Java jive at St Martin’s

I enjoyed a splendid lunch a St Martin’s Tea and Coffee today – a beautiful rich and warming rendang curry made with ox-cheek along with zingy salad with lime and coriander dressing. The beef (liberally covered in toasted coconut) had clearly been cooked for many hours, overnight quite possibly, and was tender as you like. Having also had a great satay a couple of weeks back  and then yesterday reading Leicester Veggie’s enthusiastic review of her vegan Jakarta Gado Gado, I wondered what was prompting this South East Asian fest.

The answer is a new chef has joined Chris Elliman and his team and it’s Bobby Ananta from Java.  You might have seen Bobby preparing a fantastic seabass dish in one episode of Nigel Slater’s recent series Eating Together.  It seems he had been managing a coffee bar in Leicester, and it’s great that he’s now getting a chance to cook. And more good news in that while he’s starting off with one or two of the more well-known dishes, in due course he’ll be  pushing the boat a bit more. In particular watch for a ticketed mid-week event being planned that will involve a full Indonesian menu.