DINE WITH DOS HERMANOS: A BLOW OUT AT BENTLEY'S

On Monday, the evening of the latest DINE WITH DOS HERMANOS, someone asked me why we organise these increasingly popular suppers.

I had to think for a moment, but in the end suggested that, in these days when every new restaurant has to come with a concept (think pop-up, think underground, think nuevo tapas) that it comes as a blessed relief just to sit down for a great meal with lots of interesting people with no other agenda than to have a bloody good time.

Judging by the e-mails, Facebook messages and Twitter DM's I received from the more well mannered of our guests after Monday's event, I think it is fair to say that everybody who attended the latest DINE WITH DOS HERMANOS had a very good time indeed. This is primarily thanks to the good folks of Bentley's, Richard Corrigan's excellent seafood restaurant on Swallow Street.

Head chef, Brendan Fyles, had taken the opportunity to go well above and beyond the call of duty and far exceeded my expectations for the £40 a head budget I set him, providing a meal which showed just how good a restaurant Bentley's is.

The meal began, as people arrived, with freshly shucked oysters served with Porterhouse Oyster Stout. These were accompanied by two superb canapes of Foie Gras with Apple Chutney and Deep Fried Chilli Shrimp. By the time we actually went to table, people were already nodding approvingly and continued their happy murmurs as the first course arrived.

HP and I like to make DWDH an famly style affair. It is easier on the kitchens and it promotes interaction, so important when we make sure that there are always a large number of new people at each event. So, when huge plates were placed on the table each carrying Sally Barnes smoked salmon,smoked tuna, smoked eel, smoked mackerel, soda bread, blinis and potted shrimp, the sight of everybody tucking in with gusto and passing the plates around was particularly pleasing.

Even more pleasing was yet another act of generosity on the apart of Head Chef, Brendan when he sent out plates of smoked herring roe on toast, coated with a silky bernaise sauce. Stunning.

A similar "wow" factor was gained by the arrival the two main courses. The first, a fish pie showed just how wonderful such a classic British dish can be when made well. Plumped out with haddock, scallops, salmon and prawns, it was layered with a bechamel sauce flavoured with the skins of smoked haddock and topped with a thick, buttery mashed potato. Just as delicious were large bowls of beef cheeks cooked down in more of the oyster stout. Astonishingly tender, they were probably my dish of the night.

It was a close call, however as no sooner had our main course plates been cleared than dessert arrived in the form of trays of rich sticky toffee pudding, served with jars of Roddas Clotted Cream and a thick toffee sauce.

I was having a dry night as I had to drive to the airport. Everyone else was very appreciative of the wines supplied by Nepenthe and Wines Unearthed, which were explained to everyone by the splendid Robert Macintosh.

At the end of the evening, Mr Corrigan made an appearance, to everybody's delight. But, more importantly so did Brendan to receive the round of applause his skills and generosity so richly deserved. An added round of applause went to events manager, Jane Sturgess, restaurant manager, King and his whole serving team who were faultless.

As people left, they stopped to collect the now legendary DWDH goody bags and a huge vote of thanks has to go out to Mathilde Delville who sourced the amazing contents of this event's offering. If you are wondering why the photographs on this post are a notch above our usual blurry DH snaps, they too are the result of her efforts

Each time we hold an event people tell me that it has been even better than the last. I don't know about that, they have all been fun for me. I am merely appreciative that so many wonderful chefs and restaurant staff have been so generous in supporting the single Dos Hermanos aim of helping Britain learn how to feast again. Long may it continue.

Dos Hermanos would like to thank the following without whom this event would not have been possible

BENTLEY'S


PORTERHOUSE OYSTER STOUT

NEPENTHE WINES


WINES UNEARTHED


SALLY BARNES

VIEW CARD

EASY TASTY MAGIC RANGE - TASTE No5 UMAMI PASTE

RUDE HEALTH

NUDO OLIVE OILS

FIRE & KNIVES MAGAZINE

CONRAN OCTOPUS

CANDIA


CASILLERO DEL DIABLO

LUCOZADE

MARMITE CEREAL BARS

DIVINE DARK CHOCOLATE

JORDANS CEREAL BARS

BURTS CHIPS

SWEET THINGS

BILLINGTON'S

CHARLIE BIGHAM

PULP FRUIT SMOOTHIES

Dont forget, if you would like the chance to attend a future DINE WITH DOS HERMANOS event, please check out our Facebook group

THE PRINCESS OF SHOREDITCH: NEW DIRECTION NEEDS WORK

After reading a giddily enthusiastic review in Time Out and encountering a few equally positive chirpings on Twitter, I expected to echo Howard Carter’s exclamation of “Wonderful things” as I walked into The Princess of Shoreditch on Thursday and discovered the new space, the new owners and the new fine dining menu.

Instead I found that the bar looked little different to when I last set foot in the place just under three years ago. There was even the same personable barman, Alex. He still pours a terrific pint and I chatted to him over a jug of Sambrook's Wandle as I waited for my lunch companion, Oliver Thring to arrive.

The owners, who have been in place for over a year, have given the upstairs a lick of duck egg blue paint and the menu has been revamped upwards to create more distance between it and the “pub grub” of the downstairs bar area. That and Time Out’s rating seemed to have worked wonders and when we finished our pints and coiled up the spiral staircase the dining room was pretty much packed to capacity.

The new menu ticks most of the pre-requisite fine dining buttons. There are oysters to begin with, plus a soup, a parfait and a terrine. Nothing on there to scare anyone and, if prepared properly, nothing at all to complain about. Likewise on the list of main courses, which offer up couple of fish dishes, the almost inevitable use of pork belly and a named breed of dead cow. None of it is terribly inventive but comfortable enough for anyone tired of restaurants that believe every meal should be a journey of discovery.

Starters were a good indication of the way things were going to go. A foie gras and chicken liver parfait came served with a spiced poached plum and toast. The texture of the parfait was perfect, the toast warm and the horseradish dressing on the accompanying leaves an interesting touch. However, it lacked depth needing either one more twist of the pepper mill or a good glug of brandy to perk up an otherwise decent dish. Oliver’s butternut squash panna cotta was less successful. It was an ugly and unappealing plate of orange components none of which, from what I tasted, seemed to have any discernable flavour. Added to which, I can only hope that the days of the “skidmark” school of plate dressing will soon come to their natural end.

The cider braised belly pork of my main course was perfectly prepared. Unfortunately, the kitchen had done its best to hide the fact by smothering the two generous slabs with a thick glaze of one of those fearsome reductions which destroy all before them, so that all taste of pig was lost in the fall out. The carrot and anis puree was again delivered in “splodge” mode but not a bad addition, bringing a welcome touch of sweetness to the dish. It paled however against the star of the show a single slice of terrific black pudding, I suspect of the Clonakilty variety. This is a dish that could potentially be a contender, but only if the impressive quality of the ingredients is allowed to shine. In its current form, it is just a heap of textures with one taste.

I felt much the same way about Oliver’s plate of roasted mallard breast, which came with a small slab of seared foie gras, a confit of the leg and salsify. The ingredients, again, were obviously excellent and ably cooked, but were hampered by the addition of a “all bow down before me” sauce, which dominated the sample Oliver passed onto my plate.

There is obviously some real talent in the kitchen and investment in quality ingredients, both of which are welcome in a neighbourhood more used to eateries feeding stoned clubbers than serious diners. But, on the basis of these dishes, there is still work to be done to justify what ended up being a pretty hefty lunchtime bill. It came to £80 for the two courses and coffee and also included a bottle of Chilean Pinot, the cheapest on a short, but well priced wine list and a 12.5% charge for service which, as it always has been was excellent.

Any move to up the ante in a restaurant is always welcome and I wish the newly revamped Princess the best of luck. However, with higher prices come higher customer expectations and the cooking at The Princess of Shoreditch needs to up its game if it is to meet those of the bald, short, fat half of DH and, don't forget, I am the cheery one who is easy to please. God help them if HP goes in.

WIN A PLACE AT THE THEO RANDALL COOKERY SCHOOL

Competitions on Dos Hermanos are like busses on the dreaded “55” route. I don’t mean by that they have ripped seats and smell like piss, more that you wait around for ages and then a whole load come along at the same time.

Well, I am not going to apologise. Restaurants, exhibition organisers and P.R’s have obviously cottoned on to what a discerning readership DH has (and by discerning I mean mal adjusted freaks with nothing better to do with their time) and are approaching me daily with offers of prizes for you to win just by the sending of a simple little e-mail.

The response has been staggering and my inbox is flooded with e-mails from people wanting to win the latest offering of two pairs of tickets for a Tayyab fest the like of which has never been seen before (for shame, however, on the people who e-mailed Wasim to ask what weight of lamb chops he sold, for shame.)

We are however, in true DH style “keeping it real” by only running competitions for prizes that we would very much like to win ourselves and today’s offering is no exception and is indeed one of the finest we have ever offered.

Almost exactly three years ago, I was invited to supper by Mr Rayner, keen to try out a new joint at the refurbished Intercontinental Hotel. It was the day I had just handed in my notice at work and begun to set out the journey, which became Eat My Globe. The meal was superb, from the first bite of Bagna Cauda to the last mouthful of a Meyer lemon tart. So good in fact, that I went back a week later for second helpings.

Since then Theo Randall has established himself at the very top rank of London’s restaurant scene. I can also say that on the two occasions I have been lucky enough to meet him, his enthusiasm for the ingredients he uses is tangible and pleasingly bereft of the ego of so many other chefs at his level.

Well, now you have the chance to find out for yourselves as, from December, Theo will be running a series of cookery schools offering you the chance to learn from a master about the joys of Northern Italian cuisine. The courses run from 9am-3pm and include a three-course lunch in the restaurant. Price to the likes of you and me, £150 and given my experiences there, well worth every penny. However the good folks at The Intercontinental have agreed to offer Dos Hermanos readers two tickets for February’s cookery school and to win all you have to do is answer this, oh so taxing question.

AT WHICH LEGENDARY LONDON RESTAURANT DID THEO RANDALL MAKE HIS NAME AS HEAD CHEF?

The closing date for the competition is 25th November 2009. Please submit all entries via the Dos Hermanos contact details with THEO RANDALL COMPETITION as the subject heading. One entry per person only (for those of you who have sent multiple entries to the Tayyabs comp) and, because as I mentioned, most of you are freaks, I cannot enter into correspondence but will confirm the winners soon after closing date.

Good Luck

TANDOORI LAMB CHOPS: NOT TAYYAB, BUT NOT BAD

I have not been able to stop thinking about lamb chops. It's your fault, of course. Had I not chosen to ask as a competition question what weight of lamb chops Tayyab serves in a week, I would not have spent most of yesterday day dreaming about them and doodling pictures of cutlets when I was supposed to be working on an article about communist era spirits.

By 5pm, I could stands no more and had to head to Waitrose to pick up some nice thick chops. I set them to rest in a marinade while I finished my real work. A couple of hours later, article written, they were ready to throw under the grill for a short while until crisp and golden.

The end result was not bad at all. Not up to Tayyab standards, of course, but well worth trying.

Here, in case anyone might be interested, is the recipe


INGREDIENTS


MARINADE
2 inches of fresh ginger (peeled)
4 cloves of garlic (peeled)
4 green chillies (seeds removed)
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp hot chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
1 lemon (juice and zest)
3 tsp of saffron infused in water (optional)
3 tbsp whole milk yoghurt

2-4 Lamb chops Per Person (I use loin chops)

METHOD

Blend the ginger, garlic, chilli and salt with a little water until it becomes a paste.

Place the chops into a large bowl and add the paste rubbing well into the meat.

Add the saffron water, lemon juice and zest rubbing well into the meat.

Combine the dry spices with the yogurt and pour over the chops. Work the sauce into the meat until every chop has a good covering.

Cover with cling film and allow to sit for at least two hours. There is no need to place in the fridge, but if you do, make sure you allow time for the chops to come back to room temperature before cooking.

Remove some of the marinade and place the chops on a wire rack above a large roasting tin layered with foil to catch the juices.

Grill under a medium heat for 15 minutes turning once making sure that they become golden but do not burn.

Before serving, sprinkle with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Serve with a cucumber and mint raita.

THE BRITISH CURRY AWARDS: WELL DONE WASIM (AND A GREAT COMPETITION)

Last night saw me join my good chum, Wasim Tayyab, half a dozen of his friends and Petra “Choc Star” Barran at the 5th Annual British Curry Awards. It was a colossal event with close to 2,000 people gathered together in Battersea to witness the presentation of weighty trophies to the best “Indian” restaurants from all regions of the country.

The main event was hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald. Chris Tarrant also popped up and exhorted the gathered congregation of wealthy Asian business people to dig deep into their pockets for the worthy Lords Taverner’s Charity. Judging by the event car parking lot, stuffed with Bentley’s, Jaguar's, Maserati’s and Porche's, there was plenty of money for them to dig deep for. There is, obviously plenty of money in curry.

Food was provided by Madhu’s Restaurant in Southall, no mean task when feeding a couple of thousand of your peers, and the entertainment was loud and a lot of fun. But, we were here for the awards and Wasim, in true fashion, barely noticed when a photo of Tayyab’s dining room was flashed on the screen as a nominee for the “Best Casual Dining” category and was busy chatting to Petra when his name was read out as the winner.

Champions had been asked to keep their speeches brief and not to thank every member of their family, which with Asian families meant the event could have gone on for days. Even so, Wasim’s “er, thanks” was a measure of the man’s reticence to be in the spotlight and quite frankly he looked terrified as the battalion of photographers began flashing away in his general direction.

You may have noticed that we have begun to offer some fun prizes on Dos Hermanos recently. We get approached to do a great deal, but pick and choose what we consider the very best. Well, on the 25th November, Wasim is throwing an incredible dinner for friends and regulars of Tayyab to celebrate the opening of the new expanded space at the restaurant. I have been working with him on the guest list and the menu and it promises to be an extraordinary night. Let me just say the words “Whole Roast Lamb” have been used

Wasim has kindly allowed me to offer two pairs of tickets to the event for Dos Hermanos readers and to be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is answer the following question

HOW MANY KILOS OF LAMB CHOPS DO TAYYAB’S SERVE IN AN AVERAGE WEEK

A) 300
B) 400
C) 600

Please email via the website. The competition will close on Friday 13th 2009. I don't have time to enter into correspondence with individual entrants, but will let the winners know on that day.

Hopefully a lucky day for four people who will have one of their best meals of the year

GOOD LUCK and once again WELL DONE WASIM

MCDERMOTT'S::FINE FISH AND CHIPS IN CROYDON

I’ve probably bemoaned the lack of consistency in London restaurants before so just in case the message didn’t strike home, I’m going to do it all over again.

There are exceptions of course, but a lot of places just can’t maintain the same standards day after day, week after week. Whether it’s because the chef/owners have their eyes on rolling out the ‘concept’ – something that happens with depressing regularity – or they just get bored and complacent I’m not sure, but it does make dining more of a haphazard experience than it should be.

Happily, the good places or should I say the consistently good places are always full: the British public make have an irrational love of the cheap and crappy but when they’re introduced to the good stuff they’re hooked.

I was discussing this with HS the other day as we sat in McDermott’s, a Fish and Chip restaurant near Croydon. These places are, or should be the bedrock of British dining like say Asadors or Marisquerías in Spain. When done well, and McDermott’s do it very well, there’s nothing better if you require a solidly crafted, novelty-free meal. Check your Espuma Guns at the door.

To be honest I only wanted to visit McDermott’s because it meant going on a tram. I like trams. Even though electric trams has been around for donkey’s years they still feel like something impossibly modern. One day all public transport will be like this. You can just catch what HS thought of all this at the end of the little video clip of the actual tram that we actually took to get to McDermott’s.

When we arrived we were gratified to find ourselves the youngest folk in the joint. It was like being in a sort of anti-Logan’s Run world. I was further gratified to see many people get stuck into the wine and beer. How much more civilised than doing the run down to Wickes for that all-important flange sprocket ?

McDermott’s menu is pleasingly straightforward. In lieu of starters you get a basket of decent French stick, a small ramekin of homemade tartar sauce, a few pickles and (blow me) an amuse-gueule - which I thought was a nice touch.

Whenever we eat out together the unwritten rule is that one Hermano shouldn’t be seen to be gaining an advantage over the other Hermano by dint of their order. So when HS went for the Kingsize Haddock and Chips (aka “The Fat Bastard”) it meant I had to order the same. At £16 it was pretty expensive but when they turned up we saw why. Instead of one great big fish we got the equivalent of two fish and chips. A meal for four in other words.

The moment of truth with F&C is always when you first break into the batter. Would it provide the correct crisp shell to allow the fish to cook within or would it cling to the fish like a very clingy thing ?

The kitchen at McDermott’s obviously knows its stuff as the frying was excellent. The batter crunched in an Heston-pleasing manner and the strata of pearly white Haddock flesh flaked satisfyingly, although just a tad softly.
We debated the merits of Groundnut Oil (used here) versus Beef Dripping (as used up North) as a frying medium and decided it was probably down to mood rather than one being inherently better than the other. We were split over the chips. I liked their crunch but I suspect they weren’t chip-shop style enough for HS. We’ve stopped critiquing Mushy Peas in Southern Chippies.

That should have been that but HS had a little meal momentum going and said the magic words Helado Mixta three times. My Ice Cream wasn’t homemade as far as I could tell but was fine. Better, I thought than HS’s Apple Pie, but he didn’t seem to have much trouble clearing his plate.

Service, was friendly and on-the-ball which is all you can ask for and they seemed genuinely pleased that we’d had a good time . Which was nice. With a bottle of Albarino, it wasn’t a particularly cheap meal, but then when you have Fish it shouldn’t be.

I read that McDermott’s have been around for about twenty-five years. I don’t know if we’ll ever visit McDermott’s again – the journey, although relatively short, took in three different modes of public transport - but I suspect if I ever visited in another twenty-five years hence, they’d still be going strong and the meal wouldn’t be so very different. Which is where I came in.

KITCHEN W8: WOBBLY IN WEST LONDON

It’s very rare that Dos Hermanos revisit a restaurant that has previously served us up a duff meal. To be honest as much as people would like us to keep returning in order to confirm what we already knew after the first visit, we just don’t have the time, the money or the slightest inclination to do so. I was surprised, then, to find myself walking down Abingdon Road in Kensington .

Regular readers of the blog (“our stalkers” as we like to think of them) will remember I visited a restaurant called Bistrot Eleven back in March. Previously called 11 Abingdon Road – because that was its address – it had a new chef , it had a new menu. It was shit. Now in the long line of uninspiringly-named restaurants on this site comes Kitchen W8.

Normally, I wouldn’t have bothered but the involvement of Philip Howard in this new venture piqued my interest. Dos Hermanos have visited The Square – where Mr Howard has two stars from the fat tyre man – several times and to be honest we can’t remember a dish we’ve had there. As bland, risk-free, don’t-frighten-the-horses , high-end dining experiences go it’s right up there, but I had high hopes for Kitchen W8. The combination of good technique applied to more simple dishes sometimes yields excellent results as places like The Harwood Arms demonstrate.

I was actually getting quite excited by the prospect of my meal – and believe me, that doesn’t happen very often – as I was seated in the cosy dining room, got stuck into a glass of Billecart Salmon champagne and scanned a menu which I fancied eating most of. There were plenty of staff around too, giving the appearance of serious intent. Yes, it was all coming together. And then it began unravelling.

Now, I like the occasional visual gag in my food, especially if the end result is any good and the combo of Game Hotdog and Consommé certainly looked the part as a play on something you might have in a US diner. Unfortunately, where it scored highly in the looks department it failed equally poorly in terms of taste. What little flavour of game the sausage had was obliterated by the ‘ketchup’ artfully slathered over it and the little brioche bun it came in was on the dry side. The consommé didn’t taste particular gamey and lacked any depth of flavour – one note and boring was what I thought at the time – and serving it in a mug wasn’t an improvement on dishing it up in a bowl. It wasn’t a evry bad first course, just a bland and one that lowered my expectations for the others to come.

Squid Ink Linguine was a bit of a jumbled mess of pasta, shellfish meat and too much liquid. Given that it contained Crab, Cuttlefish and Octopus the only surprise was that it didn’t taste more of the sea. In fact it didn’t taste of anything much and was even more boring than the previous dish. Oh, and the pasta was overcooked.

Grilled Ox Tongue, Shallot Puree and Foie Gras Baked Potato ticks so many of my foodie boxes it really was a no-brainer to order. It should have been a magnificent dish: the beefy, offally taste of the Tongue and the rich Foie Gras, cut through with the purée. The reality: a thin slipper of Tongue, which was chewy and its taste masked by one of those all-purpose jus that is the stock-in-trade of the able kitchen and the Foie Gras Baked Potato, a small tuber stuffed with a tasteless mystery mixture. The small, meltingly soft lobe of Foie stood in stark contrast to the rest of the ingredients on the plate. It was as if it was saying (in the voice of Richard Pryor, hints provided for where to insert the rude words): I did my __ job, not my fault if those other __ screwed up the dish, trying to make me look bad. Yes, really, talking Foie Gras - bad food has finally driven me doolally.

An odd sort of momentum drove me on to try and eek out something from my meal. The kitchen didn’t have any problems putting together a selection for their ice creams for me but the familiar tameness of flavour elicited more stoicism on my part rather than the desired mmmms and aaaahhs. Odd then that the Chocolate Truffles that came with my Espresso were really rather good and made me wonder what was going on in the kitchen. I suppose I’ll never find out.

Interestingly, looking back at my post on Bistrot Eleven I posted the following:

Foodies beware, restaurateurs are on to us. They lure in the decent, honest gastronaut with interesting online menus and bigged-up Chef CVs (Worked with MPW = Chopped some carrots but got sacked the following week). You pitch up all expectant and excited and then realise, pretty quickly, that you’ve been sold a pup. It’s all the more galling when in these straightened times genuinely good and interesting places are suffering whilst the cruddy ones continue to divert valuable funds.

Plus ça change eh ?

PLYMOUTH GIN LONDON COCKTAIL PILGRIMAGE 2009: IN THE COMPANY OF GOOD SPIRITS

So here’s the thing.

Imagine I am high above the earth in the basket of a hot air balloon. The sky is blue and the ground below dappled by the sunlight through what few clouds there are. To my right is a bartender, whose single task it is to provide me with a constant supply of perfectly made Martinis, to the left, is a chef whose role is to feed me rich sweetmeats until I am as inflated as the balloon.

Suddenly, we begin to lose altitude at an alarming rate. As we hurtle towards the ground, my life flashing before me in a rapid procession of gin, hookers and regret, I realise that we have to jettison some of our extra weight. I consider my two companions and I am not going to lie to you, but if it comes to a contest between a good bartender and a good chef, then the chef might as well be wearing a t-shirt reading “SANDBAG” because knife boy is going over the side.

The decision would be made not just on the basis that I prize a well made cocktail more than I do a well made meal, but also on the fact that experience tells me that people who are involved in the bar and cocktail world are usually much nicer people than those who spend all day cooped up in a kitchen with only dead animals for company. It’s not a universal, of course and I have many cheffy folk I am chuffed to call friend. But, my true affinity is for the brewers, distillers and mixers of this world.

The last couple of weeks have seen me attend two events, which provide evidence for my contentious theory. Last week, I attended the launch of Joe Warwick’s new restaurant free sheet, Galley Slaves. It promises to be fun and so indeed did the event, which was held at Mark Hix’s new joint in Soho. That is, of course, until I recalled that you can never really have a proper conversation with anyone in the restaurant trade because they are always looking over your shoulder for someone more important to talk to. In my case that’s not a very hard task and after many abruptly ended conversations, I soon found myself slinking out unnoticed and making my way to Rules, where I knew a cheery greeting and a great Martini would be waiting.

Move on to Tuesday this week and I found myself being greeted with genuine friendliness by those of the cocktail trade who had been invited to Plymouth Gin’s 2009 London Cocktail pilgrimage. I am not in the business, other than as a punter and I had only met most of them a handful of times, but their affection for anyone with a passion for their trade was palpable. Ago from The Connaught, Lucca from China Tang, Toby from Pinchito, Gabby from Rules, Charles and Nick from Hix and Sean and jack from The Merchant Hotel in Belfast. It was a great group and the list could go on and on.

The notional excuse for the day was to examine the capital’s fundamental role in the development of the cocktail and, as our host, Plymouth had flown in raconteur and lauded drinks historian, Dave Wondrich. After a fortifying bacon sandwich, we made our first stop in Borough at The George Tavern where, in 1690, a Mr Stoughton began to sell the first bitters, which he mixed with sweet wines as a tonic.

From there, the art of mixed drinks moved across to the US, leaving Britain in the clutches of rather fiendish punches, like the warm “Rum Fustian” we sampled at The Cheshire Cheese pub on Fleet Street. Later, the “American Bar” style of mixing spirits and flavourings with ice made its way back to London and over the course of our day we stopped at various places of interest to hear of their history and to sample their most famous cocktails, made and transported for us by the rather wonderful people of The World Wide Cocktail Club. Although many of the buildings no longer exist, hearing Dave describe places like John Ashley’s Punch House, while sipping on an appropriate drink brought it all back to life.

Stops at two building sites, The Savoy and The Café Royal showed how rapidly London is changing, although the drinks we sampled, A Savoy White Lady and A Toreador, both from the 1930’s would be very familiar to any fan of cocktails today. They also showed that during the dark days of prohibition in the US (up until 1933) the art of the mixed drink had its home very firmly in London.

Two more stops later, at the glorious Criterion Restaurant (most beautiful room and some of the worst food in London) and on Orange St, the site of Ciro’s, the most famous night club of the 1920’s and it was time to repair to Duke’s Hotel for supper. Not only to eat, however, but also for one last cocktail treat. This time a Martini made by the hands of the legendary Alessandro Palazzi himself. His Martini is, as he says himself, from the “old times” and made with frozen glasses (frozen while still wet, which adds extra dilution) a spritz of vermouth and frozen Plymouth gin. It remains one of the world’s truly great tastes and his skill was admired not only by a rube like me but forty of the world’s best cocktail makers including the equally famous Peter “American Bar at The Savoy” Dorelli and Salvatore “Library Bar” Calabrase.

The evening was a bit of a blur. Not just because of the drinks, which had been flowing all day, I had actually been very sensible and sipped rather than slugged. It was because I was in the company of some of my favourite people in the world talking animatedly about one of my favourite subjects in the world, the mixing of superb drinks. Even though I am not one of them, I felt very much at home. When, as we left, I was presented with my own “Dipsomaniac’s Delight” a portable cocktail making kit, it only confirmed my theory of with which group of people I most enjoy spending time. As much as possible in future, I intend to spend my time mixing with the best possible spirits.

PINCHITO & BARRICA: TAPAS TWO TIMES IN THE WEST END

The next couple of weeks are shaping up to be some of the best of the year and unsurprisingly they involve eating copious amounts of Jamon Iberico.

On Monday, I join my good chums at Brindisa for the launch of the new Dehesa, the latest release of Jamon Iberico de Bellota from the incomparable Joselito. A few days later, I fly to Seville and from there make my way to Badajoz, one of the spiritual homes of Jamon to spend some time with a producer discovering the secrets of creating the world’s single greatest item of food. By way of preparation and inspired by HP’s recent trips to Spain, I decided to make my own mini tapas crawl with visits to the two most recent additions to London’s seemingly endless production line of Spanish restaurants and tapas bars.

The new branch of Pinchito is located on the corner of Bedford Square, just off Tottenham Court Road. It’s décor and approach will be instantly familiar to anyone who has visited their first branch near Old Street or the now defunct PinXto People in Brighton. The offering is as much about the impressive cocktails created by co-owner Toby Garcia, as it is about the food and Pinchito shies away from the traditional approach to tapas bars in favour the nuevo take of Cal Pep in Barcelona from which it draws its inspiration.

A quick sampling of two staples shows that there is still work to be done in the kitchen. Rabas, that Cantabrian weekend favourite of squid, sliced thinly to look like tails (hence the name) and deep-fried was greasy, chewy and burdened with too fierce hit of paprika. Croquettes of “mixed meat” were better, well fried and with a dense filling, which would have gone perfectly with a glass of fino or a cocktail. The restaurant takes reservations and offers a wider menu of daily specials, but as with the branch in Old Street, I still think of Pinchito as an excellent bar that serves food rather than a restaurant, which does decent drinks. As the former, it is definitely worth a visit, as the latter it will need to up its game if it is to persuade people to linger.

Barrica, on the other hand has set its stall out to compete full on with the West End’s other Spanish restaurants. Located on Goodge St. a few doors down from Salt Yard, and in the space once inhabited by ill fated and appallingly names, Ooze, Barrica is an independent operation (not as reported owned by Spanish group Vino Tinto) and traditional in its approach down to the three jamons swinging from the ceiling.

There is an extensive wine list and a wide selection of pretty standard tapas. I chose two more dishes by which the intentions and abilities of any Spanish restaurant can be discerned. More croquetta of Jamon were tiny and had been cooked for too long on the outside turning from the pre-requisite golden to the point where they were just at the point of being burnt. The insides, however, were good, creamy and flecked with decent amounts of jamon, but far below what HP dubbed "The Croquetta D'oro" to be found at the three branches of Brindisa.

Which brings us to the Jamon Iberico Bellota. The ham at Barrica had been cut by machine. Although the fat began to melt to a lovely sheen, as it should, it was not enough to disguise the fact that the meat had begun to dry out and lose the delicate flavour of acorns for which it is so famous. At £12 a plate, one probably could not have expected much more of a serving of this perniciously expensive product. However, one could and should expect better quality of storage and preparation for what is the benchmark of any Spanish restaurant with serious ambition.

Some places to their credit (Vinoteca for example) have taken Jamon Iberico off the menu because they cannot sell enough at the price they need to charge to keep the product in peak condition. I suspect Barrica may come to the same conclusion not too far into their existence. It would be a good decision given the poor quality of the plate with which I was presented.

Both Pinchito and Barrica have opened recently. However, both were charging full whack, so must feel that they were offering full value for money. I only sampled two dishes in each place, as much as I could manage and the very nature of a tapas crawl. I will probably head back to both to try more, but on this showing, Pinchito is looking the more likely prospect of the two, if mainly for the fact that Toby Garcia makes some of the best drinks in town.

What both places really achieve however, is just making me long to be back in Spain. Soon come.

THE COWBRIDGE FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL: DAHL, A LIFE SAVER

I have just returned from a lovely weekend in Cowbridge, Wales, where I was asked to be a guest speaker and to do a cookery demonstration at their bustling food and drink festival.

It is the sort of food event I really like. Genuinely local and run by volunteers from the town under the keen eye of chief organiser Polly Wilson. There were over 70 stalls with lots of extra events going. I was delighted to find there was also a small beer festival specialising in Welsh ales.

I was slightly less pleased to find out that my room for the night in the pub was directly above the marquee for the beer festival. I did manage to squeeze in a few hours sleep and woke refreshed and excited for my first ever cookery demo. Polly had asked me to show everyone how to make the Majumdar family Life Saving Dahl and, when I saw the blustery weather and sheeting rain that morning, the warming dish of spicy dahl seemed like the perfect antidote to the gloom.

Unfortunately, the weather played havoc with the demonstration truck. The awning whipped away in the strong winds and also managed to blow out most of the burners on the stove while I was cooking. The day's presenter, local TV star, Frances Donovan, did her best to keep things going, but in the end, I had to retire to the town hall and finish off cooking the dahl there. The audience were very patient, and by the time I returned there must have been over fifty people waiting for a sample of my favourite comfort dish.

As you can see from the last picture, it all soon disappeared.

Quite a few people asked for the recipe, so here it is once again. It is well worth trying as indeed is the Cowbridge Food & Drink Festival well worth supporting.


DAHL (Bengali dahl with lemons)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup of red lentils (toasted first in a dry pan. I use my fingers to stir and when it is too hot to touch, it is done)
1 unwaxed lemon chopped in quarters
1 onion sliced in half moons
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves garlic
3 fresh green chillis
2 inches of fresh peeled ginger
1 tsp each of ground turmeric/ginger/cumin/coriander seed/hot chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 Bag of spinach (washed)
1 ½ pints of water, chicken stock or vegetable stock

METHOD
Make two pastes by blending the ginger/garlic together and blending the fresh chillis separately with a little salt and water.
Put 2 tblspoons of oil into a hot pan and when it comes to heat, add the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon stick. Cook for 1 minute on a low heat until they release their flavour.

Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften.

Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook for two minutes until it loses its raw taste.

Add the chilli paste and cook for two minutes until it looses its raw taste.

Add the ground spices, sugar and salt and mix well with the onions and cook out
for 4 mins until the spices lose their rawness. If the mixture begins
to stick add a little water.

Add the lentils and mix well so all the pulses are covered with the mixture

Add 1 1/2 pints of water or stock and the quatered lemons and simmer for 30 mins until the lentils have broken down. Add more water if it sticks. Some lentils may take a little longer to cook, but they should be reduced to a porridge like consistency

Add the spinach and allow to wilt in the residual heat of the dahl

The end result is quite a watery dahl which is great served over peeled hard boiled eggs