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.

Florek took us out last night to Brasserie Blanc for my birthday dinner.  We eat there every few weeks, it’a  a place consistently good in terms of food and service, not cheap, but always delivers. Last night was truly excellent.  Steak tartare to start to share, burger for Florek, confit duck leg for me. Super soft meat on that leg, beautifully crispy skin. Cherry sauce. The most delicious dauphinoise I’ve eaten in my life- perfect! Soft, not too creamy, perfectly seasoned. Some roasted veg on the side.  My only regret was that I was too full to finish it or to have a scoop of sorbet at the end.

Excellent service too, which Florek rewarded with a nice tip. And- I now know how to make a bellini as good as the ones they sell in BB- Amazon sells the fruit puree they use.

Truly lovely birthday dinner.

A chap called Andrew Kojima,  Masterchef finalist in 2012 opened a joint in Cheltenham, called Koj. I wanted to go for a few weeks, as I am a Masterchef fan, I am Japanese food fan and the reviews were mostly very good. So we went.  The place has a small, but interesting menu, no sushi though, as Koj reckons it is to be a place for those, who want to try Jap food, but don’t like sushi.

Hendricks, cucumber and wasabi martini to start was very good, refreshing, as we are having a heatwave this week. I’d have 3 of those easily( I didn’t). 

We had some decent sashimi, then a couple of the steamed buns, one with nice, soft pork, but the soft shell crab one was excellent. If I ever go back, I’ll just have 2 of those and  some sake and I’ll be happy.

The lemon sole little wraps were fantastic too, we had to try, as everyone on TripAdvisor were on about it.

Then we ordered more, some crispy, spicy beef (ok) and some KFC, Koj Fried Chicken.  Fairly average, we agreed.

The place didn’t excite me enough to run back in a hurry, but we’ll be popping in to Wahaca Bristol again in 2 weeks time, for that passion fruit mojito I can’t wait! 🙂

Last week I got a call from a certain Nicolo Sandrini of Dinings, who asked if I could bring my man and daughter to London on Wednesday the 17th. Dinings team were to open their second location in London and were inviting “friends and family” to join them and have dinner on the house.  Just for being considered “friends and family” more than 4 years after leaving the company, I’d have walked to London if I had to.  The idea of seeing all the lovely people again was even more appealing than the food, the Jap food heaven that Dinings has been for years. So I didn’t have to beg Florek to take a day off, we went, in pouring rain, back to Scumdon.

Nicolo sent me a video of the restaurant at about 1pm earlier yesterday, still basically a building site, expressed his doubts about the success of the coming evening and also said he wanted to die ( he’s from Verona). 🙂

When we arrived in Knightsbridge, still in pouring rain, the place was still a mess, but there was Nick, my former Chief, the most awesome and knowledgeable man in catering, as well as one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. If he ever asked me to work for him again, I’d shelve my macarons and run back, sadly all the business is either in London or Tel Aviv. There was the other Chief, Masaki, there was Fuku, with his stunning little daughter, I also saw Grace and Alex and Mika, whom I’ve not seen since Ubon.

The food took ages to arrive, but that was understandable. Probably because of the circumstances the food itself was not as mind blowing as I remembered, plus our eel and foie gras sushi roll never materialised( I was dreaming about it for a week). Our wagyu sushi never arrived- that was probably due to the girl who took our order, not sure if she knew what wagyu was. There was lovely fresh and beautifully presented sashimi, shrimps in tempura as light and fab as only these guys can do.  Lovely sake.

We had to pass on dessert, as it was getting close to 9.30 pm and Izzie was showing signs of tiredness.  Going back would be fantastic, dinner in Dinings is nothing but cheap though. Great evening!

 

During my very short and not well remembered career in Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food, I served lots of these, the regular ones, with ham, their version with smoked salmon was called Eggs Royale.

We’ve spent last week in Center Parcs Longleat and finally returned for breakfast to Cafe Rouge, especially for these.  I must learn to make hollandaise and make poached eggs a regular thing, they’re absolutely delicious.