Nothing beats a cuppa and we drink loads of it, but are we in danger of losing our cutting edge tea tastebuds in the UK amidst countless cups of liquor in disposable cups attempting to pass muster as tea? I think so. Even in the finest of supermarkets it is a struggle to find leaf tea, or teas of quality and distinction. Enter a new saviour in the shape of Ed Eisler of Jing, a young man with knowledge and passion a-plenty.


A fascinating workshop for food and wine writers led us through a wondrous tasting of teas that covered both familiar and new - I didn’t think there was much new for me to taste so I was intrigued by my first taste of yellow tea, slow baked green tea with a very rounded flavour. It’s all a long way away from the homogenised tea bag standard. Such teas do not come cheap and challenge the tastebuds in fascinating ways. If you love wine or whisky you should also take a journey through tea and a good place to start would be at the Jing website.



Ed’s pictures of tea terraces had us all thinking Duoro Valley, whilst others showed ancient wild trees in clearings amongst the forests. I was fascinated to learn that whilst most teas are best vacuum-packed and drunk fairly young, puerh tea (the super-health beverage beloved of the rich and famous) is best well aged and that older teas in a well-ventilated warehouse aid the ageing of younger teas. We are talking teas here that might age for 50 years or more with the best attracting a price of £17,500 for a 300g cake. OK, such delights might not be for you and me, but I was itching to book a flight and see it all for myself as I left for home, gratefully clasping my very generous goodie bag.

Walking across Tangmere Airfield to deliver some copies of MoonBites the Magazine to the pepper nursery I was struck by a couple of pairs of rubber gloves on the ground by a water tank with hoses running up onto the roof. Yes, it’s glasshouse washing time to make the best of the winter sun. With 21 hectares (50 acres +) of glass that’s a lot of roof to clean and it looks like it’s going to take several weeks. Washing my glasshouse is the worst job of the year in the garden, and that’s just 8’x10’!



I’ve been in Edinburgh to chair a conference of fish farmers, an event which provided much food for thought and a really positive buzz about this new and dynamic specialised growing discipline. I’m beginning to hate airports so I took the train and welcome wholeheartedly the National Express franchise on the East Coast line. Advance booking provided utterly affordable first class travel and the restaurant car served a perfectly acceptable pasta lunch on the way up and, yes, salmon on the way back. Cheddar, goat’s cheese and Cashel Blue were in excellent condition in both directions and the wine list was short but good. I shall travel by train whenever time allows.

Last Wednesday saw me overnight in London near the Tower - in preparation for a Big Breakfast and not as a result of treason. My supper guest was delayed and so I gate-crashed a presentation and dinner at the Café Spice Namaste in Prescott Street hosted by the British Turkey Information Service. Indian food is often very rich from the amount of ghee used but Chef Cyrus Todiwala MBE is a master at creating fabulous dishes that are lighter on fat. Cyrus is also great at using almost forgotten meats (who eats turkey apart from at Christmas and other big celebrations? Well, we should. Like venison it is low in fat, and it readily absorbs flavours) and often features mutton on his menu. Phil Vickery, one of the most inventive of chefs in my opinion - and a thoroughly good chap - was there having given the dem and it is always good to catch up. Watch out for a fabulous cheese bake of his soon in Dish of the Day. Then it was back to my hotel for a bed (no breakfast) in what was little more than a Travel Lodge and cost £155. Is it just me, or are we ripped off in the UK?

The next morning I was speaking at Roast in Borough Market for the Home Grown Cereals Authority at the launch of their Farmhouse Breakfast Week campaign. There is a lot of press at the moment about the cost of cereals and the effect this is having on animal feed and what we subsequently pay for our meat. We have to take on board that in the UK we have higher standards of animal welfare than in most other countries (including many parts of Europe) and that, however feed prices affect our meat, we need to Buy British and support both our livestock and arable farmers. I have long been a passionate supporter of the Farmhouse Breakfast campaign and it is always a pleasure to be involved with it. Take a look at MoonBites the Magazine to find out more about breakfast foods.

After leading a tasting of smoked fish married with a couple of beers to show how food and drinks can complement or murder each other, lots of chocolates made from cocoas of different origins and roast beef on Friday, I knew that I was well down the road to gaining a couple of pounds this week and so set off to Holland with my friend Mariella safe in the knowledge that I might just as well go and eat and enjoy myself.

Mariella is Dutch and wanted to show me that there is more to her cuisine than Edam and lettuce. And she certainly made her point! Scehduled to arrive late on Sunday night to the seaside resort of Domburg in Zeeland we were warned that the hotel restaurant would be closed and so we stopped in Antwerp (OK, I know that’s still Belgium) for our first meal. Willie, Mariella’s husband, had seen an article about Antwerp in the weekend papers and our first choice of restaurant, de Kleine Zavel, had a table waiting for us. This was bistro as it should be, in my opinion. Slightly shabby building, huge pieces of interesting furniture and crates of old beer bottles artistically arranged, surrounding spotless tables, napery and kitchens (which you could see en route to the loos). The food had an Asian slant and just about everything was tempting. Mariella dined on tempura prawns with a carrot and green mango salad, then fillets of lemon sole with a tartare of raw crayfish which was excellent. I had scallops with a lump of pancetta which was all meltingly tender, and then pigeon breast with a beetroot accompaniment and a ‘jus’ of Kriek cherry beer. (The legs were served separately afterwards, with pickled cucumber and celeriac and were finger-food as it should be!) Excellent if slightly expensive at €160, although I did choose a stunning Italian chardonnay, which had something to do with the final price.

Our apartment hotel in Domburg was a modern art hotel, comfortable with a good breakfast. We borrowed bikes and set off to explore the village and beaches on a rather grey day. Not much was open - but then, very little is here at the seaside in January - but we enjoyed riding through the woods to the next village and struggling against the wind on our way back to a bowl of the traditional split pea and ham soup, served with black bread and lightly smoked ham from the belly of a pig, fatty and full of flavour. Of course we ‘did’ a supermarket. We had brought a crate of empty Grolsch bottles back from home and I was interested to see how Mariella put them into a machine just inside the supermarket door. This then worked out how many were in the crate and issued a receipt for €3.40, which Mariella presented at the till to be knocked off her purchases. Just like 3d on a lemonade bottle - what comes around etc.

Eating out on a Monday night is never easy so we bought a magazine about the top 100 restaurants in Holland and found one in Zeeland, about 30 minutes drive away (Hurrah for satnav!) that was open on a Monday night and yes, they had a table for us. Thank heavens we dressed up! After travelling to end the end of the universe we had an amazing experience at the Restauant ‘t Veerhuis in Wolphaartsdijk. I have eaten at the Fat Duck at Bray and won’t be hurrying back - interesting but why? This chef is an admirer of Heston Bleumenthal’s but, in my opinion, was much more accessible and believable as he was championing local food as well as pushing boundaries with an exquisitely light yet forceful touch.

We avoided the degustation menu as we felt it was too much, but nevertheless, were treated to an amazing array of taste sensations, each course matched to a suggested wine by the very friendly front-of-house/sommelier. Outstanding for me was crab in a very lightly curried sauce, almost like a mousse, with a sea salt caramel wafer on top. Smoked eel served with passion fruit was truly stunning and both our main courses were excellent. Duck in the most pungent and fragrant of orange sauces, accompanied by a confit of the meat as well, and a superb venison fillet. The little extra bits and bobs were almost our undoing as we had paced ourselves well - 5 sweet tasters of a much larger size than a standard petits fours were not necessary at all, but we couldn’t resist. And, unbelievably, at €140, the bill was less than the previous night.

Mariella has made her point. I am looking forward to my next eating trip to Holland very much indeed. Oh yes, and our hotel bill for 2 nights B&B, two rooms? €340. How can that be?