Chateau Trebiac Graves 2000

The Pretty Lady, her mother, and I paid a Sunday visit to Galvin for dinner about a week ago. I always enjoy my visits to Galvin - the food is exactly what I like, simple and well-executed, and the wine list is pretty interesting to peruse. I'll blog about our visit, and Galvin in general later (suffice to say that it ranks pretty high on my restaurant scoring scheme). Here, I want to say a little about the wine I chose.

The Pretty Lady and her mother don't really drink very much, so I ordered a glass of Chateau Trebiac Graves 2000. 2000 isn't really a great vintage for Bordeaux as far as I know, so I was a little curious to see it on the list. But what the heck - if you don't try, you don't know, so I ordered it.


Chateau Trebiac Graves 2000
Red wine
France (Graves, Bordeaux)
60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon

Nosing: Oak, blueberries, pine, hints of soy sauce.
Mouthfeel: Velvety, slightly watery, quite light.
Tasting: Sweet, oaky, cherries, peach, bread, white pepper.

I found this wine slightly savoury, very fruity, and good with the type of food available at Galvin. On this visit, for me it was offal, richly spiced, salty and meaty. Lovely.

Chateau Trebiac is dates back to about 1868, where the property was donated to a community of Franciscan nuns. The nuns cleared some wood to plant grape vines, one thing led to another and here we are. There are about 25 hectares under cultivation. There's also a white wine made of 70% Semillion and 30% Sauvignon Blanc.

Gold Mine

It's now a matter of debate which Chinese restaurant serves the best roast duck in London. 2 or 3 years ago, the answer was easy - the Four Seasons, in Bayswater Road, of course. It was (and probably still is) famous to the point that people would fly in from the Far East to sample the roast duck. It was perfectly cooked, the sauce was perfectly spiced, and the duck was fattier than most ducks available in Asia, creating perfectly crispy skin, with a perfect degree of succulence.

About 2 years ago, however, the chef from Four Seasons, whom many people, including myself, assume was responsible for the roast duck, left. He then opened a restaurant, Gold Mine, a few doors down from the Four Seasons. Ever since then, roast duck aficionados have been trying to come to a consensus over which is better.

Gold Mine
102 Bayswater Road
London W2 3RR
+44 20 7792 8331

My personal opinion is that Gold Mine's roast duck is better - it's exactly as the Four Seasons' roast duck used to be in the late 90s, when I was still in university and a plate of roast duck rice was the epitome of budget-busting hot meals. It's everything I described above, dry, yet succulent underneath the crispy skin. The Four Seasons' duck, on the other hand has less crispy skin and is more oily, with more of the fat rendered out into the sauce.

As far as the wider community is concerned though, the jury is still out.

No matter. Gold Mine has pretty decent food, other than the roast duck. Here, I also believe that the quality is better than that of the Four Seasons'. My favourite dishes include spinach with fermented bean curd, aubergine hotpot, and stewed yam and belly pork. The Pretty Lady is always well served by the plethora of bean curd dishes on the menu. There's braised, fried and stewed, including that old staple, red-cooked bean curd.

The roast meats also pass the test. Roast char siu pork is as good as the Four Seasons', if not noticeably better. The roast belly pork is also fairly decent, with a nice thick layer of pork fat and suitably crispy crackling. One thing I've not tried is the soya roast chicken, but it definitely looks good.

Gold Mine is almost exactly what it says on the tin - decent, well-executed Cantonese cooking. And there's the added bonus of great roast duck.

Scores:

20 September 2008: TFQ = 24, CS = 24, S = 10, AD = 6, VfM = 8. Total = 72 points.

Okapis, magic invisible giraffes (not really)

There's a big brouhaha in the natural history world at the moment. The Zoological Society of London released new pictures of the okapi, the giraffe's closest living relative, in the wild. Apparently these are the first pictures ever taken of the okapi in the wild using camera traps, and confirm that, in Virunga at least, okapi have not been wiped out by the civil war in the Congo.

It's a big deal because okapis are very hard to find, as their striped rumps allow them to blend in very well in the undergrowth of the forests in which they dwell. They are extremely quiet when moving, and do not vocalise any cries normally. This is inferred because the other semi-plausible hypothesis is that they possess the power of invisibility.

There are a couple of okapis at London Zoo. They're pretty big as I recall, about 6 feet at the shoulder, and about 8 feet long. They certainly stimulate the cuteness reflex, with big eyes, spindly legs and large, flexible lips.

More pictures here.

More links:

Greg Laden, who's eaten okapi, and thinks it tastes like elephant.
Brian Switek, on the history of the discovery of the okapi.
Science & Soul, with some information on the significance of okapis to cryptozoology.

Blair Athol 12 yo 1993/2006

Blair Athol is one of those over-looked Diageo distilleries, known officially only from a Flora & Fauna bottling, and perhaps the odd Rare Malts bottling. Thank goodness there are independent bottlers who can bring the produce of a great distillery to a wider audience.

One of these independent bottlers has had a great idea. I reckon (and hopefully other whisky enthusiasts agree with me) that both 70cl bottles and little 5cl sampler bottles are inefficient sizes for those of us who want to get to know as many single malts as possible. One's too large, and it's difficult to get through it quickly so that I can move on to the next one. The other's too small, and there's not enough whisky to really get to grips with the malt.

Step forward Douglas Laing. They've bottled little 20cl bottles as part of their Old Malt Cask range, and there's a fairly wide selection of distilleries as well. I managed to get this Blair Athol beauty, as well as a couple of other single malts in this bottle size.

I thought I might test this one out with in combination with cheeses. Why? Well, there's no reason why whisky shouldn't go with cheese; it's a matter of choosing the right whisky. This one might well be it - it's got a fair amount of fruit in it, it's got the right level of sweetness to go with strong and savoury cheeses, while not being too overpowering for milder cheeses.

Anyway, the tasting note:

Blair Athol 12 yo 1993/2006 (Douglas Laing OMC)
Single malt - Central Highlands
Amber
50% ABV

Nose: Oak, banana, oranges, malty beer, brandy, rubber bands, hints of brown paper.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, syrupy, smooth, thickens in the mouth.
Tasting: Sweet sour. Blackcurrants (Ribena), orange peel, prunes, sherry, hints of mushroom.
Finish: Medium. Peanuts, white grapes, hints of melon.

And so on to the experiments:

1. Mons Beaufort d'Alpage

The cheese is hazelnutty and mild on its own. Savoury and slightly pungent. With the whisky, big notes of smoked ham and smoked chicken appear, with hints of armagnac soaked prunes wreathed throughout. Not half bad.

2. Danish Blue

Classic blue cheese available in supermarkets here in Britain. Milder than Stilton. Again, with the whisky big savoury notes appear, but this time, it's Marmite rather than meat of any description. The fruit is still apparent, although this time it's overripe raisins more than brandy and prunes. Not as good as the Beaufort d'Alpage.

3. Manchego

This particular Manchego was wine-washed, and had a very tasty nutty flavour. The whisky softened the taste of the cheese, bringing up notes of butter and milk, with curious surprising hints of vanilla. These were quickly followed by soy sauce flavours. The whisky itself tasted a little more like brandy, with the rubber band flavours that I associate with brandy beginning to appear. Sounds nice, but the combination doesn't really work.

4. Reblochon

Unfortunately, this Reblochon was a little mild, although wonderfully nutty and creamy. There was only a slight hint of pungency, and so it got rather lost in the whisky. Some interesting buttery hints of vanilla emerged, along with a little bit of black pepper in the finish, but other than that, it was a little boring.

5. Stinking Bishop

Made famous in Wallace and Gromit, this cheese is legendarily smelly. It's also delicious, with lovely hints of pear and beer (it's washed with perry). With the whisky, it's a little cardboardy, but that gives way to waves of sweet sherry, roast ham, and then the cheese takes over. Excellent.


And the winner is... Stinking Bishop! It's the cheese that preserved the sweet sherry / brandy character of this Blair Athol best. I do think though, that perhaps I shouldn't have tampered with this whisky. It's lovely on its own.

The Holly Bush

I've had a lot of favourite pubs in my time in the UK. They change every so often depending on where I've lived and also whether or not I've been thirsty or hungry. Pubs rarely met both needs well, until the advent of the gastropub a few years ago. But then, there are also good gastropubs and bad gastropubs.

This little beauty, called the Holly Bush in Hampstead, has been my favourite for the last 5 or 6 years. I like it best because of the atmosphere - it's homely and welcoming, and a nice place to sit and drink (and eat, too). It's not only got a great menu, it also has real ales as well as draft Hoegaarden and Leffe. It's also got many little nooks and crannies downstairs where parties of 2 to 6 could fit easily with a modicum of privacy, as well as sofas and chairs upstairs for those people who only want drinks. There's even a legend about a resident ghost - the pub has no table service, but for some years, customers used to give their orders to a waitress who would promptly disappear. The orders never reached the kitchen of course...

Holly Bush
22 Holly Mount
Hampstead
London NW3 6SG
+44 20 7435 2892

There are a number of things that are usually on the menu here. For starters there's a pint of prawns and quail eggs. The pint of prawns is standard - the prawns are no fresher than anywhere else. The quail eggs though, are fresh and simple - boiled just set, and you sprinkle them yourself with black pepper and salt. I also recommend the salads. The Pretty Lady has occasionally had them - smoked mackerel and roast duck on our last two visits.

Veal shank is great whenever it's been on the menu - usually stewed until it melts off the bone, accompanied by mash or fondant potato and whatever vegetables are in season. Other than that, it's something of a potluck, as the menu changes weekly (or even daily), and there are occasionally gems available. As a guide the chef is very good at red meat, less good at poultry, but I think there's been some turnover over the years, so it's a rule of thumb, no more.

Puddings are a bit hit and miss. To be honest I'd go for the stickies, the brandies, whiskies and dessert wines. This pub has an excellent selection, ranging from Italian sweet wines to 3 varieties of cognac. And an interesting Benrinnes which I have yet to try...

Scores:

3 September 2008: TFQ = 24, CS = 23, S = 15, AD = 10, VfM = 6. Total = 76 points.

Chateau de Lassalle Hors d'Age

The Pretty Lady, her mother and I went to the Holly Bush Inn for lunch. I hadn't been there for a while, and they've now put their digestifs and stickies on the back of their food menu. There were several whiskies, including a Benrinnes 1973 that I might just go back specially to try, several cognacs and a single armagnac. That sold me. If it wasn't the armagnac, it was going to be the Benrinnes.

Anyway, the bottle of armagnac behind the counter did catch my eye, so I decided to try it. Good thing I did too - I got the last of the bottle. I do like that when that happens, because I get a slightly bigger dram (or portion, in this case).

Chateau de Lassalle Hors d'Age (Marquisat?)
Single producer armagnac - Bas Armagnac (Gers)
44% ABV
Amber rose

Nose: Mint, rose, white grape, brown paper, hints of white wine.
Mouthfeel: Light body, slightly oily.
Tasting: Sweet salty. Vanilla, caramel, toffee, butter, smoked ham, hints of apple.
Finish: Short. Caramel, earl grey tea, chocolate.

This one gave me a little bit of trouble, and I'm not sure if I've correctly identified the producer. In Armagnac, by Charles Neal, the property Marquisat, run by the Mao family, is identified as owning the Lassalle distillery and distilling under the name Lassalle of Gondrin. This is as close as I can get - there isn't a producer listed as Chateau de Lassalle. Anyway, Marquisat is located in the town of Gondrin, as is the Domaine des Cassagnoles, and the current proprietor, Corentin Mao, has been bottling his own armagnacs since 1969.

There isn't a great deal of information about this producer. Besides the Hors d'Age (minimum age is 10 years old for this designation), they also produce several vintages. There's definitely a 1979, and my reference books say that there's also 1977, 1976 and 1972.

Vineyard size: 50 hectares
Chai: Organised, cement floor, dry.
Soil: sables, boulbenes (sand, sand with clay pieces).
Barrels: Gascon.
Grapes: Ugni Blanc (60%), Columbard (40%).

- from Armagnac by Charles Neal

Domaine du Chardonnay Chablis 2006

On a recent visit to the Capital, we had half a bottle of a strangely named wine - Chablis, from Domaine du Chardonnay. It turns out that the wine is made from 100% chardonnay grapes, but the vineyard happens to be in the province and appellation of Chablis.

It was recommended by the Capital's sommelier as quite drinkable. We tried the tasting menu. I think it's quite hard to match a wine to a varied list of foods, but the sommelier tried his best and probably succeeded quite well.

Domaine du Chardonnay Chablis 2006
White wine
France (Chablis, Burgundy)
100% Chardonnay

Nosing: Peach, kiwi, new plastic.
Mouthfeel: Thin, light and watery. Very drinkable.
Tasting: Sweet sour, jasmine, peach, lemons.

The vineyard was created fairly recently, in 1987. It's is in the Chablis appellation, but for all that, they use 100% Chardonnay grapes for all their wines. They make Petit Chablis, a table wine, this Chablis, and 5 premier crus.

It was young and drinkable, but it matched the food by virtue of not being very interesting. I suppose taking this approach to its logical extension means that I should have drunk tap water to match the food. From that perspective it was slightly disappointing.

UEFA Player of the Year Awards 2008

I don't usually pay attention to these awards, but I was watching the Champions League draw for this season, so I saw them being awarded. The winners were:

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech (Czech Republic and Chelsea)
Defender: John Terry (England and Chelsea)
Midfielder: Frank Lampard (England and Chelsea)
Forward: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal and Manchester United).

Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal and Manchester United)

Beyond laughable. Whoever voted for these either received a big cheque from Roman Abramovich or didn't watch football last season.

• Cech had a poor to average season (Iker Casillas should have won, but he didn't even get nominated).
• Terry isn't even the best defender at Chelsea, since Ricardo Carvalho was more crucial to the team. Rio Ferdinand, who lifted the European Cup as joint captain, blows them both out of the water, unless the award is for narcissistic crying after losing the biggest match of one's career.
  
• Lampard probably got the award because of one match against Liverpool, and his emotional salute to his late mother. Alex Hleb should have taken the midfielder award, but didn't get nominated, I believe. Even Paul Scholes, who's in the twilight of his career, eclipsed Lampard last season.
  
• Cristiano Ronaldo is the only deserving winner.

What a joke. I'm sure Rio Ferdinand's European Cup winner's medal goes some way to repairing the injustice though.

On a happier note, United face Villareal, Celtic and Aalborg in the Champions League group stages. Let's make it 18-4. Come on you Reds!

Pommery Brut Royal Apanage

This is a pretty old bottle, bought in 2001 for my graduation by mum and dad. The Pretty Lady and I finally got around to drinking it, but not on the Heath for our picnic as we had hoped. The weather was dire, so we had it in our living room instead.

The image shows the new packaging. We took so long over this one that the company had revamped the box and the colour scheme. We thought that the champagne might have suffered from the long storage, but we weren't going to improve matters by continuing to leave the bottle on the shelf. So what the heck - sometimes you get a dud bottle, and you deal with it.

But it wasn't a dud at all - 7 years of bottle aging didn't seem to have hurt it much. Still quite tasty, thank goodness.

Pommery Brut Royal Apanage
Champagne
France (Champagne)
45% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Meunier

Nosing: Papaya, toast, hints of white grape.
Mouthfeel: Slightly syrupy, a little flatter than I thought it would be. Must be the long storage time.
Tasting: Bitter sweet with honey notes. Peach, white pepper, slight tonic water-like bitterness.

Pommery is one of the premier champagne brands. It started out as Dubois-Gosset in 1836, but was taken over by one Louis Alexandre Pommery, who died and left his widow in charge. Madame Pommery laid the foundations for today's modern champagne house - she streamlined production, expanded the facilities and sorted out the succession planning.

In addition to the flagship Cuvee Louise, they make Brut Royal (non-vintage), Brut Royal Apanage (non-vintage, 1 step up) and Brut Rose. There are a number of other expressions sourced from specific vineyards, notably Brut Millésime, sourced from 7 Grand Cru vineyards.

Dopey horses

A couple of amusing things about horses have surfaced at the Olympics.

First, some of them tested positive for performance enhancing drugs at the equestrian drugs. The drug in question was capsiacin - the same stuff found in chillies - and its effect on the horses is similar to that of mentholated muscle creams in humans. It relieves aches and pains, and is applied topically. Strange that it's banned for horses and not for humans.

Second, in the modern pentathlon, the competitors need to ride an unfamiliar horse in the equestrian leg of the event. They are paired with the horse in a draw just before the event kicks off. Some of the horses in the Olympics were practically donkeys, refusing to jump fences, falling over and throwing their riders. Much fun for the viewer.

The Garrison

For me, visits to gastropubs are sometimes an exercise in frustration. The reason is because the best ones, like the Anchor & Hope, tend to operate a no-booking policy, which is never good for people who don't normally have an afternoon to spare to wait around for a table.

Last week though, the Pretty Lady, FY and I went to the Garrison, a crowded, cluttered sort of place in Bermondsey. FY's suggestion. The decor is bare wood walls and floor, but cluttered by all sorts of paraphernalia. In addition to food and drink, there's a cinema in the basement has nightly screenings, so most entertainment options are well-covered.

The Garrison

99-101 Bermondsey St

London SE1 3XB

+44 20 7089 9355

The Pretty Lady and FY got there first, and started off with some aperitifs. There was an interesting Pedro Ximenez sherry on the table when I got there - just like the Pretty Lady to start a meal with dessert. I demurred on the booze though, since I'd already started with some whiskies at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's tasting rooms earlier.

I started with sauteed chicken livers and caramelised onions on toast, and found them very enjoyable indeed. The livers were done just right (still pink in the middle, and yes, I know about salmonella), and slightly sour from the browned glaze on the outside (probably balsamic vinegar?). Lots of gravy for the bread too. Offal on toast - classic dish in many forms, all of which are delicious.

The Pretty Lady had truffled cauliflower soup, which was quite delicious, if slightly over-truffled for my taste. That could be seen as a virtue - they're not stingy with the truffle oil! Good and distinct flavour of cauliflower too. FY had orechiette (shell pasta) with ricotta and tomato sauce - great flavours, and the tomato sauce was fresh. Huge helping too.

I had liver again for mains - calf's liver this time, with chorizo mashed potatoes and greens. Again, the liver was perfectly done, seared on the outside and pink in the middle. Chorizo mashed potatoes were well done too, but nothing special. Lots of gravy though, which was quickly soaked up by the mash. The Pretty Lady had roast duck with asparagus, which was excellent, but there didn't seem to be enough sauce to go around.

FY had the vegetarian meatloaf, which was intriguing - what was it made of? Lentils? FY and I agreed that there were lentils in there, but couldn't decide what else. I said potatoes, she said swedes. Anyway, it came with a lot of roast vegetables too, and was quite delicious. Never let it be said that vegetarians don't have it good at the Garrison.

We then ducked dessert, as we were all filled up to the brim. I decided on a Chateau de Lacquy XO 15 ans armagnac, while the Pretty Lady and FY had an armagnac liqueur. Unfortunately I didn't note that particular one down, but to be honest I found it over-sweet. I much preferred mine.

Scores:

21 August 2008: TFQ = 24, CS = 25, S = 15, AD = 8, VfM = 7. Total = 79 points.

10 offal dishes that aren't awful

Offal isn't awful. Instead it's downright delicious. I was reminded of this when I considered what kinds of meat I'd rather eat at a restaurant. If there's something that's not muscle, I usually order it in preference to muscle tissue. While muscle is nice when cooked well, it somehow lacks flavour compared to organ meat. I've listed a selection of my favourites below:

1. Seared calf's liver

Delicate, tender and rich, I think seared calf's liver goes best with something sweet sour and tangy - caramelised onions in balsamic vinegar, maybe. And with some mashed potato (hold the butter). I like mine browned on the outside and pink in the middle. Given that the stuff is generally sliced quite thin, it's hard to get it done perfectly.

2. Devilled kidneys

My favourite starter at Canteen. This is lamb kidneys in a spicy sauce, a dish created by the Victorians before they deigned to eat chillis. The heat comes from cayenne pepper and grain mustard, and can be very hot indeed. Of course you can add double cream in to temper the spiciness, making the dish richer and more decadent. The kidneys need to be slightly pink on the inside to preserve their flavour.

3. Haggis

Robert Burns called this the "grand chieftain o' the pudden race". Goes great with whisky (as to which one, maybe I'll do a special set of tasting experiments to find out. Sheeps heart, lungs and liver, mixed with onion, oatmeal and fat, boiled in the sheep's stomach. Very peppery and gamey, as offal should be. Not too keen on the neeps and tatties though, the ones I've had don't have enough butter. In fact, they could be improved by the addition of double cream and Reblochon.

4. Beef tripe noodles

It's been so long since I've had these it's not funny. There are as many versions of this dish as there are beef eating cultures in Asia, but my favourite comes from Soong Kee, a famous noodle stall in Kuala Lumpur (it used to be a treat when I was a kid, despite the horrifically filthy state of the shop). Wantans, minced beef, beef balls, and slices of beef stomach on just scalded, soft flat rice noodles. Yum. But for some reason, no one else seems to like the version with tripe...

5. Tête de veau

Calf's head in French. I've had it twice, and Racine's version was better. Consists of the brain and the pieces of the head (some versions substitute the sweetbreads - thymus gland - and / or the tongue), gently poached in broth for 5 hours, then served with sauce ravigote (Dijon mustard, roux and capers). I've decided not to eat this any more, as it's probably a bad idea to eat bovine- and sheep-derived nervous tissue. It was good though.

6. Pressed pig's ears

I first had these in Shanghai. In the Shanghainese version the ears are de-haired, flattened out, braised in wine and stock, then pressed into a sort of terrine. Once set (from the gelatine in the ears), the terrine is sliced into attractive stripey pieces. Fergus Henderson of St John in London does a Western version, but I've not been to his restaurant yet.

7. Heart churrasco - beef and chicken

Brazilian churrasco is one of the great barbecue traditions of the world. There are a number of churrascarias in London which I find quite tasty, although those in the know say that they're terrible. My favourite is beef or chicken heart, especially done in rodizio style where the waiter turns up at the table with a huge skewer and slices off portions. Heart is very very tasty and tender, because heart muscle fibres are shorter, and are interconnected with each other. The striations in heart are much smaller, and the meat is more pleasantly textured.

8. Tripe Oporto style

More stomach, simmered with chourico (Portuguese chorizo) and beans. The helpings in Portugal are huge, and the restaurant we visited bulked out the dish with veal shank. Needless to say, we couldn't finish it. Unfortunately, London lacks a large-enough community of tripeiros (tripe-eaters, natives of Oporto) for this dish to be easily available.

9. Pig stomach soup

Hokkien comfort food, something to strengthen my constitution while growing up. It's closely related to pig innards congee, given to invalids and hungry children by my very unhealth-conscious grandmother. The intestines and stomach are boiled with pork and lots of white pepper to create a spicy offally liquid (see here for a namby-pamby version using chicken, not intestines). For the congee, you put the boiled offal into the congee and accentuate with cubes of deep-fried lard and / or fried intestines. Excellent stuff.

10. Chicken offal yakitori

One of the best uses of chicken guts ever! Gizzard, liver, sometimes tongue (or even testicles), grilled on bamboo skewers. Much more tasty than the standard chicken breast yakitori, which requires addition of onion to make it worth eating. This is my favourite yakitori bar (unfortunately, it's not really an izakaya).


There are so many other offal dishes I haven't mentioned, so I will here: pig's blood soup, fish head curry, duck's tongue, ox tongue, Chinese liver sausage on rice, sup gearbox (warning, spinal cord tissue!), Sicilian guasteddi (beef spleen sandwiches), brawn, fried duck intestines etc etc.

Don't waste meat. Eat offal whenever you can. Muscle is boring, except when it's cardiac muscle.

Chateau de Lacquy XO 15 yo

I've not bought a bottle of armagnac for myself yet. This is for several reasons - I have no idea what to buy when it comes to value for money, I have a limited number of liver cells which I prefer to spend on whisky, and most importantly, brandy needs to be enjoyed after a meal (or with a cigar, but I've not found one that needs a good Cuban). For all these reasons, it's probably better for me to order an armagnac in a restaurant, depending on what they have.

So, with this newly formulated policy in mind, I ordered a Chateau de Lacquy "Reference" XO 15 yo at the Garrison (a pretty good gastropub which I'll review soon). I originally wanted their VSOP (it was cheaper) but they'd run out, and the marginal cost wasn't that big. Image from Cave Elzevir.

Chateau de Lacquy "Reference" XO 15 yo
Single producer armagnac - Bas Armagnac (Lacquy)
42% ABV
Amber rose

Nose: Mint, prunes, Japanese ume, hints of coffee.
Mouthfeel: Light body, slightly syrupy.
Tasting: Bitter sweet. Oaky, white grapes, white pepper, raisins, chocolate, orange peel, hints of coffee.
Finish: Long. Honey, raisins, kiwi fruit.

This is supposed to be a "great" producer, and the XO "Reference" expression is certainly very interesting and complex. There are quite a lot of flavours here, and I must say that it's a lot easier to find the fruit in armagnac than in whisky.

The vineyard is located in the town of Lacquy, in the Bas Armagnac producing region, and is run by the de Boisseson family. They do 4 main expressions, a VSOP 6 yo (which I couldn't try), a Hors d'Age 12 yo, this "Reference" XO 15 yo and a Reserve Exceptionelle (20-25 yo). This vineyard has been producing armagnac for centuries.

Vineyard size: 15 hectares
Chai: Well-organised, humid barn, dirt floor.
Soil: sables limoneux, sables fauves (sand and iron-rich sand, with some ocean sediment).
Barrels: Gascon, Limousin.
Grapes: Ugni Blanc (50%), Bacco (50%).

- from Armagnac, by Charles Neal.

Delisserie

Golders Green, Finchley and Temple Fortune form the backbone of a slightly spread out Jewish community in North London. This is where some of the English Jewish community settled after they moved on from their initial village in the East End. Leafy North London is much more conducive to a thriving restaurant scene. In food terms, there are 2 main types of restaurants, places that do kosher interpretations of ethnic food (kosher Chinese, kosher Indian), and ethnic kosher restaurants (places that showcase regional Jewish cuisine).

Delisserie
1 Belmont Parade
Temple Fortune
London NW11 6XP
+44 (0) 20 8458 8777

or

Delisserie
88 The Broadway
Mill Hill
London NW7 3TB
+44 (0) 20 8959 0330

Delisserie is New York's representative. There are 2 outlets - one in Mill Hill and the other in Temple Fortune. I frequent the Temple Fortune outlet, and these comments apply to there. It does New York Jewish deli food, and in a comforting homely sort of way. It serves a mix of traditional Eastern European Jewish and New York Jewish food (a lot of which, in fairness, originates from Eastern Europe in the first place) in a deli / diner restaurant atmosphere.

Typical starters include chicken soup (yes, the famous "Jewish penicillin") with lockshen and kneidel (noodles and dumplings) or a salad. The salads are par for the course, although I can report that their coleslaw is made with home-made mayonnaise, not the stuff out of a jar.

The sandwiches are the best bit. You can choose from a Reuben (pastrami and sauerkraut), Bronx (chopped liver, salt beef and caramelised onions) or a New York (rare roast beef and caramelised onions). And you can also have latka, chips or the aforementioned coleslaw. I particularly like the Bronx and the latka, but, in deference to my ever expanding waistline, not together. There are also grills, bagels and Jewish versions of the full English breakfast. The Pretty Lady likes the bagel and lox.

They also do a selection of non-Jewish dishes. For example, there are merguez sausages, wraps of many descriptions and burgers. Everything's kosher though, so no cream sauce pastas. Drinks are also fairly international, with fresh pear juice available.

I generally come here with the Pretty Lady for Sunday brunch. We should really book, but we've only ever had to wait for a table once. It's quite noisy and lively usually, with teenagers having lunch with their grandparents, and families with young children adding to the atmosphere. Helpings are big, the food is comforting, and it's Sunday. It's hard to beat.

Scores:

13 August 2008: TFQ = 21, CS = 22, S = 16, AD = 6, VfM = 7. Total = 72 points.

Baron de Sigognac 10 yo

I had a half measure of this armagnac at Mango Room. It was a little strange having brandy as a digestif to close an Afro-Caribbean meal, but it went very well with my dessert of Caribbean fruit cake. Not too sweet, slightly citrusy and refreshing. I really lucked out here.

Part of the pleasure of drinking brandy is that I've usually done no research beforehand When I drink whisky I usually know a little about the distillery style, the bottler and what to expect. With brandy it's a voyage of discovery - I just note down the name of the brandy and the colour, write the tasting note and fill in the details later using the internet. Quite often I discover new and interesting things - like the fact that this particular armagnac is sometimes a blend, and sometimes a single producer armagnac labelled as a blend. In all probability though, this one is blended.

Baron de Sigognac 10 yo
Blended armagnac - Bas Armagnac
40% ABV
Dark gold

Nose: Brown paper, vanilla, orange peel, orange blossom.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, watery around the edges.
Tasting: Sour. Lemon, grapefruit, vanilla, prunes, butter, cream.
Finish: Long. Vanilla, cream, walnut skins.

Baron de Sigognac is a blended brand sold by ADEX, a firm that also owns the producer Chateau de Bordeneuve. Some of the vintages under these brands are entirely from the Chateau de Bordeneuve vineyard. However, I believe (but can't confirm) that the 10 yo is a blend from more than one vineyard. Tasty nonetheless, although I think it suffers from being diluted to 40%.

Mango Room

London is a great place for ethnic food, probably among the best 2 places in the world. I think the likely closest challenger would probably be New York, but since I've never been there I can't definitively say. Anyway, one of the pleasures of eating in London is Afro-Caribbean food, which is fantastic, courtesy of the large local community.

Unfortunately good restaurants are quite rare. The best Afro-Caribbean food I've tasted is available only once a year at the end of August, during the Notting Hill Carnival. If I'm away during that particular bank holiday weekend, that's it until the next year - no ackee and saltfish inna dumpling, no freshly grilled jerk chicken. Fortunately, there's at least one place which does the cuisine to a decent standard - Mango Room.

Mango Room
10-12 Kentish Town Road
Camden
London NW1 9NX
+44 (0) 20 7482 5065

The Pretty Lady and I have been coming here since 2001. We stopped for a bit a couple of years back because they had raised the prices and the food had deteriorated a little in quality. When we came back here a few days ago though, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that not only had the prices remained the same (and thus become quite reasonable now) but that the food had improved a great deal.

It was a 6 person dinner meet-up, with AL, TL, KY and FZ plus the Pretty Lady and myself. We shared starters - ackee and saltfish, duck and apple skewer, scallops and melon salsa and tiger prawns on pineapple. The ackee and saltfish was as good as I remembered it, ackee as thick as scrambled egg, large chunks of salt cod, only with a tinge more scotch bonnet pepper. The duck and apple skewer was surprisingly tasty, chunks of grilled duck and apple drizzled with a red wine reduction on toasted gingerbread. Not particularly Caribbean, but who cares? The other seafood dishes passed muster, with the scallops and melon a fairly tasty combination.

On to the main courses - I had roast duck breast marinated in honey and ginger, with sweet potato and juniper berry jus, while the Pretty Lady had kingfish in jerk sauce. My duck breast was delicious, with the ginger cutting through the rich meat, and the juniper berries providing a peppery fragrant counterpoint to the sweet potato. The Pretty Lady's kingfish in jerk sauce proved to be too spicy for her liking, but I thought it was great - the addition of more scotch bonnet pepper to the spicy dishes has definitely improved both the taste and the authenticity of the dishes here. Good fresh fish too.

On previous occasions the Pretty Lady and I have enjoyed the curry goat - this restaurant's signature dish. Even when the food here was less good 2 years ago, the curry goat remained delicious. Boneless, sweet spicy, and coconutty. Yum yum. Perfect with the great side dishes available here - plantain, breadfruit and rice and peas are the best.

For dessert, I had Caribbean fruit cake with warm cream. Lovely and moist, with crystallised pineapple and my favourite glace cherries in - I always have this when I come here, and never anything else for dessert. This time I paired it with a glass of Baron de Sigognac armagnac. The Pretty Lady had passionfruit cheesecake, which seemed a nice idea in theory, but somehow didn't quite come off. The passionfruit jelly layer on top of the cheese had a harsh, slightly metallic taste.

We didn't have wine, opting instead for the extensive cocktail list. I particularly recommend a Jamaican mule - Appleton rum, ginger ale, and mint. I don't believe I've ever had wine here. My usual tipple of choice is Red Stripe.

Much better food than when we were here last. The kitchen staff must have changed, and the best dishes are just as good as they always were, while the so-so dishes are now a lot better. I'm definitely going to come here more often.

Scores:

11 August 2008: TFQ = 24, CS = 23, S = 15, AD = 7, VfM = 7. Total = 76 points.

Pedro Ximenéz Cardenal Cisneros (Sweet raisins and smoky toast)

The Pretty Lady loves sweet dessert wines, and Pedro Ximenéz is one of her favourites. We picked this bottle up at Madrid-Barajas duty-free on our way back from Peru, and have been dipping into it ever since. It's very good indeed, although not the best we've ever tasted.

Besides the taste, the great thing about Pedro Ximenéz is that deep brown raisiny colour. It looks and tastes sweet, grapey and gorgeous (of course, some taste more gorgeous than others). This particular one is very dark brown, almost black, with little hints of gold near the surface.

There's a whole wide world of this varietal sherry to explore, especially now that wineries in Australia and Argentina have started to grow the grape. The Pretty Lady and I look forward to it.

Pedro Ximenéz Cardenal Cisneros
Sherry
Spain (Jerez)
Pedro Ximenéz

Nosing: Raisins, brown paper, honey, cane sugar, grape seeds.
Mouthfeel: Sticky, smooth, very thick, mouth-coating.
Tasting: Sweet and silky, nutmeg and honey, massive hit of raisins, caramel and burnt toast.

This particular wine is made by Bodega Sanchez Romate, founded in 1781 and still family-owned. It's located in Jerez de la Frontera, the home of sherry, and has a large ageing complex where the winemakers mature their wines.

The bodega makes a range of brandies, wines, sherries and vinegars. They have house styles of Amontillado, Manzanilla, Fino, cream, and Oloroso, in addition to Pedro Ximenéz of course. The Cardenal Cisneros label denotes a sweeter wine, where the grapes are left to ripen longer than the regular Pedro Ximenéz . It's a mid-range option - there are cheaper sherries, branded Romate, and old solera matured ones (some very old indeed), branded La Sacristia. They also make 2 Spanish brandies, Cardenal Mendoza and Romate. The former is their marquee brand, while the latter is solera-matured.

Cragganmore 12 yo ('Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life)

Diageo owns 17 whisky distilleries, and have done a lot to market single malt whisky as a drink. This has had the effect of creating lots of different expressions of malt - single, blended and vatted - where once there were just mostly blends. I suppose Diageo deserve congratulations and thanks for this, but then they've closed Brora, Port Ellen and Rosebank. Big sins, and I'm not sure they're forgivable...

Anyway, Diageo's single malt marketing effort focuses on representing each whisky producing region by one or more "typical" ("Classic") malts. There are 12 Classic Malts, and Cragganmore is one of 4 representatives of the Speyside region.

The 12 yo is Cragganmore's flagship official bottling. It's nice and complex, and I think of it as somewhat atypical of Speyside malts. It's got a lot going on in it, for one thing, and to my palate there's an unfamiliar bitter thread running through it. Sometimes it's chocolate, sometimes it's coffee. It's also less fruity and creamy than many other Speysides. I thought it would be interesting therefore to try to offset the lack of creaminess by tasting this whisky alongside sweet milk-based products (which excludes cheese, unless someone is willing to give me some Norwegian gjetost?).

The Tasting Notebook says:

Cragganmore 12 yo (OB)

Single malt - Speyside

Golden

40% ABV

Nose: Chocolate, walnuts, malty beer, iodine, hints of apples, hints of raisins, hints of oak.

Mouthfeel: Light body, thin, quite watery.

Tasting: Bitter sweet. Peat, apples, glace cherries, leather, coffee, hints of metal polish, hints of smoke.

Finish: Long. Pineapples, spicy.

Here we go:

1. Yakult

Lactobacillus, fermented milk and whisky. The nutty, apple notes in the whisky change to orange and coc0nut. Hints of wet stones appear. The mouthfeel becomes harsh and hard, very chewy.

2. La Fermiere Yoghurt with Orange Flower Honey

These little pots are great for desserts. The Pretty Lady gets them at work. The combination is fantastic - the whisky displays notes of salt caramel, and the slight bitterness goes away, replaced by apples and honey. Very creamy and milky as you'd expect, but the tanginess of the yoghurt is surprisingly quite muted.

3. Hot milk toddy

This is something I've known about for ages but first had in China in 2004. Hot milk, honey and spirit - in this case Cragganmore 12 yo - a good night drink. Maybe it's the steamed milk, but the whisky suddenly tastes salty, and the bitterness comes through more clearly. Big whiffs of artificial scents now - new plastic, brown paper, tyre rubber. Very strange.

4. Dulce de leche

I'm doing something I used to get told off for when I was a kid - eating stuff straight out of a jar on a spoon. In this case it's milk toffee. Strange. I get the same saltiness as I did with the hot milk, but this time there's no bitterness. Instead I get coffee (very good with salt in it - like the stuff I once tasted in Egypt courtesy of a diver from Her Majesty's Navy), and a big hit of magic marker. It's not unpleasant.


The clear winner, of course, is the La Fermiere yoghurt pot. Light and tangy, with orange blossom honey in it, it complements the whisky perfectly. It's actually improved the spirit by replacing the slight bitter note with a milky, creamy taste and texture. Very nice indeed.

Worms in your sushi

Carl Zimmer, of the very excellent blog the Loom, has a post about Anisakiosis, a type of food poisoning caused by a parasitic worm, Anisaki, and contracted by eating raw fish. In addition to plenty of fascinating information on Anisaki and the symptoms that it causes, there's a video of a colony of Anisaki wriggling in a box of fish. Has my chirashizushi been contaminated by unwanted parasitic worm proteins?

In the comments, someone asserts that freezing kills Anisaki, and sushi fish in the UK generally has been frozen before (at least in the sushi lunch bar - Wasabi - near work). This is probably true of cheap inferior restaurants, but perhaps not of good ones. I wonder if my usual haunts serve frozen fish?

Disclaimer - I've never been poisoned by seafood, raw, cooked, shellfish or fish. Mum, unfortunately, contracted food poisoning last weekend from eating her first two cockles in years. Maybe I've built up a tolerance from eating the following:

Uni sushi (sea urchin roe on rice and seaweed) - sea urchins are spiky because they taste good. Non-spiky urchins got slurped up by discerning piscine palates millions of years ago. Fish love them. I do too.

Chirashizushi (sashimi on a bed of rice) - salmon, o-toro, shiro maguro, lots of variations. Raw fish and rice. Yum yum.

Steamed cockles (semi-raw and dripping with juice) - last had them in Newton Hawker Centre, Singapore in December 2007. Get your Hepatitis A vaccinations first.

O chien (oyster omelette) - the nice man in Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, serves up nice and fat ones, still juicy and raw, in a greasy yummy bed of flour and egg. This is the best way to eat oysters. The second best is raw with a squeeze of lemon and shallot vinegar.

Baigai snails (fried with XO sauce and garlic) - there's a live seafood place in KL that does these. They are white and come from Japan. Little sweet morsels of pale juicy flesh. They aren't actually supposed to be raw, but like all seafood underdone is better than overdone, and they are still full of salty seawater goodness.

Warning: Do NOT eat the "o chien" at Newton in Singapore - it's terrible. The reason why people say it's good is because they haven't been across the border.

Jom Makan

Chain restaurants are all the rage these days. They're themed too, and are a good way to create awareness about an underappreciated cuisine. Few in London knew anything about ramen before Wagamama (and arguably few still do, but at least they know ramen is noodles in soup. I know, it's like saying Manchester United is just a sports team...).

So to take advantage of this, the Malaysian government has backed Jom Makan ("Let's eat"? "Let's go eat"?), a Wagamama-ish venture, serving what one would normally get in Malaysian hawker centres. The flagship restaurant opened about a month ago near Trafalgar Square.

Of course I was dubious when the Pretty Lady suggested trying it - it's too much to ask that such a place would serve anything close to the standard of Gurney Drive, Wai Sek Kai, or even Jalan Alor. I changed my mind though. It wouldn't be as good, but what if it were good? It's not as if Malaysian restaurants are thick on the ground here in London (which on reflection is probably the point). Beggars can't be choosers.

Jom Makan

5-7 Pall Mall East

London SW1Y 5BA

+44 (0) 20 7925 2402

The place has clean and minimalist lines. Slate grey floors, large red lampshades evoking lanterns hanging from the ceiling and wooden chairs and tables greet you. Not quite authentic, but it's an improvement, since authenticity means greasy sticky floors, a random worker slopping grey water around with a mop, and little land prawns gambolling across the tiles.

Where I have a real problem is with the menu. The dishes are named in Malay then described in English, and it's patently obvious that the food is almost entirely Malay. There are a few nods in the direction of Chinese and Indian food - Hainanese chicken rice, but described as steamed chicken rice, char koay teow and roti canai. What happened to other dishes - o chien, sar hor fun, banana leaf rice, thosai are all halal!

It's a restaurant funded by the Malaysian government, for goodness sake. I know that there are lots of Chinese and Indian restaurants in London, but we're talking about Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indian food here. It's another small but niggling sign that Malaysia is going to be for the Malays and not Malaysians, and it annoyed me a great deal.

Anyway, the teh tarik is authentic, if less sweet than what you get in Malaysia. I usually have it kurang manis anyway, so it's great for me. At £2.60 a glass it better be I suppose, but there's even real tea dust in the dregs! That's it though - no teh halia, no kopi-C, no soya bean, no rasam.

The Pretty Lady and I tried the tauhu sumbat, the satay, the nasi lemak and the mee bandung. All were surprisingly decent, if slightly off in some respects. The tauhu is reasonably substantial, with decent sized pieces of fried bean curd, generous portions of chopped stuffing, and big dollops of peanut sauce on top. Only gripe - the bean curd was cold, obviously recently taken out of the fridge. The satay was authentic and properly spiced with the right amount of lemongrass, and the ketupat the right consistency (a review in the Metro called it "horrible and puddingy", which was the point).

My nasi lemak was mostly alright - the rice could have done with a little more pandan, and there cold have been a lot more ikan bilis, but those ingredients are expensive. The real disappointment was the squid sambal. It was salty and spicy, when it should have had some sweetness. Either they're not using imported chilli boh or they just forgot to add sugar. The rendang was pretty good though.

The Pretty Lady's mee bandung was a revelation. It wasn't great mee bandung, but it was a good facsimile of what you might get at a mid-standard mamak stall in Malaysia. It was even based on a Maggi instant noodle packet, and I could taste the assam laksa flavour. Anyway, it was spicy enough, and oddly satisfying, as it brought back memories of eating cheap nosh in the school canteen.

My verdict overall - Jom Makan needs more Malaysian stuff, not just Malay stuff. And arguably, it needs non-halal food. I'd pay a lot for good bak kut teh. What there is though, is alright, worth going to after a night out, say. For a good meal of Malaysian food, I'll still go to Singapore Garden.

Scores:

5 August 2008: TFQ = 22, CS = 21, S = 15, AD = 6, VfM = 7. Total = 71 points.

Terras Gauda 2007 (Chewy flowers and peach)

I've been neglecting Spanish vintages lately. I find they're great value, and have big bold flavours that ram their way through to my (ever more) uneducated unsubtle palate. Could it be that whisky kills your olfactory senses?

This one is a Galician albariño blend, the eponymous label from Bodega Terras Gauda in the Rías Baixas. The Pretty Lady and I shared a couple of carafes at Wild Honey recently, pairing it with veal and fish. It seemed to work better with the veal. Adjacent image from Vinissimus (shows the 2005 bottling instead of the 2007).

Terras Gauda 2007
White wine
Spain (Rías Baixas, Galicia)
Albariño (70%), caiño, loureiro

Nosing: Pine (floor cleaner?), peach, faint hints of musk.
Mouthfeel: Chewy and hard, medium body, quite sticky in the mouth.
Tasting: Apples, apricots, lemons, floral notes.

The winery itself is located in the O Rosal valley close to the Portuguese border. It was founded in 1991 by Jose Maria Fonseca. They make wine from 2 vineyards, Terras Gauda and Abadia de San Campio. Both vineyards contribute grapes to their own labels. It seems that Terras Gauda is their marquee label, with a premium Terras Gauda Black Label expression available. I'm off to go forth and find them.

Wild Honey

This place is one of 2 sister restaurants, both of which have Michelin stars now. The other restaurant is Arbutus, and both restaurants are owned and run by Anthony Demetre and Will Smith. The restaurants share some common dishes, but Wild Honey is supposed to be a little more down to earth, less "hedge fundey" and more focused on the food. Even though it's located in Mayfair, I think the restaurant succeeds. I like the wood-panel decor, and the staff are always very helpful, especially when it comes to last minute reservations.

Wild Honey
12 St George Street
London W1S 2FB
+44 (0) 20 7758 9160

The Pretty Lady and I have been here a number of times, just by ourselves and in groups of up to 4 people. The food is French Provencal with a smattering of Modern European, and I've always enjoyed it.

There is no better starter than the pig's head, a dish which is also available at Arbutus. It consists of a gelatinous slice of brawn, mostly pig's jowl, fatty and salty and full of offal flavour, with caramelised onion marmalade. The Pretty Lady likes the smoked eel here - it's been available in combination with salad or mashed potatoes.

For mains, the Elwy Valley lamb is always a winner. I love Welsh lamb - it's almost pre-flavoured. At Wild Honey, they've served it with samphire and roast vegetables, or simply with roast potatoes. Simple, and absolutely delicious. Sometimes there's also Limousin veal available, milk-fed and tender, and recently I've had a delicious John Dory and clam. Combinations of fish and shellfish are quite common here - the Pretty Lady has also enjoyed razor clam and seared halibut.

For dessert, try the wild honey ice cream with honeycomb - finest, best-textured honeycomb available anywhere. The Yogababe likes the cheese plate here, while on a recent visit the Pretty Lady had chocolate soup and milk ice cream, a delicious combination of soft mousse and cold ice cream.

Wines are decent here - not too pricey, and there's a wide selection. Domaine Gerovassiliou is available here, but the Assyrtiko, not the Malagousia. Recently we had a good Albarino, which I'll blog about separately as usual. There's usually also a pre-theatre cocktail, which is generally champagne-based.

I enjoy the food here, but I think that from a value standpoint there are better places to go. I think of Wild Honey as an occasional treat - it's a good place to go for good food once in a while.

Scores:

3 August 2008: TFQ = 26, CS = 26, S = 16, AD = 8, VfM = 6. Total = 82 points.

10 good chain restaurants

The term "fast food" conjures up fairly negative connotations for me. It evokes memories of munching through a grey, carboard-like meat patty and drinking flat Coke at McDonalds in the late 1990s. However, there are a number of chains in London that now serve fare that sits between the 3 pound burger and the restaurant, making for cheap, tasty meals. Here are some that are worth going to:

1. Gourmet Burger Kitchen

First and best of the upmarket burger chains. Located all over the place now, but I first tried it in one of the first restaurants in Fulham. Most of the burgers are good (three quarter inch thick patties done medium - mmm...), but my favourites are the Kiwiburger (beetroot, pineapple and a fried egg) and the Blue Cheese Burger (mayonnaise with blue cheese). Get a side of fries with smoked chilli mayo.

2. Masala Zone

One of a couple of Indian food chains that emerged in recent years. This is to my mind (and stomach) the better one - the curries are more varied and taste more authentic, the menu changes fairly often too. Get the thali meals (but not the grand thali), and try the lime pickle.

3. Carluccio's

Oldie but goodie. I've not been here for a while now, because Italian food is something which I've had quite a lot over the years and because there's a great Italian restaurant close enough to home in order get takeaway every night. But when here, do have the arancini (rice balls), the vongole, and the affogato (espresso over vanilla ice cream).

4. Le Pain Quotidien

A Belgian chain that specialises in breads and salads. Very healthy, and I outsmarted myself once when I decided not to be healthy and had the chicken pot pie (I'm not giving any details). Anyway, ignore the pot pie and have the salads - they come with freshly baked bread. Try the tuna nicoise.

5. Ed's Easy Diner

Sadly, an institution that now only exists in 3 places - Covent Garden, Soho and Bluewater in Kent. There used to be one near me that closed down. Don't leave without trying the milkshakes - peanut butter and banana is usually a failsafe option. Also, the Original burger and the chilli cheese fries are staples whenever I visit.

6. Gaucho Grill

One of the most expensive chains around! A meal here regularly sets myself and the Pretty Lady back as much as a three course meal in some fancier restaurants would. It's worth it of course - the steaks are prime Argentine (sometimes Uruguayan) beef, are aged 21 days, cut the Latin American style (always more tasty), and grilled whichever way you want. Get the ribeye slightly more done than normal - I think South American beef is a little fattier than Antipodean or European beef. Also for dessert try Banana Tres Leches.

7. Wagamama

Another oldie but goodie. Restauranteur Alan Yau's first major venture, it's a decent place for ramen or faux Japanese noodle bar food. I like the chilli chicken ramen and the duck gyozas. Unfortunately recent price rises mean that it's not as good value as it used to be.

8. Nusa Kitchen

While this isn't really a restaurant, it's a great place to have lunch. The latest and best in a long line of soup bars, this place does 8-10 soups daily, all great value, most great-tasting. Even a glutton like me only needs one bowl. Best soups so far are Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Chilli con Carne, South Indian Rasam and Keema.

9. Ping Pong

Dim sum joint. Not as good as Royal China, but the dim sum is fairly authentic. Most things are okay, but I like the drinks best - the tea selection and the cocktails are pretty interesting and unusual. Try the sticky rice and the jasmine chicken spring roll. Yes yes, I know it sounds dubious, but I was sceptical too.

10. Tiffin Bites

The second of the Indian food chains. This one has a more Pakistani / North Indian bent, with a focus on tandoori foods. I like the bhel puri (Indian street food - puffed rice, chutney, potatoes), the boti kebab (tandoor roasted lamb) and the keema naans.



Honourable mentions go to Busaba Eathai and Pizza Express, for bringing cheap good (well, some of the dishes) Thai food and pizza to the masses. I've also been meaning to try Shish and the Real Greek; maybe in the future they'll make it to the top 10 list.

Malapascua trip

I've just returned from a very enjoyable diving trip in Malapascua, the Philippines with the Pretty Lady and some other friends (CW, KY, FZ and the Divernator). I saw thresher sharks (ticking one item off my shark to-see list), a blue ringed octopus, sea snakes, decorator crabs, some sort of (big) moray buried in the sand, filefish displaying, mandarin fish mating and mantis shrimp.

Less enjoyably, I got stung by jellyfish 6 times, missed a mola-mola and a manta ray by 2 minutes on 2 separate dives, and was given a nasty shock when someone went dynamite fishing nearby. More conservation, eat less seafood please.

It's happening again...

Last time, I saw this:



Now, I'm hoping to see this...:

...and this:

I'm going to dive Malapascua (in the Philippines) and visit the thresher sharks and manta rays at Monad Shoal!

(Great hammerhead and manta ray from Elasmodiver, and the thresher shark from Dive Phillipines).

Pinhead Gunpowder

I'm still working my way through the teas that the Pretty Lady bought for me from a shop she still hasn't taken me to yet. This one took a little while to grow on me, simply because I couldn't find a good time to drink it. Eventually I realised that since it had a real food-like quality to it, some savour that isn't normally present in tea, it was best drunk when I was quite hungry. Works too - lines the stomach until I can get to the kebab shop.

The tea comes in little black beads, exactly as described - pinheads (large ones) that look and smell like they are made of gunpowder. They're not really very appetising - someone I showed them too remarked that they looked like hamster droppings. No matter.

Pinhead Gunpowder
Oolong tea
China (Zhejiang province)
Golden brown, slightly cloudy

Preparation: About thirty or forty pinheads. Got to have a lot of tea in order to get the flavour. More is more, and first steeping is best. This is a tea that does indeed benefit from slightly cooler water.
Nose: Bitter, vegetal, smoky.
Tasting: Bitter salty, herbal smoke, minerally, slightly metallic, hints of smoked ham.
When to drink: When hungry so that I can last that bit longer before stuffing my face. It's quite substantial, funnily enough.

This tea is also known as Pingshui Gunpowder (平水珠茶). Although some websites claim that it's a type of green tea, mine definitely tastes oxidised. I think it's oolong tea prepared gunpowder style. Apparently Morocco is a major consumer - they brew the tea with mint and serve it up as such. Given the tight rolling into little beads, it's no surprise that the tea expands as it sinks to the bottom of the cup. Quite the show.

Dalwhinnie 15 yo (Rock you gently)

My cousin FY was kind enough to give me this bottle. I've tasted Dalwhinnie 15 yo before, at FM's tasting party, but it was great to have the chance to enjoy a whole bottle and really explore what this whisky had to offer (Answer: quite a lot!).

It's a Highlander, which in my mind usually equates to big bold flavours. However, I found this particular expression to be quite restrained, not very 'bouncy', but jiggling / rocking just a little, if that makes sense. It was best enjoyed when I was in a reflective mood. Which just goes to show how much variety there is in the world of whisky, and how little I know.

Anyway, we'll start with the usual tasting notes:

Dalwhinnie 15 yo (OB)
Single malt - Highlands
Golden
43% ABV

Nose: Sherry, beer, coconut, salted butter, vanilla and mint. Some very slight smokiness.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, thickens in the mouth. Egg white, mouth coating.
Tasting: Sweet. Cookie dough, vanilla, sherry, cream. Hints of smoke and tobacco leaf.
Finish: Medium length. Peanuts, some tamarind, slightly astringent.

I found this whisky interesting because it lacked barley. It was very subdued, and so I thought: why not add back some cereal flavours? So I'm going to try this whisky in combination with breakfast cereals. Early drinking? Why not.

1. Marks and Spencer Deliciously Nutty Crunch

The Pretty Lady eats this for breakfast most days (I'm not a regular cereal eater, as I miss my 2 thosais, coconut chutney and lamb curry with coffee made with fresh milk - best breakfast in the world). Anyway, the toffee and caramel in the cereal stand out, and all of a sudden it tastes like granola. The whisky has enhanced the oat and nut flavours, with a big hit of cream. Raisins too, where there were none before. The influence of the oak is more apparent.

2. Honey Loops

Oof. Cardboard, brown paper, marker pen. Lots of rice and wheat notes from the loops, but there's precious little else. Not even honey. The non-food smells and flavours aren't very enticing, although on occasion I do find them interesting when tasting whiskies. Not with my breakfast cereal though.

3. Cocoa Pops Mega Munchers

My favourite cereal as a kid. Not that mum let me eat a lot of it. Coffee, cocoa notes (not surprising). The whisky becomes medicinal, iodine-laden stuff. Bitter and herbal, but some pear flavours do appear. Not a great combination - I miss the sweetness of the whisky here.

4. Kellogg's Frosties

My second favourite cereal, and something mum let me eat a little bit more of growing up. The cookie dough notes in the whisky metamorphose to bubble gum and cotton candy. Lots of artificial strawberry and grape flavours. Like a visit to a fairground. Some oaty notes do appear in the whisky.


The Marks and Spencer's cereal takes the prize by a long way. I think the lesson is that Dalwhinnie 15 yo needs nuts (probably unsalted) to be enjoyed properly. I look forward to working my way through the rest of my bottle with some walnuts or almonds.

The Brickhouse

Continuing the theme of restaurants found in out of the way places, the Brickhouse is certainly a venue that doesn't keep in touch with its surroundings. It's in Banglatown, that warren of streets east of Bishopsgate that includes Brick Lane. Among the curry houses and sub-continental supermarkets sits the Truman Brewery, an exhibition space that also shelters natty pubs, a South African barbecue joint and the Brickhouse.

It is a combination nightclub, cabaret and restaurant. The entrance is whitewashed walls and formica counter, but once you get through the plain white door, there's a dance floor, mood lighting, an interesting bar, and wait staff dressed all in black. The booths on the second floor are great for viewing the little stage, where anything from jazz to Cirque du Soleil style mid-air acrobatics is staged.

I visited while on a stag night. There were 6 of us and we took a booth on the second floor. If you're seated on the edge of the booth though, like I was, it's a little difficult to see the performance. It's a startlingly intimate venue; we witnessed a cabaret show, where the androgynous performer twirled on a rope a'la Cirque du Soleil at second floor level. She would have smacked the watching diners in the head if she had extended her foot just a little further.

The Brickhouse

152c Brick Lane

London E1 6RU

+44 (0) 20 7247 0005

The food is served as a set menu of three courses. I started with tomato consomme, which was probably the most innovative dish I've eaten outside the Fat Duck so far. The idea of a tomato consomme is unusual enough in itself - it's the distillation of essence of tomato into a pale pink clear broth. The chef (the kitchen is headed by Matthew Reuther) had paired it with diced cucumber and a scoop of goat's cheese sorbet topped with a deep-fried, crispy basil leaf. The flavours went very well together, refreshing and unusual (if slightly unattractive in appearance after the sorbet melted).

I then had lamb done 2 ways - roasted chops encrusted with bacon bits and breadcrumbs, and poached pieces of what tasted like the rib eye on samphire. Accompanying these were semolina dumplings, a single roast cherry tomato, and a balsamic reduction of jus. The chops were perfectly done and perfectly enjoyable, but the samphire seemed to be a tad overcooked. But just a tad.

At this point I was starting to get more than a little annoyed at the service. We had waited about an hour for our main course, and told our waiter so. He apologised and was kind enough to put the side dishes (mash, roast carrots and green beans) as well as another round of drinks on the house. So we decided to order our desserts.

For dessert, I was very interested in the Eccles cake with Stilton ice cream, but as it took too long I decided to opt for the cappucino creme brulee instead. It came in a cappucino cup, milk foam sprinkled with cocoa powder overlaying a coffee-flavoured creme brulee. The sugar shell was nice and thick the way I like it, but I think overall it was too sweet. I would probably have preferred the Eccles cakes.

The hens then joined the stags after dessert, and everyone went down to the dance floor. Round about midnight, they had cleared away the tables from the dance floor, switching from restaurant to nightclub. The music was a mixture of contemporary hip-hop and dance, not quite to my taste, and anyway the Pretty Lady was waiting at home, so I said goodbye to both groom- and bride-to-be, and left.

Would I go back? Yes - for the tomato consomme alone, if nothing else. The chef is talented and creative, and I enjoyed his food very much. I think the Pretty Lady would too.

Scores:

16 July 2008: TFQ = 26, CS = 27, S = 10, AD = 8, VfM = 6. Total = 77 points.

*but only because of the poor service.

What does this mean?

Erben Kabinett 2002 (sugary stewed apricots)

This bottle was given to me by YY and CL for my birthday this year. I decided to open it when we had SY, JY and the Yogababe for pizza. SY is leaving London soon, so this was sort of a farewell lunch. It turned out to be fairly popular, especially among the ladies.

The reason was the sweetness - I'm more used to the dry Rieslings, so this one was something of a surprise. Since we were having pizza from Lupa, the wine, while starting off cloying, was able to compete with the strong flavours we were getting from the garlic bread, Italian sausage, pepperoni, chilli flakes etc etc. Not a bad combination, even if it was stumbled upon by chance.

Erben Kabinett 2002
White wine
Germany (Rheinhessen)
Unknown grape blend - probably a fair amount of Riesling

Nosing: Lychees, apricots, prunes, overripe grapes (no surprise!).
Mouthfeel: Lush, sugary and syrupy, like concentrated Ribena.
Tasting: Cooked apricots, pineapples, pears, hints of grapefruit and more lychees.

It's made from early harvest grapes, hence the Kabinett designation. The Spatleses, much beloved of Red Hare's mum and dad, are of the next stage in harvesting (more than 25% sugar, apparently). The stages, in order of early to late, are Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein, and Trockenbeerenauslese. The last is for grapes afflicted by noble rot.

The wine is made by a largish German producer, Franz Wilhelm Langguth. They also make the (in)famous Blue Nun range. They are the product of a merger between 2 German wine firms - Sichel, from Mainz, and Langguth, from a town in Rheinland Pfalz. Besides Blue Nun (several wines here, including an eiswein) and Erben Kabinett, they also make an Erben Spatlese and and Erben Auslese.