Small Plate Sessions at the Last Days of Shoreditch

You know summer is really here when London's rooftop bars, terraces and outdoor spaces start opening up - including the Last Days of Shoreditch, East London's iconic food and music venue. For those who missed my last blog post (What?? No excuses - go back and read it now!) and in the interests of full disclosure and transparency,  I have been to a couple of Chef Ben Spalding dinners recently as a guest - although this particular visit was as a normal ticket-buying foodie. I mention this only because he has a restaurant residency in the heart of the site and, as a self-confessed fan, I was queueing up to check it out.

The restaurant is the raised, mezzanine part of Last Days of Shoreditch; I visited on the first weekend of opening and the signage wasn't immediately obvious but then you can't really miss it -  in a wonderfully fun and quirky touch, you take stairs up . . . and a slide on the way down!

The restaurant itself is only about 45 covers so there is a fabulous view of the kitchen, where you can watch Ben and his head chef Josh work their magic.

If there is ever a chance of a seat where you get to see the chefs work I am absolutely there. I am endlessly fascinated by the process and the sheer skill involved and I find it humbling to see the energy, passion and focus that goes into every plate.

I had to have the now-famous chicken skin sandwich; literally a sandwich made with thin crispy chicken skin instead of bread - step right up, low-carb Lean in Fifteeners!

Reading the description, I wasn't completely sure about the chicken skin element but actually it is delicious - very light and not at all oily (in other words, not remotely dense and pork scratchings-esque, which was my fear) but still full of that lovely roast flavour. I'm such a convert that I am definitely trying this at home; I'm thinking of mini versions as drinks/pre-BBQ nibbles? 

This was one of the stand-out dishes of the day for me; mackerel cured in Hythe seawater and served with mint, aromatic mango and a Marmite and sourdough mayonnaise. Fear not, haters; you can't actually taste Marmite as such, there's just a light umami tang that beautifully balances out the natural delicacy of the mackerel, paired with the freshness of mango. This is a gorgeous and beautifully plated, summery dish that lets the ingredients shine.

Those of you who have read my Meat Lust BBQ bus tour blog from February (Aw thanks guys! Love you too!) will know how excited I was to finally get to try this Ben Spalding signature dish for the first time.

Ben has changed it up for the restaurant with a duck version and I was not about to miss it in its new incarnation. It didn't disappoint; the creamy richness of the duck set off by the dark caramel notes . . . and that's without the inevitably wonderful people-watching opportunities, as the way you get both together is to lick the parfait off the brick - no cutlery allowed! (Is this the perfect ice-breaker dish for a first date?)

Next up was the beef shortrib. I am not sure how Ben manages to coax such intensity of flavour out of beef but this is fabulous - yielding, rich, intensely meaty. This was a dish from the terrace and so had been cooked on a Mibrasa charcoal oven to give it that delicious barbecue hit. 

The terrace is hands down the best vantage point at Last Days of Shoreditch. This picture was taken as it had just opened - an hour later it was at capacity and people were being turned away at the door (which is good, as they never let it get uncomfortably, heavingly busy - just full and buzzy). The restaurant is bookable on Chef Ben Spalding's website but the terrace is no-reservation; I found that, if you arrive early enough, you can nab a pretty good spot, grab a drink, order your food and  sit back to watch London at play. 

I had a cocktail from the restaurant bar and my companion went for a craft beer from the Gipsy Hill Brewery. My only small gripe would be that, on my visit, wine was only available by the bottle and, with a beer-drinking companion, I would have liked the option of a glass (or two). 

So, on to desserts. Lemongrass Vs Ginger is a light, airy lemongrass cream with a lemongrass puree, zingy, crispy ginger and iced lemon thyme. I'm not normally a sweet person, (yep, not in that way either) but this was good - cool, creamy and refreshing at the same time.

Silky charcoal fudge is given a kick with the inclusion of the Ribman's famous (or perhaps infamous) Holy Fuck sauce, made from scotch bonnet peppers and naga jolokia chillies. It sounds odd, but it really, really works; there is the sweetness of the fudge and then a gentle tingle of warmth from the sauce, which seems to wake up your tastebuds and intensify the depth of chocolate taste. Again, I don't have a sweet tooth but I would say this could be a sharing dish, it's a generous portion. Oh - did I mention it's splashed with rum and SET ON FIRE? Yep.  Welcome to Small Plate Sessions.

The live DJ sets happen immediately beneath the restaurant and terrace, so there is a seriously cool soundtrack to your evening. We stopped by here after dinner and chilled out with a drink to sets (Ben also curates the music on certain nights, under his PuzzleProjects banner) by Ray Mang and Chuggin Edits; it's not often that you get both food and music by such respected names in one place. For those, like me, who love the quality and imagination of seriously good food but don't like the stuffiness, formality, self-importance and price tag that normally goes with, then this is your spot.

We also had a wander around the rest of the site; we had stuffed ourselves so much that we didn't have room for anything from the food stalls but somehow managed a cheeky jug of Pimms and a longing look at the deckchairs. All in all, a pretty fabulous Friday night. Well hello summer . . .  I've missed you. 

Yours, loving the summer evening one-stop shop, 

London Girl About Town xx

#AllGunsBlazing with Ben Spalding and Arnaud Bignon

Consider this a serious food-porn alert. I am about to walk you, dish by dish, through the most recent of Ben Spalding's #AllGunsBlazing events.

If you've never been to one of these, it works like this: Ben is joined by a fellow chef (usually Michelin-starred, always extraordinary) and they work together to produce a twelve-course menu. Some dishes are from Ben, some from the guest chef and some are cooked collaboratively. Previous luminaries have included JP McMahon (Aniar), Adam Handling (The Frog) and Calum Franklin (Holborn Dining Room), creator not only of legendary pies but also of the world's best Twitter hashtag. (No, I'm not telling you, go and look.)

In the interests of transparency — about which I have pretty strong views — it's worth mentioning here that I've been lucky enough to have been invited as a guest to several of Ben's dining events recently (although not this one; I bought these tickets, back in February after blogging the Meat Lust bus tour). I will remain, as always, fully open and honest about my opinions - I have long thought him an extraordinary talent, and the evidence is only building — but this has given me a little more insight into what motivates and drives him as a professional, which has been fascinating.

Anyway, back to #AllGunsBlazing; this time, in partnership with Arnaud Bignon of two Michelin-starred The Greenhouse restaurant in Mayfair.
The event hit the ground running with a selection of Table Nibbles, waiting for us as we were shown to our seats by the lovely Sarah. Arnaud contributed the spelt crisp with soft cheese and smoked duck along with the liquid Greek salad, which not only looked beautiful but was one of my favourite dishes of the evening. A perfectly bite-sized, glistening red globe with a tiny basil leaf garnish, this bursts in your mouth to release a flood of fresh, complex Greek salad flavours — an experience not unlike the tomato sphere in the Prairie Oyster at The Bar with No Name (in other words, wonderful).

Ben provided a varied range of nibbles, my favourite of which I think was the caramelised kohlrabi, buttermilk jelly and white chocolate skewer. Characteristically inventive, this might sound like an unlikely combination of flavours but it was marvellous — as was the roasted pickled onion in chicken butter and spicy ginger wrapped in nori. Spalding's dishes are regularly outside-the-box creative, but never for novelty's sake; every single component adds to the flavour and balance of the final dish.

We officially started with B&B; Hackney Wild sourdough bread served with Grant Harrington's gorgeous cultured butter, sprinkled with brown sugar and mushroom powder, lightly blowtorched and served on a board with smoking spruce twigs.








One of the fabulous things about the #AllGunsBlazing dinners is that it removes the barrier between chef and diner. Ben and Arnaud were not hidden away in a high-tech kitchen but mere feet away, preparing and plating everything right in front of us, introducing the dishes and interacting with guests throughout the evening. I can't help thinking that this must be a welcome change for the chefs as well as extremely cool for the guests. I should probably point out here that all this is being prepared and served in an event space above a corner shop in Hackney, with very few of the standard toys and equipment which chefs at this level are used to. I have huge respect for professionals willing to step so far outside of their comfort zone.

First up from Arnaud was this dish, Hemoglobin;  vividly-coloured, elegant and stylishly presented, with the bold, earthy flavour of beetroot balanced with the tang and acidity of yoghurt, smoked eel, pumpernickel and dill.

Then came Tomato Vs Tomato Vs Tomato, Ben's delicate and delicious salad of late spring tomatoes prepared in different ways — including an intensely-flavoured, almost jammy, dried version — with radicchio, sour cream, pomegranate molasses, grapes, ripped mint and iced basil in a spruce bark honey dressing.

The bar set high by both chefs, we moved on to Arnaud's next dish, Iodine, which was preceded by a flurry of activity on the part of the chefs and a waft of woodsmoke. Little Kilner jars arrived at the table, containing a cold jellied dish of cockles, mussels, calamari, dashi and basmati rice; when opened, a fragrant wisp of smoke drifted up towards each guest.

Here, opinion on the table was divided. I really liked this dish; for me, this was the closest thing to eating an oyster without actually eating an oyster — cool, briny, slippery, tasting of the sea. One of my companions however was not a fan of the texture. (I ate hers. I'm not too proud to admit it).

Ben's next dish, Mr Mung, characterises his love of taking a Cinderella ingredient and transforming it into the belle of the ball. Here, the humble mung bean is fermented with over thirty different flavourings and served with tom yum mayonnaise topped with MSG chicken skin and pork skin, creating a delicious houmous-type dip with contrasting crispy nuggets of crackling.

The next item on the menu, simply entitled Cauliflower, was the first collaboration dish. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the #AllGunsBlazing dinners; two incredibly talented chefs with very different styles, not only delivering their own dishes but working with each other to create one savoury and one sweet dish for the evening. (It was particularly fascinating this evening as they were so very different; Ben positively fizzes with energy, whereas Arnaud has an almost yogi-like zen calm about everything he does.)

This dish was another of my favourites: cauliflower, slow-roasted in beurre noisette with garam masala, shaved almonds, yoghurt, black garlic crumble, marmite cream cheese and grated bitter dark chocolate. Every component intensified and enhanced the flavour of the cauliflower, bringing out an extraordinary, unexpected, satisfying depth. You know when you bump into the unattractive kid you went to school with and they're now unbelievably hot? The Neville Longbottom thing? Brad Pitt in Friends? That.

On to a dish created by Ben, which the menu informed us is called Piggy Cheesy Cheesy Piggy; this typifies not only the quirky and playful aspect of his cooking but also his guiding principle that exceptional food doesn't have to be formal and priced beyond the reach of most — as evidenced by his frequent and absolute willingness to dispense with cutlery of any kind. This was a delicious shot of Italian prawn, Iberico pork and warm Parmigiano Reggiano broth with raw peas and chilli oil, in a glass.

I'm going to mention here the hand model for this particular shot; my neighbour for the evening, Head Chef Asimakis Chaniotis of L'Autre Pied. Another thing that makes these evenings such fun is that the vibe is so buzzy and relaxed (Ben also curates a playlist of rare funk, groove and classic disco from the music side of his business) you end up brazenly chatting to the perfect strangers sitting next to you — and no, this time its's actually not just me.

Asimakis was there with restaurateur and founding Director of Pied à Terre and L'Autre Pied, David Moore (pictured, left, with Arnaud Bignon). I have to say, they were the perfect dinner companions: interesting, great fun and utterly charming both. Just as well really, as the friend sitting next to me was deep in conversation with the person to her right, chef James Wilson, getting an insider tip on seasoning steak.

Next up was another cutlery-free dish that really makes you get up close and personal with your food — a warm malt loaf and butter mousse that is squirted onto the back of your hand in a picturesque rosette for you to lick off.

Confession time; my camera skills may have been deteriorating slightly at this point and, by the time much faffing had been done, the mousse had melted into a rather unphotogenic blob. It was great fun though, and utterly delicious.

Did I mention there is a cash bar providing cocktails and a brief but carefully selected wine list, including a sprightly Sauvignon Blanc and a hefty, full-bodied, spicy Château Musar 2009 that went very nicely with Arnaud's next dish?

This was Black is Back, a visually dramatic and intriguing dish of meltingly tender lamb neck with aubergine and harissa providing a wonderful, deep smokiness.

And so on to desserts, the first of which was another collaborative dish, Liquorice: toasted liquorice marshmallow with sweet potato ice cream, blueberries dressed in tonka bean caramel, crispy artichoke and young lemon balm. I'm not a huge liquorice fan but this was really good; the sweet potato ice cream in particular was a revelation. The guests also had a front row seat for the theatre of top chefs toasting marshmallows over a blazing fire - indoors. As you do.

Arnaud's sweet dish, Tagada, was a light dessert of strawberry, basil and popcorn with a delicate freshness and an accomplished mix of textures. I loved the note of basil lifting the sweetness.

Our final dish was Aromatic Fudge, from Ben: a trio of chocolate fudges made with dark, milk and white chocolate, all flavoured with cardamom and served with whipped maple cheese, iced lemon thyme, crispy pea shards, toasted pecans and dusted with raspberry powder.

The intensity of the fudge was beautifully balanced by the accompaniments and it was so interesting to see how the aromatic warmth of the cardamom came out differently in each of the three chocolate fudges.

The #AllGunsBlazing dinners are a steal for both the quality and quantity of food, even without meeting the chefs and seeing them at work. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it - I think there is one more booked (with Jonathan Tam of Relæ) and, at least at time of writing, there were tickets available. It is so chilled, so much fun, and the food is awesome. And, please, go hungry.

Yours, in foodie heaven,

London Girl About Town xx

Meat Lust Bare Bones tour with Chef Ben Spalding

So - here we are wandering the backstreets of Hackney Wick on an ominously overcast Saturday afternoon, looking for the venue of choice for our Meat Lust Bare Bones tour. As it turns out, this isn't too difficult, as said venue is a London double-decker bus, painted bright pink and pimped into a mobile barbecue shack/ bar/party venue/kitchen. As you do, right?

The key themes of the day are meat and flavour: big, bold, inventive, uncompromising, assertive. For those of you unfamiliar with Meat Lust (at least in the culinary sense) they produce a range of street-food inspired sauces with, as they say, 'thug flavours that punch hard and don't apologise', including a Buffalo sauce with a smooth buttery flavour and a big cayenne kick, and a rather moreish fruity Chinese BBQ.

To showcase these they have assembled a seriously strong team, headed up by acclaimed chef Ben Spalding (ex Fat Duck, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Le Manoir, Roganic and John Salt to name but a few) and friends cooking on-board dishes on the top deck and each of the featured foodie stops creating a taster dish for the tour.

The Gipsy Hill Brewing Co. manned the downstairs bar, providing four beers apiece from a selection of six; after all, who doesn't love beer and barbecue? (In a fabulous touch, the labels on the beers feature staff members, with charming co-founder Sam McMeekin, left, in a starring role on the Beatnik beer.) A neon-lit interior and cool soundtrack set the mood and we were ready to go.

First stop, The Ribman. A street-food stalwart at Brick Lane, The Ribman is also well-known to hungry West Ham fans as he serves up his amazing ribs and rolls outside the Boleyn Tavern whenever they play at home. The Ribman has a pretty strong hot sauce game himself, with his Holy F**k sauce heading up a range of freshly-made (and similarly-named) sauces. We started off here with with some meltingly soft rib meat rolls - though smart money was already on going the bun-free route to leave room for later. If you are one of the lucky few to get a ticket for this, I strongly advise this option.

Back on the bus and off along the streets of East London to our next stop, and time for our first dish from Chef Ben Spalding. This extraordinarily talented young chef has a touch of the maverick about him; he is driven, knowledgeable, passionate and uncompromisingly creative. If you were trying to find a critically-lauded chef trained in a series of Michelin-starred kitchens willing to freeze his bits off on the top deck of an open-topped bright pink bus in February and prepare bespoke dishes in a six-foot-square space on a barbecue on a moving vehicle, he would be your guy. And boy, did he deliver.

Dish one was Bingo Wings - brined, poached and caramelised turkey and chicken wings in ML Buffalo sauce with apricot, blue cheese popcorn and creamed Blacksticks blue cheese. This balance of textures and bold, punchy flavours set the bar high for the rest of the day.

Our next stop was Clutch chicken and on came a tray of 'chicken lollipops' - succulent chicken with a satisfyingly crisp, crunchy coating flavoured with soy and garlic. We paired this with a Gipsy Hill Beatnik beer, a light and very drinkable pale ale with only 3.8% abv - perfect for pacing yourself without sacrificing taste.

But that wasn't all. The Clutch team came back with yet more goodies - trays of spicy wings and 'Love Me Tenders' - juicy chicken breast strips with a zingy parmesan and lemon coating. I'm planning a trip to nearby Columbia Road flower market in the spring and have earmarked this for a proper visit to check out their cocktails.

Back on the bus, our next dish from the chef was New Kid on the Block - one of the candidates for my standout dish of the day. Rack of kid was blasted on the barbecue and lightly flambéed in smoked black rum. A tartare was layered with crispy chicken skin and a delicate kid chop, served very rare, wobbly and delicious. The chicken skin was a perfect scoop for the wonderful tartare, lightened with a trace of pineapple and lemon thyme.

As if this wasn't enough, it was served on a block covered with set caramel, to be licked clean. I confess now that this has been my foodie equivalent of 'the one that got away'. I was one of the hordes that had booked months in advance for a chance to try Spalding's 'Chicken on a Brick' at John Salt several years ago before creative differences led to an early exit. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Closure feels so good.

Next stop, Foxlow. Head chef Jon Stewart arrived on the bus for a quick Q&A and bearing gifts - his favourite cut, Hanger steak, cooked medium-rare with shiitake mushrooms, whipped bone marrow and fried shallots. I was a particular fan of the bone marrow as this is such a rich and strongly-flavoured ingredient that I sometimes find it a little overpowering but this was beautifully balanced. By this time we had moved on to Gipsy Hill's Belgian dubbel, Les Gilles, a malt-based beer with a sour cherry finish (and weighing in at a hefty 6.5%) - our new favourite from the crew and a good match for the robust flavours of the steak.

By now the temperature was seriously dropping and I felt for the chefs upstairs. Our next dish to arrive was #Smokinduck - Gressingham duck leg brined and slow-cooked, served on a pancake topped with a barbecued cabbage leaf, creme fraiche, red plum, ML Chinese BBQ sauce and a velvet slap of flavour from umami king MSG. Again, the expert balance of flavours was incredible; each note distinct and at the same time a crucial part of the whole. On a more prosaic note, we were all grateful that this was small in size if not flavour, as we had all pretty much eaten our own bodyweight in meat.

Our final stop was Bleecker Burger; I love burgers as much as the next guy - more, probably - but its not the kind of thing you generally choose to eat when you are already full. Happy days, then, when we opened the full-sized carton to find a slider-sized burger - and testament to Bleecker and their delicious dry-aged beef that we all finished every bite, despite having just announced that we couldn't possibly eat another thing. (By we, I mean the entire lower deck of the bus, as we had by now all got to know each other and were having the best time. Fun events attract fun people, clearly.)

Homeward bound, but still two dishes to come from the chef and his hardworking team of two upstairs. The next was This Little Piggy - pig cheeks brined, grilled, braised and then glazed with ML sweet green chilli sauce, served with a smoked lychee, cream cheese, crispy rice and sour pomegranate. This was served on a swirl of crisp, puffy crackling and though I was about to slip into a meat coma, it was irresistible.

Last, but definitely not least - and my other contender for stand-out dish of the day - was Crack Rib. Before the major player arrived it was already a winner, courtesy of these highly addictive little numbers here. They were basically a kind of crack crouton infused with (I think) garlic and blue cheese. The incredible thing was the explosion of flavour when you put just one tiny cube in your mouth - I'm totally hooked! Ben gave these out in advance so we could taste a few and sprinkle the rest over the beef.

The main dish was aged Longhorn beef short rib, served on the bone, glazed in ML BBQ mop sauce, seasoned with smoked sel gris salt with Bramley apple, tom yum and crack crumbs. I cannot tell you how unbelievably good this was - silky-textured, incredible depth of flavour, with the intense apple tang to cut through it - it was perhaps a shame that it didn't get an earlier billing. I totally get that it is a real 'drop the mic' dish but we had all eaten so much we were struggling to breathe and couldn't do it anything like the justice it deserved.

We agreed that we would have been pretty happy to pay the ticket price for this alone and rolled off the bus feeling vaguely guilty at the quality and quantity of food and booze we had got for the money. (And on top of this, I won a selection of beers in the social media comp, so walked away with those too!) So, thank you Meat Lust, thank you Gipsy Hill Brewery, and most of all thank you chef Ben Spalding and the guys for a truly unforgettable dining experience. To create those dishes in a restaurant kitchen would have been impressive, but in those conditions - I humbly salute you all.

Yours, finally ticking off the brick licking,

London Girl About Town xx



http://benspalding.co.uk
https://www.meatlust.com
http://gipsyhillbrew.com