Airborne at Symphony Hall (and a few offers)

About 40 years ago we started dealing with an importer based in Sheffield called ‘I Grunwerg’. Their main business was, I think, with the restaurant trade, but they had some very good, robust products at some quite exceptional prices.
Shortly after we opened the account, they became the importer of Global knives from Japan, and to this day that's still a large part of our business with them.

Back then, Frank Day was the agent who looked after their Surrey-based customers. Although long since retired, he handed over to his son John at some point in the early 2000s, I think …memory’s a little hazy!  John and I get on very well. He comes to see me several times a year for a chat and to bring me up to date with their latest product launches and promotions.

The other day we were having just such a meeting, the results of which I thought might interest you.

So, here’s a little something from Sheffield, Japan, China and Italy.

Quite an international gathering.

Global Try Me 13cm Cook's Knife – £80 down to £50

Firstly, if you're a knife enthusiast, there's an offer from Global in the form of their 13cm Try Me Cook's Knife.

This is a small but perfectly capable little cook's knife, with a reasonably deep blade to give your knuckles some clearance from the chopping board. A small detail, perhaps, but one that makes a difference when you're chopping away and negates the need to use it on the edge of the counter!

At £50, this is exceptional value from a brand whose knives are deservedly popular. If you've been thinking about trying Global, this might be a great opportunity. Although not entirely my taste, they are rather addictive for Global aficionados. You are warned.

Katana Saya 2-piece and 3-piece Knife Sets

In the last few years, sales of Katana Saya knives have been quite astonishing. It's a largish range of high-quality, Chinese-made Damascus steel knives with olive wood handles.

In my opinion, they're beautiful to look at for two reasons. The 67-layer Damascus steel blades are fascinating to behold, with their distinctive irregular patterns, and the olive wood handles are equally lovely, as well as being comfortable for many hands.

The Damascus construction is particularly interesting, not least because of its association with the legendary blades of the past. The layered appearance is quite something, although the performance of a knife depends rather more on the quality of the steel and how it's made than simply the number of layers. Remember, with all knives, sharpening regularly with a good, safe knife sharpener, such as the Mino Sharp is more important than it looking like it might have belonged to a Samurai.

There are two new sets worth mentioning.

• The first is a 2-piece set comprising a 20cm Gyuto (Japanese-style cook's knife) and a smaller 12cm Fluted Santoku, and is my favourite out of the two sets. Usually £150, now £110.
• Then there's a 3-piece set comprising a 20cm Chef's Knife, a 12cm Utility Knife and a 9cm Paring Knife. There you have two of the workhorses of the kitchen in the Chef's Knife and Paring Knife, with an in-betweener to fill the gap in the middle. A rather useful little family of knives. RRP £175, now £129.

Grunwerg Café Olé Induction 6 and 9 Cup Espresso Makers – £20 and £25

An espresso maker that works on induction, at this price, is quite uncommon.

These coffee makers aren't large-capacity machines and are intended for making espresso-style coffee. Although I make one for myself in one of these, and the 6-cup model produces a good mugful by my standards. I think the Italians and I have slightly different ideas about what constitutes a cup!

A few simple tips for getting the best out of them.
•    Fill the coffee basket with finely ground coffee, right to the top.
•    Don't tamp it down. Just level it off.
•    Don't let the coffee gurgle and splutter at the end. Take it off the heat when the coffee has finished flowing.
•    Optionally, use hot water when filling the lower chamber to speed things up.

There you have it. Good coffee on a budget, and without the need for a machine that occupies half your kitchen.

But, if you want one of these, where you just press a button and walk away, then we can help there too… 

Shop All Coffee Machines

Grunwerg Bistro Cutlery 16-piece and 24-piece Sets

And lastly, we have traditional Bistro riveted-handle cutlery that has been around for as long as I've been a buyer, and quite possibly a decade or two before that.

It's one of those designs that seems to have rather successfully resisted the passing of time.

This rendition from Grunwerg is a slightly stretched version, with a longer, finer handle, and has the feel of something that could become an heirloom. It's reassuringly solidly built, with a traditional look that I rather like.

We have two colours in the 16-piece set, Green and Black, and the 24-piece set benefits from the addition of a rather fetching Smokey Grey Blue.

Prices are £25 and £35 respectively.

Well, that's my little tour of the Grunwerg catalogue for this week. Something for the knife enthusiast, the coffee drinker and those who simply like a decent bit of cutlery. The Katana Saya and Global knives are already discounted, some are up to 40% off the RRP, so my offer this week is 20% OFF the induction coffee makers and the Bistro cutlery. Use code GRUN20 online or …

Symphony Hall

Incidentally, last weekend a friend and I went to Symphony Hall in Birmingham for a concert that included Mozart's 5th Violin Concerto and Dvořák's 8th Symphony.

The conductor was Duncan Ward, a tall, late-thirties Goliath with enough energy to light up Birmingham city centre, let alone the concert hall itself. The joy and enthusiasm with which he conducted the Flanders Symphony Orchestra (who knew!) was both astonishing and delightful, with a small but significant proportion of his time, on the podium, spent airborne.

The orchestra, which I hadn't come across before, was equally impressive, playing with gusto and great sensitivity, as required. A really wonderful performance, in a wonderful setting, with excellent acoustics.

There's a great variety of things on at Symphony Hall, not just classical and not just music, so if you're anywhere near Birmingham and haven’t yet tried it, it's well worth a visit. I rather suspect l'll be going back.

That's it for this week.

I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Warm regards