Como quieras

New year new eats

2012-01-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

After umpteen attempts to restart my food blog, I have come to the realization that I simply lack self discipline (now if only I could get a dollar for each of my friends who are rolling their eyes at what they have known all this while).

Not to mention I am slightly disheartened by the fact that I am not a good photographer. Heck, my Sony cybershot not only does not (outrageous!) have a food function (no doubt created for us Asians who love to take photos of not just everything we eat, but of ALL food served at the table), of late it has caught a cold, with the lens seemingly shuddering. Hence my companions not only have to contend with the embarrassment of the photo-taking (with their usual apologetic sighs to other patrons and the wait staff) but also with the nagging suspicion that they are friends with a somewhat deranged person as she then shakes her camera into submission (I'm not sure what is going on there, but it works after a few shakes).

Some weeks ago, I found myself in my hotel room at Four Rosmead (nice boutique hotel, for those of you who might be searching out a place to stay in Cape Town) at 8:30 pm looking at the frightful weather outside and being still full from lunch (having finished it at 5 pm) feeling somewhat inclined to restart this blog.

My intentions were admirable if I may say so, because I did manage to get to around five or six paragraphs before I fell asleep. By the time I woke up the next morning I found myself rushing to catch the ferry to Robben Island for what was a thoroughly interesting tour (if somewhat hampered by the ridiculous rain - getting wet to dry off only to be drenched again in the rain isn't really my idea of fun).

And hence it was that the update was not published then. Well, nonetheless it being a new year, it's time for a new beginning - so with a little editing I am determined to inflict my latest most impressive restaurant experience on anyone who cares to read this (or was googling for a review on La Colombe and found this).

It was my last day in the Winelands and at Cloof. I managed to have a quick stroll by the vines, before packing up and then hopping over with S and C to where they hold wine tastings to say bye to W. W was busy for a bit so we even got to taste some wines while waiting for him.

After finishing my three small tasting portions on a very empty stomach (shall be ordering some of that lovely Cab Cult and Lynchpin as soon as I remember to get that contact off S), saying bye to W's adorable dogs and thanking W for everything, we then made our way (after calling the restaurant to push back our booking :p) to the Constantia Winelands.

The restaurant is located in the Uitsig Estate and when we arrived we were immediately shown to our table on the patio by our server. The patio looks out into a pretty courtyard with a fountain and boy was I grateful for the outdoor heaters as it was pretty windy. Further away was a view over the vines themselves.

Our server then presented us with the blackboard menu and very confidently and knowledgeably explained our choices - certainly didn't take us long to decide given how hungry we were though notably S commented how there was probably nothing on the menu he wouldn't order so it was a tough choice and we already started getting a strong hunch that we would try and come back.

Given S had to drive and C was feeling a little under the weather, we decided to just have a carafe of white and red each and our server made some suggestions which we thought were pretty good. If I were a genuine food blogger I would have the names of the wines at my fingertips but sadly not only am I not, my comments on wine are much on "yummy", "no, don't like this", "too strong", "can I have more please?" so simply won't do for anyone who takes wine seriously.

For our amuse bouche, we were presented with a caremlised onion tart topped with goat's cheese, Thai style prawn veloute with crunchy water chestnuts and beef carpaccio-wrapped shitake - to me this sounded like too much "fusion" action going on but I was surprised how well this all came together. The water chestnuts in particular were a really nice touch, though I did then have a mental image of the chef at the local Chinese supermarket picking out water chestnuts.

Anyway, this whetted our appetites perfectly. I opted for the scallops and pork belly for my starter, which came pan seared perfecty with a salsa of tomato and beans and crispy crackling along with cubes of glazed pork belly on which a bean stalk was artfully arranged - along with the celeriac puree blobs it all looked pretty artistic. The flavours were lovely, the only thing I couldn't shake was what the spice was that was used for the pork belly, something that reminded me of Chinese cooking! Would be interested to find out if anyone knows? :)

S had the trout 'sous vide' while C had the Alaskan king crab both which appeared to impress them so much so that for a few minutes we just ate without talking (and for those of you who do not know me, that is hard, I assure you).

For our palate cleansers, S and I opted for the granny smith & calvados while C opted for the pineapple & malibu, both of which were so refreshing I'm just wishing I had some in my freezer now so I could get it now! (Thinking about it now, maybe I should start making sorbets. I know it's winter, but hmm.)

But I digest. Coming on to the mains... I have never really ever needed anyone to push me to order suckling pig. There's just something about suckling pig (whether at the Kowloon City place I love, around Lu Gu Lake near Lijiang, in southern Spain, or anywhere really) that just inspires devotion (it's like bacon).

So suckling pig it was for me (and C too), and the variety reminded me of Heston's Fairytale Feast where he serves that hog's head, and it was the cheek, the tongue, the snout etc. This was pork shoulder ballotine which was slow cooked and super tender like dong po rou (东坡肉), pork loin sous vide with crackling, red cabbage and caramelised onions hiding under the pork loin. baby potato dauphinoise and honey jus. The result was an interesting comparison of cuts and tastes and textures (without being too experimental) that left me a very contented little piggy. S decided to have the veal and langoustine which he did say was very good and which I recall trying a little of but unfortunately was shadowed by my memory of that pig.

It had started raining while we were eating and it was certainly getting more chilly - we therefore decided to adjourn inside for our desserts, coffee and tea. By this time, we were feeling pretty full but at a restaurant this good, we certainly weren't going to give up dessert, not especially since it was some chocolate torte which La Colombe's pastry chef had just won a Hennessy competition for! So for once the three of us were in agreement and all ordered the same dessert. And what a dessert it was! Served with meringue tuiles, caramel, cherries and to me, what really won the day - cognac marshmallows (I think they must just dip them quickly in cognac before toasting them ever so slightly). Made me feel like a little kid at the candy store... something to look forward to like a birthday treat!

So it was by the end of dessert and tea, that we had reached a unanimous decision, that this was certainly one of the best meals of this little getaway. This, and Le Quartier Francais, but that was a tasting menu that we felt was maybe a once-a-year affair rather than this, which we could gladly do monthly.

The meal came to around R620 per person (including two glasses of wine each but not including service), which for this standard of food and level of service is just amazing. The estate itself looks lovely and the perfect weekend getaway, if only an hour away from Cape Town (admittedly, just a little further from HK).

So if you are headed that way.. I urge you to go try La Colombe, for me, this was one of the best meals of 2011!
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La Colombe
Constantia Uitsig, Spaanschemat River Road, Constantia, Cape Town
T: + 27 (0) 21 794 2390
W: http://www.constantia-uitsig.com/pages/directions.php
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PS Am still looking for the right cable to upload my photos (sigh) so apologies for the lack of photos a this moment!

This little piggy...

2011-04-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

...clearly didn't stay at home! :9

Rainy sunday evening when we couldn't get a table anywhere in Elements without waiting so S suggested a bit of suckling pig so I gave our favourite piggy hangout a ring and yes, they had a table so into a cab we piled in and along the way, Y (who just arrived two weeks ago) and H (his friend who arrived yesterday) exclaimed: "Woah, is this the HIGHWAY? Where are we going??" Bless. 15 minutes and $50 later we arrived at our destination. Y and H had a quick glance in at the pigs being roasted before we went up. Hadn't been there for a few months and for the first time ever the place had a few tables empty! Eeps. Couldn't help but think to myself, hope the food is still good!

So sat down, and ordered the usual - half a suckling pig, the house special fried rice （城寨风味炒饭）, claypot kale （啫啫芥兰煲）, xo sauce black pork and asparagus（XO酱黑猪肉炒露笋）, "big spender" tofu (阔佬豆腐）(coincidentally randomly started talking about the big spender kidnapper cheung tze-keung... only realised now!) and spicy sauce clams （豉汁炒蚬）and crossed my fingers, hoping for the best. Oh and two nice big bottles of tsing tao which came with the usual blue and white bowls for drinking.

Thankfully the place didn't let me down. Clams came first and were fresh though I would have liked them slightly spicier (I'm a true chilli-loving Singaporean after all). Next up was the black pork and asparagus - pork was tender and I love XO sauce though asparagus might be even better if it was younger... (hmmm....) And then everything else pretty much came at the same time. The fried rice, which was essentially seafood fried rice with a topping of flying fish roe was probably the least impressive - but still not bad. And with the "big spender" tofu - silky tofu with a sauce of scallops and mushrooms - it was just the thing I needed to fill me up on a rainy day. As usual I enjoyed the claypot kale with shrimp sauce - lots of places do it, but the one here is great, not too salty and the flavours really do get into the kale...

And of course, the star dish, the suckling pig was oh so crispy... yummmmmmm... though I can see how the head might be a little disturbing - my brain just shuts out bad thoughts of stuff like that though. But hey, if you can deal with a fish head, you can deal with a roast pig head.

The 3 boys seemed happy enough... though their only question was how they were going to come back again without me and order without any Chinese... the place didn't seem to have an English name! Though now that I look on openrice - it's called "Wall City Flavour" think that's a literal translation - there wasn't actually an English name at the restaurant... hahaha...

Anyway, the place was still a crowd pleaser... never mind that it is in the middle of nowhere for most people who live on HK island (it's near the old Kai Tak Airport, for those of you young uns who still remember it). It is admittedly a little bit of a trek (everything is relative and the main thing here is the lack of a MTR station) but I still think it's great once in a while - especially if you come here after an afternoon in Prince Edward at the flower market/bird market, cos then it's only a 5-10 min cab ride away. So looks like the emptiness was probably really just cos of the rain..Definitely coming back again...

Food, beer and service around HK$700 for four. Visa/Mastercard accepted. Reservations recommended.

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城寨风味 "Wall City Flavour"

九龙城南角道

6-6A Nam Kok Road 6-6A, Kowloon City

T +852 2718 0801

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How to get there:

There's a whole host of options with the mini-buses but I'm hopeless, my usual route is to get the train to Prince Edward and then get a cab outside Mongkok Police Station - think it's about HK$25 away then. Or I try and convince a friend who drives (and has GPS if they don't know Kowloon well) to come :) Valet parking is available...

Aside: the whole area is fantastic - there's a great beef place and also a load of Thai restaurants... will have to write about that next time...

Once upon a time...

2011-03-29T09:04:00.001-07:00

Just thinking about all the photos I have on my iPhone of food eaten and how I used to write this blog (while sitting at work at midnight waiting for someone to get back to me!). Good grief. Where has the last 3 years gone?! This simply will not do. DRASTIC action must be taken. And so it begins...

City dining

2008-05-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

(from left: Diver caught scallops, herb puree, caramelised baby onions, Alsace bacon, sauce Nero; Sea bass, caramelized pumpkin ,smoked paprika, lemon and garlic oil; St Marcellin, fresh pear, Poil.ne date and walnut bread)

As I live and work in the City, finding a good place for dinner is a constant crusade. There are a billion eateries, unfortunately mostly only open for lunch and usually never open on weekends. So in another of my more idle moments, I looked around Time Out London for some inspiration.

Sauterelle was what I came up with, close enough to work AND home and to the friend I was about to meet up with (he works around Liverpool St). Better yet, they had a 3-course set menu for £19.95 that looked promising.

The restaurant is housed in the very impressive Royal Exchange which somehow reminds me of the QVB in Sydney (probably because it's a period building converted into a mall with posh shops), on the first floor by the right nearest corner as you go in from the main entrance. The restaurant also has a bar, which was really busy compared to the restaurant at around 8 pm. The restaurant was only half full, and being a Friday night, I just put it down to people wanting to get as far away from work for dinner to celebrate the weekend.

We asked to be shown the set menus, which in typical set menu fashion had some nice things and some things I didn't quite fancy as much. (Objectively though, there was a decent choice - see menu below)

M E N U D U S O I R
AVAILABLE FROM 6PM - 2 COURSES .16.95 - 3 COURSES .19.95
Sweetcorn and potato velout., olive oil and parsley
Rillette of Bresse goose, kohlrabi remoulade, poil.ne melba
Sea bass, caramelized pumpkin ,smoked paprika, lemon and garlic oil
Sauteed featherblade of Longhorn beef, swede puree and red wine shallots
Saffron risotto, ameretti biscuit, parmigiano reggiano
Pineapple carpaccio, coconut glac. and vodka syrup
St Marcellin, fresh pear, Poilane date and walnut bread

Thankfully, my companion Y like some bits I didn't so we effectively ordered one set, and then ordered a la carte and shared. Y had the Rillette in the set, while I had the scallops (£12.50), both were competent and we had a quick wikipedia moment as we found out what rillette was (considering Y is Belgian and French is his first language and he didn't know, I didn't feel all that ashamed wiki-ing it) (fyi, it's very much similar to pate but the technique is different) - a good start when food provides entertainment (admittedly it wasn't trying to).

I had the sea bass, which was probably my favourite thing, I really do love fish with crispy skins! Although nowhere near as sublime as what I had in Can Fabes (see earlier post), it was still fresh and I mopped up all of it. Y had the Roast haunch of Yattendon venison, confit savoy cabbage, swede puree, sauce Grand Veneur (£17) and he seemed happy with his meat. We also shared some purple sprouting broccoli (all the rage in Spring London - I've had this four times already)

Portions are decent so we were pretty full at the end of it, and decided to just have the pear in the set to finish off. This was comforting though a bit lukewarm and quite sweet so I'm glad we shared - too rich for me, though I think Y might disagree and would happily have had this to himself.

We also had half a bottle of white wine and the bill came up to around £90 for two. All in all an enjoyable meal, not too poncy and service was actually friendly and attentive. Was thinking this would be a good place to bring a date to impress ;) especially if you're looking to do so around the City! Set menu is really good value for a place with such setting and for the area, but a la carte might be more prohibitive for regular dining (don't think they change the set menu that often). Even then, it's competitively priced when you compare it to the likes of the Pasternoster Chop House (which has hearty fresh food in a great ambience (more casual and suited for a big bunch of friends) but really quite pricey!).

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Restaurant Sauterelle

Royal Exchange

EC3V 3LR City

T: 020 7618 2483

W: www.danddlondon.com

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Can Fabes(ulous)

2008-05-16T03:49:00.000-07:00

Our Italian waiter with assorted loaves of bread

Part I of Guisantes y Habas: Gelee con una crema caliente, jamon y menta

Pescao de Mercado de la lonja de Blanes - cocido a la plancha con cocotte de verduras

Honestly thought we were on an excursion to a cute village somewhere to eat some rustic hearty (implication: cheap(er)) grub... the result of having not done my homework on the restaurant before. So yes, I looked at the website to figure out how to get there, but no I didn't read the bit about it being a 3 Michelin-starred restaurant...

So there we were in Saint Celoni, some 50 mins by train from Barcelona walking in a small little town before we found the restaurant in a cute little house. We were then ushered into our own private dining room (probably due to the beneficence of having our reservation made by a chef) - with gorgeous wooden beams - truly rustic. Our (Italian) waiter was fantastic, patiently explaining the Spanish menu to us, and his enthusiasm at explaining the bread was just marvellous. No snobs here - plus points!!

Thank goodness my travel companions CN, NH and RP were really accommodating and didn't even raise an eyebrow (or if they did, they were very restrained or I was too shocked myself to notice their reactions) when we finally sat down and opened the menus. Frankly I was gobsmacked. Just wasn't expecting starters to cost a minimum of €46! (damn the strong euro as well) And with my poor spanish, I first saw the tasting menu and the figure on the page was €250!!! (Turns out that was for the chef's table - tasting menu is actually an almost reasonable €140+) (it's all relative *shrug*)

Having only just had the tasting menu at ABAC the night before, most of our group of 6 were feeling too stuffed to have the tasting menu again. So we opted to have starters and mains, and decide if we could stomach dessert later.

Disclaimer: the names of the dishes below have been translated with my paltry Spanish and may not be entirely accurate, usually having omissions where I can't understand :P

We all opted for various different things, white asparagus with almond milk, onion cream and citrus peel; a two-part starter with the jelly and cold cream (gazpacho like), ham and mint in the picture with a second part being peas, poached egg, breadcrumbs and garlic; foie gras with shallots and salsa oil, langoustines with orange and tender (habitas); prawn ravioli with cep oil...

Everyone loved their starters but having nibbled (in true Asian fashion) a bit of everything round the table, I thought the prawn ravioli and the first part of the two part starter of jelly and cream were what really stood out. The prawn ravioli had a translucent lustre not dissimilar to soon kueh (but of course much finer) and was slippery with the texture being somewhat like a very fine dumpling (xia jiao or har kow). With the cep oil it was not too salty or rich, but tasted really fresh. Sublime.

As to the jelly with cold cream, ham and mint, it was a bit like a gazpacho since it was cold and creamy and had the freshness with the mint. We tried the bits to the dish separately and were unimpressed, but not (that) surprisingly when we mixed everything up, it was goooood. The salmon roe made the dish reminiscent in taste with Tetsuya's salmon sashimi and tobiko rice and the hot weather outside made this instantly refreshing.

For mains we had again tried different things, with the fish of the market, from Blanes market, grilled with a vegetable cocotte being my favourite. My dad loves ordering fish (our Cantonese blood) wherever we go but as much as I LOVE my steamed pomfret, sea bass etc, I usually find fish in European restaurants competent but lacking any wow factor. Here at Can Fabes though, the fish was excellent. The fish skin was nice and crispy, and the grilling with only a light sauce really flaunted the freshness of the fish.

Somehow the other fish dish, rape with snails and polenta paled by comparison - as there were more flavours there and might have been a bit too rich for me. Again relativity was at work, the other dishes were all well executed and yummy in their own way, but I tend to be more impressed when the flavours are milder and more subtle - I also get suspicious of the freshness of my food when it is drowned in rich sauce.

Portions were more than adequate (none of the namby pamby portions one associates with fine dining) and at the end of two courses we were all too full for dessert. But of course it's nice to end with a sweet note and the petit fours ended the meal perfectly. An assortment of tuiles (so thin and fine I could eat them all day and not feel like I've ingested a single calorie), madeleines (which joone normally professes to dislike but thought was really good after I nagged her repeatedly to try - I also do not care for madeleines normally: too sweet), chocolate truffles, marshmallows tasting of fennel, little fruit tarts etc. made us all happy bunnies.

Of, lest I forget, we also had the house cava (so good I brought one home, notwithstanding the risk of explosion after check in on the plane) and the house white (decent, but more forgettable). Joone and I also had a little tasting of their house red (approx €55) as joone was considering buying back, but I guess I didn't think it brilliant enough to pay for.

So what was the damage? Two courses each (with the usual amuses bouche and petit fours), with cava and plenty of white wine round the table came to €160 per person. The meal took about 3.5 hours and was thoroughly enjoyable (brilliant company plus brilliant food = always a winner!) Verdict? Can Fabes is truly fabulous cooking, and worth every euro (once in a long while)... I think it's made its way into my top 5 fine dining restaurants! (How on earth is this ranked below Hakkasan (which I love but simply don't think is as Faaabulous)?!)

Quick go, before someone discovers how amazing it is again and elevates the ranking (and price)!

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Can Fabes

Sant Joan

6 Sant Celoni

T: +34 938 672 851

W: http://www.canfabes.com

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Barrafina Bites!

2008-04-08T05:55:00.001-07:00

I've noticed how much I've been eating out, purely from my dwindling bank balance rather than my waist size (I elect never to own a weighing scale, except an electronic one for baking, and so remain blissfully unaware of the harsh realities of what daily three course european dinners can do to you).

I blame Tesco. I really do. Why can't they (or ANYONE) open a DECENT store near me, instead of that travesty of a Tesco Metro that they have (admittedly) two minutes from my flat? It doesn't even have mushrooms (not when I need them anyway)! Thus due to lack of inspiring ingredients, I find myself unwilling to cook anything besides microwave food, which though an extremely alluring option at work after weeks of the only slightly varying canteen menu, simply can't compete with the likes of all these Time Out Critic's Choices restaurants. Of course there's also the simpler explanation of just not having time to cook, particularly when out on the way to the theatre after work (but I needed some excuse to rant about my local Tesco).

And so it was, last Tuesday night, that prior to a wonderful night at Comedy Camp at the the Arts Theatre Club on Frith Street I found myself queuing for a table at Barrafina at 6 pm. My companion NH was convinced that no one could possibly want to eat that early and that we would get a table, so when we did eventually get there after a leisurely wander from Fleet Street, there were about 12 people in front of us. At 6 pm. This led to our usual conversation topic of how we can't understand (we know of course but understanding is something altogether) where all these people are from? Don't they have to work? Who's supporting this economy?! All the time blatantly ignoring the fact that we've scooted off work early (it's all relative) to be ready to eat at 6.

Anyway, I digress. NH was genuinely shocked, but I suppose he saw it as some sort of sign that it must be good. Though if not for the fact that it was another 2 hours to our show starting, I think he would have protested, and I would have found myself at the Nando's down the road. (no slur on Nando's I love it and just had it last night)

The restaurant only has around 25 seats around a bar, not unlike a sushi counter, so doing the maths, 25 seats, 12 ahead of us, we had a bit of waiting. Thankfully, the waiters do a great job of coming around to take your drinks orders and having some wine helps to keep you from staring too psychotically at diners' backs willing them to leave.

Nonetheless, I found the experience of drinking while waiting rather odd in this particular circumstance. I had always thought tapas were meant to be sort of like bar snacks one had with wine before (admittedly a very late) dinner. Except here the wine was clearly playing the supporting role.

Surprisingly the line does move quite quickly, I have a theory it's because you wait so long you're so hungry, you order really quickly, scoff your food down and therefore you're stuffed really quickly and then you have to leave to have a bit of a walk to digest it all. Either that or my staring at those people menacingly worked.

We took our seats right in front of the tortilla making zone. Fascinating. They make these really cute omelettes that look like large babybel cheeses in little brass omelette pans and then pop them out, pat them to check they're just the right squidginess before serving them! You have to see it to believe it.

Anyway, menu's are on the placemats so off we went, ordering the Jamon and Spinach Tortilla, Grilled Chorizo with Watercress, and one of the specials of the day, the featured Langoustines with Salsa - we thought we'd take it slow since we were still waiting for another friend. And yummmmmm... I'm not sure if it's because we had whetted our appetites gawking at other people's food for 30 mins but the langoustines were very fresh and lightly grilled, so that even the slightly uncooked bits tasted lovely. NH loved the chorizo (though I think he loves chorizo anywhere) and the tortilla hit a spot (moist and tasty and of course with the whole presentation it was hard not to love).

Inspired, we then ordered the Grilled Quail with Al-i-Oli, Chips with Brava Sauce and Pimientos de Padron. Think these were less impressive (again maybe because we weren't so hungry by now), though the quail was juicy and tender. The dishes arrived fairly quickly, so that when our friend arrived, we were already finishing...

All in all, a good meal, but far from cheap. Again everything being relative, this place is (from rusty memory) cheaper than its sister restaurant Fino. And you don't have to book, but then of course the downside is the wait. Another thing is that this doesn't seem to me to be authentic tapas (I'm not Spanish so I can't say authoritatively) but instead tapas for foodies - make no mistake, no one there thinks they're just accompaying bar nibbles - made with whatever's fresh and available (and accordingly adjusted prices for affluent Londoners). The people behind the counters are clearly trained professionals, rather than the bar's wife/mother/sister cooking from recipes handed down from generation to generation.

Nonetheless I really did enjoy myself. Food and wine were good and though the bar seating arrangement means that it's it's best a place for dinners for two and the perpetually long queues means it's not really a good place to really drink and graze (this is my own conscience at work - the staff were very sweet, and never once did they suggest we should eat quicker!). Definitely worth a go if you have time.

Food, wine and service for two around £55.
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Barrafina
54 Frith Street
London W1D 4SL
T 020 7813 8016
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Mozzarella anyone?

2008-04-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

If anyone has had the (mis)fortune to know me back in the day of ICQ, you'd have known that my ICQ nickname was "mozarella" and I was affectionately known by my ICQ friends as "mozzie" which really I think was their way of telling me that I was sponging on them way too often.

(Clearly I had not had the foresight to avoid giving my friends the opportunity of this declaration when I chose the nickname, which came about as I was chowing through a very delicious slice of pizza as I was creating my ICQ account and the cheese inspired me.)

Moving on some almost ten years

(Sorry, that realization almost knocked me out cold. *composing myself*)

Yes, moving on some almost ten years, and my taste in cheese as in many other things, seems to have changed quite a bit. Back then, I was quite fond of the harder cheeses, probably the result of my immature or romanticised perception of cheese - that cartoon emmental favoured by the likes of Jerry or Mighty Mouse. I still love very thinly sliced emmental in my roast beef sandwich from La Fontaine below my office in Hong Kong, and it's not that hard, but I also loved - cheese connoisseurs look away now! - Babybel and Kraft Singles... :)I think I only ever got as exotic as Gouda and Edam (don't laugh).

They seemed such tasty independent snacks, I could eat them without a cracker in sight! But of course I then got to know the wonderful Bries and Camemberts common at all those wine tastings (an all too common university student activity) and Carr's Table Waters became a standard feature of my larder.

Today I am still no connoisseur, and couldn't tell the provenance of my cheese (beast and country) even if it bleated at me. But having recently moved back to London, I am now able to indulge in tasting such varieties of cheeses from such fabulous fromageries as Neal's Yard, which is of course where this bevy of cheeses in the photo are from, from their Borough Market stall.

Thanks to C and R for snaring these British Beauties ahead of our trip to Provence (I think there's still something vaguely ironic about us bringing cheeses to Provence but I haven't quite put my finger on it). They were brought as a gift (or as penance) to our wonderful hosts, C's parents who had to tolerate us in their lovely home for four days. Looking back, I think we should have brought more.

They were labelled on the packaging and C's dad then cut out the labelling and stuck them on toothpicks (oh so cute) though one of the labels must have been lost which explains the mystery cheese. Anyway, the point of this story (not sure if there was one) was that I realised my love for soft cheeses as I dug into that Wigmore... Having said that, it's nice to have a variety of textures so don't think I'll be a cheese monogamist quite yet.

The other point was to use this opportunity to issue an order to my friends... Go forth and seek ye a good cheese shop, start trying loads of different cheeses before buying loads of cheese, have a cheese (and wine) tasting event every week and most importantly, don't forget to invite me.

The End.
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Neal's Yard Dairy

COVENT GARDEN
17 Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9UP
Tel +44 (0)20 7240 5700
coventgarden@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Thurs 11am to 6.30pm
Fri-Sat 10am to 6.30pm

BOROUGH MARKET
6 Park Street, Borough Market,
London SE1 9AB
Tel+44 (0)20 7367 0799
retail@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Fri 9am to 6pm
Sat 8am to 5pm
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PS C, R and J - if you're reading this feel free to put tasting notes on the cheese. Though J, I know you're still dreaming about that cheese at La Prevote so you might not remember these other ones so no worries.

PPS As a vaguely related but very random thought I've always found the idea of men rolling giant wheels of cheese down a hill incredibly funny, has anyone actually witnessed it?

Back in London (for now!)

2008-03-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it but I'm back in London where this blog started!! Literally years of neglect and thankfully still managed to remember the password (after 6 tries).

Unfortunately back to that position I was in in Hong Kong where I don't have internet at home (GASP! I feel like a relic of the past) so will have to update this blog at work when I'm free...

Have been terribly UN-dilligent at making food notes but of course have been trigger-happy in taking pictures of food (ah, the wonders of digital cameras) so what I might do is just post a montage of food photos with very very brief descriptions of what was good and wasn't over the last two years! (This requires a fair bit of work so I am likely to just give up!)

WhatI do promise (this has more probability) to write a post of my upcoming trip to Barcelona, where I will be dining at ABAC and Can Fabes, thanks to my well-connected food pal J (joonelovesfood.blogspot.com) - think we might do a joint post! Till then!!

The Goffle

It's... alive!

2007-10-02T23:21:00.001-07:00

Can't believe that after a year this blog hasn't yet been deleted. Since I'm always one to make excuses, I was busy! But then I wasn't anymore and just got lazy, with the added excuse that I coudn't remember the password... :)

Anyway, not sure if any of my friends still pop in to take a look!

In any case, I randomly made some mooncakes for the mid-autumn festival last week, so I'll put some pictures and the recipe up soon...

Hmmm... need to get internet in my new flat...

The Majestic scores!

2006-07-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

冰火榴槤 - Deep fried Durian Ice Cream atop Mango Puree

Once again sorry to my friend who's been staring at my Cheng Tng Jelly photos month after month in vain hoping for a new post.

So after dinner with him and my dear JC friends last night, I feel compelled to start my return to these pages with my experience with them at the newly-opened The Majestic.

Apparently there's been some hype about the swimming pool that has holes and looks down to the restaurant. My personal take is that it's more interesting for those who are lounging by the pool to look at what's being served up below, since for those dining, it's just like having an aquarium overhead to look at (that hardly seems AS novel), and the fact of the matter is, it's really rather boring, since the hotel is tiny, and the chance of someone beautiful in a swimsuit at dinner time is rather remote.

Anyway, the decor of the restaurant is rather bizarre. The rectangular high street restaurant tables are placed way too close to each other, though the seating is surprisingly comfortable. There is on the back wall what appears to be a rather odd sculpture, evoking for a friend the word "effigy" constantly, and for me, it just seems like someone's nailed old Polonius on the wall. Not sure if it enhances my dining experience.

There's also the strange plastic tube around the chandeliers, with ugly protruding wires, and a ketupat wall. Pardon my intolerance of the decor, it's just that I've been reading way too many interior design books lately.

Despite this, the food did not disappoint. We started with Drunken Chicken (S$8 per standard portion - probably the cheapest thing on the menu with 8 adequate portions) , served on curled up metal spoons, with ginger and spring onion, the dish was proficient.

What was truly inspired though, was the duck foie gras with Peking duck skin and jellyfish. This was served with the Prawn tempura with wasabi mayonnaise (together S$15 pp), on top of a slice of watermelon, but it was the foie gras bit that did more for me. The watermelon was refreshing, no doubt, but I didn't really feel it matched the prawn. The Peking duck skin was crisp and stayed so, despite it lying on the plum sauce (which wasn't too salty, just right to complement the foie gras) and placing a wee bit of jellyfish, foie gras, and skin on the lettuce leaf - definitely a must-try.

We followed this with the shark bone with fish maw soup (S$18 pp) which was thick and sweet, leaving us with sticky lips, something I aspire my home-cooked soups to taste like. However, this might be more for traditionalist Chinese soup lovers, especially since it's quite pricey.

Next up was the lamb chop (S$16 pp) was tender and juicy, served with a particularly eggy carrot cake (cai tau kweh, of course). While I considered while eating, that the portion was rather small, I've definitely had wayyyy tinier lamb chops, and the taste and texture more than made up for the lack in size. (Especially if we take into mind the individualism which I'll come to later).

A friend who didn't care for lamb had the Beef Striploin (S$14 pp) instead, another recommended dish by the menu, but he was far from impressed and stated the meal was unfortunately going downhill for him as he didn't really like the soup either.

Thank goodness then that for him, the meal was saved by (and for the rest of us, enhanced by) the Japanese Seafood noodle (fried ramen) (S$16 per std portion). This was served looking very much like your average ee-mein noodle at the end of your standard Chinese wedding/birthday dinner, but even as it was brought to our table, a woman at the next table couldn't help but comment how delicious it smelt. The noodles were fried perfectly al dente, coated in oil without tasty greasy, and adequately salt and comforting. With chili padi served on the side, it was cleaned up fairly quickly.

Finally we had 3 of the deep fried durian ice cream on mango puree (pictured above) (S$8 pp) and 1 yam paste (or nee) (S$6 pp). The yam paste was entirely disappointing, so give that a miss, but the deep fried durian ice cream was divine. Chunks of durian in the ice cream, with a coating, just like that of goreng pisang made this the highlight of my meal, particularly when paired with the mango puree (actually 杨枝甘露). It's actually rather amusing, since there are several dessert shops in HK that have 杨枝甘露 (Mango Puree with Sago and Pomelo) as a specialty and also usually have a durian speciality when in season, but I never thought how well the two would go together! An inspired pairing.

So did I have a good meal? You bet. The meal came up to S$80 pp which I felt was hardly cheap, but worth the money. Most of the dishes we wanted were served per person, so it all added up fairly quickly. There's 3 degustation menus, one at $65+++, one at $85+++ and one at $125+++. Unfortunately, we were bent on trying several dishes in combination that weren't on any of those menus. But I think the next time I'm back, I'll definitely try one of the menus.

There aren't many tables at the restaurant, so I can see how reservations would be essential.

Definitely saving this number on my mobile phone...

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The Majestic

New Majestic Hotel

31-37 Bukit Pasoh Road

Singapore 089845

Tel: +65 6511 4718

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It's not been deleted!

2006-07-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just read my previous post, and felt rather ashamed at my broken promise :p

This past year has gone so quickly, I can hardly believe it. In a way, I'm thrilled to finally be starting work again after so many years of postgraduate study. In relation to this blog, let's just hope that this will not mean any less time to search out good food spots, but rather that I'll have some sort of increased budget to spend on food!

And yes, my blog has yet to be deleted! I guess this means that I'll just have to start writing again... :D

Apologies

2006-01-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

It's been ages since my last post - sorry everyone! Honestly, the blame is all mine. I am such a slug!

I've been meaning to post something especially since I have been trying out a whole load of restaurants since I moved to HK, but sloth always gets the better of me. But I'm back! Had an utterly inspiring experience at Tetsuya's in Sydney last week so I'm determined to share the experience...

Thanks to all my friends who have been incredibly patient with me - I miss you all! And happy new year!!! May the year be filled with joy and lots of yummy food! Heh.

Love,
Nicole

Testing one two three: Cheng Tng Jelly

2005-08-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

A fine day in August in Singapore.

joone and I started off at the supermarket intending to make millefeuille but then we discovered that I actually had most of the ingredients at my place and since we were going to hers, we decided we had better make something else.

The result: Cheng tng or (really) Red Dates and Longan-tasting Jelly. I was very touched. June doesn't really have a sweet tooth, and is pretty anti-tong shui so I was surprised when she said she was thinking of experimenting with this.

And it wasn't too bad. Though it did take something like 2 hours, between boiling red dates, longans, and the other herbie stuff in the picture above on the right (actually most of it came in a packet) and pouring the konnyaku and stock mix into the moulds (which is harder than it sounds i assure you - the mix sets so quickly you barely even have time to say "damn").

I love the texture of konnyaku and since I am a tong shui fan, I think I'll be experimenting with converting lots of other types of tong shui into jellies like these, and thanks to joone for coming up with this!

Recipe:
1. Boil 8 red dates with 2 tbsps of dried longans and 30g of rock sugar for 20 minutes.
2. Cook 1 tbsp of barley separately, drain and set aside.
3. Add remainder of herbs (from 六味 packet - easily available at supermarkets) and barley and simmer for another half hour.
4. Pour mixture through sieve to separate the liquid from other ingredients.
5. From the cooked ingredients, cut up red dates, longans and snow fungus into small pieces, and place in small jelly moulds together with a few grains of barley.
6. Return strained liquid to pot and bring to boil quickly before turning of flame.
7. Add 120 g of konnyaku powder, and stir for 3 minutes.
8. Quickly pour liquid mixture into the moulds and chill for 30 minutes before serving.

Sketch: Lecture Room and Library

2005-06-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

It is absolutely atrocious how long I have taken to write this up... considering I went to Sketch sometime in March 2005! Rest assured I am suitably contrite.But better late than never. So here's what I remember of my lunch at Sketch. The restaurant has quite a reputation - one, for it's ability to bankrupt for dinners - it is opened by the legend Pierre Gagnaire after all; and two, for its Swarovski crystal loos.The good news is though, you can experience it all at the bargain price of 35 quid for lunch. Long live London and prix fixe lunches!

Food is competent and the thought has clearly been put into the decor, ensuring that its patrons know that they are leading the good life - think Dolce and Gabbana opulence = something out of *Wallpaper. In short, utterly enjoyable, especially when you think of how dinner at Pierre Gagnaire in Paris will set you back 190 euros +++ and prix fixe lunch 90 euros... I'd say it's worth visiting once, but only after you've done all my other favourites in London such as Gordon Ramsay (Royal Hospital Road please), The Ivy, The Electric Brasserie, Racine, Tom Aikens, Hakkasan etc.

Based on just lunch, this is one more for those living in London rather than visitors (time is way too precious). Of course, I haven't had the degustation menu (which is obviously only the real fair way of testing out a restaurant since it give the chef a chance to really impress) so I guess I'll be back when I'm next in London to pass more critical judgment on the food. And of course there's my hazy memory from time elapsed.

Desserts here are fancy (see picture above) but if u decide you can't have lunch, there's always the Parlour downstairs with all those desserts. Have to say it's a bit hit and miss though, the prettiest things were often marred by a hand too free with the sugar or by simply focusing too much on looks rather than taste (e.g. the macarons were too hard). So I suggest sticking with the safe conventional stuff like eclairs and the praline stuff...

Location is a plus too - the perfect chi-chi place to relax and gossip after hard shopping on Bond Street and to be pampered by the very friendly and attentive crew.

_____________________________

Sketch: Lecture Room and Library

9 Conduit Street, LondonW1S 2XG

+44 (0)870 777 4488

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The Electric Brasserie

2005-06-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Smoked Applewood Cheeseburger with tomato, chorizo & chilli relish and chips

The Electric Brasserie, home of the West London "cool" crowd and located right next to the brilliant Electric cinema - together they make the perfect way to impress a date without appearing to try too hard (eg by bringing her to some really posh restaurant).

The Crisp Pork Belly is extremely satisfying, as are the burgers, and the Barbary Duck Salad is one of the best salads I've had in London. This is upgraded comfort food in casual but hip surroundings and with lots of beautiful people to look at (i said beautiful, not famous, though you might just run into the notting hill set of jude law and co), yet without any snobbery. Cocktails are great too, and dinner usually comes to around £45 pp with drinks and service - pretty good value!

Great for catching up with friends on a weeknight or weekend and then popping into the cinema!

Electric Brasserie
191 Portobello Road
London W11 2ED
+44 (0)20 7908 9696
http://www.electricbrasserie.com/

Cheap eats: London

2005-06-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

Eating out in London can be expensive and it’s all and well if you’re minted, but if you’re a poor student (I’m about to be anyway) or are on an austerity drive for other reasons (eg to save up to go to El Bulli or French Laundry) and still want to eat good food then this list of cheap great places is for you. Average prices below include service, but not wine.

New Mayflower
One of the better restaurants in Chinatown. Even better if you understand Chinese and can order from the all-Chinese menu which has lots of special dishes unavailable at other restaurants. Particularly good are the 脆奶香芒帶子 (deep fried crispy custard balls with mango and scallops), 辣汁肉鬆玉子豆腐 (spicy sauce with minced meat and egg beancurd on hot plate) and venison with kailan and ginger. Best to go with at least 4 people so you can order more dishes – Chinese eating is all about sharing. My rule of thumb on how much to order. One dish per person will usually be enough, and will ensure you have a really good meal for about £12-15 pp!

Note: It’s open everyday, but only for dinner from 5pm to 4am. Reservations on weekends essential.

68-70 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6NA
Tel: 020 7734 9207

Busaba Eathai

Average price: £10

One of Alan Yau’s early successes (much cheaper than Hakkasan and Yauatcha and much much better than Wagamama). The tom yam chicken with rice noodle is wonderfully satisfying – chargrilled chicken in a not-too-spicy broth – while other favourites include pandan chicken, pad thai, chargrilled swordfish with lime and chilli and beef panaeng curry.

If you’re on a budget, the green curry fried rice with chargrilled chicken is also quite nice and pretty good for £5.90!

Tip: Try and go to the Store Street branch rather than the one on Wardour Street, simply cos it’s much less crowded. No reservations taken unless for big groups.

22 Store Street, WC1E 7DF
Tel: 020 7299 7900

106-110 Wardour Street, W1F 0TR
Tel: 020 7255 8686

Nyonya

Average price: £10-15
This is pretty authentic Singaporean/Malaysian food, even if not the cheapest. The ambience is much nicer than C&R or the Malaysian Kopi Tiam, with a more urban eatery feel like Busaba (above).

Try the Hokkien Prawn Mee, Char Kway Teow, Penang Laksa or Hainanese Chicken Rice, all around £7 each, and should be enough to fill you up on their own, otherwise the starters too are very good, but not as good value. No reservations necessary.

2a Kensington Park Road, W11 3BU
Tel: 020 7243 1800

Ikkyu

Average price: £10

Another good cheap eat tucked away in a basement next to Benjys (the sandwich shop) on Tottenham Court Road – always packed (only open Mon-Fri!) and with quite a few Japanese regulars. The set menus are extremely good value – around £6 for lunch and £7-8 for dinner with rice, pickles and good-sized portions of either teriyaki salmon, tonkatsu pork, breaded prawns or grilled mackerel etc. Reservations recommended.

67a Tottenham Court Road, W1T 2EY
Tel: 020 7626 9280

Kulu Kulu

Average price: £10

NOT Gili Gulu, which is just nearby. This is much better that Gili Gulu or Yo! Sushi – order a special handroll (with prawn tempura, spicy salmon, avocado and tiny fish roe) and eat like mad. Prices are per plate as in all kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi bars. The most expensive plate is only £3.60 – bargain!

The flagship is at Brewer Street, which is much older (it shows) and much more crowded (the wait there is sometimes 30-45 minutes!). There’s also another in South Kensington on Thurloe Place, which is quite new too. I suggest going to the South Kensington or Shelton Street ones especially when you want to eat out on a Fri/Sat night and haven’t made a booking anywhere else, since I’ve never had to wait for a place at either. No reservations necessary.

51-53 Shelton Street, WC2H 9HE
Tel: 020 7240 5687

Woo Jung

Average price: £12
Order the casserole – there’s quite a few but you really want the one with sake and beef, known to me and my flatmates as no. 66 on the menu.

One small one (£15) is enough to feed 3 people easily if you also order one or two other dishes. Spicy squid, raw beef and rice in stone bowl, and their speciality beef ribs are also extremely satisfying.

59 St Giles High Street, WC2H 8LH
Tel: 020 7836 3103

New Tayyabs

Average price: £10

In the East End where it’s all happening now, Tayyabs has been around forever but still has one of the best lamb chops around at incredibly cheap prices. Previously the place didn’t take reservations, but since it’s been refurbished it now does and I strongly advise to book if you’re headed there on the weekends as it can get manic!

83-89 Fieldgate Street, E1 1JU
Tel: 020 7247 6400
http://www.tayyabs.co.uk/

Daphne

Average price: £15

Taverna-style simple hearty Greek food just a few minutes from Camden tube – this is another great place to come with a big bunch of friends for lots of food and wine and to be as boisterous as possible. Service is very friendly and the waiters are more than happy to explain everything on the menu (in my case several times over because I am so slow-witted).

83 Bayham Street, NW1 0AG
Tel: 020 7267 7322

Pierre Victoire

Average price: £15

Part of a chain, but a cosy little place to get a good-sized steak frites and affordable red wine to wash it all down and pretend you’re at your local café/bistro in Paris. Set dinner done before 7pm is particularly good value (2 courses under £10!) – this is definitely one of the better places to eat at in Soho.

5 Dean Street, W1D 3RQ
Tel: 020 7287 4250

Shanghai Blues

2005-06-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

crispy pi pa duck served on thousand-layer bread/pancake

This restaurant opened just down the street from where I live about 6 months ago and somehow I never made my way even though I had heard pretty good things about it. Finally went today with 2 friends (one who's been before so he had a pretty good idea of what to order) and have to say - it's pretty good!

Shanghai Blues has drawn a lot of comparisons with hakkasan, and not just because the interior is fairly similar - dark walls, dark wood in a plush china club (hk)-style - but also because there are significant similarities in the menus.

Like hakkasan, Shanghai Blues serves dim sum as well as Chinese cuisine that is different from the standard fare in Chinatown. Besides focusing on perfecting some usual dishes (like the pi pa duck above and shanghainese soup dumplings (xiaolongbao)), the restaurant also has an interesting repertoire of nouvelle Chinese dishes, such as an excellent Fish wrapped in radish pastry (the pastry is similar to that in yam puffs), lo hon zai (vegetarian) cheung fun and green tea pudding (which was actually a Japanese matcha-flavoured pannacotta of sorts).

There's a lot of variety at Shanghai Blues, with something to please everyone, whether you're trying out Chinese as a foreign admirer or whether you're Chinese (like myself) - especially since the menu also has quite a few dishes with very traditionally prestigious (and weirder) ingredients like abalone, shark's fin and the like.

Pricing is slightly cheaper than hakkasan for yum cha (dim sum) but there quite a few special expensive items like the snow crab (which I've been told by friends is ridiculously overpriced at £30+ for a small portion) so care does need to be taken when ordering. Quality was also good on my visit. Since I had friends who had told me what to order beforehand, I thought the food was pretty delicious, and didn't have to deal with any of the misses they apparently had to before. Service is good, and the ambience is quite relaxing and a little less of an IT or "to be seen at" place like hakkasan.

My lunch came up to £60 for 3 persons (including tea and service) - and while not as cheap as my usual yum cha sessions in Chinatown (around £10-12 pp) or in Royal China (around £15 pp), which all serve pretty good even if not particularly inspiring dim sum, nor was I knocked off my chair - I think it's definitely good enough to give hakkasan a run for it's money.

Other notes: Just like hakkasan, you can have whatever's on the dinner menu during lunch time as well but not vice versa. However, almost all my friends who have been here agree that this place is much better for dim sum/yum cha than for dinner, and that hakkasan is definitely better for dinner. I might just try Shanghai Blues again for dinner just to find out!

__________________
Shanghai Blues
193-197 High Holborn
London WC1V 7BD
+44 (0)20 7404 1668
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Testing testing one two three: Crispy Chinese Chicken

2005-06-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

I was doing my usual rounds at the supermarket thinking of what to cook for friends coming over when I saw poussins and had a sudden craving for zha ji gai (cantonese) or zha4 zi3 ji1 (mandarin). Had ABSOLUTELY NO idea of how to make it but thought it couldn't be that difficult and figured poussins would make nice tender small zha ji gai.

After looking on the internet for recipes, I realised there's a reason why people usually go to the restaurant to eat this rather than make it at home. It's not impossible just a bit troublesome so it's probably only worthwhile making about 5 chickens at once for a big group of people and the thing is if you can buy this takeaway from your local Chinese restaurant, that's really much easier and probably will be yummier. Kinda like the other roast meats like roast duck, goose, or roast pork (siu yok) which is somehow just more delicious from the restaurant (I suspect this is to do with alot of experience, economies of scale and a proper roasting/bicycle pumping (see below) process).

Anyway, having already bought my poussins I thought I'd try it anyway. Was going to buy the hooks to hang them up like they do in restaurant windows but forgot so ended up air drying it in front of a fan.

The chickens need to be coated with tong cou (tang2 cu4) then air dried - and the process has to be repeated several times.

The poussins turned out flavoursome and tender but the skin wasn't crispy enough except for in certain sections (and for those who have not had zha ji gai before the whole point is paper thin crispy skin). I think it's like peking duck - you might actually have to blow the bird up with a bicycle pump to get the skin ultra crispy.

In any case, considering I'm moving to HK, so I'll have no trouble getting good zha ji gai , don't think I'll actually try the bicycle pump thing, but the flavours are pretty good so maybe I'll make it again when I'm really free and fight with my friends again over the really crispy bits.

Here's the recipe (my translation skills are quite basic).

Ingredients:
1 whole young chicken approx. 750 g
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp shaoxing wine (or Chinese rice wine/Japanese sake)

Seasoning 1:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger juice

Seasoning 2:
1/2 tsp peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp 5-spice powder

Poaching ingredients:
1tsp peppercorns
1 star anise
1/4 dried orange peel
1 piece cinamon bark
1 slice ginger
1 piece tsao-ko

Sugar-vinegar (tong co) marinade mixture:
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp chekiang (dark brown Chinese) vinegar
1 tbsp potato flour
1 tbsp water chestnut powder
1 tbsp rice wine

Method:
1. Wash chicken thoroughly and rub Seasoning 1 thoroughly in chicken cavity.
2. Put poaching ingredients in a muslin bag and into a pot with 10 cups of water, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt, shaoxing wine and the chicken, and simmer until the skin has detached from the meat slightly. Remove chicken from pot and let cool.
3. Mix marinade ingredients and heat slightly till melted. Coat chicken with marinade.
4. Rub Seasoning 2 thorougly in chicken cavity.
5. Hang chicken up in an airy place. Once the chicken is quite dry, put another coat and let dry again. Repeat 3 times and let the chicken dry completely finally.
6. Heat up a wok of oil and deep fry the chicken till golden. Serve whole or chopped up.

For those who want to try this without cooking, New Mayflower on Shaftesbury Ave in Chinatown does a pretty decent version.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon

2005-05-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

Ever since Robuchon announced the opening of this restaurant almost 8 years after he retired, there has been a huge disparity in reviews of the open-concept kitchen situated in Hotel Pont Royal on the Left Bank.

Perhaps important to note first of all is not to expect Robuchon to be in the kitchen – I have heard that he does appear once in a blue moon, but otherwise his completely capable disciples (who all have their own restaurants), Eric Bouchenoire, Eric Lecerf and Philippe Braun take turns to head the kitchen.

The extraordinary thing about the restaurant is its layout – diners are seated around what appears to be a huge sushi counter which has at its centre an immaculate kitchen – shiny black kitchen tops and lemons, garlic, peppers etc neatly arranged in metal racks. This means that you get to see your food as it is being prepared – which is more impressive than you might first think, since this isn’t just a teriyaki chef frying up bean sprouts and garlic in front of you.

The entrées work area was on one end, plats on the other – I couldn’t see the desserts being prepared as it was on the other side of the restaurant from where I was seated. This was all really quite inspiring. I was incredibly impressed with the pristine tidiness of the operation – entrées with a dozen different parts being assembled efficiently, ingredients being whisked out from invisible drawers and cupboards and prepared with minimal clutter, so that there was none of the mayhem you’d expect in any kitchen. Nor shouting, smokiness or anything of the sort. In essence, the antithesis of the mess I create when I cook. Not to mention it takes a lot of courage to put your whole kitchen on display – hygiene, staff behaviour not mention stress levels all have to be quite controlled.

No wonder then that when L’Atelier was opened it caused such a sensation. The food however while not terribly conservative, does not carry the shock factor of The Fat Duck. What is shocking is how this became one of the few meals I’ve had where there were a few hits, a few above-average dishes and NO misses. The worst dishes all had something to commend themselves, even if one might think, “This could be done better.” Mark Bittman of the NY Times is right – Robuchon has cut corners (by compromising his legendary perfectionism) to make the menu découverte relatively affordable. It’s a fine balance he’s playing with.

As evidenced by Robuchon’s plans to open them all over the world (he already has another in Tokyo), L’Atelier’s offerings may be slightly formulaic, but it is a good effort from his team of young chefs nonetheless and a chance to try some of his signature dishes (even if not prepared by the man himself – just as if you’ve ever tried to cook anything in Gordon Ramsay’s cookbooks, you’d truly appreciate someone else who is a better (and more organised) cook than yourself preparing his dishes).

The ingredients were fresh (I have no idea where the bad reviews on the staleness of the food comes from), and the menu découverte played this up by its focus on seafood – it had mussels, crab, cod and clams.

Utterly sublime was La Morue fraîche en imprimé d’herbes aux sucs de legumes, with meltingly smooth cod (think Japanese black cod with miso, but steamed instead of grilled/baked) in a sweet vegetable consommé and shrouded by a single square piece of thin white pasta (white and with the texture of Chinese kway teow but thinner and smoother) imprinted with a light green leaf pattern. I was bowled over and baffled by the subtle refreshing taste of that wondrous white sheet similar to mint, and then it struck me what it was (or at least I think) shiso leaf – which is the furry green leaf that comes with sashimi or sushi in proper Japanese restaurants.

Also quite good were L’Agneau de Lait des Pyrénées en côtelettes à la fleur de thym, baked milk-fed lamb cutlets which were herb crusted and a tad salty but very tender – my major complaint here would be that there were two pieces and they were so tiny they were each the size of a chicken wing. The lamb was served with a little dollop of Robuchon’s famous mashed potatoes – it is ridiculously smooth (though it’s no secret that this is just down to the right sort of potatoes plus lots of cream and butter so that it’s really a potato-flavoured butter purée); Les Parloudes facie à l’ail violet et aux champignons, clams baked with garlic and mushrooms with herbs – just as wonderful as escargots but without any of the ammonia aftertaste that you get after eating loads of snails (this isn’t particularly difficult to make and I shall certainly be trying it this weekend – I have a weakness for clams); and Le Tourteau dans une allumette friande et sa vouelle d’avocat épicée, basically fresh white crab meat inside a matchstick pastry roll (really a long spring roll) with spiced avocado – a perfect candidate to become a hit in chi-chi eating places like Momo Café in London.

The menu découverte:

Amuse bouche: breaded mussels with red pepper sauce

Le Tourteau
dans une allumette friande et sa vouelle d’avocat épicée

Les Parloudes
facie à l’ail violet et aux champignons

L’Oseille
en fin bouillon aux asperges vertes et foie gras de canard caramlisé
A sharp tangy apple-tasting sorrel soup with tender green asparagus and a cube of caramelised foie gras – the taste of green apples and foie gras is always a trusty combination but nowhere is this as good as the foie gras and green apple terrine I had at Tragabuches in Ronda and was rather average compared to the other dishes.

La Morue
fraîche en imprimé d’herbes aux sucs de legumes

L’Oeuf
Cocotte et sa crème légère de morilles
My 2nd poached egg cream with morels dish in the 3 days I was in Paris – this was perfectly soft-boiled egg with a few generous (but a bit too salty) morels on top and spinach at the base – also 2nd best among the 3 oeuvres cocotte I had.

L’Agneau de Lait
des Pyrénées en côtelettes à la fleur de thym

Les Fruits Exotiques
Dans une nage acidulée avec un sorbet au basilic
Fruit salad with light acidic soup and basil sorbet – served its purpose as a palate cleanser but nothing to write home about.

La Chartreuse
En soufflé chaud et sa crème glacée a la pistache
Ok, this is apparently another v. famous dish at L’Atelier where a scoop of pistachio ice cream is scooped into the soufflé – it didn’t taste cold like the pear bits in the soufflé I had at Aux Lyonnais but simply disappeared leaving only a very slight hint of pistachio in the soufflé which was lovely. Unfortunately this had a lot of chartreuse – which was a bit too strong for me.

Sounds good? It is – even if it’s far from perfect (since you know all of it could be done even better – maybe except for the cod) and the meal was fun. Great to go with a good friend or two to relax and have good food – but this is not one for lots of privacy (so not conducive to marriage proposals or REALLY scandalous gossip) or big groups.

As for the price – interestingly enough, many reviews have lambasted the place for being overpriced while others have cited it as one of the bargains in Paris. Oddly, both camps are right. Portions are very small (I could easily have eaten twice what I had – even though I felt the amount of most dishes was actually just right so that I didn’t get sick of them - the lamb cutlets though were extraordinarily tiny). Dishes on the grazing menu (Robuchon’s take on French food tapas-style) were also very expensive for their sizes (I kept looking at other diners who had ordered from the grazing menu).

My suggestion? Go for lunch and you’ll enjoy it. It’s a bit too light for dinner unless you’re a good boy/girl and go for the heavy breakfast-light dinner routine. As for whether €98 for the menu is too much to pay for lunch? Not if you’re crazy about the whole spectrum of food including fine dining. For haute cuisine, it’s actually decently priced (I’ve heard Le Cinq’s lunch set is a snip at €120 so we’re speaking relative to this). But don’t go if you feel you need to wowed off your socks by opulence and perfection – this is entry-level (but still good) haute cuisine.

To clarify the position on reservations: L’Atelier only takes reservations for 11.30 am and 6.30 pm – but I didn’t see a queue (as opposed to the ridiculous line I saw when I passed by 2 years ago).

Review by Analogy:
Like The Ivy (one of my favourite restaurants in London even if the chef isn’t particularly famous nor is the food really a out-of-body experience, but it’s consistently good food nonetheless and great ambiance), but definitely finer. [I’d class The Ivy’s nosh as good bistro food.] So if you like The Ivy or The Electric Brasserie and don’t feel like you’re being ripped off there then I’d expect to see you at L’Atelier soon. The relaxed (it doesn’t mean you’re not discerning, just less uptight about food) will be rewarded.

________________________
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
5 rue de Montalembert
Paris 7e
+33 (0) 1 42 22 56 56
________________________

Café Constant

2005-05-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Tartare d’Huitres de Marennes, Saumon, relevé au Gingembre; Pied de Porc Pané, Pomme Purée maison

As one of the best chefs in Paris (he won 2 Michelin stars at Les Ambassadeurs at Hotel de Crillon), it’s our good fortune that back in the late 1990s, Christian Constant decided to lead a bistro movement with several young chefs, serving classic yet affordable French cuisine in neighbourhood bistros. [PS this is a different Christian Constant from Christian Constant, the chocolate genius]

I have yet to try neither the other bistros by his protégés (which have also had great reviews) nor his main restaurant, Le Violon d’Ingrès but I was looking for great bistro food and given excellent reviews around many foodie websites, I dragged my 3 accommodating (thank you dears) travelling companions to rue St Dominique (without even checking if they were open – many other places I’d called were closed that May weekend) on Friday night, keeping my fingers crossed even as they looked so pitifully hungry and were asking me if I had any backup plans. I lied and said yes – partially true since we could always just go to my regular eats near Sorbonne even if it would mean taking the metro again and walking some more and I wasn’t sure they would have survived that.

Thankfully it was open. The place was packed and there was a queue in front of us – the place does not take reservations (though I have read somewhere that they might do for 5 or more people), but the chef’s Scottish wife, Catherine Constant, gave us a warm welcome and chatted with us and the other customers at the bar as she helped us to choose a light aperitif while we waited for a table (this took about 20 minutes).

As we were at the bar, I kept looking round at what one man was eating – since he appeared to be enjoying himself greatly – I asked what it was and he was full of praises for it – from his conversation with the staff it was clear that he was one of the regulars. But he was not the only one; there were loads of local residents in the place.

The menu is written up on blackboards and placed on your table before you order, with about 6 or 7 selections for each course, and selections for each course priced the same (except for one or two things needing modest supplements).

Food was good and in sizeable portions though some of it was rather forgettable – in particular one of the plats Escalope de Veau, Cordon Blue, Tagliatelle au Beurre was really a bit too normal and while the desserts were standard bistro choices and provided a really sweet way to end of a filling meal (eg the Millefeuille au Vanille, while a million miles away from the fine pastry and supposed 2000 layers in Pierre Herme’s millefeuille, tasted so richly of vanilla pods it was good even if not fine), they too were uninspired.

Of course though, that is sort of the point – you go to your local bistro for good comforting food rather than anything fancy. In other words, this is the perfect kind of place to bring one’s parents to (or anyone else with conservative taste buds and scorn for paying for haute cuisine).

Really good stuff were my entrée, Tartare d’Huitres de Marennes, Saumon, relevé au Gingembre, which was chopped raw salmon and oyster with ginger and spring onion served in the oyster shells; and my friend Lips’ plat, Pied de Porc Pané, Pomme Purée maison, done alla Milanese but was incredibly tender (just like confit de canard).

When I passed by the kitchen I saw Christian Constant at work, explaining something very seriously to another chef – I guess that’s the point of having all your restaurants on the same street, you can always keep on top of things!

Around 10 pm, people were still wandering in but last orders had been taken so they had to be turned away looking very disappointed but promising they’d be back.

All in all, the bill came up to €150 for four (including service and our aperitif plus my extra glass of white wine) – an absolute bargain for a good hearty meal, friendly service and a lively local atmosphere. Haute cuisine this isn’t and even if not all the food was as brilliant as I hoped for, I still wish Café Constant was my local!

_______________________________________
Café Constant
139 rue St. Dominique
Paris 7e
+33 (0)1 47 53 73 34
http://www.leviolondingres.com/eng_menu.htm
_______________________________________

Aux Lyonnais

2005-05-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

(clockwise from top left: œuf cocotte aux morilles et écrevisses; gigot d'agneau de lait rôti, pommes boulangères à notre façon; soufflé Williamine, sorbet poire; and Quenelle et écrevisses)

I made a reservation here at noon to attempt to fit in as many meals I could in a day (including tea at Ladureé) and then thought to myself: the restaurant's going to KNOW I'm a tourist - who on earth in Paris eats lunch that early?!

So I was much relieved when I arrived at noon and the restaurant was already half full, and they were turning away people without reservations.

It is perhaps unsurprising that Aux Lyonnais is such a successful venture. Lyon is widely considered to be the heart of gastronomy in France and Aux Lyonnais serves hearty bistro (or bouchon) food with the subtlety and excellent usage of seasonal produce representative of Lyonnais cuisine.

First of all, some advice - skip the menu du jour. My friend had this and spent the entire meal wishing she had ordered à la carte. The menu isn't bad at all and for 3 courses at 28 euros represents fairly good value. BUT there are extremely alluring options on the à la carte and if like me, you don't live in Paris and only get to go once in a long while, then eat at McDonald's for dinner if you have to, but order from the à la carte!!

To illustrate, my friend had for her starter, as part of the menu, salade de groin d'âne, œuf mollet in other words a caesar salad of sorts with bacon and poached egg, which was delicious (I'm a sucker for anything with poached eggs) but rather uninspiring. I had the œuf cocotte (also poached egg in a steamed custard like mix with morels (as you can see from my other writeups on this trip to Paris, morels were in season so they popped up absolutely everywhere) and crayfish tails - which was the best œuf cocotte I had this trip - smooth, oozing, full of the sweetness of crayfish. And when my friend tried some she swore she was going to have it the next time. Even the next table were impressed.

Mains too did not disappoint - lamb was tasty and moist complemented by little baked slices of potato and toppings, and the crayfish and quenelles (a sort of dumpling) from the menu was new to us.

As for dessert, the pear souffle I had was enormous. I know it doesn't quite show up in the picture but I've never had a souffle that huge. And while I'm not crazy about souffles, they are really magical things - kinda just one grade down from xiaolongbaos! I suppose it's the impermanence of the souffle... and anything with lots of air always seems like fun (like the current worldwide culinary obsession with froth). And the size! Things that are unusually big or tiny are always so endearing. As for my friend's rice pudding with red fruits - I'm incredibly biased towards "rice pudding" so I didn't try it but she did say it wasn't bad just a little too ordinary.

Anyway, I had lots of fun at Aux Lyonnais. Even after many other delicious meals, I remain convinced I'll be back the next time I go to Paris. And while this might be one of Alain Ducasse's restaurants, you won't have to pay through the nose for the privilege. We didn't have wine, but my share of the meal (including water and service) came up to just under 60 euros... well worth it considering how warm and fuzzy I was upon leaving the restaurant!

____________________

Aux Lyonnais

32 rue Saint-Marc

Paris75002

Tel: +33 (0)1 42 96 65 04

Métro: Bourse

___________________

Al Duca

2005-05-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

Zucchini and Taleggio parmigiana with autumn leaves and salmoriglio sauce

Some friends and I were going to watch a movie at Leicester Square and wanted to try something new around the area. Al Duca popped up favourably as a "bib gourmand" in the Michelin guide so it seemed like a good choice, considering I had never heard of it despite it being fairly close to my office.

Problem was we had dillydallied about where to go for dinner so by the time I called to make a reservation at 3 pm, I was told that they only had one table available at 6.15 pm and that they would need it back by 7.30. Considering the movie was at 8.30 we figured we’d try and eat quickly.

Anyway, when we got there the restaurant was already almost full - surprising given the early hour and that the place was actually tucked in a side street between Piccadilly and Duke of York Square. There was a good mix of well-dressed families with little kids, couples and just groups of friends - in a relaxed and elegant dining room.

As we were already running late, we ordered almost immediately. The manager was very jovial and actually sat down next to my friend, recommending us various specials. When I asked to look at the set menu though, he was rather dismissive, saying “Are you going to finish eating by 7 pm?” which obviously we weren’t going to, before telling us that the pre-theatre dinner for £16.50 for 3 courses was only available between 6 to 7 pm. This I found rather odd, since most places actually state the time as when you must order by rather than when they’re going to kick you out, and since we were going to be kicked out anyway at 7.30pm I thought this was slightly ungracious of them.

Since we were already there we weren’t about to quibble over this – and the set dinner of 3 courses for £24 (you can also have 2 courses for £20 or 4 for £28) seemed to be reasonable anyway so we went ahead and ordered. My crabmeat ravioli (special of the day – £4 supplement – was fresh but not particularly stunning), but my companion’s Parmigiana was apparently very good, as was the poached egg with crusty parmesan, bacon, potatoes and sautee mushrooms. Mains were equally satisfactory – my Veal Milanese was tender while my companions’ main-sized pastas too were tasty.

After we had finished out mains, our friendly Italian waitress cleared our plates and asked us if we wanted dessert, but since it was almost 7.30, we declined despite me being sorely tempted by a pistachio crème brulee.

Strangely enough, the standard of the food, I felt, was about the same as Refettorio, but at a slightly more reasonable price, with the bill coming to £26 pp including service, though admittedly w/o wine/cocktails and only 2 courses.

I’m starting to think that I’m becoming a little jaded (and spoilt), but Al Duca didn’t inspire any feelings either of “We simply have to come back soon!” Pre-theatre seems like good value, but given that many restaurants also do good pre-theatre menus, eg Criterion or Quo Vadis (both Marco Pierre White restaurants incidentally), Al Duca probably excels more as the sort of place to deliver reliably above-average food at a fairly reasonable price for its location (Green Park/Pall Mall) – even proper dinner will hardly break the bank. I can sort of see how it got its "bib gourmand" award, but I can think of a lot more that should be but aren't.

(aside)
Refettorio and Al Duca are not pizzerias, so one can’t really expect very cheap food and pizzas. It’s really more of a trattoria/ristorante. While this is sort of the distinction can be hazy, since it is possible for a trattoria to be more expensive that a ristorante, just as a meal at a brasserie can cost more than that at a bistro, it really just boils down to the complexity/(and ideally finesse) of the food. You tend to have more courses at a ristorante/restaurant (‘restaurant’ in France is usually reserved for haute cuisine) and fewer at a trattoria/bistro (which also have a more informal atmosphere). Pizzerias and brasseries are places that open at all hours and serve food that can be made quickly or prepared in advance – eg pizza, lasagna, raw oysters and steak frites or steak tartare etc.

___________________________________
Al Duca
4-5 Duke of York Street
London SW1Y 6LA
+44 (0)20 7839 3090
http://www.alduca-restaurant.co.uk
___________________________________

Refettorio

2005-05-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

My flatmate tried to book Locanda Locatelli for her birthday dinner but being last-minute, could only get a table for 10 pm. Being a school night and all, she decided instead to have it at Refettorio, Giorgio Locatelli’s other venture in the City.

Since I have never been to LL, I can’t really compare the food but Refettorio was well... decent. Ravioli with smoked mozzarella and sundried tomatoes was yum, but all the other stuff was just average, or only slightly above average – eg the roast guinea fowl which looked nice enough on the plate (see picture) but was a tad too chewy and really quite normal. The pan-fried beef fillet with herb crust served with mushrooms was done just right but none of us felt that it was particularly special. The sorbet was quite refreshing, but again nothing particularly wow.

The place, relatively speaking (this is a hotel restaurant after all), was not ridiculously expensive – starters and pastas between £7-11.50 and mains between £16-21.50, desserts £5. The bill came to about £40 pp (including a nice cocktail and 2.5 courses each, water and service) and I suppose I wouldn’t mind going if I worked nearby and was on an expense account like the other suited diners. But since I don’t and I have so many more restaurants to try before I leave London, I doubt I’ll be back.

_____________________
Refettorio
Crowne Plaza London
19 New Bridge Street
London EC4V 6DB
Tel: +44 (0)20 7438 8055
_____________________

Testing testing one two three: Shanghai surprise!

2005-05-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me intimately knows I am quite crazy about shanghainese xiao long baos (aka "shanghainese soup dumplings").

The western world has a bad habit of naming almost everything they can't understand in oriental cuisine a "dumpling". Siu mais are dumplings, Bak zang or rice dumplings are dumplings, har gow are dumplings, sooi jing bao are dumplings and even tang1 yuan2 are dumplings. And let's not forget English dumplings too. (which I can't understand)

Given xiao long bao's resemblance to sooi jing bao (shui jing bao) it is unsurprising then that it too has fallen into the GENERAL category of dumplings. But I personally think xiao long bao belongs to a league of its own. (the name incidentally, literally translated, just means small bamboo steamer bun - which I admit isn't very poetic... )

What makes this dish special is what happens when you bite into one of these cuties - a sweet consomme immediately oozes out, filling you with a warm fuzzy feeling. In the words of my flatmate, what they really are are exploding soup parcels!

I think I first had the idea of trying to make some when speaking to Joooone! about new cooking projects we had in mind and somehow I mentioned xiao long bao (I always mention it as one of my favourite foods - my mom who has no interest in shanghainese food thinks I'm mad) - it always seemed a bit too ambitious but I thought "what the heck" - the worst thing that could happen would be that my flatmates and other guinea pigs would throw me looks of disgust (and it's not like that I haven't had those before).

In the end what I found was that it wasn't that hard to make xiao long bao - and I'd like to think mine turned out fairly decent (see picture above). What was difficult though was getting the pastry consistency right and I think I'm going to practise a few more times and when I get it right I'll be sure to post the recipe here.

fei2 ya1 zheng4 zhuan4 (or "Green Eggs and Ham")

2005-05-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

(clockwise from top left) Oyster, passionfruit jelly, horseradish cream, lavender; Pommery grain mustary ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho; Jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras; Snail porridge, Poache breast of Anjou pigeon pancetta; Bavarois of basil, beetroot jelly; Parsnip cereal; Smoked bacon and egg ice cream

The best restaurant in the world?
So on a sunny Saturday in April I set out with 3 similarly gluttonous friends in a rented car to Bray. Getting to The Fat Duck was fairly easy thanks to the expert driver (OLY) who incidentally had just been to Waterside Inn (just down the road from TFD) the week before.

The restaurant is a rustic cottage of sorts - low ceilings, dark wood beams and (thankfully!) none of that minimalist modern sharp lines that seem to have taken over the restaurant world (more on that in another post save to say that it's quite nice but it does get SOOO boring). In fact the uneven walls and beams helped to create a rather intimate setting - not at all stuffy. It was comfortable and rather relaxing without anything too distracting, though I can't say I noticed too much once the food arrived (which is perhaps the point of simple décor). Our waiters were also very helpful - explaining each course in turn to us (they must do this a million times a day since everyone seemed to be there for the same menu!) service was generally attentive and unobtrusive.

Having cursorily considered the set lunch and the a la carte menu, we decided on the menu dégustation (having come this far, there really isn't any point having anything else - ok so it's not that far but when you've actually rented a car just to come for this meal!). I think we considered the other two options really as a brief courtesy to my wallet (my friends are flush financiers so money is really not a problem), but I'm sure the choice was obvious for all of us even before we got there.

After consultation (SJ for red and me for white) with the friendly sommelier we were recommended a Baron Heyl 2002 Estate Riesling and another red (which was alright but paled in comparison so much to the brilliant white that none of us can remember what it's called). The Riesling was very rounded, with just the right sweetness, dryness and fruity substance. The red was more mediocre but the two bottles were priced very reasonably, with the Riesling at £28 and the red at approx £35.

Anyway, down to the food (combining OLY and my thoughts - another of us has put up his own review while the fourth diner has approved both)... [ click here for more pictures and another magazine review]

We were first presented with 5 amuses bouche:

i) NITRO-GREEN TEA AND LIME MOUSSE
This was mousse prepared in liquid nitrogen in a metal container (making the whole process look like dry ice being used at weddings) in front of us looking a bit like a squirt of hair mousse so we were very intrigued even as the waiter explained how it was done (a concoction of vodka, lime and green tea foamed in a whipped cream canister and then "poached" in liquid nitrogen).

This was interesting much more on the texture front than on taste - it appeared somewhat like a meringue but the mousse melted straightaway on the tongue leaving only a very light taste of green tea and lime. This would be what I'd imagine clouds to taste like in a magical foodie land! We were all like kids in a toy shop at this point: ooohs and aaahs. Anyway it was perfect for cleansing the palate to start on our food journey

(The ephemeral nature of this amuse bouche meant that it was impossible to take a picture of - sorry!)

ii) ORANGE AND BEETROOT JELLY
This was orange-coloured jelly (looking like rowntree's jelly cubes) tasting like beetroot and beetroot-coloured jelly tasting like orange - designed to confuse the brain. However, other than that it wasn't particularly memorable.

iii) OYSTER, PASSION FRUIT JELLY, HORSERADISH CREAM, LAVENDER
A raw oyster on the shell presented on a black stone slab. This combination was a dream - an absolutely fresh oyster accompanied by slightly tangy passion fruit jelly and smooth horseradish cream (for just that little bit of Tabasco-like kick) and fragrant lavender. I could so easily slurp a dozen of these. However, while the lavender adds a very distinctive taste I'm of the personal opinion that it would have tasted just as wonderful without it, though perhaps presentation-wise, the little bit of purple does look great against the yellow jelly!

iv) POMMERY GRAIN MUSTARD ICE CREAM, RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO
The first of non-conventional ice creams in the menu, the mustard ice cream was really yummy and not at all shocking especially when paired with gazpacho. [Once you're used to ice-cold soup (I used to think it terrible till I got hooked on it in Andalucía - it's the perfect summer soup!) then mustard ice cream isn't such a big leap.] I loved the presentation here too - striking colours - very Spanish in spirit! The gazpacho itself was brilliant, full of everything that is wonderful about red cabbage without being overpowering.

I wanted to ask for more of this but was afraid I'd be turned down like Oliver Twist.

v) JELLY OF QUAIL, LANGOUSTINE CREAM, PARFAIT OF FOIE GRAS
All three ingredients are particularly strong flavours but they complemented each other well - in fact it was quite sublime. However, this clearly wasn't that shocking a combination (relative to eg bacon and egg ice cream) and was simply an example of good execution.

Next up were various starters -

SNAIL PORRIDGE Jabugo Ham, shaved fennel
While this dish sounds like something out of a Roald Dahl book (and the porridge's bright green made it look like it too!), I'm sure being fans of escargots all of us were thinking "this should be good!" Unfortunately somehow this didn't quite do it for me (or my fellow diners). It wasn't bad, just rather bland and sludgy and at a weird temperature (seemed to have been left out too long). While the Jabugo ham felt a bit too dry. And the snails looked so unattractive out of their shells.

ROAST FOIE GRAS Almond fluid gel, cherry and chamomile
This was meltingly smooth - perfectly roasted with the slight caramelised edges - another example of good execution and a respite from his "nostalgic" creations. The Amaretto-flavoured jelly added a nice touch with the cherry, though the chamomile white foam tasted not much of anything. (OLY hates chamomile tea but was pleasantly surprised that it didn't taste like that - otherwise though it was just foam.

SARDINE ON TOAST SORBET Ballotine of mackerel "invertebrate", marinated daikon
The "sorbet" was actually quite creamy although it didn't have the consistency of ice cream - OLY felt that the mini toasted brioche/fish (can't remember) was very forgettable because it tasted very fishy and in fact smelt like slightly-off fish. I just felt it was too fishy (never been a sardine on toast fan - despite loving fish generally) and the salmon roe probably didn't help. The point here again was to confuse the senses which it did but unfortunately for me, not in a good way.

On to the entrées -

SALMON POACHED WITH LIQUORICE Asparagus, pink grapefruit, "Manni" olive oil
The thing about liquorice is you either hate or love it. Rather regrettably, the waiter had asked us before we embarked on the menu if there was anything we hated and we said "no" - of course we forgot that we hated liquorice, but we hardly expecting it in such a large quantity nor did we realise it was going to be on the menu! Anyway, this was salmon covered in a slightly shiny black liquorice jelly, with the salmon perfectly cooked with the middle being slightly rare. Since I hate liquorice it was worse because the flavour had permeated into the salmon but I can imagine that if you loved liquorice this would be a dream - I can't really comment on whether liquorice goes with salmon just 'cos my mind just went "eek!".

This made the nicest part of the dish (for me and OLY at least) the asparagus! (also cos I think the dishes up to then had not had any whole vegetables)

POACHED BREAST OF ANJOU PIGEON PANCETTA Pastilla of its leg, pistachio, cocoa and quatre épices
This was one of the best dishes on the menu on just taste and execution, though interestingly again, it was not one of the "nostalgic" dishes. I love game and the pigeon was gorgeously pink and tender, with a slight saltiness reminiscent of cured meat. (owing undoubtedly to the pancetta)

The "samosa" though wasn't special - this combination is often used with pigeon and does work well but I felt I've had better even at places like momo café. While at the time we were full of praise for this dish, looking back I almost feel instinctively that I've had or can have better pigeon somewhere else. Maybe cos the leg was served without skin - and I do so love crispy skins! Besides, if getting the right level of cooked-ness is just about controlling the temperature, then the other accompaniments should really have been what made the pigeon brilliant, but it didn't really - it was all perhaps a little too subtle for my unrefined palate. I did like the cured taste (sort of chicken plus bacon combination) but pigeon on its own already possesses a marvellous taste and I'm not sure if the pancetta actually took away some of that wonderful gaminess.

Very good then, but a tad short of brilliance.

We were now ready to move on to the introductions to the desserts although interestingly enough, at this stage, being ½-way through the menu, we actually thought that we might be hungry later and might just have to pop by for something else on the way home!

i) WHITE CHOCOLATE AND CAVIAR
Served on a metal stand, the contrast of the white chocolate discs and osetra looked lovely - the tastes interestingly blended too - with the sweetness of white chocolate offset by the saltiness of osetra.

ii) MRS MARSHALL'S MARGARET CORNET
This was rather gimmicky - we were given a small leaflet explaining who Mrs Marshall was (the inventor of the edible ice cream cone) and were presented with tiny ice cream cones together with a sugared rose petal to be eaten afterwards. It was all very cute but I can't remember now what flavour the ice cream was except that it was fruity (maybe peach?). In a way I almost feel as if we were so caught up with reading the little piece of paper that that was why we couldn't remember what flavour it was or perhaps it really was just not very memorable.

iii) PINE SHERBET FOUNTAIN
Hilarious - this was a little rolled up contained of very fine sugar that melted immediately on the tongue, giving a high dosage of saccharine. There was quite a lot of this but it was amusing and reminded me somewhat of the "nerds" sweets I had as a kid. Maybe this should be introduced to coke fiends but they might just develop diabetes instead.

As for the proper desserts -
MANGO AND DOUGLAS FIR PUREE Bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet
Couldn't really taste the lychee in this (maybe we're all too used to the really strong taste of lychee in our martinis at zouk). Anyhow this didn't taste bad at all - but neither did it grab me nor have me gushing. By now I was starting to suspect that desserts might not be Blumenthal's strongest suit. (ie competent but not amazing)

CARROT AND ORANGE TUILE, BAVAROIS OF BASIL BEETROOT JELLY
I believe we had specific instructions to eat these in order - the first tasted exactly like carrot and orange (for some really good tuiles, I think Tom Aikens is a star), the second exactly like basil, and the third like beetroot. Introducing basil in dessert is rather extraordinary though and since none of these are really dessert-sort of ingredients perhaps they were designed to provide a buffer before we went on to the atypical savoury dessert.

Before we went on to the legendary bacon and egg ice cream though we were given a cereal box with a little packet of parsnip cereal and a little pitcher o parsnip milk. To me this was just TOO gimmicky. Taste-wise: it wasn't bad but I think Blumenthal could have done away with this entirely. It didn't add anything and if anything is what turns most of his greatest critics off - that he tries TOO hard.

SMOKED BACON AND EGG ICE CREAM Pain perdu, tea jelly
This really messed our brains up, tasting perfectly of bacon and egg but in the form of ice cream. The pain perdu was good, and tasted like crunchy sweet French toast/waffle with maple syrup like crunchy sweet french toast/wafffle/maple syrup... However, I don't think I'd keep a regular tub of the stuff in my freezer if it became available at tesco's.

The tea jelly served in a little half egg-shell shaped cup was great though and was the perfect accompaniment to the salty ice cream - light and refreshing. Think this was the last memorable thing in the menu too... since already our minds were wandering. At this stage i think we were matching the little egg containers to see if we put two together they'd fit (obviously we knew they wouldn't but that didn't keep us from trying).

LEATHER, OAK AND TOBACCO CHOCOLATES PRALINE ROSE TARTLET
OLY felt the praline rose tartlet was just "bai sui" (to look pretty) only and really just for pple who want a sweet ending. I agree, since this just tasted like an inferior version of laduree's (in paris) rose macarons. The chocolates though were quite special (despite sounding extremely dubious). We were pleasantly surprised that the leather chocs tasted quite nice - chewy texture was particularly good since it was not at all sticky like caramel. The oak ones weren't too bad too, with a slightly solid musky taste. But the tobacco ones were just WRONG. They tasted like tar and according to OLY, road (although I have no idea how she knows what the road tastes like). This reminded me of the Harry Potter jelly beans that came out after the movie - I actually tried a grass one and it really tasted like grass. ___________________________________________________________________
In conclusion then, clearly there were both hits and misses. Although admittedly some of the "misses" came down to a cultural bias (eg the salmon poached with liquorice and the sardine on toast sorbet), I felt a nagging feeling that Blumenthal has spent so much time in his molecular gastronomy/food alchemy/culinary constructivism that his food lacks the spontaneity and the passion of chefs who work with whatever is freshest on the menu that day.

Arguably his goal is different - to present a whole different view of what food can be to his diners, by playing with textures and flavours and linking them to our memories, as evidenced by his "nostalgic" dishes. Also, judging from how we felt that his best dishes were in fact those that were simply well-executed and ungimmicky, there is no doubt that the man can really cook, and I suppose, having reached that stage, he feels a need to foray into something a little more special.

Yet spontaneity is something I admire a lot in chefs. Blumenthal's operation seems a bit *too* put-together, just as we'd imaging big food giants to research into what we'd like to eat or not and all this emphasis on psychology takes away from the food itself. A Willy Wonka he might be, but remember Willy's failed experiments!

All in all, I don't think this would be the best restaurant in the world. (I think we can only really judge TFD against El Bulli and French Laundry since they do sort of aim for the same effect and when I've tried the other two I'll let you know. Otherwise "the best restaurant in the world" is really an unrealistic award)

Nonetheless, I would recommend at least one trip to The Fat Duck for the menu dégustation. The meal was highly enjoyable (even with the misses), the service was very good, and at £135 per head (including 2 bottles of wine shared between 4 people), hardly extravagant compared to haute cuisine in Paris. And hype aside, Blumenthal has made eating fun. My fellow diners and I demonstrated excitement at a dining table befitting of 7 year olds)

Further, Blumenthal might not have invented the idea of food psychology but he is trying to innovate and run against what many critics have commented on: the stagnation of haute cuisine. His constant experimentation with new techniques is also commendable.

At the same time, I DO hope that he'll change his menu degustation soon (he hasn't seem to have changed it for YEARS! And when that time comes, I'll be sure to go try it again. Otherwise I'll be saving my money for my trips to Paris and finishing off my must-eats in London.

Despite thinking we'd might be hungry at the end we felt content - ready for a meal in another 3 hours or so! So thumbs up for "just right" tummies where others have failed. (usually I am bloated after having tasting menus!)

Side note: I've also heard that the a la carte is very good and may be worth visiting again for - it showed less adventurous dishes but since Blumenthal has showed his execution skills are rather good (though I feel, less polished than Gordon Ramsay), I might just pop in to check it out if I'm around the area.
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THE FAT DUCK
www.fatduck.co.uk
High Street
Bray, Berkshire SL6 2AQ
+44 (0) 1628 580 333
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2005-04-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

The world is my (very yummmy) oyster.

in defence...

2005-04-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

... of me saying that blogs are incredibly stupid and then going on to create one. ^_^ after reading a whole load of food blogs (through many a misspent hour during work) i now realise the folly of my previous view and hereby do humbly and solemnly retract my words. so here i present a new blog - one intended to document my travels and food experiences - and to prove to my friends that i am as weird as they think i am! all comments invited - just try to keep the swearing to a minimum (in any case it's only allowed eg in the "it's fucking amazing/good." context as used by certain people (you know who you are :)) oh and the word "turban" will be banned unless i find some sort of food related to it... (you know who you are too :p) otherwise... i hope this website will amuse someone besides myself!

bon appetit et bonne journee!