The Japan Centre's 40th Birthday!

I absolutely love the Japan Centre. Recently Michelle from Daisy Butter and I visited and tucked into gorgeous vegetarian sushi, fresh juices and picked up a haul of beautiful Japanese products. From wakame seaweed for a refreshing salad to naughty sweet treats for after work, the Japan Centre literally has everything you could imagine on sale.

This July Japan Centre, London’s only dedicated Japanese Food Hall, will be celebrating its 40^th birthday with a series of promotions, masterclasses, tastings and more. Running from the 10th - 24th July the Shaftesbury Avenue location will showcase their passion and expertise in Japanese cuisine and culture.

Set up by entrepreneur Tak Tokumine in 1976 who started with a small bookshop, the Japan Centre has since grown to become one of the largest and most influential Japanese stores in London, adding a food hall, bakery, deli, restaurant, home-ware department and online service to its portfolio.

On Sunday 10th July the birthday celebrations will launch with 10% off everything in store and online. For the following two weeks, 40 of Taks all time favourite products will be on promotion with savings of up to 40%. 

On top of the promotions, the Japan Centre will host a series of free masterclasses and sampling sessions as well as tastings from some of their notable suppliers. Amongst the list of events will be two ‘Miso, Tofu and Seaweed’ tastings from Clearspring and four Gekkeikan Sake samplings. There will also be ticketed masterclasses where guests can learn the art of sushi, matcha and sake as well as take part in a class run by Masterchef finalist Andrew Kojima, where attendees can learn how to cook with miso and 5th taste, umami.

For a full list of events and to book click here.

To run alongside the 40th birthday celebrations there will be 40 prizes available to win in a prize draw including 3 pairs of return flights to Japan, a Clearspring luxury sushi making kit and cinema tickets. To enter into the draw that opens on June 10th please head to the website. The Japan Centre will also be posting specially created video content and recipes to watch on their social media channels, @JapanCentre, throughout July.

The stores sister restaurants Ichiryu Udon House and Shoryu Ramen will be joining in on the celebrations by offering free sake to all diners o nSunday 10th July and a limited edition Japan Centre cocktail for the whole two-week celebrations. The ‘AKA Forty’ will be a unique Japanese twist on the classic Negroni, which has been aged for 40 days. The bright red colour of the drink symbolising the rising sun of Japan, and will be finished off with a secret ingredient.  

Tweet to @elliemathews1

Two Suppers with Marley Spoon

I’ve never been one for meal delivery services – aside from the odd takeaway of course! I’ve found the idea of having my food measured out, pre-prepared and delivered in a big box a little strange. I’m unsure why, but, there we go. When I was approached to give Marley Spoon a go I was unsure, to say the least – what if I loved having my dinner most-of-the-way pre-pared for me and going forward I couldn’t face the Lidl hell now I know the alternative.

While it’s safe to say I absolutely loved my experience with Marley Spoon, I won’t be missing out on my weekly Lidl trek anytime soon. This month Marley Spoon have collaborated with Olia Hercules, The Observer’s Rising Star of 2015 and author of the celebrated cookbook, Mamushka. Combining her Ukrainian heritage with Cypriot, Italian, Moldovan, Laos and Caucasian influences, to name a few, Olia has created a selection of exciting dishes for Marley Spoon that have featured on both the Two-Person and Family menus. All recipes are delivered with the seasonal ingredients, in exact quantities, to cook at home. I was kindly invited to test out the Spiced Aubergine Mujaddara with Shallot Garnish & Yoghurt and Marley Spoon’s very own Flat Bread Pizzas with Tender Stem Broccoli and Radicchio salad. 

My lovely box arrived on Friday last week to my office at around 10am – just when they said it would arrive so that’s impressive! The meals were portioned into separate brown bags with the loveliest designs across the paper. To say I was a little obsessed with the packaging is a massive understatement. It’s the element of delivery services that many people ignore – why does it matter what box your supper comes in – but Marley Spoon’s packaging made me feel very happy. Alongside the brown paper bags was a sheep’s wool lined cooling bag with the dairy elements in and two recipe cards with beautifully shot images and clear instructions.

We opted for the Flat Bread Pizzas on Friday night – a healthier choice for that naughty end of week treat. The ingredients included Middle Eastern flat breads, tender stem broccoli, pine nuts, mozzarella, and basil, plus spices and dressings for the radicchio salad. The instructions were wonderfully clear and took us through step-by-step. We created the tomato sauce, then prepped the veggies, then cooked the pizza and prepared the salad. Everything was ready in 40 minutes and we were tucking into a delicious, healthy meal which took minimal effort. 

Olia's dish of Spiced Aubergine Mujaddara with Shallot Garnish & Yoghurt was a touch more complex but again the instructions were really well put.The ingredients bag included aubergines, shallots, lentils, yoghurt and dill plus an array of Middle Eastern spices which brought a tonne of flavour to each mouthful. We began by cooking the rice and lentils in a traditional way with the spices being fried off first, moving onto the garam masala aubergine rounds and the sticky sweet onion garnish. The finished dish looked as pretty as the pictures provided (which was a surprise because my presentation skills are, well, rubbish) and tasted incredible!

Will I be ordering from Marley Spoon again? Perhaps - I think it's a great option for special occasions but for my daily life it's a touch too expensive. Portions start from £4.35 per person and can be ordered online here.

Thank you to Marley Spoon for providing the boxes for this review. All opinions are my own and not been influenced in any way by the provision of the boxes.

Tweet to @elliemathews1

REVIEW: Salaam Namaste, Bloomsbury

Today we revisit one of my favourite Indian restaurants in London'; Salaam Namaste in Bloomsbury. I was invited to re-try their iconic menu which is dotted with beautiful Goan dishes and plenty of surprising vegetarian options. I visited with two meat eaters, so this review is packed with dishes for every diner!

The service overall was very friendly and approachable. We were kindly allowed to sit outside and enjoy the late evening sunshine. We began our meal with a few glasses of prosecco to celebrate some exciting news.The prosecco with fresh strawberries was fresh and very sweet, which went down a treat against the food.

We were treated to complimentary spinach, potato and date patties with two different sauces. These were a lovely amuse bouche and featured plenty of the flavours we would later experience with our main dishes. It is always such a nice touch when the kitchen decide to give you something they believe to be one of the best bits – we probably wouldn’t have ordered these as well as our own starters but it was a welcome addition!

We also enjoyed a plate of poppadoms in two flavours with a mix of sauces including spicy tomato, cooling mint and mango chutney. Delicious!

Overall food was very good. I enjoyed a starter dish of potato fig and spinach cakes with a fresh sprialized salad. The texture of the cakes was lovely and soft which I enjoyed with the sweet mango chutney. My guest's prawn starter was really tender and juicy. The spicy sauce worked well against the prawns and the texture was just excellent.

My main course of paneer dumplings with spinach in a rich tomato gravy was absolutely delicious. The rich tomato gravy was exactly that - and super sweet in flavour. The dumplings were lovely and soft which worked perfectly with the tomato sauce. I ate this dish with plenty of pilau rice and garlic naan bread. I highly recommend this dish for vegetarians and non-veggies alike.

My second guest tucked into a dish of tandoori mushrooms. These were the highlight of her entire meal and were perfectly sized for a starter. 

My guest's Green Goan Curry could have been much spicier - the menu states it is hot but unfortunately the finished product is quite mild. There was plenty of chicken within the sauce which worked well against the spiced vegetables.

I really loved the two naan breads that we opted for. The garlic naan was super garlicky, soft and buttery. The date and ginger naans were very sweet and an interesting contrast flavour against the spicier curries. Finally, the black lentils, which is one of my favourite Indian dishes, were so soft and very wet - I know that sounds weird but this is when they are at their best! 
Tweet to @elliemathews1