Category Archives: Events

Birmingham Summer Market Saturday 2nd August 2014

Posted in Events, Festivals, Food Festivals, Independent, Street Food by

This Saturday 2nd August their is fun in the sunshine at the second seasonal Summer Market.

From 12-7pm at The Bond on Fazeley Street Digbeth experience artisan vendors, for food and crafts, local artists, street food, bars and music.

If you have a penchant for all things Independent and vintage this is for you. The entry fee is £1.50 for adults and children free.

The Bond is near the canal side and has a court yard, covered terrace and an indoor area. If it rains there is plenty of shelter, if its sunny, then take your sun block 🙂

There will be a good time summer atmosphere, where a vintage routemaster bus will serve liquid refreshments such as real ale and cocktails.

There will be handcrafterd necklaces, art deco notebooks, and vintage jewellery being sold.

Vendors include: To be updated

-Becky’s Bhajis
-The Bournville Waffle Company
-Brum Yum Yum
-Independent Birmingham
-Deli@Edgbaston
-Sixty Three Islands
-The Mexican Bean
-Pizzafireslice
-Sai Buddha Belly
-Big Daddies Diner
-Waffle Speak
-Jabberwockyfood

See them at The Bond Company, 180-182 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SE.

@theBondco
@seasonalmarket
http://www.summermarket.co.uk
@independentB’ham
http://www.independent-birmingham.co.uk

Should be a great day of all things Independent:)

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The Ethical Chef and The Green Gathering Festival 2014

Posted in Events, Festivals, Food Festivals, Pop up's, Supper Clubs, Wales by

I encountered The Ethical Chef only a few weeks via Twitter and then through his superb website http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk

The Ethical Chef was created in 2010 by Deri Reed. A chef specialising in vegetarian cuisine and one extremely passionate about food, health and the environment.

Born in Carmarthen near Cardiff, Deri Specialises in organic veggie cuisine, he is the ‘chef du jour’ and creates ingenious Welsh recipes from the ingredients on his doorstep in Cardiff. He was trained at Veggie restaurant Cafe Paradiso in Cork, Ireland, and offers a Supper Club for £17.50 for three courses which is available at select venues throughout the year in Cardiff and at Festivals and featured at Cradiff’s street food festival and Abergavenny food festival.

He can also be booked for weddings, events, food festivals and can be seen at Cardiff’s riverside market Sundays 10-2pm.

The Ethical Chef use compostable and biogradable packaging and plant starch cutlery which minimalises our impact on the environment. Deri sees the reduction of food waste as imperitive to a balanced environment and vegetarianism is key to this.

For his recipes and supper clubs he uses seasonal, organic and local where possible ingredients to create sumptious vegetarian and vegan food.

The Ethical Chef appeared at Glastonbury 2014 and created dishes such as foraged fruit in an elderflower syrup on yogurt and museli and an organic smoked chilli on a bed of herbed bulgar wheat, Glastonbury chedder and Yeo Valley yogurt with fresh corriander.

These dishes won The Ethical Chef the peoples choice Green Traders of Glastonbury 2014 award, a major achievement via Twitter.

They will be there again next year to cook up a storm.

RECIPES

The best part of The Ethical Chef website in my opinion is the directory of recipes that make up the Vegetarian ethos of Dewi Reed.

These recipes are available on http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk/recipes or many of them are available on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/user/TheEthicalchef

Some of my favourites are

1. Vegan Carrot Cake recipe: http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk/recipe/carrotcake-vegan

2. Vegan Courgette Cake: http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk/tagged/vegan courgette cake

3. Butter Bean Cassolet: http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk/recipe/embassy-cafe-butter-bean-cassolet

4. Glastonbury Chilli: http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk/recipe/glastonbury-chilli

There are many others on the website and online.

THE GREEN GATHERING FESTIVAL 2014

The Ethical Chef will be appearing at the forthcoming
Green Gathering Festival from the 31st July-3rd August 2014 in Chepstow, Monmouthshire. Wales.

http://www.greengathering.org.uk

The Green Gathering are a charity that promotes education for sustainability powered by wind-sun-people.

It’s a small festival focusing around all the things that The Ethical Chef stand for. They will be feeding all the hungry people with a supper club throughout the festival. It’s an award winning family friendly festival

For ticketing information and pricing see the website http://www.greengathering.org.uk

For the line up and what’s on see also the website or see twitter for the latest news.

The supper club will be vegetarian and vegan three courses for £17.50.

They will also be serving up CoalTown coffee roasters fair trade organic single origin coffee.

http://www.coaltowncoffee.co.uk

http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk/about/why-were-ethical
http://www.ethicalchef.uk/blog
http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk/about

The work of the Ethical Chef is in my opinion to be applauded in our society today. The ethos and attitude, to all things green and to vegetarianism and veganism is singled out in the lovely recipes and awards that Dewi and his team have received.

It would be great to see one of The Ethical Chef’s supperclubs come to The Midlands and maybe Birmingham, well hopefully one day that will happen:)

For further details of the work of The Ethical Chef see the website http://www.ethicalchef.co.uk or twitter @TheEthicalChef

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheEthicalChef

http://www.TheEthicalChef.co.uk/recipes
http://www.facebook.com/public/Ethicalchef

http://www.greengathering.org.uk
@greengathering

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Tasty Morsels: New Pop Up’s.

Posted in Catering, Events, Pop up's by

There are a few pop up’s on top of the ones at Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath doing the rounds at the moment. The one’s I like the look of are the ones that give different types of food a chance.

Over the next few weeks sees two such pop up’s.

1. 63 Islands Caribbean are a new caterer cooking dishes influenced by the Spanish, French, Dutch and Indian settlers to the Caribbean. They have a pop up at Cherry Reds on John Bright Street in the city centre near the Alex Theatre and Turtle Bay serving their food on the 28th July from 6.30pm. They do have a veggie and vegan options.

There is:

1 starter a Spicy Pumpkin Soup
1 main a dish called Channa (spiced chick peas) served with coconut, infused rice and peas or flatbread (roti).

Plus a few side orders including plaintain and spicy pickled coleslaw and flatbread (roti) which are all vegan as are the chickpeas.

Contact 0121 643 5716 for details and reservations.
@63_Islands for menus.
@Ilovecherryreds

2. Pika Pika (whom I’ve mentioned as being at The Hare and Hounds Kings Heath foodie nights on the 24th July see previous post) are a Japanese Catering group who specialise in serving Oriental Fusion Cuisine.

Pika Pika have another pop up evening on Wednesday 30th July 2014 at The Ort Cafe in Balsall Heath/Moseley area. They will be providing an authentic Japanese pop up dinner experience which again includes veggie and vegan options on the menu. This takes place on the 30th July from 6-9pm.

Reservations are recommended email josie@ortcafe.co.uk or call 07845 083 322.

wwww.ortcafe.co.uk/pika-pika-pop-up
@wearepikapika
http://www.wearepikapika.tumblr.com

If I have more information at any point on menus for Pika Pika I will update the post.

Pika Pika will also be testing their culinary skills at a pop up at Cherry Reds in Kings Heath on 11th August 2014. I will keep an eye and post the menu in due course.

Finally, Cherry Reds again (busy people :)) have a pop up kitchen in their John Bright Street cafe on the last Monday of the month. This will be a different street food vendor every month. Watch this space for updates and check on their website http://www.cherryreds.com for details.

Plus, every Wednesday Cherry Reds in John Bright Street are offering a bottle of house wine with every purchase from the menu. Sounds a bargain. 🙂

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Tasty Morsels: bite size foodie happenings

Posted in Bars and Pubs, Events, Independent, Pop up's, Pubs, Tasty Morsels by

Kings Heath in South Birmingham, is currently a hot bed of foodie delights. There are a number of exciting tasty morsels happening as we speak:)

1. Hare and Hounds pub Five Week restaurant project. With a different pop up project every week taking over their recently refurbished upstairs bar area and kitchen.

Week 1 Thursday 17th July 2014 sees City centre rustic Mexican street food pioneers Habaneros take centre stage offering 3 courses for £17.50. Begins at 7.30pm.

Please note this event was cancelled. There are full refunds available.

Week 2: Japanese caterers Pika Pika pop up on Thursday 24th July to provide 3 courses of authentic Japanese food including a veggie set menu for £15.

Week3: Esteeemed pop up due Clarke and Lee of CANeat fame take over the bar with their twist on Asian soul food. See Clarke and Lee in the Heath plus cocktails from the Hare and Hounds on the 31st July at 6.45pm. Price £22.50.

Please note that this pop up isn’t suitable for veggies and vegans:(

Week 4: veggie Pop up Dosa offer their fab dosas (like crepes) from the southern Indian region of Kerala. Starts at 7.30pm for 3 courses costing £12, bargain. 🙂 on the 7th August. Dosa’s can be made vegan by request.

5: August 14th: Fingys Take Over. Alan ‘Fingy’ Thomson brings an evening of Peruvian and Latin food of the highest order. Three courses for £15.

Tickets available for all on website.

Hare and Hounds is on York Road on the corner of the High Street.

See http://www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/events-listings for details and reservations/bookings/tickets.

2. The Blue Rabbit & Co are operating out of The Kitchen Garden Cafe on York Road every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night offering 2 courses for £15 and 3 courses for £18.

Led by chef Dominic Simmonds @Dominicsimmonds, they offer high quality simple food at reasonabl prices for the quality of the sourcing and ingredients. a great independent bistro idea:) There are good veggie options. Contact 0121 443 4725 for reservations.

3. Taco Tuesday’s continue at Cherry Reds in Kings Heath on the last Tuesday of the month. Cherry Reds is in Kings Heath on York Road near The Kitchen Garden Cafe. Veggie options are always on the menu, dates to come 29th July and 26th August. Beautiful soft shell taco’s and killer Margaritas will be on offer. http://www.cherryreds.com for details.

4. Blue Ginger at 72 Poplar Road Kings Heath, serve authentic Singaporian and Malaysian Foood, Its the sister restaurant of my recently reviewed Blue Piano bar and restaurant in Edgbastion. Every Monday night they hold a vegan night, serving vegan dishes. On the menu I’ve counted 5 starters, 7 Mains, 6 sides, and 2 deserts. See webiste http://www.bluegingerrestaurant.co.uk for menu. Contact 0121 444 0999 for reservations.

If you order before 6.30pm Monday-friday you get 20% off the food bill.

Hoping myself to get to some of those at some point.

If anyone knows of any items that maybe considered ‘Tasty morsels’ in your area, and are food and drink related please get in touch or leave a comment on my blog under this post.

Until the next ‘Tasty morsel’. 🙂

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CBD Food Festival 2014

Posted in Bars and Pubs, Cafés and Restaurants, Coffee, Events, Food Festivals, Independent, Street Food by

One of my favourite food festivals of the year is Birmingham’s own CBD Food Festival (Colmore Business District) which is on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th July 2014 11am-7pm at Victoria Square off Colmore Row and New Street Birmingham City Centre.

Now in its fourth year, the CBD Festival organised by Colmore BID is a two day foodie extravaganza showcasing and celebrating the excellent food and drink offerings in Birmingham’s Commercial quarter CBD.

For me the best place for bars and coffee shops in Brum.

Venues from the CBD will serve tasters of signature dishes ranging from £1.50 to £5. All food options are priced at £3 or under, a bargain 🙂

All the businesses and participents are local to the area within a 10 minute walk of Victoria Square, including restaurants, bars, coffee shops, bakeries and deli’s.

Included in the participents are:

-Contemporary Indian restaurant Isaacs
-The Bureau bar and deli
-Purnells restaurant
-Purnells Bistro and Ginger’s bar
-Pure Bar and Kitchen
-Urban Coffee Company
-York’s Bakery and cafe
-Hotel Du Vin
-JoJolapa Bar and Restaurant
-Opus Restaurant
-Hindley’s Bakery
-Edmunds Lounge and bar
-The Old Joint Stock pub
-Chung Ying Central
-Asha’s Indian Resturant
-Chi Bar and Restaurant
-The Jekyl and Hyde
-The Old Contemptibles pub
-The Square Peg pub

For Veggies and Vegans that is a feast of good food:

I recomend Ashas, The Bureau Bar and Chung Ying Central, and Opus for food.

Ashas will be serving the lovely Papadi chaat served chilled £3
The Bureau: Beetroot Bon Bons £3
All Bar One: Veg Pad Thai £3
Chi Bar and Restaurant: Pav Bhaji served with a mini roll £3
Chung Ying Central: Veg spring roll with noodles. £3

There will also be cocktails, gin, pimms and cofee and toasties plus cold drinks and champaigne no doubt.

Try Ginger’s and the Bureau Bar for Cocktails and Hotel Du Vin for wine.

Coffee shops Urban and Yorks bakery will be there with your caffeine fix.

There will also be an entertainment programme at the festival, cookery demostrations, drink making demo’s, from top chefs including Glynn Purnell and David Calcombe of Opus Restaurant.

This years festival will also include a programme by The Young Rep, The Youth Theatre Company, Colmore Chorus CBD’s Choir of local business people.

There will also be deckchairs to sit on and a magician.

For full details see the CBD website and the free magazine’s that can be picked up at Snow Hill Station and the Tourist Information points.

It promises th be a fun couple of days with great local food and some fine independents demonstrating their culinary and bar skills.

Should be a fab foodie weekend:)

http://www.colmorebusinessdistrict.com
Twitter: @ColmoreBid

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