Friday 28 January 2011

So last week it was Australia day, this week it is the turn of New Zealand with Waitangi day.

Waitangi Day commemorates a significant day in the history of New Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.

So last week, Chef Jared, who is from New Zealand, created a wonderful Australian menu, now he has gone all out with a New Zealand inspired menu. Of course lamingtons are on there, but we also have kiwi fruit friands, kumra and sweet chili tart and Jareds famous cheese scones.

New Zealand, who can resist??


Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Honey, milk and almond bread 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Lemon and Poppy and Cream Cheese 1.80
Cheese Scones 1.80
Kiwi Fruit friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Raspberry or Chocolate Lamingtons 2.50

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Pumpkin and Chilli

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Tomato, bufala mozzerella, aioli, basil and rocket
Chicken, grilled apricots, brie and spinach

French retro baguettes 4.30
Pear, blue cheese, onion jam and rocket
Italian ham with gherkin, tomato, mustard, red onion and gruyere

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Roast beetroot, red camargue red rice, coriander, feta and mizuna
Coppa cotta ham with rhubarb, kiwi and spinach
Corn in a herb sauce

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Whipped with sweet chilli and spring onion

Floor: Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa and Jessica.
Kitchen: Jared, Khan, Melissa as well and Erin

Friday 21 January 2011

Week Beginning January 24th - Australia Week

Australia Day is this week, January 26th and in Australia it is a public holiday, to celebrate the day that the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove in 1788. It is a wonderful public holiday, much like the August bank holiday weekend here in the UK, right in the middle of Summer, and a great opportuntiy to get away, have a bbq with your family or mates and drink loads of beer and chardonnay. Australians get a bit patriotic, some may say a bit overly so, but hey, its all for a good laugh and a big celebration of our country and our lifestyle.

However, this year, not everyone will celebrate, as the floods in Queensland and now Victoria have had a devastating affect on thousands of lives. Australia really does have it hard in terms of the weather, after 12 years of harsh drought, we now have floods like we have never seen before.

So this Wednesday, Kaffeine will donate 50 p of every coffee sold to the flood relief in Australia to try to help them a bit.

All week, there will also be a donation box in Kaffeine for any of our customers who may wish to donate as well.

To celebrate the fact that it is Australia week though, we have the lamingtons back on the menu. Victoria Sponge, covered with Chocolate and or Raspberry and coated in coconut, as well as vegemite and cheese muffins, ANZAC biscuits and fosters and mutton broth. Now that is a good idea.......


Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Honey, milk and almond bread 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Blueberry and bran 1.80
Vegemite and Cheese 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Raspeberry or Chocolate Lamingtons 2.50

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Fosters and mutton broth

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Aubergine with sweet chilli jam, goats cheese and rocket
Smoked salmon with aioli, capers, red onion, dill and spinach

French retro baguettes 4.30
Plum tomato, bufala mozzerella, puttanesca and rocket
Italian ham with gherkin, tomato, mustard, red onion and gruyere

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Slow cooked lamb with mint, new potatoes and spinach
Roast beetroot with feta and pumpkin seeds
Corn in a herb sauce

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Caramelised onion with spinach and cheese quiche

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Sunday 16 January 2011

Week beginning January 17th - a story about 3 phase power

Those who foillow twitter or live/work locally may know that last Friday, we went through quite a day trying to get three phase power installed into the shop.

For those who are unaware, a regular domestic or commercial premises will have single phase (or 100 amps) of power supplied by EDF (now London power networks or something). However, once you start to use two baking ovens (26 amps), a 3 group espresso machine (40 amps), an 6 ring electric boiling top (39 amps), air conditioning, lights, sandwich grill, dishwashers, refridgeration and even music, all of these component parts soon add up to more than 100 amps of power, which unfortunately will soon enough cause your power to short.

So you pay EDF approx £3,500 to istall 3 phase power, or 300 amps of electricity. They then book in a day to dig up the outside of your shop. Two days later, they come back to cut the power off (anytime between 7 am and midday). EON electricity, being our actual supplier, then need to come and install the meter, but they contract this work back out to EDF, and they are meant to come anytime between 12 pm and 5 pm.

So, on Friday they cut the power at 11 am, that was okay, but the meter man came in at 11:30(half and hour later!!!!!!), looked at the work still needed to be done by our own electrician and stated, 'not ready, we cannot stay, can't help you, call the emergency line to get it connected', and very promptly left, most probably to go down the pub and laugh away the afternoon and evening with all of his power mates.....

The emergency EDF people were then booked to come anytime between 3pm Friday and 3 pm Saturday, they can't specify or tell you the time, they will just turn up. So I had to prepare to stay overnight in the shop. This is with a jetlagged wife and very unhappy and jetlagged 11 month old daughter at home, in the dark, and cold, all on my lonesome. So I had blankets, 3 jackets and the possum and merino wool beanie and scarf my Mum bought me for Christmas and 50 or so tea light candles.

But then, just as I was settling down and things were starting to look worse than ever, the emergency man turns up at 6 pm! He is calm, cool and collected. The electrician who had been working since 6:30 am finishes the job, and at 8 pm Friday night we have 3 phase power.

So, if anyone out there needs an electrician, let me know, mine are fantastic. If anyone out there is having 3 phase power installed and a tech guy called Eddie turns up to do the work, be afraid, but if you then need to have the emergency man come out and his name is Chris, tell him I say hello as he is a really nice guy, and if you are thinking of having 3 phase power installed or of opening your own cafe, be careful....be very, very careful. Or email me for advice.

Or come in for a strawberry and butter milk muffin, even better.



Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Honey, milk and almond bread 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Strawberry and buttermilk 1.80
Sweet corn savoury 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Broad bean and coriander

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Plum tomato, bufala mozzerella, puttanesca and rocket
Welsh rarebit with mushrooms and spinach

French retro baguettes 4.30
Baba ghanoush with plum tomato, parsley and rocket
Italian ham with gherkin, tomato, mustard, red onion and gruyere

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Chicken adobo with wild rice
Aubergine with chestnuts and tahini dressing
Honeyed chantenay carrots

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Wild mushroom, dijon mutard and thyme

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Week beginning January 10th - We are back!!

And what a fabulous time away we had too, I went off to Australia and stayed in my home town Melbourne for three weeks, chef Jared and his brothers went to Egypt, Emma and Catherine went to Norway to visit with the amazing Tim Wendleboe and Melissa and Amy went all the way to Amsterdam for New Years Eve carnage.

We are back, we are refreshed, we are ready for a brilliant 2011

And what a way to start, with the Square Mile Winter Espresso Blend getting us going and fired up. With notes of creme brulee, chcolate mousse and softly baking spices, it is warming our hearts and minds. I think we must have overdosed yesterday in the excitement.

With all that coffee and a holiday, Jared has spiced up the menu this week with inspiration from the Middle East, loving those spices. Souk lamb foccacia? Not only that, but how about dark chocolate, coffee and walnut muffins?????

And to finish, a very big thank you to all our valued customers for support over the past 16 months. We are really looking forward to this year ahead and many more to come.

Breakfast
Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.90
Wheat free muesli with popped corn and compote 2.90
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passionfruit, peach) 2.90
Ciabatta Roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.00
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.00
Croissant with gruyere cheese and plum tomatoes 3.20
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with homemade preserves 1.70
Honey, milk and almond bread 1.70
Banana Bread 2.00

Porridge with condiments of muscovado sugar, dried fruit, chopped nuts, honey or rhubarb and raspberry compote 2.50

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissants 1.60
Pain au chocolat 2.00
Almond croissants 2.60

Baked Treats
Dark Chocolate, Coffee and walnut muffins 1.80
Tomato, Cheese and herb savoury muffins 1.80
Carrot Cake friands (wheat free) 1.80
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.20
White chocolate blondies 2.20
Portuguese tarts 1.80
ANZAC cookies 1.60
Afgan biscuits 1.60

Lunch
Soup 3.00/3.50
Spinach, Lentil and lemon Soup

Foccacias with sea salt and rosemary crust 4.70
Souk Lamb with aioli and spinach
Tuna with capers, gherkin, dill, olives, mayonnaise and rocket

French retro baguettes 4.30
Chicken with muhammara(red pepper, walnut and pomegranate)and rocket
Plum tomato with puttanesca, mozzerella and spinach

Salads £4.00/£5.00/£8.00
Italian ham with pear, blue cheese, walnuts, rocket and basil
Roasted aubergine with tahini and chestnuts
Edamame with garlic and chilli

Tart 4.00 or 6.00 with salad
Zucchini, mint and feta

Peter, Catherine, Emma, Krysty, Justin, Amy, Melissa, Jessica, Jared, Khan