Page 120 – A Little Bird

11th May 201631st August 2022

Ducksoup Cookbook by Clare Lattin & Tom Hill

This beautiful, gorgeously produced cookbook is by the proprietors of the much-loved, tiny Soho restaurant, Ducksoup. (Last time we were there, we saw three chefs eating there—always a good sign). More crucially it is brilliantly useful and will inspire you to shake up your cooking, especially as summer approaches and fresh ingredients become more plentiful.

The subtitle of the book is ‘The Wisdom of Simple Cooking’, and it is this wisdom, i.e. the various tips and touches that elevate otherwise simply cooked dishes, that is so invaluable. This might be as simple as a dollop of ricotta in Pappa al Pomodoro (tomato and bread soup), or infusing olive oil with Padron peppers and then pairing it with squid, or serving burnt lemon and tahini yoghurt with seasonal greens and freekeh.

The first chapter of the book is called The Duck Soup Larder, and it takes you through how having certain ingredients always to hand really spices up your everyday cooking. (Keeping curry leaves in your freezer and then frying them to add to all kinds of dishes, especially those that use yoghurt, is especially clever). And this book, for all its fabulous photography and refined sensibility, is great on every day cooking. So far, the meals we’ve cooked from it – squid, tomato soup, pastas – have taken less then half an hour to prepare, involved very few ingredients, and tasted utterly delicious. This is one of those books that seems to call out to you when you open it. It is exactly of the moment, but destined to be a keeper. Already, it is the book we keep reaching for when we want to cook.

10th May 201610th May 2016

Scandi Mini

Simple but chic children’s clothes can be ludicrously hard to find, especially if you are a parent to boys – which is why when we find a good source of kidswear we are quite evangelical about it. Scandi Mini, founded by Swedish born Gabrielle Spang, celebrates its fifth birthday this year and has become a cult destination for its understated clothes that give a nod to fashion without being too much. There’s a whole raft of new brands this spring – sweet, easy pieces from Luisa et La Luna, Yellowpelota and the adorable French brand Hello Simone (the cotton dresses are to die for). And there are plenty of brands we already know and love too – Oeuf NYC, Bang Bang and Bobo Choses among them. The site’s homewares have a similarly easy, breezy feeling – cloud lamps by A Little Lovely Company, genius felt animal heads by Sew Heart, the most stylish moses baskets we have ever seen and party essentials from the ever-brilliant Meri Meri. We’ve also discovered – via the site – gorgeous organic Enfance soaps which are made with shea butter, coconut oil and soothing essential oils. And unlike everything else, they are perfect for grown-ups too.

4th May 201628th October 2021

Sabrina Ghayour’s Sirocco

We were big fans of Sabrina Ghayour’s debut cookbook, Persiana which was published the summer before last and added several new modern Middle Eastern recipes to our repertoire. Accessible, exotic but totally reliable, Ghayour’s recipes had all the tried and tested ease of a cook who started out by building a hugely popular thrice-weekly supper club. Her follow up cookbook Sirocco, named after the dry winds that blow from East to West, promises to dish up more of the fuss-free dishes in which Ghayour excels but with more of a melding of her Middle Eastern background (she was born in Iran before moving here as a child) with Western techniques and ideas. All of which makes these recipes really great for entertaining – everything looks fabulous and tastes complex yet none of it is tricky to make. There are lots of great sharing dishes including an array of utterly delicious salads and starters – we love the spiced beetroot yogurt and a butter bean and Za’Atar dip. The same spice mix reappears in a succulent roasted citrus chicken too. What’s great about Ghayour’s recipes is the flexibility – many ideas can be transferred and swapped around. We love her side of salmon with lemon, turmeric and black pepper (a serious smart supper contender) but the ingredients would work brilliantly on almost any whole meaty fish. What’s even better is that the prep probably takes all of five minutes. What more can you ask for?

From Sirocco:

Lemon, Turmeric & Black Pepper Salmon

This may be literally the easiest recipe I ever came up with for salmon, yet it always delivers the wow factor. One day I was stuck for ideas for spicing up my salmon, so I raided my spice rack, added a little lemon zest and this recipe was born. You can, of course, use salmon fillets, but serving up a side of salmon prepared in this way makes it really impressive.

Serves 6 – 8

1kg salmon side

finely grated zest of 3 unwaxed lemons

1 tablespoon coarse black pepper

4 tablespoons garlic oil

2 tablespoons turmeric

1 heaped teaspoon sea salt flakes, crushed

Preheat the oven to 240°C, Gas Mark 9. Line the largest baking tray you have with baking paper.

Place the salmon side, skin-side down (if applicable), on to the prepared baking tray.

In a small bowl, make a paste using the lemon zest, coarse black pepper, garlic oil and turmeric and mix well until smooth and well combined. Rub the mixture evenly all over the exposed salmon flesh.

(If desired, you can now leave the salmon in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour or even overnight, as long as you don’t add salt to it.) Season the salmon evenly with the sea salt. Roast for 22 minutes – the flesh should still feel firm to the touch – then serve immediately.

27th April 201628th October 2021

Irving and Morrison

Our latest find, hidden away amongst the gas drums and industrial vibe of The Old Gasworks in Fulham, is Irving and Morrison: an Aladdin’s Cave of colour and texture selling beautiful decorative accessories.

Owned by Penny Morrison and Carolina Irving, both doyennes of the design world, who having worked for Vogue, House & Garden, World of Interiors & Sothebys also set up their own hugely successful interior design and textile companies. At their shop you’ll find enormous, turkish-inspired fabric lampshades; jazzy, striped floor rugs and one-off textiles that have been used to re-upholster chairs and footstools. It’s full of items that they have either come across on their travels or have been searching in vain for, and designed themselves. The showroom is small, only four converted shipping containers, but you’ll find it hard to come away empty handed.

27th April 201628th October 2021

Bellanger

For many years, Islington had a surprisingly lacklustre restaurant scene. And then last year, ex-Polpo chef Tom Oldroyd opened Oldroyd on Upper Street and it was an instant hit. It was joined – in December 2015 – by Bellanger, the latest restaurant from Corbin and King, on Islington Green. Bellanger took over the site of a vast branch of Browns Brasserie. They made changes to the space, notably adding an opaque glass panel on one side of the Upper Room, transforming what was once the rather gloomy back room. The menu at Bellanger is inspired by the “original Alsatian brasseries of Paris” which translates into hearty fare: pommes aligot, chicken schnitzel, five different kinds of sausages, coq au riesling and gateau foret-noire. There are also justly popular tartes flambees: crispy, thin pizzas that are wood fire-cooked and served with sweet or savoury toppings – butter roasted apples with Calvados if that takes your fancy. This is decidedly not diet food but it was perfect for a treat dinner in winter. Now that it’s nominally spring, we’re still going to Bellanger but for breakfast. This is an utterly brilliant venue to start the day: the menu covers all bases from pastries to granola, fruit salads and porridge to mashed avocado on sourdough to eggs any way you like to a Full English. There’s also a choice of four different kinds of hot chocolate, including a Hot Chocolate Gourmand. And if that wasn’t enough to tempt you to visit, there’s an elegant amount of space between tables so that you won’t remotely feel crowded. And, as ever, the service is absolutely spot on: warm and attentive without being fussy.

14th April 201628th October 2021

Suffolk Coast

With its wonderfully traditional seaside towns and some of England’s prettiest villages, Suffolk is one of our favourite weekend escapes. The foodie revolution that has evolved here over the past decade has changed the heritage coast for the better, with plenty of really good places to eat and a new wave of chic pubs with rooms and cool rentals too. Here are some of our favourite places.

Café: Pump Street Bakery, 1 Pump Street, Orford IP12 2LZ (www.pumpstreetbakery.co.uk)

The Iken sourdough is amazing, the almond croissants a revelation and unsurprisingly there is always a queue and the door at this beautifully designed bakery and café on the market square in this utterly charming village. The bread and excellent pastries are also available at Snape Maltings and via Cedric the travelling Citroen van.

Café: Two Magpies Bakery, 88 High Street, Southwold, IP18 6DP ( www.twomagpiesbakery.co.uk)

You wait years for a decent bakery and then two come along at once. Like the Pump Street Bakery, this newish shop in Southwold has quickly gained cult status for its excellent loaves, fabulous cakes and pastries and always-packed café. The bacon sandwich here, served on Magpie white with a home-made ketchup, is arguably the best bacon sandwich in England.

Shop & Holiday Apartments: Snape Maltings, Bridge Road, Snape, IP17 1SR (www.snapemaltings.co.uk)

There are many brilliant things about the collection of shops and cafes at Snape Maltings: the gorgeously edited home store and kitchen shop, the second outpost of the Pump Street bakery and the cute kids store, Little Rascals. There’s also a highly addictive and vast collection of vintage cutlery at the antique shop here. But it’s also a really lovely place to stay with well designed and equipped apartments and houses – some with fabulous views over the reed beds towards Iken. And of course this is the home of the Aldeburgh festival too.

Pub & Rooms: The Crown, The Street, Westleton IP17 3AD (www.westletoncrown.co.uk)

This beautiful pub in one of Suffolk’s quintessential country villages dates back to the 12th century and not only does great food but also has chic, simple rooms either in the main building or in small barn-style buildings outside.

Pub & Rooms: The Anchor, The Street, Walberswick IP18 6UA (www.anchoratwalberswick.com)

Good gastro pub food with a genuine emphasis on fantastic local produce as well as cedar cabins and rooms that are a stone’s throw from the glorious beach and sandy dunes of this pretty village.

Rental House: The Dune House, Thorpeness (www.living-architecture.co.uk)

This stunning house (part of the Living Architecture group) sleeps 9 and gets booked up almost as soon as the year begins – and it’s easy to see why: standing on the dunes at Thorpeness, a mile or so from Aldeburgh the Jarmund/Vigsnaes and RIBA award-winning house has direct access onto the beach, spectacular sea views as well as beautiful, cool and calming Scandi interiors.

Shops: The Walled Garden, Park Road, Benhall IP17 1JB (www.thewalledgarden.co.uk) and Woottens, Wenhaston IP19 9HD (www.woottensplants.co.uk)

Originally created in the 1800s as the kitchen garden for nearby Benhall Lodge, the gorgeous Walled Garden nursery has been lovingly remodelled and revitalised by the current owners over the past three decades. It’s a tranquil spot to browse the vast selection of shrubs, climbers, perennials and vegetables. There’s a big green house full of clay pots too. Up the A12 at Wenhaston you’ll find the inspiring collection of plants at Woottens which has a particular specialism in bearded irises, auriculas and pelargoniums.

Cinema: The Electric Picture Palace, Blackmill Road, Southwold (07815 769565)

This magical 68 seat cinema is a tiny gem; based on the Edwardian style of the original cinema opened in Southwold in 1912. You have to sign up to the Southwold Film Society newsletter to receive seasonal programmes and tickets sell like hot cakes.

Restaurant: Aldeburgh Fish & Chips, 226 High Street, Aldeburgh, IP15 5DB

You can get a take-away for the beach or eat in at the two branches of Aldeburgh’s world-famous fish and chip shop. In the summer queues can stretch for 20 or 30 yards on busy weekends but the world-class cod and chips is well worth the wait.

13th April 201628th October 2021

Brunch at Kricket

We had heard good things about Kricket, a restaurant in Brixton which specialises in Indian influenced cooking. And we were delighted when they started serving Sunday brunch. The menu is short: only 6 dishes priced £4-£8. We plumped for 4 dishes between 2, kicking off with duck egg bhurji which is a kind of scrambled eggs made with sautéed onions, chillies and spices. It’s deliciously rich and particularly good when mopped up with the crispy paratha it comes served with. The most expensive dish, kichri, was our companion’s favourite: smoked haddock, yellow moong dal, pickled cauliflower and a raw egg – don’t be nervous about the raw egg, in reality, it’s far less daunting than it sounds. We were also fans of the avocado raita with a poached egg alongside crunchy, sugary pancetta which had been cured with chilli, jaggery and star anise. And for good measure, we had the goan sausage roll — a spicy version of this classic, served with coriander chutney and onions. Suffice to say we didn’t need to eat again until the evening. More importantly, this is a brilliant brunch venue for anyone who is frankly bored of their usual options. It’s also worth saying that the service is charming without being over the top.

13th April 201613th April 2016

Moa

We were recently introduced to the all-natural (and vegan) skin care brand Moa by a friend and we’ve been basking in the balms and oils ever since. The hero product is the Green Balm (from £4.99), a rich potion for softening and moisturising dry skin that can either be used on its own or combined with a hot cloth for a serious detoxing cleanse. The blend of yarrow and tea tree oils can also be used for all sorts of other ailments from treating burns and rashes, hydrating chapped lips and to help heal cuts and scrapes – making it a great all round bathroom cabinet must-have. The range also includes a minty Fortifying Green Bath Potion (£27.50) which soothes aching muscles and seems to have a very effective mind-clearing powers too and a really lovely face oil – the Aphrodite oil (£20), which blends rosehip with rose geranium, damask rose and yarrow, is very light but intensely moisturising. And like all the other Moa goodies it smells heavenly too.

6th April 20167th April 2016

The Trouble with Women by Jacky Fleming

We have long been fans of Jacky Fleming’s wonderful feminist cartoons. Her latest book, The Trouble with Women was inspired by watching a documentary about artistic geniuses — no women were featured. Fleming decided to research the topic of female geniuses and managed to fill eleven notebooks on the subject.

This might sound like quite a dry subject but crucially, all the cartoons that made it into ensuing book are very funny.

And some are even quite poignant.

This is a thoroughly recommended collection and a diverting gift for a friend.

6th April 20166th December 2017

The New Homesteader

Most city dwellers harbour a not so secret desire to escape to the country and Nick & Bella Ivins’ recently published book, The New Homesteader, is perfect fuel to the fire. The couple left London a decade ago to set up home at Walnuts Farm – a picturesque smallholding on the Sussex Weald that’s a favourite with fashion shoots and has featured in many editorial pages such as the couple’s bucolic serialisation in Country Living magazine. Now Nick, a photographer, and Bella have gathered all their homesteading knowledge together in this book. There are lots of things here that only the very committed might do (raise your own livestock including pigs, lambs and quails, or grow a coppice to create your own woven hazel fencing) but there are plenty of projects most of us would take on: starting a kitchen garden from scratch, planting an orchard, nurturing a wildflower meadow or foraging for wild food for example. The book is beautifully produced and thoroughly readable and it’s likely that even those who own nothing more than a city balcony will be seduced by the Ivins’ self-sufficient existence.

The New Homesteader by Bella & Nick Ivins, photography by Nick Ivins, published by Ryland Peters & Small

30th March 201630th March 2016

Padella

One of our favourite dishes at Trullo, the Italian restaurant in Highbury, is the 8 hour Dexter beef shin ragu served with pappardelle. It’s offered as a starter but we like it so much that we’ve sometimes had it as a main course – it’s certainly filling enough and feels like the main event. And now the team behind Trullo – Jordan Frieda and chef Tim Siadatan – have opened a new restaurant, Padella, south of the river. All the pasta will be freshly made in full view of anyone passing by the restaurant’s window in Borough Market, shortly before being served. And the glorious thing about a restaurant devoted to serving pasta is how cheap it is – main courses range from £5.50 to £9.80 which gives one licence to be greedy and have more than one, frankly. The best way to eat here is probably to dispense with starters (although you might want a salad from the antipasti list) and order 3 pasta dishes between two. We liked the squid ink tagliarini with Essex mussels, wild oregano & chilli as well as a light ravioli of ricotta and sage butter and the tagliatelle with Italian fennel sausage ragu. We’re also interested to see the promised seasonal variations to the menu. This is probably not the place to spend a whole evening. It is, however, one of the few places in London where you could manage to eat for £15 a head without having a burger. You could even add a negroni into the bargain.

30th March 201627th October 2021

The Osborne & Little sample sale

If you’re looking for bargains for your interiors, then this is the sale to go to. There will be big discounts of up to 75% on a wide selection of fabrics, wallpapers, cushions and ex-display items from Osborne & Little, Nina Campbell and Lorca. If you’re taking your car, parking is available at The Q-Park Horseferry Road car park, visit www.q-park.co.uk go to the London Horseferry Road car park page, click on Pre-Booking and enter the promotional code RHS when making your booking. See you there!