Good afternoon everyone, First of all, we thought it might be nice, now that we've had a few months to find our groove, to shine a light on the Covered Market. We realise that many of you do not indulge in Ins***ram or Fac***ok (Hugo included), so you'll forgive us for cribbing the text and images from Kate's most recent post: Greetings from the Covered Market. Let us reintroduce ourselves. We are the town centre outpost of Hamblin Bread, selling all the Hamblin favourites, bread, buns, sweet treats, provisions and zero-zero wine. Plus we have Red Bank Coffee and a sandwich menu running throughout the day. Bacon, sausage and egg sandwich on the fluffiest milk roll with house ketchup? Tuna...
Good afternoon everyone, First of all, a pastry update, showcasing seasonal fruit in all its glory, the following hit the counter next week: Bakewell financier vibes with almonds and Styan cherries, Swiss roll with summer berries, and a bun filled with a truly emblematic English confection, gooseberry fool. On the cold plate we can strongly recommend an extremely moreish batch of Tomme de Savoie, the texture just so between yielding and bouncy, the flavours gentle but persistent. Sinodun Hill is also on top form, and we welcome back Yoredale, perhaps our favourite Wensleydale. The summer socialising continued this week as we piled the Hamblin team into two cars and headed to deepest darkest Kent. Charles, of Food and Forest fame, king of nuts and oracle...
Good afternoon everyone, To start, a debrief on our Provence themed wine tasting with food, which took place yesterday evening. We kicked off with some punchy tapenade on country loaf, made with olives from Nyons in Provence and Salina capers, both courtesy of the Ham & Cheese company. The olives featured again on Pissaladiere, Hamblin rough puff pastry, topped with white onions that had simmered away for six hours or so, and criss-crossed with fat anchovy fillets. There was a brief respite from the olives with a stand alone vegetable course of ratatouille, the vegetables cooked in stages in plentiful olive oil, and infused with basil. There was aïoli, of course, and then lamb shoulder, cooked until falling apart, with the braising...
Good afternoon everyone, First of all a huge thank you to everyone who visited our scone and bric a brac stall on Saturday. Despite the rain, spirits remained un-dampened and we were quite overwhelmed with the response. We will certainly be doing this again soon, so watch this space. Now on to news of our upcoming wine event. As a lover of food writing and something of a francophile, the books of Richard Olney hold a special place in Hugo's heart. The prose is fluid and precise, the aesthetic a refined and exacting version of rustic cooking, and the evocation of France, particularly Provence, indelibly appealing. Happily, our stagier from New York, Remy, is also a fan, and with so...
Good afternoon everyone, Saturday 7th sees the return of the Magdalen Road Village Summer Festival, a day which celebrates the eclectic community of independent vendors of which we are proud to be part, even in an off-Broadway sense. This year we have decided to embrace the village féte atmosphere by throwing our own mini yard sale, with a couple of stalls on the forecourt. On trestle table number one we will be setting up a Scone Stall, because no village féte is complete without these most nostalgic of baked goods. As we still have Remy staging with us from New York, we will be representing the scone traditions of our two great nations. Expect classic British buttery scones with house strawberry jam and Ivy House cream,...
