Steve and Christina were here this weekend, after last night filled with pizza (5 pizzas, to be specific) and wine, today we drove to Marlborough, back to Rick Stein’s. What a treat that was, again. I was actually ready to order early last week, when Steve booked us a table, a sole meuniere on the main menu stood out for me and that’s what I had, but started with some lovely fresh crab. It’s been a long time since I had it that good (Dinings, perhaps?). I even enjoyed the seaweed!

Then the sole, might have been the most expensive item on the menu at £40, sole meuniere, which was taken off the bone for me, yum. Really enjoyed it, it could have done with a touch more salt I thought, as well as maybe more inspired sides- the buttered potatoes were ok, the cabbage they shouldn’t have bothered with.

But the pud was a dream. Sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream, which we shared was probably the best I’ve ever had. Trying to find that very recipe online and not having much luck for the moment. Might be the next thing I bake, one way or another. Yum.

This place is a 10 out 10 for me, I have to say. It is expensive, but the service is brilliant, the food inspiring and the ambience just perfect, not overcrowded, beautifully decorated and comfortable. A real treat! 🙂

While having lunch in Lucca’s Piazza del Anfiteatro, one of our last lovely meals of this holiday, I went for a duck breast and ended up having one of best meals in a long time. This piece of duck was a little like a duck steak, if there is such a thing! The skin was nearly cremated, but the meat beautifully pink and nicely rested. It came with a pear and ginger sauce, some sad cucumber pickle- wasn’t pickled enough, didn’t really do anything and some fried leeks, tasty, but stringy and difficult to eat. I had a glass of rose to go with the dish and I absolutely loved it. More duck is needed! 🙂

And then there was pistacchio gelato. Some British ice cream makers should be shown this photo just to see, what it should look like, not a bright, radioactive green colour we can sometimes get at home. Like this;

While visiting Siena, we had a lovely lunch on Piazza del Campo. Mine was this glorious pizza that I shared with a fellow truffle lover- as seen on the picture. Pizza bianca, so no tomato sauce, but lots of mozarella, some excellent fresh mushrooms and a good smear of black truffle paste. Finished with black pepper. What could make it even better would be some fresh thyme! The Jaye’s are coming over for the last weekend of August, I think I’ll have a go at such a creation, Christina likes truffles too. And I have thyme in the garden! 🙂

Last Sunday we dropped off Izzie at Funky Warehouse for a friend’s birthday party and decided to pop out for a child free lunch. We went to Kibou, for the first time in 2 or 3 years I guess, Covid restrictions helping with it being that long.

Soft shell crab roll was delicious. Fresh, with shiso in there, crunchy and moreish. Yellowtail sushi was a hit; our homemade sushi are mostly rolls with ocasional salmon sashimi, but white fish never graces our table in raw form. I also tried a duck bao ban, but I found it on the dry side, much more sauce was needed to make it exciting.

We finished with a matcha creme brulee and £58 later headed back to Funky Warehouse. Pleasant, but not mind blowing.

Florek treated us to a lunch in Cote this afternoon. There was a regular menu and a festive menu, from which I only wanted the confit duck in orange sauce, they were kind enough to let me have it without having to order the starter and a dessert from that menu. I ended up with not only the best plate of food I’ve ever had in Cote, but possibly the best duck dish I’ve ever had. It was perfect. The duck leg was perfect in size, not too big, perfectly soft to the bone, with crackling crispy skin. It sat on thinly sliced potatoes, there was a side of wilted spinach- also perfectly seasoned. The orange pieces had just the right amount on Grand Marnier on them. And a touch of thyme too, throughout the dish. I had a glass of merlot with it and then shared a creme brulee with Florek. It was superb. I wish they had something that good not just around Christmas. Left them a flattering review.

Right after Christmas we boarded Tesla and headed for the Eurotunnel to see Moka, Ivan and Viktor in Paris after 5 years. I’m very sure we will not be waiting another 5 years to do it again, as it was the most enjoyable couple of days since, I think, Italy?….

We drank lots of wine within those 3 days, we’ve eaten very, very well. I had to visit Laduree, but I think I might skip it next time and spend 25 euro on the cheese or wine instead! It was the first time ever that I tasted a macaroon I disliked- rose flavoured one. It was like biting a bar of soap. Yuk. I have not managed to tasted the real Opera cake, but I’m sure they’ll have some next time when we’re there.

On Saturday night Moka took us to La Petite Perigourdine, where superb meat dishes were eaten. Ivan had steak, Moka liver, Florek one of the most delicious beef tartars I’ve ever tasted.

I had my beloved confit duck leg with a side that I’ve not tried before or ever heard of, Tomme d’Aligot; potato puree with cheese, brought to the table in the pan and served straight onto the plate, pouring! Very creamy, very delicious and super filling, Ivan and Viktor had to help me manage it.

For dessert we shared a creme brulee, a grand marnier soufflet, which I found eggy and heavy and some vanilla ice cream. We’ve left after 10 pm and spent a few enjoyable minutes by The Pantheon, where Izzie and Viktor ran around the Christmas trees. Lovely evening.

Got back home the day before yesterday after 10 days in Toscana ( and a cheeky one day in Liguria!). According to the invoice from Europcar we’ve done over 1700 miles in our rented Fiat 500, we’ve seen a chunk of that stunning land and we have eaten very well indeed. Again. 🙂

One place that knocked me off my feet was San Giminiano. I always wanted to go and visit it and it was well worth it. Super hot, very crowded, but stunning. We’ve had lunch; Izzie became a huge fan of prosciutto e melone and that’s what she asked for there. What arrived was a very generous plate of possibly the best Parma ham I’ve ever tasted, surely freshly sliced, plus melon as sweet as candy.

Florek went for a beef carpaccio with truffles, while I was starving enough for a plate of gnocchi.

Two bottles of wine were purchased, one of the local ones will be kept on the rack until some cold autumn day we will fancy a vino from San Giminiano, while this lovely Brunello was enjoyed that same day on Marco’s terrace.

Then, one evening we set out for Lucca with our eyes set on Bistecca Fiorentina. And bistecca we had alright, a T-bone, served to us on a hot plate, so we could finish the cooking of it the way we liked, some salad with that and a caraffe of red wine. An excellent piece of beef it was, followed by a less impressive bill of over 150 euro- it turned out they charge by weight of the meat, which also had a massive bone. :-/

When we hopped across the fence to Liguria to see some of Italian Riviera and Cinque Terre, we’ve eaten well again. For me it had to be some seafood, so I started with octopus salad and managed to convince Izzie to try a piece.

Salad came with a chilled glass of Pinot Grigio, simple and fantastic.

And then spaghetti with seafood, the langoustines were actually sweet! Loved it.

On the last evening we went back to Lucca and I ordered spinach gnocchi with walnut sauce, waitress said it was amazing, it looked the part, but I thought lacked a bit in terms of oomph. Google photos made it look like that;

In terms of stocking up the pantry I’m currently very much ok for truffles and porcini, 4 chunks of great parmesan in the fridge too.

And, pleasantly surprised, no shock while checking my body weight, I managed not to go too stupid while on holidays! 🙂

Florek took his girls for lunch today, to Cote, Gloucester one, not the one in Cheltenham, where they don’t care if the steak is medium or well done. I had small breakfast 4 hours before in anticipation for lunch, so by the time we got to the restaurant my stomach was yelling. Diet went aside today, I had some deep fried calamari and then a bowl of delicious mussels in a creamy sauce, packed with garlic, parsley, shallots- somebody took time to sweat them nicely. Loved every single one of them, so did Izzie, who had a plate of her own mussels.

I’m bursting with pride, when my lovely, smiling 5 year old indulges in moules mariniere and lemon sorbet. Table for Three coming up!

Last December when Steve and Christina came over and we wined and dined, we had a plan to fly to Edinburgh and eat at The Kitchin, Tom Kitchin’s place that’s on my bucket list( the special appendix of the bucket list, the places to eat at before I die). Once we did the maths we sadly reached the conclusion that flying there, staying at a decent hotel and having a set menu in The Kitchin would be sickly expensive, so Steve suggested we stay at his  and Christin’s shabby old place in Surrey instead and eat somewhere in London, so many great places to choose from. So we decided on Roka, booked it 2 months ago and went last weekend.

I had sky high expectations.

We arrived a bit too early and had a drink downstairs in their Shochu lounge. A bit like a nightclub, Christina said, music far too loud to even attempt a conversation, great decor though. Once moved to our table upstairs we quickly opted for a set menu plus wagyu beef. First plate of yellowtail sashimi, super thin, with citrusy dressing and a hint of truffle oil stopped us talking, it was that good.

More sashimi followed with some delicious scallop tartar, then a deep fried sushi roll(!!!) stuffed with minced wagyu, fried in tempura and topped with caviar, served still warm. Divine. My favourite plate of the evening.

Their chargrilled scallops topped with a tiny bit of wasabi mayo I loved, shame we only got one scallop each, they were phenomenal.

There was also some gyoza, black cod, some lamb chops in Korean spicy sauce, then some chargrilled wagyu, which for me was a bit disappointing- I agree with Wagyu House, it can’t be served rare, the fat needs to have time to render down, here they didn’t give it a chance to do that.

The dessert was a massive plate of ice cream, sorbet, some chocolate fondant, poncy looking fruit and what not. Did not blow me away.

For the great company, that yellowtail, scallops and tempura roll it was definitely worth a visit.