Intoxicating Prose by Douglas Blyde

More from Harden's

2012-01-27T09:44:00.000Z

Dining by Design:

Brunswick House Cafe (read)

oOo

Talking Toques:

Neil and Ed Martin (pictured, read)

oOo

Book Feature:

Richard Johnson (read)

Mike Robinson's Cookery School

2012-01-20T18:18:00.000Z

MOUNTAINEER, boulderer, hunter, restaurateur (The Pot Kiln, Berkshire), and co-owner of the Harwood Arms, Fulham, Mike Robinson also runs game workshops at his cookery school.

Read at Harden's

Simon Says

2012-01-16T13:24:00.001Z

Simon Hulstone on potentially deadly foraging, mind altering tea and suicidal mackerel...

Click photos above to read (Eat Me magazine)
For photos of Simon, see Visuals

Top Table's Most Romantic Restaurants Feature

2012-01-06T10:09:00.000Z

500 Restaurant, 782 Holloway Road, London, N19 3JH:

I’ve often found the home to be a more romantic dining environment then even the softest lit, most smoothly served restaurant. However, for unexpected culinary fortune, I’d recommend the humble looking ‘500’ in Archway. For a marginal supplement to already reasonable prices, their own imported truffles - white abundantly shaved over buttery pappardelle; black over venison leg or veal escalope, makes a heady impression.

For: Top Table

Plates of Potential and Potential Plates

2012-01-04T16:34:00.000Z

Restaurant writer, Douglas Blyde asked London’s leading food-focussed personalities what 2012 might hold for diners.

Read at Story PR's blog

Restaurant Review: CUT

2011-12-19T17:51:00.001Z

HAVING been written-off as “good for nothing” by his coalminer father, Wolfgang Puck left school and home aged 14. On being subsequently fired three-weeks into his apprenticeship at the kitchens of Romantik Hotel Poste in hometown, Villach, Austria, hopeless Puck considered suicide, going so far as to reach the river’s edge. Fortunately, the hotel’s owner discovered sympathy and saved his life, relocating him among female cooks in the Poste’s sister property. Under improved conditions, once outcast Puck become a culinary protégé, gaining the highest catering school qualifications which the owner had seen...

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine (p. 23)

Majestic Mirazur

2011-12-16T10:00:00.002Z

GAULT-MILLAU’s first non-French Chef of the Year, Mauro Colagreco talks to Douglas Blyde about realising his restaurant vision…

Read at Brummell magazine

For Whom The Bell Tolls

2011-12-14T11:05:00.000Z

AN EXCURSION “brimming with surprises” is how our individually dapper host bills it. “Meet at 17:10 at platform six, Charing Cross, bring an overnight bag, and sport gastro coach-house chic” are his instructions, e-mailed in an invitation etched over the image of a stiff, stuffed squirrel bolted to a rocking chair. Its limbs are crossed in a pose at once casual and pensive. Bar one, who accidentally ventures to King’s Cross, our Quink spill of positive RSVPs – food journalists and food bloggers, and food journalists who PRs obstinately refer to as food bloggers – shoe-horn themselves into rush-hour rolling-stock. Bathed in fluorescent light, and frequently kneed by a bolshy congo of corridor haunting commuters buckled into wan suits, we’re plied with blotting paper dry fizzy English red...

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Harden's

2011-12-13T10:56:00.000Z

THE latest newsletter features four Q&A's which I organised:

Realising Roganic

2011-12-02T13:46:00.002Z

Image: Paul Winch-Furness

BEN Spalding sips green tea amid numerous jars and tubs of herbs, spices and flowers, their exotic names boldly scrawled in marker pen. We’re in the kitchens under Roganic, first London venture from Simon Rogan, mind behind esteemed Cumbria restaurant, L’Enclume. Tattoos crawl Spalding’s arms. They include the line ‘keep your feet on the earth but your head in the sky’ as well as jigsaw pieces and music notes reflecting an interest in techno music. “I had no interest in food at school” he says. “My dad was an alcoholic and died when I was 16. I got caught-up in a bad crowd.” Fortunately eldest brother Andrew set him straight, enrolling him at catering college. “At night I’d work at a restaurant run by an Alain Ducasse-trained chef which is how I caught the cooking bug.”

Read at Harpers Wine & Spirit (pp. 24-26)

Leluu & Blyde, 8th December

2011-12-01T11:54:00.015Z

Photo: Leluu

HEREWITH, the menu for Leluu & Blyde supper club, 8th December. For details of how to book, please see: Leluu.com.

anaemic mary
strained vine tomato, basil, konik’s tail primeval forest vodka, discrete spices

sea petal
fins de claire, seaweed, sesame, stinging nettle jelly

pouting parcels
handmade wontons, pouter fish, sun-dried shrimp paste, sage, scandalous scallions, ricotta

taking the peas
strained, strained and strained again peas, mint, manzanilla, white truffle butter croutons, micro shoots

good raw deal
brazilian topside and rump tartare, rosemary powder, soy, cognac, wasabi, quail’s egg, autumn truffle

snow white risotto
squid, fennel, enoki, vermouth, early winter truffle

chickens have loved
halal hearts terryaki, coconut caramel, ginger, chinese chives, on brochettes

bathing birds
quail, rose perfume, citrus, crushed clove, pomegranate, parsnip nest

the green water
cool cucumber consomme, berries, leccino olive

pangea pancake
vanilla, clementine glaze, violet cream

minus mothers ruin
coconut, slow cooked juniper, lime zest

[Donation: £35+]

Talking Toques - Mark Sargeant

2011-11-25T14:39:00.000Z

Photo: Leluu

WE catch up with Gordon Ramsay’s former right-hand man at Rocksalt - his new restaurant in Folkestone...

Read at Harden's
Read my longer feature on Mark Sargeant at Fork magazine

Sir Frank Williams

2011-11-23T11:58:00.000Z

THE founder and manager of the AT&T Williams Formula One team faces the Spear's inquisition...

Read

Morgenster wines at The Square

2011-11-22T22:18:00.001Z

GIULIO Bertrand and Henry Kotzé came to London restaurant, The Square to introduce the Morgenster range of wines to journalists. The 300 year-old vine and olive estate is based in Somerset West, Stellenbosch. Owner, Giulio Bertrand, who was formerly in the textile business, and originally purchased the 200ha site as a retirement domicile, but found the idea of a 200ha garden impractical, admires the wines of leading Saint-Emilion Château, Cheval Blanc. So too does his winemaker, Henry Kotzé, who sows Cabernet Franc alongside Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and a little Petit Verdot (on Tableberg sandstone). Pierre Lurton is consultant.

Read at Harpers Wine and Spirit magazine

Tapas Dance

2011-11-17T12:02:00.000Z

NACHO Manzano, the two-Michelin-starred Asturian chef behind London’s Ibérica Food & Culture restaurants talks kilometer- zero cuisine, and the importance of unfussy fare...

Read at Brummell

Ginstitute Launches

2011-11-16T11:04:00.000Z

WITH the aim of conveying the long history of Londoners’ allegiance to dry gin, the second smallest museum in the capital recently opened in Notting Hill...

Read at Foodepedia

Juliette Joffe, Giraffe Restaurants

2011-11-13T10:00:00.000Z

BEFORE establishing Giraffe, Juliette Joffe was the mind behind the Café Flo chain. She founded Giraffe 14 years-ago this summer with husband, Russel and business partner, Andrew Jacobs who she first encountered as a waiter at Flo. Giraffe employs 1,200 staff across 43 restaurants in England, including five franchises.

Read at Livebookings

The Room at The Elephant

2011-11-05T20:57:00.000Z

“I ate beans on toast and spaghetti hoops until I was 15” says Simon Hulstone, the once “fussy eater” who went on to become the only British chef to win gold at France’s World Chef Championships. Fortunately work related travels with father, Roger, group executive chef for hoteliers, Hilton and Forte saw his disinterest in food disappear. “I started to like chefs’ banter,” he recalls...

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit (p. 23)

¿Quéviar?

2011-10-31T15:12:00.002Z

WE’RE used to free-range eggs, so why not organic caviar? Douglas Blyde dons his waders for some Spanish roe...

Read at Spear’s

Test Dining THIRTY SIX by Nigel Mendham

2011-10-24T16:20:00.000+01:00

IN tandem with general manager, Debrah Dhugga, chef Nigel Mendham has brought the restaurant at much-loved five-star, Duke’s of St. James up to the standard of its attendant bar. It’s long been a favourite on account of its balanced but - if you’re not watchful - unbalancing martinis.

Read at Hot Dinners

A Tail To Remember

2011-10-21T10:00:00.002+01:00

PLEURAT Shabani, the creator of Konik’s Tail vodka, tells Douglas Blyde how he brought rare premium vodka from Poland’s primeval forests to London’s best bars…

Read at Brummell

Brummell Blog: Wolfgang Puck

2011-10-19T13:43:00.000+01:00

THE celebrated Austrian-born American chef has just opened his first British venture The Cut at the 5-star hotel, 45 Park Lane. Here he talks about cruelty, inspiration, benevolence and rock and roll…

Read at Brummell

Q&A with Justin Thomas

2011-10-12T10:00:00.003+01:00

OUR reporter Douglas Blyde talks to Justin Thomas – the man behind Belgravia’s ever-buzzing Thomas Cubitt, on the importance of the dining environment...
Read at Harden's

Talking Toques - Simon Hopkinson

2011-10-10T19:02:00.001+01:00

“I think you can afford to go a touch thinner, Tom” says Hopkinson, lifting coppa-style sliced beef sourced from Trealy Farm, Monmouthshire. “We’ve also been discussing sausages” he adds, observing the full English at the centre of attention.

Read at Harden's

Leluu & Blyde

2011-10-05T11:39:00.000+01:00

‘I think it would be great fun to share Douglas' enthusiasm for cooking - he is brilliant and inventive - at my supper club. A creatively delicious British menu, eg. minted pea and Manzanilla soup, Konik’s Tail Bloody Mary lolly with soy, tile of flighted animals, and roast figs with violet sugar...’

More details: http://www.leluu.com/

Another Course of The Kitchen

2011-10-04T13:08:00.000+01:00

Arnold Wesker's dine-amic, The Kitchen (currently served up at the National Theatre) is being live streamed in cinemas on Thursday. To find out more visit: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive. It features my former colleague of hospitality, Marek Oravec (Hans, pictured).

Names Can’t Be Bulldozed

2011-09-29T10:00:00.001+01:00

HONOURING the avoidably lost is one of Great Britain’s not-so-great traditions. It irks me to see identikit dormitory estates steal first land then titles of dismantled noble estates and useful post offices adjusted into twee Old Post Offices not worth a posit on a postcard.

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Fizz

2011-09-28T00:14:00.003+01:00

THE authority responsible for safeguarding Champagne’s name and quality turns 70 this year. Founded by producers in 1941 in response to Germany’s impolite ransacking of much of the area’s 280kms of cellars, the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) exists on an annual budget of 20m Euros. This is raised from bottle tax levied on producers obliged to join. Although a major aspect of the CIVC’s role is to ensure ‘Champagne’ is only applied to traditional method sparkling wine from the region rather than deceitfully promoted £10 spring water for domestic animals, Norwegian orange juice or even Kiwi soap, the body devotes much time to innovation. According to PR head Philippe Wibrotte, in response to environmental concerns (the region gained an average 1.4 degrees Celsius over 40-years) the CIVC cut carbon emissions by 7% by simply deploying a lighter bottle. By skimming shoulders the shed 75g brings the most popular 75cl format to 835g.

10 years-on from the devastating attacks of 9/11 which I recall watching unfold on a pull-down screen in an Epernay café, I return to Champagne’s gently undulating chalk plains to meet a quad of lesser known producers. Most have already picked grapes in what proves a particularly early harvest. Herewith a précis.

Champagne-Jacquesson, Dizy

Jean-Hervé doesn’t know we’re coming resulting in a Venn diagram of tours, one of which takes in grape pressing to piped Simon and Garfunkel. Of most interest to me is the end of harvest barbecue, preparations of which are underway despite a fierce wind. Following tour two with Hervé, dishevelled chain smoker head of the 1798 house, we eat a trough of peasant lasagne and wan, dun crème brûlée in sight of rotting terracotta lions. I sneak a peek at Herve’s clock collection after as my stomach heaves, which includes some retro examples. Ironic is this interest considering timing and organisation’s clearly not his forte. Unlike the majority of producers, Hervé labels his wines with numbers, almost like upmarket car brands. Even mature wines seem youthful and tightly coiled.

Henriet-Bazine, Villers-Marmery

Marie-Noëlle adorns her long, deliberately distressed table with ripe Chardonnay grapes and a wedding gift Alessi bowl of white bread. With direct, flinty Blanc de Blancs she serves moist salt marsh lamb terrine then Blanc de Noirs with three hour stewed boeuf bourguignon. Despite her enthusiastic attempts to match food with wine, the wine of course is a casualty. Harvest cheese Maroilles is served cool – ‘because it’s dangerous if it warms’ she says. An hour of ‘oenovasion’ follows. A branded 4x4 driven by Marie’s husband Nicolas prowls an old railway track then stirringly steep slope to an eccentric lighthouse landmark turned museum.

Champagne Paul-Goerg, Vertus

Appealing Adelaide’s the most immediately memorable aspect of Paul-Goerg, an uncompromisingly modern, almost civic looking plant run by Jean-Philippe Moulin, formerly of Ruinart. Having taken us through his deft range which includes a phenomenally well made coffee scented ’04 Brut and a sadly corked bottle of a line he’s making for Barons de Rothschild we segue to dinner in Epernay. Situated at the start or finish of the L’Avenue de Champagne, Brasserie La Banque dishes out steak tartare wet with ketchup. I get into an argument with Moulin about the rubbish fodder he’s subjecting me to, to which he replies that most restaurants in the area only stock labels that pay to be stocked, and this is now one of the few exceptions that buy on merit. It seems that when mean producers try to spend, the result is actually meaner. The harvest barbecue feels more than ever an inspiring alternative.

Ployer-Jacquemart, Ludes

As well as making wine, gourmet Laurence lets five rooms of her home, hall of which is patterned with intricate, rust coloured paper. Her cellars are immaculate – cleanliness and tidiness are disciplines instilled in her when working as chef in Canada and Germany. But there’s only so much winemaking paraphernalia a man can take. Overlooking her chickens, one of which survived being plucked by a dog, and remnants of geraniums, her flagship Liess d’Harbonville ’96 proves the wine of the trip. Poised and authored, it gently gains courage in a wide glass as it warms. Compared to our accommodation, a grim Best Western with shockingly shoddy kitchens on which the CIVC spares no expense of their 20m Euros, Florence’s house is charming. Her husband’s presentation of melon, lobster, honey vinaigrette and peppercorns, then turbot and sweet shredded native oyster sauce – is the best food I’ve had in France for a very long time.

More images

A one to one with John Sullivan, IT Director, Gondola Group

2011-09-24T10:00:00.000+01:00

JOHN Sullivan is IT Director for the Gondola group which serves 40 million meals a year via restaurants, Pizza Express, Zizzi, Ask, Byron and Kettner’s. He says it’s a fantastic time to work in information technology.

Read at Livebookings

Illy Galleria and University of Coffee

2011-09-22T14:57:00.000+01:00

PERFORMANCES by Marina Abramović, mirror paintings by Michelangelo Pistoletto and dishes by Michelin-starred chefs, Viki Geunes and Giorgio Locatelli feature at this year’s pop-up ‘Galleria’ by Illy. Also within its densely coffee scented confines - and despite not having a degree-granting licence - the Galleria offers complimentary courses at its ‘University of Coffee’. The aim: to teach consumers the craft and flair behind flawless macchiatos, velvety cappuccinos and creamy caffè lattes.

Read at Foodepedia

Monza in Photos

2011-09-16T12:02:00.002+01:00

VIP guest of at&t Williams, Douglas Blyde gained access to the pit stop and paddock at the historic Monza circuit during the last European race of the season. Here is his photo-story…

View at The Prodigal Guide

Water Drinking Wit: The Charles Lamb

2011-09-13T09:33:00.000+01:00

EIGHTEENTH century essayist, Charles Lamb doesn’t seem the obvious choice to lend licensed premises his name. In ‘Confessions of a Drunkard’ (Last Essays of Elia) the Georgian Islingtonite presaged against ‘draughts of life-destroying wine … distilled into airy breath to tickle vain auditors.’

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Feeling Dizy

2011-09-09T01:04:00.001+01:00

A guest appearance on Lucy Shaw's fine 'Wine In The City' site, filmed at Champagne Jacquesson.

For photos of Champagne, see Visuals

Punch & Suttie

2011-09-01T09:22:00.000+01:00

THE Edinburgh Fringe offers rich pickings for printers. Often beautiful flyers are perpetually pressed into hands by more often than not, beautiful people. One chap, clad beak to braces in gaudy plumes, touted ‘underground rebel bingo’ complete with giveaways of glitter balls, tents and sleeping bag suits. Another lady enticed me to behold a singing shimmering mermaid. By end of week one, sturdy pillars flanking the Royal Mile – scene of scores of outdoor gigs – are deeply swathed with the flickering papers.

Read at The Arbuturian

Fast Food, Slow Wine

2011-08-31T16:08:00.000+01:00

I REMEMBER a riveting restaurant review by wit, Victor Lewis-Smith. ‘When I got this job’ he mused in The Guardian in 2005, ‘my mate Kev (who’s very high up at Channel 4) told me, “Don’t just go to all the poncey places. Review Little Chefs, too.”’ Despite the fact Lewis’ ensuing pit stop delivered him ‘sad sausages’ with ‘less flavour than roadkill stuffed into a condom’, Kev’s sentiments still circulate my subconscious. I think it’s important for critics to maintain context. To solely steer shiny silver or Sheffield plate to scrupulous morsels at steamed linen is to evade an abundance of intriguing eats unravelling beyond Michelin’s zenith. So, shunning pomp and “ponce”, I positively RSVP’d to ‘All For Wine and Wine For All’s’ intriguing invite to digest a tasting menu of ‘junk food and fine wine’.

Read at All4wine.co.uk

Balfour Castle

2011-08-30T15:47:00.006+01:00

TWEED clad gamekeeper Karl collects me in Reggie, Balfour Castle’s launch. It’s piloted by Mike who prefers its speed to the tug boat which he used to skipper. As well as transferring family and guests from Kirkwall on the mainland to Shapinsay, he’s harbourmaster. Measuring six miles by three it’s one of 70 islands within the Orkney archipelago which locals claim is closer in culture to Oslo than Edinburgh. Hence fiddle music’s more likely to pierce the breeze than bagpipes.

Awarded Scottish Chef of the Year 2009, Lyonnais head chef and vintage tractor enthusiast Jean-Baptiste Bady relishes the fruits from the choppy waters for good reason. The North Sea meets the Atlantic here effectively acting as a filter ensuring fish and shellfish taste supremely clean. From organised shoots on Balfour’s grounds Bady’s also assured a regular supply of pheasants, partridges and teal. In fact he’s earning a reputation for lean game sausages. And providing roots and shoots, berries for jams and the UK’s most northerly grapes, Bady meticulously maintains six acres of walled kitchen gardens.

Although Bady’s so tall that his prep tables have been welded to meet his frame, his persistence for precision is clear, an attribute he learnt with Bernard Loiseau, infamously perfectionist former owner of La Côte d’Or. Bady serves succulent, quirky canapés of briefly fried breaded haggis balls in the library where the fire blazes despite it being summer. Then, reached through a not so secret, secret passage, dinner ensues in the drawing room. It features a well loved Steinway, handmade sage wallpaper flecked with gold and uninterrupted sea views. From a gently priced, Bordeaux rich cellar which begins at £15 for white Beaujolais, 07 Puligny-Montrachet (Dom. Latour-Giraud) adds freshness to my starter of moist, paper white halibut. This comes with fleshy aubergine purée and a nervy tangle of sweet peppers spruced with white wine vinegar, garlic and thyme.

Carved with an ivory handled knife, the main course is by Royal appointment. Tenderly rested venison loin comes from the Queen’s shoot at Balmoral but is accompanied by green and yellow baby courgettes grown at home. Intriguingly the courgettes accentuate the crisp, vivid tannins of Chȃteau Lanessan 03 (kindly priced at £29).

Finally, tarte Tatin and passion fruit sorbet gains more texture from a crumble of freeze dried raspberries adorned by slightly bitter edible pansy. Served straight, 12 year old single malt from Highland Park on the mainland where swallows nest beside furnaces, brings complexity with its silky, spreading, heather scented warmth.

Dinner proved fit for a Laird. After a peek at the lay of the land from Balfour’s battlements where it’s possible to see some of the only resilient trees to cling these windblown islands, it’s time to retire to one of Balfour’s nine sumptuous bedrooms.

B&B £200; dinner £55.

http://www.balfourcastle.co.uk/

Published: Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine.

Thai Food Safari

2011-08-25T10:00:00.003+01:00

GARLANDED with jasmine, papped like filmstars, then escorted through heat hazed rush hour gridlock by a police motorcyclist in a minibus blessed by a monk. This is the unconventional welcome three British journalists basked in, in Bangkok.

Read this at Fork magazine
Read Letter from Bangkok at Chef! magazine
Read about Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi at glass magazine

Turkish Delight In Mayfair

2011-08-24T14:54:00.000+01:00

AFTER success as a food writer and television chef, Silvena Rowe opened her first restaurant, Quince at The May Fair hotel, in June serving Ottoman-inspired dishes with a very modern twist. Here she talks about the restaurant, her cooking and why she loves London...

Read at Brummell magazine

Blueprint: An Icon

2011-08-22T15:45:00.000+01:00

‘Paolozzi’s mainly concerned with copulating grasshoppers’ says Christopher Turner as he comes face to phiz with ‘Head of Invention’, a bulky sculpture leaning, leadenly on Shad Thames. ‘And I’ve a friend who owns Paolozzi’s raised skirt Marilyn Monroe with detachable legs,’ he adds. ‘Her billowing skirt and torso lift off to leave pins standing on a bit of gauze substituting for the NY grate.’

Read at The Prodigal Guide

The great British picnic

2011-08-20T09:30:00.001+01:00

IN the final part of a six-part series, chef Matt Tebbutt prepares crab lettuce cups, grilled sea bass then warmed strawberries and peaches for a beachside lunch with actress and cook, Lisa Faulkner...

Read my advertorial at Guardian Weekend

Blazing Spirit: noma

2011-08-15T11:11:00.001+01:00

RATHER than fairy tales, Hamlet’s castle, Viking saga and Technicolor LEGO, Douglas Blyde opts for the purity and persistence of Denmark’s cuisine, jolted by the tongue by René Redzepi at noma...

Read this at The Arbuturian
Read about noma's designers at Spear's
See photos of Copenhagen

The Admirable Sargeant

2011-08-10T18:07:00.000+01:00

“You’re a dead ringer for Giles Coren ten years-ago” says Mark Sargeant, wide-eyed. “And smaller than I expected. People think the same of me.”
Read a copy at David J. Constable's site

No Beef with Bull

2011-08-03T08:14:00.000+01:00

“SLOW it down, don’t speak and don’t look it in the eye” whispers ghillie Mitchell Partridge. As we gingerly approach the beast, its breeze block of a skull lifts from the grass buffet. Beside it are big bellied charges. As we encroach, they emit booming complaints, amplified in this amphitheatre of hills. “That was interesting,” I remark when considerably clear of the hardy grazers. “Now you know why I ask guests to avoid bright clothes,” he responds, unshaken.

Read at The Prodigal Guide

Made in Yorkshire

2011-08-02T14:44:00.000+01:00

THE final of the inaugural cocktail competition Made in Yorkshire took place at Leeds' 13th floor SkyLounge at the Mint Hotel on August 1, a day officially designated Yorkshire Day. As well as the city's nightlife, organisers Welcome to Yorkshire and SLB Public Relations intended the event to highlight the county's bounty of local produce. Consequently competitors were required to include a minimum of one local ingredient whether wine, rhubarb, carrot or relish.

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine
See photos at Visuals

The Ferryboat Inn

2011-07-29T12:35:00.000+01:00

SAILING boats bob to the sound of Moby, kayakers swerve past kingfishers, herons and oystercatchers, and spherical hanging baskets almost imperceptibly swing. This is how life looks in the early evening from the broad, canopied terrace of Falmouth’s 300 year-old Ferryboat Inn. It’s the local outpost of the Wright Brothers who, rather than being pioneers of human flight, also operate wildly successful seafood brasseries in Borough Market and Soho. They also grow and supply oysters (over five million per year) and mussels to a great many more.

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine (p. 23)

Marcus Wareing

2011-07-20T17:05:00.001+01:00

Image: Paul Winch-Furness

YOU don’t realise the volume of people in a train station. But what I find more incredible is the Euston Road. 1.6m people pass by the front door every fortnight...

Read this at Brummell
Read another piece at The Quarterly

The Olde Bell

2011-07-18T17:52:00.000+01:00

“We don’t talk in food miles but food yards,” says Warren Geraghty, The Olde Bell’s executive chef. “In fact, we haven’t bought rocket leaves for five weeks and our potatoes are about to come through.”

Read at Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine

Noma Nom Nom

2011-07-14T18:12:00.000+01:00

DANISH cuisine has long been about more than herring. Douglas Blyde travels to Copenhagen to meet the designers behind noma, the world's best restaurant...

Read at Spear's

Social Dining with Jason Atherton

2011-06-27T12:50:00.004+01:00

Image: Paul Winch-Furness

IT may have just opened but Pollen Street Social has already made a huge impact on London’s furiously competitive restaurant scene. Executive chef Jason Atherton explains why...

Read at Brummell magazine
Read longer feature at Fork magazine

Taking a Punt on a Dream

2011-06-23T10:00:00.002+01:00

“My mother’s poor cooking,” is how Mark Poynton describes his motivation for becoming a chef. Born in Chester in 1980 - “a disappointing year for wine” - he worked as a waiter before discovering chefs had “more fun”. He jokes: “they also finished in time for last orders at the pub.” His big break occurred at Altrincham’s Juniper restaurant where he proved his determination to chef Paul Kitchling by working unpaid initially. Of Kitchling (now patron of Edinburgh’s 21212) Poynton remarks: “Some called his cooking wacky. But for a 20 year-old it was wonderful to be involved in it. At first, just four of us produced often wild 20-course tasting menus.”

Read at Harper's Wine & Spirit magazine » (pp. 38-39)
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Taxidermy and Banquettes

2011-06-20T10:00:00.000+01:00

Image: Paul Winch-Furness

Douglas Blyde dines at Riding House Café – the restaurant that Richard Harden describes as “a sort of younger and trendier Wolseley” – and leaves it as stuffed yet healthy looking as a combed, furred and sharply illuminated wall mounted rodent.

Read at The Prodigal Guide »

Drinking Dry at No. 3

2011-06-16T10:00:00.003+01:00

OUR CLUTCH of faithful drinkers congregate in Berry Brothers and Rudd’s bottle lined pantry. Beside mixologist Francesco Turrini’s left ear is a martini triangle in miniature. “My wife used to be a tattoo artist,” says the innovative barman in an Italian accent. Possibly recalling the pain of the needle’s penetration, he vigorously shakes a real martini into submission. Both sketch on skin and frosted reality feature olives.

Read at Spectator Scoff! »

Pig Snout to Pot Spout

2011-06-14T10:00:00.001+01:00

Image: John Carey

A STINKY tofu waft from Chinatown, where cooks cluster for indiscreet smokes, and Leicester Square’s neon smoulder, muted in early light, stands St. John’s first hotel. The handsome, six-storey stack’s façade boasts Langouste, Huitres and Moules. The simple signage, tacked to balconies, is the sole stylistic remnant of former Italian, Manzi’s, seemingly eulogised now it has gone. Staff in dentist-like tunics scrub pavements beside a bank of nine bins, cordoned as if queuers. Above, a heritage plaque indicates Johann Strauss I lodged here in 1838. Opposite looms the big ‘W’ hotel, a fogged glass spider’s nest, liked and lamented in varying proportions...

Read at Fork Magazine »
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Gale Force at Swiss Cottage

2011-06-11T10:00:00.000+01:00

WORDSMITH that I aspire to be, I savour the shipping forecast, delight in spelling my surname with the phonetic alphabet and take pleasure in ticking off exciting sounding stops on the London underground. Pubs intrigue me too – but not just for their promise of cosy booze. Behind the quirky often olde English names are yards of yarns…

Read at Use Your Local »

"Please, sir, I want some more..."

2011-06-10T10:00:00.001+01:00

VISUALS may assuage said appetite...

Luxurious Museum

2011-06-08T10:00:00.001+01:00

DESCRIBED as a working museum by architect, Rachen ‘Tam’ Intawong, Chiang Mai’s Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi resort decoratively and intuitively brings history to life.

Read at glass magazine »

Grazing, not Blazing

2011-06-05T15:21:00.000+01:00

CHECKING INTO Marylebone’s The Grazing Goat, I find myself recalling the words of Ingvar Kamprad, Swede behind flatpack giant IKEA. He once asserted: “IKEA people do not drive flashy cars or stay at luxury hotels.” Instead of his firm’s assembly line, assemble-at-home resin and ply, here I can actually smell the cosseting aroma of seasoned tulipwood panels…

Read at The Arbuturian »

Letter from Bangkok

2011-06-02T10:00:00.001+01:00

AFTER 11 hours of brawny blockbusters and tepid in-flight meals from Blighty, Thailand’s capital wildly awakens the senses. From smoking cauldrons of green curry in backstreets to glossy style bars and lofty banquets atop five star hotels, temptation unfurls its aromatic tendrils amid golden temples and tuk-tuk bedlam...

The Art of Good Food

2011-05-28T19:26:00.001+01:00

Handmade cheeses are among the exceptional quality artisan produce to be found at the Goodwood farm shop.

Read more at Saturday Telegraph's Goodwood magazine...

Page One » / Page Two »

Journey to Riverford

2011-05-23T17:09:00.001+01:00

OUR red faces are further reddened by a sky stretched with opalescence. ‘Riverford’s Field Kitchen is meant to be wonderful’ says train manager Ian as he deftly pocks tickets. Lubricated by artisanal distillate from ‘Prudence’, solo still at West London’s Sipsmith, our press pack slides south. Fortunately the neat vegetarian isn’t officious but eager to tell us how he cooks up a storm with wild garlic leaves leafing his weekly Riverford drop.

Q&A with Varsity Radical

2011-05-20T10:00:00.002+01:00

AS a general rule, UK chefs have not made a real name for themselves by offering particularly innovative cuisine. Our reporter Douglas Blyde talked to one of the exceptions – Mark Poynton of Alimentum, Cambridge...

Read at Harden's »

Black Gold, Shimmering Sky

2011-05-17T10:00:00.001+01:00

WE stand by the shores of the Sound of Islay gazing towards Jura’s paps. ‘You wouldn’t want to have been here, Saturday’ says Billy Stitchell, Caol Ila’s distillery manager. ‘You’d have been blown away!’ Caressed by the gentle gulfstream which verges on mild, it’s hard to believe him.

Read at Foodepedia »

Ginstronomy

2011-05-15T20:15:00.001+01:00

SLUMBERING near Churchill’s birthplace of Blenheim Palace, the 17th century Feathers Hotel recently emerged from a £1m refurbishment boasting a 107-strong gin bar. Amid cosy lounges and a beamed dining room where antiques meet modern art, the spirit segues into accomplished menus. Taking three months to refine, chef/pâtissier Marc Hardiman’s five course ‘gin experience’ is a heroic celebration of the distillate.

Read at Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine »

Tea for Two Gents

2011-05-09T18:33:00.000+01:00

UNABASHED modern chaps Douglas Blyde and Jonesy indulge in the Mandeville Hotel’s Afternoon Tea for Men. Steak sandwiches, chicken satays, ‘masculine’ teacups…and whisky on standby for emergency machismo.

Read more at The Arbuturian »

Armagnac: Seven Centuries More

2011-05-04T10:08:00.000+01:00

IN 2010, Armagnac, France’s oldest brandy, celebrated 700 years of distillation. Interested to see how producers of this amber coloured spirit are looking to sustain production for another 700, Douglas Blyde travelled to the Gers, land of fattened fowl, musketeers, rugby and jazz...

Keeping the Wolf from the Door

2011-04-28T10:00:00.002+01:00

DARK Knight of the Gluttonous Table, Douglas Blyde, unsheathes his rapier tongue and ventures into the badlands of Soho to nibble, chomp and imbibe in the environs of Bocca di Lupo. No plate is left unturned, no morsel left unbitten, no ice cream left unlicked...

Read more at The Arbuturian »

Total Recall at The Cavendish

2011-04-21T11:11:00.000+01:00

THE life of a Prodigal correspondent is not an easy one. Our man Douglas Blyde recently had to take some well deserved R&R at The Cavendish in Mayfair where, to his immense surprise, the staff think he hasn’t aged much since he was 10...

Andy Appleton's Mackerel and Rosemary Campanelle Pasta

2011-04-19T19:30:00.001+01:00

WELSH born Italophile, Andy Appleton is head chef of ‘Fifteen’, Watergate Bay, Cornwall, the third charitable restaurant to be founded by celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver. He concedes it is a more romantic setting than Fifteen’s first location in London, where he previously worked as senior sous chef in the flagship restaurant downstairs.

Regal Gingerbread and Boozy Coffee

2011-04-18T00:39:00.002+01:00

I SPENT an enjoyable morning discussing regal gingerbread figures, two Michelin starred babyfood and late night Twitter pool talk on air with presenter Vanessa Kimbell, author of ‘Prepped’ (launched June). If you would like to hear this, please click on the link below (our segment occurs at about 1 hour 5 minutes). Afterwards I was treated to a tour of Kimbell’s family’s artisan vineyard holdings at Fleur Fields, Northamptonshire. There, mobiles made of old CDs act as bird scarers. What I tasted proved immaculately made and very long-lived...

Listen to the broadcast »

[Images courtesty V.C.]

David Berry Green on the wines of Nebbiolo

2011-04-15T22:02:00.003+01:00

DAVID Berry Green, eighth generation family member and buyer of Italian wines for eponymous wines and spirits merchant, Berry Brothers and Rudd, talks about his crusade to popularise wines made from nebbiolo, the leading red grape of Piedmont. He argues that value, freshness and intrigue may be found by looking beyond designer Barolos and Barbarescos, such as Langhe and Nebbiolo d'Alba...

Thank you, Denise Medrano (The Wine Sleuth) for recording the interview at Castello di Grinzane Cavour
Find nebbiolo based wines at Berry Brothers and Rudd.
Also published: Foodepedia

Loch In

2011-04-13T09:20:00.000+01:00

KINLOCH Lodge has received recognition for its wine list from the AA, Scottish Hotel Awards and Michelin. With log fires, plumped cushions and family memorabilia, it feels more of a family home than an hotel. This is unsurprising considering it is the Highland seat of one of the country's most influential cooks and food writers, Claire MacDonald and husband, Godfrey, High Chief of Clan Donald.

Cool Culinarean

2011-04-10T10:00:00.001+01:00

“IT’S Italian, by Etro,” reveals the toned, tanned Yotam Ottolenghi when I ask the designer of his cobalt shirt. “Make sure you spell it right. Waitrose once did an article on me and the only reaction I got was an email asking about it!”

Continue reading »
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Look Who's Coming to Dinner

2011-04-08T01:00:00.001+01:00

Read features, including an appraisal by chef, Dominic Chapman and interview with sommelier João Pires (by me) »

Subscribe to Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine »

Casting Doubt in Battersea: The Fish Place

2011-04-06T10:00:00.001+01:00

OUR resident foodie, Douglas Blyde, takes his sister for lunch in Battersea and finds himself quoting the works of Morrissey. And dissing Scott’s. Whatever next!?

Communicating Kai We Care

2011-04-02T18:03:00.001+01:00

KAI We Care is a charity intiative to raise funds for residents of Christchurch, New Zealand affected by an earthquake in February which measured 6.3 magnitude.

This takes the form of a one night only pop-up restaurant at Grade II Victorian mansion, One Moorgate Place, subscribed by 200 paying diners and catered for by notable chef volunteers. These comprise: Simon Hulstone (Elephant, Torquay), Dominic Chapman, (Royal Oak, Maidenhead, pictured above), Mark Poynton (Alimentum, Cambridge, dish at the foot), Russell Brown (Sienna, Dorchester), Matthew Tomkinson, Montagu Arms, Beaulieu, pictured below), Adam Gray (Rhodes Twenty Four, City), Alex Wood (St Stephen’s Club, Queen Anne's Gate), Adrian Oliver (Margot’s, Padstow) and Darren Goodwin (Losehill House, Derbyshire).

Flitting between three floors, front and back of house, I will be operating the dedicated Twitter feed (twitter.com/kaiwecare) on the night. Do feel warmly welcome to follow antics.

Fore more information on the minds behind: kaiwecare.weebly.com

Complete History of Food

2011-03-31T02:13:00.000+01:00

AS London’s leading architects of the edible gear up for their next event, the Dirt Banquet (2 April), Douglas Blyde recalls recovering from their leading event last July.

With culinary communication through the ages as their ambition, ‘Jellymongers’, Sam Bompas & Harry Parr were at the helm of a project which temporarily transformed a dilapidated five storey mansion in Belgrave Square into a witty, cognac soaked pleasure dome...

Blue Skye Thinking

2011-03-25T10:43:00.001Z

SKYE is paradise for geologists, walkers, peace seekers and increasingly, gourmets. Situated amid mountains on the sea loch, Na Dal in Sleat with views to the Scottish mainland, Kinloch Lodge is reached by a private track which is almost a mile long.

Click pictures to read subbed version of article »

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Spuntino: Rich Simplicity

2011-03-18T08:20:00.000Z

ANGLEPOISE lamps, bent double, provide a few watts of glow. “Have you worked out what it’s for?” asks Russell Norman, the mind behind Soho restaurants Polpo, Polpetto and now Spuntino. I gaze down where he gestures. The Queen’s head vaguely gleams against the fritto mitto paper placemat. “To access the loo?” I instantly venture. He laughs, although I sense behind smiling eyes beyond vintage frames he’s inwardly disappointed that I chose such an obvious (and incorrect) answer.

Read more at The Arbuturian »

Using Your Loaf

2011-03-16T11:50:00.000Z

Bridget Boseley from Outline Productions is Producer of BBC2 series, ‘The Great British Food Revival’. It features chefs, James Martin, Michel Roux Jr, The Hairy Bikers, Gregg Wallace, Clarissa Dickson Wright, Angela Hartnett, Matt Tebbutt, Glynn Purnell and Gary Rhodes.

When do you think the resurgence in British food began, and what might have motivated it?

I’m no expert but I think it’s been gathering pace for years. People are tired of supermarkets’ dominance of the food arena. The resurgence of ‘grow your own’ and farmers markets and local veg box schemes show more and more people are keen to know about the provenance of their food and support local producers where possible.

Barbecoa

2011-03-02T10:00:00.000Z

TO the immediate east of St Paul’s Cathedral, Barbecoa spans the first floor of Jean Nouvel’s £500 million arena of offices and retail outlets. Although decried as “a vanity project” by early restaurant critics, three months from opening the restaurant – where meat and fish meet fire and smoke – remains determinedly full, achieving and exceeding 500 covers a day...

Spilt Blood in Marylebone

2011-02-26T10:00:00.000Z

NATALIE wasn’t in on our visit to The Portman. Probably too busy promoting her portrayal of artfully deranged ballerina, Nina Sayers in ‘Black Swan’. Fortunately, Audrey was. The cute French waitress remained mild mannered despite a dumbwaiter’s intermittent resistance.

Fred Sirieix: Service, Please

2011-02-23T20:52:00.000Z

AS manager of Michelin-starred Galvin at Windows and mentor to the cast of Michel Roux’s Service on BBC2, Fred Sirieix is the perfect chap to ask to share his drinking and dining tips for the capital...

Pitcher to Pollen

2011-02-18T19:50:00.003Z

JASON Atherton is late. I wait with breaking builders in the toasty staff room. Matt lockers are inscribed in marker pen with international names. “It’s nice to see a city coat,” says one when he sees mine draped over a plastic seat, adding, “I should have worked harder at school.” I consider shattering the illusion of wealth by sharing my pain in trying to make enough to eat from food writing. But we resort to the project in hand. “Well, it’s just like doing a big house really,” he shrugs, modestly...

The Martini, The Manicure and The Mexican

2011-02-15T22:33:00.000Z

“Soft, medium or firm?” asked the Mexican masseuse. Having once been subjected to ‘firm’ at the granite hands of a Zimbabwean masseur who was later allegedly jailed for groping customers, I cowardly selected ‘medium’.

Read more at The Arbuturian »

Going for a Dane

2011-02-11T11:40:00.004Z

NOMA in Copenhagen won best restaurant at the San Pellegrino sponsored ‘World’s 50 Best’ awards. No doubt this hastened Christoffer Hruskova’s ‘North Road’ closer to home. The substantial sequel to Islington’s ‘Fig Brasserie’ spans two floors in the culinary fertile St John Street, Farringdon. Serious care has informed the design. Handmade chairs stand on blonde parquet while the long marble bar counter is illuminated by lights which are as cool in style as they are in temperature. On my visit, the intention to capture crisp Scandinavia was hampered only by a wobbly table and dummy door through which many customers (myself included) determinedly tried but failed to enter...

From Café to Cava Cathedral

2011-02-07T12:45:00.001Z

A LONDON café specialising in sweet treats was transformed into a Catalan home kitchen for one night only. Courtesy of Cava producer, Codorníu, ‘Bea’s of Bloomsbury’ was decorated with Bacchanalia.

Behind a Curtain in Perpignan

2011-02-04T10:00:00.004Z

TWELVE rocks lounge on polystyrene plates. I untether then slip their silky flesh, which doesn’t want to yield at first. As I sip their cool saline reservoir like a shot, I hardly notice that my chair perilously tips away from the counter (writes Douglas Blyde). Harvested from nearby Leucate, north of Perpignan, their ripe cucumber scented, iodine freshness mingles well with an almost translucent calcium dry white from Roussillon’s searing vineyards.

European Dessert Trophy

2011-02-02T08:30:00.001Z

A SOMMELIER and chef team from a leading London restaurant competed for Roussillon’s European dessert trophy. Recently Michelin starred, ‘Galvin La Chapelle’ sent head sommelier, Andrea Briccarello and chef/pâtissier, Daniel Fancett to Perpignan to battle against representatives from Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and for the first time, Catalunia. Owing to an undisclosed accident, the French team’s sommelier, Aurélia Demeter was unable not attend, ironically meaning the home country lacked representation.

Tales of a Saxon Chef

2011-01-31T11:32:00.000Z

MICHAEL Saxon has looked after guests at some of the world's finest hotels, from Europe to North America, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and beyond. He talks to Douglas Blyde about his autobiography, 'Chef's Tales'.

When Alsace Met Asia

2011-01-28T21:00:00.001Z

‘Pure expressions, cuisine enhancing’ is how Andrew Barrow, author of the Wine Opus’ Alsace chapter succinctly sums the wines of France’s most easterly region. Curious to see how expressions of its three major white grapes, Riesling, Gewurtztraminer and Pinot Gris, could compliment the fresh, delicately textured morsels of Japanese cuisine, I booked into London’s ‘sake no hana’, a restaurant arguably at the acme of its genre. Playing passenger and second palate was guest, Will Gau, Wine Director of international events firm, Cellar Society.

Gunning for Cider

2011-01-26T18:34:00.000Z

THIS year the Pagan calendar’s twelfth night coincided with what psychologists and scientists called ‘Blue Monday’. Not that the crowd of 250 at Somerset’s Stewley orchard seemed concerned with mulling over dismal weather, dark nights and post-Christmas debt. Instead for them and Magner’s, recent acquirers of Shepton cider mill and this 40 acre orchard, 17 January spelled an optimistic moment of intoxication, gunshots then vigorous dancing amid hay.

Read more at Spectator Scoff magazine »

Wine’s Great Walls

2011-01-19T12:50:00.000Z

ALTHOUGH the Phoenicians first bled wine from the river Ebro’s environs, Rioja’s image only recently got a makeover. Motivated by worship of wine, inspired by the edificial dynamism of crowded Napa and showcasing Spain’s purveyors of new wave gastronomy in their chic restaurants, the region’s enlightened bodegas, shimmering sharply and curvaceously in concrete, glass and steel, represent an affluent confidence. Thirsty with ambition to drink in their seductive spectacle, starkly illuminated in the low winter’s sun, I touched down in Bilbao, home to Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim. Although clearing customs swiftly, my progress was soon slowed by the sight of the striking, curvaceous spread of Santiago Calatrava’s paper white terminal, nicknamed ‘the dove’ by approving locals.

If Gehry Did Gastronomy…

2011-01-16T12:20:00.001Z

BEST known for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, it took four bottles of Riscal’s release from birth year 1929 to persuade Canadian architect, Frank O. Gehry, to agree to commit to their wine hotel. Via his vision, what Riscal have re-branded a ‘wine city’ has become as much tourist attraction as fluid factory of 10m bottles of Rioja per year. Navigating, pinball-like between a lemon coloured dot-to-dot of way-markers stuck to the floor, our press pack evaded swerving forklifts, inhaled vanilla scents of oak barrels carved for King Don Juan Carlos among mould and cobwebs, then basked in rays reflected from the hotel’s sparkling panes.

Read more at The Arbuturian »

Beating Beets by Big Ben

2011-01-12T21:00:00.001Z

‘You had to do the washing up?’ asked my friend incredulously after I recalled my concerns over the cleaning of copious matt black plates. No, I told him, things haven’t got that bad yet. But because über chic venues share a fetish for using up to four items of china to present a teensy weensy amuse bouche, I’ve begun to worry about a kitchen porter’s workload. One day I’ll do a Fairy liquid style count. However, rather than toil, the secret to a spotless sheen on wannabe smudge scuffed plates is a vinegar dab, said our waiter reassuringly.

Tricolore Takeaway

2011-01-10T11:00:00.039Z

WINE can be a difficult muse. ‘Three colours and limited audience takeaway’ was how a TV commissioning editor once decried it when I tried to pitch into pixels wine travel opus, ‘Blood and Wine’. Care of French gastro comms firm, Sopexa, I was recently whisked to a Loire so frozen that Charolais cattle couldn’t break ice to quench their thirst. Back in an equally frigid Blighty, my task, from Monnières to Mosnes is to summarise summery wines sipped in foot numbing cellars...

Muscadet (deepest wine reservoir in the Loire) – ‘Fiefs aux Dames’ 44690 Monnières

Julian Braud’s girlfriend adores horses; he loves vines. Hopefully they’ve time for eachother. They recently purchased a quad of hooved beasts to begin to till their 99 acres of sand, silt, gneiss and gabbros sewn Melon de Bourgogne. Julian, who also rates Burgundy and going by his scarf, Burberry delighted in pointing out snow fringed statues of St. Vincent, patron of vignerons. His message: Muscadet is not just for shellfish – and it can deftly age. He recalled his father’s ’95 which, like adolescents transforming into adults, has gained weight with age. A number of cuvées reflect individual terroirs. While most are invigoratingly mineral, with some showing a gram of tobacco, the most ‘natural’, L’Autenthique ’09 seemed anonymous owing to every man’s most feared blight, premature evolution. Flavours of tarnished apple core were backed down by overly gentle acidity. In a quest for purity of winemaking, vin was en-route to vinegar.

Coteaux du Layon (wines of charm and Chaume) – ‘Domaine de la Bergerie’ 49380 Champ sur Layon

In February 2010, husband and wife, David and Anne Guitton opened restaurant, ‘La Table de la Bergerie’ in view of half century old Chenin Blanc vines. The highlight over a five course lunch of foie gras with ginger spiked squash chutney, then wild seabass with gravy and finally, clementine tart: skeletal, savoury ’07 Savennières from shared vineyard, Clos le Grand Beaupréau. As the latest vintage was bottled by a noisily engaging robot, Crémant proved arrestingly pink and sprightly. It is as a shame that we see so little pink Loire fizz at home. Bronzed Quarts de Chaume ’04 united aromas of clay, salt and olive oil, although acidity was wanting. (See Harper’s for a review of La Table de Bergerie)

Savennières (a region which Tim Atkin MW would ‘happily do without’) – ‘Domaine du Closel’ 49170 Savennières

Matriarch, Evelyne de Pontbriand is custodian of the gently decaying Château des Vaults. It slumbers in a bottle green park of 19^th century trees imported to evoke England’s country seats. Evelyne often accompanies visitors at dusk on candlelit safaris of her estate where they come face to fur with her stuffed animal collection. A tasting of wines from a handful of the region’s 35 producers occurred in the library, one of few heated rooms. Despite low light, I noted a water stained ceiling. The wine which won the olfactory battle against the smoke of the fire: Clos des Perrieres ’09 (Chȃteau Soucherie). Fermented in meticulously crafted Austrian barrels, this limited release from 6,000 bottles offered clean aromas of fresh green apples, pine nuts and resin with more green grapes within the finely spun, crystalline refreshing frame. Unfortunately Nicolas Joly wasn’t one of the producers present – there being obvious friction between what Wine Chap terms the ‘Godfather of biodynamics’ and Florence...

Bourgueil (home of François Rabelais) – ‘Domaine de la Chevalerie’ 37140 Restigné

Chevalerie’s 11^th century caves naturally remain at 11 degrees Celsius according to Pierre Caslot, father of Stéphanie and Emmanuel, who now run the domaine. Carpeted in raked sand and brimming with a timeline of bottles and barrels, I formed the fanciful impression of being on a subterranean beach lapped by an alcoholic sea. Pierre, cataloguer of this underworld took me on a taste driven tour. We begun with a juvenile, purple, tank sample of the latest vintage of the acidic vin de soif, injected with conviction from an outsize pipette into a small glass, and ended with iron scented, bloody ’78 Busardières, from 50 year-old vines cool in clay. Looking a little like Oliver Hardy, Pierre almost danced as he extolled various food matches, from a multiple bird roast with the delicate ’07 Busardières to the camembert and rose perfumed ’93 Chevalier, which warrants ‘a small terrine in the morning’. 27 samples of Cabernet Franc later – a variety which fellow scribe, Emily O’Hare described as versatile - ‘the little black dress of wine’ - I came to the conclusion that Christ has a surfeit of blood.

Vouvray (caves carved from tuffeau, ivory of Loire Châteaux) – ‘Domaine Champalou’ 37210 Vouvray

The spectacle of a thoroughly content three legged dog proved sufficient distraction to ensure tardiness when meeting Catherine and Didier Champalou. The team bought the business in 1983, beginning with half a hectare of Chenin Blanc. One of their daughters, Celine, works for the business, while the other works at wine merchant, Les Caves de Pyrène, Guildford . After a visit of the least beautiful but perhaps most functional cellars of the trip, where ‘Le Portail’, from the nearest vines, bubbled in barrels, we congregated at a Technicolor tablecloth. A portrait of the teenage Catherine looked on as the mature version romanced: ‘the sky’s bluer than Anjou here’ while pouring Sec Tendre ’09. It was clean, accessible, mineral and, like existence, fragile. But my favourite wine was the nonetheless notably young ’09 Moelleux, sold by customer request in 50cl bottles. Exposed to noble rot, its aroma suggested pear, present also in confected form on the syrupy palate, along with cinnamon. A pleasant surprise was the Marc de Vouvray, made by Catherine’s mother. Powerful but perfumed, it was my first taste of what Chenin can do when distilled. I nearly wrote a blanc cheque for a case.

Montlouis/Touraine (sip of the trip) – ‘Le Rocher des Violettes’ 37400 Amboise

Xavier Weisskopf’s UK allocation was smashed by snow when the ceiling of the bonded warehouse gave way. A disgrace. I was greatly impressed with his soulful wines. I rated the feel of the small, gentle bubbles of his blotter paper dry Pétillant Originel ’08 (he took over in ’05). Free from added yeast and dosage, with an uneconomic time on flavour yielding yeasty dregs, it was by far the cleanest, leanest, most successful natural wine sipped on the trip. Although the initial gaseous wafts of a tank sample of Cot (Malbec) – Syrah of the Loire – were distracting, a preferable aroma of violets fast replaced them. A glossy wine with delicate acidity and amazingly precocious at two months old, it proved a tasteful distraction to Xavier’s dog which audibly culled a bat behind a barrel before attempting to sniff my crotch. Fortunately it was too vertically challenged to realise the latter ambition. But considering that other vintages grace the tables of Michelin starry restaurants, L’Arpège, Pierre Gagnaire and Taillevent, the Cot’s quality shouldn’t come as too sheer a surprise.

Touraine (ending the tour near Tours) ‘Xavier Frissant’ 37530 Mosnes (no UK importer)

Visited on such a beautifully silver, misty morning that neither the squat spectacle of a battery chicken hangar smoking amongst vines, nor the story of the multiple break-ins to Frissant’s tasting room over the year could ruin the experience. Alas, all but one of his frequently searingly acidic wines, as chiselled as his face, failed to charm me. Les Roses de Clos ’09 is made from Fie Gris, a variety which authorities consider lowly. But in his hands it was pleasant enough, with some orange blossom in its perfume followed by an enticingly soft palate. Although Xavier claims not to like wines made from it in these parts, his Gamay (grape of Beaujolais) also showed promise.

From tales of mature Muscadet to decadent chateaux with parks colonised by stuffed fauna, the wintry excursion had provided a colourful takeaway of memories from France’s vine festooned garden.

Rest

L’Orangerie du Parc, 195 Rue Grignon, Basse-Goulaine (converted orangery with galleried bedrooms)

Le Clos des 3 Rois, 13 Rue du Bellay, Thouarcé (spacious, individual bedrooms, swimming pool and pool table)

Auberge de Launay, Le Haut Chantier, Limeray, Amboise (functional, but cosy bedrooms; good restaurant with carefully composed wine list. Try phallic dessert, ‘dynamite au chocolat’)

Restaurants

Restaurant de L’Ecluse, 9 Quai de la Chaussée des Moines, Vertou (attractive art, fine but filling dish of foie gras, eggs and truffle)

La Table de la Bergerie, Champ-sur-Layon (five courses with wine pairings, €60)

La Corniche, La Haie Longue, St. Aubin de Luigné (locals restaurant serving calf brains)

Au Chapeau Rouge, 49 Place du Général de Gaulle, Chinon (recent, yet fogey decor including aquamarine loos; winning baked Alaska)

First published: Foodepedia

Find most wines on http://www.wine-searcher.com/
See Visuals for more Loire images

Look Back at Angers

2011-01-05T14:03:00.002Z

IF I never see another stainless steel tank, bottling line or labelling device again, I will feel little remorse. I find the technical tools of wine's manufacture backstage and impersonal and difficult to communicate. Much more interesting are its tastes, textures and alcoholic effects, its overall role in culinary culture, and the idiosyncrasies of those who take time to make it materialise...

My Worst Meals of 2010

2010-12-30T16:11:00.020Z

I ALREADY wrote about my top 1 0 of 2010. But what about my least enjoyable mealtime moments? Chicken drumstick roll, please...

10. Raoul’s, Maida Vale. Lamb as greasy as Demis Roussos.

9. Wahaca, Soho. Dishes lacked distinguishing form or redeeming charm. Loos unloved. Website antagonising.

8. ‘Feuillette 132’, Chablis. For the olfactory onslaught of a degustation of wares from five producers of the Devil’s sausage, Andouillete. A 1.5hr factory tour preceded, sickness followed.

7. Nathan’s Famous, Coney Island, New York. Chilli of chilli dog was squelchy and came back to haunt while dog was sagging.

6. Tom Aikens. Stuffy, sombre, devoid of warmth. Dishes camouflaged under preponderance of tangly, earthy leaves. Foul pricing, unlovely chef.

5. Nahm. Decor evocative of a budget hotel breakfast room. Uneven service. Lychee dessert evoked cyanide marinated testicle (I imagine).

4. Fire and Stone, Covent Garden. Christmas dinner semolina pizza came with brie and without Brussels sprouts. The PR looked on with a plastic smile.

3. Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester. For the still bleeding, uncuttable duck breast.

2. Del’Aziz deli, Fulham. Big, bad, bilious brunch began with tepid cappuccino manufactured with spite from milk many times re-heated and served in a mug saline with saliva.

And in joint worst first place:

1. Mao Tai, Parson’s Green. Scottish razor clams were systematically spoiled not one, but ‘three ways’. One dish never arrived. Too many chairs rendered the conservatory a diner prison. Arrogant owner.

1. Hotel Rotary, Geneva. Shockingly expensive room service chicken tikka; shabby breakfast decanted from multiple tins. Ashen scrambled eggs (with abundant cheese) were reacquainted with kitchen three times. We scurried before the fourth plated profanity could occur...

Pur’ Plates in Paris

2010-12-28T21:00:00.000Z

AS the discreetly epauletted staff keenly told me when I stepped in from Paris’ version of Bond Street, Pur’ at Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme is the only restaurant in the 445 strong chain to have seriously attracted Michelin’s attention.

Wine Banking

2010-12-26T21:00:00.003Z

DYNAMIC Rheingau restaurateur turned hotelier turned riesling producer, Balthasar Ress is not shy of courting publicity. In June, ostensibly believing it would optimise the maturation of their top cuvée, they buried 18 magnums and one Balthazar of ‘RESSpekt’ 18m below the surface of a flooded quarry. Barring visits from thirsty, thieving divers, there it will rest until 2013. One year before Ress planted 1/3ha of varieties, Rivaner and ‘Solaris’ on silt in Germany’s northernmost reaches. The ensuing wine, ‘55’ will take the title of the 55th parallel in which it is grown. Another project, which celebrates its first anniversary, is family head, Stefan Ress’ ‘wine bank’, developed with son, Christian.

At the far end of a cobbled courtyard, digital swipe card gains 24-hour entry into a thoroughly rethought section of the firm’s 1922 cellars. Enhanced with slate from a quarry in Bacharach and gravel from the Taunus Hills, with contemporary music, LED lighting, art installations and a central bar, the space feels closer to a nightclub then a wine stowage facility.

The aim, other than providing secure, insurance friendly storage, is to allow wine collectors to convert virtual discussions into actual ones; here they meet to share their bounty. I imagine it also appeals to voyeurs intrigued by other member’s collections - all is on display. Despite another German wine producer criticising the initiative as ‘more Frankfurt than Hattenheim’, occupancy is apparently good.

Tailored dishes may be ordered around the clock from local kitchen, Diktatur des Geschmacks. But beware, these savvy caterers levy a €200 supplement after 1am, making your Saumagen (sow’s stomach – here pictured at producer, Georg Mosbacher) a costly craving.

It was in the Wine Bank that I sampled one of the highlights during my trip to Germany: the 2009 Riesling Auslese Hattenheim ‘Nussbrunnen’ (meaning spring surrounded by nut trees). Despite a faint nose, the palate was near indefatagably long-lasting, initially developing with power akin to a burst lozenge. To the incessant thud of bass from the Wine Bank’s sound system, I sensed lime and orange marmalade within a finish which eventually tightened into an angular shape. Balthasar Ress own just 3.7 acres of the 24 acre site.

Also of interest at the visitor centre/events space upstairs, was the artfully faded 1870 poster from Britain’s oldest wine merchant, Berry Brothers and Rudd indicating how top flight riesling once commanded a significantly higher price than first growth Bordeaux. That was long before the days of dipsomaniac divers and their watering down antics...

Balthazar Ress: Rheinallee 7, 65347 Hattenheim
For other posts on Germany, click here
First published/commissioned: Foodepedia

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T12:20:00.000Z