side our long time trusted Brunch Club collaborators the amazing James and Mel and last minute addition Mohammed put on the apron and worked their asses off led by Douglas. Not quite a 'proper' kitchen as Douglas might define it, but fark me if it was a totally badass cool one. Five courses for 70 people has its own challenges and they rose to it magnificently.

The Gourmet Lovers? We were working the epic floor with the amazing Francesca. Despite a range of late shows, last minute additions and moving tables and a complex layout of special dietary requests we managed (almost I think) to get everyone fed properly. One guest even endured an emergency landing at Stansted with the plane having no brakes and still made it for the main course! That's Gourmet Loving dedication right there!

Its not just food that we drew on to create a great night, its about atmosphere as well and keeping the guests all in good sorts between courses. The fresh hip hop beats of Paulie who worked the decks all night and had the crowd jumping up and down until 2am kick out time.  Resident b-girl Siân kept everyone guessing with 'Whose Rhyme is it anyway'...what the mystery 'Flavour Flav' was...  as well as B-Ball competitions between courses. (In the end the ultimate prize of a jug of shots and bragging rights for the unofficial 'Hip Hop Olympics' was won by 'Dirty South' table.). Thanks to Guy for rocking up at short notice and taking some photos for us as well.

The venue was amazing, an old pub turned art gallery party space and now supper club venue is a perfect fit for 70 people and nestled inside the N1/E2border nicely meant it's really perfectly situated for those coming from around central, north and east London. Thanks to Nunzio for sorting it out for us.

We've had many emails and comments since being asked to repeat this Hip Hop event again. We'll never say never but but as is the Gourmet Lovers style we always evolve and re-define our dining concepts. We've already started planning our next exciting supper club escapade... if you missed out this time well you better just listen out for the next one and get on board!

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HENS PARTY BRUNCH IN LONDON: PRIVATE HIRE HENS SIX COURSE BRUNCH WITH SUPER SPECIAL PENIS CAKE

So if I said the words 'Hens party' what would immediately spring to mind? Would large packs of drunken ladies in matching shirts, feather boas stumbling around town in the middle of the night pop out at you? Yep : me too. So was I nervous about hosting a private brunch club hens party? Nope not at all, bring it on. 

16 lovely, stylish cultured ladies ( and not an L plate in sight ) from around the UK and as far away as Melbourne all come together for brunch at the start of a Hen do for Josie, who is getting married in just a couple of weeks. We created 6 bespoke dishes with a 'Wedding Theme' and served them along with a welcoming Gin and Juice and plenty of prosecco bought along by the ladies. Needless to say, it was a riot. Plenty of laughter and tears as we took a more leisurely approach to serving the courses interspersed with the girls playing Mr & Mrs and as an added bonus playing with our six baby kittens who have recently appeared after adopting a stray cat. 'Best hen do ever, you even have kittens!' was one memorable reply. 

I'm pleased to say it seemed everyone had a great time and we were happy to have such enthusiastic attendees throughout the day. Heres the menu we created for Josies Hens Brunch...

Breakfast at Tiffanys

Raspberry Pan au Chocolate

The Rules of Egg-gagement

Eggs two ways

This amazing contribution came from our foody friend and guest chef James. A surprise soft boiled quails egg on panchetta and crunchy toast was revealed beneath the egg shell jacket. And baked eggs 'en cocotte' with asparagus and creme fraiche.  So creamy and delicious.

A Nice Day for a White Wedding

Grilled White Peaches with Almond Mint Pesto

Ok so finding ripe white peach were harder than we thought! So some traditional peaches were promptly drafted in.  Regardless, grilled peaches and a punchy almond mint pesto and a little dollop of marscapone cheese hit the spot. 

My Best Hens Wedding

Marinated Poussin with Pomegranate and Mint Cous Cous

One of our favourites which we featured at our previous Middle East London brunch club. Pouissin marinated in yoghurt, pomegranate molassas, lemon juice and ras el hanout spices. Grilled on the BBQ and served with a roast vegetable cous cous this dish was a welcome hearty dish to set up and soak up what we supposed was a marginally heavy afternoon of drinking. 

Something Blue

Blue Cheese Ice cream, Walnut, Pear, Grapes and Filo

Our 'mock' cheese board course as a lead in to dessert -  blue cheese ice cream with caramelised filo crackers, semi-frozen grapes and walnut. Being an underground supper club we always try and push people's boundaries beyond what they would normally eat. Certainly the savoury blue cheese icecream was the most challenging of the lot - but we got some good feedback. Just not to everyone's taste ;) You either a love or a hate blue cheese but I think this was subtle enough to surprise even the skeptics.

Indecent Proposal

Cheesecake on a Million Dollar Caramel Shortbread Base

Okay so regardless of the fact this was a more 'elegant' take on a Hens party the chief organising hens asked that we create a little naughtiness with the cake course. Whilst Nicks original suggestion of hiring Butlers in the Buff was strongly rebuffed by both myself and the party organisers I was requested to make the dessert in the shape of a gentleman's privates. Playing on the 'indecent proposal' movie idea we devised a millionaires short bread base (covered in caramel and chocolate) and then topped with a vanilla cheesecake. Needless to say this caused much hilarity, raucous laughter and flash photography when Nick presented it to the hen at the end of the meal.

So that was yet another original brunch menu and sadly one of our last brunches probably for the next month or so but in 4 weeks time we are hosting a super duper supper club for 40 people and the theme, HIP HOP SUPPER CLUB.

Building on our wildly popular Hip Hop Brunch series - we're taking it supper-side. We've got a sweet new converted pub / art gallery crib (EC1) and have partnered with some serious gourmet playas to bring you a gastronomic event like no other in the capital.

Expect a complimentary gin & juice on arrival, sit down four course dinner to blow your mind partnered with vintage 90s hip hop tunes, interactive entertainment and the opportunity to kick on and dance with a licensed bar until the wee hours. 

On the food side of things we're collaborating with the amazingly talented Douglas Santi. The guy has cheffed in renowned three star michelain kitchens as has worked in and led kitchens all around the world including Brazil, France, U.S, UK and Italy bringing an amazingly varied set of influences into his food. We are humbled that Douglas is such a great fan and supporter of the supper club scene and is partnering with the Gourmet Lovers crew to bust out some seriously awesome food for this event. 

Suggested donation of £45 for an indulgent amuse bouche + three course dinner. It's BYO wine but there is also a licensed cash bar available to keep you lubricated until 2am. 

Get your tickets here! Do iiiiit! 

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MAKING PIZZA WITH VALENTINE WARNER : SALAMI & SHAVED FENNEL PIZZA

At Gourmet Lovers we don't like pizza.... oh no... we love it! 

We regularly conduct frenzied pizza making sessions where we bust out old classics and also invent new flavours and combinations. Most recently we've been working on a cracking miso roasted aubergine and courgette pizza I'll be posting at some point. (Editors note: For the record Nick will never ever get around to posting this - Bex). 

Which is why we were super stoked to be invited to a pizza making session with TV chef and food writer Valentine Warner who was unveiling his two new flavours for Pizza Express last week.

First up was a salami and shaved fennel pizza - which we all made along with Valentine. Taking our helpfully pre-prepared pizza bases, we first laid down a base of fennel seed Trealy Farm Salami, garlic and lemon infused oil with some trusty cubes of mozerella cheese. Baked those bad boys for a few minutes in the pizza oven.

When they came back, we dressed a salad of razor thin shaved fennel and rocket leaves with a lemon dressing and tossed nonchalantly over the pizza with some grated parmesan. Its important to cut and devour the pizza as soon as possible. Really really good.

With all of the fresh fennel I was expecting a prominent aniseed flavour but the way the salad was cut and dressed with lemon oil it was transformed it into a surprisingly light and well balanced pizza. Top marks for this one! The shaved fennel and salami is without doubt the best pizza on the Pizza Express menu. I gourmet loved the hell out of it and had (too) many pieces.

Second up was a puttanesca pizza. Valentine explained how this was a tribute to the classic Italian sauce and I was impressed that they have been bold enough to exclude all cheese on this new pizza flavour. This is rather authentic and isn't something you see much outside of Italy.

Using a more hearty olive mix from The Real Olive Company, and supported with capers, chilli, anchovies, lemon and garlic this pizza certainly packs a punch. A real 'adults pizza' as Valentine described it.

We punched that bad boy in for the prescribed number of minutes in the pizza oven and when it return sprinkled some fresh oregano leaves in a random fashion. 

I expected I would love this pizza - as olives and anchovies are a favourite combination of mine - but was a bit disappointed with the first slice I had back. It came through as far too lemony and lacking the fishy punch was expecting from the anchovies.

Then I discovered that a slice from another version next to me was far better with more balanced flavours. One of the attendees obviously went to town with the lemon oil (we had no way of tracking whose pizza was whos). Hell it may have been me? Who knows...

I vowed to come back and sample this recipe from one of the proper pizza chefs in a normal service. Bex really enjoyed hers however and was raving about it afterwards. For me the winner on the day was the fennel pizza - but both were impressive.

It was great chatting to Valentine - he's a funny dude. Turns out he used to work for Pizza express in his early career and has some great stories from those days. 

We were given the left over pizza to take home and eat. The Puttanesca was great cold. I actually think I preferred it that way!

Overall two very exciting new pizzas. Valentine's Fennel and Salami is the star of the show.

Another successful blogging event where we got to stuff our faces - with pizza no less.

Thanks to the fine folks at Pizza Express for inviting us.

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