Rotunda at Kings Place

It was a happy coincidence that precisely three years after completing a food writing masterclass at the Guardian near Kings Cross and then starting this food diary that I was invited to dinner in the same spot.

Rotunda www.rotundabarandrestaurant.co.uk is a British restaurant and bar nestled at the back of the impressive Kings Place (underneath the Guardian Offices) with waterside views of the canal and perfect for a sunny spring evening with the hint of outdoor dining to come.

Great company and conversation were matched by the food and wine with meat all sourced from Rotunda's farm in Matfen Northumberland.

So it just had to be meat, Venison rack with steamed venison pudding, Rib eye and Hanger Steaks.

The Hanger was the "Butchers Cut" medium rare was recommended and perfect meltingly tender. It is interesting that Hanger is apparently "sometimes known as butchers steak because butchers would often keep it for themselves rather than offering it for sale" I can see why too.

The steaks were simply served with a salad of roast english beetroot, radish and watercress and a peppercorn sauce. Triple cooked chips were a must.

Rotunda has a real buzz about it, the staff are attentive and know their stuff. Kings Place is also an impressive meeting place with excellent public space www.kingsplaceevents.co.uk

This whole area has been pretty much transformed since my Food Masterclass of April 2012 "Eating Your Words with Matthew Fort" three years on I have just reached 10,000 blog viewings and this is Ann's Food Diary entry number 85.

Mascapone Macarons

Baking and desserts isn't really my thing I often have great intentions but fail to follow the recipe closely enough and the results just don't live up to expectations. However that all changed yesterday with a very successful batch of melt in your mouth macarons filled with raspberry and chocolate ganache mascarpone cheese.

At the start of the weekend I had purchased the ingredients for a sugar rush sensation called "very chocolatey hazelnut pavlova" a recipe from the April edition of Sainsbury's magazine.

Over a break dominated by chocolates of the eggy variety I began to realise that this would be a completely over the top pudding to complete our Easter dinner.  I did however need to use both the mascarpone and the (recently defrosted) incredibly useful product Two Chicks egg white.

Meringue was the obvious choice but after a bit of searching I came across this macaron recipe https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/easy-macaron-macaroon-recipe/  with a brilliant walk through video containing tips that made all the difference to the finished product. So very many thanks to food blogger www.howtocookthat.net for the inspiration to try something new.

I followed the instructions to the letter with no shortcuts this time getting perfect results. The fillings were marscapone flavoured with a chocolate ganache the chocolate (a lindt chicken) melted in a little hot double cream and raspberry jam made from that glut of last summer gently heated and strained to remove the seeds.

Happy Easter days!