bakerestates

You are going at one of the busiest times of the year for Aldeburgh - school hols have just started so the place will be crawling. The Lighthouse is well known and sought after for what it does, have not eaten there personally. Restaurant 152 on the high street The Regatta In Snape which is before Aldeburgh on the A12 there is the Crown and also the Boot & Somthing which are safe brasserie style places. If you have wheels it is well worth going to the Crown & Castle at Orford (there is a thred here somewhere) and also the Orford Smokery. Or north of Aldeburgh towards Wabbleswick is The Anchor run by Mark & Sophie Dorber. Mark previously ran the White Horse in Parson's Green (mecca of beer) and I hear the food is very pleasant, local and fresh. Wabbleswick is very pretty - more so than Southwold & Aldeburgh. Have fun.

Spent a week in Trebetherick and ate out at the following; Fifteen, Watergate Bay, Newquay Stunning location above the beach. It was a windswept evening pouring with rain and the waves were really rolling in with a couple of kite sufers gliding along the beech in front of us. We were taken through a very busy buzzing restaurant to a side room (The Garage) which meant the atmosphere was more muted and, for me, sterile. After a bottle of Gosset Watervale Riesling (£39) (incidently, not as good as his top Riesling Polish Hill which at the Hotel du Vin in Winchester three nights earlier was £37) our waiter introduced himself and then took us through the concept, the produce, the oil, the bread, the menu, my choice of wine etc, etc, etc,. The oil served with the bread was far too strong and peppery so early in the prodceedings. Good fat big green olives stone in. Opener of seared scallop wrapped in pancetta served with beetroot puree with horseradish (underfiring) was fine. Burrata, local fennel salami (quite loose an super-waffer thin), rocket, balsamic was more of a lunch/brunch dish for me rather than a starter. Pasta course tortellini of peas, broad beans, mascapone, sage butter overwhelmed with peas & sage butter and was served in a ridicuously deep wide rimmed bowl. Mains of brill with clam/mussel broth was very good but could have done with a spoon or bread to mop up the broth. Porchetta was very thinly sliced which lost the crux of the dish. Cannellini bean smash were not smahed but good if underseasoned and the roast fennel on the side was uncessary given the fennel in the pork. Local cheeses were excellent but two flavoured breads and date salami killed the cheese. Puddings seems out of keeping in that they were twice the size of the starter and pasta course and looked, dare I say it, bought in (they had that look rather I think they might have been). My chocolate torte was not rich enough or bitter enough. The raspberry/strawberry cheesecake was odd. Two bottles of excellent Agliancio from Molise and Recieto from Anselmi, our bill was £76 plus service (£50 food) seemd a lot for what it delivered. Service was too informative and interrupting and I felt I was a tourist visiting a restaurant for the first time, maybe even eating for the first time. But I am a cynical publican as my family pointed out and they enjoyed it. The Gurnard's Head, Zenor, St Ives Excellent feel to the place - warm, welcoming, relaxing. Main bar and dining room with open hatch into the kitchen. Good smells and noises coming out. Started with a pint of prawns with aioli that was so well balanced my three year old ate most of it on its own. I had a rose veal chop with herby lentils and spinach which was execellent and my wife slightly smoked kippers with toast and butter and salad - a perfect lunch. Amazing setting on cliff tops, well worth the journery given we did not make it to the Tate in St Ives on the grounds that all four car parks were full. Ripley's, St Merryn, Padstow A really excellent meal. The best freshest bread I have ever eaten - one rosemary foccica and one sour-dough served with three pots - butter, light olive oil and nuts - yum yum yum. Two starters of squid, chorizo and rocket was fresh and light. Crab mayonaise with pink grapefruit (not for me) was delicious and sardine fillets with gremolata were smokey and lifted by the lemon zest. Main courses of Moroccan lamb with tapanade & roast peppers, courgettes and tomatoes (I think) was beautifully cooked. Pork belly with caramelised apple was dissapointing in that the sealed skin crackling was quite hard to get through and the meat did not have that flaky untous (wrong spelling) give to it and the apples were odd in July. Two brill were ordred, one was changed to trubot but whose complaing with fish this fresh, perfectly cooked. With some diced courgettes (didn't really notice them) and a saffron sauce which was incredibly subtle it hardly interverred with the fish. A chocolate fondant for two was ordered by one and ended up in a doggy bag, a light walnut tart and perfect cheese rounded everything off. I usually find this style of food conservative and bland but this was so fresh and so impeccibly cooked I was bowled over. Chez nous we had some seabass and crab from Port Issac (don't drive to the fishmonger!), ribeye from Watts in Rock (not great) and beautiful lamb from a farm near Polzeth cooked with lots of rosemary from the garden with local courgettes and new potatoes and mint sauce with mint picked 1 minute before eating, were all worth the effort. We had the lamb with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Domaine A 1999 from Peter and Ruth Althaus' in the Coal River Valley in Southern Tasmania - a stunning wine that was complex, structured and balanced - a top wine that will cellar well and worth every penny.

Sorry, i meant the Angle at Hetton, not the Star, wrong location but still good. Make sure you drink Black Sheep from Masham - excellent creamy ale from the Theakston family.

http://www.thestaratharome.co.uk/

Just in case you are put of completly, there are establishments of all kinds where you don't work 17 hour days 6 days a week, where you don't get paid a pittance and don't get treated like shit. It does a disservice to our industry that it has been portrayed as above by some and makes it that much harder to recruit good people who view us as unprofessional becasue of this sort of treatment. I say follow your dream - life is too short not to live them. pb

I like Pieropan's wines a lot -- I have not la Rocca, but the other single vineyard Soave, Calvarino, in my cellar. (plus a bunch of his regular bottling which is a great QPR). Nespole aren't apricots but something else -- pedantic discussion here The River Cafe aren't that good at Italian though --( mazzancolle are langoustine apparently?) so they might have been apricots. ←

I thought that the "wild boar" sold in the UK was usually a wild / domestic pig cross. ←

Slightly on this topic my farmer meat supplier has offered me Ironage Pig today. This is a cross breed of wild boar and the domestic pig. It is from a farm near Sible Hedingham in Essex. The benefit is that the meat is slightly gamey but not as much as wild boar and leaner than say Gloucester Old Spot but not loosing that sort of flavor. They are slow growers, usually about a year old. So I am going to take some in the next two weeks and see how it is. I believe this farmer currently sells them to Waitrose who use it for 'Wild Boar Sausages'. Great name though.....an Ironage Pork Chop please! pb

Aren't they notorious for eating absolutely anything? ← yes i think you are right...I meant more they wouldn't eat growth enhancing crap that some pigs and cattle are given....or maybe they would!

I agree about there not being not much difference between Theo Randall and River Cafe in terms of food and not sure why there should be given Theo Randall. I was lucky enough to go to Liberty Wines 10 year aniversary tasting and lunch last month at Theo Randall and had a faultless meal - baring in mind he fed 120 guests in one go who had the choice of four starters, four main courses and four puddings. The price is different though as I believe Theo Randall does a lunch deal. The oil could have been I Canonici, Tarvenelle Val di Pesa which is bottled under River Cafe label and available from Liberty Wines along with the Capezzana mentioned below.

Had our annual birthday lunch here today....Rose Gray working the pass and as ever, excellent in many ways. Staff could not have been more relaxed with us despite being half an hour late due to crazy traffic from Essex. Antipasti - grilled squid with chilli and rocket. The squid had been light blanched I think then just touched the grill so the fresh squid flavour came through the hint of charcoal. Chilli just enough to get the taste buds going. Bresaola with shaved parmesan - light, mild, great beef with good marballing and not the rubbery salami type you can get. Bagua Cauda of asparagus, baby beetroot, baby carrots, swiss chard and nebbiolo sauce that was subtle with the al dente warm vegetables. Primi of a shared plate of six perfectly formed rotolo verde - spinach pasta stuffed with dried mushrooms and ricotta with fried sage leaves. Creamy, herby, earthy and light. Secondi - tranche of meaty bright white Turbot with erbette (wild spinach) and broad beans dressed with light and fruity olive oil. Arrosta Misto of lamb chop, half a wood pigeon and a rabbit leg, cooked quickly in the wood oven with rosemary & olive oil, roast potatoes. Succulent, tasty, bone suckingly good. Finally, the best dish, first of the season wild salmon with castelluccio lentils baby tomatoes. When you have a piece of fish this good you wonder how the over farmed stuff ever got to market. Dolci - a full selection of all the puddings. Perfectly balanced lemon tart, a pannacotta so excellently formed you wanted to pick it up and massage it with roast nespoli (apricots) and lots of vanilla. Chocolate nemisis which was light and moussy with a real hit of cocca. Strawberry & Almond tart which I found a little heavy/biscuity. Twoexcellent ice creams. Wine - Educato Chardonnay from Grasso was as the waiter described - light without the butter notes but a hint of oak. Pieropan La Rocca - a wine I will take to my grave for its purity of flvaour, balance, color and craftmanship, and three glasses of different grappa. Bill for three with water and chilled, slick, spot on service £258. A very contented sole.

We took a goat off a local farmer who rears lambs for us. It was excellent and sold very quickly. We roasted part of it and braised the rest. Like wild boar, I was unsure how it would sell but people were really into it and not just for the novelty of having it. Like all our meat not really bothered about whether it is organic or not as long as it is well reared, naturally fed and goes to a good abitoir then butcher. Though I would have thought there are only certain things goats eat! I know that the Eagle in Farringdon have had it on their menu (and a dish of it is included in their cookbook) and I would imagine it is something the Anchor and Hope would like to try (as well as their new place in Covent Garden where former Eagle Head Chef and Telegraph food writer, Tom Norrington-Davies - can't remember the name......Great Queen Street? is cooking) pb

http://www.ardeonaighotel.co.uk Have returned from a four night stay at the Ardeonaig Hotel on the banks of Loch Tay in Scotland. I recommend it as somewhere to stay or have lunch/dinner at if in the area or want somewhere to escape for a couple of nights. Beautiful seeting. Really comfortable hotel/inn especially the public areas downstairs. Our rooms were a little basic - no TV, phones etc, small bathrooms, dribble of water for showers. Immaculate upkeep, friendly and well drilled staff. Their maitre d, 28 year old Craig, was a wealth of knowledge on wine (all South African) and whiskey. On the food front, a surpsingly large menu (10 starters, 10 mains, 6 puddings) for the number of rooms and potential guests for that time of year (no more than 20 people when we were there, up to 28). On the whole it was thoughtful, well sourced and respectfully cooked. The fish dishes were much better than meat except for one night. The fish dishes generally had more components with them than the meat and baby vegetables with rack of lamb turned out to be baby beetroot and cherry vine tomatoes! Out of two 'slabs of beef (rib)', fillet of beef, two racks of lamb - one slab was sent back as well done when requested pink, the replacment was borderline and excessivly fatty/grisley, the end piece I think. The medium rare fillet of beef was very rare (but delicious) and the pink racks of lamb were grey and just pink in the middle. We did wonder whether our requests had made it back to the kitchen. The flavour of the meat was deep, complex and correct. 5 minutes into the second rib of beef Pete (owner chef) popped out to apologise which was a really nice touch. Intrequguingly though, when he had finished cooking and did his rounds of the five other tables, he did not visit ours. Nor did we see him for the other three nights which given our sampling of their excellent wine list and clear interest in his food, was bemusing. The one night he cooked from a set menu, each course was excellent and the weight of the menu perfect. It was Crab salad formed into a cake with a seared fillet of red mullet Hake with a tiny soft boiled egg, grain mustard and leek broth Loin & kidney of hare, pigeon breats, (the hare loin was brilliant) Local new season raspberries with a chocolate fondant Cheese - we had this plate each night and had about 7 different ones each time with delicious truffle infused honey, pickled fruits and heather honey which were amazing with the blue and soft talleggio stlye ones. Of the wines we had, there was not one dissapointment - except for a Graham Beck Pinotage which was more about my inherent dislike of pinotage. A lot of the wines are shipped direct from the growers and are unavailable in the UK. Craig also found us a couple of older vintages of wines not on the list. On the whiskey front the standout was the Dewer's Rattrey.

Just booked a cottage for a week in July 5 miles north of Rock in a village called Trebetherick......two rounds of golf...now need three bookings in restaurants for dinner for 4. Would ideally like three differing experiences. Having read this topic and a couple of others the contenders seem to be Nathan Outlaw (how long to drive?) Rick Stein No. 6 Margot's These are all Padstow (except Nathan Outlaw). Are there any other places worth checking out, up to 40 minutes driving. Finally, with 6 kids to feed with picnics and barbeques, wherre are the best places to buy meat, fish and vegetables. Thanks

It really is, I don't think my topic heading did enough justice to it. Ate again and can't get over how good something like this is for this area. The service is slick, the food is light and flavours at many stages in each mouthfull - the baby squid in curry spices (the waiter wouldn't reveal what they were) was really good, tender, clean squid, real mild curry spices (nothing specific) and then really pure seafood broth flavour. Had tripe also which was cooked exceptionally well. I know two other people who have been and can't believe how good it is either. My fishmonger delivered £1000 worth of lobster last weekend and they paid for it in crisp £100 notes from a briefcase Lots of local Chinese people also seem to be eating there. Looking forward next week after crazy bank holiday here.

I note from the wine list the have as their 'house' red Alpha Zeta, 'Fifteen' Toscana, 2004, Italy Alpha Zeta is a co-operative near Verona in Valpolicella and the grape is Corvina for this wine which I sell as my 'house' red from Liberty wines. The grapes come from growers within the DOC of Valpolicella and to the best of my knowledge not Tuscany. I know Fifteen had input into the olive oil from Alpha Zeta and they also make Amarone (Valpolicella) and straight Valpolicella but this seems a bit of an odd listing and potentially misleading. Thanks for the posting....was there any mention of sourcing on the menus?

Had dim sum here and throughly enjoyed it. Well done out warehouse sort of space, lots of dark wood, silk wallpaper, fake orchids, next to a garden centre on the outskirts of Colchester. Team of 12 in the kitchen preparing what was very tasty and genuine dim sum. I am not sure of any other places in the area that offers this. Had this between two (yes I know a lot but I was eating with the farmer who supplies my meat - he's not small and had been lambing since 5am so rather hungry) Steamed Dim Sum 1 Scallop Dumpling with Asparagus £3.00 3 Prawn Dumpling with Diced Bamboo Shoot £3.00 6 Pork Siu Mai £2.50 10 Baby Cuttlefish in Curry Sauce £2.50 - excellent, fishy stock, mildly spiced 12 Chao Zhou Fen Guo £2.30 13 Stuffed Bean Curd Roll £2.30 16 Char Siu Bun £2.30 Fried & Deep Fried Dim Sum 20 Cuttlefish Cake £3.00 Cheung Feng 32 Shredded Pork Cheung Feng £3.00 33 Beef Cheung Feng £3.00 34 Char Siu Cheung Feng £2.80 Special Dishes 40 Slice Pork Boiled with Sauce £2.80 43 Whelks in Satay Sauce £2.80 44 Baby Squid in Chili Sauce £2.50 45 Beef Tripe in Hot Spicy Sauce £2.50 For those who live in the area and are searching for something good and pretty correct, you can do no worse. Am returning next Monday with my wife. http://www.banquet1408.co.uk/index.html

and two out of the three places he has reviewed sound almost identical except one is Thai and one is Indian. I stopped reading after about a third. Surley there should be equal weight given to the food?

We have customers who will ask for a side of roast potatoes even if roast potatoes or mashed potatoes come with their dish i.e. on the plate as a component. We also have people who will ask for a side of greens (purple sprouting broccoli, black cabbage, spring greens etc) when their dish includes say spinach, chard or something similarlly green. Quite a lot of food is left over. I resisted for two and a half years with listing 'extras' on the menu but parenthood seems to do something to wither resolve for the debate. Give them what they want, I don't mind as long as they pay for it. Never chips though. Some customers also feel the need to eat their full rounded meal every meal even if it is their one people out a week. I.e. if their dish is say cod, lenitls, spinach they want potatoes and veg because their meal is not 'balanced' without it. Doesn't matter that they may have had them for lunch, are going to have them tomorrow night and the next....... Their habits often remind me of the scene from the film Big Night (Stanley Tucci) when the customer asks for a side of spaghetti with her risotto or vice versa...can't remember precisely, havn't seen it for a while. The film was set in 50s America but I could recount many simliar requests that happen as frequently.

believe me that mentality is not just in the north !!! ← or west!

If you have no luck with nisbetts try http://www.wineware.co.uk/ or John Jenkins - sorry no contact details.

we have participated in the daily telegraph pay for 1 main course get 2. We have not done the Times 2 courses for £5 as I am at a loss to work out how to even pay for the food at this price. In the first year the 2For1 bought 800 people in three months (available Mon-Thurs lunch and Mon-Tues dinner). It ran June, July August. A busy time of year anyway but as we were in our second year I saw it as a marketing cost. In the second year we limited it to Mon-Tues dinner and Mon-Tues lunch). 400 extra people. This year it is running May-July which could entice me into it given I am packed in August anyway and May (except for the two bank holidays) can be dodgy as well as June. I will restrict it to quieter services (Sun-Tues dinner, Mon-Thur lunch) but as in previous years, I will offer as much of my menu as possible. Main courses over £12 generally don't get on it. We don't print it on DT letterhead, just highlight the offer dishes on our printed menu and blackboard. The average number of customers does increase during offer time for that time of year. We do get repeat custom at other times of the year from it. We do get people having two/three courses and more drinks because they are getting a main free. We get regulars who generally dine with us once a week, eating out twice a week, once with a voucher. We still get those who only drink tap water, have one course, don't leave a tip and only come back when the next deal is on. There are not many other places around me of a similar offering that participate, but I am not sure whether that would change my mind as I know the punters will go where they offers are.

try http://www.waresofknutsford.co.uk/ or nisbets.co.uk

I know how you feel. If you change your mind....I know this lovely old character inn in a picturesque village......... From reading these posts, your site and Observer review, you seem to have achieved a lot. Well done.

Morning Advertiser 1 March 2007 Yorkshire Food Pub Snaffled Read this headline in todays Morning Advertiser ...... 'The Blacksmith Inn at Westow near Malton in North Yorkshire - voted Best Yorkshire Dining Pub 2006 - has been sold. The pub was bought by Jonathan Cliff and partner Emma Shaw from Black Cat Taverns Ltd. It is their first pub venture' Is this correct?