nimzo
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Posts posted by nimzo
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One of my all time favourites is The Crazy Bear at Stadhampton. Fun, quirky and excellent food - choice of either Continental or Thai which is especially good. You can see a bit of their stuff at www.crazybeargroup.co.uk or contact them for information about booking and child-friendliness. They have a great garden so long as you don't let the little one climb into the pond with the koi. Enjoy.
Bernice
Hi,I will be visiting friends in the UK, and we have planned to meet up for lunch on a Saturday. There will be about 10 of us, including one young child.
As some of these friends live in the Reading / Maidenhead area, while others live up in the Redditch area, we thought that it would make sense to find some mid-point off the M40. Places like Banbury, Bicester, and Oxford have sprung to mind, but none of us really know the restaurants / family pubs in that area that would be a good fit for a group of our size (and child-friendly). I'm also at a disadvantage that I currently live in the US, and haven't been to that area of the UK in over ten years, so I really have no idea
Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, informal place for lunch that takes reservations for a group?
Thanks!
Jason
I booked a meal for a lor a large group and rooms at the Crazy Bear for our honeymoon a couple of years ago.A fortnight before the wedding they e-mailed and informed me that they had just realised that the dates involved covered a bank holiday weekend and that the prices qouted would therefore be doubled.take it or leave it. We left it.
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Worth the short drive up to Abergavenny I would have thought-the Foxhunter, Cideer Mill for a nice lunch in Crickhowell or hasn't Stephen Terry got a new place thereabouts.
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For a short trip out of town try getting a train out of Paddington to Maidenhead and have lunch at the Hind's Head in Bray. Great beers and a good selection of traditional food-try the oxtail and kidney pudding and the elderflower blancmange or the eton mess. great way to spend a summer lunch followed by watching the cricket at the club next door.
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In my home town we always use vinegar on pancakes rather than orange or lemon-goes back to wartime shortages.Give it a try, I wouldn't use anything else.
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Use the Stone's to make a Whisky Mac but don't use single malts for it please.Traditionally used in a hip flask to fend off the cold at race meetings, pheasant shoots etc. in my family. Berry Bros. do a nice ginger liquer called 3 Kings, well worth buying if you see it or visit their London shop.I think Harrods also stock it.
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I stayed at the Chateau de Floure just outside Carcassonne and had a couple of good dinners in a nice setting. Wine prices were a little steep for local wines but had a good selection and the sommelier knew his stuff. I seem to remember them being part of the "Quiet hotels" group which meant no piped music and a really calm atmosphere.
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I have always enjoyed my Solstice orders and the fact that they deliver in nice solid , wooden trays. My last order was by courier rather than Solstice van and was a mess with several items crushed and the more delicate things simply smashed. I have yet to have a complete order and usually make 2 or 3 calls to try to get a refund for the missing items.Annoying when you are planning a dinner and the main ingredients are missing.
My guess is that when Solstice take care of things themselves it all works out fine, in the hands of a courier it is a disaster waiting to happen.
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Best cucumber water I have tried was at Wappo in Calistoga, worth giving them a ring e at home.to see how they do it as I could never replicat
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Easy to grow in a small pot or old wooden wine box( great for all mini-veg and leaves). try Chiltern seeds, Thompson and Morgan, Suffolk Herbs or even Seeds from Italy) or probably the local garden centre.
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When AWT mentioned that he bred his own Middle White pigs last night I assume he meant sired.
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I stay there every year on my annual Bulli trip and can't praise it enough. Don't go hoping for Bulli style food but the ingredients are top quality, the tasting menu is well balanced, the wine list is good and the cheeses are amongst the best I have experienced. The bonus is that the prices are relatively low.Book in for a couple of nights and enjoy lunch as well, there is also a nice place in the village about a mile away and I haven't tried les Cols a few miles up the road but the menu looks interesting
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There is also an spanish Gallo fish, the Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis.
The Common Megrim by any chance?
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Not to be confused with the Mexican gallo, a completely different and much bigger species, still good eating though.
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It would be enormously helpful to report just what dishes you found inedible at Mugaritz? How did you learn of Mugaritz? What do you know of his culinary efforts? Tell us of your experience in sampling various Spanish chefs? Did you order the tasting menu at Mugaritz?I would be interested to hear other peoples opinions regarding Mugaritz and Arzak ( i know it has been discussed previously on this forum - however I would value some more recent observations)I ate at both this past weekend. I found Arzak astoundingly great - it had such an air of confidence about it and even though it was experimental it never sacrificed taste and flavour. We had the multi-course tasting menu and each dish was as good as the last.
I have not completely made my mind up about Mugaritz - it was certainly a more cerebral experience but not necessarily an enjoyable one. I feel it is important that chefs try and break down traditional boundaries, however certain dishes were just plain inedible and I am somebody who can eat almost anything.
I found the whole experience challenging and confrontational and don't regret going, however I don't think I would return.
I would like a better understanding of what dishes were exciting to you at Arzak? A careful reading of your experience at both Arzak and Mugaritiz would be helpful.
I am an unabashed supporter of Mugaritz. I have only had ONE disappointing dish at Mugaritz after 5 years of dining at this remarkable establishment.
Were you informed about his "vegetable coal" dish? I would like to understand your ambivalent response. I am also a veteran supporter of Arzak. I personally think the future of modern Basque cooking is in the hands of Andoni Aduriz. There are other chefs and critics that are even more eloquent about his talents than myself. Ferran Adria's brother, Alberto has hailed Chef Aduriz as the most outstanding (cannot recall his actual comments) innovative chef in Spain today. Your detailed comments would be appreciated.
I can understand having decided taste treats, preferences about preparations, and other individual proclivities. I have never heard anyone characterize a menu item or dish as inedible in any Basque fine dining restaurant.
Our most recent visit to Mugaritz was February 1, 2006. It was an extraordinary dining experience. Rut Cotroneo the new sommelier is the best we have encountered to date anywhere in Spain. Her contribution to Mugaritz is phenomenal and so welcome. She comes from the Fat Duck. Her English is excellent . The depth of her wine knowledge is thrilling. She only wanted to work at Mugaritz. The fit is perfect. Mugaritz is better than ever!!! Judith Gebhart
Hi judith
We sampled the tasting menu comprising around 8 different courses. I had done a lot of research prior to the visit and had chosen Mugaritz as its chef seeemed to have an interesting philosophy towards cooking and food, similar to Michel Bras who I deeply admire. He also seems to take a scientific approach, exemplified by his stint at a liver research clinic , which I find intriguing. Not that any of that matters when assessing a meal on its merits.
My only other experience with Spanish haute cuisine came the night before, when I visited Arzak. It was one of the best meals I had ever had. Every single bite was sheer poetry and I can't say that one dish was better than another, although I particularly loved the foie gras wrapped in zuchinni. The service was exemplary and the ambience was relaxed due to the predominance of locals who were dining at the restaurant. There was nothing pretentious about this restaurant which is amazing considering the greatness of the food.
Whilst I enjoyed certain elements of Mugaritz I felt it was slightly contrived and did not flow. The dish that I found particularly inedible was the lambs trotters - I did manage to plough my way through it however my fellow diners put their cutlery down in unison and refused to eat more than a bite. Incidentally I don't feel that I am the first person to air such sentiments I have read other threads on this very forum regarding Mugaritz which closely mirror my own http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...635&hl=mugaritz. The fish and seafood courses whilst not inedible were distinctly bland - hake above a saffron infusion was disappointing, as was sea scallops with amarynth in a clay sauce. Novel touches such as silver gilting didnt work - the silver and gelatin just sticking to your fork.
It's interesting to note your thoughts on Ruth, we found her to be lovely also - she actually gave us a lift home. However we found her wine knowledge to be limited, she gave us a sweet wine she thought was dry and her knowledge outside of spanish wine seemed limited. She is young though.
I always found Ruth to be excellent at the Duck and apart from a dry sherry I don't think I ever had any Spanish wines. In 18 months there I would imagine she served very few Spanish wines on what is a French dominated list.
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If you have a spae bit of garden and are not too proud of your floral displays why not grow your own?. I keep a dozen out the back and they are no trouble at all until it comes to catching one for the inevitable. Waiting for the neighbours to panic over the flu risk now though.
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Jordi said it would never go. Can we organise a petition to keep it on the menu or perhaps have it served as a main in a small bucket.
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Lardy cake, the ultimate treat for winter tea and an English institution.
I use Dan Lepers recipe with added fruit and a little less lard.
500gr strong white
200gr leaven( have used just yeast before and adapted flour weight) 250gr warm water
21/2 teaspoons fresh yeast
125gr lard
150gr caster sugar
nutmeg
75gr sultanas,currants or raisins ,whichever you prefer
Mix dry ingredients with soaked yeast/water.Leave 10mins
Knead for a few seconds, rest 10 mins, knead again briefly then leave for an hour.
Roll into rectangle and sprinkle chopped lard and fruit over 2/3 of rectangleSprinkle over the sugar then fold into 3 layers so the sugar/lard is enclosed.Roll out into rectangle again and fold into 3 again.Roll out to 1/2 inch thick then roll into a cylinder as you would with Chelsea buns.
Line a circular non-stick tin, cut cylinder in half lenghtways and place half, cut side upwards in tin. Leave in warm for 1 hour.
Heat oven to 400F, sprinkle with nutmeg and a couple of spoons of sugar. Bake for 50mins to 1 hour
I like it warm others prefer the set lard in the cool version.
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My personal fave when dining at Bulli is a stay at Mas Pau just outside Figueres. Great local food by an ex-Bulli chef but far more traditional, a longish taxi ride but which only serves to heighten the appetite and the best thing is that it is off the beaten track and away from the coast, a positive for me anyway.
I have been criticized a lot when recommending this before with " How can you recommend somewhere which only has 1 Michelin star" but I stick with it and make it an annual visit. Check out their website.
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I seem to remember having a black olive version somewhere, might be work a try.
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Perhaps what both Halliday and Robinson take issue with is the particular style of Parker wines which are often untypical of the region in question. We have seen this happen in Bordeaux, Spain, and California and now Parker is tending towards the fruit driven blockbusters in Australia. I love Parker, subscribe to the Advocate and enjoy him as a read but his reviews are always tempered by the fact that the high point scorers are usually the massive wines. There is room for some subtlety and lightness, particulalry in some of the cooler regions where Parker always scores lowly.
Are we also saying that the whole of New Zealand is devoid of quality wine and winemaking?.
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generally you would think that as soon as the check comes on the scallops are taken out of the fridge and placed on a tray (sometimmes pre-seasoned tray), then the rest of the kitchen gets to work preparing the rest of the order, an amuse would be served normally at this level I would think which buys time for the kitchen, then when the pan is suitably hot enough, start cooking and as basildog says you can hold for a couple of minutes under the grill or even perhaps the oven, we colour on one side, then as we flip the scallop over then it goes under the grill to get the pan heat colouring the 2nd side whilst the grill works on the whole temp, (I use much smaller scallops than the michelin boys), then for the last 30-45 seconds finish with soft butter and lemon juice to impart great flavour and also add that final heat.
at the FD they use the huge scallpos and probe each one before serving it, keeping it gently on the edge of the range until perfect (one item they don't, or at least when I was there didn't, sous-vide)
this sounds like a severe dans la merde moment and tony was just unlucky. Please mention it next time though cos we are all human and are perfectly capable of buggering up even on a good day, if we are not told then we get no chance to correct and a mistake that early on in a meal put you on a bit of a witch hunt which magnified any further mastakes you may have forgiven, even if they are 2 star.
Didn't the FD used to do a scallop and black truffle tower thingy back in 1999/2000 which was SV?
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Yes , Yes , yes . yes , yes. Worth the wait but still very nervous when it came to opening the mail. For those still waiting , the signs seem to begood, hang in there.
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Firstly, can we all remind ourselves that the BBC does not comission food shows purely for the benefit of the highly skilled egullet audience but for the general public who may well enjoy seeing some of the basics explained and done differently. Perfect example is my mum who is drooling at the thought of the treacle tart ( swears HB's is the best she has ever had) and really wants some ideas on risotto.
Secondly, those that have tasted HB's more homely items will have few doubts that he really does know how to do the basics well. I consider myself to be a pretty decent home cook and have worked in a few top end restaurants but would still appreciate another viewpoint on something as basic as roast beef.
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I have eaten at both for the last 3 years, at Alqueria as a guest at the hotel.The hotel reckon on 60% of the hotel guests staying for dinner.
The best way to look at it is to forget Bulli and take it as a good 2 star rstaurant. Personally I enjoy the greatest hits from the past and always have a couple of dinners ALC which always seem to be accompanied by lots of snacks, some from last year but most from 2 years ago or further.The service is very formal and I have met a surprising number of staff who have moved on to top restaurants in Europe including Fat Duck and Can Roca.
I strongly recommend a few nights in the hotel in summer , the pool is marvellous and the breakfast is the best I have had anywhere. Seville is a trip away but once inSanlucar I rarely venture out as the natural sloth in me takes over.
El Bulli 2006 reports
in Spain & Portugal: Dining
Posted
We kicked off with a couple of glasses of Cava, Torrelo but not the Kripta we usually drink when there.Followed this with a bottle of Naiades, a 100% verdejo with a few months oak ageing, finished with a bottle of Malaga, the Telmo Rodriguez Molino Real and a couple of glasses of PX with coffee, one of the Osborne rare soleras.The sommelier left me to my own devices which was great and as far as I am concerned it is a stunning wine list, 1600 wines , clearly presented with some real bargains.There are great prices compared to the UK for French wines from producers such as Didier Dagueneau and Guigal but this time we decided to go entirely Spanish.Although people were drinking reds I wouldn't have matched much on the menu with a red and the sommeliers could be heard recommending people to choose whites.Total cost, including several top ups to the glasses of Cava was around 160 euros