For the month of September 2011, Ridley's pop-up restaurant served lunch and dinner from an empty corner on Ridley Road Market, Dalston, East London.
Instead of paying with money, diners 'bought' their meal with produce purchased from the market, which the Ridley's chefs would then use to cook the next day's meals.
This film follows two Ridley's diners, who had never been to the market before.
The view from my bathroom at Hoa's Place, Non Nuoc Beach.
I've realised something recently: that I am more than happy to suffer a little diarrhoea in order to eat well.
Last week, Cam and I had the brilliant experience of visiting the factory of a local company, who produce all manner of traditional Chinese cooking ingredients and foodstuffs. The visit was to research the method of making dou chi (fermented black beans) for my next column in Chengdoo Magazine, which you will see here soon. In the meantime, here are a few photos to whet your appetite.
Dried soy beans, the main ingredient of dou chi.
The soy beans, post soaking and steaming, mid-way through the fermentation process.
The dou chi getting a stir.
The almost-finished product.
We also got to see the company’s doufu ru (fermented tofu) being made, of which they are justly proud. First, the tofu itself is prepared.
The tofu is then left in earthenware containers, called shaigang, to ferment for many months.
Finally, it is mixed with a spicy sauce, packaged and ready to eat.
More on dou chi, and the wonderful Mr Jiang who organized our visit, coming soon…
Brighton, South Coast, England.
Chop Chop Dumpling Restaurant (the Chinese name is much better - 饺子王 translates as 'dumpling king'). Haymarket, Edinburgh.
The Szechuan. Tollcross, Edinburgh.
China Garden. Preston Street, Brighton (you can see the ruined West Pier in the background).
Famous Sichuan. Queen's Road, Brighton (this was definitely not here when I was a student in Brighton!).
Fuzhou Restaurant (Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian province, where many early Chinese immigrants to the UK came from). Chinatown, London.
Young Cheng. Chinatown, London (the Chinese businessmen you can see going into the restaurant were the end few of a very long line - must be a good place...)
Note: I only ate at one of the above restaurants (the Szechuan, more on which still to come), so cannot recommend any of the others!
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