Week beginning February 24th - St David's Day (Welsh Day) menu & UK Coffee Leaders Summit

This week we celebrate St Davids Day, who is the patron saint of Wales, as his feast day falls on March the 1st each year. Chef Jared has designed a special menu of Welsh recipes, ingredients and foraged items to help celebrate. More information on his ideas can be found on the 'menu' page.

In other news this week, I am honoured to have been selected to be on a speaking panel at the annual UK Coffee Leaders summit. The panel consists of six representatives from the specialty coffee industry from roasters such as Steve Leighton from Has Bean and Emma Loisel from Volcano Coffee to UK Barista champion Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood from Colonna and Smalls in Bath and Tom Hyde from Brew Lab & Edwin Harrison from Artisan in Edinburgh.

We will all be asked questions individually with the opportunity for the rest of the panel to answer, discuss, argue and stay quiet and then the possibility of questions from the audience. My question is 'how easy is it to maintain costs while delivering a great coffee experience?' Quite simply - very difficult indeed.

Anyway, we will see how it all goes on Wednesday. It is being held at our local five star Hotel, the Langham, so I am very happy indeed.

http://www.ukcoffeeleadersummit.com/

Please enjoy this weeks Welsh menu, as we will certainly enjoy bringing it to you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40
Porridge with choices of cinnamon, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffin: Welsh cakes 2.40
Savoury Scone: Mushroom and tarragon 2.40
Blueberry and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00

Lunch:
Soup: Cawl broth 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Ham, caramelized leeks, mature cheddar and rocket
Prunes glazed in red wine reduction, mushrooms, perl wen cheese, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Salmon, ailoi, dill, capers, red onion, spinach
Roasted courgettes with feta, mint, crushed peas and rocket.

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Roasted lamb with bara brith stuffing, micro ramsons and a dressing of honey and raspberry vinegar
Roasted carrots and celery toasted in welsh goats cheese, and rock samphire
Shredded rainbow chard and ivy-leaved toadflax with a clarified ginger butter and brandy dressing

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Leek and welsh rarebit

Week beginning February 17th - Presidents Day

We do not have much to report today, except we have a special presidents Day menu brought to you by Chef Jared, very much looking forward to the Pulled Pork on cornbread.

Please enjoy the week ahead and please enjoy our menu, as we have enjoyed bringing it to you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40
Porridge with choices of cinnamon, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffin: Pecan pie 2.40
Savoury Scone: Cheese burger scones with tomato and mustard 2.40
Blueberry and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00


Lunch:
Soup: Shrimp gumbo 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Baked ham, tomato, avocado, aioli, rocket
Saute mushrooms, brie, mustard, sauerkraut and spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Tuna and onion cheese melt with spinach
Spicy red onion marmalade, red leicester, rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Pepperoni cheese bread with mozzarella, basil, tomato mayonnaise, rocket and white mustard flowers
American slaw salad with Alexander bulbs
Tuberous nasturtium and red onion roasted in maple syrup garnished with wild fennel leaf.

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Cornbread with pulled pork and sour cream

Week beginning February 10th - Valentines Day, Tamper Tantrum, Kaffeine Movie

If you read last weeks menu/blog you may know that I was asked to speak at the highly reputable Tamper tantrum event which took place at the Birmingham Millennium Point as part of the UKBC Super heats being held this week.

The first thing I must say is absolute full credit to Steve Leighton from Hasbean and all his team for being able to organise such an event in such a short space of time. Talk about pressure.

I was asked to with five others on the day and I was on last. What they did not tell me until we arrived was that the speech was to take place in the IMAX theatre. So into a darkened room, with about 40 people, me, on stage in front of the IMAX screen. To Give you an idea, here is a photo I took of James Hoffman speaking. It was taken from the 3rd row in.

The speeches, (which were all very very good) will be available on iTunes soon under the tamper tantrum podcast.

I think I did okay. I tried to put across the point that we may be in the coffee industry, but we are a,so in the Hospitality industry and how important that is, but also that if you own a business, how important that is too. I know I messed up a little bit at one stage, but standing in front of a giant screen like that was definitely one of the strangest things I have had to do.

What was great, was that we were able to premiere the new Kaffeine movie. My very good friend Kess Bohan who also did the original Kaffeine movie has been kind enough to offer his services to do another one. It will also be available soon on our website.

And so to Valentines day. Chef Jared has created his own love heart sponges with raspberry cream and mahonia blossom. If you are wanting to impress someone this week, we would suggest getting one of these sweet things for them, it would be a very good start indeed.

Please enjoy this weeks menu, as we will enjoy bringing it to you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Coffee, cherry and walnut toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissants 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Chocolate sponge hearts with raspberry cream and mahonia blossom 2.40
Savoury Scone: Tomato and smoked mozzarella 2.40
Blueberry and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00


Lunch:
Soup: Tomato, white bean, champagne and shrimp 4.50

French retro baguettes 4.80
Pancetta, balsamic strawberries, brie and rocket.
Baked aubergine, pecan-butter, pickled red chilli, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Ham, asparagus, gruyere, dijonnaise, thyme and rocket
Salmon, aioli, dill, capers, red onion, and spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Venison sausage, pancetta, red cabbage, fennel, pine nuts with a passion fruit dressing
Bulgur wheat, ox-eye daisy, tomato, feta, pomegranate with a lemon and rose water dressing
Mange tout, rhubarb, mint and toasted almonds.

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Grilled red peppers, with onions, olives, capers, ricotta and charlock

Week beginning February 3rd - Waitangi Day & Tamper Tantrum at Birmingham

This week we follow on from our Australia Day menu two weeks ago with Waitangi day menu, to celebrate the Waitangi Day named after Waitangi, where theTreaty o f Waitangi was signed commemorates a significant day in the history ofNew Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.

Chef jared, being form NZ himself of course, always puts together a great menu to celebrate, and this week is no exception with the amazing pavlovas with kiwi and passionfruit a great example.

In other news, starting next Sunday in Birmingham is the UK 'super heats' for the UK Barista Championships. In years previous, the heats were held all over the country at different times. This year, they will be held altogether in one week and along with this, there will be specialist talks using the Tamper tantrum format from Steve Leighton and Colin Harmon.

Guests asked to speak on Sunday morning include James Hoffman, Vic and Rob from Dunne Frankowski, Maxwell Colonna Dashwood from Colonna and Smalsls in Bath and UKBC Champion 2011 and Peter Dore-Smith from Kaffeine (me).

We get 20 minutes to speak, with a ten minute q and a afterwards. Of the five guests, I am on last, so I had better make it good.

More information can be found here, so if you'll excuse this blog being a bit short, I've got a speech to write.

http://www.caffeculture.com/2014/01/25/tamper-tantrum-england/

Have a great week and enjoy.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Coffee, cherry and walnut toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissants 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Pavlova nests with fresh kiwi and passion fruit 2.40
Savoury Scone: Asparagus and cream cheese 2.40
Lemon and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00


Lunch:
Soup: Puha and pork 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Roasted red peppers, courgette, aubergine with spicy feta dressing and rocket 

Prosciutto, baked rhubarb blended with cremeria butter, basil, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Brie, mushrooms, roasted red onion, dijon and spinach..
Smoked mozzarella, chicken, mayonnaise, avocado and rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Mini fish cakes with kiwi, lady smoke leaf, mole dressing, rocket

Radicchio, heritage tomatoes, celery with a spicy sorrel dressing

Purple sprouting broccoli and lesser celandine with pecorino and manuka honey

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Meat pie