FOODIE NEWS: FUDGE KITCHEN NEW LUXURY BUTTER FUDGE

Dotty Dishes was invited to go to Fudge Kitchen’s new fudge factory in Kent a couple of weeks ago to have a tour and sample their fudge but I couldn’t make it, much to my distress! Who wouldn’t want to sample lots of lovely free fudge and see how it’s made?! Fortunately they sent me some fudge to sample anyway from the comfort of my desk.

Fudge Kitchen’s fudge is made from all natural ingredients and their new butter fudge has the same quality of flavour and texture that is associated with the Fudge Kitchen’s famous fresh whipping cream fudge. It has a 6 month shelf life (if it lasts that long and doesn’t get eaten straight away!) and currently has a residency in Selfridges Foodhall.

We were sent some of the Gourmet Fudge Dipped Sticks in the handmade chocolate fudge flavour which had been dipped in white chocolate. The fudge sticks came individually wrapped in a slim purple and cream box (above) and were delicious but very sweet so I couldn’t manage more than one (which my waistline was very pleased about!).

For more information and to buy Fudge Kitchen products visit http://www.fudgekitchen.co.uk/index.asp.

FOODIE NEWS: A FETE WORSE THAN DEATH ON 5TH MAY

The Book Club in Shoreditch held a fantastic street party (above) for the Olympics, over the road at Leonard Street Car Park and will be putting their party hats on again this Sunday for a Bank Holiday May Day extravaganza entiteld ‘A Fete Worse Than Death’.

The event is free and will feature morris dancers ‘The Belles of London City’, a bandstand with bands including The John Langan Band and Cash Cows and an all day jamming session hosted by Jack Abraham of Live & Unamplified. There will be bunting and a maypole adorned with brightly coloured ribbons along with a fully stocked bar, including lashings of cider, and food supplied by the wonderful The Foragers - the team behind the Dead Dolls Club (look out for Dotty Dishes review soon). Expect wild foodie creations such as Venison Burger with Hedge Garlic Mayonnaise, Wild Pasties with freshly foraged Pigeon and Vegetarian Sausage Rolls with Nettles, Dandelion and Goat’s Cheese. De-licious!

And for the ladies, The Book Club’s May Queen will be crowned with a flower headdress at 4pm so dig out your best vintage dresses! Don’t fret - everyone else will be in with the chance of winning a prize if they dress to match the English eccentric vibe.

A Fete Worse Than Death takes places from 12pm-9pm across the road from The Book Club which is at 100 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4RH.

Visit the Facebook event page for more info here - https://www.facebook.com/events/150170658475004/.

CROSTA & MOLLICA ITALIAN BREAD SNACKS

I received a very appetising package in the post last week of a sample of Italian brand Crosta & Mollica’s new range of bread snacks. I was sent Rosemary Linguette and Black Olive Grissini and couldn’t wait to dig into both as they both looked delicious.

They were both nicely packaged (above) and had a generous serving in both packs. I tried the Rosemary Linguette first which I spread with avocado. It was really tasty with a lovely hint of rosemary and had a good amount of crunch to it.

I was really hungry one day so sampled the Black Olive Grissini on their own and they were delicious as they are, but would be gorgeous dipped in houmous.

Both make a great, and pretty low fat, snack and I am definitely going to try the Rosemary Linguette next as part of a cheeseboard.

They are available to purchase from Waitrose, Ocado and Tesco . Visit www.crostamollica.com for more information.

GRILL ON THE MARKET - REVIEW - 19TH APRIL 2013

I couple of weeks ago I visited Grill on the Market, opposite London’s Smithfield Market, to review. Grill on the Market is largely known for its steaks so for the first time in over 17 years, I decided to try a steak.

Now, don’t shout out in horror all your Vegetarians out there. I have not been Vegetarian for over 7 years and I have eaten other meat since departing from being a Veggie, just not steak. I was never much of a red meat fan before I became a Vegetarian (of which I was for 12 years!) but recently I have been getting quite into red meat and have been enjoying beef and lamb especially.

So when I visited Grill on the Market I decided I couldn’t really not try a steak. The thought of having a huge slab of meat on my plate didn’t massively excite me but I was feeling brave so thought I’d give it a whirl.

I have visited Grill on the Market before but on arrival I noticed it had been redecorated and had quite an American vibe to the place in the bar with more of a posh brasserie in the dining room at the back. We were given a cosy table for two and ordered a Champagne Mojito each (£10) and some bread and olives (£3 each) while we perused the menu. The Mojito’s were delicious and came in sophisticated long glasses and the bread was wonderfully fresh and warm - neither lasted long!

The menu at Grill on the Market is very substantial and it was difficult to decide what to have to start and my friend and I changed our minds quite a few times! In the end we decided to share the Garlic King Prawns (£9) and the Baked Goat’s Cheese (£7). The prawns came in a cast iron dish with an ample amount of big, juicy prawns in their shell with some garlic oil still in the dish. They had just the right amount of garlic and were wonderfully succulent and tasty and the crusty bread that came with them was great at soaking up the flavoursome oil.

The Goat’s Cheese came presented beautifully on a black slate board with Cashew Nut Biscuits and warm Fig Compote. The goat’s cheese was smooth, velvety and creamy and tasted divine with the sweet and sticky fig compote. The cashew nut biscuits let the dish down however as they were far too sweet and soft and the goat’s cheese needed something crunchy and plain, like the crusty bread with the prawns, and not a sweet biscuit. It was almost like the Hovis cracker that come in a mixed box of crackers that just doesn’t go (and I always leave).

For main course, as you by now already know, I ordered a steak. For my first steak in years I thought it was best to start with what many deem the best, so I ordered the 200g Fillet Steak, medium to well, (£22) with Green Peppercorn Sauce (£2.50), Hand Cut Chips (£3.25) and French Beans and Shallots (£3.25). My friend (a Vegetarian but who eats fish) ordered the Yellow Fin Tuna Loin seared pink with Soy and Ginger (£18.75) with some Champ Potato (£3.25) and Petit Pois a la Francaise (£3.25). We also ordered a large glass of Sauvignon Blanc each (£6.75).

The steak came and it was the perfect size and didn’t just look like a big chunk of meat on a plate, as I’d feared. It was cooked perfectly, medium to well as I’d asked, and my peppercorn sauce came in a little pan for me to pour over the steak (and dip my chips in). The steak was really tasty and went hand in hand with the peppercorn sauce and skin on chips and I almost finished the whole piece of meat so was quite proud of myself.

The vegetables were all delicious - the beans were perfectly cooked, the champ mash was melt in your mouth good, while the peas were hugely moorish, so much so that I finished off the pan of them even though I was stuffed! My friend said her tuna was perfect and she actually commented a few days later that she was still thinking about how good it was!

We were really stuffed after our mains but decided after a bit of a breather we would order a couple of puddings to share. We decided on the Cheese and Fruit Board (£7) and the Affogato (£4.50). The cheese board came with a good helping of water biscuits and some Brie, Blue Cheese and Smoky Cheddar with a Tomato Chutney, grapes and celery. It was all really tasty but it wasn’t the most memorable cheese board I’ve had. However, it was a good size to share between two with another dessert or to have to yourself.

The Affrogato on the other hand was delicious and came with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream, espresso cup of coffee and shot of Amaretto. You tipped all three into one bowl and the coffee melted the ice cream with the Amaretto giving the dish a gorgeous sweetness. It was simple but rather wonderful. Lastly, we finished our meal with a Martini each. I ordered a French Martini (£7) and my friend opted for The Oxley Gin Martini (£9). It was the perfect ending to a delicious evening.

The Grill on the Market is a really lovely place to go for a meal either with a friend or partner or big group of friends, of which there were both of when we visited. The menu is very varied and being opposite Smithfield meat market, if you want steak, it really is the place to go. After all, it’s where I had my first steak in years!

Dotty Dishes was a guest of The Grill on the Market.

The Grill on the Market, 2-3 West Smithfield, City of London, EC1A 9JX.

MANGO TREE’S SONGKRAN FESTIVAL - REVIEW - 17TH APRIL 2013

A couple of week’s ago, I was invited to visit Mango Tree on the evening they were celebrating Songkran Festival or Thai New Year, as it’s otherwise known.

The evening promised to be a night of authentic Thai food, special cocktails and entertainment and it was exactly that.

Songkran, or Thai New Year, is celebrated across Thailand in April and signifies the passage of the sun from one sign of the Zodiac to another.

The Songkran celebration is similar to those of the Indian Holi Festival, the Chinese Ching Ming, and the Christian Festival of Easter. In Thailand the festival is traditionally celebrated by the throwing of water, which originates from the idea of spring cleaning for the New Year, but fortuanately we didn’t have any water thrown over us during the evening!

On arrival my guest and I were presented with a silk rose which was pinned onto our shirts and were then guided to our table which was at the front of the restaurant. We were given special Songkran menus which featured a selection cocktails devised for the evening and a set menu of 3 courses, with the starter and main made up of a combination of dishes to share.

We chose a cocktail each and they were delicious - due to the ingredient of rose water, mine tasted like alcoholic turkish delight and my friend’s had a lovely taste of lemongrass and lime.

For starter, we were given a platter of dishes including a deep fried quail’s egg, barbecued pork, deep fried tuna and a crispy noodle salad. As I am not a fan of eggs, my friend sampled that and said it was delicious and worked really well. The pork was tasty but just slightly too spicy and I am glad there was pineapple on the platter to help cool my mouth down! The noodles were unfortunately quite bland and I didn’t really like the crispiness of them and I have never tasted deep fried tuna before, but I am not sure I want to again as it was rather odd and the batter was crumbly and almost like sawdust!

We ordered a bottle of white wine with our main and were presented with a towering platter of various bowls of different dishes - fish ball thai green curry, spicy beef, deep fried-fish fillet with sweet and sour spicy sauce, stir-fried king prawns with capsicum, garlic and pepper, stir-fried beef, rice with crab and tenderstem broccoli.

Our favourites were the deep fried-fish fillet, the beef and the prawns and the thai green curry sauce was really tasty. It was really nice getting to try a selection of dishes as normally with a thai meal, I would just go for one of my favourite dishes and not try anything new.

Unfortunately we weren’t fans of dessert, which came in a bowl and looked like a creamy soup with balls of melon floating in it. It was quite an odd taste, and sight, and not to our liking at all.

I would be interested to visit Mango Tree again and choose dishes from the A La Carte menu as it would be nice to taste some of the standard dishes on their menu.

The entertainment during the evening was really varied and consisted of thai boxing, thai sword fighting, fruit carving, Thai music and dance performances and there was also a live demonstration by the Head Chef of Mango Tree. I must admit, the entertainment was slightly off-putting at times when you were trying to eat and chat but it was really different and not something I had experienced before.

My friend had been to Thailand before, unlike myself, and said the entertainment was really evident of Thai Culture, so it was witness that during the Songkran Festival.

Dotty Dishes was a guest of Mango Tree.

Mango Tree, 46 Grosvenor Place, London, SW1X 7EQ.