Brockley: A view from Sydney

I was asked to write an article for the excellent Brockley Central website reflecting on what has changed in the three and a half years that I've been away. Below are my thoughts (along with an intro from Nick).... 

Marge: We have those in America. They're called bull frogs. 
Australian: That's weird! I'd have called them chuzzwazzers!
- The Simpsons, Bart vs Australia 

We met Richard at the first full-scale BC Drinks, back in the days when Jam Circus was practically the only show in town, we knew most of our regular readers by name and people would see fit to moan about a pint costing a whopping £3.20 (the price points change, but the gripes stay the same). So his departure shortly afterwards felt like a bitter betrayal - we take it personally when any of you leave. Happily, four years later, he's back. Since he was around when Brockley was invented in 2007 we asked him to reflect on how the place had changed in his absence. Here's what he says:

When I left for Australia Brockley felt like an area with potential, a burst of exciting developments tantalisingly on the horizon. Returning to Brockley it feels like an area that has started to deliver on its potential. Excitingly a momentum has developed that will hopefully mean we don't have to wait so long for more improvements to come!

The first thing I noticed on my return was Brockley Common, the area outside the station looks fantastic. The removal of barriers on Brockley Road and the remodelling of the pavements around Brockley Cross to get rid of all the double parked vans has really improved the area around the station.

The second thing I noticed was how Brockley's shops and restaurants have improved. Old favourites (e.g. Meze Mangal, Barbur, Broca, Jam Circus) have been retained. While places that I remember have disappeared - Toads Mouth Too, Dandelion Blue, Moonbow Jakes - happily their sites have all be taken over by new ventures which appear to be drawing in the crowds. Finally are new businesses that have opened up which I'm keen to check out, including El's Kitchen, Brockley's Rock and Coopers Bakehouse. 

I've been to the fantastic Brockley Market twice. Sydney has some amazing farmers markets and I'm pleased that I have somewhere similar to shop from in SE4.

Our areas green spaces have also been improved while I've been away. Perhaps I didn't notice before, but we seem to have a lot of them too! The Green Chain and Waterlink Way join up some great parks that have had their facilities improved. I'm sure we didn't have as many children's playgrounds, sporting facilities and picnic benches when I left. It really isn't very hard to escape from the traffic and enjoy some time, or in my case a run, through a long chain of parks.

Has the demographic in Brockley subtly shifted? It feels like there are more young professionals and new families in the area. Over dinner in the Orchard, observing the patrons at Browns of Brockley and seeing shops like Gently Elephant makes me think the area is becoming younger and more affluent?

Finally our neighbours seem to be changing too. Development from Greenwich has extended along the High Road and connects almost seamlessly with Deptford which is undergoing an enormous transformation. New Cross seems to be moving up too, I've been particularly enjoying the London Particular café.

I'm very pleased to be back in Brockley. Living closer to Lewisham Way than Brockley station I'm hoping some of the regeneration will rub off on us too. One day the shipping container will go. One day!

My Olympic weekend: Part 2

Olympic Stadium

While the first part of my Olympic weekend might have been a slow burner, I was very excited at the prospect of visiting the Olympic park. Can it really feel like the Olympics unless you've been inside the athletics stadium?

We arrived early at the Olympic park fearing that the travel might be a lot more painful than it actually was. Getting out of Stratford station was a little crowded, but just like at the Excel centre the security checks were a breeze.

We had an hour or so before we needed to take our seats in the main stadium and decided to check out part of the Olympic park. We found our way off the main pedestrian super highway which links up all the venues and down onto one the canal side paths. The smaller riverside paths were the best bit of the parklands for me. Away from the bustling crowds they allowed you to relax, check out the plants and some of the art installations.

We also found our way over to the Copper Box which I was keen to check out. It wasn't quite as impressive as I thought it might be. The copper is in the intermediate stage where it is no longer shiny, but hasn't yet turned green. There was a large sign outside of the 'box' telling you to run and I couldn't resist the photo opportunity (see below)

The Olympic flame

We then headed into the Olympic stadium. Yeah! Seated high up at one end we had fantastic views of the whole track and field. The atmosphere in the stadium can only be described as electric. Everyone was there to have a great time and that really came across.

As we had morning tickets we only saw heats: men's discus, women's 100m hurdles, women's shot put, men's 800m and women's 1500m. There was a Team GB competitor in every event and the crowd went absolutely bonkers cheering them on. Lawrence Okoye made it into the discuss final with one of his last throws and the place erupted. Okoye was bouncing round the track so excited to have qualified. It made you very proud to be British.

In some of the women's 1500m heats there was a runner who came home ~10 seconds after everyone else and the crowd gave them a huge cheer. it was almost trying to lift them over the line as if we thought they weren't going to make it. Even though they still ran a time the rest of us couldn't even dream of!

Our time in the stadium was over all too quickly. Athletics was the ticket I'd really wanted and it lived up to expectations.

Well it says run. Outside the Copper Box

We had a couple of hours free before we needed to enter the swimming pool for the synchronised swimming so decided to head to the far side of the park as I wanted to walk past the velodrome. By this time the Olympic Park was totally packed with all of the morning and afternoon visitors there trying to soak up the atmosphere.

We took the pedestrian super highway across to the velodrome and then managed to find a path down to the canal side for the walk back to the swimming pool. Just as in the morning it was very refreshing to be down by the water.

Although I did enjoy the Olympic parklands they were a bit smaller than I expected. I'd heard so much about them being enormous and I was expecting something more on the scale of Sydney's Olympic park. I wasn't at the Sydney Olympics, but did visit Homebush a few times while I was in Australia, and the parklands there are much larger. I think I'd let my imagination get a bit carried away with how big they might be!

The Royal Barge

In the afternoon we were had tickets for the pairs sycnronised swimming. The first thing I noticed as I entered the pool was the stifling heat and humidity, it really was quite oppressive. Luckily after a while they opened some windows behind us and things cooled down a bit.

The pairs sychronised swimming was better than the fencing, but not as exciting as the athletics. There were twenty four nations competing in the heats to make the final and we left with quite a few others after the British pair came on nineteenth.

Getting back to Stratford station was a scrum, but we miraculously had an empty DLR train home.

Restaurant Review: The Begging Bowl, Peckham

Salad of grilled beef, roasted rice and baby gem lettuce

No sooner had I had a little moan on my friend John's blog that so Westernised and insipid is Thai food outside of Thailand (and notably exceptions like Chat Thai and Sailors Thai) that I wasn't going to bother eating Thai food any more; I read Hollow Leg's review of The Begging Bowl in Peckham and I was sucked straight back in!

With the promise of authentic Thai flavours I hastily arranged to meet my friend Ed in Bar Story for a drink followed by dinner at the Begging Bowl.

The restaurant is located on a bustling cross roads in Peckham. With the front of the restaurant open to the street and tables spilling onto the pavement The Begging Bowl was proving very popular. With a no reservations policy we overheard several tables nearby saying they were pleased to get in after a couple of unsuccessful attempts.

The first thing I noticed was the rather micro tables packed closely together, followed by the heady smell of Thai chilli, herbs and spices. While the prospect of elbow clashing didn't excite me the smells wafting from the kitchen certainly did.

Fish cakes with a sweet chilli sauce

All of the dishes are designed for sharing. We started with the taste sensation that was a salad of grilled beef, roasted rice and baby gem lettuce (£7.50). The tender beef was topped with crunchy roasted rice that has been ground more coarsely that I'm used to. What made the dish special was the dressing of fish sauce, lime, chilli and fresh mint in the salad. It was hot, sour, salty and refreshing all at the same time.

We also ordered the fish cakes with a sweet chilli sauce (£5.50). My experience of Thai fishcakes is that they usually round, flat and springy in texture. These fishcakes are light and had a more open texture.

Stir fried tofu, snake beans, baby sweetcorn, 

cashew nuts and coconut cream

Next up was the stir fried tofu, snake beans, baby sweetcorn, cashew nuts and coconut cream (£9.50). This dish was unlike anything I've had in Thailand before. I couldn't determine the main flavours in this one. Tasted on it's own the sauce was overwhelmingly salty, but didn't taste like it was dominated by fish sauce. As Ed remarked if this was the only dish you'd ordered you would be perfectly happy, but it didn't quite live up to the others.

Green curry of rabbit with appl aubergines, 

pea aubergines and baby corn

Our final dish was the green curry of rabbit with apple aubergines, pea aubergines and baby corn (£9.50). The curry tasted like it was homemade, not dissimilar to the curry pastes I tasted at Sailors Thai. Fragrant kaffir lime was followed by the complex and spicy curry. The flavour of the rabbit was dominated by the curry and didn't come through. The rabbit also tasted cold as if it has been cooked separately and added just before serving.

Overall I was very impressed with the food at The Begging Bowl. The service was friendly although being crammed into a corner of the restaurant meant it was little difficult to get the attention of the waiters / waitresses at points during the evening.

The authentic Thai flavours made both Ed and I reminisce over our holidays to Thailand.

The Begging Bowl
168 Bellenden Road
London
SE15 4BW

Eltham Palace

The Great Hall at Eltham Palace

With no tickets for the Sunday afternoon of our Olympic weekend we decided to visit nearby Eltham Palace.

The building was a really interesting place that has a fascinating history. Built as a medieval palace in the 1300s the original foot print is much larger than you see today. The current Great Hall dates from the 15th Century and the remainder of the building was modelled in the 19th Century.

We decided to take advantage of a sunny spell when we arrived and look round the gardens. Laid out in the drained moat, a walled kitchen garden and some wilder meadows they were all attractively planted and interested to look round.

Mum and Dad in the moat of Eltham Palace

After the gardens we decided to head inside the house. You enter through a rather institutional corridor (installed by the RAF who used the palace during and after WWII) and then arrive in an absolutely fabulous art deco entrance hall. I was expecting a medieval interior, or worse more formica, but I definitely wasn't expecting wood panelled splendour.

The stunning art deco entrance hall

In the 1930s Eltham Palace was purchased by the Courtauld family who undertook major renovations. The downstairs of the palace has some fabulous art deco reception rooms. Thankfully they retained the great hall with its original medieval features.

The upstairs of the palace wasn't quite as fabulous, but still interesting to look round. We finished our tour with a slice of homemade cake in the coffee shop.

Eltham Palace was surprising gem, not too far from home.

My Olympic weekend: Part 1

Marathon course

Last year I managed to buy some Olympic tickets conveniently concentrated around the middle weekend. I missed out in the main ballot, but managed to get the tickets everyone wanted - fencing, synchronised swimming and athletic heats - in the second chance offer.

After the opening ceremony and the gripping cycling events of the first week I was highly excited by the time it came to see some live events. I pulled on my London 2012 top and set forth for an Olympic filled weekend.

Fencing arena

On the Saturday morning mum, dad, Ruth and I had tickets for the women's fencing épée heats at the Excel centre. The transport and security checks were incredibly efficient and we had our first experience of the friendly London 2012 volunteers as we entered the Excel centre.

The fencing arena looked very cool lit up between boats, but the fencing itself was a bit less exciting. We were tucked right into one corner (cheap tickets) and didn't have the greatest view. It was also a bit confusing to work out what was going on quite a lot of the time.

The competitors both seemed to hit each other simultaneously and you had to follow the scoreboard or their illuminating helmets to work out who had actually scored. The boats were three minutes long, but they frequently stopped early for reasons I couldn't fathom.

The biggest cheers of the day were reserved for the rowing being shown on a big screen, so I don't think we were the only ones not to understand the fencing!

Women's marathon

We didn't have any tickets for the Sunday, but decided to head into the centre of town to watch the women's marathon. We took up a spot near St Pauls in the driving rain and waited for the runners to come past. We were standing at the eight mile mark and the main group of leaders was still in a big bunch.

Following my run coaching sessions I was keen to check out the technique of some elite runners. I was surprised to see some heel strikers amongst them and a few athletes who were more my shape then elite looking runners!

The first two days of my Olympic weekend were a slow burner. I was looking forward to visiting the main Olympic park.

Istanbul: A day of palaces

Outside the Dolmabahce Palace

Reading my friend John's travel blogs from New York, I remember thinking the idea of moving hotels mid week was excellent. It gives you the chance to try out two different areas of a city. The only the risk is if your second hotel is a lemon and you wish you'd never moved!

Despite my nagging concerns we decided to split our time between the old and new towns of Istanbul. Our first hotel in the new town two tram stops from the Dolmabahce Palace, and our second hotel was a short walk from the Topkaki Palace. It seemed rude not to visit both on the day of our transfer.

The Dolmabahce Palace was built by the Sultan between 1843 and 1856. It truly is an impressive building built on an vast scale. The palace can be roughly split into three areas; public rooms, a central ballroom and the private quarters of the palace.

Grand entrance gate of the palace

Access to the palace is only available through a rather disappointing guided tour. You can buy a ticket for just the public rooms and ballroom, or for the whole palace. I decided to go for the full monty.

Both tours route marched us through room, after amazing room. My museum tolerance isn't that high, but even I would have liked to have learnt more about the carpets, furniture and ornaments than our rather tight lipped guides deemed to share with us. As one of the cities premiere tourist sites with rather high ticket prices I found the standard of the tour incomprehensible. Surly it can't be too hard to do better?

Even without much commentary you can't help but be impressed by the palace and it's furnishings. All of the rooms are on a grand scale and even the private quarters (which the guide books seem to be unfairly rude about) struck me as rather smart.

Inside a courtyard at the Topkaki Palace

After checking into our new hotel and a short siesta it was time to hit the Topkaki Palace, which was home of the Ottoman Sultans until the moved out in 1856.

Unlike my morning experience, Topkaki was a self guided experience and we were free to roam the grounds of the palace and in and out of the various buildings that were open to the public. It was also distinctly Turkish compared with the Baroque / Neo-classical styles of the Dolmabache Palace.

Door and mosiacs in the harem

We spent the majority of our time in the harem, wandering round the private quarters of the palace. Some of the mosiacs, tiles and frescos in the bedrooms were fantastic. Although beautiful you can see that the quarters might not have been the most practical and the Sultan was yearning for some modern luxuries and so decided to build a new palace.

The Baghdad pavilion in the Topkaki Palace

After the harem I was approaching my 'culture quota' for the day so we headed for a look round some of the gardens. There are great views of the Bosphorus and Golden Horn from some of the terraces which overlook the water.

One of our final stops was the Baghdad Pavilion. I'm not quite sure of the origins of the name, but it certainly was a mighty fine summer house.

Discoveries of the weekend

Fresh blackberries

I love fresh berries, but have an aversion to paying exorbitant prices for them. When I saw a tweet from Sue that there were fresh blackberries ready for picking in the local cemetery I made a beeline straight there.

I hadn't been into the cemetery before. Many of the graves were overgrown with weeds, but importantly brambles too. Quite a few people had obviously had the same idea, so lots of the easy pickings were gone and I have quite a few scratches from wading through the bushes to get at unpicked berries.

Being a grave yard, it was also a moral dilemma. Is it ok to stand on an overgrown grave to pick blackberries? Balance on someones headstone?

After forty five minutes I'd managed to fill two ice cream containers. There were lots of unripe berries too, so I'm sure they'll be a good supply over the next couple of weekends as well.

Ice cream sandwich

This weekend I also did some experimentation for my sister's wedding using the pork I bought at Jimmy's farm (more on that later). Deciding I needed a dessert for my recipe testers I had the urge to make a mini ice cream sandwich.

I made super gooey chocolate cookies and sandwiched some raspberry ripple ice cream between them. Tonight's take was enhanced by some of my hard won berries.

Chocolate cookies adapted from this Mary Berry recipe.

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate

50g butter

1 x 405g tin of light condensed milk

225g self raising flour

A handful of dried fruit / mixed peel

Method:

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over boiling water.

Once the butter and chocolate are melted, remove from the heat and stir in the condensed milk.

Place the flour and dried fruit / mixed peel in a (larger) separate  bowl and then add the chocolate mixture. Give everything a good stir to combine.

Place large heaped teaspoons of the mixture on a lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 15mins at 180 degrees. After 15mins they won't look cooked, but remove them from the oven as they will firm up and you want them to remain gooey.

The volume of mixture should make approximately 50 small to medium cookies like mine. I only baked 20 cookies and put the rest of the dough into my freezer. Not something I've done before so hopefully it will be ok when I next want to bake!

The original recipe called for white chocolate chips instead of dried fruit. I decided that with the ice cream there was going to be a lot of sweetness already so would try some dried fruit instead (although fruit isn't exactly savoury). I bought a cheap bag of mixed sultanas, raisins and 'other' mixed fruit. There seems to be some dried orange peel in the mix which I'm loving.

Restaurant Review: Chatkhara, Elephant & Castle

 

Saag aloo

To celebrate my final night in Kennington I went out for dinner with my good friends Ed and Vix. We decided to try an Indian restaurant I'd seen on the nearby Walworth Road. When I'd previously walked past, the tandoor at the front of the restaurant was churning out breads and it was packed with Indian customers.

On this particular Wednesday evening it was empty and looked decidedly less inviting. We stood on the pavement outside having the classic "shall we, shan't we" conversation and eventually plucked up the courage to go inside. Seeing a few people enter the shop as we were dithering on the pavement helped us make up our mind.

 Lamb saag

Along one side of the restaurant a range of curries laid out. You make your selection, the curries are heated up and brought to your table. The style of the restaurant reminded me quite a lot of the locantas I'd seen in Turkey.

The young man serving us wasn't overly communicative when we asked for suggestions, so we made a few random choices (after another bout of indecision) and took our seats.

 Chicken Korma

Easily my favourite dish of the night was the lamb saag (£4.50). Fall apart tender pieces of lamb were served with spinach in an a aromatic and spicy sauce. It had real depth and interest that kept me going back for more.

We also ordered a saag aloo (£3.50) which had a similar appearance to the lamb dish, but was made with potatoes instead. Sadly although looking like the lamb saag, it didn't come with the same great blend of spices and was a little less interesting.

 Paratha

Our final two curries were a chicken korma (£4.95) and tarka dal (£3.50). The chicken korma was slightly sweet and the almonds were an easily flavour to detect. The dal was another solid offering.

Accompanying our curries we had a selection of breads. The paratha (£1.25) was a favourite for is bready simplicity and the peshwari naan (£2) was covered in melted butter / ghee and filled with coconut and currants. It almost could have been a dessert.

Peshwari Nan

To wash everything down we had a huge jug of mango lassi (£7). We'd only ordered two glasses of lassi and were a little surprised when a whole jug arrived, however, none of us were complaining once we'd tasted it.

We had quite a feast for under £26 which is incredible value. If we could root out a few more gems like the lamb saag, this place would be an exceptional find.

Chatkhara
84 Walworth Road
London
SE1 6SW

Istanbul: Culinary Secrets of the Old City: Part 1

Spices

We decided to book the Istanbul Eats Culinary Secrets of the Old City walking tour while we were in Istanbul. Run by a group of bloggers they promise to take you off the beaten track and show you some of Istanbul's gems that the ordinary tourist won't find.

It's the sort of thing that I absolutely love, which makes it all the more odd that I woke up that the morning in a bit of a grump.

We met our friendly guide, Megan, and fellow walkers near the Spice Market. Our first stops were a cheese shop, a place selling olives and butchers located just outside of the market. It was in one ear and out of the other as I was silently harrumphing that this was neither secret nor a back street. I'm not quite sure what my problem was!

After the shops we headed to a coffee warehouse tucked away just off the Spice Market. The entrance was almost hidden and the type of place thousands of tourists would walk past every day without even noticing. Small plastic stools were pulled up round a low table, newspaper laid out and breakfast placed on top. It was dark, authentically Turkish and a little bit grubby. This was more like it!

Simit and kaymak with newspaper as our tablecloth

Once thing you notice in Instanbul is that shop keepers, in fact virtually everyone, is permanently drinking tea. Tucked under the stairs of the warehouse, near our makeshift table, was a small tea house. Orders were being shouted in and bells ringing. All the time the men in the tea house were unhurriedly making drinks and calmly carrying them out to their customers on trays. I had been wondering where all the tea came from and now I had the answer.

As I tucked into our breakfast of simit and kaymak, Megan explained what was in store for us during the rest of the day. We were going to be a meeting group of ustas (master craftsman) who were all real characters, passionate about what they do and some of the best cooks in the city. The other thing that was clear we had a lot of food heading our way. My grey mood was definitely gone and I was excited.

Simit is the breakfast of Istanbul. Shaped like a bagel, the best ones are crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. Dipped in grape molasses and covered in sesame seeds simit are a good morning filler. What really bought these simit alive was the dreamy kaymak that we dipped them in. Cream made from the milk of water buffalo the kaymak had been doused in honey. The taste came from the beautifully scented honey, but the texture was all from the clotted like cream. Kaymak is the sort of thing you want to eat every day of your life, even if it will take you to an early grave.

Balancing out the cream (?) we had some Balikesir cheese. A firm and salty cheese without a lot of flavour (which seems to be how the Turkish like their cheese).

 Gorkem the kokorec usta

Our first stallholder of the day was Gorkem the kokrec usta. Gorkem gave up the opportunity to go to university to learn how to become a master of the kokorec sandwich. The kid certainly has some flair with his shiny black shoes and pink shirt. Not your usual scruffy street stall vendor look. He apparently drives a suped up Corvette imported from the US too.

Kokorec cooking over wood

Kokorec is offal wrapped in an intestine and cooked over wood. Once cooked the kokorec is finely chopped and fried on the grill with some wild thyme, chilli and salt. It is finished in a roll with some fresh tomato.

Eating the sandwich I had an upfront hit from the wild thyme with chilli building as I ate more. I found that the offal was a (pleasant) textural element and I didn't get a strong taste of the sweet meats. The bread had a soft crust and chewy inside. A great snack beyond my expectations.

Kokorec sandwich

After the kokorec I was already full and it was only our second stop!

After a short walk through an area known for selling sacks of all description we stopped in a cave like locanta for a red lentil and bulgar soup similar to the one I made on my cookery course.

The soup is a popular Turkish dish, but one that is a little lost on me. It requires a healthy squeeze of fresh lemon to bring out the flavours of the soup. I'm not sure if it is traditional but I added some hot paprika too.

We ended the first leg of our tour with the best pide in Istanbul.