So we’ve been a bit confused about what to deliver here at Tom’s. We just don’t know what we want to eat right now, let alone predicting what y’all want to be fed.  But today, as the sun reluctantly shows its weary face, we have decided that if Spring won’t come to us, we will bring Spring to you! Does that make sense? Stay with me.

We have started serving some lovely crisp salads in the café, and introduced a new line of crazy refreshing apple juices in the deli.

Watermelon – sweet, feta – salty, tomatoes – earthy. Put a sprig of mint on that and you’ve got sunshine in a bowl. Shut your eyes and you’re on a Greek isle (sorry, you’re not imagining the bouzouki, we’ve got the ‘World’ playlist on, hrm).

Love cheese, think goats are cool? Try the grilled goat’s cheese salad with a variety of super crisp veg. Warm and cold, soft and crunchy.

Appley Days

I am Juice. Yes you ARE. The juiciest juice in town. Straight up apple, Apple & Elderflower (would make a great cocktail), Apple & Ginger and Apple, Raspberry and Rose (like drinking a garden. In a good way). And they’re our neighbours, based on Portobello Rd, so they’re good people.

Duskin juices are your basic essence of single variety apples, and all round crowd pleasing thirst quencher.

We’ll be updating the wine selection very soon too. I can’t wait for my first sip of rose in the sun, such an iconic moment every year.

So don’t worry, whatever the weather, we’ve decided that the sun shall shine at Tom’s!

Very mediocre rosetta

I usually spend Saturday making coffee upstairs at Tom’s, and in many ways that’s my favourite work day of the week. It’s so tactile and precise, I love how every little detail makes a difference to the result. The beans need to be ground just right, so that the extraction isn’t too fast or too slow, and the milk must have the right temperature and texture. We’ve all been practising our latte art, but we’re not exactly naturals, so please excuse us if you receive a dubiously decorated flat white once in a while. It will still taste good.

It will taste really good actually, because

OUR BEANS ARE GREAT.

We buy Kimbo’s Superior Blend, which is quite lightly roasted and has a smooth, sweet and nutty flavour. Almonds is always the smell I look for when I test the espresso in the morning – what a nice way to start the day. It’s a blend created for use in espresso machines, but I use it to make filter coffee at home and it comes out just lovely.

Whatever your preferred means of coffee extraction – stovetop, cafetière, Aeropress, Chemex (the height of coffee geekery), you can either buy our beans as they are, or we can grind them for any machine. And for you purists out there, we now stock an excellent single variety coffee bean from Ethiopia called Yirgacheffe. It’s light and fruity, and comes out best when prepared in a cafetière or pour over brewer.

But if you’d rather we do the work for you, grab a lovingly made cup of Joe to Go downstairs in the deli, or take a seat upstairs and take your time. Whether you’re a double espresso or a skinny-soy-decaf-extra-hot-half shot-latte-macchiato type, we’ll make it just the way you like it.

Well, we are here to either, a) support you, with our new range of The Food Doctor super healthy and wholesome sweet and savoury snacks, or b) comfort you, with sausage rolls and cake. Up to you, we don’t judge here at Tom’s (unless you’re one of those people who don’t like chocolate, that’s just not normal).

We have resolved to offer more delicious and exciting things than ever before, and to keep the menu interesting and satisfying. The latest changes to the menu include the addition of the controversial yet highly sought after Egg White Omelette. We have also gone a bit light and almost spring-like with a lovely Green Pea & Goat’s Cheese Risotto, and a Mackerel & Baby Potato Salad. But hey, nothing wrong with a bit of protein, so we’ve got a juicy Beef Burger with Portobello mushrooms and Emmenthal for all you meat lovers out there.

Jammin'...

Chillin'

As for the deli shelves, England Preserves have updated their labelling, and while it’s what’s on the inside that counts, we do love them even more now that they’re so pretty!

Who are we kidding, we’re totally superficial suckers for great packaging – take a look at these chilli sauces, hand-made in Ireland.

In other words, we have a very good feeling about this new and most delicious year!

It’s really worth a visit just to take a look at chef Fabio’s architectural creations – if Gretel and Willy Wonka were to have a love child, its name would be Fabio.  And the mulled wine recipe basically evolved as such: ‘Try this’, chef Nathan says. ‘Ooh that’s lovely! But it needs more brandy’. Perfect.

Other seasonal highlights include Cartmel puddings, both Christmas and Sticky Toffee – pour over some thick Jersey cream and you’ve got yourself a big hug in a bowl, as Mr Wallace would say.

Beautiful Italian tins of Amaretti biscuits and fruit filled Gubeletti, and Perbillini Artisan Panettone, made slowly in the traditional way, fresh and in small batches. We’ve also got master chocolatier Sven Herzog making us some gorgeous boozy truffles, and if you come in on Friday 14^th you can try before you buy as he’ll be doing a tasting session with us. Very exciting.

Santastic

And cheese! Sweet Baby Cheesus! The hand-ladled Stilton in beautiful blue ceramic pots are a brilliant present, and we’re stocking up on super stinky cheeses like Vacherin Mont d’Or – smells like a French dairy farmer’s armpit, tastes like a creamy piece of heaven.

Can’t decide what to get your girl/boyfriend/cousin/colleague/mentor/hairdresser? How about a little of this and a little of that, all wrapped up in a nice wicker hamper with a big bow on top? Either have a rummage around the shop and pick out some lovely bits and pieces, or just let us know how much you’d like to spend and we’ll use our super special deli skills and know-how to put it together for you.

Ho Ho Holy Mother Mary, it’s going to be a delicious Christmas this year!

I would like to say hello to all of our customers and welcome to the new Tom’s blog readers. I’m sitting at home after my first full week working at toms, relaxing with a cold beer and the misses is in the kitchen rustling up some dinner, I think I am getting steak so I had better be nice to her.

Dinner is ready so I will be back in a minute….

This is the first blog I have ever written and I think it’s the first thing I have written about myself since I left school, but here goes, I hope you enjoy it.

My Name is Nathan and I am the new Head Chef at Tom’s, taking over from Sunny who had done a fantastic job. A little bit about me; I’m 27 and this is my first Head Chef position but I think I am more than qualified. When I was 21 I left England after working at the Four Seasons hotel to move to Boston in America were I spent 2 years working for the same company before moving to Florence, Italy and working in the Michelin start restaurant Il Pilagio ( The Palace) . After that I spent a brief spell back in London at the 2 stared Capital restaurant in Knightsbridge. Then, whilst on holiday I met the love of my life in south Africa and moved to Australia with her and after a 2 year spell living in Perth we have come home to England settle down and get married. Our big day is coming up on the 27th September as long as she doesn’t do a runner !!!!

We are planning to freshen up the menu; we already have some new sandwiches like the Chicken Ceasar wrap and and classic smoked salmon bagel with a dill and lemon cream cheese.  In the cafe we’ve introduced our lamb burger with potato wedges and apple and sage slaw. This weekend we will be making turkey club sandwiches and banana bread French toast with caramelised bananas and many more. These are just a few of the new items we’ve put on the menu. So come on down say hi and let us know what you think of the new additions to Tom’s.

Nathan.

Kusmi Tea originated from Russia, where Pavel Kousmichoff started the Koushmichoff Tea House in the 1800’s, his son then took on the business taking it to London and Paris. The Kousmichoff was bought by the Orebi brothers in 2003 who came from a long line of coffee and cocoa traders which naturally led them to tea. They now head up the Kusmi empire which has shops all over Paris and they are ever-expanding.
The Kusmi tea brand is heaven for any tea lover, with it’s 75 premium quality black, green, red and herbal teas. The tea loose or in tea bag which is hand sewn cotton muslin to better release all the aromas and flavours. The quality tea leaves are imported from China, India and Sri Lanka.
The range of flavours are amazing, I literally wouldn’t know which one to choose. From Earl Grey to Camomile, to Bergamot, lemons and orange blossom. We’re stocking a range of these flavours including their wellness detox teas. Could Kusmi Teas be any more accommodating? Oh yes they can. The tea isn’t just wonderful to drink, the packaging is beautiful! If I were a tea I would want to look like a Kusmi Box: elegant, romantic designs with a vintage feel. Real eye catching stuff, which is why they are also perfect for gifts. Just to top it off they do a Kusmi gift set of teas as well! The set consists of nine pretty tins of various flavours of loose tea with a strainer included. I for one would be a very happy bunny to receive it.

Ok that’s it, I need a cup of tea, all this talk of tea is making me crave an Earl Grey. Make that a Kusmi Earl Grey.
xx

I’m currently in “new product nirvana”!!!!

http://www.love-2-bake.com is the creation of an enormously clever and lovely lady called Julia Barclay (see piccy of her below).  If you were to visit a friend for tea, or be at a dinner party and were served a slice of one of her ridiculously tasty and creatively flavoured cakes, you would literally have absolutely NO clue that your host hadn’t been busy all morning beating, whipping and baking!  Wow is all I can say! Wow Wow Wow!!!

It even ticks the wheat ‘n gluten free boxes!

All you have to do is add eggs, milk and olive oil, mix together, put in the oven for 30 mins and it comes out looking like this (scroll down).  I don’t think I even need to articulate how fabulous this tastes, just LOOK at it!!!  Just so you’re reassured though, we have all tasted it and it’s knock out!!!  - end of!

It’s aptly named too as it’s Valentine’s Day next week, perhaps you could make your loved one a delicious cake??

This product has Tom’s total backing – infact I’m going to bake one in the deli today for anyone who is passing to try, so do pop in!!!  If you come in because you have read this blog and you tell me so ……….. even bigger slice (teacher’s favourites!!!).

Sian xx

I have only just stopped seeing skeleton like Christmas trees flung
out onto the pavements of Notting Hill and whaddya know – it’s
Valentines already!!

Don’t know about you but if this weather carries on, I’m gonna be in
lock-down on Feb 14th!!!  I’m thinking confit du canard (Tom’s natch),
bubbles, some brain meltingly delicious cheeses and of COURSE chocs as
the finishing touch!!

I won’t lie to you, we sell lots of wonderful chocolates at Toms, but
if I was going to choose a real show stopper of them all for Val’s
day, it has to be the Prestat Valentine Box!  Nuff said, that’s it,
game over!!!  These handmade little parcels of truffle goodness really
do say I love you!!!  Also, God Bless Prestat as they make them in two
sizes so you can say “I love you”, in a big way or keep it breezy with
a little “I love you” with the smaller box – sometimes less is more!!

Happy Valentines everyone!!

xxx

PS  I actually did meet David Soul in the end – Cannes Film Festival
1989!!  Little did he know

Wonderfully packaged, luxury continental chocolates made with the finest cocoa at affordable prices.  A Tom’s fave!!

The tins are truly an artwork in themselves and such a spcecial gift for this Valentines.