Sheffield Food Festival – Wasabisabi

The Sheffield Food Festival is fast approaching and many restaurants are getting prepped ahead of the big event.  This is the biggest foodie event of the year in these parts and all are tweaking their menus and perfecting their dishes.  Some are developing all new and special Food Festival menus which will run for the whole of the week.

One such place is my old favourite Wasabisabi.  Knowing just how much of a fan I am (see my earlier review here) they invited me to preview their special menu ahead of its Food Festival release.

The menu is tapas style; a bit of this and a bit of that.  Over the years I’ve worked out that this is the way to do it at Wasabisabi and we tend to pick a few starters (or tapas) dishes to share and then get something for the ‘main’ event.

With this menu you’ll get three small starters, a main and a miso soup; all for the grand sum of £15 (Friday & Saturday nights are excluded).  It’s excellent value, especially when the food is of this quality.  

It’s also perfect for those who are unsure about sushi as you can work the menu in such a way so as to completely avoid the raw stuff.  Or, you could just have a little…. Just to give it a go.  At this price, you’d be daft not to!

Although I have firm favourites here (yes I have been a few times) I took this as an opportunity to try something new and for starters I had takoyaki (octopus balls), koroke (butternut squash croquettes) and sake nigiri. 

Takoyaki weren’t exploding with flavour, as the octopus is quite delicate, but the teriyaki dipping sauce was tasty.

Koroke were very moorish.  I love butternut squash anyway and these croquettes were breaded and fried, but like the octopus, they weren’t at all greasy.

Sake nigiri was as good as ever.  The salmon was fresh tasting with sufficient fat running through giving it that deliciously creamy taste.

Some of my old favourite dishes are available too.  There’s the vegetable tempura, the edamame and the aubergine and I’d wholeheartedly recommend them all.

Once the starters were cleared I was served a miso soup along with the main.  Again, going for something new I tried the beef soba. 

It was a dish of noodles, beansprouts, some other veg and some crispy seaweed and thin strips of beef.  It was filling but light and the veg was nicely cooked with some crunch left to them.

Two of my favourite main dishes are also on the menu and these are the katsu kare and the ramen.

So if you’re a lover of Japanese food, or a complete stranger to it, do try this menu over the Food Festival.   Wasabisabi is a consistently good restaurant; it’s somewhere I take friends and family when they come to visit and it’s one of our top choices for a celebratory meal.

Wig & Pen - Tasting Menu

Normally I like to start a review with a bit of a blurb about the place.  You know, a bit of history and some anecdotes of my past experiences there. 

Well, not this time.   I’ve said all I need to say about the Wig and Pen here and I’m not going to repeat myself.  Essentially I love it.

Full stop. 

New paragraph.

W&P have recently pushed the boat out a little and they have now ventured into the wonderful world of taster menus. 

Too much for us Sheffielders?  Too expensive?  Too poncy?  I don’t think so. 

When wanting fine city centre dining in the past, Gav and I have trekked all the way to Leeds for a slap up lunch and I have been crying out for somewhere with that special something to open in Sheffield.

Now The W&P has come to my rescue.  Not only do they offer an inviting tasting menu, it is well priced at £35 or £42 for 6 courses depending on whether you’re eating mid-week or at the weekend.  And there’s no 40 minute train ride involved as it only takes me 10-15 minutes to stroll to this little beauty!

Needless to say, I was chomping at the bit to give this menu a whirl.

It was a Monday evening.  I’d had a busy day doing a bit of bee-keeping with Sheffield Honey and I was pretty hungry come dinner time. 

The restaurant wasn’t overly busy, but busy enough for a Monday and there was a nice atmosphere to the place.  We were seated at the back; overlooking Paradise Square which is the heart of the legal quarter of town (hence the name Wig & Pen).

We briefly looked over the standard menu, but we knew what we were having.  Tonight was Taster night.

There is the option to have wine with the menu, but we decided to just go for a bottle of white as there were a few light dishes on the menu. 

Pea

Pea veloute, truffled pea tortellini, mint

First up was a tribute to the pea.  Bless, this rather insignificant vegetable (one often served up with chicken nuggets and chips to the under 5’s) was given a whole course to itself.  Given that us Yorkshire folk are known to love our mushy peas, it was a smart move.

On the arrival of the dish a strong smell of truffle engulfed the room. 

The veloute was a triumph, packed full of fresh pea flavour with truffle oil drizzled on top.  The tortellini was equally special which was expected given the presence of the truffle. 

However, what was not expected was the cooking of the pasta.  My God.  It was good!  Considering we’re talking  about fresh pasta, and we’re talking about British fresh pasta, it was refreshing to see that, although it wasn’t quite al dente, it did have some bite to it.  It was a good start which continued with the pork belly. 

Pork Belly

Langoustine, carrot, star anise

Served up in the style of a pork rib, the smell of star anise had me salivating with memories of Chinese pork ribs.  I dived in and was not disappointed.  There was just enough of the Chinese style sauce to evoke these memories, but not so much so as to overpower the dish.

Having had bad experiences of pureed food in the past, I was surprised to find that I much preferred the pureed carrot to the raw stuff which was diced.  In fact the puree was really tasty.  The langoustine?  Meh.  I wouldn’t have missed it if the chef had forgotten to pop in onto the plate. 

Overall, I enjoyed and could have eaten in 3 times over; that star anise flavour is damn moorish!

Halibut

curry oil, chicken wing, raisin, shallot

Next came the halibut.  It was beautifully cooked, but unfortunately my palette didn’t pick any of the curry flavours up. 

The fish was certainly stained with something akin to curry spices, I just wished that I could have tasted them!  That aside, the chicken wing was intense with flavour and the skin was nicely crispy.  Shallot onion rings were perfectly formed and very cute.  Raisin sauce was a delight and immediately reminded me of the curry that my mum would cook when I was a kid.  You know, coronation chicken style.  

Again, another enjoyable dish, despite the niggle. 

Beef Rump

Jacket potato, cep, rib

Next up was the beef rump and we ordered a glass of the Dandelion vineyards shiraz, the recommended wine.  It complimented the dish well and was delicious in its own right.

Onto the dish.  Rump isn’t my favourite cut of beef and it isn’t one I would normally order, but hey!  It was still steak and it was nice and rare, which is a must for me. 

Jacket potato was mash.  Now when I make mash I bake the potato, scrape the inside out and then briefly mash with butter. And I think that’s how this mash had been prepared here.  It was truly tasty and it had that true potato taste that only comes in baking it first.

The rib meat was tender and delicious  It tasted as though it had been cooked slowly for hours and had a kind of homely stew or casserole taste to it.  Again memories from being cooked for as a kid came flooding back.

It was a good solid homely dish; one that I think most would like. 

Basil

Granite, balsamic jelly

This course was the star of the night.  It didn’t look up to much but oh my!  Who would have thought that a bit of torn up basil leaf, some flavoured ice and balsamic jelly could taste so good? 

It was the jelly that made the dish; it had all the flavour of balsamic vinegar without the tang and it melted in the mouth.  So refreshing and light; I wolfed it down.

Passion Fruit

Compressed watermelon, coriander

 

Dessert followed.  We all know that dessert isn’t my favourite course but this was fresh and fruity.  Passion fruit jelly was sweet, the crème fraiche was, er, fresh and the compressed watermelon was mouth-wateringly good.  The flavour of each little cube exploded into the mouth.  Serving coriander with it was unusual but one to be repeated by all!  Excellent.

Now at this point we were verging on fullness, but as we both have decent appetites (a requirement of a food blogger?), we rounded off with a cheese board to share.  

Cheese Course

There was a blue cheese, a lavender cheese, Yorkshire Tasty cheese and Ribblesdale goat’s cheese all served up with some homemade cheese crackers, bread, compote and lightly pickled onions.

The star cheese, for me, was the lavender cheese.  Now scrub out that image of your nan with the scented draw liners as this was only lightly fragranced with lavender.   However, my favourite part of the dish was the homemade cheese crackers.  They were packed with cheesy flavours; kind of like cheese straws but in biscuit form.

Now, we were fully satisfied and pretty stuffed! 

The food had been excellent.  The atmosphere was just right with audible, but not in your face music.  Service was professional but not in any way stuffy.  In fact the whole feel of the place was relaxed; friendly and welcoming. 

For instance the waitress would ask if we wanted her to pour us our wine, rather than just go ahead and do it and wine lists were left on tables, both of which pleased the alcoholic in me!

Once again, I was impressed and I can only hope to encourage you to try it one day too.

A quick post about making sushi

After recently making sushi with the girls, I realised that I still had an ample amount of the necessary ingredients to make some at home too. 

So after another busy week, I thought a sushi evening at home would be just what Gav and I needed. 

It was still a bit of a rush, as is this post I'm afraid.  I will do an all singing all dancing sushi post another time.

This time I just made some rolls and sliced some sashimi.

First up you need to make the rice and you do need special sushi rice for this.  It's incredibly sticky and perfect for holding sushi rolls together.  You'll find it for sale in most Chinese supermarkets.

It needs to cook for about 15 minutes and once done, drain it and spread it out on a clean tea towel to cool.  Don't rinse it under cool water as this will cause it to lose its stickiness.  You could use a sushi rice marinade, and in fact I recommend you do.  I didn't this time and I just sprinkled the rice with some rice vinegar and seasoned it.  It was ok, but it missed the full marinade. 

As the rice is cooling, put the fish (which needs to be absolutely fresh - from the fishmongers and not from a supermarket packet - although some fish counters are ok) into the freezer for about 10 minutes or so.  You could use salmon, tuna or sea-bass, or whatever you fancy as long as it's fresh and has not previously been frozen. 

Take the fish out and slice it into strips - say about a cm thick.  Stick this back in the fridge to keep nicely cool.  If you would rather not use raw fish, have a go with smoked salmon and cooked prawns.  Salmon roe is also a favourite of mine.

Then get on with slicing some veg for the sushi.  Again, make the slices about 1 cm thick.  You could have carrot, avocado, pepper.... again anything you fancy.

Once the rice has cooled, take a sushi rolling mat and cover it completely with cling film - both sides.  Then lay a sheet of sushi nori (seaweed) on the mat.

Take some rice and spread it from the very bottom of the nori up so that about 3/4 of the sheet is totally covered.  Pack it down with your fingers as it needs to be even.  Also make sure the rice layers isn't too thick as this will cause serious problems when rolling.

Then take strips of your filling and lay in a neat line, say about half way up the layer of rice.

Now for the tricky bit.  Grab the bottom of the mat and roll everything upwards, away from you.  Give it a good squeeze along the way.  And then roll. 

Not very easy to explain I'm afraid!  Have a nosey at this for help - just ignore the music!

Once rolled, place on a chopping board and use a wet knife to slice.  Make sure you wet the knife in between each slice as the rice will be really sticky.  Chill the slices whilst you 'make' the sashimi.

Now sushi chefs train for years and are very skilled.  There is no way I would ever even dare compete with any of them in terms of sashimi slicing (or sushi making for that matter).  However, I am quite happy to use my skills at home. 

Again whatever fish you are using, make sure it's fresh and then stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so (it just makes it easier to slice).  I used salmon, tuna and scallops.

You then want to slice.  Go against the grain (this helps with presentation and is essential with salmon as it ensures that the fat is evenly distributed throughout each slice) and slice 1/2 cm thick pieces. 

Done.  Far from traditional but good enough for a treat at home.

Serve with soy, wasabi and pickled ginger.  Miso soup and a couple of glasses of fizz will also go down nicely with this.

Then, when you've realised just how much the ingredients have cost and that your kitchen is covered with sticky sushi rice, get to Wasabisabi or Sushi Express and give the real stuff a go!

Thanks to the Knifeman

A few weeks ago, Mick Fox, aka 'The Knifeman', from Ultra-Sharp got in touch with me via Twitter.

He'd spotted one of my dinner pics and had noticed the poor chopmanship used on the herbs.  Concerned, he suggested that he come and see me and sort my knives out.

Waiting for Mick to arrive I was a little nervous.  Not because I was due a visit from someone who calls himself The Knifeman.  No, Mick is a friendly bloke.  He always offers cooking tips to his followers on Twitter and he's recently organised a Cheesecake Competition in aid of Weston Park Hospital.

I was nervous because of the state of our knives.  They're not bad but they're hardly professional and they are a good couple of years old.  I wondered if Mick would take one look at them, laugh in my face and tell me to chuck them and get new ones.

Thankfully not.  He simply whipped them up, plonked them (carefully!) into a bucket and proceeded to take them outside.  Curious I had to follow.

Mick strolled to his van, threw open the back doors and set himself down at his work desk set up in the back.  It is here that Mick works his magic.

It seems that the sharpening steel that we had been using had been causing more harm than good as it's been misshaping the knife so there was a fair bit of work for Mick to do.  Having said that, just ten minutes later my revived knives were handed back to me.  There's no hanging around with Mick!

So, was there an improvement?  Hell yeah!  They have returned to their former glory and are as good as the day I bought them.  No more raggedly chopped herbs for me!

I'd recommend The Knifeman to anyone who wants to revive their set of knives.  You'll be in good company as Mick services most of the restaurants in Sheffield including The Milestone, Fischers & The Old Vicarage.  He charges around £1.50 per knife, but there is a minimum charge.

Get in touch with Mick at mick.fox@ultra-sharp.co.uk or follow him on Twitter for more info.

London, Baby. Part One: Camden Market & The Chin Chin Labs

So after a hectic couple of months of dissertation writing and exams, how do you think I celebrated my freedom? Did I have a relaxing lie in, breakfast in bed and a day in front of the tv? No.  I was up at 7am to catch an early train to London.

Having said that we had an amazing time catching up with friends and cramming in as much culture (and food) as we could in two days. Saturday was a walk from my friend's flat (which is pretty damn close to St Pancras), along the canal, though London zoo and towards Camden Market.

• I got sunburned.
• I got to see a zebra and 3 giraffes
• I almost got run over by 16 cyclists (actually, I almost shoved 16 cyclists into the canal).
• I finally got some exercise; something that has seriously been missing from my life.
• I got to enjoy a couple of foodie treats at Camden Market.

Once at the market we fought our way through the tourists (does anyone else live in denial of being a tourist - regardless of where you visit?) and made our lunching choices. Some went for the Argentinian Steak sandwich (which was fab for £4.50 as it was tender, tasty and BLOODY!).  I went for a Turkish wrap stuffed with spinach, cheese and Turkish sausage.  It was delicious if a little difficult to eat due to its enormous size.

Dessert was courtesy of Chin Chin Labs which 'is Europe’s first ever Liquid Nitrogen Ice-Cream Parlour, blending haute cuisine with performance art in a celebration of gastronomic graphic design.' The guys are very enthusiastic, happy to chat us through the process and are used to being photographed. First get your liquid nitrogen....

Mix it up with the ice cream mixture......

Then eat.....

The end result for me was BBQ pineapple flavoured ice-cream which was gorgeous.  Refreshing, yet creamy.  It was certainly worth the fight through the crowds.

We then went up to Primrose Hill to see the sights of London in one fell swoop.....

Once back down we found a pub and necked some well deserved pints. Check out the red tractor on this.....

 And Gav spotted some fancy car.....

Look out for Part Two!

Home at last and Sakushi Sushi

Exams finished and finally back home (it's always nice to come home isn't it?), I fancied sushi and fizz.  It's a fantastic combination and a perfect celebratory meal.

I didn't fancy going out though so I sent Gav out for the fizz (Prosecco) and ordered our sushi online from Sakushi.

They have a fantastic take away and delivery service.  It's all online, although you do have to call through to the restaurant if you want to make a card payment rather than pay in cash.  There are generally some discount codes floating around too so look out for those.

I've used Sakushi for home delivery a few times now and I can highly recommend it.  The food is always freshly made and it's delivered with plenty of chopsticks, wasbi and ginger.  It's efficient too.

I will now apologise for the photos.  I'd been drinking steadily since finishing the exam and my hands were a bit shakey! 

So what did we have?

Well, there was edemame which I adore.  Pop the soya beans into your mouth and enjoy!  They're perfect with drinks and healthier than peanuts.

There was seafood gyoza which was ok, but could have been crispier.

Ton Katsu Kare (pork cutlet in a Japanese curry) which is another well loved dish and I think Sakushi make the best - in Sheffield anyway (remember the photo does the dish no justice!).

Salmon sashimi.  After trying a lot of sashimi over the years, salmon is my favourite.  It's positively creamy and delicious.  We also had ikura gunkan (sushi with salmon fish roe) which is always fun to eat and avacado tempura inari (prawn, avaocado and rice stuffed into a sweet tofu roll) which is a must if you haven't tried these sweet but savoury rolls.

Mmmmmm.  Welcome home!

Sanity returns - Dakshin

Although I survived Wetherspoons, I was quite pleased to get the chance to try something else.

Being a lover of a good curry, I was especially pleased to find a South Indian restaurant in Leicester.

Although it wasn't expensive, it was pricier than Wetherspoons (isn't everything?) and so we decided to go as a treat on our last night.

Dakshin looks closed from the outside, although the flashing OPEN sign and advertising board on the pavement outside confirmed otherwise.

We were welcomed by a waiter who happily seated us and took our order.

The menu is organised according to the regions of India. My friend went for a Bhuna (they have the North Indian section for lovers of the more 'standard' curries), rice, keema naan and a glass of rose. I went straight to Kerela and ordered the Meen Moilee; 'Fish cooked in rich creamy coconut sauce tempered with green chilies & southern spices'.  I also got some rice and a paratha.

There was Indian wine on offer so I had a glass of the white.  It was a bit sweet for my liking, but still enjoyable.

The food was ok; tasty but no where near as hot as I expected or wanted.  Having said that a dodgy stomach on the morning of my last exam would not have gone down very well.  The fish was nice and moist and portions were decent.  Service was also good.

Maybe I had my mind on other things (exams?!), maybe I picked the wrong dish, maybe I love East and West & Dhanista's too much, or maybe it just wasn't all that fantastic.  Whatever reason, it just didn't wow me.  It was good, and I would eat there should I be in Leicester again, but it wasn't amazing.

The bill came to about £30 which wasn't overly expensive, but was more expensive than any meal I've had at either East and West or Dhanista's.

Ahhhhh.  I am glad to be home!

Leicester Part One - Weathering the Storm

Ok.  Those of you who have been listening to my moaning over the past few weeks will know that I've just had some exams to endure. Urgh.  I hate exams.  Especially when I have to travel to Leicester to complete them. I’ve been on a distance learning course and I've had a few study weekends throughout the year. 

Thankfully I have managed to befriend a few people including one who shares a similar love of wine but also a desire to crack on and get the work done. This meant for a dining partner throughout along with a couple of glasses of vino in the evening whilst we 'revised'. Actually, these 'revision' sessions worked out quite well as we could both de-stress whilst having useful conversations about the upcoming exams.

The only down side was that neither of us particularly wanted to spend a lot on dining out and as we didn't really know Leicester, or have the time to hunt down decent eateries, this meant that we ate dinner at Wetherspoons for two of the three nights. That's right boys and girls your blogger and lover of all things culinary ate at Wetherspoons....... two nights in a row.

Ok it was rough as hell, full of chavs and alcoholics (they were on the beer when we went for breakfast – and yes we ate breakfast there too), but it was CHEAP. Also, I was able to get something healthy down my throat as they have started doing Super Salads.  That’s right, along with the standard pies, burgers, steaks and curries, you can get tasty wholesome salads at Wetherspoons.

The first night I had it served with salmon.  The fish was dry, not unbearably so, but the salad was delicious.  It included butternut squash, spinach, edamame soya beans, broccoli, green beans, pomegranate seed and red chard and it was really yummy!  It was surprisingly filling too, although I did get some garlic bread on the side (which was disappointing).

The next night I wanted healthy again, but didn’t really fancy salmon again.  The salad can also be ordered with chicken but I don’t do cheap chicken (as it’s bound to be as far away from free range as possible) so I got it on its own along with a starter portion of spicy coated king prawns.

I had explained that I wanted both together when ordering, but of course the prawns came first, sans salad.  They went back and probably sat on the hot plate whilst everything else was prepared.  Well, whilst my friend’s dinner was prepared and whilst my salad bag was opened. They came back again.  Ok, the prawns were not the best, and I didn't really get on with the deep fried coating, but the dish wasn't actually that bad!

Now don’t worry too much as I haven’t lost all my marbles….. you’ll be glad to know that on our last night we treated ourselves to a South Indian curry.  Post will follow shortly.

In the meantime, what about you?  Are you a lover or hater of Wetherspoons?  Or do you love to hate it?