I actually visited Sushi Hiro almost two months ago so I’m busting it out from the archives now before my memory lets me down completely. My mate and I had been in West London for the Real Food Festival and thought it would be criminal not to ride the extra few stops out to Ealing to try this place we’d heard so many good things about.

From the outside, Sushi Hiro ain’t much to look at. In fact, you’d be forgiven for wondering if it’s even open* but a nervous peek round the door reveals otherwise. The interior is most definitely no frills – white walls, a few basic tables and a typical bar to the left behind which chefs busy themselves with the art of crafting what we would find out is some really decent sushi. The chefs were not the first thing which impressed about Sushi Hiro though (for their total, unwavering concentration and fastidiousness is very impressive), it was the fresh salty smack of sea scent (not fishyness), which hits you in the face as soon as you walk in. An unexpected but very welcome surprise from a teensy joint in Ealing.

We wolfed down the complementary edamame while perusing the menu and deciding upon a generous deluxe sushi plate each, which included amongst others mackerel, salmon, eel, belly tuna and scallop (about £16 I think). The fish was beautifully fresh, generously portioned and positively gleaming with eat-me factor. The sushi rice was slightly warm, which was new to me but seemed right and proper. As my mate and I are total pickle addicts, we had to order some pickled gourd and pickled radish maki. We reveled in their sweetness but I thought they might benefit from a touch more tang. I’m picky about pickles.

All in all, some great sushi, the best I’ve eaten in London so far. Despite the fact I’ve a fair few places yet to try I still feel that London is in need of more excellent examples like this one. Some more in Saaf East would be good too, thanks. People down here need sushi too you know.

1 Station Parade
Uxbridge Road
London
W5 3LD
0208 896 3175
*Opening Hours Tue-Sun 11:00-13:30 & 16:30-21:00

After the success of the beer can chicken, I was keen to use the method again but this time with a duck and some cherry beer. As far as I know, cherry beer doesn’t come in cans so I bought a bottle and just tipped it into a regular beer can (king size Stella cans so I could get more beer in – credit to Chris for that idea).

I think I’ve got the BBQ ‘indirect cooking’ method pretty much down now – it basically involves moving the hot coals to the sides of the BBQ and using a roasting tray to catch the fat. The lid needs to be on to get the heat circulating. My two major concerns were ensuring that the drip tray was deep enough (as a duck is so fatty) and also taking steps to get maximum crispiness of skin. Twitter is always useful in these situations and some great advice came from @justcookit who advised scoring and salting heavily an hour or so before, then dusting off and salting again, to draw some moisture out.

The next question was what to serve it with. I didn’t want anything hot as the weather is too glorious. Again, Twitter to the rescue and a joint effort between @SimonMajumdar and @theboydonefood produced the idea of a fruity slaw of red cabbage, raisins and orange zest. Simon suggested using smetana, which I had to google and could probably have sourced in the Polish deli nearby but I was strapped for time and so subsituted sour cream. It worked well. I fancied a handful of sour cherries to continue the cherry-duck theme but couldn’t find any so a packet of cranberries lurking at the back of the cupboard it was and a fine slaw was born.

As the time came to eat the duck, the lid was lifted to a chorus of oohs and aahs (yes two people can make a chorus) – the skin all over the bird was beautifully crisp. We rejoiced. The bird was removed, covered with foil and left to rest. Ten minutes passed and then, a moment of horrible realisation. I’d set the bird to rest breast down…the crispy skin – noooo! I’m sad to report that yes, a teensy bit of crispness had been lost but…I’m over it. A little bit. The fat overall was just – wow. Duck takes on smoke like a dream. The meat was a bit overcooked but still blushing, incredibly moist and I detected, I think, a slight hint of fruit.

The slaw worked well, cutting through the richness of the duck but I think next time I’ll make some kind of cherry chutney affair to boost the cherry flavour a bit. Overall though, I declare the venture a resounding success – apart from one little drunken fail in the middle. Must remember not to steam myself in cherry beer as well as the bird next time…

The beer can method is here. Remember to score and salt the duck for an hour before cooking and of course, rest it breast side up.

I’m sure you all know the format of the Taste of London festival by now – a selection of London’s top restaurants serve up miniature versions of their dishes for Monopoly money (festival currency or ‘crowns’ – £1 for 2) and hungry punters like you and me snap up as many as possible while swanning around Regent’s Park in the sunshine. So, on Sunday, the final day of the festival, a group of us hungry bloggers did exactly that. Here’s my pick of the dishes that wowed and those which could have done better…

No sooner had we walked through the gate than Fino sucked us right in with their impressive paella pan brimming with arroz negro – deeply satisfying rice cooked with squid ink, which packed a hefty umami punch and bore treats of prawns and squid in its rich, murky depths. Their lamb cutlets with ajo blanco were also spectacularly juicy and tender. Both simple dishes but both packed with flavour.

Seven hour braised lamb with balsamic onions and mash (Tom’s Kitchen) was another stand out dish and apparently the most popular at the festival on the previous day. Heavenly melty tender pulled meat with sweet and sharp onions and the lightest cloud of mash. A bit of a gamble serving up roast meat and tatties on a summers day but one that clearly paid off.

Another honourable mention must go to this seared marinated salmon with fennel and grapefruit salad from Boxwood cafe. I can’t really be bothered with cooked salmon but adore it raw and this generous portion was just lightly seared without and raw and silky within. Perfect. Slivers of wafer thin fennel and a citrus burst of grapefruit freshened the dish.

My highlight of the day (from my favourite restaurant overall) was this strawberry and hibiscus bellini from The Ledbury. A fragrant hibiscus mix lay underneath the most intensely fruity strawberry foam. For me, this drink was perfect in every way. We started giggling with our very first sips and didn’t stop oohing and aahing until the whole thing was gone and we walked away giddy with pleasure. It was served with a freshly fried jammy doughnut which satisfied the inner child but seriously, it was all about that bellini.

The Ledbury’s main course was also a winner – celeriac baked in ash (made using hay apparently), with hazelnuts, summer truffle and a kromeski of wild boar. The kromeski turned out to be a little fried parcel with a super crisp outside encasing deep, rich, tender boar meat. The celeriac was totally transformed – slightly bitter, slightly sweet and visually unrecognisable although, it has occurred to me since that it isn’t in season. Still, whatever, I really don’t care because it tasted great and I am now saving furiously (as are my festival companions) for a full on dinner at The Ledbury (that’s their starter at the top by the way).

And here are the dishes I felt were disappointing…firstly, this tomato pasta from L’Anima was just rather boring. Perhaps at a different time and place it might have been ambrosial (e.g. your mate’s house on a weeknight) but in the midst of all the exciting flavours at Taste, it was simply lost. I’m sorry to say their chicken alla Romana also fared quite badly with our group for the same reason. Perhaps we just had palate fatigue. That said, their offering of fettucine with wild mushrooms and summer truffles was spectacular (it carried a price tag of £24 crowns (£12) to match).

And finally, probably the worst dish of the day for me – sweetbreads and lamb’s tongue from Hereford Road which sounded fantastic but in reality was absolutely crying out for seasoning. The accompanying parsley salad was also a let down. It was just all parsley but not in the same way as the vibrant, piquant salad which comes with roast bone marrow at St. John is all parsley – it was just dry and uninspiring.

Happily, most of what we ate at Taste was delicious but, at £25 per ticket before you’ve even bought any food, you’re really crossing your fingers that it will be. On this occasion, The Guardian dished out press passes to readers and bloggers as part of their #tastefringe event, which allowed us free entry in exchange for tweeting in tandem with our munching (read our collective tweets here). The festival provides the opportunity to sample dishes from many different restaurants and of course I thoroughly enjoyed doing just that but I must admit – without the privilege of the press pass, the cost of Taste of London would have been a prohibitive one for me this year.

You can see the full extent of our gluttony in my Flickr set here.

Crumpets are the ultimate comfort food for me – all toasty and spongy and most importantly, outrageously buttery. Tea is an essential accompaniment. Many problems can be solved with a double round of brews and crumpets. Everyone has a favourite way to eat them – eggy crumps, Marmite crumps, jammy crumps, I could go on. When it comes down to it though, my favourite way to eat them is just pure and simple, nowt but batter and butter.

You can imagine how it pains me then that I have never, ever managed to make a decent crumpet and it’s not for want of trying I can assure you. I’ve followed recipes which use baking powder and those without, I’ve tried resting it once, twice or not at all. I’ve tried varying the heat levels and I’ve tried cooking them with and without rings.*

Every time the batter starts to cook however, the bubbles start to rise to the top and pop a few times and then something just…stops. Actually, it’s more than that – somehow, the holes manage to actually re-seal themselves. What is that all about?! Every time I end up with a stodgy batter patty with a pool of butter swimming on top. The fat cannot get in and this is bad, very bad indeed.

So, this is a plea for help people – share your secrets please! One of you must surely have the key to a good bit of crumpet?

*I’ve tried so many recipes that I haven’t bothered to list them all but if you type ‘crumpet recipe’ into Google I’ve basically worked my way through the first page.

Fancy a free jolly to the Toast Festival on Clapham Common next weekend? Well you’re in the right place – here’s the shiz…

TAKE A TRIP DOWNUNDER FOR FREE!
Toast Festivals is the UK’s largest celebration of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and it’s on course to hit Clapham Common 26-28th June 2009!

We have 50 pairs of tickets to Toast for followers of Food Stories to sample this years event (Tickets usually £25!) Taste the very best local food from the likes of Aussie Masterchef John Torode, savour the latest tipple from award-winning wine producers, learn to manage a BBQ the downunder way in a BBQ masterclass, enjoy authentic cultural performances plus international polo as the antipodes go head to head against Britain.

All you need to do is email rsvp@goaheadevents.com with your full name and which Toast you’d like to attend (South Africa – Friday, New Zealand – Saturday, Australia – Sunday) and if you’re lucky enough to be selected you’ll receive an e-ticket in return! SIMPLE!

For more information visit www.toastfestivals.co.uk

I am lucky to live just a five minute walk from Green and Blue in East Dulwich. The place is a real blessing as the staff are extremely knowledgeable and I am just, well, not. Although I’m a big wine drinker I have a huge amount to learn. So, I wander in, tell them what I’m cooking and they sort me out with a suitable bottle.

They are currently running a special ‘Awesome Alsace Food and Wine’ menu, which includes four food and wine pairings. Menus like this are perfect for me because I get to rack up some more notches on the tasting/matching post while also comparing different wines from the same region. I was excited then to join a group of other bloggers for a preview.

The owner of Green and Blue, Kate Thal gave us a bit of an intro about Alsacien wines and I learned that they are generally aromatic and generally white, as the region doesn’t have the heat to fully ripen red grapes. It does, however, have a long growing season, which apparently allows the grapes to mature and ripen slowly (a good thing).

Our first match was a 2007 Dirler Caude Muscat served with roasted artichoke hearts, which are apparently famous for being impossible to match with any wine. Although I didn’t know this (surprise surprise), I was obviously very intrigued by the pairing which, in my humble opinion, is one that works really well. Although there was the briefest moment when an unpleasant metallic taste started to materialise, it was almost instantly washed away by the truly mouthwatering experience of the match. It was like a whooshing sensation in the mouth – really fresh.

Next we tried crab (equal portions of white and brown meat – my personal preference – hooray!), served with bread and aioli and a glass of 2007 Leon Boesch Riesling. The wine smacked me round the nose with the full on honk of honey and then did the same again to my tastebuds. It was also packing some citrus and was high in acidity, making it a great match with the crab. I do remember some discussion as to whether the aoili might take a bit of lemon but Kate explained this would be difficult to balance due to the high acidity of the wine. In the end it was decided that lemon zest might be worth tentatively experimenting with.

I was very excited about the Gewürztraminer (2007 Leon Boesch) which came next because it is my favourite grape (I couldn’t care less that it is apparently uncool). I remember the exact moment I first tasted a Gewürztraminer, many years ago now -  my Dad handed me a chilled glass on a hot summers day and stood back to watch the expression of surprise and delight on my face. I am actually getting a bit emotional thinking about it now and I’m not even joking. He bought me a mixed case for my birthday this year and I had to leave it at work so I wouldn’t drink them all at once. It’s safe to say me and the Gewürz are best mates.

With this we enjoyed a wedge of Popina aubergine tart – sweet with tomatoes and peppers and caramelised onions. The richness of the wine and aubergine worked really well together and, as ever I loved the Gewürztraminer, floral nose and then buttery with apricots and a hint of white pepper finish. It was also unsurprisingly my favourite match of the evening.

Finally, we tried a 2006 Frederic Mochel Pinot Gris with a dish of smoked chicken and red peppers. I was amazed to learn that the grape used to make Pinot Gris is the same used to make the most boring wine on the planet – Pinot Grigio. This wine could not be more different – bone dry, with enough acidity to cut through the smokyness of the chicken and a kind of fruity sweetness that worked really well with the peppers. It was a really interesting match and a strong contender for my favourite.

At £25 for four tapas sized plates of food and four 100ml glasses of wine (that’s over half a bottle in total), I think the Alsace menu at Green and Blue is excellent value. I was totally stuffed at the end and I really felt I’d learned something. This is in no small part down to Kate Thal, who is brilliant at what she does, not coming across as either patronising or going over people’s heads. She has an ease about her which comes from complete confidence in her knowledge, the quality of the wines and doing her job for the right reasons.

One of these reasons, she tells us, is purely to celebrate the pleasure of consumption – the joy of losing yourself in the moment of sensory experience that is eating and drinking. I don’t know about you, but I can certainly raise a glass or two to that.

Green and Blue Wines
38 Lordship Lane
East Dulwich
London
SE22 8HJ
0208 693 9260
www.greenandbluewines.com

Green and Blue are also offering 15% off all Alsacien wines until the end of August.

My meal at Galvin a couple of weeks ago was a birthday celebration with an old friend who, until a cold and rainy evening early last year, I hadn’t seen for well over 10 years. We re-connected online and I am one of the only people I know who can say that facebook has brought something meaningful into my actual, real, offline life.

I remember the nervous feeling as I approached that first meeting with my friend after so many years, battling against sheet rain, hoping it was worth it, crossing my fingers we wouldn’t have grown apart in incompatible directions. As you can probably guess, I had nothing to worry about and that freezing wintry night catching up on 15 years of life events over burgers and cocktails seems a world away now from the glorious balmy evening at Galvin. We gazed out over London, champers in hands, and toasted our birthdays (on the same day), some big changes (both of us, work related) and the joy of a rekindled friendship.

Galvin is on the 28th floor of the Park Lane Hilton and I’ll admit I felt a tad nervous – not because of the height (although it does make me wobbly) but because of the blazing sun – the place is all windows for chrissakes. I’ve been to Galvin before however and so knew that I would again enjoy their highly entertaining management of the blinds, which go up and down more often than the lift to the restaurant.  I swear they must employ someone full time to operate the controls – or perhaps they’ve got some poor sod on work experience doing it.

The view is truly stunning, which is always a worry with a restaurant as they may rely on it to pull in the customers rather then focusing on the food. Fortunately for Galvin, this isn’t the case. Both feeling a bit skint, we decided to go for the ‘La Carte’ dinner menu (£33 for three courses), which Galvin have introduced on the back of the success of their ‘credit crunch lunch’ offer.

I started with a very pretty and summery plate of smoked salmon with Cornish crab and avocado puree. The salmon was silky and excellently smoked, the amount of crab just on the right side of the line between subtle and and lost and the avocado puree super smooth and creamy. A touch of pickled ginger at first caught me off guard but was nonetheless a welcome surprise due to my serious pickle addiction.

My friend ordered the asparagus with poached quails egg and grapefuit hollandaise and I’m going to assume this was good as I can’t remember anything she said about it. In fact, things started to get a little hazy from here on in, perhaps due to the pre-dinner cider (we both hail from the shire) followed by bubbly and then some excellently matched glasses of wine. I do remember being impressed by the friendly sommelier but I’m afraid the names of his choices escape me now (I know, I know but I have a full on wine post coming soon so forgive me).

I continued on a fish theme with sea trout and wild asparagus, which I’ve not tried before. I found the flavour stronger than the regular green variety and ever so slightly bitter. The fish was perfectly cooked with faintly translucent, meaty flakes and a good crispy skin. My mate ordered the beef with yet more asparagus so between us I think we gave the 2009 asparagus season a damn good send off.

For dessert we ordered the apple tart tatin for two, which arrived in the pan, was cut in half at the table and served with caramel sauce and Calvados crème fraîche, which I immediately plonked on top of the hot tatin for oozy, melty hot ‘n cold goodness. I noted dessert envy glances from a neighbouring table. It was truly one of the dreamiest tatins I’ve ever tasted and I’m still annoyed that it managed to defeat me, which is really saying something because I’m pretty greedy.

For £33 I think the ‘La Carte’ menu at Galvin is great value. The food was delicious, well presented without being fussy and importantly, not stingy on the portions, which can be a danger with a fixed price menu offer. If I have to find something to complain about it would be the fact that the service can be a little bit too attentive at times but mostly, we were too busy chatting for this to be a problem.

There was no hint of embarrassment from my long lost friend as I snapped these photos by the way – during only our second meal together at Wahaca, I broke out the camera and was delighted to find her not the least bit self-conscious or concerned that I might have lost my mind. I knew at that moment we would be friends for years to come.

Galvin at Windows
22 Park Lane
London
W1K 1BE
0207 208 4021
www.galvinatwindows.com