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Love it or hate it: Marmite at The Underground Restaurant

May 31, 2009 8 Comments Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

Prepping the fish…

Gary Rhodes coffee icecream recipe with liquid glucose, which I’ve never used before

Prepping the veg

Marmite on linseed toast with crispy seaweed: the caramel flavour of the seaweed and salty Marmite worked well together

Thyme and garlic butter with Marmite baked mushroom

Rocket, spinach and watercress salad with Marmite and lime vinaigrette, plus violas to decorate

A crowded room, summer nights

Empty Bloody ‘marmitey’ drinks

Welsh rarebit smoked haddock with marmite roasted tomatoes and green parsley, the colours of a Marmite jar

Coffee ice with chocolate Marmite sauce, a kind of deconstructed frappuccino

Vintage shoes

Guest in vintage dress and Porridge lady in shell-like silk

Petra chocstar and her crew. Petra was going to smother herself in fake tan in homage to Marmite…
It had to be done. With a moniker like MsMarmitelover I had to do a Marmite evening (and I didn’t even offer the option of Vegemite). But I promise it was a one time thing …
This evening’s dishes probably took more practising than any other night. Marmite is such a strong distinctive taste and I was conscious of one guest writing to me, only half joking, saying that he would bring his high blood pressure medicine just in case…
The menu was rather daunting…Marmite in every course. My approach was to use Marmite as a seasoning, as a replacement for salt. In terms of matching flavours, I thought of Marmite as akin to soy sauce, which is why I conceived the idea of adding lime juice to the Marmite vinaigrette. 
The smoked haddock rarebit needed several goes before I was happy with it. I abandoned Gary Rhodes recipe, too complicated and it looked messy and unappetising. In the end I merely spread English mustard and Marmite on each undyed piece of haddock then grated cheddar cheese on top, adding green pickled peppercorns.
I also, as well as thinking of Marmite as an ingredient, thought of the iconic pot and label design when presenting dishes therefore the main dish was yellow, brown, green and red.
The Bloody Mary Marmite drink went down well, one table asked for seconds.
On another table, one man and his Spanish friend admitted to hating Marmite, but they enjoyed the Marmite on toast appetiser.
Two people cancelled by email at 19.35 pm asking if they could come another time.

“Very sorry but it really is too late” I replied.

A home restaurant has no walk-in business. I’ve bought and cooked the ingredients already. It’s a fixed menu. The theme was posted up weeks ago.

Anna @PorridgeLady did front of house superbly for a first timer. It was an eye-opener for her in many ways. We discussed how it is seen as a profession in France. One has to assume a certain body language, upright and confident. You serve but must remain in control.

“You taught me that I have to focus on getting the dishes out when they are hot and not get waylaid by customers asking for, say, water. As the evening went on, I realised that I must make eye contact and keep my head up, be polite but firm”. 

Unlike in a normal restaurant, there isn’t a team coordinating things, on this occasion just myself and Porridge lady. We discussed what makes a good team; one element is that while front of house must let the kitchen know if there are problems they should not stress the chef who has enough on their plate.
Paul A Young provided little packets of Marmite truffles for everyone. Calling me over, Paul was convinced that another guest was somebody famous. Peering over,  this guest did resemble Roman Abramovich, the owner of ‘Chelski’ football team who had just lost at Wembley, up the road. What a coup! I thought. He comes to my living room to drown his sorrows. I sidled up to this guest, but when a posh English accent came out from his mouth rather than a Russian accent, this fond fantasy fell away…
One thing did surprise me…after all those Marmite courses, several guests did in fact want the hot Marmite drink at the end rather than coffee…now that’s lovin’ it! 
People did drink more water than usual. The weather or the salt?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Helen

    May 31, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    I think you did really well to get that Marmite menu out. Personally I love it too. I’m going to give the salad dressing a go.

    Reply
  2. Kavey

    May 31, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    Inspired menu, would have loved to make this one, but we were out of London for the weekend.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    May 31, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    Chelsea won! I only know this because my flatmate is an Everton WAG. Noooot too much of a marmite fan, but I’m glad it went well. And good call on the last-minute cancellation, that was not on.

    Reply
  4. JohnnyFox

    June 1, 2009 at 9:10 am

    You thought he was Ambramovitch, I thought he was more Putin-like. Puttinesca, perhaps.

    Reply
  5. MsMarmitelover

    June 1, 2009 at 9:12 am

    You are right Johnny! Yes he was very puttinesca!
    Hows the blood pressure?
    x

    Reply
  6. JohnnyFox

    June 1, 2009 at 1:23 pm

    responding to treatment, thanks 🙂

    I should have said we all really loved the linseed toasts with crispy seaweed, and I could certainly have eaten a second mushroom although I missed the pre-advertised marmite creme fraiche. Did that not ‘work’ in the experimental trials?

    Mr Abramovitch/Putinesca necked 3 of our marmite vodka cocktails too, which added to his Russian credentials.

    Reply
  7. MsMarmitelover

    June 1, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    Found creme fraiche in fridge afterwards.

    If you particularly like something, ask front of house to have a word with chef, she might have some extras!

    Reply
  8. Michelle Newell

    June 1, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    Glad you loved my vintage shoes! They almost fit with your marmite colour scheme 😉

    Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

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#travel #baking #msmarmitelover #santiagodecompostela #caminoway #walking #hiking #dessert #spanishrecipes #spanishdessert #galicianrecipes #glutenfree @caminoways
Instagram post 2183492230186882117_28574231 Horse drawn carriage in Vienna known as a ‘fiaker’. The drivers are famous for being particularly grumpy which is a Viennese quality. It’s about 50 euros a ride. This is the second time I’ve visited Vienna, and I think it’s one of my favourite cities. The architecture, the coffee houses, the dirndl dresses, the art of Klimt and shiele. Right now I’m on a river cruise on the blue Danube with @amawaterways from Vienna to Budapest. This is a double wide luxury cruise. You can see the golden trees of autumn lining the banks and beaches. The ship sways in the night, you hear the waves lap against the sides (I always keep the door open to hear the night). Today we arrive in Budapest. I have to admit this is a night respite after my arduous Camino walk. Still behind on notes and blogposts and recipes from my travels but I love to be perpetually on the move. Bruce Chatwin says the natural state of a human being is to be nomadic. I rather agree. #traveller #igtravel #bluedanube #rivercruise #easterneurope #danube #vienna #msmarmitelover #foodietraveller #sachertorte recipe coming up on my return #horses #austria
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Instagram post 2178475417149561889_28574231 We made it! Hemos llegado! #santiagodecompostella #pilgrims #knackered #camino #cava #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #sisters
Instagram post 2177561799364984754_28574231 Not gonna lie, this has been physically very tough. As my sister says ‘ we are from an indoors family from an indoors country’. Yesterday I did the longest day yet- officially 18km- but I did 35,000 steps! I’m small so I have a small step. So I converted steps into km and I did 27 km. that’s what it felt like. My legs throbbed all night, I had to take paracetamol to get to sleep. Have I had any life changing thoughts? Or spiritual revelations? Not a one. Well, maybe one which is I must get fitter. I mustn’t stop after this pilgrimage. I must get my health in order. Being freelance and working mostly on my own, it’s had to give myself time to look after myself. To assign time for fitness. Being freelance means never ending guilt about not searching for work. Never having stress free time off, as you don’t get paid holidays, sick pay or paid during national holidays such as Christmas. There is always a certain level of low key stress. Of keeping your self esteem up when you aren’t earning. The envy of others getting lauded for work you have pioneered. But I love my freedom! My opportunities to be creative. #thoughts #freelance #caminodesantiago #hiking #fitness #pilgrimage #spain #galicia #supperclub #rain
Instagram post 2175408625380307897_28574231 I was going to blog every day but the truth is I’m too knackered. I’m doing insta stories and my diary. Day 6. We are only doing about 14 km a day but it’s hard. I’m hobbling by the end. It’s the whole consecutiveness that is so punishing to the body. Oh to be young again. The youngsters are pounding through 30-40 km a day. We get up have coffee and don’t rest for 6 hours. We arrive around 3pm and have a massive drunken menu del dia with jugs of vino tinto. Then I fall asleep. Then I wake up for a bit and charge everything up, make notes, edit pix and sort out outfit for tomorrow. Which is basically the same everyday. I did wash a lot of knickers in the shower today as I was running low. So weather: raining all day. Puts the grim into pilgrim. But I am loving this. Thanks @caminoways #pushingyourself #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #caminodesantiago #caminofrances #camino #walking #pilgrimage #spain #galicia #greedypilgrim #stjames #followtheshell
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Instagram post 2169866030516446893_28574231 Persimon Pani puri recipe up on the blog Msmarmitelover.com a street food which includes a flavour spectrum- sour, sweet, salty, hot, spicy, refreshing, crunchy, wet and dry, fruity and carby. Making the Puri from scratch took a couple of goes to get right but actually isn’t hard. #supperclub #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #spanishpersimon #vegetarian #vegan #recipe #chaat #streetfood #indiansnacks #canape #diwali
Instagram post 2169277948175951209_28574231 Overlooking the river at #vallaro in piedmont. Nearby was #sacroMonte, a hilltop religious monument with 45 chapels, each containing strange plaster statues of animals and saints, 800 of them.
Instagram post 2167511482116167199_28574231 Persimon fruit leather (the easiest EVER as it has so much pectin- just purée it, add sweetness spread on a silpat and in cool oven for a few hours), rolled into a pinwheel with bergamot zest and mint and goats cheese, a delicious canapé. This was served at last nights #persimon #supperclub for #Halloween on behalf of @spanishpersimon . Next week I’m going to Valencia to visit the farm.  #msmarmitelover #msmarmite #singleingredientmenus #fruit #vegetarian #canapé #christmascanapes #canapeideas
Instagram post 2166825702523830758_28574231 I’ve been working with persimon fruit for the last 3 weeks, pushing the envelope with what we can do with persimons other than just eat them like apples. And guess what? I still like them, I’m not bored. They are a wonderful autumn winter seasonal fruit. They are also really good for you. #VitC #fibre #5aday, #potassium #iron #calcium #betacarotene #vitA #7aday #manganese #B6 #supperclub #halloween #fruit
Instagram post 2166106717029345626_28574231 The creamy interior of a baked Camembert offset by persimons from Spain. This is the cheese course from my Halloween supperclub for @spanishpersimon this Thursday. #supperclub #persimmon #persimon #sharonfruit #kaki #cheese #camembert #bakedcheese #halloween #spanishfruit #igfood #autumnvibes🍁
Instagram post 2165411211139548124_28574231 Persimon bread, adapted from a recipe by @davidlebovitz. I used fresh persimon pulp and dried persimons with walnuts and @southafricanraisins now I have to decide whether to serve it as canapés, topped with goats cheese and fresh persimon or with the cheese course. 🤔#supperclub #halloween #spanishpersimon #fallfood #autumnvibes🍁 #food #travelandfood #spanishingredients #recipes #vegetarian #desserts #bread #fruitbread
Instagram post 2164809413936743946_28574231 Hazelnut risotto using carnaroli rice from @magicolucedio from piedmont. I used Piedmontese white wine as well as hot vegetable stock, use a moscato or arneis. Keep stirring for 18 minutes until creamy with a kernel of al dente rice. When I visited piedmont, I ate 4 risottos in 3 days! It’s grown in this region, being similar to a sushi type rice- round- rather than long. It’s beautiful stuff- ivory and pure- and I didn’t want to add any colour other than a few local hazelnuts, pecorino and nut oil such as walnut or hazelnut. Warming food for cold rainy autumn days. #supperclub #rice #risotto #hazelnuts #northernitaly🇮🇹 #visitpiemonte #foodandtravel #vegetarianrecipes #igfood #vegetarianfoodporn #regionsofitaly #femalechef
Instagram post 2163915113036239687_28574231 Cinnamon, pistachio and persimon pudding. Persimmon pudding is a southern dish but I added a touch of the Middle East. It’s so easy to make: remove stalks of fruit then blend. Add a cup of flour, a cup of sugar, 50g butter, spices, pinch of baking soda and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 180c. #persimon #persimmon #kaki #sharon #recipetesting #supperclub #halloween #spanishfruit #winterfruit #seasonalcooking #baking #dessert #foodblogger #chef
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