A Taste of Sardinia

When I attended one of the highly recommended cookery courses at Su Sazzagoni, it was much more than an delicious introduction to Sardinia's unique cuisine. It was a complete, sensory immersion in the island's traditions, geography, history and wine. This included a very enjoyable lunch that almost rivalled my memorable dinner at the restaurant.

I, and the other would-be chefs sat down to a flavoursome, meaty (vegetarian alternatives were available) starter of salami with fennel and parma ham. As we sipped on Vermentino, a very good dry white from the island, our host, the lovely owner, Elena, told us that even the grapes grown in Sardinia are completely different from those found in the rest of Italy. It was explained to us that Sardinian cuisine uses lots of simple, seasonal and fresh ingredients and very little chilli or butter.

We moved over to the kitchen where the twinkly eyed, smiling chef showed us how to make light, buttery gnocchi. Fans of mashed potato – I imagine that is just about everybody – can use some of the same tricks. There was a certain amount of adapting from local recipes necessary to take account of the availability of ingredients, and the chef suggested we use Maris Piper potatoes, even though they use red potatoes in Sardinia. The potatoes should be boiled whole in their skins (which means they absorb less water), before removing the skins when still hot and then sieving.

We went on to cook, and eat, a flavousome seafood fregola (often described as a Sardinian couscous, but actually rather more like a risotto), and malloreddus alla campidanese (a spicy sausage pasta), all the while assisted by the friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgable staff.

This resulted in some other useful tips:

• Cook mussels and clams in oil – not water – in order to preserve their flavour.
• After cooking seafood in a pan, soak up the flavours using white wine and use the liquid in your risotto.
• If you make fresh tomato sauce with basil and don't add anything else (such as pine nuts), it will keep for much longer.

When I was at Su Sazzagoni, a couple who had come for lunch were pouring over a map of the island with Elena the owner. Having tasted something of Sardinian food, they were eager to visit the island. I felt the same way. D. H. Lawrence wrote that Sardinia is 'lost between Europe and Africa and belonging to nowhere'. Yet although the island is actually closer to North Africa than to Italy, Sardinia does not seem to suffer from any lack of sense of identity.

Su Sazzagoni

The latest addition to the burgeoning Victoria Park Village scene is this Sardinian trattoria and delicatessen, which also describes itself as an Italian classic bar and English coffee shop. It is run by owner, Elena and a friendly and enthusiastic team who, characterised by an unadulterated love of Sardinian cuisine, provide a delicious education. Drop in to purchase delicacies such as spreadable pecorino by the jar, smoked scamorza (similar to mozzarella) and caprino, Italian goats cheese from the deli counter. But don't let it stop there.

Breakfast lunch and dinner are served here at communal tables. On the night I went I was given a never ending feast of Italian and Sardinian specialties. Seasonal and homemade are the watchwords of the menu. When the gelato was served, our waiter apologised sincerely that it was not made on the premises – because everything else is, from the Italian breads baked daily to handmade pizza and pasta. We began with Calamari Ripieni (stuffed squid with parsley and breadcrumbs), and were given a succession of dishes from fregole (Sardinian cous cous), malloreddus – a Sardnian pasta made from semolina flour, and macaroni de buzau - yes, from Sardinia.

Such was the enthusiasm of Marcelo, our waiter and assistant manager that not only would he smilingly and encouragingly describe all our dishes in detail, but on his break, he leafed through magazines about Sardinian food. Marcelo explained that Sardinian is a language, not a dialect and when he presented the Rissotto Zafferano (Saffron Rissotto), he told us that Sardinia is the number one producer of saffron in Europe.

I am not a wine expert, but my friend and colleague, Stuart George is. He was my dinner companion – read his review here. Although, good as he writes, he had just returned from a week-long trip to Italy involving much food and wine, and wasnt much good to woman nor wine novice by the end of the meal.

There are plenty of bargains to be had at Su Sazzagoni. Italian happy hour runs from 4pm to 7pm daily, during which you are given complimentary appetisers with your 'aperitivo'. Enjoy acoustic music with your meal Tuesday to Friday from 6pm and Saturday from 1pm, a highly reasonable fixed price lunch Monday to Sunday and take away pizzas from just £7.50. On Sundays, you can bring your own wine and get a 5% discount from Bottle Apostle across the road.

I confess my notes were even more of an illegible scribble than normal by the end of the meal. I was drunk, not so much on the copious wine, but - as my mother says happily at the end of a particularly satisfying meal – 'drunk on food'.

13th and 15th April sees Su Sazzagoni's very first cookery master classes. It's not too late to book your place, £25. Tel. 0208 985 8448 reservations@susazzagoni.com

Sunday Lunch at The Chesham Arms

Sunday lunch at The Chesham Arms (5 Mehetabel Rd, Hackney, London, E9 6DU) is something of a ritual for me, and I don't have many of those. You know when menus say 'all the trimmings'? Well, in the case of The Chesham, its true. There is no need to agonise over whether to order roast beef because you'll get Yorkshire pudding, as all the roasts come with Yorkshire – as well as stuffing, three vegetables and both roast and mashed potatoes. Choose from beef, chicken, pork and nut roast (which the Chesham claims to be the best in Britain, or something, and isn't far off) – all for just £6.50. Join a happy local crowd watching football on Sunday, or now that summer is nearly here, sit in the large walled garden.

Buen Ayre

Argentinean steaks are the best in the world. That's a fact. Argentineans are not known for their bashfulness, but when they tell you this they are not just showing off. I have been meaning to write about this place for ages. Buen Ayre is good, really good. And I am not even much of a meat eater. I suggest you kick off with empanadas (kind of mini South American pasties) to share as you don't want to spoil your inevitably enormous main course. You can't go wrong with any of these which are basically lomo (fillet), churrasco (sirloin), or parrillada (mixed grill) – although I wouldn't bother with the vegetarian options. Don't forget to order chips for a side and a portion of delicious, spicy chimicurri sauce - here's the chef's recipe, should you be inspired to make it at home. Wash it all down with a beer from Cuba, Belgium, Peru, Spain, or stick to the Argentine theme and order a Quilmes beer or a smooth Malbec from the long and purely Argentinean wine list, perhaps followed by a trago (shot) of a South American spirit. Buen Ayre really is a little piece of Argentina in Broadway Market and, as they say themselves: 'the one and only' – there are no others. Just make sure you book and arrive hungry.

Something Fishy

Fin and Flounder is one of two new Hackney fish mongers – I have yet to try the new fish shop in ever blossoming Victoria Park, but I am looking forward to it. I am not a fan of the pretentious, over-priced, Saturday Broadway Market, but many of the shops on this market street have a fascinating history (not least the jellied eel and pie and mash shop) and are good value.

Fin and Flounder sells good quality fish at competitive prices, even when compared with Marks and Spencer. I bought some wild red bream, which wasn't cheap, but was excellent and sustainable – and cooked it simply with parsley, butter and garlic – my favourite way to cook fresh white fish.

I was in Tenerife last week with a group of over 100 journalists from the British Guild of Travel Writers. Although we were presented with some dodgy looking frozen fish at a cookery course, at another lunch I had wonderful slivers of carpaccio, scallops and my favourite Spanish dish, gambas al ajo (prawns with garlic). Mountains are not usually associated with good fish, but after Tenerife I was in the Eastern Pyrenees where, because they are only an hour or so away from the coast, fresh fish features on most menus. Salmon, scallop and fresh haddock in a cream sauce on cabbage is a local speciality.

St Nicholas Pop-Up Restaurant (supper club)

    

St Nicholas is a new pop-up restaurant in Hackney that for one night is offering a four course Christmas dinner by an open fire in a Victorian house. Enjoy champagne soup, miniature minced pies and a starter of fresh fig, honey and fontina cheese crostini, followed by baked whole roast goose with chestnut puree, morel mash, crispy turnips and port gravy. Dessert is Christmas trifle with zabaglione, jersey cream, winter berries and amaretti biscuits and a hot brandy cup.

£40 donation

Bookings  jegginton@btopenworld.com 

17th December 7.30pm 

Free, Free, Free!

The hedgerows of Hackney Marshes seem to be bursting with blackberries this year.

I, like many others, filled containers full of them and took them home for a free dessert – well, nearly. Thanks to a stop-off on the way home at the charming, riverside Ferry Boat Inn, I gathered some cooking apples that had fallen in their orchard, so all I needed to add was some sugar, flour and custard for a delightful blackberry and apple crumble. I highly recommend a trip to the Ferry Boat, a hundred-year-old waterside pub, for good, reasonably priced food (I tucked into a delicious turkey roast with all the trimmings last Sunday for £6.95). And for the next few weeks (until 30th September), there's another good reason to go this popular pub – they are giving away free Gin and Tonics. Here's a voucher for you to download – a good way to celebrate summer.

Fish in the House

The Fish House is a modern fish and chip shop restaurant that has really got it right. The owners of this family run operation on Lauriston Road, on the edge of Victoria Park really seem to care, and use sustainable fish wherever possible. Waiting staff are usually efficient and delightful (on one occasion we had a disinterested waiter), but the food never falters.

Arrive hungry and have two courses, if not three. The seafood starters – such as calamari aioli or Colchester oysters – are sublime and the very English desserts like Eton Mess and Victoria Plum and almond tart are always enticing. It goes without saying that you can't go wrong with the fish and chips here, ideally with a some bright green mushy peas, but my favourites are the creamy Fish House pie and the scallop saffron risotto, with a side of buttered samphire, when it is available.

Dine in the charming, contemporary indoors space or at one of the outside tables. For counter service customers, there are a few bench tables set aside, or get your take away wrapped and eat in the park.

Namo - Outstanding Vietnamese Restaurant

'Outstanding'. 'Amazing'. These are words that are rarely uttered by my husband – an accomplished cook and a very considered critic. But Namo's food is both of those things. And the restaurant is a lovely, friendly, funky neighbourhood operation that reminded us of some of our favourites in New York. We began with fine, icy lychee vodka cocktails laced with lemongrass and moved on to a very decent Pinot Grigio and 'Hue' –a very good, golden, hoppy Vietnamese beer. Yes, we did eat too. We shared a first course of crispy duck, which was perfect – only lightly shredded, with a dark, thick, crunchy skin. Smearing the pancakes with the sweet plum sauce, we eagerly filled them with the delicate matchsticks of cucumber before loading them with the richly aromatic duck. Iain ordered Bo Vi Huong, a deliciously soupy beef curry spiced with native star anise and egg fried rice. I had Cha Ca La Vong - the signature dish from a hundred-year-old Hanoi restaurant. Monkfish is marinated in tumeric and a tangy shrimp sauce and served with vermicelli, creating a wonderful mix of textures and flavours. Both were outstanding. Pak choi is one of the few vegetables my Scottish husband really enjoys, but even I was surprised when he exclaimed that our side dish in a thick ginger and sesame soy sauce was 'amazing'. The whole bill came – with a sweet, little parcel of pastel coloured jelly beans and a 'thank you' label – to just over 50 pounds. A very good price for excellent, authentic food, served with love by the helpful, happy staff. Namo is on 178 Victoria Park Road, E9 7HD. Tel 0208 533 0639. www.namo.co.uk