Epicurely Event: Hoxton Nosh - A 6 course Tasting Menu by Josh Posner

When Josh told me about his next event, I was quite keen to attend. You might remember a review I did of his previous supper club held through Epicurely.

The setting this time was different from the first event which had about 8 diners. This was held at the Hoxton Apprentice, a beautiful space at Hoxton Square, owned by the charity – Training For Life. Tickets were £25 (+£2 booking fee) for a 6 course dinner and all proceeds from the bar went to the charity. While I do prefer the more intimate atmosphere of the previous dinner (watching Josh cook right in front of us was a nice treat!), I had to admire how the event was now scaled up to cater for 40 people.

The first course was tiny little boiled egg (quail I think) with horseradish and parsley. Unfortunately I have a rather tumultuous relationship with eggs and I’m not too fond of soft boiled eggs. So I can’t really comment on this course.

The second was a familiar one – burnt potato with brown butter and pickled cucumber slices. Earthy rustic flavours highlighted by that delicious brown butter.

Boiled Egg, Salt water, Horseradish & Parsley

The third course was roasted cauliflowers with a mushroom glaze, toasted almonds and chicken sauce.  I absolutely loved this dish and was glad to see it on the menu again.

Next was the shallots cooked in rice wine with marjoram and pumpkin seeds. I was looking forward to this dish and while I still enjoyed the flavours – I think it fares better when served in a bowl rather than on a plate. With a bowl, you get to appreciate the chicken broth better – which I had waxed lyrically on about in my last post.

The fifth course was smoked ox cheek, Jerusalem artichokes, turnips and beef sauce – an utterly fabulous dish. I've never tried ox cheek before – it’s similar to the texture of beef brisket. It was soft, moist and tender and full of flavour – paired with a comforting mash. This dish went down really well. 

My only critique would be that there wasn't enough of it! I know this was a tasting menu but damn, that was good stuff. The ox cheek and the roasted cauliflowers were my two favourite dishes on the menu.

Then came 2 desserts – a mascarpone cream with a lovely Muscat grape syrup garnished with poppy and fennel – a nice palate cleanser and the other dessert was a milk jelly (like a panna cotta) with brown bread, golden orange raisins and honey.

Milk Jelly, Brown Bread, Pollen & Honey

There’s always an unexpected, playful element to Josh’s food. You never really know what you're going to get when you’re sitting down for a meal. A part of animal you've never tried before (pig’s neck, anyone?), a combination that doesn't quite make sense in your head but tastes amazing (mushroom-glazed cauliflowers) or a simple little vegetable elevated to centre stage by a few key ingredients (like the shallots in chicken broth).

I’m also starting to realize how these food events listed on the Epicurely website are a great way to meet new people. London is a large city and I remember how lost I felt when I first moved here. And now, just through these two events, I've met quite a few people whom I've enjoyed getting to know while discussing Josh’s food!

Josh is planning to do more pop-up ‘Nosh’ dinners which you can find out about through Epicurely so watch this space: http://www.epicurely.com/

You can read about my review on the first event here which has more pictures.  Unfortunately most of pictures I took this time turned out rather blurry.

You can follow Josh on twitter @rogan_josh or email him at joshposner@live.co.uk