On Friday evening I had the pleasure of eating my first meal prepared by a Michelin star restaurant chef. Chef Roger Jones of The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, with a Michelin star earned every year in the past ten years, prepared a six-course meal at Continue reading →
Tag Archives: The Fat Duck
The Hinds Head in Bray: historic British dishes with a twist of Chef Heston Blumenthal!
Yesterday I was spoilt by my friend Katie Friedman, who took me to lunch at The Hinds Head in Bray, one of three restaurants owned by Chef Heston Blumenthal in this tiny Berkshire gourmet village.
Bray first attracted attention when the Roux brothers Michel and Albert opened The Waterside Inn in the village in 1972, and have held a three star Michelin rating for the past 25 years. Chef Heston, whose father grew up in South Africa, was attracted to the village too, Continue reading →
Should restaurants prohibit food photography?
The topic of whether restaurants should prevent their diners from photographing food arises regularly. Now Michelin star restaurant chef Heston Blumenthal has attracted attention with the new photograph policy in his restaurants.
While most diners would think that any and all photographs taken of a restaurant’s dishes would be to the benefit of the establishment, a wonderful form of free marketing, it appears that restaurant chefs are nervous about the photographs, and whether they present their dishes in the correct light! Other diners are irritated when a flash is used for the photographs.
The downside of course is the dreadful quality of photographs one sees on Social Media platforms, in a yukky Continue reading →
MasterChef SA Season 3 episode 6: Meeting ‘Karoo Kitchen’ writer Syddah Essop; Ndumiso Mncwabe fired out of Pressure Test!
Last night’s MasterChef consisted of two parts – a happy team of eight Finalists driven to the home in the Karoo of cookbook writer Syddah Essop, and a nervous looking team of three Finalists who had to cook in the Pressure Test without electricity, which saw Ndumiso Mncwabe leaving the MasterChef SA kitchen.
The team met Syddah Essop, writer of ‘Karoo Kitchen‘, and she shared her knowledge about Karoo Cuisine with the Finalists. Syddah grew up in Beaufort West, in the heart of the Karoo. She traveled from farm to farm in the area with her father, who sought to protect the rights of farmers. In this way she learnt a lot about the Karoo locals and their food. It took her three years to compile ‘Karoo Kitchen’, as a salute to the culture and heritage of the Karoo. The cookbook contains a diversity of local dishes, including standards such as melktert, rusks, Karoo lamb, and even sheep’s head! The cookbook has received acclaim for documenting the Karoo cooking culture and heritage. Syddah prepared a table full of Karoo delights for the Finalists. Continue reading →