Ten best food moments of the year

Want to know what the best things a fully-paid up foodie ate in 2023? Read on for 7C3 Food Director Sarah Akhurst’s pick of the best morsels to pass her lips, her favourite restaurants and the cookbook she won’t be without. 

Akoko 

One of my favourite meals this year was at West African restaurant Akoko, where exec chef Ayo Adeyemi has created a menu that blends live fire cooking with umami and spice. Highlights included a soul soothing butternut squash broth with mackerel and honey (insane) and blue lobster tail with carrot terrine and jollof rice. I could eat here every night. If you want to check out a little of Ayo’s magic, he created this amazing slow cooked lamb for the magazine in the summer.

Thanks to Crab communications for the invite.  

Tendril 

Clever chefs have pushed vegetables up the menu in 2023. One to watch is Rishim Sachdeva, who after a series of successful pop ups, opened Tendril in Mayfair this year. The (mostly) vegan kitchen is cooking up some super interesting veggie food. Highlights include cauliflower parfait with chilli crumb; smoked beetroot with hoisin glaze and sweetcorn with charred wakame.  

Thanks to Super Duper Comms for the invite.  

Trifle 

I am not the world’s biggest trifle fan but as a recipe developer you’re sometimes called upon to develop recipes that you don’t feel the love for. For our special Coronation issue  of Sainsbury’s magazine, I was forced to face my dessert nemesis head on and this blueberry tiramisu trifle recipe had me rethinking my whole view on this quintessentially British layered pud. And what an amazing cover star she made. One of my faves.

Silo 

Douglas McMaster is at the forefront of UK sustainable dining so it was a privilege to do a fermentation masterclass at his zero-waste restaurant Silo. Through fermentation of everything, from crab shells to egg whites, Douglas creates a complex larder of flavour enhancers to use in the restaurant’s kitchen. The venison garum I brought home – made from fermented venison meat trimmings – has already given an amazing depth of flavour to a slow cooked venison ragu and took a lunchtime cheese toastie to another level.  

Thanks to Gemma Bell and Co for the invite.  

The Good Front Room 

When chef Dom Taylor won Channel 4’s Five Star Kitchen: Britain’s Next Great Chef he was given the opportunity to open a six month pop up at the Langham hotel in London. The Good Front Room shines a culinary spotlight on Caribbean food. Favourite dishes included an amazing king prawn and dasheen salad with coconut sambal and an ackee and salt fish cake with pineapple and tomato chow and scotch bonnet aioli. Sample a bit of Dom’s genius with his amazing tamarind and ginger glazed ham.

Thanks to Sauce Communications for the invite.  

Sharing boards 

Sharing boards were definitely the social food trend of the year and I had great fun developing some ideas for the August issue of Sainsbury’s magazine. The Afternoon Sea board incorporated beer battered smoked cod goujons and chips, crab sarnies and prawn cocktail cups, while the High Steaks board mixed seared steak with blue cheese sauce, roasted baby tats and griddled baby gems. Check out the recipes online when you’re next planning a gathering.

A fishy tale  

Last year I was lucky enough to spend two days with Jose Pizarro at his amazing Andalusian villa Iris Zahara learning about all things tuna, so I was delighted to be invited to Jose’s Pizarro restaurant for a seven course tuna tasting menu, centred around the amazing blue-fin tuna, which is sustainably fished near his villa in Cadiz. We dined on tuna tartar with fermented chilli pepper sauce, white tuna belly with EVOO and Marcona almonds, an amazing tuna and onion stew and an amazing marinated tuna rib with fries. Simple perfection. 

Thanks to Hannah Norris for the invite.  

The Walnut Tree Inn 

‘Franco & Friends: food from the Walnut Tree’ was one of the first cookbooks I bought many moons ago when it was published in the 90s and I finally got to realise a long-held dream when I visited this legendary foodie hangout in Abergavenny. The cooking is all about high quality produce, seasonal ingredients and classic technique. We feasted on monkfish with mussels, clams, cider and mustard and steak tartare for starters; plaice with cauliflower, brown shrimps and spiced butter and halibut with crab and shellfish sauce for mains then rounded off with pistachio and apricot tart to finish. Uncomplicated but classy cooking.

Thanks to Shaun Hill for hosting me.  

Sabrina Gidda 

I’m a cookbook junkie, so I was delighted to join a dinner to mark the launch of Sabrina Gidda’s cookbook Modern South Asian Kitchen back in March. Sabrina’s food merges influence from her Punjabi heritage with modern twists from her European career in cooking. The book launch featured some of her innovative dishes including the most heavenly ox cheek masala with coconut curry dauphinois (yeah, you read that right). I’ve cooked from her book multiple times throughout the year and was delighted when she created a gorgeous menu for our September issue. Search Sabrina on sainsburysmagazine.co.uk   

Thanks to Quadrille for the invite. 

Saiphin Moore 

My foodie highlight of the year has to be a trip to Thailand with queen of Thai food, Saiphin Moore. Saiphin is the driving force behind the hugely successful restaurant chain Rosa’s Thai and on a whistle stop tour of both northern and southern Thailand, she took us to visit lemongrass, galangal and tamarind farms, taught us the secrets of her signature green Thai curry paste, put us up in a divine jungle hotel and opened our senses to some of the spiciest food we had eaten. Look out for some of Saiphin’s recipes in Sainsbury’s magazine in 2024.  

Thanks to Tonic Communications for the invite.