http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/dec/15/how-cook-perfect-nut-roast

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Dec 2011

Address: 11 Church Green, Whitney, Oxon OX28 4AZ

Telephone: 01993 892 270

Website: www.fleecewhitney.co.uk

Date of visit: 15 December 2011

Costs: Under £20 for 2 courses unless you have the steak.

Wines and beer:  Simple wine list at a reasonable price. Bottles start  at £14.95. Beer is Green King complemented with a guest beer.

Likes and dislikes: Greene King is not my preferred tipple. Guest ale was Rocking Rudolph, a Xmas beer from Hardy and Hansdon which was all right but not great. Again, the wine list was OK but nothing special. Tables are clean and the food is all right and very reasonably priced. Good service (servers).

Cuisine: British.

Summary:

Whitney is about 10miles from Oxford.

The Fleece has had a few decent write ups including Pub of the Year. Sawday’s gave it a very good review in the latest guide.

It is free parking along the edge of the Green for 2 hours. This gave me ample time to sample the delights.

Upon entry, I was amazed to find the place packed to the rafters. Not a spare table except for the high ones with high stools around the bar area. I know its chic but the high tables and chairs are not very comfortable – you can’t lean back.

The bar served Greene King and the usual lagers. I was attracted to the guest ale – Rocking Rudolph (£3.40 a pint)- as the sign on the hand pump had flashing lights.

There is a standard menu and a blackboard for the day’s specials. Most food came with chips. They also had a few deli boards – cheese, charcuterie, fish etc, all at £11.50

The starters were pretty normal until I came across haggis with neeps and tatties served with a whisky cream sauce (£6.75). I went for the haggis and the cheese board.

The haggis arrived some 25 minutes later and it was warm not hot. The haggis was crème brulee (upside down) shaped and sat on a pile of mash potatoes (tatties) surround by a  pool of sauce. I have never understood why haggis is normally served dry, it worked well with gravy and in this case, the whisky sauce was pretty good. However, I could not find any neeps (swede or turnips). The dish was quite tasty.

I then had to wait another 25 minutes for my cheese board. OK, they were packed but still…….When it came, I had stilton, cheddar, taleggio and some hard goats cheese. The apple chutney they served with the cheese was fantastic and the celery sticks and a big pile of biscuits certain made the dish pretty filling.

This is a nice place in a fantastic location. The food is fine. They just need to sort the beer out. But then, I noticed that most of their clients were women who were drinking Evian or wine.

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Address: Lower Froyle,  Hampshire GU34 4NA

Telephone: 01420 23261

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

Date of visit: 12 December 2011

Costs: Around £20 for 2 courses

Wines and beer: Decent wine list at normal mark up.  King John (Andwell Brewery), Moondance (Triple fff) all at £3.10 a pint

Likes and dislikes: This is a proper pub with a dining room. Everything is old.

Cuisine: Modern British – nose to tail eating

Summary:

Lower Froyle is in the middle of nowhere – nearest town is Alton.

Best way to get here is to turn by the Golden Pot on B 3349 or from the A31. Any other route will take you through  narrow country lanes.

I met my friend P for a pre Xmas lunch.

Although the Pub is in the middle of nowhere – most of the clients turn up in Range Rovers, the car park was half full when I arrived at 12.30.

The Anchor is a 16 Century building with 2 bars and a dining room. The place is full of old bric-a-brac including a Victorian Solder’s uniform as seen in Zulu (Michael Caine,  Stanley Baker etc). They even have Victorian Pornography (drawings) in the men’s toilet by the bar – children are advised to use the toilets in the dining room. The Inn also offers accommodation and can arrange fishing and shooting and various country pursuits. The Pub is listed in Sawday’s and The Good Pub Guide.

The menu is printed fresh every day.

P and I settled for a couple of pints of King John – fairly decent beer – and the haddock and triple cooked chips (£13) . You get 2 slices of lightly battered fish, a pile of mushy peas and chips that may have been triple cooked but has no crunchy raggered edge – they didn’t boil the potato until it breaks down or they are using the wrong type of potato. I recall that the waitress at The Hind Head (Heston Blumenthall) told me that they can only make triple cooked chips at certain times of the year because of the availability of certain types of potatoes.

The fish and chips were pretty good but was not one of the greats.

The place was packed by the time I left. Pretty good for a Monday lunch time.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food/food-reviews/How-to-get-your-French-sauce-right/articleshow/9514824.cms

I know that the article is written by Indians. However, it is a really good article with maybe a small twist!

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Dec 2011

In response to a recent comment (see original article published on 13 March 2011) re sharks fin, I commended that “mock ” shark’s fin is now commonly in use in certain restaurants because of the costs and shark’s fin is a banned food in certain parts of the world.

I went seaching for “mock” sharks fin, expecting it to be tinned or dried. In fact it came as a frozen pack.

The one I got was from See Woo in Reading. It was £3.95 for 500g and very similar to the real macoy (from memory). As sharks fin is traditionally served in a soup, it is very difficult to tell – it adds texture ( thickens the soup as well as to give it some crunchiness from the cartilage) rather than taste. The taste comes from the stock – chicken, mushroom and ham.

To my surprise, the “mock” sharks fin was made in Taiwan and was manufactured from seaweeds. Some people may not be aware that deep fried seaweeds in a Chinese resratrant is in fact shredded cabbage.

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Dec 2011

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/food/

You will need to search on the site. Not able to bring the full URL across.

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Dec 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/12/08/dining/hanukkah-slideshow.html

Traditional and with a twist.

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Dec 2011

Address: 5a Ethel Street,Birmingham B2 4BG

Telephone: 0121 633 4664

Website: http://chezjules.co.uk/

Date of visit: 7 December 2011

Costs: Set Meals only (with choices) . Lunch at £10.95 for 2 courses. Puds from £4.50. £22.50 for 3 courses in the evening

Wines and beer: Cheap wines – from £14.50 a bottle. Not so cheap continental beers (strong!) around £4-6 a bottle e.g. Vedett Extra Blonde at £4.35 a bottle.

Likes and dislikes: Basic, functional and the meals are OK. Clean tables. Beware: restaurant is on the first floor so  it is not easily accessible for wheelchairs, prams etc.

Cuisine: French Bistro

Summary:

Ethel street is just off New Street.

I was in town to check out this year’s German Xmas Market. It is as big as ever and certain stall now go right up to the Bullring. The usual bread, sausages and beer stands are there together with quite a few cooked food stalls. In fact as per previous years, they have the same (nearly) stalls in the same place.

I was looking for somewhere to stop and have lunch whilst I was wandering the market. I am afraid that this part of town is not idea for a “good” lunch. The usual Cage Rouge, KFC etc dominate the landscape. There are a few more interesting eateries around the Bull Ring.

I tried Shakespeare last year and it was just Ok. What put me off from going back was the seating – it was like sardines in a tin.

Chez Jules offered a very simple lunch – 3 starters and 3 main courses to choose from – for £10.95. I was offered a table next to an old boy who was trying to chat up a girl less than half his age but more than twice his size.

For starters, you can have Waldorf salad (I thought that this was American), pate or whitebait (again, not a French dish). For mains, Beef Bourgeon, lentil bake or chicken sausages. All served with fries.

The white bait were bread crumbed and were excellent. With it came a little salad of finely chopped tomatoes in a vinaigrette dressing. No mayo was provided. However, the chopped tomatoes were an excellent “salsa” to the whitebait.

The chicken sausages (3) were chipolata size and is exactly the same as you get in an American Hotel for breakfast. It came in a large pool of cream of mushroom sauce which tasted like cream of mushroom soup. The chips were good.

I enjoyed my meal there and would recommend the restaurant as a decent budget eatery.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8938500/Japanese-foodies-add-a-deadly-twist-to-killer-curry.html

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Dec 2011

Address: 20 Highfield Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3DU.

Telephone: Tel: 0121 454 3434

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

Date of visit: 7 December 2011

Costs: £50plus per head for a la carte. Tasting menu £85, paired with wine, another £50. Another 12.5% service on top.

Wines and beer: Serious wine list, some pretty decent wines at a reasonable mark up. There are a few wines under £100, mainly whites. Best value red wine was a 2005 Pommard at £75.

Likes and dislikes: Good cooking. Excellent service. Very pricy when compared with peers in the same city e.g. Turners of Harbourne and Edmunds. Limited parking – beware of people abandoning their cars in the car park. I had to do a 20 point turn to get out of the car park.

Cuisine: Haut Cuisine

Summary:

I went with my daughter J for our Xmas extravaganza – she lives in Mousley. We have been to Turners (15 Dec 2010) and Edmunds (14 July 2011) in the previous outings.

Simpsons is housed in a large white “colonial building”. On the day we went, there was a function there and it was noisy and busy. Whilst I was parking, one couple just drove up to the front door and abandoned their BMW in a non space. This place obviously attracts the Birmingham (I am important) crowd. This is also probably the most upmarket restaurant in Birmingham. Most customers were either businessmen/women, old man with young woman or over weight couples.

The place was awash with servers and they  refold your napkin when you disappear to the washroom. My sister’s two requirements of high end restaurants – besides the food – are that they refold the napkin every time you leave the table and the food comes covered in a dome which they lift at the table. They don’t do domes at Simpsons.

The inside was bigger than I thought. There were 3 dining rooms and a function room. When full, they would probably serve over 100 covers. The place was nearly full on the night we went and although officially it is last orders at 9pm, at least 20 diners turn up after 9.30 and a couple turned up at 10.30 just as we were calling for the bill.

We were given a table in the L shaped sun lounge that ran round the building. It was narrow and housed 3 tables for 2 on each leg of the L.

We went for the tasting menu paired with wines (7 glasses). As each course and wine came to the table, it was explained. However the French Sommelier spoke limited English. Whilst he explained every wine, he could not understand some of my questions.

A wonerful basket of warm bread soon arrived with several types but when this was emptied, they did not offer more bread. Like all Haute Cuisine, there was very little carbohydrates served with the meal except desserts.

Over all, there were some great dishes but also some hits and misses. Here is a summary:

1. Amuse broche – game soup with pearl barley. Very intense like a heavily reduced sauce.
2. Foie Gras and Chicken Liver Parfait – this came with a sweet and sour beetroot salad – golden and purple – and sour dough toasts. J remarked that it was like foir gras butter as it was very buttery. This was paired with a gewürztraminer and worked extremely well.
3. Crispy dick egg with globe artichoke and kale. This was sensational and was easily the best dish of the evening. The richness of the liquid egg yolk mingled well with the heavily reduced sauce. This was offset by the crisp external bread crumbs and kale. A master piece of taste, texture and technique. This was served with a New Zealand Pinot Gris.
4. Scallop Raviolli with boc choi – another great dish. The lemon grass and ginger gave it an exortic oriental taste like a Vietnamese soup. This was paired with an Italian verrdicchio.
5. Seabass in a cep cream. This was an disappointment. The sebass was over cooked and was a solid piece of flesh. The wine that was paired with it was a dry Riesling from Nahr – very sharp.
6. Venison loin with broccoli, blue berries in a juniper sauce. This was cooked sous vide and finished on the grill. They had very cleverly put some crisp bread crumbs on the outside to give it a different texture. The green sauce was mashed broccoli infused with juniper. This was another top dish. Unfortunately this was paired with a 2009 St Joseph which was still tannic. One should not be drinking Rhone Reds young.
7. A slice of very rich cheese. This was a sort of camembert with a layer of truffles. When it first came, I thought that it was morbier. This was paired with a small salad. Truffles are wasted on me. After my $300 plate at Del Postal (15 October 2010) and this, I am still not sure what truffles taste like. I can smell it!
8. A pre dessert of banana fool served in a glass with shortbread crumbs. This was served with a slightly sparkling wine that taste of apples. I couldn’t work out what the wine was.
9. The dessert was a carrot cake with ice cream. This was served with a South Afican Vin de Constance. The carrot cake was wonderful and tatsed of tarte tatin.
10. Petit Fours of various chocolates

I was full to the brim near the end.

Although the wine list was expensive with most wine available at several hundreds of pounds. This was actually decent value as when I was wandering around Selfridges in the Bullring, I noticed that they have a bottle of 2004 Lafite Rothschild for sale at £1200. 2004 was a rubbish year.

Overall, when compared with Turners and Edmunds, this was expensive – only one  freebie amuse broche and no sorbet to clean the palate in between courses. With water, the bill for 2 came in at £300 plus for 2. I haven’t paid a bill like this sine The Fat Duck.

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