Organic Chemistry. Daylesford Organic (review)

Oh how I hated Organic Chemistry at university. I loathed it. I loathed nomenclature and conjugated double bonds. There are a few kinds of chemistry that I do like however, cooking and baking!! And when I found myself in Notting Hill on the weekend with an hour or two to spare, we found ourselves making a beeline for Daylesford Organic. Now combining cooking with organic food, that's an organic chemistry I can partake in!

Daylesford Organic in Notting Hill is the farmshop and cafe for the Daylesford Organic Farm in Gloucestshire. Here they receive fresh and organic produce, meat, cheese and bread every day from their own farm. You can browse the seasonal fruit and veggies. the amazing cookshop stocked with beautiful kitchenware, or have a bite to eat in their cafe/restaurant. 

We decided to escape the heat for a little on Saturday and sat in front of the air-conditioning unit in the cafe upstairs. I had just finished catering a baby shower for a friend and was beyond hot and exhausted, and in need of a crisp bubble!! 

Mr M had a far more civilised beverage and went for the Juice de Jour (no, they don't say that, they're not as aliteration obsessed as moi), which was apple and rhubarb. 

I loved the look of pretty much everything on the menu, but was of course still limited somewhat thanks to my various intolerance's. We couldn't decide which one thing we each wanted, so we shared (ie one of my favourite traits of Mr M is that we always order two meals, and he'll let me try both and then will have a small taste of the one I most liked, and will selflessly take the other meal (and, he does all of this so smoothly, a true gentleman)). 

Upon arrival of our two plates, it became apparent which one I wanted, in that I didn't even take a photograph of the Grilled Beef Burger (no bun). 

But I did photograph the Aberdeen Angus Corned Beef Hash with Fried Hen's Egg. 

We weren't really sure what we were going to get with that order, but were thoroughly impressed. It was slow cooked and shredded Aberdeen Beef, which is combined with potato and seasonings and cooked like a big hash brown. Umm, yes please! 

The egg was runny and perfect, making the beef all buttery and gooey. 

The chemistry of these two flavours was perfectly complimented by a homemade brown sauce, which had the sweetness to balance the saltiness of the beef. It was so good! The first thing we both said was that I needed to learn how to cook that!!!

We contemplated having some desserts at Daylesford too, because I have had their ice-creams before and they are so good (and we all know that I love my ice-cream) but, with all the baking and icing that morning, I was all sweeted-out. 

And right on cue, Baby M woke up as our lunch was brought out, not that we could blame her, the smells her incredible. So she had some hand cut potato wedges, and was a happy camper! 

I'll be posting about the baby shower later in the week, but for now I'm currently busy completing a long list of meg-made orders that I've been receiving, thanks to a fabulous write up my friend Lauren wrote over on her blog, Aspiring Kennedy. It was the most nervous I had been in a long time. I felt like it was the first time I was actually putting meg-made "out there" and I wasn't sure how it was going to go. I worried that I was going to feel like the kid being picked last on the netball team, and worried that nobody would like what I was making. I'm so grateful to have the unwavering support of Mr M (to assure me that'd I'd be his first pick every time) and my friends (who've placed orders for headbands and do sweet posts about me) who've all had to listen to me natter on non-stop about my dreams for meg-made one day! 

Oh and I'm so grateful for this little poppet, for as many times as she takes my headbands off, she also placates me for photos sometimes too!!