hackney – ¡Comemos!

I’m back with another review, and this one’s fully vegan.

You’ll get the full lowdown of all the vegan cooking and eating out I’ve done during week 3 when I write it all up in the next few days, but for now, we’ll just focus on this one specific feast.

From my flatmate, to work colleagues, to strangers on Instagram, Temple of Seitan had been recommended to me so many times. They have two sites – their main location in Hackney and then another one in Camden.

The Camden one was slightly closer to me so I headed there, but it is quite hidden away; you’d have to actively seek it out because there’s no way you’d accidentally stumble across it.

It’s got a kind of fast food set up to it. You order at the counter and then wait for your name to be called to collect your food, and there are a number of tables dotted around, but it’s not massive inside. It is however, a light, open space that’s not overcrowded, and so although I didn’t eat in, if you were to, it would be a chilled experience.

I only had to wait 5 minutes or so for my food, and the menu is pretty extensive without being overwhelming.

And here’s where you get to take a look at what I got…

Burger-wise I wanted to stick to ‘chicken’ as opposed to the beef substitute as I feel like that’s what they’re more known for. Even so, they have a few different Chick’n combos to choose from so I ordered the Nashville Hot. This comes as a hot dipped Chick’n fillet with ranch mayo, lettuce and pickles. Overall I really enjoyed the burger – it was indulgent and tasty in a decent quality bun, but the only slight disappointment was the patty. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted good, but it was very very thin – like half the thickness of a standard slice of bread (other than the particular side you can see in the photo which got a bit thicker), meaning that you got a lot of crunch from the outer shell but not much texture from the Seitan itself. What with all the lettuce and pickles in the burger, everything just kind of lumped together in a big crunch-fest, rather than being able to note a clear difference between the texture of the patty and the relish. Still would recommend as I reckon this was just an anomaly in the kitchen.

To reiterate what I often mention, I don’t always see the point in ordering standard fries as a side (unless I’m at Mcdonald’s) because they’re never really that exciting and I’d rather try something different, however, the exception to this is if they offer some kind of loaded fries or an interesting twist on the classic. This time I went for the ‘Döner’ Snack Pack – regular fries with vegan doner meat, mayo and spicy sauce.

It’s a pretty big portion, so definitely a sharer (or something to freeze for another time like I have done), and there are a decent amount of toppings. The sauces weren’t bad but I wasn’t a fan of the vegan Döner. The texture was pretty convincing but it didn’t really taste of anything and so I don’t feel that it enhanced the fries in any way. I’d definitely try their other Animal Snack Pack loaded fries if I were to go again.

As this is breakfast, lunch and dinner in one go I’ll move onto the next part of the meal- the Mac ‘n’ Cheese.

You can’t fault them on how much they can cram into this pot, and this is just the regular size. For me though, it just wasn’t creamy enough. The ratio of pasta to sauce was completely off, although that’s not to say it didn’t taste good. The macaroni were very small, meaning that more pasta could be packed in tightly, which in turn meant that the sauce literally just covered a few of the bites on top rather than coating every single piece. It was also quite salty, and so this wouldn’t be my first recommendation, but again, it wasn’t bad at all.

I do love to save the best until last, especially when it’s an unexpected one like this. The BBQ Wings were probably the thing I was least excited about ordering but I was still intrigued enough to try them.

Whereas the quality of the Seitan as a chicken substitute in the burger didn’t really do it justice, the wings really showcased why it’s such a good match. There isn’t really anything here to distract from the Seitan itself, and I found the texture to be very convincing. It doesn’t tear apart in the same way that fried chicken would, but other than that it really is spot on. There’s no oddly suspicious ‘this isn’t meat’ flavour, which allows the bbq sauce to take over without having to mask an unsettling aftertaste.

Some people love eating from the bone, but I find this quite annoying and would rather be able to bite into something freely without having to work my teeth around them so I’m grateful that there’s no dodgy attempt to create a mock bone here (the attempt at this in Biff’s Jack Shack’s jackfruit wings really weirded me out and put me off eating them when I accidentally bit straight into a solid piece of god knows what…)

So these ‘wings’ were my absolute highlight and I insist that if you’re reading this, you try them at some point, whether you’re vegan or not.

The four items together were £23 in total, which I think is pretty decent for London prices, especially as some vegan food I’ve had in the city has been the same amount for half the food.

I enjoyed trying a variety of ‘dishes’, and will definitely be trying the popcorn Chick’n next time.

This kind of food is not just for vegans. It’s indulgent and tasty, and even if you’re the biggest meat eater, you should try to overcome the psychological barrier of thinking ‘but this isn’t meat’ to decide for yourself non-judgementally if you could enjoy this instead of meat from time to time.

And if you hate it? Oh well. At least you’ve been adventurous and tried something new. I don’t even know if I’d choose this over a chicken or beef burger but I’m still really enjoying opening my mind to this new kind of cuisine.

But ultimately if you’re happy and healthy with what you’re eating then all is well; meat, veggie or vegan…

¡Comemos!

What could be more normal than spending the morning of your birthday in a smoked salmon factory in Hackney?

For me, nothing.

I wouldn’t prefer to be drinking, partying, watching Netflix. You name it, nothing would beat it.

It was a pretty last minute plan when I realised I wouldn’t be working, and I’d received an invite from Foodtryb whose community I’ve recently become part of, and this fantastic opportunity had been organised by them.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of a tour of a salmon factory but I turned up, intrigued and ready to learn.

Forman & Field is a family-run business that started producing smoked salmon over 100 years ago. Their factory now runs alongside a kitchen that produces delicious food ready to be shipped to you and eaten at home, a restaurant, and a newly opened deli.

As well as their renowned smoked salmon, they offer a range of other high quality foods including meat dishes, other types of fish and seafood, and even cakes.

DISCLAIMER: As part of the Foodtryb community, this tour, the tasting session and goody bag were free, however, I have not been asked to post anything, and as I have said before, I would not post about an event, business or brand that I wasn’t impressed by (lol #blackfoodfest). My enthusiasm is always genuine, and likewise my disappointment or indifference wherever that may arise!

After dressing ourselves in highly attractive hairnets, jackets and shoe covers, we headed to the factory itself where a huge team were already hard at work, and some had been since the early hours. For those who are sensitive to the intense smell of fresh fish, this would not be the place for you, but to me it was fantastic, and seeing exactly where our food comes from and how it’s prepared was incredibly enlightening.

To begin with, we were shown the salmon being prepared, ready to be salted, so heads removed, and sliced down the middle. A few large patches of skin are also removed so that granulated salt can be added, seeping into the skin, drying the flesh out and travelling right down into the tail. Our wonderful host, Darren, explained that some supermarket-bought smoked salmon can be overly slimy as instead of being dried out with salt, they are left in brine meaning that the moisture is held in. This ultimately means that the quality is much poorer, particularly when frozen and then defrosted.

The visit also emphasised how the point of smoking salmon was never to give it an intentional smoky flavour. I’d never thought much about the fact that the point of smoking the salmon when people started doing it originally was purely to seal in the freshness and flavour back when fridges weren’t available. Therefore the smoky flavour is only something that people have come to demand more recently.

There are no flames used in Forman & Field’s production process. Instead, this wooden block is rubbed against the wheel below causing friction, which in turn produces smoke. They don’t believe that the flavour should be too smoky, and so the subtlety of the flavours in their salmon make it perfect for those who don’t typically enjoy smoked products.

Darren couldn’t give us a thorough tour and demo without telling us all about his world record for the fastest time slicing salmon – he even competed against Gordon Ramsey and you can find the video on their website! The bones have to be removed, and no matter what size the salmon is, there are always 30 to pick out.

There are then a couple of different ways of slicing it – a ‘D cut’, slicing vertically which is the more modern option, and a longer, horizontal cut which was more popular in the past.

We also visited the room where the salmon is hung up – all of them being Scottish salmon – some wild, and some farmed. The farmed was slightly brighter in colour as in the image below.

We welcomed the much needed warmth in our next stop – the kitchen. There was so much going on in here, ready for orders to be shipped out to both big supermarkets and businesses, and independent orders. Some of the dishes being made before us included lobster terrine with langoustine and smoked salmon, and a meat roulade – our first insight into the non-fish dishes produced here.

By this time, we were v excited to try some samples.

I say some samples… no one had anticipated just quite how much food would appear before us, and I have to say the spread was incredible.

First up were the raw basics – simple smoked salmon. We were introduced to both fatty and lean versions so that we could make a judgement on which one we preferred. I’m still not sure, and think I need a bit more practice (!) but for now I’d probably say the fatty one was slightly preferable. We also tried the bit from the belly (centre), and then two slices of the royal salmon.

The royal salmon was beautiful. The slice on the left is plain, and on the right is flavoured with truffle. The pieces were light and buttery with a beautiful texture. I would never have thought that truffle could work so well with salmon in this way but it was delicious – for me it the perfect example of how to use truffle in a dish. Less of the raved-about truffle pasta at Gloria, which is a sickly overload of slimy, wasted truffle. Here there was enough truffle to taste, but it was subtle enough not to feel thrown in for the sake of it.

Next we tried the Swedish gravlax, which contrary to what many people think, is not smoked salmon, as it’s not actually been smoked! This one was flavoured with dill, and it was ok but nothing special.

Surprisingly, I much preferred the ginger and wasabi salmon, despite not really liking wasabi. I found this one creamy and delicate.

On to another course, and this one sounds odd. Salmon jerky. I actually quite like jerky anyway so was looking forward to trying this. It’s pretty salty and so moorish. I noticed some people taking a bite and leaving the rest on their plates but I was straight in there, bite after bite. Really unusual concept, and that’s always something that has me curious!

The first non-salmon-related dish was an onion tart, which I actually brought some of home. Not too eggy, with soft, crumbly pastry and a tasty filling. The scotch eggs also came out at this point. The first one was a smoked salmon scotch egg, and the second, a traditional pork one. Interestingly I did prefer the salmon one, and the egg yolk in the centre was that perfect combination of being cooked yet still gooey.

Writing this is just making me realise how much food there was. It really was a madness. But we’re now onto the fried goodies – croquettes and arancini. First up was the salmon and lobster croquette, then we had thai salmon (my favourite – beautiful flavours) and then smoked haddock. I can’t remember what the first arancino was to be honest, but the second interestingly was a greek salad one with feta. This one was good, and I heard lots of people saying it was their favourite.

YES WE ARE STILL GOING. AND HERE COME THE HIGHLIGHTS. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the words ‘mac ‘n’ cheese’ floating through the air. This was not what I had anticipated, especially combined with the word TRUFFLE. I realised I had to start being more sensible at this point, as who knew when it would stop, so I managed to limit myself to just half a mini portion. Mac ‘n’ cheese was fab, perfectly creamy and again, light on the truffle flavours but still enough to notice.

Alongside the Mac was a salmon lasagne, which I wanted to try but didn’t have massively high expectations of. Just goes to show how open-minded you should be when trying things because this was my favourite dish of them all. I’m not sure what made it so beautiful, but it just had a kind of butteriness to it and I’m very tempted to order more of these from the catalogue because it was fantastic, and tasted such high quality.

Last fishy dish was the smoked mackerel paté. Mackerel is the ultimate fishy kind of fish, and so I reckon is only good for genuine foodies or fish lovers. I appreciated the paté but I wasn’t hugely fussed by it.

Who would’ve thought we’d also end up being served a load of desserts at a fish factory of all places, but we were. The lemon and pistachio cake came first and was lovely and light with a sweet hint of lemon. Then came the brownie which was excellent – for me a brownie MUST be gooey, not at all hard, and more dense in a chocolately way than spongey. This one was exactly that without being tooo heavy. Finally was the banana bread which was decent but I have had better (Fox Café in Nottingham is still my number one of all time!).

And. That. Is. Everything.

And so it should be. Luckily all the portions were small tasters, but still it was a crazy amount of food. I also received some of their packaged smoked salmon to take home, which I’m going to freeze whilst I research some fantastic recipes to put it to use.

I’ve had such a wonderful morning, and after having a look at the menu for their restaurant online (they do both dinners and weekend brunch), hopefully I’ll get chance to head over there at some point.

Thank you to both Forman & Field for their fantastic hospitality and genuine passion and knowledge surrounding their products, and Foodtryb for the organisation and invite.

If you want to find out more, browse their catalogue or restaurant menus then head to www.formanandfield.com.

Let’s get fishhhhy, and…

¡Comemos!

Tag: hackney

Temple of Seitan (Camden)

Forman & Field: The World’s Oldest Producers of Smoked Salmon