Week beginning June 30th - French menu week

Last week the kitchen received a request for this week’s menu from one of our regular clients, Dior. We often do out of house catering for them and this week they have some VIP’s from Paris visiting. The request was a French inspired menu.

I was very much up for this as I’ve been spending a lot of time in Paris this year visiting my boyfriend who works in fashion, Paris is after all is the clothing capital of the world. You may have already noticed I’ve been getting quite a bit of inspiration from my visits to the city of romance, from the canelé to our saffron and pistachio brioche.

First up we have a ‘Quiche Lorraine’, typical French tart found in almost every boulangerie in France. Traditionally made with onion, cheese and ham. I’ve added a new foraged herb to our quiche. A herb I’ve only recently discovered Gallant Soldier, this plant seems to be aptly named, as it is one of our better salad/herb leaves on at present. Until now it has been overlooked and yet it has a very good neutral and balanced flavour. A very clean leaf to add a bit of body, the stems also grow tiny little clusters of blossom that resemble miniature daisies with uneven petals.

In our salad range we have salmon tartare that has been cured in peppery dittander, think wasabi but in the form of white blossom. With carmargue red rice; which grows in the south of France; and roasted chestnuts, lemon and thyme.

Then there is the French equivalent of coleslaw, a remoulade with grated apples, celery, baby capers, pistachio and tarragon. This salad also features another foraged item, wild pea flowers. Visually these rival their well-known cousin the sweet pea yet they don't carry the same heady aroma. The petals are crisp and robust yet overall the flowers are very delicate.

Our last salad for the week is made with puy (baby) lentils mixed with flat parsley, pepper, balsamic, a very young and delicate St Maure goat’s cheese and lastly ripe but tart gooseberries.

We also have Parisian inspired sandwich offerings with fillings that range from champagne hollandaise to soft St Albray cheese.

So please come in and enjoy our magnifique offerings that will make you walk away feeling bon. 

Jared Bryant

Lead Chef

Kaffeine

@redjar50

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70 (GF, V)
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet muffin: Apple and Calvados (V) 2.40
Savoury Scone: French onion and gruyere (V) 2.40
Friand: Apricot and Regents Park Elderflower (V, GF) 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Raspberry and coconut slice 2.00
Canele 2.40

Lunch

French retro baguettes 5.00
Ham, Gruyère. Dijon, gherkin, red onion, spinach

Tuna champagne hollandaise, with cucumber, dill and rocket (V)

Foccacias 5.30

French lamb meat loaf with St Albray cheese, tomato and rocket
Tomato, burrata, basil, garlic mayonnaise and spinach. (V)

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Carmargue red rice with salmon and dittander tartare, roasted chestnuts, thyme and lemon (F, R)

Celery, apple, capers, pistachio with tarragon and remoulade dressing and garnished with pea shoot flowers(V, R)

Puy lentils with St Maure goats cheese and gooseberries (VE)

Tart: 5.50 or 7.90 with salad
Quiche Lorraine with Gallant Soldier herb

Sweet muffin: Apple and Calvados (V) 2.40

Savoury Scone: French onion and gruyere (V) 2.40

Friand: Apricot and elderberry (V, GF) 2.40

Week beginning June 23rd - Wimbledon menu

Wimbledon Menu and chef Khan:

Completely forgot Wimbledon was happening this year due to all the hype surrounding the World Cup. That was until Khan my right hand woman came bouncing into the kitchen last Monday making statements like “ This time next week I’ll be in a queue to see Wimbledon!” and “I’m sooooo excited!”.

Not much rouses this much excitement from Khan especially at 6am. Her likes are Korean films with a strong male lead; her and Ben the barista have this in common. The other is Candy Crush, after witnessing her addiction to this game I’ve deliberately avoided downloading it in fear of becoming hooked and spending many idle hours playing fruit tetris. 

Khan gave me the idea to do a Wimbledon based menu this week, a bit tricky at first as the only food fare I could think of was strawberries and cream or Pimm’s. But then I looked into what was in season and what is forage friendly and the following is this week’s interpretation of Britain during Wimbledon.  

First up are our muffins which are strawberries and mascarpone cream that has been infused with foraged melilot, think vanilla and hay. Then there are our savoury scones or as our Aussie floor staff call them ‘scrolls’; technically they're right, I’m just conditioned to call them scones. This week they will be rolled with vegetable pickle and chunks of mature cheddar. 

In our salad range we have Scottish salmon that has been cured in a tonic of Pimm’s No1 for several days until it becomes vibrant orange gravlax and served with all things Pimm’s and lemonade i.e. cucumber, mint, strawberries, lime with some added savoury britishness watercress and foraged sea kale peas.

Next up is something completely raw as that’s a big trend this summer, we’ve seen an increase in demand this year for raw edibles.  Shelled garden peas with spring onions, radish and parsley that have been tossed in a light mayonnaise infused with pineapple weed. As mentioned in last weeks menu pineapple weed has a chamomile appearance with the strong scent of pineapple.  

Our last salad will be made of the humble mid potatoes, which are best eaten this time of year, as they are sweeter and still quite small. Dressed in baby capers and fiery, intense foraged sea rocket, which is how proper rocket should taste. 

To finish off these weeks’ menu highlights we have not a scotched egg but a scotched gooseberry. June is when English gooseberries make a short seasonal comeback. This year we will be complimenting the sharp gooseberries by surrounding them with balls of seasoned ground lamb then crumbing and lightly frying.

There you have it, our summery of a Wimbledon menu, Kaffeine style; hopefully the preparation won’t give us tennis elbow (sorry, tennis pun).  So come into Kaffeine this week and enjoy our grand slam menu (sorry another tennis pun). 

Jared Bryant

Lead Chef

Kaffeine

@redjar50

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70 (GF, V)
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet muffin: Strawberries, melilot and cream (V) 2.40
Savoury Scone:  Cheddar and pickle  (V) 2.40
Friand: Apricot and Regents Park Elderflower (V, GF) 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Melting moments biscuits 2.00
Canele 2.40

Lunch

French retro baguettes 5.00
Cured beef, hot English mustard, caramelised red onion, mature cheddar and spinach

Asparagus with crushed minted peas, feta, gin mayonnaise and spinach (V)

Foccacias 5.30

Ham, pickled cherries, soft bath blue cheese and rocket
Crumbed aubergine, spicy tomato dressing, mozzarella and spinach (V)

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Pimm's Salmon gravlax, cucumber, mint, British strawberries, lime, watercress and sea kale peas (F, R)

Raw garden peas, spring onion, radish, parsley with pineapple weed mayonnaise (V, R)

New potatoes, capers and sea rocket (VE)

Tart: 5.50 or 7.90 with salad
Giant scotched gooseberries with ground lamb

Week beginning June 16th - Brazilian menu

Its that time of the quadrennial where people go insane over men kicking a ball to someone then that person kicks it to someone else and so on. I’ve never been a spots person, athletically uncoordinated; I do like a good run and cycle (the only competition is with myself). I just don’t have the patience to sit and watch a game for 2 hours or however long the match goes for. However when it comes to world cups such as rugby, football or even the Olympics I will dedicate sometime to either watch the grand final with a group in a pub or if I’m feeling extravagant I will go to the game, as you can’t deny the atmosphere is electric with a hint of jest and aggression. 

Seeing as Brazil is the country of the moment I will dedicate this weeks menu to Brazil. Luckily I’ve been immersed into the wonderful world of brazilia, not the federal district, but an affectionate term I use. My boyfriend Rodrigo (typical Brazilian name) is Brazilian so for the last year I’ve learnt culinary fare such as pão de queijo, which is cheese bread made from tapioca flour and now features on our menu in the form of a breakfast pies. Then there’s Brazilian BBQ’s that should only be attempted with a ravenous empty belly. Brazilian BBQ’s are restaurants where burly men wearing shirts half unbuttoned waiter around tables with giant skewers of every kind of meat imaginable, meats that have been cooked over large flames. It’s a buffet of beef, lamb, pork, seafood, sausage and many more meats that are constantly being offered to you. I tend to walk away from Brazilian BBQ’s in meat sweats and later suffer insomnia. 

So on this weeks menu you will find Coxinha, which is a popular food in Brazil, chopped chicken that is then moulded and crumbed and cooked to resemble a drumstick. Our version incorporates foraged pineapple weed, which as the name suggests is a weed that taste of pineapple. Commonly found along grassy curbs, pineapple weed resembles and is related to camomile. Pineapple flavours compliment chicken and is often married with chicken in tropical countries hence the reason behind this variety of Coxinha.

All three salads this week have a Brazilian influence from crab, which is very common especially in the north and the city of Belem where the mouth of the great Amazon River starts. Our crab salad will also have sea arrow grass that is sweet and slightly salty and grows along coastal areas. 

We will also be serving a colourful and textural salad with sweet potato, black beans, slow roasted peppers and broccoli. Garnished with pods found on sea radish, think peppery peas; and of course a coffee dressing, which the beans famously grow in Brazil and lastly garri, which is a grain made from fermented cassava potatoes, which is then dried and served lightly toasted. 

Lastly we have a vegan and raw Brazilian slaw with foraged wild watercress stems and aniseed flavoured sweet cicely seeds all dressed in Brazils national cocktail Caipirinha, sugar and lime. 

Aproveitem o menu desta semana. Nos vemos em breve. (Please enjoy this weeks menu and we’ll see you soon)

Jared Bryant

Lead Chef

Kaffeine

@redjar50

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70 (GF, V)
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet muffin: Mango and cashew  (V) 2.40
Savoury Scone: Courgette and feta (V) 2.40
Friand: Apricot and Regents Park Elderflower (V, GF) 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Melting moments biscuits 2.00
Canele 2.40

Lunch

French retro baguettes 5.00
Blue bath cheese, amarillo nectarines, red onion, mayonnaise and rocket (V)

Smoked salmon, lime cream cheese, thai basil, cucumber and spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Ham, saute mushroom, mozzarella, basil and spinach
Roasted red peppers, courgette, and red onion with olive and feta paste and rocket (V)

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Crab, lime, chilli, cucumber, coriander, sea arrow grass and passion fruit dressing 

Sweet potato and beans with slow roasted peppers, broccoli, sea radish pods, coffee dressing and garri (VG, GF)

Brazilian slaw with wild water cress stems, sweet cicely seeds and caipirinha dressing (VG, GF)

Tart: 5.50 or 7.90 with salad
Coxinha - Chicken and pineapple weed (Brazilian crumbed pear shaped dumplings)

Weekend Menu:

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Tuna steak with green beans, boiled eggs, new potatoes, red onion, olives, parmesan and baby spinach

Roasted squash with hazelnuts and watercress (V)

Mixed watermelon with almond, red onion, basil, smoked mozzarella, pommery mustard dressing (V) (VG)

Tart: 5.50 or 7.90 with salad
Spinach with eggs, new potatoes and hollandaise sauce

Week beginning June 9th - What to do in a blackout? Go foraging in Regents Park

Last week at Kaffeine we were given 3 days notice that on Friday the power was going to be cut off on our side of the street for 2 hours anywhere between the hours of 8am and 1pm for street maintenance work. In the past this usually means that the power is going off at midday and will stay off for the next 3-4 hours. To try and cover ourselves for the unpredictable darkness (Kaffeine’s kitchen has no natural lighting) I arrived to work 45 minutes earlier to get extra prep done to cover food supply during the mini doom that was looming upon us. Thankfully everyone that works in the kitchen at Kaffeine is like a dream team, after almost 5 years we’re very much finely tuned and organized. So when the lights went out at a very punctual 8:05am I was surprised. Thankfully we were well and truly ahead with our schedule for the day and prepared for the on time slot of 8am blackout. 

There is a small green battery powered light that comes on in the kitchen when the power is off which is enough to see your way out and up to ground level. This is not the ideal lighting to carry on prepping, also its best to keep the fridge doors closed as the precious cool insulation will only last a few hours when kept closed. The problem now is what to do with 2 hours while street maintenance is in progress? Instead of bunking off and heading to our nearest rival for coffee and breakfast I decided to take the 2 other kitchen staff on a foraging expedition through Regents Park. We use a lot of foraged ingredients in Kaffeine which is mostly supplied through Miles Irvings company Forager, however the odd bit is also hand picked by myself, a hobby I’ve become quite passionate about in the last 2 years. So off Khan, Win and I set with our brown paper bags and scissors, a bit like Winnie the Pooh and his gang on a honey robbery. 

I’d taken Khan through Regents Park once before and for Win it was a new part of London he hadn’t explored yet (both are originally from Burma). The best part of our walk was the several occasions Khan and Win recognized 5 or so foraged ingredients we’ve used in the past, ingredients that they have only ever been seen in a bag or punnet. The ability to spot something edible in the outdoors is in my opinion a lost and dying skill that is in desperate need of a horticultural revival. 

As Win is one of Kaffeine’s newer additions, Khan and I encouraged him to try some new seasonal produce that I haven’t had on the menu since his arrival. We found black mustard, which has quite a strong bitter taste at first which then mellows off into a garlic and horseradish flavour. There was also a pea shoot flower, which are blue and taste of peas minus the sweetness. More commonly I got Win to sample ribwort plantain, which is related to bananas, after a few chews of the buds you get a definite mushroom flavour. 

The main thing we were foraging for was elderflower for our apricot friands, we found several bushes with small clusters of blossom which Khan and Win identified easily before I did. Surprisingly they also spotted Oregon grapes, which look like elongated blueberries. I had these little berries on the menu a few weeks ago in a duck salad. Oregon berries are best cooked in sugar and lemon then pasted through a sieve to remove the fine stones. Khan and Win recognized the berry from our forager supply we received a few weeks back and easily identified its cluster and holy like leaves. We picked a good amount to last us through this week, and you'll find the Oregon grape syrup has been caramelised in onions and served in a brioche bun with herb chicken, cheese pâté and gem lettuce.

Another unpredictable thing that happened that morning was the power came back on an hour and 15minutes after it was cut off, not a whole 2 hours or more as predicted. 

So this week we have a few foraged items from our local, amazing Regents Park on the menu. We hope you enjoy it, as we will enjoy bringing it to you.

Jared Bryant

Kaffeine

Lead Chef

@redjar50

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70 (GF, V)
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet muffin: Apricot and orange (V) 2.40
Savoury Scone: Sweet chilli and cream cheese (V) 2.40
Friand: Apricot and Regents Park Elderflower (V, GF) 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Melting moments biscuits 2.00
Canele 2.40

Lunch

French retro baguettes 5.00
Ham, gherkin, Dijon, red onion, Gruyère and spinach.

Heritage tomatoes, avocado, pesto, mozzarella and rocket (V)

Foccacias 5.30

Smoked salmon, dill, capers, aioli, red onion and spinach
Sauté mushroom and leeks, mustard fondue and rocket.(V)

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Pancetta with roasted beetroot, blanched hogweed stems, soft boiled egg, wild fennel leaf and lemon butter dressing (GF)

Wild watercress stems, Wensleydale, sea kale peas, poppy petals and a orange dressing (V, GF)

Cucumber, red onion, poppy seeds, parsley, mint, pomegranate dressing (V, GF, Raw)

Tart: 5.50 or 7.90 with salad
Toasted brioche with grilled herb chicken, cheese pate, gem lettuce, caramelized onion

Weekend Menu:

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Tuna steak with green beans, boiled eggs, new potatoes, red onion, olives, parmesan and baby spinach

Roasted squash with hazelnuts and watercress (V)

Mixed watermelon with almond, red onion, basil, smoked mozzarella, pommery mustard dressing (V) (VG)

Tart: 5.50 or 7.90 with salad
Spinach with eggs, new potatoes and hollandaise sauce

Week beginning June 2nd - Roux at the Landau - One day of work experience

Last week Peter arranged for myself to spend a day working in Albert and Michael Roux’s Landau restaurant located within the wonderful 5 star Langham hotel. Chris King, the executive chef of Landau, has been a regular at Kaffeine for a while and has kindly offered a day in his establishment for all our kitchen staff. I had my turn last week and the rest of the kitchen crew will get the same experience over the course of June. The hotel has 380 rooms and employs 350 people, it’s like running a 24 hour village, and everything has been finely tuned and operating since the mid-19th century. The hotel has since been host to many public figures from Charles de Gaulle, Diana Princess of Wales, to even more recently Justin Bieber who famously had a bust up with the paparazzi on the front steps.

When I first arrived in the back entrance, I had to exchange some I.D. for a temporary access card and wait for Chris to come collect me. I must admit I was slightly nervous as I haven’t worked anywhere that did food to order let alone fine dining in over 5 years. After a brief tour through the hotels many kitchens and the main very grand dining room I was given a pair of chef whites to wear. Another first, quite literally couldn't tell you the last time I wore whites, we’re a bit more café formal in Kaffeine’s kitchen, black t-shirt, apron, trainers and shorts or pants depending on the season. 

Chris then went on to introduce me to his very pleasant and welcoming team, this made a nice change. Most à la carte restaurants I've worked in the past have been staffed with aggressive, moody and volatile men. Times have clearly changed and everyone was super super welcoming, humble and friendly. After all the introductions it was time to get to work and do some mise en place (food preparation). From previous experience in large operations it means repetitive preparation of usually a single ingredient. First task was to shell about 5kg of broad beans, I was out of practise and this took me an hour, next job removing the spares from the sides of asparagus followed by peeling and turning the ends with a paring knife, once again out of practise with classic preparation, this is something you learn in your first week of chef school. Took me another hour to do about 2kg of asparagus, pretty bad timing on my behalf. 

The next job was helping executive chef Chris with trimming and stemming globe artichoke, bit quicker on this task as I had the big man standing next to me and the sense of urgency kicked in. Next duty was somewhat less glamorous, removing the very thin waste vein from king prawns, the jovial banter with the other chefs made this job more enjoyable than it should have and lastly peeling the skin off grapefruit and finely cubing it for marmalade. During the last hour in Landau I was treated to a five course lunch all incorporating the ingredients I had just prepared, which suddenly gave relevance to my day in their kitchen. 

So this week’s menu incorporates all the ingredients I have prepared in the Landau restaurant; bar the asparagus, sorry. This is a thank you to Chris and his team and also so I can brush up on some of their classic preparation techniques.

We hope you enjoy the menu this week, as we have enjoyed bringing the menu to you.

http://rouxatthelandau.com/

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70 (GF, V)
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet muffin: Flat peaches and blueberries (V) 2.40
Savoury Scone: Eat your greens; courgette, peas, spinach and herbs (V) 2.40
Apricot and Elderflower friands 2.40 (V, GF)
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Melting moments biscuits 2.00
Canele 2.40

Lunch

French retro baguettes 5.00
Tuna and onion fondue with roasted red peppers and spinach

Tomato, mozzarella, basil, aioli, rocket (V)

Foccacias 5.30

Ham with sour cherry, Camembert and spinach
Aubergine, sweet chilli, Thai basil, goat’s cheese and rocket. (V)

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Mixed heritage tomatoes with broad beans, capers and horseradish dressing (V, GF)

Pink grapefruit with blue cheese, avocado, king prawns, olives and watercress (GF)

Steamed artichoke with lemon, mint and parmesan. (V, GF)

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Salmon and watercress