Market trader's goat curry gets thumbs up in Hammersmith

LOVERS of hot and spicy food are being tempted by a Hammersmith market stall’s goat curry.

Aidan Kiernander, 29, of Buckleigh Road, Streatham, sells the curry on the Rummanco stall in Lyric Square for hungry office workers every Thursday.

He said: "Curry is an addictive food and people always come back for more. The office workers around the area come on mass. We’re slowly converting them to thinking curry is perfect for lunch."

Goat curry is a particular favourite with Hammersmith customers according to Mr Kiernander.

"We always cook curry in all different kinds and jerk chicken, but the goat curry does particularly well. People always want to try new things and tastes."

To celebrate National Curry Week the stall began selling Rotis, a wrap using the traditional Indian flat bread to hold curried fillings.

Mr Kiernander said: "We’ve been trying out Rotis this week and they’ve been doing really well, we’re thinking of making them a permanent feature."

Rummanco is run by a British Jamaican family who cook all the food sold on the stall. http://www.rummanco.co.uk/index01.htm  

Read here http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/fulham-and-hammersmith-news/local-fulham-and-hammersmith-news/2011/10/18/market-trader-s-goat-curry-gets-thumbs-up-in-hammersmith-82029-29617067/#ixzz1cxKAyqMJ

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Posted in: food and drink,hammersmith,hammersmith and fulham council

Strictly's Russell Grant backs plan to save Goldhawk Road pie and mash shop

STRICTLY star Russell Grant is backing a plan to save a pie and mash shop he has visited regularly since he was a child.

Russell, who is appearing in the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1, has written to the owners of A.Cookes Pie, Mash and Eel shop urging Hammersmith and Fulham Council to reject plans to develop Goldhawk Road, in Shepherd’s Bush, which would mean the demolition of the Cookes shop.

The famous astrologer, who now lives in Wales declared that allowing the development to go ahead would be as bad as the recent riots.

He said: “This isn’t a selfish protest to the local council… we have all watched the riots in Tottenham rip through this historic community and devastate it and although it is a completely different way, an act of vandalism is set to perpetrate Shepherd’s Bush in the wanton destruction of a community but this time with the backing of the elected Council.”

Russell remembers the shop from visits when he was young with his grandmother Lily, who owned a fish and chip shop nearby in Askew Road, Shepherd’s Bush.

In a letter to the owners of Cookes the celebrity said: “My grandmother Lily…fed me pie, eels and mash from a baby.

“Cookes is a landmark, not just to people who live in the Bush, no, but to people who, like me, were brought up in leafy Middlesex but made the trek via the 607 trolley–bus from Uxbridge to the Bush Market and had our lunch at Cookes for as long as I can remember.”

Russell said even now when working at the BBC he sends out his driver to get him his favourite local food to take back to Wales.

Middlesex born Russell said he was proud of his many links with Shepherd’s Bush and included Cookes pies, eels and mash in his bestselling book, The Real Counties of Britain.

He said: “[Cookes is] at the heart of an ancient community that goes back over a thousand years and to see it no more would be a travesty.

“It will reveal that whoever is behind this plan and supports it by giving it the go-ahead has no interest in their community, its roots, identity or heritage, whatever their reason, there is no justification in what they aim to do as it will be a little bit more of our past that is given up to mindless modernity and crass consumerism.”

Husband and wife, Audrey and Mike Boughton, currently run the local Pie and Eel shop on the Goldhawk Road, Shepherd’s Bush.

Mike Boughton, 59, of Line Close, West Clandon near Guildford, said: “Russell has been a great champion for us. He’s one of our regulars. We serve people from all works of life, from Russell to Joe Bloggs the window cleaner.

“We get mods and rockers coming on pilgrimage to the shop as we appeared in the 70s film Quadrophenia, but we also serve local families.

“This is a family business. We’re a one off and there are not many pie, mash and eel shops left. Our customers are very upset.”

Cookes has been run by the same family for over 70 years.

Mrs Boughton, 52, of Line Close, West Clandon, near Guildford, said: “None of us want to go. We just can’t understand why in the current economic climate the council would want to destroy a business that is working, and has been for the past 77 years.

The mother of two said: “While no plans have gone through yet, the developers came and measured up our shop the other day. How can they do this when permission hasn’t been granted yet? They shouldn’t presume they’ve won the battle.

“The shops affected have come together and set up the Shepherd’s Bush Action group. We’re prepared to fight to keep our shop.”

Hammersmith and Fulham Council are currently deciding whether to grant planning permission to Orion developers who want to build 200 flats above the shops on Goldhawk Road, Shepherd’s Bush.

If permission is granted the shops as they stand will be demolished and rebuilt. The council has invited the local community to send comments on the proposed development to them by 15 October 2011.

The Shepherd’s Bush Action Group is running an online petition allowing the public to show their support. www.ipetitions.com/petition/savegoldhawkroadshops/

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Posted in: bbc1,campaign,cookes pie and mash shop,food and drink,hammersmith and fulham council,restaurant,russell grant,strictly come dancing

Hammersmith trader turns carrot love into a money-spinner

CARROT lover Fiona Rezende cooks as many of the root vegetables in a day as a family of four eats in a year, she reckons.

The　36-year-old vegetarian of Clapham Park Road, Clapham, has cooked 2,106 kilos of carrots since launching her business, the Honest Carrot, last November.

The average amount of carrots consumed by a family in a year is 15 kilos, according to experts.

The stall owner, who also sells vegan and vegetarian dishes, said: "I’ve cut up tons of carrots since I started. The people that work for my stalls started with a love for them, but I think they may be driven to hate them with the sheer amount we get through."

She said: "When people hear my food has carrots in they either love it or become a bit wary. Even my family was unsure to start with, but they soon realised that people want alternatives to their normal lunches and I've actually made a living out of cooking carrots."

Miss Rezende's craving for carrots was ignited by a trip to India 12 years ago after she was forced to swear off meat for months and she has been vegetarian ever since.

"Hammersmith is my guinea pig run for my carrot treats…We’re thinking we might create a carrot piñata and fill it with baby carrots."

Now Miss Rezende is looking for even more inventive ways to cook the popular vegetable as she takes her business to Farmers’ markets across London.

She said: "It's all about constant reinvention and finding out what works and what new flavours we can use. We’re always asking how we can make carrots interesting."


Article appeared on Hammersmith and Fulham Chronicle. 

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Posted in: food and drink,hammersmith,honest carrot,market