Au revoir London

HERE it comes. Sooner – too soon? – than expected, and I can’t help but feel nostalgic about it already. You always tell yourself that you still have plenty of time before waking up that particular day. And then, you open your eyes and the time has finally come. Time to move back to France after two years spent in London.

Two years of food insanity, eating out in some of the best restaurants in London, meeting and interviewing wonderful and passionate people and improving my knowledge in food. But above all, two years of developing strong friendships and enjoying the wonderful blogging world in London.

The time has come to come back to a country we love, a way of life we enjoy (you don’t put a French person too far away from an opportunity to strike…), and raise a family next to ours.

Leaving London is not going to be an easy step. Life has been extremely generous to us and I have learned a lot through all the people I have met – restaurateurs, food producers, and even food PRs. I don’t know how to thank you all for the support you gave to my blog, the means you gave me to live my dream and to achieve crazy ideas, such as to be converted to porridge, to organise a brownie tasting, and an aubergines challenge.

You brought me a lot and I will keep your generosity in mind forever.

And how would I dare to leave the UK without my foodie treasure box? The box that every foodie should carry with him/her every time we go somewhere. The box that contains things that make you feel better.

In my treasure box, I will bring a pack of Peter’s Yard‘s crispbread; a box of DIY Curries from the lovely Sally, a cup of Paul A Young’s hot chocolate; a delicious chocolate cake from William Curley; some gin from Sipsmith and a bottle of U’luvka vodka; the unforgettable cocktails from master Brian at Rules; the Panettone recipe from Francesco of L’Anima; the tripe gratin Henry from Racine made for us for our insane and decadent Grande Bouffe; the Mort Subite Kriek (and six glasses) from the Draft House; a signed menu from Pierre Koffman; pictures of a birthday meal at The Sportsman with @Laissezfare; oats from Rude Health, who converted me to porridge for my winter mornings in Paris; and the wonderful taste of the In&Out burger at Goodman.

My treasure box will also always be there to remind me of the kindness and high quality service of the Donald Russell team; a wonderful night at The Blaggers Banquet; an introduction to high quality coffee at Kaffeine; the pleasure of having worked with Simon Majumdar for his ‘Dine with Dos Hermanos’ dinners; a Spanish afternoon with Rachel McCormack cooking her home-made cuisine; an introduction to vodka by the legendary Leonid, owner of Bob Bob Ricard; the delightful team at Wahaca – Tommi, Mark and Cecilia; a crazy cheese feast at @bridedwithfood’s; red pepper and aubergines challenges; my first meeting with Ferran Adria at the Royal Geographical Society for the launch of the book The man who changed the way we eat by Colman Andrews; a home-made tapas meal cooked by the lovely Jose Pizarro; and the most insane foodie adventure my husband and I put ourselves through in the Instant Restaurant TV series on BBC2.

I will also add wonderful meals at San Lorenzo with our dear friend and passionate owner Ghigo; a discovery of Indian street food at Moolis, thanks to the crazy Matthew and Sam; an afternoon playing Scrabble at Polpo, which we nicknamed Foodabble; an introduction to Italian, Australian, Chilean and other wines from around the world with the help of @chrisCmitchell and @thirstforwine (which showed me how poor France is when it comes to discovering wines other than French ones); the best #FF from @chrispople; a piggy night at St John with 15 exciting ladies around a table; and a dive into food PR with three wonderful clients – Pho, Glorious and Yuforia.

This is only a short summary of 18 months of intense social and foodie life, and this post would be too long if I mentioned all the people I’ve met, the places I’ve visited, and the events I’ve enjoyed. I don’t know yet how the blogging life is going to be on the other side of the Channel but I promise I won’t only speak about frog legs and how French are proud of their cuisine. Well, at least not in my next three posts…

Thank you all from the depth of my heart, it’s been a real pleasure.

AU REVOIR et à bientôt

Read Full Post »

The Sipsmith experience: Body and soul

When asked to describe a person, tradition would have us list what we see. Going beyond that often proves much more complex for most and the proper words will escape them beyond the predictable choices of hair; long or short, eyes; blue or brown; colour; light or dark.

Food will pose a similar problem: Most can easily define a meal by its ingredients, whether it’s sweet or savoury, spicy or sour.  Ask them to describe the actual subtleties and nuances, though, and only the foodies among us will spend hours on end flinging metaphors and similes with gusto.
The innocent bystander, not as gastronomically inclined, might think the language just as mystical as the culinary process itself.

It boils down to the same with spirits: your common barfly will quaff down any old liquor on juice and would be none the wiser to citing anything in their glass beyond what’s written on the bottle.
And yet, the craft that created the contents of that bottle is rife with a historian’s wealth of techniques and variations. Likewise, the art of distinguishing commonplace liquor from the truly unique would take a wordsmith’s talents to make heads or tails of it all… or maybe it would only require the heart of a Sipsmith?

Masters of their craft, the minds behind Sipsmith wax lyrical when describing a summer field noses and an orchard palates.

Prudence plays her part, of course, to bring out the best in the myriad botanicals that read like a naturalist’s treasure trove, from Chinese cassia bark to Spanish liquorice root. What emerges, after years of nightly filtering and experimentation, is the first London Dry Gin to see the light of London since 1850.

Rightfully so: an Englishman’s humour could be no drier, and any playwright would be hard-pressed to describe as much character. Even the water used comes from the same source as the Thames River.  How’s that for unrepentant dedication?
For those desiring a more eastern taste of finesse, Sipsmith’s pure barley vodka sips just as well and, without a doubt, merits what lesser liquors often claim: smooth as silk and just as clean.

So, having both the driest of London Dry Gin and the smoothest of single-botanical vodka, barmen and Bond fans can finally celebrate Vesper as only she should be…were we only able to find a bottle of true Kina Lillet hidden away in someone’s wine cellar.

Vesper Martini – 3 glasses
50ml Sipsmith Gin
25ml Sipsmith Vodka
10ml Lillet Blanc
Lemon Peel

Add the Gin, Vodka and Lillet into an ice-filled shaker.
Shake well and strain into a pre-chilled Martini glass.
Garnish with the lemon peel.
Note: For the true Bond purits among you, Vespers should be served in a long-stemmed Champagne glass.

Read Full Post »