byfords

From time to time it's good to get out of the city, especially if you can combine a parental visit and cakes too. To that end we decided to treat the mother-in-law to lunch at Byfords in Holt.

Holt is an affluent little town in North Norfolk, full of shops selling fancy homewares and oil paintings of sea side landscapes. It's a magnet for visiting Londoners, and Byfords reflects that perfectly being both deli, cafe, restaurant and 'posh' B&B. The word posh seems to pop up frequently on their menu, used to describe anything that used to be naff but now in our savvy post gastropub era is now the acceptable face of honest British cooking. It's like they don't quite trust their customers to appreciate and understand that.

Entering through the deli, one is greeted by the pungent buy extremely enjoyable smell of cheeses from their ample cheese counter. The deli also has a great range of olives, organic and locally brewed beers, cakes, sandwiches and salads to take away and so on. It's well stocked and a great place in it's own right to buy a picnic lunch for any slightly warmer times to be taken to the nearby coast. They stock cakes and bread from Popina (I blogged about their Broadway Market stall here) as well as making and selling their own cake under the name 'Sponge'.

We were seated in the cellar of the huge eating area, there was a big queue when we arrived, which seems to be evidence of how popular the place is. The menu is divided into several sections - bready things made up the bulk of the lunch menu, but there was a strong offering of homebaked pizzas too, and main meals such as risotto or steak were available too albeit priced fairly high for a quick lunch. I ordered the focaccia melt, the mother in law opted for their take on eggs benedict, and Mr LROC opted for a mackeral paste sandwich with chunky 'posh' chips.

When the food arrived I was a little disappointed because I'd been led to expect so much. I was expecting brilliance, but it was merely good. The topping on the melt was delicious - cheesy rich and beautifully tender veg but the bread could have been better loved, the salad was a little plain despite the presence of olives, sun dried tomatoes and pickled onions. I could barely taste the promised pesto dressing. Eggs Benedict looked good, but I don't think much could compare to the bargainous and tasty eggs at the Premises on the Hackney Road which comes with an extremely generous helping of hollandaise sauce.

Desserts fared slightly better, as well an extensive range of ice cream they had lots of cakes on the menu; I opted for the lemon variety of the own-made 'Sponge' cake. It was perfectly baked - just the right amount of spring in the sponge, a golden yellow colour and moist. I understand that they are selling the brand on to other deli's but it felt too professional - almost too good, too slick and I think an overdose of the lemon syrup, or a slightly cracked top would make the cake feel more genuine. It was generously filled with lemon buttercream that was tangy and rich but again it felt too slick. Something more creamy, maybe with cream cheese would have worked well and offset the tang of the lemon to perfection. The New Zealand sauvignon, which accompanied my cake was excellent however.

All in all, a good and pleasant experience, and a lovely place to lunch in a small town, but not quite living up the hype that seems to surround it. It is stylishly presented and the B&B looks fab and seems to be reasonably priced too. if you want to know more, including reading about their hotel or some of the other gastropubs they own in the North Norfolk area then check out the website http://www.byfords.org.uk/

As an aside, we had a brief walk around town after lunch and couldn't resist taking a photo of the pumpkins sitting in the rain outside the greengrocer.

Lola's

Yesterday evening I headed to the Lola's cupcakes counter in Selfridges for an early-week pick me up. Technically I am supposed to be trying to cut down a little - I'm busting out of some of my size 10 clothes - but decided that visiting Niketown to buy some new jogging leggings to wear later in the week was activity enough and I deserved a little reward. I'd previously had Lola's vanilla cupcakes at a work do and not been hugely impressed - the vanilla flavour was too strong and too artificial but I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, and give their undoubtably pretty cupcakes another try.

The counter is in the foodhall, just in front of the Pierre Herme counter and back to back with the more generic bakery. It offers cakes to take away but also seating - although I couldn't see any drinks on offer to accompany said cakes. By around 7pm there was no queue, and some of the flavours were sold out.

The overall look and feel is quite cutesy, but in a minimal, designed fashion. The cupcakes come in a staggering variety of flavours and both mini and maxi sizes. They look much more artfully iced than their Hummingbird rivals - the frosting is stiffer - sitting in carefully piped formations. Hummingbird tends towards a more home-baked look. And unlike Hummingbird, the focus is solely on cupcakes and large event cakes instead of a diverse range of pies, brownies, cookies and so forth.

The packaging and visual material is also a delight, the duck egg blue boxes and neatly designed menus look great as do the colour coded circles which mark each flavour both in store and on the website.

I selected two mini red velvets, a large chocolate and a large banana, intending to offer the banana flavour to Mr LROC.

Whilst I never normally go for mini cupcakes (why have less?) the mini red velvets were divine, each comprising about two mouthfuls, the balance of frosting to cake was perfect. The cream cheese sweet but not too vanilla-y with a generous sprinkling of red velvet crumb. Banana followed their excellent example. I was given a sample size portion from my ever-generous husband and again found a moist banana-loaf style sponge topped with a light yellow cream cheese frosting reminiscent of good homemade carrot cake. However, I was disappointed with my chocolate cupcake, which I found to be bland and a little on the dry side. The frosting was neither rich nor creamy, and it could have easily been both; and the cake was dry and dull. I expected to come across a gooey chocolatey centre or even more cream cheese but just found more cake.

Verdict: great visuals and a brand identity and the mini red velvets are tiny nuggets of heaven but steer clear of the chocolate. Prices are slightly higher than the Hummingbird bakery, but overall the cupcakes are a little bigger.

As well as the Selfridge's concession, they have outlets in Topshop, Harrods and do deliveries direct from their Primrose Hill bakery (is this area just bakeries? It seems that way, how do they afford the rent?). Their website is http://www.lolas-kitchen.co.uk/index.html.

zombies ate my cupcake

It's nearly halloween - my favourite excuse to put on a silly costume and party. Each year my work hosts a 'spooky food' competition and this year the prize will be mine. How is that you ask, well I've come across Lili Vanilli's ace recipes in 'A Zombie Ate My Cupcake'.

Lili Vanilli is both gourmet baker and surreal baker - responsible for some of the creations at the Mad Artists Tea Party, and, if the ES Magazine is to be believed, has more than a helping hand in creating the 18+ cakeshop Eat Your Heart Out - coming your way this halloween.

Now, I've always been under the impression that zombies preferred fresh human brains to sugar and sponge, and those that know me will know that I like to have a z-day plan in place (zombie geek), but I love the artful graphic look of the shattered glass cupcakes.

Fortunately I don't have to look too hard as she has kindly shared the recipe for the sugar glass and the cherry fake blood sauce - stick them on a red velvet (or green velvet as I once tried) and the halloween baking prize is in the bag.

There are other more gruesome and far less appetising confections too - ears, bleeding hearts, brains and fingers not to mention Dios las Muertos cakes too.

Those of a more nervous disposition will be pleased to know that her cakes of a more gourmet variety are available at Harrods, though you've just missed the Chocolate Week confections.

There's another recipe on her blog - one that puts the devil into devil's food cake, the link is here http://lily-vanilli.blogspot.com/2010/09/recipe-for-devils-food-cupcakes.html

Find her blog at http://lily-vanilli.blogspot.com/

Buy A Zombie Ate My Cupcake at Amazon

fancy saturday

I feel like I'm always apologising for the lack of the regular Friday posts - all I can say is that yesterday I was extremely busy enjoying my salted caramels, and I now have my second cold in three and a half weeks. I'm not sure whether cakes are good for the immune system.

Now, I'm not a particularly girly kind of girl, in fact one of my friends laughed when she saw my owl iPhone case, but I have a special love for Donna Wilson's homewares and crazy creatures. Maybe it's those owls again.

I am seriously coveting the knitted bird cushions, and I desperately want to drape my bed in the fairisle blankets. Also on offer are ceramics, stationary, scarves and hats and all manner of curious and beautiful designs.

You can buy on line direct from Donna's site, or alternatively in London I've seen the range carried in SCP on Westbourne Grove (they're in Shoreditch too) and in a homewares boutique in Camden Passage, Islington. Everyone in buying seems to harbour a chutney dream* about running a little shop somewhere - this is just the kind of thing I'd sell, along with Eames chairs and reconditioned anglepoise lamps.

N.B. I couldn't find a link to describe what a 'chutney dream' is, but I was in the pub one Saturday and reading an article in the Times magazine 'You Know You're Middle Aged When...' and it covered the concept of chutney dreams, these are things we all have especially now we're all eco and organic and reusable unbleached cotton bags. Examples of these include: 'I'm going to move to the country and make chutney, but not just any chutney; special organic fusion chutney and put it in beautiful jars inspired by a classic wartime design, just like those lovely St Peter's ale bottles'; 'I'm going to give something back and take up teaching'; 'I'm going to move to the isle of bute and set up a boarding kennel for zebras'.

artisan du chocolat

London is filled with specialist, small scale chocolate companies making brilliant products and another favourite of mine is Artisan du Chocolat. I was first drawn in by their concession at Selfridges which features molten chocolate being swirled in a posher version of a slush puppy dispenser. They also have gorgeous packaging and, so I'd heard, amazing salted caramel. I was more familiar with the attention to detaikl and craft they lavish on their bars - single original, flavoured enhanced by tea and mixed with spices all feature alongside some of their more creative products.

I'd never visited one of their stand alone stores and decided chocolate week, and therefore the temptation of free tastings and chocolate cocktails, was as good a time as any. At first I struggled to find their Westbourne Grove store and went on a rather roundabout route back and forth to Portobello road, but their it is, nestled on the Bayswater end of the street but still with some very pleasant neighbours.

The interior of the store is fantastic - modern and glossy shades of orange and white - one wall is reserved for the bars and another is a cabinet of their truffles and innovative chocolate discs. The store also has banquette style seating for tastings, cocktail consumption and gelato, and a tasting was in progress on my visit. Hence I didn't take any in store photos.

Whilst their salted caramel features in lots of recipes and is available as a sauce (and on tap maybe? please?) they don't have it combined in any of their bars so instead I made a beeline for the caramel honeycombs (£5.99) and seasalted caramels (£11.99), intending to take them home and indulge. I couldn't resist sampling one of the caramels on the tube home - it was divine. A fairly unassuming exterior with a bitter dark cocoa dusting gives way to a intense, rich caramel that's just the right side of salty. not too bitter and not too sweet; I could eat it forever. Choosing whether to suck or bite has an impact on the taste sensation, I prefer to prolong it.

I tried the original plain recipe, but they also have variations flavoured with banana, pink and black pepper and lemongrass.

The honeycomb was a kind of very posh crunchie - the chocolate coating it was rich and expensive tasting, just the way I like, and whilst the honeycomb itself wasn't a vast improvement on Cadburys, the subtle salted flavour added a dose of j'ne sais quoi.

I'm now heading to Chocolate Unwrapped tomorrow at Vinopolis, where the company's Zoe Burgess will be conducting tastings amongst other exciting events. The UK's premier chocolate companies will be in attendence, and I'm hope not to make myself feel sick!

One final word on Artisan du Chocolat - how can you not love a company who have the good humour to produce this? I have a feeling they might love the same trash TV as me!

chocolate week

Next week (11-18th october) is national Chocolate Week, so in honour of this occasion the only sensible thing to do is to consume as much high quality chocolate as one could manage. If you're more interested in organised chocolate eating rather than solo worship the 'Chocolate Unwrapped' event is next Saturday and Sunday at Vinopolis in Borough and exhibitors include previous LROC appearees such as Rococo and Melt. Although I'd love to go I may be visiting friends that weekend instead so in lieu of this I'm going to make a nuisance of myself in the respective chocolate halls of Selfridges and Liberty with comparitive reviews and sampling.

More info is on the Chocolate Week website

Cyprus part two

Here's some more images from the holiday...