May 9th, 2012
So, yesterday we had our offal dinner at the Dock Kitchen. As you know from my previous post, I had devised the menu and Stevie and his chefs cooked my recipes, very well I may add. The dinner was a great success and everyone seemed to be having a terrific time. We did too. I had put the lamb’s head interlude on the menu more for shock and fun value, not expecting everyone to want to eat or even touch the heads. But every single table not only ate the cheeks and brains but they also ate the eyes. Well, almost all did. I think one lady didn’t. I went from table to table to show how to get the eye out of its socket and to cut off the black part which is the iris before they could eat the fatty fleshy bit. Perhaps it was my irresistible charm and humour (!) that convinced them; or perhaps it was because the eye looked totally innocuous and rather appetising.
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Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
May 7th, 2012
It’s this time of the month again when I bring you my belly dancer of the moment. Last month, I strayed from the golden era dancers to feature a contemporary belly dancer who happens to be my ‘cousin‘. But I am going back in time again to introduce you to Houriya Mohamed who taught Tahiya Carioca, my favourite belly dancer, how to dance before starting to resent her for stealing the limelight from her. Houriya is nowhere near as pretty nor as sexy as Tahiya but she dances beautifully and I love the mise en scene from the opening scene of the lady en silhouette reading the dancer’s coffee cup to the supporting belly dancers emerging from oversized coffee cups. I also like the lyrics which only those of you who speak Arabic will understand. The clip is from a 1949 film, Fatima wa Marika wa Rachel, about a man who falls in love with three women, each of a different religion!
Tags: belly dancer, belly dancing, fatima wa marika wa rachel, houriya mohamed, saida helou, tahiya carioca
Posted in belly dance | 2 Comments »
April 19th, 2012
Last time I was at Petersham Nurseries, it was sunny and warm and Skye Gyngell was cooking. Last night was wet and miserable and there was a new chef at the stoves, Greg Malouf of Momo’s fame in Melbourne. Greg has moved to London, and he will be offering his wonderful modern take on Middle Eastern food at Petersham Nurseries. Dinner last night was quite delicious, particularly the rabbit in the picture above and the lamb and frikeh which he served afterwards. And before that, the best tomatoes (from southern Italy) I have had this year in London, served them with a soft curd cheese sprinkled with a little chilli and dried herbs. A marvellous start to the meal. And to finish, luscious meringue topped with cream and berries alongside a refreshing sorbet topped with the most adorable camel biscuits.
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Tags: frikeh, Greg Malouf, modern middle eastern food, petersham nurseries, skye gyngell
Posted in chefs, restaurants | 4 Comments »
April 14th, 2012
On 8 May I will be teaming up with Stevie Parle at the Dock Kitchen for a lamb nose to tail dinner. The evening will start with the acceptable face of offal: a welcome drink served with delicious chicken wings marinated in Aleppo pepper, allspice, Lebanese 7-spice mixture and cinnamon, lemon juice and olive oil and roasted in the restaurant’s tandur oven. For starters, we will offer a mini offal mezze: poached lamb’s tongues stuffed with pistachios and served on a bed of lemony mixed leaves and herbs (I learned the recipe at one of Aleppo’s best restaurants, Zmorod); lamb’s kidney baked inside a potato (I found the recipe in Ambrose Heath’s Meat); and Jerusalem Mix bruschetta (Sami Tamimi gave me the recipe when I was writing Mediterranean Street Food, initially a sandwich, I have smartened it up into a bruschetta for the dinner).
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Tags: ambrose heath, brains, chris cosentino, dock kitchen, ghammeh, guest chef, jerusalem mix, kidneys baked inside a potato, lamb's eyes, lamb's heads, mediterranean street food, nose to tail lamb, offal, offal dinner, poached lamb's tongues, sami tamimi, stevie parle, the fifth quarter, zmorod
Posted in offal | 2 Comments »
April 7th, 2012
I am straying from food and belly dancing in this post to give you a few pictures of a very interesting show I went to this morning at Mathaf in Doha. The show was of works by Cai Guo-Qiang, a Chinese artist who uses gun powder in his art although the first room in the show didn’t have much to do with gun powder but was a rather wonderful and mysterious installation of a fishing boat.
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Tags: burning gunpowder to achieve patterns, cai guo-qiang, doha, fontana, issey miyake, mathaf
Posted in art, travel | 2 Comments »
April 4th, 2012
When Fay told me to go to Dabbous before it became impossible to book a table, I listened to her and went with Francois Simon who was visiting London for a reportage. It was a total revelation. Ollie Dabbous’ cooking is just brilliant. Elegant without being pretentious. Fussy without being irritating and perfectly exquisite. And not expensive which is a miracle given the level of excellence. And of course Fay was right. It is now impossible to get a table except for weeks or even months ahead which is too bad as I would love to eat there on a regular basis!
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Tags: brilliant london restaurants, Dabbous, Fay Maschler, Francois Simon, London eating, Ollie Dabbous
Posted in Restaurant Reviews, restaurants | 3 Comments »
April 2nd, 2012
I have finally found a contemporary belly dancer I like. And guess what? She may be a cousin. Her name is Saida Helou and she is originally Syrian. I don’t think there are many Syrian Helous who are not from Mashta el-Helou. If her father is from there, then she is definitely a cousin albeit with better dancing genes. I have no sense of rythm and she has plenty. I love her sinuous movements, and her body although I can’t quite decide if the upper part is enhanced or beautifully natural. Anyhow, she lives in Buenos Aires where she performs and teaches belly dancing. I wish I’d known about her before going to Mendoza. I would have stopped over to meet her and perhaps even take a class or two with her. Not that it would have done me any good!
Tags: belly dance, belly dance classes, belly dancer, buenos aires, Mashta el-Helou, saida helou
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April 1st, 2012
Last week I did something quite mad and flew all the way to Argentina to spend 3 days in Mendoza for the Park Hyatt Masters of Food & Wine. I had missed it the previous year and didn’t want to this time round despite the long journey for such a short stay. I am happy I went. And if you haven’t been, you should go. Mendoza is beautiful. The wines and food are great and the people totally charming, and beautiful.
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Tags: argentina, argentinian road shrines, argentinian wines, bodega rutini, catena zapata, chef jose rocha, janaina rueda, kinien, malbec, mendel, mendoza, park hyatt masters of food & wine, ruca malen, travelers shrines, tupungato, zuccardi
Posted in food & wine festivals, travel | No Comments »
