Mazi Mas

Mazi Mas is Greek for 'eat with us' and believe me, you should!

Ovalhouse is currently playing host to a brilliant new innovative pop up restaurant Mazi Mas. The restaurant supports immigrant women who struggle to find work or are not supported in the search for work. Click here to read their story. 

These women bring their culture and culinary skills together to bring us boring Brits a fiesta of flavours every day of the week. Every day a different chef, from a different country takes over the kitchen to introduce us to their home country's pallet. Click here to read each chef's story.

Roberta Siao from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil happened to be the chef last night when I visited this wonderful idea of a restaurant. We chose the cheese bread pictured above as it had the chef's name by it so we were sure it had to be something special - it was so delicious. 

It is a compliment, I hope, to Roberta that as soon as the Moqueca - fish (or pumpkin for the veggies) in a coconut milk, peppers, lime and coriander - came to the table, all thoughts of cameras disappeared as the aroma wafted up our noses and it was only once I was taking my last bite that I remembered I hadn't taken a photo! 

All in all it was a fabulous meal and I know I will be back to sample some of the other chef's work.The company brings you food from Brazil, Iran, Ethiopia, Turkey, Senegal and Peru. If you like your food authentic, this is the place to go! 

Mac Burger

I took a short trip up to Birmingham last week to surprise my lovely old housemate for her birthday. So the night before I went to the Bristol Pear with some friends where we plotted how to surprise the birthday girl over some delicious burgers. I went for a mac 'n' cheese burger which was fantastic. However, as you can imagine, there is a lot of oil and frying involved in such a feast so I decided to recreate it the slimming world way. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately if you see it that way) there is no picture of the final result because they all got eaten before I could get any photos. 

Serves 5:

What I used: 

• You already have the mac 'n' cheese  to make the mac 'n' cheese patties.
• 1kg of extra lean (5%) beef mince
• 1 onion
• salt & pepper
• nutmeg
• Provence herbs
• 5-10 wholemeal burger buns (depending on how hungry you are)
• 1/2 iceberg lettuce
• 4 tomatoes
• 4 gherkins  

What I did:

• Follow the mac 'n' cheese recipe to make the patties
• Fill a muffin tin up with the mac 'n' cheese and put in the over for 20 minutes
• Leave to cool

• Cut the onion as small as you can
• Empty the mince into a large bowl
• Mix the onion, salt, pepper and herbs into the meat and season to taste
• Mould the mince into burgers using your hands (use the muffin tin for rough size guide)
• Fry the burgers on a med-high heat until fully cooked

• Cut the vegetables into slices and put them on a plate
• Toast the wholemeal buns 
• Serve everything separately and allow diners to build their burgers
  
  
  
  
  
  Like I said, it went down so well that there was no time to take pictures. We put various condiments on the table and then we figured that it was easier to put the mac burger under the beef burger (but that was just because our burgers were a bit thick). We layered up the veg, I made some homemade chips and dinner was served. 

Bobo Social - Goodge Street

It seems like it is just my luck to choose restaurants with the most friendly staff. At Bobo Social, the team made us feel very comfortable from the moment we stepped through the door until the moment we left.  The 'Social' in the restaurant's name is fitting for the lovely atmosphere created by the staff. 

Peanut Butter

Bobo Social is a brilliant burger restaurant with a marvelous menu.  The burgers are made from specially selected parts of the country and is cooked in a charcoal oven with different single species wood to give the meat a fabulous flavour every time.  

Mushroom & Truffle Burger
Beef Dripping Bobo Chips
Sweet Potato Chips with Truffle Salt

 The food is absolutely delicious and everything is full of flavour - as a good meal should be. For starters we shared a delightful salad of Plum Tomatoes, Basil Pesto and Roasted Pine Nuts and Smoked Haddock Fishcakes. The fishcakes are served in an incredible Mustard and Lemon Beurre Blanc sauce. We were all pretty keen to get on to the next course after that.  After such a satisfying starter, the main course did not disappoint in the slightest and I would say it is worth getting a side order as a wonderful complement to the burgers. 

Bobo Burger with Bacon and Cheese

I highly look forward to returning to Bobo Social to join their 'Experimental Burger Society'. Every Monday customers are invited to join the Head Chef as the restaurant becomes a laboratory and diners are able to experiment with their own burger creations. Choose from a selection of exotic meats; Kangaroo, Alligator, Venison, Ostrich and their classic Rare-Breed Beef. The most exotic burger makes a featured appearance on the menu for the week.

Guest Burger: In a While Guacodile

Make sure you leave room for dessert! With a fantastic selection it may be hard to choose just one! Sharing a variety of desserts is probably the best way to deal with this dilemma- it will be worth it.  

Dark & Milk Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel

It is also worth browsing the drinks menu for their great range of cocktails and liquors. A nice glass of prosecco will go really well with your burger.  

For more information and to book your table, click here. 

Sharing: Buffalo Mozzarella and Smoked Haddock Fishcakes

Caravan - Kings Cross

On first appearance, Carvan looks modern and perhaps somewhat industrial like. On one side of the restaurant, long tables stretch across in a similar style as Wagamama but with more comfortable seating. On the other side, high  tables and stools suggest that it could be a quick lunch stop for nearby workers and students. 

The menu consists of some new twists on some old favourites. In fact, the menu is so tempting that it we decided to share a couple of dishes so that we could have a chance to sample various items off the menu. The menu is seasonal but the deliciousness is there all year around. 

The staff is really helpful and will bring you tap water before you even have to ask. They are very accommodating for different dietary needs but may benefit from having the usual dietary symbols on their menu.

Caravan is located about a five minute walk away from Kings Cross station and as you can see in the pictures below it comes with rather a scenic view if you go on a nice summer's day and sit outside.

Click here to see their website and book your table!

Inamo- Wardour Street

Inamo is a pan-Asian restaurant with two locations in London. I was at the Wardour Street Branch so I will be reviewing that one.

The first thing you should know about Inamo is that it isn't your regular restaurant. Everything you need is quite literally within your reach. Every place at a table is controlled by an interactive projector. Instead of waiting for a waiter to realise you've been trying to get their attention for the last twenty minutes, you are in complete control of your experience. There is a mouse pad where you can explore the menu and send your order to the kitchen immediately.

If that isn't exciting enough for you, when you select a dish an image is projected onto your plate so there are no surprises when your meal arrives. Well, that isn't entirely true... The big dishes are not really big and so you can only imagine how small the small dishes actually are. It is quite expensive for the portion you get but the experience is worth a try!

While you wait for your food, there are games and plenty of other forms of entertainment on your table to make the wait pass in no time. You can even look into the kitchen and see the chefs preparing your meal. 

When you're ready to pay, you can see your bill on your table and just need to call for a waiter to to take your money. Also the table provides ideas of what you might like to do after your meal.

I would recommend this restaurant just for the experience. The food was great but not particularly filling. It is quite a memorable night out.

Click here to see their website and to book your table!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

So some of you may have delayed your St Patrick's day celebrations for the weekend so my sister has agreed to do a guest blog post with her Paddy's day inspired meal.

To make the bread, she used Paul Hollywood's Bread book (Soda breads from page 56). It's a fantastic book with lots of creative ideas for what to do with your homemade breads too. You can also find the recipe here. It's very simple to make. 

Since the recipe is so simple, here is a bit about the origins of this bread. Soda Bread didn't actually originate from Ireland but it is often associated with Ireland as the 'soft flour' that is needed to make this bread is created in Ireland's ideal climates. 

As you will see when making this bread, it's so simple and quick (and filling) to make that you'll be wondering what you can do with it. Hollywood makes some suggestions in his book but keep reading to find out what my sister did to make it St Patrick's day fitting. 

Potato, Pea & Pesto Soup

What she used:

• 1 rough chopped onion
• 700g peeled and roughly chopped potatoes
• 350g frozen peas
• Frylight/ 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 litre of veg stock
• 2.5 tbsp pesto
• Salt and Pepper - season to taste

What she did: 

• In a large saucepan, turn onto high heat and then fry onions until golden.

• Add the stock, peas and potatoes and turn it down to a medium heat. Cover to boil for twenty minutes or until soft.

•  Take off heat and blend the ingredients together. 
• Add the Pesto and Mix

 There you go! A perfect dish to serve for your St Patrick's Day celebration!

Beer Bucket Birthday Cake

So yesterday was my brother's eighteenth. When you think eighteen, what comes to mind? Alcohol? Well it did for me and my sister so we decided to go along those lines for his birthday cake. How do you make a non-alcoholic alcohol cake? Well this is what we came up with...

I was on cake making duty.

We used the book below for our cake recipe. It's a fantastic book with loads of creative cookie dough ideas. The only problem is the measurements are in in 'cups' or 'sticks' and here in Britain that isn't how we like our recipes. I've put the 'British translation' of this recipe below. 

We knew that we had to make a slightly bigger cake than the given recipe so I'll put the ingredients below as I used them rather than what the book says. 

Click here to buy the book

What I used for the cake:

• 576g plain flour
• 2 1/4 tbsp baking powder 
• 150g granulated sugar
• 300g light brown sugar 
• 226g softened unsalted butter
• 300ml milk (1 1/4) cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 6 egg whites
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 
  

What I did: 

• Turn the oven onto fan 180 degrees Celsius and prepare 9 inch cakes tins
• Mixed all of the dry ingredients together (butter goes in here)
• In a separate bowl beat all the wet ingredients together
• Slowly pour in the wet mixture into the dry mixture - mixing it all together as you go along
• Bake for 25-30 minutes. 
• Leave to cool

• Once cooled, stack your cakes up and using a sharp knife, cut a round hole in all but the bottom layer - make sure your beer bottles will fit (recipe). Take out the centre and then take the cakes apart again.

What I used for the cookie dough: 

• 173g softened unsalted butter
• 100g granulated sugar
• 110g light brown sugar
• Add a bit of milk if it doesn't get to the consistency of a spread.
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 70g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100g mini chocolate chips

What I did: 

• Mix all the ingredients together until it has the same consistency of chocolate spread.
• Evenly layer the top of each of your cakes (except the top one) with cookie dough but do not stack them up quite yet.

What I used for the ganache:

•  90g dark chocolate
• 175g double cream

What I did: 

• Boil water in a saucepan and put your chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl
• When the water is boiled bring it down to a low heat and melt the chocolate
• After the chocolate is all melted add the cream and stir until everything is mixed together

• I let it cool a bit and then evenly layer the ganache over each level of cookie dough.
• Now stack the cakes back up
• Place in fridge - cold cakes are easier to frost

Now that the cake is ready to be decorated and the chocolate bottles are chilling in the fridge. We both set about to turn this cake into the beer bucket.


What we used to decorate:

• Betty Crocker's chocolate fudge butter cream 
• 500g grey fondant rolled out
• edible silver paint 
• Chocolate beer bottle
• Paper beer labels
• 115g whipped cream  

What we did:

• Cover the outside of the cake with butter cream frosting and use a palette knife or a normal knife to make the frosting as smooth as possible (see picture above)
• Take the rolled out fondant and drape it over the cake
• Cut out the middle circle and use it to cover the inside of your bucket
• Use a rolling pin to smooth out the fondant on your cake
• Use excess fondant for the handles
• Mix your paint with a tbsp of vanilla essence and paint your bucket
• Let the paint dry and then assemble the beer bottles in the bucket

If you want to make the whipped cream look like it's coming out the bottle then this is what you do:

• Whip the cream in a bowl
• start from the open end of the beer bottle and start building the cream down the side of the cake getting wider as you get lower down the side. 
• We used a hint of yellow to give our cream the beer colour

Here is the final result. The birthday boy seemed happy with it so I'm going to consider this cake a success!