Anthony's, Leeds

[Andy Lynes]

Can we keep on topic please? ;)

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(Cut to Jeff Bridges standing in a field somewhere in middle America. Hands on hips, Jeff shakes head to indicate amazement) Anthony Flint..phew!

(How's that?)

[slacker]

[tucks bat under arm and walks]

[YKL]

Anthony Flint? There's a guidebook somewhere that says Anthony Quinn ...

(wanders off muttering .....)

[daw]

Are Saturday lunchtimes still booked up?  If not, I might try and venture in this weekend - the lemon / cucumber dessert alluded to above sounded quite interesting.

cheers

Yin

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Yin

The lemon/cucumber are in fact two desserts:

Lemon Chiboust (sp?)

Sweet cucumber cheese canneloni

David

[YKL]

Thanks for the clarification David. Look forward to trying one or the other on Saturday lunchtime ...

One of the most amusing parts of the reservation was when Anthony Snr recognised me on the phone, and said "Well, Gary Marshall is on that day ... would you like me to squeeze you onto one of his tables?!?"

Don't worry Gary (et al) - I demurred on the basis that it would be far too rude and pushy to join a party of people I've never met ... so you have a lucky escape on this occasion. But I'll wave from my corner

Cheers

Yin

[Winot]

One of the most amusing parts of the reservation was when Anthony Snr recognised me on the phone, and said "Well, Gary Marshall is on that day ... would you like me to squeeze you onto one of his tables?!?"

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I've been keen to visit Anthony's for ages now, but if that's the quid pro quo I may have to reconsider.

[Gary Marshall]

seeing as Yin is now joining us, even after i told her the the full guest list

here's what we had the other week at scott and gary's birthday lunch as a taster, nb i haven't got the official menu descriptions these are my recollections.

cocktail amuse, cucumber, ginger and mint. I'm rubbish with cocktails the nearest i get is one half pint of lager loving mixed with another half pint of lager, so i can't remember what it was based upon but it was a pleasant enough palette cleanser.

then it was straight in with the big guns....

first of the seasons asparagus with first of seasons lamb sweetbreads with a reduction. big sweatbread almost foie in texture, mmmm.

hurrah! white onion and parmesan air risotto, the original and still the best. Despite having eaten this plenty of times i was struck with despite the 'air' looking dense on the fork it disappears in the mouth leaving an almost ethereal taste of parmesan, brilliant.

pigs cheek on pomme puree, baby parsley, potted shrimp sauce. The baby parsely crulley picked before reaching adulthood were from tony's greenhouse. For the record Tony lives in a flat in leeds. 'nuff said! it had a remarkable pungency about it. pigs cheek great and shrimp sauce a winner. I've seen shrimps in a lot of things of late, simply potted at my local and in a vinaigrette at the star.

next crab, coconut & coconut milk with ice leaves, nice light-ish dish.

duck neck stuffed with duck confit , a potato fondant made from a peeled ribbon of potato with a tiny poached quails egg on top. Bloody marvellous.

red mullet, fried chicken skin, enoki langoustines almond creme caramel, skin great, i like the enoki's too and the creme caramel was a big hit around the table.

slow roast rib of beef (from the 55 degree oven) with skewered baby octopus and braised oxtail. Beef was very tender, seared then left in the oven from 11.30 am until we scoffed it at about 3pm.

would have been rude to pass up cheese, so we didn't. Now served by the number , can't remember how many but we shared the larger, a good taste of cheese with pickled celery, mini bread and home made crackers.

then the citrus 'selection' a sort of lemon assiette, very refreshing.

then the cucumber canneloni

and finally birthday cake to finish!

i wouldn't take this as an indication of what an official tasting menu will look like, it was more a work out of some new dishes and old faves, that we greatly enjoyed.

cheers

gary

[Bapi]

Exsqueeze me? Isn't one forgetting the generously donated libations that were offered up to you and young (actually, he isn't that young anymore )- Scott.

Delighted and happy to have all of the above. But Mr Flinn careful on the portion size- if Gary was getting full (this happens as often as Halley's comet or Gary's wallet makes an appearance ) Well then, I'll be worried about eating the entire meal. But obviously not that worried.

Edit- Remiss of me - looking forward to meeting you Yin and welcome along. God help you

Edited April 14, 2005 by Bapi (log)

[Gary Marshall]

sorry, how remiss of me.

bapi kindly bought scott and i a couple of cokes to start with (with tactical coke stuck on the front!) and a bottle of red.

unfortunately olga being the pro she is, waited for us to choose our usual modest-ish bottle of wine before informing us bapi was paying for it

unfortunately i have no idea of when bapi's birthday is and have a very bad memory for dates

gary

[Bapi]

sorry,  how remiss of me.

bapi kindly bought scott and i a couple of cokes to start with (with tactical coke stuck on the front!) and a bottle of red.

unfortunately olga being the pro she is, waited for us to choose our usual modest-ish bottle of wine before informing us bapi was paying for it 

unfortunately i have no idea of when bapi's birthday is and have a very bad memory for dates

gary

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What freakin bottle of red? I only stumped for two tactical coca colas for you reprobates.

Signed

Outraged of Southgate

Of course you are very welcome.

Re my Birthday 9th June -will be lunching at the Waterside Inn. Minimum spend £60. Thanks in advance

[Gary Marshall]

Re my Birthday 9th June -will be lunching at the Waterside Inn. Minimum spend £60. Thanks in advance

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will you be in a jd wetherspoon's at any point over your birthday period?

[YKL]

looking forward to meeting you Yin and welcome along. God help you   

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Cheers Bapi - yes, it was the words "tasting menu" that did the trick. ... although I'm intrigued as to why you think I would be any less trouble!!!

hope the stuffed duck neck dish is there on Saturday - I'll need it as consolation for a possible absence of black pudding .... is it the weekend yet?

cheers

Yin

Edited April 14, 2005 by YKL (log)

[Bapi]

will you be in a jd wetherspoon's at any point over your birthday period?

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I think not Sir.

Yin- we like trouble and any help you can offer "pouring" Gary back into the taxi, when it's time to leave, will be gratefully received.

[daw]

hope the stuffed duck neck dish is there on Saturday - I'll need it as consolation for a possible absence of black pudding .... is it the weekend yet?

cheers

Yin

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The duck neck is a feature of the new menu and is sublime, the duck meat has excellent flavour, the deep fried duck egg is as rich as you would expect and runny in the middle and the rolled ribbon of potato is the perfect complement with just a trace of citrus unless I'm much mistaken.

As soon as starters appeared on Saturday my wife sid they have steeped up a gear- in terms of presentation and I would be inclined to agree, not that the presentation was particularly lacking previously.

Enjoy on Saturday; you lucky people.

David

[YKL]

not enough time for a comprehensive post right now .... but HAD to say that the duck neck dish was stunning. What we had on Saturday seems to have evolved still further (in less than two weeks!) so that the egg has been poached and then deep fried - so that you get crispy crunchy oozy richness when you cut into the yolk .... and just glorious with the duck. In a long afternoon of great food - this may have been my favourite.

Jacketless potatoes also made a very welcome guest appearance ... and I now understand that a single stem of foetal parsley packs a punch that by rights you should only get when lying face down in a parsley field.

anyway ... more to come later. It was a great afternoon with excellent food and company - and therefore deserves more than my usual incohorent ramblings!

Cheers

Yin

[Bapi]

Infernal work getting in the way of my posting ! A stellar lunch here on Saturday in the estimable company of a few dedicated, intelligent foodies ( oh and Gary ).

Quick highlights:

The now (in)famous jacketless potatoes. Ding Dong- quite wondrous little pockets of potato heaven.

Pig Cheek / Pig oesophagus creation was splendidly thought out and constructed (if a bit difficult to eat with the spoon provided.)

Garfish escabeche- an excellent and apparently recently thought up creation; served with delicious "shizo" ( sp?)leaves amongst others. An unusual textured fish similar to mackerel - but it had none of the flakiness of that fish when eaten. I babbled on about how I didn't think it was indigenous to these waters - only to be "put right" by Tony Sr arriving at our table - book in hand, to explain about the fish. A dazzling dish.

Duck neck and fried duck egg dish- Sensational stuff- the lightly crisped exterior gave way to a vibrant, unctuous yolk which when eaten with the moist neck, containing duck foie gras; produced a sublime mouthful. Mmmm.

More later. Excellent food, great service from Olga's team and superb company. Delighted to meet the fabulous Yin and to be sat on the same table as her and the lovely Fi. Could have done without the dribbling, reprobate, sat opposite me though. Note to self- bring muzzle for Slacker next time.

Edited April 19, 2005 by Bapi (log)

[curlywurlyfi]

A pleasure to meet Yin. Big lunch with ten complete strangers? she was brave!

a good lunch. Fascinating food, not all of which worked for me, but with a tasting menu, that's ok, there'll be another one along in a minute - plus it means more discussion (ie squabbling). highlights for me were the cauliflower trifle - supercaulifragilistic - and the deep-fried duck egg yolk. Lows were the pineapple/black olive tarte tatin which confused my palate too much + a slight lack of seasonal spring veg (though when the alternative is pig windpipe stuffed with mashed potato...) Exemplary service. Really beautiful glasses (all Riedels, and we must have had at least seven different ones in front of us at once). A very fine afternoon.

[Gary Marshall]

the official menu...

Saturday 16th April 2005

APPLE, BLACK CARDAMON, DARK RUM

JACKETLESS POTATOES

MONKFISH LIVER PARFAIT, BISCOTTI

CAULIFLOWER TRIFFLE

PIGS CHEEK, HOG MAWS, STUFFED HOG LUNG

MARINATED ESCABECHE OF GARFISH, ICE LEAF

DUCK NECK, DEEP FRIED DUCK EGG YOLK

PAN FRIED TURBOT, SMOKED EEL. FOIE GRAS TERRINE

LAMB, MANGOUSTINE. SWEETBREADS

SWEET CUCUMBER CANNELLONI

PINEAPPLE TATIN

P 4’S

if only hell's kitchen wasn't on i'd have time to write it all up

cheers

gary

[Gary Marshall]

So saturday morning appeared and with it the thought that curry and bed at 1.30pm probably wasn't the best preparation for a full-on day out at Anthonys, but with thoughts of going to the farmers market before catching the train to leeds put off, an extra half hour in bed ensued and i was soon on the way to leeds.

By 11.40 we were in the 'scabby taps' and Simon did the decent thing and got the beers in, though not being a conossieur of the amber nectar, thinking they were all the same ordered a pint of stella. Forget hogs lungs, getting that down was the biggest challenge of the day!

soon bapi and rosie arrived and the rest decamped from a seemingly jacquesson 728 fuelled GNER and we shot round the corner to Anthony's.

With a couple of bottles of Champagne ordered and Yin introduced to the rogues gallery we left the bar (now nicely refurbed with big sofa's that easily swallowed up our large group) and headed down to the restaurant.

First up the welcoming cocktail APPLE, BLACK CARDAMON, DARK RUM the rum was in a foam ontop of the apple and cardomon juice, quite a leathery finish to it.

JACKETLESS POTATOES were next, and greeted with incredulility from many 'how on earth does he make those' being the common thought. For the record they are still fine doughs encasing smooth pomme, i think everyone could have dispatched a handful without difficulty.

MONKFISH LIVER PARFAIT, BISCOTTI, CAULIFLOWER TRIFLE . The monkfish liver parfait was original devised for a visit by pierre koffman and was smooth as you like, a light macadamia nut shaving on top. For me the cauliflower was the stand out. The first mouthful intensly cauliflowery and salty, with a balancing grape jelly in the bottom. whatever way you eat it, it's a bloody good dish.

PIGS CHEEK, HOG MAWS, STUFFED HOG LUNG. Another one to strike off the list of bizzare body parts i've scoffed! The cheek, a nicley braised chunk, the maws apparently similar to pork belly but further round the back in crispy strips and the hog lung a six inch tube filled with pomme that bapi i think would have eaten for ever. Once we'd discovered it was much easier to eat with a knife than a spoon it went down well.

MARINATED ESCABECHE OF GARFISH, ICE LEAF. Hands up who's heard of garfish? not me! Tony is adept at scouring leeds market for gems. And believe me there's a lot of coal to sift through in leeds market before you find the diamonds but the suppliers are cottoning on that he'll have a go with anything unusual so are starting to come up with the goods. Garfish are like mackeral but with a longer 'nose' escabeshing it worked well (it's a cure of sorts) and there were plenty of interesting leaves with it too such as the ice leaves and shiso which were a first for many.

DUCK NECK, DEEP FRIED DUCK EGG YOLK I suspect for most the dish of the day. Not two weeks ago this was a completely different dish, now it's a neck stuffed with its own liver with a poached and deep fried egg, with a passion fruit sauce. Quite sublime, just all complementing each other nicely.

PAN FRIED TURBOT, SMOKED EEL. FOIE GRAS TERRINE. A chunk of turbot with a puree and a yoghurt sauce to accompany the small terrine that was highly flavoured.

LAMB, MANGOUSTINE. SWEETBREADS. I've had lamb before, i've had sweetsbreads before but i've never to my knowledge had mangoustines! i think this was another leeds market find, a tiny fruit that didn't look unlike the pieces of sweetbread and accompanied with small pickled onions too if memory serves. The lamb was cooked in the 55 degree oven again for about 4 hours.

CHEESE was taken at this point 7 i think english cheeses with the pickled celery, mini bread and home made biscuits. Slacker suggested calvados to accompany cheese so we did, always keen to find another way to work calva into my eating habits! I'm not sure if this is a cornish practice, french or the product of slacker's fevered imagination!

SWEET CUCUMBER CANNELLONI with muscovado sugar, which reminded me of the licorice in sherbert fountains i had as a kid. one day i will remember exactly what the cannelloni is stuffed with but i think it's cream cheese

PINEAPPLE TATIN . I think is a really clever dish. Two items that just shouldn't work but do. I noticed the pineapple was thicker this time which made the contrast more obvious this divided the table but i think it's one of their great dishes.

soon it was time to head upstairs to the bar for the usual coffee/calva/raspberry beer/grappa session and judging by the smoke a who can smoke the most competition! With 11 of us in a small restaurant there was always someone to have a chat to, so it was good chance to catch up with everyone, tony was prised out of kitchen for a 'meet and greet' and a discussion on bread making lead to a quick lesson from tony, and me leaving with a bag of fermenting rasins to start a leaven with!

a great day out, though wallet and liver will need a little rest before the next trip!

cheers

gary

[Adam Balic]

MARINATED ESCABECHE OF GARFISH, ICE LEAF. Hands up who's heard of garfish? not me! Tony is adept at scouring leeds market for gems. And believe me there's a lot of coal to sift through in leeds market before you find the diamonds but the suppliers are cottoning on that he'll have a go with anything unusual so are starting to come up with the goods. Garfish are like mackeral but with a longer 'nose' escabeshing it worked well (it's a cure of sorts) and there were plenty of interesting leaves with it too such as the ice leaves and shiso which were a first for many. 

(Hand up) Garfish are relatively common in southern Australia (traditionally boned by rolling in round a can of beer), I have seen it twice in the UK. Both times it had mistakenly come in with a case of sardines. Did it include the bones? The bones are a sort of metalic blue-green. Quite pretty.

LAMB, MANGOUSTINE. SWEETBREADS. I've had lamb before, i've had sweetsbreads  before but i've never to my knowledge had mangoustines! i think this was another leeds market find, a tiny fruit that didn't look unlike the pieces of sweetbread and accompanied with small pickled onions too if memory serves. The lamb was cooked in the 55 degree oven again for about 4 hours.

Mangostine are relatively common in SE-Asian foodstores (well at least in Edinburgh). The intact fruit looks like this scroll down. They are really nice and sometimes seen in Thai curries.

Looks like an excellent meal. Thanks for the detailed write up.

[Gary Marshall]

hi adam

thanks for the added info, the garfish was boned.

i remember tony saying the mangosteens were very expensive and didn't yield much out of a fruit, but they were very good.

cheers

gary

[silverbrow]

So I've got the table booked for June but the question I've got is whether or not it's worthwhile letting them know that there are some things I can eat and others I can't (not meat or shellfish but otherwise more or less anything.)

I'd appreciate views on this from old Anthony's hands. For example I was looking at their ALC menu on the website and there is "Red Mullet,Langoustine, Almond Crème Caramel" - it sounds great but I can't eat the langoustine. I have no doubt that the is served as it is because it all works well so I'd be loathe to ask them to hold the langoustine. I'm therefore tempted to forewarn them, but what I'm wondering from you lot in the know, is what you think.

Also any other recommendations for a day's walking in the Dales - either restaurants or hotels - the plan is to be virtuous by walking and then gorge at Anthony's the following day.

[YKL]

I'd hesitate to call myself an old hand - but am not going to let myself be held back by that!

My view is certainly you should let them know - it would be a shame for both parties for you to get less out of the experience because there was less that you could eat. I've always found them very obliging and forewarned is forearmed?

Am intrigued as to what the meat and shellfish exclusion leaves you though - does that leave only other fish and vegetables and dairy? Wasn't sure if you couldn't eat poultry either.

re: recommendations for other days walks - sounds like you've already decided to be based in the Dales, in which case options could be around Bolton Abbey - which gives you easy access to the Devonshire Arms (both the formal restaurant or brasserie) and you're not really far from Ilkley with a moor to go stomping on and Box Tree for food afterwards.

Further west, there's some nice walks around Pateley Bridge and Appletreewick - and good eating places at pubs like Yorke Arms at Ramsgill, Sportsman Arms at Wath, Red Lion at Burnsall ... some of which have rooms.

If you're considering the North York Moors rather than the Dales, then the obvious choice is the Star at Harome?

Hmmm ... have I focussed too much on the food aspect? Apologies if that's the case

Cheers

Yin

[Gary Marshall]

So I've got the table booked for June but the question I've got is whether or not it's worthwhile letting them know that there are some things I can eat and others I can't (not meat or shellfish but otherwise more or less anything.)

I'd appreciate views on this from old Anthony's hands.  For example I was looking at their ALC menu on the website and there is "Red Mullet,Langoustine, Almond Crème Caramel" - it sounds great but I can't eat the langoustine.  I have no doubt that the is served as it is because it all works well so I'd be loathe to ask them to hold the langoustine.  I'm therefore tempted to forewarn them, but what I'm wondering from you lot in the know, is what you think.

Also any other recommendations for a day's walking in the Dales - either restaurants or hotels - the plan is to be virtuous by walking and then gorge at Anthony's the following day.

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yes, much better to let them know, i'm sure they'll be able to help.

cheers

gary

[BertieWooster]

Red Lion at Burnsall ...

Yin

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*bbbrrrrrrrrr*

Rudest staff in the known universe, weirdest lack of effort put in. Indeed, what is it with Burnsall, both the Lion and the Fell should be lovely full-on roaring fire and lots of wobbly furniture type places, but they've both gone all city-centre-all-bar-one ish.

And neither serves a proper plate of food.

Grump, grump.

I haven't been to Anthony's in ages, and it' showing