AS iconic as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club is Mud Australia, the tableware company started by self-taught potter, Shelley Simpson. Instantly recognisable for its palette of sorbet-inspired hues, its plates, bowls, jugs, vessels and platters have graced the tables of Nigella Lawson, Donna Hay and Bill Granger. Made from Limoges porcelain, all pieces are handcrafted at the Mud studio in Sydney. The pigment is then tinted through the porcelain to achieve its distinctive depth of colour with a clear glaze being applied to create its vitrified stone-like surface that becomes smooth with handling. With Mud Australia recently opening a store in Porchester Place W2, this handmade crockery and serviceware is now available here in London. With a style that is uncomplicated and a celebration of simplicity, we are sure that Mud will find instantaneous success. With a selection of over 18 colours and 80 shapes, anything from its collection would be the perfect addition to any London table.
11 Porchester Place W2 2BU t: 020 7706 4903 hrs: monday to friday 10am - 6pm; saturday 10am - 5pm
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OVER the last three years, we have interviewed some of London's best local brewers, cheesemakers, charcuteries, patisseries, bakers and writers as an ongoing chronicle of London as a food city. For WIDE OPEN, we have collated their recommendations of where they like to eat, drink, shop in London. Today we publish part two of our look inside the kitchens of London's food artisans as they share with us the local produce that they like to have eat. CATHERINE PIDDINGTON, PIDDINGTON JAM Conserver and avid collector of cookbooks "Rococo Chocolate has been a favourite of mine since childhood. I love the taste of their rose and violet creams — such an indulgent treat. Montezuma’s do amazing chocolates as does Paul A. Young, who takes you on a journey with his combinations of different tastes and flavours." RACHEL DE THAMPLE Author, Cook, Gardener, Forager “Honey from local friends and neighbours. Bread from Brockwell Bake. Herbs grown in my local park (I dry them so I have a year-round stock). Dried lemon verbena and peppermint from my local park’s Edible Garden for teas and puds. I always have a bundle of locally foraged sumac. Walnuts and pumpkins from my friend’s farm in Sutton. Rhubarb from local gardens and horseradish from local allotments (bought or traded via the Patchwork Farm stall). Chillies from Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses. Crab apple preserves from locally foraged fruit. Autumnal fruit-steeped vodka (blackberries, elderberries, rosehips, haws, apples, pears, quince…). Dried elderberries and elderberry vinegar (better than balsamic!). Rosehip puree for puds and tea. Sometimes acorns for a coffee-like drink but they’re a bit fiddly. I always try to have herbs and edible flowers, baby carrots, radishes and beetroot in my window boxes. Bay leaves (no one should ever buy these. I’m convinced London could be self-sufficient in bay). Caraway and fennel seeds grown in a shared garden (and foraged). Lavender flowers for baking and tea. Alexander seeds. Writing this list is making me realise why my kitchen is so cluttered!” TARA SUNDRAMOORTHI, KITCHEN TABLE PROJECTS Entrepreneur and founder of Kitchen Table Projects "At Kitchen Table Projects, we work with Marcus Carter of the Artisan Food Club. So as a buyer, I get to access dozens of producers. So from our larder here at Kitchen Table Projects, I like to take home Gregor’s Dressing, Prairie Fire BBQ sauce (it’s our best seller), Sweet Virtues, and Tea People." ADRIENNE TREEBY, CROWN & QUEUE Salumiere, pork whisperer and fearless heroine “I always keep a really well-stocked beer cupboard, including The Kernel Brewery, Brew by Numbers and The Five Points Brewing Company beer. In my larder, you’ll also find Colvin’s Hot Pepper Jelly, and some Graceburn cheese from Blackwoods Cheese Company. I try to always get my meat from The Butchery. The London Honey Company and Natoora at Spa Terminus are other favourites.” DAVE HOLTON, BLACKWOODS CHEESE COMPANY Cheesemaker and co-founder “It’s really cheese, meat and beer. Fermentation is the thing that we are really interested in and finding other people that are interested in it whether that be milk, or barley and hops, or meats and sausages. So if we’re not getting our meat from Flock & Herd, we will get it from Nathan at The Butchery. I’d also include Adrienne Treeby of Crown & Queue for her delicious sausages. There’s Nick at Vadasz Deli who’s making proper raw unpasteurised pickles and there will also be some beers from The Kernel Brewery.” KITTY TRAVERS, LA GROTTA ICES Wildly talented maker of ice-creams “Fruit and vegetables from John & Elena at Spa Terminus, as well as salami from the Ham & Cheese Company with coffee from Jack Coleman’s Coffee. A litre of wine from Toasted in Dulwich. Bread from Little Bread Pedlar or Brickhouse in Peckham or Cathedral loaf from Bread Ahead at Borough. I’ll get my vegetables from Brixton Farmers’ Farm and pasta from in Vauxhall. I always go our of my way to get dukkah from Persepolis in Peckham run by Sally Butcher.” NICK VADASZ, VADASZ DELI The Pickle Man “I am in awe of people like Hugo Jeffreys from Blackhand Food (now Autumn Yard Meat) - some of the charcuterie that he creates is just fantastic. I’d say Cobble Lane Cured as well. They’re unbelievable those guys and we supply some of the same places. Phil and Keith at Wildes Cheese. I just love their cheese, and Blackwoods Cheese Company. They are all real, very talented people doing some amazing things.” OONAGH SIMMS, THE MARSHMALLOWIST Founder and confectionary extraordinare “You’ll find some Newton & Pott’s piccalilli. I met Kylee at Meet the Makers and she is insanely talented. I’m also a fan of Smith & Sinclair: they do alcohol pastilles that you can get Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. They are just a lovely gift for a birthday. I also like Sipsmith: I use their gin in our blueberry and gin marshmallows.” CHRIS BARNES & PAUL WEBB, BARNES & WEBB Urban beekeeper and farmers “We have a lot of respect for our stockists like Lillie O’Brien's London Borough of Jam (LBJ), A.Gold in Spitalfields, and E5 Bakehouse. In terms of produce, some of our favourite London producers include The Roasting Shed coffee, LBJ’s rhubarb and cardamom jam, Fatties Salted Caramels, Fine Cider and Wildes Cheese - Napier. Eat 17 Homerton do a great bacon jam.” ERIN HURST, PROVENANCE VILLAGE BUTCHER Co-owner of Notting Hill’s village butcher “Our home larder looks a lot like what you’ll find in our store. So there’s Simon Wright’s tomato sauce, Trealy Farm Charcuterie, CNWD smoked salmon and some Ouse Valley fresh mayonnaise. We have Rubies in the Rubble. One of the girls lives close to us, so she’s helped us with one of our supplier demos that we do once a month. In the fridge, there’ll always be some Packington chicken and pies from the store. And of course meat, we eat wagyu once or twice a week. " HUGO JEFFREYS , AUTUMN YARD MEATS Chef, baker and charcutier “I always have a loaf of E5 Bakehouse bread on the go. Wildes Cheese: we are both at the same market at Ally Pally. Sara of Nyborg's Kitchen does a fantastic rye bread - the best that I have ever tasted and a banana chocolate bread that I can’t stop buying because it is so good. And finally, Nick of Vadasz Deli because he is a pickle bad-arse.”
JUST putting the final touches to PART TWO of our series on Wide Open: Inside the kitchens of London's food producers. This is a series that has us talking here at London Food Essentials and is the realisation of an idea that we had some time ago. Every month for the last three years, we have interviewed one of the city's emerging food producers and entrepreneurs. Interviewing people whose passion, dedication and produce, we have found both inspiring and also representative of the diversity and creativity of London as a food city. Our intention using the recommendations of London's own food artisans is to create a directory of where the city's local producers go to eat and shop to stock in their own kitchens.
With its much anticipated first bubbly released last year, Forty Hall Vineyard has the London foodie community talking. Founder Sarah Vaugh-Roberts speaks about ecotherapy, the British wine industry and weeding.
Enfield on the outskirts of London is the last place that you would expect to find a vineyard. Yet across ten acres of bucolic landscape, an organic vineyard is thriving. Founded by Sarah Vaugh-Roberts in partnership with Capel Manor College, Forty Hall Vineyard is the first working vineyard in London since the Middle Ages. “Forty Hall Vineyard is part of a growing movement of natural wine production,” says Sarah, herself a viticulturist trained at Plumpton College. “Several years ago the British wine industry was relatively unknown or even considered a bit of a joke. Now with so many wines having won major international awards, English wine is now taken very seriously, despite still being a tiny industry.” With approximately 500 vineyards in England and Wales producing sparkling and still wines, sales of English wine are expected to reach £100 million this year. Itself a part of this growing UK industry, Forty Hall Vineyard has gradually established 10 acres of vineyard since 2009. BASED on our interviews with local brewers, cheesemakers, charcuteries, patisseries, bakers and writers, we have collated over 100 recommendations of where local artisans eat, drink, shop and buy some of the best of London’s larder. Today we publish part one of our look inside the kitchens of London's food artisans as they share with us the local produce that they like to have eat. DAN CALLADINE, LONDON POP-UPS Founder of the city's most informative site to London Pop-ups "One of the other great things about London has been the raise of the craft brewery like The Five Points Brewing Company in Hackney and London Fields Brewery. So that’s what you’d find in my London Larder." KYLEE NEWTON, NEWTON & POTT Preserver and author of The Modern Preserver "I’ve recently fallen in love with Cobble Lane Cured British charcuterie. I can’t get enough of their fennel, garlic and red wine salami. Based in Islington, they use British free-range meat." MATT ATKINSON, COBBLE LANE CURED Charcuterie of British cured meats "I tend to trade goods at the market so my larder reflects whoever is there. At the moment, l have some biskies from Cutter & Squidge, cheese from Wildes Cheeses and some tomato chutney from Newton & Pott." FRANKIE CROWLEY, FIENDISH & GOODE Baker of English delicate dainties "I always try to buy British and food in season. So in my larder, you’ll find something from England Preserves. Darling Damson is definitely a favourite. There’s some local honey: a friend of ours keeps bees in Peckham and it is the most incredible honey that I have ever eaten. Blackbird Bakery in south London does blinding bread and I always have a bag of Monmouth Express blend coffee beans. Mountains Boston Sausage chipolaters are a favourite Sunday morning treat from Borough Market, and in our larder, you’ll also find some Charles MacLeod Stornoway Black Pudding. It is the best black pudding ever." PHILLIP WILTON, WILDES CHEESE Cheesemaker "You’d find craft beer from either Redemption Brew or Howling Hops. I’ve got some Picco Salumi (now Cobble Lane Cured), meat from the local butcher in Chelsea and lamb from Ally Pally market. There’s some bread from Flourish, our local bakers, and a tin of baked beans." CHARLI GILES, CHAZWINKLES Preserver "It is more of a British larder! I have a Riverford vegetable box delivered every Monday so I’m always learning about new vegetables such as flowering sprouts. You will always find some Cullisse Highland Rapeseed Oil. Closer to home, I like British charcuterie from Cannon & Cannon, SPOON granola and Northcote Blonde and Commonside Pale Ale from Bellevue Brewing Company based in SW12." STUART RITSON, WORKSHOP COFFEE Wholesale support manager "You’ll find meat from Ginger Pig — they are one of our meat suppliers at Workshop Coffee. Something from General Store as a treat and I always enjoy Kernel Beer. That’s my top three." JAYNE DUVEEN, JACOB’S LADDER Co-founder of farm collaborative, Jacob’s Ladder "I have a piece of our own grass-fed topside beef that has been aged for four weeks. I'm going to roast for the family and use Perrycourt's biodynamic vegetable that I bought at Crystal Food Palace Market. I always have Andy Forbes' sourdough bread as it lasts me all week. Edwina's exquisitely coloured eggs are fabulous scrambled on Andy's toasted bread. There's biodynamic milk and yogurt from local Plaw Hatch Farm. For later in the week I have lemon sole, which I traded for some featherblade with the lovely Dan at Veasey and Sons Fishmongers. He trades next door to us at Brockley market." RUTH BARRY, BLACK ISLE BAKERY Baker "Hansen & Lydersen smoked salmon and Tunworth Cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy. l like to get Lillie’s O’Brien’s limited editions when she is doing them, like her mulberry jam in the summer (London Borough of Jam). She makes something like twenty jars. Her rhubarb and cardamom jam is amazing as is her classic fig and earl grey." KAREN JONES, CRYSTAL PALACE FOOD MARKET Market co-founder "You’ll find food from the market. All the meat’s from Jacob’s Ladder and the ultra fresh fish from Veasey’s. Olive oil, grains and vinegars, all come from The Grain Grocer. Everything is organic. He started at CPFM and is about to do a pop-up at Brixton Market. All my dressings and marinades come from Heaven Preserve Us. There’s my own salt - French Grey, that I mix with thirteen different spices and seaweeds. I like to cook with ghee and get it from Hook & Son, the market’s organic, raw milk supplier. And of course, loads of fresh organic veg." SEAN CANNON, CANNON & CANNON Co-founder and champion of British cured meats "Nick Vadasz of Vadasz Deli’s fermented pickles go great with charcuterie. I also like Hackney-based Blackhand Food (now Autumn Yard Meat). Hugo Jeffreys makes absolutely delicious charcuterie. I’m also a huge fan of Bermondsey based Kappacesein Dairy and particularly their hard-pressed cheese. You’ll always find that in my fridge." PETER JACKSON, SE SOUTHWARK BREWERY Founder "Scotch eggs from Finest Fayre from Maltby Street. You can’t go wrong: they’re incredibly flavoursome." JONNY HOXTON, BAND OF BANDIT Urban cowboy and maker of jerky "You’ll find some organic olive oil from The Gay Farmer who has a stall at Maltby Street. He sources it from his family’s farm in north west Murcia, Spain. It has a great nutty flavour. Beavertown Brewery does some amazing IPAs. I like to have those in my larder as well." JOE STELLA, STELLACELLO Alchemist and maker of London’s first bitters "Where do I begin? There's Lardo in Hackney for their tantalising in-house fennel pollen salami, black anise pepperoni and lard. London Borough of Jam in Clapton for their amazingly colourful and fresh seasonal jams. Lily Vanilli for her beautiful artistic approach to baking, using the most wonderfully unique ingredients. And for outside of London ... Sussex-based distillery Blackdown Artisan Spirits. Their Sussex dry gin uses birch sap from a nearby forest as a botanical which gives it a unique provenance resulting in a seductively smooth gin. "
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February 2017
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