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Cardiff - Wally's Delicatessen

Posted by Unknown Monday, May 12, 2014 1 comment

Cardiff has some lovely arcades, and it's in the Royal Arcade that you'll find Wally's Deli.

Wally's Deli is named after it's founder - Walter Salamon. Walter's family originally were originally from Poland, and came to the UK in 1939 from Rohrbach (near Vienna) whilst fleeing from the Nazis.

Just looking through the windows, you can see this shop is like an Aladdin's cave for lovers of fine food:

I couldn't wait to go in:

Inside the shop:

there's all manner of continental products. There's a large cheese counter:

with cheeses like Gorwydd Caerphilly from Trethowans Dairy, and Perl Las from Caws Cenarth and Teifi with Seaweed (Welsh Laverbread) from Teifi Cheese.

There's a good charcuterie department:

with items from Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain.

They sell Belgium chocolates, and a good selection of local beers and wine:

I love the white chocolate sheep in the bottom of this cabinet!

If you go up the stairs (behind the olive bar):

there's a café, where I had some coffee and panettone:

Wally's is a lovely family business, which has now become a Cardiff institution!

Wally's Delicatessen
38-46 Royal Arcade
Cardiff
CF10 1AE

Tel: 029 2022 9265

Web: www.wallysdeli.co.uk

Cardiff - Madame Fromage

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, April 2, 2014 0 comments

Cardiff still has lots of Victorian and Edwardian arcades, especially in the Castle Quarter. It was in the Castle Arcade that I found Madame Fromage:

It's a café with a deli and cheese shop.

The cheese counter:

has a selection of Welsh cheeses:

and continental cheeses:

and there's bread to go with the cheese:

There's also cakes, like these banoffee cheesecake brownies:

or caramel shortbread

I'm more of a savoury person, so I bought a Welsh Oggie, from Edward's of Conwy.

I also wanted a gift to take home, and settled for some Wesh caviar (handpicked laver seaweed from the Pembrokeshire coast) from the Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company:

Madame Fromage

18 Castle Arcade
Cardiff
CF10 1BW

Tel: 029 2064 4888

Web www.madamefromage.co.uk

Shrewsbury - HEFF Local Food Store

Posted by Unknown Saturday, March 22, 2014 0 comments

I am full of admiration for Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF), our local regional food group. They do a fantastic job promoting and supporting the sorts of business I like to feature in this blog.

Last year I was rather disappointed when I heard their Savour the Flavour Local Food Store at Battlefield was to close, but this turned out to be good news - as they've now got a bigger (and better) shop at Shrewsbury College:

Today was a particularly good day to visit, as there were lots of their suppliers present, offering samples:

A lot of the stuff here you wont find in a supermarket. There's a lot of award winning produce from small independent producers.

There's fresh dairy products like Tiresford Guernsey Gold yoghurt:

and local free-range eggs from Hollowdene Hens:

There's an interesting selection of cheeses, like Shropshire Blue or Hereford Hop:

and quite a range of pickles to go with them. I tried quite a few different chilli jams, from Jumokeh:

Their Chilli Jam with Vanilla Pod is apparently good with cheesecake, apple pie & custard, ice-cream, sticky toffee pudding or bread & butter pudding.

Talking of ice-cream they sell may favourite - from Just Rachel in Ledbury:

Flavours include Damson & Sloe Gin, Ginger, Lemon with Lemon Curd and Salted Caramel.

There's great nuts and granola from the Ludlow Nut Company:

and cakes from Sugar n Spice

Suppliers of drinks include the wonderful Hobson's Brewery in Cleobury Mortimer:

which reminds me, I must visit Hobson's new visitors centre.

If you're visiting friends, it's a great place to pick up a gift where they'll say "wow" rather than "oh"!

Chocolate lovers are particularly well catered for:

with chocolate from Louis Barnett, Sue Gilmour and Nova Chocolates.

Not everything is food and drink - there's some nice books, and I bought some potato-bakers from Thinking Cooking:

which allow you to cook crispy baked potatoes - similar to those slow oven-cooked potatoes - in a microwave, fast.

The staff are friendly and helpful - I think they've tried and tested everything they sell (I wonder if they have any vacancies)!

They also share the college's Origins Restaurant, which on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays becomes HEFF's Taste Kitchen:

I'd already had breakfast, but couldn't resist ordering this:

I can't wait to go back!

Local Food Store

Shrewsbury College

London Road

Shrewsbury, Shropshire

SY2 6PR

Tel: 01743 452818

Email: shop@heff.co.uk

Web: www.heff.co.uk/pages/FOODIE/Buying-Local-Food/LOCAL-FOOD-STORE.htm

Ludlow Cicchetti

Posted by Unknown Monday, December 23, 2013 0 comments

If you don't understand why Ludlow is one of may favourite places in the world, I can only guess that you've never been! Another of my favourite places is Venice where, when you need a rest from the amazing architecture etc., you can relax in a bàcari and have something to eat and drink. Cicchetti is like the Spanish tapas, but better (in my humble opinion). You can have a little plate as a snack, or lots of different plates to make a meal.

So when I heard that chef Martyn Emsen, and his wife Jayne, had opened Ludlow Cicchetti at the top of Broad Street, I couldn't get there fast enough!

Martyn has already had a mention in this blog, as he owns Ludlow Traditional Smokehouse. Amongst other things, he makes the most amazing hot smoked trout pâté and smoked salmon pâté.

Inside the shop:

you'll find all manner of Italian food and drink. There's extra virgin olive oil and superior balsamic vinegars, and mostarda di frutta (candied fruit in a mustard flavoured syrup).

There's great attention to detail here, Martyn (pictured at the top of this post) is passionate about where he sources his food. Meat is cut with a hand turned slicer, so that he can control the speed the blade turns, so it doesn't melt the fat.

You can sit down and have something to eat:

like Bruschetta - with their own goat's cheese ricotta, white truffle honey, Mozzarella Bocconcini, chilli, basil, mint, mixed mushrooms, 24 month Parmesan (served warm), smoked salmon or prosciutto, scrambled egg, fruit toast, honey berries and ricotta salata.

To drink you can have a ristretto, a Bellini (Prosecco and peach purée), and I'm struggling to think of anywhere else where I can get a glass of Italian wine for just £2.30! If you prefer to keep it local, you could have marmalade or rhubarb vodka form Chase Distillery.

I love the way this place has been decorated - a sign on the wall says "small plates, large conversations". It's a great place to chill out this Christmas and enjoy the crazy mixture of very local and very Italian food.

Ludlow Cicchetti
10 Broad Street
Ludlow
Shropshire
SY8 1NG

Tel: 07890 412873

York - The Hairy Fig

Posted by Unknown Thursday, December 19, 2013 0 comments

I was so excited to find the Hairy Fig in York, that I cut off some of the entrance to the historic Merchant Adventurers' Hall in my picture above.

This medieval guildhall:

and the Hairy Fig, are both on Fossgate, a street steeped in culinary heritage (see here for more details).

Anyway back to the Hairy Fig - it's a shop as intriguing as its name.

I don't think figs are hairy, but the owner had managed to find some cactus figs:

which I think are the fruit of the prickly pear - and apparently "natural colon cleaners"!

The business has expanded into two shops. The first one I went into was packed with all manner of interesting foods, including some of the best local, French, Italian, Mexican or Spanish foods!

It's a great place to get items for canapés, here you can buy baby figs, stuffed with cream cheese, baby cornichons, sun dried tomatoes and olives.

There's over 40 different cheeses, like Jamie Montgomery's cheddar, a variety of Swaledale and Wensleydale cheeses,including the Richard III Wensleydale cloth-bound cheese, made by Andrew Ridley. Blue cheeses include Cropwell Bishop Stilton and Yorkshire blue from Shepherds Purse.

Rustic Italian style breads comes from Via Vecchia in the Shambles

Varieties include cheese and marmite, cinnamon and raisin (loaves or bagels), green olive and thyme, and Sicilian (ham olives cheese and herbs). Via Vecchia also supply local restaurants with bread.

The first shop became so popular that they had to expand, and in 2009 they moved into the shop next door as well. Here you can bring your own bottle and fill it with an amazing choice of balsamic vinegars and olive oils. If you haven't got a bottle, they got some nice ones if you're choosing a gift. I've never seen such a choice:

There's also over 40 different teas, like Chinese tea balls, Japanese cherry, Oolong silver tips and Sencha Fukujyu green tea:

There's also an interesting selection of coffee beans.

The chocolate here is also top quality, and different. Chocolates include Lauden fine chocolates, which I think are some of the best you'll find.

At the back of the shop there's a small café, where you can where you can chill out and enjoy some of the food they sell, before exploring the Merchant Adventurers Hall at the back.

It's no wonder that this lovely shop last year won an award for the Best Shopping Experience in York, and the Independent have included this shop in their list of the 50 best delicatessens in the UK.

The Hairy Fig
39 Fossgate
York
North Yorkshire
YO1 9TF

Tel: 01904 677074

Web: www.thehairyfig.co.uk