We are feeling full of inspiration after a wonderful event with the beautiful Olia Hercules. Her debut cookbook Mamushka, published this month by Octopus, is brimming with delectable recipes and mouth watering photography. We were lucky enough to have Olia with us for her first cookery demo, she cooked Kurka Tabaka (Garlicky Georgian Poussin) for our hungry audience and we assure you – it was delicious!

“I was born in Soviet Ukraine, spent my formative years in Cyprus, studied in Italy and have for the past twelve years been calling Britain my home. My family history covers half a Eurasian continent from Siberia to Azerbaijan.

My culinary repetoire is vast and keeps expanding – as the more you dig, the strong one’s gastronomic wanderlust becomes. I cherish Uzbeki, Moldovan and Russian recipes I inherited from my grandmothers, Armenian dishes I borrowed from my aunt Nina and the vast pool of Thai and Laos food we regularly eat at home.” – Bio snippet from oliahercules.com

A Leith’s trained chef, recipe writer and food stylist, Olia has worked in some exciting and innovative kitchens including Mainstreet favourite, Ottolenghi. This year she was announced as the Observer Rising Star of 2015 and is a regular contributor to the Guardian cook section. Mainstreet played host to a fabulous cookery demonstration held in our cafe, where we picked up endless ideas, inspiration and even got to taste Olia’s scrumptious food. Our very own kitchen whizz Nikki spent the day cooking recipes from Mamushka, and with Shaun, continued to do so all week in our ‘Mamushka Menu Takeover’.

And if you needed any further inspiration after devouring the pages of Mamushka, be sure to check out Olia’s website and instagram pages – she has a seriously good eye for photographic styling!