CalumC
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Posts posted by CalumC
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I knew it! Theres a purpose to watching Ready Steady Cook.
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Just thought I'd add in a post about the Royal Well Tavern in Cheltenham. It's been open six to seven months and I went again this weekend. It's just been awarded a bib gourmand so I went whilst I could still get a table.
What was a rundown pub is now a great little brasserie. The menu is simple, you get exactly what it says. There's a range of dishes from £4 (rilletes with pickled chicory) up to £40 (whole fillet of beef) so you can go for the standard 3 courses, mix and match a few smaller dishes or just share one huge one.
The cooking has been spot on every time I've been, really good ingredients carefully handled with no frills.
Puddings are limited to just 2 or 3 and the cheeseboard is sizeable slab of one cheese that rotates daily (I think).
The daily changing set lunch looked a great deal, 2 courses for £10 or 3 for £12. (It was on the day we went, a salad followed by black pudding with mash and poached egg and a chocolate pot)
The winelist is entirely French and quite short and they have Kronenbourg and one ale (St Austell Tribute) on tap.
All in all, 3 courses for two with a mid-priced bottle of wine comes in around £80. If you're in Cheltenham and looking for reasonably priced great food, I'd recommend the Royal Well
What you said there and the menu on their website just convinced the lady to choose RWT for birthday dinner, good work! Very glad about it, chosen over brasserie blanc
Was the menu when you went similar to the website?
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Do please let us know how you get on.
Thanks for all the details, I think i'm going to have to delve into this just for the fact that someone needs to find out what the deal actually is. Like you said, its seeming like a complete mess as far as legality goes, needs a lot of clarification.
I'll let you know what I get back from the EA.
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Calum, happy to assist!
But note that those postcodes relate to (freedom from) licenses to keep Signals. (But indicate their presence in those areas.)
Licensing to take is a different matter entirely.
Ah i see, in that case the email i sent remains with purpose. Thanks either way, gives a good indication.
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Dougal, thank you, you're a god for having that list to hand, its exactly what i wanted, certainly makes my life easier. I sent an email to the environment agency but now you've given me that list, the emails a bit redundant.
The list makes sense, hardly anything in the north because the red signal crayfish haven't managed to get up there quite so bad yet, they can't take the risk that traps would also bring in the white claw crayfish, the south has already been lost it seems. I think i'll be trapping in Gloucestershire, which is virtually all free of license.
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Is anyone on here catching the american red signal crayfish in the UK? I'd like to get into it, but I'm not sure exactly where I should be looking. I seem to remember that I need a license and obviously some catching gear, other than that, does anyone know much about it?
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Yes there is a Betty's in York. Get there before the Yanks do though as you may face a long wait!! Other than that, I reckon York is a little disappointing on the food front, in view of such a grand city. Theres J Bakers to go to, which can be hit or miss. Other than that its pretty much the same old stuff. pizza, pasta, curry, star bucks. If you can be arsed nip over to leeds, only half hour away. Theres the Piazza (see thread), Anthony's, Brasserie Blanc, No 3 York place etc.
Trip to Leeds is seconded.
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Went to a place called the Lime Tree, swinegate i think, but this was about 6 years ago, visited york again a few years back and saw that the menu was identical. So make of that what you will.
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Good food... Bromsgrove... HAHAHA! Anyone with knowledge of Bromsgrove will probably understand my disbelief, but hey, if michelin say so... Its a strange town, used to be quite good, busy shopping location, these days its on its arse.
Yeah, that's what I thought.. Bromsgrove doesn't seem like an obvious culinary mecca - the place that gets a good write-up in the 2008 michelin is "Epic Brasserie" - but I cannot find an official website for it, perhaps it has closed?
My dad mentioned a place a little out of town (he's originally from the area) but i can't remember the name, ill pester him for it again. As far as i know, the centre of town peaks with a Pizza Hut and Wetherspoons... Beer and a burger anyone?
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Funnily enough, me and some friends were planning a Little Chef trip, maybe i can convince them to make the journey. Hampshire isn't exactly close to us Gloucestershire, but hey.
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Good food... Bromsgrove... HAHAHA! Anyone with knowledge of Bromsgrove will probably understand my disbelief, but hey, if michelin say so... Its a strange town, used to be quite good, busy shopping location, these days its on its arse.
But anyway, LCS might be a bit out of the way for you, you'd have to get a train from one of your stop off points, probably Evesham, much easier to get to the station than Tewkesbury, which is actually a fair way out of town at Ashchurch. If you can make it though, it would be your blow out i imagine, approx £50 per person for full dinner, plus wine and service, but well, well worth it.
Its a great canal, you'll love the travelling, as far as food goes this is as far as my knowledge takes me.
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How about seperating the hotel inspectors from the food inspectors? Jack of all trades, master of none?
God knows how logistically, but would egullet be interested in branching out into restaurant guides in that manner? Get the food bloggers and foodies on here writing about places, some sort of meeting and editing process. Could at least start out as a more formal page on egullet.
Generally, egullet opinion on michelin seems to be negative.
Just a thought...
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Anyone visited this place? Went on saturday with family, couldn't exactly rant at the time what with the missus dad paying, but i wrote some notes on the train back and ill try and make them cohesive tomorrow. In the meantime, ill give over the photos of the menu, the only ones i took at the time, again, felt a bit awkward taking photos of everything. Not a lot to see either, tbh.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/music_food/32...in/photostream/
Move to the left for the main course menu.
Desserts were:
White Chocolate and Apricot Tart
Double Chocolate Cheesecake
Pine Nut Tart
Fruit Salad
Raspberry Brulee
Baileys Cheesecake
Lemon Meringue Pie
Ice Cream/Sorbets
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Thanks for the explanation. Seems a bit daft?
Glad to see Royal Wells Tavern on the bib list though, making plans for a visit. As well as to Allium actually, which should surely be acknowledged.
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For the michelin uninitiated, what does it mean to be a rising 2 or 3 star?
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I was at an absurd 'gastropub'in Oxfordshire recently, incidentally much praised by Jan Moir, at which there were about thirty choices at each course. Needless to say everything was execrable, but the very fact of that wide choice seems to make it a firm favourite with locals.
The wide and execrable choice was probably down to the usage of the mass central suppliers such as 3663 ?
God, 3663. I was on the wrong end of their tinned carrots at secondary school.
Edit: And everything thing else for that matter, fortunately the cooks were pretty good.
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Just read food snob's review, about to read ulterior's. From the former, I really get the feeling that theres a star (or two?) about to go missing.
"But perhaps the blame lies with me - I expect too much. For me, three stars still mean magic, still mean wow. Or I think it should. Then again, I am a naïve, fairly-fresh foodie. Maybe I must grow up…."
Three stars should mean magic and wow, I don't think that any blame lies with you in expecting a restaurant judged by michelin so highly, and with such a price, to be a quite incredible experience.
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My experience couldn't have started in a worse way - 40 minutes wait on our booking time and the situation being handled awkwardly by the manager.
When I finally was led to the small, dirty, stained, unclothed wooden table I thought: here we go, another ridiculous place for incomprehending Soho-types and Brit-crits happy to rave for eating in disgusting conditions and paying fine dining prices for fake and substandard Italian trattoria cuisine.
I was in the worst of moods and ready to be negative on every aspect of the food.
Yet the bread, olives and olive oil (always a tell-tale sign in an Italian place) moved the mood up one notch (nothing spectacular, but good; already an improvement on the vast majority).
A (complimentary) initial seafood fritto misto showed cooking skill and high quality of raw materials (as well as a manager showing the care he seemed to lack in the beginning).
The many other dishes that followed left me with the impression of a chef who is able to capture the essence of Italian regional cusine (notably Sicilian), with some personal interpretation. Fine dining it ain't, nor it aims to be. The flavours are intense but most of the times too bold, sometimes covering each other and lacking balance, with an excess of seasoning. He may be still striving too hard to attain the heartiness that most seek in an Italian dish.
Once he relaxes and smoothes the edges, his food will be perfect, high level, trattoria food. Even now, I left satisfied and I'd have been more than happy to have had this sort of meal in Italy (something impossible anyway, in a regional place you find just that one region represented). The service overall was very good (don't expect a knowledge of the dishes at the level of high end restaurants).
A full report with pics will follow.
Just read the piece in your blog, and everything else since then, its a great blog, consequently bookmarked
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Tried out some fudge and another muffin today. Cumin fudge is incredible, big fan of that. The texture of the fudge is great and the cumin is strong enough and comes in at the right time. The green olive fudge however was awful, couldn't stand it. I absolutely love olives of all kind, but in the fudge it just doesnt work for me. I've just tried it again while writing this, mellowed my opinion a little, but its still not a good combo for me. I understand that green olives and white chocolate are supposed to go together, and is a combination anthony uses/has used at the restaurant, maybe i need to try it in a plated dessert context.
Apple strusel muffin was OK, lacked apple flavour but a decent topping and good textured muffin. Friend had a chocolate chip muffin, no better than any he has had before according to him, and while i didn't try it, i could easily agree having had the double chocolate one a while ago. Incidentally, he couldn't stand either fudges, but hes a bit more conservative with food than me. He probably won't visit anthonys again particularly but then hes not really into food as such.
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Matthew!! I'm trying to do my assignments
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they're not expecting a star if that's what you're refering to, so there'll be little disappointment but quite happy to have one i'm sure.
all i'm interested in is what they serve me, if it has a star that won't change what i get to eat, tony seemed invigorated and full of ideas for anthony's so i'm looking forward to the new menu.
Not expecting, or just not bothered? Have they resigned themselves to the michelin system, along the lines of what was being discussed in the other thread about location and various other things.
I absolutely agree, if what they serve is still high standard, then michelin doesn't really matter. The point seems more that they deserve the public recognition for the quality of what they do.
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A truely excellent dinner at anthony's last night, the demands of their new venture the piazza are certainly not being felt at the mothership, tony and olga both in, and on good form, and god knows where they get the energy from but after doing a full service they were heading back to the piazza to make more stock for the pattiserie at the piazza!
there were several standouts seared tuna on ox tongue with horseradish, a perfectly cooked red mullet with filo crab sandwich and a great apple dessert with pork fil and sage ice cream, though the menu is changing from tuesday so it'll be all new.
the attention to detail remains the same, for example they've invested in a new coffee machine (about the same cost as a small car) had their own coffee ground and then subjected it to a half degree at a time test to find the optimum temperature for the espresso, and it makes a fabulous coffee with excellent crema.
tony has plenty up his sleeve for anthonys in 09 the piazza has not diminished his love of creating new ideas for anthony's , it'll be an interesting year.
When a resturant is pumping that much time and effort into a business, how can michelin not be taking note?
God I need to visit.
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Do we think Allium might get its *, they got GFG South West Restaurant of the year for 2008 and while i've not been, i'd say the menu looks deserving.
Lumiere, Cheltenham
in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining
Posted
Just got this email from lumiere:
It just so happens that the other day we walked past and I booked in for my girlfriends birthday not knowing exactly when Geoff and Linda were going. Well, now I do. Menu (below) doesn't look at all bad, so i think we'll still be going. We were booked to Royal Well Tavern but the lady decided she'd rather go somewhere more special for birthday. Chef looks to have a pretty decent record and I believe that when reading the menu outside (still the old menu) we bumped into presumably Helen who gave us a friendly smile and a Hi.
Foie Gras
Apple Compote, White Pudding, Cider Glaze
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Risotto
Wild Mushroom, Truffled Brie
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Fishcake
Cod & Salmon, Pouched Egg, Chive Beurre Blanc
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Ravioli
Crab, Butternut Squash Puree, Vanilla Foam
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Soufflé
Goats Cheese, Beetroot & Horseradish Puree
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Beef
Braised Blade, Parsnip, Roast Shallot, Braising Juices
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Monkfish
Medallions, New Potatoes, Baby Leeks, Red Cabbage Butter Sauce
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Gloucester Old Spot
Tenderloin, Fondant Potato, Savoy Cabbage, Crushed Root Vegetables
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Salt Marsh Lamb
Rump, Dauphinoise Potato, Confit Garlic, Baby Carrots
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Sea Bass
Corriander Tortellini, Stir Fried Vegetables, Pickled Ginger Sauce
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Pistachio
Cheesecake, Vanilla Ice Cream & Caramel Sauce
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Hot Chocolate
Crème Brule, Passion fruit Marshmallow, Tonka Bean Ice Cream
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Pear and Almond
Jelly, Ice Cream, Tort
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Lemon
Tart, Raspberry Sorbet
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Cheese
Selection Of British Cheese, Red Onion Marmalade, Biscuits
3 Courses £39
Thoughts?