Homage 2 Fromage

Totally unable to resist anything that's name includes an excellent cheese-based pun, we were delighted to be invited along to Homage 2 Fromage last week. A monthly club dedicated to all things cheese, Homage 2 Fromage started three years ago in Leeds and has since expanded to our humble home town.

Hosted in guest venues, this month's setting was the lovely Tamper Coffee. Vickie and Nick, the founders of Homage 2 Fromage and self-proclaimed cheese enthusiasts, welcomed us to the venue and explained the rules - cheese is called at 7pm, before which time you may approach the cheese, appreciate the aesthetic quality and aroma of the cheese, but under no circumstances must the cheese be in any way fondled or sampled! Once the tasting kicks off, it's all in, help yourself - there's an array of breads, crackers, chutneys and pickles to accompany the cheeses and discussion is much encouraged.

There's no lofty pomposity here - just a group of individuals having a bloody good time eating cheese. Nick described the feel of the event perfectly - "If cheese and wine is the opera, we're more rock and roll".

Each event has a theme, and this month we were treated to award-winning cheeses from the Great Yorkshire Show. A total of seven cheeses were available, which were tasted blind before being revealed to the group. On offer were:

Cheeses 1-3

1. Mary Quicke's Traditional Vintage Cheddar - a lovely soft and creamy, full-flavoured cheddar.
2. Olde York - a gentle, crumbly, soft white cheese. Laura's favourite of the evening.
3. Capricorn Goats Cheese - a deliciously delicate cheese, that wasn't too overpoweringly farmyard-y in flavour. Aptly described by Nick as a "gateway to goat".
4. Monks Folly - clean and almost lactic in flavour, this was a classic mould-ripened cheese.
5. Dewlay Crumbly Lancashire - fresh and a little tangy, very moreish! Went down well with a Yorkshire crowd - high praise indeed.
6. Bluemin White - a blue and white hybrid! Not too strong and really creamy, this cheese is kept close to blue-veined cheeses, meaning the mould transfers to just the outside. This worked perfectly with ginger and rhubarb chutney.
7. Colston Bassett - a great example of a blue-veined cheese - the flavour you'd expect but not too harsh or stinky. A real crowd-pleaser and Jim's top cheese of the night.

Cheeses 4-7

We were particularly impressed by the fact that all the accoutrements involved were sourced from local producers - the bread was all from Seven Hills Bakery, with chutneys from Hedgerow and Just Preserves.

All-in-all, this was a great evening - full of humour, and possibly the most sociable event we've been to all year! It was also sold out, with Tamper packed to the beams - who knew that Sheffield was home to so many people who are passionate about cheese?! It curd-n't have been feta better*.

The aftermath!

Events are held on a monthly basis, and membership is also available for £10 per year, which includes discounted tickets to events and offers on cheese at an array of local retailers. Head on over to Homage 2 Fromage's website for more details!

L&J

*Apologies for the atrocious pun - impossible to resist sneaking one in!

Tamper Late: A Polynesian Feast

We are always on the lookout for something a bit different here at Mashtun HQ, so when we came across a Polynesian-themed supper club at the lovely Tamper Coffee, we absolutely jumped at the chance to book ourselves a table, and arrived filled with excitement to try some ingredients that we had never even heard of before, let alone tasted (taro leaves, anyone?! - Look them up: they're amazing).

The venue itself, coffee bar by day and to my knowledge the only place in Sheffield where you can treat yourself to a bronut, was perfect for an evening of fine cuisine: relaxing, sophisticated and just a little bit industrial with a warehouse feel.

The menu was a showcase of Pacific ingredients, and it was evident that this is the sort of food that Head Chef Steve Tauillii loves to cook.

Our starter was a yellow fin tuna carpaccio, marinated in citrus, which was served with accompaniments including pink grapefruit and beautiful little pickled cucumbers. The taste of the marinade did not overwhelm the fish, and the rest of the ingredients on the plate really made it sing. It was a light, zingy and refreshing dish, which made our mouths water for what was to come.

Main course was suckling pig three ways and was an absolute treat. The oily sweet, sesame pork belly melted in the mouth and worked really well with the monkey apple puree. Loin of pork, smoked in taro leaves, was also cooked to perfection. The smokiness had a pleasant hint of what was almost tobacco and a whisky-ish flavour. The star of the plate for us was a rosemary, thyme, and taro leaf encrusted pulled pork ball, which looked a bit like a Scotch egg but was much more exciting! It was crispy, fragrant, and totally unusual. A real winner. The meat was served alongside roast cassava and plantain (definitely more interesting than your usual carbs!), with buttery, silky silver beet, all presented in a giant leaf. Pleasing to the eye as well as the palate (you'll have to take our word for that as we didn't get a picture to do it justice!)

We both went for a pint of the recommended beer pairing, Magic Rock Rapture, a 4.6% red ale which had just the right level of hoppiness to cut through the flavours of the pork without being too overpowering, and the citrussy nature of the beer also complemented the food really well.

When pudding arrived it was almost too pretty to eat: Samoan biscuits, with coconut ice cream, a mango and pawpaw salsa, and an edible flower! The biscuits soaked up the juices from the fruit and the melting ice cream to become soft and delicious, and the salsa was floral and aromatic.

We finished off our meal with a signature Tamper coffee, a great end to a relaxing evening. With these supper clubs planned as regular events in the future, we will definitely be back!

Laura xx