Tag Archives: Romano’s

East Meets West Afternoon Tea by The Baking Jin – Cambridgeshire (UK)

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On August 11, 2018 talented baker Jin Yee Chung of The Baking Jin hosted his very first pop up, titled East Meets West. I was delighted to experience Jin’s take on Afternoon Tea, along with a group of guests who were eager to try his bakes or have been long time fans. The pop up took place at Romano’s. We all gathered around an inviting communal table on a Saturday afternoon.

Jin, who hails from Borneo, is a software engineer by day (that’s Dr Jin – he has a PhD) and a baker by night. After winning the Cambridge Bake Off in 2015 with his stunning DNA cake, Jin continued baking, experimenting and perfecting his cakes. He is known for his light and airy chiffon cakes and has a growing list of customers for private orders. He also supplies a few cafés and has been featured in The Cambridgeshire Cook Book (2015) and The Cambridgeshire Cook Book: Second Helpings (2018).

East Meets West was loosely based on the concept of Afternoon Tea with a sweet and savoury parade of fusion dishes from Jin’s native Malaysia and beyond, paired with two intriguing teas: Jiaogulan and Chrysanthemum.

We were welcomed with a gorgeous mocktail which Jin named Blue Purple, because it changed colour. A carafe of lime-honey liquid was poured into each glass of blue pea flower liquid, which changed the colour of the mocktail from blue to purple. The batch of blue pea flowers, grown in the garden of Jin’s late grandparents in Malaysia, was picked and dried by his aunties. How special is that? On a more local note the honey was from East Hatley, only 15 miles from Cambridge. A pandan leaf was placed into the mocktail for a hit of its sweet, vanilla-like aroma. We nibbled on lobster crackers and keropok (prawn crackers) before we took our seats.

Photo by Ozzy Beck

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Romano’s Paella Masterclass, a fringe event for Eat Cambridge – Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire (UK)

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Romano’s Paella Masterclass, a fringe event for Eat Cambridge, took place on 24 May 2018 at the newly refurbished Black Horse café/pub in Dry Drayton. It was a great paella party! Our fun group learned to make this typical Spanish dish with Paola Davies-Romano, a fantastic teacher with an extensive culinary background. During the interactive class, we all helped out in the cooking of two big Valencian paellas, then enjoyed eating our delicious creation.

The Black Horse, run by Amanda and Colin O’Neill, was the perfect place for the event. The class was set up in the function room and the bar stocked a variety of drinks for participants to purchase, including a white wine from Spain (Torres Viña Sol 2017) just for the occasion. Amanda even made a Spanish orange and almond cake. The cosy pub atmosphere added to the success of the event and the group got to know each other over nibbles (provided by Romano’s) and drinks.

I helped out in the planning and promotion of the event and I assisted on the night. However, Paola had all the equipment and ingredients organised and it was easy to set up the room, with the cooking area at the front and tables for eating at the back. It was a big group so there were two paella stations. It was like being on a cookery show!

Paola, with decades of teaching experience, is a natural speaker and soon put the class at ease. No tedious talks. She gave tips and tricks to making good paella, a recipe handed down by her Spanish mum.

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

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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.

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