A Long Weekend of Mead

So its been a while since I blogged and after demolishing a bottle of Eglantine mead on Saturday, and a recent debate about crediting peoples works ref the history of Ethiopia, I thought I’d pontificate on a trip to Lurgashall home of my (still favoured) mead.

Then I may open a bottle of something completely different.

So I’d bought a pretty expensive bottle of Lurgashall English mead at the Hive, and I’d suggested to my sister in passing that one day we visit the meadery in the wilds of West Sussex. Over time she became keener on the idea than me, mainly I think as an excuse to bimble around southern England.

I was half thinking that we might end up at middle farm afterwards for a truly excessive mead shopping expedition. In hindsight this may have made things a tad too expensive.

So Lurgashall is a long way from most places, in the posh bit of Sussex near the Surrey border. On a drizzly day we expected the place to be deserted but must have timed our visit to hit rush hour, as there were like people there.

After several tastes, I bought the lot. Well one of each, at a price less than the hive. Oh and a bought some more of the dry as I think I’m developing a taste for more of the dryer meads. The set looked like this:

Christmas Mead
Spiced Honey Mead
Dry Honey Mead
Reserve Honey Mead
English Honey Mead

And I thought there was a Whiskey mead, but maybe I dreamt that bit.

I also bought some of the most delicious Gospel Green cider and my sister acquired some of Old Tom’s tipple (whatever the hell that is)

We demolished a bottle of the Dry that night with my dad and his partner, but I think I may save the review / notes for a different occasion. For now I’m off to the Oakdale….

Disappointments of Addis

After finally trying Ethiopian mead at the Zigni House, and being very impressed I took the opportunity to seek out another Ethopian / East Africa restaurant in the quest for Tej.

As a restaurant Addis was fair enough, the waiting staff were pretty useless but inconceivably there was no mead on offer. Putting aside my British reserve I even asked and the waiter dismissed the ask, as either he didn’t understand me, wasn’t interested or the answer was no. There was nothing resembling Mead on the menu although there was a listing under the red wine section for an ‘Ethiopian wine’

In hindsight I suspect an Ethiopian wine may well be a mead, and the waiter may have just been stupid. A google search suggests there may well be an Ethiopian red wine, so I dunno maybe I should drop them an email.

However also in hindsight the food wasn’t that great, the Injura was ok but the lamb dish was more grey than tasty. There are undoubtedly many more Ethopian / East African restaurants to visit first.

A bit more research suggests:

Axum Restaurant - 266 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 2JR
Blue Nile - 300 Clapham Road, Stockwell, London, SW9 9AE
Cafe Genet- Unit 7 Village Kitchen, Shepherd Bush Green, London W12 8PP
Damera Ethiopian Restaurant - 129 Askew Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W12
Fassika - 152 Seven Sisters Road, London, N7 7PL
Kokeb Ethiopian Cuisine - 45 Roman Way, Holloway, London, N7 8XF
Kokeb Ethiopian Restaurant - 45 Roman Way, London N7 8XF
Lalibela - 137 Fortess Road, Tufnell Park, London, NW5 2HR
Marathon Restaurant & Bar - 193a Caledonian Road, N1 0SL
Mekasha Ethiopian Restaurant - 75 Fairfax Road, London NW6 4EE
Menelik Ethiopian Restaurant - 42 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9DT
Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant - 196 Caledonian Road, London N1 0SQ
Mosob - 339 Harrow Road, Maida Vale
Muna's - 599 Green Lanes, Hornsey
Nazereth Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant - 4 Walton Road, London N15 4PS
Nile Ethiopian Restaurant - 266 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 2JR
Pomi Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant- 157 Kentish Town Road, London NW1
Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant - 12 Fortess Road, London NW5 2EU
Roha Ethiopian Ethiopian Restaurant - 407 Lordship Lane, London N17 6AG
Sinke / Senke Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant- 1b - 1c, Rock Street, London N4 2DN
Sodere Ethiopian Restaurant - 143 Goldhawk Road - London, W12 8EN
St. Gebriel Deli Ethiopian Restaurant, 12 Blackstock Rd, London N4 2DW
The Peacock Ethiopian Restaurant - 107 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 8NL
Tobia Ethiopian Restaurant - 2a Lithos Road, London NW3 6EF
Wabi Shebele Restaurant - 189-191 New Kent Road, London, SE1 4AG
Zeret Kitchen - 216 Camberwell Road, London, SE5 0ED

And a whole host of listings under African restaurants, which offers some promise too. Busy and interesting mead times ahead

All About Tej

While researching Tej and Ethopian meads I stumbled upon a particular good history of Tej and Ethopia which as a precaution I’ve posted below (things on the internet occasionally and inconveniently vanish.

However in the odd world of the internet, someone seems to have objected to me posting this here. Now if this was the original author than fair enough, but equally this is a blog about drinking mead. One would have thought that with all the credits I included, the thank you’s and the links that a sense of perspective might be possible.

In the cause of advancing human knowledge, and of raising the standards of knowledge about the history of Ethopia, this post is hereby censored by the internet police.

For the main text see here and many thanks to Harry Kloman for the original text. If you ever end up reading this my apologies for pinching your work. However as a precaution against loosing it {well we’re buggered now}

All About Tej



Off to my local book burning tonight, anyone care to join me……

Meyes Ethopian Mead (£4.50, 37.5cl?, ??)

Ah at last my first Ethopian mead and from a restaurant (Zigni House) just up the road from work, which I’ve been meaning to find an excuse to visit for some time.

I’ve been before but suffered a little from the menu which seemed to be very dish specific and the conflict between carnivores (like myself) and vegetarians (most of my friends). This time there was a fair posse and the meat dish (Zil-Zil) and Injera worked well for me.

The mead was served in an interesting bulbous bottle (perhaps a Berele) of indeterminate size and strength. I reckon 375-400ml in that it filled two small glasses of wine. The waitress suggested drinking straight from the bottle, and I tried but the narrow neck made it a bit weird.

From the bottle there was a sweetish honey smell, from the glass a much more bitter one, and the first taste reflected the bitter scent more.

This is definitely an interesting taste, not at all sweat like other meads, but still very pleasant. There’s quite a watery taste here, perhaps it’s not that strong or has been mixed, and the bitter taste may well represent what the honey has been fermented with.

The description of the brewing of Tej includes:

The powdered leaves and twigs of Gesho (Rhamnus prinoides, a hops like bittering agent which is a species of buckthorn

And equally if I wasn;t so British I could have asked for more details.

Still an interesting diversion from sweater meads, something to repeat and an excuse to seek out Ethopian restaurants across London, which sounds like quite a fun expedition for the coming months.

Addis on Caledonian road was recommended by one of my eating companions and so more to follow.