Friday 24 May 2013

Plate Lickers 1st Birthday

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Saturday 11th May saw Plate Lickers 1st Birthday so we decided to throw ourselves a party. I just wanted to share the menu and some photos of the night. Thanks to Ozzy for his wonderful photos, I didn't get much of a chance to take many myself.

Snowballs & Salt 'n' Shake Roasted Chickpeas
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Local Asparagus & Purple Sprouting Brocoli with Homemade Hollandaise
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Ham, Egg & Chips
Dingley Dell Gammon with Home Fries, Poached Egg & Homemade Ketchup
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Plate Lickers PB&J Ice Lolly
Peanut Butter Ice-Cream layered with Chocolate Ganche, Peanuts & Raspberries
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Orange & Chocolate Birthday Cake

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I can't believe how quickly this last year has flown by and I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a thank you to all our guests for making Plate Lickers what it has become. Also to our venues for getting what we're doing and going along with us. To Northrops Butchers for their continued cooking advice. As we wanted to boil our Dingley Dell gammon Martin suggested vac packing it with some vegetables and then boiling it in the bag. The result was fall apart meat which we were very proud to serve. This was served on top of my take on homefries which I ate in America. Slow cooked onions mixed with boiled new potatoes lightly mashed and mixed with butter before getting baked in the oven, and how could I forget, the poached eggs. Now it seems that I didn't quite have the technique down so I must admit Jo did most of the work on that one ;) Which rolls me on nicely to a big thank you to Jo for putting up with me for the last year. I know I get easily distracted with new menu ideas but I think we make a pretty good team and I'm happy to report we've finally perfected the high five (its only taken a year)
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platelickers, supper, club, plate, lickers, cambridge, experience, dine, meet new people, friends, Ivana, Gresham, Jo, Krucynska, afternoon, tease, blog, blogger, eat, delicious, best, london, salt, shake, church, unusual, birthday, cake, asparagus, purple sprouting brocoli, hollandaise, home fries, poached, egg, gammon, ham egg and chips, northrops, sous-vide, ice, cream, lolly, peanut, butter, jelly, jam, raspberry, chocolate, ganache,pb&j, homemade, party, bag, stamp, sprinkles, hundreds, thousands, orange, chocolate, party, celebrate,

platelickers, supper, club, plate, lickers, cambridge, experience, dine, meet new people, friends, Ivana, Gresham, Jo, Krucynska, afternoon, tease, blog, blogger, eat, delicious, best, london, salt, shake, church, unusual, birthday, cake, asparagus, purple sprouting brocoli, hollandaise, home fries, poached, egg, gammon, ham egg and chips, northrops, sous-vide, ice, cream, lolly, peanut, butter, jelly, jam, raspberry, chocolate, ganache,pb&j, homemade, party, bag, stamp, sprinkles, hundreds, thousands, orange, chocolate, party, celebrate,

platelickers, supper, club, plate, lickers, cambridge, experience, dine, meet new people, friends, Ivana, Gresham, Jo, Krucynska, afternoon, tease, blog, blogger, eat, delicious, best, london, salt, shake, church, unusual, birthday, cake, asparagus, purple sprouting brocoli, hollandaise, home fries, poached, egg, gammon, ham egg and chips, northrops, sous-vide, ice, cream, lolly, peanut, butter, jelly, jam, raspberry, chocolate, ganache,pb&j, homemade, party, bag, stamp, sprinkles, hundreds, thousands, orange, chocolate, party, celebrate,

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Friday 10 May 2013

Chicago Food

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Creme Brûlée & Bacon Maple Doughnuts from Glazed & Infused
Chicago felt like the real America, everything was suddenly bigger, the buildings, the cars, the food and the waistlines and oh my they don't do things by halves that for sure. 

Our flight to Chicago was at an eye-watering 6am which meant getting up around 3am, if it wasn't for the jet lag I wouldn't have bothered going to bed.

Lucky for us we ended up staying just around the corner from both The Girl & The Goat and Little Goat so for breakfast we decided to go all out. Tim went in for the kill & ordered the Fat Elvis which consisted of 2 HUGE waffles, candied bacon, banana, maple syrup and that big ball on top... thats not ice-cream it's peanut butter flavoured butter. They really should change the name to Elvis Killer. It was pretty incredible and well executed but I would not like to know how many calories are in that bad boy.
Fat Elvis at Little Goat
I went for a slighty healthier option (by their standards anyway) which was a bit of a mishmash of pancakes, eggs, kimchi and greens. Even they don't quite know how to describe it (see menu). It was delicious but way too big to finish on my own.
Kimchi, Bacon, Eggs & Bacon creation at Little Goat
A peek into the Little Goat kitchen. That guy is flipping 1 portion of omelette and check out the size of that brioche!
A peek at the menu, portions look big enough for 4!

A few nights later we headed to The Girl and The Goat which was somewhat of a contrast. I had read about long waits on tables and with not much luck booking we headed down early and hoped for the best. At first we were told a fairly reasonable wait of 45 minutes or we were given the option of waiting around the bar and grabbing a seat there for dinner. Just as we found a spot on a sofa the maitre d' came over and to our delight told us they could squeeze us in early. 

So, the bad before I begin gushing. Firstly, the waitress was the worst we'd had all trip. So scripted and full of energy that we lept out of our seats every time she came to check on us (after every plate) earn those tip gurl! Secondly, a lot of the other clientele were your usual snooty business types in the 'party shirts' and blonde wives, it felt like I was back in the 80's BUY BUY BUY SELL SELL SELL! I digress. Onto the food. The menu is set out into 3 sections, Vegetarian, Fish & Meat and is designed to be shared although I'm not quite sure how you would share some of these out with more than 2 people or perhaps I'm just greedy. We began with the Kohlrabi salad with fennel, evalon, blueberries, toasted almonds & a ginger dressing which was incredible. We pretty much fought over who got the lick the bowl. Next up green garlic potato wontons with ramps (wild garlic) shitake mushrooms, asparagus, pickled rhubarb and spiced pecans. Another impressive dish but the salad remained the highlight. We couldn't visit and not try some goat so we settled on the goat empanadas. Deliciously crispy but again, I'm not sure how you would go about sharing this with lots of people, one bite is clearly not enough in my books! Last up on the savoury was the Wood Fired Walter's Chicken which came served with asparagus, rhubarb and ramp goddess dressing. (I'm starting to see a little trend in ingredients here). Now I don't know who Walter is but what a dish. The sticky marinade with the chicken was pretty incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed mopping it all up with the bread. The only thing I am unsure of is whether it was quite worth the $23 price tag but we were on holiday.
Wood Fired Walter's Chicken at The Girl and The Goat
To round the meal off nicely we shared a sticky date cake which was served with seedling blueberry preserves, montamore gelato & crisp. The gelato was similar to a frozen yogurt in flavour and cut through the richness of the cake. The blueberry preserves were a great touch. Another dish from the trip I'd like to try and re-create. Our visit to Girl and the Goat was without a doubt the culinary highlight of the whole trip. A must visit if heading to Chicago just be prepared for serious service with a smile.
Sticky date cake at The Girl & The Goat
We stumbled into Au Cheval 10 minutes before their kitchen closed. Both feeling like we ought to eat something light but with no a salad in sight on the menu and in a bit of a panic we both went for their Fried Housemade Bologne Sandwich. My god, when that thing came out our jaws hit the floor. I've never eaten anything like it. Layer upon layer of meat with oozing cheese and a pickle on the side (as standard in Chicago) I don't know how but we managed to make our way through pretty much the whole thing. Post lunch research revealed this was voted #2 in the top 50 sandwiches in Chicago and its very easy to see why. A highlight of the whole trip and possibly something to try and recreate at some point.
Fried Bologne sandwich from Au Cheval
We had been recommended 5 Guys by quite a few people but we didn't make it whilst in New York. On a trip to a slightly out of town Target we stumbled across a 5 Guys just in time for lunch. I loved the boxes of potatoes creating the queue and the help yourself peanuts. They have a huge selection of free toppings and if you order your burger 'all the way' this includes ketchup, mustard, mayo, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions and grilled mushrooms! The burgers were pretty amazing and thumbs up on the fries too which are cooked in peanut oil.
5 Guys burgers
You can't go to Chicago and not try 2 of its most famous exports. Chicagoans are very particular about their hot dogs and we got to try one at The Haute & The Dog. For it to be an authentic Chicago dog it must be a beef dog on a poppy seed bun topped with yellow mustard, white onions, bright green sweet pickle relish, a pickle, 2 tomato slices, pickled sport peppers and some celery salt. Be warned, don't ask for ketchup! All of these toppings make for a very fresh but rather tricky to eat dog.


The second Chicago institution is of course the most famous. The deep dish pizza or pie as they prefer to call it. The pizza is assembled with the cheese first and the tomato sauce on top this means when served the cheese just oozes out from everywhere. We were all pretty full after the first slice but its one of those very naughty but oh so moreish meals that you allow yourself once in a blue moon.
Chicago Deep Dish from Pizzaros

Just a block from our apartment was The Publican and its sister deli The Publican Quality Meats. We headed to PQM one morning for breakfast but as they didn't serve one we decided to share a salad and a sandwich. The asparagus panzanella salad was super fresh and zingy a slightly odd breakfast choice but it was the perfect wake up. The truffle and tallegio sausage sandwich was nothing short of incredible. Topped with the most delicious brussel sprout, apple & caraway slaw and a side of marinated kale. I would eat that every day for breakfast if I could!
Truffle Tallegio Sandwich at Publican Quality Meats
Asparagus Panzanella at Publican Quality Meats
Halfway through our trip we were taken to Big Star for some Mexican food. This was one of the hottest days of our trip and their patio seating was very full so we decided to go to their take out counter instead. Here you can get skip the wait and get anything from the full menu to go and sit on the benches out front. In a sharing mood as always we shared a salad and some pork tacos. I think this was my favourite Mexican food of the whole trip.


Miko's was recommended to us by our host Nick. He explained that this guy was selling his home made Italian ice out of the front of his house so we had to go and explore. We decided to share a cup of mango & coconut ice and sat in his front garden enjoying it and watching neighbours popping by for their weekly fix. What an incredibly tasty and refreshing treat, I have since been looking up recipes as I want to stock my fridge up for summer.


For our 'last supper' in Chicago we were taken to The Smoke Daddy, a traditional American BBQ joint. Wanting to try everything we opted for the 'Taste of the Daddy' platter. We dug into baby back ribs, burnt ends & brisket with sides of mac'n'cheese & smoked pit beans. Told you they didn't do things by halves!

Friday 3 May 2013

New York Photos

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Thursday 2 May 2013

New York Food

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Eileen's Special Cheesecake, Soho
Well, where to begin. This whole trip has centred around 2 things, food & Tim's painting. We have been seriously blessed with the weather too. Clear blue skies almost every day have made exploring both New York and Chicago even more enjoyable. I'll get onto Chicago in a later post but heres a little roundup of some of the food we have enjoyed in Manhattan & Brooklyn. One thing we have both struggled with is the amount of rich food we've been eating, I know, woe is me. All I'm craving right now is super fresh, raw salads.

I thought that the best way to round up the highs and lows was to split it all into smaller categories.

South American
Returning to Cafe Habana for their grilled corn was such a treat. The chicken quesadilla with smoked cheese were pretty special too. I'm hoping its BBQ time when I get back to Cambridge because I want to make their corn for friends.
Cafe Habana grilled corn (blogged about here)and chicken quesadilla
Fast Food
Burger wise, we've been pretty restrained only eating 1 the whole time we have been here. Shake Shack really did live up to expectations, for a chain their burgers were high quality, it would be dangerous if they opened lots of stores in England.
Shake Shack
I was eager to try Gray's Papaya as its a bit of a New York institute. Super cheap but tasty hot dogs to help fuel walking around the city but special mention has to go to the Papaya juice, I would go back just for that.
Grays Papaya Hot Dogs

Breakfast
I had read about Egg in a copy of Food & Travel magazine and knew I had to pay it a visit. It was a truly indulgent breakfast covered in melted cheese, great if you've had a few drinks the night before but if you fancy something lighter theres always the homemade granola or caramelised grapefruit with mint.
Ham Biscuit at Egg, Brooklyn, Biscuit (or scone to Brits) with fig jam, ham, cheddar and grits on the side
Eggs Rothko at Egg, Brooklyn- An egg cooked inside a brioche slice topped with cheese with tomatoes & bacon
Another great breakfast spot was Bushwick's Living Room just around the corner from where we were staying, their eggs benny with homefries were delicious.
'The Sea' Eggs Benedict with Homefries at Bushwick's Living Room
For a cheaper weekday breakfast we really liked the bagels at Swallow cafe in Bushwick and their coffee was great too.
Bagels and Coffee at Swallow, Brooklyn
Street Food
The only street food we ended up eating in New York was from Delany Smokeline at the Highline in Chelsea. Served with Brioche and potato salad it definitely wasn't the lightest of lunches but a nice treat nevertheless.
Smoked Ribs at Delany BBQ Smokeline Food truck at the High Line, Chelsea 
Brisket at Delany BBQ Smokeline Food truck at the High Line, Chelsea
Middle Eastern
I am a huge fan of Middle Eastern food so when doing my research I discovered Miriam's. It was a little out of the way for us but it was definitely worth it. With 4 meze plates for just $14 its incredibly good value too. Our favourites were the feta & watermelon salad and the za'atar bread with truffle oil. It would be a great place to go with a lot of friends so you could try even more dishes.
Haloumi & Artichoke salad at Miriam's, Brooklyn
Za'atar bread with truffle oil at Miriam's, Brooklyn
Watermelon & Feta at Miriam's, Brooklyn
Pizza
We were lucky enough to be staying 1 block from this place. Its super popular and its easy to see why. Great pizzas and salads, a bit on the pricey side though. Get there early or expect a wait. We were told 2 hours one night so went somewhere else instead. They also do a great brunch too apparently.
Roberta's Pizza (photo from their website)
Asian
So, I finally made it to the famous Momofuku Noodle Bar and what can I say, it was all ok but I think it has been so hyped up that I left feeling a little disappointed. The biggest disappointment was their pork belly buns which were really greasy and a little unpleasant to eat. Maybe I got spoilt by The Three Horseshoes version which comes with delicious crackling. The beef buns were better and came with a horseradish cream and a fresh salad. We opted for the noodles which were fine but not spectacular. I think the sage soft serve was the saving grace but we couldn't work out what the pancake truffles were trying to be. They were like super dry, crumbly cookie dough balls. A few nights later we headed to a fairly new place called Shinobi in Bushwick (not pictured). A really small ramen place which does about 5 different noodle dishes and a bunch of sides. We shared the Chicken Karaage and dug into huge bowls of ramen for a much more reasonable price. Shinobi wins hands down in my book.
Momofuku Beef Buns
Momofuku Pork Belly buns
Momofuku Chicken Ramen
Momofuku Pancake Truffles and Sage Soft Serve

Sweet Treats
I couldn't leave New York without trying a Momofuku crack pie first hand. Both the pie and the compost cookie we bought were tasty but it all being pre-packaged made me feel like it had all come from a big factory rather than a quaint little bakery.
Momofuku's famous Crack Pie

Whilst painting one of Tim's murals we were taken for a little treat to Circo's Bakery where we were bough Cannoli and Pignoli biscuits (the South Italian version of macaroons) I had never seen those before but they were incredible, I'll be attempting them when I get back home.
Cannoli from Circo's Pastry Shop, Brooklyn
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