Adam's, Birmingham, 11th March 2014

Despite having been to Adam's on a few occasions I hadn't managed to try the 9 course tasting menu. I'd previously not gone for it because I didn't fancy a few of the dishes that were on the menu and wasn't sure I'd be able to comfortable manage 9 courses. But enticed by a new year menu change and after warming up my digestive system in Sweden and at Roux at Parliament Square I felt ready to take it on.

I've had the amuse bouches (see earlier blogs for pictures) but I could honestly eat about 20 of the beetroot and goats cheese meringues and a few more of the "roast chicken dinner on a stick". Next came six savoury dishes that were all interesting, different and somehow complimented each other perfectly. My favourites were probably the wood pigeon and beetroot and the monkfish. Again the vegetarian options looked imaginative and went down well.

brassicas, garlic, hazelnuts

Wood pigeon, beetroot, watercress

Skate wing, dashi, cucmber, pumpkin seeds

Spelt, chanterelles, trotter, chantenay carrots

Monkfish, celeriac, cheek, sorrel

Veal, 'pot au feu', cheese on toast

Then there was a "Crossover" course. I guess this gives the chef a chance to try something a bit different and it was definitely a bit odd-salty form soya sauce and sweet carrots. Not sure I could have eaten much more of it but in a strange way it did seem to cleanse the palate ready for the desserts. 

Carrot, walnut, soy sauce

I like the fact that the food at Adam's is relatively "light". It undoubtedly makes it a much nicer experience to try and eat a large number of courses than at some other restaurants when I have really been struggling by the time I got to desserts. So to the first dessert: Apple, toffee, cinnamon and vanilla, I've had this a couple of times before and its a lovely lighter version of sticky toffee pudding.

Apple, toffee, cinnamon, vanilla

The second dessert was probably the only course that I really wasn't so keen on, for me the spices were just a little too overbearing, but one course out of nine really isn't bad going (I didn't really enjoy three of the fourteen courses at the Fat Duck!). 

Milk curd, ginger, blood orange

The only other disappointment was finding out that the guy who's been the manager since Adam's opened almost a year ago is leaving, hopefully the rest of the front of house staff will step up to the mark in the future!

http://www.adamsrestaurant.co.uk

"An evening with Michel Roux", Roux at Parliament Square, 5th March 2014

Michel Roux is awesome (and I'm very annoyed at the BBC for not being prepared to be a little more accommodating and thus losing him from Masterchef!)

Whilst investigating the possibility of booking a table at Le Gavroche I stumbled upon an advertisement for a 5 course meal with matching wines (supplied by Tapanappa Wines) at Roux at Parliament Square with the guarantee that Michel would be present. This sounded ideal: It was only a couple of months away (and for logistical reasons I'm not keen on booking things much more in advance than that which is always going to make booking somewhere like Le Gavroche difficult) and given Michel's busy schedule/other commitments although I get the impression he's very good at meeting guests at Le Gavroche there's clearly no guarantee that he'll be there. I'd also been keen to try Roux at Parliament Square since I found out its head chef is Steve Groves (a former Masterchef winner) and after they cooked an amazing-looking menu there on Masterchef The Professionals.

We had a leisurely (but very trip) train journey down from Birmingham via about 50 stations, but still had a reasonable amount of time to waste and decided to burn off a few calories in preparation by having a stroll along the Thames. This was a great idea until I somehow managed to lose my footing and twist my ankle!

Walk along the Thames

There was no way I was going to miss the evening in preference for testing out the local A&E so I decided to hobble to the restaurant and start drinking asap to help with the pain. Luckily this proved easier than I was expecting as the champagne that was served with the canapés was continuously topped up (all served in the very impressive bar).

Champagne and canapés 

Michel Roux made an appearance and gave a brief outline of the food that we would be eating and then we moved to the dining room. Initially even I was a little bit too self-aware to take photos of the food, so you'll just have to trust me that the crab, scallop and prawn tart and quail/jerusalem artichoke dishes and accompanying wines were lovely. Next up was duck, parsnip, shallot and preserved cherries, by this point I had clearly drunk enough wine (similarly to the champagne wine was being refilled pretty much continuously) that I didn't mind looking like an idiot and taking photos. The duck was perfect and I even liked the parsnips (not usually a favourite).

Roast Goosnargh duck, parsnip, shallot, preserved cherries

The next course was lamb, brassicas and potatoes, again it was very nice, but by this point I had realised that I had possibly overindulged in the free-flowing wine and don't think I even managed a whole glass of the accompanying Shiraz.

Herdwick lamb, brassicas, violet potatoes

Over the course of the evening Michel did visit each table and have a little chat, I can only hope that our alcohol-affected state we didn't embarrass ourselves too much. I have to admit by the time I came to dessert I was getting a bit full, and although the dessert had some nice flavours it was a little heavy. I really hadn't paced myself very well and only managed a sip of the dessert wine that was meant to be amazing (not a Tapanappa wine, but apparently a favourite of Napoleon!)

Mille feuille of Yorkshire rhubarb, whipped vanilla custard 

Petit fours

There was just about time for a quick coffee to try and help sober up but I was so full I could only manage one of the petit fours! Then we had to make a pretty sharp exit in order to try and make the last train back to Birmingham. Amazingly considering my dodgy ankle and our slightly more than tipsy states we somehow managed to get on the train with about two minutes to spare. Even more amazingly I didn't have a particularly bad hangover the next morning, but I did have memories of an amazing evening and a slightly bruised ankle!

http://rouxatparliamentsquare.co.uk

Thoughts on/Tips for a Northern Lights Trip

Overall I realised that I actually don't mind the cold if I'm wearing suitable gear (I just don't like being cold!) and I quite like snow (I just don't like the fact that snow=havoc in the UK).

My obsession with Scandinavia is now even bigger than it was and I would love to see some more of it in the summer and experience the "midnight sun".

A few tips for anyone planning a Northern Lights themed trip:

-make sure you have plenty of other stuff planned so you will still have amazing holiday even if you don’t see the lights

-include at least one trip/activity that gives you better odds of seeing them-we were obviously very happy with our Abisko trip but there were other trips organized from the Icehotel such as a coach trip that each day drove up to an hour to wherever they thought would be best place for seeing them

-wrap up warm (generally places provide snowsuits and boots, but think about base layers and investing in a good pair of gloves, potentially with glove liners if you're planning on a lot of photography)

-if you’re not a photography expert but would like to try and take some photos then do a bit of reading about optimal settings etc. Consider a tripod (I bought a “Joby Gorilla” that was very portable and did a job), I didn't have a special lens and used the timer setting rather than a remote trigger.

Generally I like organising trips myself-there's a certain satisfaction in sorting the best flights/hotels, arranging schedules and excursions. However for this trip we used Discover the World (http://www.discover-the-world.co.uk/en/) and I was thoroughly glad we did and would happily use them again, just a few of the benefits were:

-easy access to direct flights to convenient airports

-helping to fit as much as possible in to a short space of time

-nice to know someone is on hand to answer questions/offer help if necessary

Abisko, Sweden, 3rd March 2014

Having failed to see the Northern Lights at the Icehotel we were pinning all our hopes on Abisko. I'd chosen to spend one night in Abisko because my research had suggested that it was one of the most likely places in the area that you would see the Lights (something to do with mountains and microclimates). But of course there was still no guarantee. Aware that clear skies were a necessity to give us any chance of seeing the elusive Lights I’d been repeatedly checking what the weather was doing there for about 24 hours, and it looked as if there was a chance... So it was that on the way to Abisko it practically felt like you were driving out of the darkness and by the time we got there the skies were blue and clear and we could enjoy the last throws of the setting sun.

Setting sun from our hotel room

Apart from the prospect of good weather, the other attraction of Abisko is the chance to go up to the top of a mountain (in theory giving an even better view of the lights). Most people had dinner at the hotel and then went up on the chairlift after dinner. I'd decided to upgrade and go for a four course dinner at the Aurora Sky Station (which was on the mountain) because if I didn't manage to see the lights then I hoped it would still be a special experience. There should have been about a 15 minute walk from the hotel to the bottom of the chairlift that takes you up to the Sky Station, but courtesy of my Dad's dodgy knee we were able to hitch a lift with a guide and the other walking wounded. We arrived, and got togged up ready for the chairlift which was generally a pleasant ride.

Once inside the Sky Station we untogged before tucking in to a glass of meadowsweet and sparkling wine (I particularly liked the meadowsweet flavouring). In an effort to do anything that would help me feel the cold less I decided to have the matching wines with my meal. If you're not at all interested in food and can't understand why anyone would ever want to take photographs of food then please skip the next bit to find out whether or not we did manage to see the Lights.

The starter was sourdough toast, chive cream and roe (served with a Riesling).

Sourdough toast, chive cream, roe

Next came cauliflower soup with truffle oil. The dishes had been warmed by placing them next to the fire.

Cauliflower soup with truffle oil

The main course was Elk with a red wine jus and Arctic berries, and a lovely rioja. I really enjoyed the elk, it was pretty similar to venison. By the way if anyone can give me a simple guide to what the difference is between reindeer, moose and elk I'd be very grateful.

Elk, red wine jus, Arctic berries

Dessert was meadowsweet pannacotta with berry coulis. Now bearing in mind that this food had all been prepared without the use of any electricity I have to say I was really impressed, and by this point I was a quite full and a little drunk.

Meadowsweet pannacotta, berry coulis

When we had finished eating a guide gave a bit of a talk about the science and history of the Lights then we all got dressed up again to go outside with the hopes of seeing the real thing.

The skies were clear, there was a new moon, more stars than I think I'd ever seen before, but still no Lights. At one point I saw a dim glow in the distance that I tried to convince myself must be the Lights. But after an hour of essentially just staring up at the sky the effects of the alcohol were starting to wear off and I was getting cold so we decided to pop back inside the Sky Station to warm up a bit.

Almost as soon as we'd got inside a few people came in and told others that they should go and have a look outside. And so back out we went, and there in the sky there were flickers of white light across the sky. The most bizarre thing was that to the naked eye they really were a white light, but the photographs I managed to take show the green up much more than we saw:

After about an hour they started to fade away and we decided to head back down on the chairlift. As we were descending they came back. I tried taking one photo whilst on the chair lift (which was difficult because I didn't want to lose the camera down the mountain and you need everything to be completely still to set a long exposure time). Giving up on taking any more photos it was actually lovely to be able to just sit back and enjoy the show.

Photo from the chairlift 

We got a lift back to the hotel again and knowing we had a long day of travelling the next day I tried to sleep, I'm not sure if it was the wine or the fact that I was still buzzing from seeing the Lights but I honestly can't say I managed much sleep at all.

The next morning we had a few hours to kill before we were picked up to go back to the airport. I had a bit of an explore around the hotel whilst Dad found a nice spot to read and admire the view (although the hotel was a little bit like a posh youth hostel there were some really nice areas to sit and chill).

The chairlift

My shadow 

The frozen lake

http://www.auroraskystation.se, website for the Sky Station that has a live camera feed which I may now be slightly obsessed with.

The hotel we stayed in: http://www.svenskaturistforeningen.se/en/Discover-Sweden/Facilities-and-activities/Lappland/Fjallstationer/STF-Mountain-station-Abisko/ 

Northern Lights Snowmobile Tour, Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, 1st March 2014

Snowmobiling and the prospect of seeing the Northern Lights sounded like a great way to spend our first evening in Sweden. After a very brief introduction by our very nice guide James (essentially showing us the accelerator and brake) we were off.

I was a little nervous at first, but managed to get up some speed on the first open stretch of land. We stopped every so often to try and prevent the hand/thumb cramp that can develop from holding on to the accelerator/handlebar too tightly, and to it was nice to soak up the silence once the engines were turned off! After about 2 hours of riding it was time for a well earned rest and refreshment stop. James stoked up the fire to heat up our moose stew and lingonberry juice (which I really enjoyed and am now struggling to find in this country!) For dessert there was some blueberry cake and some more lingonberry juice.

Suitably refreshed we returned to the Icehotel. Unfortunately the Lights hadn't come out for us, but it had been great fun and I was pleased to be able to return the snowmobile, me and my Dad with no scratches/bruises/broken bones.

Our rides

The pit stop cabin

The fire, and James our guide

Wrapped up warm!

Icehotel, Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, 1st-3rd March 2014

I don't particularly like the cold and I'm not a big fan of the snow. So where better to go for a holiday at the beginning of March than Lapland? More specifically I'd chosen a hotel near Kiruna which is located 145km north of the Arctic Circle and is Sweden's northernmost city.

The logic I used to explain my choice of destination was that I’d rather go somewhere with predictably bad weather than go somewhere in southern Europe hoping for a bit of sun for it to be spoilt by rain. And then there was the lure of possibly being able to see the Northern Lights (which slightly ironically most of the UK had seen just a couple of days before we left).

One of the other reasons for choosing Kiruna was the prospect of experiencing the Icehotel. The Icehotel in Sweden was the world's first ice hotel when it's first incarnation opened 24 years ago. Each year a new hotel is built with snow and ice that has been harvested from the local Torne River.

Behind ice from the Torne River-so clear because of the flow of the river.

The Icehotel consists of a complex of cold rooms, Icebar and church that are all permanently around -5 to -8 degrees Celsius and the warm areas: Reception and bar, restaurant, shop and a number of warm hotel rooms and chalets. After careful consideration we decided to spend both our nights in a warm chalet (that was actually initially slightly too hot!) A lot of people choose to spend at least one night in a cold room but logistically we came up with a few potential problems and were happy enough just to be able to look around the cold rooms.

Our chalet

The "Icehotel" complex

Entrance to the Icehotel

After entering the Icehotel straight ahead of you is the most amazing corridor (this year called "Secret Garden"). Off this there are further corridors leading to the hotel rooms. And at the end of the corridor was a very special unicorn ice sculpture.

All made of ice!

Unicorn sculpture 

If you go for a cold room there are the relatively basic snow/ice rooms (essentially just a room with a bed in) and then there are the art suites. These have all been individually designed and sculpted with designers coming form across the world. There are about 15 art suites, I thought it might get a bit boring if I included pictures of them all, so I'm just putting up a couple of my favourites: "Mind the gap"-where you sleep inside an ice sculpture of a London tube train: 

"Mind the gap"

And "Classical" filled with ancient Greek sculptures:

"Classical"

The Icehotel is open to anybody willing to pay an entrance fee during the day, so you do have to go with the knowledge that this is a museum by day and really only a hotel by night. And that’s the way it should be, things that are so special and are also so temporary should be seen by as many people as possible whilst they are there. 

We had dinner in the restaurant on our second night. We went for relatively "safe" a la carte options. It was a little on the expensive side but the food was actually very good.

Veal, savoury blueberry sauce, ligonberries and fondant potatoes

Homemade arctic bramble ice cream with sugar sponge cake and raspberry crisp. 

The dessert was served on an ice plate (potentially something master chef contestants should think about using because they always seem to have problems with sorbets/ice creams melting).

There was a noticeable contrast when all the day visitors had left and only the people staying overnight were around. We went for a drink in the Icebar after dinner and there was only one other group of people in there. 

The Icebar

Apart from the bar, seats and tables being made of ice, the glasses are also made of ice, which definitely means there's no need for ice cubes. They have a range of cocktails, that are very nice but probably too expensive to get drunk on.

The cocktail list

An ice glass

"Secret Garden" and "Mind the Gap" 

We failed to see the Northern Lights whilst staying at the Icehotel (unfortunately it was pretty cloudy most of the time we were there). But we did randomly see the World Cup! As part of its world tour it was in Sweden and they'd decided it would be cool for it to be seen at the Icehotel. In preparation for its arrival Speto (South America's most prominent street artist who has designed this year's World Cup logo) had been involved in the design of the Icehotel reception.

"Todo mundo" Speto's artwork/sculpture

The World Cup!!!!

There were a few other interesting touches that I couldn't leave out. The fire alarm and extinguisher insisted upon by Health and Safety (to be fair they did come up and set something on fire and although it only lasted 15 minutes it apparently did create a lot of smoke!), a no smoking sign, and a bit of pond life that had been trapped in the ice:

Overall the Icehotel was an experience that I'd definitely recommend.

Icehotel: http://www.icehotel.com