Parenthood joyfully is taking it’s toll on my blog. Whilst we continue to eat out, finding time to write a full blog on our experiences is proving extremely difficult.
We have decided to let our photos do the talking with a little bit of blogging. Either that or the blog wouldn’t carry on at all.
We visited Andrew Fairlies Restaurant at Gleneagles recently. We opted for the tasting menu.
It was mothers day, so I decided to take my mum to the Seafood Restaurant for her mothers day treat. I had wanted to go for a meal at this restaurant for a while and my mum loves fish so perfect excuse! The first thing that grabs you about this restaurant when you park is that it sits over the sands of St Andrews encased in a glass box. The chefs cook in an open plan kitchen in the side of the restaurant, where you can see everything being prepared. It looks impressive and I can see its busy inside.
On entering the restaurant myself and my mum were greeted warmly and offered a seat at the rear of the restaurant. We were asked if we would like to wait 5 minutes so we could be placed at a window seat with views over the sands, no problem we both replied. We were offered water and provided with the menu’s so we could decide what we would have for our lunch.
We were seated 5 minutes later, in a lovely seat over looking the sands.
The view from our seat
For drinks, I opted to stay on sparkling water, whilst my mum had a glass of the Cabernet Sauvignon from New Zealand. We were presented with 3 different types of bread, sun dried tomato, wholemeal and a rosemary foccacia, with a generous slab of butter.
For starter, I was a bit limited in what I could eat due to being pregnant but I picked baby courgettes stuffed with ratatouille with a citrus dressing. This is something that I wouldn’t normally have picked but I was really impressed with this dish. It was fresh, light and the flavours danced on my tongue.
My mum picked what I probably would of had for starter which was bouillabaisse with scallop and shrimp. The bouillabaisse was deep rich rustic red colour. My mum was thoroughly impressed and enjoyed this immensely. The quantity being just right as it was rich, full of flavour dish which piqued your appetite for what was to come.
Bouillabaisse
Next up was the mains, I ordered sea bass, spinach and crushed potatoes served with tapenade and a sweet and sour caponata. 2 pieces of sea bass were served perched on top of the potatoes. The sea bass was cooked perfectly and flaked off the fish skin. The caponata and tapenade complemented the fish perfectly. The only thing that I would say is that my crushed potatoes were slightly over salted but that is a very personal preference.
My mum for mains had hake with mussel & saffron velouté, with a pancetta crisp. This was served along with some lovely fresh curly kale and a slab of potato dauphinoise. I had a taste of my mums hake - it was delicious. It had a deep full flavour with beautiful bright fresh flesh. The mussel velouté complemented it well and my mum described the dish as “wonderful”.
Hake
After thoroughly enjoying our first 2 courses we debated about whether we should have dessert. I was pretty well full but having developed a bit of a sweet tooth I must admit I really wanted a pud!
I decided on the apple tarte tatin, the menu indicated that there would be a 15 minute wait for this dish which was completely fine with me. The tarte tatin is normally served with ice cream which I opted not to have, purely because I’m not a big ice cream fan. The tarte was served on a black slate with apple puree and tiny chunks of apple sprinkled around the slate. The tarte was wonderful and the sticky syrup stuck wonderfully to the roof of my mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed my pud and would definately have it again when I go back to the Seafood restaurant.
My mum had rhubarb cheesecake served with rhubarb sorbet and honeycomb. Served with 4 little servings of rhubarb sauce. My mum enjoyed this, but for her found it a little bit sweet. Having said that this again is my mums personal taste and she does have a palete which prefers slightly sour flavours.
Cheesecake
All in all, we both had a very relaxing lunch and were completely sated when we left. I would recommend the Seafood Restaurant in St Andrews for anyone who loves good food with a friendly atmosphere.
Cost for 3 course lunch, one bottle of sparkling water, a half bottle of wine and tip £80.
We had eaten here before and the food was fairly good. So we thought we would return for a quick bite to eat before heading into the cinema nearby.
The restaurant is part of a small chain with three units, one in Dunfermline, Perth and Dundee.
The restaurant is in a typical new build building in the retail park, plenty of windows on one side. Disappointingly there is now natural light inside, the windows must be blocked by the plasterboard holding the typical decor by numbers artwork. The restaurant was fairly quiet.
The menu proudly boasts that they use local produce from a well known butcher in Perth. Certainly this makes it stand out more than your run of the mill high street chains that you would normally see in a retail park.
I opted for a burger from the local butcher. At £8.95 it was pricey but I was expecting a decent burger and a good sized portion.
What came was a fairly average plate of food. The burger was quite dry. There was not a lot of food on the plate, they disguised this fact by having the top of the burger bun separate from the burger, a poor attempt to ‘bulk out’ the dish.
Burger & Fries
Jax ordered the Chicken Fajita, at about £12.95, this was one of the more expensive dishes on the menu and was overall a very a decent portion. In particular the vegetables were very tasty.
Chicken Fajita
For dessert I opted for an ice cream sundae. The sundae came directly from the freezer, pre-filled with my server simply adding canned whipped cream on to the top of it.
Nothing to shout home about, the ice cream was brick hard.
Ice Cream Sundae
Overall the meal was a bit of a disappointment. Next time we’d opt for ‘Nando’s’ if we were eating out at a retail park. I certainly couldn’t recommend Papa Joe’s, even for a quick bite.
This is chef’s Jason Atherton’s first venture on his own after joining the exodus of chefs leaving Gordon Ramsay’s stable.
Since opening Pollen Street Jason has certainly made his mark on the London culinary scene. First of all in this years ‘Good Food Guide’ he was awarded a score of 8/10 and was the highest ‘New Entry’ in the guide, in at number 8. He also received a Michelin Star this year for his endeavours.
When I booked the table the restaurant was fully booked but I could get a table ‘in the bar’, the full menu would be available. I was expecting a high stool at the bar so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was in fact a table.
Jason was behind the pass today.
Table in the Bar
The restaurant was very busy. Whilst many of the diners were in business attaire the atmosphere was pleasant and relaxed.
Nothing seemed to much trouble for the staff at Pollen Street. My dining partner had some specific dietary requirements and the serving staff were very helpful in helping us choose our food.
We were offered bread and olives as a pre-starter which was very enjoyable.
Olives and Dip Pre-Starter
We had recently found out that Jax was pregnant and she was very limited in what she could eat, following doctors advice to the letter. In most restaurants this would be a problem but not at Pollen Street Social. Our server was extremely knowledgeable about the menu and allowed Jackie to pick and choose her courses from different menu’s. This was great service and we fully appreciated his efforts.
Jackies Radish starter
Jackie’s first course came from the vegetarian menu, a delightful radish based salad. She commented how lovely and fresh the dish tasted and it was an excellent start to her meal.
I opted for the slow cooked egg, chorizo and patatas bravas. This really was a delicious dish. The egg was cooked to perfection and complimented the chorizo and patatas bravas very well. The portion size was decent too.
Venison
For my main, it was a no brainer for me, it had to be venison. It was accompanied with baked parsley root and golden chanterelles. This dish was again very well cooked, which as you may gather we were really enjoying ourselves.
Braised Beef
Jackie opted for the braised beef, with the instructions that it would have to be cooked through. The dish arrived perfectly cooked sadly, lovely and pink in the middle, sadly not the way we had ordered it. It was taken away immediately and a heartier portion was returned to her, with the chefs apologies. The meat was very tender and melted in your mouth and the accompanying vegetables of baby onions and carrots were also well cooked.
Unexpected Extra
We received an unexpected pre-dessert next of custard, strawberries and flavoured cream. It was served in a glass and was very refreshing.
Next for Jackie was a white chocolate pave, passion fruit sorbet and a lychee soup. We quickly realised that part of the dish was made from egg whites, something Jax couldn’t eat so I agreed to swap our dishes around. I found the dish to be an excellent finish to my meal.
Much to my disappointment I handed over my chocolate pave to Jackie. The presentation was first class and the chocolate work looked excellent. The chocolate pave wasn’t too heavy and was very enjoyable. (I couldn’t resist and helped myself to quite a bit of the dessert.
On the way out every lady was given a small Pollen Street Social bag with two small muffins and a tea bag in it to enjoy at a later date.
Overall, this was a top notch meal that we both really enjoyed. Our server was equally good. Would I recommend this restaurant, oh yes, this is one of London’s best.
This is one restaurant which has lived up to its hype.
We visited Airth Castle Hotel and Spa in early February. It was a special occasion, our Wedding Anniversary. The restaurant was very busy this evening.
To start I ordered a wild mushroom bruschetta. I have to admit, this was an excellent dish. It was extremely tasty and enjoyable and I could have eaten twice as much as I did.
Wild Mushroom Bruschetta
Jackie is expecting our first child so as usual, found the menu very limited in what she could eat. The only option available to her was a plate of melon and raspberry coulis. This seems to be a standard dish for vegetarians and diners with special dietary needs, all very uninspiring. It delivered what it said on the menu. Melon and raspberry. It’s a shame restaurants can’t seem to think outside the box when it comes to people with dietary needs. It was just very plain and boring.
Melon
For the main I ordered a ribeye steak, medium rare. It was delivered medium to well done. I decided not to comment on it to the waiting staff. Though the steak was quite nice.
The steak came with 4 chips, these were a poor example of home made chips. The complete opposite of crisp and fluffy. Very disappointing.
Steak & Chips
Jax ordered a salmon dish, ensuring it came well cooked, which fortunately it did. It was a fairly plain dish, lifted ever so slightly by the sauce it was accompanied with. It was a typical mass catered hotel dish. It was an ‘alright’ dish. Sadly not a great description for a 4 star hotel with a good reputation.
Salmon
For dessert I ordered a tarte tatin. I was expecting to receive a slice from a larger tatin but what was delivered was an individual tarte tatin. It was extremely disappointing. There was very little apple in it and it was predominantly pastry, mainly soggy. A very poor end to my meal, however worse was to come.
Tarte Tatin
Next onto the table was a lemon sponge drizzle cake. I kid you not, it was so heavy and stodgey that if you were eating it on the ‘Titanic’ and dropped a piece of it onto the deck it would have done more damage than the iceberg that sank the liner. It was shockingly bad.
This time we did bring it to the attention of the restaurant. it was inedible. A pick axe hardly dented the sponge cake. The cake was taken away and apologies given. We noticed that the restaurant manager then visited another table and took the same sponge cake away from the diners.
Sponge Cake Before
Sponge Cake After
Would we go out of the way to eat here again? No. Would it stop us from staying at the hotel again? No.
As fate would have it, I booked a table here a couple of hours before ‘Michelin’ awarded Tom Kerridge a 2nd Star for his Gastro pub, the ‘Hand and Flowers’. This award has elevated Tom into the culinary elite of British cuisine, joining the likes of Michel Roux jr, Raymond Blanc, Brett Graham and Andrew Fairlie. We were expecting fireworks from the dishes today.
From the outside it looks like your typical English country pub. On entering you have low wooden beams, a dark slate floor and what seemed to be oversized wooden dining tables that did make the restaurant a bit cramped.
We arrived about 20 minutes early so we were quite prepared to come back or sit in the bar area (it was a pub afterall) until our table was ready.
We were seated immediately which was great. Not so good was having to ask a table of four next to us to squash in to let us past and to move our table until an in away from the occupied table of two next to us. The table of four were quite unimpressed by this.
The first thing that struck me was that we were left waiting over twenty minutes before our order was taken. Being so close to the table of two, we became quite friendly with them during this time.
We opted to have a main and a dessert dish today. Jackie ordered the ‘prizewinning’ Cod and Chips, whilst I opted for the 2010 Great British Menu main course of slow cooked duck breast.
The were served with canapes of deep fried whitebait and a marie rose sauce. The whitebait was served in a paper cone. The whitebait was greasy and quite tasteless. In fact Jackie could only eat one. The sauce looked and tasted as if it had come straight from a supermarket jar. The whole dish was one of disappointment.
Canape of Whitebait
For the main courses things didn’t get any better. The slow cooked duck breast was served on a wooded tray from the ‘Great British Menu’. Unlike the tv show, the duck breast was one small slice on the tray. It was cooked very well, what we had. Though the glaze on the top of the breast stuck to the top of my mouth which I didn’t find very pleasant. The savoy cabbage was very nice, with bits of duck skin mixed through it.
The highlight of the dish was undoubtedly the triple cooked chips. Lovely and crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle. They were a joy to eat. They came with a small pot of gravy which was also very good.
Slow Cooked Duck Breast
The Cod & Chips were served on the same board. The fish was well cooked and tasty. Though one side of the fish the batter was very soggy and not particularly appetising. The Chips were again the star of the dish and were excellent. The home made tartare sauce was very tasty any complimented the cod. The mushy peas were fine. This was a traditional pub dish.
Cod & Chips
For dessert I opted for the chocolate cake with maple sorbet. This was a very pleasant dish which finished off the meal nicely, sadly no fireworks or ‘wow’ factor here. This was a Michelin by numbers dessert.
Chocolate Cake (sorry about photo)
Jackie ordered the apple tart with rose water ice cream. The tart was quite hard to cut, so hard that when one bit was cut that it flew of the plate! It was ‘nice but nothing special’ was the description given at the time.
Apple Tart & Rosewater Ice Cream
Overall we had a very ‘pleasant’ meal, a word that you may have noted cropped up quite a bit. We felt it was certainly a good meal, but 2 Michelin stars? In this instance its a case of Michelin Madness. This additional star for Tom’s Hand & Flowers should have come with an official health warning that the 2nd star may be damaging to the reputation of the Chef, something Tom Kerridge certainly doesn’t deserve.
Overall, 5/10.
I so much wanted to enjoy this, I really did. You see I think Fabric is a great place for a night out. It’s a more civilised evening venue.
We have eaten here a couple of times before and what we remember is that we always left a bit disappointed that the food didn’t match the surroundings. The walls and ceilings are plain white, the table and chairs are also white. One corner has dark brown leather settees and chairs to relax in and watch the world go by in comfort. Your eyes are drawn to the bar, with a dark brown wood cladding, contrasting nicely against the white walls. Fabric is aimed at a more upmarket clientele.
It was a Friday and we opted to have a meal before the theatre show we were going to see. I had missed the fine print on the website that said the pre-theatre menu wasn’t available. Not to worry a main and dessert from the menu would do nicely.
I opted to order a Wild Boar and apple burger, served with onion rings and fries and Jax ordered a Fabric Club Sandwich.
About 5 minutes after we ordered the server approached us to say that we couldn’t have the club because it was after 5pm and the chef had told them that he was set up for ‘Ala Carte’. A quick glance at the menu showed no time restraints, poor show indeed. Is this a sign of a chef that can’t be bothered and is just going through the motions?
We ordered a satay chicken burger with mayo in it’s place, very ala carte isn’t it?
We then proceeded to wait 40 minutes for two burgers, I kid you not, 40 minutes. No servers approached us or informed us when we took our seats that the wait time was so long. Very disappointing.
Let me be clear, Fabric was busy but not overly so. There were still a few tables empty.
When the food was eventually delivered to our skeletal remains, we were somewhat underwhelmed.
Wild Boar & Apple Burger
The plate consisted of a good quality bun, the burger looked dry around the edges (though the centre was moist and not to bad), SIX hand cut fries and a large lettuce leaf with a few leafs of rocket and a balsamic reduction smeared down two sides of the square plate. The onion rings? Well these were on the bun to, 2 raw red onion rings on top of the burger, no idea what this brought to the dish.
The Chicken Satay dish was presented identically with the exception that the bun contained 3 small pieces of chicken breast. No sign of any ‘satay’ sauce.
This was very unsatisfying, this was Fabrics idea of ‘comfort food’, this was our idea of bland and tasteless. Though towards the later stage Jax did say that she had found a single peanut. Hooray for the added texture.
We paid £7.95 for our mains, not a lot of money, but I would happily pay a bit more to have say an extra few fries or a better quality burger. They seem to forget that a good looking plate of food doesn’t replace taste and it never will.
For dessert, well, we saw the micro portions coming out of the kitchen and decided to give it a miss.
Would we return, well, for a drink absolutely, for food? Well you know the saying ‘three strikes and your out’, well in our case, they are well and truly out.
So we set of to Edinburgh to see a show at Edinburgh’s famous “Playhouse’. We left with the intention of snarfing a quick bite to eat at a pub near the ‘Playhouse’.
Whilst I live less than 10 miles from Edinburgh, I will openly admit that I know more about the London food scene than I do about the Edinburgh scene, though that is now beginning to change.
We found ourselves outside Mark Greenaway’s restaurant.
Mark Greenaway’s restaurant is situated in a Boutique Hotel called No.12 Picardy Place in Edinburgh, just across from the Omni complex. I had considered booking a table here for tonight’s visit but opted to just chance a walk in in a local pub. I glimpsed the menu and thought if they had a table and could get us out quick, why not give it a try. The menu board outside showed three courses for £20, a bargain and was just what we were looking for.
The restaurant is situated on the ground floor of the hotel, in what I presume was the old ‘Hawke & Hunter’ restaurant at the same premises.
What surprised me initially was that the restaurant was totally empty, it seemed a shame because it looked like a very nice menu at the door and the restaurant interior oozed ‘fine dining’.
Restaurant Layout
To start with I opted for a Pave of Confit Duck Leg with hot orange jelly, beetroot carpaccio, foraged Scottish herbs and a raspberry jelly. This was a very well presented dish, the duck pave was encased in the the beetroot carpaccio. This was a very enjoyable dish, the cold duck combined with the hot orange jelly was delightable.
Pave of Confit Duck Leg
Jackie opted to have the White Carrot Veloute with a seared scallop, goats cheese, confit carrot, carrot crisp and roasted chestnuts. This was also enjoyable but certainly didn’t blow us away. Perhaps a bit more seasoning would have been in order.
White Carrot Veloute
For our main course we both opted for the 11 Hour Slow Roasted Clash Farm Belly Pork with pomme puree, savoy cabbage and toffee apple jus.
Whilst the portion size was quite small, the belly pork was well cooked and moist. It wasn’t the easiest to cut through with a knife though. The small square of crackling was ‘claggy’, sticking to the top of your mouth. Jackie couldn’t eat hers. This was disappointing.
The pomme puree however was sublime. It was smooth and velvety, this was the highlight of the dish, it was so good I was wanting to send the belly pork back and just ask them to give me a plate of pomme puree!!
Belly Pork
For dessert I opted for the Broken Lemon Tart, made from yuzu parfait, frozen shortbread, pistachio puree, compact watermelon and coconut jelly. As with all the dishes, it was presented beautifully. All the flavours and textures worked very well together with the exception of the frozen watermelon, which in my opinion wasn’t required on the dish and detracted from an otherwise top notch dish.
Broken Lemon Tart
Jackie opted for the ‘Jam Jar, Scottish Bramble’, which came in a jam jar with rice pudding, jelly and vanilla. The bramble sorbet scoop was presented on the up turned lid. This was a very pleasant dish, quite an enjoyable end to the meal.
Jam Jar, Scottish Bramble
Overall we had an enjoyable meal in very pleasant surroundings. It’s just a shame that the restaurant was so quiet, it certainly deserves to be busier, especially with a full Playhouse across the road.
The cooking was very capable but it didnt quite match up to the superb presentation sadly. Would I go again? Absolutely, even if its just for the pomme puree!
Off on our travels again this month, a few restaurants booked already!
This blog was never meant to be just about fine dining, but since we started this blog, thats what we have concentrated on. But theres more to food than this.
The ‘Seven Kings’ is a Belhaven ‘Superpub’. It’s Dunfermlines busiest pub selling reasonably priced drink and ‘traditional’ pub good.
We popped in to the pub for a main course for lunch on the way back from Edinburgh Airport.
Being a Tuesday at 3pm, the Seven Kings was fairly quiet but sadly the highly sought after booths were all occupied….. blast!
I ordered a Bad Boy burger, two 6 oz burgers on a bun with chips, salad and coleslaw. Jackie ordered Fish and Chips.
I’d venture to say that there wasn’t much home cooking to be found here, it has a brand look to keep up you know.
Haddock & Chips
Being in Scotland, the only fish you order would have to be a haddock, for some reason cod is not sold up here in many places.
Not much you can say about it, the chips were cooked (bought in frozen) as was the fish (Again frozen). It hit the spot and for a reasonable price it delivered exactly what we were expecting. No complaints here.
My ‘usual’ here is the ‘bad boy beef burger’, I have quite a large appetite so I usually go for quantity. Lets face it, quality isn’t on the menu.
Bad Boy Burger
The burger was over cooked and a bit tough. The tomato relish was overpowering and the cheap coleslaw was exactly that, cheap and fairly bland. But overall it did what I expected it to do.
Service today, although the pub was quiet, was very sporadic. In the end we gave up trying to catch the eye of any waiting staff and opted to get up and pay on the way out of the door.
I do wonder if pub chains like Belhaven/Greene King etc ever really do any quality checks with there food. It would be so easy to find local suppliers for some of there core ingredients rather than shipping them over from Timbuktu…….
Since the 1970′s the Peat Inn has been a destination restaurant in Fife, long before the current explosion in dining popularity took off, the Peat Inn was and still is regarded as one of Scotland’s top restaurants.
Granted over the years owners and chef’s have moved on but its reputation still persists and deservedly so.
In 2006 Geoffrey Smeedle took over The Peat Inn cooking local produce to an exceptionally high standard. It currently holds 1 Michelin Star and it was easy to see why.
On arrival we were seated in the lounge area to have a pre-lunch drink and decide on the menu. As usual for us, we opted not to eat from the set lunch menu but from the Ala Carte menu.
The lounge was pleasantly decorated, if perhaps a bit more traditional than the modern city restaurant.
We were taken through to the annex dining room. It held three tables of two and one table of four. The decor, like the lounge was pleaseant though we didn’t like the artexed walls which were a bit old fashioned for our taste.
Table Layout
To start we were served an Amuse Bousche of a veloute of Leek, Strathdon Blue and Chives. It was a delightful light and refreshing start to our meal.
Leek & Strathdon Blue Veloute
For my starter I ordered Lobster bisque with olive oil poached cod and fried parsley. The cod was beautifully cooked and the bisque packed a terrific punch. It was an excellently executed dish.
Lobster bisque with cod
Jackie ordered the home-smoked breast of wood pigeon, warm fig, beetroot and spiced apple compote. The pigeon breast was well cooked and lovely and tender, the whole plate was very balanced and this was the star of Jackies meal.
Wood pigeon
For our main Jackie opted for the seared hake, poached scallops, aubergine puree, young fennel, samphire and borlotti beans. Again a very well put together dish with all the flavours marrying well together. The portion was also a good size.
Seared Hake
I opted for the roast supreme of guinea fowl, puy lentils, pancetta, damson compote, rosti potato and crisp shallot rings. This dish was top notch cooking. The guinea fowl was well cooked and seasoned. The shallot onion rings were light and crispy, totally morish. The crispy potato rosti was to die for. The damson compote added some lovely depth of flavour to the dish. This was a very very good dish.
Guinea Fowl
For dessert I opted for buttermilk panna cotta, blackberry and creme fraiche sorbet and blackberry curd. This was a nice, light and refreshing round off to a very good lunch. The panna cotta was very good and would have been fitting end to any meal.
Panna Cotta
Jackie opted for the dark chocolate delice with caremel poached pears and pistachio ice cream. This was a very rich dish. The pears and the ice cream toned the dish down. Whilst Jackie loved it and stated it was as good as the chocolate delice we had tried in The Ledbury a couple of weeks ago. For me, the chocolate was just a bit to heavy for my liking.
Dark Chocolate Delice
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our meal at ‘The Peat Inn’, it certainly lived up to its good reputation. We will certainly return one evening and try the tasting menu.
