What’s New

Archie’s at home

Last month, after adapting during the first lockdown creating a range of delicious meals to be enjoyed at home, Archie’s Kitchen launched their new at-home menus. You can choose a traditional three course Sunday lunch or a four course menu which sounds perfect for a celebration, special occasion or simply a luxury dine in experience to spice up tier 2 life. Everything is prepared by a talented team of chefs at their kitchen based in Stephendale Road, where pre covid they catered for corporate and private events, and delivered directly to your door with an easy step by step guide so you can finish the dishes off at home.

We haven’t tried their new menus yet but we did order some meals (not gifted) during the first lockdown and they were delicious. The Sunday Lunch Club is three courses including a spicy Bloody Mary, light bite to start and a choice of Surrey farm 24 day aged Roast Sirloin of Beef, Herb Fed Farm Chicken Supreme or Slow Roast Gloucester Old Spot Pork Belly with roast potatoes, sides, gravy (of course) and a dessert for £35 pp. Order by Wednesday for delivery on Friday.

Their Luxury Dine in Experience is available on Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s (order three days before your chosen delivery day). This month the four course menu starts with canapes (Lobster Arancini, Duck Liver Parfait, Goats Cheese Sable), a starter of Cotswold Gin Cured Salmon, Fennel, Beetroot and Kohlrabi Salad with horseradish sauce, main course of Venison Wellington, Pomme Anna, Truffle Cauliflower, Glazed Carrots and Girolles with a Juniper and Blackberry Jus and for dessert a Passion Fruit tart and Double Chocolate Sea Salted Brownies (£65 pp).

William “Archie” Deal told us “COVID destroyed much of our 2020 revenue pipeline. Our short to medium term revenue streams vanished in a matter of weeks.  As the Lockdown in March was announced, a clear opportunity arose for us to develop an online food delivery service for our customers. Not only was this financially critical for the business but it offered us the opportunity to provide a service to those in our local area during a nationwide lockdown. After being inundated with orders, we reconsidered our offerings as lockdown 2 appeared imminent: a delicious three course Sunday roast lunch and a luxurious four course menu for our customers, all to enjoy in the comfort of their own home; let’s face it we all like a night off from cooking. We’re also super excited to announce a delivered Christmas Day Lunch which is ready to pre-order from Tuesday 1st December.”. https://www.instagram.com/archiesfood/

Wreaths by Tatum

Local resident Tatum Storm (fabulous name) lovingly hand makes all her wreaths to order here in Fulham. Prices start from £40 (free delivery in Fulham and Hammersmith) and designs range from the traditional with an abundance of cinnamon sticks, dried oranges to the elegantly simple made with spruce, eucalyptus and pussy willow. Our favourite for a different look has to be “The One with Feathers” made using sustainably UK sourced game feathers tipped with gold glitter.

Tatum told us “our wreaths are made to order and personalised however you’d like, dressed using a variety of luxury items such as natural fresh Fraser fir pine and locally sourced game feathers and pine cones. Don’t forget, a wreath is also the perfect way to bring a winter scent to your home, which can be done by adorning it with cinnamon, dried citrus fruits, eucalyptus, cardamom and star anise, to name a few.” 

Wreaths by Tatum can be purchased from her shop on Etsy (see order link below) alternatively get in touch via Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/wreathsbytatum/ or email Tatum wreathsbytatum@gmail.com prices start from £40

The KAF Larder

The door to The KAF Larder opened on the 25 November (192 Wandsworth Bridge Road) selling a carefully curated selection of fine foods and beverages from the British Isles and Europe. This new venture is a real labour of love for sister duo Annabelle & Alexandrina from the hand stained coffee tables, personally stained with actual coffee, to the shelving and display units which have been purpose built by Annabelle’s husband.

For these born and bred Londoners, hailing from just over the river in Putney, Fulham has been their stomping ground since early childhood; Alexandrina even attended nursery a stone’s throw away from their new shop. They both feel that “being from London, you always have your own set idea of where the epicenter of the town is. For us, the bit extending from Parsons green to Chelsea and the river has always been at the heart of where we want to be, where our little haunts are and where we like to hang out or meet up with friends. It’s the perfect location where North of the River meets South”. Alexandrina trained as a chef in New York’s world famous Institute of Culinary Education. Annabelle left her career as an international trade lawyer and is a self taught chef and “ingredients expert”. They explained to Urban Village LDN “our philosophy is to use and sell items produced, grown and harvested from small artisanal producers as close to home as possible. We are indeed purveyors of fine food and drink but since when did that need to be accompanied with airs and graces, we hope to bring a fresh flavour to the area and be a point of reference for anyone who needs help with a recipe, ideas for cooking or sourcing an unusual product.”

The KAF larder offers up a veritable cornucopia of British produce from forgotten gems such as Medlar Jelly to an array of unusual vegetables from producers using traditional agricultural methods, plenty of beautiful European products and some treats from further afield. There’s a whole tuck box of other goodies that fill their shelves, great stocking fillers for foodies, including bread and butter pudding chocolate, hot chilli hodgepodge oil, a spicy chilli spread that looks like a cartoon TNT bomb, hot sauce from Peckham (sorry we got over excited by all the hot & spicy products), and a range of gourmet salts recently launched by Droitwitch Salt from their brine springs in Worcestershire. Annabelle and Alexandrina told us that they will take you on a road of discovery through their foodie treasures and we have no doubt you’ll receive a warm welcome. Stay tuned as The KAF Larder will open their cafe/caff (now you know where the name comes from!) next; we’ll of course be letting you know all about it.

Follow them on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/thekaflarder/

The Medic Mum Podcast

Fulham resident Dr Stephanie Ooi, previously featured here in “Made in Fulham”, has teamed up with fellow GP Dr Punam Krishan to create The Medic Mum Podcast which launched last week. These GP Mums haven’t met in real life yet but connected through Instagram and having their babies at the same time brought them together. Stephanie told Urban Village LDN “we both had our second babies during the UK national lockdown at the height of the first wave. What started off with chats about personal challenges, struggles of parenthood this year and all the “real talks” has now turned into a podcast on a mission! We want to connect with new parents in a bid to share the realities whilst delivering evidence based family health and well being”.

They both experienced first hand how tough it was to be a new parent this year and they are refreshingly honest saying that even though they’re both GP’s this doesn’t mean they have parenthood all figured out. The podcast offers guidance, support and positivity alongside their personal experiences and challenges faced combined with their medical knowledge. Stephanie continues “This honestly feels like a dream! Our mantra through this whole thing has been if it helps one parent feel less alone; loneliness especially in parenthood shouldn’t be a thing. We have experienced it and it’s horrible. It takes a village, a community, a tribe to raise a new Mum, new Dad and their babies. We all should make the effort to check in and help if we can. This podcast is our offering to help any parent who needs to know, they aren’t alone”.

Hampers by Bridge Baker

Bridge Baker is giving us festive feels every time we walk past. They’re now taking orders on their luxury Christmas hampers and are offering local delivery or collection (last delivery day 23 Dec). Full of freshly baked festive treats they can be paired with other products including wine, bubbly, chutney, jams, teas, olive oils etc. You can buy pre-prepared hampers or customise your own which Bridge Baker will then wrap beautifully for you. Gift wrapping is a complimentary service for hampers over £25 and their hamper trays are made of recycled cardboard in a festive red and are finished with ribbon and a gift tag. Bridge Baker’s hampers use minimum packaging (unlike some major retailers we can think of) which means less waste. Their handmade and homemade Christmas range includes: panettone, fruit cake, Pain d’épices, gingerbread, biscotti, cranberry shortbread, chocolate truffles, mince pies, gluten-free brownie bites, fig jam and Santa brownies. You can also pre order a Bûche de Noël, a rather luxurious yule log, for £31.95. Freshly made & hand decorated it comes in two variations: chocolate sponge filled with chocolate cream & Amarena and dark cherries or vanilla sponge filled with fresh cream, chestnuts (marron) chestnut puree & a splash of Kirsch. Order required two days before collection. Get in touch hello@bridgebaker.co.uk and consider ordering a hamper locally.

Stop press from Friarwood …

The festive season provides the perfect excuse to treat yourself or your loved ones to a great bottle of wine. If you are hosting Christmas, require wine to match your festive lunch or other family celebrations/get togethers during the 5 days of Christmas social reprieve, get in touch with Friarwood’s expert, Patrice at their Parsons Green branch, who after 30 years as a sommelier will be happy to provide pairing recommendations. For gift options, Friarwood have an exclusive selection of reliable classics and some unexpected discoveries that you will not find anywhere else. As a treat to readers of Urban Village LDN, they are offering a little something to make your holiday shopping and wine sourcing stress-free AND you can enjoy up to 30% off select wines by visiting this link https://www.friarwood.com/collections/urban-village