meemalee

I know naff all about alcohol. When it comes to booze, I have the taste of a thirteen year old girl - apparently I am the only person left on the planet who still thinks Archers and lemonade an acceptable order. In fact for a very, very, very long time, the closest I got to a drop was an Asda Rum Baba . So when I'm kindly invited to a complimentary Sunday Roast and Vintage Vodka Tasting at Bob Bob Ricard by Kavey from Kavey Eats and one of the owners, Leonid Shutov, unlike 90% of the other guests, I'm genuinely only in it for the food. Bob Bob Ricard, so called because Bob (aka Leonid) put up 2/3 of the investment and Ricard (aka Richard Howarth) put up 1/3, is tucked away off Brewer Street in Soho. It's an absolutely stunning restaurant - like a technicolour cruise ship - but somehow manages to stay on the right side of OTT. We sit down at the table where some teeny vodka glasses have been laid at each place-setting. Leonid has joined us to guide us through the tasting....

UPDATE 28/09/2011: Gaby's Deli has been threatened with closure - join the campaign to stop this happening at Save Gaby's Deli and sign the petition HERE . I’ve just taken part in pudfest , but I’m still feeling grouchy and hungry. I pootle towards the Chandos near Charing Cross where the hubby and four friends are meeting me. They look wan and I ask what they’ve had to eat and they say, “Nothing - they stopped serving food at 7”. “Ridiculous” I say, and I sigh and produce from my magic handbag a couple of prune and armagnac macarons which I’d bought earlier from Comptoir Gascon . They pounce on them and, wiping the sugary crumbs from his face, the journo friend says, “This foodie thing you do is quite good, isn’t it?” I smile at him fondly and then get up and say, “Right, that won’t sustain you - we’re off to Gaby’s”. The civil servant friend says, "That's why I love doing things with you, MiMi - you always make sure we eat properly". Now Gaby’s on Charing Cross...

I've been meaning to go to Sakana Tei for what seems like aeons. I'd read good things about it on a blog called Food for Stomach , which I'd followed avidly until one day it was made private - "for invited readers only". I was too embarrassed to ask for access, but I never forgot the vivid pictures and descriptions, so when I found myself on Regent Street, I made a beeline for Sakana Tei. First impressions were very promising. Japanese clientele, check. Itamae at the bar, check. That intense smell of dashi , pickles and fried goodness that brings a natsukashii tear to my eyes, check. As soon as I sat down, a cup of complementary green tea appeared. I browsed the set lunch menu and, though tempted by the lot, I went for the chirashi teishoku as it came with dobin mushi which I can never get enough of. The appetiser was a nimono dish of squishy fried tofu, daikon, carrot and green beans, lightly simmered in stock. Sweet, light and juicy, this was a refreshing, ...

Sorry this is late - at the end of last night’s episode, I actually exploded into 27,000,000 overwrought little pieces and have had to be reassembled by a crack-force of technicians into a mere vestige of my former staggering beauty. It's finally the final final of MasterChef - those first two were massive red herrings. We have a flashback to previous MasterChef winners to see how they've fared - I shall call them Curly , Curly , Ming . Tommi Miers is now squadron leader of Mexican chain Wahaca (* cough * Oaxaca), James " I hated being a lawyer and now I'm a surfer " Nathan now works at Padstein's and my favourite Mat Follas is living the dream running The Wild Garlic in Dorset. Where are Peter Bayless (2006) and Steven Wallis (2007)? We love you Stevo ! Voiceover lady begins her aural onslaught "Tonight Droooov, Alex or Tim will be CROWNED MasterChef champion". Seriously, India love, I think we already established there is no crown - just a cr...