05-Sep-08 - Memories of appalling school food crowded in on me as we visited Eton to interview the executive head chef Michael Godfrey, who runs the food operation for 11 of Eton’s 25 houses at Bekynton. Executive head chef? At Stamford we had a fat dinner-lady called Doris who used to... No, you don’t want to know about that. Bekynton is more like a smart, modern, docklands corporate dining room with tiled self-service counters and a menu which changes on a weekly basis. They even have a regular forum in which the boys can tell the chef what they like and what they don’t like. Dish of the day was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and many if not most pubs which offer something with the same name would weep to see the quality. But Michael is, of course, catering for posh kids who know about good nosh.
Then it was onward to The Waterside Inn in Bray, where we were to photograph a session devoted to guéridon skills the following morning. I have always been fascinated by the terrace of houses opposite the restaurant - basically two-up/one down configuration, and probably originally built for people who worked on the local farms. Today, however, they are very different, as befits their location: glamorously furnished (yes, I peered through the front windows) and with expensive machinery parked out front. One of them is currently up for sale and I looked it up on the internet: £325,000. But I understand that most of them are holiday homes for rich Londoners. The credit crunch does not extend to Bray, it seems.
Dinner that night was poached eggs on a pastry crouton with asparagus tips in a mousseline sauce (one of the Queen’s favourites when she dines here, apparently) followed by a venison ‘Wellington’ in shortcrust pastry with wild mushrooms, Hermitage wine sauce and blackcurrant vinegar. I left the wine choice to the sommelier, of course. At The Waterside, they know best.
The ‘carving seminar’ was an eye-opener. I am of that generation which loved to order steak Diane and see it cooked and flambéd at the table, but you hardly see these techniques any more. Apparently it’s down to health and safety and fire insurance and the Waterside doesn’t even list flambé dishes any more, although they’re available to those who ask. I learned a lot, but then had to dash to London to meet Dieter Müller, chef-patron of the eponymous restaurant at the Schloß Lerbach, near Köln in Germany. He’s the latest in a long line of Michelin-starred chefs from Europe to open up in London, and I suggested to him that the track-record was not encouraging: Spoon with Alain Ducasse, l’Atelier de Joël Robuchin, l’Ambassade de l’Île with Jean-Christophe Ansany-Alex have all struggled (and some are still struggling), but Dieter was adamant that London would be his, with the new restaurant Andaman at the St James’s club and hotel on Park Place. Something else I learned: Germany has more Michelin stars than any country in Europe apart from France. Hmm... “The Germans are a strange people, Baldrick. They eat nothing but sausages and their operas last for four days”. Capt. Blackadder, Blackadder Goes Forth, © BBC 1989. Well, maybe not, after all.
All material is copyright. Any comments or editorial enquiries please to john@johnradford.com
04-Sep-08 - An invitation from the Françis Lurton Group saw us on the way to Madrid. The occasion was the official launch of the new bodega in Villafranca de Duero which, uniquely in Europe, is legally permitted to make wines from two different DO zones (Rueda and Toro) in the same building. The reason for this is that the village of Villafranca de Duero lies in an ‘overlap’ between the two zones. Unfortunately it meant arrival at Madrid-Barajas Terminal 4-s, a piece of spectacular monumental architecture apparently designed by someone who had never designed an airport before but had built stadia for marathon race-walkers. The beautiful marble floors lose their charm after an hour of trudging, and the satellite is so far away from the main building that it has its own underground train. I have been researching London to Madrid by rail and it is, after all, possible. Perhaps next time.
Anyway, the Lurton bash was suitably buoyant: we were picked up by a cab at Barajas, and stayed at the Hotel El Montico in Tordesillas (2 hours’ drive). This is a pleasant place in a pine forest, and we had a free day before the evening dinner at the bodega, and explored the beautiful little old town, having lunch in a tapas bar on the main shopping street. The dinner was a spectacular affair with son-et-lumière, a strolling magician and (mercifully) short speeches. Several of ‘the usual suspects’ were there, including John and Nelly Salvi from Bordeaux, Baudoin Havaux and the drop-dead-gorgeous Miryam from the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and several people whom I knew quite well but simply couldn’t shake their names from the recesses of the brain.
The following day we drove from Tordesillas to Pinhão in Portugal (4 hours!), and the Quinta Beira Douro, a recent Lurton acquisition. Access was by boat from the jetty at Pinhão, and included a wild clamber over another boat and up a muddy slope with only trees to hang on to: Jill was not impressed. However, we had a convivial lunch under orange trees in the garden of the Quinta, and blagged a ride back in a 4wd Mercedes to avoid another crack at the muddy slope. This proved to be a bonus as, although the unmade roads with their sheer-drop sides were a bit scary, the views across the terraces and the river were spectacular. Jill had never been to the Cima Corgo before and, although I’d tried to describe it to her, it really defies description unless you see it with your own eyes.
We stayed the night at the Hotel Quinta do Silval, about 6 km north of Pinhão, which is a brand-new addition to an existing Quinta (which still makes its own wine), set right amid terraced vineyards, with spectacular views. That evening we chickened out of the organised dinner at Chanceleiros (which is another beautiful spot: I stayed there a couple of years ago), and had dinner on the balcony of the hotel, overlooking the vineyards as the sun went down. We ate veal and vegetables and drank the Quinta's own wine, as well as having a glass of their 2003 Vintage Port - magnificent.
Then it was on the move again the following morning, to the Mateus Palace (you’ll have seen it on the labels) near Vila Real. The house is magnificent, of course, and we were briefly introduced to the Count and Countess Mateus, but the main interest was a wine-tasting in the winery next door. The wines were produced by Lavradores de Feitoria, which is a group of young winemakers in the Douro turning out small quantities of simply stunning wines. They were presented by the equally stunning Olga Martins who looks after exports and marketing for the group.
The last stretch (with a pleasant picnic bag for the journey), was to Oporto airport (1½ hours) and the flight back - to horrendous LHR. BUT, our destination was terminal 2 which is the oldest terminal at the airport and, coincidentally (or not!) the only one which doesn’t require Olympic fitness levels to walk from the aeroplane to passport control. So they’re knocking it down, of course, and no doubt it will rival Madrid terminal 4 by the time they’ve finished. Home again in a cab - £70 all the way, which is £10 cheaper for two people than taking the (absolute ripoff - £16.50) Heathrow Express, (ripoff - £4 a single journey) tube and the train home from Victoria. A result!
All material is copyright. Any comments or editorial enquiries please to john@johnradford.com
Then it was onward to The Waterside Inn in Bray, where we were to photograph a session devoted to guéridon skills the following morning. I have always been fascinated by the terrace of houses opposite the restaurant - basically two-up/one down configuration, and probably originally built for people who worked on the local farms. Today, however, they are very different, as befits their location: glamorously furnished (yes, I peered through the front windows) and with expensive machinery parked out front. One of them is currently up for sale and I looked it up on the internet: £325,000. But I understand that most of them are holiday homes for rich Londoners. The credit crunch does not extend to Bray, it seems.
Dinner that night was poached eggs on a pastry crouton with asparagus tips in a mousseline sauce (one of the Queen’s favourites when she dines here, apparently) followed by a venison ‘Wellington’ in shortcrust pastry with wild mushrooms, Hermitage wine sauce and blackcurrant vinegar. I left the wine choice to the sommelier, of course. At The Waterside, they know best.
The ‘carving seminar’ was an eye-opener. I am of that generation which loved to order steak Diane and see it cooked and flambéd at the table, but you hardly see these techniques any more. Apparently it’s down to health and safety and fire insurance and the Waterside doesn’t even list flambé dishes any more, although they’re available to those who ask. I learned a lot, but then had to dash to London to meet Dieter Müller, chef-patron of the eponymous restaurant at the Schloß Lerbach, near Köln in Germany. He’s the latest in a long line of Michelin-starred chefs from Europe to open up in London, and I suggested to him that the track-record was not encouraging: Spoon with Alain Ducasse, l’Atelier de Joël Robuchin, l’Ambassade de l’Île with Jean-Christophe Ansany-Alex have all struggled (and some are still struggling), but Dieter was adamant that London would be his, with the new restaurant Andaman at the St James’s club and hotel on Park Place. Something else I learned: Germany has more Michelin stars than any country in Europe apart from France. Hmm... “The Germans are a strange people, Baldrick. They eat nothing but sausages and their operas last for four days”. Capt. Blackadder, Blackadder Goes Forth, © BBC 1989. Well, maybe not, after all.
All material is copyright. Any comments or editorial enquiries please to john@johnradford.com
04-Sep-08 - An invitation from the Françis Lurton Group saw us on the way to Madrid. The occasion was the official launch of the new bodega in Villafranca de Duero which, uniquely in Europe, is legally permitted to make wines from two different DO zones (Rueda and Toro) in the same building. The reason for this is that the village of Villafranca de Duero lies in an ‘overlap’ between the two zones. Unfortunately it meant arrival at Madrid-Barajas Terminal 4-s, a piece of spectacular monumental architecture apparently designed by someone who had never designed an airport before but had built stadia for marathon race-walkers. The beautiful marble floors lose their charm after an hour of trudging, and the satellite is so far away from the main building that it has its own underground train. I have been researching London to Madrid by rail and it is, after all, possible. Perhaps next time.
Anyway, the Lurton bash was suitably buoyant: we were picked up by a cab at Barajas, and stayed at the Hotel El Montico in Tordesillas (2 hours’ drive). This is a pleasant place in a pine forest, and we had a free day before the evening dinner at the bodega, and explored the beautiful little old town, having lunch in a tapas bar on the main shopping street. The dinner was a spectacular affair with son-et-lumière, a strolling magician and (mercifully) short speeches. Several of ‘the usual suspects’ were there, including John and Nelly Salvi from Bordeaux, Baudoin Havaux and the drop-dead-gorgeous Miryam from the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and several people whom I knew quite well but simply couldn’t shake their names from the recesses of the brain.
The following day we drove from Tordesillas to Pinhão in Portugal (4 hours!), and the Quinta Beira Douro, a recent Lurton acquisition. Access was by boat from the jetty at Pinhão, and included a wild clamber over another boat and up a muddy slope with only trees to hang on to: Jill was not impressed. However, we had a convivial lunch under orange trees in the garden of the Quinta, and blagged a ride back in a 4wd Mercedes to avoid another crack at the muddy slope. This proved to be a bonus as, although the unmade roads with their sheer-drop sides were a bit scary, the views across the terraces and the river were spectacular. Jill had never been to the Cima Corgo before and, although I’d tried to describe it to her, it really defies description unless you see it with your own eyes.
We stayed the night at the Hotel Quinta do Silval, about 6 km north of Pinhão, which is a brand-new addition to an existing Quinta (which still makes its own wine), set right amid terraced vineyards, with spectacular views. That evening we chickened out of the organised dinner at Chanceleiros (which is another beautiful spot: I stayed there a couple of years ago), and had dinner on the balcony of the hotel, overlooking the vineyards as the sun went down. We ate veal and vegetables and drank the Quinta's own wine, as well as having a glass of their 2003 Vintage Port - magnificent.
Then it was on the move again the following morning, to the Mateus Palace (you’ll have seen it on the labels) near Vila Real. The house is magnificent, of course, and we were briefly introduced to the Count and Countess Mateus, but the main interest was a wine-tasting in the winery next door. The wines were produced by Lavradores de Feitoria, which is a group of young winemakers in the Douro turning out small quantities of simply stunning wines. They were presented by the equally stunning Olga Martins who looks after exports and marketing for the group.
The last stretch (with a pleasant picnic bag for the journey), was to Oporto airport (1½ hours) and the flight back - to horrendous LHR. BUT, our destination was terminal 2 which is the oldest terminal at the airport and, coincidentally (or not!) the only one which doesn’t require Olympic fitness levels to walk from the aeroplane to passport control. So they’re knocking it down, of course, and no doubt it will rival Madrid terminal 4 by the time they’ve finished. Home again in a cab - £70 all the way, which is £10 cheaper for two people than taking the (absolute ripoff - £16.50) Heathrow Express, (ripoff - £4 a single journey) tube and the train home from Victoria. A result!
All material is copyright. Any comments or editorial enquiries please to john@johnradford.com
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