Week beginning January 17th - a story about 3 phase power

Those who foillow twitter or live/work locally may know that last Friday, we went through quite a day trying to get three phase power installed into the shop.

For those who are unaware, a regular domestic or commercial premises will have single phase (or 100 amps) of power supplied by EDF (now London power networks or something). However, once you start to use two baking ovens (26 amps), a 3 group espresso machine (40 amps), an 6 ring electric boiling top (39 amps), air conditioning, lights, sandwich grill, dishwashers, refridgeration and even music, all of these component parts soon add up to more than 100 amps of power, which unfortunately will soon enough cause your power to short.

So you pay EDF approx £3,500 to istall 3 phase power, or 300 amps of electricity. They then book in a day to dig up the outside of your shop. Two days later, they come back to cut the power off (anytime between 7 am and midday). EON electricity, being our actual supplier, then need to come and install the meter, but they contract this work back out to EDF, and they are meant to come anytime between 12 pm and 5 pm.

So, on Friday they cut the power at 11 am, that was okay, but the meter man came in at 11:30(half and hour later!!!!!!), looked at the work still needed to be done by our own electrician and stated, 'not ready, we cannot stay, can't help you, call the emergency line to get it connected', and very promptly left, most probably to go down the pub and laugh away the afternoon and evening with all of his power mates.....

The emergency EDF people were then booked to come anytime between 3pm Friday and 3 pm Saturday, they can't specify or tell you the time, they will just turn up. So I had to prepare to stay overnight in the shop. This is with a jetlagged wife and very unhappy and jetlagged 11 month old daughter at home, in the dark, and cold, all on my lonesome. So I had blankets, 3 jackets and the possum and merino wool beanie and scarf my Mum bought me for Christmas and 50 or so tea light candles.

But then, just as I was settling down and things were starting to look worse than ever, the emergency man turns up at 6 pm! He is calm, cool and collected. The electrician who had been working since 6:30 am finishes the job, and at 8 pm Friday night we have 3 phase power.

So, if anyone out there needs an electrician, let me know, mine are fantastic. If anyone out there is having 3 phase power installed and a tech guy called Eddie turns up to do the work, be afraid, but if you then need to have the emergency man come out and his name is Chris, tell him I say hello as he is a really nice guy, and if you are thinking of having 3 phase power installed or of opening your own cafe, be careful....be very, very careful. Or email me for advice.

Or come in for a strawberry and butter milk muffin, even better.



Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Honey, milk and almond bread 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Strawberry and buttermilk 1.80
Sweet corn savoury 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Broad bean and coriander

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Plum tomato, bufala mozzerella, puttanesca and rocket
Welsh rarebit with mushrooms and spinach

French retro baguettes 4.30
Baba ghanoush with plum tomato, parsley and rocket
Italian ham with gherkin, tomato, mustard, red onion and gruyere

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Chicken adobo with wild rice
Aubergine with chestnuts and tahini dressing
Honeyed chantenay carrots

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Wild mushroom, dijon mutard and thyme

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Week beginning January 10th - We are back!!

And what a fabulous time away we had too, I went off to Australia and stayed in my home town Melbourne for three weeks, chef Jared and his brothers went to Egypt, Emma and Catherine went to Norway to visit with the amazing Tim Wendleboe and Melissa and Amy went all the way to Amsterdam for New Years Eve carnage.

We are back, we are refreshed, we are ready for a brilliant 2011

And what a way to start, with the Square Mile Winter Espresso Blend getting us going and fired up. With notes of creme brulee, chcolate mousse and softly baking spices, it is warming our hearts and minds. I think we must have overdosed yesterday in the excitement.

With all that coffee and a holiday, Jared has spiced up the menu this week with inspiration from the Middle East, loving those spices. Souk lamb foccacia? Not only that, but how about dark chocolate, coffee and walnut muffins?????

And to finish, a very big thank you to all our valued customers for support over the past 16 months. We are really looking forward to this year ahead and many more to come.

Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Honey, milk and almond bread 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Dark Chocolate, Coffee and walnut muffins 1.80
Tomato, Cheese and herb savoury muffins 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Spinach, Lentil and lemon Soup

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Souk Lamb with aioli and spinach
Tuna with capers, gherkin, dill, olives, mayonnaise and rocket

French retro baguettes 4.30
Chicken with muhammara(red pepper, walnut and pomegranate)and rocket
Plum tomato with puttanesca, mozzerella and spinach

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Italian ham with pear, blue cheese, walnuts, rocket and basil
Roasted aubergine with tahini and chestnuts
Edamame with garlic and chilli

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Zucchini, mint and feta

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Week beginning December 13th - Christmas Holidays

Just a short note this week to let you all know we will be closing for Christmas holidays from the 23rd of December up until the 10th of January.

In the meantime and in the lead up to Christmas, the fabulous Jared has created a wonderfully naughty Christmas menu including Champagne and camembert soup and of course the popular Pan forte and his amazing mince pies as well as choclate and blackberry muffins.

We are very much looking forwrad to eating this menu, then having somne time off to recover.....Nice

Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cranberry and Walnut 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Chocolate and blackberry muffins 1.80
Mince Pies 1.80
Pan Forte 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Camembert and champagne

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Turkey, cranberry jelly, red onion, parsley, brie, spinach
Mozzarella, puttanesca, plum tomato, rocket

French retro baguettes 4.30
Ham, sage butter, Gruyere, Parmesan, rocket
Pickle, blue vein, gherkin, red onion, spinach

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Roast Ham, Stuffing balls, toasted pine nuts, roasted potato and carrot salad
Baby carrots cooked in Honey
Ratatouille on salad greens

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Creamed Brussels Sprouts Tart

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Week beginning December 6th - Christmas Treats

Now we're talking. It's Christmas, it's Christmas!!!!

Pan Forte, a traditional Italian Christmas slice/cake
Real rum balls, covered in chcolate and coconut
Own made mince pies

We love a good Christmas here at Kaffeine, and as we are all from New Zealand and Australia, having snow and cold weather at this time of year makes it all the more special.(some of our staff saw snow for the first time ever this week!)

Mrs Kaffeine and I especially love being in cold weather at Christmas time, and having friends and family over or staying in a lovely cosy pub/cafe eating great food, with welcoming and warm service and with great friends and family having a laugh. It's brilliant.

So we try to create that atmosphere at Kaffeine, the windows all fog up and you cannot see inside, but when you come in it is toasty warm, the lovely smell of coffee permeates the air and combined with Chef Jared baking all the wonderful regular treats and now the special Christmas treats downstairs, it just makes you feel warm and comfortable all over.

Come on in, stay a while......enjoy.

Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cranberry and Walnut 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Sticky pecan and banana muffins 1.80
Mince Pies 1.80
Pan Forte 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Fabada - Spicy Spanish Stew with Chorizo, white beans and bread

French retro baguettes 4.30
Ham, sage butter, parmesan and rocket OR
Putanesca, bufala mozzerella, plum tomatoes, spinach and basil

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Roast squash with porcini mushrooms and blue cheese OR
Roast breast of turkey with brie, crnaberry, spinach, red onion and parsley

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Italian roast ham with chestnuts, roast onion, apple, watercress and a spicy orange dressing OR
Ratatouille on salad greens OR
Honey and thyme glazed baby carrots

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Squash puree layered with bread and a creme fraiche and mustard sauce

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Week beginning November 29th - Waiting times for your coffee

For 4 years I worked at Marylebone Cricket Club as one of the senior managers in the Catering department, and in the functions in the Long Room, we were always looking at ways to get hot plates out to the tables, in as little time as possible, with speed, efficiency, presentation and of course quality on the plate and to the palette. Absolute importance.

At Kaffeine, we take everything we do very seriously as well, just like at the greatest cricket club in the world. As Kaffeine has became busier over the past year, our waiting times for coffee have increased. Of course this is unacceptable, both to us and also to the customers, so we have now invested in a three group espresso machine and now have three baristas working each day. (previously we only had a two group machine and two baristas, and wait times were up to 7 or 8 minutes).

Now, in our very busy periods, we are down to under 3 minutes from the time of ordering to hand off to the customer, and I do not believe we can get much faster than that, and we have still maintained excellent quality, with friendly, fast, efficient service.

People talk about introducing other brew methods such as siphon or pour overs, this is all well and good, but will it create a fast and efficient service process? It will take very good, skilled baristas and allocated counter space to do so. It is possible, but wil it be cost (labour especially), effective?

If Kaffeine 2 ever arrives, perhaps we will then look at counter space and brew methods, but until then, at Kaffeine, we are staying with what we know, espresso.

We hope you enjoy it.


Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cranberry and Walnut 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Rhubarb Muffins 1.80
Corn bread and chili muffins 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Tuscan Bean Soup

French retro baguettes 4.30
Ham, apple butter, gruyere and spinach OR
Tuna, rouille (red pepper mayonnaise), capers and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Bufal mozzerella with puttanesca, plum tomoatoes and rocket OR
Roast breast of turkey with brie, crnaberry, spinach, red onion and parsley

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Crown prince Squash with cumin crust, onion bhaji and raita OR
Ratatouille on salad greens OR
Brussel sprouts with savoury apple and hazelnuts

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Raclette cheese with potato, ham, pickled onion and cherry tomato

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Week beginning November 22nd - Thanksgiving and Office Catering

Breakfast meetings, fruit platters, morning tea, lunch baguette and foccacia platters and afternoon tea. If you require catering for the office, then all of the food and drink items that are on the menu is able to be delivered, or picked up, so that you can enjoy all of Kaffeine's menu without having to leave the office.

The link to the office catering tab on the website has more information, or feel free to call in or email us directly and we can discuss your requirements.

This week we also celebrate Thanksgiving with a few inspired dishes involoving turkey, cranberries and marsala glazed carrots not forgetting that special Thanksgiving treat...sweet pumpkin pie!!

Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Cranberry and Walnut 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Raspberry and Coconut Muffins 1.80
Tomato and Mozzerella muffins 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60
Pumpkin Pie £2.50

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Tomato, basil and bacon

French retro baguettes 4.30
Ham, apple butter, gruyere and rocket OR
Bufal mozzerella, plum tomatoes, aioli, spinach and basil

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Smoked salmon with aioli, capers, dill, red onion and spinach OR
Crown Prince Squash with brie and red currant jelly and spinach

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Crown prince Squash with parsnips, orange segments, almonds, dill and spinach OR
Turkey with water cress, cranberry, red onion, parsley and chestnuts OR
Marsala roasted chantenay carrots with hazelnuts

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Spinach, ricotta cheese and tomato

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Week beginning November 18th - A Dinner Speech

This week I have been asked to speak at a business dinner for over 110 guests at the HSBC headquarters at Canary Wharf. HSBC were the bank that were kind enough to back Kaffeine when I approached them, in the middle of the recession, with a visual presentation, a business plan and a lot of determination.

I can see their problem when they are approached by people wanting to 'follow their dream' and they say no and decline the application for a loan. Is it because of the lack of experience the applicant has? Most probably. Is it because of the lack of detail and passion shown in the business plan? Again, most probably. I can only say that you must of course follow your dream, but be absolutely sure that it will not turn into your nightmare.

I try to say his as humbly as possible, but I have over 20 years experience in the Hospitality industry. I am not a chef, I am not a barista and I am not at all perfect, but, one of the reasons HSBC did back me in the end was because of my experience, and in a world/industry of such hard, and I stress hard, competition, it does count for a bit.

And because of this, they have now asked me to speak about it to over 100 business professionals at the head office of one of the biggest banks in the world.

It is a very nice compliment indeed. I hope I do well.



Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Honey, almond and milk toast 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Pear and Walnut Muffins 1.80
Four Cheese muffins 1.80
Pear and Passionfruit friands 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Hungarian Goulash

French retro baguettes 4.30
Ham, brie with plum tomatoes, basil, aioli and spinach
OR
Tuna with rouille, capers and rocket

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Roast chicken with salsa verde OR
Crown Prince Squash with ricotta and spinach

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Crown prince Squash with Goats cheese and wet walnuts OR
Vietnamese noodle chicken salad with sweet chilli, thai basil, peanuts and cucumber OR
Brussel sprouts with savoury apples and hazel nuts

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Mushroom and Leek and Pecorino

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan