This is a relatively straightforward dish, as the picture probably suggests. Courgette flowers are stuffed with tangy goats’ cheese, deep fried in the lightest of batters and drizzled (very generously) with aromatic lavender honey. Simple ingredients, but a really tasty result.
“They’re a bit of theatre and the chefs know how to play it”
Well, I say simple ingredients, but flowers rather than fruit bodies of courgette are no doubt pretty exotic. You couldn’t easily see these yellow beauties, and I was surprised (pleasantly it turns out) that they were cooked with quite a length of stalk which helped the dish stand up to the mellow but robust flavour of the oozing cheese, and gave a lovely crunchy bite to go with the crispy batter and flower.
The honey was sweet, obviously, but also almost spicy in its aromaticness. Together it amounted to an ethereal offering which is deservedly a signature dish for Salt Yard.
Courgette flowers are never going to fill you up, and I can’t honestly promise that the petals themselves add much to the dish, but they’re a bit of theatre and the chefs know how to play it.
I’ve been told off for going on about other dishes not part of the Chowdown Showdown Londontown challenge, so here are some pictures to tantalise you of the other dishes on offer, with no additional commentary…
24/100 best dishes in London