Eat Like A Chef

What is the perfect recipe for a great food tourism experience?

1 informative and friendly host
4-6 fun fellow travellers, to taste
1 cup of local culture
1 handful of interesting sites
A pinch of education
750ml wine (or your preferred drink of choice)
1 gutful of delicious food

Chef Liam Barker comes close to achieving my perfect bake.

Last weekend I was invited to test out Liam’s recipe for Eat Like A Chef, a new immersive dining experience that he is launching via AirBnB experiences. The idea behind the new offering by AirBnB is to connect travellers with passionate locals who can offer an immersive experience, which introduces them to parts of the city that they would be unlikely to explore on a typical tour.

The host

Liam was a great host. He made everyone feel very comfortable and welcome. He managed to strike a good balance between educator and companion – sharing information, teaching us new things and answering any questions, but also just being himself and having a chat with everyone in between stops and around the dinner table.

Fellow travellers
This is a part of the tour that the host doesn’t have much control over, but numbers are important. You want the tour to be intimate, but not so intimate that it feels awkward. For this reason, I reckon the perfect numbers are 6-8. We were 7, which was great.

The host obviously can’t control who those people are and whether they will get along, but the content of the tour is likely to attract people with similar interests and a friendly host can help the dynamic and encourage people to make new acquaintances.

Local culture
Liam’s concept is interesting – as well as eating his delicious food, guests also help with the shopping and cooking.

The tour began in Angel, where we bought produce and wines at some of his favourite shops. We started at Moxon’s Fishmongers, which he explained is well known for its range of fresh seafood, 80% of which comes from British waters. 

We then moved onto Paul A. Young Fine Chocolates. Liam told us that all the chocolates are made on site and that Paul has won a number of awards for his new and innovative flavours. I was unsure about some of the more daring options – tomato and basil and something with blue cheese (eww), but there are plenty of traditional options. I went for a safe salted caramel and a more adventurous salted nut and beer.

Next stop was a beautiful grocery shop on Chapel Market for the fruit and veg, then a (rather long) walk along Upper St to The Sampler to pick up some wines. 

Interesting sites
For an immersive local experience I think Angel is a great place to explore. It is a beautiful part of town that visitors are unlikely to come to otherwise and, if they did, they probably wouldn’t find the shops Liam took us to. 

I think Liam might want to think about adding a stop or two between the grocery store and the wine shop to break up the walk a bit, but otherwise I was pleased to discover a few new food shops not far from where I live. I will definitely be going back to Moxon’s – the quality and freshness of the fish was exceptional.

Education

Liam's main aim is to educate his international guests on the quality of British produce and wines. I think this is a great idea, as I think a lot of tourists still associate British food with stodgy pub grub, like pie and mash. As for the wine, most have never even heard of, let alone tasted, English wine.

The other aspect of educating his guests is through getting them involved in the cooking. I think he chose a good balance of interesting techniques and ideas, such as salt baking the fish, braising gem lettuce and wielding a blowtorch, and on the other hand keeping things simple.

Liam had sent me the menu in advance and looking at it I could see that he shared my passion for good quality food cooked simply. For this reason I wasn’t sure how much I was going to learn, but I was pleasantly surprised. I learned that:

• Salt-baking a fish is considerably easier when you add the salt to whisked egg whites

• Roasting radishes is actually a good idea and putting them on crunchy rye bread toast with roasted courgettes tastes much better than you might expect

• Chef’s are obsessed with blow torches for a reason: they are fun to play with and they make everything look pretty

Wine (or preferred drink of choice)
I was particularly excited about the English wines. It is not just foreign visitors who need education on this. Many of my English friends haven't tried them either and are surprised when I tell them how good it can be.

England has won a lot of awards for its sparkling wine, which comes as a shock to most people. Part of the reason it is so good is that the soil in the places where the award-winners are from has the same qualities as the soil in the Champagne region in France, namely that it is quite chalky.

I often like English sparkling better than Champagne, because it isn't as sharp. The Hambledon Classic Cuvee is a perfect example of this – it is a brut, so quite dry, but not overly acidic. Light and elegant with citrus notes.  

I think Liam slightly underestimated how much we could drink, but my friend and I each bought a bottle along, so we were all nicely lubricated.

Delicious food
After we did the cooking we all helped ourselves to a generous plateful of fabulous food that we had all had a hand in making.

My favourite was the salt baked sea bass, which was fresh, flaky and exceptionally moist. Liam explained that the salt crust is one of the best ways of cooking fish because it keeps all the moisture in.

The other dishes complimented the fish well without stealing the show. Fresh, understated, simple cooking, which is really much more British than fish and chips in my view.

There is something special about this communal approach to cooking and eating. It makes the whole experience more enjoyable. It provides a great environment for creating and developing new friendships, for learning and sharing. I would happily pay for an event like this in my own city, so I imagine that a tourist would find it even more rewarding as a way to explore a new one. 

Eat Like A Chef, AirBnB experiences, £130 inc. 5.5 hour tour, all food and wine

Comments

[Ma]

I've never heard of such a thing. It sounds really innovative and a great way for people who love food to hook up

[Vix]

Yeah it was a really great idea, as is AirBnB Experiences. Will definitely be checking them out when I am in Europe over the summer.