Studio Thai, like being on holiday!

What a treat, visiting Studio Thai in Newbury with the gorgeous Waheeda as my dining companion.  Now, dear reader, you may know my love of things Thai, I go there for my annual holiday and love every minute.  I do try other places but invariably I end up sitting there grumpily wondering why on earth I didnt go back to Koh Samui for a fantastic relaxing holiday.  The food is a major reason that we keep returning to the lovely Thailand so it was a joy to visit Studio Thai and have all my holiday taste buds revitalised.  Wow.  So good.  Sue comes from the Bangkok area and has been cooking Thai food in Newbury for a number of years and Sachin is her business partner, both thoroughly good eggs and delightful hosts.

 

The restaurant is lovely, lots of wood and carvings, it really did look like an authentic Thai restaurant, in fact with the aromas of food being prepared it smelt like an authentic Thai restaurant too, in a very good way.

 

Guess who, if I say luscious then you say Waheeda!!

I have been utterly noble by posting this picture of the lovely Waheeda with what looks like a ropey washed out old bag.  Note to self…. only sit next to even more hideous creatures in future.  Sigh.

Wonderful little home made spring rolls.  Normally wherever you go the spring rolls are uniform, these are made on the premises and have that wonderful home made charm which adds to the fantastic flavour.  They came with a home made chilli sauce that packed a punch but didnt knock you to the ground and punch your lights out.

I have to admit that although my daugher, Rachel, could eat satay for every meal it has never been a favourite of mine, I have always thought it a bit ‘meh’.  However this dish has changed my mind, the chicken was moist and the satay sauce was unlike any I have had before, it was fresh, you could see the chopped nuts and taste the crunchiness, in fact it was all I could do to stop taking a spoon to the sauce and eating it like a soup.

 This was my pork stir fry Kao Pad Sab Pa Rod which was really tasty, there were different levels of flavour and a low level of heat and they all tied together beautifully.  The vegetables had a bit of crunch and the meat wasn’t dried out, all in all very well cooked.

This was Waheeda’s Pad Gra Prao which was a street dish of prawns stir fried with chopped chilli, garlic and holy basil.  Hotter than my pork but just as tasty.

This is Sue who comes from Bangkok and has been cooking Thai food for ever.  She also does fruit carving (photo below) and offers both cookery lessons and fruit carving lessons for individuals or groups.  What a great present that would make!  She can be contacted on 07733303355.

Sachin, Sues enthusiastic and industrious business partner, charming and attentive.  While I was chatting to Sachin I heard a couple of voice around the corner.  It was a couple of very loyal customers from my neck of the woods who had followed Studio Thai on its journey through Newbury.  They were vegetarian and loved the fact that you could choose virtually any dish on the menu and ask for a substitution of tofu or indeed any other meat or fish to make the dish your own.  How cool is that?

 An example of the fruit carving that you could do if you had a lesson with Sue!

 

 

 

Finally, is this Elton John’s typewriter?  Please pass this on to Sir Elton and we will find out!!

Brebis interview – run over by a steamroller of taste

How exciting, this is one very passionate man, great cook and must be hell to live with, appears to do everything at full speed!  Sam is the chef and when I visited both his brother and mum were helping so it appears to be a true family business.  In fact some of the meat on sale was from his brothers farm in Oxford.  Sam totally overwhelmed me.  This is one passionate man who gave me so much information my brain went into melt down mode.  More of that below.

 

The most amazing chopped smoked salmon with a slow poached duck egg (at 63 degrees until it was almost gelatinous) and wild garlic topped with a parmesan crisp.  Next to that are (in season) Jersey Royals with Bayonne ham and wild garlic.  The saltiness of the ham went brilliantly with the nutty Jersey Royals.

 

 These two look like a couple in love!

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to choose your meat, just point to Sams arm to pick your cut.  What dedication.

 

Ok this is some of Sam’s philosophy.  Yes, get it local if you can but make it sustainable even if you can’t.  Sam spent a lot of time in France and I don’t know if this has added to his passion or if he was just fairly mad anyway.  Here are some snippets – P’tits Guillotines is basically cheese on toast, no fussiness here.  ‘Is there such a thing as a mistake?’, ‘Sweetness is a flavour”Knowledge is to be shared’, ‘Fat elongates the flavour of the palate’ ‘Look up Michelle Bras – Inventing Cuisine’

 

The Jersey Royals were cooked in sea salt and the wine he suggested was Gris Blanc Gerard Bertrand as it has extra minerality to match the dish.  It is interesting to note that the owners of the Michelin starred Harrow at Bedwyn have eaten here but not a surprise.

 

I was thrown information at rapid fire, the importance of looking at the region that you are buying your food/wine from.  Is it coastal?  What grows naturally with it. what can be cooked with it?  The rapid speed of talking matched the changes in the menu, today Jersey Royals with Bayonne ham (cultivated 30 miles from Spain so with that melting fat but a different name to the more well known acorn fed ham from Spain), tomorrow a change with both soft ham and crispy spikes of ham that add an extra crunch.

 

I had such an enjoyable time here, Sam was just astoundingly enthusiastic, as all the best chefs seem to be.

 

I paid for my meal and all opinions are my own.

Taste of Christmas at the Vineyard 2013

This was indeed magnificent.  I should have realised when I got the last parking space in the car park and another 100 cars had to park elsewhere.  The Vineyard was buzzing and as I entered the lobby I saw with delight that it had turned into a stunning Christmas market.  On the right were the very welcoming members of the committee who charged £5 entrance fee which gave you a chance to enter a prize draw to win a night at the Vineyard or a photographic session with Adam Hillier.  The front lobby had several stalls and I have done interviews which will be broadcast on Kennetradio.com.

The setting was stunning, so Christmassy and I really felt festive (that was even before I hit the Pinksters Pink Gin stall).

Pinksters Gin, I so want that tapped dispenser you can see on the left.  Perfect for a Martini.

Marsden Confectionery, fudge of a very high standard, try the lavender

 

These are all cheeses from Just Add Grapes, a shop based in Weavers Walk in Newbury and well worth a visit, note the wonderful fruits  which are cheddar infused with liquor.

The perfect stall for those obsessed with high quality stationery, leather bound diaries of all sorts and sizes, absolutely wonderful.

Ok I was tempted here and bought some lovely drop earrings, irresistible.

Ahem, this was the perfect stall for anyone with a tiny girl, can my children please start breeding, I love my grandbots to bits but need a girl as well although it may bankrupt me

Such lovely tableware, I can envisage my Christmas table covered with it, huge bowls of roast potatoes and vegetables beautifully presented.

Amazing jewellery made from aluminium and very non allergenic

 

 

 

 

 

These are the spa stalls from the Vineyard, smelt delicious and I flipping forgot to buy the Daniel Galmiche cook book which contains the best mushroom risotto in the history of the universe.  Dear Vineyard, next time I visit please remind me that I need to buy one!

The Wonderful Wessex Wild Plum Company – white bullace liqueur and other wild plum drinks.  Delicious.

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Aha – food! I had to stop for sustenance so had the charcuterie board, the pumpkin risotto which were of course delicious (although nothing, and I mean NOTHING will beat the wild mushroom risotto),  Next to that are some canapés, after I had looked at it and inhaled there were just empty spoons left!!  As CEO of a significant charity I thought it best not to leave visible bite marks in the hands of anyone who tried to get in my way.

Look at the lovely canapes makers, how sad it must have been for them to see their delicious salmon and caviare, game and fous gras and hock canapes (I may have all of those names wrong) disappear so fast.  Plus they had a Thermomix producing amazing sorbets and dry ice producing iced custard that tasted of Christmas pudding.  They looked like they were having fun.

All in all a great event to attend, charities benefit plus you get the chance to buy high quality goods.

I did not pay for my food but really appreciated it!

Aldermaston Stores, what a spicy find!

I have been going here for years, to be honest it is the nearest shop, I live somewhere where I cant do that wonderful thing I had in Newbury. You call a number and people bring you food to your door, you just give them money and you can eat, amazing!! I live in Padworth,  not the posh bit, and Aldermaston Stores is not even a walk away (certainly not for me, these feet are made for pedals). However I pass it every day on the way to and from work and it is brilliant, it has everything you could need plus more.  I stop there so often that I actually feel part of the family.  There is one counter that really takes my eye, it is full of the most wonderful scotch eggs, hand made pork pies and fantastic spicy kachori and samosas.

Now here is a fact for you, apparently Bimal, the owner, assures me that Aldermaston folk like a bit of spice.  I have to say that this fact doesn’t surprise me, us country folk aren’t dull in any way.  We particularly appreciate quality food and cheerful service which is what you get from Aldermaston Stores.  They are very involved in the community, the window is covered in posters of local events and the charity boxes inside are overflowing with the generosity of the locals.  Not just locals either as the shop is a handy drive by for people going to Tadley and Basingstoke as well as the back way to Newbury.

The best pasties, pork pies and home made samosas and pachora

The reason that The Aldermaston Stores have made it onto my blog is the fact that they home cook their kachori and samosas as well as selling the lovely pies and scotch eggs which are made down in Devon.  The kachori are round balls with a filling of what tastes like potatoes, spices, peas, possibly some sort of daal and a bit of inner spicy heat.  The samosas come in lamb, chicken or vegetable flavours, I always have the lamb which is delicious dipped in yoghourt.  I just love the fact that these spicy treats are made specifically for Aldermaston stores and are popular with a lot of customers.

All villages should have a place like Aldermaston Stores, run by friendly staff and stocking all the essentials you need to pick up on the way to work or home.  You can get a coffee there with a hot pasty on your way to work or the milk or bread you forgot for tea.  Too many of these shops are closing so please support your local shop, we will miss them if they go.

 

Donnington Valley

Very excited to be reviewing a whole day at Donnington Valley Hotel in Newbury using the superb spa. How relaxed will I be, pampered and fed in glorious surroundings?