"Not Mushroom at the bar"

We had a magnificent evening at Charlottes Bistro talking Mushrooms on the first "Food evening" which Alex and his team hope to make a regular event.
it was a fun packed evening with some great discussion and cooking with a great audience.
my personal feeling is that collaborations like this are very important for small independent community based businesses.
We also showcased our new house olive oil from the Gay Farmer.

Hiding the costs in plain sight

The term hiding in plain sight has been used a lot recently in various news stories of an unsavoury nature however today's publication of which,s year long investigation into supermarkets shows practises of described as "shifty" and "plain daft" are rife amongst the major high street players.
Now in any market cafe the conversations between traders often highlight examples of supermarket over pricing and dodgy dealing.
It's true that the convenience supermarkets offer is attractive in many time poor lives,however it's nothing short of disgraceful practice that this is prayed on,fooling unsuspecting consumers into buying what they believe to be special offers perticullally the infamous 2 for 1 appearing to offer great deals but in reality they offer far from that !.
For example Marks and Spencer's offer four Granny Smith apples for £2.29 or two packs for £4 which at first with a saving of 58p seems to be a reasonable deal until you realise that that makes the cost a whopping £3.50 a kilo that's over 100% dearer than we charge in our shops !.
another example from Waitrose offers baby new potatoes in 400 gram packets for £1.60 extortion in any currency however again they offer two for £3 which again with a 40p "saving" seems alright but again over 100 % dearer than my shops and there are countless of examples of this slight of hand and it appears that the illusion of saving money as opposed to the actual saving of money is allowed to flourish even in these cash tight times by simply plonking products in front of our eyes thus literally "hiding the cost in plain view"

http://gu.com/p/3cv32/tw

Olive oil tasting in Chiswick

Darren is having an olive oil tasting with the fabulous Gay Farmer himself Mark and his magnificent oil

Small Adventures in Cooking

Nice words from James Ramsden

"What can I say about Andreas? Not only is his produce the best in London, not only does he bring it to your door, not only will he find you any quirky vegetal comestible you can dream of, but he is perhaps the nicest man you'll ever meet." James Ramsden

Wild mushroom mayhem

Really delighted to be hosting wild mushroom night at Charlottes Bistro the first of what we hope to be many food related events at this magnificent local eatery.
I shall be chatting cooking dispelling some myths and maybe creating some others.
Pop along from 7pm on Wednesday 21st of November for what should be a riot !

A crisp autumn Chelsea morning...

Mushroom night with Charlottes Bistro

I shall be extolling the virtues of wild mushrooms at the fabulous Charlottes Bistro on Wednesday 21st of November from 7pm
pop along and sample some exquisite creations cooked by Greg Martin and pick up a tip or two this is a free event in the bar area and should be a cracker