Blaggers Banquet, been and gone...

So, Sunday came and went.

After weeks of organising and planning, food and wine bloggers converged on the Hawksmoor to help put on the Blaggers Banquet. As a member of the advance party, we arrived to find the restaurant packed to the brim with produce and prizes, the fruits of labour after weeks of blagging by many of the blogging community. We were soon organised, assigned roles and the work could begin in earnest. Once the goodie bags had been stuffed and put to one side, the real focus of the day could begin, the food.



As part of the canape crew, we stared at the fruit and veg from Riverford Organic, a beautiful soft goats cheese from Brockhall farm and a variety of salts from Halen Mon, wondering what the the best course of action was. After a few tastings and matchings, @ginandcrumpets and I decided on our offering, a canape of soft Brockhall Farm goats cheese on Peter's Yard crispbreads, studded with pomegranate and sprinkled with vanilla salt and chives. A combination of sweet and salty with contrasting textures, I really thought this worked well and sat well alongside the gougeres and mozzarella & tomato skewers that were served alongside the rest of the banquet.



Whilst we were crafting the little buggers, the small kitchen was a hive of activity. Even with a few supplier hiccups, the kitchen continued forward in the prep for dinner. The bar staff diligently learned how to knock up a cracking martini as the sommeliers tasted the wines and matched them to each of the individual courses of the banquet. It was all slowly piecing itself together.



As the guests arrived, sparkling wine was distributed and the front of house went into overdrive. The front of house were decked in black and worked their proverbial socks off, weaving in and out of the tables carrying tray after tray of carefully prepared comestibles. Such was the passion and efficiency, I doubt you would find better service in many of the more well versed restaurants in London. Starters of monkfish ceviche came and returned empty, as did the plates of lamb hot pot, Winter stew and buffalo steaks (yes, three mains. You really got your moneys worth!).



The meal was punctuated with a raffle of blagged prizes and was rounded off with a stunning chocolate fondant cake and some jelly boobs from Bompas and Parr. And as the guests sat there full and hopefully happy, we moved onto the final section of the evening, the auction of the rest of the blagged items.

It had been a triumphant evening. We had raised a shedload of cash for Action against Hunger with more to come with the daily auctions. Keep an eye on this page for some great items and bid liberally!

So that was my truncated view of the day. There are so many people to praise and thank. The blaggers, the organisers, the suppliers, the Hawksmoor, the list really is endless but without you all, we really could not have achieved this. Special thanks go to @eatlikeagirl who crafted the day, with weeks of planning and all under very difficult circumstances, and @scandilicious who worked so hard to get the food prepped, planned and cooked with constant curveballs being thrown from every angle.

I for one was very proud to be part of this and even though I was dead on my feet by the end of it, would be happy to do it all over again.

Please keep and eye on the the Blaggers banquet twitter feed. There you will find all the latest items for auction and all the write ups from guests and bloggers.

The Blaggers Banquet - November 15th 2009

in aid of

Just a quick post to let you all know of an exciting event that the blogging community are organising.

On the 15th November, the food and drink blogging community are taking over the Hawksmoor on Commercial Street for the inaugral Blaggers' Banquet. This is an event where 50(ish) food and drink bloggers pool resources and rely upon their finely honed blagging skills to organise a 50 cover four course meal with a charity auction, all in aid of Action against Hunger.

There will be bloggers sourcing, bloggers cooking and bloggers taking care of you throughout the evening. And at the end of it all, you can tell us exactly what you think of us. In fact, we may even let you take pictures of the food ;)

If you would like to come, there will be a dedicated site created shortly and all the details of the event (ticketing and otherwise) can be found there. Will link to it as soon as I have it.

More importantly, if you would like to help at all, be it by donating some food we can cook or a prize that we could auction, please email me at tehbus@googlemail.com. All donations are welcome, although it will be up the organisers to sort out what they need.

For other details, check out Eatlikeagirl's, the Wine Sleuth and Ginandcrumpet's posts!

Many thanks in advance and here's to a successful night!

Addendum, people I have blagged stuff from so far and have offered to help in some way (THANK YOU!):

Eat Steak : The Hawksmoor, Commercial Street

Looking through my past posts, it looks as though I eat a lot of meat. And let's face it, I do. It's been a struggle, but over the years, I have gradually forced myself to try and enjoy new foods. I think I have managed this with varying degrees of success. I can now eat most green veg and even enjoy some of it. Aubergines and avocado are well up there on my list of favourite new(ish) discoveries as are most seafood (although fish in general is still a stumbling block). I still struggle with raw tomatoes and won't let an anchovy pass my lips.

There are many restaurants which claim to be the best steak house in London. I mean, how hard is it to grill a piece of meat? Very difficult apparently. I have eaten some mediocre steaks, some ok steaks, some terrible steaks and even some pretty good ones. But I always strove for more, to reach that beef nirvana. And the day dinner was organised at the Hawksmoor, I hoped that this was to be that day.

So what brings me to the Hawksmoor? After all, it's located in a slightly more obscure part of Shoreditch and hardly stands out on a rather busy road. Well, Dos Herman's said it did the best steak in London, and I wasn't going to go against their word so I thought I would give it a go. I was meeting sister number 2, which was no mean feat. Dragging her out of Chelsea is like getting water from a stone, getting her to Shoreditch, a different matter completely. Surprisingly, she had heard the rumbles emanating from the Hawksmoor and agreed to come along with her boyfriend and his flatmate.


What a shock, she was late. Which I was semi glad at as it meant I could sidle up to the bar and sample one of their cocktails. Having had a few après-work drinks already, I was nicely warmed up and went for a Hawksmoor Julep. I ordered it and then there it was, the barman was psychic! He had already started making me one before I had even asked for it. Weird. Anyway, it was very nice. I probably didn't need it, but what the hell.




Just as I drew the last slurp from the straw (I'm classy as hell), sister no 2 rocked up and we started to peruse the menu. The menu is short and sweet but to be honest, when the quality is good, who needs variety. More cocktails were ordered as we decided on what to eat (Black Forest Sazerac for me) and starters promptly ordered. No scallops left so I shared a Crab and Crayfish cocktail with my sister. Being somebody who is neither fond of crab or crayfish (or seafood in general actually), this was somewhat a departure for me but I must admit I enjoyed it, not too fishy with a well made mayonnaise. The alcohol was clearly beginning to have an effect on me. One additional point to note, the Tamworth Belly Ribs ordered by Dan, absolutely delicious!


Next up was the main event, the steak! Now, when ordering, I really didn't know what to go for. I asked the waitress and although knowledgeable, she seemed pretty unhelpful . She recommended the prime rib for flavour so that's what I went for. She then told me I could only order 600g. Now I'm a big guy, but 600g? That's a lot of meat. In the end, I went for the 400g rib eye and boy was I happy. When it arrived, it had a beautiful char on the outside, gloriously pink on the inside and the flavour was unlike any other steak I have ever had. You could really taste the 35 day matured longhorn. Absolute bliss on a plate. It came with a trio of sauces (peppercorn, ketchup and a perfect béarnaise) but I felt almost guilty sullying this piece of meat with any sauce at all. At £21, I thought it was well worth every penny. Piers and Sis shared the Chateaubriand (£66 for 550g) which was ok and although more tender, was not as flavoursome as my rib eye and nowhere near as good value.


With the main meal, we managed to order a bevy of sides. Triple cooked chips were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and delicious. Runner beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach were all very nice. No complaints here.


I was pretty much done at this stage. It was definitely belt loosening time. But my eyes are bigger than my stomach and I proceeded to order the blood orange jelly and blancmange. Made in a mould by Bompas and Parr (renowned jelly makers, what a thing to be famous for!) this had a great wobble and provided more entertainment than taste. It was alright but nothing special, and especially not worth busting my gut for. Sister had a rhubarb and ginger crumble and although the flavours were good, there just wasn't enough crumble and the rhubarb was a little too sharp. I don't really think the desserts are the Hawksmoor's forte.

All in all, I came here to sample the best steak in London and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The steak was on another level to anything else I have had in London. I will be back, many, many times.

The Steak Off! Sophie's vs Gaucho

I have eaten a few steaks of late. Unfortunately, none of these have come from the Hawksmoor. Having tried to secure a booking this week and failing miserably, I had to settle for a visit to Gaucho on Swallow Street to satisfy my craving for a lump of red meat. Having been to Sophie's in Covent Garden recently, and failed to blog it, I thought I would pit them mano a mano in a steak off!

Now I'm going to compare them in the six S's. These will be Surroundings, Starters, Steaks, Sides, Service and Size-of-the-bill.

Surroundings - Sophie's is located in a pretty busy part of Covent Garden, right next to the Lyceum theatre so is bustling with the theatre crowd. The restaurant is dimly lit but a decent airy space with pretty interesting lighting (think lots of light bulbs hanging off the air-conditioning). I had a pretty early dinner here but it was packed with the pre-theatre crowd.

Gaucho was also busy but the decor is frankly a bit off putting. Think dead cows hanging off the walls, everywhere. In fact, I dare you to find an area within the restaurant which doesn't have cow print. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there was cow print in the kitchen. Split over 4 floors, it is dark, bordering on the pitch black in areas. All in all, the actual dining room is a pleasant space, with different levels keeping it interesting.

I like Sophie's. There is only so much cow print a man can take.

Starters (or freebies) - Sophie's gives you meat. Strips of salami which is definitely more-ish. They taste nice. Gaucho give you bread. Now normally meat trumps bread any day of the week. But this bread comes with this awesome salsa (sweet vinegary goodness) and the best cheese balls this side of Brazil. Gaucho wins the battle of the freebies hands down.

Steaks - I've had a few steaks from both establishments, varying from the sirloin to the rump. Gaucho's steaks claim to be Argentinean whilst Sophie's are British. I must admit, I have enjoyed steaks from both, and both come with pretty decent Béarnaise. However, the vote goes to Gaucho. The last steak I had there, a juicy bit of sirloin was perfectly done and tasted great. Only downside was that they are very tight on the Béarnaise.



Sides - I've only had the chips and the salad from Sophie's. The salad was more like coleslaw, which is no bad thing. The chips were alright, nothing special. At Gaucho, I had the mash and a spinach and baconconcoction. Again, nothing wrong with these but nothing outstanding, the spinach was a little salty. No real stand out performers so no winners, it's a tie.

Service - This one is easy. I was made very welcome at Sophie's and the staff were very attentive. The service was also excellent at Gaucho. But, and it's a massive but, I was felt that I was constantly being hurried by the team at Gaucho. I was 10 minutes late and was hurried to my table. I hadn't received my drink and they were hurrying me to order. I was still eating my food and they were already cleaning the plates off the table. I wanted a coffee when a bill arrived on my table. Turning over tables is key at Gaucho but if I'm spending a decent bit of cash on a meal, I do not want to be rushed. Round goes to Sophie's.

Size-of-the-Bill - Now good steaks don't come cheap. I enjoyed my meals at both Sophie's and Gaucho and if you order off the main menu, it's certainly going to set you back a few bob. The steaks themselves are fairly reasonable, but it's the sides which add to the cost. This is where Sophie's comes into its own. There is no set or express menu at Gaucho whereas Sophie's has a very reasonable pre-theatre menu. Any time before 7.30, its £12.50 for two courses which includes a decent sized rib-eye with Béarnaise and chips. Result! Easy winner here, Sophie's pre-theatre menu is a bargain. And if you register on their website, they give you a free lunch.

RESULT - It's a tight one but Sophie's emerge victorious 3.5 to 2.5. I look forward to the Hawksmoor trouncing both of these.