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Address: Barkham Road, Barkham, RG41 4TL.
Telephone: 0118 9762816
Website: http://www.bullatbarkham.com/
Date of visit: 29 November 2011
Costs: Most main courses around £10-£15
Wines and beer: Basic pub wine list at Pub prices. One or two reasonable Chilean, Several beers (cask marked) on tap (cask mark) with Courage Best )(£3.50 a pint), Gales HSB (£3.60 a pint).
Likes and dislikes: Basic pub food, decent beer but tables could do with a proper clean
Cuisine: Basic Pub food. Seems to major on steaks with different cuts
Summary:
This is one of the few pubs in Berkshire that I have never been in despite living in the area for decades.
Despite the fact that it was late November, the Pub was fully decorated for Xmas except for the tree. There was a roaring fire on the go.
The menu was very simple – both the lunch and dinner. Other than sandwiches (lunch time), it was mainly grills with a shepherd’s pie tossed in. The top wine was Con Sur (drinkable).
The beers were a different matter with 5 different bitters on tap. I spotted Courage Best and Gales HSB. Both breweries are now defunct with Courage being taken over by Newcastle and Gales by Fullers. I had a pint of each and they were pretty good.
I ordered gammon egg and chips (£7.95) and as I was settling in, a large party of office staff arrived. In order to avoid the noise, I moved round the corner. The Pub is L shaped with a large dining area round the corner from the bar. This was a big mistake as I ended up sitting next to a salesman (who looked like a younger version of Michael Winner) and a head hunter. The salesman had one of those voices that you can hear 50 meters away. Anyway, he talked nonstop (35 minutes plus) on how good he is(was) without taking a breath; his time with BT and Microsoft, how he contributed etc. Is he is that damn good, why is he not the Sales Director? Why were they doing the interview in a Pub?
My food finally arrived. The chips and peas were very good. The gammon ok but it was not a good cut. The eggs were over cooked and the yolk solid. It was all right but nothing special.
The beer was excellent.
One other point, the tables were not sticky but they showed wipe marks – not good enough.
Has beer price gone up recently? Nearly everything is at least £3.50 a pint!
E
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/nov/24/how-to-cook-perfect-lasagne
Interesting. I never thought of adding chopped chicken liver to the ragu.
E
Nov 2011
PS I tried to add chicken liver to my ragu yesterady. It worked It addeda certain richness to the sauce, no chicken liver taste or texture. Just keep the amount low and finely chopped.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/video/2011/nov/23/how-to-deep-fry-turkey
This is really interesting.
E
Nov 2011
Address: 9 Market Square, Amersham, HP7 0DF
Telephone: 01494 726611
Website: www.artichokerestaurant.co.uk
Date of visit: 23 November 2011
Costs: From £21.50 (2 course set lunch) onwards. Budget for £30+ a head plus drinks.
Wines and beer: Interesting wine list with a wide range (price). They have 1996 Les Ormes de Pez at £120 (note: 12.5% service on top) a bottle. I bought this wine at under £15 a bottle and there will still be a couple of bottles left somewhere in my cellar. It is a good St Estephe but not a great one. It will probably retail at the moment for £30 plus. So the mark up here is between 3-4 X
Likes and dislikes: Top notch cuisine at a very reasonable price – the seasoning was just right. They did not go OTT with salt or sugar. However, there is an over use of foam – unfortunately, you can’t heat foam up.
Cuisine: Modern European – Haute Cuisine
Summary:
“Old” Amersham is an old market town and surprisingly enough, there are 3 decent restaurants located within 100 meters of each other. Artichoke is the top one, getting decent reviews in The Good Food Guide and The Sunday Times/Harden top 100 UK restaurant Guide. (There is a new Amersham which joins onto old Amersham).
The outside is fairly non descriptive and you could easily miss it. In fact, the outside is very similar to The Fat Duck – grey painted wood etc.
Inside is a bar and modern dining room with brown wood tables and white leather chairs. The dining room has an open kitchen attached to it. There is an outside dining area and another dining room upstairs. Excluding the Garden, the place sits just over 30 comfortably.
I arrived early – first customer – and was greeted by the French Maitre ’D/Sommelier. Within 5 minutes, I was greeted by the chef. They offer 3 menus: set lunch, a la carte and the tasting menu.
I settled for the lunch tasting menu (5 courses and a freebie amuse bouche). This was priced at £35. For another £18, they offer 3 glasses of wine to pair with the meal. I went for it. In the evening, it is £62 for 7 courses.
The place soon filled up. By the time I left, downstairs was full.
As my table looks straight into the kitchen, it was very interesting to observe that they run by stations with the final station an assembly point supervised by the chef. There were 5 chefs in the kitchen, another 4 at the front of house. So for £35 (plus 12.5% service) for the tasting menu, it was very reasonable as the wage bill must be huge.
The amuse bouche was a small cube of ham hock with a quenelle of pease pudding and twoslivers of gurkins on a glass plate. It was good especially the slivers of gurkin which was crunchy, fresh and slightly vinegary.
Next came the soup . According to the menu, it was kohlrabi soup, blue cheese crutons. This was the only disappointment.The soup which tasted like cream of chicken soup was an entire dish of foam. This was in a normal size soup plate not one of these huge plate with a well that can only take 50mls of liquid. There were 4 dollops of cream on it with tasted of blue cheese. The croutons were thin slivers – like a melba toast cut into 5mmX10mm. The trouble with a foam soup is that it can only be served luke warm. I would have preferred this hot.
Next came the pan fried mackerel fillet, baby beetroot, horseradish foam and celeriac remoulade. The beet root was both the normal purple ones and small golden ones which I have never came across. The dish worked well. The fish cooked just right and the celeriac provided a different taste and texture. With this I was offered a glass of 2010 South African Chardonnay (neil ellis, elgin). The wine was quite minerally and fruity. There was no buttery taste. Although the sommelier said that it was similar to a French, it was more like a mersault.
The main course was a roast pheasant breast, swede puree, brussel sprout leaves, bacon fondant, apple puree. This was sewrved witha shiraz-viognier (willunga 100, Mclaren Vale). The wine was very smooth and non tannic which indicate that the wine was never matured in oak barrels. The pheasant was not too gamey and the skin was slightly crisp. The potato fondant was cooked in a bacon broth abd the sprout came a separate leaves that were still crunchy. It was a well made dish. Slight criticism is that as a result of the presentation, you only get a smear of gravy. The swede puree was there to add extra wetness to the dish.
I was then served a chilled grapefruit salad with granite, jelly and herbs. This was in fact a sorbet with larger ice crystals. It came in a glass rested on a slate. There were groves cut into the slste so that the glass and spoon fitted exactly.
For dessert I had apple press, cinnamon and caramelised honey panna cotta, apple salad, green apple sorbet served on a wooden board. This was absolutely divine. The apple sorbet sat on a pile of matchstick granny smith apple. The panna cotta tasted of caramel with a hint of cinnamon. The apple press was like a small cake made up of layers of apples that still had a slight crunchy texture. It tasted of tart tatin without the pastry. With this came my last glass of wine a 2009 muscat de beaumes.I have had musct de beaumes for 20 years and I must admit that I still prefer sauternes for a sweet wine.
Well, you get everything here – plates, slates and wooden boards!
This was a top notch meal at around £50 despite the criticism. I do not understand why The Michelin Guide only gave this place 2 spoons and forks in the 2012 edition. Is it because there is no table cloth? But then The Hand and Flower doesn’t have table cloths.
E
PS The warm bread rolls they serve with the meal were amongst the best that I have ever eaten.
Note: This recipe came from a LONDON restaurant and uses Thai ingredients.
E
Noiv 2011
Address: 5 Prospect Street, Caversham, Reading RG4b 8JB
Parking: Council car park (paid) or Waitrose (free)
Telephone number: 0118 9463400
Website: http://www.myalacarte.co.uk
Previous Visit: 21 July 2010
Date of visit: 21 November 2011
Costs: set meal £10.95 for 1 course, £13.95 for 2 courses, £17.95 for 3 courses (available Mon- Sun lunch and dinner. Thur-Sat, only before 7pm). A la carte under £10 for starters and nearly all dishes under £20 for a main course.
Likes and dislikes: Decent food that is good value for money, the place can get very noisy as its all “hard” furnishing.
Beer and wines: £3 for a bottle of Peroni, Wines start from around £15 a bottle (about 300% mark up).
Cuisine: British
Summary:
I went for lunch with a couple of ex-colleagues.
I was first to arrive and noticed that the place was about 60% full. This place is now listed in the Good Food Guide. I was pleased to note that prices have remained more or less the same.
The place was full of women having a get together and the noise level was like a New York Restaurant. Nearly everyone went for the set meal.
I had liver parfait to start with followed by a pork chop.
The liver was two thin slices (after eight mint thickness but a bit longer), toasts and a large tub of chutney. The liver parfait was very tasty. It was served on a slate. Why is everyone using slates and wooden boards. What is wrong with plates?
Next came a large pork chip sitting on a pile of mash on a plate. The pork chop was a bit on the fatty side and the meat was a little grisly. They should have gone for a loin chop which would be better quality. There was no vegetables.
My friends B and Z both went for the beef stew with roast beet followed by ginger pudding. The ginger pudding was steam sponge pudding with ice cream. As they ate most of everything, I assumed that the meal was fine.
Neither B nor Z wanted to drink, so I had a bottle of Peroni.
In conclusion, this place is ok but not special, for £13.95, it was not a giveaway. They do make money on this as it is served every day. However it’s noisy and is more suitable for a crowd gathering (family and friends). Looking at the menu, they were no deep fried dishes, no chips…so it’s that sort of a place. The wine list has plenty of wallet friendly bottles and the wines have vintages against it- excellent as you don’t have to get a bottle that is a year old – but there were no bargains.
I ofter wonder how The Good Food Guide decides what to include and what not to. Myalacarte is rated as 2 in The Good Food Guide whilst London Street Brasserie is not rated but included. French Horn – one of the great restaurants in the UK – is not included in the Good Food Guide but both the French Horn and London Street Brasserie are included in the Michelin Guide! If someone from The Good Food Guide reads this, perhaps they can enlighten me. I personally feel that London Street Brasserie and the French Horn are both better restaurants than Myalacarte. However, they are more expensive and in the case of French Horn, more than double.
As I walked down Prospect Street after I left Myalacarte, I noticed that the other 4 restaurants (Greek, Chinese Indian and Italian) on the same road were either closed or had no customers in it.
E