Address: 26 The Forbury, Reading Rg1 3EJ

Telephone: 0118 527 770

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

Date of visit: 1 February 2012

Costs: Set lunch £15 for 2 courses, £15 for 3 courses. A la carte: around £30 for 2 courses

Wines and beer: Longish wine list but most wines (except champagne) between £30-£60. Nothing stands out as good or bad value.

Likes and dislikes: Very modern restaurant under Reading’s most expensive hotel.

Cuisine: Modern European

Summary:

Cerise is the house restaurant of The Forbury Hotel.

The building was once a  court house. It is a majestic building unlike the current court house sited on top of Marks and Spencer in Friar Street.

The inside has been thoroughly modernised – about 10 years ago – with the reception and a foyer dotted with settees upon entry. The rest of the ground floor has been turned into meeting rooms. Parking (garage) is via the back of the hotel.

I was meeting my ex-colleagues for lunch.

Cerise – housed in the basement – offered a value for money set lunch. This was surprising as  the rooms –which did not have air con – starts at around £200 per night .

The set lunch offered several choices. I had crab cake followed by vegetable risotto. Both were nicely presented as well as decent size portioned. The crab cake was golf ball size, nesting on a bed of celeriac with a few streaks of green sauces on the edge of the plate. The cake was full of crab and not potato – top marks.

The risotto was bits of green vegetable with rice cooked just right. It wasn’t all that flavoursome – this suggested that the stock was a bit light. Maybe it is because it was because the stock was vegetable and not meat! A few mushrooms would have added more umami to the taste.

The others had the pavie of fish. This was a nice tower of shell and white fish at the end of an oblong plate with streaks of green and orange sauce across the rest of the plate. I assume that it was all right because the food was all devoured.

The tables were well spaced apart and there were also a lot of self contained areas. This is definitely a good place for a business lunch – reasonable food and prices, discrete sitting and little noise. As some of my ex-colleagues were still working, we didn’t have wine. I had a look at the list – nearly all grape type generic wines at around £30-£60 a bottle.

An interesting fact is that the waitresses all wore synchronised nail vanish – it was a black streak across the front with glitter on it. Well ………….

E

Address: Old Raglan Road, Abergavenny, Wales NP7 9AA. (On B4598 off A40)

Telephone number: 01873 854220

Website: www.Thehardwick.co.uk

Date of visit: 7 January 2012

Last visit (published date): 17 Aug 2010

Likes and dislikes: All the favourites are available as pasrt of the Sunday set lunch – excellent approached. Do they have to charge for bread?

Approximate cost per head:  Around £20. Set lunch available at £18.50 for 2 courses and £23.50 for 3 courses.

Cuisine: Nearly haute cuisine – modern European

Comments on wine list/beer: Otley. Fairly serious wine list at around 300% mark up – A 2008 Albarino was priced at £29 whilst a 2006 Chateau Neuf du Pape was priced at £68.50. Certain wines were available by the glass or half bottle.

Summary:

I was in Wales for a birthday party and decided to have lunch with a friend in The Hardwick before the journey back into England.

The only slot they could offer me was a 12.00 slot. They were otherwise fully booked.

The Hardwick has now finished with the new extension – a bar area. It was full of leather settees. There are now 3 dining rooms – one small, one medium and a large sun lounge.

On Sunday, they offer a set lunch with choices. It was £22 for 2 courses and £28 for three courses. Bread was extra.

The wine list was as extensive as before with plenty of wines close to £100. At the lower end, it was in the £20s.

I started with ravioli with ricotta, spinach and roasted pumpkin followed by roast pork. M ordered roast beef. I ordered  a bottle of I’ntruse  2008 – an Italian blend. This was a very drinkable wine.

The ravioli was 2 large ones filled with the ricotta and spinach mixture with the roast red butternut squash dotted round the plate. It came with a butter sauce, very nice and very visual.

For main course, the roast pork came with whole fried chicory. The pork was pink – have we eradicated tape worms? Unfortunately, I developed a mild tummy ache and couldn’t eat a thing. M’s roast beef was very pink and it was warm rather than hot. It came with roast potatoes, a huge Yorkshire pud and cabbage.

Although I was in distress, M didn’t lose her appetite and went on to have a dessert – rice pudding. This was served with ice cream and poached pear.

The waitress offered the wrap up my lunch for me. I later had it that evening at home. The re-cooked pork was no longer pink and it was very nice.

Hardwick is a top act in South Wales. Its brochure now claims that Michele Roux Jr has declared that this is his favourite restaurant in Wales. I think that the chef (Terry Stevens) trained under Marco Pierre White, so he is not a Roux protégée.

e

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.

Address:  63 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 3JW

Telephone: 020 7734 45454

Website: www.arbutusrestaurant.co.uk

Date of visit: 3 November 2011

Costs: Set lunch £16.95, a la carte around £25 for 2 courses. Evening will cost more.

Wines and beer: Beers around £5 a bottle, decent wine list with a “low” mark up for this part of the London. You can order a one third bottle carafe of the wines (most wines from the wine list) at one third the price.

Likes and dislikes: Pretty good food and prices. The idea of carafe of most wines from the list without extra mark up is a brilliant idea.

Cuisine: Modern European

Summary:

This place has one Michelin Star and is sited at the North End of Firth Street in Soho. The group also owns Wild Honey and Les Deux Salons

The restaurant is decked out in a modern style with high tables and stools at the front near the bar and normal tables with white linen at the back.

On the day we went, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Bill Kenwright were having lunch at the corner table next to us. All we needed was for Cameron Mackintosh to turn up and we would have the full set. Another thought: is Bill Kenwright trying to get ALW to invest in Everton? We could have a musical called Don’t cry for me, Rooney!

Another diversion, before I go back to our lunch, I wish to say that the toilets are downstairs and the corridor to the toilets were full of black and white postcards of “classic” nude women. This sort of display are normally pinned up inside the “male” toilet and not en route to both the male and female toilets.

During lunch, they offer an a la carte and a business lunch menu on a single sheet.  For the a la carte, starters are from £7.95 and most mains are £16.95. P, who has dined here before, recommended the business lunch – 3 courses at £16.95 and 2 choices per course.

Let’s start with the starters. I had the spring greens soup. This turned to be a massive portion of spring greens with a few potatoes and a bit of stock with some sort of white foam on top. In fact, there must have been “five” portions of spring greens in the bowl. The soup was nicely seasoned. There were no salt and pepper on the table. The others had the pork belly salad and it was a reasonable size portion with probably about 10 grams of pork hidden between the leaves. At least, you get enough veg here via the starters.

For main courses, we all had the slow cooked lamb with papperdalle. This was again a good size portion with quite a few chunks of lamb on it. It worked pretty well. No veg with this course.

For dessert, we had the cheese and the apple crumble. The cheese were two small triangles of brie – when combined together, it was the size of a match box. P who did French and German as a degree told me that it was not brie but something like brie.

Throughout the meal, we were served slices of bread – brown or white. I did not recall seeing any butter.

The wine we had was a bottle of 2009 Barbera d’Asti at £28.50 a bottle – very reasonably priced and also very drinkable.

The total bill for 4, including 12.5% service was just over £150. For this we had four business lunch, one and a third bottle of wine, four beers and 4 coffees. Good value.

E

Address:  31 West Street, Marlow, SL7 2LS

Telephone: 01628 898101

Website: www.thevanillapod.co.uk

Date of visit: 4 October 2011

Costs: Tasting menu £55, a la carte £45 for 3 courses. Set lunch 2 courses £17.50.

Wines and beer:  Short but interesting wine list at normal mark up. Expect to pay over £30 for a reasonable wine. Wine by the glass under £10

Likes and dislikes: Wonderful bread rolls, pristine table cloth. Prices slightly on the high side

Cuisine: Modern European – haute cuisine

Summary:

Marlow is becoming a “little” Ludlow with several good restaurants. The cook shop there is very good but unlike Ludlow, the butchers, fish monger and green grocers had made way for other shop. The Compleat Angler is a wonderful hotel – rooms. About three years ago, it acquired a new chef. I last went 20 years ago and never returned as they served me tinned oysters on toast as a first course.

The Vanilla Pod is sited in a town house just to the west of the town centre. There is a paid for car park about 30 meters from the restaurant. This restaurant is rated as 5 in The Good Food Guide and was a regional winner last year – readers’choice.

The restaurant is quite small with 7 tables in a cream coloured room. There is a private dining room upstairs that could take a dozen tables.

This is a proper restaurant with all right ingredients: attentive staff, pristine table cloths and napkins, homemade warm rolls – bacon and onions, cheese, wholemeal etc. You also get proper cutlery with each course including the defunct (in the UK) sauce spoon.

I went for the a la carte which is really a set meal with choices. You get three freebies with the meal – a creamy soup served in a coffee cup, ginger sorbet and petit fours even if you didn’t order coffee.

I found a half bottle of Montage St Emilion 2000 for £21 so I went for it. It was surprisingly bland for a 2000 which was a good year. But then it was from a “nothing” chateau. I used to advise that the year is the most important as when the grapes are right, nothing can go wrong. I need to revise this.

The creamy soup was excellent, very intense and rich. It was celeriac. Next came a wild mushroom risotto. The rice was slightly on the hard side – not quite cook through. I know that a lot of restaurants serve risotto like this but I would have preferred the rice cooked through but not mushy. Bar the rice, it was executed well and full of chanterelles, horns of plenty, ceps etc.

I then had the grouse which attracted £5 supplement. It was a rolled up breast, flash fried and cut into chunks – medium rare. With it came all sorts of well cut/shaped  vegetables – cylindrical, round etc – and a heavily reduced sauce. Highly typical of haute cuisine.

For dessert – yes, I had the dessert as I paid for 3 courses – I had the almond frangipane. It was a penna cotta type of intense almond dollop served with ginger snaps. Words do not do it justice as it came like everything else wonderfully presented.

The overall bill came to £71 excluding service. Not cheap but about right for this type of food.

Address: 123 High Street, Teddington, London TW11 8HG

Telephone number: 0203 1662 900

Website: www.whitebrasserie.com

Date of visit: 11 December

Approximate cost per head: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Pretty good range of beer by the bottle or on tap. Main bitter is Fullers. Reasonable wine list with a reasonable mark-up.

Cuisine: modern “British & European” cooking

Summary:

This is Marco Pierre White’s modern brasserie “make over” at a former pub. It is now trendy to keep the pub name as well as the restaurant installed within it. At present, there are 2 branches – Teddington and Weybridge.

The place is modern with the wall and ceiling painted terracotta red. The furniture is more traditional and the table have different types of legs. We (5) were offered a table for 4 with the leaves pulled out. Unfortunately this meant that 4 of us have to sit with a table leg in between our legs. Whilst the 5th (a one year old), had a side to herself. I’ve checked. There are tables without “legs” in the wrong position.

The menu is fairly extensive with an a la carte, set meal (£12.50 for 2 courses and a glass of wine – for a glass of champagne add £2.95 extra) and specials of the day. Two of us ate off the set lunch which was offered a combination of 3 starters and 3 main courses. We had the hot smoked salmon – which turned out to be potted “hot smoked” salmon – and the bean salad. The bean salad was cooked small white beans tossed in a Cesar dressing with radicchio and lettuce. I liked the bean salad very much. The other two members of the party had the “hot smoked” salmon (£6.20) and the smoked morteau sausage with a poached egg (£6.25) off the a la carte menu. It was interesting to note that portions of hot smoked salmon were the same for the a la carte and the set meal.

For mains, we had slow cooked beef with horseradish mash off the set menu and the fish cake (£10.50) off the a la carte as well as the pork T-bone(£14.95) from the specials board. We also ordered two side orders of chips (£2.75) a portion. The sides were large portions and one portion is enough to share between 2.

The slow cooked beef was excellent and literally melted in the mouth. It was served with caramelised onion gravy. My friends claimed the pork T-bone was excellent but the fish cake was a bit bland.

The one year old ate free and had cheese on toast followed by chocolate ice cream. One of us actually managed to try the dessert – she said that it was good.

We had several beers and a rioja crianza (£24.10). It was interesting to note that they will offer you wine by the glass, carafe as well as the bottle on most wines – a concept that I totally approve of. They are too many restaurants that charge a hefty price by the glass and if you have 3 glasses, you might as well buy the bottle. The other problem with wine by the glass is that they are usually the bottom of the range wines.

This is a nice place and is very children friendly. Service was fast, courteous and efficient.

E

Name of restaurant or pub: The Venture In

Location: Ombersley, Worcester, WR9 0EW

Telephone number: 01905 620552

Approx. cost per head: £22 +

Comments on wine list/beer: Pretty good, some interwesting Oz and NZ wines. Reasonable mark up

Review:
The place is housed in a 16th (?) century building with approx 30 covers so booking is advisable. They operate on a fixed price basis.

Lunch is £22 for 2 courses and £26 for 3 courses. Dinner is £31 for 2 courses and £36 for 3 courses.

The day I went, we had souffle and cappicio. Both well executed. Main courses were Hake on mash potato and chicken in a ragu. Vegetables were served on the side. Portions were on the generous side but was not huge. Most guides claimed that this is a French restaurant but its more like Modern European a la Browns in Worcester. I would definitely return.

Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks.com

Name of restaurant or pub: Browns

Location: The Oldcornmill, South Quay, Worcester WR1 2JJ

Web site: http://www.brownsrestaurant.co.uk/

Telephone number: 0190526263

Date of visit: 11 September 2009

Approx. cost per head: From £10.75

Comments on wine list/beer: Excellent value with some really decent wines

Review:
This is set in a converted warehouse by the river. Its a bit better decorated than St John’s in London.

The food is modern European and there is an array of menus ranging from Express Lunch (£10.75 for 2 courses), fixed price lunch and dinner to a la carte.

The day I went, I had Caesar salad followed by a broad bean and pea risotto off the express menu. Both were pretty good.

The wine list is really good value and I nearly went for the Ch Gloria 1970 at £85. But then, for a St Julian Cru Bourgeois, it could be 10 years too far even though 1970 was a great year for Gloria.I might go back and just try it to see if I am right.

There is a public car park round the corner.

Eddie – eddie@bottlesandcooks