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TomHall

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Everything posted by TomHall

  1. I won't be driving - far too interested in the wine list for that. I don't mind getting a cab though.
  2. I'm off to San Seb for my birthday in August and planning on a visit to Mugaritz and Arzak. I'm thinking one for lunch, one for dinner. Any thoughts on which would be best to do for lunch?
  3. I'd agree with the recommendations for Monmouth, Flat White and Fernandez and Wells. They all use Monmouth coffee so are similar although last time I was in Flat White they were saying that they are experimenting with there own blend.
  4. I went a couple of saturdays back and wasn't overly impressed. Nice enough but a little boring. Terrible coffee as well.
  5. Went to the Dove in the end. Thanks for the recommendation. Had a good meal but nothing ground breaking. Worth popping in if your in the area. The only real issue was the wine list. I guess Shepherd Neame don't give their chefs/landlords much of a say over it?
  6. Made a relatively last minute decision to spend easter weekend in Whitstable. Unsurprisingly The Sportsman is fully booked for every service. Any one else know of good places to eat in the area? Considering sister restaurant in canterbury but the people I'm going with think it might be too far to travel for dinner.
  7. I'd definately advise a trip to a gastropub - its one of the things I miss now I live in Melbourne. The Anchor and Hope is top notch. The no booking policy can be a bit annoying, but you're fine if you arrive early and even if you have to wait for a table its a good place to drink. The ledbury is also a great place if you want fine dining at reasonable places. Had one of the best meals of last year there for my sisters birthday. We did tasting menu and got the sommelier to pick us matching wines and it was under 100 pounds a head.
  8. So where's the best place for fish and chips in Melbourne? The only place I've tried so far is clams on Acland St. It was ok, but I didn't think much of the batter. Any suggestions?
  9. Thanks for the recommendation. I popped in a couple of days ago and managed to get loads of info (and a little cheese). Apparently gruyere, comte, parmesan, roquefort and one other are now allowed to be imported although apparently some suppliers are refusing to export to Australia because of the risk of it being turned away because of e-coli concerns. Surely a little raw milk is not that dangerous!
  10. I'd definately agree with the Cheltenham/Champignon Sauvage suggestion.
  11. Thanks Pat, I'll have to check out the market. I did see that book when I was browsing recently, I might have to pick up a copy. Its a little dissapointing on the cheese front but I'm sure there are plenty of things here to make up for it.
  12. I've just arrived in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and I'm here for the next 6 months or so. Friends have told me its a great city to eat in but I went to a deli yesterday to get some cheese and they told me that you cant get unpasturised cheese in Oz. Is this true? Surely it cant be that dangerous if we've been eating it unpasturised for the past however many thousand years! On an unrelated note, as I'm new to the city where are the best butchers, fruit and veg markets, fishmongers, delis etc. I'm living in St Kilda but I don't mind travelling for quality. Cheers
  13. Champignon Sauvage. Amazing value for a ** star and Cheltenham's really nice place to wander around. Wine list is top value as well.
  14. My cunning plan has worked. My darling girlfriend has secured a table to for 8.30 on thursday night. And as a reward for going to a wedding with her in cardiff on the weekend she's also booked a table for The Armless Dragon on friday night. What's the phrase about the way to a mans heart is through his stomach?
  15. Another excuse, should one be needed: eat early or late from the set and for the rest of the month it's two courses for £13.50 or three for £15.50, plus they throw in a "house" cocktail. I'm going out for lunch with my Mum, sister and cousin for lunch tomorrow. The consensus seems to be we should eat outside - I think I'll just book here and ask for a window!
  16. Nice write up - definately enhanced by the picture including my table of four on the left hand side! Loved the pigs head, unfortunately I'm a bit hazy on everything else as I decided that as the food was cheap I'd make up for it with increased alcohol consumption.
  17. I think I've decided where I next want to blow a good amount of cash. I'd better remember to stop looking open mouthed at my computor screen and drooling when I'm supposed to be working. Someone might figure out I'm not doing what I'm meant to be. Anyway, is it rude to book my own birthday table and then tell my girlfriend where she's taking me for my surprise meal?
  18. Has anyone been on a friday night recently? I've got tickets to the national for 7.30 and I'm hoping to eat here before. I work not far away so should be able to get there for around 5.30. Good chance of getting an early table? Also, how quick is the service? Two courses in an hour a possibility? Cheers
  19. Number One is excellent. I had lunch there on a typical Edinboro day (windy and freezing!) last summer and the food was top notch and the whiskey out of this world. So good I nearly missed my train trying to find a bottle of what I'd just drunk! Oh, and the plate of petits fours we got was the biggest I've ever seen - did manage to finish it though!
  20. I was just going through my papers trying to find my passport as I'm off on holiday on wednesday and I came upon the copy of the Omakase menu I had at Cinc Sentits when I was in Barcelona a few weeks ago. I'd asked for the menu especially so I could remember what I'd eaten in order to write it up here and now I'm looking at it wishing I'd posted when it was fresher in my mind! However, the reason we'd chosen Cinc Sentits was because of the reviews I read here so I'd better do my bit and add my two cents worth. Before delving in to the minutae of what we ate the first thing I have to say about the place is what good value it is, especially for the wine. I cant tell you how pleasing it is to see tasting menu whose matching wine is so well priced. I'd recently been to the Fat Duck where the matching wine cost more than my entire meal at Cinc Sentits. Anyway, enough of the small talk. We started with the shot of warm maple syrup, cream, cava sabayon and rock salt. This was an exceptional start to the meal. The way salt accentuates and complements caramel flavours rocks my world, and the shot did not dissapoint. It was followed by a small spoonful of fois gras, violet marmalade and crushed carquinyolis. Looking at it in print it reads as an odd combination, and frankly it was. The foi gras wasn't really allowed to come through as the lavender overpowered it too much. Next up, and the final amuse bouch was a sweet potato espuma with walnut oil. This was a perfectly accomplished soup, and enjoyable, but nothing to blow your socks off. The next course to alight at our table was a Galician Scallop, the first of the main courses. The scallop was sweet and well cooked, but due to the time that has elapsed since the meal I can't remember anything other than that. This was followed by Wild Red Mullet sitting on a bed of ebly 'black risotto' with parsley oil. This certainly looked striking. The contrasts of the black, red and green making it one of the best looking dishes I've had in some time. However, the squid ink in the risotto slightly overpowered the fish (which, on its own, was beautiful) and the parsley oil added less to the flavour of the dish than to its appearance. However, any slight quibles with the previous course were immediately relegated on the appearance of the next course. The Iberian Pork Belly with braised lentils and squid was out of this world. Now obviously pork belly deserves slow cooking and this peice of meat had certainly received it. It had been hermetically sealed and then cooked for 17 hours before being finished in a hot pan to caramalise the outside. I adore pork belly, but my girlfriend is rather less enamoured of it. However, she absolutely adored it this time. It was also accompanied by a very nice Senorio de Valdehernoso Roble 2004. Having hit the heights with the pork belly I couldn't wait for the next course, a slow braised Oxtail. I love the big unctuous flavours of oxtail and this was a superb example of how to get the best out of this underutilised cut. I'm sure it helped that the Closa Batllet 2002 that came with it complimented it so well. Unfortunately the desserts didn't quite compare to the meat courses, however the sweet wines matched with them almost made up for it. The cheese selection was dissapointing its size and timing (I prefer cheese after dessert, but thats just personal) but I couldn't fault the cheeses. The lemon selection was nice, but no more. However, the 'Xixona Turron' parfait was sublime. Even more so was the NOE Pedro Ximenez sherry that came with it. It slipped out of the bottle like treacle and was just out of this world. All in all it was a successul night. The only minor glitches on the night were the fact that the table next to us were served their mullet with the squid ink ebly at the same time as our lemon dessert which made my girlfriend wonder why her curd tasted of fish! I also found the room to be a little bare, but thats hardly the end of the world.
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