December 2013 - Eating out

It seems to have been quite a long time since I last blogged. This isn't because I haven't been eating out at all. I haven't made it to any michelin starred restaurants yet this month (although this will be happening during a trip up to Yorkshire before the end of the month). I have eaten at some really nice pubs/restaurants and I thought I'd share a few highlights in one blog.

1. Good Food Show-Afternoon tea in the Great British Bake Off Tea Garden, the NEC
I had a really good time at the Good Food Show. I soon got into the swing of trying all the free samples (not sure it was such a good idea to try wine, vodka, gin and more wine?!) and really enjoyed the James Martin/Tom Kerridge double act in a Saturday Kitchen Live show (even more exciting given the planned trip to the Hand and Flowers in January). Then it was off to have afternoon tea (not really in a tea garden, but a bit of the NEC that had been cordoned off). There was a decent cup of tea and nice selection of cakes (although by this point I was already a bit full from everything else I'd been sampling). The last series of Bake off was the first one I'd really got into, but I'd missed it since it had finished and had even started baking myself (see next blog). So it was also nice to see some of the "stars" of the show signing autographs and demonstrating recipes.

Afternoon tea selection 

2. The Pickled Piglet, Birmingham

I guess having been here about eight times since it opened suggests I quite like it. The food has always been very good (a few tripadvisor reviews comment on small portion sizes but surely that's not an awful thing if it means you can eat three courses without feeling like you've absolutely pigged out). The service can be a bit hit and miss, the manager is a really nice, very professional guy, but sometimes I've got the impression he's having to hold the fort himself slightly. This time we went on a Monday night-Steak night. After a selection of vegetarian small dishes to start I had a very nice steak, chips and pepper sauce (for the bargain price of £10!). There was still just enough room to share a chocolate torte dessert. This is definitely somewhere I'm looking forward to visiting again in the new year. 

Selection of veggie small dishes (shared as a starter)

Chocolate torte with winter berry compote and vanilla ice-cream

http://www.thepickledpiglet.co.uk

3. Fumo, Birmingham

Fumo has become pretty much my favourite restaurant in Birmingham to go to if I need a meal out and haven't reserved anywhere (it's also open pretty much all day every day-useful on Sundays/Mondays when other restaurants tend to close). So having decided relatively last minute to go out for dinner on a Saturday just over a week before Christmas it seemed like the ideal place. I still don't really understand if it is at all possible to reserve a table (if you try ringing up then they tell you it isn't, but you get the feeling that they may take reservations for "friends" and if you go there earlier in the day in person you might be able to reserve a table). We decided to rock up quite early (about 5.30pm) and take our chances. They told us a table would be available in about 20 mins which was ideal. In reality we didn't even have time to get a drink from the bar (which actually does some very nice cocktails). 

The restaurant is owned by the same people as San Carlo and essentially does Italian tapas (otherwise known as cicchetti). I love getting to have bits of lots of different things and the food was as good as ever (so good there aren't any photos because it was all eaten so quickly). Between two of us we shared  plates including zucchini, lasagne al forno (I very rarely have lasagne when I go out because my mom makes such a nice lasagne, but Fumo's is very good), fillet of seabass, lobster risotto, beef tagliata with parmesan and rocket and some bruschetta. Despite being pretty full the prospect of their dessert sharing platter was just too tempting...

Dessert sharing platter

http://www.sancarlofumo.co.uk

Ok, unless you're an attractive female you may not particularly get service with a smile from the waiters, but they do their job and there are enough of them milling around for you to be able to ask for drinks/the bill relatively easily.

4. Anderson's Bar and Grill

This is somewhere I'd wanted to visit for a while (having hovered around the top 10 of tripadvisor) and it just so happened that it was one of the few places in Birmingham I could find with a table free at a time that suited us in the run up to Christmas. Overall I'm not quite sure what I think about the place. Everything was nice enough without setting the world on fire. I had a smoked duck dish to start which contained some quite strong flavours and then had salmon with chilli, ginger and confit peppers. I think my judgement was possibly affected by the fact that there were (predictably) 3 large Christmas parties going on, maybe I should give it another try at some point. 

Oak smoked duck breast with braised saffron fennel, spiced orange and red wine sauce

http://www.andersonsbarandgrill.co.uk

5. The Bull's Head, Earlswood

We first heard that this pub was being taken over and renovated during a very nice stay at a Thwaites group hotel in Cirencester. I was looking for somewhere to go in the week before Christmas that might be a bit less manic than Birmingham city centre and my mom had spotted a good Travelzoo deal for the Bull's Head so it seemed like the ideal time to try it. I was slightly perturbed at not being able to park in the car park and soon realised this was because there were carol singers and a craft fair-so it didn't seem as if it was going to be the quietest place to have a catch up over dinner. Actually our table was tucked away just enough that it wasn't too manic and they actually had enough staff on to cope with the crowd. I had a starter of wild mushroom bruschetta, which was nice and a bit different I think because of the addition of chilli. I choose "hanging" chicken kebabs for my main course which was served with some very good chips. Good food, service and company without the hassle of driving into Birmingham, it was very nice to know there is somewhere like this so close to home. In fact I enjoyed it so much I went again for lunch the next day-I was only slightly embarrassed that one of the waiters recognised me!

Wild mushroom bruschetta, garlic, chilli and parsley cress

Bull's Head hanging kebabs served with hand-cut chips and chilli butter

  http://bullsheadearlswood.co.uk

December 2013 - Baking

The irony of this is that my foray into baking started because I decided I needed to start a diet. I found a recipe for some "healthy" flapjacks that needed some desiccated coconut. The flapjacks were ok (and not to many calories if you had one bite), but there was quite a lot of coconut left, which resulted in my mom commenting that it would never get used. This sounded like an interesting challenge and so I set about finding a recipe for some coconut cakes (something we have fond childhood memories of). I ended up making plain coconut and some raspberry and coconut cupcakes:

Coconut and raspberry cupcakes

I was surprised at how easy there were to make and how enjoyable I found it so decided to keep baking! Next on my list were some lemon meringue cakes that I'd thought were amazing when a friend made them earlier in the year (recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery app). I even managed to make the meringue and not set the house on fire when using the blow torch:

Lemon meringue cakes

Next I decided to try out some Christmas related recipes/designs. This included gingerbread cupcakes, Christmas cake flavoured cupcakes (decorated as Christmas puddings and trees), chocolate orange reindeer cupcakes and pistachio cupcakes:

I was feeling a bit cupcaked out at this point, so decided to diversify and try a proper cake for a friend's birthday. I went with chocolate/coffee and white chocolate layers topped with a white chocolate ganache and some "interesting" Heston Blumenthal chocolates. 

Inspired by a Lorraine Pascale recipe and after taking some advice from Mary Berry my final bake before Christmas were some stained glass gingerbread biscuits:

Indaba, Edinburgh, 21st November 2013

Apparently one can't eat at Michelin starred restaurants every day. Just as well then that there are some nice restaurants without Michelin stars. With the help of Tripadvisor we found a tapas restaurant just round the conner from where we were staying called Indaba. As well as typical Spanish tapas dishes they also served dishes inspired by South American, South African and Scottish cuisine.

We ordered eight dishes between three of us, which was probably one too many to be able to comfortably have dessert as well. Stand out dishes were chicken skewers and courgette strips wrapped around feta cheese. The option of having three mini portions from their dessert menu was too good to miss. Overall it was very nice (and all for less than a third of the previous night's bill). My only request would be for them to have had some sangria on the drinks menu.

http://www.edindaba.com/index.html

Courgette strips, chorizo, bread

Chicken and apricot skewers

The Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh, 21st November 2013

Having spent quite a lot of money on dinner the night before we need to be a bit more careful for the rest of our stay in Edinburgh. So we opted for a bus over a taxi to get us to Britannia. I guess this made it feel a bit more like a "trip" and we got to see a bit more of Edinburgh along the way including the Scottish Parliament and Holyroodhouse.

To get to the entrance of Britannia you have to go through a shopping centre, which is a bit weird. You start the tour at the top of the boat (on the bridge) and gradually work your way down through the royal quarters, Royal entertaining rooms, crew's' quarters, sick bay and engine room. There was an audio guide (how did we ever manage without them?) that pointed out the main sights and shared some interesting anecdotes. I was a bit disappointed it wasn't the Queen or Prince Phillip commentating.

Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 after 44 years and having travelled over one million miles. It's always interesting to see how the other half live, and it seems strange that on the one hand the Royal family would try to be frugal (much of the furniture was recycled from their previous yacht) yet all of their silver had to be polished every day.

Tea and cake in the Royal Deck Tea Room looked nice, but budget restraints meant we had to make do with a toasted cheese sandwich and coffee in the shopping centre.

http://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk

Trying on the uniform

The Sick Bay

The Ship's bell

Britannia

The Kitchin, Edinburgh, 20th November 2013

Needing to find somewhere to get away to for a couple of days at short notice I was trying to find a good restaurant, in an interesting part of the country (that I'd preferably not been to) with an available table. The Kitchin pretty much ticked all of these boxes (I had been to Edinburgh before but not since I was little). After a short flight up to Edinburgh, settling in to a very nice apartment and a bracing walk up to see the Castle we were in a taxi on our way to the port of Leith.

I became aware of Tom Kitchin earlier this year when he was on a TV show called "The Protege" with Michel Roux and Theo Randall. He seemed like a nice guy cooking interesting food and his restaurant has the reputation of being one of the best in Edinburgh. 

We eventually found the entrance after realising we had been dropped off at the back of restaurant and consequently doing a bit of walking. The restaurant was dimly lit and tastefully decorated (apart from slightly out of place vegetables on shelves). There was a large (sound proofed) window that allowed a view into the kitchen, with the head chef visibly working away. 

We opted for the "Chef's Land and Sea Surprise" menu and managed to get them to let us share the matching wines between two of us. First they brought us some crudities (breadsticks and raw vegetables) with pretty strong blue cheese sauce, then came some lovely, warm, sourdough bread. The first course was jellied game consommé (I have to say I'm not sure anything savoury should be that consistency). I'm not really sure what to say about the "Shellfish Rockpool". The problem is I like some shellfish but after a previous bad experience with mussels psychologically I struggle to eat them, and can't understand why oysters are considered such a delicacy. I did like the langostine, prawns and crab, but overall the "bouillon" was too salty (and similarly to "Sound of the Sea" at the Fat Duck it brought  back memories of accidentally swallowing seawater when I was little).

Artichoke with cod cheek was simple but very tasty. Then came the course I'd been expecting (based on reading reviews) but really hadn't been looking forward: Pigs head and scallop. I tried not to think about which bit of the pig we were eating and it actually just tasted like pulled pork, with the additional hint of curry, but I'd have been happy with half as much. Next was nicely cooked John Dory. Probably the best dish was venison with potato terrine. A palate cleanser of sea buckthorn sorbet was a little strange and the desert of chocolate/pumpkin tiramisu was a little bland. 

Overall there was a mix of some very nice dishes and a few that (partly due to personal taste) I wasn't so keen on. The matching wines were great and there was just enough to a be merrily tipsy.

http://thekitchin.com

Crudities and blue cheese sauce

Sourdough bread

Jellied game consommé, quail's egg, apple and crispy bacon

A rockpool of West Coast shellfish, sea vegetables, shellfish bouillon

Seared cod cheek with artichoke barigoule

Rolled pig's head with hand-dived Orkney Scallop

Loin of roe deer, potato terrine, autumn vegetables 

Sea buckthorn sorbet

Pumpkin and chocolate tiramisu

Petit fours: Chocolate and sea buckthorn macaroon and carrot cake

View of the chef

"From nature to plate": Map showing where majority of ingredients have been sourced

Ludovico Einaudi, Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, 2nd November 2013

You may not recognise the name Ludovico Einaudi, but the chances are you will recognise his music. Since I first discovered him over 10 years ago his music has been used for numerous TV adverts and films (including The Intouchables a film I watched earlier this year and very funny although knowing the subject matter you wouldn't expect it to be). When I first started listening to his music his popularity was spreading in the UK thanks largely to Classic FM. He is now even more well known and current tours have seen him play throughout Europe and North America.

I was lucky enough to see him perform in Ravello just over a year ago. Ravello was an open-air concert at the Villa Rufolo with the trumpeter Paolo Fresu also playing. The night was so magical that part of me was reluctant to even see him again because it just wouldn't be able to live up to Ravello (http://vimeo.com/47014662 if you watch carefully you can see us in the audience). 

So how did Copenhagen fair? While there was no full moon (well there may have been outside but it was so cloudy you'd never know) or sea view, Copenhagen's Koncerthuset is a pretty impressive auditorium. Opened in 2009 and seating 1800 people (almost completely full for Einaudi) it is the most expensive concert hall ever built. The interior of the main concert hall is visually appealing, but clearly has also had a lot of technical input to achieve great acoustics. 

The concert started with Einaudi and his orchestra playing music from his latest album "In a time lapse". There were a few catchy tunes and it certainly works with the orchestra (essentially strings and percussion). After about an hour (but interestingly without an interval-is this a cultural thing?) the orchestra left him to perform a few of his best known songs on his own. The orchestra was then gradually reintroduced building up to a powerful performance of "Divenire". They returned to the stage after a well-deserved standing ovation to perform Eden Roc (one of the first Einaudi songs I ever heard) again making great use of the orchestra.

Borgen walking tour, Copenhagen, 2nd November 2013

I have a few obsessions (as well as eating out at nice restaurants). One of these is a composer/pianist called Ludovico Einaudi (see later post). Another is Scandinavian/Danish TV dramas including Borgen, The Killing and The Bridge. So Copenhagen had been somewhere I'd wanted to visit for a while and I'd happened to notice Einaudi was going to be playing there at the start of November. Circumstances meant that I was able to book a relatively last minute weekend away in the Danish capital. Luckily it turns out that Copenhagen is a good destination for a quick weekend away, even from Birmingham-a very nice, and shortish flight (with SAS airlines) from Birmingham to Copenhagen and only a short taxi transfer from the airport to the centre of Copenhagen.

The first two series of The Killing had pretty much passed me by-I couldn't see the attraction of watching a pretty slow, subtitled crime drama. It was only after getting into Borgen and The Bridge that I also started watching The Killing. At some point I was free and there was nothing else on TV on a Saturday night and Borgen was on. Two hours later I was hooked, although exactly why wasn't entirely clear-this was a (slightly slow), subtitled political drama. Two series later and I am still trying to work out why I like it so much, although the strong yet fallible female lead and some good looking male actors certainly help. 

Copenhagen seemed to be small enough to be able to walk to most places and I was keen to see as many sights as possible (including some Borgen-related points of interest), so a Borgen-themed walking tour seemed like a good idea. I thought quite a few people may have jumped on the Nordic Noir bandwagon, but I could actually only find one company that were offering such tours-Peter og Ping. We met the tour guide at Vesterport station. Highlighting the fact that the appeal of Borgen has certainly spread beyond Denmark we were joined by people from Holland, Germany and a family from England. 

First stop was the Town Hall, which was used for a lot of the filming of the parliament interiors (as they were not allowed to film inside Christiansborg itself). Then we moved onto Christiansborg-the home of the Danish Parliament amongst other things, there were a number of spots that were recognisable. Next we crossed the bridge to Christianshavn, pausing to be shown the buildings that were used as the exterior of the TV studios. Finally Christianshavn was the setting of Katrine's apartment. The whole tour took about an hour and a half. Despite the almost constant rain it was enjoyable and nice to chat to other people who have an even bigger obsession than me. I was definitely left eagerly anticipating the third and final series which is due to start on BBC4 later this month.

On the left are the buildings used as the exterior of fictional TV 1

Arches around Christiansborg, the ideal place for walking and talking

Christianshavn, home to Katrine's apartment

Christiansborg when the sun finally came out

http://www.peter-og-ping.dk

The Fat Duck, Bray, 31st October 2013

After a lovely, relaxing night at Holly House B&B (http://www.hollyhousebracknell.co.uk-definitely worth a stop if you're ever in the area) and having just about managed to show a suitable amount of restraint at breakfast we set off towards The Fat Duck.

I'd been strangely apprehensive in the few days leading up to the visit, there were a good few of the courses I was pretty unsure I'd like, and was questioning the expense, but I was pretty chuffed I'd managed to get a booking (it requires some determination in front of a computer and booking 2 months in advance). You walk in to what are essentially just the front two rooms of a cottage, but are quickly transported into Heston's magical world. There was an interesting mix of people there, apparently including one table who had flown in especially. We were presented with the wine list/large book which certainly needed a bit more thought than just choosing the second one down.

Aerated beetroot and horseradish ream

First up was a beetroot bite (that doesn't even get to feature on the menu). Then the first bit of theatre-nitro poached aperitifs-poached at the table and very refreshing. Then came a red cabbage gazpacho with mustard ice cream which I found took a bit of getting used to/don't think I'll be rushing to try it again.

Red cabbage gazpacho with mustard ice cream

Quite clearly you can never have too much liquid nitrogen, and for the next dish it was poured onto moss covering the table in a cloud of smokiness. All impressive stuff, but I wasn't overly keen on the main components of the dish (jelly of quail and chicken liver parfait).

Jelly of quail, crayfish cream with chicken liver parfait, oak moss, and truffle toast (+smoke and mirrors...)

I'm pretty sure I'd never knowingly eaten snails before and the snail porridge dish wasn't one I was particularly looking forward to. Apparently they did look like snails, but I was trying not to pay too much attention. They didn't taste like chicken, I'm not sure they tasted of much other than salt and although a bit chewy they were edible.

Snail porridge

Although they only offer one set tasting menu before starting we were asked if we had any dietary requirements or foods that we would rather not eat. I was prepared to eat snails and raw fish (see later) but I decided to draw the line at fois gras (slightly ironically given the name of the restaurant and more because of a previous not so great experience rather than any deep ethical beliefs). The waiter was very understanding (I'm guessing it's a relatively frequent occurrence) and instead I got the nicest scallop I've ever had (I'm really sorry Georgie).

Scallop (alternative to fois gras)

I don't really know what went on with the Mad Hatters tea party (but then did Lewis Carroll?). There was a pocket watch covered in gold leaf that turned into a mock turtle soup when it was dissolved in hot water (although taste-wise an ox stock cube would have worked just as well). This was then poured over a mock turtle egg (turnip mousse) and there were accompanying sandwiches.

Mad Hatter's tea party

"Sound of the sea" is such an iconic dish that despite my aversion to raw fish I still wanted to try it. So you get sashimi, "sand" made out of tapioca and a shellfish foam. Whilst eating you are encouraged to listen to crashing waves/seagulls on an ipod nano concealed in a shell. I found it all a little bit too reminiscent of swallowing a mouthful of seawater but maybe that's the idea.

"Sound of the sea"

Next came a nice bit of salmon, which was poached in liquorice and served with vanilla mayonnaise and artichoke.

Salmon poached in a liquorice gel

Interestingly probably my favourite savoury dish was the most traditional one with the fewest gimmicks-venison with beetroot and risotto of spelt.

Saddle of venison

I guess then came a "palate cleanser" of hot & iced tea which was pretty much what it said on the box-a liquid that managed to simultaneously taste hot and cold (although there was some difference of opinion as to the distribution of hot and cold areas).

Hot &iced tea

Given that I was driving I'd limited myself to one glass of wine, although I did start getting a bit concerned I may still be over the limit when the deserts started-including one with balls of various different textures, temperatures and flavoured by desert wines. I was also aware that there were still some strong whiskey wine gums to come.

Botytis cinerea

There seems to be a slight chef obsession with making things that aren't eggs look like eggs (see earlier for the Mad Hatters Tea Party a at TFD and previously at L'Enclume). So this was a chocolate egg filled with a panna cotta. IT was nice but possibly a little bit too much and very rich.

Eggs in verjus (c.1726). Verjus in egg (c.2013)

With the finishing line in sight it was time for some another alcohol inspired desert-whiskey flavoured wine gums served on a map of Scotland. Would probably have been appreciated more by someone who was a whiskey fan...

Whisk(e)y wine gums

The last course is "Like a kid in a sweetshop" playing on a nostalgia theme with lots of fun elements like edible sweet wrappers and chocolate seals it's a nice twist on the idea of petit fours.

"Like a kid in a sweet shop"

I'm not really sure I can comment much on the service other than to say you just didn't really notice it, which I think means it must have been good.

Overall we'd spent more than four thoroughly enjoyable hours in one of the most famous restaurants in the UK. It certainly wasn't cheap, but you could appreciate the work that goes into developing (in general about 2 years from concept) and serving the dishes. There were some dishes where I think you have to question whether there was a degree of style over substance, and with even more work I think they could have tasted better. I'm prepared to admit that personal taste played a role in some of the dishes I wasn't so keen on. It was undoubtedly the most impressive restaurant experience I've ever had, but can I honestly say it was definitely the best food, I'm not sure.

http://www.thefatduck.co.uk