In search of Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud Review
PAGE 10
It’s tree o’clock
Autumn means the region’s orchards are bursting with apples. See a totally tasty recipe for the juicy fruits
PAGE 18
Suki Pantal shares a recipe from her new book, Garnish with Garam Masala
PAGE 22
Reliving a classic movie scene
PAGE 24
Dine on your doorstep…
Discover some of the best local food in and around Herefordshire and Worcestershire
We don’t half love a good waffle… turn to page 10 to find out what we’re going on about in a full review of a Hereford eatery.
Crikey, it seems like I only just got the first edition of Get Stuffed Magazine out into eateries in 20 towns and villages in Herefordshire and Worcestershire when it was time to get this one off to the printer. I hope this, our second dollop of great food news from our fave counties, goes down as well as the first. Thanks to all the café owners, restauranteurs and other businesses for all the fab feedback.
At Team GSM, we’re really not overly keen on chucking money away.
If you feel the same way, you won’t want to be handing over your hard-earned cash in eateries you know absolutely nothing about. Which is where we come in… In this edition of the magazine, we spill the beans on our visits to Sensory & Rye in Hereford and Faun in Great Malvern. See pages 10-13 for the first and 24-27 for the second. We’d like to know if you agree or
disagree with our views. And we’d love to know which food shacks you like best across the two counties. We might just put them on our hit list.
From time to time, we take a look back at the places we’ve been to that we enjoyed so much we’ve made some of the food we ate there. Well, our version of the food we ate there. Go to page 14 for a pizza recipe inspired by a visit to Fuso in Bromsgrove. On page 28, we share a mushroom arancini recipe having gulped
the same down in the Cider Barn. Our full reviews of those two eateries can be found on the ‘mains’ section of our website, GetStuffedMagazine.com
Tuck in…
The Leafy Gent Editor, Get Stuffed Magazine
www.the-cider-barn.co.uk info@the-cider-barn.co.uk 01544 388 161
6-9 10-13
New to the area? Like good grub? Want to meet new people? All this and more is on the menu at Ledbury Community Hub
Learn about our visit to the cafécum-community space in our local news section, pages 6-9.
Where on earth is the presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs? We looked high and low for him in Sensory & Rye and could we find him? Find that out, as well as what we thought of the Hereford eatery, on pages 10-13.
18-19
It’s autumn. Which, on our patch, means orchard trees are groaning under the weight of lovely juicy apples. Of course, it’s a joy to get stuck into one straight off a tree. But if you want to do something a little bit special with apples… see pages 18-19 for a lovely brekkie recipe.
Got a lot of little jars of stuff in the pantry you don’t know what the heck to do with? We know a woman who knows spices like the back of her hand. Suki Pantal has written a book stuffed with recipes that use practically all of them. And she’s given us a recipe from her book to try out at home. Find out more on pages 22-23 Thanks to Suki for supplying her own pics.
Thank you, thank you, thank you…
This is only the second helping of Get Stuffed Magazine but we’ve already received tons of great feedback – as well as some great ideas for future features. Thanks to all the café owners, restauranteurs and local businesspeople we’ve met who’ve said what they like about Herefordshire and Worcestershire’s newest (and we’re contractually bound to say best) food mag. We’ve taken on board much of what you said and hope it shows in this edition.
Thanks again to Signworx in Hereford for printing and dropping off the second batch of copies of GSM. Big up to Chris Froom (no, not that one) and the rest of the team there.
Thanks to Matt Charbonneau at LD Publicity (ldcommspr.uk) for pics of the Big Feastival – a food and music extravaganza that takes place 23-25 August at a farm in the Cotswolds owned by Alex James (yes, that bloke out of Blur). If you’re quick, see: thebigfeastival.com.
Thanks to Rachel Salway for the photo (copyright: Forest Showcase) of last year’s Forest of Dean festival on the news pages.
All other photos, and every story, is by Get Stuffed Magazine.
Thank you one and all.
Now, let’s celebrate. Let’s Get Stuffed
Big congrats to the New Inn in St Owen’s Cross for being named Gastro Pub of The Year 2024 at the Midlands Food and Hospitality Awards.
Head chef Thomas Leek says: ‘We are all delighted to have won. This award is extra special to the team because, following the original nomination, and then the shortlisting for this award, it was the public who voted us the final winner. Huge thanks to everyone. Their votes really did count.’
See: thenewinnherefordshire.co.uk.
Malvern Bakehouse is on the rise. The bijou bakery is bursting out of its current space on the corner of the market town’s Church Street and Church Walk and is closing in on a deal to open a second premises nearby to increase production.
It all began in 2020, when bakers Aleksandra and her husband
Aleksandra and Rafal, co-owners, Malvern Bakehouse
Rafal turned their tiny home kitchen into a micro-bakery. As key workers, they had permission to deliver to people stuck in their homes during the pandemic of the same year. Getting feedback from their customers while bringing some cheer to people who weren’t allowed out for more than an hour a day meant the bakers were sure to get off to a good start whenever they opened a local premises.
That happened in January 2022 when, with a little crowdfunding help, the pair took over the space in Church Walk, Malvern.
Limited space there means the couple want to open a second bakery that also has the capacity for them to offer sourdoughmaking workshops. Which smells like a very good idea to us. Watch this space.
See: malvernbakehouse.co.uk.
Two Farmers has launched some drinks to wash their salty snacks down with. The Ross-on-Wye-based brand has created two ciders to go with their well-established crisps.
Like their snack wrappers (the UK’s first 100 per cent home-compostable and plastic-free packaging) the company has gone for a green option with fully recyclable cans for their Medium Dry and Pixley Berries Fruit ciders. Also worth knowing the ciders are made from 100 per cent Herefordshire produce.
Two Farmers’ Sean Mason says: ‘We think the best cider fruit is grown just south of Ledbury, Herefordshire. The orchards have the perfect limestone soil and microclimate to grow outstanding cider fruit. The acidity and sweetness in our apples are beautifully balanced.’
Two Farmers ciders are available in farm shops and delis and on tap in some local pubs.
See twofarmerscider.co.uk or contact sales@twofarmerscider.co.uk
Teamsters at Feli’s bar and restaurant are celebrating their latest award. Based in Stoulton, Worcestershire, Feli’s picked up the gong for the best Italian restaurant and cookery school in the Central England Prestige Awards.
Owners Fiorinda and Felice Tocchini give much of the credit of their most recent success to their young team. Fiorinda says: ‘Where I came from in southern Italy, women had children and stayed at home. But I rebelled against that. I wanted to work. I was fortunate to have fantastic mentors who gave me a chance to succeed. I feel we’re repaying the faith my mentors had in me by giving the young people who work at Feli’s a chance. Their confidence has soared and we really love working with them. They’re fantastic!’
See: felisrestaurant.com
Ssshhh… As we write it’s not even published. Nor do we know what the cover looks like. We’re not even sure when we’ll get our hands on a copy.
But we’re reliably told by an insider that a book of recipes is due out this year from Cheltenham’s fine-dinery, Prithvi. The thinking behind the book,
we’re told, is to allow customers a chance to try making the Indianinspired recipes at home. Our sneak peek of some photos from the inside pages suggests it’ll be worth the wait. Keep an eye on prithvirestaurant.com’s social channels for updates. Oh, and find out more about the man behind the book in our interview with Prithvi’s head chef, Thomas Law, pages 20-21
If you’re the sort of person who likes to move and mingle while you munch, Ledbury Community Hub could be just what you’re looking for.
Sited in New Street (where Pot and Page used to be and run by the same team) LCH’s focus is ‘bringing people together for sustainable change’.
On the night we were there in early June, about 20 people huddled in to talk about an ancient Greece-inspired novel while devouring Greek-inspired food: moussaka and baba ganoush with bulgur wheat. What makes LCH different is its pay-what-you-want policy. The contributions made by the many make up for people who can’t afford to pay for their meal.
LCH is not all about poems and provender. People who go along get to choose what to read as part of its book nights while gamesters get together for a spot of competitive fun.
So, if the pub’s not your thing, the gym leaves you cold, or you just fancy a change of scene where you can meet other local people, LCH is well worth a visit.
See: ledburycommunityhub.org.uk.
AUGUST
Be quick to catch this one...
The Big Feastival
23-25 August
Thebigfeastival.com
Leominster Food Fayre 7 September
Leominsterfoodfayre.co.uk
Ludlow Food Festival
13-15 September
Ludlowfoodfestival.co.uk
Hereford AppleFest
28 September – 13 October
Herefordcitycouncil.gov.uk/Hereford-applefest
Forest Showcase Food Festival
Forest of Dean
Sunday 6 October
Forestshowcase.org
With food, drink and entertainment on offer, this event celebrates the rich gastronomic heritage of the Forest of Dean. It brings together over 100 exhibitors, food enthusiasts, renowned chefs, local producers and eager visitors. Arrive hungry!
Kington Festival Food Fair
Saturday 7 December
Kingtontourist.info
I’m sitting waiting in an urban eatery in Hereford hoping Kevin McCloud will turn up. If recent news reports are true, then we know he’s got a house in Herefordshire. And, as a man of good taste, I feel sure it’s only a matter of time before the star of Channel 4’s Grand Designs pops in to Sensory & Rye for a bite to eat.
I have a ton of questions to ask him about interior design and how exactly chic aesthetics enhance the whole dining experience. He’s bound to have some views.
A proper turn on
Some will say that dashing décor is nothing but packaging. But I think they’re missing the point. Packaging is part of the deal. Think Apple. If you own an iPad,
iPhone or MacBook, do you remember the box it came in? Too bloody right you do. That’s because the box was practically lickable. The thing inside the box turned you on even before you’d had the chance to turn it on.
The owner of S&R appears to think along the same lines as Apple. The eatery’s website tells us: ‘It’s all about your senses. For us, a great restaurant is not just about good food and drink but about great music and a beautiful interior too’. In other words, the food is the primary thing, but people don’t experience that in isolation. They take everything into account.
S&R has a kind of industrial vibe going on. I understand the owner is from Germany so there may be a bit of a Bauhaus influence. S&R suits its edge-of-town locale. It’s a bit out there. A bit other.
Polished concrete flooring runs right through the whole space. The interior walls are finished with a very unfinished look, if you know what I mean. If you didn’t know better, you might think the owner had employed an alcoholic plasterer with a wonky trowel to do the work. But, of course, it’s all intended. One corner of the restaurant has been covered up – or decorated, or whatever the description should be – with plyboard. Yes, plyboard. The stuff some builders use as sub-flooring, to go underneath whatever flooring they actually want on show. Ditto pipework. Here, none of it is hidden behind false ceilings or chased into walls. It’s all out there. The ceiling is like the guts of a machine: all exposed ducts held up by utilitarian brackets.
Of course, there are going to be people who think it looks a right mess. But I’m not one of those people. I think it looks amazing. And I still want to find Kevin to see if he agrees with me. Where the hell is he?
There are plenty of clues to let you know that the interior is well-thought-through rather than actually unfinished. A neat row of orbs provide muted light to the bar area. Other, slightly more elaborate lighting is dotted throughout the space. It’s also punctuated with massive plants sprouting from containers tiled in nature-mimicking green. The plants themselves soften the otherwise industrial space. Without them, the sound would bounce around the hard surfaces like a pinball. In a pretty big space, on a Saturday morning, with kids and dogs and families and snappy teenagers (see below), that would add up to a lot of clatter.
I think I hear a bit of Mercury prize-winning Ezra Collective oozing from the speakers. It’s hard to say as it’s only just audible. The owner recognises
Some of the stuff in this urban eatery is so Instagram-friendly, Mark Zuckerberg should consider sponsoring it.
that music helps flavour the experience, but to turn it up would also be to turn up people’s voices to get above it. Again, the hard surfaces would make that a really bad idea for a relaxed Saturday morning brunch.
Speaking of brunch, you could have salmon eggs royale, including fried capers. Or mushroom crumpets topped with homemade hollandaise and peashoots. There’s a pulled pork bagel that comes with a weirdsounding combo of pink pickled onions, ketchup and Cheddar cheese. Hmm… moving on…
We play it safe by ordering one halloumi and avocado and one cilbir. In case you’re wondering, cilbir is a Turkish dish of poached eggs that come on a garlic and dill yoghurt. At S&R, it comes with toasted flatbread, browned Aleppo chilli butter, pomegranate and lemon.
While we were waiting for all that to arrive, we spotted a family of four, including two teenage girls. One had ordered waffles. I can’t say what the waffles tasted like, but I can say they looked amazing. Options on the menu were lemon cheesecake and blueberry compote; chocolate cremeux and fresh strawberries; finally, a regular-sounding smoked bacon and maple syrup. Cue, teenage girl crush. Like a paparazzo who’d just spotted an A-list celeb, she
pulled out her phone and went nuts. Aerial shots of waffles. Side angle. Waffles with sister in background. Waffles with family in background. Waffles with a restaurant backdrop. Waffles up close to the paparazzo’s face. She then asked her sister to get a better shot of her smiling with waffles. And another. And another… And… about 50 photos later, she decided to put her plate back on the table, pick up her knife and fork and actually eat the darn thing.
It’s fair to say some of the stuff in this urban eatery is so Instagramfriendly, Mark Zuckerberg should consider sponsoring it.
Unlike Kevin McCloud, our food arrives in good time. Like
a teenage girl, my partner falls in love with her plate. Even if she wasn’t all over the crispy sourdough slathered with halloumi avocado, then the soft poached egg that came with it definitely was. It came with squeaky halloumi and un-squeaky edamame beans. Despite not actually being a teenager, she was still talking about it the next day.
Luckily for me, she’s not fond of the sundried tomato tapenade it comes with. So, I get to scoop that treat from its tiny pot. I also have some tasty homemade baked (cannelloni) beans as a side to my cilbir (Nigella Lawson tells us it’s pronounced chul-burr, in case you were wondering). As was the rest of my plate; though I detected no Aleppo chilli infusing the butter.
was one slice cut in half, which, at £1.75, was the only thing I considered poor value.
Another minor quibble is that servers weren’t given specific areas or tables to look after. It was more of a free-for-all. This meant that in less than a minute after
water and coffees, the bill came to £37.90 for two very nice brunches, before service. It’s a 20-mile drive away but we’ll be going again.
Hopefully, we’ll see Kevin next time.
WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE MADE IT OURSELVES…
If asked what one dish I’d choose to eat if stuck on a desert island, I’d likely go for freshly made pizza.
I’d do this because A) I love pizza. And B) it gives me a lot of choice. I mean, you can add pretty much anything on top of a bready, tomatoey, cheesy disc and enjoy it. Well, I can anyway. If the Gods were strict and said I could only have one kind of pizza rather than 1001 made with different toppings, I might have a re-think. Then, after a good ponder, I reckon I’d still go for pizza. I’d load it up with everything I could ever want and hope nobody rescued me… for a while at least. Honestly, freshly made pizza is a joy.
A little while back we went to Fuso in Bromsgrove for pizza. I had a veggie version of picante verdue. The following recipe is inspired by that visit rather than me trying to mimic what I had. Mine wouldn’t be as good anyway. It does though have the same sort of thin crust and was taken out the oven just as the edges started to blacken.
In case you were wondering, picante translates to spicy and I have some thinly sliced red chilli to tick that box. Picante likely has the same root as our piquant, which means interesting and exciting… so, spicy in a different way.
Verdue, like our verdure, just means greenery, I reckon from the Latin viridis. I’ve sprinkled a bit of rocket on top of my pizza to green it up. And, on top of a bowl of green olives (as well as black ones) I made a pond-green pesto to go with it. Just blitz a big bunch of fresh basil and toasted pine nuts with a bit of garlic, parmesan shavings, a glug of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and some salt and pepper to make this. It looks good and tastes even better when you dip your pizza in it.
Here’s how I make pizza.
What you need
• 500g white bread flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 7g sachet dried yeast
• ½ tbsp golden caster sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 325ml lukewarm water
Mix the yeast, sugar and oil in a jug of lukewarm water. I put the yeast in first, followed by a bit of cold water from the tap. Then, top that up to 325ml with boiling water from the kettle. Add the sugar and oil and leave it to rest for 20 mins.
Then, put flour and salt into a big bowl. Make a well. Add the yeasty
liquid. Bring the flour in from the sides with a spoon. When it comes together, put it on a floured surface (with floury hands) and knead until smooth and springy.
Put the dough in a big, flourdusted bowl and dust with a bit more flour. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Keep in a warm room for 1-2 hours, until the dough has about doubled.
Put it back on a floured surface and knead again. It can be used straight away or kept in a plastic box in the fridge or freezer until you need it.
I usually divide this much dough into four equal chunks. You can roll them out with a dusty rolling pin, put on a hot pizza stone, add your toppings and put on the top shelf of a hot (220C) oven for about 10 mins. When it comes out all bubbling and smelling nice, you will simply love yourself.
And I expect you will love me for sharing this divine recipe.
Good idea to roll the pizzas out about 20 mins before you cook them if you’ve got time.
• Tomato paste (mix with a bit of olive oil to make it easy to spread)
• Grated cheddar (about 100g per pizza)
• Mixed pepper, thinly sliced (roughly, two halves of pepper per pizza)
• ½ red chilli, finely sliced, including seeds if you like a kick
• Torn bits of mozzarella (about half a 250g pack)
• Add a few leaves of rocket and a drizzle of olive oil when it comes out the oven if you like
We’ve all heard people – doctors, nutritionists, Californians – banging on about getting five-aday, meaning eating five fruit or veg within 24 hours. More recently, there’s been a spate of news reports suggesting we need to down 30 plants a week to maintain healthier guts
That amount of greenery may seem a bit daunting. But, really, it’s little different from a five-aday diet.
The main difference is, erm, difference. The five-a-day mantra means if you have a banana and some blueberries for breakfast, an apple at lunchtime then some carrots and peas as part of your evening meal you’ll have reached your five-a-day target. That little victory could be repeated the next day and the next…
In other words, you can eat the same stuff over and over again.
But 30-a-week means putting variety in your stomach. And that’s a good thing if reports on studies in America are to be believed. There’s plenty of news online on this if you want to look it up. Essentially, it’s about getting a wide spectrum of nutrients to help keep yourself healthier.
The 30-a-week spectrum is full of natural foodstuffs and includes: wholegrains (eg, brown rice, quinoa, barley, oats); veg; fruit; legumes (eg, chickpeas, kidney beans and other beans, lentils); nuts and seeds and herbs and spices.
A diverse breakfast can help us reach that target. Molly’s recipe below includes five ingredients that count towards the 30-a-week diet. So, eat a breakfast like this six times a week and you’ll have reached your 30-a-week target. Clearly, you can’t have exactly the same thing day after day and continue counting towards your goal. But it’s really easy to swap, say, apple for banana, pecans for almonds, etc, to keep totting up towards your target.
Of course, if that sounds like a bit of a faff, you could pop along to Rise in Malvern and let Molly do it all for you.
• 40g oats
• 240ml soy milk
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp turmeric
• Pinch salt
• 1 apple
• 100ml water
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 tbsp plain yoghurt
• 1 tbsp agave or maple syrup
• 15g pecans
Chop apple into bite-sized chunks. Put into a saucepan with water and sugar. Heat on high until simmering.
Meanwhile, add oats into another saucepan with soy milk, a pinch of salt, cinnamon and turmeric. Heat gently. Add more liquid if the mix feels too stodgy.
Check the apple compote: once the liquid’s absorbed and the apples are tender, remove from heat.
Add pecans to a preheated, dry frying pan and toast to darken
slightly. Or, pop them onto a baking tray and toast in a preheated oven for a few minutes. Keep checking they don’t burn.
Once the oats are cooked to a consistency you like, pop this mix into a bowl along with the apple compote, yoghurt, almond butter, toasted pecans and an extra sprinkle of cinnamon and/ or turmeric.
Q. What three words describe you?
A. Passionate, driven, tired.
Q. What’s the first thing you eat/ drink each day?
A. Porridge and banana.
Q. How long have you been a chef?
A. 14 years.
Q. How many hours a week do you typically work?
A. 50-55.
Q. Can you pinpoint the moment when you knew you wanted to become a chef?
A. Watching Keith Floyd on TV when I was at school.
Q. What’s your best trait?
A. Perfectionist.
Q. What’s your worst trait?
A. Perfectionist.
Q. What would you like to introduce to the restaurant you work in and why?
A. Tasting menu only, for consistency, to save on staff and reduce wastage.
Q. After a really tough shift, what do you do to relax?
A. Moan about it to my wife.
Q. What are you most proud of and why?
A. Having a child. Years of standing in front of a cooker doesn’t seem to have done any damage.
Q. How would you like to be remembered and why?
A. Happy chappy.
Q. You’re stuck on a desert island with only one meal a day. What do you choose?
A. Lasagne.
Q. A school leaver is thinking of a career as a chef. What do you tell them?
However, along the way you will make friends for life and the job satisfaction is unmatched in any industry.
Q. What is it about customers that surprises you most?
A. Made up allergies/ dietary requirements.
Q. Which is your favourite restaurant (locally)?
A. Petit Coco, Bath Street, Cheltenham.
Q. What’s your favourite ingredient of the moment and why?
A. Strawberries from just outside Gloucester. They are so sweet and perfect at the moment. Never get bored of them.
Head to the ‘Puddings’ section of our website for the full interview with Thomas as well as other local chefs and foodies.
A. Think long and hard. It is an all-encompassing career. It takes years of hard work to make it to the top. Full of heartbreak, anxiety and stress. However, along the way you will make friends for life and the job satisfaction is unmatched in any industry.
Q. The kitchen’s on fire. What one item do you save and why?
A. My notebook because it’s always full of recipes I’ve not typed up, phone numbers and calculations. Insurance will cover equipment.
Q. What’s the most unusual thing about yourself you’re prepared to share?
A. I’ve got a double crown, which is why my hair always looks so shit.
Thomas was interviewed in July 2024.
As well as presenting cookery shows at various food events over the summer months, Worcestershire-based Suki Pantal has somehow found time to write a book. No, we don’t know how she’s done it either.
Garnish with Garam Masala is available from Suki’s publisher’s site (Found.us) as well as her own, sukipantal.com
Suki, who describes herself as a culinary teacher (but could also now add cookbook author) says, in truth, the following recipe was given to her by her mother. As Suki puts it: ‘My darling mum’s recipe is a dish that always found a place on our dining table during winters in Delhi.
‘The combination of sweetness of peas with the savoury earthiness of mushrooms in a sweet onion and tomato sauce is divine. It is very popular in north Indian restaurants and wedding buffets. Thanks to my mum, I now serve it on my dining table in the UK.’
Prep time: 10-15 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Serves: 4
• 300-350g button mushroom, chopped into quarters
• 1 cup fresh or frozen garden peas
• 2-3 tbsp veg oil
• 2 medium white onions, chopped finely
• 4 tomatoes chopped or a 400g tin
• 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
• cashew nut paste (see below)
• Salt (as much or as little as you like)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1-2 dried red chillies (optional)
• ¼ tsp asafoetida powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp Kashmiri mirch red chilli powder (optional)
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1tsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 250ml warm water
• ½ inch ginger julienne (thin strips)
• Handful chopped coriander leaves
• 1tsp garam masala
For cashew nut paste: 6-7 cashew nuts chopped and soaked in warm water for 10 mins and then ground into a paste along with a few tbsp of the cashew nut water.
Sauté mushrooms: Sauté mushrooms and peas in another pan for a few minutes in a tbsp of oil and a pinch of both, salt and pepper. Keep aside.
Add oil in a non-stick saucepan and once hot, add cumin seeds and dried red chillies.
Once cumin seeds sizzle, add asafoetida powder. Give it a good mix.
Add chopped onions and cook on medium to high heat until they turn golden brown in colour which can take up to 10 mins.
Lower the heat, add ginger and garlic paste and fry for a min.
Add powdered spices, namely turmeric powder, pepper powder, Kashmiri mirch red chilli powder, coriander powder and dried
fenugreek leaves. Fry for a couple of minutes with a couple of tbsp of water on minimum heat.
Add chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook until mixture is mushy or until you can see oil on the sides of the pan. Takes around 7-8 mins.
Add cashew nut paste in the sauce on medium heat and give it a very good mix.
Add warm water, bring sauce to a boil, and let it simmer for a few mins. You may cover the pan with a lid at this stage.
Add sauteed mushrooms and peas to the sauce and mix well on medium heat.
Cook for approx 5 mins until there is oil on the surface. Switch off the burner
Garnish with garam masala, coriander leaves and ginger juliennes
Serve with Garlic naan and onion ring salad
You can add a teaspoon of butter along with the oil for cooking and frying the mushrooms.
Is it an imaginary creature? Or a misspelt young deer? No, it’s a café.
I have absolutely no idea why the owners chose to call their eatery Faun. But, however puzzled I am about the sign above the door, I’m much clearer about what goes on inside.
Not that all its customers are in a rush to get inside. Whenever the temperature is above, say, freezing, there always appears to be a smattering of people sitting on a sort of side-terrace outside Faun. They can’t not have seen the busy Worcester Road on which the café-deli-bakery sits. But it clearly doesn’t bother them. If the temperature is even approaching warm, some of them appear to hang out there for hours, sipping coffees, softly crunching almond croissants and watching the traffic buzz by. I think it’s fair to say some simply enjoy being seen by those mooching around what is, since Faun arrived, fast becoming the trendy end of Malvern.
Brays – like a donkey, stubbornly stuck to the 70s
Back in the day, the space Faun occupies was Brays, a big department store that had been around for about 100 years. My memory of it is it enjoyed 1974 so much it never moved
on from it. Maybe because I’m a bit like that myself, I used to go in for a mosey. I ended up buying some massively expensive walking boots from there once just because I wanted to linger as long as possible. Sad, I know. The truth is I went in because it felt like I was walking onto the set of Are You Being Served?, a BBC sitcom I liked when I was a kid.
AYBS? was chocker block with colourful characters and double entendres. While ‘on set’ in Brays, I half expected to see an ultra-camp character called Mr Humphries pop up flamboyantly from behind a desk and ask if I needed any assistance. And, of course, it would have been a joy to hear a Mrs Slocombe character talk about her pussy, which was
how she always referred to her feline pet.
Apparently, Brays closed in 2020 because the owners were retiring. But it’s hard to see how that type of department store could survive the age of Insta, online shopping and 24-hour home deliveries.
While it’s in the same place, Faun is far, far from Brays. It’s sleek and modern in a Scandi kind of way. Once through the doors, the noise from the traffic behind you quickly melts away. Your shoulders drop down your back a smidge. And you slip gently into the café’s relaxed vibe.
Co-owner Shona, in cut-off denim shorts, greeted us with a smile before wafting us through to a sanded wooden table in an adjoining room. Faun’s big windows mean the seating area is bathed in light, all the better for showing off its stripped back décor. The tables have their leaves spread in preparation for the small plates that are to come. On each one, a single flower in a tiny jug takes up minimal space. The
waitress provides ‘ambience’ by lighting a single tealight before explaining how it all works. Like the décor, the menus we were given were pared down affairs. This allows each dish a bit of breathing space. ‘Anchovies 5; butter beans 6; burrata 7’. Chill man. Who the hell needs £ signs anyway? We’re in Faun. And we’re about 50 years on from where Brays left off.
We go with the flow and are happy for everything to come together. Small plates soon start filling up the extended table. Sourdough, labneh, padron peppers, pickled quails’ eggs, burrata, Lane Cottage leaves and (as a larger plate) spiced aubergine. If you have a broader palate than us, you could also have Cornish mackerel, braised and barbecued chicken thighs or bacon risotto. If you happen to be Yotam Ottolenghi you’ll be in heaven because you will now know that Faun’s kitchen is rammed with your favourite ingredients. Za’atar, rose harissa, sumac, tahini… taste detonators for Middle Eastern dishes. Just for a moment I think I see Yotam outside with his nose pressed against the big window. He’s rubbing his thighs lasciviously and licking his lips. Sorry, my mistake. Must have been somebody else.
If Yo were to pop up to Malvern, he really wouldn’t be disappointed with the food on offer. Here at Faun, the deeply roasted aubergine was sprinkled with coriander seeds, finely chopped cucumber and mint. The burrato was a creamy delight. That contrasted with the acerbic padron peppers. Labneh balls had been rolled in astringent sumac. Crisp leaves were as lightly dressed as a girl in a summer frock. Squishy sourdough was ideal for mopping up Mediterranean oils that came with pretty much everything. That, of course, didn’t include the pickled quails’ eggs. The eggs were a ‘must’ not just because they provided cut-through contrast to our otherwise rich dishes. They’re a real taste bomb.
Cool Hand Luke, one of my favourite old movies, swam into my mind. In it, Paul Newman eats 50 boiled eggs for a bet. I thought, I wouldn’t mind giving 50 a go if they were quails’ eggs and this sweetly pickled.
We enjoyed our meze mini feast, though it wouldn’t appeal if you’re stuck in 1974 and expect everything you want to eat on one plate. This tapas-style dining allows each individual ingredient to be the star of its own plate. Things like aubergines and peppers are not competing with something bigger and, usually, meatier. Because you design your own meal, you’ll want to balance the richer plates with tarter offerings.
Be kind to yourself and the dishwasher by ordering squidgy sourdough to mop up the oily crocks.
You don’t need to be swimming in cash to eat here. Because we’d booked to eat just before 6pm, we were given a 15 per cent discount on everything. This meant, without service, our bill came in at £46.45 for the above-mentioned dishes, a large sparkling water and a large glass of house white.
I remain confused about the name Faun. But I’m clear that co-owners Jon and Shona have created a recipe for success, not least because they serve local, seasonal produce at a reasonable price.
Go if you want to feel as chilled as a Scandi in the snow. Don’t go if all you want to hear about is Mrs Slocombe’s pussy. Highly recommended overall.
We visited in May 2024
WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE MADE IT OURSELVES…
I hadn’t even heard of arancini until I went travelling in Italy in the 90s. I said yes to it/them (turns out arancini is plural for arancino) in a restaurant somewhere in Tuscany because A) my Italian was as poor as the waiter’s English, so we could barely communicate and B) I’d had nothing but pizza and pasta up until that point and, as much as I love pizza and pasta, my tastebuds were begging for something new. I thought, why not? Arancini’s got a nice Italian ring to it and the food up to that point had been right up my strada.
Which came first, the arancini or the scotch egg?
Of course, when the arancini arrived on a thick tomatoey sauce I thought they were scotch eggs. They had a very scotch eggs look about them. Which was fine by me as I used to love a scotch egg in my meat-eating days. And these ‘scotch eggs’ were obviously hot, which, though unusual for me, I thought was a good thing. I cut straight into one of them and, lo, no egg in the middle. What the…?
Mainly, there was rice. I could also see some mushroom. And something gooey. That turned out to be mozzarella. I knew there was absolutely no way I’d be able to tell the waiter that the chef had clearly forgotten to include egg. This was pre-internet days, kids. Just imagine a world where everything you need to know right now is not stored in your pocket. With no iPhone to quickly learn how to say ‘I need an egg for my hot balls’, which, let’s face it, would have gone horribly wrong anyway, I ploughed on. Like virtually everything I ate on that trip, the rice balls turned out to be really tasty. Yep, I was an arancini convert.
I hadn’t had arancini for donkeys when I noticed them on the menu at the Cider Barn when we went there recently. (You can read our review of the Cider Barn in the ‘Mains’ section of our website: GetStuffedMagazine.com.) I recommended them to my partner and, lo, she too became an arancini convert.
I wouldn’t say they’re a regular feature in our house as they are a bit fiddly to make. Which is why I always do a decent batch and freeze the ones we don’t scoff on the day I make them.
This is how to do just that…
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 large mushrooms, chopped small
• 300g risotto rice
• 1L veg stock (we used a veg cube and a tsp miso in boiling water)
• 150g parmesan or gran padano, grated
• 150g mozzarella, diced
• 1 lemon, juiced
• Salt and pepper
• Veg oil for deep-frying
(In three separate bowls next to each other)
• 100g plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 200g breadcrumbs (we used half golden, half panko)
Put the onion in the pan of hot oil and cook on a low heat until it’s translucent (10-15 mins). Add the chopped garlic. After a minute, add the chopped mushroom. Once that’s coated, add the risotto rice and coat that with the oil as well.
After a minute or so, start adding the hot stock a bit at a time. Let the rice absorb it before adding more. It’ll take about 20 mins for the rice to cook through. Check it doesn’t feel chalky when you bite into it. When done, add the
parmesan, lemon juice and seasoning.
Put it all on a baking tray and let it cool. Add torn mozzarella to the mix, then stick it in the fridge for at least an hour to chill. This will help when it comes to moulding it with your hands.
If you’re having it as finger food (in front of the telly or for others to grab while you’re chatting) mould them with your hands so they’re about the size of pingpong balls. If you plan to sit down with them, you could make them bigger, as we did. Somewhere between ping-pong and cricket ball-size.
Dip each ball into the flour, the beaten egg, then the breadcrumbs. Do them all like this before you cook as many as you want in hot oil. We rolled them about in hot, quite shallow, oil before putting the pan in the
oven for about 15 minutes to finish them off.
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can chopped tomato or passata
• ½ lemon, juiced
• ½ tbsp sugar
• Splash balsamic
• Salt and pepper
Fry the onion until translucent. Add the garlic. After a minute, add the tomato. Cook on a low heat for about 20 mins to let it reduce (thicken). Add the other ingredients and taste to make sure it’s how you like it.
