Tag Archives: Cambridge

foodPark NIGHT MARKET on 3 October, 2015 – Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
3

On 3 October 2015 foodPark’s fourth instalment of its popular NIGHT MARKET took place, once again, at Gravel Hill Farm at the North West Cambridge Development. I attended every one of them so far (February, May, July and October) and I can safely say I have experienced fantastic street food and drink in all seasons. I enjoyed them all and raved about the winter and spring NIGHT MARKETS here and here.

fp60

fp30

With foodPark founder Heidi White at the helm, this NIGHT MARKET was the biggest and best yet. The main difference was the addition of more bars. Apart from the foodPark BAR, which sold wine, fizz, soft drinks and water, there was a bar run by Jolly Good Beer dedicated solely to craft beer and a cosy Pinkster gin den around the back.

fp36

fp40

Food and drink were the main attraction and Heidi and her team of volunteers kept the evening flowing smoothly. The event was well organised with rubbish being gathered in a timely manner. I noticed there was first aid cover provided by a private company.

fp33

Continue reading →

Grub Club Cambridge British Food Fortnight at The Larder at Burwash Manor – Barton, Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
Reply

Grub Club Cambridge celebrated British Food Fortnight at Burwash Manor’s The Larder on 22 September, 2015. British Food Fornight, organised by Love British Food, is the annual national celebration of British food and drink.

“Since its beginnings in 2002, British Food Fortnight has become THE opportunity for those who work in any aspect of food and drink, to come together and promote the benefits of buying and eating from our home produced British larder.” (Official Website)

However, it wasn’t the only celebration that evening… founders Kelly Molson and Vhari Russell marked Grub Club Cambridge’s first birthday. I wish them many more years of success!

Grub Club Cambridge Kelly Vhari

Grub Club Cambridge is a networking club for people in or supplying the food and drink industry. For the past year, Kelly and Vhari have been running their increasingly popular social networking events for food and drink professionals, giving them the opportunity to chat and discuss future collaborations, with some fabulous dinners at the centre of it all. Kelly and Vhari certainly know their stuff. Their respective companies, Rubber Cheese and The Food Marketing Expert, focus on marketing for food and drink businesses among other services.

Continue reading →

The Cambridgeshire Cook Book Launch – Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
6

The Cambridgeshire Cook Book, published by Meze Publishing, is a celebration of the vibrant food and drink scene on our doorstep. I followed the cook book’s progress and as soon as it was released, I snapped up a copy! So I was thrilled when I was invited to attend the official launch. It was held at The Shack, which is a rather snazzy covered outdoor space at Gog Magog Hills, perfect for an event like this.

Cook Book Launch

In attendance were many of the people and independent businesses featured in The Cambridgeshire Cook Book, as well as Paul Cocker and Lisa Pullen of Meze Publishing.

Collage Cambridgeshire Cook Book

The Cambridgeshire Cook Book features over 40 recipes by the region’s chefs, restaurants, cafés, pubs, shops, producers and suppliers. It includes a Recommended Wine List, compiled by Cambridge Wine Merchants, to pair with some of the recipes in the book. Great idea!

Continue reading →

Provenance at Burwash Manor – Barton, Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
2

Provenance, a mobile purveyor of seasonal, restaurant quality food, operate from a stunning vintage Airstream caravan that’s been converted into a kitchen with wood fired oven. I attended their launch party earlier this month (I wrote all about it here) and I was so impressed by the food and drink that I vowed to follow their whereabouts for my next Provenance craving.

Burwash

On Saturday 11 July, Provenance served up delicious food at Burwash Manor, located in the village of Barton, about 5 miles from Cambridge. Provenance’s gleaming Airstream caravan looked right at home amid Burwash Manor’s lovely independent shops, including foodie haven The Larder in its Food Hall.

Collage Provenance Burwash

Burwash Manor is situated on a working organic farm where they grow produce and rear their own rare breed pigs. Dynamic Organics, a three-acre market garden on the farm, use biodynamic principles to grow a variety of vegetables many of which were featured in Provenance’s Burwash menu, such as spring onions, rainbow chard and new potatoes.

Continue reading →

The Cock – Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire (UK)

Posted on by
2

A few months ago, I was kindly invited to sample The Cock’s new à la carte starters and mains menu, designed by talented head chef Wil Findlay. I was seriously impressed and raved all about it here. I also vowed to return and experience the restaurant as a customer. I had that opportunity on Monday!

The Cock sign

The Cock side sign

The Cock, which is one of the restaurants operated by Cambscuisine, isn’t one of their Cambridge locations. It’s located in the picturesque village of Hemingford Grey in Cambridgeshire (out Huntingdon way) and it is definitely worth the drive. Its focus is on high end casual dining, with no sign of pretentiousness. Reservations are strongly recommended as The Cock has been garnering rave reviews and has even been named the 2015 Cambridgeshire Dining Pub of the Year in the Good Pub Guide.

Collage The Cock

Paulo and I arrived 10 minutes before the restaurant opened at 6:30pm for dinner so we were able to enjoy a drink in the cosy pub, which has a separate entrance but still connected inside for staff to make their way from one section to another. The Cock’s building dates back to the 17th century so some parts have a quirky layout but it is all quite charming.

Continue reading →

Provenance Launch Party – Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
3

I was invited to attend Provenance’s launch party on 3 July, held on the beautiful grounds of The Three Horseshoes in Madingley. In fact, Provenance is made up of the team behind this restaurant and their concept is to bring restaurant quality food to the hungry masses through corporate, private and public events.

Provenance Kitchen collage

Airstream caravan

Operating from a vintage Airstream caravan converted into a kitchen complete with wood fired oven, Provenance’s changing menu focuses on seasonal and nutritious food.

Provenance Kitchen

We were warmly welcomed and served some of Provenance’s homemade sodas and cocktails. I tried their non-alcoholic drinks: elderflower lemonade and strawberry cream soda, both very tasty and refreshing. There were also some very nice gin-based cocktails, such as elderflower cucumber gin fizz and strawberry rhubarb cream gin fizz.

Continue reading →

Olioitalia Olive Oil Tasting at Balzano’s – Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
Reply

On 20 June, Mauro Boero of Olioitalia held an olive oil tasting at Balzano’s in Cambridge. Olioitalia is the importer of high quality extra virgin olive oils from Calabria, Italy. Mauro was raised on his family’s olive grove in Italy so he knows all about olive oil and its health benefits. It’s high in vitamin E, loaded with antioxidants and healthy fats and helps prevent cardio-vascular problems.

Collage OlioItalia Balzanos

OlioItalia 3

Balzanos 1

Olioitalia, based in Cambridge, is the importer of Pata organic infused extra virgin olive oils in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The infused olive oils are produced and bottled by Pata with the extra virgin olive oil from their olive grove in Calabria. The olives are of the Ottobratica variety.

Olive Oils 1

Continue reading →

Eat Cambridge 2015, the Main Event – Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
Reply

Eat Cambridge was held at the Corn Exchange on 23 May, 2015. This one-day food and drink fair was the Main Event, with two weeks of fringe events leading up to the big day. I wrote about some of the fringe events: foodPark NIGHT MARKET, Over The Tracks and Grub Club Cambridge Producers’ Dinner.

Only in its third year, this food and drink festival has already become one of Cambridge’s best foodie events.

The aim of Eat Cambridge is to showcase independents that can produce, source or make their products easily available in Cambridgeshire. It’s a great way to discover our local producers, restaurants, cafes and farms.

Eat Cambridge entrance

Strictly not-for-profit, Eat Cambridge is organised by Heidi White and Sian Townsend, with the invaluable help of their team of volunteers. Heidi and the volunteers all worked really hard to make the day run smoothly. (Sian is expecting a baby any minute now so she wasn’t able to attend). As last year, the Corn Exchange was a fabulous venue to hold all the stalls and there were lots of rooms available for the various talks and pop-ups.

Eat Cambridge Corn Exchange

Eat Cambridge 1

Continue reading →

Grub Club Cambridge Producers’ Dinner at Fitzbillies, a fringe event for Eat Cambridge 2015 – Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
4

I was delighted to attend the Producers’ Dinner, a fringe event organised by Grub Club Cambridge for Eat Cambridge 2015. It was held on 22 May 2015 at Fitzbillies and included a talk by the iconic restaurant’s owner Tim Hayward.

Grub Club Cambridge is run by Vhari Russell (The Food Marketing Expert, providing marketing and retailing support for food and drink businesses) and Kelly Molson (Rubber Cheese, a design agency working with the food, drink and hospitality sectors). It is a networking club based in Cambridge for food and drink professionals and their aim is to put producers, retailers, buyers and businesses together in order to build relationships. And they do it at some mighty fine places. As the Producers’ Dinner was part of Eat Cambridge, it was open to anyone with an interest in good food and drink who wanted to feast on Fitzbillies’ tantalising menu.

Photo courtesy of Vhari Russell

Photo courtesy of Vhari Russell

The event was very well attended. Fitzbillies had a full house with three very long tables all occupied by fellow food and drink enthusiasts.

Collage Grub Club

Continue reading →

Over The Tracks, a fringe event for Eat Cambridge 2015 – Cambridge (UK)

Posted on by
1

Those of you familiar with the best of the Cambridge street food scene already know Steak & Honour and Jack’s Gelato. They formed a dining collective and named it Over The Tracks, a nod to the location of their Cambridge HQ tucked away in a winding industrial estate, just past the train tracks.

Leo Riethoff and David Underwood of Steak & Honour and Jack van Praag of Jack’s Gelato don’t just flip burgers and scoop ice cream. They are proper chefs who expertly create their menus and have worked in some of the best professional kitchens. Over The Tracks is their opportunity to expand their culinary offerings, and in Jack’s case, show what he can do away from the churn.

Steak & Honour

Jack's Gelato cycle

“Over The Tracks is quality, seasonal and local cooking in an informal and communal setting. With OTT, the guys are taking their product off the street and placing it in another context.” (Eat Cambridge Official Website)

Eat Cambridge 1

This well organised fringe event for Eat Cambridge, held on 20 May 2015, was beautifully set up inside and outside the industrial unit. The bar was housed inside, along with several large communal tables and charming mismatched chairs. The minimalist décor and ambience worked well in the overall context. The chilled out sounds of instrumental hip hop music added to the urban atmosphere.

Continue reading →