A night out with Tony Rodd

Last Friday we got home from work and boyfriend mentioned that Tony Rodd, one of the three finalists in this year's Masterchef competition, was hosting a pop-up at a restaurant nearby. Boyfriend had seen an advert about this in the papers and, being the food lover that I am, knew this would get me very excited. Which of course led me to immediately Google the event, only to discover it was being held this Monday (three days later) and I probably didn't have a chance of getting a booking. Nevertheless I decided to give it the old college try and phoned the restaurant, only to be told it was full and be placed on a waiting list. My hopes were dashed and the future was bleak...

...Until shortly after lunch on Monday, when I received a call from a very Italian sounding man to let me know that there had been a cancellation, and they had space for boyfriend and I to attend that very night!! Thankfully I'd only had a very light lunch, as the evening of gourmet glamour ahead of me was to involve a five course taster menu, designed and prepared by Tony Rodd as the guest chef at Chapters of Blackheath!

So, who is Tony Rodd you ask? What even is Masterchef? Let's start with the latter. Every year, a TV program called British Masterchef features Australian chef John Torode and media personality (and former greengrocer(!)) Greg Wallace as they bring on some of the best amateur home cooks in the UK. They set them a bunch of cooking challenges, get them to serve up for some big name critics, chefs and former winners, and generally tantalise us with the breadth and depth of innovative, exciting cheffiness. I have learned so much from this program and it has certainly worked out well for contestants who got far enough through the competition - many of them enter the food industry ad become top notch chefs.

Tony Rodd was one of this year's contestants, and he was a favourite to win, only just missing out on the top prize in the final exciting episode. I love his cooking, because he likes mixing flavours, presents his stuff beautifully on a plate and follows his pre-prepared Gantt chart to the second to ensure that he gets it right (I know, I'm a total geek...whatevs). To top it all off, he stands out by having a great TV personality and a show stopping 'tache. What's not to love?

OK...enough gushing. Time to talk about the main event...I.e. the incredible five course meal that was put together for us on Monday night.

We were told that dinner begins at 7.15 but naturally I was so excited that we got there fifteen minutes earlier. Luckily the staff were on super form: sat us at our table, gave us the wine list and brought a sumptuous selection of breads to choose from. The focaccia was incredible...so much softer and yummier than the one I make. I could have eaten ten pieces, but I suppose then there would have been no space for the real food. We ordered our first bottle of wine: a lovely 2014 Hazy View Chenin Blanc from South Africa. Boyfriend found this one a bit sweet and I have to agree that the second bottle was slightly cloying. But in retrospect, I think it was a good choice, as it went well with all the white meats and fish that came later. And as we waited, I studied the menu and my lips began to water.

A taste of the night to come...

The restaurant gradually filled up and I could see some people were (almost) as excited as me. And then finally Tony Rodd stepped out in front of us all, welcomed us to the pop-up and began to introduce the first course, which was the Bloody Mary Gazpacho. He said his inspiration for this came from the restaurant we were sitting in itself, because he spends every hungover weekend sitting there, sipping a Bloody Mary.

He finished up and the waiters brought us our gazpacho soups. Now, I've had a bad experience with gazpacho in the past and since then, I've always refused to eat it. I'm also not a fan of cold food, especially not cold soup. But I was hardly going to turn down the first course prepped by a Masterchef finalist, and I'm so glad that I didn't. This gazpacho was beautifully creamy, and served at just below room temperature, making it more than palatable. After a few mouthfuls the flavour of Worcestershire sauce came through, as did the tabasco (although not in a spicy way). I couldn't taste the vodka unfortunately but I suspect that it was the reason behind the supreme creaminess of the soup. And it was all perfectly topped off with a celery stick, which was fun to stir through the gazpacho and chew on. A perfect starter!

Bloody Mary Gazpacho

with a touch of Worcestershire sauce, tabasco,
celery salt and vodka

We didn't have to wait long until Tony came back out to regale us with the inspiration behind his second course: a Celebration of Cauliflower. He dedicated this to a friend of his who's a vegetarian, but ate every single meat dish that he cooked whilst on Masterchef. What a legend! And then out came this incredible looking cauliflower cooked three ways: absolutely gorgeous on a plate and (considering I don't actually like cauliflower), pretty damn tasty too!

As you can see from the pictures, the beauty behind this dish comes from the accessories. Although there was roasted cauliflower in the centre of the dish, and pickled cauliflower sitting around it, the complement of white grapes, pureed cauliflower, hazelnut and pistachio crumb and finally the port sauce just made it incredible. Boyfriend's favourite part was the crumb (I'm going to have to splurge on nuts more often), but I fell in love with the pickled cauliflower paired with the sauce and grapes. Truly delicious and, the piece de resistance, the battered cauliflower leaf lying across the roast cauliflower was the highlight of my night.

A Celebration of Cauliflower

Drops of cauliflower puree, surrounded by a nutty crumb,
grapes and all kinds of cauliflower goodness

Don't even bother to ask if we were getting full by this point - our tastebuds had merely been tantalised by the first two courses and they were eager for more. And this came in the form of the fish dish, with the inspiration coming from Tony growing up by the sea in Essex eating the fresh cockles. And this dish, chaps, is where the evening went from merely fine dining to the ultimate gourmet experience. For out came this wonderfully presented, plump, firm, piece of monkfish, delicately wrapped in parma ham and cooked exquisitely. The pea shoots sitting beneath this were barely registered, because the rest of my focus was taken up by the delicious saltiness of the cockles, contrasted with the fresh, creamy lemony taste of the sabayon. I had never eaten monkfish, cockles, nor indeed a lemon sabayon before, and I would happily eat this every day for the rest of my life. Incredible.

Monkfish & Cockles with Lemon Sabayon

A culinary delight - plump, juicy monkfish with a zesty lemon sabayon,
 and the saltiness of the sea from the cockles

And it didn't stop coming. Next Tony told us about the meat dish - a trio of rabbit. He informed us that he had cooked something very similar on the show, but it had been rabbit four ways and he had been so pressed for time that he cut himself quite badly. So this time, he stuck to rabbit three ways.

Now you lot know that us Maltese have a particular affinity for the rabbit (see my previous blogs on Maltese cooking), and we love it chopped up and fried in garlic. So I was slightly worried that this gourmet way of dining wasn't the place for rabbit but boy, was I wrong. This dish was possibly the most beautifully presented of the lot and it was far and away the tastiest. The rabbit was cooked in three, delightfully different ways: wrapped in bacon, with a beautiful herb crust and shredded. My words cannot do the moistness and flavour of this meat justice. The mushroom sauce was delicately flavoured and light, and the spinach puree brought the whole dish home. I finally understand why John Torode always tries to stick everything on a fork at once and shove it into his mouth - because separately the morsels of food are good but together? Together they sing.

Trio of rabbit

There is no doing justice to this dish

And finally...just when I thought it couldn't get any better...the dessert. A hugely filling, but incredible delicious Jamaican ginger cake that was amazingly full of flavour, the creamiest home-made ice cream sitting on top of it. Just in case that wasn't enough, a solid chocolate tube sat next to it, filled with a beautifully light caramel mousse. And for sharpness, three drops of gooseberry coulis which, paired with the chocolate, meant that I had a furious argument with my stomach about how I didn't care if it was full, I was going to keep eating.

Chocolate, Caramel & Rum
Understatement of the Centure

And that was it chaps. An amazing dinner, cooked by someone I'm going to take constant inspiration from. What better was is there to spend a Monday night?