Blog by Eniko Fejer RSS

Midsummer House is an elegant, modern, British restaurant in Cambridge, UK. Daniel Clifford opened it in 1998. The restaurant holds two Michelin stars since 2004, so for 21 years at our time of visiting. It’s East-Anglia’s only two Michelin star restaurant.

Dining in high-end restaurants is not new to us. I started eating out in Michelin star restaurants at the age of 23. Before our son was born in 2016, we have been in many one, two and even a few three star restaurants in the UK and across Europe. Lately our visits became less frequent, but we have been going as and when we could.

Me and...

In the UK service charge is a core part of how hospitality works, and it is built into how staff are paid.

They are paid through two systems:
-    the first is their base salary - taxed, NI’d, and pensioned like any other job.
-    The second is what’s called Tronc, which is the pooled service charge. This is distributed among staff, usually by an independent ‘tronc master’ (not the employer), and it’s often a significant portion of someone’s income.

Tronc income is taxed but isn’t subject to employer National Insurance contributions, and it’s not pensionable.

The business doesn’t have to pay VAT on service charge / tip income so if service charge would be incorporated to the final bill...

When I was a child, we had a huge garden full of vegetables and fruits. We had grapes, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, a pear tree, a walnut tree, a plum tree, onions, carrots, watermelons, potatoes, gherkins and the list could go on.

During the summer month gherkins were fermented. This is a very weird thing in Western Europe, but we grew up on it. My grandma picked the gherkins, washed them thoroughly, topped and tailed them and stuffed a 5l jar with them as tight as possible. She put salt, a huge bunch of dill (also picked from the garden), some garlic, horseradish and sourdough bread on the top, covered it loosely and essentially let it rot under the warm sun...

A lot of my guests have been asking about our suppliers. I would like to be as transparent as possible, so I put together a list of businesses I use regularly.

Vegetables

Accent Fresh – they are based in Downham Market and pride themselves on sourcing the best of Norfolk’s produce. Asparagus, strawberries, tenderstem broccoli, micro herbs etc are all grown in Norfolk.

CC Wells – they are based in Dereham and have a huge warehouse. You don’t need a trade account to shop from them so you can show up, have a look...

This is a dessert that consists of a milk poached soft meringue that floats on crème anglaise. It is served cold or at room temperature. There is also a French variation ‘Île Flottante’ and a 19^th century American cookbook mentions it as a 4^th July dessert. 

I first came across this dessert in my childhood. My grandmother used to make it, and I remember visiting her on one Sunday afternoon. She used to have a north facing ladder with thick walls and...