Surrey now has its very own street food market: Epsom Social food hall. I was super excited to be invited down for their soft launch to get to know Surrey’s first food market, and the newest place to be in Epsom! The best way to explore and get to know it was for me to tuck in…
It’s not every day you find some of Surrey’s finest street food tucked away in an old aircraft hangar in a field. New Orleans-inspired Poor Boys set up shop for a residency under the corrugated metal arch of The Barn KT9 for the Winter Festival running through Thursday-Saturday evenings in November and December.
Back when I was growing up in Dorking in Surrey, there weren’t any Michelin-starred restaurants. We had a few chain restaurants, plenty of pubs, and lots of antique shops. Now, on the site of what I knew as Pizza Piazza (remember those?) sits chef Steve Drake’s Sorrel putting this town in the South East firmly on the foodie map. The beautiful red brick and timber building dates back to 1733 and the remarkable original features are still on display throughout.
I recently visited the Silent Pool Gin distillery in Surrey (see my blog about our tour) so was very excited to be invited to return so soon for a supper club evening with fellow Silent Pool-based business Mandira’s Kitchen. I’d never been to a supper club before, let alone one hosted at one of my favourite gin distilleries!
Chances are you’ve seen this copper and blue design before. It’s incredible how fast the intricate pattern that adorns Silent Pool gin has grown to reach such recognisable status across bars, homes and supermarkets.
Christmas 2016 feels like a long time ago now. Back then, my in-laws gave me a bottle of gin in a beautiful ceramic bottle. It was from their local gin distillery, The Gin Kitchen, then operating out of the back of one of the pubs in town, and who had just released their first gin a month prior: Gusty Monkey.