Cambridge Cookery School

More food from me today...

Once again I realise how fortunate I am to belong to that special group of food lovers that is Cambridge Eat Up. Members of the group were invited to the Cambridge Cookery School cafe last Saturday evening  for complementary food and drink. This was a new experience for me as although I have been to the cookery school before, when I took part in the Cambridge Bake Off, (oh the memories of that spongy sponge!) I had never visited the Scandinavian style cafe which is a relatively new venture. Expecting a drink and possibly a few snacks we were instead treated to feast of wonderful food, beautifully prepared and presented. 

About twenty of us, mostly food writers and bloggers, plus partners were welcomed on arrival with a refreshing cocktail of grapefruit liqueur and prosecco along with little bowls of sweet and salty almonds flavoured with Rosemary. I couldn't help noticing the beautiful screen printed napkins too... such lovely attention to detail.

I would have been happy to sit sipping and nibbling on these all evening but there was so much more to come - in the form of four amazing sharing platters.

There was a heavily laden Mezze platter with hummus, baba ganoush, olives, feta and flatbread

A Japanese platter with tempura vegetables, pork dumplings and the most wonderful sushi. I'm not the biggest fan of sushi as I often feel it can be a bit second rate (I won't go near the supermarket stuff) but these little crab rolls were about the best I've ever tasted.

There was an Italian platter  laden with meats, cheese, marinated vegetables and focaccia presented together with a plate of wonderful homemade pasta.

And finally there was a Scandinavian platter with pickled herrings, gravad lax, Vasterbotten cheese, beetroot relish and fabulous rye bread... it transported me back to our lovely trip to Copenhagen.

And just as we were all feeling we couldn't eat another thing we were each presented with these little glasses of Eton mess with a brownie on the side. Just the perfect size to finish off the meal along with little cups of espresso with a scoop of ice cream. Food is so often about memory and these made me think of the "coke floats" of my childhood. I can't recall when I last drank cola, nor do I have any desire to ever do so again, but somehow it was still a comforting memory to recall those glasses of coke (or a personal favourite, cream soda) topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream..

This was a very generous evening from Tina and her staff at the Cambridge Cookery School but I think I should point out that everything I have written has been my own opinion and in no way was I obliged to write anything... good or bad! And I will definitely go back again. If you know Cambridge it is a little tucked away behind Hills Road College, off Purbeck Street but it is worth seeking out for brunch or lunch and if you fancy an informal Saturday night supper it is perfect!

Not only was it an evening of wonderful food but also an evening of meeting up with old friends as well as meeting new ones too so I thought you might like to meet one or two of them too as they are a really interesting bunch!

There was Naomi who is a very talented artist. Some of her pictures are up on the walls of the cafe.
Charlotte, a blogger who has written her own entertaining account of the evening.
Estafania,  a cook, who I met for the first time... I just wish I had the chance to chat to her more not to mention a chance to taste her tapas!
Jin, winner of the Cambridge Bake Off, who makes amazing cakes
Meggy who runs Bridges cafe on the centre of Cambridge
Laura, a food writer, photographer and cook
Bee a food writer... I was so pleased I had written nice things about her book back in February!

Apologies for the people I haven't mentioned but these were the ones I got to speak to at yet again, another fabulous outing with Cambridge Eat Up.