http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/nov/30/stornoway-black-pudding-bible

E
Nov 2010

Address: Church Road, Little Marlow, Bucks SL7 3RZ

Telephone number: 01628 484407

Website: http://www.kingsheadlittlemarlow.co.uk/

Date of visit: 30 November 2010

Approximate cost per head: Around £20 for 2 courses.

Comments on wine list/beer: Rebellion and Fullers London Pride on tap. Very basic wine list with all wines available by the glass (2 sizes) or by the bottle. All wines under £20 a bottle except the champagne at £28.

Summary:

The King’s Head is another pub (see reviews on The Qeen’s Head :19 October and 9 November 2010) in Little Marlow. They have 2 car parks with one in front of the pub and another one via A4155.

The building is 16 century. Upon entry, there is a bar area with tables and a restaurant in another room. Most diners seemed to prefer sitting in the bar (lunch time) which offered a wood burning fire. The restaurant serves similar food on tables with table cloths.

There are several blackboards outlining: starters, main courses (£9.75 onwards), steaks (from rump £11.95 to filet £16.95) and desserts (around £4).

The food on offer is quite traditional when it comes to the main courses. You can have a salad (£9.50) and also with various toppings e.g. steak (£13.45), various smoked and unsmoked fishes and shell fishes (£11.90) or scampi, steak, grilled salmon etc with vegetables and chips

The starters were a different matter and on offer today were grilled goats cheese (£4.75) or smoke salmon – not quite traditional pub food (to me traditional means what they have been offering a few generations back) although goats cheese, pasta and curry seemed to have crept onto most pub menus and are now deemed traditional pub food.

I settled for a pint of Rebellion (£2.80) and the steak and kidney pie (£9.75). When I was here a year ago, I had the scampi (£9.75) which was fine.

The Rebellion was all right but to me it was a bit weak in taste.

The steak and kidney pie was home made and came as a huge portion with chips and a bean and pea medley. The chips were fat chips but they were well cooked and had a hard and crispy edge to it. The steak and kidney pie had good and bad points. To start with, there were loads of well cooked chunks of meat that were trimmed – no fat, no gristle. The down side was that the pastry was a bit crumbly and it was neither flaky nor short crust. The best way to describe it was that it was a cross between a suet pudding skin and a crumbly cheese cake bottom but it was definitely savoury and baked. The sauce that came in the pie tasted of a heavily reduced sauce but was a bit too sweet for me and then the kidneys – they were sliced thin and there were not a lot of it. Overall, no bad but also not brilliant. The vegetables were cooked al daunte.

It is very difficult to compare The Queen’s Head with The King’s Head. The former cooking is perhaps a bit more refined and the chef likes to put a twist into the food. The dishes were presented better in the Queen’s Head but in The King’s Head, it is good honest pub cooking (large portions) in the way you expect from a pub and they do not have the word gastropub in any of their literature.

E

Bottles and Cooks is approaching a major landmark of 1000 unique visitors per month – Thank You.

Over the past year we have had several responses from Chefs or Management re the articles. We welcome the debates and participations.

In the New Year, I am off to Australian for a month to eat, drink, follow cricket and tennis. There will be regular updates whenever I can find a WiFi spot.

To celebrate the grand occassion after we have reached 1000 plus unique visitors, I will offer our readers 3 bottles – one per person – of first growth or equivalent in a good vintage. All you have to do is email me with your email address – the address will not be sold on or used for any purpose other than the draw. We will also NOT store any data. But please, no spamming and one entry per reader please.

Watch out for the announcement of how the draw will work in the New Year.

E

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cornedbeefhashwithfr_78048

I always have this in the USA when its on the breakfast menu.

You might want to tamper with the ingredients and cut down on the fat and sugar. I usually find that a 50% reduction still just about works. I’ll test out the 50% reduction next week and tell you if it works.

E

November 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/27/sourdough-recipe-dan-lepard

This is nice and simple.

Did you know that sourdough bread has a lower GI than its white counterpart? It also taste better and has a better texture.

Your only problem is keeping the “mother” (fermenting dough) going as it need to be fed every day and it has to be kept at the right temperature. Do not do this in your airing cupboard unless you want your towels and sheets to smell “off” – good for unwanted guests.

E

November 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/25/cornish-blue-world-cheese-awards

E

November 2010

http://www.japancentre.com/recipes/93

Here is a nice recipe to impress your friends. You can use wonton wraps available in all Chinese supermarkets. Failing that, use “fresh” lasaga pastry. You can also use the filling to make “fusion” ravioli.

E

Nov 2010

Some weeks ago, I came across an interesting book called Food Lovers’ London. It covered the main cuisine types : from African and Caribbean to Spanish and Portugese. The book covers ingredients, where to shop for them and Restaurants. It also covered key markets.

I was quite excited by the book as I had bought Eat London (by Peter Prescott and Terence Conran) a few years ago and found it to be extremely useful.

For sometime now, I have had trouble in locating Greek Gigandes (beans) and Bortaga. So armed with the book, I set off to North London.

The first thing about the book that annoyed me was that it only gave the out code of the Postal Code (e.g. N8) and not the full postal code. A lot of food critics including Giles Coran, A A Gill and Michael Winner do not give out full postal codes and sometimes this makes it difficult to set the sat nav. With Michael Winner, you don’t even get the address.

I had tried to set my set nav to go to Andreas Michli & Sons (405-411 St Ann’s Road, N15) as it sounded quite grand in the book. However, my Tom Tom did not allow me to enter ( ‘ ) after n and before s. When I entered it without the ( ‘ ), it said that no such road exist. A full postal code would have solved the problem. Being a man of talent, I Googled it and discovered that the full postal code is N15 3JL. When I got there, I discovered that the place is rundown. Only part of the address is still in operation. Although it was very good on olives and fresh vegetables, it had very little else. Certainly no Gigandes and Bortaga.

Anyway, I made a quick tour of the area (Hand this is what I discovered:

Baldwins – 469 Green Lanes London N4 1AJ T: 020 8340 5934

http://www.baldwinsfoods.com/

Lovely old fashion butcher selling all sorts of meat. There is a deli section offering greek specialities such as smoked ribs as well as no greek food such as salami and cheese

La Ruche – 483 Green Lanes, London N4 1AJ T:07957 287937
Fantastic cakes displayed in the window. Have not see anything as elaboprate since Hong Kong.

Yasar Halim – 486 Green Lanes, London N4 1AL T: 020 8340 8090
Absolutely amazing. They do everything Turkish: meat, veg and bakery. I managed to find something similar to Gigandes called elephant beans. The breads looked really interesting for example, they have Tahini Bread for £1. They also have a very good deal on Baklava – £10 a tray!

Still no Greek Bortaga – I have to keep searching. Yes, I know that you can get it in Harvey Nicks and Harrods, but have you seen the price?

E

November 2010

Address: Littlewick Green, Near Maidenhead SL6 3RA

Telephone number: 01628 822 888

Website: N/A

Date of visit: 24 November 2010

Approximate cost per head: £10 plus for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: Only beer available on the day was Badgers – £3.20 a pint. Did not find a wine list and I did not see wine behind the bar but then this place is run by Italians so it must have wine.

Cuisine: traditional pub food

Summary:

The cricketers is a lovely pub over looking the common – cricket green where Maidenhead plays. On the walls are hung various cricket memorabilia – W G Grace appeared 3 times – and pictures of Maidenhead X1 from Ages bygone. The pub is deivided into 2 rooms – both over looking the green. There are various tables outside so I presume that it gets quite busy during the cricket season. It is listed in the 2011 edition of Good Pub Guide.

Judging by the way people walked in and they all seemed to shake hands, I think that a high percentage of the trade is local.

The village is assessable via Coronation Rd from the A4. There is a sign saying Italian Food at the Cricketers by the side of the A4.

The menu here is very simple – all the traditional pub food, steak, fish and chips, burgers etc and sandwiches. Nearly all are under £10. There is a sheet on Italian food which seems to be confined to various pasta and lasagne.

The landlord (whoever was behind the bar) was Italian and he was very friendly. This is the sort of place that I could camp down for the rest of the afternoon with a book – in the sun. But unfortunately, although it was a bright and sunny day, the outside temperature was near 5 degrees C. Luckily, they have a huge log burner in one of the room.

I settled for the fish, chips and peas (£8.50). When the food arrived – it was served by the chef – it was a nice looking piece of fish with “unmolested” garden peas and French Fries. The French Fries were glorious. I haven’t had French Fries this good for years. In fact the last time I had chips as good as this was in Brussels and prior to that at Belgo (Covent Garden). The fish was good and the peas, no mashing up and no added sugar………

I greatly enjoyed my meal and staggered home after 2 pints of Badgers. I must come here again in the summer! Hopefully Youngs will be back on the pump as I only came here because the Guide said that they do Youngs and I haven’t had one for over a decade.

E

Address: Chapel Lane, Blewbury, Oxfoedshire, OX11 9PQ (off A417)

Telephone number: 01235 850403

Website: http://www.redlionblewbury.co.uk/

Date of visit: 22 November 2010

Approximate cost per head: £10 plus.

Comments on wine list/beer: Did not see wine – there were bottles lying behind the bar. Brakspear @ £2.90 a pint was well kept and good value.

Cuisine: English

Summary:

I picked up the 2011 Good Pub Guide and a copy of the latest Sawday’s Guide recently. The Bell at Aldworth was rated highly by both guides and The Bell is listed by The Good Pub Guide as one of the top 10 pubs.

The strange thing about the Bell is that they only do filled rolls and ploughmans (bread, cheese, pickle) and desserts. I could not understand how a pub that serves such basic food can be so highly rated. So, off I went.

As I approached the Pub in Bell Lane, I noticed that it is shut – I should have read the small prints in The Good Pub Guide that clearly stated that The Bell is closed on Mondays. I turned round and went back towards Streatley. At Streatley, I decided to turn towards Wantage on the A417 and try my luck at the first Pub that I come across.

Unfortunately, I went passed 5 miles of open countryside with not a single Pub in sight.

At 1.30pm, I arrived at the village of Blewbury. The first Pub that I came across was the Barley Mow. I went inside and was told that they were not doing food this lunch time. This was despite the fact that they have a huge blackboard facing the road that said lunch served 7 days a week and dinner on 6 nights.

After another few hundred yards, I spotted a little sign that said: Red Lion with a knive and fork symbol. I turned down Chapel Lane and entered the Pub which had 3 rooms – one a restaurant. The restaurant was not used so I took a table in the public bar with highly scrubbed tables. There was a log fire in the room.

The Red Lion offered specials – chalked on a blackboard – and a menu. The menu is fairly “English” offering prawn cocktail, steak, ham egg and chips, fish and chips etc. Most dishes were priced at under £10. I ended up with 2 starters: Deep fried Whitebait (£5.95) from the specials board and Potted Crab (£5.95) from the menu.

When the food came, I was amazed. The portions were on the big side and they were served with a nice mixed salad – dressed.

Let’s start with the potted crab. It was all white meat – tasted fresh not tinned or frozen – in a white pot – no butter or fat on top to seal the food. It came with 4 triangles of wholemeal toass – again, not buttered. Great for me as I don’t do butter or salt. Butter was provided on the side. After I finished the toasts, I still had half a pot of crab meat left which I ate with the salad.

The whitebait was glorious. Crisp, moist and not soggy on the inside. If you deep fried them from frozen, you will get a soggy fish inside the bread crumbs. The slight downside here was that the mayonnaise was bottled – vinegary. However, they added chopped dill to the mayo and it was quite pleasant.

Well, this pub is not in any guide, from the pictures on the wall, it is the heart and soul of the local community. The food is pretty good too. My whole bill including 2 pints came to £17.70.

E