Graeme Jolly

Dingle Dinner

Dingle is a small town in County Kerry on the Atlantic coast of Ireland. Being on the sea of course there are many fish and chip shops as well as a plethora of traditional Irish pubs serving a range of seafood dishes alongside hearty meat ones, to the sound of traditional Irish music.

I ate at a restaurant I’d found in the Michelin Guide, called Chart House.

It’s a restaurant with a simple yet elegant style and without fuss or pretensions. A glance at the menu reveals an imaginative combination of local ingredients which lead the diner to a high level of expectation.

Overall I’d say that although it’s probably the nicest restaurant in which to eat in the town the food generally doesn’t sing in the way the menu leads one to expect. In the words of many a TV foodie, the cooking needs ‘elevating’ to do justice to the feel of the place and to the descriptions on the menu. That said this is good food at the level of a gastropub or bistro.

Although it’s not the purpose of this blog to review drinks, before letting you in on what I ate I should give a shout-out to the outstanding Dingle Gin which I had with tonic while I browsed the menu. A very quaffable beverage with a dry aftertaste. It would be great with a sprig of rosemary sitting in the glass.

And so to the food… I started with Annascaul Black Pudding with Seared Scallop on a Potato and Celeriac Rosti and Apple Glaze. It was nice enough except that the quantity of black pudding was seriously out of proportion to the tiny scallop sitting on top and for the life of me I couldn’t detect the flavour of the apple glaze, nor was I entirely sure what it was supposed to be glazing. A nice touch was the use of the scallop roe which I enjoy but is all to often discarded.

Roast Rack of Kerry Lamb with Dauphinoise Potatoes, Cumin Spiced Red Onion Marmalade and Red Wine Jus came next. This was tender juicy and perfectly cooked lamb of the highest quality. The potatoes were creamy and with just the right amount of garlic and the onion confection was suitably interesting (but I didn’t eat it all). My heart sank though when a side dish of roasted root vegetables was also served. This was completely over the top, especially as it included boiled potatoes. Potatoes on potatoes? Really? Well it is Ireland I suppose!

For pudding I chose, Warm Spiced Apple Crumble with Clove Ice Cream and Creme Anglaise. It was a suitably modest portion of well made and flavoured crumble. The creme anglaise was unctuous (but I’d simply call it custard if it were my restaurant) but the ice cream was delicious. It was my first experience of clove ice cream and I can’t wait to try and replicate it at home.

A quirky touch was the presentation of the bill in a copy of an Enid Blyton novel.

The Chart House, Dingle

July 13, 2017 0

Who’s Giacomo?

The website of this small restaurant isn’t fully functional yet, but it does link to a Facebook page.

The Prison

da Giacomo

River Adda

Last Saturday was cold and wet in this part of Lombardy, so the best option seemed to be to find a nice restaurant in order to while away the hours before settling down to watch some TV and snooze the afternoon away. The small town of Pizzighetone, in the Province of Cremona sits on the banks of the Adda river, which rises in the Swiss Alps before flowing through Lake Como and then on through the Lombardy Plain into the river Po. It was the scene of a major battle in the 18thC War of the Polish Succession but is today a quiet little back water with a collection of old buildings, a pretty crossing over the river as well as a pretty Church.

Keeping an eye on the chefs

Opposite the Church of San Bassiano is the restaurant da Giacomo. A brief wander around the town in the drizzle wasn’t quite long enough to prevent an arrival at the restaurant 15 minutes ahead of the reservation time of 1pm. The restaurant was empty, so a choice of tables was offered. The choice made was of one with a view into the kitchen where a husband a wife time worked in silence to finish their preparations for service. The maitre d’ (owner? Giacomo?) was friendly and welcoming and a nice glass of fizz from Franciacorta was offered and accepted together with a plate of salumi, consisting of Culatello di Zibello and a cooked pancetta which was unlike anything I’d experienced before. It was gossamer thin with creamy sweet fat and a very pleasing smoked taste; the perfect partner to the Culatello with its notes of the farmyard! We were also given a spoonful of quinoa with provolone, a bruschetta and a deep-fried savoury foam!

The menu offered a good choice, with two different tasting menus, one consisting of a meat selection ‘proposta di terra’ and the other more fishy, ‘proposta di aqua’ and also an interesting alla carte section, with a focus on the likes of quail, duck and guinea fowl.

For me, the choice for the first course was Tortelli al “Grana Antico” e caffe ripieni di melanzane violette, e ricotta stagionata (Coffee pasta stuffed with aubergine and aged ricotta and finished with “Grana Antico” cheese and deep fried slivers of aubergine peel). It was delicious, even though I couldn’t detect the coffee element. It’s always good to see something a bit different on an Italian menu. I followed this, not with Faraona (guinea Fowl), as I was seriously tempted to do, but with Veal Kidneys with mashed potatoes. Wow! It hard to imagine how it would be possible to make kidneys taste as yummy and certainly nothing like the overcooked pigs version of school days. They were gently flavoured, succulent and perfectly seasoned. The accompanying sage sauce was well balanced and the buttery mash was as smooth as silk.

Tortelli

Veal Kidneys

I don’t always eat puddings but when the first and main have been so good, its difficult not to follow-on with something sweet.

A saffron poached pear washed down with a glass of Passito was the ideal choice!

Oh and just a nibble of cheese, to taste.

May 11, 2017 1

Wood in the Mountains

The iconic Matterhorn mountain straddles the Italian- Swiss border and overlooks the town of Zermatt in Switzerland (think ‘Night Manager’, recently broadcast by the BBC) and Breuil Cervinia, in the Aosta Valley of Italy. In Italian its know as Monte Cervino and is part of the Monte Rosa mountain range.

Within the fairly undistinguished, save for the view of the Matterhorn, ski resort of Breuil Cervinia, is the restaurant Wood. If you try googling it you’ll find a Facebook page and references to it on various review websites but it doesn’t have its own website. The timber decor is what gives the place its name and it has the feel of a designer Alpine refuge. The Michelin guide gives it a plate (good cooking) and two knives and forks (good standard).

On booking, by telephone, we were told we must arrive at 1230, making us feel grateful that we’d been able to get a table at all but when we arrived at 1245, having telephoned to say we’d been delayed getting out of Milan, the place was empty and apart from our table for two it remained empty throughout the service.

Service from the waiter was generally efficient, if without warmth, but he subjected me to one of my pet hates. It seems that waiters in Italy do not change their shirts often enough and in this case the guy’s black shirt was covered in food stains, presumably from the day before. There’ no excuse for this and it is off-putting. I was also subjected to another torment; the non-conventional placement of cutlery on the table. Often, these days, one finds things set a jaunty angle or everything to one side but at Wood this happened:

The menu looked very interesting indeed and was firmly in the modern idiom and I started with Uovo 60 C, which was described as Egg cooked at 60 degrees with potato foam, marinated egg yolk, thyme and rosemary crisp potatoes. It looked lovely but in reality it lacked any real depth of flavour and the egg was just a little underdone so it didn’t ooze its yolk into the foam to make an unctuous sauce as I’d hoped it would.

Next up was Fish & Crunch, which was scallops, crispy sweetbreads in panko breadcrumbs, celeriac cream and liquorice. The liquorice came in the form of a powder, dropped around the circumference of the plate. If it had been somehow applied to the scallops it might’ve been better integrated into the dish but as it was it added very little to the experience. The sweetbreads were well cooked and tasty but lacked the promised crunch and the scallops themselves were nothing special at all. Scallops are a favourite of mine and I was disappointed not to enjoy them more than I did.

My notes about desert have been lost but looking at the photograph (below) and comparing it to the menu I’d copied, I really can’t match it, not does it evoke any particular memory – good or bad, which sort of sums up the whole experience really.

The coffee when it arrived was cold, not tepid but really quite cold. This is presumably because the coffee machine hadn’t been used since the previous evening and wasn’t sufficiently pre-heated. Replacements were brought and I promptly spilled mine over the white linen table cloth. I apologised profusely to the waiter, which is more than he did to me when I sent back the cold cup of coffee, but he did nothing to put me at ease, rather he silently brought another replacement.

I probably wouldn’t eat at Wood again, the food was well presented but the flavours didn’t live up to the visual experience. I certainly wouldn’t go out my way to visit it again but if you are skiing nearby, and fancy giving it a go, I won’t advise you not to do so. It might be better when it’s busier.

One final good point to note, is that there is no cover charge and wifi is free. I’ve never really understood cover charges, which are no more than a tax for giving one’s custom to a particular restaurant; better to load all of the costs into the price of the food I’d say.

May 1, 2017 0

La Locanda Del Benaco

A couple of weeks ago I was able to spend a few hours on the shore of Lake Garda, in a lovely little town called Salò. Today it’s a quiet sleepy lakeside town but in the heady years of complex Italian politics it was the centre of government of the Nazi-backed Italian Social Republic, sometimes know as the Republic of Salò (1943-1945). Like most forms of Italian extremism it faded and has left this gorgeous little sun-trap in its wake.

Lunch was in a typically unpromising lakeside eatery attached to a 3 star hotel, La Locanda de Benaco.

Initially the main attraction was the combination of views across the lake and the fact that there were tables with partial shade. Being offered a bowl of water for the dogs at the same time as we humans were offered drinks was a good start.

As we hadn’t planned to eat here, no research had been undertaken in advance and so it was a voyage of discovery. The menu was a bit different to most places and as you might expect from venue by a lake, it had its fair share of fish dishes. The meat options though were appealing too.

I started with Battuta di fassona, semi di zucca, uova di quaglia (Fassona beef tartare, with pumpkin sees and quail’s egg). The little fried quail’s egg was so cute and the beef was really tasty and all the better for being served at room temperature and not ice-cold. The pumpkin seeds added a welcome texture. It was perfect starter for a warm spring day, light, refreshing and bright and cheerful on the plate.

One of the problems with having a plate of nice food in front of me is that I want to dive right in and taste it. Writing a blog though requires me to take pictures first. In this case the temptation to tuck into my Guinea fowl with cauliflower cream was too great and alas it was half eaten before I remembered to take the pic. Here it is though, in it’s half demolished state. My apologies!

Guinea fowl is one of my favourites and is know as Faraona in Italy. I like it so much because it has the taste of the chicken of my childhood before they were quite as intensively farmed as they are today and had time to grow on the farm naturally. The skin here was crisp and golden with just one or two dark sticky bits to make it very lovely indeed. The yellow ball in the top left of the photo is polenta, which, I’m sure, would have been cooked to perfection but which I didn’t eat because of my own aversion to the stuff. I will try to learn to like it though – one day!

Matching the food though were the really friendly staff who were attentive without being overbearing and always gave a smile as they passed the table. I’d go back again for that reason alone.

April 5, 2017 0

Random eats

In the modern idiom, I often take pictures of the food I’m eating so I thought I’d share a few recent one’s here.

The first is of probably the best Rhubarb Crumble I’ve tasted, served with custard and prepared by Nadine Horton, an English Classic. Italians don’t make puds like this!

Rhubarb Crumble

Custard

Next up is Steak and Ale Pie and chips in a traditional English Pub, in Cambridgeshire

And finally for today, smoked tofu and carpaccio of duck breast eaten in Koblenz, Germany

March 3, 2017 0

On a whim!

I’ve written elsewhere on this blog that Le Caprice restaurant in London is on my list of top favourites and I was really pleased to be able to visit for the first time in 2 years the other Sunday for lunch (or brunch as they call it). I was passing through London on my way to Cambridge and then the North East of England.

I’ve eaten at Le Caprice many times, too many times perhaps in relation to my income and I hope to do so many times again. It is one of the very few places where repeat visits do not disappoint.

The original Le Caprice was opened in the West End of London in 1947 by Mario Gallati, who had opened The Ivy some 30 years previously. The Ivy, in ‘Theatre Land’ is the haunt of actors playing in the West End theatres and their celebrity friends. It’s sister restaurant Le Caprice is also described by some a celebrity restaurant, and its not uncommon to recognise a face or two from stage or screen; it is however much more than that. It’s a ‘home from home’, generally devoid of tourists and where regular customers are remembered and welcomed as old friends.

The current incarnation of the restaurant began in 1981 when it was bought by restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King who relaunched it and it was following that that its fame spread. It is now owned by Caprice Holdings Ltd who have a portfolio of great London restaurants, including The Ivy, 34, and Scott’s.

Tucked away at the end of a cul-de-sac behind the famous Ritz Hotel, it attracts little or no passing trade. It survives, thrives, on its reputation for high quality, simple food expertly prepared and served in its clean-lined, black and white-themed dining room, reminiscent of something in downtown New York.

The Director is the equally famous, Jesus Adorno, who began his career as a waiter. Jesus has immense charm and when he’s on duty greats every familiar face with sincerity, seemingly as pleased to see an EFL Teacher as a famous actor or an Earl.

Nothing much changes at Le Caprice, yet everything seems fresh. Sure there are occasional minor changes to the decor yet the strong black and white theme with chrome highlights remains, as do the David Bailey black and white photographs which adorn the walls. The menu changes with the seasons, but imperceptibly so. Even after a gap of two years or more the menu to me was discernibly the same and yet updated. There are no radical changes which seemingly respond only to the current foodie fashions, whatever they may be.

Le Caprice makes the best Bloody Mary in the world, in my view. I usually precede a meal there with one, especially if it is Sunday Brunch. Imagine how disappointed I was, when, a few years ago, they made some small changes to how it was prepared and served. Recognising my disapproval at the time, they have, on almost every visit since, remembered my ‘special needs’ and prepared the cocktail accordingly. Now that’s personalised service!

And so to the food. Having been given one of the two best tables (the benefit of being ‘known’) it was a joy to browse the Brunch Menu which ranges from dishes at the breakfast end of things, such as eggs, bacon, smoked salmon etc to a Sunday Roast with Yorkshire Puddings.

I chose Mackerel and Green Apple Salad for a starter, which was served with horseradish mousse and lovely peppery nasturtium leaves. It was presented in an ‘ok’ sort of way – nothing flash to look at and without the over the top, technical flourishes of some places but what an amazing taste! This is the essence of Le Caprice. Taste is king. The crispy skin on the fish gave way to moist, succulent flesh with a flavour that was so incredibly fresh. There was an appropriate amount of background heat and creaminess from the horseradish, cleanly cut-through by the sharpness of the green apple slices. How I wish I could cook like that!

Next up was Slow Roast Suckling Pig which was accompanied by winter vegetable hash and more apples, this time caramelised. I hesitated about ordering a second dish with apples but I adore suckling pig so much that I couldn’t resist. The vegetable hash was a bit like bubble and squeak and packed with earthy flavours, the apples firm and sweet and the pork spectacularly juicy. Maybe I was a bit sad that the skin wasn’t as crispy as it could’ve been but it didn’t stop me being tempted to lick the plate clean.

I love chocolates but I rarely order chocolate puddings. On this occasion through I was tempted enough to order Four Chocolate Fondant with Toffee Popcorn. If I’m honest I don’t think I’ve eaten a Chocolate Fondant before so fed up am I of seeing them on TV cooking competitions. This was a revelation.

Rich, warm, soft (with a suitably crunchy top) and yet not overly heavy (truly). Yum! Yum! Yum!

My only thought now is of when I can return to this most special of places.

March 2, 2017 0

Missing in action!

It’s been a while since I last blogged and in fact this is my first post of 2017 which seems already to be flying past incredibly quickly.

Now, dear reader, I wouldn’t want you to worry that in the intervening weeks since my last post, I haven’t been eating; it’s just that largely I’ve gone on eating the same things and there hasn’t been much to write about. I hope as the weather starts to improve here in Lombardia to get out and about a bit more. I’ve also got a trip to the UK coming up next week and a really special treat for lunch next Sunday.

In the meantime here are a few pictures of one or two things I’ve managed to force down in recent weeks.

English style Fish & Chips and a Pint of Theakston’s Old Peculiar English ale served at Al Faro ‘pub’ in Lodi.

A gorgeous black winter truffle bought at a truffle fair in Grazzano Visconti in Emilia-Romagna

Fettucine al ragu di cinghiale (Wild-Boar) in Pitigliano in Tuscany

A piece of beef fillet which miraculously turned into that classic English dish, Beef Wellington

The nicest veal sweetbreads (animelle) I’ve ever eaten, served with crispy cardoon, potato and a perfectly poached egg. This was my starter at dinner, the other evening, in the 4B restaurant of the Milan hotel Bianca Maria Palace about which I hope to write more in the near future.

February 14, 2017 0

On the Second Day of Christmas…..

The 26th of December, Santo Stefano, is known in England as Boxing Day which was traditionally the day on which servants and tradespeople were given their Christmas-box (a Christmas gift) or the day on which alms were given to the poor. These days its the first day of the ‘January’ sales and a lot of people take to the shops to bag themselves a bargain.

As far as food goes maybe its a good day to eat up meat left over from Christmas lunch (cold-cuts) with bubble and squeak (fried leftover vegetables) and chutney. English friends may well have eaten turkey yesterday or maybe goose, supplemented with boiled, baked or roasted ham. Roast beef is another popular alternative for those who find turkey a bit dry as it can be. This is the time of the year when the British home-cook can produce a vast array of delicious home cooked food.

The less well-travelled of my Italian friends here think that the British live on Fish and Chips and see it as our national dish (whereas in fact it is curry!).

Last week when I was visiting family in the North-East of England I availed myself of that great national treasure, fish & chips. Its available in almost every town and village in the country in places run by native Britons, Chinese, Indians and even Italians (especially in Wales and Glasgow) and whilst the concept is pretty fixed, the quality can vary. There are national competitions to find the best fish and chip shops (chippies) and one, whose origins are in Yorkshire, has even become a national brand with franchises in airports and service stations.

I found a local chippy very close to the hotel where I was staying, in a former mining village called Blackhall on the Durham coast. It’s called Riley’s and I had the most delicious fish and chips I’ve tasted in a very long time. I asked for it ‘open” that is served to take away, on a bed of paper (when I was a child it would have been yesterday’s newspaper). In that way it’s possible to eat it immediately, sitting on a park bench or by the sea or in my case sitting in the car. I’d given the whole thing a generous sprinkling of salt and doused it in malt vinegar. The batter surrounding the cod was crisp and golden, the fish soft and moist and the chips fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. Perfect!

Anyone reading this blog who thinks that my kind of food is only-high end and expensive should think again. There is nothing better on this side of heaven than really good fish & chips. Maybe I should open a fish and chip shop in Italy?

December 26, 2016 2

Montecarlo or Bust? Eggsactly!

I was staying in Menton, just across the border into France the other day and the hotel offered nothing more than the usual rubbish on its buffet so decided to drive the couple of kilometres into Montecarlo in search of something to start the day.

Right next to the famous casino we found a ‘brasserie’ that was serving breakfast dishes, the Cafe de Paris it was called. There were three of us and two of us had fresh orange juice (which was very very good), a different combination of two of us also had what turned out to be tiny cups of ‘American’ coffee and all three of us ordered bacon and eggs.

The eggs, two of them, came in a shallow dish fresh from the oven with two pieces of bacon on top. The egg yolks were just about soft on arrival but the dishes were so hot that by the time a knife was inserted they had become completely solid. For two of us the underside of the eggs were also burned. Given the price, which was very high – it being Monaco – this was a travesty. They were ghastly!

By contrast the previous day we had enjoyed eggs with fresh white truffles from Alba shaved on top. Eggs are such a simple dish and can be delicious or awful!

December 14, 2016 0

My Kind of Food

Sharing stories about the kind of food I like to eat

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