Foodie Mini-Break Guide: Jersey

My boyfriend grew up in Jersey and I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time there over the past few years. The island is small - just 5 by 9 miles - and achingly pretty.

The coastline is stunning - with wide stretches of sandy beach in the South, East and West and a craggy landscape of cliffs, rockpools and caves in the North - and the interior isn't bad either: lush woodland and grassy meadows (complete with doe-eyed Jersey cows), dotted with pretty villages and handsome granite farmhouses. All in all, it's pretty idyllic...

Gorey Castle

Admittedly, there's not much to do when it rains, but when the sun comes out, there's sailing and surfing, cute harbour-side cafes, rock pools, cliff top walks, castles and a lovely zoo. And then, rain or shine, there's the food - the best, freshest fish & chips (which taste even better if you eat them on the beach) from Entwhistles in Gorey, lobster thermidor at the Oyster Box (overlooking St Brelade bay), delectable seafood at Green Island on the South-East coast and Corbiere Phare in the West for breath-taking sunset views of Corbiere lighthouse and delicious espetadas (hot metal skewers threaded with juicy chunks of beef and succulent king prawns, dripping with garlic butter).

Then there's the Hungry Man in Rozel, serving up ridiculous burgers (the Double-Decker Health-Wrecker - double burger, double cheese, double bacon) and the most over-the-top hot chocolates I have ever seen (topped with a mountain of whipped cream and a sprinkling of Maltesers), or, if pizza is more your thing, what must be the most fortuitously situated Pizza Express in the British Isles; french windows opening onto St Brelade's Bay and a glass roof which rolls back to let in the sun.

Greedy seagull at The Hungry Man

For families, the Boathouse/Treehouse/Farmhouse/Spicehouse - all part of the Boathouse Group - are also well worth a visit. My favourite is The Boathouse, which boasts beautiful views over the St Aubin harbour.

My final foodie recommendation is the ice-cream from Jersey Potteries - if you can spot one of their vans, the soft-serve is out of this world (a few summers feasting on creamy, golden-hued 99 flakes has set me up for a lifetime of disappointment with the artificially white foam churned out by the Mr Whippee vans in London).

Make sure you try the potatoes!

In conclusion, it's definitely worth a visit. Jersey is just a thirty minute flight from Gatwick, and perfect for a long weekend away, filled with beaches, walks and food (and hopefully, some sunshine!).

Salted caramel ice-cream at Paul A. Young

Over the past few weeks the sun has finally been making an appearance, kicking off my favourite time of the year: ice-cream season! Having heard very good things about Paul A Young, I headed to their branch near the Royal Exchange for my first (OK, third) ice-cream of the year.

Dark chocolate sauce, slowly solidifying over sweet-salt caramel ice-cream - does it get any better than this?

On the day of my visit, there were three flavours on offer - sea salt caramel, white chocolate and cassis, and a 70% dark chocolate sorbet - along with a vat of melted chocolate sauce and cocoa nibs or chocolate balls for sprinkling. I went for the sea salt caramel, and the nice guy at the counter let me do my own toppings (cue a flood of that ridiculously delicious chocolate sauce!) - incredible.

At £4.50 a pop, the ice-creams aren't cheap, but the beautiful combination of sweet, lightly salted caramel ice-cream and glossy, slightly bitter chocolate sauce was well worth it!

The flavours were quite intense, which meant that the serving size was probably slightly too large (even for me!). When the ingredients and flavours are this good, you don't need too much, so next time I might share with someone.

My Paul A Young experience definitely lived up to my expectations - and the tasting plate of brownie samples means I may be going back for more than the ice-cream.

 

Ice cream on a snowy day at Gelupo

It wasn't the most successful evening. We arrived at Pitt Cue at six on the dot, naively assuming we would get a table, only to find the restaurant and bar area to be completely full, and a line of 20 plus people already queuing in the snow.

Despite the crazily early hour, we then struggled to find anywhere else with a table nearby*. Finally, after 45 minutes of wandering (hungry and cold) around Soho, we ended up at Carom, a Pan-Indian restaurant which recently opened at 100 Wardour Street (in the same building as Meza Bar and Floridita).

The set menu - two courses for £10 - was extremely good value, offering a selection of modern, light dishes which included a (belatedly) festive starter of turkey tikka with cranberry chutney, and a deconstructed chicken korma main (a tandoor grilled chicken breast with an artful drizzle of cashew korma sauce). However, while good, it was not the BBQ I craved.

I was determined to save my evening by having the perfect dessert, so - in spite of the snow and sub-zero temperatures - I dragged my boyfriend to Gelupo.

Gelupo has a reputation for serving some of the best gelato in London, and I've been keen to try it ever since my delicious birthday meal at sister restaurant Bocca di Lupo.

After chatting with the friendly girl behind the counter, I settled on a small cup of Bonnet gelato as the perfect post-meal treat. While this was not the most visually appealing ice-cream (as my boyfriend charmingly pointed out!) it was beautifully smooth, and boasted an incredible depth of flavour - a complex, multi-layered blend of coffee, chocolate, caramel, rum, amaretti biscuit and vanilla. Delicious. And on the Gelupo website they attribute the amped up flavours of their gelato to a lower-than-average fat content...which means it's healthier than usual too!

With an impressive range of innovative flavours (from the ricotta, coffee and honey gelato to bergamot and persimmon sorbets) I'll definitely going back in summer - if not sooner - to try some of their other offerings!


*I later realised this was because of pre-theatre diners - we probably would have been fine if we'd just thought to move away from the West End!

 

Malaysian food diaries: Ais Kacang

This popular Malaysian dessert (also known as Air Batu Campur, or ABC), sounds pretty weird*  when you consider the individual components, but is actually incredibly delicious. Since having my first taste in Bangkok a few years ago, I've always made a point of seeking it out whenever I'm in South-East Asia

A mound of shaved ice is topped with red beans, palm seeds**, creamed sweetcorn, a scoop of ice-cream, and strands of colourful agar and grass jelly, before being drizzled with luridly pink rose syrup (tasting more like strawberry sauce than anything too exotically floral) and a generous amount of sweet condensed milk.

View from Penang Hill

There's nothing better on a hot, sticky day: I had my first Ais Kacang of the trip after a strenuous 90 minute climb to the top of Penang Hill in the midday heat, and the combination of cool ice and intense sugar hit was the perfect restorative.


*from a Western perspective, that is...
**translucent pods with a strange almost rubbery texture - worth a try!