The Crown Chestnuts

 Ampersand's smart electric chestnut roaster and seasonal offer at the Tower of London.

Sweet Focaccia

&Pasta's sweet focaccia

Courgette Loaf

Courgette & Cheddar Loaf (great toasted apparently) at Salvation Jane

Say it with Cake

Happy New Year

and congratulations to Dick Turpin who founded our catering consultancy upon being awarded MBE in the New Year Honours.

Comfortable in its own Skin

Hot tip for 2013 - The Pig. 

 

Robin & Judy Hutson had great success with Hotel du Vin and now son Ollie joins in the kitchen garden.  I have never seen such a complimentary guest comment book.  The Pig sets the pace in terms of design, kitchen garden, sustainability, staff enthusiasm and being 'comfortable in its own skin'.

Outside Seating & Walls

Wood wall at The Pig in the New Forest

Plastic north of King's Cross Station

Wood at The Espresso Room on Great Ormond Street

Tables made from recycled shampoo bottles at the Real Food Cafe, Tyndrum

How Good is Yours?

 Heston's Fish Pie at Waitrose takes some beating.

 The Lasagne takes the prize; must be the umami paste.

See previous blog post http://greatcafes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/is-your-grub-as-good-as-hestons.html

A Tale of Two Locations

Labassin Waterfall Restaurant, Phillipines
v
The Angel Pub, Henley in the recent floods!

Happy Christmas

Chocolate gets Everywhere

Chocolate Pasta seen at a food show. 

Marmite Truffles at Paul A Young

Chocolate covered Chili Peperoni at Berlin Christmas street market

Salute The Pigs

Whenever there is a question about naming your cafe - consider THE PIG Rooms and Kitchen Garden Food.  Formerly the Whitley Ridge Hotel, it now sports an unforgettable name and distinct theme.  The only drawback might be a lack of business from those communities who avoid pork.

Paperweight at Reception

The National Trust's Book on Pig Keeping is in every bedroom and is used for the bar menu folder.

Bread on a Bike

Interesting cake and bread display at the new Recipease (from the Jamie Oliver stable) in Notting Hill. The trike is made by Pashley, England's longest established bicycle manufacturer.

Upturned zinc bath lampshade plus self-serve ice cream

Paw Paw Passion

Mango Paw Paw Passion Breakfast Bowl at Crussh

Brownie Mince Pies

Brownie Mince Pies at chocolatier Paul A Young

Wowbutter

Peanut-free peanut butter and coming to the UK soon.  Food Futurist and Wowbutter champion Stephen Minall at http://www.movingfood.com/ lectures on food innovation at the United Nations and is constantly championing innovation in our industry.

Ketchup Udders

Guest Spot

Condiment 'udders' at Berlin Christmas street market spotted by my well-trained teenage daughter.  Thank-you Juliet.

I Really Hate Bacon

Eye-catching A-Boards outside Breakfast Club

Upside Down at the Opera

Pineapple upside down cake at the Royal Opera House.  Pastry ace Claire Clark is working for caterer Company of Cooks with good results.

 Blackberry and apple cheesecake tarts plus Eccles cakes

Taste of Christmas

Konditor & Cook's Cinnamon Stars and Lebkuchen

Carluccios' Xmas Mini Chocolate Cake, Xmas Tree and Xmas Star Cookies 

75% Sales Increase

Haskins Garden Centre, Southampton invested £2.3 million in a new 460-seat cafe a year ago and sales have increased by 75%.  Catering sales account for almost one quarter of total garden centre turnover.

Treacle Toffee Apple Muffins.

 Apricot Scones

Lemon Meringue Muffins

Tart Comment

The best comment (compliment, naturally!) about the Great Cafes blog added to this post by the weekend wins the ring.  If you are shy about commenting, a photo I can use on the Guest Spot will qualify.  A Great Cafes Christmas present for rebellious teens unearthed by my teenage daughter from an outfit called Punky Allsorts.

Kitchen Garden Food

The Pig in the (New) Forest proclaims its rooms and kitchen garden food.  The Kitchen Garden really delivers - see our Pinterest board http://pinterest.com/turpinsmale/the-pig-kitchen-garden-december-2012/ to see just some of what was growing in early December.

Ollie the Head Kitchen Gardener is full of passion for his subject - we will hear more of this young man and the whole subject of real restaurant kitchen gardening.  Out of town cafes and restaurants serious about their food should be taking note of what is going on here.

Innovation and experimentation is much in evidence.  The Crosne Chinese Artichoke was new to us with its excellent crunchy water chestnut taste.

Coffee as it should be

It's not just enough to have great coffee; you need a good machine to make it.  The trend to publicise both coffee supplier and machine manufacturer is seen at Gail's - already famous for their bread and pastries.

Arresting Menu

Beach Blanket Babylon catches the eye with its street-side framed menu plus oranges, scales and pumpkin

Prepared for Rain

The ace restaurateurs Jeremy King & Chris Corbin have been busy opening Delaunay, Zedel and Colbert - they have a great eye for detail as seen by their wet umbrella bagging machine at Zedel's cafe.

Street Box

Street food is all the rage and POD now do their version of street food inspired boxes using wholemeal flatbread as the base ingredient.