Guest Blog Entry: Heaven in a Plastic Cup: Banana Custard at Sutton Village Hall

There is something often overlooked in any food review: context. How critical one can be when eating is a nicety not a necessity. Many diners might feel they deserve outrageously expensive food after a hard day at the office. Similarly, reviewers might expect their meal to be more art than food, given the ubiquitous cliché that we eat with our eyes. Lavish, delicious, exotic, exquisite etc – choose your adjective.

I would like to add a slightly different perspective.

At various points on Saturday night and Sunday morning I ate the finest food known to man. The highlight of these assorted mini-feasts was cold banana custard served in a plastic cup and eaten with a plastic spoon. Sheer liquid wonderment.

Perhaps I should add some context. This weekend I was participating in the Wessex100, an annual event during which competitors aim to walk 100 miles in 48 hours. At various intervals along the route, checkpoints served a variety of food and drink to keep the walkers fed. At least, that was their outward appearance. In fact, I found their role to be far more: to give walkers respite, morale-boost, confidence and encouragement to keep going. And what better way to do that than through the gloriously simply, yet tasty and nutritious delight that is banana custard? (I should another element to the context: custard seems to appeal to long distance walkers more than any other group I have met. I have even heard walkers suggesting filling their water bottles with it.)

Each checkpoint was run by a different regional walking club and so featured a different culinary delight. Offerings included sandwiches, beans on toast, quiche and potato salad, soup and bread, full cooked breakfast. Most stops also had fruit as well as chocolate in some form such as Jaffa Cakes and Swiss Roll. While the nutrition value of these can be debated, the psychological boost factor can not.

And this is the point I wanted to make: when you have been walking over 12 hours and covered 35 miles, your feet hurt, it’s cold and dark outside, the simplest food is wonderful. When you are in this condition and you still have another 65 miles to walk, you want comfort food that will give you a boost. For me, it was that banana custard. Served in fine bone china or a plastic cup, no-one really cares at this stage; it’s the food that counts.

In normal circumstances, I enjoy what the majority of the population describes as ‘good’ food. I try to eat out in different places and experience different cuisine. However, I doubt I will ever have another dessert that I will enjoy more than the banana custard at Sutton Village Hall at 1.30am last Sunday morning.

G.

Jeremy's Cafe de la Mer, Windsor - 12th May 2009

I eat out in Windsor fairly frequently, as a result of working in a much-less desirable location just a few miles away. The majority of the restaurants are in the environs of the castle or central station, but it's difficult to find anywhere that isn't a chain (it's not a big place, but name a chain and it'll be here, and the McDonalds, Starbucks and Wetherspoons are right next to one another). For all recent work meals we'd opted for Bel and the Dragon, (still a chain, but only a local one, with four gastropubs in the area), where the food is undeniably good, but service and atmosphere leave something to be desired. Looking for something different, my colleagues were enthusiatic about a new seafood bar they had spotted on the high street. I'm not a big seafood fan, but I was definitely up for a new culinary experience in Windsor, so off we went...

Eating at Jeremy's Cafe de la Mer is an intimate experience. Tables had to be rearranged to accomodate the three of us, and with two diners already there, the restuarant was then full! Jeremy himself assured us that should we return with the rest of the team, there was a private dining area upstairs which would accomodate us nicely. The immaculate pale blue interiors made for the ideal chilled out atmosphere i'd been hoping for, particularly once wine arrived.

The menu was larger than i'd anticipated for such a tiny restaurant. However it soon transpired that a lot of the options on the menu weren't available. Jeremy explained how his ingredients were freshly ordered every day (from sustainable sources), and he hadn't antipated many covers on a blustery Tuesday night, and indeed, I did wonder how he competed with the many chains and restaurants geared towards tourists.

I ordered a smoked salmon starter and was quite astounded by the freshness and flavour. Leandri's seafood platter with live oyster was the most impressive dish of the evening, (although she wasn't quite brave enough to eat the oyster herself, so Astrid did the honours)...



I may have wondered how this restaurant survived, but repeat business and word-of-mouth are powerful things. His food is simple, fresh and very tasty. The starters and mains are light and healthy - which he claims increases his popularity with female clientele. Admittedly all 5 of us dining in the restuarant tonight were female, and our meal would have been healthy, had myself and Leandri not ordered two side orders of skinny-homemade -perfectly-crispy fries, and had I abstained from ordering a chocolate torte dessert, and Astrid her Bailey's ice cream (so there goes that theory!)

Overall:

Atmosphere: Intimate and calm. Potentially a good place for a date if you don't mind having a chat with Jeremy (or maybe he only does that with the ladies).

Service: Friendly and attentive to the point where we didn't mind when we were told they hadn't ordered in the ingredients for particular dishes that day.

Value for money: It can end up being very expensive here, even though the individual dishes don't appear to be over priced. We spent hours there though and the different courses and drinks, desserts and coffees all added up to a rather large bill!

Marks out of 10: I'd say 7.5/10 for the food, but that's because i'm not a seafood fan, but 9.5/10 in terms of the general experience and atmosphere. So that makes an average score of 8.5/10.

The Rose and Olive Branch, Virginia Water, 10th May 2009

It was sheer luck (and maybe quite a bit of determination) that led us to a proper country pub, last Sunday. We'd walked from Windsor Castle, through Windsor Great Park, and we'd witnessed many great things including the Queen herself (possibly), a big horse, a polo pitch, an Obelisk with a giant sea-anenome on it , and a totem pole, but we were hungry, having only had a 99 Flake to sustain us.

Having reached the outskirts of the park, we rejected the burger van and chain pub (with a beer garden made less appealing by being situated in the car park, and having vaguely menacing notices such as 'Cold Drinks Only in This Area'). We crossed a busy main road, in the hope that we'd find somewhere more appealing for lunch in the tranquil sounding village of Virginia Water.

But our weary feet and rumbling stomachs were instead confronted with what seemed like a never-ending succession of opulent country houses; recycling bins overflowing with wine bottles. We thought this didn't bode well - you'd only drink this much at home if there were no pubs to drink in! Onwards we walked, towards signs that looked promising in the distance, but then transpired to be churches, or schools. Our lowest point was when we came across a sign which turned out to be directing us to a nursing home. Surely we were never going to find a pub here! We took a turning towards Englefield Green, but it didn't look like we'd see anything other than country roads for the foreseeable future.

It seemed all hope was gone..but then we looked up. We saw a sign that looked different to everything else we had seen in the last 10 miles... a sign that simply said 'FOOD SERVED HERE'. Reluctant to get too excited in case this was a delirious product of our imagination, (or simply that they may not be serving at 3.30pm in the afternoon), we stepped into an old style country pub, that couldn't have looked more cosy or comfortable, and we were filled with glee at the extensive menu above the bar. Salivating already we were told they were still serving food - it was a moment of sheer joy!

At first glance, the menu at The Rose and Olive Branch looked like generic pub food, with ubiquitous dishes such as chicken tikka masala, chilli con carne and a couple of sunday roast options, but it turned out that this pub is best known for their range of pies, homecooked with locally sourced ingredients. Graham opted for a rabbit pie (which was potentially very locally-sourced considering how many we saw on our walk!) with mushroom and pancentta, whilst I went for the classic chicken and mushroom. Other more extravagant options included venison and chocolate, and game pie with walnuts and cranberries.

We settled down with our drinks (a large glass of Rose for me, and a pint of Abbot Ale for the boy - which he told me to mention was very much enjoyed), marvelling at our luck at finding exactly the type of pub we'd been hoping for, and contemplating how best to phrase our respective Twitter statuses to reflect our joy.

Too much anticipation can be a dangerous thing, but the generous portions that arrived at our table did not disappoint. The pies had light puff pastry lids, filled with (in my case) large succulent pieces of chicken and mushroom, in a dark flavoursome gravy. The pies were large and deep filled, but not stodgy as a cheesy, creamy pie with a pastry base might have been. I'd opted for chips, which were thick cut and crispy. Utterly delicious!

Overall:

Atmosphere: Indoors was welcoming and cosy with lovely old-man-country-pub atmosphere. It was pretty relaxed so being sweaty and laden with rucksacks wasn't an issue. There was a small beer garden. Nice toilets too.

Service: The staff were really friendly and chatty, but in a relaxed rather than overbearing way. I asked for a pint of tap water whilst we were waiting, and was bought a jug of water with ice and lemon instead. Which was appreciated when we'd been walking in the sun for hours.

Value for money: Portions were big, but prices were still high, which would be my only criticism.

Marks out of 10: going to have to split this into sections...

...for being exactly the type of pub we'd been hoping for 10/10
...for food, drink, atmosphere and service 9/10
...for value for money 6.5/10

Average score of 8.5/10

(Thank you Graham for the pictures!)

I got this in the post today. It is in the spirit of this blog.

Whilst I compose my next blog, here is something that made me smile...

Reasons to love New Tayyabs (4th May 09)

It's been a good Bank Holiday weekend in terms of food...

Lunch today was at a very regular haunt for me and the ex-Durham gang: New Tayyabs in Whitechapel, East London.

Tayyabs is a curiously comforting place for us - everyone needs to have somewhere they know they will get large amounts of consistently tasty and authentic food, for very low prices. You can even bring your own booze, although this is often a hangover-curing (hence why it is comforting), late-lunch venue for us. It's always busy here, but we're such regulars that we've learnt to either get a big group together and book in advance. or eat at slightly odd times to avoid the queues. I wouldn't recommend eating here from about 7pm in the evening - the queues snake the whole way around the restaurant, which doesn't make for a relaxed eating experience. Afternoons however are pretty busy, but not rushed.

Today, I went in ahead after finding that our favourite Whitechapel pub The Good Samaritan didn't open on Bank Holidays. I didn't have to wait more than two minutes for a table for 5 people, and although the others didn't arrive straightaway, I was able to sip a sweet lassi and read my Jasper Fforde novel until they did. The waiter was able to memorise our slightly complicated order, and we soon had plate fulls of sheekh kababs (90p each), and garlic naans piled high, as well as an assortment of curries. My keema was perhaps not as spicy as it could have been, but the kebabs were juicy and flavoured to perfection. A really big plus point for me, is that the food is authentic enough not to use any pre-mixed curry powder, as I'm very allergic to fenugreek which is a major ingredient in curry powder, and has stopped me being able to eat in a large number of Indian restaurants (although this is Pakistani rather than Indian).

Tayyabs may not be great if you arrive at a busy time and need to queue, or if you like very spicy or innovative food, but in terms of a cheap and cheerful place to have a lazy lunch, it can't really be beaten.

Atmosphere: There were plenty of people here even though it was after the lunch rush, but the atmosphere is relaxed and it's light and airy inside the restaurant.

Service: Very efficient order-taking, although food doesn't always arrive at the same time. Waiters are friendly.

Value for money: Excellent. You can eat a lot for about £10 a head, and you can bring your own booze with no corkage charge.

Marks out of 10: 8/10 - We keep coming back here so it must be good. Not the most sophisticated food but consistently pleasing and we always leave satisfied.

The Albion (Clifton Village, Bristol). 3rd May 2009

The Albion was incidentally the very first pub I visited in Bristol, (to celebrate finding a house and housemates after a chance conversation outside a shop), which was the story I recounted to Joanna, as we decided to head there for lunch.

When I lived in Bristol, lunch in Clifton Village (fashionable but quaint area, home of expensive independent shops, frequented by girls with pashminas and posh accents), usually meant a trip to The Primrose Cafe. Their organic, ethically sourced, mostly vegetarian food is flavoursome, but inevitable queues and the crowded seating area, made us opt for The Albion, which is just opposite, tucked just behind the main throughfare into the village.

We opted to sit outside with our glasses of Rose, enjoying the sunshine and watching the Cliftonites pass by. The daily-changing lunch menu was modern and minimalist in the sense that there were no elaborate descriptions of the dishes, but there was ample choice, and the ingredients were organic and locally sourced in most cases.

I went for 'Duck eggs + chorizo + potato' (yes the description really was that basic), and Joanna chose the 'Roman Gnocci + beetroot + goat curd.' We had a small inevitable discussion on what made gnocci 'Roman', but we didn't linger on that for long, especially as the plates of food being delivered around us looked so good.

However, (as Graham knows) 'flashy on the outside can lead to subsequent disappointment' ... However, the food tasted just as good as it looked:

Jo's gnocchi (pictured above) was light and fluffy (and consisted of two large pieces, so not like any other gnocchi i'd experienced before), with the goat's curd adding creamy richness, offset by the beetroot. It was delicious and extravagant and the combination of flavours worked perfectly.

My duck eggs had the intensely yellow soft yolks I associate with the eggs of the extremely-free-range chickens that my parents keep, and the chorizo had just the right level of spicyness, balanced nicely with the potato wedges, and full of really robust flavour. It was served straight from the pan, and disappeared quickly!

So all in all, we had a fantastic lunch which set us up nicely to spend the rest of the afternoon at the Tobacco Factory, watching an energetic and passionately acted performance of 'Antony and Cleopatra.'

Atmosphere: A little dark and quiet indoors, but the outdoor seats were ideal for people-watching, and it felt relaxed despite almost all the tables being full.

Service: It took a while to get noticed and seated, so not amazing, but no we had no complaints on the service during the meal.

Value for money: It depends - the gnocchi cost almost twice as much as the duck egg dish!

Marks out of 10: 8/10 - Food that tasted as good as it looked, ample portions and great atmosphere outside.

Welcome to 'Writing on Bananas'

Welcome to my blog! It is inspired by the lovely banana pictured above, which was photographed whilst I was writing my undergraduate dissertation in 2005.

I like writing on fruit, but mostly I'm bringing this blog into existence because I've always felt it important to document great meals by taking photos of them. This blog will therefore contain my ramblings about, and photographs of, food that I have enjoyed. It may occasionally take detours into other areas, and will hopefully also contain pictures of food that my friends and family have taken to sending to me.

Other suggestions for the name of this blog were 'Cake My Day' and 'The Clean Plate Club' (from Nick) and 'ushi-greatfoodpics.com' (from Stefan), but instead I finally decided on a name random enough to set expectations accordingly.