Fiddler on the Roof, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, 15th October, 2013

This wasn't particularly a must see (especially seeing as it required a trip up the Wolverhampton Road) until I found out that it was directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood. I actually quite like him on Strictly and I'd previously really enjoyed a production of Sunset Boulevard which he'd choreographed. I'd heard that Fiddler on the Roof involved cast members also being the orchestra and playing their instruments whilst acting stage, and seeing as I'd really enjoyed this approach to Sunset Boulevard I thought Fiddler would be worth a watch, and it was.

Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky in Starsky and Hutch) plays "the papa" trying to uphold "traditions" despite his three eldest daughters efforts to do things differently. The first half was possibly a bit long and there were a few dodgy accents, but the main characters were all good. Having the cast members also playing instruments definitely worked and allowed the "Fiddler on the Roof" to be more than just an analogy. There are some surprisingly funny moments and I came out humming a couple of songs that are probably less well known than "Matchmaker" and "If I were a rich man". So all in all it was worth the drive up the Wolverhampton Road.

L'Enclume, Cartmel, 10th October 2013

We had made it to the restaurant voted number 1 in the UK in the Good Food Guide. We drove up to Cartmel the day before and were staying in a nice hotel (The Priory). After a (purposely not too indulgent) breakfast and wander round the village we just had to walk around the corner to get to L'Enclume. Service was friendly and relaxed from the start, on our way through to our table (in the conservatory) we caught a glimpse of Simon Rogan in the kitchen-always nice to know the chef is still overseeing things especially when he's got new restaurants popping up all over the place.

Despite the name (and my father's assumptions) L'Enclume is not a French restaurant (apparently when it was set up 11 years ago it was, and the name which means anvil was chosen because the restaurant is in a former Smithy's). Over the years Simon Rogan has developed a style that concentrates on getting the best out of local and "foraged" ingredients. I did have some reservations that we may be eating leaves and soil, but I needn't have worried.

There is no choice of menu which means they are "free to express and to use whatever is available to us at that very moment in time" (although we did get asked if we would mind eating raw meat-usually I would mind, but when in Rome...). You do get a nice card with that day's menu printed on it to take home.

First course was "cod yolk" an interesting dish of cod mousse in an emulsion that makes it look like an egg yolk. Then they bought out the warm bread rolls before a beetroot broth with (slightly too) cheesy dumplings. The valley venison was raw, and although I'm still not keen on the whole idea of it the slightly barbecued taste (with charcoal oil) was very nice. My favourite savoury course was hake with cabbage, leeks and celeriac puree. The first desert was very tasty plum with toffee ice cream. We were sat in the very nice conservatory overlooking part of the garden with an apple tree, so it was not too surprising that apples featured in the final course of mousse with granny smith apple sauce.

To drink I had a sparkling rose as an aperitif, then a small glass of rose before having a desert wine to finish. Given my relative lack of alcohol recently I was pleasantly merry by this point and felt I needed a coffee to get me back round the corner to our hotel. A decent coffee was accompanied by a petit four-a chocolate containing Kendal mint ice-cream. There was also a selection of ales from the local brewery and English cider.

Overall everything was "just right". There was just the right amount of food on the set lunch menu at a pretty reasonable price of £45 (not sure I could manage the 21 courses they serve up for dinner). The different courses offered the right amount of new experiences versus more traditional combinations and the service was pitched at  exactly the right level. They use Studio William cutlery (just like a certain Birmingham restaurant). What's more you can get a lunch reservation without having to plan things two months in advance and access an internet booking system at precisely 10am and have the chance to visit a pretty village in a lovely part of the country.

Beetroot broth, westcombe dumpling, onion shoots, nasturtium

Cod 'yolk' wiwth watercress, dunner beans, salt and vinegar

I don't understand anyone who moans about still being hungry at the end of a meal in a michelin starred restaurant-you can always fill up on bread if you need to

Valley venison, charcoal oil, mustard and fennel

Butter poached hake, grilled cabbage, hen of the woods and celeriac

Plum and honey oats, malt and brown sugar

View of an apple tree in the garden

Meadow sweet, granny smith, sorrel and walnuts

Petit fours

http://www.lenclume.co.uk/sr/

La Boheme, Lymm, 9th October 2013

This was a warm-up act to L'enclume, chosen because it was roughly half-way between Birmingham and Cartmel (a village in the Lake District). It also had a mention in the Good Food Guide and some decent reviews on Tripadvisor. It was pretty busy for a lunchtime service (although the average diner age was about 60), so you got the feeling they must be doing something right. The service was very friendly, bread and tap water was already on the table-was this good organisation or did it take away something of the interaction with the waiting staff. Maybe a sign of being "up north" but refreshing that there was no attempt to get us to pay for bottled water.

My appetite was improving but I was still beaten by their portion sizes-my starter of chicken ceasar salad was fine but big enough to be a main course. My main course was duck leg with duck sausage and dauphinois potato. This was generally nice, although probably big enough for two and a bit too much garlic in the dauphinois for my current taste buds (I guess being a French restaurant it was to be expected though). The Assiette Chocolaterie for desert was absolutely lovely (just a shame it required some effort to get through it after already having eaten so much). Coffee and (pretty cheap looking) mints were included in the lunch price of £15.95 for two courses. 

Chicken Ceasar Salad

Duck with Dauphinois potato

Assiette Chocolaterie

http://laboheme.co.uk

Harry Potter Studio Tour, Leavesden, 8th October 2013

Since I watched the first Harry Potter film I've been a little bit obsessed with him and his friends. I admit I have queued up at midnight to buy a new book and came very close to dressing up for the films. I was very excited to find time and equally sad friends to go and see the Warner Bros. studio tour in Leavesden.

We arrived about an hour early (you have to book time specific tickets on line), which meant we could get something to eat (a slightly overpriced but nice fish-finger sandwich) and take our first look inside the shop. Then we moved on to start the tour-this starts with a little talk and short film before the screen retracts to reveal the entrance to the Great Hall.

We walked through the Great Hall before moving on to see more sets-the Gryffindor boys' bedroom and common room, Dumbledore's office, Hagrid's hut, the Potions classroom and the Burrow. Interspersed were various other props and displays. We had the digital audio tour so also learned lots of other interesting facts as we were going round (such as lots of the books on the shelves in Dumbledore's office are covered phonebooks).

Next you move to the backlot where you can see some of the exterior sets including a replica of 4 Privet drive and the Knight bus. There is also the opportunity to buy some Butterbeer-it is very sweet, I think I'd have found it very difficult to drink a whole glass (and quite clearly other people had struggled).

Further on there were some displays about the animatronics and models that were used before you get to walk up Diagon Alley.

The finale is a model of Hogwarts that was used for a lot of the exterior scenes in the first six films. 

And then it was back to the shop, where we spent a considerable amount of time trying to decide which wand to buy (I went with Hermione's) and how much money it was acceptable to spend (I'm not prepared to give further details).

Overall I had mixed feelings: on the one hand some things were not quite as spectacular as I expected, for example the Great Hall does not have a proper ceiling, some of the costumes not as luxurious as they look in the films. I guess this leads to the realisation that as with most films there is an element of smoke and mirrors. But then that's kind of what makes it so special-that such a magical world has been created with the help of animatronics and scale models. Ultimately I wanted to go home and watch the films again-whilst wearing my new scarf and with my wand at the ready: "Expecto Patronum".

http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk

The Pickled Piglet, Birmingham, 5th October 2013

Currently one of my two favourite restaurants in Birmingham (can you guess the other one?) The Pickled Piglet is a relatively new, independent restaurant that offers a refreshing change from the chains you find in the Mailbox and Broad Street/Brindley Place (and is situated pretty much directly between the two). Essentially it's good food in a relaxed environment.

To start there's a choice of small plates and "boards" which are great for sharing. We went for a prawn and sausage board, parma ham, sweet chilli and sesame chicken and home made breads. (I think a sign of my appetite and nausea improving after not having had chemo for 2 1/2 weeks these plates didn't even last long enough for photos to be taken!)

You could order more small plates to make a complete "tapas style" meal or move on to their main courses. I decided on chicken with creamed leeks and sautéed potatoes which lasted only slightly longer than the starters. They also have a very good value lunch option of two small plates and a main course for £10 and steak night on Mondays-steak and chips for £10.

I still managed to make a good go of eating their homemade ice cream and my brother/sister-in-law enjoyed the limoncello curd, meringue, honey and ginger crunch.  

http://www.thepickledpiglet.co.uk/#!bar/c16fk

Pot roasted chicken, creamed leeks, roasted shallots and sautéed potatoes

Dad's favourite: Duck eggs with spiced sausages

Deserts: Home-made ice cream, limoncello curd, meringue, honey and ginger crunch

Guess where, Birmingham, 2nd October 2013

I'm not going to say much, but we had another thoroughly enjoyable lunch at a certain recently michelin-starred restaurant in Birmingham:

Guinea fowl, apple, pickled onion, olives

Lamb belly, tomato cous cous, red pepper

Textures of chocolate

Adam's (again), Birmingham, 28th September 2013

There are lots of reasons I keep going back to Adam’s:

-a very good value lunch menu (£25 for 3 courses)

-friendly service

-the opportunity to show it off to anyone who’ll listen to me

-regularly changing seasonal menus

-and the food’s not bad either

Actually the food’s great, its interesting but not too experimental. My most recent visit was a Saturday lunch, I’m guessing they’re primed to say “nice to see you again” if it’s a repeat visit but it still makes for a nice start to things. Given a still slightly delicate post-chemo digestive system I unfortunately felt like the 3 course lunch was as much as I’d be able to manage. They give 2 options per course, I decided to go for the confit salmon to start-it came with Jerusalem artichoke and chorizo that for once didn’t repeat on me. Then I had Pollock with pea puree, apple and black pudding (black pudding is not a big favourite of mine but it was more than edible). So desert presented a bit of a conundrum-how do you choose between lemon cake and “textures of chocolate”? I couldn’t so we decided we would order both and share half each. I’m glad we did because they were both great, although I wasn’t entirely sure about olives with lemon cake (anyone thinking of doing the same thing I’d say go for the chocolate first then the lemon cake is a lovely refreshing end to a lovely meal).

Unfortunately the news that this place is open and very much worth a visit is spreading. They’ve been open for less than 6 months and have now got their first Michelin star and a very good review in the Good Food Guide. You can still get in relatively easily for lunch but dinner is a different matter and they’re fully booked on Saturday evenings for the next 2 months.

I'm already planning my next visit...

 

Current lunch menu

Confit salmon, chorizo, Jerusalem artichoke

Pollock, black pudding, apple

Lemon cake, olive oil, yoghurt

Textures of chocolate

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