Martin Bosley book

[teonzo]

Martin Bosley is the chef of his eponymous restaurant in New Zealand:

http://www.martin-bosley.com/

I've never been to New Zealand, so unfortunately I don't have first hand experience on his food, but I read great comments, so when I heard he published his new book based on restaurant recipes (he published another book a couple of years ago, but more for the homecook), I bought it.

This is the press release, with some images of the pages:

http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/data/media/documents/press%20releases/Nov_2010/Martin%20Bosley_Media%20Release.pdf

The book is divided in 2 sections: the first one is for Brasserie Flipp (the place where he worked before the new restaurant), the second one is for the eponymous restaurant, for a total of about 300 pages.

I still haven't tried any recipe, but till now I'm really satisfied. There are many interesting ideas, recipes are detailed and well written, and the photographs are high quality. Even "simple" dishes, that could sound trivial to someone, are well thought and inspiring: for example there are a ton of fish tartares, each one with creative pairings. They put a lot of efforts also about the dessert sections. And I like the attitude of chef Bosley: his photo is not polished, and he included the photos of each person of his staff.

You can buy the book directly from the restaurant. It costs 90 NZ$ plus shipping (I spent 60 NZ$ for shipping to Italy). A bit expensive, but if you are interested in books of high end restaurants, this is a good add to your collection.

Teo

[lesliec]

Teo, you beat me to it!

I have the good fortune to see and chat with Martin most Sundays at our City Market, and manage to get to the restaurant at least a couple of times a year. I published a review on eGullet last year, and another (with photos, this time) in my eG foodblog a month ago.

The book is stunning. Photography is by Jane Ussher, known particularly in New Zealand for her portraits. Based on this, though, she's proved she can handle food photography with the best of them. Like Teo, I enjoyed seeing the 'back office' restaurant personnel featuring on their own pages. MArtin's a very down-to-earth man and will be delighted when I tell him tomorrow he's famous in Venice!

I think I mentioned on the blog that, while the finished dishes are complex, the individual steps to create them are quite doable. There's the odd mention of Pacojets, but that shouldn't put anybody off - you might not get your sauces quite as smooth as Martin's without one, but they'll still look and taste great.

I'll post photos next time I produce something from the book.