Coffee trials

Armed with an A-Z and a list of places gathered from reliable sources, I am embarking on a pilgrimage in search of good cafes and, more importantly, decent coffee. Unfortunately due to lifestyle choices (i.e sleep) I'm now a one coffee a day drinker - hence the importance that I place on that coffee- so it will be a slow journey.

Whenever I complained about the coffee in London people would ask "have you been to Bar Italia in Soho"? What better place to begin this pilgrimage than at the godfather of coffee houses.


A classic Italian espresso bar, if I wasn't sitting across the road from Ronnie Scott's I could swear I was in Pellegrini's in Bourke St Melbourne. Same floor bolted vinyl bar stools lining a long mirrored wall (not a bad hair day or large group venue), same nonchalant 'I could think of better things to do than wait on you' waiting staff and same mix of city workers, Italian men and groovy young things drawn in by the retro kitsch...


and the coffee: lovely strong Italian style coffee served in a normal sized cup with nice thickly textured milk; but relatively expensive at 2.50 (ludicrously expensive if you convert to Australian dollars but what's the point).


I just had the coffee but I did see some impressive paninis walking by including a prelude to a heart attack: a chicken schnitzel ciabatta sandwich.

The L word

Location location location keeps ringing in my ears. Every person I've spoken to in the restaurant industry tells me it will make or break your business. It's hard enough trying to find a good location when you know a city but having not lived in London for 12 years first thing I've had to is decide what area we want the cafe to be in. The selection criteria: inner city suburban area populated by high income professionals, ‘yummy mummys’, mobile/home based workers and preferably lots of affluent Australians/antipodeans who are desperately missing Australian style cafes. As for the site itself we want somewhere that gets morning sun, preferably a corner site, in a high visibility location like a retail strip, near or on the way to a train station and in an area where there are some competitors but not saturated with other cafes. Not too much to ask? Well it wouldn't be if the freaking Starbucks and Cafe Neros didn't take every site that meets that criteria. So we may have to compromise on a few things...

Another expression that rings in my ears: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

I thought I'd found the perfect site on Fulham Rd. Not on a corner but it seemed to have everything else going for it in terms of location and was surprisingly cheap. Maybe I got a little blinded by the good location and price and didn't see the faults of the property itself. Or maybe I've watched too many shows like Renovation Rescue and have completely unrealistic expectations of what you can do as a low cost makeover. After getting an architect to run his critical eye over it I saw it in a different light- low ceilings, no windows or ventilation, only one entry point and a horrible musty damp smell that suggested bigger plumbing issues.



I also learned that you can't just get a mallet and knock out walls like they do on those home improvement shows when that wall is holding up a block of apartments.

So the search continues but at least I'm not the novice I was before. Now I know that windows and ventilation are important and that when the agent is strongly suggesting you get a building inspection before making an offer, they might be trying to tell you something.

Chutney on

Everything.

Really, what doesn't taste better with a little chutney? Its the most versatile and nondenominational condiment, as happy with a curry as it is on a cheese sandwich.

Homemade chutney is in a league of its own yet few cafes seem to do it here. The punters that frequent the greasy spoons, and even quite upmarket places that do breakfast, prefer to douse their morning fry ups in HP sauce (generically known as brown sauce) tomato ketchup, vinegar and mustard.

Imagine a sausage and fried egg on a ciabatta roll with a nice bit of tomato chutney instead...mmm.

I stocked up on glass jars at the Savers shop on North End Rd (just like the Hot Potato shop on Sydney Rd in Brunswick), and have started honing my chutney making skills.

Peter Gordon, a New Zealand chef who co-owns the Providores and Tapa Room in London, is one of my food heroes. When I first opened his cook book I knew I had found a guru and a kindred spirit. He uses really unusual combinations of flavours, cuisines and textures - an approach which seems very antipodean to me for some reason. This is his recipe for nectarine chutney from his book, "A World in my Kitchen".

Roast nectarine chutney



15 nectarines, stoned and quartered
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
6 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
1 lemon, halved then finely sliced and de-seeded
2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
1 bouquet garni
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
250ml (8fl oz) cider vinegar
500g demerara sugar
3 teaspoons Thai fish sauce

Preheat oven to 200C/400F degrees. Put all ingredients except sugar and fish sauce into a large ceramic roasting dish. Mix well then place on upper shelf of oven and roast 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the mixture begins to reduce and colour, add sugar and fish sauce and cook further 30 minutes, stirring twice during this period. The chutney should be thick and the fruit still discernible in shape. (Continue cooking if too moist).

Spoon into sterile glass jars that you've had filled with hot water to prime, and wiped dry. Leave just 1/2 cm at top of jar. Seal while still hot and leave to cool. Store in fridge at least one week before eating. Refrigerate after opening.

Chutney made, what to eat it with? We were having people over for a barbecue the next night so I had to ignore Peter's instructions about leaving the chutney for a week (it makes a couple of 500ml jars anyway). To find a dish worthy of the chutney I turned to Karen Martini, another food guru for largely the same reasons that Peter Gordon is. She's a Melbourne chef who heads a restaurant called The Melbourne Wine Room. This is her recipe for barbecued quail from her book "Where the heart is". I thought it might be a bit fiddly picking meat off little quails so instead I used chicken marylands (or oyster cuts as they are called here- the thigh and leg portion still joined).

Cardamon, oregano and verjuice marinated quail (Serves 6)


10 cardamon pods, seeds removed from husk
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, zested
2 teaspoons salt flakes
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons died oregano
6 quails, butterflied, or 6 chicken thigh and leg joints (Marylands)
1 cup verjuice
lemon wedges to serve

To make the marinade, combine cardamon seeds, pepper, lemon zest and salt in a mortar and pestle and grind to a powder. Add garlic and half the oil and pound to form a paste. Stir in mustard, oregano and remaining oil.
Place quails or chicken in large dish, rub in marinade and pour over verjuice. Cover dish and place in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Drain marinade from quails/chicken then season with extra salt if desired. Preheat barbecue or oiled frying pan over medium heat and cook for 8-10 minutes or until cooked through and brown both sides. Serve with lemon wedges.

Continuing the slightly Middle Eastern theme I finished off dinner with a desert from the Moro cookbook which is a bible in my family.

Moro's yoghurt cake with pistachios (serves 6)


3 large eggs separated
70g castor sugar
2 vanilla pods, split in half lengthways
350g yoghurt (greek yoghurt thinned with a little milk)
finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 1.2 orange
juice of 1 lemon
20g plain flour
30g shelled unsalted pistachio nuts roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 180C degrees and put a bain-marie of water in to warm on the middle shelf (Bain marie means a water bath so you just need to fill a deep baking tray with water for the cake to sit in).

Beat the egg yolks with three quarters of the sugar until thick and pale. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix into the egg-sugar mixture. Add the yoghurt, lemon and orange zest lemon juice and the flour and mix well. In a separate bowl whisk up the egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form. Gently and evenly, fold the whites into the yoghurt mixture. Pour mixture into a 25cm round or square baking dish or a cake tin with a solid bottom, preferably stainless steel, or lined with greased proof paper. place the dish in the bain-marie making sure the boiling water comes halfway up the tin, and cook for 20 minutes. Then add the chopped pistachio nuts, sprinkling them gently on top, and continue cooking for further 20 minutes or until top is lightly brown. Consistency of the cake should be a light sponge with a wet custard below.

I served the cake with some creme fraiche and cherries that had been pitted and marinated for a couple of hours in balsamic vinegar (tablespoon), castor sugar (a sprinkling) and torn mint leaves (tablespoon).

Egg bacon and bean pie

My take on the British classic of eggs bacon chips and beans. The magic of my version is that you can hold it in one hand, making it a mobile little tart of happiness.

About the beans. I know it is sacrilege in this country to suggest that there is anything wrong with tinned baked beans but think of this as an entirely different dish - a bit like tinned spaghetti and tinned asparagus - tasty in their own right but neither bear any resemblance to their non-tinned form.

I’m still experimenting with the bean recipe. This time I soaked and cooked the cannellini beans before baking them in the oven. Some recipes skip this step and put the soaked beans straight in the oven with all the other ingredients. This method has a longer continuous cooking time in the oven which means you're stuck in the house whereas you can stagger the cooking when you cook the beans first. I often put the beans in a pot with water to soak as I leave the house in the morning, cook them that night and then bake them the next day. It might sound like a palaver but it really isn’t and once you’ve tasted home cooked baked beans you’ll be serving them on toast at your next dinner party.

Ingredients

250g dried cannellini or haricot beans
1 onion spiked with 3 cloves
1 teaspoon mustard powder
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoons treacle (or tbls brown sugar)
1 x 400g tin peeled whole tomatoes (chopped)
4 slices of smoked bacon, streaky bacon or speck (about 75g) rind removed and chopped
1/2 large onion
bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped mint
salt and pepper

Method

Soak the beans 6-8 hours or overnight in cold water. Discard the water and place drained beans in large pot. Cover with cold water. Simmer 1+1/2 hours until tender. Drain and discard onion and water.

Heat oven to 140 degrees. In a large lidded ovenproof casserole saute the chopped onion with the bacon and bay leaf.
In a bowl combine the mustard powder and a small amount of red wine vinegar to make a paste, then add treacle.
Add the chopped tin of tomatoes to the sauteed onions and bacon. Add the mustard and treacle mix and combine. Add salt and pepper then the cooked beans and 1 cup of cold water and mix well.
Place a tight fitting lid on the saucepan - or baking paper and then foil- and bake at 140C for 2 hours (stirring occasionally and adding more water if it starts to look too dry). Remove the lid and add the last tablespoon of red wine vinegar.
When beans are ready, add chopped mint and taste. Adjust with seasoning if needed. If beans are too sweet add some more red wine vinegar, and serve.

The Pastry (Alternatively you could buy ready rolled short crust pastry, but again, home made tastes so much better and once you get over the fear of pastry making it is insanely easy).

Ingredients

240g plain flour
180g unsalted butter
pinch of salt
1/4 cup water

Method

Chop butter into smallish pieces and place in food processor with flour and salt. Process for about 5-8 seconds. Put mixture in a bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and add the cold water. Using a fork, quickly stir the ingredients together and then use your hands to bring the dough together into a disc. Lightly dust with flour and wrap in cling film and place in fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out pastry on a bench top, dusting with flour as you go, to about 4-5mm thickness. I do this on a big sheet of baking paper so that it doesn't stick to the bench. Cut to fit 6 x 9inch pie tins. Lightly oil the pie tins and press pastry into the tins allowing the pastry to have a 5mm edge higher than the tin as the pastry will shrink. Prick bases with a fork and then chill or freeze cases for 20minutes or as long as you like. When ready to bake, line pastry with foil and fill with dried beans or rice to stop it from rising. Bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes then remove foil and bake further 5 minutes or until light brown , remove from oven and brush with egg white when you remove from oven to seal.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Reheat the beans (apparently when you are putting a wet filling into cooked pastry cases if you heat the filling it is less likely to make the pastry go soggy). Fill the tart shells about 1/2 to 3/4 full with beans. Make a well in the centre of the beans and crack an egg into the hole. Bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the egg is just set. Remove and grate some parmesan cheese on top. Eat in or take it away.

Mueslings

Making muesli is one of the comforting rituals in my life, along with composting and watching the ABC's Gardening Australia at 6.30 on a Saturday night. Its a rock'n'roll lifestyle I've forsaken to pursue a dream in London. The ritual involves going to the Vic markets in North Melbourne to fill my bags (recycled paper bags in order to feel optimum smugness in the organic section) with oats, barley, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, mixing it all together with my hands in a big bowl then spreading it out on trays to slowly toast in the oven. The house smells like an Anzac cookie for hours (or burnt muesli if you become distracted and forget about it which I do with annoying frequency). Finally, and this is the best part, you tip the muesli into a big glass jar and sit it on your kitchen bench to admire: a breakfast of champions.

Now that I'm in London and don't have ready access to a good food market I do my gathering at the Spice Shop just off Portobello Rd in Nottinghill


and the new Wholefoods on High Street Kensington which, while lacking the earthiness of a food market, does have an impressive supply of muesli ingredients and more importantly, excellent people watching opportunities. This is where the beautiful residents of Nottinghill and Chelsea hand pick their organic free range eggs and select cheeses (cave matured?) for their fabulous dinner parties.



Here are a few of my recent experiments - still perfecting the ratio of nuts to fruit and grains and the different styles of raw, toasted, bircher or a combination of toasted and raw.


Muesli (Serves 6)

4 cups of rolled oats
2 cups rolled barley or rye flakes
1/2 cup wheatgerm
1 cup of almonds roughly chopped
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup pepitas
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 cup or so of dried fruit (dates, sultanas, pawpaw, mango)

Mix all together. Serve with fresh fruit and yoghurt or milk.

Toasted Muesli (Granola)


Once you have made your base muesli (but before you add the dried fruit) you can make it sweet and toasty. There are a few ways to sweeten it; with fruit juice, sugar, honey or maple syrup. Most recipes use about 1/2 cup of oil when toasting the muesli but I don't think you really need to and I sometimes feel that you can taste the oil. So here's what I do.

In a saucepan, heat 1/2 cup apple or pear juice with 1 tbls sunflower oil, and half a cup of honey or maple syrup, few drops of vanilla extract and pinch of cinnamon. Bring to the boil and then pour over the muesli in a large bowl and mix together to make sure all the muesli is coated. If mixture is too wet, add more oats.

Spread out evenly on a couple of baking trays and bake in a slow oven (140 degrees) for about 1-1+1/2 hours. You really need to keep an eye on it and stir it every 15 minutes or so. It will be an even golden colour when its done. Allow to cool completely on the trays before adding dried fruit.

Bircher (Serves 4)

2 cups of rolled oats soaked in 1 cup apple or pear juice overnight.
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 apple or pear grated
2 tbls chopped almonds
pinch of ground Cinnamon
squeeze of lemon
small handful of raisins

Mix all ingredients together and serve.

Coffee crappes

Coffee in London is truly crap. Why do they give me a tub of burnt milky liquid when I ask for a coffee? Doesn't anybody drink from normal sized cups in this town? Coffee chains are EVERYWHERE and people seem to actually like them including my sister and brother-in-law who are going to be partners in the café. I’ve told them they must stop with the Starbucks and Café Nero or any other place that serves hazelnut frappes and caramel syrup with their tall grande mega lattes. I always thought coffee chain stores were for homesick foreign students and travellers at airports and train stations who have no other choice and many hours to wile away. But here coffee chains occupy every prime site on the high streets sitting side by side with their competition offering identical products and always seem to have people in them.

It's mind boggling that people believe they are coffee connoisseurs if they drink their coffee at Café Nero rather than Starbucks because its "The Italian Coffee Company”. Mmm, the board of directors listed on their website sound very Italian: Dr Gerry Ford, Mr Benedict Price, Mr Jonathan Hart, Mr John Barnes and Mr David King.

I’m also learning not to comment on the crap coffee as people living here (including Australians) seem to take personal offence or have been living here long enough to have forgotten what coffee can taste like.

I’m sure bad coffee and sterile cafe fitouts are not true of all areas of London. Maybe I just need to get out of Fulham.