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I am second to none in my admiration of and love for Angela Hartnett OBE. I dare say this is not actually true – there are many other contenders, including her beautiful husband Neil Borthwick – but it is how I feel. She is, as is expressed in Yiddish, a mensch, a person of integrity, reliability and honour. When she announced her Café Murano Book Club, well, I thought ‘that’s my Ange’. It takes place on the last Sunday of every month at the Bermondsey branch of Café Murano. The evening I go Dan Saladino, author of Eating to Extinction, is talking to Mark Diacono. The book is a weighty tome, as the flyleaf puts it, ‘an astonishing journey through the past, present and future of food…’ The price of a ticket (£85) includes a cocktail with small eats, main course, dessert and wine. Even the cocktail conjured from rhubarb-infused Black Cow vodka, discarded cascara, prosecco and soda hails health, history, sustainability, delectability and more. Morecombe Bay shrimps on toast, chalk stream trout and Longhorn beef meatballs are the ideal accompaniment. Roasted Middle White pork belly with braised cabbage and roasted apple and then a divine caramelised Comice pear tart with Stichelton blue cheese continues the thread. Angela is at the stoves in the open kitchen; it is an education both for the ear and the palate. Sunday 27 March will see Mary Berry in the chair.
