05.12.11 - Neil Borthwick at Canteen
Regulars at The Square (two Michelin stars) will be familiar with the brilliance of sous-chef Neil Borthwick, a former Young Chef of the Year.
On the evening of the 8th, Neil takes over our outdoor/indoor Covent Garden kitchen to create the following menu, for just £45:
Lightly curried smoked haddock soup with Cornish crab muffin
Loin of Venison with chestnut spaetzle, cabbage and pickled pear
English quince tart with ‘Pedro Jimenez’ ice cream.
05.12.11 - Angela Hartnett at Canteen
Our first guest chef night was a sell out and excited, hungry guests started arriving from 7pm to enjoy a menu that included the best Longhorn beef we’ve ever tasted, Dauphinoise potato and cavolo nero.
The temperature was still very pleasant inside the market but some extra help was provided in the shape of some warm cider, table heaters and the blankets that came out later!
No doubt the magical atmosphere will continue this week and next, thanks to the 10ft baubles and mirrorballs.
We’ve got a different band each week.
Hopefully they’ll all play a few Christmas numbers, just like Led Bib, who seemed to get the whole of Covent Garden laughing and smiling, never mind our guests.
Thanks to all of them, all our staff, and, of course, to Richard Edney, Angela Hartnett and her head chef at the Whitechapel Gallery Dining Room, Emma Duggan.
05.12.11 - Mark Sargeant at Canteen
Ten-shun!
Christmas continues to come early, thanks to another opportunity to experience superstar chef cooking for just £45 – in our magical Covent Garden setting. Next up in our guest chef night series is Mark Sargeant, a super-talented chef who needs no introduction, creating a one-off menu, which does.
To start
Iron bark pumpkin soup walnut & herb oil
Waldorf salad
Selection of smoked and cured fish
Pickled herrings, Loch Fyne Scottish smoked salmon, Cornish smoked mackerel pate, horseradish and chive cream.
Selection of meats & pickles
Potted duck & piccalilli, pastrami, apple smoked ham & rosemary infused ham, cornichons.
Slow roasted Newlyns farm pork belly & baked Braeburn apples, black pudding,
confit garlic.
Vegetables
Roast potatoes, braised red cabbage, carrot & swede puree
Pudding
Treacle tart & clotted cream
See the photos of Mark Sargeant and Richard Edney’s guest chef night here.
17.11.11 - Canteen powers Tweed Run
The Tweed Run is a charity bike ride like no other.
On November 26th, around 500 tweed-wearing cyclists will steer their vintage machines round a London route that begins and ends at Ralph Lauren’s Covent Garden Rugby store.
Fittingly, Canteen Covent Garden has been asked to supplement this pedal power with some fuel of our own – hot sausage rolls and steaming cups of tea. Tally ho!
17.11.11 - Beef at Canteen
Our biggest fans will know we rotate our roasts throughout the week.
And the true roast stalkers among you will remember beef is available Thursdays and – the king of roast days – Sundays.
But did you know? Our beef comes from native breeds such as Sussex and Red Devon and is completely additive-free.
We also hang it for up to four weeks to give it a better flavour and texture.
17.11.11 - Bullace and wild cherry gin nearly in
Have you heard? We’re making our own sloe gin. Except we’re not using sloes; we’re using perfectly ripe bullace and wild cherry plums picked in King Stag, Dorset.
We’ve already covered these rare wild hedge fruit in gin and sugar (not too much – ours won’t be sickly sweet, thanks to a recipe belonging to Canteen co-founder, Patrick Malone’s mum) and we’re leaving them for as long as we can resist.
We turn the jars every day and very soon we hope to be straining the grog, creating our very own Canteen gin to serve in our branches, as well as some delicious, alcoholic jam. We’ll also be leaving some grog alone to mature and serve next year. The first batch should be ready sometime in December. We’ll let you know as soon as it is.
17.11.11 - Canteen Covent Garden Guest Chef Nights
December is only two weeks away. Bad news if you love wearing shorts and seeing leaves on trees. Fantastic news if you enjoy trying different dishes created for you by great cooks.
Because on December 1st, Angela Hartnett & Emma Duggan kick off our series of three guest chef nights at Canteen Covent Garden, with a hearty, one-off menu that includes rare roast rib of longhorn beef and baked vanilla rice pudding.
Mark Sargeant will be showcasing Canteen’s new ‘feasting and grill’ menu on the 8th.
Then finally Neil Borthwick (sous chef at The Square) takes the kitchen on the 15th, with a menu that begins with lightly curried smoked haddock soup with Cornish crab muffin. Click these links for full mouth-watering details and to book.
21.10.11 - Octobers’s Internet snacking
What goes with what? Use this complementary flavours infographic to find out.
Are you embarrassed to ask for doggy bags? Don’t be. We love them. Because we hate waste.
21.10.11 - Dezeen and London Design Guide and Very Good and Proper
Canteen Covent Garden has already played host to a few interesting events, including the preview of not one, but three, creative endeavours.
In the London Design Guide 2012/13, Max Fraser reviews the capital’s 138 finest design destinations, from retailers to restaurant and hotels.
No less inspiring is Dezeen’s book of ideas, packed with 116 from architecture, interiors and design that have made the biggest impression on its editor, Marcus Fairs.
Finally, the Covent Garden Club Chair from Very Good & Proper, the product design agency responsible for the Canteen Utility Chair, was specially commissioned for Canteen Covent Garden.
You can see more photos of our design preview event here.
21.10.11 - Gone fishing
Well not quite, because we couldn’t get the insurance.
But our eager group of chefs and team leaders did make it down to Brighton and Newhaven Fish Sales in Hove.
They’re the people who deliver our fish to us fresh every day. First they have to catch them, which they do around three miles off the south coast. They use tiny day boats with small nets (but even the larger ones do no damage to the sea bed) to land their quota.
Any extra caught are sold to others, so no dead fish are ever, ever thrown back. Then a magic pinball conveyor sorts the catch according to weight.
We got a fileting masterclass, shivered in cavernous freezers and discovered that male cuttlefish are lured into pots with the promise of a female. Raunchy eh? See the photos of the Canteen fishing trip here.