We had a another very successful business lunch in April, even if our star speaker, Mark Constantine of Lush Cosmetics, did get held up in Holland! No worries, we were saved by Simon Constantine!

Simon is the Chief Perfumer and Buyer within Lush. His presentation was a fascinating insight into how a company of this size source their raw materials. Simon travels the world setting up cooperatives with local people, ensuring consistent quality, quantity and fair trade. Simon also brought along some perfumes, and talked about the fine art of creating gorgeous scents.

We were very lucky to have Simon speak for us as he doesn’t normally talk in public; he is also on paternity leave so his lovely wife and 1 week old baby girl came along too. We received some wonderful feedback for this lunch:

A fascinating talk from someone clearly passionate about what he does.

Excellent speaker, inspirational. I could have listened to Simon speak for hours.

Very, very good. Please could Simon do another presentation?

I thought this was one of the best! So interesting.

Very interesting, fascinated in the SLS and paraben subject, love to hear more!

Brilliant.

Thank you to Simon for stepping in with only an hour’s notice! You could have heard a pin drop, everybody was so engaged in his presentation. Mark has assured us he will give a presentation at a future date, so stay tuned!

Join us here at Storm Raising money for the

Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance
&
Diabetes UK

Thursday 26th April 2012

Only £25.00 per ticket

A delicious selection of meat, vegetarian and fish dishes brought to your table, followed by dessert or cheese at the cool and trendy Storm restaurant followed by live music by the wonderfully talented and great fun singer/songwriter Paul Kinvig.

Click the “Paul Kinvig” link under friends to hear some of his songs

PLEASE BOOK EARLY (tickets are already selling fast) by contacting…..

Strawberry Fields RePresents

M: 07866 489 585
E: suzy@strawberryfieldsrepresents.com

THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT ONLY & TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE. ONLY 40 AVAILABLE.

Help us raise money for these 2 fantastic charities:

Dorset Air Ambulance

Diabetes UK

Lunch –  2 courses for £10.00 and 3 courses for £14.00 is back.

We are open for lunch Tuesday – Saturday 12pm – 2.30pm

During the Easter Holidays Kids Eat Free between 5.30pm – 7.00pm from our special healthy kids menu.

Call us now to book your table 01202 674970

You often hear the word passion used about food – many times wrongly as it can be an excuse for mediocre quality or culinary skill. Happily I am glad to report that with Storm Fish Restaurant in Poole, the word is perfectly appropriate. Situated right in the middle of the “foodie heaven” section of the High Street, the restaurant has a reputation for consistent quality and inventiveness and I was certainly not disappointed in my experience.

When you enter, you get the feeling of walking into a fisherman’s haunt with the unfussy, rustic wooden decor reflecting their passion for the sea – in fact the menu states “If he (the owner) doesn’t catch the fish himself, then he knows a man who can!”

A cursory look at the menu reveals some really interesting starters – ranging from the simple Cornish sprats through smoked haddock with creamed leeks to cockles steamed with chilli & rosemary. Mention here too, however, must be made of the good number of non-seafood starters – especially the beetroot and goats curd ravioli with walnut cream sauce which almost tempted me!

However I plumped for the Poole rock oysters with a Bloody Mary granita whilst my dining companion went for the scallops with artichoke puree and black olive tapenade. The oysters were fantastic – plump, juicy with that wonderful fresh taste and smell of the sea – and the granita was a refreshing twist and had a kick that got a big thumbs up from me. The scallops were perfectly cooked and again the black olive tapenade took the dish in a different and satisfying direction.

The main course selection proved more difficult to as there were a number of dishes to tempt the confirmed fish enthusiast like myself, such as whole cracked cab, flounder in herb butter, gurnard with that most wonderful of north African

marinades chermoula or sea bream in fennel & shellfish cream sauce. Once again the meat and vegetarian preferences were well covered with radicchio risotto, rib eye steak and chicken all available.

The one that caught my eye was a Goan fish curry – notoriously difficult to get right unless you are either experiencing it on the beach in Goa itself or have been indigenously trained – whilst my companion went for the baked cod with a Welsh rarebit topping. Both dishes were very tasty although I must admit I asked for a little extra chilli in mine (personal preference). The choice of fish in the curry was superb – mullet, mackerel and skate – and the combination worked really well with the spice mix.

What about the wine I hear you cry? Well, given the seafood bias it’s not surprising that the white wine selection is bigger and more interesting than the red (which is still wide enough to cope with the non-seafood options) – although those of you who know me will not be surprised that I felt that the list would further benefit from a good quality viognier. A couple of real recommendations are the Green Lip sauvignon blanc – a New Zealand belter of a wine that not so much assaults your senses with fruit but comes out of the bottle, sits next to you and then drives you home – and the sparkling Pul Roger “White Foil” which is elegant and has a lovely undertone of toffee!

Storm really is a gem of a place – from the commitment to locally sourced produce, seasonality in menu offerings, enthusiastic yet unobtrusive service and interesting twists on classic dishes (the prawn cocktail with whiskey dressing being a case in point), you can sense a clear drive towards customers enjoying the produce that is right on their doorstep. If you love what the sea has to offer then in Storm you’ll find it is lovingly served with skill and with flavour combinations that are “cleverly simple”…….oh and with masses of passion!

By Paul Kinvig, reviewed on Ultimately Urban – check them out – under linksat the bottom of the page.

2 course: £14.50 or 3 course: £18.50

STARTERS
Prawn and crayfish cocktail with whiskey dressing
Seared scallops wrapped in Parma ham, Jerusalem artichoke puree and black olive tapanade
Home cured salmon, citrus dressing and beetroot salad
Roast tomato and pepper soup finished with basil oil and paprika crostini
Chicken liver parfait with red onion marmalade and granary bread

MAIN COURSES
Battered haddock and hand cut chips with pea and mint puree and tartare sauce
Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, spring vegetables and roast potatoes
Baked West country cod fillet topped with welsh rarebit and served on mash potato and wilted spinach
Whole lemon sole roasted with herb butter and served with new potatoes
English asparagus risotto finished with Parmesan cheese and balsamic glaze

DESSERTS
Chocolate zabaione tart with honey and Armagnac ice cream
Warm Dorset apple cake with custard
Red berry and lemon pavlova
Espresso and walnut semifreddo
Selection of West Country cheese served with biscuits, grapes and piccalilli

]]> http://www.stormfish.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2&p=445 0 http://www.stormfish.co.uk/blog/?p=415 http://www.stormfish.co.uk/blog/?p=415#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:07:09 +0000 admin http://www.stormfish.co.uk/blog/?p=415 Continue reading →]]>

Paul Stalker of the Extra Mile Partnership gave a wonderful, interactive presentation to the members of the Poole Business Women’s lunch club on motivation and dealing with difficult situations with staff, family or colleagues.  Working through some real situations with some of the women, giving examples of how to deal with issues to get the most positive outcome.  This was followed by an excellent buffet lunch and more networking before wrapping up at 2.30pm

If you would like to join us for our March lunch or any other future lunches click on the link below for businesswomenslunchclub or contact Lucy on email@jobshopuk.com or call her on 01202 674488.

If you missed out last night for Valentines night, the most popular dish of the night for ordering was the Wild Sea Bass Fillet, absolutely delicious……..mmmm.  We will be incorporating this dish into our menu for the next week.  Book your table now. 01202 674970

I’ve just come back from a really inspirational meeting regarding the Olympics and associated events surrounding it and I can honestly say I am now really fired up about the whole thing.  Up to this point, I wasn’t that engaged, not that interested, was going to let it pass me by, not now.

How exciting, we have an Olympic event taking place right on our doorstep, Sailing.  Sailing is the UK’s most successful single sporting event.  There will be 480 sailing Athletes taking part in this event.  As the sailing is taking place in Dorset, collectively we will all be part of the largest event outside of London.  And the Olympic Torch Relay is due to be coming through Poole and Bournemouth on the 13th July 2012 carried by several members of our local community.  The Olympics will not be coming back to England in our lifetimes so what an opportunity this is to be involved in something so speical.

Key dates therefore are:  Torch Relay – 12th and 13th July

Olympic Games – 27 July – 12 August.  Sailing 29 July – 11 August

Live Sit on Weymouth Beach – 27th July – 12th August – two large screens showing free live coverage of the sailing and other Olympic sports

Weymouth Bayside Festival – 27th July – 12th August 2012.

Paralympic Games – 29th August – 9th September 2012.  Sailing 1 – 6 September.

To help you plan your visit:  www.dorsetforyou.com/London2012 gives you all the information you need about the Olympic games.

www.dorsetforyou.com/traveldorset is a free real-time online traffic and travel information service which includes availability of public transport and Park and Ride spaces.

And if culture is more your thing, go visit www.maritimemix2012.co.uk – take a look at this video to inspire you…..  From Eliza Carthy writing the opening piece for the opening weekend, to the delightful KURT PERSCHKE’S REDBALL UK project which will be bringing a large-scale public art project to Dorset and the fantastic spectacle that is BATTLE FOR THE WINDS, there really is something for everyone…….