Tag Archives: Dubai Mall

Forrey & Galland

Posted on December 13, 2012 | 7 Comments

IMG_0004I was recently invited to a Christmas tasting at Forrey & Galland in Dubai Mall.  I’ve often passed the shopfront of Forrey & Galland and been blown away by the fabulous window displays and sweet treats.  But must admit, that so far I’ve never been inside.

Forrey & Galland are a french boutique chocolatier with origins in Paris but now also in Dubai.  Blending french chocolate techniques and flavours and arabic flavours they have an interesting combination of sweet treats to suit most tastes.  The chocolates are made by hand in Ajman ensuring a beautifully fresh product.
The Christmas tasting itself included yours truly sampling a delicious array of Christmas specific products which are available in store.

IMG_0001I started with the traditional Christmas favourites including chocolate Santas in dark, milk and white chocolate, Iced Gingerbread christmas treas and stars and marzipan candy canes.  Following this I moved onto the festive Gingerbread covered chocolates which were great.

Having sampled everything, sometimes twice just to make sure :-) my absolute favourite has to be the new product which was literally launched on tasting day, the speculoos Ganache and truffle.  Originally from Belgium, Speculoos is a type of biscuit made from brown sugar and cinnamon and other special ingredients, a secret recipe that has been in existence for centuries and typically surfaces during the Christmas period.    The result is an incredible texture, both creamy and crunchy, and it literally melted in my mouth with a little crackle of the speculoos biscuit – it’s joyful.

IMG_0076Once the Christmas tasting was over I took the opportunity to explore the shop in more detail.  In addition to the stock available in the shop which is never more than a few days old, Forrey & Galland provide a one off service for both individuals and corporate companies, ranging from wedding favours, corporate gifts, store openings, celebrations etc.  There is plenty of variety of products in the store ranging from macaroons in all different flavour combinations, plenty of imaginative arabic treats as well as a great range of truffles, hand made chocolates and another personal favourite the passion fruit filled which chocolate heart which was developed for Valentines day but remains on sale due to it’s popularity.

IMG_0019If you want to sample some Christmas Treats they come in at the following reasonable prices ranging from 35AED for a small chocolate snowman through to 120 AED for a 4 x 4 selection box of pralines, Speculoos chocolates or gingerbread chocolates.

They also do a Large hamper with a selection of the Christmas goodies starting from 550 AED as well as a pyramid of macaroons (hint hint – anyone who knows me – I love macaroons LOL) which comes in at 240 AED for 24 pieces.

ForreyandGalland

Forrey & Galland can be found on the lower ground floor of Dubai Mall (opposite the Organic Shop) or on their website they are also on twitter

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Antonio Carluccio Book Signing – Carluccio’s Dubai Mall

Posted on October 8, 2012 | 5 Comments

I was recently invited to cookery demonstration and book signing by Antonio Carluccio which was held in Carluccio’s in Dubai Mall.  I’m a fan of Antonio having watched him cook on many a TV show in the UK and here in Dubai and having eaten in his restaurants both in Dubai Mall often whilst watching the fountains with visitors or in the Marina Mall where I need no other excuse than a visit for a good cup of coffee and breakfast.

Affectionately known as ‘The Mushroom Man’ for his love of mushrooms, Antonio was in Dubai to launch his new Book – A Recipe for Life which is a memoir and also contains a recipe at the end of each chapter.

The cooking demo started off with Antonio cooking up a simple treat of stuffed hard boiled eggs.  The eggs were stuffed with a combination of egg yolk, freshly made mayonnaise, tuna, capers and anchovies.  Presented simply they were a tasty treat which were quite easy to make but tasted great.    When asked if you could pipe the filling into the eggs (Antonio was simply rolling the filling in his hands) Antonio responded that yes you could but that he preferred a Mof Mof approach – Maxiumum of Fuss, Minimum of Flavour and this certainly comes through in the recipes within the book and his general cooking style.

Having sampled the eggs, which were delicious.  Antonio then went on to make pasta with wild mushrooms.  Again, simplicity seemed to be the key to the dish as well as the use of good quality fresh ingredients and more than a liberal use of butter and garlic.  I’m a not a pasta fan, but the smell coming from the kitchen was amazing and the sample I tried of the mushrooms and the sauce surrounding the pasta was amazing – fresh and garlicky whilst rich with butter and indulgent in the use of the variety of beautiful mushrooms it was great.

At the age of 75 Antonio is a very charismatic chef, he was entertaining and fun when cooking, sharing an anecdote or two (age appropriate for the audience) and always showing his true passion for cooking.  He was really charming, entertaining the audience in a natural way and signing books in a very relaxed and non rushed manner even though I  was told that he had a busy schedule ahead.

I am now the proud owner of a signed copy of A Recipe for Life, after having a quick chat with the ever charming Antonio, and it’s full of amusing stories of how he came from a self taught chef through to the opening of his restaurants, his marriage to his wife Priscilla and finally the writing of his memoirs.  Throughout the book there some great family pictures as well as fourteen of his favourite recipes some of which I’m going to try to cook including : Pears in Vin Santo, Focaccia and Ricotta and lemon tart.  Watch my site for info as I’ll write about them as I cook :-)

Wandering around the shop part of the Caffe you will find plenty of Italian products, gifts, books and food items to take home and enjoy or as inspiration for a some foodie gifts :-)   As well as copies of Carluccio’s books.

Carluccio’s can be found on their Website, Facebook Page and you can follow them on Twitter. or call on Tel: +971 (0) 4 4341320

The book A Recipe for Life is available in Carluccio’s shops and leading bookstores.

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Hummingbird Bakery – Dubai Mall

Posted on October 7, 2012 | 2 Comments

I was recently invited to visit the newly opened Hummingbird Bakery which is located on the lower ground floor of Dubai Mall.  I visited the Hummingbird Bakery in South Kensington when I was in the UK earlier this year so was keen to see how it’s Dubai shop would compare.

Initial impressions were good, the shop has a good location and the shop front is bright and welcoming.  A significant part of the shop is a counter display of beautiful looking cakes and other baked goods in all sorts of shapes and sizes, so it’s visually appealing.  The interior of the shop is also decorated with cupcakes which are arranged as window decoration which adds a novelty factor to the shop.

We took a seat in the intimate seating area, there is only seating for about twenty people, as the owners anticipate that majority of visitors will be for takeaway orders  which appears to be the case when I’ve walked past the shop since opening.

Attending as a small group of foodies from Fooderati Arabia, we were provided with a tasting plate containing 3 different cupcakes.  We also requested a Whoopie Pie and a Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie to sample as these had caught our eye as we perused the goodies on offer.

First we tried the signature cup cake from Hummingbird, the Black Bottom Cupcake which consisted of a rich moist sponge bottom topped with vanilla butter cream topping – it was good and will definitely be of appeal to the chocolate lovers out there.  Our second cupcake was a Red Velvet cupcake – with a beautiful light red velvet sponge and a rich butter cream topping this was a great cupcake and definitely something for the red velvet fans.  My favourite of the three was a more simple but beautiful to look at Vanilla cupcake – light most vanilla sponge topped with a delicate coloured pastel coloured vanilla frosting this was my favorite of the cupcakes.

Moving onto the Whoopee Pie – there was a choice of Red Velvet or Brownie – we tasted the Red Velvet Whoopee Pie which consisted of two disks of Red Velvet Sponge sandwiched together with a cream cheese and marshmallow.  I have to admit to having never sampled a Whoopee Pie before, so not knowing what to expect I had expected a light sponge – this was not the case as the cake is more dense and certainly more filling than the light cupcakes.  I enjoyed the taste of this cupcake but found the texture of little too heavy for my taste.

Finally, we sampled the Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie which for me was the highlight of our tasting.  Consisting of a rich chocolate brownie topped with a layer of raspberry cheesecake mousse this was a winner – the richness of the brownie was beautifully offset by the slightly tart, creamy, light yet indulgent raspberry cheesecake on top of the brownie – I will definitely be back for another taste of that one.

As a takeout treat – I took home a piece of carrot cake which looked similar to those served at the Lime Tree.  I was interested to see how it compared since I’m a big fan of Lime Tree carrot cake and haven’t found many that can live up to the Lime Tree’s one.  I was not disappointed, the sponge was suitably light and most and had the same depth of flavour and carrot cake texture that I like.  The main difference was that the Hummingbird Bakery cake is  covered in a rich butter cream frosting compared to a more cream cheese frosting at the Lime Tree.  Another great find – so I now have two favourite cakes to return to the Hummingbird Bakery for.

There are plenty of other cakes and baked goods on offer at the Hummingbird Bakery including some rather indulgent looking rich chocolate brownies and a very rich looking chocolate cake which will certainly appeal to the chocolate fans out there.

In terms of selection, it’s not as large as available in the UK, I’m told that this will increase over time as the owner is passionate about the quality of the goods on offer, even shipping in some ingredients which were unavailable in Dubai.

You can find out more about the Hummingbird Bakery by visiting their Website, Facebook Page or following them on Twitter you can also call them : 800-HBIRD; 971-4-3882023; 971-4-3882025

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