ferdiesfoodlab + Beer = Awesome

So Saturday was a pretty special day for me, not just because it as St Patrick's day (nod to Irish heritage) but also because it was mine and the lovely Jane Cai's four year anniversary. We decided to celebrate by revisiting Ferdie's Food Lab. We attended the opening weekend sometime last summer for my 25th birthday and enjoyed it so much we knew we would be coming back, all we needed was the right occasion. ferdiesfoodlab (www.ferdiesfoodlab.co.uk) is a supper club run by Simon Fernandez, formerly of Fernandez and Leluu. The dinner is hosted at the beautiful Toynbee Hall in Aldgate East. This is really convenient for me as it is about a fifteen minute walk from my house, happy days. 

Despite the title of this blog the event did not need beer to make it awesome, the food was excellent, beer was a happy companion. On our original visit I had a (slightly drunken) conversation with Simon about potentially doing some beer matching for his menus in the future. When you attend you already get wine matching suggestions for the dinner and I felt beer could be a welcome addition. Nothing came of it after the first visit due to my lack of action. Since then my beer knowledge had improved and I have moved into actually working in the beer industry. I now cook at BrewDog Camden and am very happy doing it. This gives me access to a huge amount of beer and beer knowledge from my colleagues and customers. 

I came to the dinner on Saturday with only a vague idea of what would be on the menu gleaned from some tantalising tweets from Simon. I knew we would be treated to popcorn ice cream and ribeye steak in some form. What we were treated to was a six course feast of beautiful food. 

Here's what we had; 

#Sweet Potato Tortilla w/ Oyster Mushrooms Noisette and Rosemary Bread (V)

These came elegantly presented on a slate platter portioned into generous triangles for each guest. Served with beautifully crisp rosemary bread and an additional sweet potato sauce in handy bottles overall it looked great. The tortillas were thick and sweet balanced well with the earthy richness of the mushrooms. On the night I drank a Kernel Pale Ale, Nelson Sauvin Simcoe with this. It went well the tropical flavours from the Nelson Sauvin working well with the sweetness of the tortilla. If I were to eat this again I may match it with something slightly lighter flavour wise to allow the food more room on the palate, probably something like a Brooklyn Lager or a light IPA like Bengal Lancer from Fullers.

Yum Salaad - Cambodian Inspired Chorizo & Celeriac Salad

This dish was light but packed with huge amounts of flavour. Tangy and sharp with lemongrass, shrimp and paprika and a crispy chorizo. I loved this course, partly because I was seated with a few non pork eaters and so got a load of chorizo, but more because it was well balanced and interesting and extremely tasty. I still had some of my Nelson Sauvin/ Simcoe mix from the Kernel. It worked really well with the citrus from the hops and the citrus in the salad really working well together. The beer was an enhancement rather than a contrast and it was great. if i were to do this again I may bring a single hop Simcoe from Mikkeller or an IPA with a  lime profile like Punk from Brewdog. 

Bacon Swirls and Invisible Tomato (V: Cheese Swirls)

Sorry no picture of this one, but to describe they were pastry swirls of bacon and cheese. The invisible tomato was a tomato and basil consomme served in a shot glass on the side. It was perfectly clear but packed a massive punch flavour wise. This made me smile and laugh and get really excited.  It was loads of fun to try the consomme and feel your brain get slightly confused. On the night I drank the newly launched Kernel Red IPA (anyone getting the feeling I went by the brewery that morning?) and it was an amazing companion. The stronger malt flavour in a red IPA worked well with the strong bacon flavours and the lighter hop profile worked well with the consomme part of the dish. If I get to eat this dish again the beer would be exactly the same. 

Roast Ribeye of Beef w/ Roasties, Tarragon & Horseradish Sauce, Ginger Carrots & Simple Salad

On to the main course, a beautiful hunk of ribeye, served wonderfully rare in the middle and with two beautiful sauces. The horseradish sauce was beautifully mild with hints of english mustard and the tarragon sauce creamy and powerful. The roast potatoes were amazing, they were good last time we were here but just great this time, so crisp and tasty. I struggle to make them this well in small quantities at home, that Simon did it for coming on thirty people this well is impressive. I paired this course with a Kernel Export India porter, the deep roasted notes worked well with the seared beef and as a good counterpoint to the creamy sauce. If I were to match again I may go for something slightly less dark perhaps an Stone Arrogant Bastard or an 8 wired Tall Poppy. 

Oaty Cookie Popcorn Ice Cream Sandwich w/ Salted Caramel Sauce (V)

This was one of the courses I had some idea about having seen one of the 'tantalising tweets' from Simon. What I didn't know was that there would be salt caramel and oat cookies. This was awesome, I could have eaten a lot of this, despite already being full from the preceding four courses. The salt caramel really lifted the whole dish and the popcorn ice cream just made me smile, a lot. I had saved some of the porter from the main course for this and it worked really well with the creamy and caramel flavours on the dish. If I were to match again i think I would go for a mega stout. Perhaps a Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout or a Nogne O Imperial Stout or a Jahva Coffee Stout from Southern Tier. 

Petit Fours

(salted lemons, fudge, white chocolate)

(dark chocolate, black olives, caramel) 

These were a beautiful finish to the dinner, small nibbles with intense flavours. Chocolate and olives were amazingly well and were accompanied perfectly by some of the porter still hanging around. I also opened a Kernel Centennial to go with the lighter salted lemon and white chocolate petit fours and this worked ok,  though I felt that the Centennial perhaps overwhelmed the lighter flavours a little. If i were to match again I would keep something dark for the chocolate ones and maybe bring something strong and Belgian but fairly light on flavour like a Duvel or Tripel Karmeliet to finish up with. 

I cannot stress how much I enjoyed this evening, massive thanks to Simon and the team who helped him pull this off. The people who waited on us were polite, friendly and warm the whole evening and it really makes a difference. Just get yourself booked and down to enjoy some of this marvellous food, and consider taking some tasty beer with you! Email bookings@ferdiesfoodlab.co.uk

Autumn & Winter - Time for Dark Beer!

The time of year has arrived where it's pretty much dark when I leave home and dark when I leave work. After the clocks change this weekend then darkness will envelope the vast majority of my waking hours. If possible I will become even more pale and ghostly looking. However, unlike a lot of people I actually enjoy autumn and winter. Spring and summer are great but I always look forward to the changing of the seasons towards the darker, colder part of the year.

There are a number of reasons for this. I enjoy wrapping up in stupid furry hats, making my breath steamy and going from the cold air outside to a cosy indoor space. Above and beyond all this though is the food and drink this time of year brings with it. Rich, filling, stodgy food. Pies, mash, stews, bakes, potato based meals, sausages, all sorts of pastry. (Come on a few stomachs grumbled then.) The excitement I get from putting on some beef and gravy based dish to slow cook for a number of hours is something that only autumn brings.

I enjoyed the summer drinking IPA's, wheat beers and great lager but the time has definitely come for the dark beers to take centre stage. On one of those damp nights England is so adept at providing, a pint of stout or porter can be a marvellous thing. One thing I would say is always drink a porter or stout at around room temperature, you simply lose so much flavour having it chilled. Plenty of people don't realise the complexity of flavour present in these styles of beer. In a good pint you can find chocolate, fruit, coffee, malt and hop flavours all vying for your attention. Depending on the beer these can come sequentially or all at once. It's a wonderfully comforting set of flavours, coffee and chocolate in autumn or winter, it's like a cuddle. Another great thing about these style of beers in the mouth feel. Thick and velvety and smooth, these beers slide down.

One thing that I would like to add is that Guinness, in my opinion, is a fairly poor representative of a stout. It lacks flavour and is all round underwhelming, so try one from a brewery like Sam Smiths. The Americans also do some wonderful stouts. A friend of mine brought me a bottle of Alesmith Speedway Stout from the states last year and it was beautiful. For pure decadence you can't get much better than Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout, big and boozy with a tonne of chocolate flavour, you'll find yourself in mocha heaven. A few weeks ago I made a trip to the Craft Beer Co. in Clerkenwell and tried some Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, if you ever see this beer you should try without hesitation. Forget the price for a minute and enjoy a half pint, this beer is incredible. Meantime also do some beautiful dark beers, their London Stout is beautifully rich and their London Porter, resplendent in their awesome 750ml corked bottles is a real treat. Of course there are hundreds, if not thousands of other great dark beers, but I don't see much point in going into an exhaustive list. These are simply a few of my favourites.  

As well as being great, either in a stew or accompanying it, these beers make wonderful dessert accompaniment. Try a coffee porter or rich stout with a cream based dessert, or just with vanilla ice cream, it tastes fantastic. Raspberries and other berries also work surprisingly well. Let's not forget cheese either, I hear they're great with Stilton, but since I hate Stilton I couldn't tell you. I do know they work wonderfully well with a lovely bit of mature cheddar. Chocolate itself can also be wonderfully matched with dark beers. The chocolate notes in beer is really brought out when paired with actual chocolate, this is naughty but it tastes so good. These dark beers are wonderfully diverse in terms of food matching, go experiment.

Dark beers were my first love in terms of good quality beer after my conversion from drinking really bad lager. It was around this time of year a few years back that I first started really trying as many beers as I could get my hands on. First from Bacchanalia Wine Merchant and assorted pubs in Cambridge and later in London at places like Utobeer. I moved onto, and love, all other styles of beer from Belgian to hyper hopped American beers, but at this time of year, these hold a special place for me.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far, and please leave some comments. Let me know what your favourite dark beers are, and what I should be trying. This post has got me really craving some good quality porter. Think I'll pick up some Meantime Porter on the way home!

The Camel, Bethnal Green

Last night I made a visit to The Camel in Bethnal Green. I am so glad that I made the 15ish minute walk up from Whitechapel.

My housemate Shaun had suggested we head out for a drink and I was more than happy to oblige on an uneventful Thursday evening. Usually, as a house, we tend to head to the nearest pub which is The Urban Bar on Whitechapel High Street (if you don't recognise the name it's the pub completely covered in tiger stripes.) While this is fine for a quick pint it's not really somewhere I ever get excited about going. Shaun had suggested somewhere further afield so I felt free to suggest we head to The Camel.

Google maps in hand we headed up towards Bethnal Green. For how close we live we are an incredibly lazy bunch, especially on weekday evenings, at walking any distance at all, so this was special. Heading onto the latter stretch of Globe Road, it didn't look like there was going to be anything there. Keep going, it's really worth heading right to the end!

From the outside the pub looks small and cosy but you can already see the great wallpaper and beautiful light shades. Great copper finish orbs line the length of the ceiling and looked fantastic. A few moments hesitation trying to find a door tucked down the side and we were in. The pub was busy, but not overly so. A good mix of people and a wide range of ages immediatley put us at ease. I tend to favour pubs which don't just cater to a particular age range or audience, a pub should be a social area, not a place for cliques.

The range of beers was good, a few cask ales on and some bottles in the fridge. My eye immediately landed on a bottle of Redchurch Brewery Benthnal Pale Ale, a beer I narrowly missed trying at Mason & Taylor a couple of weeks earlier.  I've been hearing about the Redchurch Brewery for a little while now, and though I can't quite remember, I'm sure it was them tweeting that The Camel sold their beer that sent me here in the first place. The beer was great, deep maltiness with a big hit of hops. I was really impressed and will be seeking out more of their beers for a try whenever possible. After that I moved onto some Sambrook's Junction and I really enjoyed that, it was well pulled with a good head. Shaun had a Freedom Organic Lager which i managed to have a taste of, good lager!

The only problem was that I had already eaten. The selection of pie and mash looked brilliant, even including a thai curry variety. Plenty of people were eating the gigantic portions, and they smelled fantastic. The giant jugs of gravy looked to be the icing on the cake. At £8.95 a portion this is definitely an option for another evening soon, especially considering the weather at present.

We even managed to speak to strangers, a friendly pair of girls newly arrived from New Zealand. This doesn't happen very often in London so it was a pleasant surprise. My girlfriend Jane joined us around ten after a late finish in work and the evening was perfect.

I left when they kicked us out with a brilliant impression of this pub and safe in the knowledge that I will be back soon. I strongly recommend this pub, I think I may have just found my first proper local in London.

A Short Introduction

Hi,

I just wanted to write a quick introduction before launching into any posts.

My names Kieran, as you may have gathered, I'm 25 and currently reside in charming Whitechapel. I'm very passionate about beer and thought I would begin to write a little about where I'm drinking, what I'm drinking and how it's all going in the hope that someone might be interested.

Please be forthcoming with comments, I'm not too much of a sensitive soul.

I hope you enjoy what I write, here we go!