Food entrepreneur show 2021 at Excel

It is good to see things almost back to normal with the Food entrepreneur show 2021 at Excel.

There were five shows in one event hosted on the 9th & 10th November with the Restaurant & Takeaway innovation expo, Restaurant Bar Tech live, IDE, coffee shop innovation expo and Street Food live!

First things first, I just had to start on my favourites with local but well known brands like McCains, Burtons biscuits, Quorn and McWhinney's.

McCains Food services really owned it with their perfectly fried chips and the Jalapeno cheese popper were divine.

Quorn was also there but sadly, I did not get to sample the new vegan wings.

I have always been a fan of Jammy Dodgers and cookies so it was really good they were there because I found out that they did my favourite Marmite crackers as well.

My favourite meal would have to be a good fry up which wouldn't be complete without a sausage and McWhinney's sausages are simply the best.

They have different meat ratios to choose from.

Having visited Lutosa at the exhibition in Hong Kong which was a godsend for potato products, it was so good to see them at the London booth.

 

Ben & Jerry's, Froneri ice cream and winners for ice cream.

Froneri distributes so many great ice creams like Kelly's of Cornwall, Cadburys etc.

Ben & Jerry's is another popular brand and I would love to see their small tubs as part of supermarket meal deals as well as for restaurants.

Moving on to drinks and coffees, there was a good range of lattes by Sweet Revolution with unique lattes like chicory latte as well as beetroot.

Australian branded Arkadia had these lovely Dirty and Matcha chais as well as fragrant pomegranite chai tea.

I sampled their Dirty Chai, Pomegranate Chai and Matcha Chai.

Although Pomegranate Chai is not made anymore, it was really aromatic yet when you drink, the taste is subtle.

My next favourite was the Dirty Chai which was sweet and bitter perfect for the mornings.

Last but not least is the Matcha Chai which has nice matcha notes without being too grassy.

My next favourite was the Dirty Chai which was sweet and bitter perfect for the mornings.

Last but not least is the Matcha Chai which has nice matcha notes without being too grassy.

Caffe borbone:

My favourite refreshing yet healthy drink was Juno Bamboo water.

https://bamboo-water.com/

On the alcoholic side, I liked the Strawberry spirits made with real strawberries.

Edible cocktail toppers:

Whiskey Water:

https://estuaryworld.com/product/whiskey-water/

Nettle drinks:

CBD drinks:

O donnell moonshine:

For plant based and vegan options, Heura and meatless farms had a booth there.

Heura Foods are also giving out 5000 Christmas Sandwiches which I hope to try soon.

The sandwich spotlights meat-free turkey with rosemary and thyme seasoning, along with cranberry-infused, egg-free mayonnaise. Herby parmentier potatoes, crispy onions, pickled red cabbage, mushroom gravy, and vegan sausage are featured too.

I finally sampled Grenade protein bars which are surprisingly nice like regular snack bars.

Nando's Giant Billboard with FREE personalized Sauce giveaway

I was so lucky to be able to attend the free personalized sauce giveaway from Nandos at their popup at Observation Point South Bank.
It was a huge billboard loaded with sauces.

The queue to this popup was quite fast moving so I managed get there before it was all given away.

I thought the sauces would be in alphabetical order but it wasn't so my best bet was scanning from the top line to the bottom line.

There was so many names from John, Joanna, Lee etc.

Sadly I couldn't find mine so I picked up one for my dad under his name.

To personalize your sauce online, it only costs a tenner:

https://shop.nandos.co.uk/products/peri-peri-sauce?variant=39470107328759

Ramen experience by Benny x Junsei

I went to a ramen popup by Benny Sumadiwiria held at Junsei restaurant which was a two day event with two sessions per evening.

Junsei is located just off Edgeware Road tube station on the backstreets on a residential street which seems rather quiet.

Despite arriving around 5:15pm I was surprised there was another customer as early as me so we were sat next to each other at the bar.

The yakitori is done at the bar while the ramen was cooked in the basement kitchen.

As soon as we arrived, the guy behind the bar was grilling the Guinea Fowl which was for the second and third course of the meal.

Started off with the Amuse goma tofu which was a spoon of soft tofu made with peanuts and sesame topped with wasabi and white ponzu.

Overall, very tasty and similar to Okinawa peanut tofu but the texture of this was like a creme.

Next was the Hamachi in miso buttermilk which was really refreshing because the miso buttermilk tasted like a savoury yoghurt.

Moving on, we were served the Tsukemen by Benny which was surprisingly nice because the Tsukemen had a nice firm texture and I think I tasted a bit of Lye which disappeared when you dip it in the broth.

On the side were two slices of guinea fowl which the chef has been grilling on the Yakitori when we arrived.

I would say the colour and thickness is different to the ones I have tried before.

The broth was very salty but the guy next to me drank it all.

Following the noodles, it was soft shell crab stuffed with miso, brown meat, egg coated in charcoal breadcrumbs.

Overall, it was nice and tasted how it should but I felt that some sauce / fresh lemon wedge should be given.

For the fifth course, it was Guinea fowl served in three different ways cooked on the yakitori.

You eat it from left to right.

I found the first piece the tastiest because the guinea fowl breast slices were paired with shitaake mushroom slices pickled in soy (Shoyuzuke) topped with my favourite green yuzu pepper paste.

The middle skewer was grilled guinea fowl thigh with citrus which had a lovely bouncy texture but I couldn't quite taste the citrus anywhere.

(I think I saw them make the marinade by adding Waitrose orange squash/juice to it but I definitely saw the guinea fowl meat was from a vacuum sealed pouch by Gressinghams).

The third skewer was the tsukune which was minced guinea fowl stuffed with a quail egg inside.

The finale was the tan tan ramen which I liked. It was topped with two slices of rolled chicken which was sliced and grilled on the yakitori so it had a nice charred flavour.

As for the soup it was full of flavour but not too spicy but perhaps on the thin side.

The egg which he said was marinaded for three days had a lovely liquid yolk inside but the egg white was strangely sweet in taste.

Finished with the choux puffs stuff with ginger ice cream dusted with ginger sugar powder.

I managed to finish it all but the guy on my left only ate one as he said he was rather full.

In terms of quality, I was glad I dined earlier because the pair that started later had the same food but the grilled items were already grilled which makes it needs a re-grilling that might affect the taste.

Overall, I really liked the ramen and tsukemen as well as the Yakitori experience but I felt that there was too much Guinea fowl in the courses.

More about the chef:

During the dinner, the Japanese lady was really nice and talkative hence I was able hear more about the chef.

The Chef Benny Sumadiwiria is such a ramen lover that he claims that he ate 30 bowls of ramen a week in Japan which works out 5 a day which I believe is possible as I have been crazy before and did something similar.

In a way I am lucky to have tried his food because he admits he is lazy that he doesn't want to work more than 5 days a week but is interested in becoming a ramen chef.

He was in the news in 2016 for the headlines:

[British chef went temporarily DEAF after eating the world's hottest noodles].

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/british-chef-went-temporarily-deaf-8742641

His instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/supercoolben/

Junsei Restaurant:Address: 132 Seymour Pl, London W1H 1NS

Hours: 

Wednesday 6–10pm

Thursday 1–3:30pm, 6–10pm

Friday 1–3:30pm, 6–10pm

Saturday 1–3:30pm, 6–10pm

Sunday 1–9pm

Monday 6–10pm

Tuesday 6–10pm

Tempura Brussel Sprouts & Gingerbread softserve (vegan) at Marugame

Time flies and it is almost Christmas!

Since the opening of the Liverpool Street branch of Marugame, they already have a second branch at the O2 as well as an upcoming branch just round the corner of Oxford Street near Liberty.

For Christmas, Marugame have launched two new festive items: the tempura Brussels Sprouts and the vegan gingerbread softserve.

You either love or hate sprouts, I'm ok with them so I made a special visit to try the tempura sprouts.

Without further ado, I tried the tempura sprouts.

I wasn't sure how they would turn out because normally you have to blanch them for a while or else the texture would be really hard.

Interestingly the tempura sprouts were not that hard in terms of texture but soft with a firmness and they did not have any bitterness so they were quite nice on their own or with some mayonnaise.

I was iffy about getting the gingerbread softserve because the matcha one I had on the last visit wasn't to my liking so I asked if I could get a sample before paying for it and I was given the biggest sample you could ever imagine!

So to conclude with my super taste buds, the gingerbread softserve was quite nice which I will leave for the next visit. 

While I was dining there, I suddenly noticed some similarities between Japanese Tempura and English chippies.

In English chippies, things are battered and fried which is the same as tempura and with chippies they have chip scraps which is similar to tempura scraps!

Then at the chippies we have pickled eggs and gherkins and the Japanese have pickled ginger!

The scraps are a good way of telling if their frying oil is clean because you can tell from the taste.