Ambassadors at Bloomsbury Part One

I was recently up in London and stayed at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. Staying with friends we had the Christmas dinner at the Number Twelve attached restaurant. I started off with the Chestnut Pasta and had the Ribeye steak for my mains.

The home made chestnut pasta was served with seasonal wild mushrooms and a white butter sauce. I did enjoy this dish, the pasta was cooked well and nice selection of mushrooms.

For my mains I had ribeye of 28 day Donald Russell beef, served with celeriac, braised red onion, wild mushrooms and roast potatoes.

ribeye of 28 day Donald Russell beef

The steak was not the best I’ve had, slightly tough and was certainly not full of flavour compared to others I have eaten. The celeriac was nice as was the onions and mushrooms.

Overall I did enjoy both the started and the main course.

Alba Ristorante Part Five

I was recently lucky enough to go to dinner at the Alba Ristorante in London with some friends., not just once, but enjoyed it enough the first time to go for a second meal. Unlike a lot of Italian restaurants I have been too, the menu here was not full of pasta and pizza, on the contrary it was very different and as a result much more interesting and refreshing.

One of the dishes that a friend ate was the Platessa con Salsa Bianca or Plaice with spinach, “salsa bianca” new potatoes.

Platessa con Salsa Bianca

He said it was excellent and beautifully cooked.

Roasted Duck Breast

Roasted Duck Breast

I do enjoy duck and a simple roasted duck breast is a relatively quick and easy dish to make.

Having taken out the two duck breasts from the fridge, using a fork, prick the skin side of the duck breast.

Duck can be quite fatty and as a result if you simply roast the duck breast it will be too fatty and greasy. So heat a frying pan, but don’t add any oil. Place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down.

Frying the duck breast in this way renders the fat out from the duck and as a result you get nice crispy skin and little fat or greasiness.

The breasts will also shrink slightly as they cook. There is technique that you can use to stop the meat curling up, but I can’t remember what it is! Something about cutting away something. If you know post a comment and let me know.

Once the skin is nice and brown, place the duck breasts skin side up in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven for about ten to twenty minutes (depending on how you like your duck).

Serve with your favourite accompaniments.

Okay you can eat the pork (and the beef and drink the milk)

In an attempt to restore public confidence in Irish pork following the recent discovery of dioxin contamination, the Irish government (according to the BBC) have announced how they will do this.

The Republic of Ireland’s agriculture minister has announced how supplies of Irish pork are to be restored.

Brendan Smith said special labelling will confirm pork as having had no association with contaminated feed.

Of course the reality is that consumer confidence has been shattered and generally it takes more than a special label to reassure the majority of consumers.

Northern Ireland’s Health Minister has also attempted to reassure consumers.

It is safe to consume pork, beef and milk despite a scare over contaminated feed, Northern Ireland’s health minister had said.

It’s interesting to read the following BBC article in which it says:

The news broke on a Saturday afternoon in Dublin, but amazing as it may seem, while pork was being cleared off the shelves there in a matter of hours, it would be a full 24 hours before Northern Ireland consumers were being advised on what to do.

Of course it wasn’t just Northern Ireland consumers, in the rest of the United Kingdom.

So are you going to buy Irish pork and sausages now?

Breakfast at Bloomsbury

I was recently up in London and stayed at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. I generally dislike having breakfast in hotels, as more often than not they are overpriced and though have extensive choice are not really value for money. For example a month or two back I stayed at the Thistle Barbican Hotel and breakfast (though included in my room rate) would have cost you £15.95. For that you would have to queue up unless you got up really early. Having sat down in the Thistle, if you were lucky, the waiting staff would bring you some coffee and toast. Then it was self-service for the cooked breakfast, which was not very inspiring.

So I was well pleased with breakfast at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. It was about the same price as the Thistle, but unlike that place, at the Ambassadors they served you your cooked breakfast at the table, and what an excellent cooked breakfast it was.

breakfast

Beautifully served, it consisted of an excellent meaty sausage, some very nice grilled bacon, a small bowl of baked beans, grilled (and skinned) tomato, mushroom, bubble and squeak, black pudding and egg. You had a choice of eggs (chicken or duck) and cooked to your liking, I had a poached duck’s egg. It was also garnished with lettuce, not sure about the lettuce.

There was quite a choice of other cooked items as well, such as boiled eggs and kippers.

Along with the cooked breakfast, there was also a (self-service) selection of toast, bread products such as croissant and panettone, fruit, yoghurt, juice, cold meats, cheese and smoked fish.

Overall I was well impressed and would recommend the breakfast, though still not sure about the lettuce.

Don’t eat the pork!

The pork crisis in Ireland is hitting headlines all over the UK.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is currently saying

Pork from the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland should not be eaten at the moment due to contamination fears.

 

One of my favourite foods at the moment are Paul Rankin’s Irish Pork Sausages which are made in Ballymena, Northern Ireland by Doherty & Gray Limited.

How do I know this I looked at the packaging and this has the physical and web address on it.

Paul Rankin’s Irish sausages

No update or advice on their website about their products. If you are going to have a website, ensure that you use it to let us consumers know what is happening.

So how can Waitrose say:

Waitrose has withdrawn two sausage lines sold under Northern Irish celebrity chef Paul Rankin’s brand as a precaution, although a spokeswoman for the supermarket stressed that the origin of the meat was still being checked.

I would have thought it was obviously Northern Ireland, though I am guessing that this is not 100% certain it is Irish pork, I would hope that it was otherwise I am feeling I have been misled in buying the product – dioxin contamination aside.

Doherty & Gray should in my opinion at least post something to their website to let consumers know what is happening. I am seeing a large number of people visit this blog who have concerns, but I am in the same boat as them.

Disappointed to also see that the online arm of Waitrose, Ocado is still “selling” the Rankin sausages on their website.

No idea if you actually order them that they would deliver them.

Like others who have commented on my blog, I have recently eaten Paul Rankin’s sausages (just yesterday) and my family and I eat them on a regular basis. Despite the FSA assurance that the “risk” is slight, it is still a risk. If it isn’t a risk why are they now saying don’t eat the pork!

Irish pork recalled

BBC reports on possible pork contamination:

All pork products made in the Irish Republic since September have been recalled over fears they are contaminated with a toxic substance.

The action was taken after dioxins were found in slaughtered pigs thought to have eaten contaminated feed.

Tests showed some pork products contained up to 200 times more dioxins than the recognised safety limit.

Why am I concerned?

Well I do like Paul Rankin’s Irish Pork Sausages.

Yo Sushi once more

Having tried Yo Sushi once and enjoyed it, coming home from London yesterday I decided to have Yo Sushi again. Rather than eat at the restaurant taking bowls from the conveyor belt I bought some take away to eat on the train.

I had Salmon and Tuna Box and a Spicy Squid salad.

The Salmon and Tuna Box contains 2 Salmon Nigiri, 2 Tuna Nigiri,  Sashimi: Salmon, Tuna, Coriander Seared Tuna, Tuna Maki, 2 Salmon Maki, YO! Roll.

Salmon and Tuna Box

The Nigiri were really nice as was the Sashimi. I enjoyed the Maki, however though it was okay didn’t think too much of the YO! Roll.

I did enjoy the Spicy Squid which was blanched squid tossed with crunchy peppers, red onion, dressed with spicy kimchee sauce and sesame seed.

Spicy Squid

Overall for £10.20 probably more than I would normally pay for a takeway meal, however at least it wasn’t panini or a burger. I really did enjoy my meal and will certainly be going again.

Christmas Four Bird Roast

I was (as I suspect others were) with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s incredible ten bird roast he did for Christmas for this River Cottage series.

This year I am considering having a four bird roast for Christmas.

Marks and Spencers Four Bird Roast

Now the key question for me is do I do it myself, or because of time constraints do I buy one in. I am considering getting one from Marks and Spencers but wondering if I can get a better one elsewhere.

…but I don’t want a panini

Ten years ago no one in the UK knew what panini was. Today the place is awash  with them.

Yes we had toasted sandwiches, anyone for a Breville? However the popularity of the toasted Italian panino has grown considerably over the last few years.

In the main the thrust of this growth has come from the coffee chains of Starbucks and Costa, though now it appears that everyone is selling panini.

And there lies the problem…

It’s all you seem to be able to buy in some places, as every outlet is selling them. If you want something different, tough!