Jo Lives To Eat

Apologies for the lack of posts in a while. Food writing kind of took a step back while my other blog took over my life last year.  But, that chapter is closed....for now anyway!  Back to what I do best - eat.

So, an interesting invite came my way last week for the launch of Carte Noire's new Wholebean instant coffee.  An invitation to a multi-sensory coffee tasting experience.  Now, I'm well aware of the pretentious connotations this sentence brings up, but who doesn't mind a bit of over-indulgent fare on a Wednesday night for the promise of free booze and nibbles?  Also, I was a little drawn by the mention of Tristan Stephenson; the current UK bartender of the year.  The co-owner of Purl and the Worship Street Whistling Shop was hosting the evening so I knew there would be some interesting cocktails to taste, if nothing else.

I arrived to a flurry of blue silk that caught my eye.  I realised I was being welcomed by the beautiful, blond model who is in the current ad for Carte Noire that stands there pouting in the wind with an Afghan dog.  Nice touch.

After some champagne, delicious coffee cocktails and some mostly tasty nibbles (the questionable "custard and mustard" mini tarts were quite bad), in a new era of speakers, Tristan took to the stage with his ipad for notes.

Clearly extremely passionate and knowledgeable on the subject of food and drink, Tristan was the perfect choice to help develop and host the evening's entertainment as he is also a coffee expert, having been ranked 3rd in the UK Barista championships in 2009.  He is also perhaps, a little, like the sound of the evening, a bit pompous.  He talked about his belief that drinks aren't just drinks, they are experiences, or at least that's what he tries to make them.  I suppose he does have a point and actually, I'm completely guilty of being seduced by trendy, molecular-style cocktails.

But aren't we talking about simple coffee here?  What's all this over-hyped chat about multi-sensory experiences?  Well, as Tristan went on to say, there is a big difference between taste and flavour.  Taste is purely about what you get on your tongue and what your taste buds send to your brain.  Flavour, on the other hand is a journey of texture, smell, taste and your surroundings - the way certain foods can transport you somewhere, so the food tastes even better as it evokes something when you eat or drink it.

So, we were all whisked off into groups and sent to our tasting pods where we were sat with our own server to lead us through the tasting experience.  We started off with a simple cup of Carte Noire coffee that we were told we needed to see, smell, slurp and savour.  Thats how to enjoy the perfect cup of coffee.  However, what are we really looking for in these elements to produce that perfect cup?

Onto the first part of the exploration - the spectrum of colour.  Colours obviously stimulate different responses, for example yellow hits the emotional part of our brain, whereas blue affects the cold, logical part.  Colour can also change our perception of the environment we are in. We were given two shots of orange juice that were slightly different colours - one deep orange and the other, a more yellowy colour.  The whole group of us were convinced they were different (and I still am) but apparently they were the same.


The next test was really interesting.  We were given 4 jelly shots: mint, strawberry, elderflower and Carte Noire Instinct flavour.  But, the expected colours didn't correspond to what we were tasting.  So the red one was actually mint and the green one was actually elderflower.  It was a really good way of showing how much colour impacts on what we perceive taste-wise.


We then moved onto an aromatic infusion, where we were given little tiny pots to smell to see what kind of feelings were evoked from them.  The pots smelt of freshly cut grass and immediately everyone was transported to a time of being young and frolicking in meadows.
We had to drink the, what looked like lemonade or cloudy water whilst holding our noses, thinking it would then taste of nothing - but of course that wasn't to be and in actual fact it was marzipan.


The evening progressed at lightning speed, running through the senses with more mysterious smells, then onto textures, music, finally ending with the perfect coffee moment.  To be honest, it all flew by a little too quickly for me and I felt like I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I should have.  Ironically enough, it was all about savouring each element and it was near impossible to do so with the rampant comings and goings with all the trays.

However, it is often the case that journos and guests just want to get in and out at launches like this, so I think the organisers did a good job of keeping everyone involved and intrigued, as supposed to people just necking a whole load of free booze and then running out the door.  Although, there was still probably a lot of that too.

Tel Aviv is one of my favourite cities in the world, if not the favourite and although there are an abundance of reasons why, food is one of the first ones I say.  I am very lucky indeed to have a friend in someone who works in the industry and so every time I visit he takes me to a restaurant more impressive than the last and will always get the best table, the best waiter and the best service in the house.
This most recent visit, he got to take me to his own restaurant.  So there was a lot riding on it - I didn't want to be disappointed by not only a new restaurant but the one he owned.

From Tel Aviv you can just about see Kalamata's white exterior perched on the hill in Jaffa.  As you approach the courtyard it sits on, it looks quaint and lovely but doesn't have the overshadowing presence you think it might when looking it at from the city.  Until you walk inside that is - and sit by the window and see what is beyond - perhaps the most stunning and breathtaking view there could be of the green and blue sea below and Tel Aviv beyond.

The inside of the restaurant is actually quaint and lovely but in the most untiring way - there is nothing trite at all about the white washed walls, exposed brickwork and simple wooden blue furniture.  It is unfussy and elegant.

The menu is the same - short and simple but a rather exquisite selection of ingredients split into "greengrocers", "butchers" and "from the port".  Everything on the menu just sounds so fresh and clean and appealing, I just wanted to dig in and try everything right away.  We started with some very warm and crispy bread that came lovingly wrapped up in some newspaper along with some olives, firey tomato salsa and an artichoke puree - just gorgeous.

None of the dishes are too large so are great for sharing and of course that meant I could gorge on lots of them.  We started with a ceviche done Arab style, which basically means its a bit like tabouleh with the fish mixed with cous cous, onions, tomatoes and lots and lots of coriander.  It had just the right amount of zing with all the onions and lime and it tasted superb.


With the ceviche came a plate of burnt Roman artichokes.  These were just divine - rich and earthy on a bed of warm roasted aubergine and tomato sauce and some creme fraiche to top them off.  Artichokes bring back massive memories for me and actually the first time I ever tried one was in Israel, when I was very little and I have to say that they are probably my favourite food.  These were done beautifully though.


Next up, calamari stuffed with bulgar wheat and raisins.  I have to admit, this would not have been a dish I would have chosen but I'm so pleased we got it as it was another excellent dish.  I had never eaten calamari like that and wasn't even aware it could be stuffed so was a good lesson for me.  It tasted great and the stuffing made it ever so sweet.


Even the mozzarella salad with radishes and cherry tomatoes was great.  Such a simple dish that any old person can rustle up but just look at it.  It looks so enticing and creamy and delicious and it was.


We ended our run of outstanding dishes with a lamb souvlaki which almost fell off the awesome sword skewer it came on as the meat was so ridiculously soft.


There are a couple of lovely desserts on the menu and a very good cocktail menu too.  I can't stress enough how wonderful and relaxed and warm and stunning and delightful Kalamata restaurant is.  Only a few weeks before Shimon Perez, the President of Israel had lunch there and apparently told the chef it was one of the best meals he had ever tasted.  Enough said really.

Many restaurants and bars have a very short shelf like in Tel Aviv - they spring up like orthodox babies. But this is not one of them.  Kalamata is here to stay and I wish it ands its owners a long life of good fortune.

Accompanying our fruity fizz were some lovely little puff pastries - goats cheese and caramelised onion and also roasted tomato.  I'm a little scared of puff pastry so thought Nicole was very brave to make these and I was really rather impressed.  The pastry was golden and crispy.  My only niggle was that there should have been a bit more filling in them.






After reminiscing about beautiful Thai food and finding out exactly how to make said dish we moved onto the main, roasted sea bass with vegetables.  Now most of my friends know that these day I'm very very happy to be given a fish dish but this one was just a little difficult for me to contend with.  As its still very rare for me to order cooked fish in a restaurant or indeed cook it I'm hardly au fait with de-boning and the sight of the bulging eyes freaked me out a little. However, the fish was good, well cooked and it went down well with everyone.  So far Nicole was winning.

I got offered a new job a couple of weeks ago (yipppeeeee) and so decided to treat myself to a little last minute trip away and settled on Lisbon. I went by myself for 3 nights and did nothing but stroll, read and eat. It was heaven. I also did something I almost never do....order lots of fish. Now I have mentioned in my blog before that I'm very aware that its quite weird to be such a foodie and be very fussy about fish, but my palate has been ever expanding over the years and I'm pretty much ok to eat most types. I'll say it again for those who care but cooked salmon, trout and little oily fish are the big no-no's.

The menu is fairly extensive and actually I wish that we'd have ordered other things because they really do look wonderful. I did have a sneaky little antipasti of smoked mozzarella in breadcrumbs with sautéed aubergines, which everyone helped me eat I might add and that was gorgeous. I'm such a sucker for smoked cheese. But, the menu is truly Italian with some excellent meat and fish choices as well as all the pizza and pasta and of course the Neapolitan specialities. I am definitely going back to Santoré with even more people, so that we can order everything on the menu - Bellissimo!