Week beginning February 24th - St David's Day - Welsh National Day

After a 6 month absence from blogging I’ve been persuaded to pick it up again by Peter. The main reason is our customers and staff are sometimes unaware of certain ingredients or dishes and what they represent. 

This year we’ve decided to base the weekly menus on a celebration of a different region. So far we’ve had an Australian themed menu followed buy Wiatangi day (New Zealand), last week was the USA to coincide with Presidents day.

This week is the celebration of all things tidy, transporting telephone booths and more importantly St David’s day our Welsh national patron saint.
A slight confession I don’t know a lot about Wales, I’ve only been once however I live with a welsh lady and I’m obsessed with Gavin and Stacy. But I’ve done my homework and come up with several Welsh based dishes. Mwynhewch eich bwyd (bon appétit). 

First thing in the morning when we open our doors you will find freshly prepared pan cooked welsh cakes, currant based cakes coved in sugar or as I like to call them Welsh doughnuts (this is potentially a blasphemous statement). 

But you’ll have to wait until lunchtime when all the Welsh terrificness makes an appearance. We have roasted Welsh lamb salad with small stuffing balls reminiscing fruity bara brith bread, foraged micro ramsons (a succulent sweet garlic tasting green leaf), tossed in a dressing of raspberry vinegar and honey. 

Our second salad is roasted rounds of carrots and chunky celery tossed in soft welsh goats cheese. Mixing the vegetables whilst still hot in goat’s cheese turns something very fibrous and healthy into tasty comfort food. Garnished with another foraged ingredient rock samphire, salty, slightly crunchy and juicy veg found along our shores. 

Our third salad is a rainbow mix of swiss chard with more foraged goodness ivy-leaved toadflax (think spinach) and dressed in a clarified butter infused with ginger and brandy. The ginger in this salad represents the confectioners taffie gingerbread figures baked in the shape of a Welshman riding goats, which are made during St David’s day. 

It wouldn’t be a Welsh menu without Welsh rarebit somehow incorporated. I’ve saved this cheese sauce for our main dish. Flaky pastry baked with leeks and covered in a fancy Welsh cheese sauce. When the English and Welsh were at war with each other their uniforms resembled both sides, in order for the welsh troops to distinguish friend from foe they wore leeks or daffodils in their jacket pockets. Which is why leeks are considered a national vegetable and still used in dishes during St David’s day celebrations.

Lastly we will be serving a traditional welsh broth called Cawl, made with beef and large chunks of vegetables slowly cooked infusing the meat and making it super tender. Served with our own freshly baked soft white bread. 

Lechyd da! (Cheers and good health).

Jared Bryant
@redjar50
Lead Chef

Please enjoy this weeks Welsh menu, as we will certainly enjoy bringing it to you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
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
Porridge with choices of cinnamon, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffin: Welsh cakes 2.40
Savoury Scone: Mushroom and tarragon 2.40
Blueberry and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00

Lunch:
Soup: Cawl broth 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Ham, caramelized leeks, mature cheddar and rocket
Prunes glazed in red wine reduction, mushrooms, perl wen cheese, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Salmon, ailoi, dill, capers, red onion, spinach
Roasted courgettes with feta, mint, crushed peas and rocket.

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Roasted lamb with bara brith stuffing, micro ramsons and a dressing of honey and raspberry vinegar
Roasted carrots and celery toasted in welsh goats cheese, and rock samphire
Shredded rainbow chard and ivy-leaved toadflax with a clarified ginger butter and brandy dressing

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Leek and welsh rarebit

Week beginning February 17th - Presidents Day menu

We do not have much to report today, except we have a special presidents Day menu brought to you by Chef Jared, very much looking forward to the Pulled Pork on cornbread.

Please enjoy the week ahead and please enjoy our menu, as we have enjoyed bringing it to you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
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
Porridge with choices of cinnamon, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffin: Pecan pie 2.40
Savoury Scone: Cheese burger scones with tomato and mustard 2.40
Blueberry and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00


Lunch:
Soup: Shrimp gumbo 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Baked ham, tomato, avocado, aioli, rocket
Saute mushrooms, brie, mustard, sauerkraut and spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Tuna and onion cheese melt with spinach
Spicy red onion marmalade, red leicester, rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Pepperoni cheese bread with mozzarella, basil, tomato mayonnaise, rocket and white mustard flowers
American slaw salad with Alexander bulbs
Tuberous nasturtium and red onion roasted in maple syrup garnished with wild fennel leaf.

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Cornbread with pulled pork and sour cream

Week beginning February 10th - Valentines Menu, Tamper Tantrum, Kaffeine Movie

If you read last weeks menu/blog you may know that I was asked to speak at the highly reputable Tamper tantrum event which took place at the Birmingham Millennium Point as part of the UKBC Super heats being held this week.

The first thing I must say is absolute full credit to Steve Leighton from Hasbean and all his team for being able to organise such an event in such a short space of time. Talk about pressure.

I was asked to with five others on the day and I was on last. What they did not tell me until we arrived was that the speech was to take place in the IMAX theatre. So into a darkened room, with about 40 people, me, on stage in front of the IMAX screen. To Give you an idea, here is a photo I took of James Hoffman speaking. It was taken from the 3rd row in.

The speeches, (which were all very very good) will be available on iTunes soon under the tamper tantrum podcast.

I think I did okay. I tried to put across the point that we may be in the coffee industry, but we are a,so in the Hospitality industry and how important that is, but also that if you own a business, how important that is too. I know I messed up a little bit at one stage, but standing in front of a giant screen like that was definitely one of the strangest things I have had to do.

What was great, was that we were able to premiere the new Kaffeine movie. My very good friend Kess Bohan who also did the original Kaffeine movie has been kind enough to offer his services to do another one. It will also be available soon on our website.

And so to Valentines day. Chef Jared has created his own love heart sponges with raspberry cream and mahonia blossom. If you are wanting to impress someone this week, we would suggest getting one of these sweet things for them, it would be a very good start indeed.

Please enjoy this weeks menu, as we will enjoy bringing it to you.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
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
Coffee, cherry and walnut toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Chocolate sponge hearts with raspberry cream and mahonia blossom 2.40
Savoury Scone: Tomato and smoked mozzarella 2.40
Blueberry and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00


Lunch:
Soup: Tomato, white bean, champagne and shrimp 4.50

French retro baguettes 4.80
Pancetta, balsamic strawberries, brie and rocket.
Baked aubergine, pecan-butter, pickled red chilli, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Ham, asparagus, gruyere, dijonnaise, thyme and rocket
Salmon, aioli, dill, capers, red onion, and spinach

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Venison sausage, pancetta, red cabbage, fennel, pine nuts with a passion fruit dressing
Bulgur wheat, ox-eye daisy, tomato, feta, pomegranate with a lemon and rose water dressing
Mange tout, rhubarb, mint and toasted almonds.

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Grilled red peppers, with onions, olives, capers, ricotta and charlock

Week beginning February 3rd - Waitangi Day and Tamper Tantrum Birmingham

This week we follow on from our Australia Day menu two weeks ago with Waitangi day menu, to celebrate the Waitangi Day named after Waitangi, where theTreaty o f Waitangi was signed commemorates a significant day in the history ofNew Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.

Chef jared, being form NZ himself of course, always puts together a great menu to celebrate, and this week is no exception with the amazing pavlovas with kiwi and passionfruit a great example.

In other news, starting next Sunday in Birmingham is the UK 'super heats' for the UK Barista Championships. In years previous, the heats were held all over the country at different times. This year, they will be held altogether in one week and along with this, there will be specialist talks using the Tamper tantrum format from Steve Leighton and Colin Harmon.

Guests asked to speak on Sunday morning include James Hoffman, Vic and Rob from Dunne Frankowski, Maxwell Colonna Dashwood from Colonna and Smalsls in Bath and UKBC Champion 2011 and Peter Dore-Smith from Kaffeine (me).

We get 20 minutes to speak, with a ten minute q and a afterwards. Of the five guests, I am on last, so I had better make it good.

More information can be found here, so if you'll excuse this blog being a bit short, I've got a speech to write.

http://www.caffeculture.com/2014/01/25/tamper-tantrum-england/

Have a great week and enjoy.

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70
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
Coffee, cherry and walnut toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40
Porridge with choices of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey, golden syrup or compote 3.00

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

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffins: Pavlova nests with fresh kiwi and passion fruit 2.40
Savoury Scone: Asparagus and cream cheese 2.40
Lemon and coconut friands 2.40
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Afgan Biscuits 2.00


Lunch:
Soup: Puha and pork 4.50

French retro baguettes 5.00
Roasted red peppers, courgette, aubergine with spicy feta dressing and rocket 

Prosciutto, baked rhubarb blended with cremeria butter, basil, spinach

Foccacias 5.30

Brie, mushrooms, roasted red onion, dijon and spinach..
Smoked mozzarella, chicken, mayonnaise, avocado and rocket

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Mini fish cakes with kiwi, lady smoke leaf, mole dressing, rocket

Radicchio, heritage tomatoes, celery with a spicy sorrel dressing

Purple sprouting broccoli and lesser celandine with pecorino and manuka honey

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Meat pie