Five Cambridge Foodie Must-haves for October

This month’s five foodie must-haves, brought to you by Velvet Magazine

Veggin Out – Published by Meze

Cook It

Spanning burgers, pizzas and roast dinners through to sweet treats, poke bowls and party food, new cookbook Veggin’ Out is a comprehensive beginner’s guide to plant-based cooking. Making her authorial debut, it’s the brainchild of cook and nutritionist Jasmine Cassells and contains a whopping 100 recipes (which – spoiler – all sound amazing: take the BBQ Chickpea Pizza, or the Tofu To-key Roast). The cherry on top? A tree is planted for every copy sold.

Veggin’ Out: 100 recipes to mimic meat and dish up more plants is out now, published by Meze

Garden House Cambridge

Dine It

With Cambridge Burnt Cream Tart a signature dessert, you’ll struggle to find a menu more local in flavour than Adam Wood’s. Head chef at the just-opened Garden House, the restaurant within new riverside hotel Graduate Cambridge, his culinary style is described as “largely flame focussed with seasonally changing dishes”.

Formerly of London’s award-winning Perilla, Adam’s current menu includes Huntsham farm pork, smoked anchovy and romaine; grilled Norfolk quail, pickled cherry and chicory; and Flourish Farm tomato tart, summer greens and ricotta.

For more and to book see gardenhousecambridge.co.uk and follow @gardenhousecambridge

Bicycle Bakes Cambridge

Order It

Spiced pumpkin, maple whisky, caramel apple, chai. . . Conjuring “cooler days and the return of cashmere sweaters, candles and endless cups of tea”, the new macaron collection from Bicycle Bakes is autumn on a plate.

Though she’s only been baking professionally since May of 2020, when lockdown prompted her to press pause on her dayjob in the travel industry, Cambridge’s Gwyneth Horscroft is also known for her brownies (seriously fudgy, seriously moreish) and cookies (satisfyingly large, satisfyingly chewy), along with flapjacks, honeycombs, loaf cakes and traybakes.

To find out more and place orders for direct delivery, follow @bicyclebakes on Facebook.

Hidden by Puddini, Cambridge

Book It

“We spent lockdown delivering food to your table; now we’d like to invite you to ours.” That’s the ethos behind supper club Hidden, new from Willingham deli and catering company Puddini.

A collaboration with Ben Sulston, the Cambridgeshire-born chef who’s spent the last 20 years cooking his way around the globe, Hidden made its debut this summer and every date released since has been a sell-out.

Creating dishes with seasonality, flavour and nutrition at their core, Hidden’s October menu includes pan fried scallop, chorizo, cauliflower and almonds, followed by lamb rump and shoulder, butternut squash, leek and mint.

For updates, supper club dates and to book, follow @hidden_by_puddini on Instagram.

The Fudge Can Cambridge

Treat It

It started life as a hobby, grew to a single market stall and is now a Great Taste award-winning business selling across four counties: it’s fair to say The Fudge Can is a kitchen-table success story.

Sample the goods, handmade in St Neots, and it’s not hard to see why. Striking that perfect balance between creamy and crumbly, this fudge melts in the mouth and is full of flavour – current top-sellers include Sicilian Lemon, Honey Pistachio and Cinnamon.

Credit goes both to quality of ingredients (all natural, they include butter from Bedfordshire’s Blunham Dairy) and a well-honed recipe and method (the dreamy texture achieved by painstaking beating of every small batch).

Find The Fudge Can at St Ives and St Neots Farmers’ Markets and at Royston, Hitchin and Ampthill weekly markets. For more details and to order online go to thefudgecan.com.

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