dishes of the year, 2010

My selection of the best dishes I ate this year

Everyone seems to be doing one of these lists at the moment, so here comes mine!

These are in no particular order, as it is an impossible task to choose between some of the fantastic plates which have been put in front of me this year, as I have eaten at a vast range of styles and standard of restaurants, which is why they are labelled by letters rather than numbers,but here goes.....

A. Parmesan 'egg' with migas- Minibar by Jose Andres, Cafe atlantico, D.C.

A stunning, modern dish from Washington's adopted chef, Jose Andres. he has revolutionised eating out in D.C. with his selection of restaurants which are all within 8 blocks of each other in the U.S. capitol. Minibar is the flagship of all his eateries and showcases the cutting edge of american cuisine. This dish is made by infusing a parmesan flavour into a light stock, which is then 'spherified' with a quail's egg yolk in the centre. it is simply presented in a bowl, looking just like a poached egg, but carrying a massive parmesan flavour. the migas, are essentially crostini, but named as migas as a nod to Jose's Spanish heritage. a clever, tasty and entertaining dish.

B. Normandie tart- Le Relais de la poste, Damville, Normandy.

Don't bother trying to find this restaurant in any of the big guide books- it wont be there. When I visited Michel Cluizel's chocolatrium in Damville in November, we were taken to this family run restaurant for lunch. despite humble furnishings and simple presentation, this was a great meal, the highlight of which was this classic French apple tart. buttery short pastry, sweet firm apple filling and rustic presentation all combining to create a perfect pudding.

C. Salad of spring vegetables with walnut oil, parmesan and a warm pheasant egg- The Ledbury, London.

Brett Graham seems to be going from strength to strength whether it be at the Ledbury or The Harwood arms. This dish is one I sampled at a lunch arranged by the Caterer magazine in April, and it was the most talked about of the day, several different vegetables-all treated differently, puréed, dried, boiled crushed and pickled amongst the techniques. with a walnut oil mayonnaise and a warm, soft boiled pheasant egg. seasonal, fresh, interesting, technical and just damn tasty.

D. Piggy burger-Bar Boulud, london

This is a regular highlight on anyone's visit to bar Boulud-a recent addition to the dining options at the mandarin oriental hotel in knightsbridge. a good sized beef pattie, topped with jalepeno mayo, barbecued pulled pork, lettuce all wrapped up in a cheddar bun. this restaurant does not take itself too seriously, and as a result serves up some good, fun simple food. Of all the dishes we tried here, this was a stand out winner.

E. Paella- Jaleo, D.C.

Another of Jose Andres' fine establishments, this time his Spanish tapas venue. My meal here was a birthday treat, and I couldn't have chosen a better one. Our table tried a total of 12 different tapa's, and a large dish of chicken and mushroom paella, which is a passion of Jose's- he has a large variety available at jaleo-and has even enlisted some experts in the field to train his staff, and it shows. the rice is perfectly cooked, the flavours are bold, and as an eating experience it is a real sharing plate worth indulging in.

F. Crispy pigs tail, dijon vinaigrette-Poste moderne brasserie, D.C.

We took in the '20 bites' menu by Robert Weland at the showcase restaurant of the Hotel Monaco, smack in the centre of Washington. A great concept, well executed, and this was one of the highlights- braised pigs tails, shredded and mixed with Dijon mustard, coated in panko crumbs and fried. served with a devilled quails egg and a little micro cress bound in the vinaigrette. its again a simple dish, yet refined and succulent.

G. Scallop 'curry'-Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham.

When I ate at Sat's eponymous restaurant with rooms, I had been working on a dish revolving around the flavours of scallops, cauliflower and spices. As I sat at the chefs table right next to the kitchen, and got presented with this dish, I felt upset. upset that this eclipsed everything Which I had dreamt of. The same concept, just better.

Sat was really good about it when I jokingly told him he had pissed me off by showing me how far ahead of the game he is, and said it was a dish they have been adjusting and improving for ten years. The dish comprised a single, large (really large!) scallop, poached sultanas, cauliflower beignets, sliced dried cauliflower, diced apple, apple jelly and puréed mango chutney. the scallop had been rolled in Indian spices before being roasted. amazing.

H. Bubblegum,long pepper, hibiscus, creme fraiche-Alinea, Chicago.

A real fun course, part of the 20-odd I was served. This comes in a glass tube in three sections- the long pepper and hibiscus were a jam, and the creme fraiche was flavoured with vanilla and the final section was the bubblegum part made of sago, cooked in a 'hubba bubba' stock. You are advised to put the 'jam' end in your mouth and suck. it makes a very loud slurping noise and reminds you of the experience of bubble gum as a kid, not only in flavour but in texture too, as the sago needs to be chewed at the end. Great fun.

I. Black truffle explosion- Alinea, Chicago.

I know- another from Grant Achatz? who would of thought...

This is a modern classic, a real signature dish of his. incredibly thin pasta enveloping a potent black truffle stock, which literally explodes in your mouth. So much so, you are advised before you eat it to close your mouth once its in there and keep it shut. The whole thing seems to double in size as you put it in your mouth!

J. Souffle aux pistaches et sa glace-Koffmanns, Knightbridge.

Another chef, another signature dish, this time one from the old school. I enjoyed my meal at Koffmanns on the whole, but the stand out dish was the dessert, a real strong pistachio flavour, and a great presentation, including a little theatre with the waiter lifting your sorbet into the heart of the souffle. A great dish and well worth going for.

K. Spot prawns 'en brioche'-Minibar by Jose Andres, Cafe Atlantico, D.C.

People accuse me of being a Jose-stalker, but if he keeps putting dishes like this on the menu, I have no shame in keeping my eye on his restaurants. I have eaten at Minibar twice this year, the first time I ate a different incarnation of this dish, with langoustine sandwiched between two crostini, a lovely concept, like a prawn cocktail sandwich. This next step, was two large spot prawns, poached in the waterbath, and briefly seared on a plancha, then served with a brioche flavoured espuma, or foam. wonderfully yeasty and buttery at the same time, and perfect with the textures of the prawns, which were both crusty from the plancha, and tender from the waterbath.

L. yuba, shrimp, miso, togarashi- Alinea, Chicago.

I didn't know what to expect from Alinea, having read the book, and seen lots of reviews of the place, but this really let me know I was in for something different as this was about the fourth course I was presented with, and it was incredible. I spent about five minutes just looking at it, before starting to eat. It comprises a long crisp made from dehydrated soya milk skin (I know- stick with it!), a length of raw shrimp wrapped around it, an orange shrimp toffee drizzled over it, and a miso mayonnaise dipping sauce. the whole menu was incredible, but this was the one I would eat all night long. Umami, sweet, salt and bitter flavours all in one. Magical.

M. I don't think that anyone who knows me and has discussed food with me will be surprised to know that I have one more dish from Alinea on this list. I cant let my list of the best of 2010 go by without mentioning my final dessert course. A simple dish of chocolate, peanut, apricot and honey. Only it wasn't simple. It was incredible, and it was plated for me at my table, ON my table by chef Achatz himself. There is a video available on youtube HERE. It is a bit long, and the first four minutes are just the waiters setting up and talking about the wine, so skip to 4:15 and enjoy.

Well thats it, its been a great year, and 2011 already looks to be another cracker, with Tom Aikens, Galvin at windows, les deux salons, Harwood arms, el Bulli, el celler de can roca and dinner by Heston already lined up. I hope you enjoyed this list, and try a few of the places I have mentioned.

Alinea- part 3

It has been two months since I ate at @GAchatz's Alinea restaurant in Chicago, so I must again apologise for being so slow in posting this final piece on what was, for me, the meal of a lifetime. You don't need to know the ins and outs of why its taken so long to get around to this post, so i will just jump straight in to it.....

A restaurant like Alinea is hard to define. It is not only unique, it is hard to imagine the thought process behind how it came into being. Like el Bulli in Spain, to have once looked at what is now one of the finest restaurants in the world when it was in the early days and create what now stands takes real genius. sure, it has taken time and evolution to reach this point, but both Achatz and Ferran Adria (of el Bulli) must have had the final model somewhere in their minds when the whole process of planning and creating started.

I use el Bulli as a comparison, to gently alert anyone who finds this blog interesting that I am planning on going there in January with my best friend and former work colleague Kevin-follow him on twitter @kevinbarron07.

El Bulli is also a fair comparison as it is also famed for its deconstruction of dishes, creative presentation and the barrier crushing inventiveness of its dishes.

Grant Achatz takes the familiar-leek and potato, bubblegum, pineapple and bacon-to name a few of the combinations I experienced- and twists them in presentation and service technique, so far that if it wasn't for the excellence of flavour, and taste memories they invoke, you could not get your head around what the heck they are. We all had a pineapple and bacon pizza in our time I'm sure, but who ever thought of pineapple purée, dehydrated to a see-through wafer with smoked Virginian ham? Chef Achatz did. and that's just one example.

Every bite of my meal at Alinea is still in my memory, as each bite was an extension of a previous memory-something in-built, which we carry round each day subconsciously, until we taste bubblegum, truffle or apple again. Its the ability to recreate these memories which sets Alinea apart from the rest. An ability which should be explored and celebrated.

Back to the actual meal, and as i previously mentioned in part 2, there is only one course which I have not yet described to you, my main dessert-chocolate, apricot, honey and peanut. when i was preparing to go to Alinea of course I looked around the internet for info, menus and images. several searches uncovered videos of chef Achatz 'plating' guests dessert course on their table. not AT their table, but ON it. While I was sat at my table on the second floor of the north Halstead restaurant, I did everything I could not to watch what my fellow diners were getting as I was trying not to spoil the surprise, but I couldn't help but notice that every single course they ate was from a plate, spoon or bespoke stand. Not once did anyone in whites venture into the dining room to assemble anything in plain view of the diners. Until my final course, When a waiter asked me to remove everything from my table so he could roll out a table sized mat which would form the 'plate' for the highlight course of my meal. what followed is best explained through the following video which I took, as my words aren't enough.

Dessert at alinea

(sorry its a youtube link, so right click and select 'open in new tab')

The video takes a while to get going, but fast forward to 4.15 to get to the point...

As you can see, i made a bit of a fool of myself, when i misheard chef Achatz describing one of the components, due to his softly spoken tones and me forgetting the American pronunciation of basil (bay-sil) when I thought he said diesel. I know. Sorry.

watch the video a couple of times to take it all in, the honey liquid which is poured in the cylindrical glass mould then sets as it cools and is turned into a brulée, the nitrogen poached chocolate mousse which is solid yet melted in my mouth as I ate it, the artistry of the way all the different elements are assembled, and just the sheer concept of doing the whole thing in front of me or anyone else for that matter. It harks back in a way i guess to the old school restaurants of the big hotels where a any maitre D worth his salt would flambé crepes or fillet fish or create sauces in front of diners.

The dessert was the perfect finale to my meal and the Alinea experience, and I hope my journals have done enough to keep you interested, informed and wanting to try it for yourself. Here are a couple of shots of the finished dessert. Thanks for reading, if anyone would like any more info, email me on chefbennett@ymail.com, or tweet me on twitter.com/@chefbennett01.

Menuwatch – Llansantffraed Court Hotel - 12/10/2010 - Caterer Search

Menuwatch – Llansantffraed Court Hotel - 12/10/2010 - Caterer Search

Alinea - part two

Okay, I guess I've kept you all waiting long enough! It’s been staggering the amount of you who read, acknowledged and praised part one, to those people- a massive thank you!

I believe we left off wondering about the items deposited on my table at the start of the experience (calling it a meal seems an injustice, bearing in mind the technical wizardry, visual presentation and finesse on display).
The first of the two items (rosemary and red 'sheet' were placed on my table with the instruction to 'forget about them'), was what I discovered was a sheet of tomato and black garlic pasta, for the dish 'short rib, olive, red wine, blackberry'. In my haste to create (!) this dish and eat it, I neglected to take a photo, but all I can say is it was phenomenal. The dish is brought to you on a physical puzzle of a plate with a glass square on it, on top of which are the flavour components of this dish, in little piles. After lifting the glass plate, I had a wooden frame which housed two metal pieces, which fitted together and created a stand on which my waiter carefully draped the red pasta sheet. While he did this, another waiter - another charming young lady with red hair who has worked at Alinea for over four years - brought me a small pan with the hot, braised pieces of short rib. Together they explained that the dish was 'similar to a fajita, in as much as you add all the ingredients to your own taste, then roll it up and eat it from your hands.'
So, I travelled four thousand miles, to (what I admit we didn't know was) a three Michelin-starred restaurant, and had to roll a 'fajita' myself, at the table, and eat with my fingers!
Seriously, this was another sensational dish, made just about as close to perfection as you will find, by myself. The flavourings provided for assembling the dish were-smoked sea salt, fresh blackberries, charred onion, black garlic, sweet potato, Nicoise olives, sour cherry, diced tomato in vinaigrette, diced salsify and a tobacco jelly. Once encased, in the by-now perfectly room temperature paste, the hot rib and other flavours balanced temperature, taste and texture amazingly. The interaction of having to make it yourself is part of the humorous element which takes chef Achatz's food to a new dimension.
Next up: a classic Achatz signature dish-'hot potato, cold potato, black truffle, butter'. Let’s say now, it’s a classic for a reason- it’s another assault on multiple senses at once. Each service, the chef responsible for the dish makes hundreds of little wax bowls approximately three inches in diameter. For serving, he has to pierce the side of the bowls with a steel pin, on which is placed a tiny chunk of Parmesan, a tiny cube of butter, a chive baton, and finally a hot ball of potato topped with a slice of black truffle. The wax bowl is filled with chilled potato soup and brought to the table. 'This is the only time sensitive dish, so be quick' says a waiter as I hurriedly try and take my photo. I ignore him briefly, but the scent of truffle soon made me agree with him and I took the pin out, dropping the chunks, ball and baton into the chilled soup and then threw it back 'like an oyster', as I was told to do.
Truffle aroma, buttery potato richness and the alliums flavouring of the chive, as well as the temperature differences combine to please several taste buds and senses at once, and the slightly unusual act of eating without cutlery making me feel childlike, as though I was doing something wrong, but how can it be wrong when it tastes this good?
In the Alinea book, Achatz asks the question whether keeping some dishes on the menu is stifling creativity or honouring it. I for one, am extremely glad he feels confident in the creativity of himself and his team that he can keep a few signatures around to put on the menu as he feels the need - if you buy a ticket to go and see a gig, you expect to hear the hits, as well as the new stuff.
To follow on from a modern day Alinea-Achatz classic, we travelled back to the nineteenth century to sample an Escoffier classic. For anyone who doesn't know, Escoffier was a French chef accredited with formalising the recipe book, and assembling one of the most comprehensive repertoires of any chef then or since. As an hommage to Escoffier, I was served one of Escoffier's creations- 'pigeonneau a la saint-Clair'. This was visually different from the rest of my experience that night, as it resembled the kind of dish we used to put out when I was receiving my formal training as a young chef in the old school, classical restaurants I started in. That's not to say it was old hat or done with any less precision or technique than everything else I ate- far from it, it was just an unusual brief departure. An early glimpse perhaps of what chef Achatz is hoping to recreate with Next- his soon to open time period themed restaurant in Chicago.
Either way, it was great, a very short in texture butter pastry case, containing squab pigeon breast, foie gras parfait, mashed potato, truffle, and a little squab jus: Very rich flavours which all held their own, and a multitude of textures again. How does he do it? From every angle, this meal has been perfect so far, in taste; presentation; experience and knowledge - the waiting staff is phenomenal - and wine pairings. I wrote in my notebook at this time - 'how can food get any better?’
Then it did.

As though my night up to then had been wasted, the next course was one of two highlights (the other is being reserved for a final Alinea post). And it’s another signature dish from chef Achatz - 'black truffle explosion': a dish of dazzling simplicity- or so it looks, but with its simplistic look comes what must be a harrowingly difficult task for the chef on this dish each night. A black truffle stock is jellied, then enrobed in a smooth silky pasta sheet, which literally explodes in your mouth releasing the most pungent, sweet and earthy aroma and taste of truffle. In his book, Achatz reveals the torture of the young chefs starting to make it for the first time-the pasta has to be knead for fifteen minutes or it will tear, and the kitchen mustn't be too humid or the jellied stock melts and makes the pasta break- so getting this dish right time and time again is impressive to say the least. What is more impressive is the way that after the 'explosion' in your mouth, you feel as though you will have that taste with you for the next week, but it slowly dissipates and you are left clean-mouthed and truffle free.

I could write superlatives all day about this dish, it comes presented on what the waiter said is known as the anti-spoon, a spoon rested on a circular piece of china, in such a way that it just floats above the table. there is a tiny piece of very mature Parmesan and some crisp romaine lettuce on top, there is no smell of truffle until you have the entire thing in your mouth - 'eat it in one, and don't open your mouth while you eat it, it really does explode!' were my words of advice on this occasion, and I'm glad I heeded the advice. As you pop the spoon in your mouth, close and bite, there is a real sensation that there was more liquid inside the pasta than seems possible- the 'Tardis' effect again!

Once again, I was too entranced in the next dish to take a photo, but 'lamb, red cabbage, mastic' involved the other table-guest of the night: the rosemary stalk. Three perfectly cooked pieces of lamb fillet (cooked in a water-bath, then transferred), were sat on a 'sizzle platter' of bespoke design, each individually garnished with a little mastic cream- think of the aroma of a pine forest- pickled sun choke/Jerusalem artichoke, and the eponymous red cabbage. As the very hot dish was placed on my table, the lovely redheaded waitress rolled the rosemary in her hand a second, and then placed it in a small hole at the one end of the dish. Instantly the smell of rosemary was all around me. As I ate (with chopsticks for this course only), each lamb garnish activated different taste sensations for me - the mastic was distinctly umami; the artichoke had elements of salt and sour; and the cabbage was both sweet and salty. All this with the perfume from my warm herbal dining companion was great stuff, and the course I would most liked to have been bigger. (I would gladly have had seconds of everything, if not thirds too, but this deserved more of a large part in this production.)
As I waved farewell to the friend I had experienced fifteen courses with up to then, I received three courses at once again. To keep from confusing myself and you, I will call them by single ingredient names- pineapple was one, bacon was two and three was popcorn. Of course they all go together and of course they all taste amazing, but who knew how good they could be?
The pineapple transparency was a crisp sheet of incredibly tasty pineapple which was sprinkled with powdered Virginian ham. The bacon was apple-wood smoked bacon, dipped in syrup and hung to dry on another bespoke piece of table wear which resembled a bow/washing line: The bacon hanging on the thinnest of wires like a crisp bed sheet. The popcorn, my word the popcorn, came in liquefied form, in a glass tumbler, with a light foam texture and the most brilliant impression of a bag of buttered toffee popcorn I have ever drunk! I had them in the order I just described, and they were perfect, logical steps to bridge the gap between savoury courses and sweet. Sat Bains calls it the 'crossover' on his menu, like an introduction of the two, where you take a few strides with a foot in each camp before launching into the homeward steps of the desserts.
My first 'proper' dessert was (yet) another multi sense dish, entitled 'earl grey'. The dish itself arrives on a large bowl/plate with the flavour components of Earl Grey tea broken down into a group of distinct individual flavours: citrus, bergamot, pine nut, apple vanilla and milk. Probably more, but I was getting tired! As well as small pearls of lemon curd, dried milk noodles (!) and the orange scented cream were several herbal flavourings presented as powders and soils. To those of you who know me, it’s no surprise this dish grabbed me. I'm sure- I enjoy Earl Grey, and this was like a bite of tea, which just like Earl Grey was slightly different with each taste: Impressive and made more so by the additional presentation tool. Go on guess.....
This course took two waiters to bring to me, one for the plate, and one for the warm pillow filled with earl grey scented air, which was slowly forced from the tiny holes in it, again creating a multi-sensual experience, as the weight of the plate pushed down: An incredible extra dimension to the whole dish, which would have been great without it. With the pillow, well, I'm all out of adjectives. I have to repeat- fun, tasty, sublime, brilliant, and incredible.
At this stage I was told I had two courses to go, and immediately was filled with the sad realization that I wasn't going to be at my table forever, constantly being fed morsels of increasing brilliance, and that in fact, this perfect opera was nearing its closing bars. As if sensing my sadness, the waiter brought me the most fun dish of the night- 'bubblegum, hibiscus, long pepper, crème fraiche. If I told you that this dish was jellied hibiscus and long-pepper jelly would you think it was fun? Maybe. What about if I mentioned that the crème fraiche was flavoured with vanilla and lemon? Fun? Probably not. Okay, how about the news that the bubblegum was a flavoured stock which tapioca was cooked in? Is that your idea of fun? Probably more fun than the rest, but let’s add all the fun and tell you that these ingredients came in the order I just described, but I had to slurp them out of a long glass pipe, like a test tube with no bottom, making a loud slurping noise as I did so? There's your fun element right there. The bizarre thing is, I hadn't seen anyone else have it that night, but I know they did because they were all given the same menu as me at the end of our respective meals. I guess I was so engrossed in other courses, I missed it all. It seemed so loud to me as I sucked on the pipe- 'like a cigar is best' said the cheerful redhead- that I was sure I would have recalled! It was great tasting, as well as fun, with the flavours of bubblegum being hibiscus, pepper and vanilla, they all revealed themselves in turn, with the tapioca giving a chewy, gum texture which made me think of the 'hubba bubba' years of my childhood. Amazing.

That, my friends, is where I must leave you hanging again. There was one more course, and what a course and what a presentation, but that needs a bit of technical jiggery-pokery on my part, to edit and upload a video. Yeah I know who reviews a restaurant by video. Well, I did, and trust me, it’s worth the wait!

Alinea - part one.

Firstly, I would like to say well done to Grant Achatz and the entire team at Alinea on the three michelin stars awarded to them in the new first edition of the guide in chicago.

I consider myself reasonably lucky in life. I enjoy my job, get on with my wonderful family and have a great network of friends. my luck often extends to having unexpected bonuses when on an evening out, such as meeting one of the welsh rugby team when I was on a train from London to Cardiff a few nights ago, or the times I met several of my favourite singers including Lily Allen in a record shop; Kate Nash outside a pub in Bristol and the Arctic Monkeys-all of them outside their after-show party straight after watching their gig at the London Astoria. (We later gate-crashed that party-but that's another story for another day)
My luck also has been a factor several of my wonderful dining experiences around the world, such as Brett from the ledbury-see my post here-http://bit.ly/9Fohvm-giving us an amazing tasting menu for my second visit to his fantastic restaurant, or Wylie Dufresne from wd-50 in New York spending time explaining the set up in his kitchen, and getting his best waiter to look after us all night, or even the time my sister, completely by accident, came across Jose Andres's miniBar concept restaurant in DC, where we had a 26 course extravaganza in February this year.
all that luck was waiting to turn on me, or so I thought, as in the weeks prior to my October trip to the U.S. a few things were starting to indicate I wasn’t meant to reach my target, my Mecca of culinary experimentation- Alinea in Chicago.

Firstly, I had a couple of meals booked for the week before I flew had to be cancelled due to work commitments, depriving me of three Michelin stars worth of talent, then another trip to what should have been a gastronomic treat was affected by my allergy to tuna being severely more potent than I realised, resulting in only getting half a meal and a night-long date with my bathroom. (Things were remedied the next night when I felt better and tried again, but I won’t mention any names here). Coupled in with all of this, my trying to arrange flights from Washington, my base for my stay, and Chicago proved to be fruitless as every airline I found refused to accept a credit card issued out of North America, meaning I couldn’t book anything. Sleepless nights and depressing thoughts followed as I kept thinking someone up there had it in for me.

Once I was in the States, we found a way of booking the flight-use my sisters card (I know, why didn’t I think of that first?) and a hotel. On the day itself- October 20th, I flew to Chicago and got to my hotel, which had several stars, all viewable through the hole in the roof, several floors still a building in progress and staff who displayed the only example of poor customer service I have ever encountered in America. Once again, my ‘Spidery’ sense started tingling, but I thought to myself, I have got this far, nothing is stopping me having this meal.
Perhaps I should have met my cab driver before saying that, even to myself. He was very friendly, but I think he had been in town less time than me.
Anyway, all that about my trip is not what you are here for, I hope. I would like to think you are awaiting the details of my meal at Grant Achatz's newly crowned three Michelin star-rated Alinea.
Are you?
Good.

Arriving at Alinea, you notice one thing- a complete lack of any signage, lights or any telltale signs of there being a business of any kind, never mind a restaurant. There are blacked out windows, dark brickwork and a cast iron street number. That’s it, apart from a guy in a dark uniform who steps out of the shadows as you stand there scratching your head looking for the place and opens a door you don’t know is there.
Once inside, the deceptive entrance hall looks incredibly long, but is only a few steps, and although it looks like the door is ahead of you, a Star Trek style sliding door whooshes open to your left, and there it is- Alinea. No lobby, bar or concierge type reception, just a professional greeting from Joe Catterson, who knew my name, where I had travelled from and also that I was a chef. These details and his welcome immediately put me at ease and set the tone for the evening. In my desperation to get there, I had arrived half an hour early, so Mr. Catterson escorted me outside, and two doors down the street to boka, which he described as 'a friend of Alinea' and which also incidentally was awarded a Michelin star today. They looked after me, kept me entertained, and even gave me a complimentary amuse bouche 'to kick start the Alinea experience'. I can see big things for Chef Giuseppe Tentori in the future too, his menu read very well, and the food I saw going past me looked stunning.

After a few minutes, the barman told me the Alinea were ready for me now, so I walked the few yards back and re-entered, this time to be greeted-again by name- by another member of staff, a very charming young lady whose name I did not catch. She led me upstairs to one of three rooms which make up the restaurant of Alinea. I should just mention at this point, that when you first enter the restaurant, the kitchen is on your right, and totally open behind a glass screen, where you can catch a glimpse of the whole team in action, in a very peaceful, almost silent, clockwork precision.

Once settled in my seat at a small table in the corner of the room, I am brought two things. No, not bread, butter, water, a menu or wine list. Not even my first nibble on a canapé or amuse bouche. I am brought... a rosemary sprig and what can only be described as a red/brown looking sheet of.. something. No explanation is offered, just the words 'forget about them, they come into play later'. okkkaaayyyy.
Next up, yet another team member comes up and tells me I will be having some cocktails to kick off the evening. he walked over to the waiter station in the middle of the room, and promptly returned with three canapé sized 'bites', one on a tiny white plinth, one on what looks like a broken spoon (just the bowl part, no handle) and a third on what looks like a Petri dish. these are the edible cocktails, lemon with two types of Luxardo- cherry and lemon- and frozen grapefruit followed by an apple brandy soaked piece of apple which had then been jellified and flavoured with thyme, then finally a puree of butternut squash which had also been set to form a cube with a foam of cynar-a plant based liqueur- and a centre of 7 year old Flor de Cana grand reserve.
I have to say, each of these bites was extremely potent, as well as incredibly flavourful and creatively presented. A fantastic start to the evening’s food, swiftly followed by my first course which came on a plate- not many of them did- and was equally as sublime. This was golden trout roe, with coconut in the form of a perfectly spherical frozen cream, licorice powder and pineapple foam and powder- possibly freeze-dried. A garnish of tiny purple basil leaves also completed both the presentation and the taste. Please don’t think badly of me, but for this dish, in my notes which I hurriedly scribbled through each course, all I could write was 'so beautiful' three times. Three. I know.

Paired with this course was a Champagne cocktail of Louis Roederer with a hint of muscatel to sweeten it slightly. This, as with all the wines I received that night was a great match too, and foil for the dish.
Next I got two 'courses' at the same time, both shrimp dishes-labeled on the menu, which you only receive at the end of the meal, as-'yuba, shrimp, miso, togorashi' and 'chao tom, sugar cane, shrimp, mint' what I was given, was a twig like piece of dried soya milk skin (yuba), which had a long thin strip of shrimp wrapped around it, an orange toffee drizzled around, black and white sesame, togarashi (Japanese spice) and a miso mayonnaise dipping sauce, paired up with a small piece of sugar cane, which had been soaked in shrimp stock, topped with the worlds tiniest mint leaves.
Both shrimp dishes were sublime, oozing shrimp flavour, and great combinations of traditional Japanese flavour pairings and modern technique and presentation. the sugar cane- only just longer than an inch-was ultra shrimp-y (my prevalence of creating words is still with me...), then sour, then spicy, then sweet, as each flavour revealed itself, like I was removing a coat, then a jumper, shirt and vest. Incredible.

Swiftly moving on, I was presented with a bowl within a bowl, the small one containing my 'maitake mushrooms, root vegetables, chestnut' and the larger bowl had some apple slices, squash/pumpkin, oak leaves(!), cinnamon and some other spices I believe, onto which was poured some hot water, creating an aroma and almost completely enveloping sense of autumn. This really was getting to be multi-sensual to the extreme.
The blanc de morgex et de la salle worked, due to the 70 year old vines on Mont Blanc ( so the sommelier told me...) at first I found it slightly vegetal then it developed into a more full, almost spiced white wine. Another great choice.
Next up, another 'shot', this time, non alcoholic, but what a shot. now, my notes fail me slightly at this stage, but it was a smallish glass tumbler with celery juice-punchy, slightly sweet, and far more tasty than you imagine possible, then a large ball floated in the juice-'careful, its larger than it looks' said the waiter- and this tardis of a ball comprised a horseradish sphere containing apple juice topped with a celery leaf. As I took it down in the prescribed manner-all in one go, I swear it grew in my mouth, making me feel like I was eating a horseradish flavoured apple which was coated in celery. As I say, my notes are minimal for this one. A simple 'wow' is scrawled, then underlined vigorously.
The next course had me scratching my head again as I tried to think of another word for 'wow'.
This was the 'monochrome' dish I had heard about, a dish created to be entirely white in its appearance. How boring I hear you sigh, which could have been true, were it not for the fact that the main flavourings of the dish are things which are far from white- coffee, vanilla, black pepper, lemon and licorice, which were married together beautifully, combining with halibut and fresh pasta. Great whichever way you see it, the flavourings all went together seamlessly and the technique and style in getting them all bleached white is equally impressive.

Next was a very famous dish from the Alinea book of the same name, where chef Achatz has blessed those dreamers of us with some of his most loved signature dishes. This was the pheasant, green grape, walnut creation which is a cube of low temperature cooked pheasant, with grape jelly and a peeled walnut, enrobed in a light tempura and presented on a small, pared-down branch of oak, with leaves smouldering to again remind you of the season. A phenomenal bite sized dish which is deceptively simple looking, but I can guarantee is a lot trickier to perfect, served up on another of Alinea's unique serving items, similar to a metal 'cork' with several long spikes sticking upward to hold the fried piece in place.

The observant of you will have noticed by now, that we are ten courses in, and I still haven’t used either of the items placed on my table at the start of my meal.
Well, I’m afraid to read about how they come into play, you will have to wait until tomorrow for the second part of this article. Sorry, I would love to finish it now, but it is getting late and with work tomorrow I have to limit blog-time. I hope you enjoyed the journey so far; there is more to come I promise.

america-land of the feast

Before anyone starts, I must apologise for my tardiness, as I have been back from America for over two weeks now, and haven’t found time to share my experiences from the other side of the pond till now.
there are dedicated posts coming up for several of the restaurants I ate at whilst over there, including several of chef Jose Andres eateries-zyatinya, jaleo and minibar (I know-again?!?) as well as the big one, and if it came down to it, I would be torn to decide whether the main reason for my trip was to visit my sister and her hubby or the meal at Grant Achatz's best restaurant in the world-in waiting, Alinea . For family harmony, let’s just say both are fabulous reasons to travel to the states.
while you all wait for the individual rundowns, I just wanted to share a few photos on here from a few of the meals I had, we worked out that in the space of 5 meals at various places I ate over 110 courses of varying style, standard and size. That’s a lot. Even for me.
Before I went to America for the first time, my preconceptions of their food was pretty much the same as yours I imagine, burgers, hot dogs and massive piles of fries. Whilst i'm sure all of those get served in abundance, the truth is that the standard over there is, in my opinion, vastly superior to our own. whether its the small mom and pop operations working out of a side street cafe in old Leesburg (my sister's new home town!) , mid range chain restaurants and burger bars or the very top end Michelin star chasing foodie Mecca in Chicago (go on-guess) what you receive for your dollar far outweighs anything on offer around the uk.
The Americans have a great attitude toward eating out-they love it, and it is as easy and cost effective as eating at home. Shopping for fresh meat, fish and vegetables was a real eye-opener. It’s so expensive! Cheese was another thing that was hard to get hold of and really expensive when you could find it. Compared to eating out at any one of a massive choice of food offerings it is no wonder people eat out so much.
Constantly I was surprised by the food, and look forward to sampling more, on my next trip west.

sat bains

some chefs are trendy for a while, then dilute their product by opening 'franchise' type brasseries offering a lite version of what it was that brought them publicity and success. Sat bains (@satbains1) is not one of these chefs. he has been carving out his name, plying his trade or rattling the pots and pans, however you wish to say it, for nearly 12 years at the same place in a suburb of nottingham. this time is one of the key factors in his continued success, as it has allowed him to create a series of 'signature' dishes, which , although not on the menu all the time, are instantly recognisable as his creations and let the diner know that they are following a succesion of people blessed to have tried the same dish, which has been proven and stood the test of time. one such dish was presented to me at the start of my fantastic meal at restaurant sat bains recently- scallop 'curry'. to label it as just ' scallop curry', sat has lulled you into a false sense of simpicity, as this dish is a very precise and technically able dish- the single, large scallop is dusted in indian spices and roasted in butter and presented with a mango chutney puree, poached sultanas, tiny cauliflower beignets, sliced raw cauliflower, diced apple and a fragment of poppadom. like all of sat's food, presentation is simple yet elegant and intricate.
all of the following courses i received this time ( the previous nights meal is another days story...) were of an equal standard, all showing flashes of brilliance and a dexterity of palate that elevates this restaurant to one of the best in britain.
next up was an intensely flavoured crab tian, on an avacado puree with of all things peanut brittle. a very clever addition, as it seemed to fit so easily into the rest of the dish, giving texture, sweetness and a clever nut twist.
following then came leek, hazelnut-shallot. a simple but stunningly tasty stew of leeks braised in a hazelnut beurre noisette, and caramelised shallot. again, simplicity of presentation concealed a depth of flavour i never previously thought possible in a humble leek, a talent in itself.
another course of organic salmon was cooked sous vide, and was incredibly tender, yet looked raw. the power of water bath cooking. during my meal, i discussed water baths with sat's head chef, john, and he hoped that they never 'de-skill' kitchens by making it so easy that a chef never has to learn to cook, but in my opinion, with people like sat pushing the bar and coming up with new uses of the equipment, i think it simply makes the possibilities more achievable.
following this i was lucky enough to receive three seperate game main course- pigeon, hare and grouse- each one slightly gamier than the last, and each treated with such respect that you feel as though you are being treated to the chefs own dinner.
throughout the meal, each dish is labelled depending on which of the taste buds it will stimulate- salt, sweet, sour, bitter or umami- and midway through the meal is the 'crossover'. a dish with one foot in the savoury courses and one foot in the desserts, for me this involved poached fig, parmesan, pinenut ice cream and pineapple. a very clever concept incredibly well executed.
the finale to the meal, the desserts, were also well balanced and started with a sharp, acidic blackberry compote with frozen elderberries ,soft vanilla meringue and crisp meringue.
then a chocolate course of bitter chocolate mousse with a dehydrated mousse acting as a texture, a cobnut jelly and cobnut oil. a slightly unusual pairing, but my word it works.
the final dessert, or so i thought, was a sea buckthorn curd tart, with a yoghurt mousse, hydrated pistachios and caramel. the sea buckthorn is an incredibly tart flavour, which needed the yoghurt mousse, but then that is why it is there!
after i had finished this, john asked if i could squeeze in one more course- not wishing to be rude i said i would give it a go, and im glad i did! john brought me a cheesecake of sweet and sour cherries, passion fruit and vanilla, which was the perfect end to a (nearly) perfect meal. during the day i had been treated to a tour of the kitchen and the research and development kitchen by sat himself, who despite the rumours ( joking sat!) is an incredibly friendly guy who went out of his way to make me feel welcome, including upgrading me to the 'chefs table' which gives you a complete overview of service throughout the meal.

to summise, i would recommend restaurant sat bains as a very special place to eat, and stay. well worth the effort it takes to find (it is hidden in one of two lenton lanes which are half a mile apart!).

review by @gomezadams for his blog 'corpulentcapers.com'

a chap brought his wife and a close friend for dinner to the hotel i work at for dinner and this is his view- many thanks

Have you read Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential? Right at the start he describes how as a child he’d eat anything. By anything I’m not talking about lumps of coal or bits of wood but anything edible that nearly all children and most adults would shy away from, you know things like raw oysters or roasted yak gizzard. As a child I, on the other hand, would only eat beans on toast and only then if the beans were made by someone with 57 varieties. I never quite realised what a nightmare this must have been for my parents when we were out and about and although I grew out of it after a year or so there were still a few other food taboos; I was well into my teens before I could put the white of an egg in my mouth without gagging, for instance.

I can’t remember when things changed but thanks to parents, who had grown up with rationing, today’s “eating nose to tail” movement is old hat to someone who fondly remembers the joys of fried liver, devilled kidneys, stuffed hearts and the like. So by the time I was able to drive myself to restaurants I had conquered my food phobia’s and was pretty much up for trying anything once. There are still things I don’t eat but these days that’s either because I simply don’t like the taste (celery, liquorice, celeriac) or it just doesn’t do it for me (prawns, welks and the like).

Now my friend T is different, he didn’t manage to break away from those early hangups so the list of don’t eats is still long. Basically he doesn’t eat fish (of any kind), venison, duck, offal, páte, vegetables, wait let me stop there and come at this from the other side it’ll be quicker. T eats beef, lamb, pork and occasionally chicken, these meats need to come in the regular cuts like fillet, sirloin, rack etc. He eats potatoes and he eats peas. That’s about it really, until you get to desserts, which are pretty much all good, especially if they contain chocolate. A man of simple tastes you might say, but a man of simple tastes that likes dinning out.

So, why am I telling you all this? Well because dinner with T requires advance notice of the menu. You see as I’ve said T likes dining out, as do I, but there’s no point going to places where the menu is going to be a cross between a sushi bar and a “creative uses of innards” competition. So when T called and offered to take myself and MrsA out for belated birthday celebrations in her honour, I found myself in that dilemma of wanting to try something new but knowing I needed, if not a more traditional menu, then at least one with plenty of choice. Where to go?

Until recently I’d always thought of Llansantffraed Court Hotel as primarily a wedding venue as opposed to somewhere to go for dinner, but then I’d run into @chefbennett01 on Twitter and discovered they were just as happy to feed two as two hundred. So after one phone call, a few quick tweets and a hasty rearranging of his schedule we were booked in and chef was in the kitchen.

The first thing you notice about the place is the absolutely stunning location. Set in 20 acres of private park land with it’s own lake and fountains, this Grade 2 Listed building has been a hotel since the 1920’s and boasts 21 rooms all with excellent views, says its website. “Enough!”, I hear you cry. “Get back to the food and the point of that long, rambling introduction.”

OK back to the plot! So my heart sank a little when, sitting on the terrace enjoying an aperitif, Chef appeared to tell us that, seeing as it was a bit of a special occasion (MrsA’s belated birthday remember?), as well as the normal dinner menu he’d put together a little tasting menu for us, if we were so inclined. We were of course under no obligation but if we did, it would obviously work better if we all had the same thing. Hence my dismay! One quick look at this menu told me there was no way T was going to be happy eating most of the courses. An opinion that was reinforced by the expression on T’s face! However Chef promised he could provide one set of plates that contained no fish and T magnanimously agreed to come along for the ride. A big thank you for that T, as I know there was a lot more on that menu that you wouldn’t have ordered in a million years given the choice!

We started with Madgetts farm duck ‘jambon, squash and rillettes cannelloni. The surprise here was the complete lack of pasta, it’s place in the cannelloni actually being taken by the squash, which was cut thin and served raw, introducing an interesting crunch of texture.

The next course was seared mackerel, mirin pickled cucumber, mackerel mousse, truffle and honey and soy dressing. I was a little worried about this dish, because I felt the mousse had the potential for disaster and I was also concerned how the honey was going to work with such an oily fish. I needn’t have been either worried or concerned. The mousse was light and delicate and the dressing had just enough acidity to cut through the oiliness of the fish, producing a wonderfully balanced dish.

Forty eight hour pork belly, anchovy beignet, bread sauce, beer cured onions came next. Now belly pork, in my opinion, needs the crunch of good salty crackling and cooking sous-vide does not for crackling make. So maybe you could ‘cheat’ and prepare your crackling separately or maybe you could serve anchovies instead? Yes anchovies! “Don’t they go with lamb and not pork” you ask? Well I thought so too, but not in Chef Bennett’s kitchen! There they are turned in anchovy beignet and if you were expecting that to be a bit like the topping on a deep fried pizza you couldn’t be further from the truth. Surprisingly they work very well with the pork and in beignet form they provide a nice salty crunch that makes up for the lack of traditional crackling. The skill of course is in ensuring that they don’t overpower the pork and here they managed only to enhance the flavour and not kill it.

We moved on to caramelized scallop, pickled calf’s tongue, soubise. Consider your average surf and turf, this will usually be steak and lobster. Even if you subscribe to the philosophy that the concept is purely to put the two most expensive things on the same plate then at least those things can hold their own in the flavour stakes. It takes a brave man to take something as delicate as a scallop and consider putting beef with it. It takes a very brave man to take a part of the cow where the flavour is intensified and put that with a scallop. I’m not sure I want to describe what sort of man pickles that part of the cow first and then puts it with a scallop! The description of the man that does that and pulls it off is Steve Bennett!

Next up twice cooked Bryn Derw farm free range chicken, confit celeriac, girolles, asparagus, tarragon. There are two things on this plate I would never order in a restaurant. The first is the celeriac. I hate celeriac! The second the chicken, but now only because I know that MrsA can and does cook up a fine chicken so what’s the point in paying for it in a restaurant? So I asked MrsA what she thought of the dish. She thought the quality of the chicken was outstanding. The cooking technique enhanced the quality of the chicken as it was moist and very tasty, the confit and girolles complementing the delicate flavour of the chicken. An excellent dish she said and who am I to argue, I even ate the celeriac!

First of the desert selection was rhubarb ‘cheesecake’, sorbet, pistachios. A nice balance between the tang of the rhubarb and the smooth creaminess of the cheesecake. The pistachios cleverly re-introducing the crunch normally provided by the biscuit base and the sorbet cleansing the palate with every mouthful.

Last of the sweet courses was bitter chocolate mousse, popcorn jelly, gold, Baileys ‘shake’. The popcorn jelly was the surprise here, not what was expected. The texture was definitely jelly but instead of a traditional sweet jelly, here we we had a salty one. This might have sent me running for the hills if it were not for the fact that it worked so well with the bitter chocolate mousse. This was a great fun dessert and it was nice to see our chef has a sense of humour.

We closed our evening off with a cheese board with a good selection of welsh cheeses followed by coffee and homemade petit fours.

There is some debate amongst my friends about “Tasting Menus”. Some feel they are an over indulgence that should be avoided. I, on the other hand, find them intriguing. Especially when I’m eating some where for the first time. I like the Tasting Menu because the chef is basically saying “I’m going off on a journey, do you want to come along for the ride and see what I can do?”

Tonight @chefbennett01 took us on a journey and it was a bit of a magical mystery tour around the ingredient cupboard. Combining flavours in unusual and interesting ways is something he obviously excels at. I was impressed by his ability to balance flavours and how he recreated the traditional elements of dishes by highlighting the tastes and textures of non-traditional combinations.

There are not many places where I would be happy to eat anything made of celeriac, but this is one. Even T, who it must be said took a few fish free detours to get to his destination, discovered that there were a few more parts of an animal that were edible, a few more taste combinations that were palatable and also that there were a few tasty vegetables besides the pea.

The Abergavenny Food Triangle has become a bit of a foodie destination due to a few well know eateries and their equally well known chefs. I think Llansandffraed Court Hotel with Steve Bennet in the kitchen can hold it’s own with the rest of them. ‘Nuff said!

http://www.corpulentcapers.com/ or follow on twitter @gomezadams