Something to spice up the New Year...

I had a little epiphany the other day whilst carefully preparing lemongrass skewers for my dining club.  I had been thinking about how the higher costs of fine dining are often in the time it takes to apply multiple (and sometimes complex) processes as well as the cost of ingredients.  I know many people, myself included, are feeling the financial squeeze these days and the post christmas excesses are more than likely going to make us all feel that even more.

So I had a think about what kind of food I could make that could be delivered in a more cost effective way.  For me this would be Indian food every time.  The ingredients are accessible and affordable, especially for vegetarian food.  The other key component is the number of guests.  My usual dining club is set in a beautiful open plan Edwardian dining room and contemporary garden room.  Expensive and complex dishes that require meticulous presentation then limits the number of guests it's feasible to cater for (not to mention sets of relatively expensive plates).

By now I had moved onto trimming banana leaves, and that's when it hit me.  Traditional thali cafes across the Indian subcontinent, and indeed in parts of SE Asia, are usually pretty cramped affairs with stools and benches around ramshackle tables, serving AMAZING food on banana leaves.  Well I could certainly do that!  I adore Indian food, both cooking and eating it, especially the more traditional regional dishes (rather than what you see in most restaurants these days).  I will cook some mouth watering delights from Punjab and Mumbai, as well as from more far away corners such as Orissa and Tamil Nadu.   

We have plenty of room to double the number of diners for one evening (I'm not sure I could cope with doing this on a regular basis in my own house).  And that's if you don't mind sitting on benches, Indian cafe style, and eating delicious thali served on banana leaves.  Thali normally consists of several curries and dals served with rice, flatbreads and pickles. Allowances would also need to be made for mismatching glasses, cutlery, chairs and the like.  But I can guarantee you an evening of exceptional traditional Indian food for this one off event, and a New Year treat at half the price of the usual dining club (so that's £15 per person).  I reckon it will be a rather fun evening.  Email to book Jackie@thehungrygecko.com

 

Open a restaurant? You must be mad!

I have been thinking long and hard about the next steps on my food journey.  I still have the restaurant dream.  It doesn't matter how many times people tell me it's a terrible idea and that it'll ruin my life and my finances, I still want to open The Hungry Gecko somewhere in Manchester.  Then Liverpool, then Leeds...

But let's be realistic about these things.  I have neither the money nor the experience (yet) to pull that off successfully.  I also feel that those friends who tell me the timing's not right just now, and I should be cautious in this climate, are probably right.  It takes a mighty amount of money to back a restaurant and they have a tendency to haemorrhage any profits.  Rent, staffing costs, insurance... and hanging over all that, the fear of financial uncertainty and risking my own home, as that's the only place I could raise the kind of money that would encourage the bank to listen.

I also have other doubts.  I'm starting to learn that the restaurant business is very competitive, and so are many of the people who work in it.  Not all places are like that, and I have been privileged to work in some amazing kitchens amongst what seem like 'zen' chefs by comparison to some of my previous experiences a waitressing student.  But the fact is, there is a lot of jockeying for position amongst chefs and many want to reach the top.  The problem for me is that it then stops being about the food.  Well that, and the fact that I'm a forty year old woman who's too old and has worked too hard to go back to playing those games.

A friend at work, when I told her my feelings about this, reckoned it was just like the erotic triangle in English literature (stay with me here guys - it will make sense eventually).  In literature, there's the girl, and then the guy who really loves the girl and the other guy, who also really loves the girl.  Except the story is never about the guy's total love and adoration for the girl - it's about the competition between them to win the girl.  My friend reckons the girl is like the food - it stops being about the food and it's all about competition.

So feeling like this, I arrive at Sara's last week to help prepare a few gorgeous little puddings for the charity dinner to raise money for York ICU.  107 mango parfait with a passionfruit glaze, and a cute little edible viola.  I had so much fun and it was just great to spend some time together after so many months.

Sara's dining club is just wonderful and growing nicely.  And most important of all, Sara is making her beautiful and delicious food, on her terms and without having to compromise on the things that are important to her.  She then spent the next 12 hours convincing me that a vegetarian dining club would be a great way to move forward with my food, without turning my life upside down - well anymore than it already has been anyway.  Seeing her at home, doing what's she's doing, made me ask myself, why not?  And the answer is, no reason not to try... 

A dining club would give me the chance to create great vegetarian dining, on a scale that means it is fresh, beautiful and a standard worthy of MasterChef.  It would also make it affordable dining to others - more egalitarian even.  The idea greatly appeals to me.  I still want to do pop up and other dining events, and open that restaurant one day, but plans are now afoot for Manchester's first vegetarian dining club...

Friday 21st October - hold that date!

Gourmet Night with Matt White

I love talking to fellow Mancunians, adopted or otherwise.  There's something about that unique shared frame of reference and humour that makes for a good conversation.  So it was really enjoyable chatting to Matt White, who hosts Gourmet Night on BBC Manchester radio, 9pm on Thursdays (so the show I'm co hosting is aired tonight).  A fellow Chorltonite and food journalist, I talked to Matt and guests about all things foodie, and being National Vegetarian week, there is a rather meat free bias. 

I'm also looking forward to trying out Manchester's new vegetarian bistro in the city, 1847.  So named after the year that the world's first Vegetarian Society, which started up right here in Manchester.  Gourmet Night is recorded at different restaurants around the city, and in honour of National Vegetarian week, we headed to 1847.

I must admit to have felt some relief to find that the food is very, very different from the food I want to serve in my restaurant. Phew!  Head chef was really lovely and she has an impressive CV, with stints at Vanilla Black and Noma!  I can't wait to try her gin and tonic cake.  I do love a G&T.

Hope you tune in tonight!

Or listen again on BBC iplayer.  Link below to last weeks' show where there's a review of the rather smashing Supper Club by Kerstin Rodgers (The Underground Restaurant in London) as well as the food at 1847.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00gnd9m/Gourmet_Night_19_05_2011/