by Cedric | Apr 5, 2024 | Food and Drink, General
Charlotte and I enjoyed a magical trip to London just after the Bank Holiday weekend to celebrate Easter. Easter is the most important time in the Church’s calendar. Christians across the world celebrate the reality of Christ’s resurrection and by extension His defeat of death for everyone who believes in Him. The Catholic faith is often seen as a repressive doctrinal and dogmatic belief system. The truth is that living a life in Christ allows us to go to Heaven and be at peace in perfect joy for eternity. This is the opposite of repressive, it is the most freeing belief there is. Knowing that when our earthly life comes to an end, joy awaits, frees me from the fear of death which, frankly, underpins some of humanity’s worst behaviours. But enough of my miniature sermon – let’s talk about French food. Charlotte picked the restaurants on this trip and completely outdid herself.
We checked out of our hotel and visited the Victoria and Albert Museum where we were awed by some magnificent pieces of religious art, and astonishing paintings. After this, we attended Mass at Westminster Cathedral, always deeply moving. As our final stop before returning to Birmingham, Charlotte took me to Chez Antoinette. This is a French bistro with two branches in London. The second we saw the previous day while wandering around Covent Garden Market, this one in Victoria is the first which opened, and is very close to the Cathedral.
Originally from France’s gastro-capital Lyon, designer Aurelia Noel-Delclos had a dream that she wanted to open a restaurant in conjunction with her hotelier husband Jean-Baptiste, a place that not only honoured her grandmother Antoinette’s cooking but also channelled the chic Parisian cafés and Lyon’s famous guinguettes bars that she loved. So that’s what she did, opening the original Covent Garden Chez Antoinette in 2014, with a mission to reinterpret ‘classic dishes from tarts to tartines’ but with ‘a modern sensibility’. London Unattached
We opted for two courses, mains and desserts. Charlotte went for the beef bavette a l’echalotte, and I opted for the “Hambourge” French burger – with cured ham, comté, and bordelaise sauce. Charlotte asked for a rare steak which came well done, but no matter it was delicious nonetheless. The red wine shallot confit was particularly lovely.
My hambourge matched exactly what I expected it to be. It will not surprise you that living in France for 9 years, I consumed a number of “burgs” as one of Charlotte’s old colleagues at The Café Express in Harborne once put it. This was excellent, the patty itself was well done, almost crumbly (as it is served ‘over there’), the compté cheese was nutty and dry in flavour but delightfully oozy. The cured ham sat very nicely atop the patty. The sauce, which means ‘from Bordeaux’, is made with dry red wine, bone marrow, butter, shallots and sauce demi-glacé, tasted exceedingly French.
For dessert, Charlotte had a mille feuille with vanilla and raspberry. This is a sort of crispy thin layered pastry with vanilla custard in between the layers. It was crunchy, fresh and deliciously smooth on the inside. The waiter informed us that both our desserts were freshly made just an hour before we received them.
I opted for the tarte au citron meringue. Charlotte once made this for my uncle who is famous for his high standards when it comes to cooking. He had three helpings of Charlotte’s lemon meringue tart! This one was different (and of course less good than my wife’s). The meringue was soft, and a torch was used on the top. The lemon curd was fresh and zesty but not as piercing as the curd I enjoy. I like my lemon curd to really make me wince. The pastry was very thin and crunchy so that the dessert did not make me feel overly full.
Overall this was a delightful restaurant. The photographs do not do it justice. I urge you, if in London, to visit this little gem of a place.
by Cedric | Mar 8, 2023 | Food and Drink, General
Charlotte and I decided to take a day off work in the week and go to Worcester. She had very kindly prepared a similar trip for my birthday in December but Lord of the Rails Mick Lynch saw to it that we could not leave Birmingham that day. Thankfully Mick must have been distracted last week as we were able to go to Worcester without issue. We began the day by going to Mass at St George’s, a beautiful church near the station. This was followed by a visit to the Worcester Museum and Art Gallery, the latter part of which was closed. Then we saw the monumental Guildhall and enjoyed a choir of Welsh men singing, as it was St David’s day. Before finishing our day at Worcester Cathedral, we stopped for lunch.
All the coffee we prepare comes from our farm near the central-western region of Colombia, in the municipality of Filandia and Pijao at the Quindio Department
Our first choice, Friars Street Kitchen, was as closed as the Art Gallery. We decided on the fly to go to Francini Cafe de Colombia. We were not disappointed! The first thing Charlotte ordered the Farmer filter coffee. This is a mellow filter with Francini’s original syrup made with honey, cinnamon and cloves. You can try it with milk, lime or classic black. Charlotte had it black. I gave up coffee for Lent and could not have any. This was one of the most acutely painful experiences of my whole entire life.
For the first round of nosh, we had arepas. These are pan fried corn cakes, popular in Latin America. Charlotte and I had the chicken and beef stuffing respectively. These were immensely flavoursome. Charlotte said, while imitating me, that it was delicately spiced and aromatic. We had it alongside some delightful hot sauce which enhanced the flavour to no end.
Our second round was the vegetable patacones. These are twice fried plantain slices. They were topped with avocadao, onions, tomato, olives and a lovely pesto garnish. Having about 2.5 of our five a day in one dish was a plus. This tasted fresh and zingy.
Overall this was a very special place. It has been open since 2014 and they have honed their service to a finely tuned machine. The place was warm, welcome, and the food was superb. We will absolutely return, and perhaps next time I shall be able to sample the coffee!
by Cedric | Dec 10, 2022 | Food and Drink
Picture the scene, you are a Catholic, recently engaged, and through no fault of your own, date night has fallen on a Friday, which means no meat. Further, every nice sushi restaurant in a half mile radius is fully booked. This was precisely the situation Charlotte and I found ourselves in yesterday. Luckily, Gabriel’s came to the rescue. This is one of our go to eateries in Harborne. We would go there frequently when Charlotte lived in Harborne.
I ordered the haddock and chips, while Charlotte went for the cod and chips. Usually we would order mushy peas but did not feel like it on this occasion. The below is a much better image of what you can expect at Gabriels. than any we have taken.
Charlotte has in her possession a particularly unflattering photograph of me standing behind a table filled with condiments awaiting consumption of this delicious meal, but I will not subject you to seeing this.
The portions are excellent, and the taste of the fish is quite superb. Haddock boasts a mildly sweet taste with lean white flesh and medium flakes with a texture which is firm yet tender once battered. Haddock have a finer flake then cod, and a more tender texture with a slightly sweeter flavour. It is said the flavour of haddock is closer to halibut than to cod. However, both are quite delicious, which I never expect this far inland. The chips, also, are cooked beautifully and require minimal salt and vinegar.
Do go here, but order early on a Friday as they sell out quickly.
by Cedric | Nov 7, 2022 | Food and Drink, General
My darling fiancée and I went to Bath about two weeks ago for a wedding reception (preview of coming attractions). One of the many places we visited was a charming historic house, founded in 1680, which served all manor of buns. These buns were an old recipe used by the original owner of the house, a Huguenot refugee who ended up in Bath. Sally would make these buns to earn her living in Bath. They are now world famous.
Sally Lunn’s is much more than a world famous tea and eating house in the centre of the wonderful city of Bath England. Our historic building is one of the oldest houses in Bath. Our kitchen museum shows the actual kitchen used by the legendary young Huguenot baker Sally Lunn in Georgian Bath to create the first Bath Bunn – an authentic regional speciality now known the world over. Sally Lunn’s
We ordered two buns (which effectively made up one whole bun); the salmon bun and the lemon curd bun. It promised to be the finest lemon curd tasted to date, however, I would contend that a batch of lemon curd which Charlotte and I made in France was far superior. Nonetheless, the quality of the buns was superb, they were both soft and savoury, being perfectly versatile for any topping. The salmon bun contained Gold Medal winning premium Scottish smoked salmon direct from the smoker, lemon, dill and cream cheese. This was the real winner of the two buns. The smokey salmon was just divine, thick cut and beautifully cold. The whole Lunn experience was delightful also. The waiters were attentive, the food was delicious and well priced, and the location, next to Bath Abbey, could not have been improved upon.
A winner, I say!
by Cedric | Oct 14, 2022 | Food and Drink, General
The concept of Hot 7 is simple enough. One enters through the front door, and sits down at a table with their spouse or friends. Then things get a bit more complicated.You have to pick a soup or two in the first instance, this is the broth which forms the basis of the hot pot. After this, you pick which fillings you want. These will arrive raw, and you cook them in the boiling broth, which sits in a gap in the table with a heat source coming from below it.
With such items on the menu as fresh brain and pigs intestines, it can be difficult to pick your fillings. However, there are some truly delicious items on offer. We ordered a plethora this time including tofu, fried dough sticks (to die for), pork belly, beef with egg and some dry noodles.
The broth we chose was the mushroom one and the tomato one. I love the concept of this restaurant. You can choose your own broth and cook it too. There is not much to be said in the way of reviewing, when one is the chef! However, I do recommend this place. It is very clean, interesting conceptually, central and has a wide variety of wonderful ingredients.
I came here with Charlotte on a date some months ago. We arrived on a Friday so we could not have any meat but the options were so varied that we were able to eat abundantly and yet somehow not emerge too full. An excellent option for a central dinner.
by Cedric | Aug 18, 2022 | Food and Drink, General
Picture the scene, we have just visited the Château de Valençay and has a bellyful of Talleyrand (thought by some to have been the greatest foreign minister France has ever known). It is around 25 degrees and we are hankering for some food. In France, we discovered to our horror, one can only eat lunch at reputable restaurants between the hours of 12 and 2pm. Most kitchens seem to shut at 1.30pm so the dining time is even more limited. With this in mind, we arrived at Le Biniou at 12.30pm only to be told they were full. Charlotte and I began to sweat profusely at the prospect of repeating the ‘dinner dance’, where we would invariably end up eating at some inferior establishment. However, Lady Luck (who is not French) was on our side. Half an hour later we were seated, and short while after our first bowl of cider (it’s a thing), we were tucking into our galettes.
I’ll start where I must, with father’s bolognese galette. This contained, well, ragu as you can imagine but also an egg, cooked through on the white side and runny in the middle. This gave moisture to the galette itself and went very well with the very well done ragu in the middle.
I went for one with Emmental and lardons which was very welcome indeed. The ladies both went for la fumé, a special which contained smoked sausages and a combination of cheeses. Both were sublimely rich and somehow left room for the desert crepe.
For the desert crepe, we all went for Le Duo, which is a combined crepe, half of which is chocolate and half caramel, with lovely piped cream on the top. You will see we decided to point them all in the same direction ‘for the gram’ (though neither Charlotte or me have instagram, Deo gratias). The eagle eyed among you will also spot your humble suggester in the mirror.
Overall, I understood why this place is ranked so highly on Trip Advisor. This was an excellent eatery, really quite economical with delicious food which did not leave us feeling overburdened by lunch. Highly recommended!
