Tagged: Richard Corrigan

August 14, 2023

Wine and Dine with SPIKE

Chef Ferran Adrià – El Bulli

Spike was my best friend (your Bestie) as Abigail my daughter told me, when I found the strength to tell her of his passing away.

Since Julia his devoted sister told me of his passing away there’s a void in my chest, a sense of disbelief thumping the unbelievable fact Spikey is gone!

Today August 15th is SPIKEY’S BIRTHDAY,

Time to remember and have fun with the wonders of good memories.

So we Start with a song he sang for me 10 years ago for my 60th birthday. (press play…)

Spike knew and befriended so many people in so many different aspects of cultural living, the Arts, Theatre, Music, Movies, and Food – chefs and restauranteurs.

He was also the “Fix it up chappy.” (as Dr Seuss would describe), He could organize entrance to any: ..music Gigs (“spikey, Bob Dylan is in town …with Mark Knopfler…” and tickets would be arranged),

Of course some movie premiers, and through his foody connections a table at (Fully booked) newly opened restaurants.

Sometimes my requests were a burden of achieving the “impossible” to which he acquiesced being his caring self: “FOR THE TEAM” he used to say and was proud of achieving the task at hand.

He really liked food and wine, He was a great companion to a meal and like most of us remembered the fun of meals in many great restaurants we went to together. For us, eating a good meal at great restaurants was an excitement filled with pleasure and fun.

And we had so many on our list, some of which I recall now with much love and longing.

But I will start with a meal we talked and laughed about on our last meeting (a few days before he passed away): our Lunch at Pierre Koffmann’s La Tante Claire in Royal Hospital Rd. Chelsea. All the way to the restaurant I did not stop talking about The signature dish of the restaurant’s legendary dish: Pied de Cochon, pig’s trotter with chicken mousseline, sweetbreads and morels, that Marco Pierre White, (amongst my favorite chefs ever), has called this his “favourite dish of all time” amongst other superlatives

…

We arrive and get seated around one of the smaller round tables in the centre of the room, the maître d’ comes to take our order Spike (as always) ordered a Bloody Mary (Very spicy hot please) I had a look at the wine menu and a glimpse at the menu but had only one thing in mind, Pied de Cochon please, M D’ : “ sorry sir, pied de cochin is served only for dinner, to Spike’s amazement I said: “look here sir, with all due respect, I have travelled 6000 miles just to have this dish and fly back home, so either you ask the chef or maybe I should go and have a word with him myself? The service is more than correct (and efficient) at La Tante Claire, “I will see what I can do said the polite yet amazed Maitre D’hotel (he is used to British politeness, but I come from the middle east, yet to my credit, this dish takes long to prepare and long to cook so.. it is probably ready to serve by now 3-4 hours prior to dinner service time.
In the meantime, the first courses from the a la carte menu were served, Coquilles Saint-Jacque in calamari ink (sauce à l’encre de seiche), and the Langoustines with quail egg and hollandaise au foie Gras, they were exquisite BTW, and low and behold for the main course I received my Pied de cochon it looked out of this world in its red colour next to a white potato mash made with duck fat from another world and crispy pig’s skin decoration with port and Madeira sauce … D E V I N E !! The stuffing of the veal sweetbreads morel mushrooms and the chicken breast mousseline, a delicacy that melts in your mouth, covers the tongue and palate with a buttery comforting layer of sweet gelatin rich as Godly Nectar it is indeed one of the best if not THE BEST dish I ever had. A masterpiece!

Richard Corrigan – Lindsay House in Soho, London

Spike invited me to dine with (his mate Stephen Fry) at Richard Corrigan’s restaurant Lindsay House in Soho, (formerly at 21 Romilly Street, Soho, London, W1D 5AF)

This was more like a club or a house than a restaurant you rang the doorbell to enter its a quite cosy little place, it was claimed in 1998 or 1999 to be the best deal in town considering general ambience, food creativity, and the price for a 3-course lunch.

Apart from the wonderful company, we had a great lunch :
for first I had Tomato and Melon Gazpacho with Langoustines or red and orange pepper’s gazpacho mixed with “langoustine milk” crushed langoustines shells bisque mixed into the Gazpacho adorned by a quenelle of green herb pesto (I Think, it’s been a long time…)
and for main I had ‘a favorite of mine cooked to perfection Pigeon.
From Here we went to the Groucho Club just around the corner at 45 Dean Street, Spike is one of the founding members and can get in visitors, me.
After a quick visit to the bar, off we moved to the Billiards room where we had a long doubles session with Stephan Spike me and Simon. A fun day indeed.

Bibendum at the Michelin House
81 Fulham Road London SW3 6RD

Chef Simon Hopkinson is yet another friend of Spikey… He knows all the right people, good for me \ us, he arranges, we Enjoy I top the bill (only right so!), this is between Spikes’ first flat in Brixton, and my place in Pimlico so we meet halfway Yet another meal that got to be published (in Hebrew) in Magazine “CHEF” I was writing monthly at the time.
When Simon’s book Roast Chicken and Other Stories, 1994, came out Spike sent me his complimentary copy (for old times’ sake)

Kensington place – Rowley Leigh another acquiescence of Spike, serving modern British food in deliberately informal and noisy surroundings, very much like a London version of a French neighbourhood brasserie serving my favourite dish at the restaurant: Chicken and goats cheese mousse – olive Tapenade. I begged Spikey to get me the recipe for this dish from Rowley. When it arrived, this small savoury mousse, turned out to be quite a complicated and time-consuming dish to prepare if you follow the instructions to the letter. DELIGHT!

River Café
Oy I’m off to cut hair for the Rogers family, Ruth Rogers wife of Richard Rogers THE architect. She took over a disused warehouse building next door to her husband’s Offices by the river and turned it with a friend Rose Gray, into an Italian Restaurant. I did not need an introduction as it has already been a well-known establishment. While waiting for Spike to finish his grooming chores, I enjoyed watching the gathering of the restaurant staff for their pre-service lunch of plain pasta in butter and Sage tagliatelle with Greens side salad and final instructions for the coming service.

The Ledbury – another lunch this time in Photos
We treated ourselves for pudding with a 1950 BANYULS what a delight of a dessert wine at over 40 year old a nectar which would easily keep for another century.

Dabos – Lunch with another good friend of Spike, Varda (my wife ), we waited for him by the table, used to him not being the most punctual person, when all the time he was enjoying one or two of their Special Very Hot Bloody Mary at the Basement Bar. The rest in the Photos that follow.

Hummus and Falafel at Abu Shukri , the old city JERUSALEM
In my mind The best Hummus in Town !!!

A meal at Abu Shukri cannot be complete without a Kunafa (Knaphe in Arabic) and Baklava at

Jaffar Sweets – Khan Al-Zeit Street, Old city Jerusalem (take a right turn at the fork down Nablus gate towards the Via DOLOROZA )

A meal at A Wong – Forbidden City

in my book the best Chinese / dim sum in Town by Far (now at 2 Michelin stars) what a meal, a tasting menu left for Mr. Wong to choose. Traditional Chinese dishes in disguise Rabit meat as a carrot, a mushroom that is not a mushroom and many other surprises.

Some other restaurant dining, with SPIKE you can read in the following blog posts :

https://wine4soul.com/2012/05/27/lunch-at-the-fat-duck/
https://wine4soul.com/2013/06/21/lunch-dinner-by-hb-part-1/

https://wine4soul.com/2013/07/01/lunch-dinner-hb-part-ii-main-dishes/
https://wine4soul.com/2013/07/08/dinner-by-hb-desserts/
https://wine4soul.com/2013/06/09/restaurant-story-london/
https://wine4soul.com/2013/08/14/a-matter-of-the-heart/

Quite rightly Spike said: “Heston Blumenthal must be as mad as a brush!” What a load of fun… And that is the basic idea behind all this thing called food… innit?

Food at Home

On his visits to Israel Spikey used to stay with us and I used to boast some Home cooking

and wine from our cellar. God knows how many fine Meursaults and Montrachets were drunk through his visits to everyone’s delight.

There are so many more Restaurants we have visited and enjoyed but I guess I gave you a taste of the basic idea and that should surface !!

St John Restaurant, owned by another one of his besties Fergus Henderson in fact he was a sort of “family member” at Fergus and Margot house. So when the Complete Nose to Tail book was published he sent me a birthday present.

We visited St. John in early 1995 a few months after it opened, Peas in the Pod as one of the starters, a genius outrage and why not? It may seem a CHUTZPA to some of the restaurant diners but I come from the middle east, In the Arab Villages and towns, around early May-mid June green roasted chickpeas in their pod, are being sold salted in newspaper cones to the delight of all. They are called H’amla (H’amel meaning Pregnant). Basically Hummus in Hebrew.

and it was the last Restaurant we visited together (just a few months before he passed away on Tuesday, October 11th 2022) one of his / my favourite restaurants

As St. John the Evangelist is known to be a patron saint of a prolific nature, but he is mainly identified as the patron saint of love, loyalty, friendships, and authors, How more becoming can it be?

BTW the very same St. John and Peter were the only two apostles sent by Jesus to prepare the final Passover meal which was the last meal for Jesus, so he’s kind of a food

Dear Spikey

After the touching service, we had at Colchester and the “wake” that followed, we (Lisa, Garry, Sheila, Linda, (uncle) Bob and Louise, Linda and I), decided to have Lunch in your Honor, in one of your favourite Oyster Joints in Mersea Island – The Company Shed.
And there we all are …