Welcome to Ask Mario's July 06 Newsletter
This month seems to be full of personal memories. When Louise Luiggi went to France to study French, all of a sudden French food, a French husband and a huge extended family became part of her life, as our extract from her enchanting book Come to Table details. Josephine Bacon, however, does not have happy memories of working with the late Richard Olney (on the iconic Time Life Good Cook series). Her highly personal view, triggered by reading his autobiography, Reflexions, is a fascinating insight into a man considered to be one of the greatest food writers of the 20th century. It would be interesting to know just what Olney, a tremendous wine snob, would have made of Le Gavroche introducing a beer list.
Elizabeth Carter, Editor
Richard Olney non-celebrity chef and snob extraordinaire by Josephine Bacon
For those who have never heard of Richard Olney and they must be legion, most cookery writers, even those who consider themselves at the top of their profession, are unknown to the general public, unless they prance about on TV screens like escapees from the circus he was an American amateur chef and food writer who died "unexpectedly" in 1999.
Read Josephine Bacon's feature about Richard Olney
Come to the table by Louise Luiggi
An extract from 'Come to the Table', Louise Luiggi's evocative memoir of her journey towards a passion for food.
Read Louise's story
Camden Town's tribute to Mesopotamian king (London)
Gilgamesh, named after the ancient Babylonian king and described as a restaurant, bar, lounge and traditional tearoom, has to be the strangest restaurant in town. It's a truly vast space on the first floor of Camden Stable Market, and on entering you're completely blown away by the decor. There are ornately carved wood ceiling panels created in India, hand-carved stone and copper murals, an extraordinarily long bar counter inlaid with lapis tiles, and in the restaurant a 40 high ceiling with fully retractable roof. Ian Pengelley, formerly of E&O, W11 and the short-lived Pengelley's, SW1, offers some fantastic Pan-Asian food on a menu that takes in a wonderfully fragrant dtom kha soup, crispy squid with garlic and chilli salt, sushi, tempura, miso silver cod roasted in hoba leaf, and double-cooked crispy belly pork with black vinegar. The combinations of flavour, texture, and presentation are terrific. This is definitely a destination restaurant: our only concern is how they'll get enough punters to fill the place during the week. About £75 for 2, set L £15.
Gilgamesh, Camden View, Camden Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road. London NW1, tel: 020 7482 5757 www.gilgamesh-london.com
Sensational food and beer pairing in Victoria (London)
One of London's original new wave Indian restaurants, Quilon, has all the trappings of luxury that befit its swish hotel setting. From July through October two or more can have an extravagant 8-course food and beer-pairing menu designed to highlight the best of both worlds. Expect dark and sumptuous ales, crisp lagers and fruity dessert beers to accompany the subtle flavours of the Southern Coastal Indian cuisine. Examples are Duvel, a Belgian golden ale with cauliflower chilli fry and crab cakes; Pietra, a distinctive chestnut beer with chicken korma and crispy okra; and Liefmans Frambosen with bibinca and pepper ice cream (Quilon's specialty dessert). £150 for 2.
Quilon, 41 Buckingham Gate, London SW1, tel: 020 7821 1899 www.thequilonrestaurant.com
De luxe beers on the menu at Roux gastro temple (London)
While drinking lager with Indian food (see Quilon above) is generally accepted practice, when it comes to French haute cuisine, it's fine wine not beer that's the established choice. That is, possibly, up till now. At the famed Le Gavroche, Michel Roux introduced Liefmans Kriek beer to his special 8-course tasting menu back in February. He has now introduced a Gavroche beer list that includes a new champagne-yeast fermented beer from Flanders, a Dutch cloudy wheat beer that incorporates elderflower and orange peel, and a revolutionary Scottish ale fermented in bourbon barrels. £170 for 2.
Le Gavroche, 43 Upper Brook Street, London W1, tel: 020 7408 0881
www.le-gavroche.co.uk
Chalk Farm's Roundhouse gets a stylish café (London)
The opening of Roundhouse Café coincides with the welcome re-launch of The Roundhouse complex. Though the chef was recruited from Primrose Hill's vegetarian Manna, the menu covers all tastes and features ingredients sourced with the assistance of Jenny Linford, author of 'Food Lovers' London'. Typical dishes include Tuscan pea and Parmesan soup, lamb and harissa kofta, and Welsh Black beef sirloin with glazed onion and aioli on sourdough. The dessert menu has an individual kirsch-soaked Black Forest gateau, and toasted brioche chocolate sandwich with Marine Ices vanilla. Open from 11am-10pm (5.30pm on Sun). £50 for 2, set D from £16.50.
Roundhouse Café, Chalk Farm Road, London NW1, tel: 0870 389 9920 www.roundhouse.org.uk
Australasian food festival in Regents Park (London)
Toast is Europe's largest celebration of New Zealand and Australia food, wine and entertainment. The event will bring together high profile antipodean culinary talent with a top line-up of entertainers including Hayley Westenra, and Paul Kelly, to create a prestigious celebration of New Zealand and Australian talent. It will be an opportunity to taste delicious dishes from Australian celebrity chef Bill Granger; John Torode (Smiths of Smithfield); Michelin star chefs Shane Osborn (Pied à Terre), David Thompson (Nahm) and Brett Graham (The Ledbury); and award-winning chef Nic Watt (Roka).
Toast Festival, 15-16 July, Regents Park, NW1, Tickets: 0870 906 3776
www.toastfestivals.co.uk
Blackstones' Kitchen Comes of Age (England, Bath & North Somerset)
A year after revitalising Bath's lacklustre takeaway scene with the opening of Blackstones' Kitchen, Rebecca and Daniel Blackstone are planning to expand into premises over the road. To call Blackstones' a takeaway is like describing the Royal Crescent as a terraced street. It's more akin to a French traiteur, with proper cooked dishes to take home in chic little boxes anything from chicken, noodle, lemon and mint broth to Lebanese lamb pie or parmigiana di melanzane. If you want to eat in, there are a few bar stools to perch on amid cheerful surroundings: vibrant pink walls, stripped wooden floors, and a bustling open kitchen where you can watch the daily-changing menu being prepared. Choose from a stupendous display of cakes (including their near-legendary chocolate brownies) or, for breakfast, Wiltshire bacon sandwiches with homemade chilli jam well worth getting out of bed for. Everything is made from scratch and local ingredients are conscientiously sourced, with beef from the wonderful Brown Cow Organics, bread from Hobbs House Bakery and spices from Sambava Spices. With the launch of Blackstones' Restaurant at the end of this month (July), devotees will be able to feast in comfort. Open 1022.30 Tuesday to Saturday and 104 on Sunday, it will offer the same robust food as the kitchen but in more leisurely surroundings, with a full drinks licence.
Blackstones' Kitchen, 10a Queen Street, Bath, tel: 01225 338803 www.blackstonefood.co.uk
Top Welsh pub's new Cornish sister (Cornwall)The team behind the Felin Fach Griffin, Brecon has breathed new life into a famous old roadside inn on West Cornwall's north coast. It is now a dining pub with rooms based on the same principles that have worked at Felin Fach. Starters, such as confit of tuna with a fennel salad and tomato dressing, or duck and raisin terrine with pear chutney and soda bread could be followed by main courses that range from grilled mackerel with purple sprouting broccoli, anchovy and rosemary butter and new potatoes, to roast brill with carrot purée, and sauce bordelaise. In an escape from normal restaurant practice, their wine pricing moves away from the use of standard multipliers. The cash profit on each bottle is limited, with exceptional value to be had at the more expensive end of the list. The 20-bottle list has been put together with Bibendum Wines and no wine is currently over £20. £50 for 2.
The Gurnard's Head, Tren, Zennor, St Ives, Cornwall, tel: 01736 796928, www.gurnardshead.co.uk
A Taste of Sunshine at Petersham (Surrey)
On Friday 21 July 2006 take a relaxed and indulgent brunch with Bill Granger, the Sydney based, internationally renowned, restaurateur, food writer and broadcaster. Brunch is a great Aussie tradition and one that Bill Granger has deliciously honed. His three eponymous restaurants in Sydney are justifiably feted for their breakfast and brunch dishes and some of his classic dishes will be served in the tranquil setting of the nurseries. Bill is only in London for one week and so this occasion provides an opportunity to seize a one-off lesson from "the egg master of Sydney" ahead of the publication of his fifth book, 'Bill Granger Everyday' (October 2006) and the second series of Bill's Food, which will be screened on BBC1 in the autumn. Bill's Brunch is from 10 am11.30 am, tickets (including all food & drinks) £25.
Petersham Nurseries, Petersham, nr Richmond, Surrey, tel 020 8940 5230 www.petershamnurseries.com
Nottingham Restaurant Awards 2006 (Nottinghamshire)
Nottingham's restaurant-going public together with a team of independent judges, who included national food writers and journalists, have had their say and the winners of the city's 2006 restaurant awards were announced last month. Among the winners were Harts who won both Nottingham Restaurant of the Year and Best Business Lunch. Restaurant Sat Bains won the Best Fine Dining Restaurant Award. Best Indian Restaurant was MemSaab. Best Oriental was Chino Latino. Best Out-of Town Restaurant went to Café Bleu in Newark. China China was voted Best Newcomer, and Best Small restaurant was Creme. ITV Central News East Viewers' Restaurant of the Year was Tom Brown's. Best Local Produce was won by Perkins, Plumtree.
Ask Mario Book Review by Jill TurtonRelish, The Extraordinary Life of Alexis Soyer Victorian Celebrity Chef By Ruth Cowen
Ruth Cowen's admirable biography of Alexis Soyer charts the flamboyant Victorian chef's escape from revolutionary Paris, his meteoric rise as chef de cuisine of the famous Reform Club in Pall Mall, and his career as entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist, best-selling author and Crimean war hero. He was arguably England's first celebrity chef.
The dashing young man who eccentrically took to wearing everything on the diagonal or zig-zag, even his business cards were parallelograms, more significantly designed the Reform Club's state of the art kitchens - its gas stoves and steam powered lifts, the hands-free cupboards and lead-lined ice drawers.
An immensely talented chef, his food at the Reform ranged from everyday roasts to the monstrous banquet he created for Ibrahim Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt: course after course of elegant broths, pyramids of whiting, an 'almighty baron of beef', capons wrapped in pastry made like the prow of a ship, culminating in a 2ft high meringue confection piled with fruit and waved sugar.
He didn't just cook for the rich. When the devastating potato famine hit Ireland in 1840, Soyer set up a network of state-run soup kitchens, creating a cheap but barely nutritious soup out of scraps of meat and vegetable peelings. He went on to reform army catering in the Crimea, designed the Soyer Stove that saved thousands of soldiers from malnutrition and which remained in service until the Falklands War when the army's last remaining stock sank with the Atlantic Conveyor.
Ruth Cowen guides us elegantly through the turbulent, intoxicating life of this brilliant but flawed man. He enjoyed fame and fortune; he was also a bigamist and an alcoholic who died virtually penniless. While his grave at Kensal Green lies forgotten and neglected, his truly lasting memorial must be his Lamb Cutlets Reform, the signature dish that has been on the Reform Club's menu every day since 1846.
Relish, The Extraordinary Life of Alexis Soyer
Victorian Celebrity Chef
Ruth Cowen
Weidenfeld & Nicholson
Hardback
Price £18.99
ISBN 0-297-64562-5
Published 8th June 2006
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