The Joy of Maze

I was going to make a clever pun but I imagine they've all been done a thousand times before. Gordon Ramsay's Maze is amazing though. It doesn't matter how you feel about the man himself; he's got some sh*t hot chefs working for him and even better waiters. Possibly the best, friendliest and attentive without being snooty service I've had (even better than our first visit). At £24 for four courses and £20 for the cheapest wine, I'm not sure you could beat such value. Final gush; we got a tour of the kitchen without even asking for one!

I ate (in the most simply described way) salmon with beetroot and horseradish, chicken and foie gras terrine, braised beef with mashed potato and a banana and pecan parfait. Delightful.

TOWIE Spotting

Off we trotted to the now famous Brentwood in Essex to Tarantino's; an Italian restaurant which, I'm reliably informed, has entertained the likes of Sam Faiers. Sadly there was no sign of anyone vaguely famous (probably for the best after sharing two bottles of Dutch courage!). The food was lovely however. Prosciutto, fig and goats cheese for starters followed by veal escalope with spaghetti bolognese (surely two Spag Bol isn't deemed a side dish but it worked).

Yesterday I also ate:
Poached Egg and Bacon on a muffin
Homemade mackerel pâté

Back!

At least I hope to be. I haven't actually been anywhere either and I could give lots of excuses as to why I'm so lame but, let's face it, no one really cares! So just to start us off again here is my dinner...
If I remember rightly, I started off with this when I first began my blog so it's a coincidence it should be my reopening meal. I could check but CBB is about to start. The squid we bought was massive. Luckily I was on guacamole duty so I didn't have to deal with the WHOLE FISH that was inside it. This may sound stupid but I didn't even realise squid had proper mouths let alone one big enough to eat a whole fish (sardine size by the way!). I'm also a little upset that I paid for a fish (in terms of weight) that we wouldn't/shouldn't/couldn't eat. Anyway, dinner was nice but I prefer it with scallops.

New York update to follow at some point! Hopefully.

I Love Autumn

Despite the delayed onset of our week long summer, I've fully bought into Autumn and all the lovely produce it has to offer. So today, wrapped up in my new coat (bought in the midst of the heatwave), I made my way to the third Brockley Market. We were immediately drawn to the earthy, autumnal flavours of the squash and beetroot despite having no idea what we would do with the latter. We also bought a pheasant on a whim with little guidance from the surly stall holder. So tonight we had:

Roast pheasant with Roast Beetroot, Dauphinoise Potatoes and Beetroot Leaves

A first attempt at cooking pheasant and, despite the fear of undercooking it, a successful one. The beetroot leaves were a lot like spinach and the beetroot itself was amazing.  Definitely a regular for the Autumn months from now on.

Other recent eatings include:

Quiche with Salad and New Potatoes

Bit of a bland quiche from Brockley Market sadly.

Game Burger and Chips

Again from Brockley Market; a lot like a venison burger this was very tasty without being too fatty.

Squash Risotto with Pancetta

A new type of squash for us but I'm not sure what type it is.  I preferred it to Butternut though as it wasn't as sweet.

Stinking Bishop and Chicken Liver Pate-a continental lunch

A trip to Simply Seafood in Leigh-on-Sea last weekend included:

Tian of Crab

Roast Monkfish Wrapped in Pancetta with Cauliflower and Potato Mash and a Port Reduction

Lovely food and a great location right by the sea but I'm not keen on the name-it sounds like a range from M&S...

Brockley Market

If there's anything the Brockley/Lewisham area DOES need it's a decent farmer's market, and boy did this one deliver! A wide range of produce with friendly stall holders and a real community feel.

Although the market sounded like it was going to be massive, on arrival there was a slight disappointment that it may not have delivered. It looked small. Not Hilly Fields small but small enough to stem @softlyphotos excitement for a mere second. Once you were in there however, there was a decent amount of stuff which left us wandering around for a good hour.

The stalls that particularly impressed me were the meat and game stalls which had such a variety on offer. We bought Pork and Black Pudding sausages and will be back next week for the Game Burgers. There were also Free Range eggs on offer for just £1 which undercuts the supermarkets by far-shame we had eggs in so none for us this week.

There were two cheese stalls, one of which also sold olives and other bits. We purchased from the cheese only place; Shropshire Blue and Wild Garlic Yarg have surprisingly survived the whole day in the fridge untouched. Their fate is sealed for tomorrow though...

My favourite offering, rather surprisingly, was the Wild Country Organics stall. A fruit and veg stall with a difference; it stocks a wide range of produce that you often can't find in a supermarket. I normally avoid the fruit and veg stalls (I love meat and cheese) but this had such interesting stuff that after buying the courgette flowers I was looking for, we were quickly upsold some sorrel (amazing lemony burst of flavour), mixed salad leaves and tiger tomatoes (at least I think that's what they're called). Lovely, helpful staff and a 'grazing policy' allow you to really know what you're buying and how to use it.

Brockley Honey was a lovely local touch to the market but at £5 a pot we didn't go for it on this occasion. Maybe next time as the bit we tried from the comb was gorgeous. The addition of the bees themselves was a nice touch, especially for the kids.

The one slight negative for me was the bacon sandwich from Red Herring. The bacon had a lovely smokey flavour but for me, the rind was too flabby; a crispier rind would have really improved the texture. In addition I found the bread was slightly dry and chewy and as I had wisdom tooth issues (obviously through no fault of the stall holders) I really struggled with the it. At £4 a pop I felt a bit ripped off and the stall as a whole seemed slightly overpriced (£5.50 for one delicious but small smoked duck breast!!!).

There were a few things I didn't get round to trying and will certainly be back next week and many weeks after that to get my fill. There was some amazing looking bread and the coffee queue (Dark Fluid I think it was called) went right across the market. My one worry is that the stallholders at Hilly Fields will lose all their trade but perhaps the two could join forces. I'm contemplating setting up a stall myself as this is definitely going to get bigger and better. Saturdays in Brockley will never be the same!

All photos courtesy of Softly Photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thestoff/)

Turkish Delight?

Not so much.  At least not on my recent holiday to Dalyan, where despite boasting of over 200 restaurants, it was extremely difficult to find good quality food.  Most disappointing for me was the lack of variety and as someone who normally enjoys Turkish food (I was brought up with the stuff and there's an exceptional restaurant down the road) I found the quality well below par.

As eating out is one of the things that makes a holiday for me, we went self catering with a plan of occasionally using the basic cooking facilities to make breakfast (pasturma is a favourite of mine at home so it was great to buy the real stuff in Turkey) and spending the rest of our time (and money) eating out.  It turns out the breakfast and bread are about the only decent things I ate while in Dalyan.  Perhaps this was due to bad choices from the menu but in general most menus were the same.  My fellow diners seemed more tolerant of the food but agreed that it was not the best they'd eaten.  I found myself dreading the evening meal every day...

A selection of the delicacies I ate:

 Full Turkish Breakfast

This I loved.  I'm a big fan of breakfast anyway and this is definitely my kind of breakfast; I had variations of it in several different places (sometimes boiled egg, sometimes fried) but each time I enjoyed it massively.  In particular, Ceyhan restaurant by the river where they fed the turtles each morning was a highlight.

 Cheese Pies and Greek Salad

This was nice but nothing spectacular.  The feta in the salad wasn't actually feta but rather a Turkish cheese known as 'White Cheese' as far as I could gather.  Not bad but a slightly flabby texture.

 Chicken Shawarma

This may have been one of my worst meals. I've had shawarma before and was very excited about trying it in Turkey.  Unfortunately it was deeply disappointing.  The chicken was over sweet with cinnamon and came with a sweet chilli style dipping sauce-hardly traditional.  If you want to taste a decent shawarma then get yourself down to Edgeware Road and avoid this abomination.  The rice was lovely though; I think it was cooked in butter.

 Bread

The other highlight of the Dalyan delicacies.  A lot of the restaurants had proper wood fired pizza ovens and therefore this delightful, puffy pitta was a great start to most meals.

 Beef and Aubergine Stew

I can't remember the actual name of this but it was mediocre.  The beef was quite tough and I think if it was made with some nice tender lamb it would have been much better. Many of the dishes were topped with the other popular Dalyan cheese, 'Yellow Cheese' which didn't really suit the dish.  The sauce, though ok to taste, was slightly watery and greasy. Yum.

 Ottoman Chicken Stew

Again, the name may not be accurate but this stew was again ok. It had quite a nice taste to it but just wasn't anything special. It was also disappointing as we were searching for Pide (Turkish pizza) in particular and the restaurant tout promised that they served it. He was very apologetic that we didn't get it but considering the amount of hassle you get to go in each restaurant, I really wasn't best pleased.

 Side Dishes

 Pide and Lamacun

These are both types of Turkish style pizza and were quite tasty. 

 Steak

I hate myself for doing this but I gave up on the Turkish food and had a steak.  Cooked medium rare as requested and it was tasty but I must state that I would never normally have a steak on holiday (unless I was in Argentina or France).

 Sea Bream

I was slightly wary of the fish as all of the restaurants had the same few options which made me wonder if it was frozen.  This was cooked simply and tasted fresh so my wariness was uncalled for.

Chicken Schnitzel 

Why I chose this I do not know.  Not only is it not Turkish (and therefore I feel ashamed for picking it) but it was also pretty bland. I didn't enjoy it but one of the many stray cats couldn't get enough of the stuff.

Turkish Tea

Another of the positive things about Dalyan was the tea. Black tea but slightly more fragrant than the leaves you get here, this was a perfect way to end a meal.

Although Dalyan itself is a nice place to holiday, the food was so mediocre (and at times dire) that I wouldn't return. I think I'll try a different part of Turkey next time...

A Little Bit of Lille

I'm an awful blogger. Really bad. But now I've realised the error of my ways (I'm lazy) and am beginning a new chapter in my blogging life story (a slightly less lazy one). Fact is, I hadn't eaten much that was interesting and so watching repeats of Gilmore girls became more appealing. A short break in Lille has rejuvenated me though so here's a blog about what I consumed there.  Starting with:

 Leffe Ruby

I'm not a big beer fan but as we were so close to Belgium I obviously had to have one. This was really tasty, if a little girly.

 Raclette

After walking around Lille for quite a while we came across a cheese restaurant.  We were very wary about going somewhere too touristy and this seemed quite busy with locals. There were obviously the usual French cheesy subjects on the menu such as Croque Monsieur in its various forms but the inclusion of charcuterie swung this for me. It was lovely although a pretty large portion for one (perhaps it was meant for two) and it went cold quickly. Good job I'm a fast eater!

 Elaborate Patisserie from Meert

Apparently this place is famous; I found loads of recommendations to go here before we crossed the Channel and yet when we asked someone where it was he seemed to have never heard of it. It may have been my awful French accent (although I spelt it out for him and he still didn't know it). After much fruitless wandering along the cobbles of Lille, we gave up and went to L'Office de Tourisme (that's Tourist Office for those of you that didn't do year 8 French). Oh they'd heard of it, it was very famous in Lille apparently... All that faff was worth the wait as the cakes here were absolutely divine.  These weren't just tasty sweet treats but works of art in chocolate, sugar and cream. Good job I've given up on my quest for a beach body this summer!

I had the above choux/macarons combo while my co-diners had:

 Caramel Choux Bun

 Elaborate Chocolatey Thing

An afternoon nap at the hotel (Balladins Lille-small, clean, basic, cheap and right in the centre of it all) had been earned by this point and after a freshen up we went downstairs to the next door bar.

 Beer Sampling at Le Trois Garçons

I'd read about this place as being a very good micro-brewery and it was by pure chance that our patisserie stuffed bodies could roll down the stairs to the bar. It actually seemed like a place more for eating than drinking as the only place to sit inside for just a drink was at the bar. The beers were nice enough but they were just too filling for me. Next time I'd be a bit more adventurous and go for the beer cocktails...

Dinner was on Rue de Gand which seemed to be the best road for selection of restaurants. We chose a restaurant which seemed to be dedicated to duck (my research on my return suggests it could be Domaine du Lintillac but I'm not entirely sure). My starter was:

 Foie Gras Pate

A nice pate but the side salad was unnecessary.

 Confit Duck with Fried Potatoes 

...and more of the salad! Aside from the salad overload the duck was cooked very well and the potatoes were lovely and garlicky. We didn't have pud as we were still recovering from Meert!

The next day involved a trip to the market which involved the purchase of A LOT of cheese. The speciality in Lille is Maroilles (which I pronounced incredibly incorrectly when asking for it-French fail) and as well as a bit of the cheese, we also brought home a Maroiles quiche. Before we embarked on our Wazemmes Market trip we stopped off for breakfast at a boulangerie nearby and had:

 Croissant and Cafe au Lait (that's milky coffee to you and me)

After a ridiculously long search for moules (a local speciality due to the proximity to Belgium) we ended up back on Rue de Gand and this time picked a random restaurant with a set lunch.

 Assiette de Charcuterie

Great but enough with the salad!

 Escalope de Poulet with a Maroilles Sauce

Another chance to sample the local cheese but yet more salad!!!! 

Tarte Tatin

A slightly soggy version of the classic-thankfully salad free!

After another shop, this time for cheapo wine in the massive Carrefour, we made our way back to London via Calais (a much cheaper way to travel than Eurostar and more convenient if you have a penchant for du vin!). Obviously a tiring journey such as this required a rejuvenating platter of cheese and pate before bed. Phew!