A Nice Little Break

Hello so it’s been a while since I have posted but life has been very hectic, I married the most amazing women in the world and have been working my ass off trying to push the standards of food at work. I have finally found a commis chef willing to work hard and keep his head together during the madness so hopefully I’m only one piece away from a great little team the only problem is the one piece I’m missing is a sous chef which is a massive part of a four man team.

 So to keep my brain from frying I had a few days off to visit the in-laws in Lowestoft not the nicest town in the country but the break was really needed, whilst in Lowestoft I found a little gem of a restaurant called “The Third crossing” it is in a place called haven marina and is a seafood and steak grill. The place was warm and welcoming on a not very nice night and the food was excellent simple but very well prepared and very tasty. I would recommend this little place for anyone in the area.

So little holiday break over I headed back to surrey but halfway there I realised that a short detour and I could take the wife for lunch at “The Anchor” in hullbridge, Essex, for those of you that follow me on twitter the anchor is run by Daniel Watkins who is @anchorhbridge on there, so we turn up just as lunch is starting but Daniel is kind enough to come out and say hello. We take our seats in the restaurant and the first course is served to us,

Flame grilled mackerel, cucumber gel & seashore salad.

Beautiful to look at and does not disappoint in the mouth, we are told by our waitress that chef has been out and foraged the seashore salad items himself a nice touch on a very tasty plate of food.

Next up was one of the day’s specials

Smoked eel & beetroot

I absolutely love smoked eel and beetroot is a favourite of mine also so this dish was bound to delight. I was not disappointed the eel was of superb quality and four different beetroots and different preparations

For our main we had another of the day’s specials

Suckling pig, apple puree, creamed potatoes & koffman cabbage

A very generous hunk of well cooked suckling pig with crisp skin and melting fat sat atop silky apple puree and buttery creamed potatoes very good indeed, the cabbage with carrots and little lardons of pancetta running though was a great garnish to the dish and the jus served separately gave you the chance to add just the amount you wanted.

To finish the meal Daniel sent us a little selection of sweet bites.

 

A great way to finish our little break and again thank you to Daniel for a wonderful lunch, he really is producing really fantastic food worth the trip.

Remember live to eat don’t eat to live

Michael Wignall, The Laytmer At Pennyhill Park

Well this week I had the pleasure of going to Michael wignall at the laytmer, pennyhill park hotel. The rest of this post will show what I consider to be one of, if not the finest meal that I have eaten. Arriving at pennyhill you realise how beautiful the grounds and hotel. On entering the hotel you are meet by smiling staff eager to help you however they can, now working in the business we all know that staff are told to smile allot but here they honestly looked happy to be there and no fake smiles plastered on people’s faces.

The laytmer restaurant is a lovely place to dine with views over the garden and comfortable seating (not always the case in good restaurants). Bruno and his team in front of house make you feel welcome then comes the good stuff, given the menus which had the lunch menu and the lunch tasting menu on it I struggled with which to go for but being on my own ended up having the lunch menu a steal at £34 for 3 courses. I asked the sommelier to pick a glass for me to go with my main; water arrived closely followed by canapés. This is the second meal in row for me where canapés have been served but here they where light, highly seasoned and the homemade taramasalta was incredible served with little bread sticks and parsnip crisps. The other two canapés where a composition of wild mushroom and truffle, chicken liver mousse in bric pastry so crisp but the livers silky smooth.

Then bread arrived which in its bespoke holder looked lovely and a nice portion of butter on a little cube was another nice little touch.

After the fun of the canapés I moved on to the amuse bouche which was

Marinated Cornish mackerel, slow cooked octopus, gazphaco, pressed grilled cucumber, fennel fern and olive. Fresh, vibrant and as clean as you can get the flavours popped in my mouth as I ate.This was served with a seaweed broth very strong in flavour but       complimenting the dish well , I love mackerel and was   a little disappointed I had not ordered this a my starter after eating it.

But next up was my starter and I went for

Elmwood farm chicken poached in aromatic stock, smoked eel mousseline feuille de bick, chicken skin crisp, horseradish emulsion. When this arrived all worries about not ordering the mackerel went away, beautiful to look at, full of different textures and the richness of the smoked eel round the whole plate of really nicely.

Thinking that my main was on its way next I was looking forward to my wine that was to match it but instead I was sent a intermediate course of

Poached & roast foie gras, iberico ham, spiced brioche wafer, camomile panacotta & elderflower emulsion. I’m not usually a lover of foie gras but here it matched up with the freshness of the camomile perfectly and having the spiced brioche wafers added texture that normal lacks with roasted foie.

Now ready for my main course and the sommelier bought over the wine match that he had picked, it was a Penny’s hill red dot Shiraz vioginer. This was to match the lamb dish,

Swale dale lamb, crisp tongues, braised belly, roast chicory, morels & garden peas. Perfectly cooked lamb loin, rolled braised breast soft and sticky, crisp tongue and well what chef doesn’t enjoy the first fresh morels they have each year and peas that had been popped out of there pods and skins bright green amongst earthy browns and blushed lamb.

 The wine complimented the lamb dish very nicely and is something I would order if I saw it on a menu.

Starting to get a little full by know the dessert menu arrives and again spoilt for choice but plump for the wild strawberries parfait as I have not had wild strawberries for year, bur first a pre dessert of marinated cherries with an array of garnish which  for the life of my i can not remember.

 the parfait was rolled in dehydrated strawberries (I think) which gave another texture to the dish along with a flurry of strawberry flavoured garnishes which bought the dish together as one.

The espresso was of a very high standard again something of an afterthought in other places and the petite fours plate was full to busting of different items, the peanut chocolate truffle was my favourite.

And that concludes my lunch needless to say I will be going back to try the full tasting menu at a date in the not so distant future, hopefully with some company to share this great experience.

So thank you to Michael, Bruno and there staff for a wonderful experience and thank you for Danny Pecorelli for his time during my meal also was a pleasure to meet you.

Remember live to eat don’t eat to live

Le Gavroche

Le Gavroche!

 Right how to start this post; well I have wanted to go to le gavroche since I started in a kitchen a little under 13 years ago. Being a trainee chef at the time I never had the money to go to the smoke and eat in a restaurant of that calibre. Then as you get older and earn abit more money it was the forward thinking restaurants like Tom Atkins and The Greenhouse where the ones I went to. So when one of my friends phoned and asked if I wanted to go to le gavroche for his birthday dinner there was no way I was going to turn that down, so we meet in London and go to shepherds market for a couple of pre dinner drinks then jump in a cab to upper brook street. When you enter you are greeted by a friendly hostess who takes you bag or coat, gents are still required to where a jacket at the table so unfortunately the jacket has to stay on but never mind I can deal with that for a few hours. You are ushered downstairs to a low light but inviting dining room, where a team of highly trained, polished waiting staff greet you, seat you and set menus in front of you. It is then you remember why you couldn’t afford to go when you where an apprentice, the prices are high but as you will read absolutely worth every penny. Then the bread arrived a choice of three types, baguette, granary and sour dough, I started with the sour dough but you are offered bread a lot here and the two types of butter were constantly topped up thought the meal. We were served our canapés on little silver tray, silver features a lot at le gavroche the first bites were very simple but tasty and nice to get something to nibble on whilst reading the menu.

 Canapés seem to have died a death in most places probably because it was done quite badly by most places and whenever a top restaurant does something that a lot of other places nowhere near the level the original is at start copying the idea, the most recent version of this is “The Noma effect” which I believe in the wrong hands is going to make people ill as chefs with no really knowledge or prior experience go wandering around they local parks picking things they not sure about, I’ve just bought Miles Iwings “The forager Handbook” and have been reading some of it every day but still won’t be going out picking till I find someone with more experience to go with just to be safe. For our amuse bouche we had salt cod brandade served as a little breaded ball and an artichoke soup, delicate flavours but very well.

 For my starter I had roasted bone marrow & air dried ham salad, I love bone marrow so this course was a no brainer for me. Crisp, sweet and plump bits of bone marrow served in a split bone with slices of air dried ham and micro herb salad. 

My two dinner companions had the duck and foie gras pancake and veal belly with crispy egg both had them eating in near silence which normally indicates a great dish. For my main I course the assiette of pork consisting of pork loin on the bone, belly and bath chap served with Tartiflette,

 my friend also had this and his lady enjoyed one of the days specials of roasted rump of lamb, asparagus and wild garlic jus again beautifully presented after being carved tableside.

 Next up the desserts now I chose and chocolate dessert with dark chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream and puffed rice great little pudding and a nice sweet way to finish the meal.

 Ben had cheese well he shared the cheese with me and had half my chocolate too, the cheeseboard at le gavroche is something to behold as well at least 25 cheese on the board and we were asked to pick 6 sample served with celery, onion chutney and crisp walnut bread, for her dessert jo decided to have the gavroche assiette of desserts to many desserts on this to say but the rum baba was so soaked in rum you probably shouldn’t drive after eating it.

 Finally we are served petit fours of coated walnuts and nougat again beautiful but so stuffed by this point I couldn’t have anything else. After all this we were asked if we would like a tour of the kitchen which we accepted of course, then the manager came over and told us it would be 15 minutes as the kitchen were still serving mains at this point which was no problem for us but he bought us over a little drop to while away the time. 

Kitchen tour done, chefs meet and thanked it was time to settle up and be on our merry way, as I said earlier le gavroche is not cheap but is worth every single penny you will hand over. As I have not mentioned it yet the sommelier is very chilled out and is really great with her time and picked the wines for our courses perfectly.

Remember live to eat don’t eat to live

Kai We Care

Right as anyone on twitter will know Monday 4^th april was the date of kaiwecare which was in short a fundraising event for the earthquake fund for Christchurch, new Zealand. It saw 9 course with matching wines being served by a team of over 40 chefs and 40 front of house staff. The 9 courses where assigned to a team of 2 or 3 lead chefs with the rest of us assigned to one of there teams.

the menu for the event was 

Selection of artisanal breads (potato, seeded, spelt) from the Isle of Skye Baking Company with British butter 

Pre starter:

‘Beetroot’ Simon Hulstone

Tasting of beetroot textures with elderflower curd.

Starter:

‘Pork and truffle’ Dominic Chapman; Adam Gray

Rare breed pork ‘Scotch egg’, warm tartare sauce, pea shoots.

English quail and summer truffle pie with buttered kohlrabi 

         

Intermediate:

‘Fish’ Russell Brown; Adrian Oliver; Kieran Smith

Saffron-poached tiger prawns with piquillo pepper salsa, sherry reduction, olive oil foam 

Main Course:

‘Lamb’ Mark Poynton; Russell Bateman

Slow cooked NZ lamb, broccoli puree, smoked garlic, Olde Yorke cheese, almonds, wild garlic jus 

Pre-Dessert:

‘Eggs and Soldiers’ Alex Wood; Ben Goldsmith; Darren Goodwin

Coconut white, carrot yolk, carrot juice toast 

Dessert:

‘Chocolate orange’ Matt Tomkinson; Mark Lloyd; Tom Kneale

Dark chocolate delice, lavender ice cream, burnt orange syrup 

Cheese:

Marcus Bean, Johnny Mountain

Goats cheese pannacotta & artisan cheeses; Bournes Cheshire, Stichelton, Cenarth brie. Served with quince jelly, spiced apple chutney, cheese tuilles, oatcakes, fruit crisps. 

(no cheese photo, sorry)

Petit Fours & macaroons

 Luke Mackay; Edd Kimber

Pistachio macaroons with saffron butter cream; Rosewater and raspberry macaroons; Rhubarb and hibiscus fruit pastille; Salted Dulce de Leche milk chocolate truffle

I was assigned to Mark Poyton of Alimentum restaurant in Cambridge & Russell Bateman of Collette’s at the grove, Hertfordshire with us was Alyn Williams who is opening his own restaurant in the Westbury hotel, Mayfair later this year and Matthew Adams who will explain his love of food and all things here http://blog.endjin.com.

Mark and Russell had been given the main course for the event using New Zealand lamb, they decided to do

Slow cooked NZ lamb, broccoli puree, smoked garlic, Olde Yorke cheese, almonds, wild garlic jus

A great day was had by all involved and was a great place to put faces to alot of the guys and girls i follow on twitter, many beverages where consumed in the bar after and lots of tales and banter from all the chefs involved. It ended up being a really great day and raised about 60k for the charity which is nothing to be sneezed at. The event was well covered by mark at the staff canteen and the girls from the caterer so im sure lots more photos and items are going to be forth coming, the photos i have used on this post are from http://www.richardbudd.co.uk/ and all credit for them goes to him.

Right time to get ready for London and le gavroche tonight, so another restaurant review post will be on here shortly. Thanks for taking the time to read this as the event took a hell of a lot of organising but a big well done for all the people who gave their time up to work at the kaiwecare dinner great to meet you all.

Remember live to eat don’t eat to live

Birthday lunch

well I’m back after much to long away from here I’ve finally got something to say again and yes you guessed its another piece on somewhere I have been to eat, what can I say it’s what I love to do and why not share the experience with all that want to read about it. Hopefully it will inspire others to blog and maybe we will find the next Jay Rayner or Matthew fort amongst our mist.

So for my birthday my wonderful missus took me to Launceston place, a D&D restaurant in Kensington headed up in the kitchen by Tristan Welch. We arrived and what a beautiful little restaurant it is, staff we smiling and chatty without feeling fake or rehearsed which is not always the case. We settled into a lovely table in the window and giving menus and the wine list, as it was my birthday I had a glass of bubbles to start with. The bubbles I had where a Nyetimber classic curve 2005 which was clean and refreshing setting me up perfectly for the tasting menu the missus has suggested we have.

The bread arrived on a board with handmade butter and pickled herrings in little kilned jars, great touch the acidity of the herrings, warm bread and richness of really good butter.

For our amuse bouche we had “celery sorbet, walnut foam & apple salad”. Clean, fresh and fun this I really enjoyed despite the fact that I would steer clear of celery at all other times maybe a turning point in my hate of celery.

Next up was “Beef tartare, anchovy and wild chervil”. I love beef tartare but was not sure about the missus but she managed to finish the plate first and proclaimed her love for this classic dish, not served as traditionalist would like but really beautiful, the beef was the right temputure and the classic garnish reworked to Tristan vision of the dish.

This was followed by “West coast scallop roasted with aromatic herbs from the coastline”. This was explained to be one of the signature dishes and been on the menu for a good while and eating it explained why. The smell of scallops cooked in there shell is wonderful and the aromatic herbs and butter lift it to that next level without being over complicated.

So the next dish for me was the highlight of the meal “Truffled duck egg on toast”. The egg cooked long and slow was soft all the way though the yolk nearly a puree rich & decadent with the addition of truffles used in a couple of ways and crisp sour dough toast. So good when I go back I would have whichever menu this dish was on just to eat it again.

Following next “Baked Cornish sole, shrimps, coastline herbs, early potatoes”. Again beautifully cooked fish with little cubes of potatoes and shrimps cooked in there shell for extra flavour and again that smell you get roasting or sautéing seafood in its shell.

For my main course I had “Roast venison loin, golden beetroot and Jerusalem Artichoke”. It has been a while since I last had venison which was why I ordered it. The meat was cooked perfectly and the garnish of beetroot and Jerusalem artichoke added an earthy touch that the rich meat needs,

The fine lady with me had “Seven year old Herdwick mutton best end, seasonal cabbages, caper sauce”. Which arrived again perfectly cooked with a strip of very crisp mutton skin that had her talking about it for most of the day, the dish was nicely balanced and the capers adding a nice acidic touch.

Right on to the sweet bits as a pre dessert we had a lemon posset, which after the wines the sommelier had matched to my meal meant I was not concentrating and devoured it before we got a picture but never the less great little palate cleanser.

The missus had the dessert from the tasting menu “Dark chocolate soufflé, Laphroaig whisky ice cream”. This was the only dish she was not over the moon by but it’s also the first soufflé she had ever eaten and doesn’t really like whiskey.

Maybe she should have followed my lead as I asked to have a dessert from the lunch menu “Baked egg custard, rhubarb and crumble”. Rich and creamy with the bite of rhubarb and the crunch of the crumble mix.

At the end of the meal I was given a small cupcake with a candle a lovely little touch & warm lemon sponge cakes as petit fours.

Right well that was my birthday present form the missus and what a meal it turned out to be. I wines I enjoyed where a Sancerre 2008 ‘Le Rochoy’, Domaine Laporte and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Gran Lurton, Bodegas Lurton from Mendoza, Argentina wonderful selections from the friendly sommelier

So that’s the end of this post, will post again soon I promise.

But remember live to eat don’t eat to live