Brewing up for Success

Brewing up for Success

Hampshire Fare member, Lemon & Soul Cookery School has made it through to the final of the The Café Life Awards in the Tetley Afternoon Tea Experience challenge.

With the growing trend among UK consumers for afternoon tea, the competition is designed to inspire innovation and creative pairing of food with the range of Tetley Teas.  Katarina Willingham, the founder of Lemon & Soul Cookery School in Southampton devised a delicious menu featuring Hampshire trout amongst its local ingredients.

The Menu:

Savoury:

Home-made spelt, wholemeal and white seeded rolls filled with selection of fillings including soft cheese & cucumber, smoked salmon & cucumber, hummus & vegetables, Hampshire ham, mustard and lettuce, smoked Hampshire trout & crème fraiche.

Mini dill scones topped with crème fraiche and smoked salmon

Crab tart with asparagus and crunchy polenta pastry

Sweet:

Whisked sponge with lemon buttercream

Individual lemon meringue cheesecakes

Poppy and walnut cake made of Slovak traditional yeasted dough

The next stage of the competition will involve contestants preparing their Afternoon Teas for judging before a live theatre audience at thecontemporary food to go show in the Business Design Centre, Islington. Celebrity Chef and café entrepreneur Aldo Zilli will be head judge along with a panel of industry experts. The live final will be held on Thursday 24 September, the same day as the Café Life Awards, with the winners being announced at the gala dinner among the elite of the café industry.   

Katarina said: “Afternoon Tea is very popular and I love the whole concept. I drink at least one cup of Earl Grey every day and I find it exciting to combine tea with sweet and savoury dishes. I like to imagine being in a lovely sunny garden, full of people enjoying themselves, and the inspiration just starts flowing! Many of my sweet dishes take their origin from my mum’s Slovak cakes. I find they have just the right sweetness. The savoury dishes come from the classes I teach. The recipes create delicious meals and require cooking skills whilst being manageable enough for people to cook again and again. I always try to mix the traditional with the innovative and I am delighted my menu has impressed this competition’s judges enough for me to enter the finals."

The full line-up of the live final is:

Barny Luxmoore from The Mock Turtle/Jabberwocky Streetfood in Leamington Spa with their entry: Afternoon Tea Sushi

Dawn Roe from Saints & Sinners - Beverley, East Yorkshire with two entries - The Gent's Afternoon Tea and The Greenhouse Effect

Dominic Salter from The Sandwich Box - Cheltenham            with his entry: Mad Earl Grey Afternoon Tea

Katarina Willingham  from  Lemon & Soul, Cookery School With A Twist - Southampton with her entry Tetley Inspired Afternoon Tea

Richard Farrington from The Old Forge Caffe & Restaurant - Dartmoor, Devon with his take on a Devonshire Cream Tea