Not All Things That Are Old Are Unusable

A letter from Chef James Noble

Is it stale or is it all a bit tara,
not all things that are old are unusable.

Sitting here in immigration reminds me why I eat free range and pasture fed animals, this isn’t the way to treat humans let alone animals, but tolerance and humility will prevail, well at least till school is out and I must abort and run.

Until then, I calmly sit here and put pen to paper, shut out the white noise and write the next newsletter to you, my, maybe more than 4 fans.

What a month it’s been—as we process grief and look for revenue in the darkest corners and the rain hits our roofs and floods our streets—Ikigai still has an obligation to our team, our clients and our customers, even if that can be slow, very slow dry July.

I try not to worry and go down every rabbit hole with positivity and gusto looking for the niche and the next opportunity and the greatest of ingredients of course even though there’s no one to feed.

On a positive basis, we have filled our low days with later starts and earlier finishes as we believe low days should benefit the team rather than hanging around for no reason. Kitchen closes at 9, so 9 it  is, the sound of the teams revving to go can be heard @21.05 once the cats have been found. 

R&D is always being dibbled and  dabbled with, along with training videos for Villa Alba in Sri Lanka and a set of seasonal video clips with recipes soon to be launched here as a paid per view option, (not the same as the paid for view naughty option on the old hotel bills). Would you like to see some and pay a little production fee to help us cover our costs, do let us know, one step closer to me…

THE MENU

So with the menu in mind what’s cooking chef, I hear you ask?

Well, as I said before it’s still the rainy season, so grass is long, the beef is sweet and the green vegetables aplenty with some amazing edible weeds making an appearance and I don’t mean marijuana.

We have a couple of new menu items, but in doing so we have had to remove to stalwarts to make room for the underdogs to show themselves.

The Buffalo Tongue Ruben and the Roasted Mackerel with Taramasalata and Greens.

These are proving very popular with you all so the right decision was made, and we are even considering putting the Tara in supermarkets, this newsletter includes our secret recipe so aren’t you very, very lucky and hope it doesn’t affect our sales, although they do take 30% commission and we need to look after our own products on the shelves, and as Tara has a short shelf life as we don’t use additives thiscould be tricky.

So, what else is new we hear you cry! Chef James, stop waffling! 

Well, we have a few exciting events coming up in August.

The Butcher, The Baker and the Amazing Plate Maker

The Art of Plating Course

The Past knife Sharpening Course and Lunch

Stay tuned to our Facebook etc. to find out the 4Ws on them all.

THE TEAM

Well, Sai and Chef Low have battled through sickness and Chef Remi has  turned her hand to helping me do the short video skits.

Bubbles in wash up had a new washing line and now drives a new mop and me… Well, I’m shattered from filling the gaps from sickness, but it’s been great as we all should work in other people’s shoes to feel the pain and the flow. I’m currently telling my hips this.

Our wine list has nearly all gone organic, our water bottles are turning back to glass and the fact the boss wore a suit to serve in Sai Sai’s absence is funny.

The family are well, mums headed home to England, so the house feels a little lost and Nancy has just finished her midterm exams and says she nailed it on, let’s see chicken. I did advise her that confidence is one thing but never let it cloud your focus however she is her father’s daughter so …………….squirrel!!

Well, that’s our month gone nearly, if you find yourself daydreaming on the 1st August please give a thought to my brother Ed, it would have been his 53rd birthday and losing my vent space has been really hard but losing my guru even harder.

I, for one, will say a blessing  to you on your birthday and raise a glass or maybe 2, you’re a legend Ed Noble loved by all who knew you, remembered by people who didn’t through this newsletter and all I tell.

Ikigai is our reason why and we hope you find yours.

Don’t forget to tell me if you would like a little miniseries on a small subscription basis.

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