nickloman

Yeah, but back then no-one knew any better (Or so I understand ... before my time!)

Although not the "lost generation" sort of place as reviewed today by Jay Rayner. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/21/jay-rayner-aberdeen-angus-london Haha, indeed. I enjoyed this review as well a little while back: http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.com/2010/08/aberdeen-angus-steak-house-piccadilly.html

Speaking for myself, I'm hoping Andreas' place can reproduce the quality of steak served at "next-generation" steak joints like Goodman and Hawksmoor in London. Such places usually have a variety of cuts and breeds on offer, including a variety of options from the UK (including Angus, Hereford). I saw Wagyu was also mentioned in the Birmingham Post article.

Andreas Antona from Simpsons is planning on opening a steak house in Kenilworth, that might be worth a try: http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/restaurants-birmingham-midlands/2010/11/05/simpsons-owner-to-open-steak-restaurant-in-kenilworth-65233-27610344/

Hey Prawncrackers, I'm really pleased we could show you Harborne market today. We both really enjoyed meeting you and having a good old chat about food! Great fun and it would be really great to meet up again. Hope the duck and lamb work out well!

Wicked, if you want to cook with it Fergus Henderson does a recipe called 'Fennel & Berkswell' which isn't more complicated than it sounds. But I think its too good to cook with, just eat on its own. For those not familiar, its a hard ewes milk cheese with some similarity to pecorino. But better

I was just playing. Looks like its been in a panini press to me, but I'm sure Prawny will tell us

A grill?

Local cheese: the incomparable Berkswell, from Berkswell (Solihull district).

Prawny! It's Harborne Farmers market this weekend and there will be a game stall there. Let me know if you fancy, if you do it'd be great to meet up for a coffee!

Wow, looking forward to this. Your 2010 pictures are amazing, I must rememeber to look at them when stuck for inspiration! Does one have to be specially chosen to do an eG foodblog?

But first I have Koffman's and Bar Boulud to attend to ...

It's definitely going on the must-visit list!

Drooling ... how does it compare to Goodman?

Whenever I hear the narrator say "Chef Ramsay" on that terrible American programme he's on I want to pass my own face through a mouli.

A short report (copied from my blog, sorry, bit busy: pics & links too http://nickloman.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/abergavenney-food-festival/ ) on Abergavenny food fest: Abergavenny – along with Ludlow – is one of the biggest food festivals in the calendar, and happily very easily reached from our Birmingham base. Over a hundred stallholders colonise this small Welsh borders town, spreading themselves over 6 locations. There doesn’t seem to be a unifying theme to the stallholders, but there are plenty of local producers representing the Welsh harvest; cheese, lamb and mutton, shellfish, venison, beef, apples, etc. But I have to say the festival has gotten so large now it may unfortunately be a victim of its own success. On Saturday when we went the crowds were excessive, making it hard to walk from location to location without pushing or being pushed. The covered market was periodically closed due to overcrowding. There was very little seating and so it felt a bit like hard work, unable to take a relaxed, grazing approach. I like to have the opportunity to chat more with stallholders but the queues made this difficult. If you do fancy going, I suggest the Friday or the Sunday might be a better bet. A few highlights: * Trealy Farm Charcuterie – These guys make amazing charcuterie made in Monmouthshire. We treated ourselves to their own air-dried ham, semi-cured sausages and chorizo. These guys really know their stuff – the best charcuterie you will find outside of France or Spain – it is well worth seeking out, or ordering online. * Bellota – their imported tins of beech-smoked mackerel are revelatory, ideal served as a tapa. * The “Raclette” Stand – serving a melted raclette-style cheese called Ogle Shield over potatoes and gherkins * Cafe Spice Namaste – a London based restaurant serving up masala dhosa to the hungry crowd * Claws Shellfish – impeccably fresh dressed crabs served up by a man not dissimilar to Tony Soprano There is also an event programme, we went to see Valentine Warner and Richard Bertinet do a cooking demo. They opted to do apple desserts. Valentine was a bit subdued but luckily Richard, once the crowd had tuned into his thick French accent managed to engage the crowd. I feel a bit sorry for the stooge who was taught unsuccessfully to knead dough the French way, but it was entertaining.

Blimey Pam, does look tight on the old portions. Did you go for a burger after?

Yeah Pam, I think to enjoy USDA beef properly you have to try not to think about the various processes involved in making it

Jack O'Shea at Selfridges - http://www.jackoshea.com/ - might well be able to mail order you some of his USDA imported stuff or his Irish beef which I think is grass-fed but tastes amazing. Give them a call.

Worth checking Birmingham ndoor Market - sometimes the rather ineptly named "Mr Fish" has grouse.

We had an appointment in London so went for a (very) early dinner at Goodman. Being around 5pm it was the transition between lunch and dinner service, so staff were changing around, busily organising the space and even taking their own dinner (chicken, apparently, but they do get steak at least once a week). It was nice to be one of only a few diners and enjoy the peace and quiet because the manager said they have been fully booked for dinner since opening 4 weeks ago and it was certainly loud and buzzing by the time we finished around 7:30pm. The space is new and slap bang in the historic banking district of London, a stones throw from the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange. The expensively fitted out dark room reminded me of a proper New York steakhouse, and I would imagine the bar would be a great place to while away a stolen afternoon (preferably on the bank's time). No such luck for me as I was paying for dinner. So, onto the food. The menu is on the website so I won't recap. A funny thing about surfing eGullet and food blogs is that you pretty much know what you want to have before you are shown the menu. An even funnier phenomenon is that you either want to try something that others have tried, or you want to try something different so you have novel findings to report! Given everyone else seems to have had the caesar salad and the risotto we opted for the cold fish starters. I had the smoked salmon and beetroot served with a miniature loaf. The smoked salmon was thick-cut, at room temperature and had a decent hit of smokiness demonstrating its quality. My other half had the pickled herrings which came in a zinging vinegar which lit up the palette along with the occasional juniper berry. Both very good starts. Beef sourcing is very important at Goodman and the drying primal cuts are available to view in one corner of the restaurant. When we went there was the option of USDA, Irish (from Jack O'Shea), Scottish and "Red Devon". I was most interested in the bone-in cuts, of which there was ribeye and sirloin available. My other half is a bit conflicted as to the ethics of bringing meat all the way from the US when we produce our own very good stuff. There is also the unknown of the US meat system - particularly in terms of animal welfare - one buys meat by grade and not from a specific farm like we do here. With regards to "grain finishing", this certainly results in a very soft and marbled final texture of the meat, but I am slightly put off by reports of how Kobe beef suffers by this method (http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/raymond-blanc-le-blog/2010/07/your-menu-can-be-an.html and http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2007/12/kobe_beef_estabrook) - I am not sure if this applies to US bred meat. (An aside, I once went through the painful process of reserving a table at Peter Luger's in New York and suffering a 90 minute wait for my reserved table whilst still trying to shake off yesterday's jetlag, eating very late and having a frankly pretty average joint of USDA "prime rib" - which may have slightly jaundiced my view of the apparently superior USDA meat.) On balance I would rather had the O'Shea meat from Ireland, particularly as a recent bone-in ribeye we had from him was an absolutely superlative piece of meat, definitely in my top 10 eats (report on that here http://nickloman.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/beefy-beefy/). Unfortunately they were only doing a 500g bone-in sirloin for one, so we decided we would try the 900g USDA bone-in ribeye as this is my favourite cut of beef. When it arrived it was rare with a seriously charred (in a good way) exterior. Sides were excellent bearnaise sauce, some very nice creamed spinach and some fine lyonnaise potatoes. The steak was very good, I enjoyed it a great deal but I think next time I will stick to my guns and have the O'Shea - I think perhaps I prefer the flavour of grass-fed meat, even if it is at the expensive of the marbling. No doubt the steak was cooked very well but it didn't have the depth of flavour I was hoping for, a similar experience to Lugers in fact. Pudding was a nice chocolate dessert and a fudge sundae which were both very nice, but you don't really go to Goodman for desserts and if you've done it right you are stuffed by this point. Nice coffee. Service was very friendly and efficient throughout and staff are happy to answer questions about the meat. Goodman is definitely highly recommended. Not cheap but I don't think a steakhouse meal should be - I would like to eat beef less frequently but insist on better quality from our suppliers.

Already checked out the menu and can't decide between the different types of steak ... and the burger Let's hope the wife is accommodating.

I'm going tomorrow - to the City location - exciting!

Unfortunately not, we're going to Scotland. But I will be going to Abergavenney the weekend after which is always worth the trip.

Why?