Heather’s Food & Drink Hot List
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THE COOKBOOK:
Good Eggs By Ed Smith
From breakfast to dinner, eggs are always a good idea. And Ed Smith’s new cookbook, Good Eggs, is the ultimate collection of delicious and creative dishes that make eggs the star of the show. From everyday classics to reinventions of old favourites with surprising twists, in this definitive book you’ll find all the inspiration you need for breakfast, brunch and beyond. High up on my must-try list? The kimchi skillet eggs and fried egg with a crisp cheese skirt – while his genius recipe for fried eggs with brown butter capers has fast become a Saturday go-to.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE CAFFEINE HIT:
Hermanos Coffee
Specialty Colombian coffee roasters Hermanos have just launched six new single-origin coffees in the UK. Following numerous homeland trips to Colombia, the team have sourced six new beans from independent farmers. Four are from the mountainous Huila region in the south of Colombia. Finca Las Brisas has notes of stone fruits, orange, caramel, peach, Darjeeling tea, green apple and lemonade; El Faro with malt, mandarin orange, almonds and milk chocolate; La Aldea featuring notes of black plum, dried apricot, Assam tea, dark chocolate; and La Estrellita, which features fruity notes of passion fruit, strawberry gelato, mango and dark chocolate. Available in cheerful colourful bags, Hermanos also sells three of its popular coffees as pods.
THE RESTAURANT:
Joséphine
Joséphine is a pretty new place in Chelsea that’s fast become one of my favourite spots. Michelin-starred Claude Bosi’s most personal project to date, Joséphine is run with his wife Lucy and is inspired by his late grandmother and the traditional bouchons he often frequented in his hometown of Lyon. The menu is filled with nostalgic French bistro classics: think onion soup, cheese souffle, leek vinaigrette and traditional mains of cod in an excellent beurre blanc sauce, and there’s an excellently priced daily set menu priced at £29 for three courses. The wine menu only features pours from the Rhone Valley, including some from Joséphine’s own label. In keeping with the classic French feel, this is available in bouchon-style metre wine, where the bottle is left on the table for guests to help themselves to more, allowing the service to be casual. At the end of the meal, guests will pay only for what they have drunk, using a nifty ruler to measure what’s been had.
Visit JosephineBouchon.com
THE COFFEE ALTERNATIVE:
MUD\WTR
Drinking vats of black coffee is my guilty pleasure (see above). So I was really keen to try A-list favourite MUD\WTR when it launched in the UK at the end of 2023. The US brand is best known for its popular coffee alternative, :rise Cacao – which has sold more than 130m servings and received more than 25,000 five-star reviews on its site. Consisting of cocoa, masala chai and functional mushrooms (including lion’s mane and reishi), the blend contains just a fraction of the caffeine found in coffee – and has definitely helped reduce my caffeine consumption after midday. Also in the range is its :creamer Coconut Milk Powder, a combination of coconut milk and MCT powder that adds functional fats and a rich, creamy texture when mixed with the cocoa to create a riff on a latte.
Visit UK.MUDWTR.com
THE EASTER TREAT:
Pump Street Chocolate
Suffolk-based Pump Street Chocolate & Bakery sources cocoa beans from single estates and cooperatives that ferment and dry the beans at origin, using traditional methods and all-natural ingredients to create excellent craft chocolate. New for Easter is the brand’s first large egg, which is made using its addictive Croissant 62% Dark Chocolate. The egg comes wrapped in gold foil, accompanied by a seasonal wrap featuring illustrations by artist Jesse Bevan Brown. As well as its year-round Bakery Series, which includes brown bread, sourdough and salt, and rye crumb-flavoured chocolate, I’m also a fan of its new seasonal hot cross bun flavour, which brings all those notes of currants and spices to the bar.
Visit PumpStreetChocolate.com
THE TABLEWARE:
Service Projects
If you’ve seen make-up brand Refy’s silver espresso cups all over your feed, you’ll know stainless steel is back in vogue. My pick? Service Projects’ industrial-edged Arlo cups. The brand was founded in NYC in late 2022 but has since relocated to Copenhagen. Its tableware inspiration is drawn from the team’s travels and visits to a diverse array of restaurants and bars, including Michelin-starred establishments in Copenhagen, French bistros, Japanese izakayas and Italian osterias. The result is a collection of durable and timeless mugs, plates, ice-cream coupes, cafetieres and pasta bowls – all in 2024’s material of the moment.
Visit Shop-ServiceProjects.com
THE BOOK:
Corker By Hannah Crosbie
Wine personality, broadcaster and writer Hannah Crosbie is on a mission to demystify the world of wine. Now she’s giving traditional wine books an overhaul. Inspired by the most frequently asked questions from her IG followers, Corker is a fresh and relevant guide that pairs wine with life's important (and unimportant) events. Understanding that how and what we drink is ultimately rooted in occasion, Hannah arms readers with the confidence to navigate any wine list, bottle shop or supermarket aisle. With a glossary of key terms as well as seasonal recommendations – from the first summer BBQ through to the festive period – Corker is the accessible go-to guide for a new generation of wine drinkers.
Visit Amazon.co.uk
THE NON-ALCOHOLIC OPTION:
Babylonstoren Bitterlekker
Babylonstoren, in the Western Cape of South Africa, is renowned for its magnificent vineyard’s summer-ready rosé. Now the team – which also owns Somerset hotspot The Newt – has launched a non-alcoholic aperitif. Championing the flavours of its farm, the drink combines honeybush with a zesty citrus kick from blood oranges and grapefruit, the pleasant bitterness of an orange peel and a delicate touch of herbal top notes. Like my favourite non-boozy cocktail Crodino, Bitterlekker works well poured over crushed ice or topped up with sparkling water and a slice of orange or grapefruit. It can also be used in alcoholic cocktails, such as a negroni, to take down the ABV.
THE GIFT IDEA:
Tokyo Treat
If you’re looking for a fun present for foodie friends, look to Tokyo Treat. In 2015, Tokyo native Ayumi Chikamoto founded the subscription service, with the aim of sharing her love for Japanese culture and snacks with people outside of the country. With a dedicated team based in Tokyo, the brand works closely with local Japanese snack makers to create curated boxes of sweets, snacks, drinks and noodles. The last box I tried had a mix of matcha-flavoured Kit Kats, packet of Hakata tonkotsu ramen and spicy tomato crisps – and half the fun is not always knowing what each treat is going to be until you’ve ripped open the packaging.
Visit TokyoTreat.com
THE WINE:
Gusbourne Estate 2022 Pinot Noir
I love trying new English wines, and a current favourite for special-occasion drinking is leading English wine producer Gusbourne’s 2022 vintage of its pinot noir. The previous vintage was critically acclaimed and won awards from Decanter and WineGB – and this year’s batch is just as good and bursting with fruit: think morello cherries, berries and soft spice. Best of all, there’s earthy minerality, smoky notes and a long finish. I’ve already got a bottle in my cupboard waiting for Father’s Day.
Visit Gusbourne.com
THE CONDIMENT:
Noma Projects Corn Yuzu Hot Sauce
Noma Projects is the development arm of world-famous Copenhagen restaurant Noma. Part of the team’s remit is creating mind-blowing sauces for diners to add a Michelin touch to homecooked meals. Of the collection – which includes Wild Rose Vinegar and its debut drop Smoked Mushroom Garum – my pick is the Corn Yuzu Hot Sauce. A vibrant blend of roasted habanero, sweetcorn and yuzu, the team suggests using it on everything from barbecued fish and vegetables to fried eggs and salads. For further inspo, its website offers full recipes for warm potato salad and cabbage tacos with roasted veggies, which both use the pleasantly sunshine-yellow sauce as a livener.
Visit NomaProjects.com
For more food, drink and restaurant ideas, follow Heather at @SteeleHeatherrr.
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