Welcome to Ask Mario's June 06 Newsletter It’s opportune that in this month’s round up of restaurant news foraged foods appear on several menus ­ sea lettuce at Arbutus, sea kale, St George’s mushrooms and wild garlic at the Pipe and Glass in Yorkshire ­ as our main feature is about foraging. While most of us would be open to the idea that a weed is a plant growing in the wrong place, Fergus Drennan would strongly disagree. In Take a Walk on the Wild Side he explains why he forages for wild foods and weeds, why the fact that they have chosen to grow where they do makes them more nutritious than commercially grown foods, and why eating them can prolong your life. Elsewhere, Neville Blech is organizing wine dinners at the Devonshire Arms, North Yorkshire and RSJ, London celebrating his Top 100 UK Restaurant Wine Lists 2006 awards. Click the links below for details. Elizabeth Carter, Editor
		June's features: The Devonshire Arms (wine feature) Take a walk on the wild side London Friends alongside Wandsworth Common Seasonal classics up on Frith Street Islington’s newest pub New lease of life for Park Lane Windows England, West Midlands Sardinian success in Birmingham’s SAS hotel East Riding Yorshire A local hero sets up in the Wolds (picture on the right) Norfolk Somerleyton Estate hotel gets a makeover Scotland New Town move for Haldanes Ask Mario Book Review by Jill Turton Return to Tuscany: Recipes from a Tuscan Cookery School
	The Devonshire Arms Burlington Restaurant by Neville Blech This is one of the most serious and imposing wine lists we have ever come across. Over 2,000 wines are listed, with over 1,300 being of at least 4-star quality and almost another 400 of 3-star quality. The sheer volume of the list can be daunting, so a selection of the less expensive wines are grouped together at the beginning of the list as a shortcut... Read Neville Blech's wine feature about the Devonshire Arms
	Take a walk on the wild side Fergus Drennan makes a living as a forager ­ but it is also a way of life. For him, foraging for wild food is about connecting and finding balance, living a life fully engaged with, and responsive to, the natural world. He explains his philosophy… Find out more
	Friends alongside Wandsworth Common (London) Valentina Harris, the renowned cookery writer and the force behind Villa Valentina cookery holidays in Tuscany, has created a relaxed and informal neighbourhood restaurant on the site of what was once Pomino. The open kitchen and woodfired oven majors on seasonal regional Italian dishes like a salad of fresh broad beans with pecorino and shaved pear, Tuscan prosciutto with melon, spaghetti with baby clams and white wine, fillet of sea bass with Sicilian mint pesto, lamb cutlets with baby onions and rosemary baked potatoes, and one of the favourite Italian ways of ending a meal, sgroppino - lemon and vodka sorbet. Children can choose proper, unprocessed food from the Bambini Amici menu (£5.50 for 2 courses). There’s a good choice of wines by the glass on the all Italian wine list. Open for brunch at weekends from 11am–4pm, with light bites available at lunch in the bar. About £70 for 2. Amici, 35 Bellevue Road, Wandsworth Common, SW17, tel: 020 8672 5888 www.amiciitalian.co.uk
	Seasonal classics up on Frith Street (London) Located at the Soho Square end of Frith Street, in premises that have seen a succession of high profile restaurants: Bistro Bruno, Frith Street, and Il Forno. Now Anthony Demetre and Will Smith, both formerly of Putney Bridge Restaurant, have teamed up to open on this site. The décor is themed on natural materials and colours, with subtle references to the arbutus (Killarney strawberry) tree. The food concentrates on highly seasonal ingredients. Typical of the carte are starters like warm cod brandade with young squid, sea purslane, and parsley cromesquis (fritters) and braised pig’s head with potato purée and caramelised onions, followed by mains such as salt beef pot au feu with spring vegetables and sea bream with risotto of sea lettuce and cockles. Finish with Alphonso mango with rice ‘imperatrice’ (with crystallized fruit), sorbet and Breton biscuits, or perhaps floating island with pink pralines and custard. About £70 for 2, set L & pre-theatre menu from £13.50. Arbutus, 63-64 Frith Street, W1, tel: 020 7734 4545, www.arbutusrestaurant.co.uk
	Islington’s newest pub (London) The former Prince Albert has been renamed in honour of Charles Lamb, the early 19th-C English dandy and essayist. New owners Camille and Hobby bring to the pub their years of management experience at some of London’s top gastropubs. Drawing from her French parentage Camille’s short daily-changing blackboard menu includes starters like pork rillettes with cornichons, Bayonne ham with melon, globe artichoke vinaigrette and coquilles St Jacques baked with béchamel and Gruyère. Follow with duck confit with a chicory salad, goats’ cheese parcel with pear and walnut salad, or even beef and Guinness pie, and fresh dressed crab with Jersey royals. For pudding try Eton mess or Portuguese custard tart. For Sunday lunch there’s always an organic roast. Open for D Mon-Sat, L Thu-Sun, closed D Sun except before Bank Hols. About £40 for 2 Charles Lamb Pub and Kitchen, 16 Elia Street, N1, tel: 020 7837 5040 www.thecharleslambpub.com
	New lease of life for Park Lane Windows (London) Despite several attempts over the years The London Hilton’s rooftop restaurant never really made the grade foodwise. It was a venue best only for its view over Hyde Park and the Queen’s back garden. Now, however, Chris Galvin of Galvin Bistrot de Luxe on Baker Street, is in charge, together with head chef André Garrett, formerly at Conran’s Orrery on Marylebone Lane. The menu is a touch more sophisticated than at the Bistrot, but follows a similar modern French pedigree. Among the starters you could find bisque of native lobster with spring vegetable and Cognac, seared foie gras with salsify, raisins moelleux and Sauternes jus, or poached English asparagus with sauce hollandaise. Mains could be whole Dover sole with clams, cockles and sauce bouillabaisse, Limousine veal cutlets with broad beans and morels, or poché-grillé Anjou pigeon with petits pois à la française, pommes cocotte. Desserts include iced pruneaux d’Agen with armagnac parfait, vanilla panna cotta with poached cherries, or feuilletté of raspberries with crème pâtissière. About £120 for 2. Galvin at Windows, 28th Floor, London Hilton on Park Lane, 22 Park Lane, W1, tel: 020 7208 4021 www.hilton.co.uk/londonparklane
	Sardinian success in Birmingham’s SAS hotel (West Midlands) Hazelmere Café and Bakery, voted as Top Tea Place of the Year 2006 by Tea Guild inspectors, stands in an attractive parade of Victorian shops opposite the town’s ornamental gardens. On one side is a shop selling mouthwatering cakes and pastries, and on the other, a pretty, brightly decorated tearoom where you can indulge in sensational moist chocolate and orange slice as well as a pot of one of a range of carefully selected high quality teas. Filini, Radisson SAS Hotel Birmingham, 12 Holloway Circus, Queensway, Birmingham tel: 0121 654 6000 www.birmingham.radissonsas.com
	A local hero sets up in the Wolds (East Riding of Yorshire) James Mackenzie, former head chef of the acclaimed Star Inn at Harome, North Yorkshire, has opened his own pub and restaurant near Beverley on Humberside. Together with his partner Kate Boroughs, they have refurbished the picturesque 18th-C inn, which adjoins the Hotham estate. They offer a menu of seasonal, modern, British food, sourcing local produce wherever possible, in a setting that retains its traditional character. Typical choices include starters like marinaded ‘Rowley Round’ Lowna goats’ cheese with watercress, boiled beetroot and juniper dressing, chicken liver paté with spiced Bramley apple chutney and toasted walnut bread, and black pudding, bacon, and quail egg salad with white bean dressing. Among the mains there could be hay-baled chicken with sage lentils, creamed leek and ham hock casserole, and pan-fried sirloin steak with sautéed sea salt and thyme potatoes, ‘Buffalo Blue’ cheese fritter and roast shallots. The blackboard might list Woods of Hull smoked haddock risotto with poached egg, and grain mustard cream, and whole grilled Skipsea Dover Sole with roast sea kale, St George mushrooms and wild garlic butter. Afterwards, try ginger burnt cream with stewed Yorkshire rhubarb, or dark chocolate and cherry tart with a Suzette sauce. Last year James was invited to the British Embassy in Paris to promote Yorkshire produce, and he also cooked for the Duchess of Cornwall when she visited East Yorkshire recently. About £60 for 2 The Pipe and Glass, West End, South Dalton, nr Beverley, tel: 01430 810246
	Somerleyton Estate hotel gets a makeover (Norfolk) With Fritton Country Park and Lake, probably East Anglia’s most beautiful stretch of water, on the doorstep, this boutique hotel has undergone a programme of restoration which includes its restaurant. The menu features relatively simple dishes like parsley ham hock terrine with green beans and shallot salad, and piquant crème fraiche; grilled local herring fillet with lightly curried piccalilli and watercress; pan-roast chicken with creamy asparagus and broad bean risotto, and skate wing with capers and nut-brown butter. For dessert it’ll no doubt be a tie between Bauget and Jouette pink Champagne and strawberry jelly with fresh cream and strawberries, and warm chocolate fondant with boozy cherries and homemade vanilla ice cream. For al fresco dining the south facing terrace is pretty-near perfect. Just a note. Confusingly, there are two Frittons in Norfolk. This one’s on the A143 Beccles to Great Yarmouth, so those with sat-navs beware. About £65 for 2 Fritton House Hotel, Church Lane, Fritton, tel: 01493 484008
	New Town move for Haldanes (Scotland) Chef/patron George Kelso has moved his restaurant west into the New Town. The menu continues to champion Scottish produce with West Coast seafood, beef, venison and of course, salmon, all making an appearance. Begin with Shetland crab cake with mixed leaves and a lemon and tomato dressing or baked filo of traditional haggis with roasted neeps and whisky sauce, followed perhaps by baked halibut fillet with roasted asparagus and red pepper and saffron mash, or Scottish beef fillet with caramelised onions, portobello mushrooms and grilled tomato. Dessert could be Bailey’s and banana bread and butter pudding, or rhubarb and vanilla crème brulée with orange shortbread biscuits. About £85 for 2 Haldanes Restaurant, 13b Dundas Street, Edinburgh, tel: 0131 556 8407
	Ask Mario Book Review by Jill Turton Return to Tuscany: Recipes from a Tuscan Cookery School Giancarlo and Katie Caldesi are the husband and wife team behind two Tuscan inspired restaurants in Marylebone: Restaurant Caldesi and Caffe Caldesi. This book is the story and the recipes based on a summer spent running a cookery school near Giancarlo’s home town of Montepulciano in Tuscany. The recipes, follow the programme of the cookery school: antipasti, soups, pasta, meat, fish, desserts, bread and pizza. Each chapter has an introduction giving background, ingredients and cooking techniques for the dishes that follow. The food ranges through tomato bruschetta; black crostini, made with chicken livers and Marsala; cannellini bean and rosemary mash; and chicken with cinnamon and lemon. The recipes are commendably uncheffy, easy to follow and for the most part, use easily available ingredients, though tracking down wild boar or octopus may be a challenge in further flung locations than Marylebone. Genuine ‘contadini’ cookery or peasant farmer cookery, is how the Caldesis describe their style. If peasant farmers are hard to spot on a Tuscan villa holiday, then you can at least create the illusion with the simple, unfussy rustic dishes in this book. Return to Tuscany: Recipes from a Tuscan Cookery School Giancarlo and Katie Caldesi BBC Books Price £14.99 ISBN 0563 49354 2 Published 4th May 2006
	Subscribe. If you like the Ask Mario newsletter, why not pass this email to a friend. Unsubscribe Want to unsubscribe? Click on the link. Ask Mario Ask Mario for restaurant, café, gastro pub (and more!) recommendations