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

Lunch In Rural Sussex

#

Right here we go, so it’s been a while since I posted something on here but have been busy at work and not had enough time to do anything else but did manage to get out for lunch so I ventured down to cuckfeild to check out Ben goldsmiths “the Talbot inn”. 

Having noone to have lunch with I put it out there on twitter and was pleasantly surprised to see that  Bens sous chef Greg would be able to join me for lunch, so knowing we would be well looked after I headed down full of excitement. I met Greg in the bar downstairs and Ben came out to say hi, it’s always nice to put a face to names so meeting @ben_goldsmith & @gregchef was a nice way to start lunch.

 Right onto the food, having looked at the menu online the night before I had a fair idea of what I was going to order  but ended up changing my mind on the main after speaking to Greg. To start we were served some nice homemade bread and then the first course hit the table.

Ox Tongue, Broccoli Puree

This was amazing, it’s the first time I have had tongue and was blown away;  the flavour and texture were a lot softer and richer than I had imagined, lovely little rounds of pickled broccoli stem was a nice touch and added a little acidity

Then on for my starter I picked

Eggs and Bacon, Smoked bacon & Carrot

 

This was the stand out dish for me, a big round of pork belly  pork tender, soft boiled egg that had been breaded and fried crisp, beautifully smooth carrot puree & a smoked bacon emulsion. I could have eaten this couple of times over. The incredible flavours in this dish made it really stand out.

 

Greg’s starter was

Cured Mackerel Tart, Fennel, orange & Shallot

 

Again faultless presentation

 

 

For my main course I ended up deciding on

Cod Cheeks & Chicken Wings, Maple Syrup, Kohlrabi, Roast Potatoes

 

A hearty plate of cod cheeks in a crisp beer batter beautifully moist fish resting on boneless chicken wings (very very good), silky smooth cauliflower puree, crisp cauliflower beignet nestling between the cod cheeks and some roasted potatoes all the elements cooked perfectly and combing on the plate to trill the taste buds

 

Greg chose

Roasted Wood Pigeon, Beetroot, Parsnips and Potato Terrine

 

Although I didn’t try this you could see the pigeon was cooked perfectly and was beautiful on the plate as well.

 

 

Before dessert arrived we were treated to a portion of bens chocolate brownie as Ben and Greg seem to be having a little chocolate battle, the brownie was moist, rich and decadent the vanilla ice cream severed with it also loaded with vanilla seeds.

 

 

For my dessert proper I had picked

 Valrhona Chocolate, Cornflakes and Milk

 

I know it’s another chocolate dessert but didn’t know I was getting the brownie too so, this dish was layers of different items including crushed cornflakes and a coffee mousse all covered in Valrhona chocolate but the stand out element for me was the milk ice cream that had been rolled in powdered cornflakes making it taste like a bowl of breakfast cereal but in a totally different way.

 

 

Greg had

Melon Jelly, Passion Fruit and Blood Orange

 

This again was beautifully presented and looked like a really nice way to end the meal.

 

Right that was my lunch which I really enjoyed great food, great company but don’t take my word for it get yourselves down to

 

The Talbot inn

High St

Cuckfield,

 Haywards Heath,

Sussex

 RH17 5JX

             01444 455 898            

 

So no time for a recipe post today but maybe next time but thanks for reading and I won’t leave it so long till the next post.

 

But remember live to eat don’t eat to live

 

So 2011 Is Here Then

So here we go again time for some more of my thoughts and ramblings about food. I have been on holiday this week which is lovely a chance to catch up with some zzzs and relax to get the creative juices flowing again. So during my week off I have spent  a vast amount of time online reading other chefs blogs and catching up with all that’s been going on with the staff canteen most of which has focused on Simon Holstone Boucse D’or  competition entry in Lyon.

 It’s been really refreshing to see the amount of support being giving to Simon and the team as he is getting no funding from the government but lots of support from chefs and catering industry. He has even got the support of a certain Albert Roux, so we have one of this countries god father of cooking and a Frenchman at that supporting our entry to the Boucse D’or.

I know it’s a bit late in the day but here is the interview of Albert & Marco showing their support for Simon and the British Boucse d’or team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tBfivjYAtA

I managed to get to London on one of my days off and went to eat at the brilliant arbutus. The food was outstanding (again), as I have said before I personally think that Arbutus has the best lunch deal anywhere in London if not the country.

 So for £16.95 you get 3 courses, a choice of 2 starters -2mains and 2 desserts. On the day I went the 2 starters where

Rabbit & smoked eel terrine or winter vegetable soup

Slow cooked beef, mashed root vegetables & or warm salt cod brandade, parsley salad

Custard tart or comte

So the descriptions above don’t do the food justice at all. I had the rabbit terrine to start which had a rich and luxurious feel in the mouth but was full flavoured and beautifully presented. I was not alone in my lunch at Arbutus I had my friend “ginge” with me so I will throw the pictures of his lunch up as well, he also had the rabbit terrine so here is that beautiful dish in all its glory

For Ginge’s main he had the brandade of cod which was presented in a wonderfully copper sauté pan with some ciabatta crisps & parsley salad. The slight smokiness of the brandade and the wonderful aroma where something to behold, this dish was expertly put together and with a restaurant full of guests having fun I could see why this dish works well at lunch. You can smell it from 3 or 4 tables away and it makes your mouth water, the parsley salad worked well by countering the richness of the brandade with the freshness that you get from parsley and bitter note from radicchio.

I enjoyed a fine plate of slow cooked beef, mashed root vegetables, the beef was cooked so well that the slightest pressure with a spoon and lovely hot tender chunks of beef where mine to feast upon. The mashed root vegetables where perfectly seasoned and very nice with a couple of different textures and a few different flavours, also the cabbage served with the dish cut thought the richness to balance the dish perfectly, I could eat this everyday and I’m sure it would never get boring.

Again we both chose the same for the next course, the custard tart which came with a good covering of nutmeg and a very light wobbly custard filling more along the lines of a classic brulee just not as rich than the traditional English custard tart that is heavier and abit more stodgy. The tart was so good Ginge and I would have both quite happily eaten another slice.

To go with our lunch Ginge picked a bottle of montepulciano, villamedoro, abruzzo. This is a wine I had never tried before and it really went well with the beef and was not too much for the custard tart either. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a type of red wine made from the Montepulciano wine grape in the Abruzzo region of east-central Italy. Up to 10% Sangiovese is permitted to be added to the blend. It is typically a dry wine with soft tannins, and as such is often consumed young.

So it’s that time again for a recipe and as it is that time of year when people are trying to be healthy and lose those winter pounds I thought I would put a salad up but not some boring old salad something vibrant and interesting, please let me know what you think.

Thai style salad

Serves 4

Salad mix

100g bean sprouts

1 head frisse/curly endive

1 baby gem

100g red cabbage

1 green chilli

50g unsalted peanuts

2 shallots

1 orange

2 carrots

2 tbs sesame seeds

Put bean sprouts, shredded frisse, ripped baby gem & finely sliced red cabbage in a bowl. Finely chop the green chilli & shallots add to the lettuce mix. Peel and segment the oranges put in bowl finally add the sesame seeds and crushed peanuts (to crush the peanuts, pierce the bag and bash with a rolling pin), finally mix in dressing and serve straight away

Great on its own or with a piece of steamed fish/char grilled chicken on top

Dressing

1 lime juiced

1tsp fish sauce

½ tsp grated ginger

1 chilli finally diced

1tbs rice wine vinegar (white wine vinegar also works)

1/2 tsp sugar

1tsp sesame oil

4tbs good olive oil or English rapeseed oil

Put lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar, chilli, garlic & sugar in a pan, heat till sugar dissolves then add oil use straight away or flavours will be lost

But remember live to eat don’t eat to live