Embracing my inner carnivore

Based on all the adventurous meat I have consumed over the past couple of months it is hard to believe that I spent a large portion of my teen years as a vegetarian. When I have some duck confit or a tender steak in my mouth I really wonder what the hell I was thinking.

I wouldn’t say I was a boring eater before I moved to London but I certainly was predictable. I never ordered fish or red meat off a menu, instead safely taking cues from my veggie days with risottos and pasta dishes, occasionally choosing a bird, and almost always picking the cheapest main I could find.

You see, I had serious issues spending money on eating out. I felt that dropping roundabouts $50 on a meal that, to be completely crude, would slowly pass out of my system within a few hours, was a colossal waste of money. But now it is one of my absolutely favourite ways to spend my hard-earned cash.

I have to give some credit to my friend Paul for converting me. When I visited him in Paris last October he introduced me to the most stimulating and satisfying gastronomies I had ever eaten. That trip truly made me fall in love with food all over again. And, since he is a chef, he even did some cooking for me when he was visiting London.

Paul also took me out to my first Michelin-starred restaurant, the Ledbury in Notting Hill. Another first was the amount of money spent on the meal, just over £250, but it was totally worth it. The Ledbury entered the S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list at 34 this year. Compiled by more than 800 restaurateurs, chefs, food writers and gastronomes from around the world, the list is considered among the highest praise in the restaurant world.

The food was divine. There were amuse bouches of fois gras mousse in filo cups and soft-boiled quail’s eggs in mushroom puree. I ate more fois gras – my favourite thing, I don’t care about the poor goose – for my starter, in a terrine with cooked and raw apple sake. My main was loin of deer with chanterelles and pumpkin sauce. Next was a pre-dessert of malted chocolate on a bed of cookie crumbs, followed by a selection of mango, green apple and blueberry sorbet, and topped off with a lovely glass of Oban single malt scotch. I am getting ravenous just thinking about it.

For my 30th birthday I had reservations with some friends at St. John Bar and Restaurant in Smithfield, which is 41 on the S. Pellegrino list. English chef Fergus Henderson has been praised for his use of offal (entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal) and other neglected cuts, and for his philosophy of nose to tail eating. Needless to say, it is not the ideal spot for a vegetarian to dine, though there are a few lovely non-meat dishes on the menu.

Among the six of us, there were starters of lamb tongues, bread and green sauce; purple sprouting broccoli vinaigrette; smoked sprats, potato and dill; cold roast middlewhite and dandelion; and welsh rarebit. The mains were roast mutton, lentils and wild garlic; skate, bread and capers; crispy duck and dandelions; and calf’s liver and shallots.

Since March I have had the chance to try out a couple of exciting restaurants through work lunches. The first was Quo Vardis in Soho, which has been around since 1926 and was at its most trendy in the 90s when Marco Pierre White was chef. I opened the meal with steak tartare and then had my first-ever braised ox cheeks with mashed potato and kale. Surprisingly tender and melt-in-my-mouth delectable.

Lunch at Pearl by Jun Tanaka in Holborn came next. Executive chef Jun Tanaka is not yet 30 and has worked at seven Michelin-starred restaurants where he perfected the art of French cuisine. To start I had smoked Challans duck breast with puy lentil salad, plum puree and stuffed neck. Then I had roast saddle of lamb with spinach and pine nuts, herb couscous and wild garlic. Dessert was a peanut mousse with salted caramel, banana and passion fruit sorbet. Oh my god, it was unbelievable. I didn’t get a whole lot done that afternoon.

Besides the piles and piles of meat I have been sampling, including my first tastes of steak tartare, duck confit, venison, lamb tongues and ox cheeks, I have also taken my first run at cooking fish. Last week I baked haddock with a mint and walnut pesto crust and, if I’m allowed to say so, it was kind of delicious.

Next up, I am going to really take on a challenge and try to cook proper red meat for the first time, maybe a pork loin, a lamb shank or a slab of steak. I’ll let you know how it goes, or maybe I will invite you over to eat some.

The Royal Wedding

I have been in the midst of some serious crowds in my day. Numerous Canada Days in Ottawa, the Palio in Siena, the chaos of music festivals, not to mention working right around the corner from Oxford Street which is overflowing even during the tourist-light months. But none of that compares to being one of the million-strong mass under the balcony in front of Buckingham Palace on Friday, 29 April when the royal newlyweds kissed for the first time as man and wife.

My work colleagues were teasing me for getting so excited about the Royal Wedding. None of them were going to head down around Westminster Abbey or Buckingham Palace for the bank holiday, choosing instead to watch the wedding on TV, attend a street party, or ignore the day altogether. I think, whether you’re a royalist or a republican, the historic magnitude of watching the first day of the next generation of the royal family was an opportunity not to be missed. But maybe that’s just the Commonwealth-raised anglophile in me.

My friend Lexie is visiting from Canada, and I have to give her credit for being the force behind our plans that day. At 7am, I met up with Lex, her brother James and his girlfriend Hilary, sister Poppy, and mom Christiane, in front of Green Park station. We were well prepared for any weather (it is the UK after all), and equipped with a cooler of snacks and Pimm’s, and fold-out camping chairs. We were not as festively dressed as some – there were many brides out there, Union Jack-inspired costumes and even a few Kate and Wills – but we were ready for anything.

We went through the park towards Buckingham Palace where there were quite a lot of fences up blocking the way through to the gates. People were already kicking off and shouting at the security cards so we did eventually get access to what was previously going to just be the media bullpen. Once we had found a spot across from the balcony and set up our chairs, we got ready for a four-hour wait until the wedding and a six-hour wait until the couple was to appear on the balcony.

I have to say that the wait wasn’t all that bad. The weather was pleasant, we made some new friends in our area, we had snacks and drinks, and the media set-ups provided lots of entertainment. I stalked Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera where the Today Show coverage was being filmed, saw Fearn Cotton shooting spots for the BBC, and even got interviewed by Mary Hart for Entertainment Tonight – though our bit was apparently cut.

Just after half-ten we saw the Queen and Prince Philip depart for the wedding. She looked lovely in yellow but didn’t smile much while Philip had an absurd but endearing smile plastered on his face. Apparently, by this time, Prince William and brother Harry had already traveled from Clarence House to the Abbey, followed closely by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall (Chuck and CPB).

Soon the loudspeakers around the Palace began playing music as Kate, her father and her sister Pippa arrived at the Abbey, and the four-minute procession up the aisle began. We heard the whole ceremony echoing around us and, I swear, the clouds parted and the sun came out. We popped open the Pimm’s and toasted the royal couple as they became husband and wife, that moment when millions around London, and billions around the world, erupted into cheers and applause.

More waiting was then in store for us as Kate and Wills (now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) climbed into their ornate carriage and led a procession from the Abbey, up Whitehall, through the House Guards and along the Mall to Buckingham Palace. As the procession progressed the gates holding back the crowds were gradually removed, and throngs of people waving Union Jack flags came flooding towards the Palace. It seriously looked like the plebes storming the Bastille in 1789. I was terrified as they came closer and closer.

But we were still in good position and, when the royal couple came out on the famous balcony, we had a great view. I don’t need to tell you what happened after that, since I’m sure it was covered in the media around the world. There were a couple of kisses, a scowling little bridesmaid, the RAF jets overhead, and a grumpy Queen who eventually decided she had had enough and seemed to make everyone but Kate and Wills go inside.

And then the newlyweds clasped hands, turned away from us, and Kate looked back one more time to see the millions of people gazing up at her. Scoff if you must, but it was truly a significant moment in history and I felt very moved to be a part of it. The events of the whole day are something I will be able to tell my children and my grandchildren in years to come.