City boy turns Sussex produce shopkeeper

A former investment banker has turned shopkeeper and is refurbishing the derelict antiques auction house in Upper Gardner Street to create a superb local food store and restaurant, Thorne’s Foods, bringing quality local produce into the heart of the city seven days a week.

31 year-old Jason, who lives in Brighton with his wife and baby, has had a passion for local food since he was young and aims to take on supermarkets by making fresh, seasonal local food available to people in Brighton & Hove, with opening hours to suit busy lifestyles

“I have been working on this project for two years now, raising capital from private investors, banks and getting to know our wonderful, award-winning Sussex food and drink producers, so that we can offer the best ingredients in the city,” said Jason.

“I want to offer good value quality food which can’t normally be easily accessed in the city centre and which people can pick up on their way home from work, so that they can eat well and support the local economy. I want to cut out the difficulties, and make it as easy as turning left to Thorne’s or right to the supermarket.”

Thorne’s intends to open from 9:30am to 8:30pm, selling a full range of groceries, including a high quality butcher’s, a deli counter, green groceries, wine and a huge spread of fresh, local ingredients and fine foods made in Sussex and surrounding areas. Suppliers will be chosen locally wherever possible says Jason, in recognition that not everything the modern food shopper desires is made in the county. The food will also be served in a market kitchen upstairs allowing customers to taste what is on offer and in season, whilst helping to manage wastage through the shop.

“I was so delighted to find the old antique auction house because it lends itself beautifully to my aspirations for the design of Thorne’s. It has a huge cobbled entrance way and high, vaulted ceilings, with a great space for the market kitchen, with lots of daylight coming through huge windows with wonderful views over the city’s rooftops,” he continued.

“We are restoring and celebrating the unique old features of the building, whilst installing all mod cons and upgrading facilities. We want to create a vintage, rustic farmer’s market atmosphere and style, but with the convenience of a supermarket for busy people in the city to enjoy.”

Thorne’s will create 20 new jobs in Brighton and this is just the start of Jason Hurwitz’s ambitions, as he hopes to create more local food stores in other cities in the future, bringing local produce to people who don’t normally have the time or means to access them.

Jason is seeking further investors to help meet the increased refurbishment cost in restoring the historic building; anyone interested should contact him at Jason.Hurwitz@ThornesFoods.co.uk.

Thorne’s Foods will open in July and Jason intends to hold a range of community events to involve and encourage local people to buy local.

Sussex Foodie News April 2011

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Sussex spring harvest celebrated by Brighton Food Fest

Tens of thousands enjoyed the sun and tasty fare at the Big Sussex Market, part of the Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival’s ‘spring harvest’, this weekend in the North Laine.

The festival kicked off on Friday with a hilarious 100-metre city chefs pancake race on Brighton Pier, won by Michael Bowell of Hotel du Vin, followed by a VIP party and Sussex beer festival at Pub du Vin.

Public voting also opened for the Brighton & Hove at www.brightonfoodawards.com, sponsored by new legal firm in the city wetalklaw.com and gourmetbritain.com, the national website for foodies. The first ever Sussex Gourmet Tour, a vintage bus tour of Sussex food producers yesterday, was sold out and the city’s first Restaurant Week is also now on [April 1st to 8th], with restaurants offering £10 lunch and £15 dinner menus; and cafés serving up a £5 deal.

“This spring we will be celebrating everything that is great about Sussex produce and our wonderful international Brighton food offer and we welcome everyone who wants to get involved, by holding events or sponsoring our main attractions which attract thousands of food and drink lovers,” said Nick Mosley, festival director.

The first ticketed Live Food Show will be held next Saturday April 9th, including chef demonstrations from invited restaurants alongside wine tastings and a superb three-course lunch at the Radisson Blu, tickets are on sale at www.brightonfoodfestival.com. Foodwriter Andrew Kay, hosting the Live Food Show, will also announce the winner of the children’s Great Brighton Ice Cream Competition at Boho Gelato. Over 1,500 entries have been received and a shortlist of five finalists’ ice creams have been made up for judging. The winner will get to see their ice cream made, as well as winning a giant tube of ice cream and cones to enjoy with their school mates.

“There is so much to enjoy in our city and the surrounding countryside and we have created a festival programme which represents all aspects of our foodie hub on the south coast, so please do support us and come along and enjoy our events,” continued Nick Mosley.

Paula Seager, MD of Natural PR, who runs the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards and has supported the festival for many years, is also calling for votes: “Last year 5,000 people voted in the Foodie Awards and this year we want to do even better to support our wonderful local eateries – so please get online from 1st April at www.brightonfoodawards.com and vote for your favourites!”

Details of festival events, including associated foody fun, such as the fabulous Chocolate Festival on New Road on April 16th and 17th, can be found at www.brightonfoodfestival.com.

Sussex journalists eat steak for charity

A group of journalists including James Wallin from the Argus, Jonesy from Juice FM and Rob Marks from Brighton Visitor magazine, also the city's 'ghost walk' tour guide, took on the great steak eating challenge at the Old Bank Steak & Grill in Kemptown to support Red Nose Day.

Jonesy was star of the day, managing to eat a full four pounds of rump steak along with a side order of chips, sponsored by dozens of his listeners, whilst the others managed half their steaks before being forced to stop with dry mouths and full stomachs.

They were raising funds for Comic Relief which is this year supporting Sussex charity Sightsavers, which prevents avoidable blindness in developing countries. The journalists have been promoting their cause, which was shown in the BBC1 Red Nose Day Celebrity Trek.

Said owner, Helen Bailey: “The Old Bank Steak & Ribs is Kemptown’s friendly, new steak house restaurant, serving delicious food with great service in a warm and comfortable setting. We are aiming to be the ‘Cheers’ of the neighbourhood - a rarity in the city, offering quality steak and ribs, local catch of the day, grilled chicken and vegetarian dishes at good value prices.”

“The whole night was about raising funds for Comic Relief and Sightsavers, which is a fantastic cause."

Star quality chef appointed by stadium

A former personal chef to the prime minister and multiple award winning cook, Frederick Tobin, has been appointed as head chef at the American Express Community Stadium to serve superb quality food throughout the stadium.

Fred’s star-studded career includes posts at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s Country Residence, the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane, Harrods in Knightsbridge, The Grove in Rickmansworth and most recently, the Felbridge Hotel in East Grinstead, winning many rosettes and accolades along the way.

Elliott Moore, general manager of catering at the stadium, said: “We received nearly a hundred excellent applications for this job and went through a rigorous process to select our chef – but without a doubt, Fred was the right man for the job and we very much look forward to working with him to take stadium food to a new level in quality and service.”

The final stage of the recruitment included a true MasterChef-style ‘cook off’ between shortlisted chefs, held at Queens Park Rangers’ Loftus Road Stadium, where Fred cooked from a mystery box of ingredients, creating seared supreme of salmon with a soused potato and spring onion salad and supreme of chicken filled with cream cheese and mushroom mousse.

Fred, who was born in Crawley and lives there now with his wife and four children, said: “Working on my home turf in one of the most exciting projects in the region really is a dream come true and my goal is to create a new benchmark in excellence for stadium food. This is an awesome project and is something that I can really get my teeth into – it’s huge for Sussex, huge for the South and huge for me!”

Fred will be overseeing seven kitchens, eight 1901 Club corporate hospitality suites, 14 kiosks, each with their own chef, a supporters restaurant, as well as a huge range of non-match day events, from trade fairs and conferences to weddings and private parties. He intends to use as much local, Sussex produce as possible in the food served at the stadium and is already in discussions with local suppliers, seeking out the best ingredients.

The American Express Community Stadium events team is now open and ready for business and are now taking bookings for conferencing and events at the hottest new venue in the city, opening this summer. High spec event rooms with capacity from 2 to 500 have sweeping views of the South Downs and the pitch. Email EventsBrighton@azure.uk.com or call 01273 542 343 to find out more.

Sussex Food Heroes Crowned!

Celebrations were in full flow at this year’s spectacular Sussex Food & Drink Awards ceremony, where eight of Sussex’s top food and drink producers were hailed as local heroes as they received their trophies at the East Sussex National Golf Resort & Spa near Uckfield.

Thousands of people voted for hundreds of Sussex food and drink businesses and individuals in the Sussex Food & Drink Awards 2010/11, which is run by Natural PR and this year celebrated its fifth anniversary!

Said Clive Beddall OBE, Chairman of the Judges: “The Sussex Food & Drink Awards celebrate the exceptional standards of quality and innovation that have taken the county’s producers into the top half of the UK’s Premier League for locally produced food and drink.

This competition has raised the profile of an ever-growing variety of products from across the county and what has pleased me most this year is that more and more Sussex hotels, pubs and restaurants are highlighting local produce on their menus.”

Over 200 leaders in the food, drink and farming industries gathered for what is now dubbed ‘the Sussex foodie event of the year’. Guests were treated to a wonderful ‘Sussex bubbly and ale reception’, sponsored by Harvey & Son and Carr Taylor, followed by a stunning seven-course banquet. The special fifth anniversary menu was created by AA rosette chef Andy Wiles and featured an array of Sussex goodies, including: local Sussex rabbit rillette; Harvey’s beer battered line-caught Sussex pollock; a trio of Sussex venison; layered Sussex blackberry fool; a selection of local cheeses and Sussex ground coffee with chocolate truffles and mini cup cakes.

It was an even split across the county as winners were announced in a BAFTA-style presentation, hosted by Danny Pike of BBC Sussex. East Sussex fought off tough competition seeing wins for the second year in a row from Uckfield for Best Sussex Farmers Market, sponsored by Harveys Brewery and Lewes based Cheese Please for Best Sussex Food/Farm Shop, sponsored by Mayo Wynne Baxter. Having recently received the accolade of a Michelin Star, it was a night for more celebration for The Curlew Restaurant in Bodiam which won Best Sussex Eating Experience, sponsored by A Taste of Sussex; and Tablehurst Farm in Forest Row was awarded Sussex Butcher of the Year, sponsored by Leonards and Natural Farms.

West Sussex saw siblings Jenny and Trevor Passmore of Church Farm in Lancing win the very popular title of Sussex Farmer of the Year, sponsored by Knill James; Sussex Food Producer of the Year, sponsored by Musgrave, was awarded to Caroline’s Dairy in Sidlesham, Chichester; Dark Star Brewery in Horsham beat neighbouring rivals Hepworth’s to take first place in Sussex Drink Producer of the Year, sponsored by Natural PR; and another Horsham winner was South Lodge Hotel’s sous-chef, Steven Edwards, who took away the much coveted title of Sussex Young Chef of the Year, sponsored by Blue Spark Organisation.

As fireworks lit up the banquet hall, Paula Seager, MD of Natural PR which organise the awards, said: “Tonight has been a true celebration and we are so proud that these awards have played a part in building the reputation of Sussex as one of the best food destinations in the country and home to some of the most creative and exciting producers of exquisite food and drink.

As ever the awards would not be possible without the support from all our wonderful sponsors and the many great organisations and individuals involved and we hope that we can continue to make these awards a success for many years to come.”

For more information on all the winners and the awards please visit www.sussexfoodawards.biz

The winners are:
Best Sussex Farmer's Market – sponsored by Harveys Brewery
Winner - Uckfield
Runners up – Lewes & Shoreham

Sussex Farmer of the Year sponsored by Knill James
Winner – Jenny & Trevor Passmore, Church Farm, Coombes, Lancing
Runners up - Tim Hassell, Home Farm, Goodwood & Shon and Simon Sprackling, Rother Valley Organics, Petersfield

Best Sussex Food/Farm Shop sponsored by Mayo Wynne Baxter
Winner – Cheese Please, Lewes
Runners up - Plaw Hatch Farm Shop, Sharpthorne & Sussex Produce Company, Steyning

Sussex Food Producer of the Year sponsored by Musgrave Retail Partnership
Winner – Caroline's Dairy, Sidlesham
Runners up - Nut Knowle Farm, Horam, nr Heathfield & Plaw Hatch Farm, Sharpthorne

Sussex Drink Producer of the Year sponsored by Natural PR
Winner – Dark Star Brewery, Horsham
Runners up - Hepworths Brewery, Horsham & World Coffee, Lindfield

Best Sussex Eating Experience sponsored by a Taste of Sussex
Winner – The Curlew, Bodiam
Runners up - Restaurant Tristan, Horsham & Simply Delicious, Bognor Regis

Sussex Young Chef of the Year sponsored by Blue Spark Organisation
Winner – Steven Edwards, South Lodge, Horsham
Runners up - Simon Duncan, Sam's of Brighton & Hanna Payne, the Pass at South Lodge, Horsham

Sussex Butcher of the Year sponsored by Leonards & Natural Farms
Winner – Tablehurst Farm Shop, Forest Row
Runners up - S K Hutchings, Partridge Green & New Street Butchers, Horsham

Kings Old Ale wins national award

Horsham-based brewery WJ King today won the Silver Medal at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester for its Kings Old Ale, in the old ales and strong milds category.

Head Brewer Ian Burgess, who joined the WJ King team less than a year ago, leaving Harveys of Lewes where he brewed for 19 years, created this beer, which won the Champion Beer of Britain, London and South East Regional Beer in March 2010, taking it through to the national awards this week.

Said Ian Burgess: ‘After 30 years of brewing, this is my first ‘individual’ award and it is a tremendous honour and achievement after only 6 months of taking on my very own brew house. I accept this award as part of an amazing team surrounding me and I hope together we will have more awards to come and enjoy seeing customers across the South East of England enjoying WJ King’s traditional hand crafted ales.’

“Kings Old Ale is a multiple award winning dark brown Old Ale with an intense dry, coffee and slightly smoky aroma. There is a delicious and satisfying mouthfeel of silky viscosity before the taste of coffee and molasses covers your tastebuds. The aftertaste of liquorice from the malt and slight spice from the relatively light use of hops complements the preceding flavours very well and forms the perfect end to this beautiful beer.

Nigel Lambe, Chief Executive of WJ King, who together with Head Brewer Ian Burgess, bought the brewery in June last year, said: “We are excited to be winning awards so soon after taking on the brewery. Ian is a true master of brewing, so we are really lucky to be working with him and plan to bring out many more innovative and popular beers, like our Brighton Best, Horsham Best and Red River.”

With a 200 year tradition of brewing some of the most respected and enjoyed Sussex ales, WJ King has evolved into a new style of micro brewery, using only the finest natural and local ingredients and traditional brewing techniques to produce the finest quality local ales.

The brewery recently opened a Brewery shop at its Horsham address in Foundry Lane, selling a range of beers from single bottles up to 70 pint casks. It is open 9am-5pm on weekdays and 10 – 2 on Saturday, and their beers can also be bought online at www.kingbeer.co.uk.