Review: Riverstation, Bristol

Splendid soup

Splendid soup

Bristol is working really hard to be as hip as London, and there are very cool eateries and drinkeries popping up all over the place. We ended our evening with cocktails at The Milk Thistle, a taxidermy-strewn private cocktail bar that must surely have been teleported from Shoreditch.

And in complete contrast, for lunch we stopped at Riverstation, a restaurant that has been serving modern British food since 1997 in the old River Police Station building overlooking the harbour. And actually, to be honest the clean modern decor and furniture (somewhat unforgiving seats) are looking a bit worn and in need of a spruce up. Nothing needs sprucing up about the food though.

My starter of garlicky sweetcorn veloute with outsized crunchy corn grains on top was monstrously good. Just full of warm, generous flavours, really splendid. Having polished the bowl off, I can’t imagine ordering anything different the next time I come for lunch.

Lovely bit of chicken

Lovely bit of chicken

Things got even better for mains, with a truly succulent quarter of roast chicken on top of a bed of cavelo nero and seeded freekeh. What now? Think of freekeh as a soft grain, like bulgar or quinoa, with a really beautiful nutty/earthy taste. The dollop of plum compote on top of the chicken was a really worthwhile addition, a great relish, rather than the hardly noticed afterthought such things often are. And with a really clear, rich gravy to boot I just can’t find anything to fault about this lunch.

Pudding was simply excellent too. A beautifully translucent piece of white wine poached pear, still holding a firm texture and having a warmly spiced taste. That would have been good enough, but it came with a scoop of bay leaf ice cream. Bay leaf! Ice cream! Why can’t I buy tubs of this stuff? Magic.

I didn’t have giant expectations of Riverstation. It doesn’t appear in any of the hit-lists and top-tens from all the hip blogs and articles about the dining scene in Bristol. But I’m willing to bet you won’t find much better for about £32 a head (three courses without drinks), especially not in the middle of the city. I’ve found my local favourite for Bristol city centre.

Poached pear, bay leaf ice cream

Poached pear, bay leaf ice cream

Review: The White Hart, Somerton

Crispy pig cheek salad

Crispy pig cheek salad

Deep in the Somerset countryside, surrounded by villages glorying in such names as Curry Rivel, Westonzoyland, Butleigh Wootton, Long Load, West Camel and Muchelney Ham (honestly, all within 5 miles!), the sleepy little town of Somerton seems to have gotten off lightly. It was actually once the ancient capital of Wessex and gave its name to the whole county. Can’t accuse me of being light on the research, I have most definitely read the Wikipedia page! Anyway, it’s a lovely spot and the more so for having a good dining pub – The White Hart.

We stopped in for a Sunday lunch, basically at random. It’s got a nicely welcoming dining room, scrubbed tables and stone floors, definitely a restaurant first and pub second (I think they have rooms upstairs). Service was friendly and swift.

The starters looked appealing, so I tried a crispy pig cheek salad. This was a really colourful plate; some big leaves of red and white raddichio with disks of crispy golden breadcrumbed pig cheek along with a vivid amber aioli scattered with deep green capers. The combination worked very well, I’d like all pub starters to be like this. Maureen’s ham hock and Dorset Blue Vinney croquettes were good, the ham and blue cheese combining into a gently funky flavour, with an apple and fennel slaw to lighten it up.

Crummy photo, good roast beef

Crummy photo, good roast beef

We both punted for the roast beef. And we got two generous slices of perfectly roasted beef, pink and soft. The red wine gravy was rich and deeply flavourful, and their horseradish cream was punchy. Nice little Yorkshire pud, very light with a good burnt taste. Greens, roast and boiled carrots, mashed parsnip, all good. The roast potatoes were apparently done in rapeseed oil, and I think I caught the taste. Nicely crunchy outside, but a bit heavy within to be called perfect. Just good.

No room for pudding! List looked good, though. About £22 for two courses without drinks, and I’d say that’s just about right – for what is really jolly good pub cooking and a menu more interesting than many. So if you find yourself somewhere beyond Curry Rivel, near Mudford Sock or Chilton Cantelo, you’ll know where you can stop for a bite to eat.

Review: Rofuto, Birmingham

Edamame over Brum

Edamame over Brum

There’s a lot going on in Birmingham. It’s gradually London-ising. Started with a couple of decent coffee shops. Then some better casual dining options and some street food. Next thing you know, they’ll even get some interesting independent shops. Of course it’s not going to match London – 8 million people are always going to get more choice and quality than 1 million people. But in just the three years I’ve been working here Brum has upped its game enormously. It even seems to have developed a couple of good Japanese options. Top of the heap would be Rofuto.

Literally top of the heap, on the 16th floor of the Park Regis hotel. It’s a large and spacious dining room, and although nicely furnished it does betray its hotel pairing a bit. Service was young, friendly and not very informed. When I asked for some help with the sake menu he kindly explained that there are various sized flasks and this “umeshu” one is sweet and all the others are… more dry. And that was it. He was dry too. I was actually too embarrassed to ask “sooo… is there anyone that can actually help me?” and just ordered at random.

Black cod nigiri

Black cod nigiri

I only mention this just to banish a notion: don’t expect Rofuto to be a hallowed temple of Japanese cuisine like some of the tiny jewels with the eye-watering prices in London. It’s a restaurant above a hotel, and the kitchen produces good Japanese food. Job done.

Our first sushi was of black cod, with a beautifully scorched taste and a powerful miso glaze (dengaku) on top. This was sushi with a bow tie on. The two maki we tried were also very good; nicely crabby and crunchy California roll, and unctuous eel with its own char-grilled aftertaste. Very good nori, nothing chewchewchewy about it at all.

Next up, a skewer of bright pink cherry-smoked salmon off the grill. Hefty on the sprinkled salt crystals in places. Made better by the lemongrass microherb scattered on it (at least, that’s what it tasted like to me). There was also some good asparagus off the grill too. Probably the best cooked dish was the tempura “Japanese fish and chips” consisting of some nice chunks of white fish in a light and scrunchy batter, no sense of oiliness, and some crispy fried strips of yam. It came with a colourful dish of wasabi mushy peas, and a passion fruit tartare sauce, though I couldn’t detect any fruit over the sharp sauce.

Grilled salmon skewers

Grilled salmon skewers

The one dud dish was a salad of config duck and raspberry sunomono with watercress. This was just some ingredients in a bowl, the oily/dirty flavour of the duck clashed with the delicate vinaigrette on the leaves and the halved raspberries were brief sweet bombshells.

They deserve a bonus point for some tasty desserts though. Pineapple off the robata grill with lemongrass sorbet was good, and my lemon and yuzu tart was tangy and delicious with a decent pastry.

On the evidence of our meal, Rofuto does sushi best, and if I came back I’d probably focus on that side of the menu. Only the black cod sushi reminded me of Japan, Rofuto was otherwise the better end of the kind of Japanese restaurant generally found in the UK. We paid about £40 each for what was a complete meal without drinks. That’s verging on the pricey, for the quality, but then again it’s always very fine to be dining with a view.

Eel maki, v good

Eel maki, v good

Review: Pi Shop, Bristol

My pi

My pi

Quick one, this. Pi Shop is the pizza place just opened up next door to Casamia. It’s the second piece in the new Sanchez Brothers culinary empire! Couldn’t be more different to Casamia, though. It’s a clean white space, with rustic Italian ingredients sitting alongside bare wood, plaster and metal. Seating is simple and built for a quick bite to eat rather than a lingering lunch. Perfect pizza setting, then.

Maureen’s pizza was the best muddle of toppings: lamb, courgette, blue cheese and rosemary, prettied up with a sprinkling of petals and citric nasturtium leaves. The lamb was very good, deeply tasty slow-cooked shreds. My topping was simpler; tiny firebombs of n’duja sausage and an egg in the centre. But what about the basics? Well, the tomato sauce was lovely and fresh, but that did give us a bit of a problem. The edges of the pizza base were great, chewy and crispy with that lovely burnt flour taste that makes a pizza great. The middle of the base was just too soft and uncooked.

Now, I’m no expert… (oh hell, did I really just say that?) …but I think the problem was the tomato sauce, which was too wet. Whenever I’ve made tomato sauce for pizza, I’ve always left it simmering until pretty much all the water is driven off. Maybe they wanted a much fresher taste than the deep ruby spread that I end up with? But if you’ve got free water in your tomato sauce, surely it’s gonna make the dough soggy?

Good coffee, and I most certainly enjoyed my pizza – but I’ve had better, and I think that’s down to the dough.

Pretty pi

Pretty pi

Review: Two Cats Kitchen, Birmingham

Wagyu beef and coal oil

Wagyu beef and coal oil

What is “New Baltic Cuisine”? Well, one answer is: it’s the tag line that’s meant to intrigue you into eating at Two Cats Kitchen. Another answer might be: it’s a themed menu that sticks pretty rigidly to the idea of only using things grown or found in northern Europe, with a couple of nods towards traditional Baltic dishes thrown in. A third answer could be: proof that a splendid meal can be had without resorting to tropical or even mediterranean ingredients.

The dining room is stylish industrial-urban, with a bit more character than most such places. Staff are friendly, a young team still getting used to the fine dining schpiel, which was fun. We took the drink pairing with the tasting menu – I can’t really say wine pairing because it included a vodka, a beer, three wines and a sake! So we were looking forward to some interesting cooking to go with that lot.

Crab hiding under a leaf

Crab hiding under a leaf

The amuse was a little crispy potato nest with a quail egg, scrunchy and good. It was dusted with black trumpet mushroom powder which sounds marvellous but did absolutely nothing for me. Either I have faulty tastebuds, or black trumpet powder is better off cooked. Loved the “haladnik” that came after: a ready lurid cold beetroot soup, max flavour and nice choice of summery salad in the bottom.

Goat cheese pelmini were little tortellini-like dumplings, in a sweet onion broth with lovage oil. Those flavours were great, but the pasta was a bit too sturdy for these tiny pelmini. Still good. Next up, wagyu beef tartare dressed smartly with coal oil, cured egg yolk(!) and crutons of a dark Baltic rye bread. De-licious. Next up, crab! I can honestly say I’ve never had hot shredded crab with ancient grains (spelt and whatnot) draped with a sheet of sea lettuce in a dashi broth. Like a weird prehistoric crab risotto by way of Japan. In fact this was my favourite dish, it really took me back to the completely alien flavour/temperature/texture profiles of kaiseki meals in Japan, so different from classic fine Western cuisine (even when it uses Japanese ingredients). I’m waffling.

Good lamb!

Good lamb!

There was a lovely lump of lamb for the main course, pink and juicy and tasting like it was up on the hills yesterday chewing on herbs and hay. Blob of oyster emulsion was a good touch, along with broad beans and samphire, another clever combination with the lamb. Loved it.

Dessert was whacky, and probably not one for your sweet-toothed chocoholic. A big sorrel leaf sandwich full of sorrel and apple sorbet, a hilarious mess to eat! The reprise of sorrel and elderflower under scorched meringue was more dainty and just as tasty. Final dessert was a choux bun with white chocolate, dusted with more black trumpet powder! It still did nothing for me, alas.

I couldn’t help but enjoy my meal at Two Cat’s Kitchen. It’s a cool dining room, and a really inventive menu with a good theme. The food is generally really well executed but even the couple of mis-fires were still perfectly tasty. Loved the original drinks pairings too. For £45 this was very good value, a great evening out. I’d go back.

Bonkers leaf pudding

Bonkers leaf pudding