Men are so hard to buy for. Every Christmas and birthday I have a long list of things in mind for the women in my life, but with my boyfriend, brother and dad, it's another story. Over the past eight years, I've bought Julien everything from flights to jumpers and books to every stocking filler (the lucky guy get socks every year) and was stuck for ideas last Christmas. I ended up booking a sushi and sashimi masterclass at Billingsgate Seafood School, because we're huge fans of Japanese food and experiences are the best for the man who has everything.
We got up at the crack of dawn one Saturday and jumped in a taxi to the famous Billingsgate Fish Market on the Isle of Dogs in East London. Open to the public since 1604, Billingsgate was the largest fish market in the world in the 19th century and is the largest in the UK today. Before the class began, we wandered around the trade floor where fishmongers sell over 150 species of fresh fish and shellfish at incredible wholesale prices - next time you're doing a big dinner, it's worth a visit.
The six hour session starts with a short introduction explaining how to choose the freshest fish and outlining the key preparation techniques used for Japanese cooking. Silla Bjerrum, the lovely Danish founder and executive chef of Feng Sushi, taught us which knives to use for what and how to prepare the all-important sticky sushi rice before we started with straightforward nori maki cucumber rolls and salmon nigiri. As the day went on, we moved onto sashimi and more complex dishes, freestyling with innovative ingredients and modern Asian flavours, and ate our body weight in fresh, DIY deliciousness. We grazed on dishes as we made them, had plenty more for lunch and packed eight boxes to take home with us for another sushi feast that night. It's an early start and quite expensive, but totally worth it if you're a foodie or sushi lover.
We got up at the crack of dawn one Saturday and jumped in a taxi to the famous Billingsgate Fish Market on the Isle of Dogs in East London. Open to the public since 1604, Billingsgate was the largest fish market in the world in the 19th century and is the largest in the UK today. Before the class began, we wandered around the trade floor where fishmongers sell over 150 species of fresh fish and shellfish at incredible wholesale prices - next time you're doing a big dinner, it's worth a visit.
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