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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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Baumanns – Cooking & Eating

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

For those that don’t know Essex, there’s a small village called Coggeshall. A place I knew of, being from Essex, but had never been. I have had two great excuses to go and visit and strangely they were for different reasons but at the same place. The first trip was for the cookery school at Baumanns Brasserie,  day’s lesson that I won through Twitter from Chef Baumann himself. Now you’ve seen my adventure on cookery days so you’ll know I was quite looking forward to this. Even more so that it was a game day. That is game as in the animals, not that we went and played Cluedo in the kitchen (it was the chef with the carving knife).

A few game birds

I arrived very early as the great sat nav told me it took 40 minutes, add in A12 traffic in the morning, I gave myself an hour. 20 minutes it took, 20. Half of 40! Not that it annoyed me as, as you can probably tell. I had a wander round the village, sat in my car, was eyed by people walking their dogs, who were probably thinking, who is that person just sat in their car at this time of day. I finally decide to make a move, knowing I’ll be first in but it was getting chilly. I’m greeted cheerily, actually very cheerily for that time of day and coffee is supplied. I sit and wait for others to arrive and there ends up being four of us, two girls, two boys, nice & even. One of those girls was @EssexGourmet. Wasn’t our first meeting but nice to actually know someone there as, believe it or not, I’m a bit shy.

We meet the chef, Chris and the day is explained, menus handed out, aprons (much used since) are adorned. There’s the usual health & safety talk. Would you believe that knives are sharp! The kitchen is quite small, but not sure what I was really expecting as I didn’t know much about Baumann’s. It was fine for the five of us and special guest whose name I should have noted, basically it was a guy from their butchers who showed us how to bone a bird and put together a three bird roast. Should I change the wording of that last sentence?

I did learn quite a lot and since the day there I’ve mainly been buying whole birds and butchering them myself with the new found skills. It really works out a lot cheaper and is not as hard as it seems. Personally I learned more again about simple things you can do in the kitchen to makes things taste better. I mean, cooking with butter and putting some thyme in with it, so you just coat the meat and there’s a gentle flavour from the herbs. So simple and easy but something I’d never thought of doing before.

All the dishes turned out well and I think I was the best at butchering as well as cooking. Although @EssexGourmet will probably tell you otherwise. As well as what was on the menu, a few things were brought out from the larder to try, tarragon pannacotta is sublime and the Bailey’s and espresso one too, mmmmmmmm.

I have all the recipes and notes from this day but I’m not going to divulge too much information. Why? Because you should go and find out for yourselves. Put it this way, yes it was free for me to do it, but given the price, it is well worth it. I think one of the more value for money days actually. You’re a lot more hands on, the smaller group makes it easier to see everything and Chris is a great chef and very good laugh. Sometimes the day are with Mark Baumann but who wants to cook with him when we know who really does the hard work! (Secretly I’d like to cook with Mark but I don’t want to appear too much of a geek).

The second reason I had to go to Baumann’s was as a dinner guest. Again I’m not going to tell you much about the food as you have to go and try it yourself. I love good food, informal surroundings and great service and we got all three here. Having only been cooking with Chris (hey that should be their name for the experience days)a few weeks earlier we were treated to a few extras and ended up with a six course meal. The bonus to having great food is when the price is reasonable and it certainly is at Baumann’s. When you consider we had a glass of wine with starter and main rather than sharing a bottle, three courses each, after dinner drinks and coffee, a price of £50 a head is not to be sniffed at. Actually make that four courses paid for as we had the middles as well (you have to check out the menu to see them, fantabulous idea).

The great thing about the Brasserie is there was plenty there I had never tried which is why I ended up having Antelope. I have to say I was pretty stuffed after and we actually didn’t eat until about 2pm the next day as we had been fed so well. I am already trying to arrange my next visit back there and, if you haven’t been, then you should arrange your first.

For more information on Baumanns Brasserie and the Cookery School visit www.baumannsbrasserie.com

Or contact them at:

 Baumanns Brasserie, 4-6 Stoneham Street, Coggeshall, Essex CO6 1TT
Tel: 01376 561453       Email: food@baumannsbrasserie.co.uk
Y0u can follow Mark Baumann on Twitter @chefbaumann

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Launceston Place

Posted in Drink, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2011 | 2 Comments »

If you have read previous blogs you will know I usually try to have a funny title to my posts, maybe a little play on words. This time, I couldn’t, I didn’t want to. The reason? Launceston Place is quite simply brilliant. Not sure I should start the post saying that as you will think the rest of it will be me gushing over the restaurant and the food. Well, I will, probably. I was extremely excited to be going anyway as I already knew the main man, Tristan Welch, would be in. Tristan is one of my favourite Great British Menu Chefs. I love his twists and new takes on food and showing off where the food comes from.

I’d better get back to the start of the evening though. I was taking my Wife for a pre-valentine treat to avoid the faux romance of the night itself. Yes yes, I know I said I took my Wife as a treat, yeah right of course I did, like you or she really believes this was for her. Well I did pay so I can get away with it. Not having been to Kensington for a while I was unsure where we were going so we took a casual walk up from Harvey Nicks after meeting a certain Chef called Jason Atherton (watch out for a post on Pollen Street Social in the future). We stopped off at the Victoria and Albert for a mooch around. My Wife found me in good spirits and making many hilarious jokes about some of the exhibits and artifacts (her opinion, not mine, honest).

We needed a sit down and were two hours early. You think I was eager? We stopped at a hotel bar called the Polo Bar, small, friendly, not a great choice of drink but a great Australian barman. We watched the Rugby, had a beer, had another beer and finally thought it was okay to head over to Launceston Place half an hour before our booking. We were greeted warmly and to be honest I actually enjoy a drink in the bar before a meal. We sat perusing the wine book ( I’ve stopped calling them menus or lists), took in the dark decor which I have to say takes a while for your eyes to adjust too but it does make for a very intimate setting. We ordered an English sparkling rosé to start and it was a corker. I’m not really into rosé but this was a great wine, refreshing and zingy.

We then had a look at the menu and ordered while we finished our drinks. I was slightly surprised by the menu as it only has four choices for starter and main. There is a major plus side to this though. I take ages to decide and I would have eaten everything on the menu. We would have gone for the taster menu if my wife would have attempted the steak tartare but hey ho, you can’t have everything and this was HER night. As we sat there, someone said good evening, I was busy reading and then I heard my name. I looked up and there was Tristan. This was funny because I had already asked if there was any chance Tristan could come and say hello, I just wasn’t expecting it so soon. My Wife said it is the most dumbstruck I have ever been in front of a chef. Even now I’m not sure why I could hardly speak. I probably hadn’t had enough to drink.

We are shown to our table after choosing and we discuss wine with the sommelier, choosing a white to start, red for the main. Oh sorry, I forgot, you get crisps when you have your aperitif, move over Kettle, Tyrells, and all you other pretenders, Launceston Place holds the crown for crisp making and it would take something pretty amazing to tear it off their heads. Anyway, we’re sat at the table, a loaf of the most amazing bread arrives with some pickled herrings. Pickled herrings, hmmmmmmmmm, my mind casts back to poorly catered parties with nasty poor quality roll mops. I really have never liked pickled herrings. Well guess what, I love them now. I am of the mind-set to think that even if I don’t like something, if it’s then made by a top chef, I will give it another chance. So glad I did. I meant to ask Tristan if I could have a pot to take home but forgot, so Tristan, could I please have a pot of herrings?

We are served our white wine, clean crisp, plenty of oomph to deal with the calves tongue my wife ordered and subtle enough for my scallops. The scallops arrive in the shell, roasted in coastal herbs and on a bed of shells. This is what I meant about Tristan showing you where the food comes from. Perfectly cooked, the herbs were new to me but somehow tasted so familiar. My wife’s tongue was pretty amazing too. Maybe I should rephrase that. My Wife let me have some tongue, no that’s even worse. I tried the tongue – will that do? I’ve never had tongue before so had to try it, what a flavour, tasted life a good slice of beef without tasting like beef.

We try to finish our white wine very quickly as were talking quite a lot, mainly about buying a place nearby and Launceston becoming our local haunt (just one lottery win away from moving to London). I purposely slowed down on the white knowing there would be some left for her while I delve into a dessert wine later. Our red is poured, a Rioja, oh how I love Rioja and this was an excellent one. I am clearly salivating by this point, the starters made me want more.

Our mains arrive, Herdwick Lamb with sea beets, crackling & salt baked potato for my better half and lightly curry spiced sweetbreads with chestnuts & grapes for me. Thinking back to Saturday night and that main course is making me drool, perfect sweetbreads, I love the flavour of them and only tried them for the first time last year. Never had warm grapes before and with the curry flavouring and chestnuts I was starting to float to food heaven. Angels appeared, playing harps, a schoolboy choir starting singing, that ray of light shone on the plate. I had a sneaky taste of the lamb and the slat baked potato which intrigued me. Lamb the way it should be, medium rare, tender and juicy. The potato was interesting. Too salty for my taste buds but somehow addictive as I had to try another piece.

We talk to our sommelier again. Do you know I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t get his name, a really friendly chap and very amusing, in fact all the staff were so friendly, a good team there. We choose dessert and I am somehow talked into trying the most expensive dessert wine on the menu, yes my arm was physically twisted. You do believe me don’t you? I’m glad I went for it though, matched my dessert of baked cheesecake with blood oranges perfectly. Blood oranges oh how I love you (note blood oranges is not a pet name for my Wife and I love her even more). I actually chose the dessert based on the fact it had blood oranges in it. Was not disappointed, creamy cheesecake and brandy snaps. Anyone who puts a brandy snap in front of me will be my friend, they may not want to be my friend so let this be a warning to anyone that feeds me – brandy snap = instant friendship. I knew what my wife would have for dessert, had to be the poached rhubarb with vanilla sabyon & hazelnut shortbread. Now something strange here with my Wife, I tried her tongue, I tried her lamb, I didn’t even get a look in with dessert. Her words, “It was yummy and I could eat that again”.

We enjoyed a very good cup of coffee after, my usual espresso. Then moved back into the lounge for after dinner drinks. Two glasses of 20 yr old Tawny port later (my wife going for cognac) and we were ready to pay the bill. Now we drank a bit so I won’t say how much the drinks bill was. The food is great value for money, £45 a head for three courses. When the food is of such a high quality, that is more than reasonable, in fact I’d almost say it’s a steal.

And so we pay, we start to feel sad at the thought of leaving when Tristan appears again, I’m sure he’s a fan of Mr Benn, he just appears from nowhere. We have a wander round, have a look in the private dining area and then into the kitchen. It’s quite small. I don’t know why that always surprises me really and kitchens. Everything is pristine, they are still serving a few people but are more or less cleaned down. We meet the team and thank them for what was one of my favourite dining experiences. So I leave you with just the picture below, the lighting is very low in the restaurant which is why I didn’t take any of the food. If you want to know what it looks like, get yourselves down to Launceston Place, you really won’t regret it.

Thank you guys for such a great meal.

 

For more information, please visit www.launcestonplace-restaurant.co.uk

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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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2010 – What a year.

Posted in Drink, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Here we are, 2011 is looming and another year almost over. The clichés beckon, “Where does the time go?”, “what happened to the year”, “what have I actually achieved this year?”, “What will next year bring?”. And of course there’s the numerous programmes on TV that will review the year too and oh how I soon get bored with those, especially when they start that in November (sure that was the BBC). So I think with just over two days of the year left I am safe to do my own review. Well I did make a few food related resolutions at the beginning of the year so I should let you know how they went.

My first resolution was to have a lesson from a real Chef, yes I managed that three times. One at Braxted Park Cookery School with the very talented, and may I say funny, Chris Jagger. The next was at Corrigans where we got to cook with head chef Chris and some of the team, with Mr C casting his experienced eye over us. The last was again with Chris Jagger in his own Kitchen to get some real professional experience. All fantastic, all taught me so much and to Chris and Richard and his team I say a heart-felt thanks, you were all truly inspirational.

Second resolution was to make a curry from scratch and I just scraped that in toward the latter end of the year. Using Atul Kochhar’s recipes I made a great meal which I have to say I was fairly impressed with myself. A lovely coconut curry, stuffed aubergine and some spiced fried okra. I have experimented with the left over spices many times since.

The third was to try something I had never eaten before. I have done that a few times this year but the most memorable has to be at Glavin La Chapelle where I had brain and sweetbreads for the first time. I’m not too sure about the brain but the sweetbreads I will eat again and have. Love them. Not sure why I’ve been so scared of them really.

The fourth resolution was to be more adventurous and experimental. Well I think with the uses of spices I have gone for this year and the meal at Galvin La Chapelle I have more than kept that resolution. There have been successes like my first ever venison carpaccio made with my own invented marinade, cooking pehasant for the first time  and disasters which never even made the plate.

It’s been a great year in all, made some more great twitter friends and project Obsession really lifted off with now having 10 of the 54 signatures I need which to complete the book. Considering I only started in August I don’t think that’s too bad. That’ brings me to one fo the most memorable evenings of the year, the Obsession dinner at Hix. A feast by four top chefs which has inspired me to do a four course meal for New Year’s Eve and I also plan a meal suing recipes from the Obsession book in the New Year.

The highs of the year also include several meals at Galvin Café a Vin, a birthday dinner at The Blueprint Cafe, last night at The Boxwood and getting to have a chat twice (yes twice) with the witty charismatic gentleman that is Olly Smith. Oh and let’s not forget the Chefs I have had the pleasure to meet this year, Michel Roux Jr, Richard Corrigan, Mark Hix, Brian Turner, Nigel Haworth, Gary Rhodes, Stuart Gilles, Tristan Welch, Theo Randall, Fergus Henderson, Chris Jagger, Chris Galvn, Jeff Galvin and a glimpse of Michael Caines. A special mention to a few other food related people whic were so friendly that we met on our journeys ; Sara Galvin, Matthew Fort and Tom Parker Bowles.

The lows, I sort of thought not to mention these but it wouldn’t be a really review if I didn’t. There is the arthritis in my hand that started this year which kept me out of the kitchen for two months and feeling very down. The other is having the Flu twice. One of those ruining a meal at Gidleigh Park, to the point that I could only manage four out of seven courses. The second bout of flu almost caused me to miss an evening at Corrigans too.

I have got over this though, hand recovered and doing well, cooking a lot to make up for the missed time. The Gidleigh Park experience still gnaws at me though, I am really really annoyed at that, especially when I then found out Michael Caines was in the Kitchen. Anyway, life goes on and with Project Obsession going on, I think there will be enough experiences to make up for it.

I would like to thanks a few people for tips, advice and help but I know I will miss someone out. So to everyone who has answered my queries, questions, talked to me on twitter, commented on my blog and messaged me or replied to posts on Facebook, I thank you all. You are a great bunch of people and friends. So at midnight on the 31st December 2010 I will raise my glass to you and wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. Look out 2011, here we come.

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My First Curry

Posted in Food, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 30, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Curry, a meal that’s always scared me. Don’t know why. A lot of my friends over the years, who are not really good in the kitchen, have been able to make a mean curry. It’s probably the spices that scare me and that I don’t like hot spicy food so I worry about how much to use in case it’s too hot for me. So it’s always been a jar for me, although I often add a bit to it, usually extra onions, whole garlic cloves. Had a curry somewhere that they put whole cloves in, they are fantastic slow cooked in a curry sauce.

So why did I suddenly get up the courage to try making one from scratch? It has been brewing for a while, since I went to Benares in February and picked up a copy of Atul Kochhar’s Indian Essence. Each page makes me salivate. You see, I didn’t just want to make chicken tikka masala and pulao rice, you know me, has to be something different. So I go through the book and find some recipes I think are good to start with. I chose far too many dishes to attempt and soon realised that on Saturday when I looked at the size of my kitchen and how much ingredients I had brought.

So Saturday morning i go in search of spice, and would you believe, there’s a shop in a village just ten minutes down the road. So off I pop and come back laden with spices. Some of which I didn’t get to use because of my over ambitious plans. I put everything out, I look through the book again and the decision is made. The menu looks something like this:

Vaingan Katri (Stuffed Aubergine Steaks)

Meen Molee (Coconut Fish Curry)

Dharosh Chachhari (Spicy Dry Okra)

I added some boiled rice cooked with cardamom pods and naan bread to this. Belive me, I was struggling by the time the curry went on so had to keep things simple.

Vaingan Katri

The aubergine steaks are very simple, the stuffing is a mx of grated carrot, potato and cauliflower flavoured with garlic, green chilli, cumin seeds, coriander, chilli powder, turmeric & ginger. Cutting the aubergine into steaks you cut out the middle of each and put the stuffing in the hole. Easy to make, easy to cook and delicious with just a warm hit from the chilli. I forgot to make the sauce that Atul suggests but I served everything up at the same time to disguise that fact.

For the curry, Atul suggest sea bass. I searched high and low, even going to a “proper” fish monger but the bass looked a bit ropey so I went for some monk fish instead. I cut it into a few good size chucks, coated in a mix of turmeric and salt and left on the side. The basic ingredients of the curry are coconut milk, onions, curry leaves, green chillies, garlic and turmeric. Most of it is cooked off before adding the fish and serving once the monk fish is ready. Some fresh coriander place on top and it’s done. I love coconut in curry and this is pretty damn good (sure it would have been even better if Atul had cooked it).

Meen Molee

So far so good. Last dish I really have to concentrate on is the okra. Couldn’t be easier, spices, okra. That’s it really. The selection of spices this time are tamarind pulp, onion seeds, chilli powder, ground turmeric and then a drop of mustard as i couldn’t find any mustard seed paste. I like this dish a lot. Okra can be pretty boring sometimes and this recipe makes it worth getting some.

For the rice I lightly toasted some cardamom pods until they cracked open and put them in with the rice as it boils. Naan bread was freshly made but not by me. It was during making this meal I shouted out “I need a bigger kitchen” to the kitchen fairy. So far she hasn’t got back to me.

I love this book, Indian Essence, and recommend it to everyone. The recipes are so simple, even a curry making virgin like me can make a pretty good go of it. It’s left me inspired to try more and I even grabbed some of the spices the other night, fried them up with some veg that needed using up, served with naan bread and pheasant breast pan fried in garam masala. No idea what i was doing but as I seen the spices used in a single dish, I had a good guess it would be okay. It was. A quick 15 minute meal on a drizzly night.

Thank you Atul, thank you for the inspiration and the tweets of encouragement.

Fish curry, okra and aubergine dishes all from Indian Essence by Atul Kochhar 

Benares Restaurant, Berkeley Square, London, 02076298886  www.benaresrestaurant.com   

Follow Atul on Twitter @Atulkochhar

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Project Obsession – Part 2 (On Cloud Nine)

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 27, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Anyone who has been following my Twitter feed and read my previous post will know about my new obsession. Obsession, the cookbook by Nigel Haworth. 54 Chefs and Simon, me had a great idea to collect all 54 signatures. A great idea if not my most sensible one. I really wanted to get het ball rolling and, after obtaining Chris & Jeff Galvin’s signatures, I was eager to quickly add some more.

I often visit Selfridges so I thought Mark Hix would be my next target. I search for a contact and find the email address for Mark’s PA. Great. A very polite and slightly cheeky email is sent and I receive a fairly quick response, a lot quicker than I expected. Not only does it turn out I can arrange to get Mark’s signature, they are arranging an event in honour of Nigel’s book. It gets better, 4 courses will be presented by four different chefs. The annoying bit (only for the sake of getting signatures), Chris & Jeff Galvin are doing the main course. So let me get this right, I think to myself, I go to all the trouble of a train to London to drop my book off at La Chapelle and then go up a week after for dinner, to find they are doing this event. Okay, so this is not exactly a hardship as for one, I got to eat at La Chapelle, and two, I will actually get to meet them this time. So guys, honestly, I was not disappointed, I do love your food.

So a few emails are exchanged and tickets are purchased before, yes before, they even advertised the event. Yes we were the first and I did have a little burst of pride when I saw my name at the top of the guest list. I arrive with my wife at Selfridges, I am a very excited little bunny as my friends told me. Okay I was bouncing, I don’t think I had actually realised how much I admire these guys. It is definitely a comparison to a teenager meeting their favourite pop star. So effectively I’m one of those teenage girls who’s about to meet Take That. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t use that analogy.

Why am I so excited? Well I’m at one of my favourite haunts, Hix Champagne Bar & Restaurant in Selfridges and it’s a private-ish event, which I don’t get to attend too often. Then the chefs, Fergus Henderson, Chris & Jeff Galvin, Brian Turner and then of course, Mark Hix and the main man of the night, Nigel Haworth. Hosting the event was Tom Parker Bowles, well it was going to be Tom as Matthew Fort had to cancel. Bonus for the night, Matthew was there. His plans had changed so he came along anyway. This is actually excellent as they are both in the book. Not technically chefs but I need their scribbles nonetheless.

There’s lots of chatter, lots of staring as some of the chefs wander about before the meal. Most of the talk is about the menu, the first time we have seen it. It’s unusual, classic and inspirational. You may think how can it be unusual and classic at the same time. Well, you have four chefs (five effectively with Chris & Jeff sharing he main course) producing the courses so it’s a great variation. So shall we begin.

Roast Bone Marrow - Fergus Henderson

Starter is Fergus Henderson’s Roast Bone Marrow with parsley salad. It arrives proudly, several roasted bones standing up and the room went quieter than any other part of the night. I have never seen anything like it in my life (reminds me of a song). It explained the crochet-esque pin on the table. A great start, getting stuck in, pulling the marrow out onto toast and munching away. I was a bit wary of the parsley salad as I’m not a huge fan of the herb but with the strong onion, marrow and toast it was perfect. A special thanks for the supply of bones for the dog , she approves of Fergus’s cooking too.

Next up is the fish course, Treacle Salmon with Scallop & Pickled Ginger. This is Nigel Haworth’s dish which he introduced with the joke that they had a treacle mine nearby and wondered what to do with this natural resource. Looking around you could tell some people actually believed him for a while. I was just sat there thinking, salmon and treacle, are you sure? I really should stop questioning chefs like this. These guys didn’t get to the top of their game for nothing. It was fantastic. My wife, who doesn’t like salmon in any form, lets Nigel know later that only he and Stuart Gilles have managed to get her to eat salmon. I don’t think Nigel understood how big  a deal that is. Anyway, the sweetness of the treacle works so well with the salmon.

Treacle Salmon & Scallop - Nigel Haworth

I’m hungry for more, wine is flowing nicely, I need more food, my tastes buds are craving the next course. Chris & Jeff Galvin present their dish, Assiette of Lamb with Pommes Boulanger & Braised Fennel. There can’t have been much of the lamb left as we got kidney, sweetbreads, saddle, a loin chip and even some breast in with the potato. I didn’t talk much during this course, I couldn’t. I love lamb and this was so well cooked, the saddle was soft, velvety almost, just cooked past rare. Only problem is I don’t like kidney and even this dish couldn’t sway me. Sorry to the kidney lovers out there, I just do not see the attraction. So another clean plate with exception of the kidney.

There’s a nice break after the main course before dessert so with book in hand I go wandering. Well I noticed hardly anyone had been talking to the chefs so I thought why not. A great bunch of guys, who even though I admire, I remembered are just human. I start by getting Nigel’s signature, number 4. Nigel even remembered my email telling him about my project and did let out a small laugh when I said I only had three so far. As I said, I had Chris & Jeff’s signatures yet still wanted to chat with them and they came over to our table so I was not rude and left my wife on her own.

Assiette of Lamb - Chris & Jeff Galvin

I then steal Nigel’s pen and work along the table fo special guests. Matthew Fort is in my sights. A very funny chat followed as I got him on side by saying I loved Great British Menu and he and Pru were great “but get rid of that other guy” I quipped. Matthew found this quite amusing. So that’s number five. Tom Parker Bowles is chatting to Fergus Henderson so I sneak in there and grab signatures 6 & 7. Found out Tom has lost his job on the radio as I mentioned his show. I emailed a question in for Olly Smith when he was on the show and Tom remembered, he said, “You’re the guy Olly knows on Twitter”. I’m glad I leave an impression with people, just hope it’s for the right reasons! Dessert is staring to come out so I nip back to the table.

This is where we are treated to the best Rice Pudding I have ever had. Brian Turner, who I really only knew from Ready Steady Cook before I got into food. If I could only ask one chef about how to make a pudding, it would be Brian. This rice pudding, as Brian put it, is an English dish, not British, English. Served with a spiced blackberry jam which was just divine. Oh and now skin on the pudding to the agreement of most of the guests I think.

Pudding done, I need to hunt down my last tow signatures. I take a wander over to Brian. I then take my wife over to meet him as she wanted a hug because, and I quote “Brian Turner is just one fo those men who look like they’d give you a good hug”.  A hug she got too from the charmer “Oh is this your daughter?” asks Brian. We had quite a lengthy chat with Brian who gave me a lot of tips and advice to help me decide if I want to get into the profession myself. And there we are, the big black book now has eight signatures. One more left to get tonight, Mr Hix.

Mark, you’re a hard man to get hold of. I think I approached Mark about 5 times before managing to get to him before he got dragged off somewhere. We spoke mainly about the bar and the changes he’d made. I loved the old Moet bar and still think of it fondly. Mark has done a great job with it, kept it classic and gone back in time with the old-fashioned champagne glasses. Mark signs my book and we reach number 9 (on cloud nine – got there in the end).

That’s it, it’s all over. No more to tell as I reach number 9 in the book. Only 45 to go then. I have to say it was a great night, met some great people, not just the chefs and have made some new Twitter friends in the process. As we were leaving I did sneakily ask Nigel how I could get Germain Schwab’s signature as he has retired to France. It’s going to be a tough one that.

One last thing, I have to thank two people. Jo Verberne and Augusta Adu of Hix Food etc. Ladies, thank you so much for letting me know and sorting out the tickets.

Hix Restaurant & Champagne Bar, Selfridges, London, www.hixatselfridges.co.uk

The Book – Nigel Haworth’s Obsession (well worth being part of your collection)

A donation from the night and the book goes to Hospitality Action www.hospitalityaction.org.uk

My Dog, Holly, enjoying some of her doggy bag

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Project Obsession

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 15, 2010 | 8 Comments »

I will start by apologising to my Facebook and twitter friends for going on about my little project and also I’m saying sorry in advance for what is still to come. At last though I will explain what this is all about. When I was at Corrigan’s for a cookery masterclass a couple of month’s ago I saw a book. That book is called Obsession, by Chef Nigel Haworth. Nigel was the man you won the main course dish on great British Menu one year with a great Lancashire hot-pot. I say great but of course I never tasted it. I do know someone who did though, Richard Corrigan. We asked Richard about it at the taste festival that year and he’s an honest man when it comes to food, so when he told me he thought it was really good, I believed him.

Back to the book. It is a celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the Obsession food festival held at Northcote. I had never heard of this before, but i tell you something, I really want to go (please Nigel). So I bought the book not as a fan of the festival, it was for inspiration. The list of chefs, 54 of them, is quite astounding. Some of my favourite chefs are in there, Richard Corrigan, Michel Roux Jr, Atul Kochhar and Chris & Jeff Galvin. Chefs that have inspired me from afar via their television appearances such as Glynn Purnell, Heston Blumenthal, Michael Caines and Mark Hix.

My project, as such, is to have every chef sign the book. Okay so a cookbook should be used for the recipes and I will, but this is a chance to meet some great chefs and to sample their food. As far as possible I will try to dine at their establishments. This becomes a little difficult when you  see that one of the recipes comes from Matthew Fort (my favourite judge on Great British Menu). It is hard to think who is the pinnacle, who is the chef I will be most thrilled to meet. Pierre Koffman, Raymond Blanc, Theo Randall, Nigel himself? You may be getting an idea of the calibre of chef in this book now. I like the fact there are chefs I didn’t know that I knew. Okay to explain that last sentence. I have been wanting to go to St John restaurant in Smithfield. One of the chefs in the book is Fergus Henderson. So I knew of his food without realising who the chef actually was. I am a foodie but I have never claimed to know everything about food or the chefs. I just like eating it. Oh and @SJRestaurant  is great to follow on Twitter.

The project will be a great journey and lesson. On here, I will tell you about the adventures, about the dishes I try to emulate and of course about the food I experience. The journey has in fact started. I picked up the book from Bentley’s in the end after the lovely Valerie Morrison at Corrigan’s arranged for richard to sign his page for me. I have eaten at Bentley’s often and with the masterclass at Corrigan’s and meeting Richard a few times, I didn’t feel quite so guilty about getting the booked started this way.

I was lucky enough to have started to visit Cafe a Vin in Spitalfields and on reading the book, I saw that Chris & Jeff Glavin were in the book. I dropped the book off there just over a week ago for them to sign and picked it up on my visit to Galvin La Chapelle on Friday. If you want to know about the meal there, please read my previous post. So three down, 51 to go. Some of these will be a real challenge, especially the overseas chefs.

I will be sharing the adventure here on the blog, on my Facebook page and on twitter. Please follow and share as I may need some help along the way. So I ask, very politely and kindly, if anyone knows these chefs, can arrange for me to meet them, cook with them, dine with them, get my book signed, please get in touch. I am one man, with hopefully a very understanding wife, as Nigel Haworth’s Obsession becomes my Obsession.

I must finish by saying thank you to Nigel, who emailed me last week with his best wishes. I look forward to the Northcote visit. When that will be along this journey, I don’t yet know.

Links to follow the journey:

Twitter https://twitter.com/Simonlovesfood

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=832270284 (feel free to add me as a friend) or join my group http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=196217326852

The book Nigel Haworth’s Obsession I know can be found at Corrigan’s of Mayfair, Galvin La Chapelle and I assume at Northcote. If not in your local book store, they should be able to order it in.

If anyone thinks this is worthy of a TV series, please contact me, I am a star in the making (cheesy grin).

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Galvin La Chapelle

Posted in Food, Wine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Anyone that has been following me on Twitter or read my last post will know I have recently become a fan of Cafe A Vin which is connected to Galvin La Chapelle. On our last visit the restaurant manager, Alessandro Piombino, or Alex as he is known, gave us a little tour of La Chapelle. The setting is fantastic, the high ceiling and original features of the building marry well with the modern classic dining furniture. You feel a moment of occasion as you enter La Chapelle, it really is quite a breathtaking venue. I feel it must put a lot of pressure on the chefs to ensure the food lives up to the expectation.

Alex greeted us and showed us to our table. A great table, seated so we could view most of the restaurant. A table we later found out is Sara Galvin’s favourite. My wife enjoyed a Kir Royal while I had a glass of champagne as we perused the menu. It took some time to figure out what I was going to have as I could really have eaten everything on there. Finally we decided:

Starters

Escabèche of yellow fin tuna, aubergine caviar and coriander

Ballotine of Landaise foie gras, peaches & Pain d’ épice

Main

Assiette of French veal, carrot & cumin purée, sauce diable

Desserts

Soufflé of apricot with Valrhona chocolate

Apple tart Tatin, crème fraîche

The foie gras was my choice and the inclusion of peaches in the dish intrigued me. I was not disappointed with my choice. A silky smooth foie gras which was lifted by the sweetness of the peaches. My wife enjoyed her starter too, the Tuna did look fantastic, and two empty plates were taken back to the kitchen. As you can tell, we both went for the same main course after the veal dish being explained to us. This was us being adventurous. The assiette of veal consisted of braised cheek, belly, brain and sweetbreads. Four parts of veal I have never had, in fact I think I’ve only ever had loin and rump. My wife struggled with the brain which I felt was a strange feeling in my mouth but tasted so good I had to eat it all. I actually struggled with the cheek which I found quite rich and sweet with this being my wife’s favourite part of the dish. For me the winner was the sweetbreads. Never had them at all before and something I will be looking out for again.

There was a nice break between the main course and dessert while we finished off our wine (ready for me to have a dessert wine).  My dessert came with a glass of 2007 Pacherenc du Vic-Bihl Brumaire, Alain Brumont. A great wine, very sweet which it needed to be with the tart. Oh, that pastry on the tart, just amazing, the apples juicy and caramalised so well. I hadn’t even noticed my wife wolfing down her Soufflé so I assume it was very good. SHe even started tucking into mine. We ended with the usual petits fours, coffee and drinks, a brandy and a port. The petits fours came in a small silver dish, two chocolates and two cherries sitting on a bed of crushed cocoa beans. That smell, I can still smell it now as I was allowed to take it with me, not the actual dish of course. I thought this a great touch though as the cherries carried some of the flavour of the cocoa with them and I think possibly the best, juiciest cherries I have ever had.

I suddenly realised it was about 10 pm and that meant there was table turn around. Considering we sat at 7, I liked this as it meant we could really relax. There was never any rush. It does annoy me that so many restaurants turn their tables round and when you’re paying for what is not a cheap meal, I think it is a cheek to make you leave the table. So well done to Galvin La Chapelle for letting people take their time and enjoy the surroundings and of course the food. I never like putting the price of a meal on here and will just say it isn’t cheap but then it is worth every penny. The staff are just so friendly, welcoming and thank you to them for organising the signing of my Obsession cookbook.  I will be seeing some of the Galvin staff again next week at Cafe A Vin (yes again).

Booked via www.toptable.com

Galvin La Chapelle details can be found on www.galvinrestaurants.com

Special mention to:

Sara Galvin, the perfect host.

Julia & Ruby for the tweets @Julia_GalvinRes and @Ruby_Galvin Res

And to Alessandro Piombino, enjoy your holiday.

Our sommelier who suggested a very nice crisp white wine from the Rhone region. Sorry I did not make a note of the wine, I remember it was a St Peray though. We agree with her though that a white Chateauneuf du Pape would go so well on  the wine list.

 

 

 

 

 

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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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