Are you bored of the traditional Christmas fruit cake? There’s always someone who doesn’t like marzipan or dried fruit, isn’t there? Well let Eat Around Tonbridge and The Black Rose Bakery come to your festive centre-piece rescue with an alternative Christmas cake to adorn your table. The Black Rose Bakery creates couture cakes and Nichola has kindly offered one of her works of art to kick off the 12 Days of Feastmas….think layers of buttermilk sponge, vanilla icing and decadent deliciousness in every bite. This is a sample cake of course, not the Christmas cake! The facts!Nichola uses nuts and her cakes are not allergen free. The 6 inch, 5 layered cake will feed 10-14 people depending on how you slice it. Please make sure you’re available to collect the cake from Nichola (details will be provided) on 23rd December 2016. If you’d like to enter you need to answer the following question: Where does Nichola come from? Answer can be found on the Eat Around Tonbridge website. Submit your answers on my Facebook page, via Twitter (@eat_tonbridge) or as a comment below. Enter now! Good luck! The Rules in case you missed them…
Tag: CHRISTMAS
*** 12 Days of Feastmas *** The Rules!
Tomorrow is 1st December which not only means that the daily administering of chocolate for breakfast begins (advent calendars in case you’re wondering!) & panic really starts to set-in but it marks the arrival of Eat Around Tonbridge’s December competition 12 Days of Feastmas! The blog has been running since April and to say thank you to the wonderful Eat Around Tonbridge followers, I wanted to give something back. I know it’s not easy to find the time to read a blog so for giving up your time, here’s something for you – a celebration of our gastronomic scene! This competition has been in the planning for quite a while & there are some amazing prizes up for grabs donated by local Tonbridge food and drink enterprises – hampers, vouchers for meals out, drinks’ cupboard essentials and of course, many of these would make amazing presents so if you’re not sure it’s for you, give it to someone else….just make sure you enter! A huge thank you to all the local businesses that are participating. The competition runs every working day from 1st -16th December. The competition starts at 9am and finishes at 9pm with the winner being announced on the next working day (so if you enter on a Friday, you’ll find out on the Monday if you’re a winner). You can only enter if you’re over 18. There is no alternative to the prize on offer that day and there are no extras to the prize itself. If two prizes are on offer then two winners will be picked. The first winner will win the first prize listed and the second winner will win the second prize listed. There are 3 ways to enter – via the Eat Around Tonbridge Facebook page, Twitter, @eat_Tonbridge or in the comment box at the bottom of each day’s competition page on the Eat Around Tonbridge website. Any information that you provide as part of the competition will not be used again for example in marketing or promotion without your consent. The winner/s will be picked at random from the correct entries or from the pool of entries depending on the question. Prizes will be secure posted/hand delivered, or will be available to collect from the business itself. Thank you to our wonderful local businesses for making the competition happen – please continue to support them; thank you in advance for taking part and good luck. Set a reminder on your phone for 9am tomorrow morning when it all kicks off!
WFH – Will Edge, Greensand Ridge Distillery
Wow! What a 24 hours! If you’re still reeling, I promise there’ll be no mention of that election & especially not that man! Instead I’d like to introduce you to the Greensand Ridge brand, currently building a reputation for its gin. This gin has only been around for a few weeks but it’s already being talked about. Will Edge and his family have set up home in a beautiful 19th century coach house in Shipbourne with spectacular views over the Greensand Ridge. The stables have been transformed into part science lab, part bottling production line whilst maintaining some of their original character and, as the saying goes, ‘this is where the magic happens.’ The beautiful view from the courtyard over the Greensand Ridge. Will, originally from Sevenoaks, left the area in his youth to find his fortune but after working in London for quite a while, he decided that sitting behind a desk was for him no longer. He turned a hobby into something more by enrolling in a master’s degree in Brewing and Distilling after years of home brews and cider making. Now, let me tell you about the gin. I was served it neat and was, quite frankly, blown away, and I don’t mean by the alcohol content. It was amazing, the best gin I’ve ever tasted. (Listening to the interview, it’s quite amusing to hear my emphatic ‘WOW!’ when I taste it for the first time.) It’s made with eight botanicals that grow within a mile of the distillery including cobnuts, oak moss & gorse and seven traditional gin botanicals, including the essential juniper. It’s drinkable with a mixer or neat, unlike lots of other gins on the market (responsibly, of course!). There is a growing appetite for consumers to understand the provenance of their food and drink alongside an industry & consumer mission to reduce waste and the Greensand Ridge Distillery is keen to embrace both of these things. Like the spirits he creates, Will wants his brand to be transparent. “I’m trying to build an honest brand so that consumers know what they’re getting,” he tells me, “and I can do that as I have the still [the distilling apparatus], I don’t need to outsource anything.” He not only distills in-house but he also bottles, labels and distributes. He’s proud to be able to say that the only non-recyclable waste from his production line is the backing of the stickers that adorn the bottles – pretty impressive hey? And that isn’t the only way he recycles: ‘sustainability’ is a word that you hear Will use a lot and he is keen to support local farmers who have to contend with price squeezes and mounting competition. The Greensand Ridge ‘Raspberry Ghost’ schnapps is made from surplus raspberries and the barrel aged apple brandy* (apples fermenting as we speak) uses storm damaged apples deemed below par for the supermarkets – both fruits sourced from local farmers. Just as Will supports local, lots of local establishments are supporting him: Fuggles, TOFS, The Kentish Hare, The Wine Library and Gorgeous George are just some of the local places where you can support him to enjoy it yourself or buy some for home (it would make a great Christmas present!). And you can book now on the website to visit the distillery in the new year and create your own alcoholic tipple. So at a time when the world seems to be going mad, I heartily recommend pouring yourself a Greensand Ridge gin & tonic (Will recommends a gin: tonic ratio of 1:3) and taking some time out with friends. That’s what gets my vote. Will has kindly donated a prize to my “12 days of Feastmas” competition so keep liking and sharing Eat Around Tonbridge on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram as well as the website, to be in with a chance of winning a bottle! Greensand Ridge distillery can be found on Twitter on @GSRdistillery
WFH – Nichola Ferron, The Black Rose Bakery – “Everyone needs awesome cake in their lives!”
WFH is not a rude abbreviation! For those of you wondering if I’ve gone mad, it stands for ‘working from home’ and represents a new series I’m running on local folk that are setting up their own food & drink enterprises from home. I say ‘local’ but Nichola Ferron’s journey has taken her a long way from home. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, cooking providing an escape from an unstable family life. She would religiously watch cooking programmes on television every week. In adulthood she worked in a ‘proper’ job but then decided enough was enough – one day she ‘borrowed’ her mum’s car and made the ridiculously long drive to Seattle to enrol in culinary school, using the car as a temporary abode as well. And now she creates truly spectacular “American style cakes with a French twist,” she tells me, in her kitchen in Tonbridge whilst nonchalantly moulding sugar paste flowers. And this isn’t a professional kitchen or even a very big kitchen but with her numerous fridges, work station and culinary implements stored wherever possible, it works for her and goes to show that if you want to realise your dream, the small issue of ‘space’ shouldn’t stop you. The Black Rose Bakery cakes are true ‘showstoppers’, an edible reflection of this music-loving ex-model’s exuberance: multi-layered, using locally sourced ingredients & fresh fruit, the flavour combinations are unusual and enticing, abundantly decorated with the likes of caramel drizzle, fruits dipped in gold leaf, meringue kisses & award-winning sugar paste flowers. Yes, this is a cake Her signature cake is the hand painted stained glass wedding cake which is simply exquisite; Nichola uses the allegory of an haute-couture gown to describe her cakes, she is preparing them for a catwalk show – they must be perfect. I was treated to amaretto and chocolate sponge with vanilla buttercream, drizzled with caramel and hazelnuts. (Yep, it’s a tough job.) Nichola’s infectious ambition and energy mean that her journey has certainly not finished: this cook with a conscience is aiming high but isn’t forgetting her roots – she wants to help others along the way, just as she was helped back in Brooklyn. She would like to open her own premises next year, employing young apprentices, to showcase her cakes and to share her skills with others, offering sugar paste flower making classes and the like. And in the meantime, look out for her ‘popping-up’ around Tonbridge (offering us savoury, as well as sweet, treats) and going for gold at Cake International in the wedding cake and sugar paste categories (only bronze last year!). Nichola is inspiring, incredibly positive and a great advocate of working flexibly. I’m sure as a little girl she didn’t imagine herself in a kitchen in a town in Kent, England but that’s where her journey has brought her, so far. Once you’ve tried her cake, you’ll be pretty pleased it has. Black Rose Bakery has kindly offered one of her cakes as a prize in the “12 days of Feastmas” competition I’m running in December. If you’re bored of the fruit cake, marzipan, royal icing Christmas cake combo, make sure you’re watching Eat Around Tonbridge on 1 December! If you’d like to meet Nichola, she can be found at the monthly Tonbridge Farmer’s Market (the next is 13 Nov); alternatively, you can find her on FaceBook, Twitter @BlackRoseBakery, Instagram blackrosebakery and at her very own website!
News: New places, new nights…Tonbridge continues to change…
Recently, I’ve been catching up with some of the owners and managers of our local Tonbridge eating places and wanted to share with you what I’ve learnt about our evolving & exciting eating scene…get your diaries out, there’s lots going on! The Old Fire Station will continue to bring great chefs to Tonbridge and some are starting to come back to serve us second helpings including Tonbridge’s own Gurkha Planet & Sulston’s Kitchen (brunch weekends) as well as Brisket & Barrell (14th & 15th October – no ticket required) & Ben Spalding (7th & 8th October). Ben tells me that the menu will be revealed on the night but “expect 14 servings of delicious, playful & well-balanced cooking with maximum vibes!” They’re also doing their bit for charity by hosting pizza nights in their courtyard 7th & 8th October. All you need do is buy a drink and then the pizza is as much as you want to donate to ‘Tonbridge Calling’ – a great cause. There’s so much going on at TOFS over the coming weeks and months that I can’t write about it all! I heartily recommend following TOFS on Facebook so that you can be one of the first to hear about these fantastic events and something very exciting that they have planned towards the end of the year! Sadly my lips are sealed but it’ll be worth it… The Bakehouse at 124 is diversifying, bringing us pizza nights and chef Dan Hatton in this lovely old setting. The pizza nights are with Mission Pizza, “trying to save the planet one pizza at a time”, 7th & 8th October. Dan Hatton, a purveyor of fine foods at his store and café in the Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, as well as Michelin starred chef, generously gave his time and efforts to TOFS’ Empty Bowls event back in May. The soup that he served was amazing (read about it here), so if that one bowl of soup is anything to go by, these should be great nights! (Dates for all events are at the bottom of this page). Little tidbits of info… The Slug & Lettuce is set to change: it will become a Town Pub & Kitchen. On the group’s website the images of other TPKs, as they’re called, look promising, quite Graze-esque. Dates are still to be finalised so watch this space. Fuggles, the beer café that started in Tunbridge Wells, has planning permission to change the use of its premises and it’s now just waiting for the alcohol licence to be agreed by the council. The Chequers is ‘under new management’ but what the future holds for the oldest building in Tonbridge, we’re not quite sure. The rumour was that Sankey’s, the fish & seafood restaurant currently found in Tunbridge Wells, was going to take over but they tell me that’s not the case… If you missed my previous post on Facebook, our Thai restaurant, just across from The Chequers, Gaab Kao is now delivering. I know lots of you love it in there and love the takeaways – now you don’t have to leave the house! 01732 358730 Eat Around Tonbridge is launching a jobs board for the hospitality/food industry. There are many seasonal jobs being advertised in the town and you will now be able to find these all in one place. We’re aiming to go live with that next week so watch your feeds and share the Facebook page, tweets and website itself to spread the word and maybe earn some extra cash for Christmas. Lots going on! Surely there’s something for everyone on the High Street these days…but I’m sure it’s going to get even better! Keep liking and sharing my Eat Around Tonbridge Facebook posts, Tweets (@eat_tonbridge) and the website so that you can stay right up to date with news, openings, offers and competitions. Key dates & details 7th & 8th OctoberOld Fire Station – Chef Ben Spalding – if you’d like to book, tickets are £65 for 14 courses and can be booked by emailing Ben directly Ben@benspalding.co.ukOld Fire Station – Tonbridge Calling pizza fundraiserThe Bakehouse at 124 – Mission PizzaCall 01732 360382 14th & 15th OctoberOld Fire Station – Brisket & Barrell – no ticket requiredThe Bakehouse – chef Dan Hatton 18th, 19th November, 16th & 17th DecemberThe Bakehouse – chef Dan Hatton Eat Reviewer