#pitshanger

I absolutely love Frank and Salvi, Pitshanger Lane’s beautiful clothing and accessories boutique. It is full of stunning contemporary brands and is just as stylish as anything you might find in central London. Last time I popped in, I left with a navy leather jacket and a tassel necklace. It is another example of a fabulous Ealing independent retailer and another reason to shop local and independent. 

I recently met with its owner Francesca, an inspiring local woman who has followed her dream and set up her own business. Read more to find out about the business and for details of a super competition on Instagram. 

How did the idea for Frank and Salvi come about?

I used to work on photo shoots for fashion and interior brands and whilst I was working for other companies I was always dreaming of setting up something in my own name. Becoming my own boss was always what I wanted later on in life, then a surprising vacancy came up on Pitshanger Lane and I couldn't miss the opportunity. 

How did you come up with the name?

The name Frank & Salvi was an easy choice for me, named after both my Granddads Francesco and Salvatore. Being from an Italian heritage, family is everything. 

How long has the business been going?

This November we will have been open for four years...eeeek! 

How and where do you source your beautiful products?

I am lucky enough to be a buyer in a time of social media, so we are able to test different brands from across the world as and when we like. However, the brands our customers (as well as ourselves) absolutely love and go back to time after time are mainly British and Danish. 

What brands are your favourites?

I must say I love all my brands in store. However, the brands that I am always scoping out for inspiration are Sandro, Maje and Sezane. As well as & Other Stories as they are great quality and are high street prices. 

What are your current best sellers?

Autumn is my favourite buying season. We have a big variety of jumpers and jackets which are selling very well as we approach the colder months.  The colour blush is popping up throughout the season and this chunky knit that just arrived from Numph ticks all the right boxes.     

What is your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge I face is not having a team in store on a day to day basis to bounce ideas off. However, I am very lucky to have a keen family and friendship group that are always such a big support. 

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Go for it!!! Life is too short to think ‘what if?’. Just be fully prepared that success doesn't happen overnight and you have to put in lots and lots and lots of your time and effort in to make it work. The best thing is you can create your own business to suit you, that's why I love it! 

How long have you lived in Ealing?

All of my life, so 28 years (well Perivale, does that count lol?)

When you aren’t working where do you love to go in Ealing?

When I'm with the girls we love to go to The Duke of Kent for a cosy drink. For family meals we love Santa Maria Pizzeria and Osteria del Portico and my boyfriend and I have a slight addiction to the Hare and Tortoise. 

Who else do you love on Pitshanger Lane?

I love all my fellow traders! I really try to use the lane for most things and these are the places you will find me when I am out and about down the lane:

For a little pampering, I love Heavenly Hair. When I need gifts for the family I usually head over to Fiona at The Pitshanger Bookshop or Stems Flower Gallery for beautiful flowers and grab a card from Present Company. Belinda at Harrison’s Deli always sorts me out for delicious goodies. My Mum loves the Portuguese custard tarts they have.

When I'm being healthy I head down to Temple Pharmacy as they have a great selection of gluten and dairy free snacks so I stock up here for the week. If you haven't already tried pistachio butter from Meridian, give it a go. They have lots of different flavours there and are all so delicious.

But if I need a sugar kick I go to Rachel at Cinnamon for a lemon and coconut slice or Ben at Oscar’s for a juice to keep me going through the day. 

Then if I have had a long week, I might treat myself to a Thai takeaway from Sisters Cafe. The girls in there are great and so friendly. Or if I have the time I will cross over the road to Hook and Cleaver butchers. All the guys who work there are fantastic at advising me on what’s in store to get and give great cooking tips.

I am so proud to work alongside them all. 

Frank & Salvi will be open on Sunday 26th November, along with some of the other shops on the lane when the Christmas lights will be switched on. Follow us on social media to find out more information. 

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Instagram Competition

To win the gorgeous clutch bag, mirror and a £20 gift voucher for Frank and Salvi pictured below, visit the EalingInsider on Instagram and comment on one of the Frank and Salvi pictures answering this question ~ apart from Frank and Salvi, who is your favourite independent business on Pitshanger Lane? 

A winner will be drawn at random on Tuesday 7th November 2017 and announced on Instagram. (Full Terms and Conditions below).

Thanks Francesca for inspiring us and for your beautiful boutique!

Love,

Ellie

The Ealing Insider

xoxox

For more loveliness please follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

The competition small print:

·        To enter, you must comment on one of the Frank and Salvi photos on the Ealing Insider Instagram account answering the question ~ apart from Frank and Salvi, who is your favourite independent business on Pitshanger Lane?

·        The competition is running from Tuesday 31st October 2017 until Monday 6th November 2017.

·        All entrants’ names will be entered in to a ‘hat’ and the winner will be selected at random on Tuesday 7th November 2017.

·        The winner’s name will be published on the Ealing Insider’s Instagram on Tuesday 7th November and we will contact them directly to arrange for them to collect their prize from Frank and Salvi on Pitshanger Lane. 

·        The competition is open to anyone who follows the guidelines above, except Frank and Salvi and the Ealing Insider, as long as they will be in the area to collect the prize. 

I am always excited to discover talented people in Ealing and am delighted to introduce you to Handmade in Ealing’s wonderful Lucy Savage – our very own chocolatier.

Read on to find out how you could win a hamper of her delicious chocolates and where you will be able to meet her this Saturday 16th September with samples and special offers! 

How did you start making chocolates?

About 16 years ago I decided I would make my own chocolate Easter eggs so I taught myself chocolate tempering and stocked up on moulds and couverture chocolate from ‘The Home Chocolate Factory’, a start up company selling chocolate to home bakers.

Wow self taught! As a non-expert, is making chocolates hard to do?

If only I had known just how troublesome chocolate making really is! Yes, it is hard. It doesn’t always work, it is extremely time consuming and the science behind tempering must be ‘felt’. You can’t ‘see’ when it is correct. But when it does go right, it makes for unique and beautiful products which are worlds away from high street chocolate. I have been on a variety of courses, including at Barry Callebaut, one of the biggest chocolate companies in the world who have their huge UK headquarters in Oxfordshire.

When did it start becoming a business?

When I heard about the new Ealing Food market, run by Kate McKenzie at EatMeDrinkMe in Autumn last year, I suddenly thought ‘I want to sell at markets’. I had always been a keen baker and all round foodie and thought if I was ever going to produce products for a market, they would be made of chocolate. 

It was super busy in the run up to the Christmas period. I was flat out preparing during the week whilst still trying to work. I generally work a couple of days a week for a film company (my previous working life was in Film Distribution), with a great team. I equally love this work and in truth it is paying for me to make chocolate at present.

How has this evolved?

After a few market appearances over Christmas and a period selling in a local gift shop, Jane West from All Original on Ealing Green approached me to stock some Valentine’s Day Chocolates. Around the same time Kate (EatMeDrinkMe), asked if I wanted to be part of a team of four seller/designers taking over an empty shop in Acton as a ‘pop-up’ for eight weeks.  We spent time working in the shop as well as making products, so I was working non-stop to create Valentine’s Day, then Mother’s Day and then finally Easter products.  I chose this route as opposed to investing in a market stall which I realised I just wouldn’t have the time to do. I also hosted a chocolate and wine tasting event at Abbotshill Wine Bar with the owner Susie. 

Fast forward to summer and my products are doing really well at All Original and I’ve been able to attend quite a few markets, meeting and sharing chocolate with keen local chocolate enthusiasts. I have also graduated from my home kitchen to a commercial kitchen in Park Royal (just two days a week at present) which has allowed me to increase my production level five fold. I am now bursting with products which I need to find homes for!

What’s next for you?

To invest in a market stall and prepare for Autumn and Winter including the Christmas markets.  I love meeting customers and seeing them try my products and then buy them. Customers tell me what they like about my products and I can see what price points work, which adds to the ongoing learning experience. I am also launching in a deli in Ealing in October (watch this space!).

I would really like to get into as many Ealing based food establishments as possible, including coffee shops. I am currently developing bespoke small bars which could contain their own coffee. I look forward to presenting them to our excellent Ealing coffee shops.

I also want to branch out into corporate gifting, creating wedding favours and petite fours for events. 

I am hosting a chocolate making event for the WI and a chocolate party for teenagers and I would like to do some more tasting events or chocolate making classes.  Can you imagine a prosecco and truffle making afternoon for example? [Yes please! – Ealing Insider]

What is the best advice you have had about your business?

It was early on and it was from someone who had set up their own business from a passion like mine and it was to think very hard about whether you just want to turn a passion into a hobby or seriously into a business. Could you live with it 24/7 and can you really make it a viable business. I think I am still questioning this and it will take some time until I can realistically see me making a living from making such an artisanal handmade product.  

What are your favourite chocolates?

There are so many chocolates I love and chocolatiers I admire. My favourite producers include The Chocolate Society in Somerset, Leeds based Lauden Chocolates, Eponine in Cheshire and chocolate God that he is, London based William Curley.  They all create the most amazing flavour sensations and are award winning.  I do a lot of research (!) and am currently collecting ‘bean to bar’ produced chocolate bars in the UK which is a growing part of the chocolate industry.  I’ve also just attended the Speciality Food and Speciality Chocolate show in Olympia and got to meet chocolate couverture producers and chocolatiers.

My base foodie desires involve peanut butter and chocolate, (even spooned out of a jar and mixed with melted chocolate!) or any caramelised nuts mixed with chocolate. I love real fruit purees in silky smooth ganaches like passion fruit which I recently used paired with dark chocolate. Also crunchy poppy seeds and blueberry puree caramel paired with the strong flavour of pine nuts caramelised into a hard caramel and crushed in make a crunchy base layer. Using herbs or flowers, such as lavender or fresh mint and spices from fennel to cardamom, cinnamon and sumac which when paired with different profiles of chocolate can make strangely perfect pairings.

What is your most popular chocolate?

Salted caramel is still very popular and I get asked for it a lot.  I make a milk chocolate based salted caramel chocolate with either a hazelnut paste layer or more recently a chai spiced version.  I also make my own caramelised white chocolate (Caramac anyone?!) but it is darker and richer in flavour (and I am told mine is better!)

Dark chocolate is also becoming more popular with people who see it as a more healthy option for a sweet treat as well as appreciating the deeper and more multi layered flavour profiles you can get. I also think palates are becoming more refined and we are more intrigued by deeper flavours. In the cooler weather my single origin dark chocolate bars, (chocolate made from beans sourced from particular cocoa bean growing area) were popular. This Autumn/Winter I am adding more ‘inclusions’ into the bars.  New flavours include smoked sea salt and green raisins and raspberry oil and crystallised rose pieces.

What is your favourite chocolate?

I can’t choose just one! I love pomegranate molasses (sharp), rose oil (perfume) and pistachio (crunchy aromatic nuts) in dark chocolate. I also really like lime with dark chocolate so I mix crushed cardamom seeds with lime zest which has been steeped in cream for an hour, then mix with a dark fruity chocolate, cream and butter. 

Last week as we officially started Autumn I took my new ‘adult’ toffee apple chocolate to Ruislip’s Duckpond market and it went down very well.  I did a version with spiced honey vodka and another with apple vodka.  The hard caramel pieces mimic the toffee apple biting experience of our childhood.

I like pairing chocolate, whether in a bar or a truffle, with contrasting flavours like sweet white creamy chocolate with finely ground strong almost bitter coffee granules and stringent cocoa nibs or dark chocolate with salted caramel crunchy pieces and candied orange.

Where do you source your ingredients?

I source my high grade couverture chocolate from a French brand owned by a Swiss company. It contains cocoa butter. I also use mainly single origin chocolate from cocoa bean growing areas with varieties in flavour and mouth feel, rather than mass produced chocolate designed to be the same every time. 

I am very keen to use local and UK based products where I can. I’ve made Lavender truffles using Ealing honey (by Clare Vernon).

I have also used Lavender gin from a Yorkshire based gin distiller. Today in the kitchen I made up some mini milk chocolate bars flavoured with real lavender steeped first in cocoa butter. Tomorrow I’ll be using some of my garden mint in a dark chocolate.

I’ve just contacted a gin distillery in Cornwall who have a gin product profile based on clotted cream.  I want to attempt to produce a cream tea based chocolate with a strawberry jam layer, white chocolate ganache and sultanas. If it works it will be on the menu for Summer ’18.

What do you like most about Ealing?

Green open spaces and a feeling of community. After commuting to Soho for so many years Ealing provides a wonderful contrasting place to a hectic work environment. 

It also offers all kinds of inspiration for me, for example the excellent Persian food stores we have around West Ealing with their rich abundance of nuts and other delicacies. I have started using barberries (a very tart fruit often used in savoury Persian dishes which I hadn’t come across before). I add them to dark chocolate, slightly salted almonds and green raisins.  

What are your favouring places in Ealing?

There are so many and most are focused around food! Pitshanger Lane as a whole street as it is a peaceful place to hang out on a Saturday morning after the working week. I love sitting for hours in Oscar’s Café, appreciating the warm hospitality of Ben (don’t tell him I said this) and his team. I like buying the beautiful bread from Pitshanger Bakery. 

Abbotshill Wine Bar, with gorgeous deli food and the best wines, friendly staff and great events. Charlotte’s Place and W5 which are so classy and up there with West End eateries. Beehive Café for healthy food, great staff and excellent coffee, and cakes from 11 Coffee & Co. in North Ealing and Papillion on Northfield Avenue.

Non food related I love the parks, in particular Pitshanger Park for tennis and running. And lastly, the best gift shop All Original who are so supportive of local designers/makers and an absolutely perfect retail partner.

Where can people buy your chocolates?

My chocolates are stocked in All Original at Ealing Green, and this Saturday 16th September I will be there from 11am to 4pm for a ‘Meet the Maker’ session. Please come along and say hello and try some samples of my chocolates. I will also have some special offers. 

You can order any products by sending me a message via my social accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

I will be at selected markets from now until Christmas - just see my social pages for market details. I hope to have my website up during the Autumn ready for Christmas orders where I shall be introducing e-commerce so you’ll be able to order direct from the website.  

Facebook competition time!

To be in with a chance of winning a gorgeous seasonal mixed chocolate hamper similar to the one pictured above, simply like or share the original blog post on Ealing Insider’s Facebook (the pinned post at the top). Easy!

The competition is running from Tuesday 12th to Monday 18th September 2017 and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 19th September.

The hamper will be hand delivered to the winner in the Ealing area.

Thanks Lucy 😊

Love, 

The Ealing Insider 

Xoxox

 Competition Terms and Conditions

To enter the competition simply like or share the blog post from the Ealing Insider’s Facebook page (the pinned post at the top of the profile).

The competition is running from Tuesday 12th to Monday 18th September 2017.

All entrants names will be entered in to a ‘hat’ and the winner will be selected at random on Tuesday 19th September.

The winner’s name will be published across the Ealing Insider’s social media platforms and we will contact them directly to arrange delivery of the prize within the Ealing area.

The prize hamper will be similar to, but not exactly the same as the one pictured. It will feature a selection of seasonal chocolates by Handmade In Ealing. 

The competition is open to anyone who follows the guidelines above, except for Handmade in Ealing and the Ealing Insider. 

🌳Pitshanger Park is so big i can't believe it. There was a whole field at the beginning, connected to a sparse rose garden🌹, followed by a bowls garden (lol), followed by tennis courts (and just 1 basketball hoop on the side..) and those cute but overpriced park cafes, followed by like 2 more fields, and today's exploration reached its limit at the river Brent.