Fenchurch Seafood Bar & Grill (Skygarden)

I had previously booked a couple of tickets to go up the 'Walkie talkie' tower but work commitments meant I never could actually go. For date night with fiancée I suggested we treat ourselves at Fenchurch seafood bar and grill and review. Despite having limited number of tables we were able to book 48 hours ahead which was surprising.

The table was booked for 6:45 but thought we would chance going up an hour early, but we were met with a pretty lengthy queue at ground level. What wasn't clear was that with restaurant reservations you could skip this queue, so ended up wasting 10-15 minutes. By the time we got to the top we were really ready for a drink at level 35 (sky pod bar), but unfortunately despite being at the bar itself we again had a lengthy wait. Most drinks were cocktails and lengthy prep time along with what appeared to be in-experienced bar staff meant quite a few errors occurring! I can appreciated teething issues with brand new bars but this has been open for a little bit of time now and it looked quite amateurish.

We finally got drinks and the views were certainly worth the wait

Looking East

West

 We took a walk around and loved the views in every direction. There is plenty of seating both in the bar and around the sky  garden itself which is a real positive. 

And inside 

As we were getting hungry we went up to level 37 to the restaurant itself. The menu is fantastic with both a number of seafood and meat options with mains from £22. We decided to skip starter as the 

desserts looked pretty special and also the amuse Boucher and bread were more than enough. We went for Fillet steak and Guinea Fowl which were both delightful and kept us very quiet. My partner was in love with this dish as all of their favourite things on a plate- and a salad just out of shot!

The main courses were great but where this place adds the special touch is the desserts.  We both went for the strawberry doughnut, lime ice cream,  buttermilk and honeycomb. My partners reaction was 'the best dessert I have ever had'. Considering the places we have eaten, fine praise indeed.

The overall bill came to about £155, but considering we had a £55 bottle of US Pinot Noir was reasonable and certainly felt well worth it. I will be going again and now looking actively for an occasion to book it for.

Overall Rating 8.5. Though I would say a point off purely for having to wait downstairs for both the lift and at the sky pod bar. This may be harsh on the restaurant itself but all part of the evening

http://skygarden.london/fenchurch

Slow Cooker Pulled Gammon

Why do pulled pork when pulled gammon is so much tastier!

I had a few Sunday as the other half was away and I fancied treating myself to something in the slow cooker. I had planned the a Persian lamb but the supermarket options were limited so I thought why not try a gammon joint in a honey, mustard and bbq sauce.

Ingredients:
1 gammon joint (mine was 1.16kg)
3 tsp whole grain mustard
4 tablespoons honey
2 1/2 tablespoon american mustard
4 tablespoon bbq sauce
Salt and pepper
50ml boiled water

Method:
1. Place the joint in a bowl and mix all ingredients (apart from the water)

2. Leave to marinade for 1 hour

3. Place into the slow cooker on high, and add the boiled water.

4. After 2 hours change to low for another 4 hours.

5.  Place on a chopping board and pull the gammon with two forks. 

The sauce ended up being too thin to just mix in completely. I added a few spoons but not the whole lot. Ate it with with some roasted sweet potato and a.great Seven Brothers beer - happy Sunday! 

Cucumber and Mint Gin

Why not try a cucumber and mint infused gin?

After the immense success of the peach and raspberry gin, (full recipe here) we decided that wedding favours could well be mini flavoured gins. Means favours that relate to us, taste great and people actually remember! So I need to start experimenting and thought cucumber and mint always tastes great in cocktails so why not try infusing with gin. I used a much smaller bottle than I would normally but want to make sure this works first!!

Ingredients:

100g cucumber cut into strips

150ml gin

10g mint leaves (4/5 sprigs)

45g sugar

Method:

1. Sterilise the bottle you want to use

2. Cut the cucumber into thin strips and rip the mint leaves from the same.

3. Add the cucumber and mint to the bottle, and add the gin.

4. Add the sugar and shake (normally I would add sugar before gin but wanted to make sure it all fit first!!!)

5. Shake each day until the sugar dissolves then store in a dark place for a few months and taste regularly. 

Review: Beer52.com

Beer52.com Review

I was advised about a new company providing craft beer direct to your door, so I thought I would check it out and review beer52.com. There was an offer code 'GS9' which meant the usual price of £24 for 8 beers was just £5.95 (postage and packing) so looked a bargain.

Here are the beers ranked in order:

Gentse Strop

Huge amount of flavour, with a hint of wheat beer flavour to it. One for sipping and taking slowly but a clear winner. Will source myself.

Krut Gold 

A clear second place and this was finished in a flash, the only beer that was. Almost a little sweet with slight honey flavours.

Art la Indiana 

Strong flavours and worked amazingly well with a fish curry (which slightly surprised me). Won't be highly rated by all as such as distinctive flavours but good for me.

La Loca Juana

An almost perfect beer, however due the strong wheat flavour that got stronger as I went through the bottle and put me off

Old Tom with Chocolate 

This is where the beers go downhill and stopped being exciting. This tasted like drinking a nice beer with chocolate in your mouth, rather than an infused flavour. Shame as this could have been pretty special.

Ilkley and Hophead

These two beers were put together as both were a bit meh and just very standard beers you would have in your local. Neither special and surprised with were in this box

Brigid Fire

Worst beer of the bunch and by a long way. Horrible beer that was completely overpowering, and couldn't finish the bottle. I do tend to like beers that are smoked or smoked flavours but certainly not this one!! So much sediment in the bottle which was very off putting. 

So was the box any good? Well yes it was decent and I would rate it 6/10 as some of the beers were pretty good. Pretty clear that I loved the continental beers so was beneficial to have a number of these! The box also contain some crisps so the £5.95 seemed a steal. 

Would I use this company again? Well I have already have, even before I finished the first!  This was another voucher code, 'rising' which was a completely free box including P&P. 

Would I pay full price? No I wouldnt, I didn't think it is worth £24 a box. The selection was good but going through these I've realised I don't like craft beers enough to justify this. I don't want to drink carling/Stella but I'm happy with premium lagers and ales I know I love. 

Unfortunately, I  hope this company succeeds but I'm not sure there will be enough demand for this at this price. They also seem very lax in their voucher codes, which is either a massive error or a calculated gamble which could easily backfire 

www.beer52.com 

White Chocolate, Coconut and Mango Mousse

This recipe is perfect for a romantic night in (what I made this morning for this evenings Valentines meal!!). Relatively easy to do and easy to mix up the fruit, strawberries would also work well

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

2 bars green and blacks white chocolate

1/2 pint double cream

2 tablespoons milk

1 mango

150g coconut (desiccated)

Method:

1. Melt the two white chocolates bars in a microwave on 15 second blasts until smooth and add tablespoons of milk

2. Whisk  1/2 pint of double cream until it holds the whisk shape.

3. Pour in a couple of spoons of the white chocolate at a time and fold in with a metal spoon.

4. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate/cream mix a spoonful at a time.

5.  Dice the mango and add a layer into a jar, add two tsps of the coconut to add another layer and fill up halfway with the egg, chocolate and cream mix.

6. Repeat until the jar is full. Sprinkle more coconut and add mango decoration

Eggs St Vincent

What better way to get over an awful hangover than rustling up a feast of chorizo and eggs! Not sure how I managed to avoid just having a bacon sandwich but it was very much worth it. Well I do know, I was banished from the kitchen, and gratefully stayed on the couch!! No need to go out and get some brunch.

Ingredients:

3 or 4 eggs

1/2 cucumber sliced

Handful chopped frozen garlic

Handful chopped frozen shallots

Punnet of cherry tomatoes 

6 inches of chorizo diced

2 Romano peppers

Sprinkling piri piri rub

Handful of frozen basil

Olive oil

3/4 small pittas

Sprinkling of chilli flakes

Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Heat a frying pan on high and add the garlic and shallots until soft

2. Add the tomatoes until they start to break down

3. Add the chorizo, peppers, piri piri rub, basil, salt and pepper. 

4. Whilst this is bubbling away in another pan add a tsp of oil and fry the eggs.

5. Toast the pittas, and place on a plate. Add the chorizo, pepper and tomato mix. Place the eggs on top and the sliced cucumbers on the side. 

Try it next weekend! 

Carrot and Sweet Potato Stew

With the new year and very expensive items coming up (moving and wedding) I decided to start making my own lunches. This was very much using what was in the fridge and cupboards, which meant throwing some things I wouldn't normally. It ended up being a lot less simple as planned as put more and more items in but still very easy

Ultimately it worked out well in the end, but would leave for longer before eating in future as thickened up well and flavours were even better fused together.

Ingredients:

6 carrots peeled and cut into chunks

1 sweet potato peeled and cut into chunks

1 red onion diced
1 can baked beans

1 can lentils

1 can chick peas

1 1/2 pints veg stock (would recommend having this thick as I had to add in a decent amount of corn flour after)

Good sprinkling oregano

Good sprinkling cayenne pepper

Good sprinkling Worcestershire sauce

4 large tbsp good bbq sauce (I used American Stockyard bbq sauce from Marks and Spencer)

Salt and pepper to taste
Corn flour if needed

Method:

1) Place the onion, carrots, sweet potato, chick peas, lentils and baked beans in the slow cooker.

2) Add the oregano, cayenne pepper, veg stock and Worcestershire sauce. If too watery then add the cornflour to thicken up slightly and stir well.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Prior to cooking 

3) Put the slow cooker on low for 2 hours.

4) Add the bbq sauce and keep on low for about 8 hours.

In the morning after cooking

At this point I then this off the heat to take some to work. I came about about 12 hours later and it was the perfect consistency, so you may want to do the same before eating.