Pie and a Pint deal for Pie Week

Having got amongst a chorizo and butter bean pie last night, my enthusiasm for British Pie Week is now fully stoked. But lo, it gets better -- some of South London's best gastropubs are getting in on the action with a pie and pint deal for just £10. Better yet, the deal runs well past Pie Week until 15th March.

Participating pubs include The Avalon, The Stonhouse and The Abbeville in Clapham, The Bolingbroke in Battersea and The White Hart in Kennington and you can choose from pies which include a rich rabbit pie with black pudding and prunes; and a full monty take on Desperate Dan’s favourite cow pie, packed with braised steak oxtail, tongue and tripe. Other pies include; chicken, ham and tarragon; beef and chorizo; and cottage pie.

You can choose from any draught lager and some selected bottled beers, but most pies pair better with a real ale like the award-winning Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, Meantime Pale Ale or a guest ale including Doombar from Cornwall, Bedford-brewed Bombardier and Edinburgh’s Deuchars Caledonian.

Venue details below:

• The Avalon, 16 Balham Hill, London SW12 9EB. T: 020 8675 8613
• The Stonhouse, 165 Stonhouse Street, London SW4 6BJ. T: 020 7819 9312
• The Abbeville, 67-69 Abbeville Road, London SW4 9JW. T: 020 8675 2201
• The Bolingbroke, 174 Northcote Road, Battersea, London SW11 6RE. T: 020 7228 4040
• The White Hart, 185 Kennington Lane, London SE11 4EZ. T: 020 7735 1061

Click here for more information

Comments welcome.

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Heston Blumenthal's superb lunatic display

I spend alot of time eating, drinking and writing about both, but I'll admit I barely watch any of the food programming on TV, in much the same way as an accountant doesn't come home in the evenings and do the family accounts -- it's too much like work. But given the excited build-up ahead of Heston Blumenthal's new Feasts series on Channel 4, I demured.



Without doubt one of the strangest food series ever commissioned, on the strengh of the opening show -- Heston had a luminescent absinthe jelly gyrating with multiple vibrators in deference to the Victorian classic Alice in Wonderland. Not to mention the absinthe carnage in France which involved a wholly unnecessary trip to taste the 'green fairy' in its spiritual birthplace. The wholly edible garden with soil of black olives, clay-covered potatoes and stuffed crickets was sheer, fantastical, madness and huge entertaining stuff. It seems the Channel 4 execs have finally admitted that no-one watching food programming actually attempts to cook what's on display for themselves and have come out pie-eyed and guns a-blazing.

Unaccustomed to using the 'series link' on my Sky remote, I've now exercised it for the first time this year -- with the expectation that there's more madness to follow.

See Last Night's TV at the Guardian for more:

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It's British Pie Week!

Call me cynical, but it may well be that British Pie Week isn't a 'proper' designated week, in the sense that there's no time off from the office, no 'bearded man in awkward hat-of-thorns' associated with it and there's no sense of a charitable whip-round in aid of it. More to the point, it's primarily promoted by Jus-Rol, purveyors of pastry across the UK and, co-incidentally, a key ingredient in any humble pie.



That aside, I like a pie as much as the next man and if there's an excuse to get amongst one, count me in. Besides, I already have some pastry in the freezer (yes, it's Jus-Rol) so technically I've not sold-out to participate.

To get things off to an excellent start, use Rick Stein's chorizo and butter bean stew recipe for the innards, then top and tail with pastry. Incidentally, the recipe comes from Rick's latest book, Coast to Coast -- read my review on the delicious. website here and buy the book from Amazon here.

Of course, for a quick route to success, get hold of a pie from Higgidy Pies -- they're the same pies you'll find in EAT sandwich shops, and available in selected Sainsbury's stores.

British Pie Week runs until Sunday 8th March 2009. Click here for more information.

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Growers afraid our taste for coffee is going off the boil

Published Date: 23 February 2009

As Fairtrade fortnight begins, Craig Butcher asks if trouble is brewing for the world's coffee giants?

Click here to read one version of the feature online at the Yorkshire Post Read More......

Galvin Bistro offers credit crunch lunch

If you're sick of the same ham and cheese sandwiches you keep bringing in to the office, you're not alone. Not if Galvin Bistrot de Luxe is anything to go by -- packed with business diners on a recent Wednesday lunchtime shirking the credit crunch for a superb-value set lunch.



Offering a three course set lunch Monday through Saturday for £15.50 plus service, this is classic French bistro dining at a fraction of the price. The eponymous French bistro of Galvin brothers Chris and Jeff has won awards and favourable reviews aplenty -- Winner of the Drinking Out Excellence Awards "French Wine Restaurant of the Year 2009" and "French Restaurant of the Year" at the London Restaurant Awards last year. But more importantly, they've won over cash-strapped customers. Granted, these are business-class diners eating out on expenses, but they're doing so at economy seat prices.

The set lunch on my visit gave a choice of ballotine of ham hock and lentils or veloute of wild mushrooms to start with, followed by Barnsley chop with roasted potatoes and grilled tomatoes or Cornish pollack with Meditteranean vegetables. The ham hock was similar to a terrine, with a refreshing puy lentil aioli, while the pollack was a whopping piece of dense white fish accompanied by, amongst other things, a zippy olive oil marinaed. All superbly cooked, immaculately presented and personably proffered by the native French staff. Dessert choice was a homemade rhubarb panna cotta or Brie de Meaux with walnut and raisin bread. The panna cotta was an excellent palate cleanser after a hefty meal (not to mention the £21 bottle of Le Saboutin Rhone...)

With wine and service you're nudging £20 per head but with such quality cooking in a relaxed environment, it's something of a bargain.

Restaurant details:

Galvin Bistrot de Luxe

66 Baker Street

London

W1U 7DJ
United Kingdom

T: +44 (0) 20 7935 4007

F: +44 (0) 20 7486 1735
E: info@galvinrestaurants.com

Map & Directions: Click here

Opening hours:

• Lunch: Monday – Saturday 12pm – 2 30pm (last orders)
• Lunch: Sunday 12pm – 3 30pm (last orders)
• Dinner: Monday – Wednesday 6pm – 10 30pm (last orders)
• Dinner: Thursday – Saturday 6pm – 11pm (10 45pm last orders)
• Dinner: Sunday 6pm – 9 30pm (last orders)

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