Champagne Lallier produces 300,000 bottles a year, distributed all around the world, well we had 10 of them at TLCW last night.  And if we could afford it some of us would have loved to buy the remaining 299,990 bottles! From now on I shall only be drinking Grande Cruz Zero Dosage, it will be on every; birthday, Christmas, new house and get well list, its worth re doing my wedding vows just to get it on that list to!! 

Sue Ainger Executive Events Manager

We were approached buy the Alumni Relations Team at the University of Liverpool to see if we could help out with taking a London Carriage Works Afternoon Tea to a very special graduate of The University of Liverpool.  Colonel James Bryson is one of the University’s oldest graduates and celebrated his 97^th Birthday on February 4^th.

Colonel Bryson studied Law at the University of Liverpool at Graduated in 1932. Since Graduating he held positions including chairman of the Medical Appeal Tribunal, Senior District Registrar of the High Court of Justice and Liverpool Admiralty Registrar, president of the Liverpool Law Society, chairman of the Mayor's Poppy Fund, president of the North West Cancer Research Fund, organiser of the annual Remembrance Day commemorations at the Lime Street war memorial, and Commissioner of Taxes from 1968 to 1988.

One of his most startling stories was when he was presiding judge over a bankruptcy trial of infamous Liverpool nightclub owner George Wilkie in 1960. During the proceedings the accused took out a gun and shot at the Colonel several times injuring several people in the court and piercing the portrait hanging behind him. The Colonel was able to wrestle the assailant to the ground and for this act he received the Queens Commendation for Bravery.

Amongst memories he shared at his special ‘Afternoon Tea’ were his meeting with the Pope, and his many meetings with the Queen (two meetings of which ended in disaster, the first with a streaker barging between them and the second with floods at Buckingham Palace, after which he received a personal letter apologising for his bad luck and inviting him again to the palace), his personal connections to the University, and his work with many charities including presiding over the North West Cancer Research Fund, and working alongside Ken Dodd. Colonel Bryson is also a Papal Knight and a Knight of the Round Table. 

Of course we were delighted to help.  Our Pastry chef Bernie designed the menu for the Colonel and included one of her legendary Victoria sponge cakes which we know went down a treat. 

Like most businesses in the industry it’s just far too busy in December for us to have the annual Christmas ‘knees up’ so we always wait until January when things are a little less hectic.  We always have a theme, in the past anything from Little Britain to Masked Balls, but this year it was “Bollywood”.  Dressing up was optional but Bhindi wearing was compulsory!  We dressed the restaurant and The Residents’ Lounge in clashing colours, swathed pillars and fringing.  We usually have a stand-up buffet down in the Residents’ Lounge, this year we decided to spoil ourselves and enjoy the restaurant. Even more of a treat for the kitchen was that we ordered all of the food in!  The London Carriage Works got a takeaway!  Master Chef on Renshaw street were brilliant and the food was superb. We have annual awards every year for: The funniest, the most considerate, most hardworking and of course the “hotties”.  Here are some of the winners.  

After our wonderful feast we all descended to the Residents’ Lounge and danced until the early hours.

We’ve obviously done a bit of research and know that The London Carriage Works originally, as the name suggests, housed a coach builder, and since then the building has been home to various companies such as booksellers, telephone companies and more recently a furniture depositary.   

Some of our colleagues can remember the furniture store 'AJ Buckinghams', our Sue Ainger used to live nearby in the late 1980’s and said “I used to pass most days and barely even noticed the building, (which is quite shocking as it’s so beautiful), except for an overall impression of an abandoned space with a few dusty old card board cut outs on display in the windows”. 

We are wondering if any of our website visitors can remember the building before we moved in?  Do you have any interesting recollections or historical facts?  Please share your memories with us by clicking on the comments option below.

There was great excitement in the kitchen yesterday with the arrival of a 25 year old wild Scottish Halibut.  This fever did not really register on the rest of us but then we did not know then what we know now. For a start, did you know the colder the water the tastier the fish?  (No wonder Iceland can get a bit touchy fishy about its waters!)  She came from the North Sea and landed at Fraserburgh harbour on the North East corner of Scotland, Simon Ward, from Wards Fishmongers on the Wirral, told me Paul Askew was one of less than a handful of chefs he knew that could cut and do justice to such a magnificent catch.

She arrived at 11.00am and by 2.30pm she was resting in pieces, with head and toe (sorry tail fin) in the stock pot.  Wild Halibut is an unusual and fabulous fish for even more fabulous recipes; our last one came in at 18 stone two years ago. Unsurprisingly, halibut will be the special on The London Carriage Works menu for most of the week.  Paul will be pan roasting fillets of the wild Scottish halibut and serving it with an English risotto of leeks, wild mushroom and barley.

See our 'How to' recipes on the Home page.

This past Saturday, for the annual Hope Street Feast, we thought we would contribute lusciousness to the theme The Big Nosh. We set up our stall and served that great national crowd pleaser the ‘clotted cream and jam stuffed scone’. MMMMmmmmm, if we say so ourselves they were utterly luvverly, but they would be because our Bernie made them. 

Our delightful duo Howard and Maria did not stop all day from the first batch till the last, ‘it was like selling hot cakes’ said an exhausted finely sugar dusted Howard.  We hope we introduced a lot of people to the Afternoon Tea at TLCW (9.50 per head, 3pm – 5pm daily, book to make someone happy), it really is a lovely little social event, special and relaxing, delicious and filling.  Look out for our Christmas themed Afternoon tea, we are thinking mince pies, brandy butter and icing on the cake or was that robin on the log? 

P.S.  Anyone wanting a master class in Bunting, just call.  

As part of National Tackling Drugs Week, I recently judged a competition between 3 catering trainees from Alternatives (Lighthouse Projects Training and Education Programme) and 3 full-time catering students from Liverpool Community College.   

The students’ task was to produce a 3 course ‘fine dining’ menu consisting of a starter, main course and dessert.  The Alternatives courses were; “With All My Heart and Sole”, “Italian Sunday Lunch”, and “Sweet Clarice Cliffe”.  The standard of composition and technique demonstrated by both teams was really impressive, with a few tweaks the “Italian Sunday Lunch” could be good enough to serve in The London Carriage works!  

Although the Alternatives were pipped at the post by the team from LCC, it’s really good to hear that one member is now progressing onto a full-time catering course, whilst the other two are continuing their development with Alternatives.   

My Highlight of the August Bank Holiday Weekend is the Wirral Food and Drink Festival which I go to and demonstrate at every year.  I love this festival, not just because I’m a Wirralian, but also to celebrate all of the great produce the Northwest and the Wirral have to offer.   There’s always a great atmosphere, not just because of the beer and cider tents, but the live music and free tasting at all of the stalls.  There's also the opportunity to buy some of the best meat, fresh fish, vegetables and prepared products like preserves, marinades and oils that our region has to offer.  People find it hard to believe that all of this fantastic produce is right here on our door step. 

If you have time see you on the main stage at 1pm on Monday where I’ll be cooking some dishes from our current seasonal menu and if you have time come a little bit earlier to see Tom Lee, my Sous chef, who is The Young Merseyside Chef of the Year 2009.  Tom will also be doing some seasonal innovative cooking from The London Carriage Works Menu, watch out though, he’s so fast, if you blink you’ll miss him!  Failing that, if you miss both the demos, you’ll find Tom and I in the Beer tent relaxing after a busy week in the restaurant. 

The Festival takes place on Sunday 30^th and Monday 31^st August at Claremont Farm, near Spital on the Wirral. Last year we had a record 22,000 visitors over the 2 days. This year, weather permitting, we’re hoping for even more. Find out more at www.wirralfoodfestival.co.uk

I’ve just returned from a trip of a lifetime!  I was delighted to be invited along with the Academy of Culinary Arts for a tour of the Prince of Wales’ Highgrove Estate and Homefarm.

We started by touring the beautiful gardens at Highgrove.  Every inch of the place is completely breathtaking, from woodland gardens to wild flower meadows, cottage gardens and lavender orchards.  Every area is filled with colour texture and scent and the whole space just fills you with a kind of calm with each separate garden exuding a different feeling and atmosphere.  There’s a very Victorian feel too, you can tell the gardens designs were very much influenced by the Queen Mother. 

I had a couple of favourite spaces; firstly, of course, had to be the walled (kitchen)garden.  When the Prince of  Wales moved to Highgrove this garden was virtually derelict and had previously been used to grow little more than potatoes.   Now the beds are formerly edged with box hedges and are packed with an array of completely organic vegetables and fruit trees.   I also loved the Carpet Garden, which was inspired by a Turkish carpet and had been created with geometric shaped beds filled with roses, olive and orange trees and ceramic tiles, the whole area edged with beautiful cypress trees.  Highgrove is completely organic and the gardens are as self-sufficient as possible.  Nothing is brought in, all seeds and compost come from the estate.  There’s even a reed bed sewage system where all of Highgrove’s waste water is treated.  I really adore gardening and this place is simply amazing, if I didn’t cook I would garden!     

After Highgrove we went for lunch at Trouble House Inn, a gastro pub serving really good simple food.  The owner and operator, Martin Caws, previously worked for Marco Pierre White.  To start I had the goats cheese and beetroot tart which was really good.  We’re currently serving Scottish hake in The London Carriage Works, so I thought I’d try the Trouble House Inn’s Cornish Hake for my main, the quality was fantastic.    

Next we went on to Home Farm.  This really is a most incredible place.  We were shown around by the farm manager David Wilson who, having worked with the Prince of Wales on the farm for the past 24years, had a vast wealth of knowledge.  At Homefarm they are passionate about preserving rare UK breeds; Ayshire dairy cattle, rare breed pigs including Saddle Backs and Gloucester Old Spots, and rare breed Hebridean and Cotswold sheep.  The Prince is enthusiastic about restoring mutton to dinner tables hence the launch of The Mutton Renaissance Campaign.  (We use Hebridean mutton through the season from Callum Edge Butchers, Wirral.)  Again everything at Homefarm is completely organic and all designed to encourage as much wildlife as possible; there are butterflies, bees and dragonflies everywhere.  The whole place is just perfect, even the tea rooms and the shop.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been somewhere where everything has already been thought of, and I really wouldn’t change a thing.