lifeofyablon.com

by yablon | February 24, 2013

HUBBUB: saving the high street from the over-powering supermarket

one of the Hubbub vans

I wonder how many post-it people there really are in the world. How many sheer geniuses are put on this planet to devise something which will fundamentally change our lives.

What we do know is that the news of the something will reach us loud and clear. Family, friends, colleagues, neighbours – even complete strangers – love to be the bearer of great consumer news. And so once I had heard news of Hubbub’s shopping delivery service more than a couple of times, I decided it was time to investigate further.

my food was delivered by a play wright…

I got hold of Ben, the marketing guy, at the hub of Hubbub. And, the ridiculously tiny world we live in manifested itself once again. A pregnant-me had worked with him on a brilliant campaign at AOL (called Discuss if any of the extended team are reading this – wasn’t it brilliant?!). He was working at one of the many agencies involved with the project. And now – 100s of internet years later – he is busying himself with an Ocado-style home delivery service. Except one catch – the products aren’t from Waitrose. No, Hubbub is saving the high street (instead of the planet) and its independent retailers.

I know there are plenty of you who love to food shop and I need – for one brief moment – to pretend that I am you. You see, food shopping is just not my idea of fun. Let me give you an example, I love Raoul’s chicken and vegetable soup. It is heaven in bowl and the easiest excuse not to cook a big, smelly soup all day long. But I rarely make it to Clifton Road (Maida Vale) to pick up a tub. And, if I did, I KNOW I would get a parking ticket. So the idea of Hubbub delivering this soup to me was enough to motivate me to make my first order.

I also ordered some smoked salmon from the fishmonger Jonathan Norris, some fine looking mince from Providore, a butcher in Hampstead and then I pushed the boat out – and added a box of fruit and veg from Earth Natural Foods.

Suddenly I had an order of food I didn’t know I even wanted. I wondered how many other customers have felt the same way. Hubbub currently delivers across 200 London postcodes from 32 independent shops. I suppose they might grow if we spread the word or it might just NOT be the next post-it.

Hubbub don’t charge delivery for your first order.

MAZI: unpredictable Greek food

What does it say about me if I hate life to be too predictable? It’s not that it simply irritates or bores me. It quite literally makes me want to SCREAM!

jars of Greek at Mazi

A little dramatic, I know. And, of course I am only too aware that without any predictability, we would live in a horrifically anxious state. So, I’m not asking him upstairs to shake things up quite that much. But, aside from a constant baseline of reassuring goodness, I clearly need a little unpredictability in my life. I need to know that things won’t always be as we expect they might be. Particularly when I am flitting from one delicious restaurant to another….

Soutzoukakia at Mazi in Notting Hill

London’s Greek food – in general – (and I know this is going to spark some controversy) doesn’t get much more predictable than Lemonia in Primrose Hill. Despite many a fun evening spent in this noisy, rustic restaurant, I do find the food to be really nothing special. So, I was particularly curious to hear of a newish restaurant (it opened in May last year), which describes itself as ‘repositioning Greek food’.

Located in Notting Hill, Mazi, meaning bringing together, feels like a low key local restaurant in an area of town where nothing is particularly low key at all. Firstly, let’s get the negatives out of the way: it’s ridiculously hard to park with resident parking until 10pm every night and it’s one of those two-sittings places. So, I am faced with that choice. Either I have to leave the Smalls’ teeth unbrushed OR I risk the chance of falling asleep at the table. I opted for the first bearing in mind the cocktail extravaganza followed by my distinct lack of sleep sharing a room with snoring Smalls the previous night at the Four Seasons Hampshire.

Christiana - one of the founders of this unpredictably good Greek

Christina – one of the founders of this unpredictably good Greek

My guest would have been happy anywhere really. She’s pretty easy to please and, quite frankly, wanted to a life update more than a full on feed. But seeing as she’s an experimental (in a successful way) cook, I thought she’d appreciate the promised alternative Greek experience.

Mazi is owned and run by Christina Mouratoglou, born in Thessaloniki, and Frenchman Adrien Carre. Spotting said gap in the London market for ‘progressive and interesting’ Greek food, they put their money where they mouths were. The menu is designed along the theme of togetherness and Christina advised us to choose 5 dishes to share.

We had 2 jars (£6 each) of grilled aubergine with soy and thyme honey and a Kolokithopita – which translates as feta, mint and filo pastry (which needs to be crushed into the jar by you).

On top of these, we shared a greek salad with small barley rusk (£9) and Soutzoukakia, seared beef and sesame maki roll (£11).

desserts at Mazi – probably the most unusual I have ever tasted…

We finished with the most unusual desserts. Angel hair in sweet syrup topped with cold almond custard and nuts and a Tsoureki soufflé which had a runny centre (both £8).

To be fair, the Greek does need some translation but Christina readily obliged and advised accordingly.

She is modest yet ambitious. While also – and equally unusually – a skinny foodie.

I suppose there is some Greek tradition to these dishes at Mazi but not much. With two consultant chefs from leading restaurants in Mykonos and Athens, it is clear that London’s Greek food is somewhat out of touch with what the real Greeks are eating on their own turf. Something I could never have predicted.

MAZI 12-14 Hillgate Street, W8 020 7229 3794

All because the lady doesn’t want to eat Milk Tray

Never ever ever ever give me a box of chocolates. Come to my home empty handed, eat a meal I have slaved over (unlikely) but don’t bring me a box housing some paper trays of small brown things all lined up in fiddly cases. I’ll explain why.

You see, a chocolate box is THE ultimate cheap and thoughtless gift. No one would ever say, I am SO touched you bought me this box of Milk Tray. And then… you’re stuck with it. Impossible to pass onto someone else (as you’d never be as thoughtless as to gift it) and equally impossible to bin. So there it is, sitting on your coffee table, begging to be eaten but with very few mouthfuls you’d actually choose. The first might be too soft, another too squidgy while one might even break a tooth.

a bar of Valrhona

But gifting chocolate CAN work. So I thought I’d pick out a few of my favourite bars which could raise an eyebrow, impress the hostess and even melt in your salivating mouths.

French maker, Valrhona was one of the first to describe its chocolate as if it were wine. This bar is a perfectly brilliant size to share around a large table.

Montezuma’s buttons

Montezuma’s famous organic milk chocolate buttons are rich and sweet. I reckon they’d go down equally well with kids and bigger kids alike.

For a chocolate conscience, munch your way through a bar from The Grenada Chocolate Company. It is rare to find such a very small scale chocolate maker producing fine chocolate where the cocoa actually grows. And all their machines are solar-powered…

Grenada Chocolate Company

Cailler from Nestle

Cailler chocolate, on the other hand, dates back to 1897 when Alexandre Cailler, who was bicycling through the town of Broc (Switzerland), discovered the perfect spot to open his new chocolate factory. The rest is Nestle history but his sticky brown stuff is, without doubt, on my short list.

Amelia Rope‘s pale hazelnut & sea salt addressed to Him @ Life of Yablon (lucky Him)

And, I bring you Amelia Rope: my latest find and – quite frankly – my No. 1 go-to-bar at the moment. So much so I tracked Amelia down (like a chocolate addict might) to find out just how sticky her fingers are:

Which chocolate bars did you eat before you launched your own? When I was young I loved Ripple, Flake and Milkybar.

Amelia Rope’s colourful bars in Selfridges

Which is your favourite bar? I love them all – it depends on my mood. I do have a real weakness for my coffee bean ones and the hazelnut & sea salt bar!

How long does it take to make up each of the recipes? The ideas can come to me in a flash and then I have to play around with quantities of the ingredients. I rarely get anyone to taste them – against the rules of market research I know!

Which flavour was the biggest challenge? Pale Mandarin – it is so subtle and if you don’t put enough in, it can be lost but too much and it is like Terry’s Chocolate Orange!

Where would you have your last supper? Ideally by the sea, with some sun & a fab cocktail – so probably Bahia (Brazil).

Is chocolate a necessity or luxury? Interesting question – I see it as a luxury, a treat.

What can’t you live without? Maldon sea salt, a scarf (I am always cold) and salted nuts.

Who or what inspires you? People I meet, stained glass windows and travelling to different countries.

Music or silence in the kitchen? Silence if I am creating recipes as I want 100% concentration.

How much chocolate do you eat every day? Far too much!

OHSO (yummy) chocolate AND good for you!

Finally, if you (like me) feel that chocolate makes the world go round but don’t want to pile on the calories, taste my little OHSO friends…. They taste curiously pleasing considering they are actually good for you. YES! I have found a chocolate that – pretty impressively – makes your tummy happy rather than your hips big. Only 72 calories, this delicious dark Belgian bar is full to the brim of friendly bacteria.

COMPETITION: And, I have a month’s supply (worth £16) of OHSO for 10 lucky Life of Yablon readers. To enter this competition all you have to do is sign up to my blog (top right of homepage), follow me on Twitter and email your name & address to: info@ohsolovesyourtummy.com mentioning Life Of Yablon before Wednesday 6th March. The lucky winners will be selected randomly on Thursday 7th March 2013.

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Filed under fabulous finds, food

by yablon | February 16, 2013

Daniel’s detox solution / Daniel Galvin

Daniel Galvin, George St, W1

I’m usually completely turned off by anything with the word DETOX in it. It sounds so boring, painful and usually tastes pretty bad. But when I realised that the detox I was being offered was for my hair and not my mouth, I agreed wholeheartedly.

Daniel’s hair palace

You see, Daniel (as in the god of all hair Galvin, OBE) has developed a secret recipe for our luscious locks. The Christmas party season and all its colour, dry shampoo and volumizing moose – not to mention overload of hair spray – has probably built up a residue in our hair. And this is the hair colour guru’s solution: actually a pure vitamin C solution which rids any of these impurities from the hair in question. The best bit is that the effect is immediate – in just one minute – your hair is detoxed…

Emma gives me a great blow dry

It had been a while since I had been to Daniel’s hair palace. Although the salon has shifted down the street a little, it took me back to my first highlights experience. Aged 18, Lady Y had insisted that my rather orange Sun-In days should come to an immediate end, so much so that she even offered to contribute financially towards some much-needed professional colour correction.

my Steel Magnolias moment

The salon is light, airy and full of beautiful ‘almost-real’ blondes. I felt completely at home.

After the solution and a wash/condition, I was introduced to Emma who would be giving me a blow dry to write home about.

And I left gentled detoxed but bright, smooth and smugly shiny.

the result: shiny, bouncy, smug hair

My detox would have cost £17 My blow dry would have cost £32

Daniel Galvin 58-60 George St, W1

lifeofyablon.com

HUBBUB: saving the high street from the over-powering supermarket

MAZI: unpredictable Greek food

All because the lady doesn’t want to eat Milk Tray

Daniel’s detox solution / Daniel Galvin

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