Good afternoon everyone,
It's a hot one! The Hamblin Family will be braving the bank holiday traffic tomorrow as we head to Somerset to catch up with one of our dearest friends, Nye Smith, head chef of the Three Horseshoes in Batcombe. Nye has been cooking professionally since he was a teenager, and cut his teeth at Moro during the late noughties. During this time he and Hugo became very close and enjoyed the rollercoaster ride of opening tapas bar Morito together in 2010. Since then Nye has cooked extensively in Paris and London and now finds himself in the west country, heading the kitchen in a beautifully restored village pub and working closely with Margot Henderson. His food is refined but never fussy, elegant but generous and always delicious. The sourcing of ingredients is first class, eschewing wholesalers and buying directly from farmers and growers. This means meat is butchered in house, with nothing going to waste, and vegetables are seasonal, organic and locally grown. Well worth a sweaty drive down the A303!
Now, there is a link to this week's pastry counter, you just need to bear with me a little longer. During the build up to opening Morito, Hugo and Nye were fortunate enough to go on a research and development jaunt to the Basque country in northern Spain, and experience first hand the pintxo bars and gastronomic restaurants of this extraordinary region. An undoubted highlight of this seminal trip, so much so that Hugo has managed to repeat it several times since, is the walk from Zarautz to Getaria for lunch at Kaia Kaipe. The format is as follows. Take the high road along the top of the cliffs up the steep steps out of Zarautz, through the small holdings and farms, past the little chapel with views down to the beach and the surfers, past the Txacoli vineyards, then eventually down the hill and through the backstreets of former whaling town Getaria. You can take the outdoor escalator down past the Museo Cristobal Balenciaga, then bear left at the pelota court, down the narrow streets threading their way towards the seafront. At this point it's traditional to stop at one of the numerous bars for a tiny beer (a zurito - normally about 100ml and ice cold - how civilised is that?). You will smell Kaia Kaipe before you see it. The fish are cooked over charcoal on grills situated outside the restaurant. The chefs are equipped with earpieces to stay in touch with the rest of the brigade. The restaurant itself is very relaxed, informal even. Choose your fish - hake perhaps, or turbot if you're feeling flush. While you wait you can sip a glass of spritzy Txacoli with some anchovies and perhaps a tomato salad. Having been basted with a mixture of olive oil, vinegar and garlic, your fish will arrive whole for you to admire before it is expertly filleted table-side. No accompaniments are necessary other than wine and some bread to mop up the juices. There is dessert if you so wish, followed by coffee and perhaps a glass of patxaran to fortify you for the walk back, this time along the coast road, with the late afternoon sun glinting on the sea. Remarkably, the whole evening still lies ahead.
Anyway, this week on the pastry counter we will have Gâteau Basque aka etxeko bixkotxa or cake of the house. Alongside the traditional elements of buttery, almond enriched pastry and custard cream we are including some apple compote.
That's all for this week. Thank you as always for reading and stay cool if you can,
Kate and Hugo