This summer Arun Kapil, founder of award-winning company, Green Saffron and Quo Vadis Head Chef, Jeremy Lee will host an exclusive spice pop-up at Sam and Eddie Hart’s Soho institution, Quo Vadis. The one off event will be held upstairs in The Club on Saturday 18th June.
An abundant weekend lunch will be order of the day, a celebration of Jeremy’s passion for the finest British ingredients livened with Arun’s vibrant and exotic spices, sourced from his cousins in Moradabad, India. To begin, canapés layered on immense platters will include; Farroe Isles smoked salmon with a juniper, alder and birch cure, garam soda bread slice, turmeric, cucumber and soured cream; Venison tartare with capers and black cardamom atop a crouton crisp and finally, DIY Gol guppa, chickpea, potato, Grey Goose and tamarind ‘water’.
To follow, The Club’s long table will become laden with family style sharing dishes, starting with Broad beans, devilled boiled hen egg, Ortiz anchovy, pancetta, chilli, chervil and lemon cardamom dressing before plates of buttered and charred ‘Oudhi’ young chicken, asafoetida pilau and apricot ginger ‘lunji’ alongside a Melon, radish, cucumber and mint salad with turtle beans, almonds, saffron and muscat. To finish, generous glass bowls displaying a layered Trifle will be complete with brandy cherries, vanilla & pepper custard, chocolate, angelica and gold leaf. Guests will help themselves to jugs refreshing spiced summer coolers of Lemon ginger, soda & mint twizzler, cumin, long pepper and clove and Kokum sherbet, cumin, fennel and mint.
Throughout the afternoon Arun will share his unparalleled knowledge for spices and recall tales of his time at the esteemed Ballymaloe Cooking School alongside Jeremy’s infamous wit, who honed his skills cooking alongside Simon Hopkinson at Bibendum. The Club will be transformed into a veritable ‘spice den’ for the occasion, piled with aromatic spices and summer blooms.
Hailing from Cork, Ireland this will be the first of a 2016 series of pop-ups and collaborations in the UK for spice expert, Arun Kapil. ‘I’ve been around spices all my life – I love them, and what’s more, I love the opportunity to share them with chefs and food heroes. Jeremy is a wonderful chef with an unyielding appetite for discovery and I can’t wait to cook alongside him in such an iconic setting’. ‘This collaboration has been a long time coming’ adds Quo Vadis Head Chef, Jeremy. ‘I’ve been the grateful recipient of Arun’s spices for months now, the quality and caliber is brilliantly inspiring and his enthusiasm is irresistible. We’re delighted to welcome him, and his encyclopedic spice knowledge to the Quo Vadis kitchen’.