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Charlene Leonard

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Everything posted by Charlene Leonard

  1. Suze's on North Audley St is a NZ restaurant with a bar and a great selection of NZ wines.
  2. you live in Croydon and your butcher is in Ilford, crikey!
  3. Have just returned from a wonderful weekend at the Ludlow Food Festival to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and to make up for the fact that we took my engagement ring to the jeweller last week to be cleaned and they have lost it. Wd stayed in a B&B called the Hen and Chickens, the rooms were comfortable and the breakfast very good but the owners personified everything that make bed and breakfasts the most hateful place on earth. We asked for breakfast at 8.30am and we arrived in the dining room at 8.23am to look at maps and plan our day. We were met with an “Oh, what are you doing here? The kitchen won’t be pleased that you are here already”. I was then told that it just wasn’t the done thing to do. I would have told him to shove his award winning sausages up his arse if there had been a snowballs chance in hell of getting a room elsewhere. We had dinner at Hibiscus on Friday. The restaurant is in a wonderful oak panelled room and managed to be both elegant and welcoming, words you could also use to describe Claude Bois’s wife Claire, who runs front of house. Over a V&T we had a selection of three croquettes and some excellent cheese puffs. There is the choice of a 9-course surprise menu (£50), tasting menu (£40) and A la carte (£35). Amuse of egg concotte with savoy cabbage and olive oil was beautifully presented in an eggshell on a piece of slate. The yolk perfectly cooked and the olive oil rendered the veloute silky smooth and velvety. I started with Ravioli with onion and summer truffle and veloute of potato and almond butter. The veloute was smooth and rich - I thought the potato might give it a grainy texture – and was poured over three pieces of ravioli were filled with sweet caramelised onion. H had Foie Gras dusted with ginger, red pepper jam and apple puree. The foie was much too raw for my liking, H said the crust was excellent but even he found it a tad too underdone. I then had the Roasted Dover sole served off the bone with confit of butternut squash, pumpkin and passion puree served with pomme soufflés. A huge helping of fish perfectly cooked and little discs of squash had a magical buttery quality to them. H had Venison with confit and beetroot, parsely root and a little dish of butternut squash gnocchi. The venison was melt in the mouth tender and the gnocchi were superb. I finished with a generous selection of local cheese whilst H had a Vanilla cheesecake with vine tomato jelly and orange sorbet. Total meal including 4 glasses of wine, 2 V&T’s and 2 dessert wines was £103.25. Excellent value. Saturday was dinner at The Merchant House. The room is much more informal and cosy than Hibiscus. 7 bare tables with twinkling candles and exposed beams. We started with a bottle of bubbly arranged for us by the lovely Mr and Mrs Bapi. We had bought a bottle of 1985 Cos D’Estournel with us for the occasion and the decanted bottle eagerly awaited us at our table. An amuse of crab salad with little gem contained generous chunks of sweet white meat. Simple, straightforward and delicious. I started with Artichoke and Parsley risotto, large pieces of global artichoke with the parsley contributing to a vibrant fresh taste and unlike some risotto not too heavy or too rich. H had Calf Sweetbreads with potato and olive cake, perfectly cooked exemplary example of their kind. I then had Wild duck with morels and H had Venison with foie gras. Both our dishes were presented as simply meat, jus and veg. No pretensions, no fuss, just good food at its best. After an additional course of cheese we had pudding. I opted for Plum tart and amaretto ice cream, the pastry and plums were excellent although I couldn’t really taste the amaretto in the ice cream. H had Crema Catalana with raspberries, the sugar topping was spot on, a definite crack on contact with the spoon and not too thick as is often the case. All washed down with a Tokay and Vin Santo. A complimentary brandy and tour of Shaun’s kitchen was the perfect end to a perfect evening. Total meal £88, with no corkage charge. Both restaurants are alone worth making to visit from London. They are very different from each other, each doing perfectly what it sets out to achieve and I have huge admiration for both Claude and Shaun. I really could go on for longer about how much Chris and I enjoyed spending all day Saturday getting merry with Bapi and Rosie and how Shaun was the nicest, self effacing chef I have met but feel I am boring you all already so I’ll shut up.
  4. PCL - I had the girolles on toast the first time and they were just divine. A huge portion of Scottish mushrooms fried in butter and parsley served on their excellent bread. Then a few weeks back had 'Puffball', this was a slice from a huge mushroom like a slice of calves liver and had been fried in lots of butter, garlic and capers - one of the best things I have eaten this year.
  5. i really do recommend St.J Bread and Wine if you feel St.J has gone off the boil. It is less formal than Smithfields and every meal I have had there has been spot-on with excellent service. If there is any form of mushroom on the menu, try it, it will be worth it.
  6. yes, the sight of Macrosan, sitting with his knife and fork held upright on the table, chanting "I want Quail, I want Quail" was a sight to behold.
  7. too late, the damage has been done. Just be careful on the sausage trail, that's all I'm saying.
  8. I was given membership as a wedding present and have been very pleased with the wines, including those in the mixed cases. They are far better than those Sunday Times Wine Club types.
  9. talking of spacedust, I went mad on an internet sweet shop the other week and ended up buying 50 packets of the stuff, I have offically gone mad.
  10. Britcook - how lucky to live so close to Whitstable. It's weekend's like this that I really hate living in London.
  11. have you compared the hand writing in the letter with that of a certain Mr Majumdar? P.s I thought the letter was utter bollocks.
  12. harsh but fair Tony, harsh but fair.
  13. there is a great restaurant called Rouille in Milford-on-Sea, Lymington. I know you can get the ferry to IOW from Lymington so maybe next time you can stay there, sounds as though it should be better than Southampton.
  14. as someone who grew up by the sea I would say the the majority of seaside resorts have rough areas, something to do with there not being much to entertain youths and the corrosive nature of all that sea salt perhaps? I do agree about the quayside though, another reason not to eat at The Crab and Winkle. And Oyster Fishery has become a victim of its own success. If anyone knows of any other great places by the sea on the South coast, I'd love to know.
  15. really? That is what I love about the place, the fact that there aren't loads of shops selling candy floss and toffee apples, it is peaceful and small-scale. It is great to walk along the seafront past the Hotel Continental towards Tankerton, nosing in the multicolured beach huts as you walk along and stopping for a drink at the pub up the hill. If you want to eat in one of the restaurants then yes, you do have to book in advance. Personally I am just as happy to grab some bread and cheese from the deli and sit on the pebbles soaking up the sun.
  16. Martin. Rule one of Whitstable, never try to have lunch without a booking! Next time go to the Fish and Chip Shop on the main road and eat it on the beach. I'm going again on Sunday and plan to do just that after a few pints @ The Old Neptune.
  17. Craig, great article, I will print out for future reference. One of my favourite sherries is Sibarita which I get from The Wine Society.
  18. Dinner at the Savoy Grill on Friday. Stifling heat meant we couldn’t be bothered to walk too far looking for somewhere to drink so went to the American Bar. Immediately realised that this wasn’t our sort of place, average age 45, clientele tourists or businessmen. Anyway, had a good martini and a fabulous cocktail I not had before called a Rickey, vodka, soda, lime and syrup. I will order this again if only to do my best Bianca impression “Can I have a Rickeeeyyy please”. Service was shambolic but appeased by plentiful refills of fabulous crisps. The restaurant on the other hand was the epitome of slick service. We had a very spacious booth near the service area, the room is great, all art deco and twinkling candles. I loved the champagne trolley and the fact there seemed to be one waiter for every person. We ordered a pleasant enough Chianti and they performed a great ceremony of decanting it over a candle that I thought was a bit over the top for a £42 bottle of wine. (am I wrong?) Pre amuse of Cod brandade with smoked salmon and Amuse of celeriac veloute with mushrooms had good depth of flavour. Menu has increased to £40 for 3 courses. I started with Ballotine of mushroom and foie gras that was tasty but not spectacular. H had a generous portion of sweetbreads that was crisp and delicate. We shared the Chateaubriand for two. This was a really tasty piece of beef, a wonderful crust and cooked perfectly rare. Served with a small copper pan of pommes cocotte that would have benefited from being slightly crisper. Half a red onion, little discs of celeriac and a sort of onion marmalade also accompanied the beef. Pre dessert of raspberry yoghurt was a good plate cleanser. I went for the trifle from the trolley and wasn’t impresses at all. It was really runny which made it difficult to eat. H opted for the coffee soufflé, great marketing “We only have 10 for the whole restaurant sir”. I don’t like coffee but it looked like a fine example of its kind. Eaten with a glass of Reisling and a Chenin Blanc, good but over priced at £9 and £12.50. Total bill £140, would definitely go again if only for the room and the great service
  19. Popped into St.J B&W yesterday in an attempt to avoid the heat and was pleased to find that they are one of the few places in London who’s air conditioning actually works. Ended up having one the best meals of the year so far. The most fantastic waiter –Jonathon - who made the whole experience a delight quickly approached us. He was friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about the food. He recommended a sparkling rose – Langlois Cremant De Loire Rose £24 – that was fantastic, not too sweet with nice small bubbles. We started with Pressed Skate and Potato (£6), basically a terrine served with a piquant parsley mayo. This was incredibly tasty and moist, a winning dish. Then we shared Puffball (£7) and Bath Chap Dandelion and Watercress (£12). The bath chap was amazing (sorry Circeplum), yes it’s very fatty but in an unctuous melt in the mouth way. The meat was so so succulent and the fat had a wonderful delicate crispness to it. However, the star of the show was the Puffball, this was out of this world, a slice of mushroom very similar in size and appearance to calves liver. It had been fried in lots and lots of butter, garlic and capers. It was soft and velvety and salty and delicious. If you ever see this on the menu again, have it. Finished with Damson Jelly and Shortbread (£5), the tartness of the jelly was a great end to all that richness. Total cost £55. If I lived near here I would eat here every day.
  20. believe me, Mrs Woman, compared to what some other journalists do this is mightly tame.
  21. My birthday treat from my hubbie was dinner here on Friday. On the way there I read Toby Young’s review in which he said he couldn’t find the entrance. “What’s he talking about, bloody fool?” I chuckled to myself as I turned the corner and saw the awnings with TOM AIKENS emblazoned on them. 5 mins later after a circumnavigation of the building and pushing and pulling three doors we were in. The room has a very ‘hotel’ feel about it, all screens, dark wood and bamboo. The tables are large with very comfy chairs. I really didn’t have my ‘review’ hat on so forgive the sketchiness of my comments. With our V&T’s we were given eel with horseradish, marinated tomatoes and basil and something else. Amuse bouche of tomato cream and langoustine. I started with red mullet and hubbie had pigeon salad. Mains I had Pigs Head and I was pleased that Laura had a little smile to herself, I can’t imagine too many SW3 ladies order this, it was good with meltingly tender cheek, little bits of breaded head but the pork belly needed to be more unctuous. H had the Sweetbreads. Pre dessert of red wine jelly. I then had ‘Palm Sugar’ – a crème caramel with jasmine ice cream and H had ‘Caramel’, lots of sugar and stuff. Couldn’t face paying £10 for cheese. Tea and petit fours served in what looked like large corks. Overall good but not amazing.
  22. Went here on Saturday for my b’day. The room was smaller than I thought (60 covers) and I didn’t like it as much as St.John @ Smithfields. It was packed to the gunnels and had a momentary panic as I had only booked for 12 and there were 14 of us – luckily 2 people at another table didn’t turn up so thankfully no one had to share a chair with my ample derriere. I started with Roast Quail and Aioli (£4.50), a perfect little specimen served rare with pungent mayo. Other starters included Beetroot, lentil and goats curd (£6.00) declared by my veggie friend as the best starter he has ever had. Rabbit terrine (£6.50), and Boiled egg with anchovy and celery salt (£2.60) For main I had Scottish Girolles on toast (£12.50) much to the consternation of the veggie - “you come to this meat worshipping place and order mushrooms?” These were fantastic, a massively generous portion of girolles sautéed in butter and served on thick slices of bread (thanks Dan!). Others had Rabbit, Pigs trotter and prune (£13), Langoustines and mayo (£9), Mackerel and gooseberries (£10). Puddings included spot on trifle, superb lemon posset and a wonderful looking meringue and raspberries. Only duff note was the Cheddar - Montgomery - (selection of British cheeses @£3.50 each) that was a bit sweaty. We drank white and pink wine. sorry can't remember more than that! Overall a fab night, the staff were excellent in dealing with such a large group and I’d definitely go back despite feeling like I was sitting in a branch of HSBC.
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