Cookbook Lottery #7 - Heston Blumenthal's Chestnut Veloute with Duck Confit

I am very loosely calling this blog a Cookbook Lottery. We had invited some family round for a dinner party and I was a little undecided what to prepare for starters. So I gave our guests the option to choose from a range of starters, mainly soups, all from Heston Blumenthal's at Home cookbook. I must say I was quite happy with their choice. For those of you who have his book, you can find the recipe for Chestnut Veloute and Confit Duck on pg 66.

I had to start this recipe 48 hours in advance of dinner being served... Needless to say, I am no longer surprised at how long some of Heston's recipes take and I always read them fully at least a week before the day I actually want the food on a plate.

It all started on Thursday evening with roasting the star anise, juniper berries, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns and bay leaves for 5 minutes and then blitzing them in my food processor. The noise of grinding spices is strangely satisfying. To this mix I added lemon and orange zest, fresh thyme and a little salt. Once nicely mixed, I gave the duck legs a good massage with the spice and rubbed it into every little nook and cranny I could find. Satisfied that the duck was smothered in this heady mix of aromas, I placed the legs in a Tupperware and put it in the fridge overnight.

Friday evening, I removed the legs from the fridge and gave them a quick wash down to remove most of the spice mix. The legs were then placed into a small, but deep, oven tin and drowned in melted goose fat. Making sure they were totally covered, I added a stick of fresh rosemary and placed the tin in the oven at 75C for 18 hours. Yep, you read it right! Tomorrow at 1pm, I can remove my duck from the oven!

Saturday has arrived and it's time to remove the duck from the oven. Tell you what, the wafting aroma's of duck permeating our home have been driving both Sheila and I batty for the last 16 hours. Time to see what all the fuss was about. Removing the duck from the goose fat, I laid them out on a rack to allow the rest of the fat to drip off. Next was another little treat for me. It's not often I get to use my smoker, so I'm pleased it was hauled out of retirement and stoked up again. 40g of Applewood chips went into the bottom of the pan over a high heat. As soon as the wood caught and started to burn, I turned the flame on the stove off, placed the duck in the smoker and covered it with a tight fitting lid. I allowed the duck to sit happily puffing away for the next 30 minutes. 

Whilst the duck was doing its thing, I started on the rest of the prep. Just one look at the photo below, and you know there is loads of alcohol in this dish. I have never worked with this type of chestnut before so was looking forward to what the dish would taste like.

A brown butter was asked for in the recipe and by leaving the butter on the stove a short while after melting allows the butter to brown and it develops a beautiful nutty flavour. I then strained this to remove the milk solids. The butter can now reach a higher heat when cooking and it won't burn too easily. Clarified butter one step further to brown butter... yum!

Next up was prep for the soup 'stock'. This involved cleaning and chopping fresh thyme, a banana shallot, smoked bacon and leek.

I added about 3/4 of the brown butter to a pot over a medium heat and then added the prepped veg and bacon. I allowed this to cook until the bacon was slightly brown and the onion was translucent, probably about 10 minutes in total. I stirred the pot often as I didn't want the veg to colour too much.

Whilst the veg was cooking, in between stirs, I removed the duck from the smoker and started stripping the flesh from the bones. I then put the meat to one side until later.

A little more prep involved roughly chopping the chestnuts...

...and finely grinding the hazelnuts.

Finally, time to add all the alcohol! Almost half a litre of sherry and port go into this recipe. Once in, with delicious fruity aromas wafting from the pan, I brought the liquid to the boil and then turned the flame down to allow it all to reduce down until syrupy. At this point, I added the chicken stock and brought the pan back to a simmer and I then added the chopped chestnuts... and back to a simmer we go!

After 5 minutes, I added the cream and the milk and then simmered for a further 15 minutes. My kitchen was seriously smelling delectable at this stage.

The soup received a good blending after the allotted simmering time and then I sieved it all through a fine strainer to remove any lumps that the whizzing blades had missed.

I returned the soup to a clean pan and left it on a low heat whilst I prepared the duck and the soup bowls for service.  The stripped duck was placed into a warm pan with a little of the goose fat and allowed to warm up. I then used a little of the left over brown butter and brushed the rims of our soup bowls onto which I sprinkled the ground hazelnut. This created a pretty little effect for service. Next, I placed a portion of the hot duck into the bowls and then ladeled in the soup. It really did look appetising and it smelt just fantastic!

Many appreciative oohs and aahs greeted me as I brought the soup into the dining room. It definitely lived up to its 48 hour prep hype and it tasted just gorgeous. It helps when you use oodles of cream and lashings of alcohol, I suppose! It really was a great tasting dish though and great fun to prepare.

Next was main course. More Heston Blumenthal. Spotting a recurring theme yet?

Braised Chicken with Sherry and Cream served with Crushed Potatoes and Chilli Broccoli, all from his cook book. Once again, a fantastic tasty dish. The chicken was moist and creamy, the broccoli fresh with a little zing of heat and the potatoes very earthy and herby, however I felt  the recipe used a little too much olive oil.

Sheila pulled out the stops with her Coffee and Whisky Creme Caramel served with Bitter Caramel and Dark Chocolate Coffee Beans. Brilliant, light way to finish such a rich dinner. The creme caramel was smooth and tasted lightly of coffee and whisky, but it just came alive when you added a small crispy chunk of caramel to the spoonful. Yum!

Thank you Heston for a scrumptious dinner. I will definitely be visiting your cookbook again in the near future!

Cookbook Lottery #6 - Jamie Oliver's Chicken on Chickpea

A sudden urge yesterday grabbed me and I was inspired to tackle another cookbook lottery. It has been a while since I did one, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself quite excited. This one would be a little different as I didn't have time to pop out and do any shopping so I would choose a recipe where I had most of the ingredients in our cupboards and I'd improvise for the rest. Using my random number generator, I chose a cookbook and then chose a page number.

The chosen book was Jamie's America and I had chosen pg 191. This opened up on a picture page, so according to my rules I turned the page right until the first available recipe. Redondo Mackerel Wraps... Mmm... reading the ingredient list showed my cupboards were sorely lacking, So I continued to turn pages to the first recipe where I did have the majority of ingredients.

The winner was, on pg 213, Chicken on Chickpeas.

I needed:

Chicken breast - check

Chicken thighs - will drumsticks and wings do? Yup!

Basil leaves - nope!

Marinade

Garlic - check

Parsley - growing in a pot outside the back door; check

Zest and juice of a lemon - bottled lemon juice will have to suffice

Olive Oil - check

Salt and pepper - check

Chickpea stew

More olive oil and garlic

Onion - check

Paprika - check

Chargrilled peppers - peppers in the fridge, so I can chargrill my own

Tomatoes - will tinned do? Of course they will!

Chickpeas - check

White or red wine vinegar - ran out of white last week, so balsamic it will have to be

Fresh green chillies - check!

Right, I was ready to go...

To start off with, I peeled all the garlic and put two large cloves into boiling water and allowed these to cook for 10 minutes or so. This was for the marinade. Whilst this was going on, I grabbed my torch and charred the two yellow peppers. This can also be done in a very hot oven, under a grill or over an open flame if you have a gas stove. Alternatively, you can buy a jar as the recipe suggests.

I grabbed the parsley from our garden and washed this off, then finely chopped it and placed it into a bowl. To this I added the boiled garlic cloves, about 20ml of lemon juice and a good dollop of olive oil, probably about 60ml. Using a fork, I mashed up the garlic and mixed everything together in the bowl.

To this I added the chicken and gave it all a good rubbing to get the marinade all over the chicken. I peeled the skin back and massaged the marinade all over the flesh before 'clothing' the chicken legs again. I covered the bowl and let it marinade for about 30 minutes. The recipe said 1 hour, but hey, we were hungry! Anyway, the oven needed time to warm up to the required 200C.

Next step was to cook the chicken with bones in to colour the skin and crisp it up a little. After a few minutes on each side and the chicken showing a nice golden colour, they went into the oven for an initial 10 minutes or so. I would be cooking the breast later.

I now started the sauce. The onion and garlic was peeled and finely chopped. The chilli was deseeded and finely chopped and the pepper was deseeded and roughly chopped.

Placing a pan over a medium heat, I added a little olive oil and when hot, I added the onion, garlic and a teaspoon of paprika. This all got a good stir and then I left it to cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the onion was translucent, I added the chopped pepper, drained chickpeas, tinned tomato, about 30ml of balsamic vinegar and the green chilli. It all got a good stir, a little seasoning and another stir. I brought the pot to the boil and immediately turned down to a low heat and left it to reduce over the next 20 minutes or so.

I quickly browned the chicken breast in a pan on the stove and then added this to the rest of the chicken in the oven for a further 15-20 minutes to cook fully. I cooked the breast and boned chicken separately as I didn't want the breast to be too dry and overcooked.

All that was left now was to plate up. The sauce had thickened nicely and tasted great. The chicken breast was perfectly cooked, just over 70C using my thermometer so I knew it would be nice and moist still. A couple of spoonfuls of the sauce graced the middle of each plate and on top of this I placed the sliced breast. I placed the drumstick and the wing next to the sauce and breast and added a little parsley as garnish. The recipes asked for basil as garnish, but beggars can't be choosers.

Lovely... dinner done in less than an hour, including marinading time. And it tasted good, really morish. I loved the garlic, olive oil and lemon juice marinade around the chicken. I think that maybe my addition of balsamic vinegar instead of white or red vinegar in the chickpea stew added to the dish. There was now a sweet element that would have been missing if I had used normal vinegar. Nice contrasting sweet sour flavours with a touch of heat and differing textures in the chickpeas and crispy chicken wing made this dish for me. 

Yep, I'll make this dish again. Quick, easy and very tasty. 

Sat Bains... Our 1st year anniversary.

I don't quite know how to start this blog...

Option one: It was our first wedding anniversary recently and we...
Option two: Searching for a michelin starred restaurant three months in advance that still has tables available can be...
Option three: Oh my god!

I think the only option I have is:

Oh my god! Perfection is really hard to reach but the restaurant Sat Bains comes as close as I've ever experienced. Sincere smiles and friendly faces is the first thing you notice when walking through the front door. This is to be expected in any service establishment, yet rarely experienced I find. We were shown to a table in the lounge/bar for a pre-dinner drink and a chance to peruse the menu and make our decision between seven or ten courses. The pre-dinner drink was easy. I chose a glass of South African Chenin Blanc from Ken Forrester in Stellenbosch and Sheila chose a Rosé. Choosing our meal was also quite easy and ten courses won the day.

Choosing the wine option was hard... Do we have just a couple of bottles off the wine menu or do we go with the ten course matched wine menu? It took that long, that I had almost finished my superb Chenin Blanc by the time we had made our decision. The matched wine list won the day... Our only worry about the chosen option was how drunk we would be by the end of the night! The Somelier assured us that we would be ok, I didn't believe him so I calculated up roughly how much wine we would have over the course of the evening. I came to just over a bottle each... right, should hopefully be ok then!

Decisions made, we were escorted to our table where a second waitress was waiting to assist us with our chairs and napkins. All very civilised. First to arrive was the bread. Beautiful little 'muffins' of white bread and a black treacle bread. This was accompanied by a home made Yorkshire Butter. The bread was still hot from the oven and delightfully crispy on the outside and moist and soft on the inside. I had to jump right in because, to me, there is very little in this world better than butter melting into fresh warm bread.

Next up was our Amuse Bouche. Sadly, I only managed to take a picture of one of the items as I had tucked into both with gusto as soon as they arrived at the table. The Maitre'd very obligingly brought another morsel out for me when I explained my dilemma, however I didn't have the guts to ask for the second half too...

Our waitress brought the Amuse Bouche out and challenged us to guess what went into our tasty treat. The first half was an ice cream nestled between two thin biscuits and the second half was a small bowl with a pale creamy set liquid in the bottom onto which the waitress poured a vivid green sauce. Off she went, proud in the fact that she had thrown down the gauntlet. After a quick glance to Sheila, I popped the ice cream sandwich into my mouth and bang, I was hit full on in the chops with creamy horseradish, just wonderful! I also got a hint of wild garlic. Next, I moved onto the  small bowl. The green sauce was bold and very earthy. Believe me when I say I could taste the 'green' in it. What came to mind was a mature spinach leaf, not the taste of young sweet baby spinach leaves. I didn't believe this though, as it seemed too simple to me so I started thinking of watercress or maybe seaweed. The pale cream underneath was also horseradish, but more subtle and very smooth on the palate. I couldn't wait for the waitress to return so I could regale her with my insights. 

Return she did and confirmed the horseradish in the ice cream, but said there was no garlic. The second dish was a Horseradish Panna Cotta with a Nettle puree/sauce on top. I would never have guessed the sauce in a million years! Apparently, all of the ingredients in the Amuse Bouche were foraged from the local fields just around the restaurant.

Our next course arrived shortly afterwards which was a crafty up sell from the Sat Bains team. On offer was the Sat Bains winning starter dish that he entered into BBC's Great British Menu 2007.  It was simply called Ham, Egg and Peas.  As expected it was much more than that so we bought one to share.Well worth it! The peas in cream were succulent and sweet and the pea sorbet refreshingly cold with a hint of mint. The duck egg was slow poached at 62C (for about 90 minutes!) and presented slightly translucent, topped with the Parma ham and a crispy slice of toast. The saltiness of the ham beautifully off set the creamy richness of the egg and the toast added a delightful crunch when dunked into the yolk. 

Before we carry on, it might be good to point out here that Sat Bain's designs his menu's to contrast between tastes, textures and temperatures. On the menu, he shows a little coloured graph that shows what taste you will experience in each dish. Each taste is highlighted by a colour and the bigger the circle, the more that taste is highlighted within the dish. So, here's to our journey through salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami...

Only now did we actually get to the first dish of the ten course taster menu. Scallops with strawberry and elderflower. I love scallops and was looking forward to this dish a lot. A little bit of each element found it's way onto my fork and after a quick visual inspection, I placed the fork into my mouth. Oh wow... I quickly got a far away look in my eyes and with a slight smile and slow chew, I sunk a little deeper into my chair. The strawberry and elderflower quite honestly teased my tongue and I constantly got highlights of each flavour in turn playing in my mouth. Contrast the sweet strawberry with the creamy elderflower mayonnaise and the salty meatiness of the scallop and I was on a sensory trip like I have never experienced before. And this was only the first course? How could the rest compete?  

Next stop on our trip was Girolle mushrooms with 'ketchup', ham and watercress. I loved the look of the mushrooms and the verdant green of the watercress sauce and mushrooms being a favourite, I couldn't wait to tuck in. First mouthful... disappointing! Second mouthful... much better! I think my taste buds were hoping for more first course fire works instead of judging the dish on its own merits. This dish was natural and earthy with a lovely nuttiness from the mushroom. Still, it was a harsh come down following the scallops... the sudden crash from a natural high. Then I asked myself, what dish on this planet could follow the scallop dish. I just don't think there is one...

3rd course - Duck 'muesli'. I was curious about this dish and was intrigued as to what it entailed and how it would be presented. Please bare with me here because at this stage, we were 3 glasses of wine in and my memory from this point on is a little fuzzy. My first mouthful was creamy and sweet with a touch of sour but very smooth. I was expecting crunch and there wasn't any. I looked at the dish again and discovered to my pleasurable amusement that the tan 'crumble' on top was actually a Fois Gras granita and was not the expected crunch, but rather cold and creamy. The sweet and sour came from an apricot puree and I was told there was sherry (I think) in the dish, but I honestly cannot remember. 

Right! Time for some bread... Four glasses of wine down and I felt the need to soak up the alcohol a little. Thank god we had booked a room and were sleeping a stumble from the front door! Six glasses of wine still to go...

The next offering placed in front of us as sacrifice was Cornish plaice with leeks. First off, I tried a bit of the plaice and it was light, fresh, melt in the mouth and beautifully accompanied by the crunchy cornflake and nut sprinkle on top. Yes, I said cornflakes... Next I moved onto the creamy leek. Gorgeously sweet and creamy and very morish indeed. Next was a mouthful the black puree at the bottom of the dish. Bang! The fireworks were back. Oh my god, did that taste good. At this point I had no idea what it was, but I needed more of it. Massive bursts of sweet, salt and umami all over my tongue. What is it?! I asked the waitress when she returned and was intrigued to find out that it was essentially pureed charred leek. My only comment is that when combining everything on one fork, I found the intenseness of the charred leek far too overpowering for the beautiful, light plaice and the fish was lost in my mouth. So, I ate each element on its own and just loved it all!   

Waldorf Salad. I had introduced Sheila to a basic Waldorf salad a few months ago and she loved it. Seeing it on the menu was a pleasant surprise for her and we were both looking forward to Sat's interpretation of the dish. Exquisite! Sweet vs salt vs crunch vs cold all over the plate. Each element on it's own was a pleasurable delight, but when combining it all in a single mouthful, it slammed me back into 1994 when I was serving this salad at Turffontein Race Course every race day. I just loved the cold granita (celery I think, can't remember!) and the celery mousse/panna cotta was smooth and tasty. The apple was fresh with a sweet sour note and the raisin/sultana puree was the epitome of sweet. The walnuts were the crunch on top, but I wasn't getting the usual bitter taste I usually get with walnuts. I later found out that the walnuts are candied to remove the bitterness and then grated on top of the salad. Nice touch! We now lightly caramelise our walnuts when making a Waldorf. Also, how beautiful is that plate? My only comment here though is that, on my palate, the wine clashed with this dish. In fact, so much so that I finished eating the plate, then drank the wine.   

Next was main course and when reading the menu, it seemed a total mish mash of ingredients on the same plate. Duck, feta, melon, mint, chocolate and grapefruit. To be honest, I would pair duck with chocolate and grapefruit, maybe not together, but I could picture those combinations in my head. The plates arrived at our table, full of the garnish and the duck followed very shortly after still smoking on a bed of pine leaves. The scent of pine wafted over our table and the waitress placed a portion onto our plate where it sat very prettily, hugged on each side by it's seemingly odd bed fellows. The duck was just perfectly cooked. Crispy, rendered skin topping the succulent, pink juicy meat. Carnivore heaven! I think the melon was a tad lost on this plate, but the salty feta, bitter cocoa and sweet sour grapefruit were perfect with the duck. More please?

As you can see, duck is Sheila's absolute favourite meat and it was her first venture, many moons ago, into rare meat. That first little step was the beginning of a long tasty journey...

The crossover - that switch between sweet and savoury. Another taste revelation for me. Not so much for Sheila. I just love love loved the coriander and cumin spiced mango puree smothered in white chocolate lolly with it's coriander leaf cling on. Sheila did not. It was a great moment for me when the maitre'd spotted Sheila's expression and upon enquiry promptly brought out an alternative crossover; for both of us! The raspberry puree and white chocolate lolly dunked in freeze dried raspberry was much more to her taste, but I still preferred the mango one.  

The first dessert was called Sweetcorn, miso and passion fruit. Once again, this was not Sheila's favourite, but I just loved it. It was more savoury than sweet and had loads of sour from the passion fruit and gorgeous hints of umami from the miso. Sweetcorn being one of my favourites, I didn't think for a second that this dish would disappoint. The high point of this dish for me though was the miso. I just loved the savoury hints with each mouthful. The playful popcorn was also a highlight.

Bring on the next sweet. Chocolate, coffee, olive and balsamic. The first spoonful of this dish created another slow smile on my face and a slow slide down into my chair. The rich chocolate creaminess of the mousse was incredible and I didn't want it to end. The sweet sour balsamic counter pointed the rich chocolate beautifully and coffee in the biscuit is a natural partner to chocolate. The olive oil jelly was light and smooth, but to be honest, all I was interested in was the chocolate, coffee and balsamic. Another dish I would have loved more of...  

Last course for the night was a gentle climb down from the high plateau of taste bud heaven. It was Blueberries, wood sorrel and vanilla. Basically, it was fresh blueberries, wood sorrel granita and vanilla meringue in a bowl. Following everything else we had sampled this evening, it seemed almost too simple, but the plain light freshness of the dish did really seem to calm down the senses and bring us back to earth. 

I wasn't ready to leave. I wanted more. It just wasn't time for bed. I was very full and quite tipsy but I wanted to experience more. I convinced Sheila that the lounge and coffee was a good idea. So, we moved into the lounge and I ordered coffee and chocolates. The chocolate was served and I was intrigued. I just loved the presentation in the log with each piece a different flavour. I can remember Ginger and Lemon in white chocolate and cumin, I think... Not a clue on the rest though. Just before the coffee arrived however, a waiter approached our table and invited us into the kitchen to meet Sat Bains and his team. 

What an absolute honour! Stepping into the kitchen, we could easily understand why they are currently building an extension to the kitchen. It is tiny and shows even more how good this team is with about ten or so chefs toiling away in such a small space, almost shoulder to shoulder, and producing food to the level we had just consumed. I love the fact the Sat actively works in his own kitchen on a daily basis and had to step away from the pass as we walked in. I felt that visits to the kitchen are quite common as Sat's second stepped seamlessly into his space as he stepped away from service to chat to us. I found Sat friendly, humble, down to earth and very passionate about what he does. Just fantastic! If I had a spare few quid, I would love to spend a morning in his kitchen seeing how the serious pro's do it.

Enough excitement for one night and off to our sumptuous room for a bit of kip.

Breakfast the next morning was just amazing too. The breakfast is chosen from an a la carte menu that held the usual breakfast suspects, but I decided to step out a little so I went for Poached Pears with Elderflower Yoghurt to start. Light, refreshing and slightly sweet.

Egg and Chorizo was next up. Perfectly cooked eggs with soft yolks and a slight crisp to the white around the edges from the hot pan and the chorizo fat. I ate my eggs on top of an english muffin, still hot from the assorted bread basket. The whole experience was just really really good!

Amanda, Sat's wife, run's the front of house and when we arrived at the desk to checkout, we had a lovely long chat and were even introduced to their two 'children', a couple of bunnies that usually have the run of the courtyard, but on a Sunday are confined to the hutch because they are too hard to catch when Sat and Amanda depart at midday for their well earned rest. 

So many positive experiences in one visit. I am blown away and I can promise both Sat and Amanda that we will return and hopefully spend the evening at the kitchen or chef's table. 

Devon... The return to excellence!

A month ago I spent a few days down in Devon for work and decided to visit a few of the finer restaurants in the area for dinner instead of sitting cooped up in my hotel bedroom. You may have read the blog... or fallen asleep halfway through it!

If you'll remember, I was a little disappointed in The Brasserie at The Elephant following my first visit.  Well, Saturday night was the rematch, the opportunity for The Elephant to impose itself upon me and turn the tables. Sheila and I had travelled to Devon to visit Andy and Emma, a couple we met whilst on honeymoon in Cambodia, and during the discussions around what to do over the weekend, I had expressed an interest in re-visiting The Elephant. Emma was obliging and booked us a table in The Room, the Michelin starred restaurant at The Elephant.

We arrived and were duly escorted upstairs to our table.  I had planned to order the taster menu, but noticed that it had increased in price since my last visit to £70, which I think is still reasonable for a taster menu. However, you need to order a taster menu for everyone on the table and I didn't wish to impose the cost on our friends, so we went for a traditional a la carte 3 course meal.

The bread basket arrived just after we placed our order and it was a pleasant surprise to see a couple of additions to the usual. On our bread board we had Ceps mushroom bread sticks, olive bread, pickled olives, homemade houmous and a duck something (not quite pate, maybe a confit?) with crispy onion (I think). All standard stuff really... the houmous as good, but possibly a little lighter in flavour than I'm used to. The duck was lovely and I enjoyed the addition of the crispiness on top. I enjoyed the image of the bread stick in the basket and the crunch when eating it was good, but not sure how much flavour, if any, of the mushroom came through.

The amuse bouche arrived shortly after and I had to laugh at Andy. He sat looking at the bowl for a short while, then tasted it, pulled a face and pushed the bowl away from himself. It is fair to say that Emma is the foodie in their relationship. I also discovered what amuse bouche translated means... I always knew it as a taster from the chef to tingle the taste buds, but translated from french it means 'mouth amuser'. I love it!

What we received to amuse our mouth was definitely that. It was basically an upgraded vichyssoise. In my opinion, cold soups can be an acquired taste and are sometimes quite cloying on the palate. This one was definitely not. Light, fresh and sweet are all words to describe this dish. I loved the clean taste of the leek and potato and just loved the crunch of the walnut and the sweetness of the apple. A taste of things to come...

Sheila's starter just looked gorgeous so I had to take a pic and show it off. It was simply called Beef and Oyster, yet consisted of a tartare of beef and rock oyster, sweetbread beignets, oyster mayonnaise and confit of quails egg.

My starter was the Scallops. It consisted of two parts, one cold plate followed by a hot scallop dish. The cold scallop was a very light, clean dish of ceviche of scallop with pickled beets, crisp julienne apple and a sorrel gel. Eaten individually, each element on the plate was light, and dare I say it, a tad boring. However, when adding it all together in a single mouthful, the crunchy apple brought it all together and it was quite delightful. Very pretty plate too. 

Much bolder flavours in the hot scallop dish and by far my favourite of the two. The scallop was beautifully cooked, still slightly opaque and when combined with the Crown Prince Puree (a squash and brown sugar puree) it was delectable! The caramelised seeds added a needed crunch to the dish.

My main course was simply called Pork. It was a tad more than that of course and on the plate was pork loin and pork cheek, morcilla and pistachio croquette, pickled turnip, carrots and celeriac with sage oil. The pork loin was disappointingly tough, but only just. It was cooked slightly rare, as I like it, and I was expecting it to melt in my mouth. Unfortunately not... there was to my mind just a bit too much effort needed to chew the loin. The cheek on the other hand was just lovely. Beautifully braised, moist, rich in flavour and just pure yum. I loved the crackling 'pop corn' served with it too. Morcilla is a Latin American version of blood sausage and it was to die for. The rich flavours of the morcilla and pistachio croquette just burst into life in my mouth and a few 'Mmmm...' moments with closed eyes ensued. The celeriac mash with flavourful and creamy and the turnip and carrots added the obligatory vegetables. The heroes on this plate for me was the pork cheek and the morcilla croquette. More please?

Sheila's dessert was very pretty and full of lemony flavour. Very selfishly, she hogged the meringue stick all to her self...

My dessert on the other hand was a revelation on the one hand and a little disappointing on the other. The look was cute and I liked the theatre of the waiter pouring the strawberry sauce at the table. The strawberry and lemon mascarpone sphere was a touch lighter in flavour than I expected. My palate was wanting lashings of sweet strawberry countered with sour lemon and it got none of that. What it did get was popping candy! Loads of fun and quite unexpected. I was a child again and savoured the dessert purely for the little explosions in my mouth. I did like the strawberry sauce which was fruity, sweet and clean and the light Elderflower creme was pleasant and creamy.

Whilst there are negative statements coursing through this blog, I am honestly nit picking. Overall, everything was good, the food was presented beautifully and tasted clean and fresh. The chef obviously likes to keep the flavours of the individual ingredients and not play with them too much. It's all about combinations here and how the various elements on a plate work together. Overall, I'd say they got it right. I really enjoyed the evening at The Room and would definitely go back, but only after the menu has changed next season.

The next day, Andy and Emma took us out for Tea and Scones. How can you not when in clotted cream country? We were taken to the very quaint Angels Tea Rooms with its beautiful veiws over the ocaen.

Can you get more English than that? I ordered a mini tea which consisted of one ginger scone and one cherry scone. I don't think I need to say much more really... An eclectic mix of china, fresh leaf tea, freshly cooked, very light and fruity scones with a selection of interesting local homemade fruit jams? 

Mmmmmm...

Devon is definitely a food haven and I can't wait for my next trip down to do a little more exploring!