Honeysuckle Hampers - foodie heaven.

Hello chaps! Myself and my ever expanding tummy are very pleased to report that I was invited along with the food photography team at MJOFOTO Food and Commercial Photography to Honeysuckle Hampers. http://www.honeysucklehampers.co.uk/

Honeysuckle Hampers in Northamptonshire is a wonderful secret haven of the best locally produced foodie deliciousness, available in one beautiful hamper -  and delivered to your door – so your butler is free to get on with those chores he’s been skimping on recently. (Jeeves, don’t think I haven’t noticed!)

Honeysuckle Hampers is a traditional family run business offering that personal touch in everything that they do. Just a few months in to their foodie adventure, Honeysuckle’s Esmee says that she knew she was on the right track when she couldn’t get into her dining room for towers of packed Hampers, ready for to be sent on their merry way bringing deliciousness and joy to a very lucky corporate. 

Having recently celebrated their first birthday, Honeysuckle Hampers is going from strength to strength, actively supporting the county’s amazing artisans.

And it doesn’t end there; the chaps at Honeysuckle are looking to expand their offering, so you will be a thoroughly spoiled foodie, and just in time for Christmas! Christmas is a magical and tasty foodie time, but even more so at Honeysuckle where they have 10% off pre-ordered Christmas Hampers and bespoke corporate Hampers available to show your customers and clients exactly how much you appreciate them…hmmm, what to get the worlds laziest butler. I’m not sure he deserves one.

But I do! Put me down for a Christmas Hamper please! Extra bananas.

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo

www.mjofoto.co.uk

The Plump Partridge

Hello chaps!

As the summer draws to a close and Autumn sneaks up on us from behind with its’ chill winds and trees full of fire, may I suggest that you seek refuge in The Plump Partridge? I popped in with the Food Photography team from MJOFOTO recently.  It’s a simply beautiful little café on the Market Square in Northampton, offering tempting treats and steaming coffee (and tea for those in lesser need of a caffeine boost) as well as a warming meal that will brighten the dullest, drabbest of grey days.

The Plump Partridge is owned and run by father and daughter team Justin and Fay Partridge, who bring a wealth of creativity and flare along with many years of foodie experience to their corner of the market square. The menu is , of course, full of all manner of deliciousness, but highly recommended are the 70% Ecuadorian Hot Chocolate (Fay recommends you enjoy it with a hummus flat bread) and a Finding Nemo Pizza, Justin takes his with a flat white coffee.

The Plump Partridge (@plump_partridge or www.theplumppartride.com) has a comfortingly rustic and traditional feel, and the team love getting to know the regulars. You need look no further for a warm welcome and a good meal than The Plump Partridge.

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo

www.mjofoto.co.uk

You are cordially invited

MJOFOTO Food & Commercial Photography invite you to give your products and/or staff to get the star treatment with your own professional mini photoshoot in their pop up studio.

On Monday 19^th September, 2016

At Brampton Grange, Sandy Lane, Chapel Brampton. NN6 8AD

Slots will be available for 30 minutes (£50) or 60 minutes (£100) on a first come first served basis and will be strictly limited.

MJOFOTO can have a food stylist and development chef on hand if needed and can provide props on request. Please feel free to bring your own!

RSVP to secure your place now! (Deposit required)

Populate your website or marketing material with professional images at affordable prices!

The Smoke Pit #CowPigChicken

Hello chaps. 

I have recently accompanied the team at MJOFOTO Food & Commercial Photography for a real foodie treat to The Smoke Pit in Northampton.

For those of you that haven’t yet made it to the Smoke Pit – I’ll fill you in on the deliciousness that you’re missing out on, albeit non banana deliciousness…

The Smoke Pit – so named because of the chosen, BBQ style method of cooking – is a family owned and run urban eatery in the centre of Northampton, tucked away in The Ridings and located in housed in an old bakery. The chaps in the kitchen are nothing short of culinary wizards using different ‘flavoured’ smoke daily and utilising all kinds of local deliciousness on their mouth watering menu. 

Naturally, I am far too refined to actually dribble, but between you and me, Jeeves’s blazer was nothing short of a disgrace when the shoot wrapped up.

Supporting no less than twenty lovely local foodie based businesses, the Smoke Pit have a not so secret desire to expand the empire to another lucky town and to work their magic on the foodie there. 

They are also open to filling any other gaps in the foodie scene. (We are being spoilt now!) 

The chaps at The Smoke Pit recommend the hangar steak and the short ribs – I recommend your butler books you a table as soon as possible. This is the kind of food you don’t want your social circle to find out you haven’t tried yet! http://www.cowpigchicken.co.uk/

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo

www.mjofoto.co.uk

Brampton Grange - Create your own fairy tale

Hello chaps! 

I’ve been travelling this summer but the lure of an appointment with the sheer loveliness of Brampton Grange was more than enough to bring me back home.

The chaps at Brampton Grange (http://bramptongrange.co.uk/) really are sitting on a hidden Northamptonshire jewel. You could be forgiven for driving right by, if you didn’t know the delights that awaited you on the other side of those automatic gates: 25 acres of beautiful Northamptonshire countryside, once part of the Althorpe Estate is now an elegant and inviting venue, befitting of the most note worth wedding, or indeed corporate event.

Brampton Grange is unlike any other wedding venue I have come across. It’s small but experienced and dedicated team are more flexible than an Olympic gymnast and are on hand to make your wedding truly ‘yours’. There is no set formula here, to be strictly adhered to like so many other venues. On the contrary, brides and grooms to be are encouraged to settle in, make it home and create a fairy tale – their way.

Hot on the tails of MJOFOTO’s Food and Commercial photographers, I made a beeline straight for the kitchen and was thrilled to find that the catering at Brampton Grange is probably a couple of notches above ‘top’. The chaps in the kitchen offer a standard menu and a bespoke menu –of course, I was more than willing to try both, but it’s the bespoke that really caught my eye.  Well, it would, wouldn’t it!

Starter

Pork and caramelised onion ballotine, with home-made pickles, carrot ketchup and crispy berries.

Main Course

Sirloin steak, accompanied by wild mushroom stroganoff and potato croquette

Dessert

Peanut butter mousse with shortbread crumb, white chocolate and mango shards

If that isn’t enough to make a chap want to get married, I don’t know what is… but in the absence of a bride and being a gentleman in possession of the finest taste around, I am considering hiring out the top notch, eight bed-roomed country house accommodation and having the chef on hand, simply for the weekend. I may even invite a few pals and make something of a party of it around the outdoor pool…

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo

www.mjofoto.co.uk

Sauls - The Diamond of Spratton

Hello chaps!

I took a couple of the guys from MJOFOTO Food and Commercial Photography to meet the chaps at Sauls of Spratton recently.

Between you and me, it was my way of giving them a little nudge to provide better quality staff meals. I’m hopeful that it may have worked if the looks on their faces were anything to go by.

We photographed a small selection of the local produce on offer in the village butchers, and the chaps were kind enough to give us a few things to try. The first thing I noticed, was the distinct lack of air. 

Do you know what I mean? Let me elaborate. You know, when your butler has been skiving and has simply visited the nearest food retailing establishment to purchase your lunch? And you know, when you bite into that sausage roll for example, it goes; pastry, (normally dry and sticks to the roof of your mouth) AIR, very small bit of sausage type meat? Are you with me?

Now, what would you say if I told you that no such thing exists in Sauls? I’ll elaborate once more. Flaky, golden pastry followed immediately by a well seasoned hunk of locally produced delicious sausage meat. Do you see what I mean? No air!

The diamond pie, which of course I may have tried before since Sauls did supply the Queen with one, (slightly bigger than the one we sampled, granted) is no ordinary pork pie chaps. This is a little pot of deliciousness encased in golden pastry with a chicken and meat filling that is simply to die for. I don’t mind telling you that I’ve never been over keen on the run of the mill pork pies. Sticky pastry, a mountain of jelly, AIR, small cube of pork – no, not for me I’m afraid. The diamond pie was not without the jelly, however it was minimal and again, without the un necessary addition of the free air! I have already ordered another. It was that good!

If you are currently between butlers, fear not, as Sauls have a website and a shop facility including free local delivery at www.saulsofspratton.co.uk  

I can’t promise there will be any pie left by then, mind you.

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo.

www.mjofoto.co.uk

Friars Farm

Hello chaps!

I have recently visited Friar’s Farm ( www.friars-farm.com) in Northampton with MJOFOTO Food & Commercial Photography, in the latest instalment of my summer of foodie fun.

The chaps at Friars Farm are a fine foodie example of what can be achieved with a bit of elbow grease. These fine fellows started out a few years back with an inherited plot of land with the unexpected addition of twenty years worth of fly tipping added in to the bargain. With determination by the spade full, the site was cleared and became a fully fledged small holding, housing livestock and produce.

Friars Farm  not only ‘grow their own’  to be made in to a variety of award winning chutneys, jams and sauces, but they also have a hand in most of the foodie goings on in Northamptonshire and take a pride in helping foodie fledglings to find their feet and spread their wings.

They are instrumental in many of the food fares including the Northampton Town Show and are also the proud suppliers to many fine Northamptonshire foodie establishments. I may have to extend my tour, just to make sure they are properly positioned on the shelves…

Start the car Jeeves..!

Tally ho chaps!

Mojo

www.mjofoto.co.uk