david goodfellow

Yes I agree there is a lot of monotonous drivel, but for me at least, this week holds lots more promise on the food front. 9 out of 10 for Daniel Clifford's dish? Wow that must have tasted good. It certainly looked the part on the plate. Best have a closer look at Midsummer House's menus

Good report John. Sounds right up my street. Will give it a try next time were in town. Seems like its good competition for Red Chilli and Red n Hot.

Some of you may remember the BBC show The Restaurant, in which Raymond Blanc, David Moore, and Sarah Willingham put nine couples through their paces, with the winner given the opportunity to go into business with Monsieur Blanc. Well, David Moore is a very successful restaurateur with two Michelin starred restaurants of his own. Pied a Terre and L'Autre Pied. So he knows quite a bit about the business, and indeed the Michelin workings. So what's the link? Well all that I could gleen was off the back of the menu, "has the backing of David Moore". In actual fact Mr Moore is new to networking site twitter and was intrumental in us dining here. You see he posted some pics of his recent visit on his page and they reignited my desire to eat here. So yes industry folks, it does pay to market your wares on twitter. So, the beautiful Harrogate, and down a quiet side street Van Zeller. As can be seen from the photos, its small but perfectly formed. We think the best seats are in the window and this is where we sat. The menu's are appealing. A 7 course tasting at £55. A 7 course vegetarian for a bargainous £39.50. The three course carte at £39.50, although this does include an amuse and a pre dessert. Then at lunch they have a " 5 for £25 " which is what Mr Moore ate from and this was also our choice. Bread was decent, white or granary, and arrived at the table warm. An amuse bouche came shortly after, Asparagus mousse with parsley root. The lunch menu has a choice of three, three, three, but the cheese course attracts a supplement of £9.50. There are a few supplements on the carte but I'm bemused as to why the "Yorkshire Lamb" would attract an extra £5. Broad Bean Gazpacho, Goats curd was one of the twitter shots that I had seen so it had to be tried. Pretty as a picture presentation wise, and pretty decent flavour for a cold soup on a not so summery day. The smoked rapeseed oil, mixed herbs and the crunchy flaked almonds all added to the value. What you cannot see is some little pools of Kalamata olive paste which were also in the dish. Across the table, was the very appealing Pork and Rabbit rillettes. The slash on the plate is Agen prune puree. My wife objects to barley if I suggest it in any meal at home, but the barley and apple vinaigrette disappeared from the plate rather quickly. We both liked this. The Yorkshire Lamb on the lunch menu was not a prime cut, far from it. Lamb belly from my limited experience is hard to work with, but its dirt cheap. In fact its so cheap a cut, that if you pull a face at your butcher, he will probably throw this at you. My wife knew it would be very fatty so chose the fish option, which she very rarely does. I'm not going to nit pick over the fattyness, I knew what I was getting, and to put it simply, the dish was great, and we all know what fat means, fl----r. Essense of Lamb, with a wonderful rich reduction gave it the intensity that I desired. The belly fat had turned to jelly by very slow cooking (braising) then finishing it off in the pan. And yes I ate the lot, but I'm not at all sqeamish. Also on the plate btw is. Creamy polenta with what I though to be dill running through it. Spring cabbage and onions, and radishes. Oh, and I'm sure there is some quinoa riding on top of the lamb disc, to give the sauce a bit of texture. The Brill from Brixham Market was much enjoyed also. Brandade, Piquillo peppers, chickpeas, kale and white onion puree and quite a decent hunk of fish. So far, if this is the standard of cooking here. We think it to be very good. We took an extra dish off the mains, and one that I had seen on David Moores twitter. So it had to be tried out. Tarragon Gnocchi Heirloom carrots, wild garlic, butterbeans, watercress cream. I'll tell you what. If I was a vegetarian eating here I would be very pleased indeed. This plate of food delivered on all fronts. Visually appealing, great textures, almost a "meatiness" about the texture of the gnocci. Bags of flavour throughout the plate Just a very good dish. Desserts to finish off did not disappoint. We had one of each, and really did not fancy the cheese course. First though the dinky little pre dessert, Bay leaf custard with an orange granita. Ever the gent, I gave my wife the choice of dessert knowing that there was not a cat in hells chance of her choosing rhubarb (one of the choices) Star anise and Vanilla panacotta parkin, melon and mint. Yep, simple but effective. We both love panacotta. This wobbly little beast slipped down a treat. Rhubarb is on all the menus up and down the country, and so it should be, its bang in season. On the drive here I saw a lady picking some from what looked like a very decent harvest. And of course we are in Yorkshire so this offering is perhaps from just down the road from here. Lime yogurt, Yorkshire rhubarb, granola. Again whats not to like, especially if you have a sweet tooth and like rhubarb as much as I do. I liked the addition of granola, for its crunch and fruity distraction. So much so that I will use it next time that I make a dessert. So thats it really. Some very good cooking using in the main fairly cheap ingredients. Nothing wrong in that on a lunch menu, but I do object to it a bit on an a la carte though. I really do think though that extracting loads of flavour from cheap cuts sorts the cheffy men from the boys, and there was certainly bags of flavour in these dishes. We both enjoyed the whole experience here, the service was good, the food was most enjoyable, I think Harrogate has a lot to shout about with a chef this good in residence. I would have no hesitation in recommending Van Zeller. In fact if we lived within a decent distance we would have eaten the tasting and the carte by now. Getting back to David Moore. He already has two michelin starred restaurants under his belt. I wonder how he feels given that the Michelin guide have not yet promoted Tom? Time will tell perhaps, but to my mind Tom van Zeller on this showing (and off the set lunch menu) is a very good chef indeed, and I would like to eat more of his food.

I'm really excited. I read through this thread again and realised what a fantastic time that we had here. Loved the place, loved the service and of course loved the food, so much so that we have booked in again. Cor, something to really look forward to. Anyone been recently? Would love to read your review

But what about the food? Good, bad, ugly, unappealing? Must admit as to not watching it all the way through, as I was busy on my laptop most nights. Its Midlands next week. Daniel Clifford, who is long overdue a return visit from us. Same with Aktar Islam. Young gun Paul Foster's food, is the one who I want to have a closer look at. How will he fare against Michelin big boy Mr Clifford?

Chef Pascal Proyart is on Saturday Kitchen now, cooking his King crab dish. It looks FANTASTIC. Must go back to try this dish out. I missed the beginning so I shall watch the repeat on BBC iplayer. Its here

Interesting thread this. I photograph all of our restaurant meals, and never use flash. I have a dslr camera which is just too bulky and obvious that I never use it. Besides which some of the tables are so small there is no room for it. My weapon of choice is a little Canon S95 which is one of the best point and shoot cameras on the market. Its discrete, quick and simple, so in no time at all, I can take my photos and then in moments we can get down to the real business, which is enjoying the food. Never once have I detected any whiff of objection, in fact most people seem to be enjoying their own company/food to bother with anyone else. We have been in high end places where boorish people have spoilt our meal somewhat with flash photography and high spirited behavior but no one has said anything. Loud, selfish, overbearing people are the ones who cause offence in restaurants, not the quiet couple in the corner taking a few snaps of the food. Btw, don't let anyone kid you along that chefs don't like you taking photos of their food. They love it. Its free advertising and I have had a number of chefs compliment me about mine. Happy snapping

I wanted to try this place out as soon as I read Gary's review but its a real schlep up and over the Pennines so I had to wait a bit. I saw a couple of photos of his food on someones twitter page and because we had cancelled a weekend trip down the shmoke I decided this trip oop north was justified. We were not disappointed, we enjoyed Tom's food and it looks a picture on the plate so I took a number of photos to share. I just need a bit of time to organize them. Harrogate btw is well worthy of a visit in its own right. I had forgotten how beautiful it is. We nearly did not make it though. About ten miles into the journey a Citroen C4 decided it would like to travel inside our vehicle along with us. Thank the Lord we were in the Chelsea tractor or we would have ended our journey on a low loader. Thank you Land Rover for building such a sturdy vehicle, no whiplash, no airbags deployed, and mercifully very minor damage,(unlike the Citroen) so we were able to make our lunch date a bit shaken, but in one piece. Report to follow. Anybody else been?

We ate here only the once, many years ago and did not feel the need to return. Sounds from your review that you feel the same. Back then, even though we used to go to Knutsford four or five times a year, the only place we liked for a fun type of meal was the old Est, Est ,Est (now Gusto). Its certainly not short on choice of restaurants of all types, just nothing seems to jump out Perhaps a better choice next time John may be the Loch Fyne restaurant? We have looked in a few times but not been hungry enough to try it out.

Well this certainly seems to have caused a stir amongst, dare I suggest, a mature group of spectators. What will happen when London's trendy young thangs hear about it? Like I said. It will be rammed.

It is gimmicky no doubt. I think they want to appeal to the young, quick turnover, not so much dosh market,(which is red hot at the moment).With the kitchen table more to show off the chefs undoubted talent. Its a very clever business concept, and it should run and run. Totally off topic, but could you explain what "dosh market" means? Is it "high end, expensive"? Sorry to be slow. Sorry my mistake really. Dosh is slang for money. So not a lot of dosh, means not a lot of money. Cheers

It is gimmicky no doubt. I think they want to appeal to the young, quick turnover, not so much dosh market,(which is red hot at the moment).With the kitchen table more to show off the chefs undoubted talent. Its a very clever business concept, and it should run and run.

Blimey Nick, that was quick. Your obviously at your desk, not up the allotment. Thank the Lord I'm thirty plus and I'm excluded from your bloggers list BTW I keep returning to your site for your review on Dabbous. Will it be up soon?

Literally hot off the airwaves. Hot dogs and Champers. Count me in. Ex Marcus Wareing head chef (and lately cooking at The Ledbury) James Knappett teams up with his wife, the wonderful Sandia Chang, ( Roganic and a load of other top eateries.) to create an of the moment themed restaurant with a difference. Expect it to be totally rammed from the off. Bloomberg reporter and top man Richard Vines broke the story. Here it is.

Some more info here. Lets hope its a good series.

Don't forget its on tonight The jocks taking part are Alan Murchison, Colin Buchan and Mark Greenaway. Sporan's at the ready boys.

Marcus, mutual respect matey. There is precious little of it sometimes. As I have stated, there is nothing wrong with the food, it is very good, and I would be an idiot to say otherwise. However, perhaps now that our eating out is becoming more and more frequent, the wow will perhaps happen less and less. I would be genuinely interested in your comments on some of the dishes that you thought to be the best. Did you eat this one? Or this one? Or this?

So, we were looking forward to our visit to RSB, but I have to admit to being slightly uneasy. You see, I have locked horns with the proprietor on this site, on a number of occasions. Pricing, booking and cancellation policy at his restaurant, Tripadvisor reviews, even comments on my meals at Purnells (which I have just reviewed) have all been conducted, and sometimes in a heated manner. As I post under my own fairly distinctive name I had hoped to slip below the radar, in case my forthright views impacted on the experience. However as has been pointed out above, full details have to be given at time of booking, including name of course. We booked a week in advance with Amanda, who said that she would send a confirmation by e-mail. I did not get one. I emailed her again three days before arrival using their website contact email in case my email address had been misinterpreted. Still no confirmation. I then phoned the day before and spoke to Jade (restaurant manager) who confirmed our booking for two at 1. Finding the restaurant is very difficult. My uber expensive sat nav gives three options. Lenton lane, Lenton. Lenton industrial estate, and a further Lenton industrial estate. We finally got the right one but it made us ten minutes late, arriving at 1.10. The greeting was friendly and charming by Arpi? We sat about seven metres from the reception desk where Sat Bains was taking/ making a phone call. We declined a drink, except for tap water as I was mindfull of being late (and driving) and without looking at the wine list asked Arpi to choose a bottle of white wine for us for under £30. The best he could do was £35. So we went with that. We walked through a courtyard area to the development kitchen housed in what used to be a former office. The first thing I will say is that even though the location of the restaurant leaves a lot to be desired, once inside it is very pleasant indeed. The development kitchen is very cosy and the lovely Nanna Vertergaard is an ideal companion to while away two or three hours with. In fact I will happily state all of the staff that we interacted with were great. And because we were the only two diners in the kitchen it was ideal for us. Very much like having your own personal chef . It would be churlish of me to say that the food was any less than good to very good, certainly as good as any one Michelin starred meal that we have eaten this year. What we did not get however was any "wow". In other words, there were no stand out dishes as such. Furthermore as this is the development kitchen I was expecting perhaps a few "off piste" dishes, but according to my research what we got was the normal restaurant offering. At two star level we were expecting a little more perhaps than was delivered, and portion size as can be judged by the above photo was meagre on a few dishes. This is not our now style of food, a recent meal at The Ledbury delivered far more excitement. Overall though, and for a special occasion we can recommend a visit. There is a caveat. Whatever you do though, do not criticise the restaurant or you may like I did, and others on Tripadvisor have, come in for a torrent of abuse. Some of it foul mouthed and not befitting of any business. Never mind one in the hospitality industry. This achilles heal, no matter how good the food is, currently means that Restaurant Sat Bains will never ever reach the dignified heights of say Heston, Roux, Blanc, et al. But do give it a try. Its a one off.

Fantastic report Lap, and many thanks for sharing. I know how long it takes me to make a short review, nevermind one like yours, its so full of detail. Never tasted Puffin. This and the seafood alone should be enough of a reason to visit but there are a myriad of treats on offer to taste. So we had better try to plan a visit sometime soon. Thanks again. A very good read.

I can't quite believe that it is nearly two years since we were here. I'm pretty sure that we must have had a meal after the one above, but it is at the very very least one year ago since our visit. More than ever I wanted to compare the food here, up against the two Michelin starred place that we ate at last week. Now then, we have been fans of Glyn Purnell's cooking for some time, but during that time we have never spoken to him or had, (nor asked for) any preferential treatment. We have of course paid in full for each and every meal and that is how we like it. I booked the table under another name and Maitre D, Jean Benoit was surprised but pleased to see us. He thought that we were walk ins. Of some surprise, a number of the tables were unoccupied which made me think Birmingham has suffered badly in the recession. Normally it is full to overflowing at lunch and we have struggled to get a table more than a few times. Sometimes having to book well in advance. As time went by though nearly all the tables were taken with just one solitary table a deux remaining. We were seated by the wall, next to the kitchen where the "Yummy Brummy" was barking out the food orders to his crew. As a point of interest, we have never eaten the tasting menu, "The Tour". We just don't seem to get past the set lunch menu, there is always something there to tempt us. Not at all because we are poor or mean or anything like that its just that we know that the quality does not waver whatever we choose. Pain de Campagne( country bread ) was a change from our previous visits, and a step up. I'm fairly certain it would have been baked on the premises, but did not verify. Up there with some of the best that we have eaten. Like a big soft sponge inside and a thickish tasty crunchy outer. Amuse bouche was Leek and Potato velute with some crunchy Japanese black rice and cubed feta cheese. Quail was on the menu, my favourite, so I will talk you around the plate Ballotine of Quail. The ballotine of quail, of course, propping up the pan fried leg. Quails egg, some gorgeous crunchy pigs trotter nuggets, bang in season wild garlic, sweetcorn and garlic puree. A really enjoyable plate of food. My wifes starter next, Slow cooked Pollock with scorched baby gem No complains from across the table, I enjoyed it too. Oh btw some of the other components. Some arty squeezed watercress puree slashes, marinated shallots, confit lemon. Cor, I wanted the next dish badly but my missus wanted it more. I'm sure this is Purnell's playfull take on the many curries I assume he has eaten since being a lad. Indian lentils seems to feature on other dishes on the menu, as do carrots, as in his signiture " toffee carrots". In fact as I understand it, quite a few of his dishes have links to his past. Daube of Beef with Indian lentils, red pepper, "carrots". A corker of a dish. My wife gave me a taste between me taking snaps of the food and getting tucked into my plate before it went cold. The carrots were confit, there was a red pepper puree and the lentils were lightly curried although don't ask me what spices were in there. On reflection I should have ordered this dish myself instead of the Grey Mullet. So my dish next Grey Mullet with a basil emulsion. pickled cucumber, quinoa, capers. I'm always surprised by many fish dishes in restaurants. Not my first choice normally, at home, or in a restaurant. I'm a meat and game man by nature. This was a good eat in any event. Texturally interesting, very decent flavour on the fish, even though it is not that highly prized by some chefs. Take note of the caper ball. Head pastry chef at Purnells, Pete Casson, can certainly knock out some pretty decent desserts and he did so today. Poached English rhubarb, custard and meringues. So, textures of rhubarb, sorbet, jelly, puree, etc. I'm fairly certain that I did see this on someone's twitter page and wanted to eat it as soon as I saw it. Initially I thought the rhubard needed sweetening up a bit, but I was wrong of course. It would have made the dish too sweet. As it was, the main sugar hit came from the custard and the meringues. Across the table was Passion fruit and vanilla panacotta Another good dessert, note the compressed pineapple, and pineapple sorbet, oh and an orange tuille. Yep, well worth the journey down a windswept M6. We both thought Mr Purnell had upped his game a bit since our last visit, and without hesitation can suggest that you pay him a visit. What's more because of the lunch price of £27 for three courses and my desire to cut down on my drinking a bit we managed to get through the door for around £80, nearly a third of the price of another meal last week. The above price included two glasses of house wine, a beer for me and service charge. Pretty darn good I would say.

Comments on a restaurant website say the restaurant is very good? Of course. Meaningless. If you took the trouble to click on the website like I said, you will find that the reviews are totally independent Here you go, I will do it for you

Jenni, I appreciate your comments, and yes I think that you were just unlucky on the day. As I keep reiterating we are not experts in any cusine (especially Indian) but because we dine out so very much we are able to make up to date comparisons from restaurant to restaurant. Although having said that, Indian cusine is not something that we eat much of at all, rarely in fact. We found however the depth of flavour and complex spicing a real treat. Perhaps because you seem to eat this type of food all of the time your expectation level is greater than ours? Again perhaps our tastebuds were in need of a distraction and more receptive than normal to the food on offer, who knows? We fleetingly tasted Keralan food during a fabulous cruise around India, we loved the flavours but it was so long ago we can not make a meaningful comparison. You mention great expense, tell me about it. Frequently our travelling and hotel costs are more expensive than the meals themselves. Interestingly head chef Sriram Aylur was in the kitchen on the day. A real surpise, I thought Sundays would be a day of rest. He visited our table for a quick word before heading off to the world famous Bombay Brasserie, where he is also Director and head chef. He really is a charming man, very gracious and focused. Other chefs please take note. And before anyone carps on about treatment. We arrived unannounced, made no mention of any blogging, and of course paid our bill in full My wife enjoyed her South Indian coffee, and I really enjoyed my pot of Masala Chai, but of course we have no direct comparison to make against other Kerelan places. If you click on the website and then on to the comments page most of the food reviews are very good indeed, there do seem to be some service issues however, not unlike somewhere that we dined at recently. They do though take it on the chin instead of making distasteful comments. You however seemed very happy with that side of things, which was entirely our thoughts too.

After a fairly quiet start to the year, our restaurant visits have become more and more frequent. Apart from London, the North West and the Midlands have been the focus of our attention. The problem is, after a while your taste buds can reach overload and a bit jaded especially when eating the same type of food. So we left Sunday free so that we could decide on the day what type of food we fancied. After considering Thai, Chinese, etc, we decided that an Indian meal was in order. Now then, we have been here before, perhaps three four years ago and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The restaurant has gone through a recent refurb as the previous decor was a bit dated somewhat. It is in a fairly quiet street away from the hustle and bustle but a shortish walk or an even shorter taxi ride from Buckingham Palace. So you could visit our Queen then stroll down here. We visited on the Sunday lunchtime service which was very quiet, and there was one set menu on offer. This turned out to be very good value especially given the various bits and bobs that were included. There was in fact no shortage of choice either, seven starters, seven mains, and four desserts. Coffee, tea, or an infusion were included in the price. We were bowled over by the very different flavours running through all of food. The chutneys, the dips, all excellent, and the whole meal had no duds whatsoever. Service was truly superb, attentive but unobtrusive and delivered with grace. The type that you normally associate with high end Indian restaurants. Other establishments should take note. I took some photos but it was a little dark at our table so I shall have to edit them a little, but expect a full report very soon.

The series starts next Monday on BBC2. Its bonny Scootland first, with shy retiring Alan Murchison featuring Info Here And yes I'm looking forward to it

A more detailed report HERE about the kitchen reshuffle. Remember you heard it first on egullet