Thame.net

Category: food-drink

  • Thousands flock to Thame’s (not just a) food festival!

    BUILDING on the success of last year, Thame Food Festival delivered a myriad of tantalising artisan producers, demonstrations galore, celebrity chefs and bakers, plus some new features to thousands of people who flocked to bask in the glorious autumnal sunshine.

    Food festival fans relax to the music in front of the FTMC stage

    There were over 150 stalls in the extensive artisan food market and hot street food area, a pop-up pub, botanical gin garden and Prosecco bike by FestivAles.

    Through-out the two days the headline sponsor – Magimix UK – showcased over 20 demonstrations on their dedicated stage including many of the country’s leading chefs and bakers such as patron Raymond Blanc OBE, Jane Devonshire (former winner of Masterchef) and Candice Brown (previous winner of Great British Bake Off). This was topped off by a myriad of yet more shows around the event including; Quality Standard Mark Beef and Lamb cookery demos by Stoke Park, expert tuition of Clementi Pizza Ovens by Bell Kitchens, edible gift demonstrations by WI Denham.

    Adding to the ambience and festival atmosphere this year, was Thame’s First Thursday Music Club’s live music stage, with a broad programme of artists. Another new addition to the Thame Food Festival were the Humble Country marquee which was filled to the brim with kitchenalia to buy, the Schwartz Sensorium, the Greenpeace dome plus a range of children’s activities supporting local charities such as Thomley, and Thame’s Lions and Rotary Clubs.

    For the second year, the foodie mix also extended to our four legged friends with specialist dog treat stalls alongside demonstrations and fun Dog Shows by locally based, national charity the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. The winner of the inaugural Thame Food Festival Bursary for Local Artisan Producers, Lisa Hartwright from Tess’ Brilliant Bakes, was announced by her mentors Chris Wheeler from Stoke Park and Adam Johnson from Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison on the main stage where she received a Magimix Le Blender, plus £1,000 and a free place at the festival.

    Lotte Duncan, Festival Patron and organiser of the event, said: “I am so proud of what Thame Food Festival has become. This year the team and I really wanted it to centre on celebrating artisan producers and showcase the diversity of wonderful foods that are produced in Britain, but to also add lots of new features, such as the children’s activities and live music to make it have even more of a festival feel. We wanted an event where people could come for so much longer, enjoy and experience so much more than they might have originally planned.

    “Events like these require so much hard work, from so many people but when you see it all come together it is worth it. We are hoping as a Community Interest Company to be able to reinvest even more money back into the event and support more young local businesses like Tess’ Brilliant Bakes that won our very first bursary this year. So watch this space for next year.”

    SOURCE (or should that be ‘sauce’ ?) Contributed

  • Cakes and crafts raise funds for Macmillan Nurses

    THAME Barns Centre attracted around one hundred visitors to its Macmillan Coffee Morning last Friday, September 29, and raised £500 for the charity. (more…)

  • Visit school’s French Market

    JOHN Hampden Primary School, Thame, are holding a French Market tomorrow (Wednesday, October 11) open to the public, between 3.10pm – 4pm in the Jackson Hall.

     

     

    There will be several different themed stalls which will include, a boulangerie, charcuterie, fromagerie, café, animaux, maquillage and bonbons. Money raised for the event is going towards new equipment for the children at the school.

    French is taught to KS2 pupils and the school is currently setting up a school correspondence exchange with Thame’s twin French town of Montesson.

  • Make it a cracking August with fresh, native lobster at The Thatch

    IT’S lobster season and The Thatch in Thame is marking the occasion with a month of mouth-watering weekend specials dedicated to this amazing British produce.

     

    Native grilled lobster-Avocado, Pink grapefruit and cashew-salad
    Native grilled lobster-Avocado, Pink grapefruit and cashew-salad

    Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening in August, the chefs at The Thatch will be creating a special dish made with the best, freshest native lobster they can get their hands on. There will be a different dish each week, chalked up onto the specials board until it runs out.

    “We’ve been on the hunt for the finest native lobster to serve our guests and have found it, caught by local fishermen off the Brixham coast,” said Tom Upham, Head Chef at The Thatch. “We’re proud to work closely with one of the most experienced, lobster fishermen in Devon, Rob Adams, who is born and bred in Brixham and has been fishing the local waters for over thirty years.

    “His small day-boat, The Little Pearl, puts out to sea at the crack of dawn each morning to inspect the lobster pots he has set on the sea bed a short distance from the shore. Reaching carefully into the pot, he only picks the lobsters when they’re at their peak and of the very highest quality, ensuring that the fishing remains sustainable and only the best lobster is selected. He rushes his catch back to shore and delivers it the very next day, ready to put on the plate.”

    Not only is native lobster the freshest it can be, it is also packed full of flavour, making this British seafood simply the best. Now it’s available every weekend at the pub in three stunning dishes, starting with a superb native grilled lobster with avocado, pink grapefruit and cashew salad from Thursday, Saturday 11, to August 13.

    Pop in for dinner between August 18 and 19, and feast on native grilled lobster with garlic butter and skinny fries and if you visit between the 25th to 27th, there’s a divine butter-poached native lobster with new potatoes and samphire to look forward to.

    “We’ve caught the best of these British beauties and brought them at their best to the pub,” continued Tom. “Native lobster is undeniably the best and there’s a real ‘wow’ factor in seeing a whole one arrive at your table. But be quick – they’re bound to prove popular and once they’re gone they’re gone. So book your table today!”

    Native lobster dishes created by the chefs at The Thatch in Thame, will be served every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening during August, until they sell out.

    To reserve your table, go to www.thethatchthame.co.uk or call 01844 214340

  • Thame Food Festival to welcome Bake Off winner, Nadiya Hussain

    THAME Food Festival has managed a mighty coup by persuading Nadiya Hussain, winner of Great British Bake Off 2015, to come to the festival this year.

    Great British Bake Off 2015 winner, Nadiya Hussain
    Great British Bake Off 2015 winner, Nadiya Hussain

    Nadiya will be demonstrating on the Baking Stage and signing copies of her new book at Thame Food Festival, which this year will be on Saturday, September 24.

    A delighted Lotte Duncan, Patron of the festival, said: “We couldn’t believe our luck when she said yes! I’ve been such an admirer of hers and loved all the amazing bakes she did on the show. I can’t wait to chat to her on the stage and I’ll definitely be queuing up at the book signing!

    “Thame Food Festival grows in size and reputation every year and I’m so proud to be part of it. This year we have great plans to make it bigger and better, and having Nadiya as part of the festival is literally the icing on the cake!”

    Nadiya told us: “When Lotte called me up to ask, I was really happy! I’d heard such good things about the the festival – there is a great buzz around it that stretches far and wide. I’d also been speaking to the other bakers in the GBBO family who came last year and they had a great time – so of course it was a yes!

    “I’m really looking forward to meeting all the people of Thame, the visitors on the day and getting up on the stage to bake up a storm!”

    The Thame Food Festival is a community event run by the community for the community. For more details, or to get involved by sponsoring or supporting next year’s festival, go to www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk.

  • Thame’s ‘famous’ kebabs yet to be beaten

    ATALAY’S kebabs, to be found most evenings in Thame’s Upper High Street, are yet to be beaten, according to a Thame food blogger, Dominic Stanway- Williams, although the tastes of South East Asia have provided ample distraction for him!

    Dominic Stanway-Williams
    Dominic Stanway-Williams

    As Christmas approaches food blogger Dominic concedes that even after sampling a number of kebabs on the road, Atalay’s podium of splendor remains as high as it ever was. He has however found the next best thing after taking up work in a Turkish restaurant on the small tropical island of Koh Rong in Cambodia where he hopes to further build on his culinary ability, whilst enjoying a sun-scorched Christmas.

    His food blog is now fully up and running flush with three posts for you to get your teeth into: a digest of the last three months which have seen him waltz his way through half of mainland South East Asia, tasting Thai delicacies, planting rice and learning about permaculutre from a buddhist monk. You can find these posts on his website: www.ontheflavourtrail.com

    Dominic is also keeping a rolling, visual diary via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theflavourtrail/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/theflavourtrail/?ref=hl both of which will soon be overflowing with snaps of tasty Turkish tucker and other grub from the kitchen.

    With another 9-10 months of travel proposed and a wealth of countries yet to explore, there is plenty more to come so keep your eyes peeled.

    Dominic would like to wish all Thame residents plenty of Christmas cheer and hopes the pubs his misses dearly are packed to the rafters on the evening of the 24th.

    PREVIOUSLY ON Thame.net: SEE LINK

  • Thame food blogger off on ‘The Flavour Trail’ but….

    “WHATEVER corner of the planet I end up in, I will never find a kebab which tops Atalay’s,” says Thame born and bred foodie, Dominic Stanway-Williams, who sets off this weekend with a one-way ticket to Bangkok. He is determined to scour South East Asia high and low for the best grub the continent has to offer and will be documenting his discoveries along the way.

    But even before leaving English soil Dominic believes he has already found one dish which will not be topped and swears that no matter where he goes, he will not find a better kebab than those served up at Thames’ very own Atalay van.

    Dominic Stanway Williams with one of the famous Atalay Thame kebabs
    Dominic Stanway Williams with one of the famous Atalay Thame kebabs

    Dominic’s love of food stemmed from cooking with his mother as a child, and it has been ever present since then with jobs on the Waitrose delicatessen and as a sous chef in the Spread Eagle hotel. His passion fuelled a food blog throughout his time at university but he’s now looking to take this one step further with his new website: ‘The Flavour Trail’ which he will use to detail his experiences throughout Asia. Below is a review taken from his site about one of Thame’s most popular takeaway options:

    “The common kebab provides a great, greasy divide in culinary opinion. To some it epitomises the depths those unconcerned with fine-dining will sink to in pursuit of sustenance; to others, it marks the end all of comfort consumption, the titillating climax to an evening on the tiles.”

    “The Ataly kebab van which frequents the Oxfordshire town of Thame is anything but divisive.”

    ‘It’s 7pm on Friday evening and despite the wealth of Chinese and Indian takeaways on offer it feels like half the town have turned out. Looking around it’s clear that my peers are by no means ending their evenings but in are fact exuding a collective and very sober yearning for high-quality, week-concluding nosh.

    ‘The sundry of accompaniments before me shames even the most chic of deli counters, typified by a lovingly-made chunky chilli sauce I’ve told tales of across the land. A flatbread is toasted against the grill and packed with steaming shavings from the rotating spit alongside my chosen ensemble of sauces and salads. The potent aroma that’s been tantalising everyone in range is finally delivered directly to me and I raise the paper package to my nostrils as if smelling a fine cigar.

    The first bite sends a torrent of flavour down my gullet, a joyous fusion of peppery cabbage, creamy garlic sauce and velvety lamb cut with a tangy coriander kick. By the second bite I’ve surrendered to a dreamy meaty comatose state, one which I hope will never end’.

    Will Dominic find that opinion-changing kebab? Or will the flavours of South East Asia keep him sufficiently distracted? Find out on his website ‘The Flavour Trail’ at www.ontheflavourtrail.com which will be going live any day!

  • 1950s Pop up café launched in Thame

    A 1950s themed Pop-Up café, launched yesterday (24/03), proved to be a big hit with market day shoppers, with its homemade cakes, tea and coffee, and will run every Tuesday afternoon, from 2pm to 4pm, at Christchurch, Upper High Street, Thame.  The café is run by volunteers to assist people with special needs learn skills from hands-on experience.

    Mayor of Thame, Jeannette Matelot Green, with volunteers from the Safari Pop up Cafe, Thame
    Mayor of Thame, Jeannette Matelot Green, with Julia from Safari (left) and volunteers Mary and Heather

    Although they are currently operating with a very small menu to get them started, Thame SAFARI hopes to apply for LEADER funding to make the ‘Safari pop up café’ available six days a week, and offer a range of breakfasts and lunches.

    One of the visitors to the Safari Pop up café was the Mayor of Thame, Jeannette Matelot Green, a staunch support of SAFARI, which has been one of her Mayor’s chosen charities.

    After enjoying a cup of tea herself, Jeannette welcomed the new enterprise: “What a wonderful new enterprise for the Safari group;  a pop-up café on market day serving home made cakes and good coffee and tea in the delightful surroundings of Christchurch.

    “The first day went beyond expectation with a constant stream of customers coming in from the market. Well done Safari !”

    All the homemade cakes were made by SAFARI Leader, Michelle Diffey.