‘Last forever quality’

SHREDDED, SLOW ROAST DUCK LEGS, FREEKEH, POMEGRANATE, YOGHURT, TAMARIND CHUTNEY - £9.50
SALMON COULIBIAC, HOME MADE MAYONNAISE - £9.50
BABY POTATOES, BUTTER, PARSLEY - £2.00
SAUTEED WINTER GREEN VEGETABLES - £4.00
BARLEY, SQUASH & MUSHROOMS, HERB & CRÈME FRAICHE DRESSING - £6.50
APPLE & BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE - £5.00

We’re heading for the first anniversary of our tortured union with the coronavirus. It’s cost us an entire year’s turnover and lost revenue and we’re now eye watering amounts in debt. With lockdown likely to last until pubs and restaurants open, in some shape or form, in May. It seems unlikely that weddings for 120 guests, our average gig, are likely to be happening this side of September, if at all this year. The government are keen to keep us all informed on what might be happening with schools and colleges, pubs, restaurants, cafes, sports, foreign holidays, leisure pursuits, train services, hairdressers, office workers, non-essential shops and services, the list is endless. Well it’s not endless, it ends before there’s any mention of weddings and events. So that’s it for us, both barrels, not interested.

Stop press: Times, Monday 8th February; Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at Kings College London told Times radio: ‘I can’t see us having massive weddings with people coming from all over the world. I think for the next few years those days are gone.’ It never does to focus on the negative though, after all, it’s only money and at least we haven’t lost any family or friends over the past year. So this week we’ve been cheering ourselves along by focussing on redesigning and redecorating our dining room, ready to invite all you lovely folk back, around May or June, perhaps. We knocked on the door of www.gve.co.uk over in Wilton as we are great admirers of their fabulous interior goodies. We already have quite a few cushions and throws scattered around the place, this time we’ve gone for the wallpaper to hang in the dining room. It Is so spectacular, I find myself spending quite a few contemplative periods in there, even though it’s empty. It has completely transformed the room, and completely lifted our spirits. It wreaks of quality and upgrades the entire house. I would say it has upgraded my soul, but that would be taking it a bit far.

We didn’t stop there. We have long been fans of www.johnjulian.co.uk, ‘craftmanship at your table’, based over in Burcombe. Hand-made porcelain plates and platters. Irresistible shapes, perfect forms for our food, we bought a few pieces last year to photograph our take away dishes on. They look fabulous, they feel fabulous and the quality is phenomenal. Naturally we have no shortage of crockery in the house, but since then, every meal time, I found myself saying, ‘where are the John Julians’, and now of course, I can’t eat off anything else. So we’ve crossed the line from being a fan, to being a customer and it was well worth the wait. We’ve shipped in 50 pieces of each shape and will be dishing up dishes on them, in our lovely new dining room as soon as we’re open again.

What’s great about both ranges, ceramics and textiles/wallpaper, is you just know they are quality products which will last a lifetime. Back in the old days of ‘designer fashion’, I invested in a few key pieces which I could barely afford at the time, but it was in the good old, pre credit crunch days. Forty years later, I still have those pieces, Comme des Garcon, Maxfield Parrish, Dries van Noten, Georgina von Etzdorf, Egg, Nicole Farhi, Margaret Howell and I still wear them, so definitely worth the investment.

So in the spirit of ‘last forever quality’, this week we’re bringing back some of last year’s memorable dishes for you to enjoy at home.