Fancy fish and chips

Geales
1 Cale Street, Chelsea SW3 3QT

Following on from the success of their Notting Hill establishment, the lads have replicated their restaurant in the surrounds of Chelsea Green, not far from the Kings Road.  It’s posher than the average chippy but it is great for a date night if you’re keen to impress with great food and ambience.  Think tablecloths and contemporary sleek decor with quality food to match.  The fish is always fresh, delicious and cooked expertly.  There is something very comforting about a place that sets high standards and meets them.

Source: http://www.timeandleisure.co.uk/articles/food/1123-fish-and-chips.html

Schools of fish help squeeze more power from wind farms

Schools of fish have shown engineers how to squeeze much more power from wind farms.

A new wind farm design mimics a school of fish to exploit wind turbulence, and could dramatically improve power output.

Familiar propeller-style wind turbines with large sweeping blades have almost reached their limit of efficiency.

But in a wind farm, they must be spaced widely apart to avoid turbulence from the other turbines.

This has limited wind farm power output to around two watts per square metre of land at favourable sites.

But redesigned wind farms could perhaps get up to 10 times more power from the same land.

A test array in the California desert takes a whole new approach to the problem, according to a study published in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

This new study uses “vertical axis” wind turbines that resemble upright, spinning egg whisks. Although they are less efficient individually than the propeller-style turbines, they are able to use turbulent winds from many directions.

But the big step forward comes from the layout of the array which is based on fluid dynamics around schooling fish.

“Organising the arrangement of wind turbines based upon the vortices shed by schooling fish is definitely a new approach,” said aeronautical engineer Robert Whittlesey of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

“The fish aim to align themselves to optimise their forward propulsion,” he writes, and this can be adapted in a turbine array to maximise energy extraction.

The new design uses closely-spaced pairs of counter-rotating turbines that funnel air to their neighbours, with little energy lost to turbulence.

Not only do the neighbours benefit, but the funnelling effect is also important. In fact power generated by the paired turbines can actually be greater than that from the turbines working independently. In tests, a turbine five rows back still generated 95% of the power of the one on the front row.

A wind farm of this closely-packed design could produce 20 to 30 watts per square metre of land, around 10 times that of current wind farms.

Author of the study, Professor John Dabiri of Caltech, said: “While the connection between fish schooling and wind farms might seem non-intuitive at first, it is in fact a logical inference from the underlying flow physics.”

The advantages don’t stop there. At 10m high, the turbines used in this study were only around one tenth of the height of typical propeller-style turbines.

This means that they are less intrusive in the landscape, less visible to air-traffic control radar and could be less harmful to birds and bats.

The vertical-axis turbines are also “significantly more robust and probably less expensive. There are still some problems to be solved but they really deserve a second look” added Professor Charles Meneveau of Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the study.

The big question now is whether this design works as a full sized wind farm. To work on this scale, energy from wind passing above the farm must be transferred to the turbines below by turbulence.

“It’s a very interesting idea but this hasn’t yet been shown,” said Professor Loughhead of the UK Energy Research Centre. “Also, vertical-axis turbines face a lot of stress. It’s difficult to make a tall turbine light enough to spin but rigid enough to stand up to the forces and vibrations that they’re exposed to,” he added.

“In this research field, the work seems to be met with great interest and a bit of healthy scepticism,” observed Mr Whittlesey.

Further tests look promising though. “We have collected additional wind measurements this summer on an array of 18 turbines…The results suggest that the wind flow rates required for enhanced performance relative to horizontal-axis [propeller-style] wind turbines are regularly attained,” said Professor Dabiri.

Source: BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14452133

Introducing the new Children’s Menu

Well thank you readers…Last night of lobster night at Geales went so sweat fully that really you have given me no choice but to extend it for at least another week whilst I can still provide fresh native lobsters. Thank You.

For those of you with children I am introducing a kids menu at £7.95 which will give your little ones choice and a healthy introduction to fish. For details click here.

The value fish right now is Plaice. It’s meaty, juicy and bang in season. I’m serving it pan fried or grilled with a delicate balsamic, tomato and caper dressing – quite delicious.

Coming soon are the beautiful Sand Sole, not particularly plentiful and not sold on the high street but beautifully tasty and very good value. I’m hoping to give you my version in August.

Sustainability of our cod

We have had a few questions recently regarding the sustainability of our cod, as people have heard it can be a bit dodgy. Here at Geales we serve only Atlantic cod of which the Marine conservation society on their website fishonline.org said; “Based on most recent estimates (June 2010), ICES scientists classify this stock as having full reproductive capacity, i.e. the stock is healthy and within safe biological limits and is being harvested sustainably.”. Hopefully this will put people’s minds at rest and we can all carry on eating delicious fish and chips with a clear conscience.

Thousands of tons of dead fish

Finally the European Commission has awoken from its slumber. No Longer will we be discarding thousands of tons of dead fish back into the sea! There is another 12 months to wait before laws are enacted but the result should be more fish in our seas and a little common sense. In the short term support for fisherman who lose their jobs. In the long term the chances of a viable industry. For you, dear reader, fish to eat from Geales!

This is our last Lobster Thursday! So do book early. Native Lobster and £13.95 cannot last forever. More next week.

Ollie.

Catch of the Day – Review

Sometimes you have to pity the tourist. The journey from Heathrow to central London is on the most concrete-clad and soul-sapping in existence. And then there’s the food. Imagine you’re from Omaha, Kyoto, Shengzhou – and your first taste of British food takes place in a chippie.

Not any old chippie, mind, but one that serves kebabs, pizza, noodles and curry sauce. Anyway, you slap down your tenner on the greasy counter in exchange for a paper-wrapped polystyrene tray of golden glory. This, at long last, is the famed British fish and chips. Then you take you first bite. The batter is soggy and oozing dirty oil, and instead of the much anticipated crunch, there’s just a damp squelch. The fish has the texture of wet cotton wool, and about half the flavour too. As for the chips… they droop, impotent and useless. This is it, you think, as you politely force this wretched meal down.

Britain’s contribution to world cuisine. They were all right, you know. The food really is obscene.

It’s a crying shame, this ersatz much. The creation of good fish and chips is as much art as science – you know, those legendary, fresh cooked beauties that linger in the mind for years. The sweetness of the fresh fish, steamed in that golden, crunchy batter. And the chips, fluffy as cumulus clouds within, their outside burnished and crisp. The scent of fish and chips, wrapped in white paper, and warm on one’s knee, is among the most beguiling in the world. Done properly, it’s a world-class dish, Rule Britannia on a plate, an edible Jerusalem that marries the bounty of our seas with the jewels of our soil. Except it’s not actually British.

Fried fish has its roots in Soho’s immigrant Jewish communities of the 19th-century. It was sold on the street, cold, alongside baked potatoes, but never actually with them. And despite what many proud northerner will claim, chips are actually a French invention. Anyway, these two great edible icons came together sometime towards the end of the 19-century as cheap, sustaining food for the working class. This was the fuel that drove the Industrial Revolution, and one of the few foods unrationed during the way.

Yet in London, proper fish and chips are increasingly rare. Sure, there are chippies everywhere, but the vast majority churn out second-rate filth…

Read more here

Source: The Resident – July 2011

Lobster Thursdays Now at Geales Chelsea

½ Lobster and chips-£13.95   Whole Lobster and chips-£21.95

Lobster season is well and truly here!

Far from being just a “Big prawn” as one of my customers put it this week, the delicious native lobster is tender, sweet and tasty. Funny then, that they were once considered the poor man’s food in parts of America (some servants had it written into their contracts that they would only get Lobster for dinner two days a week).

In fact this king of shellfish is so good we ran out early last Thursday. (Apologies to all who were disappointed.) This should not be so this Thursday as Chef Jon has tripled the order for this week, so come and get ‘em!

Lobster Thursdays – To continue

Lobster Thursdays have proven to be such a success, that they will continue over the next few weeks whilst they’re in season. We will have them during the week, but only if  you ask nicely!

In the 1900 lobsters was not  considered  the privileged food that it is nowadays and in fact was perfectly affordable. At Geales we look to bring this tradition back and make lobster affordable again . The  catching is done by laying traps along the sea bed and Creeling  or Potting ( the methods used )  are some of  the  most sustainable forms of fishing. The catching process is easy to monitor and nowadays it is illegal to trap lobsters less  than 8.7 cm in length hence protecting the young of the species.

In keeping with only serving sustainable & fresh fish, I am now producing a constant stream of new specials. This and next week there will be Brill, Scallops & Sand Soles.

Do keep coming, love seeing you all. If you wish to see our kitchens, providing I’m not busy I am more than happy to show you around.

Ollie Burgess

Geales Chelsea Green 20% Off!

FANTASTIC OFFER!

Geales Chelsea will be giving a whopping 20% off (yes 20%!!!) to customers booking with us through our online booking form, which can be found right here on our blog (see link below!). This amazing offer is limited, so why not book now, to make sure you get a spot. On the booking form, click “View all available offers” and book the 20% off deal. Simple!

Remember it’s limited to the first 500 customers, so book now!

Look forward to seeing you there.

Graham – Geales Chelsea Green

“Lobster season has arrived”

Because I love Lobsters we serve them at Geales. In season the prices for this most wonderful shellfish can be quite reasonable and this year prices at Geales will be exceptional. Lobster Thursdays are back!

Whole Native (UK) Lobster / chips, garlic (optional) mayo £21.95

Half a Lobster etc £13.95

The Char is proving so successful and affordable I’m retaining it for a while but I’m also bringing in. It’s in season, Megrim a flat Cornish as good as any Lemon Sole. Personally I adore the taste and texture of a large Conga Eel. I cook them as a steak and right now they are in season. However I have a concern that many of you might be reluctant to even try them! I would value your opinion and if any of you would care to twitter that opinion along with Messi coming to Manchester City I would be most appreciative, tweet us on: @geales1

Ollie Burges