Aux Merveilleux de Fred

It was with great excitement when I passed by a shop on Old Brompton Road a couple weeks ago – there was a big sign on the front announcing the imminent arrival of Aux Merveilleux de Fred to London. And it has indeed recently opened – the weekend before Valentine’s Day too.

This patisserie from Lille specialises in meringues covered in cream and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything else sold there (I lie, they also sell a sweet bread called a cramique). But their meringues! They’re quite simple – little mounds or big cakes constructed of layers of meringue and cream. I first encountered them in Lille, where a long queue out the door of the shop attracted my attention; I did want one then but we hadn’t the time to stand in the queue that day. Here was our chance to finally try their confections.

This past Valentine’s Day, I purchased a small box of their smallest (two bite size) meringues for dessert that evening. There were five in total, one of each of their main flavours, and it cost £8.50 (oof). Their texture is fabulous – light crispy meringue and equally light flavored whipped cream.

As you can see, each little mound was also rolled in sprinkles of some kind. From left to right (in the photo above):

• Le Merveilleux - this seemed to me one of their most famous flavours with chocolate flakes and chocolate whipped cream too.
• L’incroyable – the cream in this little treat was supposed to be speculoos flavoured but sadly I could not taste it at all. It tasted mainly of the white chocolate flakes on its surface.
• L’impensable – this coffee flavoured confection was probably my favourite!
• L’Excentrique – this cherry flavoured one was Blai’s favourite. I would have like more fruity flavour but Blai loved that the meringue flavour came through best because of this reason.
• Le Magnifique – coated in delicious praline and this was the second favourite for both of us.

That day, there was also a caramel flavoured variety on offer. Ah, another one to sample next time!

I’ve only so far had a chance to try their smallest meringue confections (they come in a larger single serving size as well as big cakes) but what we had was delicious.

Aux Merveilleux de Fred
88 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LQ

 

Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market

We’re obviously very dedicated to the Christmas market. Last weekend saw my friend and I take a train to Birmingham to check out their Frankfurt Christmas Market. We arrived at about 1pm and left by a 7pm train (times are approximate!). It was quite easy to find – it’s all located at the centre of the city, just outside the Bullring. We encountered stall upon stall upon stall of German food, drink, and Christmas gifts and decorations.

The eating started as soon as we saw a stand selling freshly fried potato pancakes. We opted for a dollop of oniony sour cream on the side and munch away we did. I was surprised by the addition of some kind of grain to the potato base but it added a good crunch to the fried fritter.

As soon as the last bite went down, we queued for bratwursts – one white and one red, both to share. I love both – the milder white and the punchier smoked red.

Gluhwein for Roxanne and hot chocolate for me. And yes, we kept our mugs as souvenirs (you pay a deposit for it).

There was room for a shared pretzel…

…and two kinds of fried doughnuts too. The quarkbällchen was made with quark, the German fresh cheese, and a paper cone of schmalzkuchen was freshly fried and dusted with lots of powdered sugar.

They all went down much too easily.

Schokokuss (chocolate kisses) were purchased to take home. While everyone was queuing to buy packs of 10 or 12, I’m glad I showed restraint and only purchased a couple (they’re filled with marshmallow inside…soft, sticky, intensely sweet marshmallow).

It was with a little difficulty that we put down our final savoury bites for the day – they had to be frankfurters! That photo below shows mine – I swear there’s a frankfurter underneath all those pickles and crispy fried onions.

Overall, a most successful eating day!

Other edibles to look out for are the 1/2 metre long bratwursts, the cheese skewers that are battered and fried, hot chocolate spoons, roast pork shanks, huge roasting hams, cream cakes, and a huge variety of Haribo.

It’s a long journey on a slow train on a Sunday and is probably more manageable on a weekday or Saturday. If you’re utterly in love with Christmas markets, then it’s possibly worth the travel but otherwise I’d recommend visiting if you’re in the region!

All my photos from the day can be found in this Flickr photoset.

 

Four Nordic Christmas Markets in London

It was all planned with military precision. Last Saturday, my friend Roxanne and I aimed to visit 5 Christmas markets, most held by churches throughout London, as well as an event in between (that’s for another blog post). I frightened people with our schedule but by sticking to it, I think we did pretty well! They’re a great cultural experience and I highly recommend them.

We were lucky to have three of the markets in roughly the same place. Along Albion Street near Rotherhithe were three of the markets on our list. First was the Finnish Church, the only one we’d also visited last year. They laid out all the Finnish groceries, Christmas products, decorations and gifts in a supermarket style and it’s jolly good fun to browse it all. Upstairs, there were also arts and crafts sold by individuals. This year, you could buy a little Christmas tree from Finland!

Food-wise, they offered coffee and tea and pastries upstairs and outside in a tent, grilled sausages and stew. As it was still morning and our empty tummies weren’t yet ready to deal with grilled meat, we opted to go upstairs and share a Karelian pasty with egg butter and a delicious layered cinnamon roll.

Along the street was also the Scandinavian Christmas Market which featured a variety of Scandinavian food, houseware and furnishings stalls. It was good to learn about various Scandinavian bakeries and delis around London (a couple near Barnes/Richmond) and I hope to visit them all. There was even an opportunity to have your photo taken with a Husky!

Escaping the rain, we then entered the Norwegian Church which was packed to the rafters. Unlike the Finnish church, groceries were laid out in old-fashioned shop style, with a counter and an assistant between you and the food. It made for difficult browsing but the assistants were very happy to answer any questions you might have; everyone was in a festive and friendly mood.

The back of the church was taken up with a sitting area and the catering. Open faced sandwiches! They had quite a variety of them on offer and we split two delicious ones (meatball and herring) with a cup of coffee.

After a separate event in the afternoon, we made our way to the Swedish Church (Ulrika Eleonora kyrka) near Edgware Road. This was another fantastic Christmas assault on the senses (I’m not sick of it yet). Things were laid out like the Norwegian market but with a bit more space, making browsing much more comfortable.

Tomtes!

What was also good fun was this Lucky Dip which was unique to the Swedish Market. Pay a pound, swing over your “fishing line” and pull up a little bag of treats! One for the young and the young at heart.

We couldn’t leave without yet another snack and this time it was a Swedish hot dog. Sadly, there were no crispy fried onions but there was plenty of Swedish mustard and chopped gherkins in mayo.

We also trekked over to Camden Road and walked over to the borders of Regent’s Park, where the Danish Church is located. Unfortunately, the times on their website weren’t exactly correct and their market closed at 5pm rather than 7pm as stated. Oh well, we’ll try to make it to every Scandinavian country’s market next year.

We headed home that day laden down with groceries, Christmas decorations and even some gifts too.  Now, the bad news is that you’ll have to wait a whole year for your chance to visit most of these markets. The good news is that the Finnish Church’s Christmas market is also on today until Saturday 1 Dec 2012 – see the top left hand corner of their website (Google translate helps!). Oh, and they each charge £1 to get in.

 

Indonesia Mini Market

There’s a curious stretch of Charing Cross Road right by Chinatown – you may know the one I mean. It’s a row of shops filled with kitsch and restaurants serving all manner of Asian foods. At one end is a terrible Korean restaurant and at the other end is a bar. I never really paid much attention to this stretch with the exception of the Malaysian Kopi Tiam and it turns out that I possibly should have!

Take that complex of shops full of kitsch, for example. You may know the one – there are colourful plastic umbrellas and lots of Hello Kitty coin purses. It turns out there’s an Indonesian shop upstairs.

And that shop sells ready made meals too with different things available each day. There are a few mismatched oversized tables to sit at and they were almost all full with Indonesian families and students tucking into some good looking dishes. Grab a seat wherever you can and wait for the one server to be free. Be patient!

We put in our order and waited. First to arrive at our table was their mie bakso (£4), a bowl of tender-crunchy beef balls and mung bean noodles in a light but flavourful broth. I believe it’s available every day.

Kicking about on one of the tables will probably be a jar of this sambal bakso. The label says Extremely Hot! (in red!) on the side and it certainly is – use with caution! It’s a great accompaniment to the bouncy beef balls.

We also shared a plateful of pempek siomay (£5) (or empek-empek thank you, Ridha, for the identification!), fried fish and tapioca paste fritters – some plain and some first stuffed in tofu. These were quite heavy though tasty under the drizzle of sweet soy (maybe kecap manis?) and a creamy peanut sauce on the side.

Help yourself to drinks out of the cooler – we had a can of Coke and a bottle of Mirinda (50p each). There’s an Indonesian bottled tea drink available too.

That day there was also one final dish available – nasi padang with beef rendang. This is a dish of rice served with the rich rendang and other sambals and pickles. It looked great and I hope to try that the next time I drop by. Oh, and of course there are Indonesian (and some Dutch) groceries available to purchase too.

Indonesia Mini Market
57 Charing Cross Road (1st floor)
London  WC2H 0NE

Also part of this complex of shops is a Brazil by Kilo, a Brazilian buffet where you pay for the weight of your food. Judging by the clientele (all Brazilian families), it can’t be too bad. Another one to try.

Also new along this stretch of Charing Cross Road is Roti King in a funny spot called Asian Twist Delicious. These are the guys who ran the Roti Stall at Oriental City and we came here for our first lunch that day (Indonesian Mini Market was our second lunch). Their roti canai is exactly as I remember it and we had it with a dal curry and we also split a delicious roti sardin (spiced mashed sardines wrapped in the thin bread). Excellent.

 

A Dessert Tea at William Curley

I met up with the lovely Kathy of the eponymous Kathy YL Chan blog while she was here in London for a visit. Knowing her penchant for desserts, we first met at Maltby Street for St John’s famous custard doughnuts before wandering over to Borough Market in search of something savoury. Somewhere in between the two markets, after much discussing, a booking was made for afternoon tea at William Curley (the patissier-chocolatier) in Belgravia. On weekends, and it was a Saturday when we met, they open up their Dessert Bar and offer a dessert tasting menu for the afternoon. On all other days, they still sell their delicious chocolates, cakes and ice creams.

When we got there later that day, we settled into our table (the seats at the six-seater bar had already been booked up) and ordered a hojicha latte (Kathy) and a house blend tea (me) to get us in the mood for the desserts. We chose to share one menu between the two of us, which turned out to be just the right amount of dessert for two girls who’d previously been feasting on doughnuts and pork pie.

We started with a quenelle of Green Apple Sorbet, all tart and just slightly sweet in a good way! It was immensely refreshing.

Next up was a Vanilla Pannacotta with Red Berry Compote and Champagne Granita. The pannacotta was very softly set, making it more like a pudding with the zingy compote and yes, straight up champagne ice. A very adult dessert.

That was followed by an Apricot, Pistachio and Chocolate Pave with Marinated Apricots and Lemon Thyme Ice Cream. I loved the use of the seasonal fruit and the entire combination was delicious, especially that ice cream.

Our final main dessert was a generously portioned Passionfruit Tart and Mango Casket with Passionfruit Sauce and Guava Sorbet. That tart was delicious as was the casket filled with a mango fruit, mousse and cake and with a heart of chocolate ganache. I knew Curley was well known for the incorporation of Asian flavours into his chocolates and this was a good example of this.

A selection of Petit Fours finished off our afternoon dessert tea. All the bites were just perfect: a blackcurrant and juniper chocolate, a pistachio dacquoise sandwiching chocolate cream, and raspberry financiers.

The quality of the desserts was excellent and it’s not a bad deal at £15 for the dessert tasting menu we shared (drinks not included)! It’s obviously not your traditional afternoon tea but it’s a fantastic alternative. William Curley’s original shop is in Richmond and while there are cakes available to purchase there (along with his chocolates and ice creams), there’s no dessert bar there.

Do take a look at Kathy’s post on the rest of that Saturday!

William Curley Dessert Bar
Weekends only from 1pm
198 Ebury Street
Belgravia
London SW1W 8UN