Very Bored Cook

I don’t think I’ve ever written a post that has had so many pictures in it. Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever been out for dinner and eaten more than 3 courses. On Tuesday evening I ate 5 courses and toyed with a bit of cheese. And yes, I have been to the gym since then.

I saw this little gem of an event at The Ship Wandsworth on Twitter and within minutes of their tweet about it going out I sent a long-winded e-mail telling them why I should get two tickets. I shan’t tell you what I said because it’s way too cheesy to be typed a second time!

I decided to surprise the boyfriend, and following a cloak and dagger rendezvous at Fulham Broadway and a bus ride we arrived at the Ship with him still thinking we were going to have a normal dinner – I also opted to pre-pay so he didn’t see the bill and tell me off for racking up yet more money on my credit card! We headed straight to the bar to pick our wines for the evening, we opted for a Beaujolais that would go with fish and meat. A rather good choice – even if I do say so myself. 

 

 Dish 1: Butternut squash veloute, I’m a sucker for a good veloute – it’s something I have no idea how to make bit it’s just gorgeous and smooth it’s like swallowing silk with a crunchy parmesan. Then, oh wow, then the scotch eggs arrived, as Peaches Geldof says, OMG they were good. Seriously these were unbelievable, the eggs were still runny, the sausage had a little curry flavour to it with the pea puree underneath had a right royal kick to it that none of us expected. In truth these were too big for a middle course, but I didn’t see anyone leave anything.

 

The bream with calamari was beautfully spiced, both had a good kick to them, there were .the good traditional spices in there like coriander seed and cumin but there was also this Fenugreek which gave the slightly yellow colour to the dish and added an extra bite to it.

As I said earlier I’m not accustomed to eating 5 courses so by this point my body was probably expecting a spoonful of a pudding and coffee, but no; in came the assiette of lamb. If I’m honest this wasn’t the greatest dish of the whole meal, the idea, presentation and on the whole the execution was good, but it just didn’t perform as well as it should have done.

 

The pudding, I was not planning to like at all, I’m not a fan of almonds and I can’t abide cinnamon at all, but the ice cream was just gorgeous – it was beautifully sweet with not too much cinnamon. The cake was beautifully light with a surprise of amaretto flavour in there which was divine.The lovely Dhruv and Lee came in and answered several odd questions posed to them by the slighty inebriated group in front of them. And then, everyone left. Except 4 of us who half shared and half looked in dispair at a cheese platter – it was beautiful but we just couldn’t manage more than a slither of anything!!

 

What a night – I’m sorry this is a long post but it was just so exciting for me to have the chance to eat such amazing food in such a relaxed setting without it costing me the price of a small house. I can’t thank Dhruv and Lee enough for all their hard work and of course Oisin and Emma at The Ship for putting the event together in the first place.