We'd given up on the chains - until we went to Giraffe
Written by Ruth
We had an invitation a couple of weeks ago to review Giraffe in Bury St Edmunds, our local town and full of chain restaurants. We've worked our way through the chains over the years and find them pretty soul-less with below average and uninspiring food, so we weren't exactly jumping up and down at the thought of dinner. But we nipped into town on the evening of the Christmas Fair, took a look around the town, enjoyed a mulled wine on Angel Hill and then wandered over to that ugly Parkway. Once inside though, Giraffe is a very pleasant place with a newly painted tropical themed decor.
The menu is appealing and includes Global Mains, Burgers, Small Plates and Salads, pretty much covering all that is on trend in the fast and casual dining market at the moment. We quizzed Kate, our server, to find out if the food was really made in-house. Yes it is, with fresh ingredients used and prepared on site. I'm not convinced by the chicken potsticker dumplings that I tried but perhaps these come in ready made? But the home-made lemonade was as good as I have had out anywhere, while Johny Cakes tried classic Mojito's (note the plural...) which had a generous measure of Havana Club and were made from fresh limes and mint - not a mix.
Miso Lime grilled salmon was perfectly moist and the Wasabi fried rice a good wholegrain base for the fish. The side of seasonal veg also ticked the healthy box and was served with a nice parsley oil rather than butter. No homemade desserts Kate admitted, but I ordered the apple and passion fruit crumble and she remembered that this was actually made in-house. I didn't want the accompanying ice cream so asked for fresh cream and as none was available a dish of mascarpone was offered instead.
We thought that we would be in and out of Giraffe in an hour or so but we had got really comfortable; we were well looked after and were enjoying the food and the drinks so ended up being the last to leave. Sorry!
It looks exactly the same as AirBnb - it has the same format on it's website, but it's about food this time. Hooray! Now everyone can be a chef. I'm booking something tonight - this is what you can have in Barcelona - 'Pueees..., desde la tortilla de patata, pasando por el cus-cús, el cochinillo, un pescado con leche de coco y gengibre, gambas a la plancha, guacamole, musaka, rabo de toro, sushi...'
We have been sooooo busy over the last few weeks but had no time to tell you about it. We have moved the website to a new template with a much better looking Cook Book recipe page and a newsletter... sign up to receive news about our events as we write it. The Inspector entered the Mr Cutlets competition at Meatopia and got through to the the finals of six chefs with her Red Poll Shin and Tail stew and dumplings; the meat was from Elmswell butchers and had to be cooked on an open fire at the competition to select who would have the winners space at Meatopia. We went to the Cereal Killer Cafe (before it was attacked by anarchists !!!) Framlingham Sausage Fest, the Urban Food Fest in Shoreditch where we met Henry whose mum makes the sauces for Pan n Ice, and now we are at Blackthorpe Barn where our Little House of Cooking has been doing a pop-up cafe seven days a week for the Christmas shop, Christmas trees and Craft Fair and will be there until Tuesday 22nd of December. See you there!
Stephany Hardingham - our Festive Season Dish of the Day
Written by Ruth
Stephany Hardingham, from Alder Tree Ice Cream has created a delicious Christmas Pudding Ice Cream. Made at Alder Carr Farm in Creeting St Mary the artisan-made dessert is a treat for the grown ups, who will enjoy the taste sensation of Christmas pudding without the heaviness of the traditional pudding. The cinnamon infused ice cream also has a good dash of brandy - perfect on top of your mince pies!
We were invited to attend this lovely town's annual event this year as the official bloggers and spent the morning queueing to sample some of the best bangers this part of Suffolk has to offer. The only problem with inviting bloggers and tweeters is that you need a strong fast signal - and as we know Suffolk seems to have some of the worst in the country.
We met Henry at the Urban food Fest where his business partner Rob made delicious ice cream and froyo rolls right in front of us. This fast and furious ice cream involves a process which originated in Thailand; cream or yoghurt with various favourings and additional ingredients (meringue...fruit...) is put on a -30 degree plate and everything is mixed together very fast. After approximately two minutes the initial milk or yogurt freezes and is ready to be scraped off the cold plate into rolls. Quick Bite food magazine have already interviewed Henry and Rob and this is what they said. 'When we were back-packing around Thailand at the tender age of 20, we discovered a new way of making ice cream. ‘Stir fried Ice cream’ is the official terminology for it, and because we hadn’t ever seen it in the UK before, we decided to create Pan-n-Ice and bring it back.' Thanks guys!
We have been going to this for years, but have never tried cold pressed coffee although it was last years hot new thing, until we met a nice young man from Hey Bermondsey Coffee Co who gave us a taste at this years event. We also found the meat mince pies for our Christmas cafe and as usual, enough pens to last the year at sf hq.
Oh yes they can! This was one of the nicest things at Meatopia with larger portions and a beautiful hot-sauce pineapple relish and so we had more than one. But of course we are biased - we are half Caribbean!
The London Tea Exchange is just a wet tea bags throw away from Liverpool Street if you are in London for the day or need an excuse to go there. Close to Spitalfields Market entrance where you could spend the whole day just wandering around, we were attracted by the tea samples being offered on the street to entice us into this beautiful shop. Faysal Ahmed described his tea tasting workshops and we bought some China White Monkey and a Hibiscus tea for later. In some parts of the world they do use specially trained monkeys to pick the tea but I think ours was picked by a human.
Founded in the USA and brought to the UK by Richard Turner of London butchers Turner and George, Meatopia is a festival of high quality, ethically sourced meat cooked over wood and charcoal in a weekend-long event of meat, drink, fire and music that we covered for SuffolkFoodie last year when we first went to Tobacco Dock for a day out and accidentally found ourselves surrounded by huge hunks of men, throwing huge hunks of meat on huge and hot blazing fires. But this year it was very different! A woman entered the competition to win a chance to cook at the event. And she made a stew. And it was our very own lovely, brave and intrepid Inspector X!! See Mr (or Mrs) Cutlets for the result!
More...
Are you trying to start your own business? Do you have an idea that you're determined to get off the ground? A major TV broadcaster is looking for people starting a major career and life change. Do you want to give up your traditional 9-5? Do you dream of being your own boss? Are you trying to kick start your own company?If you are at the early stage of setting up a brand new venture, then we would love to hear from you for a potential TV series following people on their new business journeys.If you are interested or know someone who might be then give us a call on 0203 761 4522 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and tell us a bit about yourself and your business idea.
The Bake Off'ers were on game pies this week and some of them (the pies) looked amazing. We don't eat enough game in this country even though you can see Muntjac deer, and dazed looking pheasants pre-shooting season, on nearly every corner here in Suffolk. Here's a young man who sells local venison and can even help you learn how to butcher a deer (in case you run one over...)
This is what it's all about - small portions, home-made food, disco music - and plenty of it. I had a crab open sandwich draped with just one seductive marinated white anchovy and a blob of mustard mayo for £3 at Donastia Social Club's Basque food wagon at Kerb. Next door was (at last!) a stall selling a good selection (3) of interesting fresh fruit drinks - melon, raspberry lemonade and plum juice sodas at £2.50 from Square Root London.
A day of talks and food related events for a tenner with food stalls inside and Kerb outside? I had to go. I chose How to make a career out of food to see what I might have missed. Cake Boy and Plenish had stalls in the foyer and the hour long session with the panel of chefs and foodies was useful and encouraging. John Vincent - founder of Leon - gave the best advice to someone who wanted to know how to make the transition from being employed by someone else to running their own food business.
'Get out your phone', he said, so she did.
'Now call your boss and hand in your notice...'