The Tapa Room

Last Friday, I headed up to Marylebone High Street to meet a couple of people for lunch. We went to The Providores & Tapa Room, the London restaurant of Peter Gordon. The Providores is the upstairs restaurant, really nice, I ate there a few years ago, and the Tapa Room is downstairs and a bit more relaxed. The wine list here is full of gems that you just don't see that often so is well worth an explore. We had the Mount Difficulty Pinot Gris 2007, a lovely lemony drop that you should grab if you have the chance. The food is of the "small plates in the middle of the table to dive into" philosophy - heavenly. We had the Pimientos de Padron - another must in my book, chilli roulette, fabulous! The Tapa Plate, which features grilled chorizo, guindilla chillies, marinated olives, grilled artichoke, spiced fig preserves, babaganoush and Manchego Villarejo cheese, those figs were an explosion of sweet and spice. Watermelon and feta salad with pomegranate dressing, basil and toasted sunflower seeds, the perfect palate cleanser. Deep fried New Zealand baby kumara with sweet chilli sauce, smoked kelp and crème fraiche; kumera is something I hadn't heard of before but is like a cross between sweet potato and plantain, I shall search these out myself again. Smoked Dutch eel and Parmesan croquettes with saffron aioli - my choice and so delicious. There is so much more on the menu that sounds so good, but we were defeated by then and split a dessert to go with coffee. The raspberry bavarois and Oloroso jelly trifle with kaffir lime leaf madelines and vanilla cream was a taste sensation. The Oloroso married so well with the softness of the bavarois. The madelines were very nice but could have been a touch more zesty and the coffee was superb.

Well worth a visit in my book but there is no reservation system so get there early or be prepared to queue for a while. I know I'll be back.

Birthday Dinner

It was my birthday recently and I was taken for dinner by my family - asked for a list of places I'd like to go and then not told where we were going.

We arrived at Ambassade de L'Ile, a new outpost of Auberge de L'Ile, a renowned restaurant on the outskirts of Lyon, somewhere I always wanted to eat at when I was there for university but not possible on a student budget.

Ambassade has received some mixed reviews since it opened, generally seeming to focus on the decor, deemed by most to be terrible. I think that, yes, it is over the top and not what one would have at home but it does fit this interior. We were greeted warmly and offered a drink whilst we perused the menu, glasses of Ruinart Rosé in fact and some tasty amuses. We all decided to go for the tasting menu, it is served to the entire table and at £90 for eight courses, it is priced as you would expect. The wine list is a joy. There are some very expensive bins but go to the slightly esoteric areas and there are some very reasonable listings.
All I can add to previous reviews of this restaurant is that I think you should go and make up your own mind. I had a wonderful birthday dinner there, the food was very good, very little I didn't agree with and the place and people are great. They do a £30 lunch menu which I would be interested in trying too.

Go, enjoy and see what you think.

Holly and Otters

Very happy 30th birthday to Gareth.

Much fun was had at Holly Frindle - a beautiful Lubetkin designed house situated next door to Whipsnade Zoo. Jen and I met for breakfast so we could do the last minute shopping and prep, collect the hire car and recover from St John the night before. We met at Breads etc on Clapham High Street, both a little the worse for wear and had some toast and tea. After about an hour of procrastinating and breakfast we had made our lists and set off to do some shopping - on the grounds that we probably shouldn't drive just yet...

We headed off to Moen's on the Pavement in Clapham. It really is a very good butcher. We bought some côte de boeuf, bacon for breakfasts, pork pie, cheese and asparagus. Then we headed a few doors down to Macaron, a really lovely patisserie, for some bread. We then took a little walk over the common to Clapham South to visit Moxons. I'd ordered a wild sea trout and he was beautiful; we also picked up some scallops for an amuse.

Then we headed back to Jen's to drop off the heavy shopping, get a few bits from the local market and then go and get our vehicle. Having accomplished those tasks, we headed to my house to collect all the bits from there and make a couple Pan Bagnat. Pan Bagnat is a Niçoise sandwich, our version was: take a sourdough loaf, chop off a lid and remove the inside. Moisten the crust with olive oil and some red wine vinegar. Layer in the following ingredients - lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olives, boquerones, tuna (I can't remember if there was anything else) and then put the lid back on. wrap this in cling film and weight it down so that it squishes and all the flavours merge - we put it in a bag under a Le Creuset of sausage pasta sauce. Jen made these so expertky while I rushed around packing up stuff. We then went back and picked up everything else before heading to Paddington to pick up the other four members of the group (we were late).

We drove up the M1 to Holly Frindle and upon arrival, unpacked and set about making dinner. It was then we found one of the things we'd forgotten to pack - wine glasses, oops! Dinner consisted of pasta, the fennel sausage sauce, bread and salad accompanied by some delicious red wine - very needed! Games ensued.

Saturday was the day of fun. We breakfasted - I'd made some bread and it over rose during our shopping excursion :

Then we packed up lunch - Pan Bagnat x 2, pork pies, piccalilli and cherries, some wine and water, and headed over to Whipsnade. Lots of lovely animals were seen especially the sealions, the noisy, chatty otters and the 16 week old baby elephant and we lunched. Back home, we set up for dinner. The menu was as follows:
Amuses of Scallop on Chicory with Chilli Jam and Proscuitto
Sea Trout baked in Newspaper with mayonnaise
Cote de Boeuf with bearnaise, asparagus, courgettes and jersey royals
Cheese
Jelly (blood orange and cardamon and lime with grapes) and Ice cream (lemon and basil)









Games ensued:


Sunday was more relaxed and a drive back up. More games on the mini table though:

Fabulous weekend, thank you one and all.

St John - Smithfield

Well, went to Smithfield St John to celebrate a 30th birthday. We had the private room and there were 16 of us - much fun and 5 of us are called Jen so mirth ensued.

We started off with lots of bubbles (the birthday boy/lad/man works in the trade so much was there) and then had the Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad and Broad Beans with Berkswell. The beans were delicious, raw, fresh and green with so much flavour; offset beautifully by the Berkswell and some leaves. I have been anticipating trying the bone marrow for many years and it did not disappoint - oh my goodness me, so delicious and creamy and amazing. I implore you to go and try it - astounding. We then had roast lamb with white beans and rabbit fennel and bacon. Both were delicious but I got carried away chatting to people and didn't have much of them. Dessert was Eccles Cakes and Lancashire and Rhubarb, Meringue and Cream - delicious.

A wonderful evening at a marvellous place with great food, delightful company and a huge thank you to the people of St John who made it even better.

The Mojo is back

Well, I think my "cooking for fun" desire took a bit of a back seat ding the preliminary stages of planning the new venture - i.e. "cooking for work". I'm pleased to say, I think it might be back on today.

I went up to Moxon's Fishmongers in Clapham South today. Moxon's is undoubtedly one of the best places to buy fish in London, and you lucky people in East Dulwich now have a branch there too. Robin Moxon started off supplying fish to a large number of the top restaurants, he then opened, many moons ago, Moxon's Restaurant close to Clapham Common. It was a very sad day when this closed, as it was, in my humble opinion, the best place to eat in the environs. I mourned the loss of the place for a long while and then Moxon's returned, as a wonderful wet fish shop, Calloo, Callay! Anyway, sorry, slight ramble, I went up to order a sea trout for next weekend. It is a big birthday for a great friend and we are off, a group of six, to have a weekend of fabulous food, wine and company so more about that later. I decided to get some samphire as there was some outside and wondered in to be dazzled by the dispay. I asked Robin (always the best decision) what would be best, without hesitation he went for Turbot. I now have a couple of fillets of Tommy sitting waiting, some broad beans waiting for me to shell, some samphire, jersey royals, a bottle of white wine reduced to a few tablespoons and a lovely, vibrant chervil plant waiting for its first haircut. (of course there is a gin and ginger in play, try it, marvellous! and some wine cooling down). Join me later for an update and some photos for what came out of it all.
So happy it is back!

It's now 10pm, just finished dinner and it was delish. posting tomorrow.

So, the turbot was lovely, the salad of broad beans matched deliciously. Ahh, the joy is back again!

Good Food and Good Company

On Tuesday, the 6th, I went for lunch at St John Bread & Wine, and had a really lovely lunch, obviously helped along by the company too.

For those who don't know, St John, there are two, are restaurants created by Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver. The original, Smithfield, was opened in 1994, and this one was opened in 2003. Bread & Wine is based on plates that are shared - my favourite way of eating!

We got there on a beautiful day and there were only a few other tables there. we had a bottle of water and I chose a bottle of Irouleguy white. We then set about the difficult task of choosing. Three plates were decided upon: Beetroot, goat's curds and a herb which escapes me at the moment; Quail and Aioli and Blood Cake with Duck Egg (the best name ever). We meandered our way through the dishes with great joy, interspersing with lots of conversation, and then decided to share the Rhubarb Jelly for dessert.

The food was delicious, the wine superb and the meal memorable. Thank you.

Old Things and New Times

My grandmother has recently moved into a home, for want of a better word, so has moved out of the house she lived in for over thirty years. We spent the Easter weekend clearing the house and getting it ready for the new owners (we completed today, hurrah!). As you can imagine there was all kinds of stuff in there so much hilarity was had. Joan has always been an avid photographer so I know have photographic accounts of trips around the world from the twenties onwards. More on some finds later.
The house is in Middlesex, Northwood to be more precise. We went to eat in a couple of places up there and the food was traditional, old fashioned and good. The first place was Spanish and I started with a glass of sherry (very nice fino) and a small plate of tapas - a couple of slices of hot chorizo, a couple of caperberries, some peppers and a few boquerones - yum and should be done more often I think. The rest of the food was good if unremarkable but the veggies came on those silver dishes where they serve you from them, very old school. The second place was in Hatch End and Italian (something that doesn't seem to be lacking there!) and again, the food was good but unremarkable. The veggies came on the group dishes and they serve you, must be a North London thing...
Anyway, if you find yourself in this neck of the woods, you won't want for a decent meal.

Bruce and Bye

Today I went, with the members of my office, to the wonderful Chez Bruce in Wandsworth for my leaving lunch. There is a promotion running, organised by Hardens and the FT (Lunch with the FT 2008), where you can have , at Bruce's, a three course lunch for £19.50. It is obviously a shortened menu but, as always, absolutely delicious.

Now I may be a bit partial here, but I do really like this restaurant. I first came here when it was Harvey's and have been numerous times since Bruce Poole has been in charge and it just keeps being great. The room is a well designed space, not too big or crowded, airy but still cosy. The staff are always friendly and it seems that nothing is ever too much trouble.

We were a table of four and started with some bubbles - a bottle of Pol Roger NV - lovely while we pondered the menu and subsequent wine choices. We had the following to eat: Foie Gras and Chicken Liver Terrine with Brioche, Wild Mushroom Tagliatelle and Salt Cod Beignets, Mussel Vinaigrette and Aioli were the starters and all were deemed delicious. The Foie was light and the brioche some of the nicest I've had for ages. The salt cod was YUM and came with my first samphire of the year so that made it for me.

The red wine arrived - a Shiraz Mataro from Pemberton in Australia, "Lilian" 1999 by John Brocksopp - and it was round and had good fruit but with a nice bit of age there too. Main courses were Rump of Aberdeen Angus with Fondant Potatoes and Spinach, said to be lovely but it disappeared before I could even snaffle a taste. Halibut with Mash, light and perfectly cooked fish, and I had Belly Pork with Caramelised Apples, Choucroute and crackling. So good, I shall be recreating this at home, or at least trying to... Desserts followed and they were Pink Grapefruit Sorbet - delish - served with a selection of biscuits, a brandy snap, a tuille, a madaleine and a piece of vanilla shortbread. A Chocolate Pudding with Vanilla Ice cream, which was deemed amazing and than Syllabub with Blood Orange Jelly which I will also be recreating.

All in all a wonderful lunch and I am so glad that Chez Bruce is my "local"!

Birthday Dinner

It was Johnny Bollinger's (the brother) birthday on Tuesday and yesterday we went out to dinner to celebrate. We, that is the brother, the mother and myself, went to Tom Ilic, a newish restaurant on Queenstown Road in Battersea. It is on the site of The Stepping Stone and latterly The Food Room and Tom used to be the chef at The Stepping Stone a good few years ago.

The restaurant has a very friendly atmosphere but it doesn't look as though much has changed decorwise. A big bonus is that they haven't tried to cram too many tables in so it feels lovely and open. The bread, both white and olive, we got on arrival was very good and came with some nice fleur du sel butter. We perused the menu, very nice sounding it was too, and chose some interesting sounding dishes - obviously we all had something different to try as much as possible.

I had Braised Pig's Cheeks with Chorizo, Garlic & Parsley Mash. It was a very well put together dish, there were thin slices of chorizo laid on the pig's cheeks and they added a lovely depth to the porkiness. The mash was a great foil to that and the slick of dark, sticky sauce on the plate. The mother had Foie Gras & Game Terrine with Fig Compote and Brioche, very nicely put together. The foie was soft rather than being straight-from-fridge firm and this made a good contrast to the firm pieces of game, the soft sweet brioche and the crunch of the fig. Bollinger had sautéed calf sweetbreads, oxtail ravioli, apple and parsnip purée, it was a very nice dish, just not quite as punchy as I was expecting... To go with that we had a 2006 Vouvray which was fine.
This brings me to my complaint. I know that I probably expect more from a wine list than some but this was a truly boring effort. It was a struggle to find something you wanted to drink, it was all fine and not fine in a good way, just exceeding boring, nothing exciting to make the food sing - hence not remembering the producer, not something I want to remember as I won't be drinking their wine again.

Main courses. Roast saddle & braised neck of lamb potato and turnip gratin, spiced aubergine was Bollinger's choice, it was nice adn tasty, looked very good on the plate (sorry about lack of photo) and the neck was outstanding. Mother had Seared scallops honey roast pork belly, jerusalem artichokes and hazelnuts which again was tasty, the scallops were cooked to perfection but there was a depth of flavour lacking slightly from the small amount I tried. I chose Venison creamed savoy cabbage butternut ravioli and candied kumquats which was, I think, the outstanding dish. The venison was tender and delicious, the cabbage was a good foil for the rich sauce and the ravioli was simple wonderful. The kumquat however, was entirely superfluous to the dish as I actually found it a little unpleasant to my taste; so I didn't eat it and really enjoyed my dish. We had a 2003 half bottle of Madiran with it, which was lovely.

We finished with some espresso, a glass of Banyuls and a glass of LBV Graham's. Tom came out to see a table in the restaurant who were, I am guessing, friends. I would like to thank Tom adn the staff as they were lovely and made the evening for us. The food was great on the whole, if with a few things I would prefer differently, but then that's my taste, and I would go back. Especially if they change the wine list and make it a bit more fun.

Changes

Well, having been employed in the wine trade for the last five plus years I will be leaving the company I work for on the 29th February. An auspicious day! I have been trying to decide what to do with myself and think have some plans. After taking a break - well deserved I may add - I shall do some part time work still in the trade. I have to keep my finger in as I do love it and the subject is fascinating. The big idea however, is to finally put my feet forward and set up a catering company. I'm going to start small and do in house catering for people with some event stuff, following on the the WoSA event I did, so fingers crossed all round. SCARY STUFF!

Catching up

Having been incredibly bad at posting, I'm going to be catching up now on all the photos and experiences I have stored up.

First to get described is my big birthday that was in 2007. It was one of those "milestone" dates so I decided to celebrate it by getting as many of my friends as I could to come down to a place very dear to me in North Cornwall and have a bbq on the beach. Now, normally this would be fine, my birthday falls in July so the weather tends to be pretty decent but oh no, not this year. I got down a bit early so I could settle in to the cottage, make sure I had all I needed and revel in being back at home.

Some of my friends from London arrived the day before so we got them settled in a house up the road, being rented from friends , and then we went down to the beach to have a pre dinner glass watching the sunset. Then we went back and had dinner round my lovely table in the cottage. Dinner consisted of a wonderful leg of local lamb, roasted with garlic and rosemary, and served with a dauphinoise and some braised leeks. We rounded that off with a blackberry and apple crumble - delicious! - and we also consumed a goodly amount of wine, getting into the party spirit obviously...

The day dawned not so brightly, but I was not to be deterred so had already got plans in place to use the cowshed as was, parking as is, as a shelter for the food and people; luckily everyone was up for a good time! We went for a quick trip to the local fishmongers to get a couple of extras for the bbq as all the rest of it I had prepared already.

We then headed down with all the supplies to get set up. The barrel bbq was put in position and the table laden with all goodies. We had a few salads - potato, tomato and green - lots of bread and sauces and some smoky bourbon ribs. Then we had some marinated mackerel and Larry the Lobster, it was all delicious and cooked to perfection by bbq chef extraordinaire Andy. The, at times, torrential rain was not noticed so much as we had plenty of liquid refreshment ourselves.
I hope that everyone had as much of a wonderful time as I did and the day ended beautifully...