Category: cheese

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Three course meal at the Petit Pois

Having first visited Brighton with my family in the 1980s on our way to France, I have fond memories of sailing from its port to Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve. I returned for a JISC program meeting in July 2004, where I stayed at the lavish Grand Hotel. Although I found it a bit too posh for my liking, I enjoyed dinner at a French restaurant in The Lanes—likely a now-closed Café Rouge. Another visit took place in June 2005 during a holiday in Bognor Regis. Last year, I had planned to stop in Brighton for a meal on a driving holiday to the continent, but I ran out of time and ended up in Horsham instead. Attending a conference there this week has been a pleasure, and it’s been great to see the city once again. I especially enjoyed the conference dinner on the Brighton Palace Pier and all the great food I ate while I was there.

Having enjoyed both the cassoulet and the bouillabaisse, it was something of a no brainer that on my final evening, I would go back to Petit Pois for dinner.

The bistro had a casual, French-inspired atmosphere with wooden tables and chairs. The walls were decorated with an eclectic mix of art and objects, and the place was bustling with people. I was lucky to get a table.

I decided I would try out the set menu, I did plan only to have a starter and a main course, but in the end, I had three courses. There are a limited number of choices at each stage of the fixed menu, but I think that’s a good thing.

For my starter I went with the crispy calamari. This is a dish I regularly have when eating out.

calamari

The calamari came with a mixed salad, lemon, and aioli. The calamari was best described as okay, maybe I had unrealistic expectations having had some great food at Petit Pois. It was crispy and actually quite flavoursome; however. I felt maybe it was a little overcooked. 

For my main I had initially decided I would have the steak frites, but that is something I can cook, and I have had that at other places. Looking over the menu I went with the skate wing, crushed new potatoes, courgette ribbons, capers, and butter sauce.

skate

After the slightly disappointing calamari, the skate was an incredible dish. The skate was grilled to perfection. It was sat upon a bed of crushed potatoes. I liked the courgette ribbons, and the sauce brought everything together. The skate was cooked well and was easy to remove from the bone. I really enjoyed the skate; the whole dish was delicious.

I had intended to only have two courses but then I am a sucker for cheese and biscuits. The assistte de fromage came with chutney, grapes, celery and crackers. There was a choice of cheeses, I left it up to the chef but asked for no goat’s cheese.

cheese board

This was a pretty serving slate, there were three different kinds of crackers, a small bowl of chutney, a few grapes, a slice of something, think it was made of figs. There were three small pieces of cheese, some camembert, a blue cheese and a hard cheese. The cheese was quite ripe, and had sweated in some instances, but was flavourful. It was also quite difficult to find amongst the other stuff on the slate.

Overall, I was pleased with the meal, all the dishes were nice, however the skate was outstanding. That skate more than made up for the shortcomings of the calamari and the cheese.

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Gluten Free Cauliflower Cheese

For our Sunday lunch I made a gluten free cauliflower cheese. It didn’t quite go to plan, but I think I know what didn’t work and so will do it slightly different next time.

For my recipe, I take a spoonful size knob of butter and melt it in a pan. I then take a similar sized spoonful of plain gluten free flour and stir that into the melted butter to make a roux.

I then add milk and whisk. Now at this point the sauce isn’t very thick, don’t be tempted to add more flour, as I found that at some point the sauce thickens very quickly (and thickly).

I did add some more milk, but my sauce was very thick. I seasoned the sauce with salt and pepper, before adding a small handful of grated cheddar cheese. This is stirred into the sauce.

In an ovenproof bowl, add some florets of raw cauliflower. Then pour over the white cheese sauce. Now I had to spoon mine in as it was too thick. Top with more grated cheddar. I also added some grated mozzarella as well.

This is then baked in the oven for about thirty minutes or until the cheese has melted and browned. It was, despite the thick sauce, delicious.

After bemoaning my thick sauce on Bluesky, one recommendation was to make the roux “wetter” by adding more butter. So the next time I make this I am going to try that.

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French Eating in Ealing

I kind of have a love hate relationship with the Côte chain of restaurants. I really like French style cooking and the Côte menu has an extensive choice of French inspired dishes. The service at the Ealing branch of Côte has always been excellent. Welcoming, warm and friendly. The food arrives in ample time, and I have never felt rushed. The waiting staff are attentive, but not intrusive. What’s not to like? However, though the food is good, it isn’t excellent, and so I always have to temper my expectations. I like the food, but I wouldn’t say I love the food. I am not entirely sure what they could do to make things better, but I am confident that they could. However as a chain, I suspect they are constrained by the system cooking processes they use to ensure consistency across the different restaurants across the country. So the dish you order in Ealing is identical to the same dish if it was ordered in Bristol. I always think if they had a local chef, they could improve and enhance the food. Having said that, finding myself in Ealing on a somewhat warm evening, the cool air-conditioned branch of Côte was quite appealing. The fixed price menu looking tempting as well.

I was given a lovely warm welcome and I was allowed to choose where to sit, which was nice, as I was able to choose a slightly bigger table even though I was eating alone. I may have eaten outside, but it was still rather warm outside, and to be honest the pavement is rather busy and there is a constant stream of traffic running by.

Looking over the menu, I was tempted by quite a few things, but in the end, for my starter I chose the Salade au Bacon, bacon lardons tossed in a creamy anchovy dressing with endive and gem lettuce salad, cherry tomatoes, panisse chickpea croutons and crispy capers, topped with a poached egg.

The combination of tastes and textures worked. The runny yolk of the poached egg added to the richness of the salad. I was intrigued by the panisse chickpea croutons, they were crunchy, different, I think normal croutons would have worked just as well.  This was a lovely rustic looking salad, and despite my earlier thoughts on dishes, I did think this looked great. It was also delicious. This is the kind of dish that I hope they serve at Côte and this time they delivered. I thought it was fantastic. 

For my main course I went with the Steak Frites, and upgraded to the sirloin steak, which was described as topped with garlic butter and served with herbs and frites.

After a fantastic starter, this was a little disappointing. I think they forgot the garlic butter, and not having the menu to hand, I didn’t think to check with the waiting staff. The plate was a simple affair, I don’t know it looked rather plain. I am not sure what they could do though to make it better. I had asked for the steak to be cooked medium-rare, and it was. It was tender, but lacked seasoning. I generally avoid adding extra salt to my food, but this time the steak needed it. The frites were good, nice and crispy. I don’t think the herbs added anything. I would have maybe added a small rocket salad, or even some green beans instead. I think that would have improved both the look of the dish, and the overall eating experience. 

Generally, I only order a starter and a main course, and avoid having a pudding. However, this time the fixed price menu had a cheese plate on offer, a selection of three French cheeses with a fig chutney & sourdough baguette. You could choose from the following cheeses, Comté, Pont l’Évêque, Roquefort, Délice de Bourgogne, Chèvre Buchette.

Now I am a sucker for a cheese course, so of course I said yes. I chose the Comté, Pont l’Évêque, and the Délice de Bourgogne. 

I liked the fact that the cheese plate came with bread, however this was toasted sourdough baguette, which though nice, wasn’t quite what I wanted with my cheese. I do remember visiting Côte many years ago and the bread was a “proper” French baguette, none of this fashionable sourdough business, it was proper French bread. I miss that.

The cheeses though were excellent. I have had Comté and Pont l’Évêque before, so enjoyed those. I haven’t had Délice de Bourgogne, before, but this was nice and tasty.

Overall I did enjoy my food at Côte, the service was excellent, and I had a lovely dining experience. It wasn’t perfect, but it was nice, and with the fixed price menu, I thought it was value for money.

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Not all scones are equal

One of the interesting things about visiting National Trust properties is that though there appears to be commonality and consistency across their cafes, the reality is that they are dependent on who is in the kitchen, more than most. As a result, one way to compare the different experiences is to look at something that is common across many of the menus and compare them. Once such common item found on lots of menus is the cheese scone.

On a recent visit to Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire I stopped for lunch and had a leek soup and a cheese scone.

Kedleston Hall is one of the finest and most complete examples of an 18th-century show-palace and parkland in Britain. Step inside and discover the Curzon family’s collection of fine art, furniture, and Asian objects.

The cafe is in, what was the kitchens of the Hall. I do like it when the cafe is in the main buildings, rather than a converted cow shed. I really liked how Chirk Castle’s cafe was in one of the towers for example.

The service was friendly, you placed your order and then your food is brought to the table.

The scone was lovely and fresh, soft, and delicious. It was full of flavour. I really liked it, so much that I nearly ordered a second scone.

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My time at the Ginger Pig Kitchen

I was once asked where I go to eat out in Weston-super-Mare and I recognised that most times I go out to eat are in other places. When eating locally, as a family, we usually end up in Bristol, as part of doing something else. It doesn’t help that quite a few places that we use to frequent have closed down.

So it was a nice to go out to eat at a local bistro in Weston-super-Mare. I and others visited the Ginger Pig Kitchen recently (as in January) for a “Christmas” dinner.

“At the Ginger Pig Kitchen we’re proud to be serving Modern British bistro food, made from fresh, with passion, using local suppliers and produce. We trust that with every visit you make you will get great service in a great environment.”

The environment is certainly interesting with pipework and wooden tables and what felt liked random chairs.

The menu looked inspiring and interesting, and it was quite difficult to make a choice, but as this was a booked meal I had to make my choice the week before! I also prefer not to do this, as what I felt like eating last week, may not be what I feel like eating now. However I did think I made the right choices.

For my starter I had the Cauliflower Bhaji, which was served with mango yoghurt chilli jam and crispy onion.

I got two bhaji, made from onion and cauliflower. They were crunchy and crisp outside and soft inside. I couldn’t really taste the cauliflower, but they were nice and spicy. I liked the crispy onion, but I do feel that it needed more yoghurt. Overall I did enjoy the bhaji and they were really tasty.

We then had a watermelon gazpacho in a spoon, which was quite nice and zingy. 

Forgot to take photograph of the spoon before drinking the soup.

My main course was I think the house speciality, which was Woodbarn Farm pork belly. It was served with a GPK black pudding bon bon, mashed potato and a braised carrot. On the plate was also a scattering of green leaves, crispy onions and something else.

It was quite a small piece of pork belly, but was well cooked. The cracking was crisp and crunchy, but wasn’t going to be teeth breaking. The pork was tender and tasty.

The GPK bon bon was nice and meaty, I think it could have had a deeper flavour. I did like the use of crackling as the bon bon stick. The mashed potato was nice and creamy, but I would liked to have had a gravy with a deeper flavour, the same could be said for the braised carrot. 

On the plate was also a scattering of green leaves, crispy onions and something else. I am not sure what this was and what it added to the dish. It did add texture, but I was a little underwhelmed by this addition to the dish. Overall I did enjoy this plate of food and it was delicious.

I had a choice of desserts, in the end I went with the cheese and biscuits. I had three pieces of cheese, crackers, chutney, fruit, and celery.

I did not eat the celery. Overall it was okay, nice cheese and nice accompaniments.

It certainly was a popular establishment and was full all evening. Took a photo of the restaurant (at the top of this post) as we were leaving and was now nearly empty, but that’s because it was late. The service was excellent, warm and friendly. I really enjoyed the food, it was delicious and it is certainly a place I would visit again.

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Cheese Games

Met up with some friends at The Stable Game Room for a coffee and a bite to eat (oh and to play a game).

The Stable Game Room has many board games you can play, as well as serving food, alcoholic drinks and coffee.

I had an espresso, which was a little harsh to be honest, so much so I had to add sugar and I generally never do that to coffee. However when I was in Italy in the 1990s I would see quite a few Italians do that, so still felt I was being honest with myself.

I wasn’t that hungry, so I had the Cheese Deli Board, expecting to share it with the table.

The board was quite plentiful with cheddar, red Leicester, stilton and brie. Alongside was apples, grapes, pickle, pickled onions and cornichons. With this came bread and crackers. 

I had to ask for butter though. It was a big board and there was lots of cheese. I have to say though, the cheese was nothing to write home about, the sort of cheese you could find in any supermarket. The cheddar was quite bland in comparison to the mature cheddar I usually have. Nice to have some stilton with the dish.

For a little more money you can have a cheese and ham board. Not sure if this means the same amount of cheese and then ham, or less cheese and some ham!

Our table also had a couple of pizzas. They have a pizza oven and used fresh dough, so the pizza looked excellent and according to those that ate them, they were delicious.

Certainly would do a return visit.

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Baked Camembert

Baked Camembert

I was staying at the Doubletree Hilton in Ealing and was eating in the hotel restaurant.

I’ve alway liked the idea of baked camembert, but have never had it, not in a restaurant, or bought to cook at home.

Seeing it on the menu, I did think why not. The baked camembert was done with honey, rosemary and garlic, served with sourdough bread.

I was a little surprised when it arrived, I don’t know why, but I thought I would have been served a mini camembert, but this was a normal sized one. It came with two warm freshly baked large sourdough bread sticks.

I do like camembert, but this was my first experience of a baked camembert. I really enjoyed it, I liked the addition of honey, garlic, and rosemary. The bread was excellent, and was perfect for dipping into the hot melted cheese.

I could have done with more bread, but then I think I would have been full as a result, and I had it as a starter. Though I ate all the bread, I couldn’t finish all the cheese. Probably better shared than eaten by one.

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Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Made myself a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch the other day. I took two slices of sourdough bread, to which I added slices of Emmental and Mozzarella cheese.

I put my frying pan on a low to medium heat. I added some sunflower oil, I placed the sandwich in the frying pan, then put a lid on the pan.

The plan is that you melt the cheese before the sandwich finishes browning on both sides. When I first tried to do this, I had a lovely crust on the bread, but the cheese hadn’t melted. I found a lower cooking heat and a lid, would melt the cheese and you would have a lovely crust.

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Rocket’s Burger

I was over in Dublin for an event, and having arrived late to my hotel, I decided I wanted a quick lunch, but didn’t really have the time to head into the city centre or even looking around. I could have eaten in the hotel, but I thought it was a little bit pricey.

After a quick browse around the area I decided to try out Rocket’s and have a burger and fries. The look and feel, the menu and the concept reminded me of Five Guys in the UK.

There was a lot of choice of different burgers, but in the end I went with a cheeseburger with fries, and a coke. After placing my order I took a seat and my burger was served to me at my table, which is always nice.

Burger

It was a good burger, tasty and nice toppings, you could also taste the cheese. The burger had a good meaty beefy flavour and I liked the sauce it was dressed with. I did feel that it was a bit thrown together, but that does seem to be the norm with this kind of burger though. I had a similar experience recently at 1885 Burgers in Harwell. As a result it can be quite challenging to eat, without making a mess. Can I be the only person who eats a burger with a knife and fork now and again?

fries

The fries were okay as was the drink. 

Would I go again? Well I think it’s unlikely I will be in Dublin in that location again for sometime, so I would have a burger there, but I don’t think that will happen in the foreseeable future.

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Manky Cheese

I bought some brie from Aldi and when I got home I put it in the fridge. 

The next day I opened the pack and wasn’t impressed by the sight and smell of the brie. It was brown and smelt really bad.

It had been obviously badly stored at some point before it hit the shelves at my local Aldi.

I really should have taken it back for a refund, but didn’t. Partly as I no longer had the receipt, wasn’t going that way, and in the main as the cheese smelt really bad, now it was open!

So I won’t be buying brie from Aldi again anytime soon.