Escape to the city
Maddy (from Netherton) and a friend took the train from Shropshire to London for a weekend of good food, good wine and good company. Here’s what they got up to (or at least the bits they are telling us!)
After Neil and Sue visited Fonda on its opening weekend, it’s been a chilli hot topic of conversation here at the workshops. So it was inevitable that they booked in to see what the fuss was all about.
Here’s what they said, “What fun it was. Our meal was made special by the wonderful team they have, who recommended dishes we never would have chosen but ended up being our favourites, taking such care to explain the origin of the dishes, ingredients and mezcal and making us laugh. We ate and ate until we thought we couldn’t eat anymore, but then they brought us a complementary dish of Arroz con Leche - Rice pudding, black cherries, cinnamon, mezcal custard and it would have been rude to say “no thanks”.
Aside – Maddy has always claimed not to like rice pudding.
“We would never have been able to show our face again had we licked the plates, but it was tempting. We left feeling like we’d been invited round for family dinner”.
I think we can safely conclude that they had a good time and enjoyed their dinner.
The evening was spent at the Pilgrm hotel, recommended by Fiona Beckett. Arriving hot and sticky from the train journey, it is a relief to discover that the hotel is quite literally 2 minutes from Paddington station and that relief was heightened by the presentation of a very welcome ice lolly as soon as feet were set inside the front door. Cocktails on the balcony rounded the day off very nicely. Fiona is a wine and food writer, who was the wine correspondent for the Guardian for many years and is now wine writer in residence at the Pilgrm. (Look at her Substack here)
Part two of the trip was to head out to Deptford for the Slop summer BBQ, which was being held at Elsewhere Coffee to celebrate the release of their latest issue. Amazing vibes and the sipping of Wright’s Wines was as chilled as you could get on a sweltering July day. Fun was had and a host of fabulous people met. Do check out Slop’s Instagram for more upcoming events.
In case you haven’t heard of them, Slop Magazine was founded to talk about produce and producers, the people who grow, rear, preserve, ferment, distil, retail and process the best food and drinks around…….to find out how people are keeping traditions alive or innovating to keep pace with a changing world.
The last train home rolled back at midnight, bringing 36 packed hours of adventure to an end.
