on friday i was extremely lucky to be invited to the cube by electrolux. if you’ve not yet heard about the cube, it’s the pop-up restaurant which will be on top of the royal festival hall for the next four months. every few weeks, a different michelin star chef will cook a 5 course meal for its 18 guests.

as a fan of the great british menu i was really excited to find out daniel clifford would be the chef cooking for us. i had already planned to tell him that his fryers breaking at the banquet had given me a mini break down. the layout of the cube meant that you were able to watch the chef cook all his dishes, and he welcomed us to come up and ask questions. i mostly just stood and got in his way.

i was allowed to bring a guest and we both felt a bit apprehensive before we arrived. the thought of sitting at a table with 16 strangers was a bit daunting, but luckily everyone we met was really friendly and after a glass or two of champagne i felt very relaxed (drunk).

0nce we had taken in the amazing views and posed for photos on the balcony we sat down to enjoy the first daniel clifford delight, a bloody mary. one my food highlights of the night.

before we ate each course daniel took us through all of the ingredients he had used to create the dish, and told us how we could re-create them at home. next up was a crispy hen’s egg wrapped in fried potato, griddled asparagus and an asparagus velouté (or a velvety sauce to you and me). my favourite part of this was the burnt onion (the black powder) which daniel said you could recreate by simply burning an onion until it will burn no more – this produces a sweet powder and accompanied the rest of the dish perfectly.

you know how i feel about poached eggs so this was like a dream for me.

next on the menu was sauteed scallops with apple jelly, shavings of truffle and celeriac. the scallops were huge, the biggest i’ve ever seen and i watched in awe as they were cooked. daniel also told us how the apples used in this dish were grown from the tree in his garden.

after the scallops we had roast quail, summer peas, sauteed girolles and wild garlic oil. i don’t think i’ve had quail many times in my life and i can’t imagine having anything ever again that would compete with this.

next up was my joint favourite with the bloody mary – a slow roast rump of lamb, courgette, tomato, basil and olde york cheese (which was a bit like feta but nicer). my friend doesn’t really like lamb but this won him over, he pretty much inhaled it which was a bit embarrassing.

for pudding we had caramelised pineapple, pineapple sorbet with an amazing pineapple candy floss, which i think could be the best candy floss in the world. it was funny watching daniel clifford’s girlfriend (who was sat opposite us) politely eat this even though she had openly said that she absolutely hates pineapple.

when i got home i was so excited it took me ages to get to sleep because i couldn’t stop thinking about how good it had been. this might have been because of the coffee but i’m pretty sure it was just because i’d had such a lovely time. thank you to electrolux for having me :)

verdict – you can book online here

We had a lovely meal at Frankie & Bennys for lunch (and the service was better than the ones in Bristol, as much as I love them too!), then caught the Thames Clipper to Greenwich where we saw the Olympic stadium for the equestrian events, the Observatory tower, and the Painted Hall (as used in the final of the Great British Menu). It was a lovely day, and the whole time I was there it was like I wasn’t in London – I got to see a side of the city (south of the river!) that I don’t normally see.

In 2009 I lived in Nottingham and when Mr E qualified that March, he took me to Sat Bains as a special treat. It was one of the most spectacular meals I have ever eaten and marked the start of my Michelin star fetish. Everything was perfect, I was dressed to the nines, we had champagne to start, followed by the full tasting menu with matching wines and of course we opted for the ham, eggs and peas (winning GBM starter course in 2007) as an extra course.

I had the bug and shortly afterwards I pursuaded Mr E that we should go to The Kitchin for my birthday – what I wouldn’t give for another taste of that beef wellington!

In the summer of 2009 things started ramping up, we joined forces with another couple and decided that we would all choose a restaurant to visit during the course of the following 12 months. Due to the huge success of Kenny Atkinson on GBM, I chose Seaham Hall, Mr E  is obsessed with South-East Asian food so he went for Nahm, Mr N chose Maze (an especially memorable trip as we stayed in a hostel called The Generator!) and Mrs N went for something a bit closer to home, the wonderful Purnells. We pulled the restaurants out of a hat to decide the order in which we would visit them and then started making reservations. That was a fantastic year, which I’ll never forget. Good times with good friends. We felt utterly extravagant and enjoyed every moment.

In October 2010 Mr E and I moved to London and much to our delight, the world of Michelin star restaurants became more accessible than ever. We had some amazing meals in our first few months here and that’s what really prompted me to start the blog. It seemed a shame to be eating such wonderful food and not recording the experience or sharing it.

Fast forward to April 2012. I’m sitting on the sofa with a mug of tea and a Kit Kat watching the GBM central rounds on the planner. Daniel Clifford, a chef whom I had never heard of before, is doing something very interesting with sweetcorn. He is making an egg out of it to place inside a chicken ballotine so that it looks like there is an egg in the chicken! I am mesmerised and when Glynn Purnell tastes it I just know it’s good. He gives it a perfect 10.

It’s not often a dish gets 10/10 on the Great British Menu and Cambridge really isn’t that far away so, within 24 hours of watching it, my willpower had failed me and I was on the phone making a reservation. It seemed rather a lot of people had the same idea as I couldnt get in until 9 June.

By the time my reservation arrived I was even more excited. The chicken and sweetcorn egg had made it to the banquet as the main course. The judges were all over it and the lovely Daniel Clifford shed more than a few tears. This was going to be good!

I was a little suprised when we arrived to find that Midsummer House was just that, a house. There’s no parking, you just have to find a space in a residential street nearby and make your way over the footbridge to this charming restaurant overlooking the river.

We slightly upset the maître d by going for the classic menu but asking to swap the lamb for the chicken. It didn’t seem like an unlikely request to me given the publicity of the chicken dish and I’d have entirely understood if he’d said no. Instead he said yes but with an attitude that I’ve never encountered in a Michelin star restaurant before.  We didn’t let this get in the way of our enjoyment though and what followed was a really fabulous meal.

To start we were served with some nibbles: a celery and bloody mary sorbet;

plump green olives; and

some cheesy choux pastry puffs filled with delicious gooey cheese.

Next an amuse bouche of leek, potato, quail egg and smoked haddock.

Then a celery and watercress parfait, beetroot cannelloni filled with goats cheese and horseraddish ice cream.

Crispy hen’s egg, asparagus, burnt onions and asparagus velouté.

Dorade stuffed with squid and served with wilted spinach, fennel, squid ink and tomato.

Slow poached chicken, sweetcorn egg, spinach with bacon and peas.

A plate of artisinal cheese for Mr E,

with a great selection of goodies.

Caramelised apple and cinamon ice cream for me.

A wonderful trolley full of chocolates to choose from. All different and interesting flavours ranging from bay leaf to Turkish delight to salted caramel.

Then when we thought we had finished and couldn’t possibly poke another thing in, warm french pastries (like donuts) arrived with creme anglaise and caramel sauce for dipping. Wow.

All in all it was a wonderful meal in a beautiful setting, perfect for a summers day. If I hadn’t known it had two Michelin stars I’m not sure I would have guessed but all the extra were lovely, especially those pastries.

And what of the chicken I hear you ask? Well, I must admit, for me, it wasn’t quite 10/10 but it was a fantastic dish and the chicken skin with popcorn and chicken liver parfait was ingenious.

Based on my visit, Midsummer House is a solid 8/10.

There are loads to do in Greenwich and was on my feet all day! I went to see the cutty sark boat…the view from below is pretty cool (as demonstrated by pics below!), Greenwich market which has some nice stalls actually, Maritime musuem, the observatory where the meridian line is and the old Royal Navy college is pretty and I even got to go into the painted hall. That’s where the great British menu had their Olympic banquet this year!! Great British Menu is a TV show over in the UK that lets top British chefs from different regions over UK compete to serve their course in a special banquet…this year just happens to be the Olympics…very good show!

The park is also very pretty to walk around in and squirrels are not afraid of you so you see plenty of them; although there is a lot of construction going on at the moment as the equestrian Olympic events is going to be there. There is also the Queen’s house which is just an art gallery really of the Queen’s collection…I warn you know, if you like drawings of boats and appreciate fine art then by all means go but if you are like me…you would just get lost in there (in every sense!) The spiral staircase is the prettiest thing there in my opinion (again see below!)

Greenwich is a lovely place to wonder around in, full of museums and if you do it quickly, you will finish it in a day (like me) but there were moments where I could have just sat on the bench and looked at my surroundings …if you do that, take more than one day! Oh got the Thames clipper boat there too…it was pretty cool and the commentator for a tourist group was in and he was pretty funny with his comments about the bridges as we past them but did you know you can have a civil service on the London eye?! I didn’t but apparently you can hire out two pods and have your guests in one and the other to say yours vows at the top of the London eye!pretty cool…but not sure if it was for me…or the commentator on the boat!haha

Hope you enjoy some of my pics! Night night sweet dreams x

Chef Johan Segers

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• Introducing Executive Chef Peter Edwards (belairbayclubupperclub.wordpress.com)
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Now onto the pretentiousness. I’ve been watching Great British Menu on BBC One, and while I love it, I have to say that the BBC really should hire me as a fourth judge to give the show some perspective. Some dishes would make me want to throw my plate at the wall and scream “enough of this pretentious shit, bring me some real food in a decent sized portion”. I’d love to see the look on Oliver, Prue and Matthews faces, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be invited back. I’ve nothing at all against fancy Michelin starred food, some of the dishes look amazing and very very tasty. However, I do have a problem with cooking purely to show off, being groundbreaking at the expense of the food, and pointless spherical shapes. I mean, the other week some guy plated up a dish with globules that were bright green, looked like peas, and according to him tasted just like peas as he really wanted to get the essence of peas in to the dish. Call me old fashioned, but may I suggest using actual peas? Instead of going to a huge amount of effort, using chemicals and fancy equipment, just get the best tasting peas you can find. Sure, there’s not a lot of skill in that, but surely the best meals are ones that reflect simple, good ingredients, cooked with passion? Save the skilled work for cooking meat perfectly or making amazing pastry desserts, not making a fake pea. It’s pretentious. And while I’m on the subject, don’t be so stingy with portion size. If I was an Olympic athlete and the BBC were throwing a banquet for me, I’d want to forget the exercise and diet regimen for one day and eat well and plenty. Just a thought. Saying all this, most of the dishes look awesome, and if any of the chefs on Great British Menu are reading, (very unlikely i know) I am more than happy to try your dishes and judge them accordingly!

Has anyone else been watching the Great British Menu on BBC 2 in which some of our best chefs compete for the honour of cooking at a feast attended by Great British Olympic heroes?  Now, you would have thought that such an event could be hosted in most people’s’ front room, but, no. Apparently the BBC have managed to rustle up at least one hundred heroes for the event. I assume that the list will include people who played the game well and fairly rather than be just those that stood atop a podium and blubbed when the National Anthem was being spoiled by some foreign orchestra…….

Now, these chefs clearly take the competition seriously. In one of the regional heats, chef  Johnnie Mountain stormed out after being given a score of just two out of ten for his fish course. A fish course which contained not fish despite being described as “a recreation of the sea” – perhaps he was making a political/social comment about over-fishing or the reducing fish stocks due to man’s pollution. But, I suspect not. I believe he was simply showing off and trying to be clever with a dish of edible sand and sea jelly…… but, his hissy fit was quite amusing.

Indeed, the whole series has not been without controversy. In defining the “regions” the BBC seems to have shown as much sense of geography as those who decide which countries can contest for the Eurovision Song Contest (last time I looked at a map Israel and Azerbaijan were not in Europe…), stretching the Central region as far as Norfolk. And, there has been much criticism for the lack of female contestants – just one out of the twenty four. So, I wonder who does all of the cleaning up after them? But, I think that most contentious of all was the furore which resulted from the fact that one chef used foie gras as an ingredient. The blogosphere was up in arms. I am not sure whether it was all the foodies complaining about such an ingredient being misused in an ice cream, or, xenophobes upset about the inclusion of a French delicacy in a British Menu, or, the great unwashed banging on about animal cruelty. Go tell the French you lettuce munching hippies!……..

But for me the most worrying thing about the programme is the food. Yes it all looks very pretty, apart from those chefs that have taken the Olympic theme a little two far with their reproductions of the Colosseum (not Greek! not Olympic!) and Olympic torches made out of edible twirl. And, I am sure that it tastes perfectly OK. But, I am not sure that I would pick many of the dishes off a restaurant a la carte…….And, all of the chefs seem to be obsessed with the current fad du jour. Never in the field of culinary conflict have I seen so much beetroot. Now I am partial to a bit of beetroot – roasted in a bit of balsamic or sliced and pickled on a ham sandwich. But, not for every course including desert, jellied, pureed, frothed, tempured, or cooked in a bloody water bath and served on a bed of edible moss, accompanied by a plethora of foraged food and roadkill, and served with dry ice.

The Heston Blumenthal influence on British food has gone too far. The most ridiculous thing I have witnessed during this series of the programme is the ubiquitous employment of a new technique called spherification, which Wikipedia kindly describes as the process of shaping a liquid into spheres which visually and texturally resemble caviar. One chef took this to the extreme when he took peas, liquidised them, and employed the spherification technique to, well, make them look like peas……

Whatever happened to meat and two veg?

Related articles

• BBC criticised after chefs serve foie gras on The Great British Menu (telegraph.co.uk)

I will be there with a SOSA stand to offer anyone advice on the SOSA range, some of which has just appeared on the Great British Menu. I will have a few Items to try made from SOSA Products along with a Video Demonstration. Event open to Restaurant owners, Management & Chefs see the Add below for more information & follow the Link to Book a place.

Please Click here to Reserve your place at the event! 

For more information on what Halo has to offer for restaurants

Please Contact me for a SOSA Information Pack – with a List of Suppliers that now supply the SOSA range.

• 400g Mandarin Juice
• 40g Lemon Juice
• 4 drops SOSA Mandarin essential oil
• 60g Stock syrup 50/50
• 35g SOSA Instantgel

Method : -

1. Mix ingredients in blender.
2. Leave to gel in the fridge.
3. After the mixture has gelled, Whisk on Kitchen aid for about 20 minutes until very fluffy and airy. Alternatively place the Set jelly in a Foam Machine/cream whipper and gas with NO2. Shake well & foam into moulds.
4. If  there are problems at the start to the gelatin braking down, heat the outside of the mixer bowl lightly with a blowtorch.
5. Leave to set in moulds as required.

 Scan using QR Code App on your Phone to see Instangel information & videos.

• Air bag Pork Grainy – creating a Pork cracking full of air when deep fried (Pork Popcorn style) Shown in photo below.
• Air bag Pork Flour – giving a crispy pork coating when using as a Paneé. As seen on Great British Menu 
• Air bag Corn grainy – (Vegetarian option) Shown below
• Air bag Potato grainy –  (Vegetarian option) Shown below

See Chef Daniel Clifford awarded a score of nine out of 10 by Chef Glynn Purnell on his Fish course using SOSA Airbag Flour & SOSA Powdered Vegetable Gelling Agent.

Great British Menu – Central Fish course Series 7, See Chef’s Aktar Islam, Daniel Clifford and Paul Foster cooking some Excellent food.

SOSA Elastic

Properties: very elastic gelling agent that resists freezing. (SOSA Elastic is probably the most elastic soft gelatin on the market).

Consists of: a carrageen (type of seaweed) and gum (locust bean) and maltodrextrina, among others. These two elements together allow us to obtain a gel completely transparent and elastic.

Dosage: 25-50g/kg

Use: It is important that you mix at roomtemperature and then heat to the minimum temperature of 65° C (best boiling), to hydrate and gel Melting point 45° C.

Not recommended for: Highly acidic media – tends to breakdown (combined with SOSA GelEspessa will help with any leaking short term).

Field of application: Any liquid elaboration.

Once gelled provides an elastic fabric that can stretch and handle, even for covering surfaces. As it resists Freezing it can be placed in the freezer/frozen & defrosted or served frozen around parfait. (Jelly Arctic roll)

 It’s fun to put on a glass and then put a solid which appears to be floating on the surface.

Videos, Photos & Recipes : 

Cheese & Tomato Salad -Shown in Photos

Balsamic Vinegar Jelly

• 300g Water
• 100g Stock syrup
• 100g Balsamic Vinegar
• 25g SOSA Elastic

1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Boil.
3. Pour onto tray about 0.2mm.
4. Cut into Shapes requires.

Other Ingredients  (click on individual component to see recipe)

Veil of cardamom

• 400 g of infusion of cardamom
• 10 g of syrup based TPT
• 20 g of Elastic

1. Mix ingredients and bring to a boil.
2. Pour out onto a try into very thin sheet
3. leave to set in the fridge.
4. cut circles
5. Use to cover a cake like a veil.

Dishes created using SOSA Elastic from Series 7 of the Great British Menu. 

Daniel Clifford uses SOSA Elastic in his dessert for judge Glynn Purnell in the Great British Menu – Series 7-9. Central Dessert

Johnnie Mountain uses SOSA Elastic to create his Cherry ravioli for his starter & then uses a combination of Agar & Elastic to set his Jelly for his take on Flavours of the sea Shown in pictures above.

Alan, of L’Ortolan in Reading after 3 years competing inthe Great British Menu has made his goal of representing Scotland. His fine attention to detail, along with his quirky approach to food saw him as the front runner for the whole week.

His full menu can be found at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b0071y6r

(photo credit: The Scottish Daily Mirror)

This coming week sees the chance of the Central region, with chefs Aktar Islam and Daniel Clifford, and newcomer Paul Foster competing to impress veteran Glynn Purnell.

The Hardwick is owned and run by chef Stephen Terry, who will be familiar to many from his very successful appearances on The Great British Menu. The Hardwick’s website features complimentary quotes from the likes of Michel Roux Jr (apparently it’s his favourite place to eat in Wales) and Gregg Wallace (who for all his shoutiness does know both his literal and figurative onions), hence my excitement at finally having an opportunity to dine there.

If you didn’t know about the Hardwick, you could be forgiven for passing it by. It’s away from the beaten track, and from the outside just looks like a pub – albeit a very nice one. It’s only on going inside that you immediately realise this is something a lot more special. I don’t even think that ‘gastropub’ does it justice – it’s more of a restaurant with a bar that just happens to be ‘pub style’, and in its marketing it describes itself as a restaurant with rooms. The restaurant uses two original rooms of the pub, plus an extension, which has been nicely done, as it’s in keeping with the rest of the decor and building style, but different enough that it’s not trying too hard to fit in. We were in the extension area, and were struck by how light it was in there, despite it being a horribly grey day outside, so we really liked the atmosphere.

The bar

We hadn’t booked, but they kindly fitted us in – albeit with the caveat that we needed to order fairly quickly as they were expecting two large groups in shortly afterwards. We were still able to enjoy a pre-lunch drink in the bar, though, taking advantage of some very comfy sofas while we perused the menu!

The bar area, complete with comfy sofas

The dishes on offer had strong Welsh influences and made use of a lot of local and seasonal ingredients to produce some innovative combinations of flavours and textures and some unusual takes on traditional dishes. While we waited, we had some lovely fresh bread which was served with local butter and chilli oil – which didn’t have too much of a hot chilli bite to it, but had a lovely flavour.

Bread, butter and chilli oil

To start, I chose Welsh Rarebit on slow cooked ham hock, with a shallot, dandelion and caper salad, mustard cream and grilled sourdough. Not to put too finer point on it, this was absolutely divine, and the Rarebit topping (which was one of the best examples of the dish I’ve tried) on the tasty, chunky ham hock was inspired! The mustard cream was served in a light, fluffy quenelle and the salad gave a lovely additional texture to the dish. Personally I didn’t need the sourdough with it, but I had a bite and it was good!

Ham hock with Welsh Rarebit

Mr W went for confit duck leg and duck liver hash with a fried egg, celeriac, pomegranate and watercress salad. Again, this was really tasty and an excellent combination of flavours, which wouldn’t necessarily seem to work on paper, but were fantastic on the plate, and the presentation was beautiful – I particularly liked the perfectly formed fried egg!

Duck hash

Next up for me was Chicken Holstein. This was a breadcrumbed local free-range chicken breast, a fried organic egg and Ortiz anchovy, served with braised chard, capers, lemon brown butter and meat juices. The chicken breast was a bit like an escallop or schnitzel and was certainly cooked very well – again, with an unusual combination of flavours coming together really well on the plate and a particularly tasty sauce. I rarely eat chicken in restaurants as I see it as a bit of a ‘boring’ option, but as the dishes on offer at the Hardwick were so innovative, I fancied trying it as I felt sure it wouldn’t be boring! It wasn’t, but it wasn’t my favourite dish of the day either, so I’d probably go for something else next time.

Chicken Holstein

Mr W’s main, on the other hand, was really good, despite being one of the more traditional ones on offer. He had a braised ox tail suet pudding, served with mashed potatoes, seasonal greens and red wine sauce, and it was excellent – the crust just substantial enough to hold the pudding (with big chunks of meat inside) together, but still rich and suety. We were also lucky enough to get to try some of the triple cooked chunky chips I’d spotted on the menu, as the people at the next table heard me coveting theirs (the shame!) and passed over some leftovers for us to try! Note to self: be more quiet when drooling over other people’s food, because although the chips were excellent, it was a little bit embarrassing!

Ox tail suet pudding

We did momentarily consider the ‘Taste of Local Beef for two’ which comprised grilled fillet, ox tail suet pudding, rib burger and braised shin, plus a variety of vegetables and choice of potatoes, but at £56, we thought it might put a strain on our stomachs as much as our pockets – maybe another time on a really special occasion (preferably one where we’ve not eaten for a week beforehand!)

Our meal so far had been so good that we didn’t want it to end, so despite being very full up, we both chose a pudding. Mine was a pot of lemon crunch served with Italian meringue, a delight of layered lemon lusciousness, including lemon cream, crunchy biscuit, lemon mousse, a brandy snap and a topping of soft and fluffy meringue. The lemon was very sharp, but the combination of textures worked well and it was a nice pudding to have after a big meal – and nicely presented into the bargain.

Lemon crunch

Italian meringue topping

Mr W’s pudding was a pannacotta served with rhubarb and ginger crumble – we were expecting a portion of pannacotta, perhaps with some rhubarb compote on the side, and a bit of crumble topping, but instead it was a layered dessert – some al dente rhubarb (which for me was a little bit too cold), a layer of pannacotta, and what tasted like pieces of crystallised ginger coated in crumble on the top. Again, a dish that challenged all our expectations!

Pannacotta with rhubarb

The three courses and a bottle of wine came to £100 for the two of us, with prices edging up towards the £25 mark for some of the more substantial main courses, and of course the beef sharing dish weighing in at £56 for two. It’s not cheap, but it’s definite special occasion fare, and I’d be more than happy with the Hardwick as a venue for a birthday or family occasion. The service was attentive without being over the top – despite the restaurant being spread over three rooms, ours being the furthest from the kitchen, there was never any problem with getting someone’s attention. We also found the staff to be really knowledgeable about the menu and helpful in answering a couple of questions we had about the dishes and ingredients. I’ll definitely be back – and next time I’ll order my own chips!

Food: ***** Service: **** Ambience: ****

The Hardwick, Old Raglan Road, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 9AA

http://www.thehardwick.co.uk

Glasses of Laurent Perrier flowed along with canapes of crab cannelloni and duck pancakes. These were enjoyed while chatting to familiar foodies faces that I finally had the chance to speak with properly.

All were taken by surprise as Mark announced for us to be seated as we would now sample his starter dish featured on the show. Next appeared plate after plate of pork cheek wrapped in beetroot carpaccio with hot apple jelly and what seemed to be a controversial choice of sea buckthorn. The colourful masterpiece on striking black plates made for great photo opportunities, with camera’s and phones appearing throughout the room. Armed with scoring cards just like the BBC judges mark’s had to be given out of 10.

I was seated with another twitterette/blogger and it was decided on clearing our plates that we had to return for more, so a full 3 course meal will be had soon. It will also be great to enjoy the room as most of my evening was spent glued to the tv screens.

Mark unfortunately didnt make it through to the next stage but from the amount of chat on twitter over the last few evenings he has become somewhat a local hero! The full menu featuring all 4 dishes from this week’s show can now be enjoyed in the restaurant.

;

The series opened with Scotland and sees Alan Murchison, Colin Buchan and Mark Greenaway compete to cook in front of judges Matthew Fort, Pru Leith and Oliver Peyton who will select their winning menu from a selection of the chefs from across the series.

Over the course of the weeks I will update you on the weeks winners, so if you don’t want to know…then look away!

The selection of dishes presented so far has been very good, but I think at the moment I’d be willing to say that Alan Murchison is a cut above the rest. I really hope that he wins the Scotland heat this year as he has been trying for a few years now to get a Scottish dish on the menu and he is always pipped at the post!

Good Luck Scotland!