10 interesting facts about animals mating

This post is a result of a conversation Yumchia, the Pretty Lady and I had over lunch at Gidleigh Park. We continued the discussion on the drive back to London, and Yumchia asked me to do a post on the subject of chickens and eggs. So I tried, but I couldn't find enough stuff to make a full post, so I thought I'd do a list post. It's more interesting and has far more detail, although in this case it may be excessive. Here goes.

1. Chickens and eggs.

Most of the eggs available in supermarkets are unfertilised ova. That is, the cockerel has not fertilised the egg by mating with a hen. Cockerels have no penis - instead the hen inverts her cloaca to receive sperm from the cockerel's cloaca. Video embedded below (it's about 1 minute in).



2. Duck penises and wrong turns.

Female ducks are devious. Their cloacas (the avian and reptilian version of a vagina) curve, twist, branch and have dead ends. This is thought to enable the female duck to select sperm from the male she likes best to fertilise her eggs. The male duck has also evolved some impressive equipment in order to get around the female's defences. See here, for some impressive images.

3. Gorillas, harems, and effort.

Among primates, gorillas have the smallest testes and penis relative to the size of their body. Gorillas' penises measure a length of just 2 inches on average, compared to a human's 5-7 inches on average. The reason is thought to be because gorillas live in harem-like family groups, where a single male silverback has sole access to several females (adjacent image is from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund site). He can therefore be certain that any sperm that fertilise the females in his harem are his, and so he can get away with producing less sperm than, say, a chimpanzee. The chimp needs to produce more sperm and has bigger testes to do so, since his sperm needs to contest with other chimps' sperm. In case you were wondering, humans have medium size testes (because humans are mostly monogamous) and big penises (because size really does matter and female primates pick males with bigger penises).

4. Boars and the perils of experimentation.

Pigs' penises curve, ending in a spiral, and are between 45 and 60cm long. The boar's penis engages with the sow's cervix (not vagina), which is also spiral shaped. So the boar needs to be fairly adept and manipulating it in order to fertilise the sow. More details here. And for an eye-watering story, see here.

5. Humans and axolotls - reproducing without growing up.

Axolotls are interesting creatures. They are thought to be a type of salamander, and indeed are very similar to the larval stage of some species of salamanders. However, they become sexually mature, mate and reproduce while still in this larval stage (the technical term for it is "neotenous"). It's possible to turn an axolotl into a salamander with hormone injections. All well and good - except that the same is hypothesised to apply to humans too! Humans are similar to chimpanzee babies. They share hairless, flat faced, small teeth, thin skull bones and a number of other characteristics. It's possible that humans are apes that never grew up. More here.

6. Anglerfish and their deep attachment to each other.

Anglerfish are a deep sea fish with lures hanging off their foreheads, often with a bioluminescent tip, which they use to lure unsuspecting prey into their jaws. The fish of the family Ceratiidae are solitary, and males and females rarely meet. To perpetuate their species, the male, which is much smaller than the female, fuses himself to the female, becoming nothing more than a pair of sperm producing organs. More here, and the adjacent image is from Te Ara. This leads nicely to...

7. Polychaete worms and sexual dimorphism.

...polychaete worms of the genus Osedax, which live on whale falls (occurring whenever the corpse of a whale falls to the ocean floor). Males live inside the female, never developing past the larval stage, producing lots and lots of sperm. This looks quite close to asexual reproduction, with the only gene shuffling occurring during meiosis.

8. Dolphins, whales, and keeping it hidden.

Dolphins and whales need to swim to find food, and by and large, they need to swim fast. External genitalia, therefore, are a hindrance, creating drag and reducing top speed. So male dolphins and whales have evolved a way to keep their genitalia in a pouch, extruding them only when mating. It's actually quite impressive.



9. The Iberian minnow and complete, total male lib.

There's a species of freshwater fish, Squalius alburnoides, that consists entirely of males. Species that consist of females are known, and even hammerhead sharks can reproduce by parthenogenesis. However, this species of fish reproduces by mating with females of another species. They produce female and female hybrids (triploid) and male pure breds (diploid). So these minnows don't need females. Emile of The World We Don't Live In explains it better than I ever could here.

10. Snakes - how?

Apparently it's quite complicated. Video here. The male snake needs to join his cloaca to the female snake. He has two penises, and only needs to insert one into her cloaca. Flexible spines on it then expand, preventing it from getting dislodged. He can then deposit his sperm. The female sometimes pulls the male along during mating, and he will try to mate with her again after a few hours. Another video below:




So there you have it. This blog is no longer family friendly, and should only be viewed after the watershed, when any young children should be fast asleep in bed.

Cantina Bernardi Frizzante 2005 (dry yet fruity and light)

I'm not really a great fan of sparkling wine. I prefer fruity robust reds, and often I feel that appreciation of something delicate, light and airy comes less easily as a result. Nevertheless a good champagne or prosecco can have enough layers in it to entertain my inexperienced palate, if I can sit still enough to drink it. It's a little like getting whacked on the head by a teacher to hammer home a message.

This is a bottle of prosecco a group of us had to while away the afternoon at the Anchor and Hope. It was a great facilitator of conversation. Then again, sparkling wine often is - the bubbles aerate the wine and ease absorption of alcohol in the upper intestine, and people become convivial more quickly. It helps if the bubbly is as easy drinking as this prosecco of course.

Cantina Bernardi Frizzante 2005
Sparkling white wine
Italy (Prosecco Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, Veneto)
Prosecco

Nose: Sour grapes (yes, they do have a flavour, not just of envy), orange juice.
Mouthfeel: Light and refreshing. Slightly astringent on the tongue, the first mouthful made me want to pucker up a little.
Tasting: Dry, plum skin, a bitterness suggesting hard fruit skin, something nutty (almonds?), strawberries.

Prosecco, made from the grape of the same name, is the Veneto's answer to Champagne's champagne. Real prosecco should be made only around the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, and bottles from these regions carry the official appellation (or DOC). I find prosecco to be drier than champagne of the same grade, with more nutty flavours and (I'm going to get skewered for this) more fruit. Champagne is more bready and oaty, more likely to have that elusive "structure" than prosecco.

This prosecco did have structure, despite being very dry. It was a little confusing for me, as I don't normally associate dryness with a lot of fruit. I also fancied that I could taste something slightly camphoraceous after the bottle had been open for a while, but that could just be my thinking about chasing the prosecco with a dram of Lagavulin 16 yo...

Anyway, the Cantina Bernardi vineyard is in the right place to produce the stuff, being located between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, near the village of Refrontolo. It's run by the brothers Adriano and Pierluigi, and was founded in 1960. They make 5 types of Prosecco, with the prime label being Prosecco "Arnere", a wine made with grapes from a certain portion of their vineyard. There are 2 other sparkling wines made with Manzoni grapes, as well as some dessert wines and some reds.

So many vineyards, so little time.

The Theory of the Perfect Bite

This is something thought up by the Pretty Lady, and it's turned out to be a very good way to test a chef's skill. The theory runs thus:

• A Perfect Bite is when all elements in a dish are assembled onto a single forkful or spoonful.
• If a Perfect Bite tastes, well, perfect, the chef has executed the dish well.
• If one of the ingredients is off, or doesn't match the others, then it will show up in the Perfect Bite test.

As one might imagine, it works best for haute cuisine, Modern European, or fusion food, where the chef assembles components on a plate. The principle can be applied to dishes from most other cuisines too - I've tried it on a thali meal, for example.

Chateau de Javernand Chiroubles 2005 (wakey wakey sleepyhead)

I got this wine for dinner at the Anchor and Hope not too long ago, to accompany a slow-cooked lamb shoulder and potato gratin. The Yogababe and I disagreed over whether to get a 2003, a 2005 or a 2002 vintage from the wine list, but eventually we decided to go for the 2005 as it seemed to be the best value for money. We were also getting 2 bottles for a table of 8, and I believe that younger wine drinks better in large quantities. I've not tested that theory, but this particular vintage seemed to go down well. Adjacent image from www.javernand.com, the vineyard's website.

Chateau de Javernand Chiroubles 2005
Red wine
French (Chiroubles, Beaujolais-cru)
Gamay

Nose: Kiwi, flowers, red fruits, tart plums, something savoury - cheese.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, not over-rich, medium body.
Tasting: Oak, apples, meat drippings, cherries, sandalwood. Pushes right up through the nose, very agressive once properly aerated.

I felt it complemented the meat quite well. It took some time to wake up though - for about half an hour after opening, effectively all the way through my starter, the wine simply tasted of plain fruit and oak. Only when the meat came did it open up with savoury and sandalwood notes appearing. Vigorous swirling helped a bit, but I was afraid of over-oxidising the wine. Yogababe felt that it didn't really wake up for her until she was well into her mains, and she was quite disappointed.

Chiroubles is one of the Beaujolais-cru appellations, that is, one of 10 appellations (located near villages of the same names, usually) in the foothills of the Beaujolais mountains. The Chiroubles appellation is one of those synonymous with a village, and is located at a high altitude for a vineyard. The wines are supposed to display aromas of cut violets, and are supposed to be best when young.

Chateau de Javernand is one of more than 70 vineyards in the Chiroubles appellation. It was started in 1917 by Auguste Faye, who bought the vineyard and the chateau. The vineyard is run today by Pierre Forneau. The vineyard produces 2 marques, Chateau de Javernand, their cuvee selection, and Les Gatilles (I think this means "the geckos", but my French is very basic). Les Gatilles is supposed to be a truer representation of what the vineyard's characteristics are: refreshing and fruity.

I found this particular Beaujolais to be pretty good, but as an accompaniment to a meal in a restaurant, it was a little deficient. The wine needs to breathe for quite a long time before more interesting aromas appear, so it probably suits being served at home better. Now that I know, I suppose I could also get them to decant it for a bit before our meal.

The Anchor and Hope

After watching a play at the Old Vic, some friends and I were looking for a place in order to get out of the impending rain and have something to eat. There's a choice of several restaurants around Southwark tube station - Baltic, the Anchor and Hope, Tas, Livebait and another pub that serves Thai food next to Baltic. All reach a reasonably good minimum standard, but in my mind only the Anchor and Hope and Baltic are great.

We chose the Anchor and Hope because we left the Old Vic in mid-afternoon, which was a fairly convenient time to pitch up at the pub. The Anchor and Hope takes no reservations except for one seating on Sunday afternoon at 2pm, for which one needs to reserve a table on Monday without knowing the menu in advance. Given the popularity of the place, it's always best to go if one happens to have 2 spare hours to wait for a table, as we did. Adjacent image from thisislondon.co.uk.

The Anchor and Hope
36 The Cut
London SE1 8LP
020 7928 9898

The Anchor and Hope was one of Britain's first gastropubs when it opened way back in 1991. Numerous chefs, critics and regular diners have heaped praise on it, and it's deserved praise too. The pub won a Best Gastropub in the UK award in 2004, and serves unreconstructed, traditional British food. The chef is Jonathon Jones, who served me at the bar on this visit (I didn't know until I came to write this post). He was fairly patient when I asked for a wine glass to have my dram of Lagavulin 16 yo in - they don't serve wine in wine glasses at the bar, only in tumblers. Shame.

For what it's worth, the wine list has a lot of French and Italian stuff, with some good vintages available. We chose a Chiroubles 2005 which I will blog about separately. As far as whisky goes, the selection was alright - Macallan 10 yo, Lagavulin 16 yo, Cragganmore 12 yo and Maker's Mark, plus J&B and Jameson.

Anyway, my party of 8 had several drinks, until at 6pm they seated us in the main restaurant. The menu was interesting, to say the least. For starters, I had snail, bacon and watercress salad, which consisted of milk-fed snails with warm bacon, croutons, and watercress leaves - very savoury, with the snails full of snail flavour rather than garlic flavour as is usually the case when one orders escargots. The Pretty Lady had potato soup with foie gras, smooth, rich and full of cream. The foie gras was a slice that had been seared gently and was floated on top of the rich white soup (almost a veloute). Yogababe had crab on toast, fulfilling her obligations as a social animal eater. I thought the crab was a little overdone on the mayonnaise and lemon, with the toast a little too burnt. Other starters included a bolito misto and beetroot, ragstone cheese and orange.

For starters 5 of us, including myself, decided to go for a slow-cooked lamb shoulder with potato gratin, one of the Anchor and Hope's signature dishes. It was massive, and would have fed at least 7 of us. The gratin was wet and cheesy, with a little too much milk added for some. It was certainly wetter than what's available at La Bouchee, but I view it as a different style which is just as tasty. The lamb was pretty tender and soft, having been cooked for seven hours, but I feel that it would have benefited from being braised with more root vegetables for extra sweetness. Tasty nevertheless.

Other mains on the menu included rib of beef with chips for two, English lop (a breed of pig) with celeriac and beetroot, spinach and ricotta rotollo with green beans and aioli, which Yogababe had. She liked the rotollo, a pasta swiss roll filled with the beetroot, spinach and ricotta, but the aioli was a little too garlicky for her taste.

For dessert, CY asked for marmalade ice cream, another signature dish. Upon being informed that there was one scoop left, she pounced on it and was kind enough to share it around. It was lovely - bittersweet orange peel-flavoured ice cream, perfect texture and taste. I had a rhubarb and buttermilk pudding, which I shared with the Pretty Lady. It turned out to be a vanilla panna cotta with poached rhubarb on the side, a riff on rhubarb and custard. Very clever and tasty, even if the buttermilk pudding was a tad on the fragile side. CY also had a pistachio cake which was the best dessert in my opinion - warm, buttery and nutty, chockfull of pistachios with fresh cream and blood orange on the side.

I do dislike the no-bookings system that the Anchor and Hope operates. Intensely. However, when I do have a free afternoon, a meal there is not only enjoyable but very rewarding, especially in a large group of people. It's a great gastropub, but a no-bookings policy only serves to irritate customers.

Scores:

22 March 2008: TFQ = 26, CS = 25, S = 10, AD = 6, VfM = 8. Total = 75 points.

Note that I've taken away 12 points for the no-bookings system, and added 2 points for the good service.

What does this mean?

Silver Needle (glittery and shimmering)

I like tasting stuff. I've written posts on whisky, brandy and wine so far, and I'm about to broaden my horizon to tea. Why tea? Well, why not? Drinking tea is just as pleasant as drinking alcohol, and probably far healthier. Especially when I've got several interesting ones to try. I might even be able to make this into a series of posts.

We'll start off with Silver Needle. I found a bag of this in a Whittard of Chelsea shop. It was on clearance sale. Despite the fact that the tea was probably about a year old, the resulting brew was delicious, pleasant and refreshing. Since then, Whittard have discontinued selling this, so I count myself lucky to have found it. It looks like Zhenhe Silver Needle, as I found on Wikipedia (see adjacent image).

Silver Needle
White tea
China (Fujian province)
Pale silvery yellow

Preparation: Boiling water with a large pinch of tea gives the best results. Rewards up to 3 steepings before losing flavour. Second steeping is the best.
Nose: Fragrant orchids, thin and subtle, very elusive.
Tasting: Slightly sweet, nutty flavours, straw. Bitter only at the dregs, and then only after long steeping.
When to drink: For thinking, reading, blogging, or rehydrating after exercise.

The highest grade of Silver Needle tea leaves are long and thin, with small fine hairs on each leaf. After brewing, the hairs detach and become suspended in the tea, which accounts for its shimmering, silvery look upon first brew. I don't think they contribute to the taste much though - my silver needle tea is usually better upon second brew, and sometimes third brew too. The tea I have is probably a slightly lower grade, as there aren't that many hairs still attached to the leaf. Upon brewing, some tea leaves will be temporarily suspended upright at the bottom of the cup, giving the tea its name.

The tea is grown in the Zhenhe and Fuding districts of Fujian province, and should only be picked in March and April when it is not raining. The best grade is Baihao Yinzhen (白毫银针), which is made from the buds near the top of the plant.

While the prescribed method of brewing is to use off-boil water (about 75-80 degrees Celsius), I feel that this gives a flavour which is too delicate and elusive. The tea is much more flavourful (although it lacks the shimmering silver colour) when brewed with 90-100 degree water. Call me a Philistine, but why waste such delicious tea?

Asadal

Korean food is sometimes the poor cousin of Chinese and Japanese food. They've been elevated to the status of haute cuisine, after Alan Yau's ventures (Hakkasan and Yauatcha), Nobu Matsuhisa's eponymous chain of restaurants and the revelation that Tokyo has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city in the world. Korean food is still waiting for its rethinker to take it into the "fine dining" leagues. Not that it's not fantastic now.

In the meantime though, Korean restaurants continue to offer good, wholesome, traditional meals that fill one up at a reasonable price with great pleasure. One such place is Asadal, which is the sister restaurant of a similarly named place in New Malden, Surrey. Asadal London (adjacent image from londontown.com) is located beside Holborn tube station, underground. The entrance is quite plain, and doesn't give any hint of the delicious meal waiting below. I held off trying this place for nearly 2 years, as it seemed uninteresting and there were other places that scratched my Korean food itch - Ran and Arang among others. Since I first visited about a year ago, it's become my favourite Korean restaurant.

Asadal
227 High Holborn
London WC1V 7DA
020 7430 9006

There are several varieties of kimchi available here, but go for the regular varieties - pickled Chinese leaf and daikon radish. Simple is best when it comes to Asadal, and the Chinese leaf comes rolled up into a wad, ready to be peeled apart with metal chopsticks. There's ginger mixed in with the chilli too, for an interesting twist.

The usual dishes are well prepared and of decent quality - bibimbap (rice, meat, egg and vegetables in a heated stone bowl) is almost perfect, with the bowl heated just so, such that the egg is just set after being mixed in with the rice. My only gripe was that there was not enough Korean hot bean sauce. Japche, glass noodles fried with beef and vegetables, is flavourful and moist, with the flavour penetrating the noodles - with many other Korean restaurants, the japche noodles are relatively tasteless. Barbecue here is good as well - the meat is well marinated and seasoned, and they will cook it in the kitchen for any customer who prefers to go home smelling relatively unsmoky. All the usuals are available - bulgogi, spicy chicken and seafood.

Pajeon (fried seafood pancake) is a little better than average here, with enough shellfish and vegetables such that the fried dough doesn't dominate the dish. It's not fantastic though. Instead, go for the kam poong gi - fried chicken in a sweet and sour sauce. Korean fried chicken is fast gaining a great reputation in the US, but is relatively unknown here in the UK. The chefs at Asadal know how to fry chicken - the pieces are crisp and moist inside, and there's lots of nooks and crannies on the surface of the batter for the sauce to soak into.

Now for the more unusual dishes. Pork fans should try the bo ssam, slices of fat belly pork steamed and served with a spicy salty sauce. The Pretty Lady isn't a fan of this, but it's great for anyone who loves pork fat, as I do. Another dish that the Pretty Lady won't eat is yuk hwe, minced raw beef, julienned pear and a raw egg yolk - the Korean version of steak tartare. The Asadal version has the beef defrosted sufficiently to be tender, unlike one or two other places. Highly recommended.

As for drinks, they aren't the point. The wine list is unremarkable save for a Gewurztraminer which would be sweet enough to withstand all the strong flavours. I order either tea or OB (Oriental Brewery) beer - the food is perfect to go with them (no shikhye - Korean rice punch - though). Don't bother with desserts either - the cinnamon ginger tea is good enough.

Scores:

21 March 2008: TFQ = 24, CS = 24, S = 12, AD = 6, VfM = 7. Total = 73 points.

What does this mean?

Bureaucrats create more champagne

On 13 March, the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (the French agency charged with controlling the labelling of wine, cheese and a whole host of other food products) announced an expansion of the French region of Champagne. Now, 357 villages (up from 317) will have the right to make sparkling wine and label it champagne, from 87,000 acres of vines (up from 84,000 plus). This was done in order to meet growing demand for champagne.

More here and here.

Now for some Fermi estimation:

• Maximum champagne yield from the old territorial delineation was about 300m bottles a year, about 3,500 bottles an acre, as it says here.
• The new acreage will add some 10m bottles to current production at current yields.
• But annual sales were already exceeding that by some 40m bottles - 338m bottles in 2007!
• By 2020, assuming champagne demand grows at a rate of 5% per annum - not outlandish if you believe China and India are nascent luxury demanding economies - then annual demand will be more like 600m bottles.
• That's about 81,500 extra acres - a doubling in size of the champagne region...

Clearly, the price of champagne is going to go up by a lot in the future. Best drink more (good champagne) now. The Pretty Lady is nodding as I write this. Better go and get a few bottles.

Rosebank 17 yo 1990/2007 Cask Strength (Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey)

Sadly, Rosebank, a wonderful Lowlands distillery, is no more. Nevertheless, Diageo has a large stash from which they release stocks from time to time, and there are a number of independent bottlers that also have good casks. The Whisky Exchange is one of them, and they have a number of Rosebank releases which are very good. This whisky though, is from one of their casks from which they bottle to order at their Vinopolis shop. I believe it's from the same stock as one of their bottlings, but because it was bottled later it has a little more aging in it.

I love this whisky. It's a quintessentially summery whisky, with the refreshing light Lowlands character, and it puts me in mind of summer fruits, sweets and English (and Scottish) market towns. Light and airy is the impression I'm trying to convey here - boiled sweets, some Earl Grey tea with no milk, daffodils and daisies. I thought I would try to pair this whisky with some really good quality, classic English sweets.

Rosebank 17 yo 1990/2007 Cask Strength (from the cask, The Whisky Exchange)
Single malt - Lowlands
Straw gold
55.2% ABV

Nose: Spring grass, lemons, fresh orange juice, not the peel. Rhubarb and custard sweets. Slightly medicinal from the high ABV.
Mouthfeel: Light body. Evaporates quickly. Like getting poked in the mouth.
Tasting: Salty sweet. Jam doughnuts, lemon curd on toast. Magic marker and pear drop lurking underneath.
Finish: Medium long and warm. Something sweet and spicy, like mulled wine (although that's not very summery). Fades to sweet.

I've tried to get sweets of reasonably quality, as I try with all these pairings. They are from Mrs Kibble's Sweet Shop. There's no point in wasting a good whisky by pairing it with something that wouldn't be worth eating on its own. Both food and whisky are supposed to complement each other, after all. Here we go.

1. Lemon sherberts

Start with the simple easy one first. Swishing the whisky around the sherbert creates something very spirity, barley-ey and mashy. The Rosebank reminds me of bourbon whiskey now, with underlying tones of magic marker. The rhubarb and custard edge is still there, with hints of cheap estery Wrigley's chewing gum, and soft peaches. A bitter finish, with some slight whiffs of compost. Rather interestingly, the high ABV seems to stop the sherbert filling from fizzing in the mouth. Don't know why.


2. Rhubarb and custard sweets

My favourite sweet of all, followed by a contender for my favourite whisky so far. In goes the sweet, sip of whisky - lemony tart, with barley sugar overtones, as the sweet makes the whisky sweeter (duh!). Followed closely by a big hit of banana, which is warm and hot. Slight savoury note, almost like a banana fritter. It fades quickly, finishing with bitter oaty notes at the end. Not bad - the only problem is that the rhubarb and custard sweet is kind of big, and I can't swish the whisky around my mouth like I'm used to.

3. Soor plooms

Scottish sweets for Scottish whisky! Soor plooms are from Galashiels, which is in the Lowlands too. The whisky make the sweet's flavours taste coconutty, and more creamy. There's a slightly milky flavour which is very attractive. Some bitterness towards the end, and tartness as the whisky's rhubarb and custard character reasserts itself. Quite interesting.

4. Pear drops

Pear drops have a queer chemical taste that reminds me of magic marker. I occasionally find this in some whiskies. It's not unpleasant, it just gives me the vague feeling that I'm doing something I shouldn't, like sniffing glue. Anyhow... oh wow. Barley and corn mash, followed by peanuts and bitter walnuts, wreathed with the magic marker flavour. The whisky isn't sweet at all, very maritime, but it's too light to resemble a big-hitting coastal Highlander. Is there more? Unfortunately not - that's all the depth there is. Shame.


I thought the pear drops would have won it from the impression given by the first sip. Unfortunately the magic marker taste overwhelmed whatever finish there was, which was a little disappointing. So the honours go to the soor plooms, which is poetically appropriate - Scottish Lowlands sweet with a Scottish Lowlands whisky!

Birth-year Armagnacs

At the East Room, the Pretty Lady, Yogababe and I ordered Armagnac brandies bottled in the years of our birth. It's not a great idea to reveal which years those are on the internet though, so unfortunately I'll have to hide them when posting these tasting notes. Those that know us will know which years they are.

1. Red Hare's Chateau de Ravignan

Nose: Grappa, myrrh, lemon thyme and raisins. Very Middle Eastern combination - doesn't smell like brandy normally does.
Tasting: Sweet and smooth, sultanas, hard fruits, a tinge of camphor.

2. The Pretty Lady's Marcel Trepout

Nose: Raisins, herby and buttery. I thought I tasted salted popcorn at first, but got a bit confused after that. More Italian than Middle Eastern, if I'm selecting foods as my reference points.
Tasting: Sweet sour and tangy. Sultanas and hard fruits, perhaps more pear than the Chateau de Ravignan.

3. Yogababe's Laberdolive

Nose: Dark chocolate and figs. Creamy, reminded me of a dairy, but the milk was somehow quite separate from the chocolate. Yogababe disagreed.
Tasting: Sweet, but not as sweet as the Chateau de Ravignan. Spicy cinnamon, some apple. I think the nose was more interesting than the tasting, but by this time my palate was fairly tired.

The armagnacs were delicious, and I enjoyed the novelty of testing out the distillate produced in one's birth year. Nevertheless, some armagnacs are so much better than others - Yogababe's was the most expensive, and all of us agreed that it was the best, with more flavours and aromas than the other two.

A great digestif - who needs dessert anyway?

The East Room

My sister, the Yogababe, decided to join a private members-only club. So she chose the East Room in Shoreditch, a newly opened, buzzy little bar / restaurant that is linked to 2 other venues in London (Milk and Honey and the Player), another in New York and another in Chamonix. Since the launch of the East Room, the club has decided to open membership once again, with a marketing drive aimed at ladies. From this promotion, Yogababe managed to snaffle membership at a very decent price indeed. To celebrate, she asked the Pretty Lady and myself along to have a look.

The place itself is actually quite hard to find. As befits a private club, there is no signage. The only indication is a discreet little strip above the buzzer in the doorway. Get past that, go up a flight of stairs, and the door opens into a maroon carpeted room with an interesting whisky collection in a cupboard on the right. Go forward past some booths, and the room widens to reveal wooden tables, leather sofas, comfy leather chairs and a bar on the left. The whole impression is of an '80s lounge, especially when the room is dimly lit.

The East Room
2a Tabernacle Street
London EC2A 4LU
07000 THSTRM

The food menu is short. One can either choose the salad bar ("DIY Dining" on the menu), which serves several salads along with a large pan of prawns and a slab of roast beef, or go for the a'la carte. Among the starters served are olives, jamon serrano and oysters, while you can size your main of tuna carpaccio or crab linguine to starter size. For mains (that only come in one size) there is capon, rib eye steak, or lamb cutlets. Desserts range from a cheese plate to lemon tarte to chocolate torte (although we didn't try them). The food is simple but well done, and is great value for money.

The drinks are by far the more impressive. There's an Enomatic machine, dispensing New Zealand Pinot and South American merlot. Ordering wine from the bar involves examining a useful grid system - choose a price range, cross reference it to a grape and begin. There are a large number of whiskies, a cut above the normal range available in a bar - I noticed an Oban 1992 Distiller's Edition, a Rosebank 20 yo and a Dalmore Gran Reserva, not to mention several Compass Boxes. The tequila and rum ranges are almost as extensive. The cocktail list is almost an afterthought after all this, but the house cocktails are fairly interesting and original.

Best of all, they have a range of Armagnacs, some fairly rare, ranging from 1955 to 1985. The idea is to have the Armagnac bottled in one's year of birth. Yogababe, the Pretty Lady and I eschewed dessert to try and see if any of birth-year Armagnacs were any good. They were, and I'll be blogging about them in a separate post.

The place is a private club after all, and attracts a buzzy media / advertising crowd, with the occasional City worker. I didn't like it enough to join (particularly since I'm male, and can't take advantage of the great ladies' discount), but I suppose I'll be back occasionally with Yogababe. The whisky range is definitely worth a trip or two.

Scores:

16 March 2008: TFQ = 22, CS = 19, S = 10, AD = 8, VfM = 9. Total = 68 points.

* poor service - they lost Yogababe's reservation by confusing her with someone else and marked her as a no show. I suppose it's still early days and they've got time to iron things out.

What does this mean?

La Vieille Ferme Red 2004 (surprisingly spicy)

We went to KN's place for dinner one Sunday night recently. Yogababe was there, and she had brought a bottle of wine for our kind hostess. It was this one, and I opened it when KN asked me if I wanted red wine. Despite 2004 not being a great year, this one was surprisingly spicy, full of flavour and sunshine, if a little lacking in fruit.

La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2004
Red wine
French (Cotes du Ventoux, Rhone)
50% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Carignan, 15% Cinsaut

Nose: Pear, musty fruit, red peppers, hints of meat drippings and magic marker.
Mouthfeel: Smooth and thick - big gulps required.
Tasting: Oak, blackberries, hard fruits, spice, and surprisingly, pencil leads.

KN served spicy chicken stew to go with this - lots of ginger, chilli and spices, with roast carrots, sweet potato and parsnips on the side. Surprisingly, the wine more than held its own, with some interesting flavour notes appearing. The lack of fruit I mentioned earlier could well be because of the chicken, but the wine was enjoyable enough. For a food-wine pairing where the wine was basically chosen at random, they went well together.

La Vieille Ferme is one of the marquees of the Perrin brothers, vintners at the Chateau de Beaucastel. It was established more than 35 years ago, and the grape blend is the same as for their flagship marquee Chateau de Beaucastel, a Chateauneuf du Pape.

The wine is marked Cotes du Ventoux, which is not quite Cotes du Rhone, but is close enough. It's meant to be an affordable alternative to the Chateauneuf du Pape, and the Perrin brothers have concentrated on marketing this marquee in the US in recent years, if the number of US based review on their blog is anything to go by. Some quick googling revealed that La Vieille Ferme is extremely popular due to its perceived value for money - I agree. It's a good wine. However, it's not a great wine, and if fireworks in the mouth is what one wants, one must pay more.

The Old Bull and Bush

There are a number of great pubs in and around Hampstead in North London. Some qualify as gastropubs, although the label is misplaced - gastropub implies that the food is much better than the drink, and that the purpose of the pub is to serve food, not to serve drink. This is not true with most of these "gastropubs", particularly not the Old Bull and Bush. Here, the food is one facet of an establishment that serves those interested in a good meal, those interested in a good pint, or both. I fall into the last category most of the time.

The Old Bull and Bush is located on North End Road east of Golders Green tube station. It's not easily accessible by public transport, but it doesn't need to be - most of its patrons live in the area. Nevertheless, it's well worth a visit even if one is coming from further afield. Across the road from the pub is Golders Hill Park, which is a treat to walk around in summer (there's the obligatory pond with ducks, as well as an interesting aviary). The pub was originally supposed to be the site of a tube station (to be known as Bull and Bush station, of course) between Hampstead and Golders Green. The station exists underground, and one can see it on the tube journey between Hampstead and Golders Green, but shafts were never sunk down from the surface.

The Old Bull and Bush
North End Road
Golders Green
London NW3 7HE
020 8905 5456

At the Old Bull and Bush, one has a choice of 3 areas, the restaurant, the pub or the beer garden in front. The restaurant serves slightly more expensive, more elaborate food, while the pub serves simpler salads and pizzas (as does the beer garden). The pizzas and salads are also available in the restaurant.

As far as drinks go, the wine list is fairly interesting, although I haven't actually drank wine at the Old Bull and Bush. The highlight is Mad Fish from Mad Fish Bay, a white with which I was impressed when I tried it elsewhere. The beers aren't bad either - there are a list of 10 (with many of the familiar options), and the highlight is draught Edelweiss, which I usually have.

The menu has changed over the last 6 months, and sadly, I don't think it was for the better. Two of my favourites have been taken off - the crab linguine (which was also a favourite of the Pretty Lady's) and the Turkish aubergine and lamb pizza. Nevertheless, there remains enough good hearty food on the menu to make this place worth visiting.

Pride of place on the starter menu should go to the eggs benedict. They used to make this dish with salmon, which was tasty enough, but they've gone back to the original and best version - with smoked ham. Other starters include chicken liver parfait and scallops with chorizo.

For mains, one can't do better than the lamb rack, chorizo and vegetables. The chorizo has been deep fried in cubes, and scattered like pancetta over the roast rack of lamb. If that is too heavy, the duck salad with watercress is a reasonably healthy alternative. Some of the new options on the menu are pretty good too - venison and pancetta hot pot with roast vegetables is decent cold weather comfort food. There are also the comforts of grilled steak and chips, or well done pizza.

Desserts are where the Old Bull and Bush is weak - there aren't any. Still, it's nice place to enjoy a glass of wine, or another beer, or just a coffee.

Scores:

13 March 2008: TFQ = 22, CS = 22, S = 14, AD = 6, VfM = 7. Total = 71 points.

What does this mean?

Crocodylian phylogeny

This is a follow-up to the last post, where I described 10 crocodylians. Again, the lengths of the branches of the cladogram don't mean anything. There you have it - 3 extant lineages, gharials, alligators and crocodiles.

10 crocodylians, scariest beasts around

Watching crocodylians, live or on TV, hits something deep in your gut (or maybe just my gut). Watching them move, stalk and pounce seems to activate some deep-seated flight instinct that says, "You'd better get out of here if you don't want to end up in someone's belly". I don't get this when I see a shark, but even a smallish gharial or caiman can induce alarm bells in my head (and gut, as it happens). But I can't stop watching - crocodylians have survived on Planet Earth for 220m years, since the Triassic period, and roughly as long as the dinosaurs, and as such, are inordinately interesting creatures. Why do they work so well?

That's not really a question I can answer in a post, or even a question that I'm actually qualified to answer. What's clear though, is that the basic crocodylian bodyplan has remained the same for a very long time, through a plethora of shapes and sizes - long snout, lots of teeth, long muscular tail, short legs, long body, semi-erect posture. Oh, and scales.

First, some phylogeny. In this post, I want to focus on members of the order Crocodylia (hence crocodylians - crocodilians include earlier species which placed in different orders). There are 3 extant lineages in this order, Gavialoidea, Alligatoroidea and Crocodyloidea. Each branch has the obvious candidates, and Alligatoroidea includes the caimans as well.

1. Rhamphosuchus

Rhamphosuchus ("beaked crocodile") lived from about 25m years ago in what is now the Indian sub-continent. It was a member of Gavialoidea, and was probably a relative of extant gharials, as can be seen from the beaked snout. The species is poorly known from fossils, but was probably between 15-18m long. The beak is indicative of a fish diet (although not exclusively). Adjacent image from Wikipedia.

Some recent work done has reinterpreted Rhamphosuchus as a member of Tomistoma, the taxon that includes false gharials. False gharials have the same thin beaked snouts as true gharials, but were thought to be members of the clade Crocodyloidea. This has now changed due to DNA analysis - false gharials are really members of Gavialoidea.

2. Gharial

Adjacent image from Laelaps, an excellent zoological blog well worth reading. Gharials are found on the Indian sub-continent, and are one of 2 extant species in Gavialoidea. The other is the false gharial (of course). The long thin snout is an evolutionary adaptation to facilitate a diet of small fish. They can be up to 6m in length. Gharials are currently endangered, and are being pushed to extinction as the sub-continent develops and grows in population. They are already extinct in Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, and are only found in very small numbers in Pakistan and in small numbers in India.

3. Pristichampsus

Pristichampsus belonged to a genus of entirely terrestrial crocodiles that preyed on land mammals. It was about 10m long, and lived about 6om years ago. It had long legs, and was well adapted to a running lifestyle, as it had hooves on its toes. Adjacent image from this University of Bristol website. Pristichampsus is thought to predate the split between Alligatoroidea and Crocodyloidea. It's not a member of Gavialoidea though.

4. Ceratosuchus

Ceratosuchus is thought to be a basal member of Alligatoroidea, and lived in the Palaeocene, maybe about 65m years ago. Adjacent image from Wikipedia. The main unusual feature of this creature is the 2 triangular plates on its skull, and indeed its name means "horned crocodile". Ceratosuchus lived in what is now North America.

5. Chinese alligator

There are 2 extant species of alligator, the Chinese alligator and the American alligator. The Chinese alligator is smaller, about 1.5m in length, and has an armoured belly, which is quite rare among crocodylians. What's left of their wild population can be found along the lower reaches of the Yangtze, and there are fewer than 200 wild individuals left. There are approximately 10,000 animals in captivity though. Adjacent image from danmex.org.

6. Purussaurus

Purussaurus was a giant caiman found in South America in the Miocene, about 20m years ago (caimans are members of Alligatoroidea). Adjacent image from Tetrapod Zoology, and shows the scale of this animal - it was more than 15m in length, making it a very large crocodylian indeed, one of the largest to have ever existed. Darren Naish at Tet Zoo states that it was probably aquatic at that size, and would most likely have preyed on large mammals as well as other prey. His post on Purussaurus is here.

7. Spectacled caiman

The spectacled caiman is one of 5 extant species. All are found in Latin America. The difference between a caiman and an alligator lies in the septum between the nostrils - caimans have a bony one, alligators don't. The spectacled caiman is further distinguished by a bony ridge around the eye, which makes it look as if it is wearing spectacles. They grow to 2.5m in length, and are found from southern Mexico to Argentina. Adjacent image from US Geological Survey website.

8. Mekosuchus

Mekosuchus is a genus of crocodylians (4 species) that inhabited Australasia until quite recently, with remains discovered that are less than 4,000 years old. They were entirely terrestrial, and may well have been hunted to extinction by humans. One species, mekosuchus inexpectatus, was around 2m long, and had specialised back teeth that indicated a diet of molluscs. Adjacent image from Tetrapod Zoology, which has more information.

9. Baru

Crocodyloids of the genus Baru are thought to be mekosuchines, part of the same Australasian radiation. Adjacent image from Paul Willis's site - he does reconstructions of extinct crocodilians. As can be seen from the image (of a species called baru darrowi), baru mekosuchines had short broad snouts with long curved teeth. The fossils were found in Australia, and indicate that b. darrowi reached about 5m in length. It lived about 8m years ago, and is thought to have had a mostly terrestrial predatory lifestyle. According to this site, the first baru skull to be found had part of a marsupial lion's skull in its jaws.

10. Salt water crocodile

The largest crocodyloids (as well as crocodylians) alive today, salt water crocodiles are found in Australia and throughout South East Asia. They are ocean-going, and are up to 5m long. I have a video of a salt water crocodile underwater which I'm told was taken off Sipadan Island in Borneo, so they certainly get around. It is an ambush predator, and drowns its prey rather than tear it apart (although the famous "death roll" will rip off some flesh). There are documented cases of attacks on humans.

There are 13 species of crocodyloids extant today, across 2 genuses. The dwarf crocodile sits in its own genus, all the others are more closely related.


There are more interesting species of crocodylians I haven't yet discussed, although this post gives a quick run-through of the 3 main lineages and one of the extinct out-groups. Many so-called supercrocodile fossils discovered recently actually belong to the crocodylomorphs, a more basal group. More later perhaps. In the meantime, enjoy these beasties.

Glenrothes 20 yo 1985/2005 (Happiness, is a warm bun...)

50ml samplers are not a great size of bottle. For me, the ideal size of a bottle is 20-35ml, a half bottle here in the UK (Americans have larger bottles at 750ml, and Asian duty free sells a lot of 1l bottles). The reason is because if the whisky is good, I usually want more than a couple of drams. Nevertheless, they are a cost effective way to try as many whiskies as possible, as well as to get to know new distilleries better.

As little sampler bottles go though, Glenrothes has got it right. Instead of 50ml bottles, they sell 100ml bottles, attractively shaped like a little round ball of goodness. The whisky character is very Speyside, sweet, fruity and wholesome, and leaves me wanting more, which is great because there is more. There is also sufficient whisky in a sampler for a food pairing, which is what I tried to do here. The food of choice is Ladurée macaroons (or macaron - the French version of a Scottish biscuit), a great Parisian sweet, lovely with coffee and tea, and hopefully with whisky too.

First, tasting notes:

Glenrothes 20 yo 1985/2005 (OB)
Single malt - Speyside
Warm amber
43% ABV

Nose: Raisins, vanilla, malty beer. Oat bread and hot cross buns. Dried cranberries.
Mouthfeel: Thick, full-bodied, creamy, very static, no expansion.
Tasting: Sweet salty, pepper and cloves, Sultanas, honey and banana. Rich, deep and complex.
Finish: Short but intense. Malty beer, raisin bun, hint of marmite on toast.

And on to the tasting. Ladurée sells about 20 flavours of macaroon in London. I've picked 5 of my favourites to see how they go with the whisky.

1. Chestnut

Ladurée's chestnut macaroons have nice chunks of chestnuts in the cream filling. It's certainly a textural and flavour surprise. The whisky seems to bring out bready, oaty notes, while the chestnut chunks taste sweeter. The creamy filling and the creamy mouthfeel seem to go very well together, although this would be a characteristic of all the macaroons. There's not much enhancement of the chestnut flavours though.

2. Chocolate and passionfruit

This macaroon is a thick layer of dark chocolate cream between 2 passionfruit flavoured meringue halves. It's a new flavour which I haven't tried before, so I'd selected it pretty much on a whim. The whisky seemed to bring out a savoury note - soya sauce, perhaps. The chocolate flavours were muted by the whisky, with a rich fruitiness appearing which jarred slightly with the savoury hints.

3. Orange blossom

Ladurée's orange blossom macaroon is cream with orange blossom water between 2 vanilla meringue halves. The whisky intensified the orange notes, turning it very orangey and very floral indeed. There was also a faint hint of butterscotch, perfumed and creamy. The whisky itself also tasted much saltier than when unaccompanied. Very tasty indeed.

4. Salt caramel

This is my favourite of Ladurée's macaroons. The salt caramel is in the filling, and it gives a savoury counterpoint to the sweet meringue. That was on its own though - the whisky brought out some bitter oaty notes which weren't particularly pleasant. The whisky also tasted sweeter than when unaccompanied, with the sultana and raisin notes very muted. Not particularly interesting.

5. Rose

Rose is a little like orange blossom - the floral flavouring is in the cream filling rather than in the meringue, which is probably vanilla. Like with orange blossom, the whisky enhanced the floral notes, but unlike orange blossom, also introduced a yeasty beery flavour that didn't quite go. Fruity raisins at the end too, but it was a little too late. Interesting, but not great.


Overall, I think orange blossom macaroons shade it. It would probably have been even better had the Glenrothes been bottled at a higher ABV - more flavour compounds would have dissolved with more alcohol, and been released into my mouth. Maybe I'll try to pair a stronger whisky with macaroons in a later post.

10 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas

I'm not in the main an opera fan, as I find the stories a little trite, although the music can ofttimes be fantastic. Gilbert and Sullivan operettas though, are quite interesting, as I particularly enjoy the plotting and the stories in addition to the music. Gilbert and Sullivan put their characters into situations quite difficult to get out of, unless they applied a little logical reasoning. Some of the resolutions are fairly funny, as well as intriguing. So I'm going to share the plots of 10 operettas (Gilbert and Sullivan only wrote 14 or 15, if you count the lost one, Thespis).

1. Ruddigore

Ruddigore tells the story of the Murgatroyd family, the baron of whom, due to the indiscretions of an ancestor, is cursed to commit a crime each day, or die a horrible death. All previous barons have eventually succumbed. Through various shenanigans, a reluctant heir takes up the baronetcy, and has to face his curse. After experimenting with committing silly crimes (e.g. forging his own will) he has a bright idea, and reasons that if he were to intentionally not commit a crime, he would be attempting suicide. Since that is a crime in itself, he is therefore fulfilling the conditions of the curse, and all his ancestors need never have died.

2. The Pirates of Penzance

This one is slightly confusing. Frederic, an orphan pirate boy, is nearing the end of his apprenticeship as a pirate, which finishes on his 21st birthday. He happens upon some young women and captures them, but releases them when their father, the Major-General, pleads with him, for he has no family except the girls. This is a lie, and the Major-General wrestles with his conscience while the police attempt to capture the pirates. Frederic then discovers that since he was born on 29 February, his 21st birthday does not occur until he is in his eighties, and that he is to be a pirate all his life. The police burst in but the Major-General and the women plead for the pirates. Asked to yield in the name of the queen, the pirates do so, and are pardoned, for they are orphan noblemen one and all.

3. The Sorceror

Isaac Asimov wrote a short story with the premise that this particular operetta should have had a different ending. A sorceror arrives in a village where a young couple are to be married, and brews a batch of love potion which works on everyone except married people. A series of mishaps ensue, which culminates in the bride falling in love with the vicar, the vicar in love with someone else, and so on. The distraught groom appeals to the sorceror, who reveals that either the groom or the sorceror will have to die. In the end, it is the sorceror who chooses to die, and all is then well. A better resolution of the paradox would have been to have everyone marry, and the ones not already in love would then be free from the effects of the potion, and could then get divorced and pair off again.

4. The Mikado

This is an operetta about love, set in Japan. Nanki-Poo, a prince in disguise, wants to marry Yum-Yum, ward of Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner of Titipu. He almost succeeds, when Ko-Ko decides that he needs to forge Nanki-Poo's death to avoid being sacked as Lord High Executioner (for not executing anyone). So Ko-Ko reports to the Mikado that Nanki-Poo has been executed. Unfortunately, Nanki-Poo is the son of the Mikado, and his betrothed at court, elderly Katisha, is distraught at his execution. How to resolve this? Why everyone pairs off - Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum, and Ko-Ko and Katisha, and everything is right as rain again.

5. HMS Pinafore

A love story, based on class distinctions. Josephine is in love with Ralph, a common sea hand, but is due to marry Sir Joseph, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Ralph serves on the HMS Pinafore under the command of Captain Corcoran. The marriage cannot happen, for Ralph is of common stock. In the end, Little Buttercup, a "bumboat woman", confesses that years before, she had 2 charges, a commoner and a patrician. She mixed them up, and Ralph was the patrician that became a sailor and Captain Corcoran was the commoner who became a captain. The two men swap uniforms, and Captain Ralph is free to marry Josephine.

6. The Gondoliers

This one cheats a little when it comes to the resolution of the impasse. Two humble Venetian gondoliers choose two women and happily get married. At the same time, a princess arrives in Venice, married to the king of Baratravia as a child, but secretly in love with her drummer boy. It transpires that one of the gondoliers is the king of Baratravia, raised incognito when he was a little boy by the Venetian Grand Inquisitor, who got him from his wet nurse. Unfortunately he, whichever gondolier he is, is a bigamist. It is all resolved when the wet nurse appears, and announces that she raised the prince herself, giving him over eventually to service with a royal family as - you guessed it - a drummer boy.

7. Utopia, Limited

This one is quite clever, satirically speaking. King Paramount of Utopia sends his daughter, Zara, to Cambridge University to learn civilised behaviour. He does this against the wishes of 2 wise men, Scaphio and Phantis, who with the Public Exploder, have power over the king's life. Zara returns with 5 gentlemen, and together they recommend that Utopia be turned into a limited liability company. It is a great success. Scaphio, Phantis and the Public Exploder are furious at the threat to their power, but they cannot blow up a limited liability company. Instead, they convince the people of Utopia that unemployment is high - sanitation is so good that doctors have no work, there is no war so soldiers are jobless etc. Zara then decides that government by party is best. 2 parties will stymie each other so much that no progress is possible. Scaphio and Phantis are thrown into prison and everyone rejoices.

8. Iolanthe

Iolanthe, a fairy, has incurred the punishment of banishment from Faerie for marrying a mortal and having a son. The other fairies miss her, and petition the Faerie Queen to allow her back. When they meet her, they find that her son, Strephon, has grown, and is in love with Phyllis, a mortal, but is unable to marry her because the Lord Chancellor has forbade it. Phyllis bumps into Iolanthe, and because she is immortal and young looking, jumps to the conclusion that Strephon is having an affair, and chooses instead to marry one of the peers of the realm. The fairies try to help Strephon, and end up making him leader of both parties in the House of Peers. In the meantime, the fairies decide that the peers of the realm are quite attractive. Iolanthe also discovers that the Lord Chancellor is her long lost husband, and decides to marry him again. The Faerie Queen condemns her to death, only to discover that all the other faeries have married peers. She therefore changes faerie legislation to avoid killing all the faeries.

9. Patience

Bunthorne, an ascetic poet, is in love with Patience, but she loves Grosvenor, another ascetic poet. Both of them have lots of female admirers. Patience decides that she cannot marry Grosvenor, because he is so perfect that to marry him would be a selfish act. She offers herself to Bunthorne instead, who accepts happily. Later though, Patience confesses that she still loves Grosvenor instead. Bunthorne, furious, threatens Grosvenor unless he renounces ascetism and becomes an ordinary young man. Grosvenor does, but then Patience decides that it wouldn't be so selfish to marry him after all, and does. Bunthorne is left alone.

10. Trial by Jury

This one is relatively easy to resolve. Edwin is in love with someone other than his bride Angelina, and is prosecuted in the court of the Exchequer, by jury. Everyone's sympathies lie with the beautiful Angelina. The jury finds in her favour, and she asks for large damages, as Edwin's love was worth much to her. Edwin retorts that he is a drunk and a scoundrel, and that the damages should therefore be small, as he is no big loss to her. Given the impasse, the judge announces that he will marry Angelina, and everyone goes away happy.


I've only seen the Mikado so far. Many of these operettas are not performed often, the exceptions being the Mikado, the Pirates of Penzance, and probably the Gondoliers. Still, once in a long while, one may come along. Hopefully it will be Ruddigore or Utopia, Limited.

Domaine Yannick Amirault Les Malgagnes 2003 (more fun without the air)

The name is something of a mouthful, but then so is the wine.

Yannick Amirault Les Malgagnes 2003 was the red wine I had at Le Cercle. Le Cercle's menu has individual wine recommendations for each dish, and this one seemed to go well with a large variety of food - from red meat to vegetables to monkfish - so I thought that this would be appropriate to share among 4 people.

Domaine Yannick Amirault Les Malgagnes 2003
Red wine
French (Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil, Loire Valley)
Cabernet Franc

Nose: A little yeasty - I thought that this was corked, but there was still some fruit left that convinced me not to send this back. Red fruits, quite musty, bready and nutty once it gets to the back of the nose.
Mouthfeel: Thick and syrupy, quite slurpable.
Tasting: Gamey and leathery at first, quite oaky. Aeration brought more fruits - kiwi and raspberry overlaying lots and lots of ripe fruit.

The wine was very much more interesting before aeration. I did like the game of deciding whether or not this was corked to say the least - the bready yeasty flavours at the beginning were intriguing, and weren't unpleasant at all. That said, I was very surprised to taste that, and I contemplated asking the sommelier to have a sniff. But I'm glad I didn't, because the fruit eventually woke up. With some air in it, it became less interesting but was a very well made wine that did indeed go well with a wide variety of food. I particularly enjoyed it with my aligot and smoked chestnut soup.

Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil is one of the 87 official appellations of wine in the Loire Valley. Bourgeuil is in the north of the Loire Valley, near the city of Tours. There are 2 official appellations here - Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil, and Borgeuil. Both appellations are made from about 1,200 hectares of cultivation. The heat wave in France in 2003 made this one of the best vintages of recent years in the Loire, and many of the Cabernet Franc wines from the Bourgeuil region are very good.

Yannick Amirault is a well known winemaker in the Bourgeuil region. He makes several designations of red wine - Les Malgagnes, La Coudraye, La Petite Cave, Le Grand Clos, La Mine and Les Graviers, to name a few. All are Cabernet Franc wines, and stem from different corners of his vineyard. I have found the 2003 vintage available for La Coudraye and La Petite Cave, as well as Le Grand Clos. Le Grand Clos is apparently the best in the range according to reviews on the internet. If it's better than Les Malgagnes, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

This was a good wine. I've rarely encountered such good pairing of wine and food as I did at Le Cercle. It was an educational experience, and I'm really looking forward to going back and trying some of their other combinations. Maybe I'll be able to unearth another gem.

Le Cercle

Le Cercle is a venture by the same team (Vincent Labeyrie and Pascal Aussignac) behind Club Gascon, the Michelin starred French restaurant near Smithfield. Le Cercle, one of three venues in the group, is a destination French restaurant off Sloane Street that serves its food in bite size tapas portions. One orders a few courses off the menu, as many as required, finishing off with a dessert. Each course comes with its own recommended wine. It's a very fun restaurant to go in a group of 3 or 4.

The restaurant itself is underground, with comfortable chairs and white tablecloths over round tables. There are 2 cotton curtains which divide the dining floor into 3 parts, one of which is the cocktail bar. The decor is sandstone and wood floors, which is casual, yet redolent of good French food. It works.

Le Cercle
1 Wilbraham Place
London SW1X 9AE
020 7901 9999

I went with the Pretty Lady, CY and KN. We decided on red wine (a Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil 2003), which I'll blog about separately because it was worth a post on its own, then we ordered our courses. The service was a little shabby, probably because the courses are a nightmare to remember. The table next to ours ordered 4 courses each (not including dessert), and another table seemed to order 5 courses each. We settled on 3, as the ladies weren't hungry, and I had just spent the day swigging whisky at Whisky Live.

It's not really that polite to take notes when one's eating, and I really only do it in the presence of people who understand, like the Pretty Lady occasionally, and Yumchia. I do know what I had, and I'll describe it here, but I've missed about half of the Pretty Lady's meal and most of CY's and KN's.

Anyway, we started with a vegetarian course. I had an aligot and smoked chestnut soup, which was interesting in itself - aligot is a French mashed potato dish with cheese blended into it. Mine came at the bottom of a little tureen of smoked chestnut soup, which was sweet and smoky, going perfectly well with the savoury mash. CY had little ravioli in truffle jus, which was delicious, but strangely unappealing after the aligot.

For the next course, I had stewed rabbit with chicory salad. There were a number of other accompaniments on my dish, but as the rabbit was perfectly spiced and done, without the over-gamey taste that can sometimes pervade it, I didn't really notice them. They didn't matter. KN had the beef onglet with stewed olives, which was a little undercooked, but juicy nonetheless. The Pretty Lady and CY had a duck breast dish, which was very pink and didn't appeal.

I ended my main courses with a pot au feu, which was perfect. A little cast iron pot appeared, with olive tapenade on a little crostini and horseradish with pickles on the side. The lid lifted to show several slices of beef in a clear soup, almost a consomme, with carrots and potato placed delicately next to them. Very nice presentation, and very tasty too.

Dessert was just as interesting, with the Pretty Lady going for a white "chocobar" (effectively a white chocolate cheesecake) and KN ordering a tarte tatin. CY and I shared a cheese plate. The tarte tatin was middle of the road, while the chocobar was well executed and quite delicious. The cheeses on offer were of good quality - Comte Vache, Brie, Roquefort, Brique de Jussac, a goat's cheese and a hard cheese - and came with a generous helping of raisin bread. I tend to judge cheese plates by the accompaniment as well as the cheese, and this restaurant didn't disappoint.

Overall, quite a tour de force of French cooking. I enjoyed the meal, although the helpings were small, and were I not filled up with whisky I would probably have ordered at least one more course. Prices were reasonable for that standard of cooking, and the restaurant didn't intimidate or seem pretentious like many Chelsea venues can. One or two failures (the Pretty Lady's duck breast comes to mind, as well as a mackerel starter KN had), but I'll definitely be going back, for the wine list as much as the food.

Scores:

6 March 2008: TFQ = 25, CS = 27, S = 12, AD = 8, VfM = 7. Total = 79 points.

What does this mean?