The Sugar Bar

First, a big thank you to Forever Better, Míele’s PR Company, for inviting me to this event and another thank you to Cherry (she and Lauren liases with the invitees) who is the sweetest person ever. I’m glad I could make it down to the BBC Good Food Show this time round as I had deadlines to meet last year and missed out on all the great foodie shows and tastings. After Saturday, I’m tempted to book my tickets for the next Good Food Show in the Birmingham NEC come summer as that promises to be an even more taste-blowing event.

An experience never to be forgotten and one I’ll always remember by from the puddings we tasted, one of which I was unable to get a photograph of because my camera decided to give up on me shortly before we sampled it. [*I do apologise for that. If I'd been more prepared for low battery, I would have more pictures on of the other things I sampled and stalls visited] But I’ll get to the food we nommed on for lunch later.

There was much going on with the Masterchef Theatre, the Cookery Experience, the Invention Test and all the time, celeb chefs like James Martin, Michel Roux Jr, Theo Randall, etc. were bouncing back and forth between these shows. On the main stall floor, the famous Harumi Kurihara was giving live demonstrations; sushi academy masterclasses, kitchen knife skills by Marianne Lumb (who we bumped into in the ladies!!), sugar roses classes by Phil Usher, cupcakes classes by Squire’s Kitchen and even duck carving were amongst the activities or classes you could take part in. So much to see, so much to sample, so much to enjoy – it’s no wonder the BBC Good Food Show was spread over 3 days 13-15th November. As much as I enjoyed the whole day-out at the Olympia Grand Hall soaking up this splendid experience, I was sorry that there was too much to do within a single day and unfortunately missed quite a few exciting classes like the cupcake and sugar roses demos.

Nonetheless, I was thrilled to have seen the Masterchef hosts John Torode and Gregg Wallace. They are hilarious! So were the Plenty ladies Brenda and Audrey who were right mental! And the previous winners from Masterchef – Steve Groves (whom I adore to pieces) and Mat Follas were there at the Invention Test as judges. A surprise last contestant was James Martin, who appeared a few minutes late much to everyone’s delight. A giant roar from the audience, a squeal from both Anne of Anne’s Kitchen and Sunita of Sunita’s World, (and I’m so glad I finally got to meet these 2 gorgeous foodbloggers! A little starstruck but they were so sweet and easy-going) and an unashamed catcall from yours truly. What? That man’s so loveable and dishy, if a tad bit chubby.

Andi Peters interviewing Steve Groves & Mat Follas

Invention Test was a joy to watch and many of the contestants whipped up – in a stressful 30minutes – some very tasty looking dishes from prawn curry, to vietnamese-inspired pancake to a hearty penna pasta dish using the key ingredients given to them: prawns, pork, pears, etc. Anne, Sunita and I had cowardly turned down the invitation. Being stared at whilst cooking, cooking under a blinding spotlight, cooking against the clock and knowing that this is a competition would’ve gotten to me. Something bad would’ve happened – like setting my hair on fire, scalding everyone around me, chopping a finger off. It wouldn’t be pretty and the whole event might end with a heart attack and me being rushed to the hospital in a half-charred state. I don’t do well under pressure when it comes to the kitchen and small working spaces. But at the end of the show, Sunita was having regrets of not having accepted the challenge and blimey, do I adore her more for it! What a gutsy foodie! I shall need to learn to be more courageous like her.

Plenty ladies Brenda & Audrey having a laugh

As much as I had a great time with the Masterchef Invention Test, what totally made my day was wondering about all the stalls, especially the Great Taste Awards section. So let’s have a look at some of the stalls we visited. There were too many stalls to see, both on the ground level and the floor up. We certainly didn’t get to look at everything but what we did see, we liked very much!

Crabbies 4% alcohol Ginger Beer – this is great. Very crisp and refreshing. Perfect with a slice of lemon. You can find this in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and even your local Wetherspoon’s most likely! These were going for 3 bottles for a fiver and The Angel in Islington will offer you it for nearly £3 a bottle. I’d definitely be getting this for summertime barbies and I’m tempted to get a bottle of this for ginger beer battered fish and chips. Savvy?

Rachel’s Organic Yoghurt – I’ve always try to keep a tub of Rachel’s Greek Yoghurt with Honey or the Rhubarb Yoghurt in my fridge as they taste so good, one of the creamiest low fat yoghurts available in shops and are a great way to jazz up a fruit medley pudding. The new toffee & milk chocolate flavours are great. Toffee is a real winner and doesn’t have that sickly weird colour that toffee “flavoured” yoghurts usually do. A hefty creamy white yoghurt, yum yum.

Tropical Sun’s plantain chips – my first time tasting plantain and I really liked them! Good crunch, looked like banana chips but without the sweetness of it. Very more-ish.

Kikkoman and some live cooking demos – available is Kikkoman’s range of sauces, soy sauces, marinades and a counter for demos. Unfortunately, we just missed it and didn’t get to taste any of the teriyaki chicken that were snapped up in a flash.

Laverstock Park Farm and their offerings of buffalo burgers, ice cream, mozzarella cheese and lagers – you can find most of their products in Waitrose and I’ll definitely be popping into my local Waitrose for the mozzarella made from water buffalo milk. The creamiest, softest and most delicate oozy mozzarella that still holds up well. The buffalo milk is supposed to make this mozzarello firmer but not too firm. I like this a lot! And you’ll be pleased to know that their products are free-range as their buffalos have had a great life grazing on open pastures except in the cold winter.

Eudoro’s porchetta, prosciutto and cheeses – quality meats here are food porn at its best. The cheeses are beautiful to look at and Anne had a taste of the gargonzola. I would’ve loved to takeaway a porchetta panini for dinner that night but somehow backed out. Why did I do such a silly thing?! Regrets.

Yum Yum Tree Fudge – beautiful handmade fudge from Suffolk made from British sugar in a wide range of creative flavours like chili chocolate, lime & coconut, cappucino, lavender, mint chocolate, lemon bon bon, raspberry, etc. Check out their website for more at www.yumyumtreefudge.com

Ethiopian Coffee Company – we didn’t get any coffee although I bet we needed it, surely. This stall smelt amazing.

There were too many stalls to visit in just a day and too much eating and gawking!

•••

Our Restaurant Experience lunch in tapas-sized portions. Restaurants at the show were the Blue Elephant, Roast, Café Spice Namaste, Launceston Place, Skylon, Boxwood Cafe, Theo Randall at The InteContinental, Min Jiang (a new comer to the GFS), Urban Caprice and the MasterChef Restaurant featuring dishes from winners Thomasina Miers, Steven Groves, James Nathan and Mat Follas.

Theo Randall at The InterContinental: Cape Sante – Panfried Scallops with Pancetta, Red Chili, Rocket & Lentils

The Masterchef Restaurant: Mat Follas’s Lavender Mousse with Hokey Pokey and Berry Sauce

The Masterchef Restaurant: James Nathan’s Chocolate & Orange Sponge Pudding

My Shopping Haul:

I love fudge. I think Sunita got 2 bags for her family. I got 1 for a lemon-fanatic friend who was visiting that evening and 3 for myself. Who’s greedy?

Yum Yum Tree Fudge: A medley of flavours – lavender, mint chocolate, lemon bon bon

Mr. Vikki’s Tomato & Nigella chutney, Plum-infused Sake, WARRE’s 10 year tawny Port, Fruits of the Forest Balsamic Glaze

WARRE’s port wine was very impressive, especially the 25 year aged vintage but going at £25 a pop, I wasn’t too eager to split with that kind of money despite the port being very rich, dark and smooth. Hey! It’s the recession. We gotta be wise about things like that, eh. I settled for the 10 year aged that was also very lovely but going for only a tenner! Whey. Talk about Diva doing bargain shopping.

At Apulia Blends stall, I was blown away by their selection of extra virgin olive oils, the apple balsamic vinegar and the fruity glazes. I do love a good balsamic vinegar but I’ve never ever bothered with balsamic glaze. A taste and I was sold. Tempt me with ideas of pouring these glazes on ice cream – I’m sold even more. This forest fruit one was going for £6.50 a bottle which in my opinion, is worth every penny. The shocking thing, however, was that I found the same bottle at the Shoreditch Food Hall just round the corner from my pad being sold for a quid cheaper. Who knew?

Really delicious apple balsamic vinegar at nearly £12/bottle

I’m a loyal customer of Japan Centre as they have the best and biggest range of Japanese groceries I could possibly ever need away from home. Part of the Oishi JAPAN exhibition by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries participants, I was happy to find them plugging a good couple of bottles of sake amongst other kuramotos (sake makers). Tasted some very nice junmai daiginjo, a citrus flavoured sake, some sochu and this wonderful plum-infused sake I couldn’t resist. I love my sake warm and drinking it traditionally from those cute wooden square boxes is always a treat but this plum-infused baby was very lovely drunk cold.

And what about the chutney? There were many stalls selling chutney and it was hard to choose what to taste and where to taste but Mr Vikki’s caught out eye with their huge array of bottle reds (and I mean chutney, not wine). Arranged from the mildest to the hottest, we were glad we started at the bottom of the range in heat – Tomato & Nigella. I do love spicy chutneys but I’m not great at taking the heat as I dislike the tongue-numbing sensation after which always worries me that I’m losing my tastebuds! The guys at Mr Vikki’s were very friendly and my favourites were the Tomato & Nigella and Chili Jam. And to top it all, they were part of the Great Taste Awards section. Winners they are.

I had a great time with Sunita and Anne! The BBC Good Food Show totally made my weekend although I was so knackered after like never before. Took me all of Sunday to spring back to my normal self. I’ve also started writing down a few recipes I’ll be testing with the new ingredients I’ve got so do come visit again for more exciting posts! I have some sweets and main dishes up my sleeve in the coming weeks to come.

Hope everyone had a fab weekend. Have a good week ahead and only 11 days to London Food Blogger Connect!

If anyone’s noticed I went AWOL for a little bit, there’s a lush reason for it : I was on holiday in sunny Salou, falling asleep on the beach with salt in my hair and sand between my toes, feasting on fresh tapas, learning to fry Spanish tortillas and knocking back shots of black cafe (cafe con leche? no thank you). Between days of doing absolutely nothing on the beach or by the pool, or shaking off the numerous bar promoters that hounded us left right centre by night, we ventured out to Le Pineda, the sleepy fishing village Cambrils and the much-loved Barcelona. Amidst our traipsing through Costa Daurada and Barcelona, we met many a dashing Spanish waiters whom we became quick friends (and Facebook friends) with, met a famous DJ, the owner and manager of club Snoepy’s. In the space of a  week, our little classy quartet became known on the streets for the better-behaved English, re-named the PCDs or Spice Girls however complimentary that would be. 

Despite the gradually accumulating hangovers, through the rose-tinted, siesta-induced Spanish lens, Diva was scouting for affordable, chill/laxing places to dine at or cute shops worthy of a second visit. Apart from buying random things like a fan and vintage Ozzy tea-shades from the Monday Salou markets and spending a little on bottles of vodka, mixers and mineral water, the week went by relatively worry-free on £255, non-inclusive of flights and board – quite affordable if working on a student budget really. Here’s a little roundup of some bars, eateries, restaurants, parlours and shops I’d like to share with you!

SALOU
Lunattic Bar

A nice chilled out bar at the waterfront offering a range of tapas, snacks and hot food alongside a very impressive menu of sweets, ice cream and fabulous cocktails which are served with rockets, sparklers and heck-loads of decorative stirrers. Check out the giant cocktail bigger than myself for sharing, their house special Pina Colada and the chocolate brownie.

Farggi 

A snazzy ice cream parlour situated by the beach for emergency ice cream, smoothie or coffee breaks. The finest and most varied offering of flavours and chocolate coated sugar cones. This ice cream parlour is top! Diva loves. And recommends the Lemon Sorbet for classic-goers or the Coconut Pistachio & Chocolate Truffle for the ultimate holiday experience.

Le Tagliatella

A restaurant about 5 mins away from our little hotel, this was a gift from the heavens. We went twice in the space of a week simply because the food was fabulous, the sangria refreshing and sneakily intoxicating and the Spanish waiter Dino adorable. The pizzas are bigger than the plates. You have been warned. There isn’t an elegant way to go about eating them, trust me. Definitely do not forget to try their fresh pastas (or risottos if you must) as well. Mind-blowingly good. I had some salmon filled black & white ravioli in an olive oil, shrimp and garlic sauce and I was close to tears by the end of my meal.

Uncle Sam’s Diner

Ok so really what are we doing going to an English-run American diner in Spain? I’m not gonna lie and say this was good but it’s worth a second visit on hungover days. No matter what I do, there is nothing like a bacon or sausage sandwich, or a fry-up the whole works you know to sort you out and make you feel like you’re still alive after a night of boozing. Just be warned, if you’re starving for something fairly fresh like orange juice, a pint of it (which comes up to 2 small glasses) will cost you a little over €3. Ouch.

BARCELONA
El Bosc de les Fades

A little way off from Le Ramblas, this little cafe is just precious. Its dark interiors is home to a manmade rainforest and its moody thunderstorms. Veering off from the main bar are little rooms containing an odd combination of things: a floating female body clad in a white floaty nightgown, an Indian guru, a glowing mirror that reveals the body inside at eerily regular intervals, etc. Even the toilets are a little special and go dark every 15 seconds if you don’t slam your fist down on the light button quite a way away from where you’re sat. Don’t get too carried away gawking though as the bar gets very busy and you’ll have to queue quite a bit before getting served.

Happy Pills

This quirky sweet shop was unfortunately closed the day we went to visit but I’m sure I’ll be back to visit again! Instead of popping pills, this shop promotes some other kind of rush for our prozac nation – sweets in little pill boxes! Très cute.

Giovanni Gelateria

Diva loves ice cream so she decided gelato for ice cream was the perfect Barcelona treat. This quaint gelateria seems to be a favourite amongst tourists and Barcelonians. The smell of hot waffles coated in chocolate sauce wafts up the streets and is the best way to finding this little shop if all else fails. Not the best customer service in my opinion but who’s complaining when the servings are that generous! I wasn’t the only one chuffed about my ice cream…obviously

I am feeling slightly nostalgic as I put these pictures up. A fab holiday, with loads of yummies and much to see. The last night was spent at a club Kiss where our little quartet surprisingly met all the Spanish waiters we’d befriended along the way and somehow made me miss the food even more! Nevertheless, we flew out of España with happy bellies and a gorgeous tan ready for the final end-of-university partying and GradBall. More adventures to come.