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Ocean’s 11 – Taste & Obsession

Posted in Drink, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

If you have just searched for Ocean’s 11 and are thinking, how did I stumble across a food blog, I apologise. You see, I’m a bit of a Rat Pack fan and 11 had a pretty significant meeting this weekend. With the torrential downpour we’ve had over the last few days also, ocean seemed a pretty good analogy too. So why is 11 significant? Well it was Taste of London 2011 at Regent’s Park and I just so happened to get another signature for Project Obsession, number 11 in fact.

This was our 7th visit to Taste (we think, it’s a bit of blur now). Only the second time that we’ve experienced such rain but we still had fun wading across the mud pools from stand to stand to gorge ourselves on food and drink. I’ve written about taste before so I won’t go into great detail about it and instead just give a few special mentions and the highlights for us.

Corrigan's Crispy Black Pudding

Corrigan’s had a great menu and was our first stop, crispy black pudding and a ground steak burger with bone marrow. Both amazing flavours and great good hearty food that you expect from Richard Corrigan and his team. We had a great couple of chats the Head Chef, Chris, and look out for something happening in the future as I may have just talked my way into their kitchen. Not for a real job of course, I have definitely realised after my experiences, I am no chef. Next door to Corrigan’s was Bentleys which for me had the star dish, Scallops ceviche. Never had anything like it and I really want more, beautiful scallops with a hint of chilli and fresh sweet fruit.

Next mention goes to Launceston Place. We bumped into Tristan Welch as we were walking round and he seemed to be enjoying the weather. The suckling pig was on again this year and just as good. The chocolate mess for me was the dessert of the day as I don’t really do desserts. Valrhona chocolate mousse, a bit of spice, divine chocolate goodness. I love Tristan’s food because as serious as he is about food, there is a fun feeling about it  as you will see from the photo.

Rhodes 24 provided what my wife described as the best lemon tart ever. I wouldn’t know, she didn’t let me have any. I was on the white tomato soup. It was quite odd drinking a white soup that tasted so rich with tomato and Mr Rhodes again was a real gent and happy to chat away. We stopped by Le Gavroche to have a chat with Michel Roux Jr and this is where 11 comes into play again. The Obsession book that I had been lugging around all day was brought out and Michel was kind enough to sign his page for me. So Project Obsession get’s its first signature for a while and so I plan the next.

Our last food stop was at L’Anima where we were treated like stars. Chris at Corrigan’s had sent us down and Chef Francesco Mazzei was the perfect host. We were treated to their icon dish of wild mushroom fettucine with black summer truffle and an amaretto tiramisu. The fettucine was just pure indulgence, so much truffle, amazing mushrooms, creamy sauce, perfectly seasoned, it is one of those dishes that makes you say “where have you been all my life”. You may be thinking, so why was this not my star dish of the day? It is purely that I don’t think it’s a dish I could eat again and again like I could with Bentley’s scallops. Although I could certainly have it now and again. The tiramisu was light and just right to finish the food off for the night. Along with our glass of prosecco poured by Chef Mazzei himself, oh and Richard Bacon sat next to us, it was a great taste moment. Guess where we’re planning to eat for my birthday this year.

Popcorn Duck from Club Gascon

Now, we got quite  a lot of free food this year, when I say a lot, we actually only paid for about 4 dishes. These chefs are quite a generous lot really. So with plenty of Crowns to spare we headed to The Lovely Bubbly Company for a mini champagne tasting. We tried four champagnes with a glass of our favourite at the end. A great team there who were so friendly and even handed out some old school sweets, popping candy, cola fizz and fizzers.

A quick mention to our friend’s at Sipsmith’s. We have known them since they launched their Gin at taste some years ago and is an essential stop for the best Gin & Tonic at Taste and we have to say, the coolest plastic glasses of the festival too.

That was Taste done for us really and I have to just mention Kin Knives. No I don’t work for them, not being paid to advertise, I just love visiting their stand and as i’ve been chatting to them on Twitter I had to go and say hello and gaze at the knives (yes I want one and will get one eventually). It was quite funny as we stood there and a lady decided she would test the sharpness of the knives and run her finger along one. Not the wisest thing to do, that’s why they have tomatoes to try them out on. Well done to Papa Kin (sorry I don’t know his name but that’s how his daughter refer to him on Twitter) for his first aid skills.

The menacing clouds over Regents Park

Shock news though as we decided we will probably not go next year. Taste is great and if you’ve never been and love food, you should go. For us, after 7 years, it’s losing a little of it’s allure and if it hadn’t been for L’Anima, Launceston Place, Corrigan’s/Bentleys, Sipsmith’s and Lovely Bubbly, it would have been a fairly flat event for us. Well done guys and we hope to see you all again soon.

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Dining into the New Year

Posted in Drink, Food, Wine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 2, 2011 | 2 Comments »

With my Sister and her family expected to be in Australia and my Brother and his girlfriend expecting an arrival any day, we hadn’t really planned very well for New Year and by December my Wife and I were trawling the internet for somewhere that looked good, not too pricey, no taxi problems. You’re thinking, good luck with that and you would be right in thinking we couldn’t find anything. So as we haven’t seen the New Year in with my Dad for quite some years we (I) thought a nice dinner would be in order. Now with it being a celebration, I thought why not celebrate some chefs & cooks. Four courses sounded like a good idea too so I had to keep it simple while hopefully still giving it a wow factor. Was to be a case of less is more I thought.

I trawled through my cookbooks, so many recipes, so many great cooks and chefs. What to do? Then as I was sat watching Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers I was him make a roast beef with pumpkin Ragout dish. It looked great, I like pumpkin and I knew I could get some squash if I couldn’t get a pumpkin. The only problem is my wife is not keen on beef. So I thought a good cut of lamb would be good and picked up a saddle of lamb from the butchers. While I was there I also picked up a couple of duck breasts for the starter which I had decided on. I definitely only needed two for the three of us, unlike getting them from the supermarket, they were huge, freshly portioned from a whole duck.

I had decided on the dessert fairly quickly too. I was given a copy of the Christmas With Gordon  book and there’s a great cheesecake in there which I just had to make. I have to pause here and just say hello to Mark Sargeant, a great Chef who often passes on tips and advice via Twitter. Thank you Mark and good luck with the book and restaurant next year. So, fish course. This gets difficult as my wife eats tuna, scallops or bass. Every now and then she’ll try something else if it’s cooked by a top chef. Richard Corrigan, Stuart Gilles, Michael Caines and Nigel Hawthorn are a few who have managed to get her to eat something new. And step forward Simon, top Michelin star chef………….. erm, hold on, no I’m not am I? Anyway, off to the fish monger to get some turbot. No turbot, no skate, no bass, panic sets in. I walk away, unsure, I walk back, I see bream. Well I know I like it, oh well, it will have to be bream and hope for the best. All this after taking two days to decide between a Michel Roux Jr or Marcus Wareing recipe.

The menu was as follows (I have put in brackets the originally ingredients where I had to substitute).

Starter

Warm Duck and Red Cabbage Salad

From: A Slice of Cherry Pie – Julia Parsons

 

Fish Course

Fillet of Sea Bream (Turbot) in Red Wine with Artichoke Puree & Pickled Beetroot (baby beets)

Recipe by Marcus Wareing, from the Great British Menu Cookbook

 

Main Course

Roast Saddle of Lamb (fillet of beef) with Squash (pumpkin) Ragout

From Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers

 

Dessert

Pear & Amaretto Cheesecake

From Christmas with Gordon – Gordon Ramsey

It’s the morning of New Year’s Eve. I wake early as one of the most simple ingredients I needed had sold out everywhere the previous day. Look people, I know it’s christmas but do you all have to cook with red cabbage? I mean, honestly, some of us have New Year feasts to prepare. I drive to town after checking the market will be open.It was, just, half the stalls closed but the veg man was there and he had red cabbage. Some may have read my plea of “My kingdom for a red cabbage” on Twitter the previous day. It didn’t quite cost me my kingdom, more like 8     and £1 for the car park which amused me for some reason.

I get home, have breakfast, then set about in the kitchen. The great thing about the menu I chose is it is fairly easy and simple. Very much a case of letting the ingredients speak for itself. I made the cheesecake base, digestives crushed up with butter & chocolate spread. While it’s setting I unpack my brand new food mixer, mainly just to use the bowl. I realised after making the filling and setting the cheesecake, I didn’t have much to do until later. So why did I get up so early. I decide to chop the veg required for the evening and leave in water, pickled the beetroot and let them cool to re-heat later and prepped the poaching liquid for the fish. Made sure I got the meat out of the fridge to it wasn’t too cold when I cooked it later.

While I was doing all this, my Wife was setting up the table which looked beautiful (and so did she). With about an hour to go before serving the first course I got the lamb on, wanting to give it plenty of resting time. I suddenly realised I hadn’t sorted out what plates I was using and serving everything on so a quick dash to the cabinet was called for and after several switch-a-roos I made up my mind. I made the ragu to go with the lamb, again to just warm up on the hob before serving. Oh by the way, I have no Idea what squash it was, oval and green so if you can tell me that will be great (no it wasn’t a melon)This is while Wife and Father enjoyed their aperitif of champagne & hibiscus flowers in comfort. Mine was on the kitchen side.

Warm Duck Breast with Red Cabbage Salad

Fillet of Sea Bream in Red Wine with Pickled Beetroot & Artichoke Puree

I was ready for the first course, the duck went in the pan. Now I know there are lots of ideas about how to cook duck, I season the skin and cook skin side down for most of it, turning over at the end when it’s resting. Now I do pride myself on my duck breast cooking skills and tonight was the best yet, medium rare, cooked enough to eat, soft, succulent, fantastic. While the duck rested I set up the plates with salad leaves mixed with grated red cabbage. Anyone know why red cabbage is purple when you start and looks red when you serve it? Anyway, I put the simple but tasty red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing over the leaves and placed the duck on top.

We had two bottles of wine to go with the meal and started with a Pouilly Fume 2009 which was a Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference wine. I love this wine, find it can handle red meat as long as it’s not a heavy dish so was perfect with the duck salad. A nice rest and I was back in the kitchen. I heated up the poaching liquid for the fish, also a re-heat of the beets and the artichoke puree. The fish takes literally seconds which is good as you don’t want it overpowered by the red wine, just flavoured. I was fairly proud of my presentation too, mind you I more or less copied the picture in the book. You must be sitting there wanting to know, did my Wife like it? Well, the man from Del Monte he say yes. It was a bit fishy for her but the beets and artichoke puree balance the dish out well. The funny thing is I only remember the first couple of mouthfuls as I was then concentrating on my Wife’s reaction. I do remember the beets were especially nice.

By this time we’d opened the second wine, a Michel Sarrazin Bourgogne Cóte Chalonnaise 2006. What a wine, smoky, deep, fruity. Would recommend it to anyone. Obviously went well with the fish course and good to carry on drinking with the lamb. Talking of which, the lamb had been resting long enough so I dash back to the kitchen and heat up the ragu. How simple is that ragu? Onions, squash, herbs, seasoning, stock, white wine. Perfect for a big meal. Effectively the main used a large pot and a roasting tin, easy. I carved the lamb, keeping fingers crossed it was going to be cooked okay, which was tricky holding the knife (boom boom). It was perfect, I don’t think I have ever cooked lamb that well actually. I used deep plates and filled with the squash, laying the lamb on top. I know why this is a supper recipe, it’s very filling, tastes amazing though. But here’s the thing, during this course, my Wife tells me, if I cooked beef like I had cooked the lamb, she would have eaten it. Thanks, now you tell me. Not that I’m complaining really as the lamb was melt in your mouth stuff. I guess I should mention too that I roasted the meat on the bone and must have had a knowing look as when I was buying it, the butcher looked at me and said “you’ll be wanting to roast this on the bone won’t you?”. We were stuffed and knew there was a huge cheesecake to eat yet so we had a rest and at 11 we retired to the lounge to watch Jools Holland’s Hootenanny (a must if you stay in on new Year’s Eve).

The cake left the fridge, carefully carried through to the lounge and an ice candle stuck in the middle, which is just an indoor firework. Very apt for the occasion. I have to say Gordon (Mark), it’s a great recipe. I love pear, I love Amaretto, I love chocolate, so all three together, fantastic. It is a fairly classic combination which never fails to work. Light, tasty, and will no doubt impress your friends. I love too that there’s crumbled amaretti biscuits in the filling. I could eat a truck full (yes the man that doesn’t do desserts, although I may be coming round). A great finish to a successful meal. I keep trying to think what I could have done better and, to be honest (and big headed), I’m not sure I could have improved it that much, maybe presentation but not on taste. I do put a lot of that down to fresh ingredients, good quality fish and meat and my new food processor and knives. You may laugh  but they just lifted me enough to up my game some. We should have had a dessert wine with this but it had gone off which was a shame, although with another bottle of champagne to come, I was secretly pleased.

The hour approached, Jools, his band and guests were entertaining us to the point I almost missed getting the champagne ready. What to drink for the end of the decade? Well you can’t do much worse than having a ten year old vintage champagne, in this case it was a Laurent-Perrier Brut Millesime 2000. I . do like vintage champagne, it seems to have much more depth of flavour. The cork pops, glasses filled in readiness. We count down with Jools, Kylie oh and @puddingface, sorry Gregg Wallace (he was one fo the guests, didn’t know he could sing). The hour arrives, we sing Auld Lang Syne, then I turn the TV down and play two more versions of it, one by Frank Sinatra and then I up the class with Chas & Dave. I toast my family, my friends and the chefs/cooks that gave me the inspiration for this meal. So to Julia Parsons, Marcus Waring, Nigel Slater and Gordon Ramsey (yes you too Mark Sargeant) I raise my glass and say cheers, thank you for the great food eaten that night and for all that will be eaten in the many years to come.

 The books:

A Slice of Cherry Pie – Julia Parsons

Christmas With Gordon – Accompanies Gordon Ramsey’s Christmas Special on Channel 4

Great British Menu Cookbook – BBC

 

Lamb dish inspired by Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers series on the BBC where the recipe can be found.

 

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Cafe A Vin, Le Cafe Anglais & the 5th Floor Terrace

Posted in Drink, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Okay, another trip to London. Yes I know, London again. I really can’t get enough of the place sometimes. Originally the weekend’s trip had been planned for a trip to Borough Market (that didn’t happen). A room was booked at Club Quarter’s St Paul’s. A great little hotel, clean, just right for a one night stop. We both left work early to head off to London for a leisurely trip there and dinner at Cafe A Vin in Spitalfields. This was to be our second trip there in July. The first visit was after Olly Smith’s book signing. He really bigged it up so we just had to try. Also handy that it was very close to Liverpool Street Station.

Obviously we had a great time there first time round which is why I was on the train with much excitement as we headed back. After some great tweeting with Sara Galvin, Ruby and Julia, all at Galvin restaurants, we knew we would be expecting another great night. We arrived very early, a little due to my over excitement. We did stop for a drink and I was so thirsty, it went down a little quick so off we popped to Cafe A Vin. It’s a great venue, no traffic so sitting outside in the summer is relaxed and quiet. It’s also very satisfying sitting there relaxing watching the commuters rushing by to get to their trains.

I had been looking at the menu nearly all day, Julia actually emailed it to me so I could peruse. Thanks Julia, the extra time didn’t help at all, in fact it made it worse. By the time I got there I was really stuck as to what to choose. So much I wanted to try. We had the Galvin Champagne and while we were still choosing, it was suggested we try the tarte flambe to accompany the bubbly. Wow, it was just fantastic, light dough with bacon, creme fraiche and onion. Not just a good match, a brilliant match with champagne. DUring this we finally decided on our meals, okay I finally decided. My wife had chosen almost straight away.

Starters were the duck liver & foie gras parfait for my wife, which came with a shallot chutney. I went for steak tartare as I had not forgotten my plan this year to try new things. This was my first steak tartare and okay I have to be honest. It was nice, no it was great, very rich, very herby but great. It was a little rich for me though and I couldn’t finish it. I did enjoy it though and would try it again some time. I tried some of the parfait and loved it. I would have gone for that if I hadn’t wanted to try something new.

Champagne was still flowing and we went on to the mains. Braised Shoulder of Lamb with runner beans, artichokes and mint for my wife. No idea how this tasted as I didn’t get a look in. I assume that means she enjoyed it, the plate was cleared. I went for another new food, Sea Bream. Yes, I have tried quite a few different fish but never bream, it came wood roasted with chargrilled veg and sauce antiboise. Superbly cooked, three fillets (wow), the sauce, again something new, was well, I don’t quite know how to describe it. The whole dish worked so well, great fish, great flavours and that sauce, mmmmmmmmm. (Guess why I’m not a food journalist).

Then we have my nightmare, the dessert. I’m not great on desserts, however I thought I’d try something and i was a little too full for cheese and biscuits. So while my wife tucked into the same dessert she had last time, Baba au rhum which when serving they should ask, “would you like some baba with your rum?”, I tried the chocolate & hazelnut pot de creme. Smooth and light, just a small amount which was just right for me. We decided not to have coffee as we were intending to go for a drink after which ended up just walking back tot he hotel and collapsing with full stomachs.

Cafe a Vin really is a find, the service is great and so friendly. If you want really good food with a relaxed atmosphere, it is the place to go. Thank you to the guys there, a great team and the little tours round next door, Galvin La Chapelle has us already booked in for this coming Friday. I possibly have a nother trip back to Cafe a Vin the following week too. Have fallen in love I think.

Saturday morning arrives, a quick coffee sets us up for a walk from St Paul’s to Covent Garden. We continue wandering toward Oxford Circus almost walking into David Walliams near Shaftesbury Avenue. Well my wife says it was him, I didn’t think he was tall enough. I soon learnt not to argue with my wife over this issue though. There was a quick stop at Selfridges for a champagne cocktail before heading along Hyde Park to Le Cafe Anglais. A lovely walk in the sun.

We arrive and are directed to the lift to go up to the restaurant. Another warm greeting and we are shown to our table. We originally intended to go for the Toptable offer of the Air Conditioned Picnic with a glass of wine. Instead we stayed with the picnic and had a whole bottle. The picnic is a great idea for lunch. Light, great variety and again a chance to try a few things you may not have had before. There were 13 dishes on the menu and we could choose seven each. We went for one of everything and an extra stuffed aubergine. There were aioli eggs, baked peppers with mozzarella, taboulet, cheese with pickled cherries, really just lots of lovely little pick at foods. A couple of dessert dishes too.

It’s another great venue, attentive staff and very good food. It did surprise me at first that every dish was cold but then I though, oh yes, it’s a picnic. I have to say we struggled to drink a whole bottle of wine with lunch which makes the Toptable offer with a glass seem good sense. However we were not rushed and allowed to finish our wine at our own speed.

After lunch we wandered across the park, had a wander round Harrods and then Harvey Nicholls where we headed to the fifth floor as we had heard about the Tanquery Ten Terrace on the 5th Floor. It wasn’t easy to find, You sort of had to guess it must be attached to the restaurant. I would have thought they would have made a bigger thing about it being there. It was late afternoon and still warm. A table was just coming free which was lucky, the terrace was rammed. We ordered some snack, almonds and chips (not together) and then went for the Cocktail Flight. Three mini Tanquery cocktails, a delightful mix, so good, we flew twice.

The flight is a history lesson in cocktails. We start with the Martinez from around 1887, the exact origins are unknown. Aromatic & sweet with orange bitters and maraschino. Second step is the 1903, apparently a recently discovered recipe that is vibrant & silky with zesty orange undertones. Finally we have the Perfect Ten. We were told this was made with Tanquery Ten in mind. It’s much more your classic martini with citrus and juniper. All three were quite different, going from quite sweet to very dry in three steps. A great finish to a great weekend of food.

As always, to London, I raise my glass, I pat my full stomach and say “See you again, very soon”.

For Cafe a Vin, Spitalfields visit www.galvinrestaurants.com and Cafe a Vin is now bookable via Toptable.

Le Cafe Anglais, Bayswater was booked via Toptable at www.toptable.com or visit www.lecafeanglais.com

For the Tenquery Terrace, visit www.harveynicholls.com

My Twitter friends who made this weekend so much better:

@Toptable

@SaraGalvin1

@Ruby_GalvinRes

@Julia_GlavinRes

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Taste Of London 2010

Posted in Beer, Drink, Food, Wine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »

The seventh year of Taste sees our fifth visit. A couple of years ago I became quite disillusioned by Taste as it seemed d to have become a bit stale and lacking some of the usual flair you expect. Last year improved with the introduction of the Icon dish which was great to see continued this year. Although they seem to be getting even more pricey, it is a true show of what these chefs can do.

Tristan Welsch of Launceston Place

So 5th visit, I thought I must try something new but couldn’t help mix in some old favourites. First call of the day had to be Bentley’s as I was lucky enough to cook with Richard Corrigan the week before. I asked for Brendon, who Richard said to, and he was more than happy to show me out the back and see what goes on behind the scenes. Seeing some of the real heroes of the day. It was even smaller out the back than I thought and then the sight of crate upon crate of Oysters for just one day was amazing. When we emerged back to the front, there was a plate of the ever fresh Maldon oysters for me and a couple of corks to get a free glass of English sparkling wine at the Nyetimber stand.

The next stop had to be Launceston Place and Tristan Welsch was there carving up the suckling pig and posed nicely for some pictures. I actually went for the Goose Egg & Chips which was my first goose egg. It was pretty phenomenal, an amazing flavour from the eggs. Who needs ketchup when you have goose egg. The Old Spot suckling pig, so well cooked too, with lot’s of black truffle on top was another taste sensation which my wife wolfed down without me getting even a taster so I only have her word that it was good.

I stopped by Gaucho for a quick piece of steak as we made our way to Nyetimber to sample the wine. Sorry Gaucho, it was very sinewy and I expected better have eaten at one of your restaurants. On the plus side, it was flavoured really well and the humitas chimchurri was stunning. So to Nyetimber for the free wine,  a crisp sparkling English wine which was most enjoyable as we continued our walk round in the sun where i spied Fullers. My wife was happy, she finished my wine while I had a beer. Fuller’s I do salute you guys, always a great beer wherever I try it.

Mennula's Carpaccio of Yellow Fin Tuna

In an attempt to stay true to my word and try food from restaurants I have never experienced before, Mennula, Trinity and sake No Hana were on the agenda. First from Mennula, where we had  a great chat about the food and their sales pitch to us which really turned out to be the food. We both chose a dish there with my wife trying the maccheroni and me going for the Carpaccio of line caught yellow fin tuna. Both dishes were great and the tuna was just so well marinated with great sweet and sour onions. And so on to Sake No Hana where I was already yearning for the pan fried quail. I do love quail and this was no disappointment, tender, succulent and a bit of a kick. Another place now added to the list of where to go. Shortly followed by Trinity which is where we both tried a dish and for me this was their Icon dish of Pig’s Trotters with what has to be the most amazing crackling ever. I mean, it was just amazing, crispy, well seasoned, a bit of meat still underneath. Even now my mouth waters like Homer Simpson just thinking about it. For me, it was the dish of the day.

Trinity's Pigs Trotter Icon DishThis only leaves one dish, Rhodes 24 Icon dish, Jaffa Cake Pudding. This was for my wife more than me but we both had a try. I’m not really a pudding person but this was just like, well a Jaffa cake but multiplied by several thousand. An intense orange with dark  chocolate, light sponge. We had a chat with Gary Rhodes while we were there who then signed a clean dish for Michala and he had a few words about Top Table. In fact we could hardly stop him when he got started. Gary said the service provided is great and always friendly but on most importantly it’s the access given to the public to find and discover these amazing restaurants. We couldn’t agree more.

We stopped by  Le Gavroche too to speak with Michel Roux Jr (legend and such a gent), where I had a cheeky little chicken terrine with pickled mushrooms. I’ve tried making these mushrooms in the past and believe me, Michel Roux Jr is good for a reason. If you get the book, go make them, great with a meal, barbecue, ploughman’s.  We then thought it was time for more wine so a trip to McGuigan’s was in order for a few tasters to turn into a glass as the only rain of the session fell. Well when it’s raining and you can’t move, wine is a good companion.

Sake No Hana's Pan Fied Quail

Overall best menu for us was Launceston Place so we counted our crowns, realising we didn’t quite have enoughfor the strawberries and champagne from there but hey, they let us have two anyway. This is the thing with Taste, it pays to ask, be cheeky, just talk and take an interest, you never know what you may get. And so with another wander round and perusal of the many suppliers we headed home laden with full bags and full stomachs.  And as I write this I raise my glass to Taste and TopTable and hear my stomach rumble in readiness for the next one.

This is the full verson of my post as written for Toptable which can be seen on their blog at http://bit.ly/9Ppq48 or go to www.blog.toptable.com

For restuarant bookings please visit www.toptable.com

For more info on Taste of London visit www.tastefestivals/london

Follow @toptable and @TasteofLondon on twitter.

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London in 3 visits

Posted in Food, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away……… cue the dramatic music. Okay so it actually started in Essex where a courageous couple headed off t the far distant place of London. Anyone wondering what I’m going on about yet? I shall explain.

We booked tickets to see Star Wars In Concert and the day finally arrived on the 3rd April. We headed off to the O2 through the manic bank holiday train cancellations and engineering works. (Transport for London? What transport?). This was my wife’s idea surprisingly and I was like a child all day, filled with excitement.

We had no idea where we would be eating at this point and having heard there were many venues at the O2 we just headed there to see what there was. We got as far as Gaucho which is near the main entrance. I love steak and the force called out to me, the Dark side of the force I feel as I looked at the black exterior and décor. Given the occasion I really did expect Lord Vader to appear at any moment.

Plenty of tables free for lunch and given that mainly it was families at the O2 I wasn’t surprised many headed for the cheaper options. We walk to the lift, opposite their wine room. Do we have to go upstairs? I’ll just wait here I think. Unfortunately my wife over ruled me and we head upstairs, shown to our cow hide seats. Not a place for vegetarians. Our waiter is cheery and polite, explains Gaucho to us and shows us the meat board. So much steak, looks so good and I could have just taken the lot, put it on the grill and that would have done me.

My wife was on water as she wasn’t feeling too well so I have a beer and order a starter just for me. Crab cocktail with potato. It was fresh, light and a kick of Tabasco. I’m not a fan of hot spicy food so love it when I get something to spicy for me that I can’t stop eating because it tastes so good. My wife orders a pork steak, more like half a pig really. I go for a plain rump steak, 300gr with a mushroom sauce on the side. We get fries, cheesy roast potatoes and a salad to go with it. Perfectly grilled to medium rare, a steak that must have been more than 2 inches think in places. It tasted so good and I think it is one the best mushroom sauces I have ever had, creamy, thick and well mushroomy. After my main there wasn’t “mushroom” left for dessert. (Groan).

I went for a Malbec with my steak and boy did it go down well. We both had a citrus tart for dessert which was a little too sweet for me but still very zingy and full of flavour. I ordered a dessert wine which battled against the dessert but only because it was cheaper than the one they had matched to it. I should have listened and paid the extra few pounds.

Definitely will be visiting a Gaucho restaurant again and I know there is one in Swallow Street, off Piccadilly so it won’t be long before I do. It is a meat lover’s dream.

A few days later, the following Tuesday we were back in London as we had the day off.  As on our last two visits to London we had not been able to visit one of our favourites bars, we popped along to Selfridges to the champagne bar. We got there and as we approached the stairs, I kept thinking it’s had a make over. We then saw the new sign “Hix” and I suddenly remembered reading about it. Now I’m not a great fan of Mark Hix, well let me correct that, I haven’t been a fan in the past but probably because I’ve never sat down and looked at one of his menus.

We sat at the bar, our retro glasses filled with champagne (nice touch with the glasses Mark). I look through the bar snack menu and see a few things to go for. We went for a selection of snacks, pork crackling with belly pork, quails egg shooters and root vegetable crisps. The crackling is amazing, crisp like crunchiness with a sweet apple sauce. My wife liked it so much, we were given a second helping on the house. Although I was half thinking the bar man was flirting with my wife as he also got her to drink some extra champagne so he could just finish the bottle.

The quails egg shooters are interesting, an acquired taste. They are warmed, so basically are raw, with some crunchy bacon on top. I down the first shooter, and was unsure about it, the experience being a  little alien to me. However, I always want to try new things so I try a second one after a sip of the bubbly stuff. I take the second egg and this time it goes down easier and I get the taste of the yolk. The last time go down very easily. My wife didn’t try them and four was pretty hard going. I decided to have an oyster as well, yes just the one as I can hardly resist it when I see oysters on a menu these days.

Then the crisps, which you can’t say much about other than they were quite sweet, very tasty and overall very good. We had fun trying to figure out some of the vegetables. Now that doesn’t mean you couldn’t tell what they were, I think once you deep fry most things, the flavour changes and if your palate is trained enough, you may not recognise all the flavours. It was just a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. The staff were excellent and our bar man on the day was jovial, polite and very funny. My wife loved him. We are plannign a retun visit the the restaurant to try the main menu and I have a feeling I may be visiting at least one other Hix restaurant.

It was then off shopping as we were fully energised and we did shop a lot. The problem is, my wife has a thing about just picking things up and not trying for sizes. So as you may guess, we get home and find that two of the tops she bought, do not fit properly. Jumping at this I say “Don’t worry, we’ll pop back in on Saturday” already thinking of the many places to lunch.

So come Saturday, one week after the Star Wars visit, we find ourselves in London for the thrid time. We are walking up Piccadilly and I keep repeating “Bentleys” and my wife soon gives in, well it wasn’t much of a problem to get her to agree. It’s warm so we sit outside, watching the world go by and I realise that I may be a while choosing. I have an oyster, yes another one and had just the one as I wanted the Sea Snails for starters. They were delicious, so good and so fresh. Michala went for the white asparagus with blood orange. The asparagus I thought was quite distinctive from the asparagus we would normally have, a little more bitter which is where the oranges worked so well.

We both had the same main course, pollock with coconut, carrot and I think orange. Right you will all be glad to know here that I have now bought a notepad for when I go out as I keep forgetting the exact details of dishes.  Suffice to say though, the pollock dish was great. Something I had never tried before and will definitely have again. I have to say though, the star of Bentley’s is the soda bread. I first tried soda bread in Dublin on holiday a few years back and try it everywhere I see it. Mr Corrigan’s soda bread is by far the best I have ever had. Maybe he’ll give me the secret at the masterclass.

And so we finish, we go home. One week, three visits to London and amazing food, great drink and the best company I could wish for. I hope you don’t all get bored of my constant trips to London and I will try to find some different places to go rather than my usual haunts.

As always when I think of these days and finish these great meals, I raise a glass to the chefs, the food and drink producers, and my foodie friends. And on this occasion I say “May the Force be With You”. I now return to adulthood for a short while.

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