Birthday meal

So, it was the mother's birthday last week so the brother and I cooked a meal for her - obviously got to mark these occasions!
For starters, we did pan fried scallops on braised oxtail ravioli and asparagus with a marsala sauce. We made the oxtail by browning a large piece off in a pan, then removing it and softening a mirepoix. We added the oxtail back in with some marsala and stock to slowly braise it. When it was tender - about two to three hours later - we took the meat off the bone and added in the marrow and tasted for seasoning and deliciousness. All it needed was a touch of sharpness, so we added some sherry vinegar. I made the pasta by hand and have to say it was one of the best pastas I have made recently. It was the recipe from Giorgio Locatelli "Made in Italy" - well worth it, I must say.

For main, we had crisp roasted pork belly with fennel seeds, served with a courgette timbale and a duo of purées - butternut squash and pea. It worked well as a combination of flavours and was light following the starter.

For dessert I made a cherry clafoutis, following the recipe in a book I got for Christmas - Ripailles by Stephane Reynaud. It is a great recipe and makes delicious clafoutis, but that may have something to do with the quality of the cherries, they were stunning. I had also made a marscarpone ice cream to go with it and it was fabulous (although you don't need much of it) and thercipe came from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and it is a marvellous book - I'm looking forward to trying the goat cheese ice cream with a tomato and thyme tart.

Obviously, with it being a birthday and all, we had to have some champagne. We had a Jacquesson Cuvee 730 and it was sublime and we followed it with a 2001 white Bergerac sec from Tour des Gendres, a vineyard that I love.

All in all, a lovely meal that I think was appreciated greatly and the mother had a good time which is the whole point.

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.