Two great articles in the Guardian this week

The “perfect sausage”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/mar/08/how-to-cook-perfect-sausage

and APPLES!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/09/seasonal-food-apple

Eddie

February 2010

See competition.

Sports Relief Gala Dinner (Thomson Sport), Indigo O2

Summary

I was invited by David Higgins (MD of Sport Abroad) to attend the Gala Dinner – I have been travelling with them since the Lions Tour to Australia in 2001.

This is the first time I have been to the O2 Dome. For this great rebranding, we have to thank Peter Erskine as Peter was CEO of O2 (rebranded from Cellnet). So he is quite experienced in this. He is now Chairman of Ladbrokes – so watch this space. Sorry I forgot, we are into food and wine not gaming or telecom.

The special guests (not me) included  Steve Backley, Mike Denness, Duncan Goodhew, Sally Gunnell, David Seaman, JPR etc. In total there were 33. The majority were rowers and rugby players (14 rowers and 5 rugby union players). I presumed that they were the bigger boys and needed feeding.

I was on the same table as Jeff Probyn (England Rugby Union Prop) and Mrs Probyn. Jeff was a great host and was on form all evening. I was very pleased to note that Jeff knew all the dirty tricks (front row union) that I practised when I was playing. May be I’ll take up coaching one of these days.

For starters, we had a ham hock and goats cheese terrine with piccalilli and focaccia toast – that was the way it was written on the menu. It was very bland and I could not work out whether it did have the stated ingredients in it in the semi-darkness.

Main course was fillet of beef with braised shin of beef, fondant potato and a red wine sauce. I have never had fillet and shin together before in my life. It was quite pleasant and the fillet was served medium rare – more and more functions are serving seared fillet, I suppose it means that all you have to do is warm it up just before serving.

For desert, it was Eton Mess – I am not into deserts.

When we arrived, we were offered a glass of champagne, I am 90% certain that its not champagne and is probably some form of Australian sparkling wine and it was demi-sec. Hardly any Champagne House make demi-sec any more. If they do, it will be priced at a premium.

The two wines served at the table were: Poully Fume, Domaine Bel Air 2008 and Delta, Pinot Noir 2008. If you ever come across them in a supermarket, my advice is to avoid them. They will be good for curing fungal infection of the feet as they were both very acidic.

The entertainments of the night were provided by the Sugababes and ABC. Sugababes were off key for the first 2 songs but soon warmed up. ABC were terrific.

The event raised over £70,000 for Sport Relief.

Eddie (Mar 2^nd, 2010)

Let me warn you – white rhones are delicate wines with a slight floral taste. They are not “fruity” whites. Best of the bunch is probably a white Chateauneuf du Pape. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/7298872/Sauce-white-rhones-are-a-worthy-alternative-to-red.html

Eddie

March 2010

Address: Toot Baldon, Oxford, OX44 9NG

Telephone number: 01865 340001

Website: www.themoleinn.com

Date of visit: 28 February 2010

Approximate cost per head for 2 courses: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Hook Norton and a very reasonable wine list with plenty under £20 a bottle

Summary:

This place is in the middle of nowhere. You have to leave a B road to go onto “undefined roads” to get to this pub.

When you get to Toot Baldon, carry straight on with the common on your right. Unfortunately, I followed my sat nev that suggested that I turn right at the common. After driving over terrain that requires a proper 4X4 not suvs, I ended up in someone’s garden in the dark. I had to retrace my route back onto the “main” road.

When you finally get there, you will find a delightful pub with a large car park.

The outside of the pub has a fine looking out door dining area and I can visualise that it will be very nice when the sun shines.

Inside is a smallish drinking area attached to a large well lit dining room.

My friends have been waiting for a significant period whilst I was exploring the “terrain”.

Now, please note that this pub host a Jazz Sunday  lunch at the end of every month. I assumed that it was packed out as some items on the menu were sold out that evening.

.

We had the confit of duck, sea bass, roast pork and the 28 day steak.

I would like to point out that the menu carries a paragraph on where they source their meats etc. There was a great write up about the organic chicken but I could not find a chicken dish on the a la carte menu.

The confit was pronounced as very salty. Confit is one of those dishes that you can over do it with salt and sometimes the quatre epices. The temperature of the confit would also determine the final texture. Overall, this dish was not judges to be good. The roast port was my choice and I liked it very much but it was served with a Yorkshire pud and  no crackling. The vegetables that came with it were enough to feed 3 people.

The other dishes were judged to very good but there was a complete lack of vegetables with it. The cod was lined with a thin layer of  spinach and sat on a bed of mash whilst the steak was served with a bowl of chips and a slice of tomato and a few leaves. We should have ordered sides but we were not warned by the waitress.

For desert, we ordered the bread and butter pudding which was served with Bird’s Custard. When we enquired as to why it was so special (custard0, we were told that most of their customers prefer packet (powder) custard rather than home made custard. I was told that it was very good. Another diner had the chocolate and orange mousse. It was also very good.

Starters were under £7 or under £13 (two sizes) and main courses were from £12 to £17.95. Deserts were  £6.95

Our conclusion was that we would definitely come back but not on the evening after the jazz lunch.

Eddie

A mention of my favourite fusion restaurant – well the milk bar is one of 4 Momofuku outlets.

But, the link doesn’t work. Is this New Int’s clever plan to make you buy the paper?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/

Let me know if you can make it work. I have attached the “home” page’ link on food and drink.

Times online have been having problems for months!!!!!!!!!! Don’t they check their web site?????

Eddie

February 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/7325638/English-sparkling-wine-A-local-to-rival-Champagnes-best-Bet-your-bottom-dollar.html

The problem is that different champagne has different taste. Do you you want a fresh tasting one or an intensive one. If you just want a not too dry bubbly, try cava. I still prefer Bollinger Grand Annee pound for pound

Eddie

March 2010

Address: 57 West Smithfield, London EC1A 9DS

Telephone number: 0207 796 0600

Website: www.clubgascon.com/index2.php 

Date of visit: 5 March 2010

Approximate cost per head: £30

Comments on wine list/beer: Very up market and extensive and expensive list. Mark up at top end approx 300%

Summary:

Around Smithfield Market, Pascal Aussignac has set up several outlets for his Gascony cooking. Club Gascon is his flagship with one Michelin star.

Upon entry, I noticed that the place was decorated in black and white (art deco?) and fairly small. There is reasonable space between the tables.

They offered a set lunch as well as a la carte.

We had the set meal – 2 courses at £22, 3 courses £28

As soon as we sat down, a block of butter and a dollop of tapenade appeared on the table – the bread never came. We had to ask for it and it was served bread after the starters arrived and they did not offer seconds.

The food we had is best described as possibly  “Nuevo Atkins” – very highly decorated but low on carb and vegetables.

For starters we had duck served several ways. This turned out to be a large morsel of medium cooked breast, a heart and some duck pate. The three bits came on an oblong plate with a “brown” intensive sauce off set by “waves” of green which turned out to be pea puree. It was very visual and tasty – I just about had enough bread (my single roll) with my “pate”. My cousin had the ravioli with salsify and truffle juice. This came on a large white plate with a “indent” in the middle which contained the food. He liked it.

For the main course, we all had the onglet steak. This is the piece of muscle that “squeezes” the bladder. Its lean, has good texture and is very tasty – I always go for it when it is available. Note, there should be no fat on this steak. If you see any fat dispersed within the muscle, then they are serving skirt steak disguised as onglet . The taste is the same but the texture is different. This was served with a red cabbage mash.

Overall the dining experience was excellent except for the smallish portions – you will need to fill yourself with bread. But, they are reluctant to serve bead.

We also had a bottle of Ch de Pez 2005 at £51. It was one of the cheaper reds. You could probably buy one at around £15 from a wine merchant.

They also have an a la caret menu (with few choices) and a gastronomic set meal at £88.

M Aussignac also offer signed copies of his cookbook – Cuisinier Gascon – at his restaurants. All I can say is that most of his cooking are highly complex and is not easy to reproduce for a dinner party. It’s great fun if you have a free afternoon to experiment.

Eddie

Restaurant Chamonix

Location: C/ Urgell 67 (Gran Via – Diputación), 08011 Barcelona, Spain

Telephone: Spain 93 323 51 08

Website: www.chamonixbcn.com

Cost per head: from 31 Euros

Wine list: Very reasonable.

Date of visit: December 2009

Summary:

When we were in Barcelona in early December 2003 we came across this restaurant by accident but we had an excellent meal at that time (mid week and quiet) so when we were in the city again last Christmas we decided to check if it was still there and if so what the menu looked like.  We walked past on the morning of Christmas Eve and to our surprise, the restaurant was still there (many come and go) and still under the same management of the owner/chef Jesús Sánchez. Since the menu looked very good we decided to make a reservation for the Monday night after Christmas so we looked through the closed door and a very friendly young lady opened up, we discussed the menu and promptly made our reservation. On the menu leaflet we picked up it said No tenemos estrellas Michelin pero sabemos cocinar (we do not have Michelin stars but we know how to cook) so we were looking forward to the meal! We mentioned to some of our Spanish friends on Christmas day that we were going to this restaurant and they all said that it was a good choice!

We arrived and were met by the ownere/chef with whom we had a good chat, he explained the menu to us and we decided to try his special menu (menú especial degustación). If you prefer to go a la carte the menu offers some very good choices. We decided to have an aperitif before the meal and we both had a glass of cava; some nibbles arrived together with a fresh bottle of cava which was opened, poured and left at the table in case we wanted a top-up! The cava, which was labelled for the restaurant but produced by a good producer in the Penedés region of Spain, had a good nose and it was very dry, light, fresh, rounded and well-balanced with good length. A very good start!

The red wine arrived and was opened soon after the cava to give it time to “breathe”.  This was made from the Tinta Fina (tempranillo) grape in the Ribera del Duero region of Spain (Erial 2007, Bodegas Epifanio Rivera, Pesquera del Duero) which proved to be a good example of the region’s wines; on the nose it showed plenty of red fruits with vanilla and toast aromas and on the palate it showed mature blackberries, soft tannins and good spicy flavours with a long-lasting finish. The wine was included in the menu but, if you prefer to have another one, the wine list is good and reasonably-priced with a good selection of wines from Spain and some from abroad.

And now to the food!  The starters consisted of 8 different items that included excellent jamon, chorizo and lomo, all from acorn-fed pigs (bellota). From the selection of 7 main courses we shared the beautifully de-salted Bacalao al horno (baked salt-cod) and the very tender and well-done solomillo de buey (very good cut of sirloin steak). On many occasions in Spain, the dessert turns out to be an anticlimax but on this occasion this was not the case as most of the desserts were home-made rather than industrial ones! The meal was rounded off with a very strong and tasty café solo. Throughout the meal the young waiter was very attentive and the owner/chef came out of the kitchen on numerous occasions to chat and to check that all was to our liking or whether we wanted seconds of anything and we did in fact have seconds of his home-made bread!

The mineral water came in a beautiful-looking glass bottle and we asked the owner for a couple of empty ones; he was surprised at our request but we explained that we were in the middle of a kitchen refit at home and we wanted them to fill with layers of dried beans of different colours for decoration! He gladly obliged and these are now on display in our new kitchen!

All this for less than 35 Euros per person! Sadly, the restaurant was very quiet (with only two other diners) but it was the Monday night after Christmas and the restaurant is not in the touristy centre of Barcelona but at the end of the meal both the waiter and the owner/chef told us that Monday is a quiet night! If we remember correctly, our previous visit in 2003 was also on a Monday night and again there were only two other diners! However, the experience is worth repeating and we can confirm that Jesús can cook so, in our opinion, it is worth seeking out this restaurant and, although it is not central, it is only a minute’s walk from a Metro station so it is easy to get to. We will certainly return next time we happen to be in Barcelona!

Demetris Savva

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8543172.stm

An interesting article on omega 3.

Eddie

February 2010