Tag: food

‘One Big Mac and Fries? That’ll be two hours of cardio please.’

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What’s that all about then?

Really?

One (in my opinion, not particularly heavy) fast-food meal = calories equivalent to two hours of cardio?

Did I want to know that?

Probably not.

Should I be aware of that?

Possibly.

So today’s piece is more topical. I don’t tend to address news stories here, but what with this one being strongly-connected to a lot of the things I do like to talk about, things that are constantly on my mind, this one seemed sensible to address.

You’ve probably already heard, but in a nutshell, news emerged last week that The Royal Society for Public Health has suggested that food products should be labelled, not only with the number of calories within that item, but also the amount of exercise it would take to burn off those calories.

They believe that people don’t really understand the reality behind the number of calories we’re consuming, and what that actually means for our bodies.

Research from Loughborough Uni has now backed this up, following trials in which people eating food with ‘Pace Labelling’, as it’s called, ended up consuming around 200 calories less daily.

All this stems from the fact that around 13 million adults in the UK are considered ‘obese’ (Diabetes UK study) and that not enough is being done to combat this.

So that’s the idea.

But that’s only the half of it.

Of course, drastic measures like that are going to go hand in hand with a backlash of opinions, generating a huge amount of controversy, and it’s tricky to know where to stand on the matter.

Trying to avoid waffling like my A-Level French style compulsory discursive essays (intro-points for-points against-conclusion-DONE), I’m going to dare to address both sides and see where my thoughts lie, but apologies for said waffle in advance…

I’ve basically already summarised the benefits, explaining the gist of the news story above, but just to reiterate, intention of Pace Labelling = a reduction in the number of calories consumed, through educating people about what those calories actually mean for their bodies. Equating calories to exercise highlights just how “overindulgent” some foods can be (although that word in itself is pretty problematic but more on that later…) and therefore helps us to make healthier choices for ourselves.

It’s designed to be about awareness. Obesity is real, and that’s undeniable. How to combat it is obviously a very tricky topic, as it can be caused by so many different issues, from mental health, to lack of nutritional education, to other health issues, and even genetics.

For me, the intentions are wholly positive. This is coming from a place of genuine concern – however…

Over to the other side…

The news was immediately met by outrage and even more grave concern by a number of bodies and individuals.

Renee Cherry’s reaction to this for Shape magazine makes the very important point that calories aren’t necessarily what matter. What’s more important are the nutrients that you’re getting from those calories, and so it could be more beneficial to your body to eat a product with a higher calorific value, because it contains more ‘goodness’ or essential energy within.

Image via bbc.co.uk

On a similar nutrition-related level, no two people’s bodies are the same when it comes to energy consumption and usage. We know that generally speaking men need more calories than women, and that children need fewer than adults, but that doesn’t take into account the fact that each of our bodies reacts differently to different foods, diets and exercise routines, and so one set of dietary choices that works for person A could mean malnourishment or excess weight for person B.

These arguments against the new recommendation are relevant, but even louder to voice their opinions are those speaking out against the danger they pose to mental health and the risk of eating disorders.

The idea that food = guilt is a damaging one. This is often a key factor in disordered eating, along with the idea that we must immediately compensate for whatever we’ve consumed. There will absolutely be people who see a food label, link X amount of calories to X amount of exercise and either exercise literally to within an inch of their lives, or just avoid food altogether in case they don’t burn it all off.

‘Calorie’ has become a bit of a dirty word. We don’t want calories. We don’t like them. But we NEED them!

This whole idea, despite being well-intentioned, risks demonising the very basic, essential-to-life concept of eating.

Whilst I am completely against the idea, I really do think the reasons behind it are so important to consider, and if this is such a terrible idea (which it kind of is) we need to think about kinder, less damaging ways to educate ourselves and avoid potentially life-threatening food choices. It sounds dramatic, and slightly hypocritical, but we know that consistent poor dietary choices on a daily, monthly, yearly basis can be that dangerous, in the same way that under-eating also can be.

It’s a difficult one. And I’ve voiced this before on a more personal level. The vast majority of us will have at some point associated guilt with food. The idea that food = guilt can be dangerous, but I can’t help but think that if I personally didn’t feel any guilt ever, that would be pretty dangerous in itself, and I certainly wouldn’t be in the shape I’m in now. Being aware of the fact that there are negative consequences of eating Big Macs every day forever is kind of important really, isn’t it?

Food addictions and unhealthy food-related relationships are in some ways, slightly more difficult to address than addictions like alcohol, smoking and drugs, because we absolutely need food. Not eating would be even more dangerous than overeating and so abstinence is impossible. And therefore for many people, the fact that their one vice is something that is essential fuel to staying alive is incredibly complex. You cannot just give up eating because your choices are causing your body to suffer. It requires the most difficult form of self-control.

So I’m very torn.

Food doesn’t always have to be that deep, but we can’t avoid the fact that relationships with food are becoming more and more complex, and so much of that can be put down to irresponsible chains and franchises, with money symbols floating around in their eyeballs.

Another news item that has been a hot topic recently is the issue regarding chains such as Starbucks, Pret etc serving special hot drinks ranges (particularly during autumn and the festive season), whereby those drinks contain literally half your allowance of daily calories. Despite saying earlier that the focus shouldn’t necessarily be on calories, when 700 of them are coming from one hot drink choice, you can be sure you’re not getting much nutrition from that.

theburgerguide.com

The same also applies to supersize double and triple stacked burgers, or even those burgers replacing buns with entire doughnuts (anyone else remember seeing those?).

These things are delicious. They are indulgent. And they’re fun. But they’re becoming commonplace and that’s something that I find difficult to stomach (pardon the pun).

The drinks thing is currently more relevant though so we’ll stick with delving a bit deeper into that. This uncovering came from Action on Sugar’s latest report, and examples currently on sale include Starbucks’ Gingerbread Latte, which when made with oat milk contains 523 calories, and the most shocking menu item – their Signature Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream (again, with oat milk), containing a quite frankly disgraceful 758 calories, and 23 teaspoons of sugar.

I’m not really a coffee drinker, but love a good hot chocolate, and it genuinely terrifies me that I could easily have ordered that, thinking that I was having an innocent little drink. 758 calories. And it’s just liquid.

This is completely and utterly irresponsible from the biggest player in the hot drinks chain game.

When I go out for dinner, I don’t want to be worrying about calories and holding back. And so I won’t. But I also don’t want to be fearful that I might order what I think is an innocent drink, but that actually contains over 1/3 of my daily recommended calories. IN ONE DRINK. To me that’s a madness, and everyday coffee shops like Starbucks and Pret need to start acting more responsibly when it comes to their menus – either being more transparent about how calorific they really are, or making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of dangerously-disguised items on their menu.

So do I have a solution? Is there one??

Obviously I don’t because I’m just little old me – opinions without solutions, however, compromise is going to play a huge part. More nutritional education would be a solid place to start, but a kind of education devoid of fear-mongering, tying together body positivity and healthy mindsets with the science behind our choices. And this really should start in schools.

Having said that, the biggest step towards a solution would need to come from the food industry itself and that’s not going to happen easily. They have their priorities. Capitalism is the only thing to say. Ultimately the consumer’s best interests are not at heart. So it’s on us to make those choices. It’s about finding the balance between avoiding calorie counting whilst also being sensible enough to make choices that aren’t going to lead to significant health problems at some point in life.

I don’t want to stress anyone out. I don’t want to stress myself out. It shouldn’t be a battle, but I know for myself, at least, often it is.

The more we talk about different relationships with food, the more we can understand the way our brains and our stomachs relate to each other, and perhaps in time, this kind of open dialogue will help us to come up with the compromise required to make progress.

Be wise to what you eat. But remember that we need food to survive. Food is essential. Look for choices that make you happy and respect your body.  It’s all about balance, not avoidance.

I’m still working on it. If I find any more answers, I’ll let you know.

¡Comemos!

xo

Food Waste is for Losers

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Second year of uni. Food plan for the weeks ahead sorted. £80 Morrison’s shop delivered.

(Yes £80 – this is what happens when you don’t drink that much)

This was the way things went every month. Stock up and then by the end of the month my food supply would be depleted ready to start again.

Or at least that’s how I expected it to work. But my food plans would change constantly and after weeks had gone by I would find heaps of gone off food in the back of the fridge, all of it ending up in the bin.

And I didn’t really think much of it.

Fast forward a few years however, and lots has changed. Now, to me, food waste is criminal. It’s very rare that I end up throwing stuff away, and that’s how it should be.

This is a sort of guide with a number of suggestions and recommendations on ways that you can make the most of what’s in your cupboards, but also help to reduce commercial food waste.

On a personal level, Nadiya’s Time to Eat was what started my full on appreciation for my freezer. So many of the foods I’ve thrown away over the years would’ve been perfectly edible had I frozen them. Your freezer is your friend and the sooner you realise that, the less waste you’ll end up with.

The current contents of my freezer are as follows:

Cardamom Ice Cream

Gingerbread Fondant Cups x3

Vegan Sausages x4

Chips

Edamame Beans

Peas

Shortcrust Pastry

English Muffins x2

Bacon x3

Squid

Smoked Salmon

Broad Beans

Focaccia x1

Croquettes x1

Vegan Fries

Bagels

Shellfish Stock

Some of the things on this list are obvious – where else would you keep ice cream? But others have meant I’ve preserved food that otherwise wouldn’t have made it.

Take the Gingerbread Fondant Cups for example. I made dessert for two people. When it comes to buying ingredients, just making two little fondant cups isn’t really worth it, so I ended up with about nine. There was never any chance of me eating 9 in one sitting, so they’ve now been resting in the freezer for a few months, ready for me to dish up as dessert if I ever have guests over, or for my flatmates.

Making sure you freeze in practical portion sizes is essential. If you tend to just be cooking for one, don’t freeze 3 chicken breasts together – you’ll come to regret it when you only want to defrost one.

My freezer is also a saviour for bready carby products – bagels, muffins, and all sorts of actual bread. Okay, so it’s never quite the same after being defrosted, never as soft and fluffy, but it’s edible, and when you slather it with fillings, the bread really isn’t the star of the show anyway. The focaccia I made the other day is waiting patiently until I delve back into my Max’s Sandwich Shop book in a month or so’s time – and because that’s already sorted, the sandwich recipes I want to try will take me ¼ of the amount of time what with not having to make the actual bread again.

This is one of the sandwiches I made for lunch this weekend with a portion of the focaccia I’d frozen weeks ago. All that remained was to whip up some guacamole and fry an egg!

You can also make the most of slightly stale bread by blending it to breadcrumbs or toasting cubes of it for croutons. This is a much better option than buying packets of these straight from the supermarket.

Another thing that I’m not afraid to do is freeze leftover food that I’ve bought from stalls and restaurants. I currently have my loaded fries from Temple of Seitan sitting in there after I couldn’t manage to eat them the other week as I’d already had 4 wings, a burger and Mac n Cheese lool. I’ve done this before with fries from Truffle, which tasted just as good heated up weeks later. The alternative is wasting perfectly good food and in my mind that’s just not a option. There should be no shame in taking home leftovers when you’ve been out to eat – this is much more responsible than overordering and then allowing it all to be thrown away. It also means you’ve got food ready to be reheated for an evening or lunchtime when you’re in a rush and don’t have time to cook something from scratch.

Saving them for a rainy day.

And the final point to add on the topic of freezing things is that many unappealing-looking scraps can be turned into something useful before or after being frozen.

Example number 1: Shellfish stock

I recently made a crab curry and found myself left with all shell and claws. Instead of binning them straight away, I boiled them into stock with a few other added ingredients, and have now frozen that stock ready for when I make a squid stew later this week.

In the process…
The finished product

Example number 2: Vegetable soup

This one might not sound that appealing but it was so satisfying to make. I froze a load of veg scraps – parsnip peel and cauliflower stalks etc and once I had built up enough, I boiled them, eventually blending the scraps into a smooth soup. You could just make stock, but why make stock and end up throwing the scraps away again when you could actually just blend them and use them as the substance for an entire meal. The idea of eating vegetable peel and stalks doesn’t sound massively appetising but it made for a really satisfying meal.

Before the blending

Example number 3: Aquafaba mayo

I was surprised to learn during my vegan week (from Rachel Ama) that vegan mayo can be made using aquafaba, or the liquid that comes from tinned chickpeas. Instead of draining the liquid when making a chickpea curry, I kept the liquid in a sealed bag and froze in, later using it to make the mayo.

The point is, if you do your research, there are plenty of ways to think outside the box when it comes to using your freezer to its full potential to limit the amount of food waste you’re producing.

And it’s not only vegetable waste that we can avoid. Fruit that is past its best can also be utilised to make tasty snacks. One of the most obvious examples is with bananas. Overripe bananas that are too mushy to eat are perfect to bake with – whether its cupcakes, muffins, or of course, banana bread. Other fruit works in a similar way – it might not taste great eating it on its own, but you don’t need or even want the freshest fruit when it comes to cooking it down for a compote, or baking it into cakes etc.

If you don’t fancy all that added sugar from baking, try making smoothies or shakes instead. Blend the fruit alone, or add milk or crushed ice (or even ice cream if you want to indulge) for the perfect pick me up in the morning. Once again, the fruit does not need to be on top form for this, as it’s going to be blended to a pulpy mush anyway.

Although most often I cook just for myself, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to try cooking bigger joints of meat, so I often find myself with lots of meaty leftovers. I tend to freeze the meat in smaller portions but there are so many things you can do with leftovers like this, whether it’s chicken, beef, lamb, pork or something more exotic. Using a food processor, you can blend smaller chunks of meat into mince. Obviously the texture ends up being quite different to shop-bought mince but it works in exactly the same way, and often has more flavour.

One of my favourite things to do is use leftover meat in a pie. I made a lamb roast dinner a few months ago, and with the leftover meat, I made a harissa lamb pie filling which was delicious.

After the pie there were still leftovers, so wanting to use up the lamb in as many diverse ways as possible, I added it to a greek lamb orzo dish. Another time I used some leftover brisket as the filling to some deliciously cheesy eggy bread. Adding your leftover meat to stews and curries is another perfect, and very easy option, and the possibilities really are endless.

As well as the things you can do in your own kitchen, there are now a number of really useful apps you can use on your phones and tablets to help reduce waste in your local community. Here are 3 of my favourites:

Too Good To Go

A large number of cafés, restaurants and even supermarkets are now using Too Good To Go to reduce their end of day waste. You can browse the app to see which locations will have waste at the end of the day, and how much it will cost (significantly reduced prices of course). You never actually know what specific items you will receive in your mystery bag, as because it’s a sort of pre-order system, the businesses cannot predict what they will have leftover, but they generally tend to give you an idea of the things you can expect to receive. Collection only.

Karma

Karma works in a similar way to Too Good To Go, except businesses upload individual waste items live as they have them, and so you will find food ‘to rescue’ even first thing in the morning. Also, rather than committing to buying a surprise goody bag like in the previous app, with Karma you can choose to buy specific dishes. You’ll even find street food style businesses on this app. Again, it’s collection only but each establishment will let you know when you need to collect the food by. More often than not, the food items are half price.

Olio

Saved my favourite until last! Olio does work alongside businesses but it’s designed more so for normal people like us who have food in our homes that is perfectly good to eat but that we’re not going to use. Instead of wasting it, you put up a post on the app, showing what food you are trying to get rid of with a short description, and when it will be available to collect from yours. People can then contact you if they are interested in collecting the item and you can arrange the pick up. A lot of the time people will leave the item securely wrapped outside the property so that you can collect it even if they’re not home, and I’ve done this at mine so I don’t have to worry about whether I’m going to be in or not. The food items can be brand new and unopened or even half used. This might sound odd, but why let half of a loaf of bread go to waste, or even half a bottle of ketchup if it’s perfectly good to use and it saves you from buying a whole new one! I really recommend using this app, and certainly not turning your nose up at it, as I reckon if we all properly thought about how much food we throw away on a yearly basis, it would be shocking. I’m still delighted about the fact that it saved me a few pounds the other month when I needed some strong bread flour and a lady living about 10 minutes from me had a whole unopened packet going for free. Result.

Most of my suggestions above are probably pretty obvious. Use your freezer. Sounds silly, but every time you’re about to throw something away, just think, is there another way I could use this? Might I want this for a dinner or packed lunch next month? Do I know someone who might want this? Of course there’s no point in filling your freezer with a load of things you are never ever going to go back to, but if that’s the case, you need to question what you’re buying, and how much of it you actually need in the first place.

Bottom line is we’re throwing far too much away. There are constant talks of shortages of this and shortages of that, but how can we be suffering shortages at the same time as wasting so much??

The moral of the story is think very carefully about what you’re buying and what you actually need, and do challenge yourself to try one of the apps or recommendations above this month, and see if you can reduce your waste.

As I often like to reiterate – food waste is for losers.

¡Comemos!

xo

Meat Me Halfway: Week 3

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I’ve actually reached the point where vegan week no longer feels like vegan week. I’m not noticing the differences in the food I’m eating anymore, and it doesn’t feel like such a conscious effort to avoid meat/fish/dairy etc.

Despite that it’s still as exciting. I feel lucky that because I love cooking so much I’m more than happy to invest loads of time in trying new plant-based recipes rather than my vegan diet consisting of dull, flavourless frozen packets of things from that supermarket aisle (Linda McCartney chorizo sausages not included in this shade as they are DELICIOUS). But yeah, I can appreciate that for those who don’t have the time or the interest in cooking, a plant-based diet isn’t necessarily as appealing or exciting.

Anyway, there were a whole new load of things I tried in week 3, both things I made at home and places I ate out at, so let’s dive in and take a look.

I started things off by winging it. I’d bought some okra which, when cooked well, is one of my favourite vegetables. I only tried it for the first time when I was living in Brazil and fell in love with the flavour and texture. This curry however, was a bit shit. I think I should’ve had more patience and let it simmer for longer, but also I forgot that I had coconut milk so added vegan yoghurt instead and that just made it too sweet, so I will not be making a note of this recipe lol.

The only other thing I ate recipe-less was a sandwich that I took to work. I used the focaccia I’d made the week before and added some HECK Thai curry vegan sausages along with a chilli tahini and a lil bit of Bombay Mix for the crunch. I actually really enjoyed these sausages, probably a bit more than the last ones I tried which I think were Indian spiced.

The recipes that I followed throughout the week came from my usual favourites, Nadiya Hussain, Ainsley Harriott, Jamie Oliver and Rachel Ama.

One of the first was a spicy parsnip soup from Jamie’s VEG, which so far I’ve been really impressed with. The photo alongside this recipe looked so enticing but I actually found myself disappointed with the result.

Along with okra, parsnips are my other favourite vegetable (are they a vegetable?) but I lost the elements that I loved in this soup. It was less sweet and didn’t have the creamy, roasted texture that I loved. It was quite a chunky soup, whereas I think I prefer them pretty smooth.

I also tried my first recipe from Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen (just from looking at the recipes it’s my favourite cookbook ever…), but unfortunately I started with the wrong one.

I was trying to be reasonably healthy with his Mango, Avocado Brown Rice Salad but I actually had to throw it away. I’m not sure what I did wrong (other than following a recipe with mango and avocado which are two things I don’t really like lol) but there was this weeeeird bitter taste to it and so yep, it all went in the bin. No disrespect to this cookbook though because honestly the recipes look insane.

I brought it right back to the good stuff though with Rachel Ama’s One Pan Breakfast. Basically just tomatoes, spinach, baby potatoes and mushrooms but this was really satisfying. Simple to make and makes you feel pretty healthy, I’ll defo be eating this again.

On the side of that, I made Nadiya Hussain’s Country Beans and whilst there was lots of flavour and they tasted good, I felt that my attempt just looked a bit shit on the plate so I wasn’t massively fussed by this recipe.

A few days later though I persevered with her Turmeric Tomatoes on Avocado Toast and this was a hit. Although I mentioned I don’t really like avocado, I still occasionally cook with it because if it’s surrounded by other flavours and textures that I do like, I don’t mind it too much. The turmeric with the tomatoes was lovely, and again, this is another recipe that made me feel pretty good about what I was putting into my body.

Just a few more recipes to go, and this one’s a breakfast one. I prepped Jamie’s Ripped Smoothie Bowl the night before so I didn’t have to spend ages before work and I really enjoyed it. The vegan yoghurt didn’t taste any different to me to normal yoghurt, although I’ll admit that I much prefer Rachel Ama’s recipe for granola than Jamie’s which he includes for the smoothie bowl topping.

My vegan week came to an end last night with what I again have to admit was a not great meal. I have never tried ackee before, and the scrambled egg appearance tied in with it being described as a ‘fruit’ weirded me out slightly, but I’m open minded and will give any food a shot. The whole recipe was for Smoky Aubergine and Ackee Scramble Bagel and I had that with Nadiya’s Aubergine Pakora with Spicy Ketchup. The smoky aubergine part was okay and I mostly ended up eating this on the bagel, but the ackee didn’t do it for me and I had to bin it which rarely happens 😦

The aubergine pakora was also a fail but I’m pretty sure this must’ve been my fault somehow – the deep frying process just left me with soggy, saturated aubergine that didn’t have any flavour to it, however, I did rate the spicy ketchup.

So my home cooking was a mixed bag this week, some very decent, simple recipes and others that I just wouldn’t bother with again, but I’m still glad I”ve tried new things.

I’ll run through the desserts and sweet treat snacks that I indulged in next. Only one of these I made myself and they were the Lemon and Ginger Oat Balls. I’ve just scoured the Internet and my phone to see who I got this recipe from but I honestly can’t find the exact one. I loved these though, and after my success with Emma (Mrs) Hollingsworth’s peanut butter and chia jam oat balls last month I’ll definitely be making this kind of thing all the time because they taste amazing but are pretty healthy with no refined sugar.

Something that was slightly heavier on the sugar was Doughnut Time’s Good Pie-dings doughnut. It’s part of their Christmas range and is a vegan doughnut stuffed with mince pie filling and topped with cinnamon sugar. It might not look the most appetising but this was so tasty – both the sugary dough and the sweet filling.

As I’ve also spent a fair bit of time working at Winter Wonderland recently I’ve had loads of opportunities to try some amazing food there. I tried Badbrownie’s Salted Caramel Brownie which they have a vegan and non-vegan version of. This was very tasty, although I do prefer an eeeeven gooier brownie (not easy to achieve when it’s this cold outside).

Other Winter Wonderland highlights included the Chickpea Mushroom Curry from Makatcha. This was so full of flavour, I really rated it. Defo want to try their non-vegan options at some point.

Oh My Dog also have a couple of vegan hotdog options and so I tried the Deluxe. It comes with ketchup, mustard, crispy onions and pickles. It was pretty nice and in terms of the hotdog sausage itself I probably wouldn’t even have known that it was vegan.

My final feast at WW came from Fanny’s Kebabs and was probably my favourite. The hummus and pita were okay but nothing exciting, however, the falafel wrap was delicious. There was so much filling packed in and even the fries were impressive. The seasoning on their Persian Fries is amazing, and I love the minty kick that they have.

The only thing left now is my wonderful food from Temple of Seitan, but as I did a review of all that the other day I won’t go into much detail here (you can find it by clicking on the Reviews tab in the menu above). Long story short – get the bbq wings. Amazing.

Highs and lows complete, another plant-based week complete. Like I mentioned before, I don’t even feel like I have to try now, it’s really very easy to eat like this and there is so much that I want to experiment with.

As the weeks have gone by I feel like my vegan week diet has become more varied and is less dependent on just vegetables and beans/pulses – you just have to do a bit of research to see what’s out there and work out what the simplest substitutes are.

Meat Me Halfway: Week 4 will be coming to you a bit sooner next time, as in order to avoid it falling on Christmas (Plant-based Christmas???? I think not), I’ll be doing it a week earlier.

I have a few brunch and street food places that I’m super excited to try and bring to you next time around so you can look forward to that in a few weeks’ time.

See ya

¡Comemos!

xo

The city where you’ll never go Hungary

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Another food-travel post has landed. Less of the other-side-of-the-world Indian adventure this time, and instead, a jam-packed city break a little closer to home.

If you haven’t already guessed from the puntastic title (it’s terrible but I’d be a fool to let it slip by), I spent a few days in Budapest, which seems to be becoming one of the most popular city break destinations in Europe.

My previous travel posts have taken quite different forms; Brazil was more of a guide, India was grouped into categories, and Bologna had a more story-telling feel to it. This time I’m going to go through my foodie experiences dish by dish, giving a mini insight into each one.

I ate a lot. A lot a lot a lot. The gym will be seeing a lot of me this week to compensate. But it was entirely worth it, so here we go…

So, our first dinner took place at Aurum Bistro, and had been recommended by my parents who had a great meal there. I’d studied the menu on multiple occasions so had a pretty good idea of what I was going to have.

Dish number 1: Traditional Goulash Soup

I love that my very first taste of Hungary was of their most famous dish. You’ll often find this in two forms on restaurant menus – firstly as a lighter, less meat-heavy soup in the Starter section, and then again as a thicker, more hearty stew as a Main.

The paprika had a spicier kick to it than we’re used to at home, and overall I thought the soup was delicious, with soft, creamy veg, and not too much beef.

I rate it: 9/10

Dish Number 2: Duck Breast with Porcini Risotto

This particular dish was recommended by my parents and so was basically the whole reason I wanted to try out this restaurant.

The duck had been cooked beautifully, was super tender with lots of flavour and the creamy risotto was the perfect accompaniment.

I rate it: 9/10

Dish number 3: Somlói Sponge Cake

Dessert-wise we shared a couple of things between us so that we could try more. Somlói ended up popping up on literally every menu we came across, and I’m a sucker for the word ‘traditional’ – I will always (sometimes naively) buy into anything that claims to be a staple ‘must-try’.

This one was odd though, it looked great, but I wasn’t mad on it. Maybe because of the marzipan and nutty flavours, and the sponge felt damp, as opposed to moist (get over it).

I’m glad I tried it but I don’t need to order it again..

I rate it: 4/10

Dish number 4:  Gundel Pancake

Another traditional dessert, I preferred this second one, but it still wasn’t quite to my taste. It looked very striking, with the almost black chocolate sauce and bright pink mini meringue, but the nutty pancake filling, again, didn’t do it for me. It’s quite a bitter dessert, with a subtle orangey flavour, but so far, the savoury is still outperforming the sweet.

I rate it: 6/10

Dish number 5: Meat Lover’s Langos

A brand new day, and after spending a while at the thermal baths, we were super hungry by the time we got to the Great Market Hall. All the food hubs are upstairs, and you have to push your way through the long queues and narrow walkways. For me, there was no doubt that I was going to get a Langos – I’d heard a lot about them before arriving in Budapest.

The base is so much tastier than it looks. The dough is soft, warm, with a lightly-fried flavour and you can pile toppings as high as you like. I went for the meatiest option, with chicken, salami, lots of grated cheese and of course sour cream, which the Hungarians seem to be obsessed with. I would’ve loved it if the cheese had been melted but it was still good.

You kind of have to ignore the fact that all the toppings are pre-prepared and have been sitting around for ages in Subway-style plastic boxes, but this is not a gourmet dish, it’s a typical fast, street food and so if this is what you expect, you won’t be disappointed at all.

I rate it: 8/10

Dish number 6: Duck Liver Paté

It’s not the first time I’ve gone away, not thought to pre-book restaurants at the weekend, and found myself struggling through the city desperately hoping somewhere will take us. That’s exactly what happened to us on the Friday night, and not willing to compromise on Hungarian food in favour of generic bbq and burger places, we eventually found somewhere with the capacity to take us in (Cupákos restaurant).

I tried some of this starter that my flatmate ordered, as duck and goose liver are another thing that can be found on every menu in Budapest. This was lovely and creamy, and a great sized starter that’s not too filling.

I rate it: 7/10

Dish number 7: Bone Marrow

This restaurant didn’t have any appealing desserts so we went all out on the starters. I was super excited to order mine as I’ve never had bone marrow before, and I was already slightly disappointed that we hadn’t been able to get a table in the restaurant that had rooster testicle stew on the menu (lol), so this was a decent, slightly unconventional alternative.

I didn’t realise the texture would be so sort of mushy, not that that’s a bad thing. To be honest I’m not really sure what it actually tastes like because all I could taste was garlic and butter but I would never complain about such a thing. I really, really enjoyed it and would defo order again.

I rate it: 9/10

Dish number 8: Pork Neck with Potatoes and Parsnip Purée

This was one dish that didn’t look the most exciting (especially with those awful cheap-looking red plates) but actually was delicious. The pork was beautiful, and the puréed parsnip delicious. Normally I’m put off by the concept of purées because they’re too fussy and often you’re just given a tiny blob, but this was enough to make it worthwhile and really highlighted the flavour of the parsnip. I didn’t even mind the potatoes, which I always complain are normally a waste of carbs!

I rate it: 9/10

Dish number 9: Chimney Cake

I had sussed out Street Cakes on Instagram before arriving, as their Chimney Cakes looked incredible – full of colour and with every topping you can imagine.

The little café was cute with friendly ladies serving, and I chose to build my own, but using a picture of one I’d found on Instagram as my inspiration. There was cinnamon sugar on the outside, a thin layer of jam in the middle, and then the hollow dough was filled with banana ice cream and topped with marshmallows, sprinkles and caramel sauce.

It looks beautiful and it tasted good. The dough was actually crunchier than I’d expected, and the banana ice cream did taste very artificial but I suppose that’s what you have to expect of anything that describes itself as ‘banana-flavoured’.

To be honest though, his isn’t something you order for the flavour – it’s all about the aesthetic, the indulgence and the fun, so I’d recommend this place for those reasons.

I rate it: 7/10

Dish number 10: Goosey Gustav Burger

What’s a trip abroad without trying out their exclusive Mcdonald’s menu items? After my Chimney Cake, I couldn’t stomach a whole meal so just went for the intriguing-sounding Goosey Gustav burger.

What could be more Hungarian in Mcdonald’s than beef patties topped with goose liver?? Honestly, other than a standard Big Mac, this was the best burger I’ve ever eaten in Mcdonald’s, from the textures to the flavour. Not sure exactly what the mayo was but it wasn’t just plain and it tasted amazing with the liver. It is a double burger but I took out one patty, as for me, having multiple patties never enhances the flavour or eating experience and I wasn’t particularly hungry.

So buzzed from this still.

I rate it: 10/10

Dish number 11: Curried Apple and Celeriac Soup with Toasted Almonds and Pesto

Our final dinner took place at Alma and Körte, which was another place I had seen good reviews of on Instagram. This soup just sounded so interesting to me, and it was probably the best thing I ate all trip. It was delicious, from the celeriac flavour with the sweetness of the apple, to the crunch of the slivered almonds and oiliness of the pesto, with a beautifully creamy finish overall. You must try this.

I rate it: 10/10

Dish number 12: Lamb Shank with Dried Fig Cous Cous

I’ve never actually had lamb shank before so Budapest was amazing for encouraging me to try types of meat yet undiscovered to me.

Although the meat had been cooked really well, I’m not sure the heavy, rich sauce worked so well with lamb. I feel like it would’ve been better suited to a meat with a less distinctive flavour like beef or ox. I still enjoyed it but it wasn’t the best combination. The cous cous was very nice though, and made a change from all the root veg side dishes I’d had so far.

I rate it: 7.5/10

Dish number 13: Cottage Cheese Fritters with Forest Fruit Compote

This sounds weird. And a bit scary. Cottage cheese. As a dessert. Fried. But omg I loved it. The fried exterior wasn’t oily or heavy or too thick, it was just enough of a crunch to work amazingly with the soft cheesy centre. Most of the flavour came from the deep, sharp compote and so there was no issue with the cheese tasting odd.

I rate it: 8.5.10

Dish number 14: Mulled Wine

May as well throw a drink review in here, especially as weirdly I’d never tried mulled wine before because I never used to like spices in sweet foods and drinks. We got this from the small Christmas market in Deák Ferenc Square where the Budapest Eye is. We got to keep the cute mug, and although it was very sweet, it was ideal for a cold winter’s day.

I rate it: 7/10

Dish number 15: Pork with Potato Rosti

I was amazed by the food on offer at the market, and wanted to try everything, but with eyes bigger than my belly, I had to try and be at least a little bit sensible. I didn’t actually know that the pork came with the potato rosti when I first ordered it. I got drawn in by the whole pig head sitting on the display and had to try the meat. I have to admit that it was very salty, and so was more hammy than porky with that slightly rubbery texture. Having said that, for some reason I absolutely loved the rosti. It was very oily having obviously just been deep fried but god it tasted good.

I rate it: 6/10 for the pork, 9.5/10 for the rosti

Dish number 16: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Paprika Sausage

Cabbage rolls were another thing that I felt I couldn’t leave without trying. These ones were stuffed with pork, came with more cabbage on the side and a big paprika sausage and of course, drowned in sour cream. The sausage was great, really flavoursome, and the cabbage was also really nice, although it’s briney flavour can be divisive, as to my flatmate, the sourness of it tasted a bit ‘gone off’. Again though, this whole dish was super salty, so I left a huge amount which is not like me – not necessarily because I was full but just because I couldn’t take anymore of the salt!

I rate it: 7/10

Dish number 17: Marzipan Ball

My final few ‘dishes’ are all sweet treats that I bought from the market to take home. I’d always said I didn’t like marzipan, but as I’m so much less fussy now than I was years ago, I decided to retry it. I can still understand why I hated it so much when I was little, as the aftertaste does tend to linger, but actually this was pretty nice, what with the soft, spongey centre.

The stall where I got these treats had so much on offer so there’s definitely something to satisfy everyone.

I rate it: 7/10

Dish number 18: Don’t have a fucking clue what this was

Very helpful. Kinda biscuity. Biscuit-sandwich-like. Sticky, nutty filling. Bit of a chocolate glaze. Tastes good. Why not try?

I rate it: 7/10

Dish number 19: Chocolate Bark with Dried Cranberries

This didn’t seem as traditional, i.e. I’m sure I could find something like this at home, but it looked so appetising and tasted equally as good. The chocolate was slightly crunchy and then the sweet cranberries on top added a sharp spike of flavour. Don’t know how I only managed to take one bite, but then again, it is sitting in my room now, waiting for me to devour it when I’m craving a snack.

I rate it: 8/10

Dish number 20: Cherry Rétes (Strudel)

It’s so satisfying that without trying, I’ve finished on such a clean number of dishes. Number 20, and the last thing I ate was this lovely, and very filling strudel. They had options with cottage cheese, and also apple versions but I went for the pure cherry.

The pastry is thin but not very flaky which was good, and there is a generous amount of filling inside. Again, I only had one bite but can’t wait to finish this off at some point.

I rate it: 8/10

Budapest really did surprise me in terms of how much of a foodie destination it is. And so that’s everything!

Almost…

Have to give a shoutout to the Cardamom Chocolate Plum Jam that I took a risk in buying at the market because it sounded incredible, but I didn’t manage to get it through airport security RIP 😦

Just a few little notes before I leave:

We suffered numerous dramas along the way which ultimately just added to our experience but here are my words of warning for anyone venturing to Budapest.

  1. Don’t be fooled (by the rocks that I got..). You do not need slippers to go in the outdoor thermal baths, you only need them for the indoor ones. So if you’re not going in the indoor ones, do not let the misleading sign above (or the snake of a lady at the slipper stall) trick you into thinking you need to buy them. We bought them, realised our mistake, had a go at a few people, and eventually got a refund after standing our ground. If in doubt just take some flip flops with you.
  2. If you head to where the famous ruin bars are (which you should), do not go into this bar which I unfortunately don’t know the name of but has this ridiculous sticker outside (see image below) which they must’ve stolen or forged. We ordered drinks separately and as I was about to pay, my flatmate questioned why she was being charged much more for her wine then mine. The old bald man behind the bar started making up a load of bullshit and just plucking prices out of thin air, and upon being questioned he then had a tantrum and aggressively told us he suddenly didn’t have any white wine and took the glasses back from us. If you don’t want to be treated poorly by a sexist loser then do not visit this bar which is next to Szimpla Kert.
  3. Beware of old 500 Forint notes. We were given one in change without realising it was old and then nowhere would accept it so then couldn’t spend that at all and had basically been shortchanged. The old note is darker in its red colour than the new one which is brighter but safer to google it if you’re not sure.
Beware of the bar behind this door and it’s ginormous bellend of a barman

Once again, if you’ve read all of this, thanks a million, plz like and subscribe via email to hear about more adventures of mine.

Rants over. Beware of the above. Visit Budapest.

See ya…

¡Comemos!

xo

Yaalu Yaalu

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Back to my individual restaurant reviews, and this one, lucky for me, is just down the road.

I think sometimes I neglect places super close to me, instead favouring restaurants in Central that keep appearing on the social media scene and are very hyped up, whereas actually sometimes it’s good to take a step back and have a look at what you actually have on your doorstep.

Yaalu Yaalu is a Sri Lankan restaurant on Green Lanes, nestled amongst the huge number of fantastic Turkish places. It stands out along the high street with it’s light blue and white exterior and interesting decor. I had walked past it a fair few times and thought that it looked pretty nice, but it was my flatmate’s suggestion to go for her birthday dinner that finally got me there.

We went on a Thursday evening so it was pretty quiet, but there were still other people in there. It’s so lovely on the inside, and clearly a lot has been put into the restaurant’s presentation.

We decided to share all plates as they aren’t huge portions, but the price reflects this. We also ate our starters and mains together, but there are clearly labelled starters and mains on the menu.

First up with one of my choices, I was intrigued by the ‘Yaalu Gives You Wings’ coconut oil-infused chicken wings. I wouldn’t normally order chicken wings but the coconuttiness was what appealed to me.

Apologies for the quality, and sometimes lack of, photos. The lighting wasn’t idea for photo-taking, added to the fact that I just wanted to get some quick snaps so that we could enjoy our meal without me spending ages rearranging and rephotographing everything.

I feel like you can look at these wings and get an idea of how flavoursome they are just from their appearance. They did have a pretty spicy kick to them, but that always works for me. Would definitely recommend these.

Next up is the okra, or ‘Ladies Fingers’, which is one of my favourite vegetables, if not my absolute favourite.

To be honest I wasn’t blown away by this okra. I feel like it didn’t have a huge amount of flavour and it wasn’t as ‘meaty’ in texture/substance as okra I’ve had before so it didn’t soak up flavours as well. It wasn’t unpleasant at all, and is still a nice side, but nothing exciting.

For my own side, I got a coconut roti which I didn’t get a picture of. It wasn’t soft, but had been divided up into almost pitta chip-like pieces. It wasn’t amazing but was a really good way of scooping up all the sauces, and the little coconut sambal style chutney on the side was sweet and tasty too.

This next shocking image is of the chilli paneer and aubergine dish (‘Humble Moghuls’). The sauce and flavours here were really good, and you can see how creamy it is. This was another really good dish, with a fair bit to share around between us.

My absolute favourite dish, I sadly don’t have a photo of. Although it was much nicer than it looked. I chose the ‘Wilding’, wild boar in a spicy (flavour-wise rather than in terms of heat) and it was beautiful. Such tender meat in a salty, cuminy curry style sauce, and there was a decent amount of meat served up in small chunks. This definitely was the most impressive thing we ordered and I’d urge anyone who visits to try it.

This final dish slightly defeats the object of the photo as you can’t actually see the fish wrapped in the banana leaf but you get the idea. This is the ‘Catched…Wrapped…Sealed.’

This sea bass took a little longer to come but that was fine as they told us in advance and good to know it’s being cooked to order. I’ve been thinking recently about how I always neglect fish dishes in restaurants – I’ll often order seafood like mussels, lobster, prawns etc but fish I too often ignore so I was excited to try this sea bass. To be honest I wasn’t that fussed by it. It was nice but again, I wasn’t getting a huge amount of flavour so I’m not sure it’s something I would order again here but it was good to try.

Overall though I really enjoyed the meal. There was so much on the menu that I wanted to try but just couldn’t with only having three bellies to feed! The service was great, overall price such good value for money, and it was just a really nice dining experience overall.

I definitely think it’s worth making a trip to Green Lanes to try, and the chicken wings and wild boar dishes are top of my recommendations.

Sri Lankan cuisine is not one that gets much airtime, so let’s change that and…

¡Comemos!

xo

Ultimate Recipes

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Hello. I currently feel like a big bag of poo and can barely motivate myself to write, but if I continue to lie here watching Netflix all afternoon/evening hoping my illness will disappear I am going to go mad. If the poo reference hasn’t put you off, please continue to read.

This is the second post in my ‘ultimate’ series, bringing you my top recommendations. This time things are a little bit different – we’re not talking dining out, but rather cooking at home.

Home cooking can be daunting – potentially time-consuming, requiring a load of obscure ingredients, and with a risk that it might not go to plan at all. But don’t let that put you off! It can also be massively rewarding, and I’m giving you a head start in providing a solid set of recipes that have worked a treat for me, leaving you with delicious and creative meals to dish up to your friends and family.

Just a little note on the ‘Effort Level’ section. This is based more so on how long it takes to make and many elements and/or techniques are involved. Just because something is high in effort, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s difficult to make, only that you might need a bit more patience!

We’ll start with my favourite breakfast and brunch recipes…

7. Cauliflower Hash and Eggs

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in ‘Time to Eat’

Effort level: Medium

Dietary info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)

This one was a big surprise for me. I find it quite difficult to make something cauliflower-based that I enjoy, but this grated cauliflower hash was actually so tasty, what with all the flavour from the chilli and chives. The fried egg isn’t supposed to leak like this but overall I think my attempt looks pretty impressive, so if you want something filling and can be bothered to go wild with a grater then defo have a go at this.

6. Granola

Recipe by: Rachel Ama in ‘Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats’

Effort level: Easy

Dietary info: Vegan (contains nuts)

You might find yourself thinking, ‘why would I make granola when I can just buy it?’ But personally I found it really satisfying knowing exactly what had gone into it. You can customise with any additional dried fruits etc, and I also enjoyed junking it up a bit by adding the vegan cookie dough from Doughnut Time’s Ice Ice Bae Bae doughnut in there too.

5. Cheese, Chorizo and Spring Onion Pancakes

Recipe by: Ottolenghi @ https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/cheese-chorizo-and-spring-onion-pancakes

Effort Level: Easy

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs, dairy

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a savoury pancake more so than sweet. This one was more like the size of a crepe but with the density of an american pancake and so one was plenty enough for lunch. Again, you can customise the toppings, so along with the chorizo and spring onion, I had some manchego that needed using up so I dropped that into the batter as it was cooking so that it melted into the pancake. Only downside then is that when you flip the pancake the melted cheese sort of sticks to the bottom of the pan. But it still worked and most of it stayed within the pancake.

4. Sweet Potato Cakes with Poached Eggs

Recipe by Kyle Boyce (London Grind), available from BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)

Like with the Cauliflower Hash, this one is slightly more effort just because of all the gratey-gratey but it is worth those extra few minutes of prep time. The result ends up being a crunchy delight, topped with a (hopefully) gooey-yolked poached egg. Bursting with flavour.

3. Sausage and Egg Bap with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Recipe by: BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains pork, eggs

One of my absolute favourites. I actually attempted to make the white baps as well but I won’t necessary include that in my analysis of the recipe as they were way too stodgy and hard, but following the recipe and using shop-bought rolls would work perfectly. The sausage patty was delicious, my fried egg perched beautifully on top, and the spicy tomato sauce brought everything together. This is very easy to make, I’ve just given it a medium effort level due to the different aspects that you have to work on separately. You could go wild and add bacon too for the Full English experience.

2. Cinnamon French Toast Drizzled in Chocolate

Recipe by: Rachel Ama in Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats

Effort Level: Easy/Medium

Dietary Info: VEGAN!!

Vegan French toast is the most exciting discovery I have made recently. I won’t spend too long talking about this one as I mentioned it in my last post (Meat Me Halfway: Week 2). You do not need eggs at all to create the mixture to coat your bread, and this one was really delicious, although I fucked up the chocolate a bit and it wasn’t supposed to be quite so runny.

1.Semolina Halva with Cheat’s Paratha

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains ghee, nuts

This is my ultimate breakfast/brunch recipe. Well, not my recipe sadly, but my favourite recipe to follow. I had no idea what this even was when I got this recipe book but thought I’d be a bit adventurous and try it out anyway. I perhaps wasn’t as open-minded back then because I wasn’t massively optimistic about liking it. But let me tell you, this is beautiful. The buttery, orange flavour with the crunch of the nuts and slight sweetness from the dried fruit; not to mention the ‘parathas’, which in this case are literally just balls of puff pastry rolled and flat and dry-fried. They end up warm and slightly spongy, and then you can pile the semolina on top, or even indulge in them taco-style if you’re an animal like me.

Next up let’s have a look at lunch and dinner. I split up the categories in this way because I couldn’t decide what exactly constitutes lunch, and what would be classed more as dinner, so this seemed more logical.

15. Butternut Pasta Soup

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain, in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Vegan

I never used to be a fan of soup, not really classing it as a proper meal but I’ve made some really tasty ones in the past year or so. I’m always in two minds about these kinds of ‘pasta’ soups. I’ve tried a few and for me personally I don’t think the orzo or whatever pasta shape it is enhances the dish in anyway – I either want pasta or soup, not an odd combination of the two. But whether you add the orzo or not, this is a delicious soup, managing to be super creamy without the addition of cream itself. The chipotle flakes add a warming kick, making it perfect for these long winter nights.

14. Canneloni Filled with Spinach and Ricotta

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

Making your own pasta is a bit of a ballache but it is really rewarding, knowing you’ve made every element of the dish yourself. It’s not actually difficult, mainly just mixing your egg and flour to make the dough but then obviously it does require a pasta machine to create the sheets (they’re not particularly expensive). The béchamel with the passata, and ricotta filling makes this stuffed pasta dish super indulgent but the flavours go way beyond tomato and cheese.

13. Blender Beetroot

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

This is honestly one of the quickest and easiest things to make, requiring so few ingredients. Once the beetroot has been blended, your sauce is sorted. When added to the pasta, everything turns a beautiful deep purply pink. Top that off with feta and dill and you’re good to go.

12. Bhel Puri Salad

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Vegan

Salads are generally dead. So uninspiring, leaf upon leaf of bland rabbit-food textures. HOWEVER, just look at this one. I was shocked. This salad is so delicious, and yes that’s partly because instead of leaves there are poppadoms and Bombay Mix but it’s still mostly comprised of radish, tomato and onion so is still pretty healthy. I loved the crunch, it was incredibly refreshing and so vibrant with all the colours.

11. One Tray Peanut Chicken

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains nuts, meat

One that worked a treat for my packed lunches at work, just as tasty cold. The combination of the peanut butter with the thai green curry paste is delicious, and the broccoli, gnocchi and chicken make a really interesting combination. It’s not difficult to make as you can just chuck everything in a baking dish together but it does require a fair few ingredients.

10. Amazing Tomato Curry

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

I made this just last night, using a load of cherry tomatoes rather than larger whole tomatoes as recommended. This is super creamy, and one of my favourite things is the interesting addition of mango chutney to the actual curry towards the end of its cooking time. This adds a lovely sweetness that is normally reserved for dipping. Serve with rice (or as I did, Nadiya Hussain’s Masala Eggy Bread).

9. Shell Pasta with Prawns and Saffron

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, dairy

A deliciously creamy-below-the-surface béchamel pasta, with a crispy top after being grilled before serving. Always slightly more effort to make a béchamel sauce rather than using a tinned tomato sauce or jarred pesto, but worth it ultimately, and the fact that this is pretty quick to make overall compensates for this tiny bit of effort.

8. Rigatoni with Soft Cheese and Pecorino Sardo

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: Easy AF

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

Another Gino one right here, and one that I avoided making for ages because there was no photo in the book (anyone else also tend to neglect these recipes??) but when I eventually got round to it, it tasted beautiful despite being so so simple. Again, it’s super creamy, but without having to make a béchamel – this one is just butter, cream cheese and milk. Ironically I don’t have a photo of my finished thing either, probably because it looked so uninspiring with no colourful elements to brighten it up, but trust me when I say the flavour was surprisingly good.

7. Samosa Pie

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs

When this recipe actually worked out for me I was over the moon. Anything that involved me making my own pastry from scratch, I was sure would be a complete disaster but just look at it! The hot water pastry was actually very simple to make, and the samosa filling tasted so authentic. 100% recommend this recipe if you’ve got a load of people to impress!

6. Green Spinach and Lemon Risotto with Crispy Prosciutto

Recipe by: Rosie Birkett via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains pork, dairy

Risotto is slightly more time-consuming to make, constantly topping up the stock until the rice is plumped up and creamy, but this recipe is worth it. The blended spinach gives it a beautiful colour and the crispy prosciutto on top adds some variation texture-wise.

5. Stuffed Curried Aubergines

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

Aubergines can be dry and tasteless if you don’t cook them well, but add a delicious curry paste with a whole load of spices, sandwich it inside the aubergine and roast, and you end up with a soft, creamy, dreamy vegetable. I paired this curry with Rachel Ama’s coconut rice rather than plain boiled.

4. Prawn and Salmon Burgers with Spicy Mayo

Recipe by: Elena Silcock via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, eggs

The first time I had a salmon burger was at an amazing restaurant in Lisbon, and for some reason, I remember wondering how on earth they made them, as if making a burger out of fish would be the most complex thing in the world. It’s actually not. This burger has so much flavour, the spicy mayo is a beautiful addition, and providing you’re not attempting the buns yourself, is actually pretty straightforward to make.

3. Roast Leg of Lamb with Basil and Mint Pesto

Recipe by: James Martin via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: meaty meat meat meat (also contains nuts)

Cooking whole joints of meat can be quite daunting. I’ve only started trying it recently, and I have had a couple of disasters. But this lamb turned out beautifully – tender and almost creamy, and the pesto sauce is something different to traditional roast lamb with just a blob of mint sauce on the side. You’ll have to excuse the odd combination of sides on the plate below – I wouldn’t serve this odd combo up to anyone else but I was just trying a few recipes at the same time. I froze the leftover lamb and had it in a few other meals later down the line, including Greek Lamb with Orzo, and a Harissa Lamb Pie and the meat was still delicious in both.

2. Beef Burgers with Bacon Jam

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: All the meat, plus eggs

Another burger recipe here, and one that I adored. I used blue cheese instead of whatever cheese was in the recipe but other than that I think I followed it pretty accurately. I’ve come to love the idea of a fried egg to top a burger, and the bacon jam was also super tasty, despite my scepticism reading the instruction to add coffee powder…

1.Meatloaf Roll

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs

So this is it. One of my absolute favourite lunch/dinner recipes. I’ve made this a couple of times now and anyone who’s tried it has really enjoyed it. It is slightly more effort what with all the elements you have to combine, but at least there’s no expectation for you to make your own puff pastry. Fuck that. Also, any marmite haters should ignore the fact that diluted marmite coats the pastry in between the crust and the sausage meat centre, because I don’t like marmite, but actually the very tiny amount adds a deliciously subtle sweetness when you bite into it. The eggs lined up in the centre make for a super satisfying sight when you cut through the roll. Such an interesting meal, and one that won’t disappoint on flavours.

Exciting section coming up. This one is all about the desserts (dancing lady emoji). So there are actually only 3 in this section, and they are all Nadiya recipes, in case you hadn’t already noticed how much I love her.

3.Gingerbread Melt in the Middles

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy

In third place, we have these little gingerbread cookie cups filled with a melted chocolate centre. This is another recipe that didn’t come with a picture, and when I started trying it I don’t think I’d actually read the recipe through beforehand so didn’t really have any idea what I was making. These turned out such a treat though. Cooked through, the biscuit cup is buttery and delicious and then cutting into it, the melted chocolate centre oozes out. I served this with Nadiya’s Cardamom Ice Cream that she makes alongside her Banana Tarte Tatin (a recipe that actually failed for me lol).

2. Burnt Almond Butter Fudge

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy and nuts

I’d never realised fudge was this straightforward to make. It is slightly disconcerting when you realise as you’re making it that it’s pretty much pure sugar, but the flavour is stunning. This one had the most incredible smooth, creamy texture. I’m never a fan of the kind of fudge you have to sort of scrape bits off with your teeth rather than being able to bite straight into it (reminds me particularly of shitty cinema pick & mix fudge…). The almond flavour was lovely, and it’s given me the confidence to try making my own flavour variations of fudge using this recipe as the base.

1.Choco Lime Roulade

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs

This is my favourite dessert recipe. Often my favourite recipes end up being unexpected ones, or basically the ones that I think are going to be a disaster, and actually turn out to be pretty impressive. I 100% assumed this sponge would break up as soon as I rolled it, but it didn’t at all. I found the chocolate/lime flavour combination really interesting and unusual and I would definitely serve this up to guests again!

We’re nearing the end and it’s my final section – snacks and sides. Either dishes that you could eat alone when you’re peckish mid-afternoon, or that you could combine with the above recipes.

4. Banana Honey and Hazelnut Smoothie

Recipe by: BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Contains nuts, dairy

In fourth place is actually a drink/smoothie, but one that is a great breakfast addition. The honey stops the banana flavour from being overwhelming and the little chopped hazelnuts on top add a lovely little crunch. You could always use soy milk as I did to make it dairy-free.

3. Chunky Halloumi Chips

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs

Who doesn’t love halloumi. Especially halloumi that’s fried. These squeaky cheese chips are delicious, with the saltiness of the halloumi and the added chilli and za’atar for a spike of flavour. If you want to be particularly indulgent, wrap these in prosciutto before frying.

2. Naan Bread

Recipe by: Miriam Nice via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy

Another recipe where the result shocked me. I couldn’t believe how perfect this naan was. From the teardrop shape, to the soft, spongy texture, to the pronounced flavour from the Nigella seeds. Despite learning in India that this kind of naan we’re used to having here doesn’t actually exist there (no teardrop shape, more just like a big, circular, flat and less spongy flatbread), this still was incredibly satisfying to produce and looked shop-bought in a good way. Dipping this into my soups and curries was heavenly. Also freezes well.

1.PBJ Balls

Recipe by: Mrs Hollingsworth at https://mrshollingsworths.com/2019/06/23/pb-j-balls/

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

So I already raved about these in my last vegan blog so I don’t want to repeat myself other than saying these were insanely delicious. You don’t have to make the chia jam yourself if that’s too much effort, using shop bought is fine. Head to the website in the link above for a huge number of other variations of these little energy balls, all of which I want to get round to trying at some point!

And there’s my full round-up of the best recipes I’ve tried in the past year or so. The above have all produced fantastic results for me so I definitely recommend trying some of them out. I think the majority of them can be found online, although it’s always worth investing in a few solid recipe books if you’re looking for inspiration.

If you end up trying any of these, I’d love to see the results, so tag me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn so I can check them out!

And…

¡Cocinamos!

(Google it hun xo)

Ultimate Street Food

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The ‘Rankings’ heading has been floating around on my blog ever since I started it a few months ago, but until now hasn’t actually featured any writing.

The idea of ‘Rankings’ is that I group together my favourite dishes in a range of categories, ie, ultimate cake, ultimate chicken burgers etc etc.

Obviously it takes me a while to have tried enough of any one kind of dish to establish a solid top 10 or so, hence why it has remained blank for all this time.

But now I’m ready with my first in the ‘Ultimate’ series, and it’s my absolute favourite category – Street Food. Now what I mean by street food in this context is anything I’ve had literally in the street, at a food market/food truck, or even a food hall where the trader wouldn’t necessarily be considered a restaurant, but more like a small pop-up style eatery (think London’s Seven Dials/Market Halls etc).

This list is in no particular order – it’s hard enough whittling it down to a top 10 (or 15 in this case) let alone then having to decide which ranks as the absolute best of them all.

You’ll find their Instagram handle in brackets – do check out their amazing social media content to see more of what they do best!

So enough of the rambling, here are my favourite street food eats…

The Athenian (@theathenianuk)

Location: Boxpark Shoreditch

Cuisine: Greek

Dish: Lamb Gyro with Halloumi Fries

I’ve tried a few Greek places in and around London and The Athenian has to be my favourite. Their Gyros (finally worked out it’s pronounced ‘yeeros’) are second to none, and are absolutely packed with all the essentials i.e. meat (lamb in my case), chips, halloumi and salad. The pitta wrap was super soft and the halloumi fries on the side were delicious with a creamy, slightly sweet salad cream style sauce. An absolute winner.

Kottu Lanka (@kottulanka)

Location: Victoria Park Market

Cuisine: Sri Lankan

Dish: Mutton Curry

This was one of the first street food dishes I tried after moving to London and I was blown away. Rarely for me, I hadn’t had a look to see what traders would be at the market and so hadn’t decided in advance what I wanted to try. I think it was the idea of Sri Lankan food that intrigued me in the end – I’m always interested in trying new cuisines that I don’t know much about. I had their mutton curry and it’s difficult to put into words how much I loved it (to be honest if I had ranked these in order starting with the best, this may just be Number 1). The photo really doesn’t do it justice, but the meat was incredibly tender, the sauce on top was beautiful, and I loved the fact that there wasn’t a heavy curry sauce; the flavour just came from the spices and the way everything had reduced down and infused with the meat.

A Pie Party (@apieparty)

Location: Victoria Park Market/Greenwich Market/Canopy Market

Cuisine: Desserts

Dish: Toffee Popcorn Pie

I won’t say too much on this one as my last blog post was entirely dedicated to this amazing business, but as a reminder, my highlight is 100% the Toffee Popcorn Pie with its indulgent blondie-style base and sticky, sweet popcorn topping. A Pie Party is unique on this list, as an original and exciting dessert street food stall. The menu is regularly switched up, meaning there’s always something new to try, and you won’t see any pies like this elsewhere in London (or the country for that matter!).

The Mac Factory (@themacfactorylondon)

Location: Camden Market

Cuisine: Mac and Cheese

Dish: Pesto Mac and Cheese

Okay, so ‘Mac and Cheese’ is not typically considered a ‘cuisine’ in itself (lol) but the heading ‘cuisine’ sounds better than ‘type of food’ etc, so we’ll stick with that. The Mac Factory’s mac and cheese is my favourite that I’ve had so far and I’ve tried quite a few. They have lots of exciting combinations and toppings, making it quite difficult to choose but I went for the Pesto Mac and Cheese in the end. It was so creamy with salty pesto, and mozzarella balls to top it off. It’s as appealing visually as it is flavoursome.

Rice Brother (@ricebrotherlondon)

Location: Spitalfields Market

Cuisine: Chinese/Asian Fusion

Dish: Char Siu Rice Roll

I’d been on the hunt for sushi burritos for a while, and was struggling to find a mainstream option within London’s food markets. This isn’t technically a sushi burrito, as the recipes and ingredients are Chinese-inspired rather than Japanese, but it’s a similar concept, using sticky rice and nori (I think?) to fill out the roll and hold everything together. The Char Siu Roll had so much flavour – the meat was delicious and with the gelatinous rice, worked as a really filling, but not overly-heavy lunch, not to mention they’re super colourful.

2 Lads Kitchen (@2ladskitchen)

Location: KERB King’s Cross (and various other locations)

Cuisine: Afghan

Dish: Chicken Flatbread Wrap

Much like my experience at Kottu Lanka, it was the idea of Afghan cuisine that drew me in, having no idea what that really meant. As I approached the stall, the smell of the grilled meat wafting towards me was incredible. My first bite of the wrap consisted of literally just the flatbread, but even that in itself had so much flavour. After that, it was absolutely packed with chicken, a small amount of relish and lots of hot, spicy sauce (although you don’t have to have it so hot!).

OINK (@oinklondon)

Location: Various (I went to City Point)

Cuisine: Pork Burgers

Dish: Notorious P.I.G and Pepper Pig

Notorious P.I.G

THE best burgers I’ve ever had. Genuinely. You know when you eat something so good, all you can do is close your eyes and savour that deliciousness, hoping that it’ll never end. The Notorious P.I.G consisted of bourbon glazed bacon, a pork patty, bacon chilli jam, mozzarella, bbq sauce and apple slaw. Dreamy. And the Pepper Pig, Sriracha streaky bacon, pork patty, Monterrey Jack cheese, jalapeño salsa and avocado mayo. I loved that these two burgers were very different, as I sometimes find with street food burger stalls that they have a few different burgers that look and taste pretty similar. Can’t recommend these guys enough – life-changing food.

The Bucket List (@chipbuckets)

Location: Various/Cromer (I ordered via Deliveroo in Norwich)

Cuisine: Loaded Chips

Dish: The New Yorker

One of my rare experiences of street food outside of London, this ironically became the complete opposite of street food when I ordered it via Deliveroo to my hotel room in Norwich. I didn’t have time to eat out properly when getting ready for an evening out, so basically went by how interesting the pictures and descriptions looked on Deliveroo (which I now am no longer using due to them being useless when my account got hacked and orders were placed using my money. They failed to delete my account on 3 occasions to prevent access and I’m still waiting for my refund but more on that fun story another time!!!).

This was the unhealthiest thing I’ve ever eaten and admittedly I did feel gross after, but it was so incredible that it was worth it. The New Yorker is a bucket of chips (very decent ones at that, with a crispy, crunchy exterior) topped with umm, everything. Chicken nuggets, gooey, fried Brie, cheese fondue, bacon, bbq sauce and aioli (garlic mayo). If you haven’t had a heart attack just reading that then, congratulations. I’m still salivating.

Bill or Beak (@billorbeak)

Location: Camden Market

Cuisine: Chicken Burgers

Dish: American Fried Chicken Burger

Still my favourite chicken burger that I’ve had in London, they do both grilled and fried options, in case you want something a tad ‘healthier’ lol… but when would I ever choose grilled over fried?? It looks a little squashed because I refused to eat it until I’d taken it on a 45 minute journey home but this didn’t affect the taste and it looked wonderful when I first got it. The chicken fillet was huge and with a super crunchy fried batter. It was very simple, with American style cheese, lettuce and crunchy pickles, but in this case simpler was better. Really impressed, and great service from these guys.

Truffle (@trufflelondon)

Location: Seven Dials Market

Cuisine: Truffle???

Dish: Beef Shin Croquettes

I did have a couple of lovely burgers from Truffle, but what really blew my mind were the Beef Shin Croquettes. These were insanely delicious, with shredded, stringy beef with a crunchy exterior. I don’t actually know what the dipping sauce was but it was beaaautiful. These were heavenly. And I don’t think I have anything else to add.

Hanok BBQ (@hanokbbq)

Location: Victoria Park Market

Cuisine: Korean BBQ

Dish: Korean Chicken and Beef BBQ Bowl

This was an unexpected one. Hanok BBQ had never really been on my ‘desperate to try’ list, but after seeing a few amazing looking photos I decided to give them a try. Everything about this dish exceeded my expectations. I absolutely love sticky rice and so anything sitting on a bed of it gets off to a great start. I decided to indulge in the best of both worlds with chicken and beef, and the meats were sticky, smoky and super flavoursome. The kimchi on the side added that burst of flavour, unique to Korean food, and the side sauce (why do I literally never know what the side sauce actually is???) was AMAZING. It was probably some kind of sriracha mayo, it had that kind of feel/flavour to it, but who knows?

Breadahead (@breadaheadbakery)

Location: Borough Market

Cuisine: Doughnuts

Dish: Salted Caramel Honeycomb Doughnut

I’m labelling this as street food based on the fact that I got it from a stall, in the street, at Borough Market. Breadahead’s doughnuts all have a very uniform look, and their signature trading point is the way they really focus on the actual bake of the doughnut. Their dough is not heavy and is super soft. The fillings are generous and the salted caramel was delicious. The only thing I would say was that the honeycomb genuinely nearly broke my teeth so I couldn’t eat it, but the actual doughnut itself was beautiful.

Motherflipper (@motherflipperuk)

Location: Victoria Park Market

Cuisine: Burgers

Dish: Breakfast Muffin

I think I’d been scarred for life by the Mcdonalds breakfast muffins, which despite all the hype, I thought were kind of gross, but the Motherflipper one looked so good I was willing to try it. I was really pleasantly surprised – delicious sausage patty, oozing cheese, slightly crispy bacon and the perfect fried egg with a gooey yolk. Definitely worth the calories.

Seasoned: Street Food (@seasonedstreetfood)

Location: Hatch, Manchester

Cuisine: Various

Dish: Beetroot and Feta Fries

Fries are never my favourite side. I often leave them out in favour of more exciting options such as croquettes, mac and cheese, things like that. But these fries just sounded incredible. I really love beetroot and so the idea of beetroot flavour fries was really intriguing. The portion was huge and even I couldn’t finish them, but the beetroot dust was delicious, they looked incredibly striking, and the feta sauce on top added a creaminess that enhanced the flavours and textures.

Tarricrii (@tarricrii)

Location: The Market @ University of Manchester (open to anyone – when I visited they were located at Hatch in Manchester)

Cuisine: Arancini

Dish: Butter and Ham Arancino

The best arancino I’ve ever had. You can see how cheesy the centre was, and the rice cooked through beautifully. Massively creamy with a thin, crunchy outer shell, not to mention the size of it! This is really huge and would be a good side to share between two (unless you’re me and you eat it all to yourself).

WILDCARD

I’m going to finish with a Wildcard option, which will be a regular feature of my ‘Rankings’ post. This will be something that doesn’t necessarily fit in with the other options for whatever reason, but absolutely still deserves a mention.

Sai Woo

Location: Jalan Aloor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ciusine: Malaysian/Chinese

Dish: Singapore Vermicelli Noodles

My top 15 have all been within the UK, but the irony is that the majority of the street food we see in this country, is inspired by cuisines from elsewhere in the world. A highlight on my trip to Malaysia was eating the fantastic food on Jalan Aloor, a street full of amazing freshly-made street food. This is also another kind of cheat, as actually this place was more like a restaurant, with the food cooked inside and brought out to you. But I’m going to treat it as street food, as the street itself is full of small stalls cooking dishes before your very eyes, and the restaurants are not restaurants in the typical sense. We ate here 3 times in a row, each time the food was absolutely beautiful, but my favourite of the dishes was this Singapore noodle dish, which I often have when eating Chinese at home. Deliciously spiced with the addition of pork, egg and veg, this street, and restaurant in particular are definitely one to watch if you ever venture to this wonderful country.

So, my round-up is complete. No doubt that week by week I’ll be frustrated at all the amazing new street food I’ve eaten but that I can’t add to the list, all for it being too late, but who knows, I may do an updated version in a year or so’s time! Definitely check out these recommendations, even if you’re not someone who would typically try this eating-in-the-street street food malarkey. Casual dining is becoming huge so stay tuned for a further post in a few months focusing a bit more on some of London’s most popular food markets and halls, rather than the individual dishes.

In the meantime, hop on a bus/tube/bike and…

¡Comemos!

xo

The party you’ll never want to leave

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When I first moved to London just over a year ago, there was one place that I was immediately desperate to try.

Feasting my eyes on London’s foodie scene via Instagram, photos of colourful, innovative, incredible looking pie slices kept appearing week after week.

Those pies were dreamt up and brought to life by Claire Connor, the founder of A Pie Party (@apieparty Instagram), London’s most exciting dessert street food stall.

Claire now runs her dessert business full-time, working hard baking around the clock and coming up with new and exciting recipes that taste amazing and look equally as impressive. As a self-taught baker, Claire has perfected her pie pastry, and so with that solid foundation in place, she can experiment with a number of different flavours and concepts, many of which you’ll find out more about below.

It actually took me quite a few months before I finally ventured to Victoria Park Market in Bethnal Green where A Pie Party has been trading every Sunday for a while back, and the first time I went I naively arrived in the afternoon about an hour before closing, when most of Claire’s creations had sold out. The only thing I could get my hands on was the apple pie, with its generous filling and sweet, cinnamon taste.

I definitely learnt my lesson though, and every time since I’ve been there just after opening at 10, ready to get my hands on the goods.

Not only can you indulge in incredible pies, but A Pie Party also offers other desserts and treats such as cookies, brownies and Rocky Road. One of my favourite is the chocolate chip walnut cookie – possibly one of the biggest you’ve ever seen, but absolutely delicious.

A Pie Party’s second cookie, the Nutella filled chocolate hazelnut one is equally as ginormous as the choc chip and walnut. Only this one goes one step further – it is filled with Nutella. If you can’t finish this yourself, you should be ashamed. It is not for sharing.

A recent variation sees the same cookie filled with Black Milk Cereal’s Kinderella hazelnut cream. I liked the cream, but it didn’t ooze out in the same way as the Nutella, and there wasn’t quite as much packed inside. Still worth trying nonetheless.

One of the regulars that can be found on the stall is the blueberry pie. If you’re not in the mood for a super-indulgent chocolate treat, this fruity option could be the one for you. The blueberry topping is sharp and tangy, and the crumble topping adds a bit of a crunch to contrast the soft berries.

Rocky Road lovers are in luck as you can get your hands on both dark and white chocolate rocky road. I tried both of these in summer, and I couldn’t get enough of them when they’d started to melt slightly and go gooey in the heat. The white one looks beautiful but I surprisingly preferred the dark chocolate one. Would be handy if I were able to dislocate my jaw in order to get this giant slab of heaven in my mouth but sadly, small nibbly bites are the only way.

The chocolate chip brownie is equally as gooey. I really don’t understand the absolute animals who content themselves with dry, hard brownies, when you could devour a fudgey, creamy one. A much more manageable slab than the Rocky Road, this is one for all brownie connoisseurs.

A hugely popular special was the Cookie Dough Cheesecake Pie. One of the things I love about A Pie Party is the combining of different desserts in one – as in, cookie dough / cheesecake / pie. Those three together already sound like a dream. This one was flavoured with vanilla and so the cheesecake filling was very sweet, but in a good way, and the cookie dough ball on top was delicious.

A surprising favourite of mine was the Peanut Blondie Pie. I have resisted peanuts for years and years, always complaining that I didn’t like them, but Claire’s desserts have a strange power over me whereby I’m desperate to try everything despite them including ingredients/foods that I supposedly dislike. And I’m so glad I did give into this one. The blondie base was delicious and the peanut flavour noticeable but not overwhelming.

Next up are two staples that have been firm favourites on the menu for a while. Firstly the Biscoff Browie Pie, definitely a crowdpleaser, considering how long it’s been around. It has a gooey, fudgey base with a Biscoff crumb on top and is utterly indulgent.

The other, is a slightly more recent addition, but one that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The Bourbon Pecan Pie is completely different to anything else Claire has done. The base and pecans are sticky and sweet, and the whisky adds a complementary flavour that isn’t too intense (and that’s coming from someone who’s not a huge fan of alcohol-flavoured desserts).

A summer special that looked as good as it tasted was the Funfetti Birthday Cake Pie. Another dessert hybrid – birthday cake / cheesecake / pie, this one was up there with the best. The funfetti sprinkles added a prettiness to its appearance and the sponge base on top of the pastry was unique.

A Pie Party made an appearance at this year’s London Brunch Fest too, and you may have seen the exclusive pie featured on my blog post about the event. This special was a Bounty Coconut Pie, and I loved it. Sadly there are many people in this world who do not understand the true value of the Bounty, and often leave them untouched at the bottom of the Celebrations tub. But they are fools. Bountys are delicious, and what could be better than a creamy, coconutty brownie-based pie topped with one.

I’ll leave you with my all-time favourite to salivate over – the Toffee Popcorn Pie. This was one of the greatest desserts I’ve ever had; chocolate chip blondie base with toffee popcorn topping and chocolate drizzle sauce. I hope Claire brings this one back as it was incredible.

There is nothing formulaic about Claire’s desserts and that’s part of what I love. Yes, she has perfected her pie pastry, but every other element of the pies is entirely unpredictable. What will top the pastry next time? Sponge? Brownie? Blondie?

Her inventive, imaginative creations really do live up to the Instagram hype, but you know what? Social media hype isn’t enough. Yes, like the photos, react to the stories, but also get yourself down there to try for yourselves. You can get your hands on A Pie Party treats at Canopy Market, Kings Cross Friday-Sunday, Victoria Park Market every Sunday and Greenwich Market every Saturday-Sunday. If you live in the Battersea area, you’ll also find her on Deliveroo.

There is one last thing before I sign off…

Claire’s stall is wonderful, but what would be even better, is a permanent location in London where you could treat yourself to these slices of heaven everyday. A crowdfunding project is underway to raise the funds to open ‘London’s first pie bar’, serving sweet treats by day and cocktails by night. This would also allow Claire to expand her menu, offering things like ice cream sundaes which just aren’t possible on the market stalls.

This can only happen with the support of those who believe in the project. A small amount donated by lots of people could make all the difference, but time is running out. If you would love to support this small business and give it a shot at transforming London’s dessert scene, then head to: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/londons-first-pie-bar/comments#start to donate.

This campaign really needs our support, no matter how little you may be able to offer.

To see loads more of these original pies, that I haven’t been lucky enough to try yet, head to @apieparty on Instagram for droolworthy content. Follow this up with a visit to the stall and…

¡Comemos!

xo