Resident Chef - June 2007
The centenary edition – a celebratory look at 100 issues of The Resident, just over 14 years old. And what a 14 years for the world’s most exciting and cosmopolitan city. We’ve had the birth of the congestion charge, bombings on our public transport network and of course won the right to host the Olympic Games in 2012. Fourteen years which have seen the London restaurant scene re-invent itself with vigour and panache, scores of restaurants closed only to be replaced instantly by another exiting and original offering.
London now boasts one of the most exciting, vibrant and dynamic food and drink scenes in the world, a city that takes you on a gastronomic
tour of the world without ever venturing beyond the M25. Whether it’s Vietnamese, Turkish, Afghan, Portuguese, Lebanese, Japanese or Jewish food that floats your boat, all is available and most importantly, very well represented in the capital. A short bus/tube ride can transport you to a Moroccan Souk, an Indian temple or a Chinese tea shop for dim sum and if not how about the grand traditions of the great French dining room or the simple honesty of the great British gastro pub? London is a city where ‘World Food’ is now making it’s mark and ethnic restaurants are tussling with the best and most well-respected French fine dining establishments for the coveted awards, dished out annually by the various restaurant and hotel guides.
The by-product of all of this for those of you cooking at home is that for all of these restaurants to be able to produce their particular brand of local specialities, they need to be able to source the specific ingredients, which, until recently, were not available to buy without hunting out small specialist shops. Now it is increasingly easy to buy the proper ingredients to recreate those authentic dishes you remember fondly from previous holidays Who could fail to be impressed when you serve up a meal consist-ing of such varied and exotic dishes as a Costa Rican hearts of palm salad followed by a Nepalese chicken Bhutuwa, a dessert of Israeli honey cake, all washed down with a beautiful Hungarian wine and topped off with an Italian coffee and some Turkish delight?
So I say what better way to celebrate than to head off to your local market and look for something a bit different. There are countless books and online resources to help you on your way and before you know it you will be the talk of the party circuit as people rave about the ever changing and original slant that you have added to your repertoire.
New Covent Garden Market, fondly known as the larder of London, based in Vauxhall is a great place to go for both local and international fresh produce. See the website www.cgma.gov.uk
Chris Staines is Head Chef at Foliage at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X, 020 7201 3723
www.mandarinoriental.com/london