Let me entertain you - Chinese banquet Steve Chan style.

 Three birthdays to celebrate in one week so time for a treat - and who better to turn to than Steve Chan........

 first up, prepping some of the key ingredients, squid for starters.........

 while the oil gets hot hot hot.........

 don't forget the spare ribs........

 to go with the rest of the starters on the table..........

 no prizes for guessing what's next.........

 and, without anyone lifting a finger, the crispy duck meets the shredder.........

 bring on the pancakes.........

 and, while the next course is underway...........

and the duck looks like a pirannha attack aftermath.........

 there's beef in a pepper sauce coming up........

 before the bass gets busy.......... 

and things step up a gear.......

 bass with silky Singapore noodles...........

 and fruity sweet and sour twist to close the show - easy to organise for a shop-free day and hassle-free evening - highly recommended! 

Chef on a mission - Sanjay Kumar talks Cornish Sardines, Slow food and fish on BBC Radio 4.

Cornish based chef Sanjay Kumar goes on a cooking mission to Italy to save the Cornish sardine.


The pilchard and its young offspring the sardine used to be the basis of a thriving fishing and processing industry in Cornwall.  In the late 19th century nearly 20 thousand tonnes of sardine was caught, salted, packed and sent to northern Italy where it was highly prized.


By the end of the 20th century the fish had fallen out of favour. Supplies of the fish were still abundant but consumers had started to switch to more aspirational fish like cod and salmon.  Sardines being landed fell below 10 tonnes. Fisherman gave up the profession, boats were destroyed and processing plants closed. Now with concerns over global stocks, one solution is for more of us to switch to "poorer" more abundant fish species like the sardine and pilchard.


Chef Sanjay Kumar, born in Calcutta and now based in Cornwall, wants to help make that happen.  He moved to the county five years ago, fell in love with Cornish food and its fishing traditions.

In May Sanjay travelled to a bi-annual event held in Italy called Slow Fish. It brings together fishermen, chefs, policy experts and fish scientists, all keen to promote small scale, traditional and sustainable forms of fishing. His mission was to use the event to find new ideas to help revive Cornish fishing tradition.  As well as cooking a traditional Italian sardine dish, meeting fellow campaigning chefs, Sanjay also gets to interview the European Union's Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki.


Listen now to the BBC Radio 4 programme and find out how Sanjay's trip can make a difference to how we all think about fish. The programme will also be repeated on Radio 4 tomorrow at 4pm.

The media's white tipped shark frenzy.

Huge shark caught by Newlyn trawler.

There's no let up in the media frenzy stirred up over last week's white tipped shark sighting by Ian Bullus off St Ives. The Sun, the Daily Express and many more papers are convinced that hundreds of shark crazed anglers are heading down the A30 towards St Ives as fast as fearful holidaymakers head up the A30 in retreat! Still, at least it has kept those on duty at the National Coastwatch Institution's station overlooking St Ives Bay busy!

Not what you want to come face to face with.

Lunar Bow passes under Tower Bridge up the Thames.

Tower Bridge was lifted on Monday 6 June for the 70m long pelagic trawler ‘Lunar Bow’ to berth alongside HMS Belfast.

Captained by Alexander Buchan Jr. from Peterhead, ‘Lunar Bow’ was in London during Seafarers Awareness Week (6-12 June), the annual campaign to promote the UK’s dependence as an island nation on ships and seafarers.

Lunar Bow’s visit was organised by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen and the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association.

Visit http://www.lunarfreezing.co.uk/ for more information.

Cornish tuna in the vanguard of sustainable eating campaign.

Quentin Knights, skipper of the Cornish tuna boat, Ben Loyal.

Eating Out magazine ran a story on just how the catering world is set to deal with the demand for sustainably caught sea food.

"M&J Seafood has been promoting albacore tuna caught off the Cornish coast. It has an exclusive agreement with two Cornish boats to take the majority of their catch for the UK foodservice sector. Last year it supplied about 45 tonnes and this year will be a similar amount. Berthet says albacore offers chefs a responsible alternative to bluefin and a slightly different presentation to yellowfin, but it is a different fish altogether and more suited to cooking rather than raw for sushi. This year M&J decided to put any trim left over into albacore fish cakes."

See the rest of the Article here.

Enjoy the winning Great Bristish Mernu at No6 with Paul Ainsworth and support the work of Newlyn Fishermen's Mission.

Paul Ainsworth at No6 Padstow.

After his successful outing at this year's Great British Menu final which culminated in a banquet at Leadenhall Market in London, No6's chef, Paul Ainsworth is holding a banquet of his own this Autumn. Diners will get the chance to enjoy Paul's dishes created for the GBM challenge on the 19th and 20th of October.

With as much local produce as possible sourced from inside Cornwall the restaurant is a celebration of seasonal Cornish food cooked by a passionate chef who has added to Padstow and Cornwall's reputation as the next best place after London in the must eat category of many critics columns.

Two days of cooking will see 20% of all ticket sales heading for Paul's favourite local charities, the RNLI and the Fishermen's Mission - guests from both organisations were invited to the GBM banquet earlier this year

To read one diner's review look no further than Elizabeth on Food's recent post here.

To reserve a table at No6 for the banquet and enjoy the winning menu head for the restaurant's web site here.

Full house tonight.

A big tide and a some inclement weather sees the harbour's quays lined with boats in for the weekend.