merchant house

[Gary Marshall]

think it’s fair to say i couldn’t get away from the office quick enough on friday, news that we were driving into bad snow storms failed to dent the excitment of a weekend of food and drink in ludlow in the excellent company of Bapi & Rosie, who made us look like amateurs by already having eaten at the merchant house and hibiscus before we’d even arrived!

A three hour drive later and we were in the smart cottage that B&R had booked for the week that was fat boy hq for the weekend. After a short and worrying conversation that appeared to involve going to the church for sightseeing i was relived to discover the church was in fact a very convivial pub at the top of Broad street. After blowing the dust off with a few pints it seemed a short time until we found ourselves heading for the Merchant House. With a short diversion to the next door unicorn.

‘Watch the step’ warned rosie seconds before i half walked/half collapsed into the warm surroundings of Shaun and anja Hill’s highly rated restaurant.

A bottle of Drappier Champagne started proceedings and we eagerly read the usual concise menu with 4 choices in each category, which is changed daily.

canapes soon arrived, which escape me apart from a small bruschetta. i’m sure Bapi will fill in the gaps though. I’ll stick to what sarah and i had as i’m sure Bapi will be preparing his own magnum opus as i write!

To start i had a shaun signature dish, sauteed monkfish with mustard and cucumber sauce. On first taste i thought this is one of the few dishes i’ve had that was actually improved by the appearance of cucumber but it eventually got its own back by making the sauce slightly watery by the end of the dish. Sarah had calf’s sweetbreads with potato and olive cake, this was a more interesting dish, the glands were pan fried and were foie like in consistency with a bit more 'wow' than my dish.

although they offer only a 3 course set dinner for £35 i asked for an intermediate fish course and shaun duly obliged with a very generous portion of roast john dory with porcini beurre blanc. I was expecting the usual dried variety of mushrooms but no, these were the genuine article, or should i say they looked like the proper giant italian variety but were actually south african. A good dish.

to drink we had a gruner veltliner, an austrian wine i'd first been recommended at claridges, a good food wine.

For Mains i had rack of lamb with herbs and red wine sauce, i recieved a very generous 2 rack portion of lamb with a side of excellent dauphinoise potatoes and a decent red wine sauce. I had planned a domaine d’arlot burgundy to partner this but at the last minute decided to switch to a sassiccia-esque wine that sounded better than it tasted, it was a bit too rustic and i’m still craving domaine d’arlot! Sarah had roast squab pigeon with parsley risotto. which was fine.

for desert i had chocolate pithiviers, a preparation i seem to see a lot of at the minute. this was filled with chocolate and almonds. the desert wine went down way to easy by this point and i can’t remember what mrs marshall had!

coffee’s, teas and i assume digestifs followed as did a chat with shaun and purchase of his new book ‘how to cook better’ which looks very interesting.

it was good value for the quality of ingredients & preparation, about £130 i think for 2.

gary

[thom]

Gary,

Small world indeed.

I take it you were there on Tuesday 16th?

I ask because I had popped in for a meeting with Shaun that afternoon, and he was trimming sweatbreads as I turned up.

I'm glad you enjoyed the meal. I have been eating at Merchant House for the last five years and have never had anything less than an excellent meal. I must admit I am a sucker for Shaun's whole 'no nosense' attitude which shines through in the construction of the menu; the presentation of the dishes and even the copywriting of the winelist and the restaurant website.

I too picked up a copy of his book 'How to cook better', which looks intriguing. That said, the cover notes do say that Restaurant magazine voted Merchant House one of the 'top 300' restaurants in the world, rather than the 'top 50'.

I would tell everyone (yet again) to go to the Merchant House, but Shaun tells me Saturday dinners are now booked up for the year and weekday dinners till around June. Guess if I want to enjoy the a Shaun Hill type meal in the next few months I'll have to read his book and hit the stove.

Yes, I'm sure if I follow the recipes closely it should be Michelin standard or there abouts...

Cheers

Thom

[Gary Marshall]

hi thom

close but no cigar!

i was there friday & hibiscus saturday, however bapi & rosie were there tuesday and hibiscus on thursday in addition. yes, they went twice!

gary

[thom]

Gary,

Ah Shaun must just have been supporting 'National Sweetbread Week' then...

Cheers

Thom

[Andy Lynes]

Small world indeed.

I take it you were there on Tuesday 16th?

I ask because I had popped in for a meeting with Shaun that afternoon, and he was trimming sweatbreads as I turned up.

...and I called him about 5 minutes after you left! Very small world.

[wgallois]

On the subject of Shaun Hill books, his 'Quick and Easy Vegetable Cookery' (1993) is great. It looks, and perhaps sounds, a bit cheesy, but the recipes are all winners. His 'Courgette Risotto with Parmesan Chese Sauce' has restored my faith in my ability to produce a risotto that is not a grim, numbing stodge-fest. The recipes are all simple, but often contain a small trick or technique that allows you to elevate a quick supper to a really good meal. £5.99 new, or from £1.99 used, on Amazon.

[Andy Lynes]

I have that book and cook quite often from it, the carrot fritters are ace.

[Andy Lynes]

for desert i had chocolate pithiviers, a preparation i seem to see a lot of at the minute.

In case people aren't aware, its a signature dish of Bibendum and was developed by chef Simon Hopkinson from a recipe by Michel Guerard.

[Rachel Perlow]

On the subject of Shaun Hill books, his 'Quick and Easy Vegetable Cookery' (1993) is great.

<iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="120" height="150" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?o=1&l=as1&f=ifr&t=egulletcom-20&dev-t=D68HUNXKLHS4J&p=6&asins=0563364327&lt1=_blank"><MAP NAME="boxmap-p6"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="1, 140, 83, 150" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/egulletcom-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x150.gif" width="120" height="150" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p6" alt="Shop at Amazon.com"></iframe>

This is the US link for the book. Andy can provide the UK link.

[Bapi]

God I hate infernal computers! I spent a good few minutes, finally getting round to doing a quick review of lunch, en-route to Ludlow at Hick's Brasserie in Chipping Campden. One of the operations that Simon Hulstone runs at the Cotswold House Hotel. Was it on my "C" drive when I came in this morning? Was it hell, it's somewhere out in the ether! In the mean time, my addition to the Gary's post about Ludlow.

No tome this time as Gary has thankfully filled in most of the details of our Friday night meal. What a great trip though and Rosie and I were delighted that Sarah could join us (we just about tolerated Gary's presence). Even more so when Gary very kindly treated us to the Drappier to get the evening off to a fine start. Canapés were a very garlicky bruschetta with onions, tomatoes, chunks of garlic and herbs: a very fine chicken liver mousse in a pastry tart and a little blue cheese biscuits covered in sesame seeds. I opted for the same courses as Gary, the first of which was the monkfish with mustard and cucumber. If I am not mistaken this is one of the dishes that helped to get him the star at the Merchant House, but I really liked the addition of cucumber to the moist fish - it lifted the dish and gave it a nice a light crunch and a textural contrast to the fish. Rosie had the sweetbreads as mentioned, which were far better than I have ever tasted previously at both the Merchant House or at the Fat Duck -with its Hay Pollen version.

As the greedy bugger said, he ordered an extra fish course of John Dory- Sarah and I shared a quarter each, whilst he demolished the other half. Delicious fish, in a creamy sauce with fantastically earthy mushrooms. The Riesling was I think from Austria wasn't it? I have not been a great fan before and thought this wine was a great choice. My lamb was fabulously tender and served with moreish dauphinoise potatoes. Gary's right, that the red wine didn't have the wow factor that we thought it would for the money, but it was perfectly serviceable. I also agree that I wish I had tried the hare as well- ho hum - there is always next time, although from what others have posted it may be some time before we get to venture back! Rosie had the cheese of which the only one I can remember was a Brillat truffe-the centre of which had a sprinkling of black truffle. I opted for the fabulous Muscat crème caramel- and happily devoured it all.

I must admit that I am a mere young Skywalker to Gary's-Yoda when it comes to gluttony- but being willing students - Rosie and I also opted to go there the Tuesday before the Marshall's arrived. I must just mention the wonderful bread that Anja Hill serves up, I am not a huge fan of eating too much bread prior to a meal, but this stuff was just fantastic. On that occasion both of us had scallops with a light lentil and coriander broth. A lovely dish, which is aided to by the scallops being served very thinly sliced into almost translucent round slivers. Consumed with a half of a very unusual, but acceptable white Rioja. Rosie had the Venison with Foie Gras, which I have eulogised at length before - she absolutely loved it and polished off every morsel of it. (I thought she was going to pick up the plate and lick it clean). I had the aforementioned squab - moist and delicious served simply with a few sliced green beans, leeks and asparagus. No fuss - just bang on food with which we quaffed a fine Alion. All in, about £120 for the two of us – which needless to say, is excellent value. Service too from their one waitress in addition to Anja is spot on. Calm, friendly and very professional, especially in dealing with the poor lady who had a funny turn behind us during that first meal.

Returning to the meal with Gary and Sarah – we had a really enjoyable evening (blimey can that boy can talk), followed by a pleasant chat with Shaun. I won't divulge which of our party wanted to go home via the Kebab shop following our meal - but I think you may already have a fair idea. I can't think of better place to spend a week of our lives, it’s a wonderful town and one in which I could happily live. The only downside is that it's becoming impossible to get into the restaurants- Merchant House is now booked at weekends until September and Hibiscus is heading that way as well. So please, do me a favour and ignore all of what is written above and on the Hibiscus post. Don't go to Ludlow you'll really hate it.