Tea and Gauthier Soho

About two years ago we were approached by Lalani & Co about listing their teas here at the restaurant Gauthier Soho. 

They informed me they were great lovers of the restaurant, and felt their product would sit perfectly with us, so intrigued, we invited them in to show us the product.

Personally, the idea of tea with food evoked cabbies in chippies, Binnie Hale on the wireless at my grandmother’s, or perhaps awkward hours spent in stiff hotel drawing rooms nibbling on cucumber sandwiches while my mother-in-law sips Earl Grey with an extended little finger.

Here at the restaurant however, Chef patrons Alexis and Gerard have always been enthusiastic about tea in restaurants, particularly in Japan and South East Asia, where delicate blends are appreciated far more commonly in a restaurant environment.

Green tea for example as a digestive after a long meal, is well known and simple as it sounds. But the feeling of leaving a full meal completely calm and relaxed, without the calories and sugars of alcohol or fruit juices is revelating.

Oddly, I found the natural pairings were more obvious to me than I first thought. How many years had I enjoyed my afternoon chocolate and strong black tea? The sweet creaminess of milk chocolate is counteracted perfectly by the bitter, slightly sour and deeply dry notes of the strong black tea, which is basically Assam?

The idea of pairing teas with dishes was new ground, however. Would customers really be happy with tea as a substitution for wine? Can the flavours really be appreciated in the same depth?

The obvious answer is of course yes, and in some cases more so. I've learned that teas can actually expose flavours otherwise hidden away, such as the bitterness of turnip previously shrouded in a rich thyme jus being brought to light by a Taiwanese Oolong, and the umami earthy notes of black truffle utterly underlined by a 1st flush 2014 Japanese Sencha, to the surprising revelation of poached apricots from an indian Darjeeling.

Full tea flights are now being served with tasting menus and are available to view here 

Well, more than a year on and all we can say his how happy we are with the product and how well it’s been received. 

Restaurant manager Damian Sanchez says: “Having the tea flight pairing has for the first time offered the health or calorie conscious guest a serious alternative to wine or soft drinks in a situation where perhaps simply drinking water would be a shame. For example, drinking tea instead of wine can cut up to 500 calories from a meal and leave you feeling refreshed and invigorated rather than heavy and sleepy. We find it’s especially popular with people with a highly professional or busy schedule”

Chef Alexis Gauthier says: “ For me, matching food with drinks has always been a main part of being a chef but as my food was getting more and more floral and vegetal, I found Lalani had the passion and the expertise to understand what I was looking for to apply to more vegecentric dishes.

One revelation was learning about how tea was actually as if not more seasonal than my favourite ingredients and a new source of discovery into the vegetal world of cooking.“

Pumpkin Days- Attempting to copy

This waiting game has annoyed me to the extreme. 
It has been almost 10 months since I last had the chance to taste a delicious piece of pumpkin.

I have seen some butternut squashes around all year long but pumpkin disappeared as soon as their local season is over. It is probably one of the few vegetables that you can't possibly find all year long. Reason: too heavy to carry across the globe- too voluminous to justify a 13 hours journey between Nairobi and Heathrow. Last year for example, Ruth Rogers from River Cafe went all the way to Italy to find the best pumpkin available and brought it back, sitting next to her in a plane. Obviously she bought a full price ticket for him (the pumpkin)
It is a cause for celebration  as far I am concerned that no one gets a pumpkin urges during spring season. So last week, I got a wonderful surprise when I bought a lunch box from Princi in Soho's Wardour street. They serve the most delicious, simple, perfectly seasoned pumpkin salad. 

Some chunky cubes of expertly cooked brightly orange (turning brown) pieces of pumpkin which had been tossed in a delicious caraway seed dressing and topped with some smaller cubes of lightly salted feta cheese. The contrast between the slight hardness of the cheese against the soft fibrous texture of the pumpkin was spot on. They seemed to had put quite a lot of olive oil in their dressing and that was the signed of someone who had tasted the salad before hand and thought: the pumpkin tend to absorb olive oil far too quickly; let's add more olive oil. And it worked. When the season of any vegetables starts so well, it is usually a sign that what follows is going to be fantastic; fingers crossed!

So this is how I would duplicate Princi's delicious Pumpkin salad (for 4 as starter)

For the pumpkin
300gr Pumpkin Peeled & Cut into 2x2cm chunky bits
1 Table Spoon of honey
1 teaspoon of Maldon salt (or any good quality rock salt)
4 tablespoon of olive oil
A bit of black pepper on top of the pumpkin once cooked. 

Preheat the oven at 190 degrees.
Roughly place the cubes of pumpkin on a oiled tray and add the honey, olive oil and salt. Toss them slightly and cook for 17 minutes. You may have to turn them once and also may have to leave the oven door open for the last 2 minutes in order to let the excess humidity escape from the oven. Remove the tray from the oven and let everything cool down until at room temperature ( around 20 minutes)

For the Dressing
1 garlic clove (smashed and finely chopped)
1/2 lemon juiced
10cl Extra Virgin Olive oil
3 teaspoon of caraway seeds (lightly burnt if possible)

In a bowl, stir the chopped garlic with the lemon juice and olive oil. 
Add a a pinch of salt and some black pepper. 
Add the caraway seed and taste. 

For Serving
3 Table spoon of chopped parsley
2 Tablespoon of olive oil
200gr Feta Cheese (a bit firm but not crumbling)

Take a large serving bowl and gently put the pumpkin cubes, add the dressing over and start to gently spoon everything together. Break the feta with your fingers over the bowl making sure to evenly dispatch the small pieces. 
Pour the remaining olive oil and add a bit of salt and pepper. 
Add the chop parsley and serve. 

"Contrex" look please!

It has been a few days now since I have seriously taken control of my body' flabbiness .
I don't know if it is me or just my imagination but it feels like my skin around my waist is a little tighter. I feel my waist tightening during the day which feel slightly weird.
I have also slept much better- getting really tired past 11pm and sleeping deep the moment I lie down.
I have stick to my morning routine: lemon juice with warm water, followed by a small bowl of all bran and a couple of McVitties chocolate biscuits. Breakfast is now a sorted 400 calories affair.
I also drink plenty of espressos (good for not loosing my hair I was told) and more water.
I have ordered a full month supply of Contrex from my water supplier.

Contrex has a special place in my heart. It was my mother' favourite water brand- full of magnesium, calcium and not particularly good in mouth. It is very harsh and tends to dry your mouth rather than refresh it.
Nobody makes a happy face after their first slurp. You don't drink Contrex for its delicious taste sadly, you drink it because it is going to make you look good. My mum used to say that a cocktail of Contrex,a Senokot pill (famous laxative brand) and a pack of Gauloise on a daily basis was key to a beautiful body back in the late 70's. It worked for her.
I guess I should write a diet book based on 70's body shape and feel.
Lean, muscle free and hairy.
A book where I would try to guess what the Boney M singer was eating on a daily basis to look so....sexy (in a special kind of way)-
Ok, I'll talk to my publisher. I bet he doesn't who Boney M is.

I am so proud that I have managed to resist eating bread for lunch. The bread at the restaurant is delicious and not eating some has been a real torture. We usually bake breads before each service and it coincides with the moment I start feeling like I should be eating something. The sweet smell of the dough freshly cooked invades my space and wake my glutton instinct. My brain tells me to indulge but my desire to seduce block my temptation. I end up looking at the golden brown salted brioche and just talked about them. How delicious they look, how soft they are when they are still warm and how much our guests are going to love them. I then leave the patisserie and eat a big bowl of cold baked aubergine topped with beetroot and goat cheese. I  add a few  slices of courgets  and season everything with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt.
My mother used to say that everything taste good when you are starving. She was right.
It is funny how unfussy you become when you are on the verge of starvation.

However , I did something that I am not very proud of: I had half a burger.
Yes that is right, I ate half of a burger. why half? because it tasted really shit, otherwise I would have had the full one. This burger was the antidote of obesity as far as I am concerned. It tasted gross: overcooked meat, watery bun, industrial mayonnaise, soggy salad, too thick gherkins...
The office staff at the restaurant had not resisted the fashion call to try the newly opened Five Guys burger shop in Covent Garden. Five guys is an American burger restaurant chain that invested a lot in market research and realised that across the Atlantic a town was turning Burger frenzy.A town that didn't want to get slim and was getting mad with fat, red meat, hyper carbohydrate food and all sort of mega fattening food. This town is my town and I am sorry for all of those who get milked by unscrupulous business venture who capitalise on London's fondness of fat and sugar.

So the moment I stopped eating the burger, I felt guilt. It was too late; it was inside of me.
This alien had entered my body and it would take a few hours before I could get it out.
I wondered what impact it would have while travelling via my intestine and colon.
I felt really upset and most importantly I felt poisoned.
I could have stick 2 fingers at the base of my throat and vomit everything.
I regret not having had the ball to do it.
Next time perhaps.

Bikini look

Good grief, it is already end of June and I have just not found the energy, time, perseverance or whatever it takes to make my body look beach ready.
There isn't a day that passes without me telling to myself: I think I am getting flabbier by the hour.
I usually pinch my love handles after shower in the morning and squizz them very hard. There is no pain in pinching fat.
They seem to be getting slightly thicker by the day. I have also noticed that some small spot of cellulite are starting to appear. For some reason, I've always thought that cellulite was the exclusivity of middle aged porky white English woman you sometimes see on trashy C4 TV program or on front of naff weekly magazine or anywhere if you live in UK.
I am one of them now!

But not for long as I have decided that from now on I will stick to what every French man and women do from time to time: a bastardised Dukan diet.
Dukan is a genius; a master in marketing and the King of reheated diet. Same recipe has been sold  millions of times.
The real diet forces you to follow some seriously rigorous patterns that probably nobody has ever managed to stick to. A semi-cooked diet allows you to kick start the diet processes enabling your body to quickly looses its excess fat and make you look much slimmer (or malnourished) very quickly.

First of all you must stop alcohol, bread and most of carbohydrates food. No cake, no potatoes, no biscuits....
Start your day with a glass of lemon juice diluted with a bit of warm water followed by a bowl of All Bran flakes mixed with some Activa yogurt. That's it for breakfast. #

Then you must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water a day. There is a point, usually after your first litre, where you start visiting the toilet like you've never done it before.
It seems that past 1 litre, your body needs to flush out so much more than you have ever done. I don't know why but it's the norm. Everything turns clearer, especially your urine.

Lunch should be made of poached white meat with poached broccoli (slightly under cooked so it takes longer for you to chew), an apple and a slice of the darkest Ryvita toast you can find. That's all for lunch.
Afternoon is going to feel very long, so in case of a slight drop of energy or minor hypoglycaemic attack, just have a large glass of sparkling water with a slice of lemon. Sit down and wait.
French woman sometimes cheat at this stage and indulge on a single Marlboro light. I don't encourage this but if it helps....

Dinner is a simple affair consisting of 2 raw endives roughly chopped and dressed in 2 spoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of mustard and a pinch of salt. Followed by a bowl of braised cabbage and finished with an apple and another slice of dark Ryvitta.
More water and more water.

You are going to feel starving by the time you go to bed. But don't worry, as the French say :
Qui dort, dine!
Meaning that sleeping is as good as eating for your body (without the calories obviously!)

Stick to this for 2 to 3 weeks and I can assure that if you ave managed to survive the ordeal, you'll be amazed by the results. Bikini look and beach ready A la Francaise.

Zagatisation, by Google

The restaurant industry has been a difficult animal for the internet, most specifically Google, to monetize. Still driven by an old-fashioned consensus formed by a wide range of guides, review sites, discount deal sites and other more traditional forms of marketing, no single force has managed to really control the market in any real form. Until perhaps now.

Google has long realised that the restaurants industry does not spend on its traditional sources of income - banners, adwords etc simply don’t work well. Google needs to control the monetization of the result of a search. They think like this. You search, I give you the result, the information, and in the process, I make money by monetizing the result I’ve given you.

It’s the same with social media. Facebook pages for restaurants aren’t really working. (To test this survey, we spent $2000 dollars on Facebook advertising for a restaurant in 2010, got 6000 ‘likes’, with pages views through the roof etc. Conversion into bookings? Zero.)

So Google has been wondering for a long time ‘how do we capitalise on restaurants, or eating out, in the same way as in other industries? How do we tap into this market?

The entry, I believe, is the restaurant review business.

Sites like Tripadvisor have been the leading force for many years now - people trust user-generated consensus style reviews. Simply put, Google needed a user-generated restaurant guide to give them a back-door ticket into this potentially lucrative but difficult market.

So, in September 2011, Google acquired Zagat, probably the biggest restaurant review guide in the world. 

Why Zagat? For switched-on Americans, Zagat has been the de-rigeur restaurant guide for many years now. 

Reflecting the freedom and empowerment of post war America as a refreshingly democratic alternative to the more snooty, exclusive and overall more European Michelin guide, since the 80s Zagat is the one you are not ashamed to be seen using, think Patrick Bateman in his Manhattan apartment, listening to Genesis, desperately trying to book a table at Dorsia. 

Zagat has also been imitated in various forms across the world, famously in London with a similar guide by two brothers.

Zagat was perfect for Google. The right image, and as all reviews ‘constructed’ by a spread consensus of public voters, exactly the right approach: let them do it themselves. People trust each other.

When you used to search for a restaurant on Google, a typical search would be ‘Italian restaurants Mayfair’. What you would get would be (apart from the paid for chain ad listings, which everyone ignores) a list of various review/booking sites, typicallyToptable, Square Meal etc each pointing to one of their recommendations, and then a sprinkle of websites belonging to restaurants who have made an effort to implement some kind of SEO.

Now, things are different. Do a search now you get a direct map driven list of restaurant websites straight away, and a ‘score’, which if Zagat have reviewed them will be a ‘ZAGAT rating’ actually underneath each search result. Click on the highlighted ‘score’ link and it takes you to a pre-formed Google+ page, with a list of Google user reviews. Zagat will power these reviews if applicable.

Lower down is a list of ‘more reviews’, which looks basically a little sad, by this time you’ve probably made up your mind. The other review sites simply don’t get a look in.

So what does this mean? Well ever since the publication of John Battelle’s 2006 book on Google ‘The Search’, we’ve all known about Google and how they gather data, act on and essentially monetize searching.

But they have come a long way since then. No longer do they rely on cleverly placing ads for flour and sugar based on the content of an email from your mother about an apple pie recipe. Google plan to use your activity online in a much more sophisticated way.

Harnessing the ‘eating out’ culture via Zagat gives Google the opportunity to tap into people’s social lives much more accurately. Many more intricate choices in your life will be recorded.

What we probably don’t know is that Google has already decided to make the next step, which is to control the booking activity of the online restaurant industry. It will mean investing in another specialist, and it will surely be another gargantuan North American company, a leader in its field, already working in cities influenced by Zagat such as Opentable. Surely it is just a matter of a signature on the contract!

And the day we start hearing about it is the day they buy an integrated point of sale operation system already working hand in hand with Opentable.

It’s also the moment when Google ‘close the loop’ as it were. 

From the moment I start thinking about eating out, Google will know

1. What you search for (including how you search for it, the key words and phrases that lead you to your result)

2. When you search for it.

3. Where you are when you search for a restaurant.

4. What time of day you book a restaurant.

5. What kind of booking you usually make.

6. Your special requests/personal dietary requirements.

7. What kind of food you order.

8. What kind of wine you order.

9. How much you spend.

10. How you pay for it (and of course your bank details).

11. What you thought of the experience.

12. Who you told about the experience.

Probably lots more. And the possibilities of what Google can do with this information are simply astonishing. For instance, from a restaurant’s point of view, being able to target customers directly reflecting their search terms, previous purchases, tastes, etc will be invaluable. And one thing is for sure, Google will monetize this knowledge.

Now you’re probably thinking you’re immune to this kind of big brother style monitoring. You’re thinking “Well, I’m different, I’m not influenced by others, I make my own decisions”. Well think again.

The Google+ social network angle is one of the most crucial parts of the whole operation, as it is this transparency of your ‘digital DNA’ that will be so valuable. The very thing that hinders Tripadvisor and its like - the suspicion of fraud, foul play and false descriptions - will be virtually impossible because Google+ is far too clever for that, it will use your constantly enriching profile to underwrite everything you do digitally, and fish out potential fraudulent activity by means of its well-known and highly sophisticated algorithms and even use this to its advantage.

And the genius of the whole thing is they don’t even have to convince you to sign up. Have a Gmail or Youtube account? Use Google maps? Most people are using Google+ and building its knowledge without even knowing it. Chances are, unless you’re reading this on a printed piece of paper, you are already in it!

ETHICAL REVIEW? MY ASS!

The way customers hear about a restaurant has dramatically changed over the past 2 to 3 years.
A good article by Fay Maschler in the ES would then assure you of a great occupancy for a long while.
However, with the democratisation of restaurant reviewing on the internet, it is really now down to consensus across restaurant reviewing/booking platforms to fill up a restaurant.

As a restaurateur, I always check our reviews online- toptable, opentable, Hardens, tripadvisor… I tend to check their sites every other day.
It is nice to know that every single guest has the potential to express their views and it helps us checking consistency and guest enjoyment on an almost day to day basis.
Also, sometimes guest take the time to email me directly to express their enjoyment but also their disappointments. I always make sure to respond as quickly as
possible after investigation and always try to buy back the trust our guests
have put in our brand.
It is not rare that we re-invites guests or sends them bottles of wines or Champagne or even reimburse their bills when we feel that we really made massive mistakes.
Those cases are very rare but they do happen.

But now we have almost felt the victim of a very nasty cocktail between Jeremy (diner) & London-Eating.co.uk(review site)

So last week, Jeremy after having diner here, sent Alice, our booking coordinator this email:

Date: 18 October 2011 at 12:57
Subject: RE: Booking from Jeremy , Oct 17th

Hi Alice,
Unfortunately we were not able to see the
kitchen last night, even though the restaurant was not full. In addition to my
email, I also asked a waiter halfway through the meal, who said it would be
fine. But by the end of our dinner, we had still not been taken to the kitchen,
so we asked again - by which time, we were told that the kitchen was closing!

I know it sounds like
a small detail, but my wife loves cooking, and it would have really helped to
make the occasion special. I hope if we visit again, we will be able to arrange
it.

Thanks
Jeremy

Upon receiving this email, Alice forwarded to me and after talking to my manager and watching the service on CCTV I replied with this email:

Dear Jeremy,
I was so sorry to read that you did not manage to visit my kitchen on Monday night when you came to celebrate your wife’s birthday.
It was really unfortunate, but as Alice told you, Monday night was very busy for us (the only table available was the one next to you) and the entire building was full.
Service is quite intense and it would have been considered as a safety hazard to have you coming down during the service.
However, I understand that your wife loves food and I really appreciate when my costumers are so passionate about food.
I noticed that your wife took many pictures during the meal and that is fascinating.
I wanted to send you one of my Anniversary book with a note, but Damian told me that he did gave you one upon your departure.
So, I was wondering if you were free Wednesday or Thursday next week.
As from Sunday, we are filming a week long TV programme with NHK (Japanese TV) with Harumi Kurihara – We would like to invite you for a complimentary diner for 2 – you will be able to visit the kitchen and meet myself and Mrs Kurihara.
Please do let me know if Wednesday or Thursday is good for you.
Kind regards
Alexis

I thought that it was the normal thing to do for a couple who did not have a chance to visit the kitchen.

Jeremy accepted my invitation promptly.

However, before receiving my reply, he did post a review on London-eating website stating that the whole experience was just ok and not good enough.
That the service was not up to standard- overall a bad review!
So when I checked London-eating, I was obviously unhappy with the review. I was going to take notes of it and learn from it. But I sadly learned something else when I realised that it was signed Jeremy.
I quickly sent an email to Jeremy to find out if it was him who wrote this email:

Good afternoon Jeremy,

I have just read with
horror our latest review on London Eating and it occurs to me that you share
the same name and dining date as the person who posted it. Did you do that
following my invitation back to the restaurant?

Please respond.
Kind regards

Alexis Gauthier

And this is the dreaded email I received back from Jeremy:

Good afternoon,

I actually wrote that
review the morning after our meal. We enjoyed most of the courses, but were
disappointed with one of the desserts, and the undercooked guinea fowl. In
hindsight I think the scores were harsh, and I actually emailed London Eating
last week, to amend the scores and some of the text. Unfortunately the changes
have not appeared on the website yet.

Please bear in mind
that I would not have written that review after your invitation, and they were
my own words - not my wife's. She was very much looking forward to the
occasion, so I would hate for her to miss out because of me. But whatever you
decide, please accept my apologies, and rest assured that the review is being
updated.

Jeremy

So here I was being reassured that that the review was being updated.
Updated by London-eating.co.uk following the order of Jeremy!

And yes, the review was magically updated during the courses of the afternoon.
So Jeremy’s review wasn’t just not good enough anymore- it wasn’t bad value for money anymore; Gauthier Soho became really good!
Unbelievable!!!
How many reviewers have managed over the years to transform their reviews?
I really wonder! But it seems so easy that I fear the whole thing is a massive joke.

As far as I am concerned I would not trust a word (good or bad) of what they publish.

Bangkok Market- Short story

I have had a busy summer. One I will remember for the rest of my life and for many reasons.

One of the reason is my special trip to Bangkok open air food market. The really special market where Bangkok top chefs visit every night. Tee took me there for the second time

and I was as impressed as the first time; to be fair I could have been going thru the garbages of Phonm Phen, I would have found everything marvelous - (as long as I was next to Tee)

After a second thought, I can say that the garbages of Phnom phen are probably cleaner than Bangkok's most sought after chef's market.

Chef Tee

Market entrance

But hey! I am here to discover great ingredients and get a lot of inspiration.

The smell was absolutely umberaeable the moment I entered the market.

A snif cocktail of durian mix with sewage water.

As Tee said: you'll get used to it. And I did.

Everything was marvelous: meat coated in flies;

rats and cats going across the alleys.

Bodies sleeping on top of white river of rice bags. Pig heads hanging from coat hangers and

still dreeping of semi coagulated blood. Frogs swiming in their intestine and blood juice

and still looking like they are breathing!

Very weird for me but it seems to really excite Tee's senses and I bet he was finding those frogs absolutely delicious.

Brilliant! Circus, zoo, jungle- you call it what you want; here they call it FOOD MARKET!

Rusty Scallops!

Yet I managed to delect myself with the sweetest rambutan I ever had the chance to taste.

I bought the freshest prawn and the greenest Thai broccoli on earth.
Thailand is blessed when it comes to fruits & vegetables and this market is just amazing for that.

Rows after rows of perfectly formed Thai asparagus and other long stems.

You just can't resist that- and the good thing with this market is that,

despite the perfectly formed Thai products there is not a single fat-old pervert German in sight.

Green Thai Delights

Piggy Bag