It was a pleasure to meet all the Team of Project One. As promised to Hayley and Sharon, here’s a little video keepsake of your Christmas do at Sweet Mandarin. The soundtrack is All I Want For Christmas – Hayley’s favourite Christmas track. Enjoy!
If you want unique gifts for Christmas, buy a Sweet Mandarin Cookery School Gift Voucher for your friends and family. Click here for our courses, course dates and purchase an evoucher via paypal.
I’ve often been asked to provide a lunchbox of foods to help my clients overcome their illness. I believe in the power of food – that certain foods can make you better and certain foods can make you worse. Here is a short excerpt from my handwritten book that I look to when cooking for my clients.
Nosebleeds may be a symptom of high blood pressure so if you are getting them regularly please please please go check yourself at the doctors.
The best thing to alleviate nosebleeds is good ole fashioned tea. PG tips is my favourite breakfast tea. Its the tannin in the tea that prevents nosebleeds. The used cold teabags can be placed on the nose to stop the bleeding. I know you might feel like a plonker, but its worth it.
We met Sion (@RevHoly) and Jo (@basketcasejo) on Twitter (@sweetmandarin). Sion and Jo are celebrating Sion’s birthday with a masterclass at Sweet Mandarin Cookery School. On the Intermediate course, they learnt Sweet and Sour Chicken bonus dish Salt and Pepper chicken balls (Sion’s favourite), beef green peppers and blackbean, Singapore Vermicelli, Steamed fish with ginger and spring onions, Sichuan spicy prawns and the perfect egg fried rice. Bon Appetite and enjoy your video. Love Lisa and Helen
www.sweetmandarin.com Tweet us (@sweetmandarin). Like our facebook page www.facebook.com/sweetmandarins
Song is Photosynthesis by Frank Turner (Sion’s favourite song)
‘I have just returned from our one day cooking course with Lisa Tse and wanted to say thanks for such a fantastic day!! We were very much made to feel involved in everything and can’t wait to try out the recipes at home! My daughter had booked this course for me as I have always wanted to learn how to cook Chinese food and this will be one that I’ll always remember.
The amount of information imparted was immense and I am now studying the recipes to practice so that I can impress my wife and produce something similar, although unlikely to be quite so good! It was also of course great fun, and I have not laughed so much for about ten years.
Please pass on my best wishes and thanks to all the team and especially to Lisa - the world would not be the same without your amazing Cookery School at Sweet Mandarin!!!
Dr Sharma
I’ve often been asked to provide a lunchbox of foods to help my clients overcome their illness. I believe in the power of food – that certain foods can make you better and certain foods can make you worse. Here is a short excerpt from my handwritten book that I look to when cooking for my clients.
Cystitis is a bladder infection. When one goes to wee, only a few drops pass but the burning sensation could possibly knock you to the ground its that painful. If left untreated, the kidneys may get infected especially if you are passing blood. Gorry stuff, but it should be talked about so people can understand its common – not embarrasing – and more importantly, can be treated with a bout of anti-biotics.
There is the humble cranberry that when drank in 50ml doses can halve the risk of getting cystitis and lessen the onslaught of the attack. If you feel the burning sensation – stop drinking tea, coffee and alcohol. Drink plenty of water to dilute the urine which makes it less painful to pass as well as reducing infecting bacteria. Chemists have packets of potassium citrate that neutralizes the urine so takes the pain out of going to the loo. Ultimately, the message is whilst cranberry juice can help, if you get these symptons, go to the doctor immediately.
I’ve often been asked to provide a lunchbox of foods to help my clients overcome their illness. I believe in the power of food – that certain foods can make you better and certain foods can make you worse. Here is a short excerpt from my handwritten book that I look to when cooking for my clients.
Mouth ulcers are found in the mouth and can make you wince in pain if touched. No-one really knows why they flare up – perhaps one is stressed or over worked. Nonetheless, swallowing a whole tube of Bonjela may or may not work. Here are some alternatives using food as the weapon:
Try honey as approved by Winnie the Pooh bear :0) – this sweetness is an antiseptic which heals and cools the ulcer. Another alternative is rubbing garlic on the affected area (but not that good for a date). Or how about trying bio yoghurt – its healthy bacteria may sort out that ulcer quicker than you can say Bonjela!
A small tip to make your life more bearable – avoid vinegar, ketchup, pickles, oranges and lemons until the ulcer has gone. If such foods touched the ulcer, I’ll get my camcorder ready and watch you shoot to the moon!
I know one day will never make up for all the universal joys and incredible memories of childhood that I’ve shared with my Dad but I wanted to thank you Dad, for being there for me, always, unconditionally and always fighting our corner. Together with the entire world – in celebrations of Dads all over the world on Father’s Day 20th June, I wanted to say I love you Dad.
I remember the midnight jogging sessions to Chaddy park with Dad, my siblings and our dog, Choy Sum as Mum drove the old banger alongside us. Even though we never managed to jog back as we all went home in the car – I loved that sense of adventure you instilled in us.
I remember Mum had gone out to buy the groceries and you decided to be a hairdresser for the day. We all had pudding bowl haircuts……and it was so atrocious you bought us an ice cream to make up for it. I learnt quickly not to let you touch my hair ever again!
I remember the amazing dinners you made us ranging from spare ribs to a whole steamed fish to chicken tomato with an egg in it and your amazing red cooked melt in the mouth chicken. And you allowed me to go on the woks and you taught me how to cook the perfect egg fried rice. Wow – Dad you’re the best.
And now you and the fat baby are partners in crime!
For everyone out there, don’t forget its Father’s Day on Sunday 20th June. We only have a few tables left that evening (5-11pm). If you’d like to tell your Dad you love him by treating him to a delicious Chinese banquet, I’d be honoured to serve you our sumptuous food and ice cold beers. To book your table call 0161 832 8848 or email me lisa@sweetmandarin.com or click here
Go-Social Bootcamp launches with Manchester social event at Sweet Mandarin.
CEO of Sweet Mandarin, Lisa Tse has been invited by the prestigious Go-Social Conference to speak about her expertise in social media marketing – namely Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube. The audience which will be drawn from as far a field as Scotland, London and Manchester will be listening to Lisa talk about how her love of food, people and business led her to social media networks. Lisa now has over 7,000 Twitter followers, over 1, 100 Facebook Friends liking her page and her Youtube Channel has had over 30,000 hits.
Tweet Mandarin – A Wok N Roll Story
The phenomenon of @sweetmandarin - a Chinese restaurant using social media to take bookings, orders and organise Tweet ups has caught the eye of the Times newspaper (click here), Big Hospitality (click here) and the BBC (click here). Oh and don’t forget Gordon Ramsay – Chef Lisa and he had a good ole banter about Twitter whilst she cooked her way to success, winning the title Best Chinese Restaurant in the whole of the UK for her 70 seater restaurant and cookery school, Sweet Mandarin.
The organiser, Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp followed Lisa on Twitter and was so impressed with her use of Twitter that he came up to Manchester to meet Lisa, and invited her to speak on the platform. The co-speakers at this event are heavy weights in the world of social media such as Olgilvy PR, Staniforth PR, Huggies and Brother. Lisa representing Sweet Mandarin is the only restaurant business to speak. Lisa said “I am extremely honoured to be asked to speak and I would be happy to share with the audience about my journey into social media, how much fun it is to express oneself in 140 characters and how it has helped Sweet Mandarin grow from a small orange to a blossoming tree of fruitful opportunities”.
About Go-Social
Go-Social has been organised by Intelligise in association with The Drum and Marketing Industry Network.
The keyman is Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, a popular social media blogger at The Drum, who has promised that Go-Social would “cut through all of the false mystique and guru talk that hides the real practical applications of social media in marketing”.
In a lively format, five influential companies give snappy 30 minute presentations about social media and its potential. The decision to hold the inaugural event in Manchester was momentus especially since the organisers are from Scotland. The reason for this is that 7 percent of UK Twitter users live or work in the greatest city in the world, Manchester (of course :0). And Lisa’s tweets are resoundingly sweet. Follow Lisa here
This first video demonstrates the work I do day in day out with my corporate clients, VIP clients and Cookery School clients. Sometimes, its easier to just show you what I get up to. As they say a photo tells a thousand words. So I guess this first video will tell you a million and one sweet things about us. Enjoy! Chef Lisa
This second video was a lot of fun to make. I’ve been honoured to cook for thousands of people, teach hundreds of clients and meet a few celebrities along the way. This pictorial journey is a little something I’d like to share with you. The music is by Train and the up beat sweet song is ‘Hey Soul Sister’. I hope you will be inspired to cook. Much love Lisa.
Love Lisa
As you know, Sweet Mandarin has a cookery school that is growing by the week, literally. Classes are held every Saturday morning and places are filling up fast. My twin sister, Lisa and I teach you the secrets of the wok, how to cook the perfect fried rice, wrap the most delightful dim sum and tell the fascinating stories behind the 5,000 years of history of Chinese food.
So its no surprise that when I met Martha Stewart, who has a cookbook out called Cooking School – that we had a lot to chat about. Wok verses oven baked recipes….. Who inspired us to cook? – Martha was inspired by her third grade teacher Miss Weyer, we learnt from our mum and grandma how to cook in the family food takeaway (Lisa was cooking banquets by the age of 11!).
There are many things in this world that try to divide us, but one thing that unites us is food. To all you budding chefs out there, cook cook cook. If you get stuck, call Lisa and join the class. You’ll impress your friends and family forever!
(To book your place at the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School or to purchase a gift voucher for a budding chef call Tel 0161 832 8848, email: lisa@sweetmandarin.com – see more details (click here). Classes are held at Sweet Mandarin 19 Copperas Street, Manchester, M4 1HS on Saturday mornings 11am – 2pm) and are priced £100 per person per lesson.
Gordon Ramsay has a new tv show out called Ramsay’s Best Restaurant. I wish all the participants all the best and hope you too will enjoy the experience like I have done.
Its an amazing opportunity to cook with Gordon Ramsay and watching this new show has made me reminisce about my experience exactly a year ago. The pressure tests we were put through were the hardest, toughest, back-breaking, shooting-through-the-roof blood pressure experience in my culinary career. Cooking a three course meal for the 50 diners was a live competition – there was no cut, edit, paste. It was live, it was furious, it was hard. I know I cook for sittings of 65 guests every night but Gordon Ramsay and his guests were a different kettle of fish and with Gordon Ramsay standing there watching over my shoulder it really stretched me to the limit. I’m thankful that we achieved 82 out of 100 and I dedicate this success to my mum – whose recipe, the Mabel’s Claypot Chicken helped us to rocket to the top of the leaderboard.
Although it was exactly a year ago, I remember vividly that evening when we received the news that we had made it to the Final of the F Word’s Best Chinese Restaurant Competition and we were estatic (Watch us battle it out here). Thanks to our wonderful customers who nominated us, we were on the map a la Gordon. However, before Gordon, we were and still are are the third generation of women restaurateurs and have always had great families follow us generation after generation. Their gran knew our gran (who set up her restaurant before Chinatown was established), their mum knows our mum and now the third generation visit Sweet Mandarin.
Nothing had quite sunk in even when a black car picked us up at our home to drive us to the studios in London. Having not slept the night before didn’t help when we were faced with 50 chicken breasts and about 100 pieces of squid to cut in the F Word kitchen – and we had an hour’s prep time to get through the mountains of ingredients.
I was cutting away in my own little world when suddenly this voice said ‘Hello Lisa!’ It was Gordon Ramsay. He was so tall and I was so shocked that it was the man himself that I nearly cut my hand. It was at that moment that it finally sunk – I was in the competition headed up by Gordon Ramsay to find the UK’s Best Local Chinese Restaurant and after three generations who have endured rollercoaster after rollercoaster it was a chance for me to restore the family name. Then I got nervous. I finally realised that this competition was real and was shocked that Gordon knew my name. I’ve seen him on the TV, but for him to know and praise me was a chef’s dream come true. It was a true honour to cook with him and a huge accolade to get 82/100 mark for the Mabel’s Claypot Chicken. When we won the Best Local Chinese Restaurant Award 2009-2010 I had tears in my eyes. To my dear customers and to all of Manchester, this trophy is for you.
If you want to pop over for my mum’s claypot chicken, please book a table here
Helen: Amazing! Speechless. Nearly wanted to faint! Jean Baptiste came to see us to try our Mabel’s Clay Pot Chicken. Just himself, very low key – and then he left. Suddenly I got this phone call at lunch time and it went, ‘Hi it’s Gordon’ and he said, ‘I’ve got some real bad news for you; you’ve got to come down to London on Thursday’. And we found out on Tuesday! So we had to re-jig everything to get down here but it’s worth it. We haven’t quite come down yet!
Helen: We have the best customers. It’s thanks to them.
Lisa: I guess they must really like our food, they always rave about the food and the ambiance of the restaurant. And also the location is quite special. It’s in an area called the Northern Quarter and there’s a lot of regenerated business and it’s quite cool and funky round there and we blend into that, I guess.
Helen: We do a lot of work with the community as well. We open up the restaurant for free for events. Lisa here is a manic Twitterer and we always hold ‘Tweet ups’ every month, and they really appreciate that. And we do Flickr meetings as well, so people who are crazy about photography come along. We also do events called ‘Meet My Neighbour’ where we invite blocks of residents to our restaurant and they get to meet their neighbours. Where we are there are loads of flats, these people have been living there for years and they don’t even know who their neighbour is. They don’t even know who lives in their block, that’s how dangerous it could be. So we thought we’d introduce them to each other. We feel safe in the neighbourhood because we know who’s there.
Lisa: We feel safe in the neighbourhood, and also when they walk past after work we can give them a wave now.
Lisa: We serve modern Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails. When we first set up the concept it was a casual dining restaurant. So you could come in for a bite to eat up to the full blown banquet. We do traditional sweet and sour and black bean for example, but we also do recipes that have been passed down from our mother and grandmother. Like Lily Kwok’s Chicken Curry, Mabel’s Clay Pot and we also cater for vegetarians as well. Not only that but we have a Taste of China menu as well. So you can get regional dishes from China that you can taste in our restaurant, which is quite unique. I think when people go to a Chinese they’re scared to try things they not used to, so we try to introduce them slowly to spicier stuff or savoury dishes.
Helen: The dish that we’re cooking tonight for the competition is called Mabel’s Clay Pot Chicken, and lots of our dishes have a story behind it. And Mabel is our mum and she came to England when she was about 8, and she was separated from her mum for a few years because our grandmother came over first. And you know if you ever have distance from a friend or a family member there’s always an awkward time when they meet up again. And that also happened with mother and daughter. My mum hated England initially when she came here because she couldn’t speak the language, didn’t like the rain, didn’t like meat and two veg – she was used to rice every day. And this chicken was her favourite dish growing up, so my grandmother would cook it for her and it was through this dish that they bonded again as mother and daughter – and that’s why we’re cooking it again today. We’ve got this very strong belief; there’s many things in the world that divide us but the one thing that unites us is food.
Lisa: It’s got chicken in, it’s actually got quite a lot of ying-yang elements in. So it’s got ginger which is yang, which is warming for the body, it’s got spring onion which complements it very well. And another thing that is very seasonal, which is Chinese cabbage and some onions as well. It’s really the sauce; what makes the sauce quite special is the Chinese sausage, called lapchang, so it’s a bit like your salami, and also the Chinese mushrooms as well. It’s very rustic.
Lisa: I think once we’ve been in the kitchen and seen it we’ll be a bit calmer.
Helen: We’re going to have to cook quite quick it looks like and also tweak a few techniques to make sure you get it out within the time frame.
Lisa: To get this far is just surreal, to meet Gordon Ramsay was pretty cool as he’s just amazing.
Helen: It’s a big thanks to our customers and would show that all the hard work’s paid off – and that whatever we’re doing we’re doing it right. Because sometimes in business you don’t know what’s the right decision or the wrong decision and you just keep going and hope for the best sometimes. Especially in the restaurant business; it’s so competitive, you always have to innovate and watch your competitors and hopefully we’ll do that for the diners.
#987 Sweet Nothing – High Energy Students
I must have been very wicked in a former life, because I am a glutton for punishment. Straight after an intense Friday night service, I’ve scheduled a cookery school session for Saturday morning. And straight after an even more intense Saturday night service, I’ve scheduled a cookery school session for Sunday morning. Often, its a battle against the clock. Wake up. Get washed. Drive – on road, avoid pedestrian. Open up just before the queue forms and psche myself up to teach.
I teach every weekend at the Sweet Mandarin Cookery School. I love meeting the students and it is their high energy which keeps me going, pumps me alive and they make me forget about that lie-in and trashy daytime tv. I teach three courses – beginners Chinese cookery, intermediate Chinese cookery and dim sum masterclasses. Courses are booked up till August (give or take one or two slots) and although my body is physically knackered, I’m up fighting, ready to teach and love bouncing off the energy in the class. If you want to find out more about Sweet Mandarin’s cookery school, click here
#995 Sweet Nothing – Singing to Jon Bon Jovi Videos all night long and occasionally getting carried away as I play air guitar – oh and hogging the sofa.
Since I can remember I have always had a ‘secret’ crush on Jon Bon Jovi and he looks more and more handsome as he gets older. Well its only secret to Jon Bon Jovi and that’s because our paths have never crossed but I’ve declared it on Facebook – so Jon, feel free to add me as a friend and I’ll cook for you! If you are a friend of a friend of a friend, please tell him that its my life’s dream to meet him and cook for him. Sweet!
#996 Sweet Nothing – Winning a Tenner on the Lottery
The way I get my six numbers for the lottery is to read out the numbers in a calm monotone voice to the fat baby and if he squeaks or starts to babble, that number makes it way to the hotlist. Of course, sometimes, the fat baby might offer more numbers than is necessary, in which case I will then close my eyes and stab at the sheet. Which ever numbers are chosen become my lucky numbers for the week. I don’t really expect to make my millions by winning the lottery, but as the saying goes, you have to be in it to win it. When I win a tenner, I celebrate big time! Its vanilla creams, donuts, chocolate pots and lots of PG Tips tea.
I feel lucky – do you? Subscribe to our newsletter and enter our prize draw
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A lucky winner will be announced every month. Sign up to win various prizes including a meal for 2, a cookery school place, a signed Sweet Mandarin book, a bottle of wine or on special occasions, the whole lot!
#997 Sweet Nothing – Receiving Orchids from a Private Admirer
I’ve never received flowers before in my whole life. So when Valentine’s arrived I tried to block it out of my mind – that day is not for me, its for my lovebird clients. As I walked past the packed queues at Hallmark I turned my head the other way but saw all those cuddly teddies reflected in the window. Even at the supermarket, which should have been a normal shopping day the aisles were turned into the Chelsea Flower Show with the rows and rows of absolutely gorgeous roses, lillies, carnations, tulips and orchids. My initial reaction was get out of there quick. Its just torture because no one has ever bought me flowers. And this year is no different. Well so I thought.
Its Valentine’s Day at Sweet Mandarin. This year its interesting because Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day. Its extra busy. Service has already started even though the sign says closed on the door. So I’m in and out of the kitchen helping my sister welcome our clients. I run back into the kitchen to prepare to cook. After a few minutes, my sister calls me ‘Hey Lisa. You got a delivery! Its flowers for you!’. Do you know what I did? Well I did what any self-respecting lady would do. I shook my head in disbelief then I jumped up and down in the kitchen, punching the air with my fist thinking ‘ About Bloody Time!’. Then I took a deep breath, walked out and acted as if receiving flowers was nothing special. Thanked my sister. Smiled at the clients who at that point were clapping!!! and waved at them to acknowledge their well wishes (felt like the Queen at that point). Grabbed my flowers and walked back into the kitchen. Oh my goodness that moment was sheer sweetness and makes my #997 Sweet Nothing. I’ll treasure that feeling for the rest of my life. Thank you God. I am loved!
#998 Sweet Nothing – Making one too many salt and pepper ribs – and having to eat it.
Oh my word. There’s an extra rib frying and its got my name all over it. There are times when one is busy that things like this happen – accidently of course. Once cooked up, the only path of this extra rib is either to be eaten or be thrown away. Well I can’t let this perfectly good looking rib go to waste. That would be scandalous. Its hot to touch but worth the pain. Holding it like a squirrel holding a nut, I bite into the rib, relishing in the crunch and a burst of sweetness from the tender pork rib. As I chew the mix of salt, spice, herbs infuse with the lip numbing chillies. In less than 10 seconds, I’ve devoured it and I lick my lips wanting more….
To book your portion of ribs click here
#999 Sweet Nothing – Meeting a client who has just flown in from Switzerland, taxi-ed from the airport to Sweet Mandarin and their sole purpose in visiting Manchester is to eat at Sweet Mandarin.
When I set up my little restaurant with my two sisters in November 2004, many people were sceptical that this business would work. For a start, we still got asked for ID when we went to buy alcohol and were unheard of in Manchester. However, we slowly built up our loyal following from the 20,000 residents on our doorstep and were prepared to do every task necessary to make it work – whether it be sweep up, lug the tables and chairs in a zillion different combinations depending on bookings, sell our houses to get financing and even sacrifice the love life (sorry darling!). So when we now get clients from Switzerland, Brazil, USA, France, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Cayman Islands and even Australia, we thank God for the blessings that are pouring down on us and try our best to look after all you lovely clients.
Alwyn and Cathy pictured here are a lovely couple whom I met on Twitter. Forget internet dating, lets talk internet dining. The first meeting with them was like meeting old friends. Gosh its amazing. After all this Tweeting, we finally meet. 140 characters becomes real instantaneously. The body language, the smiles, the face to face chat. It’s such an honour to meet finally and I can’t wait for Alwyn and Cathy to try my food. I cook for hundreds of people every night but there is still butterflies in my stomach – a mix of anticipation and excitement, a pinch of nervousness – I don’t want to let them down….but I’m gonna cook my heart out for you.
All I can say is the love that radiated in the room when they sat with us could have lit up the Blackpool Pleasure Beach at Christmas. To know they loved my food is #999 Sweet Nothing. These are the moments that give me a joyfulness so sweet that I want to burst into song. But I won’t burst into song, because that will cause the rain to pour. And we’re already in Manchester – rainy city, so lets not go there.
#1000 Sweet Nothing – The Last Ticket of the Night!
My job is the head chef at Sweet Mandarin. That means, I generally have to cook. And cook. And cook. Thank God I love cooking. Since we’ve opened Sweet Mandarin the tickets have flown in as soon as the doors open until the doors close. After a while, its dizzying – tickets just whizz in left, right and centre – soups, starters, second courses, mains, desserts – salt and pepper ribs dot the tickets, nearly every ticket orders our house special, the Mabel’s Claypot Chicken and don’t forget those sweet, light, lick-your-lips banana fritters drizzled with sweet syrup. Luckily, I’m at my best when the pressure is on and I suppose being a woman who can multi-task is awfully helpful. Phew! Control and execution are key to feeding the nation our delicious food and keeping clients happy. Having slaved away in front of rocket fuelled bunsen burners that heat to 750-950 degrees Celsius for hours my #1000 Sweet Nothing is cooking the last ticket of the night. I love you, my dear clients, but when the jobs done, I’m gonna love you and leave you.
To book a table click here
I sometimes wonder where the week goes. I wake up, I work, I go to bed. Even on Monday which is my day off. However, there are so many sweet things that happen each day and I’m going to try to document them, even if to the outside world they are just minutae. Have you seen the movie, ‘Horton Who Hears A Who’ ? Horton (the elephant) ends up hearing a Who (a specie that is so small, their entire universe fits on a speck that rests on a clover). Sometimes, the world can go by at such an alarming rate and we don’t get to hear the sweet nothings, or savour the sweetness of life. I write this blog to introduce you to my world of sweetness at Sweet Mandarin.
To celebrate National Vegetarian Week, Sweet Mandarin has an exclusive offer – the Mabel’s Tofu Claypot is available at a discounted price of £7.00 – oh and you don’t have to be vegetarian to order it! Sweet Mandarin has a lot of choice for vegetarians and can even cook up the most amazing Vegetarian Banquet. To book a table click here.
Veggie myth-busters for 2010.
There are a few myths that do the rounds about veggies – the Vegetarian Society would like to kick them into touch during National Vegetarian Week.
Poor protein – wrong!
Protein is available in all foods (apart from refined white sugar and some oils) and your protein needs are automatically met by a balanced, varied diet. Meat does provide protein, however it is only one source. Nuts, beans, eggs, soya products, pulses and dairy products are all excellent sources of protein.
Veggies eat fish –wrong!
Vegetarians do not eat fish or shellfish. Fish are cold-blooded animals living wholly in water. Vegetarians don’t eat animals.
Weak and feeble, lacking in iron –wrong!
A lack of iron is one of the most common problems in a typical British diet. It is just as much a nutritional problem for meat eaters as it is for veggies and research shows that veggies are no more prone to iron deficiency than meat eaters! Even meat eaters get 86% of their iron from vegetarian sources.
Being veggie is unnatural – who says?
Arguing that an action is natural can be quite problematic. A common argument used by meat-eaters is that because we have canine teeth this is evidence that we have been ‘designed’ to eat meat. Meat eating animals have sharp claws and, since they have to kill mainly with their teeth, possess powerful jaws and pointed, elongated, “canine” teeth to pierce tough skin and to spear and tear flesh. They do NOT have flat, back teeth like us which vegetarian animals need for grinding their food. As for our sharp teeth, gorillas are entirely vegetarian – as are almost all primates – and yet have far longer and sharper canine teeth than human beings!
Vegetarianism is a fad – don’t think so!
Some people do change diets as they change fashions. However vegetarianism has been around for literally thousands of years. For example, the Greek philosopher, Plato (427 – 347 BC), and his teacher Socrates (470 – 399 BC) were both vegetarians.
In the UK the first vegetarian cookbook was written in 1812. The oldest Vegetarian Society in the world was formed in 1847 in the UK.
I visited the Northern Restaurant and Bar Show at the GMEX last week and bumped into Clive and Adam from Sugarvine. It was great to see them because we go back five years, when Sweet Mandarin started and it was Clive who helped us make a 360 panoramic video of Sweet Mandarin and introduced us to google and online marketing. Sugarvine has grown to an impressive 20 regional sites so not only are locals reading about your restaurant and menu, but their million or so visitors around the country are too. I’m often asked what tips I can give to budding restauranteurs. One of them is speak to Cliver or Adam at Sugarvine 0844 277 9858 for your promotions and marketing and just to understand your market and competition. They are affordable, effective, have their finger on the pulse and are very pleasant people to work with – oh and they are a fellow Twitterer too (follow them http://twitter.com/sugarvine) .
To celebrate my forthcoming appearance on Iron Chef on Channel 4 in April/May (5pm- 6pm daily), I’ve teamed up with Sugarvine to launch a fantastic competition worth £180 (the Chinese believe 8 is a lucky number because it sounds like the word ‘rich’. Putting together 1 and 8 symbolises ‘always rich’). Enrich yourself and win a three course banquet for 2 (with a bottle of wine) and a cookery school place at Sweet Mandarin. To enter click here on the Sugarvine website and best of luck! Remember you have to be in it to win it.
Sweet Mandarin
19 Copperas Street, Manchester, M4 1HS
email: lisa@sweetmandarin.com.
tel: 0161 832 8848
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