Happy New Year everyone! I hope you're having a cracking start to 2015. I've been taking things very easy, spending time with friends and family, and actually just enjoying the moment, rather than trying to capture it through my lens. So the blog has taken a bit of a back seat. It probably won't get back fully until I go back to London, which is still in another week, so bare with me.
However here is something to wet your appetite in the mean time.
Just before Christmas, hence the baubles, I was invited down to the Miele kitchen gallery aka a showroom, on Regent Street to test out their Creative Living Nordic Cuisine experience. Miele host a whole host of cookery classes and workshops each month, from sushi classes, to gluten free baking.
However tonight there was no cooking involved from us. Instead we were being cooked for by celebrated chef Martyn Meid of INK restaurant. 8 dinner's gathered in his kitchen for our own little privately cooked dinner.
Martyn and INK specialise in Nordic cuisine. Nordic cuisine is based upon fresh and simplicity. Lots of fish, lots of raw ingredients and lots of vegetables. It's as healthy as the Mediterranean diet, so could be a good one for all your January dieters.
So while we watched him slave over the stove, we were presented with a canapé.
Fresh oyster in lime juice.
It was really interesting to see him at work. How those beautifully intricate dishes are constructed. Plus this way you can see what exactly goes into each dish. Certainly no nasties here.
The first of the main dishes was this beautiful herring in rapeseed oil with cucumber shoots, diced gherkin, salmon caviar and a whole quail’s eggs. I say whole because you do indeed eat the whole thing. Yes, shell included. It's where all the calcium is apparently. I will admit the shell does have a rather distinctive crunch to it shall we say.
However it was washed down by a shot of gin.
Although I do think shell is a lot nicer judging by this photo.
Next was this rather art like plate. Underneath the pile of steamed beetroot was in fact goose cured for 48 hours in Nordic Vodka. Never having had Goose before, I rather liked it. One for the Christmas table next year?
Then came turbot cured in apple vinegar and lime juice with burnt onions. This was delicious, yes even the burnt onions. It helped to cut through all the acidity.
The actual night was an interesting one. 8 guests sit round a big communal dinning table whilst having a top chef cook next to you. I'm guessing they were trying to go for the intimate private dinner party feel, however I'll be honest, on my night there was a distinct lack of host to co-ordinate things and help introduce people, so the atmosphere was strange to practically nothing. With paying couples, no one seemed to make the move to try and get the 'party' started (except the charming couple in front of me I must say).
However what I do think would be awesome is if you got together 7 of your friends, and booked all 8 places. Then you'd be having a fun girls (or guys) night in practically but cooked for privately by a renown chef. Now that sounds like a winner.
Following on with the food was the dish of the night in my eyes. Caramelised pork belly with mashed potato and green cabbage. I have a love affair as it is with pork belly, but one that just falls apart and melts so slowly in your mouth. Oh yes darling, yes!
With a high bar to beat, finally was had salt cod and puréed avocado. Not quite as good as the pork belly, but the cod was so fresh, it was just gorgeous. It even had a slight rainbow shimmer for a coating, which Martyn told us was the mark of an extremely fresh cod. Fact of the day for you.
Sadly I had avocados, so avoided the purée like the plague. Possibly the only blogger to hate them. Oh well.
Oh OK when I say final dish, I was talking about savoury. Everyone known dessert is a completely separate affair.
We ended- and this time for real- with goats milk crème brulee. Slightly anticlimactic I must say. Creme Brulee is always a bit meh if you ask me.
We ended with a thank you to Martyn and thankfully left the washing up to someone else. Rather nice having someone cook for you eh?
The dinner costs £75 which isn't cheap, yet it's 7 course, all the wine and alchohol you could wish for, and of course your own private chef. So like I suggested before, grab your best friends and have a dinner party to remember.
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