Coffee Shots - Allpress Espresso Shoreditch

I proudly strolled into the brand spanking new Allpress last month believing myself to be amongst one of the first..

Unfortunately, since then I have been beaten to the punch by Timeout and other Cafe reviewers. Still, i'll add my 2c and some photos which will hopefully entice a few of you out there to ignore that gingerbread latte just once and head down for a brew and a bite.


Poached egg, Green Goddess and Jamon sandwich.


Checking the roast..


Working the machine



They do filter too.

Coffee Shots - Hurwundeki, Bethnal Green

Hurwundeki, underneath Cambridge Heath station is my daily fix.




Hurwundeki -298-299 Railway Arches, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9HA

Coffee Shots - Tapped and Packed

A lovely little refuge in the heart of Fitzrovia.



They have a great collection of teaspoons, its almost worth visiting just for the teaspoons. The coffee is pretty good too.



They also do vacuum boogie siphon coffee.

Check out their blog here

See their website here

Tarte aux Pommes à la Normande

I'm on a mission to perfect my tart making skills before Christmas.

An annoying feature of our gas oven is that doesn't seem to want to cook pastry very evenly - either it's golden and soft in the middle or, in this case - burnt and properly cooked in the middle. Going to try a different vessel next time which might help cook it evenly.



Want the recipe? I borrowed this one from Food & Wine online - they even have suggested wines to match.

Is it Christmas already? Candied Pecans

Thought I might get in before everyone else starts loading up the internet waves with Christmas fare.

If you are a fan of candied nuts then this recipe is definitely one to be tried. Quick and very easy - the secret is all in the egg white.

Coffee Shots - Fernandez & Wells

Fernandez and Wells Soho

Beak Street, Soho

Brighton Sunday Market

In a daring plan to escape London, a friend and I jumped aboard a train from London Bridge to Brighton last weekend. Its been a little while since I visited, and I wasn't disappointed. Its still small, friendly and has buckets of character which makes it easy to see why so many are content living there and commuting to London.

We stumbled across a few interesting finds over the course of the day, one of them being the Brighton Sunday Market.



Being a a Saturday didn't seem to get in way of this market running a busy service with a range of tasty and quality products.



I picked up some smoked garlic from one of the stalls, it comes in all the way from France where it is prepared over 40 days in smoke cabins. I can't wait to unleash it on a tasty stew or some meat this week.

Is I am culturally vapid

Yes, I admit. I am culturally vapid. Like a sheet in the wind, swaying to whatever culinary trend or fashion may pass my way.

In this particular case, I was seduced by an lengthy Guardian article on the merits of the 'perfect Pumpkin Pie'.

Taking the bait, I stepped up to the challenge and decided to make it from scratch, searching around for just the right pumpkin and pillaging the fridge for ingredients such as maple syrup which are usually only used on special occasions (aka megabrunch).

The result? Very tasty.

Worth my time? Perhaps next time i'll get some of that canned pumpkin puree instead.




See the Guardian website for further info.