Ed Nash and Robbie Ormrod dreamed of creating a pub with community at its heart. Just five months in, the revamped Prince of Wales is proving that their vision works.

It’s hard to believe that The Prince of Wales has been open for only five months. In that short time, this obscure pub has become one of St Leonards’ favourite neighbourhood locals. Given the out-of-way location (a steep downhill at the Old England) and the pub’s previously, er, sketchy reputation, this is some feat. Many locals still shudder if you tell them you’re off to the Prince of Wales for a pint.

Things changed when Robbie Ormrod, 39, and Ed Nash, 35, took over the dilapidated, vacant building on a ten-year lease. They’re in it for the long term, and they have big plans. The building might look small, sitting on the corner of Cross Street and Western Road, but it’s full of unexpected spaces. This summer an extra drinking room and a cute back yard were unveiled; upstairs holds a potential performance space.

With British pubs closing at the rate of two a day, this is a brave venture. Robbie hasn’t yet given up the day job (he brews for Harvey’s in Lewes), but Ed took the leap at the pub’s opening, the same month he became a father. Despite all the odds, their unusual business model seems to be working. On opening day, 5 March 2026, there was a queue down the street. On Jack-in-the-Green day the special Full Bloom flew out, while the Wednesday quiz night is rammed.

There are board games, dog treats, Tayto crisps and eight keg and two cask beers on tap. One window still bears the engraving ‘Jug Department’, from the days when children would arrive with an empty beer jug for their parents, a custom banned in 1902. There is a long history of drinking on this spot – but no venture had been quite like this.

The clue to their difference is painted above the door: “We Brew For Hastings”. Four years ago, Ed and Robbie captured our hearts with The Hastings Project, a venture that brews beer to raise money for local causes. Their dream was always to open a pub and early this year, hundreds of us chipped in to an ingenious crowd-funder that repaid people one-and-a-half times over in beer. How could we refuse? £22,220 was raised in 14 weeks.

It’s a dream that’s been a long time coming. The pair met ten years ago on the performance circuit: Ed was an actor, Robbie a “silly and self-deprecating” stand-up comedian. For years, they knocked about this idea of owning a pub that was more than a pub. A pub where the beer is naturally excellent, but where the community events matter just as much, drawing people through the doors who might not normally come. The Prince of Wales is all about community. Without being evangelical or schmaltzy, Ed and Robbie’s intention is to make our local community (not just their pub) a more connected, happier place.

Ed gives an example. On a recent Pints With Purpose night – the monthly slot where three local charities talk about what they do – three random blokes found themselves captive in the bar. They hadn’t gone in there to listen: they wanted to drink. But on hearing the charities’ stories (a ten-minute pitch from each), one made “a large donation”, one “was moved to tears when he realised that this organisation could help a family member”, and the third signed up on the spot as a volunteer. The charities in question were Little Gate Farm, The Association of Carers, and East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service. “With a pint in your hand,” says Robbie, “it’s easier to listen.”

These are early days, and their ideas are evolving. They’d like the space to be used by local groups who need a place to gather, such as Transition Town Hastings’ Green Drinks – now renamed the Sustainability Social and hosted at The Prince of Wales. Beach cleans followed by a pint are another successful innovation. Western Road is a very mixed pocket, with potential to develop in a more neighbourly direction. And so, on Mondays and Tuesdays, Ed can be found outside on the pavement, coffee in hand, talking to people. Hearing about their lives. Maybe offering a bar stool and a warm drink; time out from a frequently chaotic environment.

As a result, neighbourhood schemes are already bubbling up. That rubbish-filled lock-up opposite the pub? That could be a community garden. “We’re passionate about having an impact on a very local area,” says Ed. “Our location is hugely important to us. It’s all about building trust.”

The pair are also unusual employees, taking great trouble to recruit the right team and support them. “I expect them to leave,” says Ed of the six staff, “and will promote them to that point. I want to show them that working in hospitality can be great.” All employees happen to be creatives, so watch this space for a home-grown exhibition.

The Prince of Wales shows what’s possible when good beer meets a clear sense of purpose. Whether you’re drawn by the events, the atmosphere or simply an excellent pint of pale, it’s a welcome addition to the neighbourhood.

The Prince of Wales by the
Hastings Project, 15 Western Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, TN37 6DG.
@thehastingsprojectpub

Top five tipples:

The Hastings Project Helles 4.8% – a more aromatic take on the classic Munich style, decoction mashed for depth, with added spelt for softness and body. £5.90/pint.

The Hastings Project West Coast IPA 6.5% – a nod to old-school West Coast IPAs in high bitterness, but with added Rye and Crystal Rye for sticky sweetness, and a jammy new experimental hop. £5.20/ 2/3rds.

The Hastings Project NEIPA 6.7% – big hitting tropical notes, soft body, but with a west coast bitterness. £6.60/ 2/3rds.

Donnie’s Nitro Dark Beer 4.3%, Donzoko – technically a lager, it’s the house nitro line akin to the more well-known Irish equivalents. Smoother, fuller in body, and lower in bitterness. £5.90/pint.

Taras Boulba, Brasserie De La Senne 4.5% – a modern take on Belgian brewing from brewing legend Yvan de Baets. A focus on drinkability and bitterness coupled with familiar Belgian yeast character. £6 for 330ml bottle.

In 2024 the Hastings Independent met with Josh Levy, Tad MacDonald and Celia Farrar to discuss the beginning of Bunka, a collaboration delivering restaurant pop-ups across Hastings and St Leonards. Jump forward a couple of years to today and you’ll find Bunka’s Rooftop Bar on top of the Observer Building, their Kiosk perched on the West Hill and Hastings Castle filled with people, music and food. They’ve come far since that initial article but are still just at the beginning, with plans for a restaurant and visitor centre on The West Hill Cafe site.

Under the banner of Troika Projects, the team set up Bunka Restaurant, bringing a wealth of expertise from each of their varied backgrounds. When Josh first met Celia he got her picking sticky labels off tubs, mistaking her for someone with no kitchen experience. Meanwhile Celia was writing her recipe book Poke: Hawaiian Inspired Sushi Bowls and founding one of the UK’s first poke eateries. Josh himself has worked in Michelin Star institutions, beginning his career with Gennaro Contaldo and Jamie Oliver before working as Sous Chef at Thomas Kerridge’s renowned restaurant in the Corinthia Hotel.

Tad, who you’ve probably encountered smiling out the hatch of the Kiosk or flying over the rooftop bar with drinks and pizzas in tow, has over 15 years of experience managing high-performing hospitality venues, ranging from Flat Iron and Caravan in London, to Heist, Boatyard and Farmyard in St Leonards.

After a successful pop-up last year, Bunka has permanently opened a rooftop bar on top of The Observer Building. It is a treat to see Hastings from a different perspective, the views scan over the higgledy-piggledy rooftops of the new town, reaching their limit at the sea’s edge. Pizzas, British charcuterie from Curing Rebels, and English wine from Henners vineyard make up their simple but delicious menu. The pizza flavours offer twists on classics like pepperoni with hot honey or nduja on a white base with mussels. The atmosphere is relaxed, with an indoor area as well as the open rooftop, offering panoramic views whatever the weather.

In addition to their rooftop bar, the trio run The Kiosk, a hugely popular café positioned on top of the West Hill. Although the Kiosk is a temporary set-up, it has become a much-loved spot for breathless hill hikers, toastie-lovers and Hastings’ entire population of dogs. With delicious coffee from Nelson Coffee Co. in Eastbourne, sourdough from Poppyseed Bakery and beers from Three Legs Brewery in Bexhill, the Kiosk highlights the incredible community of local food and drink suppliers we have available in Sussex.

The Kiosk was initially built as an interim offering while the team developed the site of the West Hill Café and Hastings Castle, as planned for The West Hill Project. With funding from The Hastings Town Deal Programme, Troika Projects are working alongside Hastings Borough Council to build a new restaurant, café and visitor centre. The project is a wonderful opportunity for visitors and locals to engage and connect with the castle’s fascinating history.

Hastings Castle site pre-dates 1066, with a record of humans settling there for at least 8,000 years. Running a castle was never a childhood dream for the trio but it seems fitting that the space is deeply connected with human history, as people and community are at the core of Troika Projects’ ethos. In their designs for the project, the team placed emphasis on the significance of the site in terms of its history, culture and community. Speaking on their goals, Celia Farrar stated that their main aim for the castle site was ‘to realise its potential as a community asset’.

With their combined knowledge and experiences in designing and operating hospitality spaces, Josh, Tad and Celia are well-placed to transform the West Hill site. The transformation will begin with an array of family-friendly events, performances, and workshops, connecting visitors with the space by taking inspiration from its rich history and natural surroundings.

In July, Hastings Castle will be host to yoga mornings, sunset singing sessions and The Handlebards, a cycling theatre company, performing a hilarious production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. There will also be storytelling workshops on weekends and Wednesdays with Su Austin, taking inspiration from found objects around the Castle. On Pirate Day weekend, there will be a Castle Sundowner event, with guest DJs from Catch My Drift and a BBQ and bar from Bunka.

Location plays a significant part in each of their ventures, with the high-up, outside spaces offering incredible views and front row seats to the constantly changing and often dramatic coastline weather we experience in Hastings. This positioning pairs well with the interesting and changing menus and events that Bunka are becoming known for.

With so much accomplished in such a short amount of time, the team at Bunka have a lot to be proud of. When asked about their biggest achievements, Josh, Tad and Celia agreed that the community they had built from businesses and suppliers to colleagues and customers was their strongest asset. Alongside Troika Projects, Josh Levy also works as a Chef Educator with Prept Foundation, going into local schools and community spaces to deliver cooking sessions. By sharing their expert knowledge, skills and experiences, the team at Bunka are committed to local collaboration, creating employment opportunities and bringing people together over excellent food and drink.

Coming up at the Castle: hastingscastle.org.uk/whats-on 

The highly-anticipated Small Plates Food Festival is officially returning to St Leonards this summer on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June. Following previous success, the celebration of local flavours expands to a full weekend for the very first time.

The extended festival gives food lovers double the time to feast their way around town and discover new favourite dining spots, with small plate menus on offer for walk-in diners at lunchtimes and into the evening – no bookings required, just turn up and taste.

Which Restaurants are taking part in the Food Festival?

This year’s festival features an impressive lineup of 15 celebrated local eateries. Each venue will showcase its culinary identity through a specially curated small plates menu, allowing diners to design their own custom tasting tour across St Leonards On Sea.

The 2026 festival lineup includes: Arigato, Bayte, Bistro Albo, Boatyard, Colombo House, Farmyard, Graze On Grand, Half Man Half Burger, Mama Putts, No. 40 Bar Kitchen, Sonnys of Rock-A-Nore, Starsky & Hatch, The Royal and Reel at Kino.

Movies and Cocktails

The Kino-Teatr will also be celebrating Small Plates with a special screening of acclaimed film ‘The Taste of Things’ on Saturday 27 th at 7:30pm. Starring Juliette Binoche, this sumptuous 19th century French romantic drama explores the deep unspoken bond between a distinguished gourmet and his personal chef, who share a passion for haute cuisine – the perfect film for foodies!

Award-winning Copper Pot Distilleries, the only distillery to handcraft their gins and vodkas in St Leonards, return as the headline festival sponsor for the second consecutive year, bringing their premium spirits to the weekend’s festivities.

Adding to the vibrant weekend atmosphere, catering trailblazers Supernature are back on the scene and will host an exclusive pop-up at the Green Arena, located on Laser Avenue just off the King’s Road. Visitors can expect their signature wood-fired cookery + disco concept, and cocktails across both days.

The participating venues vary in their opening days and hours across the weekend, organisers advise festival-goers to plan their routes in advance. Attendees can access a live interactive map on the official festival website.

To celebrate this year’s Refugee Week, venues across Hastings and St Leonards are taking part in a food festival, organised by The Refugee Buddy Project. Recipes of Courage is a week-long programme of events, bringing people together to share recipes that carry stories of resilience, community and hope.

The week began with a sold out launch dinner in Alexander Park, where local chefs served up a feast of different dishes. The dinner was an opportunity for people to share food and stories celebrating Hastings as a sanctuary for migrants and people seeking refuge.

Speaking on the dinner’s importance, CEO of The Refugee Buddy Project, Rossana Leal, explained that sharing food “can reveal just how much we have in common” when we talk about ingredients, flavours and recipes we use “a universal language which cuts across any differences we may have.”

On the same night, The Refugee Buddy Project released their cookzine, a collection of recipes contributed by people across the community, designed by Katy Louis.

Throughout the week more than 20 local Safe Haven venues are offering Refugee Week specials on their menus. One venue, The Crown on All Saint’s St, is serving a family recipe for baklava from Mustafa Bakro and his wife Lina. When asked about her choice of recipe Lina said that “for us in Syria, and specifically in my home city of Idlib, baklava is a symbol of hospitality and love.”

Hospitality and love are central to this food festival, but they also reflect what is unique about our town of Hastings and the warm welcome we strive to provide for those seeking refuge.

If you begin to fill up on all the delicious food offerings, venues are also serving an array of brilliant performances, talks and exhibitions: from cooking classes for young people to free Spanish lessons and storytelling evenings.

To top off the week, head over to Hastings Museum for Sanctuary Festival on Sunday 21 June. Organised by local charity, Hastings Community of Sanctuary, the festival is a celebration of community and courage, showcasing performances by artists and musicians from around the world. Throughout the day there will be live music, creative workshops and debates – not to mention a variety of delicious food stalls from Mama Putts, Liban Coast, Mama Geny’s and The Dove Cafe.

Try a taste of something new this Refugee Week.

To find out more about The Recipes of Courage festival visit therefugeebuddyproject.org.uk/events/food-festival To find out more about Sanctuary Festival visit hastings.cityofsanctuary.org/sanctuary-festival         

Looking back at previous issues, the Food Champions of Hastings & St Leonards series offers a useful indication of how HIP approaches topics of food, community and inequality. What began, as one early introduction put it, as a series “profiling people working with food in our local community” has become a record of how a town feeds itself, and who is working to make that possible.

The range of voices has been striking.

In the September profile of Rima Sams of Sustenance, the focus is on alleviating food poverty. Here, the message is both practical and urgent. The charity’s mission is to “reduce food waste, reduce food poverty, improve nutrition and build community,” and is grounded in the weekly reality of hot meals and grocery distributions for those who might otherwise go without. What emerges is an attempt to reframe food support around dignity and nutrition rather than a simple charity model, one that ensures access to fresh fruit and vegetables is not treated as optional.

The conversation with the growers at Stonelynk Organics last November foregrounded the importance of producing “healthy, ecological food right here on our doorsteps”, while also pointing to the environmental and educational dimensions of local food production.That emphasis on access to fresh produce, food knowledge and land, recurs throughout the series, seen through the lens of very different kinds of work.

Elsewhere in the series, contributors tackle the less visible pressures that influence people’s eating habits. Rising costs, uneven access to ingredients and persistent deprivation in parts of the town are acknowledged alongside the more celebratory aspects of Hastings’ food scene. Although the town may ‘punch above its weight’ in culinary terms, Savannah Karr of Home Ground Kitchen points out the tension with the reality that “social deprivation and food poverty remains a very real and often overlooked issue.”

What gives the Food Champions pieces a particular resonance is the way they highlight the connections between the different issues above: surplus produce from growers finds its way into community kitchens, and local businesses contribute where they can, while volunteers acquire skills that extend beyond the immediate act of cooking. The network that emerges is collaborative and deeply embedded in the everyday life of the area.

Running through these conversations is a shared insistence that eating well should not be understood as a luxury. The act of preparing and sharing food is framed as a form of agency, something that can restore confidence as well as meet basic needs. In that sense, the series resists a narrow focus on scarcity, instead opening up a broader discussion about what a fair and sustainable local food system might look like.

Now, as Hastings Independent reaches its 300th issue, revisiting these stories helps build a more detailed picture of Hastings and St Leonards – not only of where the pressures lie, but of where responses are already taking shape. By making space for these voices, the Food Champions series does more than document a local concern; it has underlined the importance of noticing the people who work – often quietly – to ensure that good food and the possibility of eating well are within everyone’s reach in Hastings.

To view all articles in the Food Champions series search Food Champions + Hastings Independent: to view articles on specific topics search, e.g. Help with food preparation + Hastings Independent; to view the entire archive of the food section search food + Hastings Independent.

What do you do and what’s your mission?

I am the head chef and owner of coquina at Hastings Contemporary. My mission is to spotlight the joy that runs through every part of the food system and to inspire young people to forge their own paths in what I believe is the most important and exciting industry in the world.

When did you get started?

My earliest memories are all food adjacent. Being told off for stealing more sausages than were rightfully mine, smelling tomatoes in my grandfather’s greenhouse, eating pineapple in such quantities my lips bled. I was obsessive from early on.

Professionally, I started about ten years ago at Carousel in London as a commis chef. That first taste kicked off a journey that took me from kitchens to a masters degree in Food and Development, then into a sustainable recipe box start up. In 2021 I came full circle and returned to kitchens, first at Tillingham, then Bayte, and now my own projects, coquina and CHARD, our catering arm. We are also about to open another restaurant, still under wraps but announcing soon.

What is the change you want to see in Hastings when it comes to work?

I would love to see more young people commit to hospitality as the career it can and should be. At Bayte, the restaurant owned by my business partners Ruby Boglione and Silvy Pilkington, and coquina, we have seen incredible young people grow into excellent chefs, operators and front of house staff.

With the job market shrinking, especially for younger generations, and with the growing impact AI is having on employment opportunities, I want to help reposition hospitality not just as a stopgap but as a meaningful long term career rooted in connection to people and the planet.

How do you feel about the food scene in Hastings?

Banging. Exciting. Full of very cool people. 

I recently came back from a workshop with Town Grown, run by Anna Locke, who is doing important grassroots work to connect things locally. Having spent much of my adult life in London, it is refreshing to be part of a food scene that feels genuinely alive, propped up by connection rather than capital. There is real opportunity here and so many directions it can go. I am as excited about the present as I am about the future.

What is the best thing about working in food here?

The people, the produce and the beach. 

There is a strong sense of intentionality in the Hastings and St Leonards that I’ve come to know. People move with purpose and new projects are constantly emerging. It’s a town with vigour, character and a great barometer for bullshit.

Food production on the South Coast still feels like it is in its infancy, which is so exciting, and you can feel that energy feeding into everything that happens in the kitchen.

When the sun shines there is nowhere better.

How does what you are doing link to others in the community?

As a restauranteur and chef there is less time than I would like for grassroots work. Saying that, we have been developing a relationship with the Refugee Buddy Project and their Dove Cafe, with some cool plans emerging around Refugee Week in June.

In terms of our role at coquina and Bayte, it has largely been about training and creating real career opportunities for young people entering the industry which in turn can help nourish our community in myriad ways.

On a personal level, I see endless opportunities for collaboration and creation. I am always keen to collaborate, so if anyone has ideas, get in touch. I’m all ears.

Who is your food champion locally and why?

It is hard not to say everyone out there right now creating ambitious, intersecting projects in food and beyond during some pretty unique global conditions.

If I had to highlight a couple of people though, I would look a little further along the coast to Harry Dyer and Sam Best of Shrub, based near Brighton. They supply the goods from small and medium-scale farms, many using regenerative practices, with restaurants across the South Coast and into London.

What they have done has made it far easier for restaurants to access exceptional produce year round, while giving farmers more stability to experiment and grow. It has been a joy to watch.

And with it, our thoughts turn to seedlings, flowers and all the possibilities in our own back gardens. That’s where Town Grown comes in.

Town Grown is a food growing network working across Hastings, St Leonards and the surrounding areas. Established in 2022 as an offshoot of Transition Town Hastings, Town Grown was created to champion food growing as a response to rising food costs, environmental concerns and a growing public interest in local food production.

The purpose of Town Grown is to build a network of local people involved in growing food, from allotment holders and window-box gardeners to community groups and small-scale professional producers.

The initiative has been needs-led through consultation with local people. Through conversations and feedback with people, the group has identified where and how people are growing food and the types of support that interests them.This feedback has informed Town Grown’s programme of workshops, seed swaps, talks and farm visits and laid the foundation for its two key projects: Our Town is an Orchard and Edible Open Gardens.

OUR TOWN IS AN ORCHARD

Launched on 21 September 2022, Our Town is an Orchard invited people to plant fruit trees in their own gardens and community spaces and to register them on a shared online map.

The idea was simple: rather than seeking a single large site for a community orchard, often difficult to secure and maintain, the campaign encouraged individuals to plant trees wherever they were able, creating a “virtual orchard” across the town.

The campaign ran from the Autumn 2022 to the Spring 2023. During the campaign more than 150 new fruit trees were planted and mapped. To put this into perspective, that number of trees would equate to approximately 1.5 acres of orchard if planted on a single site. With modest additional funding from the Transition Network, Town Grown provided guidance on choosing suitable trees, free pruning workshops and donated Sussex heritage apple varieties to selected community sites.

Our Town is an Orchard helped embed the idea of fruit trees as long-term food infrastructure within the community. Trees continue to be added to the map, extending the project’s legacy beyond its initial campaign window.

EDIBLE OPEN GARDENS

Edible Open Gardens (EOG) is their second major project and takes place in June each year. It was developed in response to strong community interest in visiting local food-growing sites and learning directly from experienced growers.

Local food-growing gardens and small farms open their gates to the public for a weekend, allowing visitors to see different approaches to growing food in action. The guiding principle is that practical learning is most powerful when people can observe real gardens, speak with growers and experience productive spaces first-hand.

In 2025, Edible Open Gardens featured twenty-six gardens, welcoming nearly 900 visitors. The event has proven to be both educational and unifying. Visitors report gaining inspiration, practical ideas and renewed enthusiasm for growing food, while gardeners value the opportunity to share knowledge and connect with others. Planning is underway to run Edible Open Gardens again this June.

TALKS

Thanks to support from the Lund Trust and the High Weald National Landscape Partnership, Town Grown is kicking off the new growing season with a mini-series of talks at Hastings Contemporary, leading up to the weekend of open gardens in June.

Their two sold-out sessions held in early March focused on soil health and no-dig approaches to vegetable growing. A further event on Sunday 29 March, Edible abundance: ten best berries for your garden ecosystem, will explore the best berries to grow in your garden. ickets are still available.

Local berry grower and permaculture teacher Anna Locke (Permacultureanna) will explore the role of berry crops in sustainable food systems; resilient powerhouses of nutrition and garden ecology.

She will be sharing her experience of growing berries, the crucial role they play in her permaculture orchard’ ecosystem, as well as creative ways to use and preserve them.

You will learn how to grow and propagate various berry varieties, low maintenance perennials perfect for your garden or allotment.

For more info about Town Grown, Our Town is an Orchard and Open Edible Gardens visit towngrown.co.uk Due to limited capacity booking is essential, tickets: £5 per person and available online through ticket tailor

When it comes to food and drink, Hastings and St Leonards continue to punch well above their weight. Times restaurant critic Charlotte Ivers ruffled a lot of feathers last summer when reviewing Lury on Cambridge Road. While the Londoner gushed about the restaurant and its food, she also majorly slagged off Hastings, but it was a great reminder of how vibrant our foodie scene is.

So, let’s all be a bit Charlotte in celebrating some great new places to eat and drink – and new offerings from established businesses – while embracing the grittiness of the place we call home.

NEW OPENINGS

The Pelican Diner

A couple of years ago, Jess Beerling could be found in the kiosk next to The Pelican Diner opposite the boating lake, serving excellent vegan sandwiches under the name Blue Moon. Jess has history with The Pelican Diner – she was first there as a waitress then a chef but is now back, this time at the helm of the place.

Jess is retaining some American diner elements of the previous menu (the much-loved Pelican Burger is still there), but adding “a splash of other cuisines,” as she put it. French onion melt sandwich or Korean chicken burger, anyone? This incarnation of The Pelican Diner isn’t just about food, though: “I’d also love to use the space for various other things like crafting or gaming nights and other events when the restaurant is closed to make use of the space for the community,” says Jess.

Arta Bakery, George Street

George Street recently welcomed Palestinian chef Momo and his Arta bakery. Pop in for made-to-order Levantine flatbreads with toppings including Akkawi – Palestinian cheese with nigella seed or zaytoun – pickled olives, carrots, peppers, lemon and walnut. There are freshly made dips such as baba ganoush and shawander – beetroot, walnut, pomegranate molasses, coriander, sumac and olive oil. Momo also makes a zingy fresh green tabbouleh salad with parsley, broccoli, cucumber quinoa, raisins, pumpkin seeds, coriander, mint, spring onions and pomegranate molasses dressing.

@artabythesea

Guacamaya’s Nest Café, George Street

Boldly opening next door to Hastings institution Hanushka’s, Guacamaya’s Nest sets itself apart by offering speciality coffee from Honduras – from a solo shot espresso or cortado to flat white and cappuccino.

Honduran couple Raul and Jensy moved to the UK with the dream of building something meaningful around specialty coffee. “Our focus is on delivering a premium coffee experience, highlighting single-origin coffee from Honduras – something many people don’t realise is that Honduras is actually one of the largest and highest-quality coffee producers in the world,” says Jensy.

There are also some interesting latte variants on offer, too, including matcha, cocoa and blueberry, and pastries, including cinnamon rolls. “Our rolls have become a signature item,” says Jensy, who runs the place alongside partner Raul. “Raul has always loved cinnamon rolls, and we wanted to elevate them: soft, freshly baked, and generously filled. They’ve become one of our best-sellers, with many customers returning specifically for them.”

Another of Guacamaya’s USPs is its Honduran breakfast menu, which includes Baleada – a flour tortilla topped with fried kidney beans, scrambled egg and feta (you can add chicken, chorizo, bacon or avocado) – and the hearty Honduran Breakfast of scrambled eggs, fried beans, fried plantain, halloumi, sour cream and a flour tortilla.

New for spring is a Taco pop-up between 6-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, offering slow-cooked birria tacos and a selection of Mexican-inspired dishes.

@guacamayasnestcafe

Salon, Norman Road

If you loved the wine section at SHOP on Norman Road, you’ll be glad to know that the person behind it, Mark Plummer of The Wine Room, has opened Salon a few doors down. Alongside a great selection of wines to take away, you’ll also find cheeses, deli goods, bread and coffee. As well as takeaway, you can sit in for cheeseboards and wines by the glass.

@salon_stleonards

Jerk & Bean, Kings Road

Bringing “authentic Caribbean flavours” to St Leonards, Jerk & Bean is owned by long-time business owner O.J. and opened its doors on Valentine’s Day. O.J. has been on Kings Road, latterly as a barber, for the best part of 20 years but has always been a chef at heart – he previously had restaurants on Norman Road and in Bexhill. “People were telling me, ‘You’re a good barber,’ but a better chef, so I decided to go back to what I know,” he laughs. The menu features the Caribbean greatest hits – mains include jerk chicken (made with ‘house’ jerk seasoning), curried chicken or goat and chickpea curry, all served with rice and plantain. Rice and peas are available as a side, as is Jollof rice, and there are no fewer than five types of patty to choose from – lamb, beef, chicken, fish or callaloo.

@jerkandbean

FOODIE NEWS

Galleria

After more than five years running Galleria Seafood bar, Gianluca Tozzi and Jack Booth have reinvented the place as an “Italian delicatessen and eatery”, serving pastas and sauces, Italian snacks and pastries as well as coffee.

@galleriastleonards

Mamma Putts, Kings Road

Much-loved African and Caribbean restaurant Mamma Putts has just introduced a £10 lunch menu on Tuesdays. “I decided to launch the menu due to people wanting the food but at the same time struggling with money – and also trying to bring people in when it’s quiet,” says owner Jerome ‘Jerry’ Odibi. “It also gives people who haven’t tried our food before the opportunity to do so.” Tuesday lunchtime diners can choose between jerk chicken with rice and peas, plantain and a fried dumpling or veggie coconut chickpea curry.

@mammaputts

CHEESY COMINGS AND GOINGS

Penbuckles, the beloved deli on the High Street, is just about to relocate to London Road. After being in the heart of the Old Town for almost nine years, Ellie and Richard have relocated to London Road (just above the Tower Pub) St Leonards. “A new premises came up that we couldn’t say no to,” says Ellie.

Penbuckles 2.0 will still have a great selection of cheese (including the always popular Penvensey Blue) and its coffee, so beloved of Old Towners, but will also have a catering kitchen allowing them to produce cakes and other treats – “and it’s got better parking” as Ellie notes.

Stepping in to fill the fromage-shaped hole are Nick and Nicky Holt from Noah’s Goat – the wine bar on George Street. The couple, who previously ran The Stag pub, considered opening NG with a deli but, good people that they are, didn’t want to tread on any toes so stuck to wine. ‘The Cheese Cave & Deli’, as it will be called, will open later in March. “We’re planning on putting it in the middle room …  through the bar,” says Nicky. “We’ll have lots of cheese and charcuterie and all sorts of deli bits that go with wine…  we’ll start small and see what people want us to stock.”

@penbuckles @noahs_goat_wine

It’s Pancake Tuesday on 17 February. If you always make pancakes then you’ll be bemused at my decision to share a pancake recipe – but I’ve seen pancake batter in the supermarket which suggests some of you out there are buying that stuff, and maybe you’re doing it because you think it takes more than five mins to make the mix (it doesn’t!). So if you’ve never made your own pancakes – here’s the very simple recipe:

Ingredients

Makes 12 pancakes

• 300ml milk
• 100g of plain flour
• 2 eggs
• Pinch of salt
• Butter for the pan

To serve

• Caster sugar
• Lemon

Prep

• Hot frying pan
• Greaseproof paper

What is the secret to great pancakes? Just a few simple ingredients – eggs, flour and milk and a pinch of salt. I’d suggest you sieve the flour, then mix in the milk bit by bit and finally add the eggs and salt. My mum would rest the mixture in the fridge overnight, but I never do and it doesn’t seem to matter.

The key to success is a really hot pan and a small dollop of butter; once the pancake is done on both sides, flip them out onto greaseproof paper to soak up any excess grease from the pancake.

I advise against high hopes for the first pancake. It’s often too fat or too pale, or it simply smells of the last thing you cooked in the pan – so give that one up to the pancake gods and enjoy the rest. Word to the wise: the pan can get very hot so take it off the heat in between each pancake and add extra butter every few that you make.

Where did Pancake Tuesday come from? The tradition to eat pancakes is tied up in a Christian holy day called Shrove Tuesday: other names include Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras and in Hastings we mark it with a festival of live music and partying. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent, marking 47 days to Easter.

The tradition in Christian faiths is to confess sins, to fast, to abstain and to pray during Lent. At one point meat, eggs and butter were forbidden during Lent so the intention was to use them up so they wouldn’t go off by Easter time. Thus the need to clear the cupboard of all the ‘goodies’ before the fasting commenced.

Modern Christian churches tend to be slightly more relaxed about Lent, but practising Christians are still encouraged to consider Lent as a time of restraint and penitence and some sort of abstinence which might relate to food.

Whether you’re observing Lent or not you can still enjoy pancakes – so what’s the best way to eat them?

I suggest you keep it simple: a sprinkle of caster sugar and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice gives you the sweet with the tart. You can add maple syrup for more sweetness but I’d suggest you pair that with an equal but opposite blast of tart with a raspberry or two.

As the month draws to a close and we look for reasons to renege on all our New Year’s resolutions, we find the perfect excuse on Burns Night. Robert Burns – born 25 January 1759 – is Scotland’s national bard, celebrated for his poetry, songs, and vivid use of the Scots language. Every year on 25 January, Burns Night marks his birthday with a traditional Burns supper. These celebrations take place not only across Scotland but around the world, honouring his work, his humour, and his deep love of Scottish culture.

WHAT TO EXPECT TO EAT AND DRINK AT A BURNS SUPPER

No Burns supper is complete without haggis – that’s right, nutrient-dense offal (yum), neeps, tatties and whisky. While haggis is not everyone’s bag, it’s fair to say offal is enjoying something of a revival right now with celebrated chefs returning to a ‘nose to tail’ ethos which means using every part of the animal.

The food is only half the story, though. The evening is about poetry, stories and even bagpipes – so if you have a set of pipes and very sympathetic neighbours, this is the night to bring them out!

As for the poetry: Burns poetry is written in Scots dialect so I suggest having a true Scot or phonetic guide to really enjoy the music of the words.

The evening is a celebration of his life, his poetry and a nod to his beloved dish haggis.  Here’s a little taste of the poetry in the form of the Selkirk Grace – a short prayer that might be said before the meal commences:

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it,

But we hae meat and we can eat,

And sae the Lord be thankit.

WHERE TO CELEBRATE IN HASTINGS

If you want to mark the night, both The Albion and The Crown will be serving a Burns Supper. Venues typically firm up their events earlier in the week, so check social channels for updates on menus, timings and whether any poetry readings or whisky pairings will be on offer. And if you partake – Ith do shàth!

On a recent visit to the Conquest Hospital I was greeted with a bright and colourful display of fresh fruit. I had stumbled upon Five a Day greengrocers who operate out of the Conquest every Tuesday and Wednesday 8am-6pm selling fresh produce to patients, guests and staff. The Five a Day greengrocer runs in partnership with the NHS and the delicious produce you see in the Conquest is supplied by Sussex Fruits located in West St Leonards.

Incredibly, despite the well-established link between good diet and health, fresh fruit and veg is rarely visible in these places of recovery. But Five a Day greengrocers is bucking that trend. So where did the idea come from and who is behind it? Set up by David and Shelley in 2017, these fresh fruit and veg stalls are popping up in southern England hospitals from Queen Mary’s in Sidcup up to Barts Trust in Bedford to Salisbury Hospital in the west – in fact they’re now operating in 35 hospitals.

David Chamberlain’s family has been buying and selling fruit and veg for 100 years. He inherited his business from his uncle. When David’s nan was in end of life care at hospital he and family members spent a lot of time with her, and they found themselves eating lots of junk food – there wasn’t a lot of choice at the hospital. That’s when David decided to try to adapt the business to sell fresh fruit and veg in hospitals and Five a Day greengrocers was born.

It’s likely that at some stage we will all need to spend time at hospital – either for treatment, to visit a loved one or maybe even for work. When we visit hospitals, we may be feeling stressed, sad, in pain or distressed – in such scenarios it can lift the spirit to see something vividly colourful and engaging like this array of fresh fruit and veg. I spoke to a customer and employee at the Conquest who agreed “it’s a great incentive to eat more healthily”, saying she’s pleased they have her favourite there – Pink Lady apples.

We know that food is hugely evocative and can symbolise some of the most important moments of our lives – dinner with our family or friends, delicious meals with loved ones.

David agrees, and tells me people love to buy the exotic fruits and poignantly mentions visitors requesting fresh strawberries or cherry tomatoes for a loved one who is dying. It makes sense that at the end of our lives we may want to revisit some of those memories through scent, taste, texture and flavour.

It seems to be that Five a Day greengrocers are doing a lot more than just selling fruit and veg in hospitals.

Instagram fiveaday.greengrocer Website fiveadaygreengrocers.com

My mushroom education began last year when visiting Basil’s Fungi Farm in Hastings, where Robbie showed me how he is growing mushrooms in the heart of Hastings. Then, a few months back, while waiting on a bagel in Sleeper, I saw a poster advertising flavour foraging with Fred in Brede High Wood. I love mushrooms and I wanted to understand more about what grows here, what we can pick, and what to avoid. So I decided to go on Fred’s Flavour Walk and brought my foodie friend Steven Short (thanks for the pics) with me.

Fred – or George Fredenham, is an avid forager, chef, guide and much more besides. Over two-and-a-half hours in Brede Woods in early November, he shared his knowledge and passion for wild mushrooms with us. He imparted identification techniques, folklore and history associated with foraging. The tour was a ‘look around and see what we’ve got’ experience with a lunch featuring a delicious ‘something Fred made earlier’ – more on that later.

On our walk we saw a range of beautiful, strange, colourful mushrooms and fungi. Mushrooms are the flowering part of the mycelium, the root system underground that communicates with tree root systems and which also trades moisture for nutrients. If you are like me, a visual learner, this will evoke an amazing image of a root system with nutrients flowing one way, moisture flowing another; a symbiotic relationship pulsing underneath the woodland floor and making the canopy of trunks, trees, leaves and branches possible.

We heard about what to look out for in order to avoid eating mildly or fatally poisonous mushrooms. I’m not going to try to advise you here – beyond – don’t eat anything you don’t know the name of (which I think might be a good rule of thumb for food in general!) get a few reference books and seek out the advice of experts before sticking anything in your gob.

The experience was enriching and enjoyable. It turns out we have ALL of the most poisonous mushrooms right on our doorstep, as well as a range of delicious and edible ones. I enjoyed the colours, the walk, the variety we came across. My favourites were the candlesnuff fungus that look like little wicks and that release dust if you brush them gently. Their correct Latin name is Xylaria hypoxylon; according to the National Trust website these are pallid, petite, tumour-fighters. Turns out that candlesnuff fungi may be small but they are a medical force to be reckoned with. They contain both anti-viral properties and compounds that are active against some human carcinomas. Small and tough – not for eating.

Another caught my attention because of the parallels with the beloved aggressive and very territorial garden robin, who seems to hate to share space with other birds. In the mushroom world, this role is taken by the Birch Polypore or Fomitopsis betulina. It prevents other mushrooms from growing on the same tree trunk. This mushroom has been used for centuries as a tonic for the immune system and as an antiseptic to clean wounds and promote healing. Scientific studies have proven it has many compounds that are antiviral, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. In addition, it is anti-fungal, which means you won’t find any other mushrooms growing where it is found.

Final fun fact of my adventure; I discovered why yew trees have a strong association with and are often found in graveyards. I knew they were poisonous but didn’t consider what this meant for the soil and surrounding area. Turns out that the whole tree is poisonous with the exception of the red flesh of the berry (but please don’t test that) and so not a food source for animals: as a result creatures don’t dig up around them, thus a great place to bury your dead – where they won’t be disturbed. Also a good idea then not to forage around yew trees.

Foraging walks are a lovely way to get out in the woods, learn some new information and share in someone’s passion for a wonderful local resource! Thanks to George for all of his rich insights; I hope I haven’t butchered too much of what he imparted but remember the most important thing he said – if you don’t know what it’s called, don’t eat it.

During our walk George fed us delicious sourdough, a mushroom, tahini and chickpea hummus with a nut and mushroom loaf on top. This mushroom and nut loaf will make an ideal alternative for a lighter and veggier Christmas feast item instead of turkey or ham (if you want a change or you’re cooking for veggies), I’m going to give it a try this year [see adjacent recipe].

For more info, posts and expert advice, check out George’s Instagram: flavourfred. Here, you can find details of his walks, forages and identification walks (like the one I did).

Mushroom, Brandy Soaked Chestnuts and Prune ‘meat’ loaf

Ingredients, serves six

• 200g Oyster Mushroom, diced (leftover mushrooms from the mushroom gravy
• below)
• 50g Carrot, diced
• 50g Onion, diced
• 50g Leeks, diced
• 5g Garlic, diced
• 150g Cooked Lentils
• 50g Prunes, chopped and soaked in Brandy
• 50g Sweet Chestnuts, chopped and soaked in Brandy
• 50g Grated Beetroot (raw)
• 1 Orange, zest and juice
• 2 Eggs OR 1 tin of Chickpeas (separate aquafaba) + 20g Flaxseed + 20g Chia Seeds
• 50g Breadcrumbs (optional)
• 25g Fresh Sage
• 10g Fresh Thyme
• Extra Mixed seeds and nuts (optional)
• Seasoning to taste

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius
• Cook the mushrooms and vegetables in a pan with oil, salt, and pepper. Start with the carrot, then add the onion, mushrooms, and leeks. Mix these together.
• Add these into a mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix well
• Make a small patty from the mixture and fry it in a pan to check the flavour levels and adjust the seasoning if needed. If the mixture isn’t holding together well while cooking, add the breadcrumbs.
• Place the mixture into a loaf tin and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients

• 100g dried mushrooms (porcini preferred)
• Litre of boiling water
• Garlic, bay, Peppercorns
• Method

Using dried mushrooms, pour over a litre of boiling water and let it infuse. Once cooled, pour the liquid into a pot and reduce it, leaving the last 5% behind as it contains the mushroom grit. As you reduce, you can also add other aromatics like garlic, bay, and peppercorns. Reduce until you reach about 150ml and strain out aromatics. This liquid can be used as is or thickened.

Welcome to the second in our food champion series profiling people working with food in our local community.

This series features conversations with people involved in the food system locally – from farmers to chefs, from teachers to social entrepreneurs. This week, we hear from Stephen and Hélène of Stonelynk Organics.

What do you do and what’s your mission?

Stonelynk Organics is a small market garden, growing a wide range of organic vegetables and fruit. We sell our produce on site in our shop, as well as via a veg box delivery scheme across Hastings and St Leonards. We also supply a few other local businesses such as The Cove in Fairlight, and Trinity Wholefoods. Our mission is to produce high-quality, delicious, healthy food for our local community and to do so in a way that not only protects but enhances our local environment and biodiversity. Sadly, so much food is produced in such ecologically damaging ways, and fresh fruit and vegetables in particular are so often imported from distant countries, contributing to its environmental cost. We want to show that it’s possible – and essential – for us as a society to produce better, healthier, ecological food right here on our doorsteps.

When did you get started, what’s the back story to set up?

Stonelynk Organics started in 2018. I [Stephen] met Hélène Maerschalck in the summer of 2017, whilst working together on an organic vegetable farm in Dorset. We started to develop dreams of running our own food project, and, fortunately, the opportunity to rent some organic land in Fairlight arose; so we moved over to East Sussex to give it a go!

What is the change you want to see in Hastings when it comes to your work?

We’d love to see more people enjoying healthy local food, freshly cooked at home. A big part of this is education; we’d love to see local school groups come out to food projects such as ours to see how good food is produced. We want children to develop an understanding of our collective reliance on a healthy, vibrant planet for all our resources and, therefore, how essential it is to look after it. And of course, to learn how utterly delicious freshly picked tomatoes are, how crunchy an apple is straight off the tree, and how all these things rely on countless organisms beneath our feet to keep the soil alive and productive.

We’re currently undertaking some training to host school groups at our market garden, and are working with Rother District Council on their Farms And School Twinning Project to bring more school children out into the countryside to see the farmland.

How do you feel about the food scene in Hastings?

We feel really supported by the local Hastings community:there seems to be a real interest in and care for local food projects and support for new initiatives such as ours from both individuals and also other businesses within Hastings. It’s great to have lots of other small producers making high-quality products, all with the same goal of bringing more local food to the area.

How does what you are doing link to what others are doing in the community?

We partner with Sustenance, a food charity based in St Leonards who host a community kitchen every week, cooking up delicious, nutritious food for those in need. We supply them with surplus produce whenever we have a glut – they’re experts at using up mountains of beetroot and pumpkins when the harvests get too much!

We also love supplying Trinity Wholefoods in Hastings, who have been a pillar of the local organic scene for decades having recently celebrated their 40th anniversary of operating as a co-operative. They’ve been so supportive of us since we started, and always stock a wide range of excellent organic produce (our vegetables included!).

Who in Hastings or the region is your food champion & why?

We owe a great deal of gratitude to Jo and Craig Sams, from whom we rented our site when we first moved to East Sussex in 2018 – and bought the site in 2021. They made the inception of Stonelynk Organics possible, they encouraged us along the way, and they continue to be loyal and supportive customers to this day. Not only that, they have committed their careers to campaigning for good ecological food through the Soil Association, Green and Blacks Chocolate, and wholefood marketing. Without them we simply could not have got Stonelynk Organics to where it is today.

They live in Hastings and continue to be rooted in the community, often contributing to local events – and have their own amazing garden to boot.

As the evenings draw in and the temperature drops, there are few things more comforting than wrapping your hands around a steaming bowl of soup. It’s cheap to make, endlessly adaptable, and a brilliant way to use odds and ends lingering in the fridge.

Here in Hastings and St Leonards we’re lucky to have a wealth of culinary talent on our doorstep, from chefs and bakers to growers and greengrocers, all with clever tricks for coaxing flavour out of simple, affordable ingredients. Below, we asked a selection of the professional local food community for their favourite thrifty tips to help elevate your next pot of soup, along with two recipes for inspiration.

Chef Alfie Foster at The Cove, Fairlight says: “Save your left over cheese rinds in the freezer. Add it to your soup stock for a creamy umami hit. You can even chop up your parmesan rind into small squares, then microwave them on high for a minute and they’ll puff up into crispy cheesy croutons to top your soup!”

Mark Edwards at Supernature hard boils his chicken carcass with leftover veg for a quick stock which becomes a carrot and coriander soup for effortless weekday lunches.

Nigel Akehurst at Indie Farmer recommends beef skirt for meat based soups: “It’s a traditional butcher’s cut but without the cost associated with ribeye or sirloin. Cook it hot and quick like a normal steak, let it rest and slice against the grain for melt-in-the-mouth results.” Perfect as a topping for ramen!

The chef team at the Crown of James and Jody suggest making flavoured oils like chilli or garlic to elevate your weeknight soup. James also notes that if you are peeling vegetables for your soup, retain the skins, give them a good wash and combine with some flour, egg and herb or spices of your choice to make a shallow fried crispy bhaji or fritter garnish. Jody recommends freezing mugs of soup if you have made too much – get them out of the freezer on a night where you don’t have time to cook and you’ve got instant, wholesome ‘cup-a-soup’ with no mess and no effort.

Jordan Rogers, development chef at Bill’s, says old sourdough bread can be used to make pangrattato or ‘poor man’s parmesan’ as it’s known in Italy. Take stale bread, cut into cubes, drizzle with good olive oil and toast in the oven at 120°c until crisp and fully dry. Crush it or blitz in a food processor until it forms crumbs. Use as a soup or pasta topping as an authentic Italian replacement for cheese. Because the crumbs are dehydrated, they will last for a long time in tupperware in your kitchen cupboard.

Jay at Carrolls Greengrocers says: “Always ask your greengrocer for broken carrots and any other class 2 fruit and veg”. They will be happy to move on imperfect stock for a very reasonable price.

Freelance baker and baking tutor Emmanuel Hadjiandreou recommends making bread soups with stale bread. They are popular all over Europe including Tuscan pappa al pomodoro, which is made by simmering breadcrumbs in a simple tomato sauce – cheap, filling and delicious.

Tad at Bunka, Bun by Bunka and the West Hill Kiosk keeps the dripping from joints of meat to add flavour to soups during the week. He also says that if he’s short on stock, he boosts flavour to his soup by adding acidity at the end of the cooking process with a little lemon juice or red wine vinegar.

Steve at EAT@ recommends keeping a tub of tomato tops and bottoms discarded when making salads over the summer. He has recently made a tomato, butterbean and chipotle soup – perfect for autumn weather.

For those inspired to go further than a simple broth, two local experts share warming noodle bowls built for winter evenings.

Spiced Peanut Noodle Soup, Kim Duke at Tonka

Ingredients, serves two

• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely diced or roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
• 600 ml cold water
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce or kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp peanut butter or Jimmy’s Satay Sauce
• A handful of dry roasted peanuts 1 egg, boiled 7 minutes (optional)
• 250g egg noodles (ramen noodles also work beautifully)
• A couple of handfuls of greens — cavolo nero, sprouts, mange tout, or whatever’s in the fridge

“This time of the year the heart yearns for noodle soup — this one is rich with peanut butter, lifted with chilli and ginger, and endlessly adaptable.”

Method

• In a large pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and add two cloves of garlic, a thumb of ginger, and two spring onions, all finely chopped. Sauté for a few minutes until lightly golden and fragrant. Add half a sliced red chilli, then stir through a tablespoon of peanut butter or satay sauce and two tablespoons of chicken bouillon powder — or use miso paste, vegetable stock, or whatever stock you have to hand, bone broth would be a lovely alternative.
• Pour in 600ml of cold water and let it simmer gently for 2–3 minutes. Add a tablespoon of dark soy or kecap manis, then drop in 250g of egg noodles (or ramen) and a couple of handfuls of greens — cavolo nero, sprouts, mange tout, anything that needs using up. Cook for 1–2 minutes, just until the noodles are tender and the greens are still bright.
• Serve with a seven-minute egg, a scattering of sliced chilli, and a handful of dry-roasted peanuts for a flavour boost. Comfort in a bowl — creamy, crunchy, and nourishing.

Mushroom noodle soup, Robbie Kelly, Basils Fungi Farm

Robbie Kelly swears by this quick recipe for a Japanese-inspired noodle soup. It’s hearty and filling and uses inexpensive ingredients.

“We used Velvet shank mushrooms – a native equivalent of the Enoki mushrooms that you’ll commonly find in supermarkets. You can buy Japanese-style broths in supermarkets (just add water) or endeavour to make your own from scratch!”

Ingredients, serves two.

• 1l broth/stock
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp white miso
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 100g noodles
• 100g velvet shank mushrooms

Method

• Peel and grate ginger and garlic, add it to a pan with your broth and soy sauce and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add the noodles to the simmering broth, we opted for rice noodles, but go for something chunkier if that’s your preference. Our noodles take 3 minutes to cook. In the final minute of cooking the noodles, add mushrooms to the pan.
• Meanwhile, ladle a small amount of broth out of the pan into a bowl and whisk miso into it. Pour back into the soup once noodles are cooked for a huge savoury kick.
• Finish by adding sesame oil and seasoning with extra soy sauce if necessary, and garnish with spring onions.

Soup may be one of the humblest dishes, but with a little imagination, it can also be one of the most satisfying. Whether you’re crisping stale bread into croutons, simmering a stock from leftovers, or adding a splash of citrus to brighten the bowl, small touches can transform everyday ingredients into something special.

We’re reaching that time of year when there’s a glut of vegetables and fruit from the garden or friends with allotments; there always seems to be a small bag of courgettes or tomatoes being thrust upon us at every turn. Listed here are a few suggestions of how to use some of these up. Whether as a whole dish as I’ve pictured or prepared individually, it should offer some ideas to make the most of these late summer beauties.

Celeriac and potato gratin

Ingredients

• 300g celeriac
• 300g mashing/roasting potato
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 150ml double cream
• 150ml milk
• 80g grated cheddar or gruyere

Method

Peel the celeriac and potatoes. Using a mandolin or knife, thinly slice them.

Peel and crush the garlic with a good amount of salt in a pestle and mortar or on a chopping board. The salt will help extract the juices from the garlic and work to grind it down. The more you chop alliums, the stronger the flavour, so you’ll get more from less.

Toss the roots with the garlic and add the cream and milk, adjust the seasoning. It will take more than you think, so you can go heavy, although you can always season at the table. Place evenly into a baking tray. Top with parchment paper and tin foil.

Bake at 180c for about 50 minutes until tender, remove from the oven. At this point you can top with the cheese and bake again for 10 to 15 minutes to serve straight away, or, if you are working ahead of time and planning to reheat, place another tray that fits just inside the first tray on top, and press with a weight – this can be a few cans from the cupboard. Cut to your desired shape when cold. Top with the cheese and bake until piping hot.

Celeriac and rosemary puree

Ingredients

• 200g celeriac, roughly chopped
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 100ml milk
• Pinch salt
• Pinch white pepper
• Squeeze lemon juice
• 50g cold butter

Method

Simmer the celeriac in the milk with the rosemary until the celeriac is soft. Remove the rosemary, place the milk and celeriac into a blender with the salt and pepper, a good squeeze of lemon juice and blitz until smooth. Add cold butter gradually in pieces until it has emulsified and the puree has become smooth and glossy. This makes a fantastic dip for crudités and those guilty pleasure Kettle crisps of an evening.

Courgette fritter

Ingredients

• 250g courgette
• Good pinch of salt
• Chopped fresh herbs: dill, parsley, chive, mint or a combination
• Zest and juice of ½ a lemon
• 50g gluten free flour

Method

Either cut the courgette into fine matchsticks or simply grate. Salt the courgettes for 5 minutes to extract the juices, add a finely chopped selection of herbs and the zest and juice of the lemon. Fold through the flour to form a thick batter. We like to deep fry at around 170°c for a few minutes, turning to ensure crispness, but you can shallow fry so they are more like a scotch pancake.

These are very nice served with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for brunch or used to top beans on toast with some crumbled feta cheese and a good chilli sauce.

Courgette and apple remoulade

Ingredients

• 300g courgette
• 1 green apple/crab apple
• Zest and juice of ½ lemon
• 1 spring onion
• 30g mayonnaise
• 20g crème fraiche/yoghurt
• 10g Dijon mustard
• Small handful of tarragon, dill, parsley, mint or chive, or a combination of what takes your fancy

Method

Mix the mayo, crème fraiche or yoghurt with the mustard, lemon juice and zest. Add the finely chopped spring onion.

Cut the courgette and apple into fine matchsticks and fold through the mayo mixture with your selection of fresh herbs.

This is great with lightly toasted walnuts and a wedge of Sussex Charmer cheese.

Shrunken tomatoes

Ingredients

• 4 x plum tomatoes
• A drizzle of light olive oil
• A drizzle of white vinegar
• Icing sugar

Method

Cut an x into the base of the tomatoes. Cover with boiling water for 60 seconds. Lift out of the hot water and into cold/iced water. Using a sharp small knife peel the skin from the tomatoes, trying not to take too much of the flesh with it.

Place the tomatoes on a tray lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with white vinegar and a good shake of icing sugar. Bake at 90c for two – three hours depending on size (you will know they are ready when they look shrunken). Test one, eat them all and start again!

These are lovely tossed over pasta with some good olive oil, garlic, chilli flakes and plenty of parmesan.

Blackberry dressing

Ingredients

• 200g foraged blackberries
• 100ml balsamic vinegar
• ½ tsp pink peppercorns
• 3 tsp caster sugar
• 200ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

Blitz the blackberries, balsamic vinegar, sugar and peppercorns in a blender whilst gradually adding the olive oil.

This is great for dressing game birds and venison but also good over a tossed salad with roasted figs and fried croutons.

Fresh garlic aioli

Ingredients

• 5 cloves fresh garlic
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Good pinch of salt flakes
• ½ tsp Dijon mustard
• 200g mayonnaise

Method

A bit of a cheat here, but grinding the garlic, mustard, lemon and salt in pestle and mortar until smooth, then folding through the mayonnaise will give you a lovely condiment without the pain of making a mayonnaise from scratch. Fresh garlic is milder than the dry version in the shops, so you can go a little heavy with it without upsetting loved ones.

The addition of anchovy is well advised for those who like it, and it’s perfect for dredging radish and other vegetables through as a light supper.

For more about Matthew Kennard-Bowen events check out Instagram @mkbevents_

Small Plates St Leonards, the food tourism festival launched in Spring 2024, will be returning to St Leonards Sea on Saturday 27 September 2025. A diverse mix of local eateries will be offering small plate menus to walk-in diners for their lunchtime service – no bookings necessary – with many also continuing into the evening.

This year, Small Plates is welcoming Copper Pot Distilleries on board. Copper Pot hand craft and distil their own gins and vodkas in St Leonards, and these can be sampled at a number of the participating venues across the town.

To date,12 (and counting) restaurants and bars are taking part in the event, offering a diverse range of cuisines and drinks to tantalise the taste buds – Arigato, Bayte, Bistro Albo, Boatyard, Colombo 16, Farmyard, Half Man Half Burger, Graze On Grand, No.40 Bar Kitchen, Reel, The Royal and Supernature.

Maps of the event will be available for diners to navigate their chosen path through the town for a feast day beside the sea. In addition, expect pop up bars, cocktails, DJS and more, including a competition to win foodie themed prizes.

Edwina Hughes

Welcome to a new series profiling brilliant food champions in our local community.

This series will feature conversations with people involved in the food system locally – from farmers to chefs, from teachers to social entrepreneurs. So if you are a food champion or you know a food champion who should feature in this series, please get in touch with us.

This week, we meet Rima of Sustenance who will tell us more about the support Sustenance provides to people living in food poverty in Hastings and Rother.

What’s your mission?

Our mission is four-fold: to reduce food waste, reduce food poverty, improve nutrition and build community.

We are passionate about championing healthy eating and supporting those experiencing food poverty living in Hastings and Rother.

What do you do?

We provide a nutritious hot three course meal once a week to people who are living in food poverty in Hastings and Rother. We serve 55+ hot meals and distribute 65+ grocery bags every week to our guests, supporting our mission to provide dignified, nutritious support to those who need it most.

What is the back story to your organisation?

Sustenance is a local charity based in Hastings and St Leonards, dedicated to tackling food insecurity in our community. We run a weekly food club and community kitchen at Concordia Hall, where we serve three-course nutritious meals and distribute grocery bags and boxes to individuals and families in need. Much of the food we use is surplus, generously donated by local supermarkets and businesses (helping to reduce unnecessary food waste).

We officially launched in May 2022, beginning with a three-month pilot funded by a grant from Hastings Voluntary Action (HVA). Before starting, we spent time researching existing food services in the area and speaking with other providers. It became clear there was a gap–especially around access to fresh fruit, vegetables, and wholesome meals. The pilot confirmed this: the response was overwhelmingly positive, with many people sharing how difficult it was to afford fresh produce and how much our service helped.

That gave us the impetus to carry on, and within a year, demand had grown so much that we moved to a larger venue–Concordia Hall.

What is the change you want to see in Hastings when it comes to your work?

We’re keen to make fresh fruit and vegetables easier to access, so everyone can enjoy the benefits of good food and healthy eating.

It’s madness that millions of tonnes of good food is wasted by the UK food industry every year. At the same time, millions of people are struggling to afford to eat. We would like this community to become a place where no one goes hungry, no one feels alone, and perfectly good food doesn’t go to waste.

It would be great to see more sustainable ways of thinking about food, to see more people sharing what they have and looking out for each other. Community support is the heart and soul of everything good.

How do you feel about the food scene in Hastings?

For a small seaside town, Hastings and especially St Leonards–punches well above its weight when it comes to great places to eat; Bayte, The Crown, Liban Cast, Shiosai Sushi to name a few. Oh! and for the freshest baked levantine flatbreads–Arta By The Sea in the Old Town.

We’re also particularly lucky in St Leonards to have two fantastic greengrocers: St Leonards Grocery on London Road and Sussex Fruits on Bexhill Road–both real gems for fresh produce.

That said, I can’t help but wish we had a proper farmers’ market, with fresh, seasonal produce from local growers.

What is the best thing about working in food here (in Hastings and the region)?

We’re lucky to be surrounded by exciting, young-person-owned small businesses in the area, like Stonelynk Organics, with their excellent organic veg boxes, or Basil’s Fungi Farm, growing delicious mushrooms right in the heart of Hastings. Both are community-minded and very kindly share surplus with us, when they can.

How does what you are doing link to what others are doing in the community?

We take referrals for our Food Club–We work alongside other food providers, charities, and grassroots groups–sharing resources, knowledge, and referrals. We complement the work of other food providers by offering fresh produce, which many traditional food parcels don’t always include enough of. We also collaborate with local businesses, greengrocers, and growers, who donate surplus or seasonal goods when they can. We have an advice table at Concordia Hall where organisations like Citizens Advice and Energise Sussex can offer help to our members. We can also signpost people to additional support, when needed.

Who in Hastings or the region working in some part of the food scene is your food champion and why?

My current food champions are Sustenance volunteer chefs James & Gaby. They produce the most extraordinary meals week after week for our members. They work tirelessly, always using fresh ingredients, prepared with care and respect.

“ I love the excitement of coming in on a Thursday morning with no idea what ingredients we are going to have, and working out what we can cook for our members in three hours that will be as tasty and nutritious as we can make it ” James

Their commitment to quality and consistency is truly inspiring!

Join Us at Sustenance!

We’re seeking volunteers to help pick up, deliver, pack sort, greet guests and so on. If you’d like to get involved please get in touch. Local businesses can support us by sponsoring our new van and driver for a year helping us reach more people in need. The sponsorship package includes van signage, social media posts, and videos. For more info on volunteering or sponsorship of our brilliant new van please contact info@sustenance.co.uk

Hastings’ popular boutique hotel, The Old Rectory, announces the return of its Summer Fair
Weekend taking place on the weekend of the 30th and 31st August.

Set within the hotel’s beautiful grounds, the theme of the Summer Fair Weekend is Home, Garden and Food, so expect a mix of artisan food delights alongside a careful curation of all things house and garden. The Old Rectory have also said that they are erecting marquees in case of inclement weather.

There will be a whole host of stalls where you can snap up fabulous finds from local businesses and from guest businesses from further afield.

Who’s There?

There will be some familiar names and others waiting for you to discover. These include: Zophian Plants, Bright Green Fox Nursery, Branshill Plants, David Bracher Gardens, Rakes Progress, Coban Rugs, Sally Hampson Weave, The Natural Dye Works, Sailors of Rye, Scobel Clothing, Borzoi Antiques, Gina Portman candles, Rae, Badgers Velvet, Hope Springs Chairs, Rectory Skincare, Cheryle Ceramics, Jasmyn Fraser Art, Wolf From Door, The Hastings Project, And Designs, Christa Davies
London, Endlings Hastings and Fox & Bloom Skincare.

Food Galore

When it comes to food, you’ll be tempted by delicious foodie treats and drink delights from: Cured Delicatessen, Albion House Bakery, Crump and Grind, Baklava Bakes, Copper Pot Gin, Oast Wood Wine, Rectory Smokehouse, Basil’s Fungus Farm, Winklestone Vineyard and Zak’s Kombucha.

Day tickets for the event are £5, which includes a glass of Prosecco or soft drink, plus entry into a
prize draw to win a night for two at The Old Rectory in addition to spa treatments and cream teas for
two. The draw will take place on the 1st September, and details will be announced on The Old Rectory’s
website and social media.

The Old Rectory Summer Fair Weekend, Saturday 30 August 10am-5pm & Sunday 31 August 10am-
4pm at The Old Rectory, Harold Road, Hastings, East Sussex, TN35 5ND.

For more information visit theoldrectoryhastings.co.uk

We all know food is pricey; quality ingredients and healthier options can be even more expensive than the norm. Once we’ve spent money on an item of food we want to use it up, but for one reason or another that doesn’t always happen. WRAP, a British NGO focusing on waste prevention, carries out periodic research looking at food waste trends. Its most recent estimate of food waste in the UK is 10.2 million tonnes (2021/2022). WRAP calculates that household waste accounts for 58% of this total. What this means is that aside from waste at farm level or in other parts of the food journey, the vast majority of food waste in Britain is happening in households.

This feels like a missed opportunity; even for those who are making ends meet, food is expensive – there are plenty of ways we could be throwing out less and eating more of what we buy. That’s why in this edition we are focusing on how to prevent food waste. Below, you’ll hear from people working in food and hospitality in Hastings on their tips and tricks for repurposing leftovers – from organising your fridge, to keeping the scraps – our experts will give you some suggestions for making the most of your food.

MasterChef

While it’s often more convenient to buy large volumes of food at a time, our experts suggest it can be easier to keep an eye on what needs to be used up if you have a less full and better organised fridge.

Development Chef Jordan at Bill’s suggests organising your home kitchen like a professional chef. He says: “The best tip for reducing food waste would be a ‘first in first out’ system. Date label (use masking tape) your foods and plan your meals around using the oldest first. George at Porter’s in the Old Town recommends buying produce more frequently in smaller volumes instead of doing the ‘big shop’, especially with meat and fish, as there’s less chance that it will be forgotten at the back of the fridge. Sean at Beak & Tail recommends making as many meals as you can from one animal which ensures the whole animal is used up and you save money. A whole bird can make a roast, a curry with left overs and a soup or noodle stock with the carcass.

‘Milk it’ – getting the most out of the food you buy

Whether it’s beak to tail with a chicken, using the shells of seafood or using up the stalks of mushrooms, there are inventive ways to get the most out of your food purchases.

Ben at Winifred’s trims the excess fat on a Sunday roasting joint, renders it down separately and uses it to flavour his roast potatoes. Similarly, Henry and Olivia at The Cove in Fairlight make pie pastry from their beef dripping (fear not – vegans are warned!). They then make the base for their bitterballen (deep fried meatballs) from chicken carcasses and butter from excess cream.

We may not all be cooking roast dinners weekly, but when it comes to using up vegetables, Freelance chef Daniel Ibbotson has some relatable advice. He uses mistakes to his advantage! He suggests that if you overcook or burn roast veg, carry on the process and turn it into complete ash. The powder can be blended and stored indefinitely and rubbed over meats for a bitter smoky charcoal flavouring. The ash can also be soaked in a neutral oil and turned into a smoky mayonnaise. Mark and Roo of Supernature have a hack for mushroom stalks. Roo suggests, “Take your mushroom stalks, add whole milk, a garlic clove, dark soy sauce and some seasoning – put it all together in a pan, bring to a simmer and blend. It will be the nicest cream of mushroom soup you’ve ever had.” Lloyd, Executive Chef at The Plough and Union makes “binchi” or “trim chi”. He uses kale stalks to make kimchi and serves them on Maldon oysters as a spicy option. “If you have vegetable waste, make kimchi!” Alexander at The Pump House Cafe in Alexandra Park makes a huge volume of bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. He saves tomato ends and slowly cooks them into a rich shakshuka sauce. Just like the flavour you get in mushroom stalks, seafood shells can add huge flavour to a dish. Dan at Holy Mackerel suggests that luxury sauces like crab or lobster bisque can be created with just the shells. Fish frames and heads, especially flat fish like plaice, sole and halibut are perfect for making fish stock. Kim at Tonka seconds this, “Whenever we feature prawns on the menu we ask the fishmonger to give us the heads and tails as well as the peeled prawns. The heads and tails get cooked down with lots of garlic, herbs and butter to make a super fragrant prawn butter that is perfect on pasta with parmesan for staff meals. It can be added to any number of meals to add an umami hit”.

Dough!

Bread is one of the four top wasted foods in British households (the others are milk, chicken, and potatoes). Our experts have some suggestions. The Ginger Baker, Rob says “Stale, harder, older loaves, especially sourdough can be refreshed in the oven after a little soaking in water, plus there’s always the possibility of croutons and panzanella salad!”. Emmanuel Hajiandreou, baker and author, recommends freezing fresh sliced bread – this allows you to take one slice out of the freezer at a time. Frozen fresh bread defrosts and refreshes really well, especially in the toaster. While, Pasha at Small Batch Babka turns her uneaten babka (sweet braided bread) into babka french toast (“If there are any leftovers!”). She’s also planning to experiment with some babka bread and butter puddings – delicious.

Freeze it?

Many foods can be frozen and used later on, a hack overheard this week was for over-ripe bananas – chop them up and freeze them, then use them later on in smoothies. Andrew at The Crown recommends collecting and freezing cheese rinds in a tupperware. “If you plan to make a ragu or bechamel, you can take a rind from the freezer and let it melt into your sauce. Parmesan works best to give a salty umami hit, but anything will do, even blue cheese which could provide a twist in a classic mac and cheese.” Jay at Carroll’s Greengrocer recommends buying in bulk when produce is cheap and in season and freezing it down to save on the cost of out-of-season food.

Don’t ask, don’t get

Our contributors also had some ideas for asking local food suppliers for a little extra – this could be animal bones for stock – or Paul Hodges of Hastings Fish Market suggests asking your fishmonger to smoke some fish bones for you, it will add a great twist to your fish stock flavour. Particularly good for Sussex Smokies and fish pies.

Unusual uses for surplus items!

There are some interesting by-products from food; some items can have a novel second life as fertiliser or even exfoliant!

Kim at Tonka says that, “Coffee grounds make excellent hand exfoliant. Mix them with a little salt and sugar and essential oil. Our kitchen team uses them at the end of a shift to get rid of cooking smells, they leave your hands super soft and will last around a week.” Dan at Holy Mackerel suggests using smashed up shellfish shells and oily fish heads in your compost to create fertiliser for your garden, and he will happily donate waste products to his customers. Robbie Omrod at The Hastings Project Brewery waters his plants with stale beer rather than pouring a half drunk bottle down the sink. He says, “It makes a great natural fertiliser. I found this out when I ditched a batch in one spot in the garden. The grass went mad!”

Buying food in a purposeful way can help to reduce household food waste. Whether you decide to buy more purposefully or adopt some of the ideas here, you’ll be able to get more value out of your food shopping and throw out less.

Cake

• Roughly 12 plums (550g) stoned and quartered
• 185g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 2 largish eggs (beaten)
• 75ml oat or dairy milk
• 125 plain flour
• 125g self raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 100g ground almonds (or breadcrumbs if nut allergies are a concern)

Topping

• 50g unsalted butter
• 50g golden caster sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 beaten egg

Directions

Cake

• Preheat oven to 180°c
• Use a 23cm cake tin – springform or regular – greased and lined with greaseproof paper.
• Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Add milk to the beaten eggs and then add gradually to your butter and sugar mix and mix/beat well.
• Sift the flour into the mix in three batches with a pinch of salt and then fold in lightly with a metal spoon until incorporated.
• Scrape into the tin and sprinkle the ground almonds or breadcrumbs on the surface (this helps prevent the plums from sinking).
• Add the quartered plums cut side facing up starting from the outside of the tin and work towards the centre.

Topping

• Melt the butter in a small pan, stir in the sugar and cinnamon, remove from heat for five mins.
• Add the beaten egg and mix.
• Pour over the surface of the cake.
• This will create a lovely glaze and prevent the plums from drying out.
• Cook for about an hour and 10 minutes – use a skewer to check if it needs longer – when the skewer comes out clean, it’s baked.
• Leave the cake to cool for at least 10 minutes in the tin, then remove and cool on a wire rack
• Enjoy warm with a dollop of yogurt. Leftover cake wrapped in foil can be warmed through at 180°c for ten mins or so.

A little more about our contributing chef – Sian Coakley.  In the 90s and 2000s, Sian worked in film in Hong Kong.  After 20 years there, she wanted a change and left Hong Kong for London to become a self taught cook.  Sian set up her own catering business in 1999 and began by catering small events for interior design companies and businesses such as SCP and Roche Bobois, she then began catering private events and receptions for central government departments including the foreign office and even Number 10.  Sian came to St Leonards in 2021 and met Stephanie, the owner of Graze, who needed a head chef. Sian applied for and secured the role and is currently the head chef at Graze. From the beginning, Sian has championed vegetarian, seasonal, fresh ingredients. Alongside her role at Graze, Sian continues to cater small private events in the Hastings area and London specialising in canapes, small plates and, of course, baking!

Instagram @Coakley_Cooks

Refugee Week takes place nationwide from 16-22 June, and this year’s theme is Community as a Superpower. Across the country, people are encouraged to explore how collective support and neighbourliness can make a difference; and here in Hastings & St Leonards, local venues are getting involved in their own ways. Take a look at The Refugee Buddy Project’s Instagram for more details.

At The Crown Hastings, we’ll be marking the week by serving a traditional Ukrainian borscht, made in collaboration with Lidiya Khramenkova. Lidiya came to the UK through the Homes for Ukraine scheme and has been living in Hastings since 2022. Borscht is a beetroot-based soup that is a staple in many Eastern European households. The dish is based on her traditional family recipe, adapted to be meat-free. It will be available throughout the week at the Crown, with £1 from every sale donated to The Refugee Buddy Project, a local organisation that supports refugees and asylum seekers as they settle into life in and around Hastings.

Lidiya says “Borscht is not just soup – it’s part of our soul. Every Ukrainian family has their own way of making it, and every grandma swears hers is the best. In my family, it was my mother’s borscht that was the tastiest. I still remember being a little girl, running around in the kitchen while she cooked. I used to help her prepare the vegetables while she chopped them, probably more in the way than helping, to be honest!

“As kids, we couldn’t wait for the borscht to be ready. But in our house, there was a rule: once the pot was off the heat, you had to let it rest. This extra time lets the vegetables release all their flavours and ‘talk to each other’ as my mum would say. In our family, we always served borscht with a spoonful of sour cream and some fresh dill — it gives that perfect finishing touch.

“I hope my mum won’t be offended when I say this, but I cook it too now, and I’ve adapted her recipe in my own way. I like it a bit more bold. I call it ‘agent borscht’ – strong, vibrant, unforgettable! My favourite way to eat it? A hot bowl of borscht, a bite of black bread, and a crunchy green onion on the side. My son loves it so much that when there’s too little left to scoop with a spoon, he lifts the plate with both hands and drinks it like soup from a fairy tale.

So yes – borscht is food. But it’s also memory, family, and love in a bowl.”

During the week, the windowsills of The Crown will display a curated selection of arts and crafts created by Ukrainian refugees who now live in the area. All of these items will be available to purchase, offering customers the chance to support creative work directly.

Ukrainian borscht

This recipe serves 4–6 people:

Ingredients

• For the broth:
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 2.5-3 litres water
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 5-7 black peppercorns
• Salt to taste
• Vegetables:
• 2-3 medium beetroots
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 3-4 potatoes
• 200-300g white cabbage (shredded)
• 2 tomatoes or 2 tbsp
  tomato paste
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1 can haricot beans
  (optional but recommended)
• Oil for sauteing

To serve:

• Sour cream (or yoghurt)
• Fresh dill, parsley, or spring onion
• Bread–ideally rye

Method

• Make the broth: In a large pot, combine the water, stock cubes, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt. Bring to the boil and leave it to simmer.
• Cook the vegetable base: Sauté the chopped onion in oil until soft. Add grated carrot and beetroots. After a few minutes, stir in garlic, tomato paste/chopped tomatoes, and haricot beans. Cook for 7–10 minutes on a low heat.
• Build the soup: Add diced peeled potatoes to the simmering broth. Cook for 10 minutes, then add the sautéed vegetable mix. Once potatoes are nearly cooked, add the cabbage and bell pepper. Simmer until all vegetables are tender (10–15 minutes).
• Final steps: Taste and adjust seasoning. Add chopped herbs and let the soup rest, covered, for 20-30 minutes before serving.
• To serve: Ladle into bowls, add a spoonful of sour cream, and garnish with herbs. Serve with bread.

Lidiya Khramenkova / Andrew Swan See more at instagram.com/therefugeebuddyproject

We are spoilt with an amazing range of bakeries in Hastings and St. Leonards – from the long-standing institutions of Judges and the Oak, to the newer kids on the block, Maker + Baker and Sleeper. Every day, our bakers produce sourdoughs, pastries, bagels, lunchtime rolls, baps and pies galore. Personally, I go to Judges for cheesy scones, Maker + Baker for pastries, the Oak for their secret ingredient sourdough (more on that later) and Sleeper for their filled bagels. But there are many more – we’ve got The Rye Bakery, a new Levantine bakery on George Street and homebakers galore.

I became interested in writing a piece on bakeries a while back when speaking to Ross of Maker + Baker. On a rare night off, he mentioned that his normal start time is 3am. I wondered what others would say: is this the norm? Turns out Andreas at the Oak has seen his 3am and raised him to 1am, but at the other end of the scale we see Nick and Jane at Sleeper (aptly named in this case?) enjoy a fairly reasonable 5am start. Still though, this is clearly a job for those who can hack early starts. So what convinces our bakers to do these antisocial hours? What makes it worth the effort? I asked a few of them to spill the beans, and I gave them each a nickname to help recognise who is who.

The Hipsters Choice: Maker + Baker
35 Robertson Street, Hastings TN34 1HT (Wednesday-Friday 08.30-14.00, Saturday 09.00-14.00)

Ross is a self-taught home baker. He started baking around 2018, initially selling through Sugarpie Honeybuns café alongside home deliveries through lockdown. After that, he hosted a few pop ups at Shop in Kings Road and Three Faces of Del Parc. But when an opportunity to operate independently came up in 2021, he and his partner went for it and opened at 51 Kings Road. It was an instant success with queues out the door from day one.

They have since moved to Robertson Street to larger premises where they can bake on site. They have also extended their range, now selling sourdough bread, pastries, cakes, sandwiches and coffee. Their most popular items are croissants and pains au chocolat. Ross says the best thing about being a baker in Hastings is being part of a fantastic community of independent traders and the support of customers. He says the hardest thing is the work/life balance. The hours are demanding, and because the breads are naturally fermented; any temperature change can affect the days’ schedule and knock the whole thing out of kilter.

The Community Favourite: The Oak Bakery
17 London Road, St. Leonards, TN37 6AJ (Monday-Friday 07.30-16.00, Saturday 07.30-15.00)

Andreas Daskalakis is the founder and head baker at the Oak. He has been running the business for over 14 years. It started as a family collaboration with his mum and sister working alongside him but now he employs two other bakers and four shop assistants, including Sue and Mal (pictured)

The Oak has been operating at this site for at least 50 years. Andreas took it over in 2013 and wanted to create a bakery that offered people value for money. That ethos has continued through to today. They sell freshly baked sourdough, granary and multiseed loaves along with bread rolls and lots of sweet treats. They sell out of most items almost every day.

Bread is baked fresh every morning – their sourdough is different to that on offer in many other places in Hastings. This may alarm the purists, but Andreas tells me he decided to tweak the recipe because he wanted to create a dough that wouldn’t harden as quickly as conventional sourdough. The secret ingredient – olive oil. Now this is bound to create some controversy amongst the dye-in-the-wool bakers of the town, some may say that’s not real sourdough but the old adage of ‘give the people what they want’ seems to apply, as it sells out pretty much every day.

Personally, I like it. It makes for a softer dough that stays fresh for a bit longer than the conventional sourdough. I have no doubt that there’s space for both! Andreas says the best thing about running the bakery is the customers – making friends and feeling a sense of community. The worst thing is the hours. He starts at 1am and finishes at 11am six days a week. This makes for very little downtime. In the 14 years he’s been running the business, he’s been on holiday just once – this year, for three days over Easter. This is not a vocation for everyone!

The Train Station Stop-Off: The Sleeper Store
47 Kings Road, St Leonards TN37 6DY (Monday-Saturday 08.30-14.30)

This is a great stop-off en route to the station. Sleeper is operated by partners Nick and Jane. It opened in 2021. The couple originally worked in East London as publishing designers before moving to East Sussex 11 years ago. Sleeper is a bagel café, although you can also pick up some chocolate, gooey pastries and coffee; but bagels are what they do.

The bagels are hand baked fresh every morning. Most popular are salt beef, smoked salmon with cream cheese, egg mayo & truffle crisps and vegan apple and fennel slaw. Nick tells me that he loves his regular customers and finds people very friendly. “Everyone down here is super friendly. We get many customers from further afield like Rye, Battle, Eastbourne and even from London! St. Leonards is a special place.”. Like The Oak and Maker + Baker, Nick and Jane highlight the discipline and early morning starts that baking requires. They also mention the attention to detail needed, including the different temperatures of the early morning and how this affects proving times as they are baking.

I asked Nick about the Elbow lyrics on the wall from a song called Kindling and I was intrigued why they had picked it. It’s a love song featuring a train journey and an almost Van Gogh-like imagining of the wheat fields exploding with colour when you see a particular name or face light up your phone as they call. Nick explains Sleeper has lots of people come in as they are travelling or passing through, and felt a lyric about journeys might resonate with people as they stopped off: “Travelling back home is always a favourite journey.”

The indie: Parkside Sourdough
37 Lower Park Road, TN34 2LA (Saturday 10-11am)

Oli Kellet has been doing a weekly pop-up sourdough bread stall for the last two years. He started through a network of friends on Whatsapp and it has grown from there. He makes about 50 loaves every week. The stall is an opportunity for people from the street and neighbouring area to get together and have a catch up.

He tells me his ambition is not world or even Hastings domination, rather he wants to offer an alternative to the sliced supermarket variety which depressingly contains lots of preservatives, salt and sugar. Oli likes the people he meets through the regular Saturday stall which has been a great connector.

Interestingly, a strand of his family have been bakers for 150 years, running the Oliver Adams Bakery in Northampton. Oli hastens to mention that his kitchen has a 5-star food hygiene rating and has recently been inspected by the council – for anyone selling to the public this is a requirement, so if you want to get started keep this in mind.

And the rest

The Crown

In addition to these featured bakers, Emmanuel Hadjiandreou (previously head baker at Judges) is baking at the Crown, which sells mini loaves on a Wednesday. They sell Pan Gallego, Jerusalem bagels and many more. He says he loves feedback from customers. When asked, he says the toughest thing about operating a bakery here is finding staff. I’m not surprised with the hours involved!

Ginger Baker

Rob is not selling his sourdough; he’s trading loaves with friends or giving them away. Rob operates a miniscule micro bakery from his home in Clive Vale. He bakes a tartine country loaf. He’s found lots of inspiration and support from other bakers. But even at this level, he finds it pretty time consuming. It can be a juggle between home life and baking life, he says.

So that’s the run down – hope you’ve enjoyed hearing their stories as much as I have, and that we continue to support our wonderful and thriving baking scene in our local community.

The event is free and offers attendees an opportunity to explore the radical

food and farming revolution of the 1970s.  How a generation influenced by psychedelics, Eastern philosophy, and reactions to Vietnam sparked a deep interest in sustainable food movements that continue to influence how we grow and eat today.

In addition, there will be a special introduction by Craig Sams, co-founder of Whole Earth and Green and Black’s, and a pioneering force in the UK’s organic food scene.

Guests can enjoy drinks in the lush garden surroundings of The Beacon—an ideal

setting to reflect on the ideas and legacies featured in the book.

Don’t miss this vibrant celebration of food, community, and counterculture.

Thursday 5th June 2025 6:00–8:00 PM The Beacon, 67–68 St Mary’s Terrace, St Leonards-on-Sea, TN34 3LS

Last month we featured a story on the allotments of Hastings, this month we are delighted to share news of an upcoming weekend that focuses on edible gardens across the town.

On 28 and 29 June 2025, local food growers will open up their gardens and spaces to visitors. Edible Open Gardens brings together local food growers and curious visitors for a weekend of inspiration and knowledge-sharing. Funded by The Chalk Cliff Trust and organised by Town Grown, this year’s event will highlight the creativity and resilience of food growers in and around Hastings and St Leonards.

Edible Open Gardens showcases everything from compact domestic plots to thriving commercial enterprises with people from across Hastings opening up spaces including guerilla gardens, front & back gardens, allotments, community gardens and smallholdings to the general public. The weekend provides a rare opportunity to meet local growers, explore diverse gardening techniques and discover how even the smallest space can yield an abundance of fresh produce. For those of you with plans to grow your own food, you’ll find inspiration and advice on how others have made it work on small scraps of land, gardens and allotments.

Launched in 2022 in response to rising food costs and environmental concerns, Town Grown has been working to support food sovereignty and biodiversity through talks, workshops, and community networking. As Anna Locke, permaculture author and founding member, explains: “Town Grown is about sharing our collective knowledge and passion to empower more people to grow their own food.”

The Edible Open Gardens event will kick off with a launch event on the evening of Friday 13 June at The Compound. On the evening you will be able to pick up a handy map of the Hastings gardens and spaces taking part. Food and drink from local producers will be on sale, and guests are welcome to bring a bottle.

Launch event: Friday 13 June, 6.00 – 8.30pm The Compound, 161 Bexhill Rd, Hastings, St Leonards-on-sea TN38 8BG Edible Open Gardens Weekend 28 29 June. For more info, attend the launch event or visit towngrown.co.uk. Alternatively, pick up a free map from Wonderfill, 35 King’s Road, St. Leonards. 

As I write this piece, it’s raining – we’ve been waiting for rain for a while. My friend and allotment holder, Stella, tells me this year has been about patiently waiting for the rain. Other years, she says you have to wait for the rain to stop or the soil to warm up, but this year, we’re waiting for rain. It was the driest March on record and the farmer in me knows that not all rain is equally useful, this fine soft misty stuff needs a bit more umph to deliver impact to the soil; too much, though, and the land won’t be able to soak it up and it’ll just run off. So, I’m asking for something in between, on behalf of the allotment holders and more importantly the farmers.

The weather on the day I visit Marina Allotments is fine and dry. Stuart Balkam, the treasurer of the allotment committee shows me around. He’s had an allotment on the site for three years and knows many of the people we meet on our tour. I’m immediately impressed to find a pizza oven and composting toilet on site as well as a number of shared resources like seeds, fencing and training materials. In fact, there’s also a nut grove and hazel tree coppicing on site.

Marina Allotments is a wonderful place to spend some time. Each allotment is distinct; some plots have raised beds carefully cleared and prepared for sowing, alongside others with overgrown runner bean plots mixed in with potatoes and wild flowers. At one point I notice a beautiful wrought iron bench that seems to be awaiting its next incarnation, and later I spot a front door too good for the tip but not quite useful at home. Apple trees and blackberry bushes are trained along fences and trellises and unruly rhubarb and chard flash their gorgeous, colourful legs at me as a wander past. I can see why people say gardening is good for your mental health, I’m already feeling more relaxed.

I am here to look around and I am also on the hunt for asparagus – asparagus is in season and features in this edition’s accompanying asparagus, crab and radish salad recipe from Martin. The question is, if we source our crab from the local fish huts, can we hope to grow asparagus in our allotments? Let’s find out.

Regardless of what you decide to plant, Stuart tells me that to maintain an average plot you need to spend about 6 hours a week across the year maintaining it. That adds up to a bit less in winter when everything is cut back and dormant and a lot more in spring and autumn for sowing and then harvesting.

There are fifteen allotment sites in the Borough of Hastings and St Leonard’s. The Council manages 600 allotment plots spread over thirty acres on thirteen sites. Marina Allotments’ land is owned by Hastings Borough Council, but this one is self-managed by a committee and volunteers. It has just over 130 plots and most of these are four or five rods in size – that’s approximately 125 sq metres, or about half the size of a tennis court. The plots were originally about double that size–the idea being a plot would be large enough to feed a family. Their use has evolved over time, thus the reduction in size. Half a tennis court of potatoes, veg and trees sounds doable and from a distance the plots look manageable and quaint. Closer up you sense the enormity of the work entailed in filling that space with something – flowers, vegetables, trees. It’s possible to request a smaller plot to start with, but if you do get a large plot, there are many experienced allotment holders who can show you the ropes. That is, if you are lucky enough to be allocated a plot – right now the waiting list is over two years! So, the good news is that you have plenty of time to think about what you’d grow.

When I visit it’s late Sunday afternoon a few gardeners are still here, digging, clearing, preparing. I see many signs of potatoes, leeks, broad beans, rhubarb and chard. Not so much evidence of asparagus being grown. But I am on a mission to find out more about our delicious featured vegetables. I want to know whether it is a viable allotment vegetable.

Lucky for me, Stuart planted some asparagus last year and can tell me more. I learned that while asparagus can be grown from seed it’s often grown from a crown – a spider web of roots that are sown in springtime. Crowns work hard but relatively quickly underground so that within a few weeks you may see a number of shoots poke up above ground level. In year one, they’ll shoot up into long willowy stems with small buds at the top.These aren’t suitable for eating. Stuart shows me these fragile willowy stems; they remind me of Fresia more than vegetable stalks. It turns out asparagus is a test in patience, and you may need to wait three or four years to get a good crop. Stuart intends to take his 15 – 20 stems and cut them back come autumn. He hopes that subsequent years may yield a more robust crop. I’m starting to think that asparagus might be a good metaphor for allotment life – growing it requires patience and a bit of luck.

Later on, I bump into Margaret Blurton who has had her allotment for a year and a half. Stuart tells me if there was a prize for the most transformed space, Margaret’s plot would be in the running. Her allotment is teeming with life: there’s plenty of potatoes, wild garlic, leeks and broad beans, and clouds of yellow hazy flowers – apparently the purple flowering broccoli got away from her, and these yellow flowers are the result. I might suggest some mistakes are meant to be – the bees are delighted with these pastel yellow buds that make up a glowing brush swaying gently in the breeze. On top of all that, we are in luck, as Margaret is also growing asparagus. This is her first year of growing asparagus and she’s understandably underwhelmed with the result, Stuart is able to offer some consolation and advice.

If I’m honest, neither seem too bothered. Before I leave the allotment, we do find one bed with some more mature asparagus – this bed has several spears poking out from the soil, and the spears have all the right qualities – not too willowy and not very tall, but fat. Who knows if this crop will make the grade and all the way to a dinner plate this year? Time will tell. If not, there’s always next year.

To find out more about the Marina Allotments visit their website marinaallotments.org.uk If you don’t want to wait years for your asparagus but want to purchase local stuff, try local grocers or South Brockwells Farm in Uckfield – they are famous for it. southbrockwellsfarm.com/asparagus

Asparagus season is upon us and should be rejoiced for the next two months. I’ve paired it here with crab and a browned butter hollandaise, as well as a few easy-to-gather items, some of which will be growing in yours or a neighbour’s garden.

Whilst the spider crabs, for the local fisherfolk of Hastings, can be a bit of a menace, they are a regular catch, and really should be celebrated, so I encourage us all to get down to the huts and utilise these beauties. At the very least it will help pay for some net repairs!

Serves 4 as a starter or light lunch

Ingredients

• For the salad
• 400g asparagus
• 500g white crab meat
• 4/5 mixed radishes
• 100g of peppery leaves like watercress
• 20g samphire
• violet/primrose/pansy/garlic heads
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• a small amount of chopped garlic and ginger (optional)
• a selection of herbs from dill/chervil/flatleaf parsley/sorrel/chive
• Brown butter hollandaise
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• A of pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk (use the whites for the crystalised flowers)
• 125g butter
• Green oil
• herbs, blanched and frozen
• vegetable oil

Method

This recipe requires preparation a day in advance

Candied flowers

• The day before, candy the flowers. I used primrose and three-cornered leek from the garden. Lightly whip the egg white, then add a splash of water and whisk again. It should be just frothing.
• Using a small, clean paint brush, coat the flower petals on both sides and sprinkle thoroughly with the caster sugar. Gently tap off any excess and lay on some parchment paper overnight.

Green oil

• Take your blanched and frozen herbs and place them in a blender with enough oil to cover and maybe a pinch of salt.
• Blitz on high for 1 or 2 minutes.
• Because you’re using frozen herbs, the oil will take on a whitish colour, but it prevents the herbs from turning brown and will recover a vibrant green as it comes back to room temperature.
• Then pass the oil through a fine sieve/tea strainer and leave to slowly drip through. You can leave this overnight in a cool spot.

Crab meat salad

• If buying fresh, just drop the spider crab claws into boiling water for 8 minutes, refresh in cold water, then crack and pick out the meat. Leave to cool. Alternatively, you can buy a dressed crab, or some picked white crab meat. You can, of course, buy some tinned crab lump meat. If using fresh, you’ll want to pick through the crab meat to make sure there’s no shell.
• Start by finely chopping your herbs, fold into the mayonnaise with the zest of a lemon and a small squeeze of juice, add your crab meat, optional garlic and ginger, and season to taste.
• Thinly slice your mixed radishes, pick some peppery leaves and wash the samphire.

Hollandaise sauce

• For the hollandaise you will need to brown the butter over a medium heat for around 5 minutes until it takes on a biscuity smell.
• Remove from the heat and place into a jug for pouring.
• Heat some water in a pan and while it simmers, place a bowl over the top with a tablespoon of white vinegar and a pinch of salt. When the vinegar has warmed, drop in the egg yolk and whisk until it becomes light and frothy.
• Keep an eye out in case it overcooks. You can remove it from the heat and add a small splash of the hot water from the pan if it starts to dry out.
• Remove the whisked egg from the heat, placing it on a folded tea towel to prevent any slipping, and very slowly pour in the browned butter, in a thin stream, while whisking continuously until the butter is used up.
• Cover and leave close to the stove for warmth.

Asparagus

Blanch the trimmed asparagus in lightly salted water for 2 minutes, drain and ready your serving plates.

To serve

Place your asparagus on serving plates, dollop around your dressed crab meat, place your leaves, radish and samphire, then coat everything in the hollandaise and garnish with your flowers, a few drops of your herb oil and any other herbs that remain.

Chef recommendation

Optional side of Jersey royal potatoes with salt flakes for dredging through the hollandaise makes a more substantial meal!

Instagram: @mkbevents_

Find out nutritional facts and storage tips about this versatile friend, wild garlic

Nutritional benefits

Wild garlic is a fantastic spring seasonal ingredient that offers a milder flavour to our more common regular garlic, but is also another fabulous source of multiple nutritional benefits.

• Some of the benefits of wild garlic include:
• Supporting our heart health through its anti-hypertensive properties and as a source of calcium
• Its antioxidant properties – Vitamins A and C can help reduce the risk of cancer
• Vitamin A is also essential for eye health, especially our night vision
• Vitamin C supports our immune system and fights infections
• Calcium supports our bone and muscle health
• Copper also supports our bones and our skin health

Storage and Saving

Hey pesto!

Make a pesto which lasts for two weeks. Pick up to half a carrier bag of leaves to make plenty of pesto. Swap your usual basil for wild garlic and blitz with oil, pine nuts and sea salt. You can add in the traditional parmesan, or for a vegan version add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Store in the fridge for two weeks in an airtight jar with a small drizzle of oil on the top to seal in the colour and flavour.

Butter wouldn’t melt!

Make wild garlic butter: Blitz up your wild garlic, soften some butter using a wooden spoon and then mix – if using unsalted butter, you may want to add a little sea salt to make the flavour pop. Once mixed in, form patties, or make butter sausages, wrap each one in baking paper and freeze – can be used straight from the freezer to add onto new potatoes, or a tray of roasted veggies, add to mash, use to make garlic bread, or use to make your cauliflower cheese – yum!

Ever wondered why the rats in Alexandra Park are so chill? It’s probably all that wild garlic they’ve been munching on. Wild garlic has been scientifically proven to lower the blood pressure of our furry friends. Yes, really. The plant also has medicinal benefits for humans – more of which later.

Allium ursinum is most commonly known as wild garlic, though some call it ramps, ramsons or bear’s garlic. The wild plant grows in woodlands, meadows and damp places in Europe and parts of North America and Asia.

The ‘ursinum’ bit of wild garlic’s botanical name translates as ‘bear’ in many Eurasian languages. Folk tales suggest the name comes from bears’ predilection for the lush green leaves and its white flowers, which they would eat after hibernation to remove toxins from their sluggish bodies and regain strength. Others argue that it got its bear nickname because the plant emerged at the same time as the bears did.

It’s believed that we have used the plant in cooking and in our medicine cabinets as far back as the Stone Age. Wild garlic was known to early Celts and ancient Romans who referred to it as Herba Salutaris, the healing plant. Recent research has shown that the plant has antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and cardio-protective effects on humans. A 17th-century proverb praises wild garlic’s qualities thus: “Eat leeks in Lide [March] and ramsons in May, and all the year the physicians may play.”

Wild garlic has one of the longest seasons of wild plants and can be found from mid-February to April. It’s at its most lush and pungent around mid-March, which is when you’ll find me in Alexandra Park, picking it (for pesto) from a couple of my favourite spots – both of them by the stream that runs along the side of St Helen’s Road.

Wild garlic grows in fairly large patches and is easy to spot once you know what you’re looking for – its bright green leaves are long and pointed, and its flowers look like bulky dandelions. Be careful though, as wild garlic looks similar to some toxic plants like autumn crocus or lily of the valley. A key distinguishing feature is a strong garlic odour.

Be sure only to pick the leaves though – you can’t really do much with the flowers apart from sprinkling them on salad to look pretty – and be sure not to pull up its bulb root as this is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.

Spots to find wild garlic in and around Hastings include Alexandra Park near Roar Gill, the East Hill and Gillsmans Hill woods.

EDWINA HUGHES

In this edition we’ve been treated to a peek inside Basil’s Fungi Farm with an inspiring recipe from Andrew at the Crown featuring some of the mushrooms grown there. This feels like an ideal opportunity to give a shout out to the more humble mushroom varieties–I’m talking closed cup, chestnut or button mushrooms–all the ones we see on every supermarket shelf. These mushrooms can be a wonderful feature of home cooked meals.

While exotic mushrooms are ideal to take a starring role in a dish, sometimes a more subtle approach is needed. This is particularly true for those of you who simply hate mushrooms! If you are a mushroom hater or have one in your household or immediate circle then you may cast a quick eye over dishes which star mushrooms,, sigh audibly, and flick on to the listings page. But wait! What if I told you that mushrooms can be a brilliant filler for some of your meaty ground beef dishes? What if I explained that replacing some of the meat in a lasagna, bolognaise or cottage pie with the humble ‘shroom could mean squeezing considerably more veg into the meal, enhancing the meaty taste with some smoky umami and doing a little for the climate too? That in fact mushrooms can enhance flavour rather than take away. Would you be interested?– Well, here’s hoping…

Because from a climate perspective, swapping a little ground beef for mushrooms can make a big difference to the climate impactfulness of a dish. While there are lots of brilliant arguments for veganism and vegetarianism, most of us have grown up eating meat, enjoy it and want to continue to do so. What’s the role for us? A big one actually! It turns out that because about 90% of the UK population eat meat, if we could all just eat a little less meat every week, we’d be making tons and tons (of CO₂) difference!

Smuggling more mushrooms into a dish will increase the proportion of veg in there–a nutritional plus- while delivering a flavour hit and you will be doing your bit for the climate with the food choices you make. Just something to consider next time you’re cooking up a storm!

KAYLA POWER

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to grow mushrooms in an urban setting, then read on, because this process is happening just down the road from you, right in the heart of Hastings! Welcome to Basil’s Fungi Farm.

Basil’s Fungi Farm is run by Robbie and named after one of his favourite cats – Basil. The Farm is tucked away in The Yard in Hastings. Once you leave the yard and step inside through a curtain of plastic sheeting, you are immediately greeted by the cool damp air of the grow room. The room is filled with wonderfully shaped and coloured mushrooms from floor to ceiling. The Farm grows and sells a variety of gourmet mushrooms focusing particularly on Oyster, Lion’s Mane and Coral Tooth varieties. Basil’s supplies a range of local grocers and farm shops, including the St Leonards Grocery and J. Fountain & Sons and the Michelin Green star restaurant The Smallholding in Cranbrook.

On a recent visit to the Farm, Robbie walked us through the entirely hand-crafted enterprise. Firstly, Robbie makes all his own fruiting blocks from a mixture of sawdust, soy hull and water to make what looks like a compact bag of sawdust. Once mixed, these fruiting blocks are then sterilised with a handmade hot steam generator, removing any mould or yeast present, preparing them for the spores. Next, a home grown grain spawn is added to the now sterile fruiting box. Then, the mixture is stored in a heated room to incubate. During incubation, the spores grow into mycelium – the root system from which mushrooms bloom, which in turn grows and expands. Once it has grown enough to produce a crop of mushrooms, it is moved to the grow room. By the way, you know it’s ready when the whole bag that has started out brown has turned almost totally white from the mycelium growth! The grow room is the final destination for the production process and must be kept between 15 to 18 degrees, otherwise the mushrooms can be stunted and inconsistent in quality. This is where the magic happens. At this cooler temperature the mycelium blooms the mushrooms which are then gently plucked off the block, weighed, packaged and delivered to grocers and local restaurants and pubs to feature in some of your favourite dishes!

^{Photos: Robbie Kelly}

Recently Robbie has been experimenting with creating local varieties of mushroom – by foraging and picking local mushrooms it’s been possible for him to clone and produce these at scale – local varieties include a native velvet shank mushroom and a blue oyster mushroom found in Alexandra Park! (featured in one of the photos). The whole process is not dissimilar to a fantastic chemistry lab with amazing and delicious results.

Robbie hopes to set up an online ordering system soon when you’ll be able to buy mushrooms ready to eat straight from the farm but for now you can experiment at home with a‘‘grow kit’ and literally grow your own.

If you would like to keep up with Basil’s Fungi Farm, check out their Instagram @basilsfungifarm

Serves 2
Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Spice mix for mushrooms:

15g paprika,3g cayenne,10g ground cumin,10g onion powder,10g garlic powder, 9g coarseground black pepper, 8g fine sea salt, 5g ground ginger, 100g flour (wheat, corn, gluten free, rice etc to suit), 100g water

Salad: 

1 kohlrabi,1 cucumber, ½ bunch mint, ½ bunch coriander

Dressing/pickle:

100g apple cider or white wine vinegar, 100g sugar, 100g water, a thumb of sliced ginger (or 2 tsps ground)

Preparation method:

Mushroom prep:

• Use 3 to 4 large flat mushrooms per person. I recommend Oyster, Lion’s Mane or Coral.
• Weigh out your flour and mix with equal weight of water to create a batter.
• Weigh out the other spices and mix thoroughly.
• Dip your mushrooms in the batter and then dredge in the spice mix.
• Shallow fry the spiced mushrooms in a frying pan on a medium heat, turning frequently to ensure even cooking. Drain the mushrooms on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Season with sea salt.

Salad prep:

• Combine pickled dressing ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Cool to room temperature and pour over sliced and peeled kohlrabi ribbons (a mandolin works best but a peeler is also good). Add the fresh herbs.
• Stack your crispy mushrooms on top of your sweet and sour pickled salad and enjoy!

Chef hack: Source the best mushrooms you can find. The Crown uses locally grown exotic varieties cultivated at Basil’s Fungi Farm, based in the Yard, Queens Rd. If you want something similar from a grocer/supermarket, look for oyster mushrooms, shitake or large portobello. If you want a quicker readymade spice mix, pick up a jar of cajun seasoning or fajita spice, they will work just as well. Save any leftover spice mix, which is gluten free and plant based, to use with other types of vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli.

Andrew Swan and James Favell are chefs at The Crown Hastings, @thecrownhastings If you like the sound of this recipe and want to try it dining out; the Crown is currently serving ‘Crispy chilli coral & oyster mushrooms, pickled kohlrabi, mint, ginger & cucumber salad, mushroom satay’.

Run by dynamic and friendly couple Nick and Nicky, formerly patrons of the beloved Stag Inn, the Noah’s Goat team have a real passion for wine. Their emphasis is on bringing higher quality wines to the community at prices not dissimilar to the supermarket, whilst also stocking an incredible list of curated wines that will keep the pickiest of wine connoisseurs on cloud nine.

Open Thursday to Sunday, Noah’s Goat is a welcoming wine shop during the day, where you can chat with Nick and Nicky and get advice on their well stocked cellar. In the evening, it transforms itself into a cool and cosy wine bar that hosts funky music events, quizzes, wine tastings and even private events on request. The team are passionate about delivering a comfortable wine bar experience and are experimenting with a menu featuring high quality cheese and charcuterie, as well as a hot dish of the day.

For their wine choice, Nick suggests one of their most popular bottles of Southern Italian red, the vibrant and punchy Archivo Aglianico IGT, priced affordably at £14.

This complex and fruity wine, with notes of fresh vibrant berries and hints of spice, is the perfect medium-style wine for a midweek glass or a light weekend dinner. Hailing from Benevento in Calabria, and made from 100% Aglianico grapes, Archivo is a perfectly balanced and surprisingly nuanced wine from one of the lesser appreciated regions of Italian wine making.

Aglianico, despite being widely considered one of the top three native grape varieties of Italy and often referred to as the ‘barolo of the south’ is sadly one of the lesser known grapes, lost in a focus on higher priced Northern Italian wines.

Archivo is a great example of what can be achieved with this lesser-known Calabrian gem,

demonstrating what a good Southern Italian wine can offer when handled well with love andcare.

Nick suggests Archivo would be perfectly paired with a simple vegetable pasta dish and suggests roasting some aubergines and courgettes with a rich and warm tomato sauce for the perfect vegetarian accompaniment. Alternatively, for a more carnivorous audience, I’d recommend a no-nonsense Neapolitan pasta classic, spaghetti alla puttanesca, a rich and fiery dish packed with capers, anchovies and chili, as the perfect pairing.

So, during these cold, wet weeks, as we all wait for winter to finally wind down, why not pop down to Noah’s Goat to pick up a cheeky midweek bottle of wine?

Or better yet, stay a while, and as the team like to say ‘Get your goat on’ with a selection from their finely curated by-the-glass menu, or for only £10 corkage pop open a bottle of their more extensive shelf selection. Pair that with a light bite–charcuterie board, pâtés or a selection of cheeses. With what Noah’s Goat has to offer, going local has never been easier or more tempting!

Noah’s Goat is located at 68 George Street and is open Thursday through Sunday. For more information visit @noahs_goat_hastings on instagram.

We didn’t have a television in my house when I was growing up in the 1970s, so I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who did. My gran loved soaps, and Coronation Street featured heavily in my early years’ viewing diet.

I was reared on images of a strong, if often fractious, Weatherfield community, where people lived their lives on a street blessed with a corner shop and a pub, the Rovers Return, a traditional backstreet boozer that that was used by everyone, irrespective of age, background, ethnicity or class, to share gossip, while away dull days, and to mark major moments of joy and sadness.It even served food, a rarity at the time, with Betty Turpin’s hotspot providing a proper plateful in an era when bar food often meant a pickled egg and pork scratchings.

These days, it is pubs that don’t do food that are the rarity, and pitching the menu just right is an art form.

Over the last few years, the Prince Albert on Cornwallis Street–arguably the cosiest of local bars–has tried various food formats, and for me, its latest take on a modern pub menu, with a stellar Sunday roast line-up, is the best yet. It’s been put together by Roo Walton, formerly of the much loved Marina Fountain, who now holds court in the pub’s basement kitchen from Thursday through Sunday.

I first tried his food during Oktoberfest, when he cooked up an A grade veal schnitzel (surely due for a return) and I’ve been in a few times since, most recently with a tasting crew large enough to test pretty much the whole menu in one setting. Or ‘doing the Roo’ as we call it.

The cauliflower bhaji with coconut and mint raita opened the batting and presented well. The crisp batter, pitch perfect seasoning and generous portion size attracted strong praise and provided a big and boisterous start to the meal.

The curried squash soup, with coriander, ginger and coconut milk came with an equally gutsy personality, earning broad beams from our hungry tasters on a damp, cold night.

The creamy, delicately spiced chickpea dahl, up next, packed a more subtle punch, but was no less seductive, with its accompanying crunchy asian slaw generating a thumbs up in its own right.

The meat eaters around the table were similarly impressed. The Southern fried chicken burger in a brioche bun with chipotle mayo and pickles, served with a side of fries, was judged incredibly tasty and top trump, and the chuck brisket patty and Monterey jack cheese burger was nicely seasoned and juicy but not lubricious. My deep fried pork belly croquettes maintained the high standard, mainlining pure comfort food joy.

We rounded off the feast with two fishy plates, a smooth almost mousse-like smoked mackerel pate and piping hot cod goujons with aioli, palate cleansing bites that left us purring with pleasure.

We washed the meal down with a couple of bottles of very obliging rioja.

With its roaring fire, warm welcome, friendly service and fair pricing, The Prince Albert proved to be the perfect host, and was deservedly busy early on a rainy Thursday evening. It feels like a proper local, and we’ll be back.

The Prince Albert is at 28 Cornwallis Street, Hastings TN34 1SS. It is open daily from 4pm (Monday through Thursday) and from noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Its kitchen is open from Thursday through Sunday.

Like the stock market, Queens Road goes up and down. 

When we rocked up in town back in 2012, things were still pretty grim, and, in the decade since, there’s been a definite nudge upwards, quality wise, with the arrival of new businesses such as the legendary Brewing Brothers bar, The Imperial, the snazzy hair’n’snacks’n’cocktails hangout Hare and Hound and the arrival of two bookshops, Bookbuster and Printed Matter, now offering LP sales too.  

And the good news is that things have further improved in recent weeks following the opening of the intriguingly named Pickled at Walleys, at number 191. This revives the name of a long-established ironmongery business occupying the same building between the two world wars. 

Formerly a launderette, the building was sold five years ago, and, after an extended period when it lay empty whilst extensive renovation took place, Pickled opened its doors for a soft launch at the back end of November, with a pleasingly eclectic deli-cum- general store upstairs and, downstairs in the basement, a very light and stylish restaurant serving generous, tasty, competitively priced Greek food.

With no street level view, there was an obvious risk that Pickled might struggle to attract attention in our increasingly vibrant local food economy, but all the evidence suggests large numbers of us are making the trip downtown, and downstairs to Pickled. Most importantly, they are coming back for more.

My original introduction to the business came from a work colleague who knows her food, eats out often, and positively raved about it as an exciting new opening.

This set me scuttling in for a very obliging Saturday brunch with my eldest son. His baked feta in filo pastry drizzled with honey and sesame seeds was excellent, my melitzano, an aubergine, garlic and cheese ensemble, exceeded my high expectations and the complimentary olive tapenade starter and palate cleanser yoghurt added to our sense of a highly affordable pleasure. For those of us who like a drink with their meal, the wine was pleasing too, with a carafe of frisky Australian red checking in at a competitive £9.

I went back with another work colleague a fortnight later, and in the gap between visits, it was evident that the word was out that Pickled is a really rather special find, with all tables taken by twelve thirty on that second trip. 

Once again, the team delivered a blinder, handling orders deftly despite the high volume of customers, and creating a mood that is relaxed, informal and very welcoming. There’s a real sense of a home from home and a definite hint of the neighbourhood diner seen in Europe or New York which gets used regularly and becomes part of our everyday lives. 

The arrival of a business like Pickled at Walleys is great news for those of us who like a proper lunch and prefer to spend our money in an independent business rather than a chain. It extends the offer in the town centre and is a sure sign that Queens Road is on the up again. 

If you haven’t sampled it yet, make it a new year resolution to visit soon. 

Pickled at Walleys is at 191 Queens Road, Hastings. For winter opening hours, check the website: walleys.co.uk or Instagram page.

So during this dreary month, if you’re not planning a completely dry January, why don’t you pop down to Beak & Tail, located at 34 Robertson St near the town centre, and try their spectacular Raboso Frizzante, a perfect wine and meat pairing to keep the winter blues away. 

Beak & Tail are a local high-quality and affordable family-owned butchers, winners of The Best Butchers of the Southeast award 2024. Their fine selection of wines is tailored and curated by Sean Conneely to pair with their quality-sourced cuts of meat.

Sean, wine enthusiast and butcher, suggested the highly popular and affordably priced, Raboso Frizzante IGT Veneto (£11.25). It’s a light, refreshing, and accessible red made in a dry sparkling style, with an almost sherbert-like quality. Capturing light summer fruits, with a particular essence of morello cherry, this surprising sparkling red is bound to be a crowd pleaser and would be best bought in multiples for a dinner party and served chilled. 

Made in North-Eastern Italy, in Paese near Treviso, Raboso is the staple grape of the Veneto region, though it is little known internationally. Known traditionally as ‘Raboxo’ for its angry and young temperament, this grape packs a flavourful and nuanced punch that is sure to keep both expert red wine lovers and novices happy, especially when in the surprising and exciting sparkling style.

Sean suggests this frisky Italian wine would pair perfectly with a summer barbeque and cuts of cured meat or grilled pork, but during these cold winter months he suggests pairing the Raboso with a one-inch cut of ribeye for a perfect damp January dinner duo. 

He suggests cooking the steak in a searingly hot cast iron pan (four minutes each side or to your taste) and then seasoning with butter, garlic and rosemary for a luxurious gutsy dark winter’s day meal which will pair perfectly with the light cutting fruit flavour of the Raboso.

At the incredible price of £11.25 this wine is only slightly more expensive than most supermarket wines and is sure to wow your friends and family, enthusiasts and novices alike. 

Eat Seasonally: in December, seasonal vegetables include squash, leeks, swedes, cauliflowers, kale and Brussels sprouts, so the prices will be lower than at other times of year. You can also find cheap squash and pumpkins left over from Halloween. Supermarkets also stock up on Christmas products like cranberries, smoked salmon and nuts and price them competitively. It’s well worth checking the special offers at Aldi and Lidl: for example, last week, satsumas were the Lidl ‘pick of the week’.

Cultivate your store cupboard: dried food goes a long way and works out cheaper than fresh goods. What can beat a trip to Wonderfill or Trinity Wholefoods to stock up on dried fruit, seeds, beans and pulses, grains and pasta? Having sundried tomatoes in your larder means you can rustle up some antipasto, a pasta sauce or a salad even if you haven’t managed to go shopping. 

A recent study by researchers at UCL and the University of Oxford identified beans and peas as “the best meat and milk replacement from nutritional, health, environmental, and cost perspectives”. My favourites are black beans (great with pumpkin in a chilli), and butter beans or cannellini (good in a Spanish chorizo stew). You can also use lentils as a cheap, healthy replacement for meat – instead of mince in shepherd’s pie, for instance. 

Yellow stickers: at this time of year there are a lot of them, and not just on ready meals – even cheese gets sold at knockdown prices. Salads, vegetables and baked goods are often reduced while still in tip top condition, especially the day before a Bank Holiday. Be a bit more wary about buying soft fruit (which may taste fermented), chicken and fish. Check out ‘yellow sticker’ groups on social media.

Most supermarkets reduce items two or three times during the day with final reductions of between 70% and 90% generally around 5pm (4pm at M&S). Morrisons recommend yellow sticker fans visit their stores at 8pm when in-store cooked products are “dramatically reduced”. After you return home with your haul of leftover tortillas, spinach, tomatoes, etc, clear out the freezer and make large quantities of curries, soup, stews and bakes. Keep some for supper and freeze the rest.

Bulk things out: I’m known for buying small amounts of expensive products and adding to them, so they feed the whole family. There are local delicatessens and takeaways that sell intensely flavoured salads, stews and other dishes. So, if I buy a small potato salad with a wonderful garlic sauce, I’ll add more potatoes. Lebanese Green Beans in an intense tomato sauce taste even better with extra beans from my allotment. It means you can feed four instead of two people.

Less pricey alternatives: interestingly, supermarkets often price things differently in different aisles. Go for spices in the ‘world food’ section rather than the ‘herbs and spices’ aisle where they may cost twice as much. Stores tend to position the cheaper items on the lower shelves and more expensive items at eye-level. And don’t be put off by cheaply priced ‘own brands’; according to Good Housekeeping, Aldi’s all-butter mince pies at £2.29 for six are the best ones around.

Also, think about what you waste money on. I’ve started to reduce the amount of cheese I buy and ramp up the pickles and alternative spreads to cut costs.

Use the ‘Too Good to Go’ app: several local supermarkets, grocers, bakeries and restaurants have signed up to this scheme where leftover food is sold at cheap prices. You reserve a bag of food on the app and collect it at the end of the day. For example, Costa Coffee sells bags of pastries, cakes and sandwiches worth £10.00 for £3.00. It can be a bit of a lucky dip, because you don’t always know what you’ll get in your ‘surprise bag’, but you can find excellent bargains from some independent local restaurants like Nur. 

Share the load: potluck suppers are amazing! People enjoy being asked to bring food to parties and community or family events if they have clear instructions. Because our family is now so large, one of my offspring came up with the idea of a baked potato night this year. The idea is that we bake a heap of potatoes, and everyone brings a filling of their choice. This way even the fussiest family members are catered for. 

Leave things till the last minute: if you can hold your nerve, you could try to bag a bargain when most people have already done their shopping. Shops often slash prices around 2-3pm on Christmas Eve (New Year’s Eve for party food), although things can be a bit chaotic. The danger is that the most popular products may have sold out – so you need to be flexible. 

After Christmas is a good time to buy leftover turkeys (a friend of mine buys two and keeps them in her freezer for Easter). You can often find panettone going cheap – perfect for panettone bread-and-butter pudding to cheer up a cold January day.

Merry Christmas!

Warm up this windy winter with this nutrition-packed recipe for Green Thai soup using chard – also known as Swiss chard. Read how to boost your gut health with these humble greens! And boost your brain health with a spot of journaling!

Journaling is that free flow and expressive way of writing that can help you get those thoughts and worries out onto the page. Journaling – a recipe you might say, for feeling a little more positive for the wintry months ahead. 

Fun Facts

• The ancient Romans, Greeks, and Arabs ate chard, but it was a Swiss botanist by the name of W. D. J. Koch who classified the plant in the 1800s. Thus, the name of his homeland became part of the plant’s common name.
• It’s a relative of the beetroot.
• It can grow up to 28 inches high.

Nutrition info:

• Chard is a powerhouse of nutrients, and is a good source of fibre: 
• Vitamin K – supports heart health and lowering blood pressure
• Vitamin A – supports healthy skin and good eye health
• Vitamins C & E – powerful antioxidants supporting against the risk of cancer and oxidative damage
• Calcium – supports bone health
• Fibre – supports your health

Green Thai Soup

(Serves 6) 

This is a great soup for supporting the immune system, as well as being very warming. Full fat Greek yoghurt also brings additional probiotic benefits for your gut health.

The chard is around £1.65 for 200g, with kale and spinach being cheaper: 85p and £1.35 respectively – this will vary depending on where you buy your ingredients and the time of year.

Ingredients: 

• 1 large onion, peeled and diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 cm of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 4 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 150g curly kale, washed and tough stems removed
• 200g Swiss chard, washed and chopped, stems removed and chopped
• 300g spinach, washed and chopped
• 1 tsp dried coriander 
• 1 large green chilli, kept whole but sliced part way lengthwise in half
• 3 stalks of lemongrass (remove tough bottoms and tops)
• 1 ½ litres vegetable stock
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• sea salt
• a good handful of fresh coriander, stalks and leaves chopped 
• 4 tbsp Greek yoghurt or coconut milk
• red chilli, cut into slices for serving

Method:

1. Heat the coconut oil in a large pan and then add the onion and carrot and gently cook.
2. Add the ginger and garlic to the pan and mix well into the vegetables.
3. Wash all the green veg and remove any tough stalks, add to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the dried coriander, the fresh green chilli and the lemongrass. Mix in before adding the stock.
5. Let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes then add the lime juice and zest, some salt to taste and most of the fresh coriander.
6. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
7. Take off the heat, remove the lemongrass and chilli and, using a hand blender, blitz until smooth. (If you would like extra heat, remove the stalk of the chilli and return to the pan to blitz with the rest of the soup.)
8. Finally, stir in the Greek yoghurt or coconut milk.
9. Serve with a little more yoghurt, some coriander leaves and a few pieces of red chilli.

Substitutes

• No fresh greens? Use frozen spinach or other greens (or mix some fresh and some frozen). 
• You can also use dried ginger or lemongrass – you don’t get quite the same level of zing, but you do get the flavour and the nutrient benefits.

Storage

This soup is fine to keep in the fridge for 2-3 days, but it also freezes brilliantly.

At first, I wasn’t sure…

In Hastings Town Centre, operating from an elegantly appointed trailer, stands Café La Mer. Marc Wioland is the skilled barista producing some excellent artisan coffee from this prominent position.

Marc had an unusual route to becoming a barista. He used to be a prison officer and was involved in a rehabilitation scheme to train inmates who were up for release in the skills of making coffee. The coffee company sponsoring the scheme trained Marc in the secrets of the barista, and he trained the inmates. In his words: “Redemption and rehabilitation”.

Why the name Café La Mer or Café the Sea? Simple: Marc is part French. He says: “Café La Mer was created in memory of my dad, who passed three years ago whilst the classic French song La Mer was playing.” Subsequently, Marc came down to Hastings from Aylesbury and converted an existing van which was operating as a Greek street food outlet as well as taking on the lease for the space it inhabited – right in the centre of town.

He took the trailer to a workshop and with specialist mechanics, restored, painted it and adapted it for coffee making.

The vivid blue and white design with elegant typography evokes cafés in the resorts of the South of France with a touch of 50’s modernism. I am reminded of the visual landscape of Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, a stylish, surreal and comedic silent film made in 1953. It was directed by and starred Jacques Tati as the bumbling M. Hulot who wanders about a French seaside resort and, slightly confused by the modern world, inadvertently causes havoc.

It was an inspiration for Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean films, and perhaps an inspiration for me ‘Beanie’ – the Secret Barista. I must admit, recently I have been bumbling around this seaside resort in my search for ‘Coffee Nirvana’.

Marc has built up an impressive following of devoted regulars who have turned their backs on the chain coffee shops that circle his van. He has brought us a little flavour of French holiday culture and placed it in the middle of our seaside town. When the weather allows, it’s the perfect place to stop by for an aromatic espresso and locally baked pastries (delicious croissants of course) and a chat on your way to the beach. 

How very continental.

On the corner of Bohemia Road and North Road, I came upon Dovetail Café. Named after a dovetail joint – an intricate way of connecting two pieces of wood. A sign outside declares, “Sweets, Sandwiches, Drinks, Design, Garden and Building Talk.” Intrigued, I stepped inside.

Owners Leo and Pamela arrived in St Leonards intending to get involved with creating homes and spaces in the local community but, according to Leo, a trained barista, “Everyone asked for good coffee.” So, they tackled that first. As experts on building restoration as well as coffee, Leo and Pamela run training courses on both subjects.

Leo works in a ‘commanding’ position with a panoramic view of Bohemia Road. He has an exacting, scientific approach to coffee-making and is happy to give tutorials to customers, including me. 

He has a creative, unconventional streak and wears a ‘Bohemian’ badge that evokes the young jazz & blues Beatniks who hung out in coffee bars in Soho in 50s and 60s Britain. Too young to drink in pubs, the coffee bars gave younger, arty types somewhere different to go – with juke boxes or even live bands.

Post-war Italian migrants set up these cafés and brought with them the espresso method of making coffee. The Brits particularly appreciated the way the new espresso machines were able to foam milk – so the “Cappuccino Bars” took off.

Dovetail serves all kinds of coffees – including a ‘cortado’ (half espresso, half milk) which, according to one customer, is better than any you find in Spain.

Speaking to Leo, I learn that he and Pam carefully research and test every ingredient that goes into their drinks. They favour a ‘classic’ four-blend Italian espresso. In other words, one that you can “chuck a load of milk at” and still taste the coffee.

He explains, “If you drink a double espresso of single-origin coffee, you’re hit by one thing after another. That’s lovely, but do you need that? So, for our house coffee we chose something more ‘everyday’, not lacking subtlety, but not taking you on a weird flavour trip through the forest.”

I drank an aromatically fruitful cup and chatted with Leo and his ‘regulars’. I realised that just like the four-blend Italian espresso, intricate connections are always happening at Dovetail Café.