That Hungry Chef - Zoe's Ghana Kitchen - Smokehouse - Joe's Southern Kitchen

Today on the blog, a round up of some recent eats including a Goan supper club, a Ghanaian popup, and second sites in the suburbs for two reliable restaurants.

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First up, it's That Hungry Chef.  I've somehow managed to avoid attending any supper clubs over the last two years of Matt The Listing, perhaps due to the overwhelming number of new eateries that roar in to town on a weekly basis.  This year I will be balancing the scales.

Pratap Chahal, a.k.a That Hungry Chef, and his wife Nikhat welcomed us in to their stunning Holloway home on a sunny Thursday evening, along with 12 or so other charming randomers, for a Traditional Goan Thali.  We arrived early to take a tour of their magical garden that is used for outdoor dinners, brunches and BBQs in the summer months.  Keep an eye out for that hippo.

As Pratap calmly applied the finishing touches in his tiny kitchen, we made friends around the room, bonding over our BYOB choices whilst glancing enviously towards Pratap & Nikhat's booze chest.  A chilli sitting on each place setting threatened to become a supper club hazing dare, but thankfully the glorious home-cooked food started arriving before anyone caved.  

That Hungry Chef formally introduced himself, discussing the evening ahead and his one rule, nailed above the kitchen door - "Kiss The Chef".  He then produced the simply magnificent Sannas & pork ‘vinha d’alhos’ - Fermented rice pancakes with a mild pork vindaloo, 6,000 or so miles away from the hideous British version.  No cutlery was needed and it was gone in seconds.  More please.

Soon after, the all-in-one thali platters were laid out, and those in the know put their desserts to one side for later.  In no particular order, we all got stuck in to our little bowls of Nishtyachi Kodii (Traditional Goan fish curry), Temperado (green beans & carrots in spiced coconut milk) and Foogath (curried spring cabbage stir fry) and mopped everything up with Red Rice & Peanut Pulao and Crispy Plantain Wafers.  Delicious.

After polishing off the savoury selection, I went fishing for some Pickled Walnut and Doce (chickpea and cardamom fudge) in my delectable Sago & Coconut Pudding (similar in texture to tapioca).

Due to the thali-style presentation, dinner was over rather quicker than I had expected, but our hosts kept us all happy with some bonus Bebinca (a 16 layered pancake cake! - recipe here) and some sneaky tasters of East London Liquor Company Gin and Bunnahabhain 12.  

A few drams later, (and after some bonding with Pratap over smoked beer and obscure Eddie Izzard skits), we proposed that they open up a B&B service.  Denied.  Fingers crossed it will be an option next time. In a nice touch, we were sent home with one of That Hungry Chef's artisanal food products.  I came away with a jar of dangerously hot Mojo Risin' green relish salsa which I'm ever so slightly afraid of.

It was an unfortgettable evening of fine food and fun in great company, possibly setting the bar a little too high for my future supper club escapades.  There are no more Goan Thali evenings coming up, but you might want to grab some tickets to either the Secret Garden Barbecue or the intriguing Perfume : The Edible Scent events before they sell out.  You won't regret it.

More supper clubs worth investigating:

Uyen Luu - A Vietnamese Feast in Uyen's airy London Fields home

The Adobros - Traditional Filipino food from two brothers in New Cross

Disappearing Dining Club - All manner of dinner parties in fun locations

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From Goa to Ghana, Zoe Adjonyoh's Ghana Kitchen is half way through a two month residency at The King & Co. in Clapham Common.  In other words, you've got until 31st May to sample Zoe's signature peanut butter & mutton stew in cosy pub surroundings.

Zoe serves up her modern twist on traditional Ghanaian food in small plate form.. We went along last month for an evening of sharing plates and African beer.

Highlights included moreish Okra Tempura with shito hot pepper sauce, hearty Red Red beans with Kelewele chunky plantain chips and Jollof Chicken Skewers with jollof rice; the latter carrying quite a kick which caught me off guard more than once.  

Okra Tempura with shito hot pepper sauce

Red Red Beans with Kelewele chunky plantain chips

Jollof Chicken Skewers

Jollof Rice

The pick of the mains is indeed her homespun adaptation of West African peanut butter stew which first starred at Hackney Wick Arts Festival four years ago, launching Zoe's street food & popup career.  In an exciting development, she has just confirmed that Zoe's Ghana Kitchen will be opening a permanent restaurant later this month in a shipping container in the hotly anticipated Pop Brixton campus.  Here's what Zoe had to say:

“I'm so excited to be opening our first fixed dining space in Brixton, south of the river and close to where I grew up. We hope to become part of Brixton’s natural buzz and vibrancy, and to build upon this in coming years while spreading the love for modern Ghanaian cuisine!”

Artists representation of Pop Brixton's shipping container campus

But before that launches, you should head to Clapham for a taste; and why not do it in style on 13th May when Zoe is teaming up with A Grape Night In for "It's Ghana Be Grape" - 5 collaborative courses of wine and food.

Zoe’s current two month residency at The King & Co pub in Clapham ends on Sunday 31st May.

Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen at POP Brixton will aim to open in late May. 

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Now for a quick round up of second sites for existing eateries.  First up, Neil Rankin & Noble Inns have converted Chiswick's Hole In The Wall gastropub in to another meaty Smokehouse, following on from success with the concept in Islington.

The North London branch has an enviable beer selection that the W4 outpost doesn't quite match, but there is a marvellous whisky bar out West instead with 100+ bottles from all over the world.  Arrive early and splash out on a pre-dinner Yamazaki 18yo dram.

On the food front, Neil Rankin's influence is clear as several Korean flavours (also prominent at Bad Egg) make their way into the smoky, meaty menu.  A table of 6 is what you need if you want to order everything on the menu, and that's exactly what we did.  It was all rather wonderful, but I've highlighted a winner from each section in case you are dining solo.

Starters

Somerset goat tacos with chipotle & green salsa 6.00

Burnt leeks, Portobello, truffle oil, parmesan & Cackleberry Farm egg 6.50

Chopped brisket roll & gochujang 7.00

Deep fried rock oyster, beef dripping toast, smoked bone marrow 7.50

Fresh picked Cornish crab on sourdough toast 8.00

Foie gras, apple pie & Cackleberry Farm egg 10.00

Mains

Blackened delica pumpkin, tahini, dill & flat bread 13.50

“The Sphere”; smoked ham hock, pigs cheek & squid romesco 16.00

Coal baked salmon with a warm Thai salad 16.50

Smoked Elwy Valley lamb shoulder, polenta, raclette & sambal 16.50

Shortrib bourguignon, creamy mash, bacon & Essex Portobello mushrooms 17.50

Smoked Telfarm duck breast, kimchi & potato cake 17.50

Sides

Grilled Romaine lettuce 3.00

Caramel roast potatoes 3.00

Chilli kale 4.00

Korean pulled pork 4.00

Desserts

Double D tart 6.50

Apple crumble & bourbon prunes 6.50

Poached rhubarb, cream cheese & almond praline 6.50

Rum & raisin rice pudding, blackberry jam & almond 6.50

Burnt leeks, Portobello, truffle oil, parmesan & Cackleberry Farm egg

Deep fried rock oyster, beef dripping toast, smoked bone marrow

Chopped brisket roll & gochujang

Chopped brisket roll & gochujang

Apple crumble & bourbon prunes

Smokehouse Chiswick is ever so slightly in the middle of nowhere, so you might want to make the most of it by ticking off the Dragonfly Brewery (at The George and Dragon pub), Charlotte's W4 (for food and gin), The Italian Job (for Italian craft beer), and Outsider Tart (for American baked treats). And if you are really keen, return another time for American soul food at Blue Plate, and Wednesday night "Supper Clubs" at The Griffin from a former Waldorf Astoria chef.  Or just save up all of your pennies and go to Hedone.  Sorted.

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Joe's Southern Kitchen and Bar have opened up a second site in Kentish Town where Kentish Canteen and Shebeen used to be, complete with a Jailbird basement bar making use of old police cells, much like Knowhere Special next door.

Make no mistake, you need to come hungry and you should probably bring a bib.  24 hour sweet tea brined free range chicken with lemon dust is the order of the day, but there are plenty of other dishes to get stuck in to. Turn up with 10 or more people and you can opt for the "Feed Me" feast menu which is served family style for sharing to avoid having to make difficult choices.

24 Hour Sweet Tea Brined Free Range Chicken with Lemon Dust - Photo by Gaztronome

We had quite a feast ourselves, tucking in to enjoyable portions of Devilled Eggs, Mac'N'Cheese, Shrimp'N'Grits and Collard Greens. alongside buckets of Fried Chicken and Buckwheat Waffles with Bourbon Maple Syrup and Chicken Gravy, but two small plates stood out in particular.

Demand a pan of their Gooey Corn Spoon Bread with Clotted Cream and Red Leicester Cheese, followed swiflty by the Deep Fried Short Rib Meat Loaf with Red Onion Jam, Poached Egg and Dijonnaise. I didn't want to share the latter, at all. Both are worthy of the #foodporn hashtag.  I can also recommend the Artichoke, Spinach & Cheddar Dip which I remember devouring in their Covent Garden outpost. Larger plates of 8 Hour Slow Roast Beef Short Rib and Blackened Catfish Fillet will surely not disappoint either.

Unsurprisingly, Joe's Southern is also well set up for Breakfast and Brunch, opening from 8am-11.45am Monday-Friday with bottomless filter coffee, and 9am-4pm on Saturday & Sunday for Breakfast Muffins and Gravy'N'Biscuits.

But you must pay Joe's a visit when desserts are up for grabs, and order them all.  Southern Pecan Pie with Jim Beam Honey Cream, Peanut Butter Fudge Pie, and Iced Honeycomb & Chocolate Parfait Sandwich are all stonking, and only £4.00 each?! Get involved. 

Gooey Corn Spoon Bread with Clotted Cream and Red Leicester Cheese

Deep Fried Short Rib Meat Loaf with Red Onion Jam, Poached Egg and Dijonnaise

Mac'N'Cheese with Four Cheeses and a Biscuit Crust

Iced Honeycomb & Chocolate Parfait Sandwich

Kentish Town is on a bit of a roll at the moment with new openings aplenty, so you might want to make a day of it.  Be sure to spend a penny in Ladies & Gentlemen, a cocktail bar in a converted public toilet from William Borrell of Vestal Vodka.  You might also want to check out Patron Cave A Manger for French food & wine, Caps & Taps for craft beer to takeaway, and soon a new Camden Town Brewery pub on the site of O'Reilly's.

There are plenty of older spots worth a look too, such as Shoe Shop, Anima E Cuoré, and The Southampton Arms.  As ever, Kentish Towner is your best bet for up to date North London food & drink news.

Film is Art - Mele e Pere - La Mancha

Wednesday 2nd April - The day's activities started with a lovely lunch in Soho, but I'm going to skip ahead to the evening slot first.  I met Rich at Hoxton Overground at 6pm to attend a preview of Press Play's "Film is Art" immersive & intimate screening of Kill Bill in Hoxton Arches.

After a quick pre-drink in Beagle (who always have a couple of great beers), we walked over to be greeted by The Bride (Uma Thurman's character) who was on front of house duty, whilst Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) was on the decks in the background.  With a shot of sake in hand, we walked around appreciating the stunning Kill Bill street art that the Outside Collective had managed to create in just 2 days.  It made me sad to think that it would all have to be painted over again only a couple of days later!

Drinks could be found at the Pussy Wagon bar, manned by two members of the Crazy 88s.  Rich suggested it might have been more fun if we had all been given Crazy 88 masks ourselves, though we might have looked a bit odd without the matching ties and shirts.  Drinks could have been more exciting than Tsing Tao cans, wine and loosely themed Bride / Bill cocktails - something to improve on for their next event.  Food was more impressive with tasty sushi including crab prepared in front of us by Sushi Kai.

We returned to the main room where a time lapse video of the set up was being played on the big screen.  In the background, Elle Driver was DJing away, but sadly not playing any of the fantastic music from the film to which might have been a nice way of building up some anticipation.  

After a couple more beers and a whole load more sushi, we settled down for the film.  The screen and sound quality were good throughout (always a worry in unusual venues) and there were several amusing touches such as altering the lighting in the room to match Tarantino's own use of filters, and pumping in some smoke.

Time lapse of set up in Hoxton Arches

All went smoothly and Tarantino did his part of the job well.  With immersive screenings, there is always more you can do to make the event stand out, though obviously budgets and time constraints come into play. For £20 it was an enjoyable & affordable evening out, but we felt there was still room for improvement, considering that London is already full of top notch creative film companies (Edible, Rooftop & Secret Cinema for example). However, this was Press Play's first major event, and I'm sure that we will see a lot more from them in the future.

Back to lunch, I finally made it to Mele e Pere in Soho - an Italian Trattoria & Vermouth Bar whose colourful apples & pears (get it?) I have often admired from afar when passing.  Continuing with the cockney rhyming slang, most of Mele e Pere is tucked away down the stairs with the bar, but there a few tables that benefit from natural light as you walk in.

I considered my options over a glass of their homemade vermouth (more on that later), before ordering a few sharing plates & small pasta dishes.  Large pasta plates and main courses are available if you aren't in a sharing mood.  There are excellent lunch and pre-theatre deals to be taken advantage of too.

Everything that followed was delightful.  From the Sharing Plates, Aubergine Parmigiana stood out, along with a beautifully presented Hand Chopped Beef Tartare (with Italian leaves and Quail's egg) and a wonderfully light plate of Ricotta piemontese, peas, purple broccoli and smoked bacon.

Home-made bread and focaccia

Hand Chopped Beef Tartare, Italian Leaves and Quail's Egg

Grilled Octopus and calamari salad, potato and garlic leaves

Moving on to the pasta, I was intrigued by Tropea Onion Ravioli with Seaweed, Baby Squid and Lemon Sole - a smartly put together dish that wasn't overpowered by either the onion or the seaweed.  The one dish that you absolutely have to order though is Potato Gnocchi with Umbrian Black Truffle, a ridiculous plate of buttery goodness that you will foolishly stuff into your face before your body realises what's going on. Order the large version at your peril.

These were washed down with glasses of 2011 Montenidoli Vernaccia di San Gimignano which was one of their wine picks for the month.  They have an impressive list celebrating the best of Natural, Organic and Biodynamics wines of the world.  Maybe pay them a visit during London Wine Week (2nd-8th June).

Tropea Onion Ravioli with Seaweed, Baby Squid and Lemon Sole

Potato Gnocchi wit Umbrian Black Truffle

I finished off with a healthy scoop of Pistachio ice cream, a worthy rival to Scoop and Gelupo round the corner.  Had it been slightly later in the day, I might have got myself a boozy Kam-Peet-Up (Laphroaig, Punt e Mes, Kamm & Sons Ginseng & House Orange Vodka) from their After Dinner cocktail list.  

It was a superb lunch - impressive cooking, great drinks, a lovely atmosphere, friendly service and affordable prices.

However, I had unfinished vermouth-based business, so I returned two weeks later on Tuesday 15th April for one of their monthly Vermouth Tasting Masterclasses in the attractive downstairs bar.

The evening was hosted by Ed Scothern, Mele e Pere's in-house Vermouthier & Sommelier.  We started by tasting their red and white house vermouths (£4 a glass) alongside some more bitter Punt e Mes.  

Vermouth is fortified white wine (around 15%), created by adding sugar syrup and a mix of herbs, roots and barks that have been steeped in vodka.  Vermouth is in fact German for wormwood, an essential ingredient. We were presented with some, along with rhubarb root, speedwell, and other potential constituents.

Ed Scothern, Vermouth master at Mele e Pere

We then moved on to a couple of house cocktails to show off the vermouth, including a not-too-sweet Down the Stairs and a fabulous Martinez twist (with lemon rather than orange).  

These were accompanied by generous portions of food from the sharing plates menu.  Spicy, fried ascolana olives with n'duja sausage, deep fried squid with smoked aioli, and finocchiona salame with gnocchi fritti were very much appreciated with all the drinks flying around.

Finocchiona salame with gnocchi fritti

Spicy, fried ascolana olives w/ n'duja sausage

Next, we had a go at making our own vermouth, adding the likes of gentian, angelica, wormwood, lemon thyme and juniper to a sweetened wine.  I was pretty happy with mine, but only after piling in a fair amount of ice.

The evening finished with a refreshing Punt e Mes vermouth sorbet, nicely presented in a Martini glass.

At just £15, Mele e Pere's vermouth masterclass is one of London's best bargains.  It was a fun, informative and intimate evening hosted in style by Ed.  Make sure you grab one of the 10 seats for the next one as soon as possible - more info is available here.

Thursday 27th March - I'll just finish up by mentioning a quick tapas trip to La Mancha back in March.  I was feeling a bit worse for wear at the time (man flu), but I soldiered on and filled up with 13 courses (life is tough) from Head Chef Senor Nilo Geada.

Family-run La Mancha recently relocated to Chiswick after many years in Putney, joining the likes of Franco Manca, Charlotte's Bistro and Outsider Tart in an increasingly exciting area for food and drink. The friendly owner Salvatore made us feel very welcome.

We got off to a strong start with Pimientos de Padron (sweet hot peppers from Galicia, sautéed in olive oil) and Berejenas Fritas (crispy aubergines with honey and Romesco sauce) impressing, alongside some moreish Rebenada de pan con tomate (Bread, chopped fresh tomatoes, garlic and olive oil).

Pimientos de Padron - sweet hot peppers from Galicia, sautéed in olive oil

Berejenas Fritas - crispy aubergines with honey and Romesco sauce

A few courses in the middle of the meal didn't stand out quite as much, with Tortilla Espanola, Patatas Bravas and Cochinillo Asado (roasted suckling pig, apple sauce) the main culprits.  Spinach Croquettes "with hints of pinenuts" and Albondigas de Ternera (Beef Meatball, Smoked Bacon, Tomato Sauce) kept us on track before the Signature Paella with mixed fish, shellfish, pork and chicken arrived in large paella pans to several "oohs" and "aahs".  Portions were so generous that there was plenty left to take home despite it being very popular.

Squid hoopla?

The meal ended in style with an outstanding Tarta de Santiago, a traditional Santiago de Compostela almond cake with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce that made me forget about my life-threatening man flu for a couple of minutes.

Tarta de Santiago

Well-chosen wines flowed throughout the meal, and a couple of boozy after dinner drinks might have been ordered too.  The rest of the drinks list is a little unadventurous - it would great to see some G&Ts in those awesome coppa glasses, or some Spanish craft beers making their way on to the menu.  Nearby Charlotte's Bistro and Blue Plate put a lot of effort into keeping the drinks as interesting as the food.

The 13 courses were a mixed bag, but there were some fantastic dishes on the menu, and it was a very pleasant meal overall.  A lovely local restaurant that needs to do a little more to pull in visitors from further afield.  Bonus points for having Miro on the walls. 

Joan Miro - "The Gold of the Azure"