by Cedric | Aug 2, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
Tucked away in a suburb of Tours, Il Napoli proved to be an exceptional culinary experience. This is not someone would expect from a pre-fab building in the middle of an industrious suburb of a lesser known French town. But coming to Il Napoli with all the necessary reservations (pardon the pun) will ensure the greatest experience. You will not predict the feast you are about to ingest.
4 FORMAGGI:
Tomate, mozzarella fraîche, chèvre fermier, Gorgonzola, fromage sec Italien rapé.
After a necessary gulp of artisanal cider, Mother ordered the Four Cheese, as is her wont. This included mozzarella, gorgonzola, farmer’s goat’s cheese and what I believe was grated pecorino. All together the semi acrid flavour of the four cheese exploded. The Four Cheese pizza is hard to do well because the four cheeses need to go well together. I found the balance here to be particularly pleasant.
SUPREMA
Crème, cèpes, lardons, mozzarella, Taleggio, oignons crus.
I decided I had to taste the Suprema. This was topped with cream, wild mushrooms, mozzarella, Talegio cheese and raw onions. This was a little more bland than I expected, mostly on account of how sparing they were with the lardons. This is not Cedric’s home made pizza, sadly. But overall it was excellent and the crust cannot be lauded enough. More on this point later.
DEL MAR
Salade, tomates, saumon fumé, billes de mozzarella di bufala, câpres à queues, tomates confites, vinaigrette huile d’olive et balsamique.
One should mention father’s salad Del Mar which was a little light on the salad part, as you may be able to see. The toppings were legion and all quite delicious. I stayed away from the fish, as you can imagine, however I can confirm the buffala mozzarella was absolutely superb.
TARTUFATA
Crème, Gorgonzola, mozzarella fraiche, compotée d’oignons, magret de canard fumé, roquette, pignons de pins torréfiés, huile de truffes noires.
Goodness me, where to begin; mozzarella, gorgonzola, caramelised onions, pine nuts, magret of duck, roquette and black truffle oil. Magret refers to the breasts of ducks that have been corn-fed and raised to produce foie gras. The whole thing was so sublime that I shed a tear. I could not believe the intensity and novel flavour of this pizza. Put together with the outstanding thin, crispy base, this was a dish to die for.
The tiramisu was extraordinary. It was light and not terribly filling which is how such a dish should taste. The coffee was not overpowering either which came as a great relief.
The show stopping dessert for me was the pear and ice cream mille feuille seen above. The ice cream was fresh and presumably home made, the pear was seasonal and local and the pastry was divine. The pastry was light and full of flavour which only French restaurants of great repute seem to be able to achieve.
Overall, this hidden treasure was very much to our liking. I was astounded by the consistency of the excellent quality food and great, if not a tad slow, hospitality. I’d recommend this to anyone in the area ho wishes to get away from busy Tours centre and enjoy some fresh local cuisine.
by Cedric | Jul 21, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
Le Bousquet was a choice find, in a cave, no less. This was indeed a welcome cool shelter from the sweltering heat outside. In fact, it was so gloriously temperate inside that there was a sort of greenhouse, pictured below, next to our table. This was one of the remarkable features of this restaurant. Another were the giant menus on planks of wood which had to be placed on chairs for everyone to be able to read their contents. This was an inconvenience but in the end likely a safer measure given we are in the midst of a pandemic. The food however, more than made up for this minor quibble.
Below you will find pictured my meal of choice. I picked a lamb and pork brochette. This meal for me runs the risk of becoming cold too quickly and the meat hardening. One should hold the metal prong and get the delicious morsels off at pace, proceeding to put them together on the plate to retain heat. This dish was absolutely delicious and filling, but not too much. The pork was the most astonishing of all, beautiful texture and an intense smokey flavour.
My sister opted for salmon en papillotte (a cooking technique where the salmon is wrapped in foil). Normally I cannot stand fish but this dish was really quite excellent. the fish was flavoursome and fondant.
Mother ordered andouillette to torture us. The contents of this dish do not bear thinking of, much less writing at length about so I shall spare you the agony.
Finally, father ordered the steak which was excellent. I had only a small morsel because the meat industry, beef in particular, is a huge contributor to global warming and should be regulated as a matter of urgency. While waiting for the legislative arm of government to wake up to a very imminent crisis, I choose to abstain from contributing to the beef industry. A morsel from someone else’s plate that I have not paid for is just fine, however. And I must say it was quite fine, tender and lovely. The garlic butter was the real standout here.
We had two desserts (between us not each). The first is pictured below. Home made profiteroles, filled with home made ice cream, as it should be. Everything was correct. The thickness of the pastry was exact, the flavourful ice cream and the rich fabulous chocolate sauce. Consistency, flavour and not straying from the traditional dish – this was a huge win.
Finally, the Tarte Tatin maison was also above par. The pastry tasted excellent and was by far the greatest achievement of this dish. It is difficult to fail in this dish when the base ingredient, namely apples, is freshly and locally sourced. Using seasonal vegetables as opposed to ones one can get all year round from the supermarket really took this dish up a level and made it quite extraordinary.
Overall, this restaurant was beautifully situated and beautifully decorated. In the middle of our meal, a band started playing songs. This in itself was a delight. Of course it was the typical woefully sentimental, soppy and predictable trite garbage tunes one expects in these circumstances but it was pleasant enough. A cave restaurant was an excellent idea on such a hot day and the food was of a devastatingly high quality. We all left satisfied and impressed.
by Cedric | Jul 5, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
A restaurant? What fresh hell is this? My thoughts exactly, dear readers, as I crossed the threshold of a bizarrely normal eatery. The tables were further apart than in the Before Time of course and the staff were wearing masks, as were the customers while travelling between their tables and the loo or to settle the bill, but otherwise the state of things were of an appreciable normality.
The first order of business was to obtain a half litre of cidre doux, or soft cidre, which is customarily consumed with crêpes in France. Thus graced by this sensational sweet treat, we awaited with eagerness our holy crêpes.
There is hardship in everything except eating pancakes. Charles Spurgeon
Pater’s Salade Baltique consisted of smoked salmon, marinated prawns, mustard sauce, honey and dill. Now as many of you know the sight sound and smell of fish repulses me more than cold showers or people named Josephine, so I did not attempt it. But Pater tells me that the quality was superior, especially that of such base ingredients as the salad leaves themselves. It is impressive what a little sunshine will do for one’s crops. Find below a delicious a beautifully lit close up shot.
This salad has restored my faith in tomatoes. Pater
My dish was rather less auspicious as I sought something a tad less rich for my first visit to a restaurant in a quarter year. I was worried that such an intake of rich food after months of eating healthily and exercising might explode my liver. Hence I opted for the Galette Fermière. Interestingly, if a crêpe is savoury, it is called a galette. Don’t ask me why, I don’t make the rules.
I am not sure whether the time elapsed since my last restaurant visit has made me impressionable but my galette was really quite exceptional. The texture of the pastry itself was wonderfully savoury and exactly crunchy. The filling, too, was divine. I am a fan of the melange of sweet and savoury. Hence the apple, honey, egg, Emmental cheese and goats cheese which filled this galette were quite excellent. I ignored the radishes as I detest photograph enhancing touches designed to appeal to mindless and/or young people who feel the need to share every aspect of their lives with individuals or groups instead of living and enjoying it for themselves. Life, and crêpes, are to be enjoyed for one’s benefit and enhancement rather than to give an impression of its quality to others.
“Darling, I keep my crêpes in check, so to speak, and I’m always filled and have my pastry done comme il faut” Arkadina, Act II, The Seagull by Chekhov
Mother’s galette was by far and away the best one on the menu. This was obvious from the outset. I managed to negotiate two small bites and was astonished at the effect. The Savoyarde consisted of raclette cheese, potatoes, bacon lardons and creme fraiche.
I will not shy away from saying that this galette was a masterpiece. The interplay between textures and flavours was just breathtaking. The fluffy nature of the potatoes as contrasted with the chewy lardons and fondant cheeses nearly brought a tear to my eye. The flavour of each ingredient was so pronounced as to be appreciable individually as well as holistically. This galette was a lesson in the making of a perfect dish. Five stars from me.
Overall, this was an excellent way to restart my culinary journey. I am elated to have had this opportunity and deeply impressed by La Crepicoise. I cannot recommend it enough to those of you in the area or thinking of visiting.
by Cedric | Mar 23, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
Those of you who have been to Byker will be surprised to read that there is any establishment of repute within it, or indeed within two miles of it. I can confirm this was a prejudice I, myself (as opposed to I, anyone else), once shared. The Cumberland Arms was the scene of many outrageous and strange personal encounters when I lived in Newcastle for a few months some years ago. Thus I was glad that well known alcoholic and personal friend of mine, St Nick, alighted in Newcastle in search for the Next Best Pub. I was glad to practice a form of erasure, by taking him there, rewriting my old memory of the place with a new one. I recommend this practice to those who have suffered in specific places as I have found it quite healing. Of course if your good doctor tells you this is a bad idea, it might be best to follow their advice.
Now onto the pub itself.
The Cumberland Arms sits at the end of what was a terrace, built around 1860 so The Cumberland was operating as a beerhouse pretty much from the start. As a result of an act of Parliament in 1830, anyone could brew and sell beer on payment of a licence costing two guineas.
It was converted from a private house into a pub in 1898 and opened in 1899; however it didn’t get a full on-licence until 1956. The modifications in 1898 made the local newspapers as the result of a tragic accident when part of the building collapsed killing a workman called Matthew Fitzgerald. This has lead to the corner of the pub to the left of the fireplace in the main bar being known as “Dead man’s corner”. Cumberland Arms
Now this last sentence I can understand. There is nothing else on the street except this pub. The layout of the pub is also extraordinary. There are two rooms left and right of the entrance, rather than adjoined. Many of the old fixtures from the early 20th Century remain including the off-sales hatch and its sliding window.
Now, much to St Nick and The British Establishment’s consternation, I have given up the drink. This evening represented the penultimate time I will have drank booze. I had a lovely but typical cider when I was there. St Nick had a Porter which he enjoyed very much. Being a man of few words, I am unsure how to translate his grunts and mumbles. But suffice to say he was please.
This pub is home to twelve real ale hand pulls and four keg lines rotating beers. I won’t ever experience them but I do recommend them to you. And do keep an eye on the What’s On page of their website. The Cumerland Arms is famed for its music and my father and I enjoyed an Irish Folk band one evening which was most enjoyable indeed.
by Cedric | Mar 15, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
Ye Old Elm Tree is perched atop the idyllic market town of Durham. After an enthralling and deeply moving service at the Cathedral, we headed there for Sunday lunch. St Nick wanted a model, genuine pub and that is exactly what he got.
This is one of Durham’s oldest inns, dating back to at least 1600, and is reputed to have two ghosts. The interior comprises an L-shaped bar and a top room linked by stairs. A friendly pub, it attracts a good mix including locals, students and visitors to the city. Enjoy a good range of ales and home-cooked Sunday carvery, the Wednesday quiz (arrive early), and a folk group on Mondays and Tuesdays. Local CAMRA branch Town Pub of the Year 2015 and 2016. Whatpub
In addition to the wonderful array of hand pulled beer and cider (including my personal favourite, Orchard Thieves), this marvellous pub has a Sunday Carvery. This is what we came for, and after an arduous cycle in and around Durham, this is what we deserved.
We had a choice of beef, pork and turkey. I chose the pork and turkey, while St Nick went for the beef. I won’t purchase beef anymore on account of its unspeakably awful effect on the environment. Arguably I should also give up pork for this very reason but I can’t quite bring myself to do so yet.
The carvery came with unlimited vegetable refills but only one serving of meat. I can tell you that the stuffing was magnificent, the Yorkshire puddings were smashing and the roasties were divine. I loaded my plate up with as much as I could gather. I must say the cauliflower cheese was also a highlight.
This is it, the apex of Sunday lunches. Nothing too fancy, no silliness and no frills. This is honest pub grub, great quality and cheap at the price. For those of you who do not understand this latter British idiom, know that you are not alone. The crackling was delightfully though to begin with and gradually receded under the might of my canines. The pork was cut thick by the chef and tasted beautiful. The turkey, as is the trouble with almost every single portion of turkey I have ever consumed, was dry. Thankfully, I was able to load up a gravy boat with a half gallon of the good stuff to lash over my lunch. Overall I left feeling deeply satisfied and ready to take on the next impossible hill.
If you have time on a Sunday to attend the service at Durham Cathedral, please do so (provided you attend a Catholic church earlier in the day, of course). This place is hallowed ground and almost too beautiful to be true. I was left unable to believe my eyes on several occasions. And while you’re there, do stop by the Old Elm Tree.
by Nicholas Jenkins | Mar 11, 2020 | Food and Drink, General
Lad from the Pub: Don’t tell anyone about this place.
Me: ok.
(scene from the Goodmanham Arms circa 2020 AD)
I fear I may be breaking the sacred pledge of a pub promise here, but my duty as a reviewer on the hallowed web-pages of ‘Cedric Suggests’ must, I feel, take precedence, and as such I am obliged to speak of the incredible things I have seen and tasted at the Goodmanham Arms (“the GA”).The above-quoted lad from the pub, being a decent and worthy sort of a chap, was probably conscious of the danger of gems like the GA becoming spoilt by the influx of newcomers. I sympathise with this position but would encourage any interested party to examine Cedric’s blog more closely before calling foul play on this review. You see, the chances of any of Cedric’s readers actually going to this pub are very low indeed. I imagine Cedric’s readership largely comprises of his extended Albanian family and the various good-looking trendy-types he has picked up through a life of cider-drinking and making an effort with his appearance. As such not the sort of people that would be interested in going to an old-fashioned pub in the middle of the Yorkshire Wolds.
Anyway, on with the review. I had been cycling before I got to the GA, in rather inclement weather I might add, so the first thing that struck me about the place was the wood-fires. A very nice touch, and certainly useful to heat up one’s soggy clothes. Once seated and heated, I soon became aware of the superb décor. Slightly cluttered perhaps, but in the tradition of a gothic cathedral, not a student dorm room. Selecting the correct pub knick-knackery is a fine art, but I think the owners of the GA have got it down to a tee. Traditional, tasteful, and not at all off-putting.
My attention was very quickly drawn away from these more trivial matters when I ordered my first pint and tasted one of their ales. The GA has a fine selection of real ales. I had two different bitters (the stallion, and a guest ale called Bass), but I also saw a porter there. Both bitters were very excellent indeed, the best I think I have drunk in the East Riding, and certainly a rival to ‘Pave’ and ‘the Whalebone’ in Hull. A good ale is perhaps not a work of art, but it certainly is a comfort and consolation in a world full of cider-drinkers.
“The landlord of the Goodmanham Arms is Vito Logozzi, who comes from Bari in southern Italy…. Vito looks after the pub, while Abbie [the other side of this husband and wife team] manages a microbrewery across the yard [currently not brewing]. Her brews include Peg Fyfe, named after a 17th-century witch who is now reincarnated in the form of a 3.6% mild, and an elderflower ale called, almost inevitably, Elder & Wiser. The pub’s generous portions and modest prices can attract a big crowd. “I’ve seen the beef run out at 10 past 12 on a Sunday,” one regular recalled. Get there early.” – Christopher Hirst, Daily Telegraph
The food came quickly, I ordered the steak (rare). It came with peppers, chips, a black pudding, and a tomato. The chips were chunky (to my enlightened mind a disappointment), but certainly very respectable. On final reflection I think the pairing of steak and peppers was a very good one. While the food perhaps did not quite live up to the quality of the beer, it certainly was a wonderful accompaniment. The gypsy pot, which I didn’t go for, was supposedly a particular speciality, and it certainly looked like hearty comfort food. Please see below for the full menu.
Overall this was a model pub, a pub to which other pubs should aspire to be like. I think the owners must have sat and said to themselves let’s not just make something adequate that churns out money, let’s make this the best pub it can be. It rightly has a place in CAMRA’S Good Beer Guide 2020, although remember to bring plenty of fasht cash as they don’t take card. It was a real pleasure to dine there, just as it is a pleasure once again to contribute to Cedric’s weblog. I am ever grateful for his friendship, something I particularly noticed during my post-university move to Hull, and as always appreciative of his humour, loyalty and great kindness. I am mindful of the fact that I am the exception to the rule, that people take exception to, especially when it comes to his friends. I hope that I shall continue to be able to contribute reviews to this excellent blog. So, until next time, fair thee well.
