Four o nine

The Pretty Lady's cousin, SY, lives in Clapham. She invited both of us, Yogababe (her classmate - yes, the world's a little small) and her brother JY for dinner in Clapham one evening at Four o nine. It was a interesting little place - leather sofas, leather-upholstered chairs, wooden floors, walls stencilled with images of Clapham High Street. The restaurant is reached by means of a private entrance in Landor Road. You reserve, pitch up, ring the bell and ask to be let in.

Four o nine
409 Clapham Road
London SW9 9BT
020 7737 0722

We sat by the window, which was a slight mistake because of the setting sun shining onto the table, but after the sun set it was cosy and comfortable, despite the full restaurant. It was an unexpected little gem. The chef used to work at Chez Bruce before branching out on his own, and while I discovered this after we ate at the restaurant, it definitely showed. The food was quite delicious.

It was pretty early, so we had the restaurant pretty much to ourselves. We began with cocktails - I had Tommy's margarita (not sure how this differs from a normal margarita, but it was less sweet than the usual ones, and therefore that much refreshing). The Pretty Lady had a pineapple caipirinha which seemed a magnificent idea when I saw it in the menu, and worked really well too. It's the kind of drink that makes you go "Now why didn't I think about that?"

Anyway, SY, JY and I started with a pork dish. It was a medallion of pork belly on a bed of salad dressed with sweet mustard and topped with a poached egg. The pork was slightly underdone, which normally would be a little unpleasant (given the taste of British pigs), but the slight raw taste went well with the mustard and the smooth egginess of the poachie. It was quite brilliant.

The Pretty Lady and the Yogababe had chilled mint pea soup with truffled mascarpone. It was almost the consistency of mushy peas, but was cool, refreshing, and sweet. I couldn't taste the truffles, but the mascarpone dotted in the soup gave it a light dairy tang that cut through the sweet peas. Very good indeed.

JY and SY had sliced roasted lamb shoulder on a bed of summer beans (looked like ratatouille, but done with beans) and pesto. It looked very good indeed, but I didn't manage to steal a forkful. The expressions on their faces seemed to say they enjoyed it though. I do regret not tasting it, but it's another excuse to go back.

The Pretty Lady and I had spatchcocked roast chicken with morels, spring onions and new potatoes. The chicken was good - moist, slightly crisped skin with give - and the morels were bursting with jus. The spring onions were done just al dente, and the new potatoes had been browned in what tasted like chicken fat. Great execution, although I'm minded of Tyler Cowen's advice to never order roast chicken in restaurants (why? because it's popular, and hence easily survives the competitive process to get on the menu without necessarily tasting great). It wasn't half bad though, and I couldn't cook this myself.

The Yogababe had a cheese plate for mains (she's now a social animal eater, and we're not really that social, we're just family). Decent selection of Neal's Yard cheeses - I particularly liked the Stilton. It was slightly overripe, more to my taste than the 'Babe's.

We moved on elsewhere for pudding though, so I didn't get to sample the fresh ginger ice cream that I was eyeing earlier. Oh well. Plenty of excuses to go back now. The Pretty Lady thought the food was slightly overpriced, and that may well be the case. But the decor is quirky, the location a little out of the way, the food is tasty, and the cocktails aren't too sweet. A little more expensive seemed okay to me.

Scores:

3 July 2008: TFQ = 25, CS = 25, S = 12, AD = 8, VfM = 6. Total = 76 points.

What does this mean?

Slyrs, the German whisky

During a recent trip to Munich, I was mooching around airport duty-free with the Pretty Lady when I spotted this:

Bavarian single malt whisky, distilled at Slyrs distillery in Schliersee, Bavaria. It was a 3 year whisky, distilled 2004. According to Celtic Malts, the barley is wood-smoked, not peat-smoked. I wonder what it tastes like.

Unfortunately I didn't buy it (I was toting a 1 litre bottle of Lagavulin Distillers' Edition at that time), due to space constraints on my little whisky shelf at home. Maybe I can find a little sample bottle somewhere. Or I could wait till they release their 12 year old expression in 2015...

The Waterside Inn

A week after the Pretty Lady and I visited the Fat Duck, we were back in Bray, this time to visit the other 3 Michelin-starred restaurant in town, the Waterside Inn. Yes, it was extravagant, but Yumchia had invited us to go along with KY. The company was great, the food was supposed to be spectacular, and we could (just about) afford it, so why not? After all, it's 3 Michelin stars, the chef is Michel Roux, and it's got a long and distinguished track record. We couldn't wait.

The Waterside Inn
Ferry Road
Bray SL6 2AT
Berkshire
01628 620 691

The Waterside Inn is so called because it's located on the side of a pretty lake. The restaurant itself opens out onto the lakeside, and we enjoyed our amuse bouches together with some pre-lunch drinks on the terrace. A family of 6 got onto a little motorised boat, apparently to sail out into the lake and have their champagne and amuse bouches while watching the swans and ducks.

As far as the amuse-bouches went, they were tasty, but I've got a pretty poor memory, so I only remember one - a small heap of steak tartare on a little biscuit. That was spiced with coriander and parsley, and very tasty indeed.

After opening a bottle of Chablis (a Van Volxelm) We decided to order the tasting menus or Menu Exceptionnel, as it was called on the card. Since there were 4 of us, it was pretty easy to order, and we agreed beforehand that we would switch dishes halfway. That way, all 4 of us would get to taste everything. It's great eating out with other foodies.

The first courses were flaked Cornish crab with langoustine tails, served on a bed of mango and mint salsa

and

terrine of foie gras and chicken breast coated in pistachio nuts, served with grapes marinated in ratafia.

I started with the terrine. It was very well-made, but simple (and the pistachio nuts were embedded in the terrine, not coating it). There was more foie gras than I expected, and it went well with the slightly caramelised grapes that were bursting with ratafia flavour. In contrast, I found the crab pretty run-of-the-mill. Though very tasty and well-executed, the mango / mint / crab combination is quite common and I've had it before. The crab was fresh and flaked just right, but I think if the chef had used Alphonse mangoes the dish would have been perfect.

We then moved on to the fish course. The choices were pan fried scallop "a'la minute" with an einkorn risotto flavoured with sorrel and truffle

and

pan-fried lobster medallion with a white port sauce and ginger flavoured vegetable julienne.

I had the lobster first. As with all the dishes so far, it was well-executed and perfectly cooked. Unfortunately it lacked a twist, something unusual that would elevate it beyond good to great. In my opinion, the portion size was also a little small, with just 3 pieces of lobster. The white port sauce was delicious, but I feel the ginger and vegetable julienne didn't add anything to the dish. The scallops however, were a different story. They were slightly browned on the outside, yet tender inside - I was amazed, as this is very difficult to achieve. The risotto came in dabs on the plate, with slices of truffle that were so strongly flavoured that they cut through everything, offsetting the fish. Wonderful.

Then came the palate cleanser, which was rose petal sorbet. It was lovely, and reminded me of air bandung, the Malaysian drink of rose syrup and condensed milk. The Pretty Lady thought this was her favourite dish.

We moved on to the main course. The choices were roasted loin of lamb stuffed with aubergine confit and grilled pine kernels, gateau of moussaka and a light saffron flavoured jus

and

roasted Challandais duck with a lemon and thyme jus, potato and garlic mousseline.

The duck was absolutely fantastic. The waitresses brought the duck to the table, and carved off slices of breast, layering them on a plate. They then added a surprise, slices of grilled pickled lemon. We had asked for medium to well done, and on reflection this may have been a mistake. The duck would have been better rare. Nevertheless, it was delicious. The mousseline flavoured the sweet salty pickled lemon with a garlicky tang, and went well with the gamey duck. The lamb in contrast was delicious, but less good. The aubergine seemed to be slightly underflavoured, although the meat itself was roasted well. The saffron jus brought everything together however, just the right level of sweetness and spice.

Dessert was a choice of 3 dishes, a cheese plate, 3 individual desserts, and a warm raspberry souffle. The raspberry souffles were the best I've ever tasted, both in terms of texture and flavour, and were improved by the flavourful coulis they drizzled in the middle. The cheese plate was memorable for a tangy Reblochon and a strongly flavoured Morbier, but the choice of 3 individual desserts was disappointing. I can't even remember what they were, beyond some combination of strawberry ice cream on a biscuit.

After lunch, we retired back to the terrace to enjoy coffee and petit fours. I partook of the choices of whiskies, which come in a large trolley! I chose a Brora. However, the sommelier slipped 2 ice cubes into my dram without first checking with me, which was unfortunate. I had to fish the ice cubes out, luckily, the dram hadn't suffered from the extra water. We enjoyed the late afternoon sun and chatted for a couple of hours by the lake side, before taking a cab back to Maidstone station to catch the train back to London. The sommelier made up a little for his faux pas with the whisky by showing me and KY round the "cave", which held around 8,000 bottles in a very small space.

Overall, I found the food at the Waterside Inn well-executed, indeed, almost perfect. There was no sense of surprise though, no twists, which in my mind make this place a little undeserving of their 3 stars. Oh well. It was a very good meal nevertheless, just not great.

Scores:

30 June 2008: TFQ = 27, CS = 26, S = 19, AD = 8, VfM = 6. Total = 86 points.

What does this mean?

Glenfarclas 10 yo (Welcome to the family, we're glad that you have come to share)

Glenfarclas is an interesting distillery. It is still family run, and it recently released 43 bottlings from casks dating from every consecutive year from 1952 onwards (known as the Family Casks). These whiskies are on my to-taste list, although the pricing ensures that I'm only drinking a few of the 43. But what a fantastic thing it would be to try each whisky in turn!

Anyway, Glenfarclas whiskies tend to be sherry beasts, classic Speyside. This one is their official 10 year old flagship bottling, and given the dark sweet spiciness of the whisky, I decided I would pair this whisky with cakes and pastries. Something like fruitcake ought to go particularly well with this one.

Extract from my tasting notebook:

Glenfarclas 10 yo (OB)
Single malt - Speyside
Amber, tinge of pink
43% ABV

Nose: Sherry sweet, clotted cream and fresh milk, oranges and dried apricots. A little oak underneath.
Mouthfeel: Watery. Very liquid but not thin.
Tasting: Sweet. Big hit of spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Strawberry jam, vanilla cream, tannin. Cream tea!
Finish: Medium to long. Loses intensity quickly, but hangs around. Spice cake and orange peel.

And so on to the experiments.

1. Welsh cakes (butter scones with raisins and nutmeg)

Very fragrant; the cream notes in the whisky combine well with the butter in the cake. The raisins are rounded out and made more intense by the fruit notes in the whisky. I've lost the strawberry jam though, as well as the spiciness in the finish. Not bad, but here the equation is simply raisins + fruit = raisins. A bit one-dimensional.

2. Waitrose tropical fruit cake (contains walnuts, glace cherries and pineapple)

The cake is very sweet, and hence cancels out all the sweet fruity notes in the whisky. The whisky begins to taste of cream and milk, with undertones of salted butter and black tea. Some bitter flavours also appear. The whisky takes on some maritime character, a bit like an Old Pulteney.

3. Dutch syrup waffles (caramel in a thin pastry shell)

The milky creamy notes in the whisky combine well with the caramel. Something fruity remains - spiced apple, cherries? Definitely some dark fruit in there. There's a slight textural change. The whisky becomes thicker somehow, like syrup, as it mixes with the caramel. The fruity notes really come out with this one.

4. Marks and Spencer Belgian chocolate brownies

The chocolate in the brownie has changed. Instead of being sweet, it's now salty and bitter, something like dark unprocessed cocoa brick. The whisky becomes salty sweet, like the Old Pulteney I mentioned in (2). Not a great combination, although the brownie and whisky are quite tasty on their own.


I think the fruitcake worked best with the Glenfarclas. It was complex, nuanced, and the whisky changed character into something else entirely. A real education for my (untrained) palate.

The worst job in the world...

... but it's a noble one.

There are many things one can do to earn a living. Some are absolutely horrible (and funny). The people in these videos though, are heroes, because they are doing what they are doing for conservation (taken from a post on Darren Naish's blog, the entertaining and extremely interesting Tetrapod Zoology).

Apparently when you want to collect semen from a bull elephant for conservation, you need to stimulate the prostate gland, for efficacy and safety reasons. Here's how.



Not only is it messy, it's dangerous too, and not just because an aroused elephant is a big and feisty creature. Check this video out.



Anyway, I applaud the efforts of all these people who try to get elephants to breed. In the long run, this means more elephants, which, like more whisky, is a good thing.