Forest, Food and Frivolity

Around the World in Eight(ish) Meals

2020-10-07T15:10:00.000+01:00

Sicily in June? No can do. Mexico in November? Never gonna happen. Spain in September? 'Fraid not. Portugal in October? Close, but no cigar. After four failed attempts at overseas holidays we decided to stay in the UK and follow a few days in Bath with a few more in London. If we couldn't get out of the UK though at least our taste buds could. So from Spain to Italy, from Thailand to China, from France and back to Spain again our culinary adventure took us to places that Coronavirus wouldn't allow us.

Sunday - Pintxos de Bath (Spain)

What a way to start our gourmet getaway, with a fantastic little pintxos restaurant near the centre of Bath. In the warmth of the late-September sunshine we sat in the 'sherry garden' and enjoyed a selection of delicious tapas including a tremendous tomato salad, a pate of venison and Pedro Ximenez sherry and some lollipops of bacon, date and goats cheese.

Service was bright and breezy and the food and setting were both lovely. A great way to kick off both our holiday and our explanation of all things food.

Monday - Martini (Italy)

Monday night's meal saw us take a trip across the virtual Mediterranean to Italy, in the form of a super Italian restaurant called Martini. Being a Monday night we were able to book earlier the same day and get a table without any difficulty, though as the evening went on the restaurant did fill up.

Once again our food and service was superb. my veal main course with mushroom sauce was delicious and Clare's lasagne looked equally good. We were also treated to jokes, singing and wonderful warmth and friendliness from our waiters.

Not the cheapest restaurant in Bath but certainly worth the money.

Tuesday - Paco Tapas (Spain)

For Tuesday night's meal we headed back to Spain, in the form of tapas restaurant Paco Tapas in nearby Bristol. Having enjoyed Michelin-starred tapas in Barrafina previously we were interested to see how Paco Tapas compared. Pretty well, it turned out.

Despite arriving ridiculously early for our booked table we were allowed to take our seat straight away and settle down for our evening's eatfest. As it was a bit chilly we sat inside rather than enjoying the pleasant waterside tables out the front of the restaurant.

Conveniently, Paco Tapas offers a chef's tasting menu which allows you to sample a wide range of the restaurant's offerings without having to choose for yourself. They also offer an accompanying sherry flight, which we decided to take them up on. This involved five generous glasses of sherry each, ranging from the drier end to accompany the meat and fish dishes to the raisiny-sweet to be enjoyed alongside the dessert. All were delicious.

And so was the food. Plump, juicy olives were followed by wafer-thin tomato slices in a beautifully fresh salad. A tremendous version of the tapas staple of ham and cheese croquette preceded an amazing baked egg and tomato stew. A huge Duroc pork rib (slow cooked for 17 hours!) from which the meat fell off the bone just by looking at it was one of the main meat courses alongside a tremendous stuffed quail, before a Creme Catalana finished the whole thing off.

Service was prompt, friendly and knowledgeable and despite me thinking half way through the meal that I'd still be hungry afterwards, the later, meatier dishes ensured that I certainly wasn't. Paco Tapas provided one of the best Spanish meals I've ever enjoyed and I'd definitely visit again.

Wednesday - The Giggling Squid (Thailand)

Our food odyssey now departed the Mediterranean for for-flung Thailand in the form of chain restaurant The Giggling Squid back in Bath. I'll be honest, the choice of restaurant owed as much to its name as anything else, but luckily the food lived up to the magnificent monicker.

In a large, airy room nicely decorated with various plants and scientific-looking pictures of squid we enjoyed some fantastic food. My starter of Hawker-style Moo Ping was great: slices of pork, more like thick bacon, on skewers with a tangy tamarind sauce. My main course of spicy and tasty chicken was both, though I ended up eating almost as much of Clare's sticky chicken as well.

Giggling Squid was as good as any Thai restaurant I've ever been to. If they were to open up in Nottingham (hint hint) I'd be there all the time.

Thursday - Hakkasan Hanway Place (China)

We bade farewell to Bath on Thursday to travel to London for the rest of our trip, but our culinary cruise stayed in the far east with dinner at Hakkasan Hanway Place. We'd been to Hakkasan's Mayfair restaurant a couple of times before and really enjoyed it, but unfortunately Hanway Place didn't quite hit those heights.

There was nothing really wrong with the food, everything we ate was delicious. We both went for the Taste of Hakkasan early-evening meal, which was still good value at £39.00 for three courses and a cocktail. However I'm sure when we'd had this before at Mayfair it'd come with a bonus of their amazing venison puff and a pre-dessert of a sorbet. Alas neither were forthcoming this time.

The experience was just a little flat. The service wasn't bad or rude or anything like that, it was just kind of functional, and at a restaurant like Hakkasan we expected a bit better than that. Maybe we'd been spoiled by our previous visits to Hakkasan Mayfair but we were just a little disappointed by Hanway Place. Tasty food for sure but just lacking a little something.

Friday - Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester (France)

We've been lucky enough to have frequented Michelin starred restaurants on a few occasions but until our visit to Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester we hadn't been to a three star. So we were both a little bit apprehensive about what the experience would be like. Would we feel out of place? Would we find it too stuffy, as we had done at a couple of previous meals at high-end restaurants? We needn't have worried. From start to finish our evening was an absolute delight.

Our visit began with being warmly welcomed into the plush interior of the restaurant and guided to our comfortable seats near the window looking out onto a rainy Park Lane. We'd decided in advance to choose the tasting menu, and after a small amount of deliberation we plumped for one of the three choices of wine flights to accompany it. We hadn't originally intended to, but as it cost not much more than the bottles of wine we were considering we thought we'd push the boat out.

A couple of tasty canapes and some excellent bread with the most fantastic fermented curd (which I kept sneakily eating at various points throughout the evening) kicked off the meal before the first starter; which was Dorset crab enclosed in crunchy celeriac with a dusting of decadence in the form of some caviar. Next was terrine of foie gras - not a full-on hunk of liver but a more subtle slice of pate to be smeared liberally across the deliciously-crisp brioche which accompanied it.

The restaurant's signature dish was to follow - sweet discs of lobster with a tremendous bisque and immaculate quenelles of chicken and truffle. Again the flavours were immaculate, clean and subtle rather than overpowering, though the bisque was packed with taste. So much so that our waiter encouraged us to mop up the remainder and provided more bread with which to do so. We did just that and were not disappointed.

A hunk of buttery-smooth turbot was our main fish course and, unusually for a restaurant such as this, chicken was the main meat. What chicken though! Soft, tender and intensely chickeny and served with woody wild mushrooms and Swiss chard. Each of the savoury courses was matched brilliantly with the relevant wines - mainly whites but a terrific light and spicy red with the chicken.

Pleasingly, a cheese course was included with the tasting menu and it was a trio of classically-French fromage: an intense Roquefort, a creamy Brie and a swan-shaped sliver of Comte, which I'd never tried before. The Comte was my favourite, Parmesan-like texture with a hint of crunchy sweetness.

A pre-dessert sorbet cleansed the palate nicely before the dessert of raspberry sorbet with watercress and a duo of meringues, one of which was an incredible pair of olive oil flavoured meringue leaves which just dissolved in the mouth. We finished off with coffees which were preceded by wonderful mini pastries including a lemon meringue pie which evoked all the memories of the Sara Lee favourite but in one tiny morsel. Then, for a final surprise, Clare was presented with a tempered chocolate leaf covered in nuts and freeze-dried fruits as we left the restaurant on our way back through the hotel lobby.

The service all night was just magnificent. Warm, knowledgeable and at times funny with not a hint of snobbishness. It really felt like our waiting staff knew how special a night this was and made sure we felt totally comfortable throughout. Being encouraged to mop up sauce from our plate was not what we had expected!

Of course it wasn't cheap - it's a three Michelin star restaurant in an incredibly plush hotel on Park Lane. However the meal, service and whole experience made it feel like money well spent. We left the restaurant feeling incredibly lucky and privileged to have enjoyed such a treat. We may never get such a chance again and we'll never, ever forget our evening with Alain Ducasse,

Saturday - Barrafina (Spain)

And so Around the World in Eight(ish) Meals returned to where it started - back to Spain - for its final hurrah. The brilliant Barrafina in Soho is one of our favourite restaurants and it was a fitting place to end our week of eating our way around the virtual world.

Piparras fritas, like padron peppers but thinner and spicier, a slab of tasty turbot, the nicest croquette I've ever had - filled with delicious crab - and a wonderfully unctuous tortilla with prawns and peppers were just some of the delights we devoured, washed down with a lovely sherry each and a carafe of red wine. We were lucky enough to get seats at the benches looking into the kitchen so we could enjoy the spectacle of our meal being prepared by the incredibly skilled chefs. The atmosphere and bustle of Barrafina is a great amount of fun and the quality of the food and service made it a night to remember.

Our week away wasn't quite the same as a fortnight in Sicily or the Algarve but it was fantastically fun and enjoyable and though we never left the country our taste buds enjoyed the holiday of a lifetime. Hopefully by next year the rest of us will be able to go too!

Delirious about Deliranto

2020-07-19T17:10:00.002+01:00

Salou isn't the most obvious location for a Michelin-starred restaurant, particularly one as eccentric as Deliranto turned out to be. So, when we were booking our recent holiday to the Catalan resort and discovered that this restaurant existed we were delighted to be able to book a visit. In these Covid-infested times we had no idea how the experience would turn out. We need not have worried.

Upon our arrival it was clear that some things were a little bit different because of Covid. Our first stop was the hand sanitiser station for example. Though we didn't have to wear masks, all the serving staff did, and the tables were very well spaced out to allow social distancing. These were all small prices to pay however for the experience that awaited us.

Menus at Deliranto are based around a story, and during our visit it was the fable of Orpheus, and how he, Neo and Trinity freed humanity from The Matr....oh, sorry, Orpheus. Anyway, the whole menu was based around this theme, including some of the utensils (plates just doesn't do them justice) on which the various courses are served on.

There were two menus to choose from, of which we opted for the long. It's hard to say exactly how many courses this actually contained because there was so much food it all became a blur. There were also a choice of two wine flights, of which we plumped for the smaller, which contained five glasses. This differed from wine flights I've had before in a couple of ways: Firstly, if you finished your glass the waiter topped it up for you. Secondly, we were given the choice between red and white wines on a couple of occasions. Each of the wines were delicious, many of them local and with the aperitif before our meal and the sake served with one of the courses there was plenty enough to be going along with!

So, on to the food. There was a lot of food. It was very good food, ranging from good to great to exceptional. Starting with olives which weren't olives but were actually ricotta and jalapeno and tomato and balsamic spheres respectively. Ending with a refreshing lychee dessert and taking in all manners of wonders in between.

A book containing delicious soups. A treasure chest of the most perfect squid I've ever tasted. A cube of curried lamb. A 'carbonara' with ribbons of daikon instead of pasta. Wagyu beef with a coffee sphere served on a boat with a mini souffle. A quenelle of beef tartare designed to be split in two and made into DIY beef wellington and steak tartare. A dessert of rose and pistachio. On and on it went. I could barely manage the last slab of 'fish of the day' and forwent an after dinner coffee as I didn't think I could manage the petit fours. They served us them anyway. With the menu being in Spanish and Google Translate being of limited use (what, exactly is 'Pig and Pig of Pig?) it was often hard to know how far we'd actually got.

Carbonara

Lamb with Spanish curry

Tuna

Beef Wellington

Service was excellent throughout. Our main waitress and sommelier both did a fantastic job explaining the food, wines and stories, in spite of the language barrier and wearing muffling face masks. At one point everyone ate the same dish, accompanied by a speech from one of the waiters and playing of the Can Can, which is from the Offenbach opera of Orpheus. Bonkers.

This wasn't just a meal, it was a story, a performance. It wasn't a cheap one but it was certainly memorable and I'd urge anyone who likes fine dining and is in Salou to give it a whirl. You won't regret it and you'll never, ever forget it.

Summer Coviday 2020

2020-07-19T16:17:00.001+01:00

I'm not a massive one for taking risks, so deciding to travel abroad for a summer holiday in the middle of a global pandemic was not a decision I took lightly. However, both Clare and I had been working right through the lockdown and had been forced to cancel three trips earlier in the year so we really, really, really wanted to get away. Really. Bearing this in might we took a calculated punt and booked a week's holiday at the Ohtels Playa de Oro in Salou, Spain. How did it turn out? Pretty well in the end.

Booking

One of our cancelled trips had been booked with Loveholidays and, as we'd opted to take a voucher instead of a cash refund from them, we decided to book our week in the sun with them too. I don't have many good words to say about them in this post, however they did make booking the trip easy. We phoned their sales team beforehand and the agent we spoke to confirmed that, should the government not change their travel advice, we wouldn't lose out if we booked. So we took the plunge and completed the booking online. Now all we could do was wait.

The build up

We made our booking on June 22nd to travel on July 10th. At that point in time the Spanish government had already said that visitors from the UK wouldn't have to self-isolate upon arrival in Spain. However the UK government had not said the same for travellers making the return trip. Nor had they updated their advice stating people making non-essential trips shouldn't travel. Neither of these things would've physically stopped us travelling, however they would've invalidated our travel insurance and meant we'd have to self-isolate for 14 days on return to the UK.

On top of this came the local lockdown in Leicester and, more worryingly, a partial lockdown of Catalonia (the region of Spain in which Salou is). Would we be allowed to go? Would we be allowed to come back?? We weren't sure. However, the government's change in travel advice eventually came early in July and the Catalonia lockdown was never extended further than the area around the city of Lleida - some 100km away from Salou. Suddenly it was all systems go and our day of departure was here!

Getting there

East Midlands Airport isn't the biggest or busiest airport in the world.; however it was noticeably more quiet than it would usually have been on a Friday morning in July as we arrived. Donning our masks we made our way into the departure lounge. Our temperatures were taken by a scanning machine upon arrival and were presumably fine as we were allowed to continue to check in our hold luggage. Another change to procedure meant our passports were scanned at the check-in desk rather than after going through security.

Security itself was the same as usual, though obviously travellers were encouraged to remain socially distanced. Duty free wasn't open. Indeed only the WH Smith store was open, and one food outlet which meant we were at least still able to enjoy our ritual pre-flight drink (albeit taken away and consumed from a can). All of the airport and retail staff wore masks all the time, as did the majority of travellers. Nobody I saw made any fuss about this, and this theme continued onto the flight itself.

As we were flying with Ryanair there was no social distancing on the plane itself, i.e. no seats were marked as being out-of-use as some other operators were doing. However, as the flight was just over half full there were plenty of empty seats anyway. We were the only two people on our row of six seats, though we had paid a bit extra to choose seats near the front of the plane.

From what I saw everyone stuck rigidly to the mask-wearing rules and everyone also used their call buttons to request a visit to the toilet, meaning there was never a queue. The cabin crew also wore masks and there were no hot drinks being served, but other than that, the experience was really no different from any other flight.

Upon arrival at Reus airport we were required to hand in a health declaration to the Spanish authorities, either via QR code from an app or by using a paper form. The gov.uk website had advised us of this, as had Ryanair, so we had our QR codes at the ready. A quick scan of these and we were free to retrieve our baggage and make our way to our hotel.

The hotel

Upon arrival at our hotel we were greeted with a worrying sight - not a person to be seen and that white paint used to cover windows of closed-up buildings. A sign on the front door suggested we go to a sister hotel of the Ohtels chain - the Vilaromana. Our transfer driver - who clearly had no idea about this - made a quick phone call to check it out then took us the mile or so to the new hotel. Luckily at the Vilaromana they knew we were coming. I've done a general review of the hotel further down in this post, but from a Covid-specific perspective they clearly took things very seriously indeed.

All hotel staff wore masks at all times. Guests were required to wear masks indoors but not around the pool area, though some still did. There were plenty of hand-sanitiser stations dotted around and various signage reinforcing social distancing advice. The hotel restaurant wouldn't let guests in if they weren't wearing a mask, and likewise if guests queued at the cooking stations where chefs prepared dishes and weren't wearing a mask they were sent back to their tables to get one. This was all welcome and reassuring.

As we'd booked all inclusive we were curious to see how this would work, but it ended up being hardly any different in process. At breakfast there were no toast machines as there usually is - the hotel had already pre-toasted lots of bread and left it at one of the stations; and you had to take the glass from your table to fill up with juice rather than there be lots of glasses left lying around. Other than that, things were barely different from any other all inclusive dining area we'd been to. So far, all so good.

Out and about

A couple of days before we'd flown out, the Catalonian authorities had announced that the wearing of face masks in all circumstances would be mandatory. There were exceptions however, notably when eating and drinking and also when on the beach. We were relieved at the latter exception as otherwise our holiday tans could've looked a bit weird.

When walking around the streets and in shops however, pretty much everyone wore masks pretty much all of the time. People exercising were another exception, us were those under six years of age, but apart from these groups just about everyone stuck by the rules. Better than we will do in the UK I suspect.

On the beach people weren't required to wear masks, though some did. There were no markings laid out on the beach, however most people - us included - took to drawing boxes in the sand around where they'd set out their towels or chairs. People respected these too - not once did anyone plonk themselves within the boundaries we'd set out. This was helped however by the fact that there were definitely fewer people around. In previous years we'd been there, Platja Llevant - the biggest beach in Salou - had gotten so busy that you could barely move whilst in the sea. It never got anywhere near those levels during our stay.

Many shops, bars and restaurants had reopened, however many others were still closed and it was unclear whether these closures were temporary or permanent. Those bars aimed at British tourists seemed particularly hard-hit, with many of the prominent ones in the resort either being closed, only opening in the evening or being open but empty. Until the end of our stay we barely heard another British voice in either our hotel or the wider resort. We certainly didn't experience any hostility or concern from locals though - everyone we encountered was welcoming. I hope for the resort's sake that more tourists do come back soon - providing they do it safely and respectfully of course. Salou is a lovely resort and I really hope it bounces back.

Coming home

Our experience coming back was pretty much the same as getting there had been. Reus airport was even less busy than East Midlands had been, so there were no concerns with social distancing. One difference was that some people going through security had some of their possessions swab-tested, presumably for traces of the virus. The flight back was as untroubled as the departure had been, though we didn't realise that, upon our arrival back in the UK, we were expected to have completed a form with our details for track-and-trace purposes. The official at East Midlands Airport told us this rather patronisingly, though nobody else had told us. Luckily we could do this online so after a few minutes on our phones we were done and dusted and could head off home.

Summary

Aside from having to stay at a different hotel from the one we'd booked our holiday was trouble-free. Obviously it was a bit more strange than your average vacation, but these are strange times. Coronavirus didn't prevent us from doing anything we'd normally do on holiday; from eating or drinking out to swimming in the sea to just walking around the resort. If anyone is reading this and is unsure whether to risk booking a vacation abroad or not I'd say - providing the government rules in the respective countries allow it - then go for it. We certainly didn't regret it and I'd do it again. Providing you're savvy, smart, safe and respectful there should be no reason you can't enjoy a safe and relaxing experience.

Ohtels Vilaromana

We weren't meant to stay at the Ohtels Vilaromana at all. We'd booked a week's all inclusive stay at its sister hotel the Ohtels Playa de Oro (where we had stayed in 2019). However, upon our arrival at the Playa de Oro we found it distinctly closed. A sign on the door instructed us to go to the Vilaromana and our transfer driver kindly took us the mile-or-so through Salou to our new hotel. We just hoped they knew we were coming!

Luckily they did, and from start to finish our experience at the Vilaromana was superb. We couldn't check into our room straight away but we could use the left-luggage room to drop off our gear and get changed before starting to enjoy our stay.

The pool area was our first point of call and it was lovely, with a decent-sized pool, a smaller one for children and a water slide round the corner. There was a nice outdoor bar and plenty of room between groups of sun loungers and tables so little danger of getting too close to other guests. Wearing face masks wasn't mandatory for guests around the pool though every member of staff wore them all the time, which was reassuring.

Our room was a nice size with two slightly-bigger-than-single beds pushed together and a further sofa-bed. There was the usual safe, which we didn't use, a fridge, which we did use, and a TV which had not a single British language channel, not that it mattered. The room was cleaned and towels replaced every day, which was welcome.

All inclusive food was good, with delicious omelettes for breakfast and a decent choice of meat, fish and vegetables for lunch and evening meals. Tables were spaced far apart and guests were not allowed into the restaurant if they weren't wearing masks.

Indeed the hotel took their Covid-19 responsibilities very seriously. They were also very helpful with our transfer, which we were worried would end up going to the wrong hotel. We didn't use the animacion staff but they seemed popular with the children staying at the hotel. The location was OK - about 10 minutes walk from Platja Llevant - but at least it was all flat.

The Vilaromana is an excellent family hotel and, if we come back to Salou in the future, we'd definitely consider staying here again.

The Spice is Right

2019-12-15T19:59:00.001+00:00

As well as being the UK's second biggest city, Birmingham boasts (I think, anyway) the second largest amount of Michelin star restaurants in the UK; behind London and ahead of the likes of Edinburgh, Nottingham and, er, Bray. The newest addition to its ranks is Opheem, an Indian restaurant located just outside the city centre.

Opheem is the brainchild of chef Aktar Islam, a stalwart of the TV chef scene with multiple appearances on Great British Menu and The F Word under his belt. It's also the first Indian restaurant in the UK outside of London to have received a Michelin star, gaining the award in October 2019. As we enjoy a trip to Birmingham each December to celebrate our wedding anniversary we decided to use the second night of our stay to try a bit of posh Indian nosh.

Upon our arrival we were guided to the plush bar area, resplendent with funky lighting and a tree that looked like a cherry blossom. We'd already decided to try the eight course tasting menu, but got persuaded into a glass of champagne before the meal and after enjoying this we were taken to the main dining area to begin our meal.

Our main waiter Wojciech (more on him later) suggested a glass of red wine for our main course as we'd already chosen a bottle of white for the rest of the meal, and we gladly took his advice for diving into our amuse bouches. These were a trio of bite-sized nibbles comprised of a beef tartare taco, a charcoal tart filled with gooey cheese and a cube of cucumber with a deliciously spiced topping. Our bread also had a hint of eat, and was also wonderfully tasty, being a small brioche roll topped with spicy minced lamb and served alongside a super lamb pate. This was a very promising start indeed.

Nibbles

Next up was our first starter and one of the highlights of the evening. Mutton porridge doesn't sound particularly appetising it's true, however this was an absolute delight. The porridge was rich and beautifully spiced while crispy shallots provided texture and a mini lamb kofta added an extra layer of meaty deliciousness. The pleasantly-burnt tasting tandoori carrot which followed kept up the high standard.

The first of two fish courses was next on the agenda and it was another thing of beauty. Two slabs of king crab in a wonderful pork broth with cauliflower custard - which again was better than it sounds - and puffed rice for the crunch factor. Then to the cod which was the first of the two main courses. Tasty and flaky it was, served with buttery greens, zingy fresh mango and a smooth and subtly-spiced Keralan sauce.

Cod

Right on cue, Wojciech, who'd been serving us for most of the evening, arrived with our red wine for the aged salt beef main course. The hunk of meat was perfectly medium rare and sat atop more shredded beef, which was nothing so much like the curry house staple of hot meat - albeit not so nuclear. Fermented garlic added a whack of salty goodness and a bone marrow and cardamom sauce brought the whole dish together, including the slightly incongruous helping of Basmati rice which was served alongside the rest of the dish.

Beef

The two desserts which finished off the job were both crackers - one fruity and the other a feast of chocolatey indulgence. The fruit was sweet roasted pineapple with crunchy candied cashews and coriander oil while the chocolate was chocolate (ganache), chocolate (sorbet) and chocolate again (cocoa nibs). Coffee back in the bar rounded off a tremendous meal.

Service was excellent, with Wojciech hosting us charmingly for most of the evening and his colleagues keeping up the good work when he wasn't about. The spicing throughout the meal left a comforting warmth after each course but never drowned out the other ingredients and our wines were excellent too, and reasonably priced.

Birmingham's latest Michelin star recipient is fully deserving of its accolade. Curry never tasted so good.

Alchemillamazing

2019-11-24T20:35:00.000+00:00

I don't usually write again about places where I've eaten more than once; however Alchemilla is an exception. Our recent visit there was just so special that it's worthy of a write-up of its own. That's not to say that our first visit wasn't good - quite the opposite, it was fantastic. But in the two-ish years between our first and most-recent meals there it's improved from 'fantastic' to 'this is one of the best meals I've ever had.' Seriously.

In the intervening couple of years, Alchemilla has acquired an excellent reputation, some rave reviews, three AA rosettes and, in October 2019, its first Michelin star. If the Michelin inspector's experience was anything like our November visit then it's not hard to see why the award of the coveted star was a formality.

As usual, we arrived way before our booked dining time. As we'd already decided to go the whole hog of ten courses with wine pairing we forewent a pre-dinner drink and asked if we could take our table early. Thankfully our table was ready and waiting so into the bare-brick arches we went to sit alongside the 'living wall' of moss and other plants.

A trio of snacks before the meal proper was one of the changes from our first meal here, and excellent they were too, albeit a bit messy to eat. The highlight was the sardine and onion tart encased in paper-thin squid ink pastry. Pleasingly sour sourdough bread and cultured butter finished off the prologue, so it was on to chapter one.

And what a start. Slivers of sweet crab meat and girolle mushrooms lurked beneath a velvety espuma of brown butter. Rich, decadent and punctuated by starbursts of zingy preserved lemon, this was a tremendous beginning to the meal. The bar had been set incredibly high and it wasn't about to be lowered anytime soon.

Next up was one of the vegetable-based dishes that Alchemilla has already become renowned for. Crunchy barbecued broccoli stems were matched with a creamy satay sauce and peanut brittle to give another cracker of a dish.

On it went, cubes of squid with just a hint of bite were joined with sweet butternut squash and salty, crunchy nuggets of pork belly. A cauliflower floret packed full of flavour and served with a yeast puree; 'steak tartare' of the highest-quality beef and chimichurri sauce; cep mushrooms cooked in beef fat covered a puree of 'Marmite' made in the restaurant to give a taste which was the very definition of umami. Textures, temperatures and tastes were all cunningly woven together in six courses of absolute delight.

The 'main' course provided a choice of hogget or squab pigeon, of which I went for the latter. The pigeon breast was spongy and sumptuous and served with a drumstick which had been dusted in flakes of dried pigeon hearts, because obviously just plain pigeon wasn't quite pigeony enough. The depth of flavour was counteracted by a tart pickled walnut puree to create another dish of amazing quality. The hogget looked pretty good too, and the little taste of the black olive caramel that I tried suggested that the dish was every bit as good as mine had been.

Squab pigeon

Having a cheeseboard after seven savoury courses felt like a step too far, so after a bonus pre-dessert of a ridiculously good burnt blackcurrant 'lollipop' it was time for desserts. Toasted hay granita looked like crumble and chilled the mouth rather than providing the expected warmth. Shards of burnt sugar and cubes of Bramley apple gave sweetness and a hint of sour.

The second dessert was my favourite: a blackberry creme brulee topped with dark sugar and a duo of sorbets. Deep, earthy beetroot - which works so well with desserts - and a mildly salty Balsamic which was just phenomenal. And finally yoghurt, pine and wood sorrel leaves to bring the meal to a light and refreshing conclusion.

Blackberry creme brulee

Coffee in the bar was served with a trio of chocolates, the craziest of which was filled with a mushroom caramel. It sounded bonkers but it really worked - sweet caramel with just a hint of earthy fungus. The other two were pretty good as well, in particular the intensely-salty miso caramel.

As with each of our visits to Alchemilla the quality of the food was matched by the excellence of the service. Everyone who served us was charming and knowledgeable and the two sommeliers were wonderful; furnishing us with brilliant descriptions of each of the wines and - in the case of the male sommelier - delivering them with an eccentric flourish. The wines had been beautiful too, in particular the intensely sweet dessert wines and the almost caramelly Chardonnay.

In just over two years Alchella has gone from a promising start to Michelin-starred magnificence. If it continues to progress at such a pace then the sky's the limit, and I can't wait to go along for the ride.

Letting the Train (and a Plane) Take the Strain

2019-04-17T15:40:00.000+01:00

The Idea

Ever since I started to not like flying I've been keen on the idea of a train trip around Europe. I seriously considered booking it a few years ago, but ended up downsizing to a week in Penzance, which, while pleasant, was hardly the same. But a couple of years ago Clare and I started discussing it in more detail and began making a firm commitment to booking trains and hotels.

The Plan

Originally we were planning to book the trip using an Interrailing ticket. However, once we discovered that we'd have still had to pay for seat reservations on top of the ticket, we soon worked out that it would be cheaper to book the tickets separately. This was actually surprisingly easy - thetrainline has a European site which covered all bar one leg of the trip. It even suggested the option of a bus for one of the journeys. We booked hotels which were walking distance from each of the train stations and made sure they offered free cancellation, just in case of any unforeseen circumstances that may have prevented the journey. We also did a bit of research into each of the hotels to make sure there were no duffers - which, thankfully, there weren't.

The Destinations

Because we'd been to both Brussels and Lille a few times before we decided to make Paris our first destination on the continent, which we'd then use as the starting-point for the rest of the trip. We both fancied taking in a couple of new countries, which led us first to Switzerland - Geneva to start with and then Zurich. We also fancied seeing more of Italy so ended up choosing to visit Florence and then Rome - though a late change of plan meant we swapped Rome for Bologna. Then to tie the whole trip together we decided on a stop-off in Innsbruck, Austria. Eleven nights, seven cities, five countries, lots of trains, one bus and a flight back. Sounds good!

Day One - Sunday 31st March - Nottingham to London

Thankfully, the pro-Brexit protester who thought it'd be a great idea to disrupt Eurostar's services by plonking himself on a roof near St. Pancras Station had been arrested the day before, so the trip could actually go ahead. The train journey from Nottingham to London was reasonably uneventful, apart from a stag weekend group being a little rowdy in our carriage. Judging by the transport police waiting for the group at St. Pancras something else must have kicked off elsewhere on the train.

We checked into our hotel - the brilliantly-located Premier Inn St. Pancras on Euston Road - dumped our bags and headed out for food, which ended up being provided by the excellent German Gymnasium just across from King's Cross Station. After watching some football over a drink in the Euston Flyer we headed back to the hotel to double-check (well, significantly more than double in my case) our gear and paperwork for the next morning. Our early start (the Eurostar was booked for 07:55) meant that after watching the first episode of the new series of Line of Duty we turned in for the night - excited for the days ahead!

Day Two - Monday 1st April - London to Paris

The Eurostar journey to Paris was comfortable and fast, accompanied by a celebratory glass of wine each and a fellow passenger in our carriage who spoke almost constantly throughout the whole journey. Ah well, that's what headphones are for. We arrived at Gare du Nord bang on time and took the regional RER train to Gare de Lyon, which was where we'd be departing from the next day. The transfer was fast, easy and cheap but alas the excitement of the train being a double-decker was tempered somewhat by the entire journey being underground.

Around 10 minutes walk from Gare de Lyon was our hotel for the night - the Ibis Styles in Bercy. It was functional but comfortable and was really well located for our departure station and also the very pleasant area of Bercy. It also had a nice sun terrace out the back, which due to the fantastic weather we were able to make use of in the afternoon.

Springtime in Paris was every bit as good as it sounds. Bercy is a beautiful area by the side of the River Seine. We enjoyed a wonderful stroll round the Parc de Bercy, a lovely green space split by walkways and ponds, some of which contained tortoises we were sure weren't real, until they started moving. After an afternoon drink in the sunshine we headed back to the room for a rest and to plan our night out.

Pont de Bercy

Tortoises - real ones!

Being in France, we wanted to eat something French, so a bit of research and a 15 minute walk took us to Le217 Brasserie, so named because it was located at number 217 on the Avenue Daumesnil. It was *very* French, so much so that the manager and waiters spoke very little English. That was fine though and there was no mistaking the warmth of their welcome or service. We arrived bang-on opening time but it soon filled up, which is always a good sign.

In for a cent, in for a Euro with the food choices. We shared a starter of snails, which were beautifully cooked in garlic and herbs, but somewhat difficult for amateurs like us to extract from their shells. Clare had a fantastic bruschetta topped with ham and mushrooms for her main, while I went full-on French and had the steak tartare, resplendent with raw egg yolk and a side of chunky chips. Alongside this we enjoyed a carafe of a fantastic Beaujolais. For dessert Clare had the cafe gourmand - a coffee served with three mini-desserts (each of which were excellent). I went for an ice-cream which was also very enjoyable. We settled up, lazily took the Metro back to the hotel and settled down for the night. Another long day awaited tomorrow!

Steak tartare - more about that egg later...

Day Three - Tuesday 2nd April - Paris to Geneva

Happy birthday Clare! Part of the reason for the trip was to celebrate Clare's birthday, so after handing over my card (presents had been done before setting off for luggage reasons), we headed back off to Gare de Lyon for our journey to Geneva. Although it's a pretty big station it wasn't difficult to find our departure platform, so we duly took our seats, stowed our bags and settled down for the ride.

The glorious sunshine of Monday had given way to cloud and drizzle, which unfortunately put the mockers on the scenery, until we got closer to the Swiss border that is. As the weather improved, so did the views, with rolling hills and massive gorges to behold. We wandered down to the excellent buffet car and enjoyed a beer and a wine while taking in the views.

Paris to Geneva

After disembarking at Geneva station we took the short walk to our next hotel, which was another Ibis - the Ibis Geneve Centre Gare. Again we'd chosen this due to its proximity to the train station and again it proved to be a wise choice, as it was around a 10 minute walk. Service was good, our room was fine and, upon checking in, we were given a card which entitled us to use all public transport in Geneva for free.

The weather in Geneva was as nice as it had been in Paris the previous day, so after dropping off our luggage we set off to explore the city - and a very beautiful city it is too. A hot chocolate by the side of Lake Geneva, a fleeting glimpse of Mont Blanc through the clouds in the distance, a look at the Jet D'eau and a reconnaissance trip to find our evening's restaurant were all enjoyed before heading back to the hotel for a rest before the night.

The Jet D'eau

As the day was a special occasion we'd booked into a special restaurant - the Michelin-starred La Bottega. Before we headed off though we had a bit of an issue. Well, I did anyway. The raw egg atop Monday night's steak tartare was coming back to haunt me - that's all I'll say. It wasn't going to ruin our evening though so off we headed for our meal.

Upon our arrival to the restaurant we were warmly welcomed - in flawless English - and shown to our seats. Three tiers of tasting menu were on offer, with either seven, nine or twelve courses, so we went down the middle for the nine. With my stomach misbehaving we thought a bottle of wine would be safer than the wine pairing so we chose a nice red and embarked on the evening's meal.

Amuse bouches were excellent; whitebait fried and covered in balsamic vinegar, tuna tartare disguised as a tomato, a block of cheese on a dummy mousetrap and - bizarrely - Jagermeister jellies in the shape of a robot. They didn't provide us a menu here so every dish was to be a surprise, and they were all pleasant ones.

Tuna sashimi with sauce in the shape of fishbones, flaky cod with crispy skin, octopus and some fantastic ravioli with an almost-sweet chicken filling. The main course was beautifully cooked beef with an artichoke puree. Alongside our desserts, Clare was presented with a mini birthday cake which was a wonderful touch, and one which impressed me as I can't recall having mentioned it.

Happy birthday Clare!

Service throughout was knowledgeable and speedy and the whole experience was really, really good. As an expensive restaurant in an expensive city, La Bottega was never going to be cheap. However for a special meal to celebrate a special occasion it was definitely worth it. Our meal over, we walked back to the hotel to turn in for the night and nurse my tummy back to health!

Day Four - Wednesday 3rd April - Geneva

After a disturbed night's sleep (for aforementioned reasons) we headed out for the day via a quick trip to the chemist. We'd decided to make use of the free public transport by catching a bus out to the foot of Mont Saleve and then taking the cable car (or telepherique if you prefer) to its summit for a look around. The bus journey took around 20 minutes and showed us some parts of Geneva that we hadn't seen previously, before arriving at the terminus on the France/Switzerland border. Without further ado we hopped off the bus, crossed back into France and made our way to the telepherique station.

Not being the greatest with heights and never having been on a cable car before I wasn't sure what to expect. Rather nicely, we were the only two passengers on the way up and the journey was great, smooth and fast and providing some excellent views of the city. We grabbed a drink from the small cafe at the top and started out on the 15 minute walk up the hill where we could apparently grab a panoramic view of Mont Blanc. Unfortunately the overcast weather had followed us from Paris; however, upon reaching the top of the hill we were still treated to a magnificent vista of the Mont Blanc range, albeit slightly obscured by clouds. After returning to the telepherique and snapping a few shots of Geneva sprawled beneath us we headed back to the city.

Geneva from Mont Saleve

Mont Blanc is in there somewhere

Having not eaten all day, upon our arrival back in the city centre I suddenly started craving a......McDonald's. Don't judge me. The stodge of a Royale with cheese meal (thanks Pulp Fiction) really hit the spot, though at around £20 for two meals it was certainly the most expensive McDonald's we've ever had. The rain had well-and-truly set in now, so it wasn't too long before we were back in the room for an afternoon nap ahead of our last night in Geneva. Due to the worsening weather and generally being tired we opted for a slice of cake and a glass of wine in the local department store's cafe, followed by a beer in Geneva's very own Irish bar. Don't judge me, again. After that it was back to the hotel again to pack up our gear in readiness for the next leg of the journey.

Day Five- Thursday 4th April - Geneva to Zurich

The rain of Wednesday had morphed into snow overnight, so a light dusting of white welcomed us on the walk back to Geneva station. It's one of the quirks of Swiss train pricing that we could buy an open ticket to travel any route on the Swiss rail network for cheaper than a single from Geneva to Zurich, so that's what we'd done. It was just as well because the train we originally intended to catch was cancelled. Luckily there was another one just over half an hour later so shortly after 9AM we were on the road (well, rails) again.

The continuing snow made the journey very picturesque as we passed rolling hills, numerous vineyards (I never knew Switzerland had so many) and spectacular lakes. Unfortunately it also made the walk from Zurich Station to our hotel for the night a very cold and miserable one. For our night in Zurich we'd booked into an easyHotel which was......interesting. The main room barely had enough space for a double bed, a small desk and a bedside, er, thing; while if I stuck my foot out of my side of the bed it could boot the bathroom door shut. The premise behind the hotel was sound - it was meant to be unmanned so we checked in via a screen which gave us a code to access the main hotel area and our room. However, the code didn't work on the first door so we had to get someone to let us in anyway. At least there were lockers large enough for us to leave our bags in so we could wander round Zurich for a while - though we did have to pay for the privilege.

The weather showed no signs of letting up so our exploration of Zurich was limited to a couple of shops and a department store with a nice cafe which sold reasonably-priced beer and wine, and also truffle crisps which I misheard as costing 15 Swiss Francs (they were actually 4.5, which is still rather a lot). We also had a Starbucks which rivalled the Geneva McDonald's for cost - weighing in at around 15 Francs for a couple of drinks.

For our evening meal in Zurich we had planned ahead. Neither of us had tried fondue before and it just so happened that there was a highly-regarded fondue restaurant just a few minutes walk away from our hotel. We hadn't reserved in advance so we trotted along pretty much as soon as the restaurant opened for the evening to make sure we could get a seat.

Upon our arrival to the Fribourger Fonduestuebli we were promptly seated, ordered a glass of wine each and the classic fondue for two - a mix of melted cheeses cooked with kirsch and white wine. To dip into the gooey concoction we were given a heap of cubes of bread and a bowl of boiled potatoes. And that was it! Simple but effective. I enjoyed the meal but it was *very* cheesy - slightly too much for me. Still it was good to have tried it and it was another tick in the bucket list of the trip. Fondue devoured, it was back to the hotel - via a quirky bar round the corner - to get some sleep and prepare for our next country.

Day Six- Friday 5th April - Zurich to Innsbruck

Another disturbed sleep. Nothing to do with stomachs this time but slight anxiety about our transport for the day. When booking the transport for the trip, thetrainline had given the option of either train or coach for the Zurich to Innsbruck leg, and because the coach had been around a third of the price of the train for a journey taking the same amount of time, we decided to give it a go. However, upon reading a few reviews of the coach operator Flixbus, I was a little bit worried. Stories of rude drivers, late-arriving or - worse still - not-arriving-at-all coaches were somewhat alarming. Still, it was done now so we just had to hope for the best.

We arrived at Zurich coach station to find a lot of Flixbus coaches already parked up - which was encouraging. What was not so encouraging was that none of them were the route 409 to Rijeka (via Innsbruck and a number of Italian destinations). What was also not encouraging was that one of the drivers of the parked-up coaches was telling anyone who asked in no uncertain terms that his coach was not for boarding.

But then, about 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time of 08:30, our coach arrived. It wasn't one of the slick-looking double-deckers that we'd seen earlier but it still looked perfectly serviceable. We stowed away our baggage, took our panoramic seats (which cost a couple of Euros extra each) at the front of the coach and then we were away, pretty much bang on time.

It wasn't long before the urban sprawl of Zurich gave way to the fields and hills of the Swiss/Austrian border, and when we eventually crossed the frontier into Austria things got really spectacular. The journey into Innsbruck was magnificent: snow-capped mountains punctuated by snaking tunnels whilst all the time the river Inn flanked the road. Our investment in the panoramic seats was well worth it to get a front-seat view of the incredible surroundings.

Mountains in the distance en route to Innsbruck

We needn't have worried about our Flixbus because it was great. There didn't appear to be the advertised wifi and power sockets on the bus, but it didn't really matter because the scenery was enough of a distraction. We arrived in Innsbruck a few minutes ahead of schedule and began our walk to the apartment which would be the base for our visit to the city.

I'll be honest, my first impression of Innsbruck wasn't too favourable. Grey, blocky-looking buildings and a sinister-looking group of men with equally sinister-looking dogs looking on as we dragged our luggage along the pavements. As we got further from the railway station area though things began to look more pleasant, until we reached the street of our apartment and then couldn't find it. Once we had, we got in the lift and took the corridor down to our designated lodging.

Apartment Anich was a wonderful little apartment owned by a charming Tyrolean couple. The spacious living area felt palatial after the cramped room in Zurich. The main room comprised of a dining table, sideboard and sofas, all of which converted into beds (the sofas I mean, obvs.). Adjacent to this was a small kitchenette with the bathroom accessed from the small entrance hall. Our hosts made us incredibly welcome, talking us through everything in the apartment and recommending things to do and eat in the city. The apartment also had a small balcony and a washing machine, which was incredibly useful to freshen a few clothes up after several days of travelling. There were also various items of food and drink which we could use during our stay. Safe to say that if we were ever to return to Innsbruck we'd stay here again without any hesitation. After a few minutes to acquaint ourselves with the apartment we donned our coats and headed back into Innsbruck.

The journey in had promised beautiful surroundings and the city itself was even better. A short walk to the river Inn rewarded us with a row of colourful houses in front of cloud-obscured hills. The buildings in the old town were beautiful, multi-storey and ornate in the style of many central European cities. We sat back and enjoyed a delicious beer and wine (mercifully cheap too after Switzerland!) in the crisp spring sunshine and just revelled in relaxing in spectacular surroundings. Absolute bliss after a long morning on the coach.

Colourful houses on the bank of the river Inn

Before heading back to the apartment we took a look round the impressive Swarovski store and enjoyed another couple of drinks at Bar 360, a bar attached to one of the city-centre hotels which afforded fantastic views of the city from its seventh-floor terrace. As the clouds were beginning to clear the views were getting better and better, a taste of what was to come.

Our evening meal was at the nice but rather pricey Ottoburg restaurant. My potato soup starter and enormous schnitzel were both delicious, however I felt they were a little overpriced. We forwent dessert at the restaurant and instead enjoyed a slice each of Sachertorte (a famous Austrian chocolate cake) at a nearby bar. The slices were huge, and thankfully the bar wrapped up our uneaten cake in foil for us to enjoy the following day. Tired, full and happy we settled down for the evening before the only Saturday of our trip - and what a day it was to be.

Day Seven- Saturday 6th April - Innsbruck

After a refreshing night's sleep and some toast and coffee in the apartment we were off to the Innsbruck Tourist Information Centre to buy our Innsbruck Cards for the day. These all-inclusive cards allowed usage of public transport, plus free entrance to a massive range of local attractions, for a 24, 48 or 72 hour period. At €43 each they weren't cheap, but we were determined to make as much use of them as we could. And so we did.

To kick off we took the short walk to the funicular railway station to take make a visit to the Alpine Zoo. The funicular was great - like a sedate rollercoaster but without the loop-the-loops. After a short journey over the river and part-way up the hills we disembarked and made the pleasant walk to the zoo - drinking in the clean air and beaming sunshine.

The Alpine Zoo was great, a sprawling affair showcasing a range of wildlife found in the area, from reclusive lynx to majestic eagles with all manner of animals, birds and fish inbetween. We easily whiled away a couple of hours enjoying the glorious weather and surroundings before continuing our ascent of the Nordkette - one of the many mountain ranges which encircle Innsbruck.

The funicular continued up another few hundred metres through the forest before reaching its destination, which meant we had to change to the cable car which would take us to the top of the Nordkette. The views from the cable car were breathtaking. The snow-capped peaks were thronged with skiers and snowboarders whilst others like us were just there to enjoy the scenery. Passing through the Seegrube stop we continued on to the final one - Hafelekar - at around 7,500ft.

Stepping out into the cold, clear, windy air felt amazing. The sun continued to blaze down as we enjoyed incredible views of Innsbruck spread beneath us, while around us the other peaks of the Nordkette range glistened in their icy majesty. The alpine sports lovers headed off down the slopes while we attempted to walk the 15 minutes or so to the top of the Hafelekarspitze, only to be defeated by the slippiness of the snow. It didn't matter though, it was fantastic just being up there.

Looking down to Hafelekar Station

Innsbruck from Hafelekar Station

After stumbling back down to the cable car station we made our way back to the city. From the coldness of the mountains to t-shirt weather in 20 minutes - glorious! We enjoyed a couple of drinks - including a lovely local liqueur called Ramazzotti - bought a few souvenirs and took further advantage of our Innsbruck Cards by visiting the Golden Roof museum and climbing the 190ish steps of the City Tower, which provided more incredible views of the city.

Innsbruck from the City Tower - this could be a postcard!

We crossed the bridge over the Inn and just sat in the sunshine, watching runners taking part in a 10k race making their way to the finish line, before finally heading back to the apartment. We'd been incredibly lucky with the weather and it had really helped to make our Saturday afternoon in Innsbruck a fantastic one.

For our evening meal we decided to try the Gasthouse Anich, another traditional Tyrolean restaurant just a couple of minutes walk from our apartment. Although it was busy we were shown to a table - which could've seated about 10! Indeed later in the evening we did end up sharing with other diners but that was fine.

We both ordered soup with a dumpling for starters, and they were delicious. Clear but tasty beef consomme with a huge, stodgy but flavoursome dumpling in the bowl - speck (bacon) for me, cheese for Clare. We hadn't actually even finished these before the waiters rocked up with our main courses. Clare had a schnitzel which looked every bit as good as the one I'd had the night before (but a lot cheaper), while I went for the roast pork, sauerkraut and yet another gargantuan dumpling. The main courses were every bit as tasty as the starters, but so big. So very, very big. Anyway, after settling up we had another quick drink in Innsbruck before heading back to pack up in advance of our next day of travel. Innsbruck had really spoiled us.

Day Eight - Sunday 7th April - Innsbruck to Florence (via Padova)

A quick breakfast and a tidy-up of the apartment done, we made our way to Innsbruck Station for the first of our two trains to Florence (we had to change at Padova as there wasn't a direct one). After a couple of small mishaps involving a fall down the escalator and Padova not appearing in the list of stopping points for our train, we finally boarded and took our seats for the journey ahead. It was another clear day so we were treated to more glorious scenery as we made our way through the Tyrol, crossing the border into Italy at Brennero and passing through Bressanone - birthplace of legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner - the first person to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.

As hills replaced mountains and vineyards were everywhere to be seen, our train pulled into Padova. We arrived around 20 minutes late but had allowed enough time between connections that we had plenty of time to grab a coffee before climbing aboard the express to Florence. Although the journey wasn't as visually engaging - indeed the stretch between Bologna and Florence was almost one long tunnel - it was fast and comfortable and we arrived into Florence eager to explore the next city on our agenda.

As had been the case with Innsbruck, our first impressions of Florence weren't favourable. Despite it being a late Sunday afternoon, the streets around the station were very crowded, whilst discarded junk littered a number of the pavements, many of which seemed in need of repair. Wheeling our cases along them wasn't much fun but our destination made it worth the effort.

Our hotel for our days in Florence was the Il Guelfo Bianco, and an excellent hotel it was too. Brilliantly located for all the main attractions and not too far from the train station, it's located in a refurbished 16th century building. Our bedroom was spacious and full of character and even had a balcony, though we didn't get the chance to enjoy it. And there was free wifi and breakfast too. Luggage safely deposited it was off to see the sights!

Our Florence hotel room

It was only around 5 minutes walk to the Piazza del Duomo, home to the spectacular domed Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Indeed everywhere you looked Florence was a feast for the eyes with statues, squares and amazing architecture at every turn. Strolling into a wine bar and sipping a hearty Italian red whilst listening to a jazz cover version of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, we contemplated our dining choice for the evening.

We ended up deciding on La Boheme, which was just round the corner from our hotel, and it's fair to say that it was a fantastic choice. So much so that we went back the next night too! We'd booked in advance to be on the safe side and, although we were the first people to arrive, it wasn't long before the dining room filled up.

For our dinner we decided to share a Steak Florentine - a grilled t-bone steak which is meant to be from a certain Italian breed of cow. Our waitress showed it to us before it was cooked. It looked the size of a small country. We'd asked for it medium rare but when it came out it was probably edging towards rare, which was fine by us. And what a steak it was too - melt-in-the-mouth but with a perfectly seasoned outside. Alongside this were served delicious fried potatoes and we ordered a side of spinach as well. We finished off with a coffee and a complementary Limoncello and waddled back to our hotel.

MEEEEAAATTTT

Day Nine - Monday 8th April - Florence

Any hopes of climbing to the top of The Dome were swiftly extinguished after looking online and seeing that all the slots for the day had already been booked up. Michelangelo's David was also off the agenda as the museum that houses it doesn't open on Mondays. D'oh. No matter, there was still plenty enough to keep us amused and after enjoying our hotel breakfast we were on our way.

Just a few doors away from our hotel was located the Palazzo Riccardi Medici - one of the former residences of Florence's historical ruling family the Medicis. We later found out that it was featured in Alexander Armstrong's excellent mini-series of programmes about Italy's Hidden Cities. As well as the artwork and decor in the Palazzo, it was also hosting an exhibition of photographs of David Bowie, culminating in a chance to recreate the iconic cover of his Heroes album, which saw Bowie sitting in a moody pose in an understated black leather jacket.

The queue to enter the Cathedral of Santa Maria was unsurprisingly huge so we spent the rest of our morning just meandering around the city streets. There was always something to see - a tower here, a statue there - with the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the river Arno being a particular highlight. As the sun struggled to break through the clouds we paused to enjoy a creamy gelato each before making our way back to the hotel for a snooze.

The Ponte Vecchio over the Golden River

After enjoying an Aperol Spritz in a quirky cafe-bar across from our hotel it was back to La Boheme for our second evening meal in Florence. Two steaks on the trot would've been just a little bit gluttonous so we both went for pasta this time, following a starter of local cold meats and cheese. The food and drink was just as good as the night before. With happily-full tummies we said our farewells to Florence before packing for our last train-hop of the trip. It was all going far too quickly.

Day Ten - Tuesday 9th April - Florence to Bologna

The walk back to Florence Santa Maria Novello station seemed a lot easier than the walk to the hotel had been, perhaps because our early-morning start meant the streets were far less busy. As Clare enjoyed a quick Sephora fix (there was a Sephora in Florence Station!) I waited for our carriage to Bologna. As with just about every other train during the trip it departed and arrived right on schedule and so we were deposited in Bologna just before 10AM - the final destination of our journey. Neither of us knew much about the city, apart from that it had a great reputation for food. We'd watched a Rick Stein programme about it a couple of years before and it had looked great. We weren't to be disappointed.

It was a fair old stroll to the Hotel Centrale - our lodging for the next couple of nights - and we were somewhat relieved that they had a lift. Carting our luggage up to the third floor wouldn't have been much fun. As we were so early we couldn't check into our room yet so we left our cases behind before seeing what Bologna had to offer.

More than we'd expected it turned out. Just up the road was the Piazza Maggiore, a massive square containing - among other things - a statue of Neptune (the god, not the planet) and the Basilica di San Petronio. The Basilica was a curious-looking affair - the bottom half was spectacular marble whilst the top was somewhat shabby brickwork. Apparently this was because when the Pope of the time had got wind that Bologna's rulers were planning to build a church to rival St. Peter's in Rome he promptly put a stop to it, and they were only allowed to finish the building if they toned down their plans. Whilst the outside looks somewhat odd as a result, the interior was stunning.

The Basilica di San Petronio

Making our way further into the city we encountered another architectural oddity in the form of the Two Towers. Nothing to do with Tolkien, but rather two 14th century towers, one of which was every bit as slanty as the more famous one in Pisa. After drinking in the sight of these we sat down to drink in a Negroni - a potent cocktail of Campari, gin and vermouth. Normally these are served in tumblers, but this one was in an enormous tall glass and pretty much wiped us out for the afternoon. After checking into the hotel and finding our room we were zonked and promptly nodded off.

Look at the size of that thing!

Our room in the Hotel Centrale was really well sized, although with somewhat dated decor. It also didn't have an ensuite bathroom which wasn't ideal. We did have a private bathroom but had to cross one of the hotel corridors to access it. It wasn't all bad though - our bed was huge and incredibly comfortable, which along with the Negroni meant we had a decent nap before our first night in the city.

We really were spoilt for choice for places to eat in Bologna, and for our first night we went to the nearby Ristorante San Pietro. We were glad it was so nearby too as the heavens opened just as we got there. After sharing a platter of cold meats and fantastic Parmesan we tucked into our mains. My veal cutlet was great, covered in ham, cheese and breadcrumbs and slathered with a delicious sauce. Clare's lasagne looked equally as good and the beer and wine we chose respectively were both top notch. The ubiquitous free Limoncello rounded off what was an excellent meal. Then it was off back to the hotel to sleep before the last day of the trip. Already! Boo.

Day Eleven- Wednesday 10th April - Bologna

So there it was. The final day proper of our trip. We couldn't believe it'd gone so quickly. We didn't really have any plans for the day (apart from to avoid gigantic Negronis) so we set out to stroll around and just enjoy being away. We had toyed with the idea of climbing the steps in the taller of the Two Towers, but 480ish sounded a few too many so we let that one go. We did however return to the cafe we'd visited the day before to have another of their amazing espressos with pistachio cream. Yum.

In his programme about Bologna, Rick Stein had likened it to Venice without the canals and we could see what he meant. Lots of little alleyways and cut-throughs and interesting buildings everywhere. And always a bar or restaurant to enjoy a moment's respite. Bologna has three nicknames apparently: The Red - due to the colour of the roofs in the city centre; The Educated - Bologna is home to Europe's oldest university; and The Fat One - down to the aforementioned reputation for food. All these nicknames are well deserved.

On our travels this day we visited a small museum and a shop with some excellent, locally-made souvenirs, and other than that we just walked. We also found time for a light lunch of some fantastic fried meatballs and one last Italian gelato. It had to be done.

Inspired by the Rick Stein programme we'd booked into a restaurant he'd visited before and recommended - Ristorante Ciacco. Located near to the Two Towers, it's a little bit more upscale than many of Bologna's restaurants. It was also tremendous though, and well worth the money.

Not wanting to stuff ourselves too full we shared a starter of mackerel, which was served on a bed of fennel and with a wonderfully-tart lemon curd. I hadn't had a lasagna on our trip yet so that's what I went for, and it's no exaggeration to say that it's the nicest one I've ever had. Clare went for the tagliatelle in Bolognese ragu which looked equally delicious. A dessert of semifreddo was washed down by a local, walnut-based liqueur. Service was excellent and all of their food and drink recommendations were top notch, so this was a brilliant way to end an amazing trip.

Mackerel starter

The semifreddo and walnut liqueur

Day Twelve - Thursday 11th April - Bologna to London to Nottingham

So that was it. The planning and research had all paid off and resulted in an amazing few days. We'd been incredibly lucky on the whole with both the weather and the transport and had enjoyed some fantastic experiences on the way. If you can spare the time to plan and make a trip like this then I can't recommend it enough. It gave us a real sense of adventure and travelling by train (and bus) allows you to see so much more of the countries that you visit. As a series of consecutive mini-breaks it was pretty tiring, but also incredibly rewarding.

So, where next then? Croatia looks nice, and I really need to visit my brother in Poland. Hmm.....

A Warming Winter Wonder

2019-01-13T20:31:00.000+00:00

There's nothing like a night in London and a damn good meal to banish the January blues. Well, clearly some things would be better - like a fortnight in the Caribbean for example - but a night in London and a damn good meal is more practical and affordable so it'll have to do. This January's damn good meal was provided courtesy of Roganic - Simon Rogan's Marylebone-based companion to his main restaurant L'Enclume. And a damn good meal it most certainly was.

Upon taking our seats in Roganic's relaxed dining area we were presented with our menu in a sealed envelope (only the tasting menu is served at the weekend) and given the choice of whether to open it or be surprised by every course. Seeking inspiration for our wine choice we opened ours and - with a little help from the excellent sommelier - went for a bottle of white and with a glass of red to accompany the main meat course.

Eleven courses were printed on the menu, though the first four of those were smaller snacks rather than full-blown servings. A mini pumpkin tart started off proceedings: paper-thin pastry and a sweet and sticky filling. It was served with a fermented pear and pumpkin juice to provide a bit of extra richness. The mushroom sabayon which followed was outstanding, and the pickled carrot 'scales' covering a cod roe emulsion on a slice of crispy chicken skin was better still. However, for me they were all topped by the lamb belly in a honey glaze which rounded off the snack section.

Before we go on to the mains, special mention has to be given to the bread. Rather than the usual choices of crusty or sourdough or whatever, Roganic's bread was more like a muffin; warm and fresh and covered with sweet and crunchy seeds which had us licking our lips in delight. Only Restaurant Sat Bains' treacle bread has bettered it of the breads I've had - and there's no shame in being second to that.

The mains. Ah, the mains. Quail egg yolk covered with an earthy artichoke broth kicked things off and the earthy theme continued through all the subsequent courses. Pork belly and beetroot, served with puffed pork skin which was like the best pork scratching you could ever imagine. Piping hot celeriac with creamy whey and malt crumbs. Crispy-skinned mackerel with crunchy kale and a sauce made of the mackerel bones. The whole mains section was like snuggling up in a blanket in front of a roaring fire. Warm, cosy and comforting. In a meaty and fishy way.

Celeriac, malt and whey

The last of the mains was the best of the lot and possibly the standout dish of the evening. Pink aged beef, sweet parsnip puree, crunchy onion and a sauce as shiny as a tin of Crown gloss and meatier than the cast of The Expendables. And if that wasn't enough, a mini cottage pie with a filling of ox cheek and a topping of cloud-like mash.

Beef

Cheese, mushroom and caviar aren't obvious component parts of a dessert but our first dessert course contained just these things. Tunworth - a British made Camembert - ice-cream topped with savoury crumbs of mushroom and a spoonful of caviar. Sweetness was provided by a cranberry compote and the whole combination was delicious and incredibly clever. The second dessert was a chamomile cream covered with discs of pear and a sprinkling of verjus. Neither sweet course was especially sweet, but that felt more in-keeping with the menu as a whole. Coffees and a juniper fudge finished the evening off very nicely indeed.

Service was fast, friendly and professional throughout. The snack courses went by in a blur but as the portion sizes increased then the pace became more leisurely. And then, as we collected our coats, one final surprise: a bag containing two Earl Grey teabags, two little pots of jam and two slices of delicious raspberry sponge cake which we had for breakfast the following morning.

One day I hope to make the trip to Cartmel to try out L'Enclume. However, if that never comes to pass then another visit to Roganic will be more than a pleasure.

Roca Moo and Xerta - Brilliance in Barcelona

2018-07-13T15:24:00.000+01:00

Roca Moo

After having seen Girona restaurant Celler Can Roca on MasterChef some time ago it'd been firmly on our bucket list. Circumstances and an unfeasibly long waiting list have never permitted unfortunately. So, when booking our recent trip to Barcelona and discovering that the brothers Roca had a restaurant in the city - Roca Moo - we just had to arrange a visit. It's safe to say we were impressed. In fact, after over two hours of amazing food and hospitality we were wondering just how good Celler Can Roca could actually be, because Roca Moo was sensational.

After enjoying a drink on the rooftop terrace of the luxurious Hotel Omm in which Roca Moo is located we took our seats for our meal. The dining area is just behind the lobby, separated by a bookshelf full of books and an open kitchen area where you can watch the band of chefs putting the finishing touches your food.

There's no a la carte menu so we chose the Joan Roca tasting menu, which at 12 courses was the larger of the two options. Rather than the accompanying wine flight we went for a very reasonably priced crisp white wine from Catalonia. Then we loosened our belts and settled back to enjoy the show.

And what a show. Two amuse bouches; the second of which was a wonderful tour of Spain, with four bite-sized dishes representative of various areas of the country. Then into the starters. A mandala flower beautifully presented on a plate; its centre of cold orange and grapefruit surrounded by 'petals' of sauces including a fantastic olive tapenade, to be unceremoniously mushed together before eating. An almost-meaty soup made of a fungus which grows on corn and served with a chilled disk of sweetcorn and chunks of asparagus. Green beans and cockles which tasted so much of the sea I half expected them to swim away.

"Tour of Spain"

Mandala flower

On it went. Wonderful mackerel; a broth of plankton, tripe and sea cucumber; sardine that wasn't sardine but was actually Iberico pork sliced to look like a fillet of fish; red mullet with edible bones. Then onto the mains. Lamb fillet, succulent rib with crispy skin and a perfectly cooked sweetbread. Pigeon three ways; a slab of pate in two light wafers, beautiful breast meat and a thigh in the most deliciously gloopy glaze - all served on a hoisin and red fruit sauce, splattered across the plate in a playful representation of the pigeon having flown headlong into it.

Pigeon

And finally to dessert. Almond and cherry which, as with the sardine, wasn't what it seemed. Because the 'cherry' was an almond mousse covered in a cherry jelly. What looked like crumble was an icy almond granita, under which a cherry sorbet lurked. Even the 'stalk' of the cherry was actually tempered chocolate. Then to finish off, 'The White.' Slivers of a crunchy wafer covering a lemon cheesecake and a sauce which I'd totally lost the track of by then, senses befuddled by the wonders that had come before.

"The White"

As good as the food was - and it was as good as I've ever tasted - the service matched it. Each of our waiters was charming and spoke excellent English. Our main waiter in fact seemed mortified when he struggled with words I wouldn't have a prayer of trying to say in another language. The whole experience was wonderful, the butter even spelt out 'MOO' in three different flavours for goodness sake. But then, following coffee and petit fours, it was over.

I really can't speak highly enough of Roca Moo. From start to finish our evening was just exceptional. Relaxed atmosphere, fantastic service and memorable food. It wasn't cheap, but when a meal is this good you don't begrudge a single penny.

-------------------------

Xerta

While our trip to Roca Moo had been planned long in advance, our visit to Xerta was more off-the-cuff. An idea to finish a great holiday in style, a search for nice restaurants with reasonably priced lunch deals and a trip on the Metro to the Eixample area of the city took us to the light and airy dining room in the Ohla Eixample Hotel. With our visit being at lunchtime I was pleased that the restaurant operated a relaxed dress code, so resplendent in my shorts and flowery shirt I sat down to enjoy the meal.

As well as tasting and a la carte menus, Xerta offers a couple of set price lunches. Of these we chose the 'Executive' lunch: a choice from one of two starters, a main of meat or fish and a choice of two desserts. The price - an incredibly reasonable €38 per person - also included water, bread, a bottle of wine, appetisers and sweets. An absolute bargain.

Unsurprisingly the appetisers were first, and there was no danger of these being skimped on just because we'd chosen the cheapest menu. There were loads! Pate on a slice of gingerbread, a crispbread with a number of sauces and a duck dumpling were just some of the treats on offer.

Appetisers

For our starters we both chose the pasta. I'm not exaggerating by saying it was the nicest pasta I've ever tasted. Served in a rockpool-shaped bowl, it was covered in a tremendous seafood sauce and accompanied with various delights from the ocean; octopus, mussels and squid all made an appearance. There was just too much of it! Neither of us could finish our portions but it wasn't for the want of trying, and it certainly wasn't a reflection on the quality of the food.

I went for the monkfish for my main course, and it was as good as the pasta (though thankfully not so plentiful). Two meaty hunks with some juicy prawns and a lovely Romesco sauce made for a lovely dish. Clare went for the confit duck which looked equally as tasty, and the bit of crispy skin I pinched from her plate suggested that this was the case.

Monkfish

Though there was a choice of dessert our waiter suggested we plump for the chocolate mousse, and who were we to argue? He definitely knew his stuff as it was wonderful. Cool and light, served with cocoa nibs, cinnamon ice-cream, a coffee sauce and a crunchy crumb. It made for a fantastic end to our meal, though it wasn't really the end as we received further sweets with the coffee we ordered. So essentially our three-course lunch was really a five-course.

Service was slick, the atmosphere was relaxed and, as mentioned before, the meal was incredible value. €80-odd for lunch for two people might not sound cheap but when you consider the quality and quantity of the food it really is. You could easily spend a similar amount at a high-street chain restaurant and I guarantee the food and experience would be nowhere near as good. Our visit to Xerta was a delight and I'd definitely go again.

An A for Adam's

2018-05-07T18:45:00.000+01:00

Our recent visit to Adam's in Birmingham was only meant to be part of a day of entertainment, the precursor to a concert in the city on the same day. The concert alas was cancelled - however, our lunch was more than impressive enough to ensure the day was still a special one.

Located just a few minutes walk from New Street Station, the interior of Adam's is impressive: modern, light and chic. The cooking is pretty much the same. After eight courses, snacks and bread we were pleasantly full rather than uncomfortably bloated. As we had plans later in the evening we chose a half-bottle of wine to accompany our tasting menu rather than either of the two wine pairings. Then we settled down to enjoy the show.

The three snacks that preceded the menu proper ranged from good (tuna sashimi rolled in sesame seeds), to great (beetroot meringue with goats cheese cream), to "I actually wouldn't mind if the entire tasting menu was just eight courses of these," (braised beef croquette with crispy onion). The croquette was fantastic: rich, succulent beef encased in a crunchy coating with slivers of crispy onion adorning the top. Warm sourdough bread was served with salty butter and soft, whipped pork fat (nicer than it sounds), before it was on to the main event.

The savoury courses of the tasting menu were a good mix of land and sea. Smoked eel in a cold tomato gaspacho was followed by a baked jersey royal, complete with crunchy potato skin. Next up was one of the real knockout courses: a slab of flaky monkfish atop which sat blobs of sweet champagne jelly. Two meaty mussels, some pleasantly crunchy samphire and a smattering of caviar rounded off a magnificent piece of cooking.

Monkfish

Meat followed fish followed meat. Squidgy beef tartare with slices of raw mushroom (which I don't normally like but which worked well here); masala sea trout with spicy, salty skin, sauce and gnocchi flavoured with coriander; then another one of the standout dishes. Tender breast of guinea fowl, flavoursome thigh of the same gamey bird, crispy skin and smoky potato mash as smooth as a silken handkerchief. The savoury section finished on a real high.

Guinea fowl

So to desserts. First up a dome of orange blossom mousse on top of a thin, crunchy ginger crumb. This was served with an excellent rhubarb sorbet, tangy cubes of the same fruit and a white wine jelly.

Rhubarb

And to finish off a mascarpone millfoy......millefouille......*Googles spelling*...millefeuille. All crispy pastry and creamy topping and shards of honeycomb and chocolate. Alongside it was creamy caramel sauce and cold praline icecream. An impressive end to a wonderful meal.

Service was friendly and slick throughout. Indeed when a lady sitting at a nearby table dropped her spectacles her waiter was a blur of movement to pick them back up. Pricing was perhaps a little more London than Birmingham but the quality of the food certainly warranted the cost. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Adam's and we'd definitely go back for more.

A Night at the Social

2018-01-21T20:57:00.000+00:00

Rustic wooden chairs. Bare bricks. Distressed-looking walls. Waiters wearing jeans. Social Eating House isn't your typical Central London Michelin-starred restaurant. And that's rather nice. Eating out is about the whole experience, not just the food, and feeling relaxed and comfortable might just make the food taste a little bit better. Not that Social Eating House needed any help in that department.

Having read the menu online we were expecting to choose a three course a la carte meal. However, upon arrival and being seated our waiter presented us with the choice of a tasting menu. We went for it of course, and we certainly didn't regret it.

Following some decent sourdough bread and smoked butter (nicer than it sounds), we kicked off with a scallop ceviche; slippery, slivers of sliced scallop with wafer-thin discs of artichoke and a dreamy avocado puree. It was a pretty generously-sized portion for a first course, but it was also light and refreshing enough to not lay too heavy on the tummy.

I know foie gras isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I can't help myself, I really like it, and the herb-coated wedge that formed the bulk of the second course was excellent. The taste of it always reminds me of eggy bread (I LOVE eggy bread), and this was no different; light and buttery and not too-big a chunk that the richness overwhelmed. It was served with vegetables in a dashi broth and some tiny slices of chilli which gave a hint of heat to the course.

Foie gras

The cod which was served up next was so flaky it could've been advertised by a model eating it sensuously whilst sitting in an overflowing bath. It too was topped with a crust - this time one with a light crunch and the warmth of horseradish. Cauliflower puree, slices of apple and a salty miso glaze finished off a fantastic fishy dishy.

Cod

Our meaty main was nicely-pink lamb, salty and smooth olive oil mash, crunchy turnips and fondant potatoes. Rather than a traditional gravy it was all served with a Nicoise sauce, adding extra salt and crunch from the anchovy and the olives. Swiss chard added a touch of greenery to another cracking piece of cooking.

The first dessert of apple puree, buttermilk sorbet and blueberries was refreshing and sharp, welcome after the richness of the savoury courses. Tasty it was too, though for me it could've used a bit of crunch. The second dessert had that in bucketloads. Well, discs actually, of a nutty brittle which sandwiched a fantastic peanut butter parfait. Atop all this sat sour cherries and a cherry sorbet, and the whole combination was rather wonderful.

As was the whole evening in truth. Service, surroundings and ambience were lovely and relaxed and the price was pretty reasonable given the quality of the food and wine. Social Eating House would be a great place to take anyone a bit nervous about trying fine dining, and indeed anyone who enjoys a really good meal in pleasant surroundings. It certainly lives up to its name.

November Rain

2018-01-09T09:45:00.000+00:00

As requested by @CityGroundCamel, an ode to Forest and Karanka set to Guns 'n' Roses' 'November Rain.'

When I look in Aitor’s eyes
I can see he’ll win us games
And now that he has joined us
Well I know he feels the same

But coaches aren’t forever
And Forest like to change
So I hope he’s still our manager
When the season starts again

Been in this league such a long long time
Tryin’ to reach the top again, ooh yeah
But bosses always coming bosses always going
And no-one gets a chance to build a team to play
The Forest way

If we could give them time
To sit on the touchline
I could watch the reds
Just knowing that they’d do fine
Just fine

So if you want promotion
Then give the boss some games
Or he’ll just end up walking
And we’re at square one again

Now he needs some time, on the phone
Now he needs some time, signing loans
Oooo now he needs to take some time, arranging cones
Oooo don’t you know he needs some time, before we moan

I know it’s hard to play teams off the park
When your defence seems out to harm you
But if we can sign some centre halves
That should be enough to calm you, woah oh ohhhh oh oh

Start marking man-to-man, not zone
Bring Patrick Bamford back, back home
Oooo bring a new assistant in, Ian Woan
Oooo buy someone who wins us games, on their own

And when your team declines
And can’t stop losing games
You know the fans will slate you
Cos there’s no-one else to blame
Well never mind promotion
We still can’t find a way
So we’ll just end up playing
In the Championship again

Don’t you think that we need some players
Try and sign us some decent ones
New left back and some pacy wingers
Strikers that score for fun
Strikers that score for fun

Don’t you think that we need some players
Try and sign us some decent ones
New left back and some pacy wingers
Strikers that score for fun
Strikers that score for fun

Don’t you think that we need some players
Try and sign us some decent ones
New left back and some pacy wingers
Strikers that score for fun
Strikers that score for fun

Don’t you think that we need some players
Try and sign us some decent ones
New left back and some pacy wingers
Strikers that score for fun
Strikers that score for fun

Don’t you think that we need some players
Try and sign us some decent ones
New left back and some pacy wingers
Strikers that score for fun
Strikers that score for fun

Don’t you think that we need some players
Try and sign us some decent ones
New left back and some pacy wingers

Moonstruck

2017-11-26T19:48:00.000+00:00

It's difficult to miss the Urbis Building, the space-age monolith a stone's throw from the Arndale Centre and home to the National Football Museum. But blink and you'd miss the entrance to The Rabbit in the Moon, chef Michael O'Hare's Manchester venture with Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs. If you did miss it you'd be missing something weird and wonderful, slick and surprising, challenging and, er, chewy? Actually, come to think of it, none of the dishes was that chewy. Some of them were challenging though, but it was a challenge worth accepting.

Through the door and up in the lift and into the bar we went, being invited to order a cocktail before our meal began. It was here we faced our first challenge - eating the first course of oyster topped with a ginger 'pearl' whilst reclining on one of the unfeasibly squishy chairs. I'm inept at eating oysters at the best of times but managed to slurp down the appetiser without wearing it. Job done, we were invited to follow our waiter downstairs to the actual dining floor of the restaurant.

Oyster and ginger 'pearl'

Anyone who's visited O'Hare's Leeds restaurant The Man Behind The Curtain will instantly note the similarities: the large, open-plan eating space, the 'graffiti'-covered pillars and the exact-same design of chair. The menu choice, or rather lack of, is also the same - which is to say you get what you're given. Luckily, what you're given is very, very good.

The menu at TRITM is a play on the British love of Oriental cuisine and takeaways. Only, to my knowledge, none of my local takeaways serve octopus, or calf brain, or rabbits' ears. OK, so the 'ears' were actually pointy-shaped prawn crackers which you used to scoop up a delicious dashi crumb at the start of the meal proper. I had to ask the question though, and if they had been ears it wouldn't have surprised me one bit.

All of the courses were smallish, ranging from a tuna melt that you devoured in one go to a more substantial sweetbread slider which needed a few bites and some deft handling to avoid covering yourself in it. It was excellent by the way, lightly crisp on the outside, rich and buttery in the middle. There was no one 'starter' or 'main,' rather a series of courses often served in groups of two or three together.

Sweetbread slider

The last of the savoury servings was probably the most diverse: the aforementioned calves brains delivered up with a nigiri of Wagyu beef tartare and caviar and a number of foie gras foam-covered nuggets of duck breast, to be eaten in that order. These helpings were accompanied with both a red and white wine from the matching wine flight, and our excellent waitress suggested we drink each wine with each of the dishes to taste the difference they made to each of the mouthfuls. She was right too, with the white seeming to mellow out the rich flavours while the red made them more intense.

From top to bottom: brains, beef and duck

Highlights of the rest of the meal included a pleasingly-rich beef and onion 'bird's nest soup' and a fantastically-spicy 'Thai green curry' which was poured onto some shoelace-thin crispy noodles and cooked them as you ate. The pick of the desserts was the passionfruit gyoza, with its crunchy but light pastry giving way to a burst of tropical goodness.

Service was prompt, friendly and knowledgeable throughout, in particular with regards to the wine. The decor was perhaps a little more formal than The Man Behind The Curtain but still quirky and interesting. I can understand that the background music might not be to everyone's taste - ranging as it did from Portishead to Eric B and Rakim - but we thought it was great.

We had only two minor gripes: a Cappuccino we ordered was served up as an Americano but was replaced without fuss when we pointed out the error. The other blip concerned the bill. Upon booking we had to pay a £30 per-head deposit, which the website informed us would be removed from the final bill. When we received the bill however it still included the £60, which isn't a small amount. As with the coffee this was resolved as soon as we mentioned it. In a busy service these things happen, and this certainly wasn't the worst bill-related mishap I've ever encountered...

All paid up, our trip to the moon was over. There was no dark side to this moon, just a tasty, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Fly me to the moon? You betcha. I'd board a rocket back again right now.

So good they named it twice

2017-10-29T20:15:00.000+00:00

Anyone who knows me reasonably well will know that I don't like flying. Over the years I've grown to tolerate it though. Strangely, however, I was more excited than scared before our recent visit to New York. Partly due to excitement about our destination, partly because of the prospect of flying in a bigger and better aeroplane than I'd flown in before. For whatever reasons, there was far less dread than usual as we soared into the sky to head over the Atlantic on our way to the Big Apple.

Day 1

Seven hours later. Well, that wasn't so bad. A bit wibbly-wobbly due to strong winds on our final approach, and some pretty sharp braking once we'd touched down onto the runway, but on the whole the flight wasn't too unpleasant. Going through customs took a while but soon we were on the metro en route to our hotel. Upon arrival we checked in and made our way to our 20th floor room. Peering out of the window, the scale of New York started to hit me. Normally in a room so high up you'd be looking down on your surroundings, yet here the nearby buildings still dwarfed us. A quick wash and brush-up later and we were strolling down 7th Avenue to our dinner destination for the evening.

View from the room

7th Avenue by night

Virgil's Real Barbecue was recommended to us by a friend who'd visited a few years previously. Upon arrival and being shown to our table it was instantly appealing - the archetypal American diner with the well-stocked bar taking up one of the walls. As we'd been well-fed during our flight we didn't go for starters and only ordered a couple of mains and accompanying beers - of which my nitro stout was deliciously thick and creamy.

The black and blue burger looked great, nicely charred with a pink middle and generously coated with blue cheese. My Maryland crab cake was fantastic. Crunchy on the outside, soft and delicious in the middle with a lovely strong flavour of crab. This was served with a cornbread muffin, coleslaw and a choice of two sides. Of these I went for the mashed potato and gravy and the collard greens, and very nice they both were too. Service was bright and breezy and the whole experience was just great, and a brilliant start to our visit. Happily full we headed back to our hotel to sleep before our first full day.

Day 2

So, this is what jet lag is like. Though still tired from the day before I was wide awake at before 5AM and just not able to drop back to sleep. Ah well, it's not like there wasn't going to be anything to do today! A quick coffee for us and pancakes for James and it was back on the underground to the Staten Island Ferry. The bright but cold day allowed us great views of the Statue of Liberty on the ferry journey out and the immense Manhattan skyline on the way back.

No caption required

Manhattan skyline

Next up was a detour to see the incredible new World Trade Centre building (and a quick scoot round Century 21 for some bargain hunting) before grabbing a sushi lunch and heading back uptown. As we were still pretty pooped from the day before we spent a couple of hours in the afternoon snoozing (with a beer break in the middle) to make sure we were fresh for our evening at the basketball. We were off to the Barclays Centre to see the Brooklyn Nets host the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The new World Trade Centre

En route to Brooklyn across the Manhattan Bridge with the Statue of Liberty in the distance

The Barclays Centre (well, Center)

I know next to nothing about basketball but our resident expert James informed me that the Nets weren't the best of teams. Indeed, upon arrival at the very impressive Barclays Centre it seemed to me there were more Cavs fans around than Nets. Certainly the Cavs' star player LeBron James received a bigger cheer upon his introduction than any of the home players did!

The Brooklyn Nets cheerleaders (the Brooklynettes!) warming up the crowd

The match was really exciting, with the result being in the balance until literally the final minutes. The lead changed hands several times before the Nets finally prevailed, and the whole evening was incredibly enjoyable. They really know how to hype up the match with the announcer being particularly funny in the way he greeted every Cavs score gloomily but every Nets one with nothing short of hysteria. Our hotdogs were great too, but the beer was ridiculously expensive, so we made sure to nurse it through the whole match. Beer and basketball done, it was back on the metro and back to the hotel to refresh ourselves once again.

Day 3

Thankfully we all managed a bit more sleep this time round! Before hitting Central Park we refuelled our tanks with breakfast at the Times Square Diner and boy, were our tanks refuelled!

The Times Square Diner had got really good write-ups and the queues outside suggested it deserved them. Thankfully though we weren't waiting long before being seated and treated to a breakfast to remember. Waffles for one of us, French toast for another and for me the Loaded Times Square breakfast: four doorstop-sized hunks of French toast with egg (scrambled in my case), bacon, sausage and ham. Oh, and potato hash with onion too. Lordy. I managed most of it but the hash was just one carb too far. All this was washed down with mugs of pleasingly strong coffee and it all served to set us up nicely for the day ahead.

Breakfast of champions (and tourists)

Another hop on the metro took us to Central Park for a very pleasant wander around Strawberry Fields and a nosey at the lake and the boat house. Then after running the gauntlet of cyclists and squirrels we made our way to The Met to check out the Van Goghs and Monets. The Met is huge and you could easily spend a whole day there alone. That wasn't our plan though - we'd finished seeing Monet and felt like spending money instead. So with this in mind it was off to 5th Avenue for Bloomingdales and Macy's. Our evening meal was booked in pretty early today so we couldn't spend too long at the stores - which was probably just as well - so after a quick nap and change back at the hotel it was off to Greenwich Village to the Minetta Tavern.

Van Gogh's self portrait at The Met

We wanted to have one special meal during our visit to New York but we didn't want to go too contemporary, so after a bit of research it seemed like Minetta Tavern would tick our boxes. The menu seemed very traditionally American and - as we discovered when we arrived - the setting most definitely was too. With its checkerboard flooring and wood-panelled walls it looked like the sort of place that Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci would've rocked up at in Goodfellas. This is a good thing.

Minetta Tavern

As we were booked in for the earliest sitting at 5:30PM and arrived a little early we were ushered through to the small bar area for a drink first as the tables were still being readied. Once all was set we were shown to our table and presented with the menus and wine list. The grilled oysters looked good for starters and indeed they were, lightly seared and coated in chilli butter. The special of the scallops was also delicious, served cold and plump with a vegetable garnish.

After having read so much about the black label burger it was the only choice (well for two of us anyway, with the other going for the Minetta burger instead). Our waiter advised that the burgers tended to be cooked under rather than over so we went for medium rare to be on the safe side. This proved a wise choice as the burgers were all still very pink. Indeed the black label burger was more like a steak tartare than a burger, albeit one with a beautifully seared exterior. It was served with a lightly grilled and not too hefty bun, a generous helping of crunchy fries and a nicely sharp gherkin. No foams or airs here - just perfectly cooked food.

We accompanied our meal with a couple of excellent cocktails and finished off with a foamy cappuccino each - it somehow seemed more fitting given the surroundings. The evening wasn't cheap but the food was delicious and I think it's great that Michelin recognises this. You don't always need frills and fancy presentation for a dinner to be memorable - and our dinner at Minetta Tavern was just that.

Day 4

Our last day. Boo. The time had gone far too quickly and there were so, so many things we hadn't yet done. One of these things was sampling some authentic New York cheesecake, so after a bit more retail therapy and a walk back up sunny 7th Avenue we paid a call to Junior's.

The cheesecake defeated us all

Once we'd eventually found it (thanks for nothing Google Maps) we ordered nothing but cheesecake. Three portions in fact: one red velvet, one carrot cake and one traditional New York vanilla. When the slices arrived they were enormous! Particularly the carrot cake and red velvet. I tried to finish mine - I really did - but it was just too rich and creamy to manage. Still, our excellent waiter reckoned we'd made a decent effort so that was enough for me. The cheesecakes were all delicious and I'd recommend Junior's to anyone wanting to sample a taste of New York indulgence. And that was pretty much that. It was back to the hotel to collect our luggage and wait out the time until we needed to get back to the airport.

Oh yes, our hotel - the Sheraton Times Square. It was really rather good. The location was fantastic - a few minutes walk from both the heart of Times Square and Central Park - and also close to a number of metro stations, one of which was perfect for the journey from and back to JFK Airport. Check-in on the first night was quick and efficient and our room was spot on. A decent size with an impressive view onto 7th Avenue.

The Sheraton Times Square

Wi-fi wasn't advertised as free but when we asked to buy some we were given it free of charge, which was a very nice touch. The room was quite warm but the aircon soon cooled it down if required. We had been told we'd have a free bottle of mineral water left in the room each day but we never found it, and consequently made the mistake of taking a bottle from the mini-bar thinking it would be free. Let's just say we were wrong! Still, as we hadn't been charged for the wi-fi we couldn't really complain. There was also a room available to leave our luggage which was great as we didn't fly until the evening. A small charge was required for this service but it was worth it for the convenience.

When we visited Venice a few years ago I remember feeling that the experience was somehow surreal, and I felt the same about New York. The sheer scale of the city is astonishing - the buildings, the roads, the press of people, the food helpings! - all of it is almost a bit daunting. However it's also very easy to get around and there's just so much to do that I doubt I could ever feel bored there. The flight time seems like nothing more than an inconvenience rather than a thing of horror. I really can't praise New York much more highly than that.

Alchemy at Alchemilla

2017-09-17T19:20:00.000+01:00

I'm always proud to think that Nottingham plays host to one of the country's finest restaurants and I've often hoped that one day another might come along and pique the interest of the Michelin inspectors. With the opening of Alchemilla, that hope may be closer to being realised.

Based in a refurbished Victorian coach-house and less than ten minutes walk from the city centre, Alchemilla is the brainchild of head chef and owner Alex Bond, who was previously a chef at, amongst other places, the aforementioned Restaurant Sat Bains. Before Alchemilla opened, the building in which it resides had been derelict for over a hundred years so this is no small investment and gamble for Bond. If its early days are anything to go by however, the gamble will pay off handsomely.

Upon entering the building the first thing you see is, unusually, the open kitchen where Bond and his team work their magic. Just past this is the main dining area, all open-brick arches and ferns on the walls; while off to one side is a more contemporary-looking bar area. Our group forwent any pre-dinner drinks though and settled straight down for the evening. We'd already decided in advance to go for the ten course tasting menu (they also offer five and seven course options) before caution and frugality were thrown to the winds as we chose the accompanying wine flight for our drinks. After some warm and crunchy home-made sourdough bread was polished off the fun and games proper began.

Our seven savoury servings ranged from good (the crab and kohlrabi, celeriac and mushroom and leeks, cheese and hazelnuts), to excellent (the cauliflower fungus(!), squid carbonara and duck and carrot) to "Oh my God that's heavenly." This was reserved for the black pudding, eel and beetroot. A slab of the softest black pudding I've ever tasted was covered by a small slice of smoky eel and smeared with a beetroot sauce. Puffed wild rice added a touch of crunch to finish the whole delicious creation off nicely.

Crab and kohlrabi

Duck, carrot, rhubarb and nasturtium

The three dessert courses were also top notch. Freeze-dried apple pie retained all its crunch and flavour when it thawed and was served with a warm poached apple; a crunchy chocolate tuille sat atop rich chocolate ganache and banana ice-cream while slivers of lime zest and a smudge of miso caramel added wonderful saltiness and zing; and finally blackberries and an almost-sour 'cultured cream' were matched with a deep and delectable beetroot sorbet.

Each of the ten courses was served with a well-matched wine and there were some real crackers - in particular the Beaujolais which accompanied the black pudding and the sweet Chateau Doisy-Vedrines served alongside the chocolate dessert. The final wine was a red Lambrusco, which was something I didn't realise existed.

Service was very good. We were there for a long time but never felt like there was too much of a wait between courses. Our wine waitress was excellent, taking time to provide detail about each wine and explain why it had been matched with the particular course. Similar explanations for the food were unfortunately missing however - it would have been nice to have learned a bit more about each dish, in particular the unusual ones such as the cauliflower fungus.

My only other grumbles are so small that I almost feel guilty writing them. There was no amuse bouche. (#firstworldproblems) You may argue that with ten courses you don't need an amuse bouche, and you'd be right; but it's always nice to feel you're getting a little something more than you paid for. Also we were sometimes left guessing which cutlery we should use for each dish, as a number of the courses were served in high-sided bowls and consisted of both solid and liquid elements. This is me being very picky however and none of the above detracted in any way from our experience.

The meal and wines represented really good value for money, service was slick, smooth and friendly and the environment was very smart indeed. If Alchemilla can tick all these boxes within two months of opening then the future really is bright and I can't wait to see how it develops over the years to come. I hope the people of Nottingham recognise they've got a real gem on their hands here - and I hope the Michelin inspectors recognise it too.

London, Lille, Lovely!

2017-08-28T16:00:00.000+01:00

After a fun weekend in Lille in 2016 we decided another trip was in order. This time though, rather than sampling the city's brasseries we booked something a bit more special. More of that later though. To make a full weekend of it we had a day in London en route. But what to do in the evening? What's that you say? A three course meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant for £38? With a cocktail? On a Friday evening in Mayfair? Where do we sign up?

Where do we get in more like?

We were so busy reading the plaque denoting the place where the Queen had been born that we walked straight past the entrance of Hakkasan Mayfair and had to double-back. The well-hidden doorway took us through to the plush interior before we were ushered to our seats in the downstairs dining area.

As we were dining before 18:30 we each chose the "Taste of Hakkasan" menu: three courses and a cocktail for the incredibly reasonable sum of £38.00 per person. Though this menu doesn't include the full choice of what Hakkasan has to offer it still has a wide variety of dishes. From the menu we both went for the dim sum starters; for our mains I had the Sanpei chicken claypot whilst Clare chose the stir-fried beef in Merlot.

The starters were tremendous. Three dumplings each, including plump, juicy prawn and a caviar-covered scallop, a wonderful chilli sauce with brown shrimp and the same venison puff that Hakkasan's sister restaurant Yautcha also serves. Light, flaky pastry with a shiny-sweet sheen encasing rich chunks of venison.

Dim sum starter

Our mains were equally impressive. The beef was full of deep and smoky flavour while the chicken packed a pleasingly spicy punch. The meat was accompanied by a generous helping of jasmine rice and a bowlful of crunchy asparagus.

To finish the evening we opted for a cherry delice and a Jivara bomb. The former was a slab of cherry mousse on a crunchy base, accompanied by a deep cherry sorbet and pistachios. The Jivara bomb turned out to be an impressive ball of rice crispies coating some delicious hazelnut praline ice-cream. Our waiter poured hot, gloopy chocolate sauce over the spherical sensation whilst a nutty crumb and freeze-dried raspberries completed the plate. A pinch of popping candy provided the explosion!

Jevari bomb

A notable mention must also be given to the cocktails. Clare's "Hakka" was a tropical mix of vodka, Sake, lychee and coconut; and my "Green Destiny" was, no, not a sword with ornate markings, but a refreshing blend of vodka, cucumber, kiwi and apple.

Service was good. It took a little while for our starter to appear but our waiter duly apologised and, to be fair, we had turned up earlier than our booking time and been seated immediately. The whole experience was excellent and represented brilliant value for money and they certainly didn't skimp on the portions. For anyone wanting to try some top-quality Oriental food in London, Hakkasan is definitely worth the visit.

And so, on to Lille.....

La Table is based at the rather charming Clarence Hotel in Lille, which itself is barely five minutes walk from the city's Grand Place. As usual we arrived early, but this wasn't a problem and we were swiftly escorted to our seats in the beautiful, wood-panelled dining room. Rather than enjoying an aperitif on the terrace we dived straight into our meal and wine choices for the evening.

We opted for the "Pur" menu of four courses and a dessert. Rather unusually this didn't contain any meat. Our first starter was purely vegetable based while the other dishes all contained fish. Apart from the dessert of course. That would've been weird. Before any of these arrived however we were treated to the amuse bouche which included a nicely grilled and crunchily-coated oyster and a seafood bisque with, unusually, some slivers of rich cheese. This being France we were brought a wide range of breads accompanied by a trio of butters of which the fish one was particularly tasty - almost like a really light mackerel pate.

Starter one was a runny egg yolk with some crunchy courgette, nicely-salted courgette crisps, a piquant pepper puree and some caramalised almonds to add a touch of sweetness. This was a very pleasant mix and beautifully presented with a blaze of colours and a real vibrancy to the plate.

Chapter one of the subsequent seafood trilogy consisted of slivers of perfectly cooked squid covered in an intensely nutty pistachio-based vinaigrette. Creamy avocado and crunchy balls of lightly-pickled cucumber rounded out another excellent dish.

Squid

Next up was lobster, and boy was it good. A couple of respectable chunks of sweet meat were complemented by a small, fried, pea pierogi, peas and sweetcorn, buttery strings of grilled leak and wonderfully salty bacon slices which were nothing so much like Frazzles. That's a good thing. Oh, and it was all drizzled in a lobster sauce so good it had us both wanting to lick the plates clean (but retaining our dignity and not doing so).

Our final main was an impressive slab of flaky hake, perfectly seasoned and nicely salty. It sat upon a saffron sauce and shared the plate with tomatoes of varying sweetness and texture, earthy chanterelle mushrooms and a crispy cuboid of polenta. All very lovely.

Hake

Dessert was a baked fig which resembled an upturned mushroom. With this was served some zingy lemon yoghurt ice-cream, a blizzard of blueberries and an odd, chewy slice of what seemed to be a blueberry jelly encrusted with crunchy nuts. Together it resulted in a light and not-too-sweet end to a very impressive meal. After-dinner coffees were served with some excellent petit-fours including Amaretto-soaked plums and a small, rich chunk of salt-covered chocolate.

Our whole evening at La Table was an absolute delight. The dining room was opulent without being stuffy, the meal was delicious yet not overly heavy and the service was really, really good. I'm not sure a non-English speaker in London would get their menu and wine choices read out to them so clearly in their native language but that's exactly what happened here. Special mention must go to the sommelier Romain who was utterly charming.

For a special meal in a fantastic setting in a wonderful little city, La Table at the Clarence Hotel in Lille will take some beating.

An Impassioned Plea

2017-06-06T11:39:00.000+01:00

I know you’re probably all sick of politics right now but I make no apologies for posting this.

This general election is probably the most important one of most of our lifetimes. It’s not just defining what kind of place our country will be for the next five years, but likely for decades beyond that.

This could be the last chance for five years that we’ll all have to have any kind of say and influence on the direction of our country, and if we don’t make our choice wisely the country could end up taking a direction that many of us do not want.

We can do something about this. Our vote does matter. In our local election recently, the majority of the winning candidate was less than forty votes. You may think politics is boring – and you’re often right. But thinking that it doesn’t affect you or that you can’t affect the outcome is totally and utterly wrong. It does, you can and you will – but only if you get out and vote.

As for who you should vote for, that’s obviously up to you. Anything else I say will be biased and you’ll probably choose to ignore it, but I’m going to say it anyway. On a personal level, the recent years under the current Conservative government haven’t affected me profoundly. However, they won’t be getting my vote in the election – Labour will. Why?

Because I know I’m very, very lucky. I have a job, a house and my health. Many millions of people don’t have any or all of these things. I also realise that life is fickle and fragile and these circumstances can change in an instant – a fact which has been brought sharply into focus after the last few weeks. All it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time and your life can be turned upside down. I believe that if I needed a government to support me and my family if something awful did happen, I couldn’t trust a Conservative one to do it. Irvine Welsh sums it up far better than me: "When you're not doing so well, vote for a better life for yourself. If you are doing quite nicely, vote for a better life for others."

I'm also deeply concerned for the future of our country. We’re about to enter a massively important set of negotiations with the European Union where we have no idea what the outcome will be, and we don't enter these negotiations from a position of strength. Theresa May keeps telling us that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ but she’s never actually said that that means; for me, for you or for the whole country. She’s also seemingly proud of going into these negotiations to be ‘difficult.’ How will that help? Surely we should be going in to reach as mutually beneficial an agreement as possible? We don’t need someone difficult. We need someone collaborative and empathetic and Theresa May is not that person. Jeremy Corbyn may not be either, but he appears to have more of those qualities than the current Prime Minister does. And that could be hugely important in the months and years to come. Labour also have Sir Kier Starmer as their Shadow Minister for Exiting the European Union. A highly respected and experienced QC. An individual who's far more likely to be able to negotiate a better deal than David Davis.

How can we trust a leader who calls a massively important election; then, instead of debating with the other party leaders in front of millions of concerned voters on TV, sends a colleague still grieving the death of her father a couple of days earlier? How can we trust a leader who’s had – as Home Secretary and Prime Minister – seven years to work on the issue of terrorism but comes up with a ‘plan’ four days before an election? Not to mention that during that time as Home Secretary she presided over a 20,000 cut in police numbers and over 1,000 cut in armed police. How can we trust a party whose entire campaign seems to be based around the ‘strength and stability’ of this leader, when she’s shown herself to be anything but? Mrs. May seems obsessed with telling us all how strong and stable her leadership is. To me it sounds more like she’s trying to convince herself. How can we trust a party whose Foreign Minister – the country’s representative on the world stage – appears to be a bumbling fool, but is in reality a calculating, vainglorious career politician who gambled the future of the country for his own political ambitions?

The Labour manifesto appears fair, balanced and inclusive and contains – albeit at a high level – costings of how they’d pay for things like scrapping tuition fees and more funding for the NHS. The Tories' manifesto scraps free school lunches but introduces breakfasts. At 7p per child per day. It pledges £8bn ‘extra’ funding for the NHS without saying where it’s coming from (although one of their ministers has said it’s just repurposing existing spending). And that’s before we even get started on social care, cutting spending on public services, fox hunting and the ivory trade.

You may not want to vote Labour, and that's fine. None of the parties are perfect. However, by voting tactically, there's still a chance to stop the Conservatives from claiming an overall majority and forcing through their plans for the next five years. You can find out how to do it here. Five more years of Conservative policy and a Brexit deal that's no good for anyone but the richest could leave our country on its knees. Please don't let this happen.

Finally, to anyone reading this who’s between 18-34 years old, I imagine you could be disengaged from our politicians. If so I couldn’t say I blame you. However, you’re probably the most important group of prospective voters in this election, and you’re also probably the group of prospective voters to whom this election is most important. You might be at university, or thinking of going there. You might be looking for work, or just started it. You might be trying to get onto the property ladder. Which party do you think will help you the most? Which party has the interests of the young at their forefront? Your vote matters so much, it’s vital that you use it. If it’s sunny on June 8th get out and vote. If it’s raining, get out and vote. If there’s a plague of frogs and locusts, get out and vote. Because if you’re not happy with the Conservative government then this is your chance to temper them – the only chance you’ll get for a while. And you can guarantee that, whatever the circumstances, the majority of their supporters always vote.

Whoever you do vote for in the end though, the most important thing is that you get out and vote. If you don’t like the direction you think the country is heading in, or even if you do, you have the chance to influence that direction. Around 30% of eligible people didn’t vote in 2015. If they had voted they could’ve made a difference. Please don’t be one of those this time round.

Thank you.

Safety Dance

2017-05-08T13:14:00.000+01:00

So, the season at the City Ground finished much as it had begun, with the stadium bathed in sunshine and Nottingham Forest scoring freely and securing three points. That doesn't tell the story though, not a bit of it. This is some of the story...

51 x points
2 x away wins
3 x managers (albeit one interim)
2 x of them no longer manager
3 x takeover attempts
2 x of them failing
4 x different goalkeepers
1 x undersold bright young prospect
1 x sold captain
Hundreds x fans blocked by Fawaz on Twitter
2 x Directors of Football
1 x league double (thanks Ipswich)
2 x goal difference keeping us up
1 x new hope?

All the above, and so much more, led us to midday on Sunday 7th May. The objective was clear: match Blackburn Rovers' result, ideally by winning, and winning by enough goals to make their task away at Brentford as difficult as possible. We couldn't rely on anyone else, we had to do this ourselves.

The fans played their part, resulting in the highest home attendance of the season; even the weather did too, with early clouds giving way to glorious sunshine. Could the players live up to the billing though, which they'd failed to do all too often this season...?

Early signs weren't great - in fact they couldn't have been much worse - as Blackburn and Birmingham triggered the Doomsday Scenario by taking 2-0 and 1-0 leads in their respective matches. Forest dropped into the bottom three. The only crumb of comfort was that we hadn't fallen behind, but we so nearly did. Only the outstretched left hand of wrong-footed goalkeeper Jordan Smith kept us level; incredibly palming onto the crossbar a deflected Dominic Samuel shot. It's not too great an exaggeration to say that Smith's save saved the season.

And minutes later its importance became clear, as Jamie Ward latched onto Eric Lichaj's throw-in, lifted the ball over Ipswich keeper Bartosz Bialkowski and got comprehensively cleaned out. Watching from behind the sofa at home as I was (#notarealfan) I was just gutted that the ball had been cleared off the line. I never even thought of a penalty. The referee did though and that's what matters. Up stepped Britt Assombalonga to sweep the ball into the top corner and rekindle hope. For the moment, Forest were safe.

The moment nearly didn't last long though, as an Ipswich corner found the head of Christope Berra who glanced it just wide. Half time came with Forest outside the drop zone by the most slender of margins. A goal in any of the three relevant matches could change the whole picture, and it wasn't long into the second half before the goals came.

Firstly Brentford clawed a goal back against Blackburn, giving Forest a bit more breathing space. Not long afterwards, Chris Cohen received the ball outside the Ipswich box, drew back his left foot and let fly. And fly it did - via a Town defender and into the top corner. The emotion on Cohen's face reminded me of when he scored the brilliant 3rd goal away at West Brom in the first of Billy Davies' playoff seasons, so long ago. Safety was close now - so close we could almost touch it.

It should've been closer still when Assombalonga's pass released the outstanding Ward who drew a foul in the box and another penalty. Britt couldn't seal the deal though as Bialkowski brilliantly tipped over. Would this cost us? Was there to be one more twist? Not this time. For, minutes later, Assombalonga ran onto David Vaughan's quickly taken free-kick, drove into the box and smashed his second into the roof of the net. Relief all round. A third goal from Blackburn ultimately proved futile and it was they who slid into League One. But it was close. Far too close.

In the end, season 2016/17 finished much as the previous one had, with Championship status preserved and the club potentially on the cusp of new ownership. If the deal should be completed this time (and I'm certainly counting no chickens yet) then who knows what lays in store next? Out of the frying pan, or a new hope? Only time will tell.

Wow For Yauatcha

2017-04-20T12:45:00.000+01:00

"Are you sure you want to order that?" asked Lisa, our charmingly chirpy waitress. "It's a lot of food." "We'll be fine," we assured her. Had she seen how much we eat? Plus, well, it's a Chinese isn't it? We'll be hungry again half an hour later. After polishing off our desserts and feeling like Jabba the Hutt after he'd pigged out on those frogs he eats however, we had to concede that Lisa was right.

Having never visited Yauatcha in Soho before and having been flummoxed by the sheer choice on the menu (and not knowing what some of it even was), we'd decided that the Yauatcha Signature Dim Sum Menu was the way to go. If I were to go again - which I certainly would as it was excellent - I'd be braver and make my own choices.

Anyway. Before the menu proper we'd been presented with some slivers of cucumber and dipping sauces (soy, sweet chilli and slap round the face chilli), and selected our drink for the evening; a carafe of sake served in a cunningly-fashioned bottle with a reservoir for crushed ice which kept the drink cool yet undiluted.

First up was a tremendous venison puff: crisp, sweet, flaky pastry encasing rich meat. From then on things became a blur of dumplings; each of them light, some steamed, others boiled, and all packed full of wondrous fillings. The 'lasagne' - tubes of rice-flour 'pasta' crammed with mushrooms - was particularly good. The crab salad from the menu wasn't available. However, the duck salad we received in its stead was fabulous. Rich, flaky duck with a mixture of leaves, herbs and pomegranate seeds.

It was the seafood soup which first made us realise that Lisa knew her stuff, as the dumpling it was served with was truly a giant amongst dumplings. A tasty giant though - stuffed as it was with scallop and crab meat. More duck, shredded in front of us and served up with pancakes and a deep Hoisin sauce, was next, before crispy squid and baby pak choi finished the job. We couldn't quite manage to do the same though, not without leaving a bit of room for dessert anyway.

Service was brisk and friendly, and Lisa seemed mortified to learn that we'd been given the bill before our dessert had arrived. As we'd turned up earlier than our reservation time and been told we'd need to vacate the table by 20:30 we'd actually thought it was just the restaurant being efficient rather than a mistake. No harm done anyhow. Value-wise, Yauatcha was pretty good. Our tasting menus, the sake and the service charge all included came to just over £100, which for the quality and quantity of food was a steal. If we'd picked our own dishes we could've probably knocked that down into double figures.

I'd definitely visit Yauatcha again, and would probably make my own menu choices next time. My belt would definitely thank me for it.

The Joy of Tex(ture)

2017-03-12T21:16:00.000+00:00

The Marble Arch end of Oxford Street can be pandemonium at the best of times (I'm looking at you Primark). However, a few minutes walk away you can find an oasis of calm, coolness and cracking culinary concoctions. It's called Texture, and it's magnificent.

After having been guided to our seats (despite having arrived twenty minutes early), one of our many charming waiters explained to us how head chef Agnar Sverrisson would treat us to his representation of Icelandic cuisine. Never having been to Iceland I can't vouch for the authenticity of our experience. I can comment on the taste and quality though, and both were absolutely top class.

A bowl of assorted crackers and a mild blue cheese dip, and some crusty bread accompanied by intense olive oil and Icelandic lava salt set things up nicely before the meal proper began. Our appetiser was artichoke soup, and fine soup it was too, given crunch with the inclusion of hazelnuts and depth with a hint of truffle.

On paper I wasn't expecting much from the beetroot, walnuts and Gorgonzola snow which followed, but on the plate it was an absolute revelation. Three hefty chunks of earthy beetroot joined crunchy walnuts and the creamy snow to create a wonderful mix of tastes, temperatures and textures. The portion size was pretty respectable too, and I find myself considering if this was why Iceland seems to have a proliferation of strongmen, eating helpings like this. A selection of herbs rounded the dish off beautifully.

Beetroot

Anjou pigeon, pink and succulent, was next. Slivers of pickled calcot onion provided welcome sourness and textures of corn (including salty bacon popcorn and lovely sweetcorn) added smacks of salty-sweetness to another excellent dish.

Pigeon

The strong aroma of smoked eel ushered in the next course, though the fish itself was surprisingly mild in flavour. The bonito broth in which it sat was also pleasingly subtle, as was the crispy quinoa, while slices of pickled turnips gave the course a wonderful zing. As Nottingham people would say it 'made your tabs laugh.' (Look that up, readers from anywhere else in the country).

A departure from the advertised Icelandic lamb made up the meat course, though I'm not sure the lamb could've matched this absolute triumph. Deep, beefy ox cheek, rib eye so spongy and soft I could've lain upon it and got a fantastic night's sleep, crunchy chips that were more like sculpted roast potatoes, a fruity Port sauce, a smear of horseradish and an olive oil zabaglione. Imagine the very best bits of the very best roast dinner and you'd be getting close.

Blood orange granita and basil (I think) sorbet freshened things up nicely before a really interesting finish to the tasting menu. White chocolate mousse, not too sweet, joined chunks of cucumber and sprigs of dill to make up a dessert which was light enough to end the proceedings on a real high. We skipped the optional cheese and had coffee instead, which was served with some of the best petit fours we've ever had. The warm, crunchy pistachio Madeliene was particularly enjoyable.

Petit fours

Service was excellent throughout and the almost-salty Chardonnay the sommelier suggested was great, and within the price-range we'd asked for. The dining room was large and grand but the atmosphere was relaxed and easy-going, unlike other London restaurants we've visited before. There really wasn't a duff note all night.

Texture certainly lives up to its name as each course had it in abundance. But texture is nothing without taste, and this meal certainly had that too. If this is what Icelandic cuisine can offer then a visit to the land of the midnight sun may well be in order. If not, then a return to Texture will do very nicely instead.

Empty Beds and Empty Baskets

2017-02-22T10:31:00.000+00:00

An ode to Arnie. To the tune of Empty Chairs and Empty Tables from Les Miserables (sung by Eddie Redmayne here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqqSa9n2ZQk)

There’s a grief that can’t be spoken

There’s a pain goes on and on

Empty beds and empty baskets

Now our cat has sadly gone

Here he dreamed of chasing birdies

Here it was he played his games

Here he meowed about tomorrow

But tomorrow never came

From his scratchpost in the corner

He could see the trees and lawn

And he rose with whiskers twitching

And I can see him now, the very mice that he had caught

He played with and he chewed them

By the lonely garden gate, at dawn

Oh my cat, my cat forgive me

That I live when you are gone

There's a grief that can't be spoken

There's a pain goes on and on

Phantom meowing at the window

Phantom jingling by the door

Empty beds and empty baskets

Where my cat will sleep no more

Oh my cat my cat, don’t ask me

What your scratching post was for

Empty beds and empty baskets

Where my cat will sleep no more

Curtain Raised!

2017-02-12T17:58:00.000+00:00

It's fair to say that our first visit to innovative Leeds eaterie The Man Behind the Curtain left us mightily impressed. So much so that I was a little concerned that our second sampling of chef Michael O'Hare's wonderful creations might not live up to it. I needn't have worried. Pretty much all the elements which made our first meal so memorable remained, and indeed in some cases were improved upon; and the new additions to O'Hare's tasting menu meant that this second journey into a gastronomic wonderland was even more enjoyable than the previous one.

As before we chose the wine flight to accompany the meal and, again as before, the langoustine tartare kicked things off, this time joined by tiny doughnuts of foie gras and what I think was freeze-dried raspberry. Next up, spongy Wagyu beef was served with potato starch and crispy sheets of dripping.

Hake throat and tripe might not sound appealing, but O'Hare's treatment of it made it so, smothering it as he did in Caribbean-inspired sauce and slivers of chilli which left a pleasant warmth lingering until the next course. And what a course it was. It looked like segments of red chocolate Easter Egg with a jelly and fondant eye. However, the 'chocolate' was a chilli-painted wafer-thin potato slice while the eye was bilberry jelly and a runny-fried quail's egg. All this sat atop a delightful mound of salty-sweet crab meat.

Crab

Next up was the return of an old favourite - O'Hare's signature dish 'Emancipation.' In this incarnation, the flaky cod, dashi sauce and potato shards were topped with a trio of bronze-finished prawns. Naturally. It tasted every bit as good as before though, and only the spikiness of the bowl stopped me sticking my face in and licking it clean.

'Emancipation'

The first of the meat courses saw foie gras foam-covered hunks of braised ox cheek presented with a trio of dipping sauces: beef, truffle and garlic spinach. The second was another throwback to one of our previous visit's standout dishes - Iberico pork, edible 'cinders' and runny egg yolk. Alas, the sweetbread course from last time was nowhere to be seen, but one can't have everything.

Pork

Dessert was once again the chocolate foil and mousse with puffed potato and potato custard. Indeed, this had stuck in the mind so much from before that I ended up usurping the waiter before he could announce it! Petit-fours (including the brilliantly named 'A bit like Daim Bar put probably not as good' were served up with the coffee, and we finished our night with a Japanese whisky recommended by the excellent sommelier.

The paired wines were varied and all delicious, though amazingly this time the Spanish Vermouth was actually bettered by some plum Sake. Service was prompt, friendly and efficient and the whole experience once again was pretty much faultless. I'd recommend The Man Behind the Curtain to anyone and I'd certainly visit again, as I'd just love to see what Michael O'Hare and his team can come up with next.

(What's the Story) Dining Glory?

2016-11-27T16:16:00.000+00:00

There seems to be something about restaurants in unconventional locations. Restaurant Sat Bains - amazing. Where is it? Under pylons by an industrial estate. The Man Behind The Curtain - groundbreaking. How do you get there? By walking through one of Leeds' higher-end clothes shops. So to Restaurant Story, which looks nothing so much like a glass-fronted log cabin sitting in a junction between two busy London roads. But the location is largely irrelevant if the food is good. And it is. Very.

Our evening starts with a welcome move to a slightly warmer table after being allocated one near to the entrance, then an explanation of the paired drinks option from the excellent sommelier. In the end we decided against this and went for a bottle of lovely South African red (again on the sommelier's recommendation) before the eating began.

The menu is presented in the form of chapters, starting with Childhood, through Sea and Land before The End. Ahead of all this though are the snacks. And what snacks! I counted six different one-or-two-bite morsels, including a fabulously-fishy crispy cod skin, a dainty slab of polenta-coated rabbit and a 'Storeo:' a squid ink biscuit with a fish mousse which looked like the popular American biscuit and even retained a bit of their sweetness too.

Rabbit

Another bonus course of a foamy veloute was served up before the first true starter of bread and dripping. Inspired by head chef (and fellow Nottinghamian!) Tom Sellers' love of dipping his bread in beef fat from his Sunday roast, this starter was chunks of sourdough bread which one dipped in the aforementioned dripping. The dripping however took the form of an edible candle, which was duly lit and sent forth it's mildly-meaty aroma. The two accompanying jars of beef extract and a chutney added an extra-beefy hit and a welcome touch of sharpness respectively.

The second starter was gin and onion and comprised crunchy onion and an onion marmalade sitting in a bowl of Bermondsey gin-infused consomme. The onions brought to mind the smell of hotdog vans (this is a good thing) while the gin packed a real punch, with the overall effect being rather wonderful.

Gin and onion

Childhood done, we were on to the Sea. The icy, champagne foam of 'razor clam' was a little bizarre, but the sliced scallop sashimi was much better. The star of this chapter however was 'foraged ramen.' A warm, tasty broth containing cep mushrooms and served with a plate full of various mini pickles.

Ramen

An optional extra course of 'risotto' was available, which we chose to share. I'm glad we did, as it was delicious, but also incredibly indulgent. Instead of rice, finally chopped celeriac formed the basis of this dish and it was covered by a velvety sauce and some shavings of white truffle. At some point (by now I was losing track) another unmentioned dish appeared, this time an orange-crusted brioche with some foie gras butter.

The main courses of Land were up next, kicking off with 'potato and coal:' silky-smooth mashed potato topped with various crunchy vegetable discs and dressed with a charcoal oil. 'Venison' was to follow, including a strip of pink loin meat, some crunchy shoulder and a belting meatball of offal. This was all held together by a bilberry sauce. Or was it blackberry? As we'd now finished our bottle of wine and were on to another carafe, I forget some of the finer details.

Our final surprise dish (a palate-cleansing combo of milk ice-cream and lemon) preceded The End. Three very different desserts starting with rum (or brandy, things were hazy by now) ice-cream coated in candyfloss, rose ice-cream with slices of artichoke and ending with my personal favourite of a dill sorbet accompanying almond ice-cream and some crunchy candied almonds. Phew! We finished the meal off with a really good coffee and petit fours, and waddled off back toward London Bridge.

Almond and dill

What a meal it was too. By the end I think we'd got to nineteen or twenty courses of varying sizes, shapes, textures and tastes - enough to leave us feeling full but not uncomfortably so. Service was excellent throughout. None of the waits between courses were overly long, indeed some of them were welcome relief from the sheer bombardment of food. The whole experience took around three hours from start to finish, so if you visit for dinner then get there early. As mentioned before, the sommelier was excellent and both wines he suggested for us were really good whilst being toward the lower-end of the price range we asked for.

I feel like I've waffled on a bit here and to be honest I have, but it's warranted. This was a food journey of both quantity and quality and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. A meal that will live long in the memory.

If you like a lot of spices in your bisque then try the Club

2016-10-02T19:08:00.000+01:00

Well, that was an interesting evening. What was meant to be an enjoyable Indian meal still was enjoyable to be honest. The quality of the food was good enough that some rather baffling service didn't detract too much, but it was certainly pretty bizarre.

Our table at The Cinnamon Club - a high-end Indian restaurant in the heart of Westminster - was booked for 19:30 but, even though we were around 15 minutes early, we were allowed to take our seats straight away. We'd already decided to give the tasting menu a whirl so our only choice for the night was which wine to go for. Upon advice from one of the waiters we chose a nice Italian red and settled down in anticipation of a memorable meal.

The main dining room of The Cinnamon Club is a large, open affair with hundreds of books lining the walls; including several works by Dickens and other such eclectic subjects as Norsk Flora. Perusing the covers of these kept us entertained until our amuse bouche of a coriander and yoghurt covered cube of steamed rice appeared. And disappeared just as quickly, having been swiftly devoured.

Next up was a plate of three small appetisers, the highlight of which was some flaky crab on a lotus root crisp, before our first starter proper arrived in the form of a spiced seafood bisque. And it certainly was spiced, packing a real punch, but thankfully not overpowering the background taste of prawn and shrimp. The second starter was another mixed plateful, with the star this time being some okra filled with peanut and jaggery - which our waiter informed us was a type of cane sugar.

Starter Number 2

And so to our two mains, which kicked off with a pair of plump prawns partnered with a cracking mango and coriander sauce. This was probably my favourite dish of the whole meal. The second main was a Tandoori grouse breast, served up with some minced grouse leg meat and a dollop of coriander mashed potato. No complaints about this course either, though I'd like to try some unspiced grouse sometime now, as the Tandoori flavour was again pretty strong.

Grouse

Each of our savoury courses were definitely tasty, with enough spicing to make sure we knew we were eating Indian food, but never too much so as to totally overpower the core ingredients. After enjoying proceedings so far we looked forward to our dessert, and this is where things started to go awry.

We had a long wait for our dessert. Too long. Just short of asking "where's our dessert?" long in fact. When it did finally arrive it was thankfully as tasty as the rest of the meal had been; taking the form of some chocolate fudge mousse alongside very subtly spiced ice-cream and a strange, squishy, lime-flavoured blob called a rasgolla.

The final part of our tasting menu was coffee and petit fours which we ordered and asked to have served in the quirky downstairs bar. This was when things really got messy. After taking our seats we had another overly-long wait for the coffees, though again they were good enough to be worth it. We followed these up with a cocktail each and, having been kept waiting around before, we asked for our bill at the same time.

When our waiter brought us our cocktails he informed us that it looked like we'd be getting a free meal, as our bill was meant to have been left on our table at the bar, but it hadn't been. He was worried about getting into trouble for the missing bill but as far as we were concerned it wasn't his fault. So after downing our cocktails we went back upstairs, retrieved the coat we'd stored in the cloakroom and left. Walked out. Unchallenged. Without paying a penny. Wow.

Honesty (and maybe a touch of guilt) took over however so we returned. The restaurant had my details from the booking and I didn't really want to risk getting into any trouble for not paying our bill, though after the shambles that had occurred I wasn't convinced they'd do anything about it. We explained what had happened and our bill was duly produced, though we refused to pay the service charge after they'd messed things up so much. I'll be honest - I was a little disappointed that they didn't see fit to knock a bit more off the bill as a gesture of goodwill. After all, we could easily have kept on walking and got the whole meal for free.

I'd eat at The Cinnamon Club again as the food was great, the ambience was pleasant and it was reasonable value for money. However, they really need to sort out the issues with their service. Moving us from dining area to bar should've been seamless and straightforward, but it ended up being anything but. When you eat at a place like this you expect to have nigh-on flawless service - it's one of the things you pay for. But I reckon we could've got away without paying at all and they'd have never noticed. We were honest enough to go back and pay, but I'm sure that many others wouldn't have.

Nottingham Forest 4 - 3 Burton Albion

2016-08-06T20:51:00.000+01:00

I have a confession to make. I didn't renew my season ticket this year (#notarealfan). There are a number of reasons for this: I won't be able to make as many matches, the off-the-field apathy and mismanagement and the on-the-field stagnation amongst them. After watching Forest ~~breeze sweep~~ stagger drunkenly past Burton Albion today, part of me wishes I had renewed. Another part - the one which is concerned about the well-being of my heart - is glad I didn't. I don't think it could take many matches like this one, and I have a feeling there might be a few this season.

Philippe Montanier's first competitive Nottingham Forest lineup was so youthful that it'd probably have been asked for ID when buying a pint. Academy graduates Alex Iacovitti and Matty Cash made their debuts, as did equally youthful new recruits Thomas Lam and Hildeberto Pereira. The slightly-more established Jorge Grant and Oliver Burke lined up in midfield alongside the relative veteran Ben Osborn. The more-experienced-but-still-hardly-ancient Britt Assombalonga, Henri Lansbury, Matt Mills and Dorus de Vries completed the starting XI, meaning that new signings Pajtim Kasami, Apostolos Vellios, Stephen Henderson and Damien Perquis all started their Forest careers from the bench.

If Burton Albion were meant to turn up and roll over clearly nobody told them, as they shaded the opening exchanges. A collision between Mills and de Vries gave the returning Chris O'Grady a chance which was scrambled away, before disaster struck when a challenge between de Vries and Brewers' striker Lucas Akins caused the Forest 'keeper to fall awkwardly, and, following a long period of treatment, get stretched off. Henderson would be handed his debut more quickly than anyone could've predicted or wanted.

Five minutes later however Forest shrugged off this setback and netted their first goal of Montanier's reign. A stray ball in the Burton penalty area fell to Grant, whose shot was probably heading wide before Assombalonga popped up at the far post to slide it home. The joy was short lived though as the match was turned on its head in a matter of minutes.

Firstly a Burton corner wasn't properly cleared and the ball found its way to Akins who fired home. Then a suspiciously-offside-looking counterattack ended up at the feet of Lloyd Dyer who steered a shot past the helpless Henderson. Whilst this was exciting stuff it certainly wasn't in the script. Indeed matters could've been worse if O'Grady had any pace, as another Burton break saw him set clear. Luckily he had to cut back inside and his angled shot whizzed wide of Henderson's post.

Parity was restored at the ideal time for Forest - just ahead of the half-time break - when a short corner was taken to Lam. The Finnish defender atoned for a couple of shaky moments by curling in a nice shot which beat Burton goalie Jon McLaughlin at the near post. The teams trooped off all-square while the sun-drenched crowd tried to take it all in.

Swiss international Kasami replaced the slightly anonymous Grant after the break and it wasn't too long before he made a difference. His free kick from just outside the box thudded into the wall before his rebound looped kindly to the waiting Burke. The Scotsman's shot wasn't cleanly hit but it had enough pace to bobble in at the far post with the Burton defence berating the referee's assistant for not giving him offside. Which he probably was. But so was their second goal. So, them's the breaks.

The goal seemed to settle Forest down somewhat, as did Kasami's introduction, and they exercised more control for a period. Burke and Pereira looked dangerous down the right whilst the midfield trio of Cash, Lansbury and Kasami took turns in spraying mostly-accurate long passes around the field. The defence still looked shaky however and it always felt like another goal was needed.

This duly arrived with around fifteen minutes to go when another break down the right found Pereira in space. His cross looped up off a Burton defender and over McLaughlin and may have dropped in anyway before Assombalonga made sure by nodding in at the far post. Two goals from about the same amount of yards.

Hopefully this cushion would allow the Reds to see the game out comfortably but it didn't because they're Forest and that's not how they roll. More slack defending allowed substitute Tom Naylor to plant a fine header past Henderson, who must have been wondering what was going on. A late scramble and a shot which flashed just wide of the post almost gave Burton a late equaliser but the home side just about held out to give Montanier a victory in his first meaningful match in charge.

So, how did this new-look Forest play? It certainly wasn't all roses but there are definitely reasons to be cheerful. Henderson looked a little unsure behind an almost totally new defence. The soothing presence of de Vries was certainly missed and one hopes he isn't out for too long. Watching the replay of the incident he turned his ankle nastily upon landing, but hopefully it's just a sprain rather than anything more sinister.

Iacovitti had a decent debut on the left, though he was guilty of drifting inside a few times. Still, Danny Fox does that too and he's considerably more experienced. His counterpart on the right - Pereira - looked a massive threat going forward. His pace and willingness to run with the ball could be a huge asset, though he too was caught out of position more than once. He did however produce one tremendous block. Someone needs to teach him how to take throw-ins though. Still, he and Burke could cause mayhem down the right. Hopefully his late substitution was due to tiredness rather than any injury.

Mills was his usually muscular self, but Lam - at this early stage - looks a bit lightweight for a Championship centre-half. He won some decent tackles on the floor but was often out-muscled in the air. He does however look excellent on the ball and again was more than willing to bring it out from defence. Perhaps he's more suited to a career in defensive midfield, but it's very early days.

Osborn was busy down the left without being outstanding whilst Lansbury put in a solid performance punctuated with some excellent passes. Cash, in my opinion, outshone Grant in central midfield. He pressed, harried, tackled and passed well, including one phenomenal long-range crossfield ball to Burke.

Burke himself showed just what potential he has. His pace caused problems all afternoon, even though he sometimes lacked an end product. But of course that's only to be expected. If he delivered every time he got the ball he'd have already been snapped up by someone else. His goal was well deserved and I'd have given him man-of-the-match ahead of the sponsor's choice Assombalonga.

How nice it was to have the Forest number nine starting, playing a full match and back in the goals again. Both of his strikes were easy, but they needed someone with a finisher's instinct to be there - which is something we sorely missed last season. I imagine he'll get the night off against Doncaster in midweek but he can reflect on a job well done.

Eric Lichaj replaced Pereira late on and didn't have too much to do, but Pajtim Kasami's first contribution was far more meaningful. He's an imposing figure in the middle but also very mobile. He never stopped moving and always gave an outlet, while his passing was good and one piece of skill left two opponents in his wake. Him, Lansbury and Cash/Vaughan or whoever in midfield has a nice look about it.

There's plenty for Montanier to work on, but there's also a great deal for him to work with. Tuesday night's team should be interesting and I wouldn't be surprised to see many of those who missed out today being given a chance to stake their claims. One thing seems to be sure though, if today is anything to go by: Forest will be very, very entertaining to watch this season, and that's a pretty good place to start.

The Nosh at Fosh is Definitely Worth the Dosh

2016-07-19T21:27:00.001+01:00

After booking our family holiday to Mallorca, I decided to take a punt and see if there were any Michelin starred restaurants situated on the island. Of the seven that I could find the most easily accessible was Marc Fosh (formerly Simply Fosh) in Palma. Their menu also seemed very reasonably priced for set lunches so I duly booked as soon as our preferred date was available.

Located in a boutique hotel on a quiet side-street of Mallorca's bustling capital, it's unlikely you'd stumble upon Marc Fosh if you didn't know it was there. That's a real shame as you'd be missing out on an absolute treat. Having not been to a Michelin starred restaurant in such warm conditions before we were a little worried that shorts and short-sleeved shirts might not be acceptable attire. They were though, and indeed the whole atmosphere of the restaurant was pleasantly relaxed. We were pleased to be seated in a covered outdoor area, which provided shaded coolness but lots of natural light too.

From the set lunch menu available I chose the gnocchi starter while my companions both went for the chilled tomato soup with bonito - which we didn't realise was marinaded salmon until it was served. They both seemed to enjoy their starters and I certainly enjoyed mine, with the light gnocchi being matched with a rich black olive sauce and some crunchy candied walnuts.

For main I chose the herb-crusted hake, which was again excellent. Meaty, flaky hake with a crunchy herb crust and accompaniments including caviar, apple and fennel. Clare's lamb was wonderfully pink and served with the most stylish looking Greek salad I've ever seen.

My dessert of rich chocolate ganache, sour cherries, sesame puree and bitter lime gel was a lovely finish to the meal, and Clare raved about her peach sorbet and matcha green tea ice-cream.

€25 per person for this set lunch was an absolute steal, and even with a bottle of crisp Chardonnay, still water and service included, the final bill, when converted into Sterling, was just over £110 for three diners, which for food and service of such quality was an absolute steal. Palma is a fantastic city to visit on holiday, and there can't be many better places to eat there than Marc Fosh.