Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles

I was delighted this week to see Andrew Fairlie top the Sunday Times list of the 100 best eateries in Great Britain.  It seemed as good a reason as any to dig out these pictures from a couple of years back, and share with you an utterly stunning and very special meal.  

Nibbles

Amuse No. 1

Amuses No. 2

Pressed Mallard & Confit Fois Gras, Jerusalem Artichoke & Pickled Barley

Sauteed Scallops & Sea Vegetables, Oyster Veloute

Caramelised Veal Sweetbread, Braised Swiss Chard, Wild Mushrooms

Tortellini of Beetroot & Squash, Parmesan Cream, Sage Butter

Roast Fillet of Pollack, Iberico Ham & Hazelnuts

Duo of Old Spot Pork, Apples & Burnt Onion

Coconut Pre-Dessert

Chestnut & Rosehip

Hot Chocolate Mousse

Petit Fours

Castle Terrace

What an uncanny knack I’ve got on bad timing for reviews.  Boring old stupid work gets in the way of writing up blogs, and I’ve once again missed the boat on a timely review of a fabulous meal, ingested mere days before Castle Terrace swiped Restaurant of the Year and Most innovative Restaurant at the Scottish Restaurant Awards.

Though to be fair, with credentials like being backed by Tom Kitchin and with Dominic Jack as Head Chef, didn’t we all know that it would be getting laudits before long?  So, it was definitely high time we got ourselves along there.

The décor in Castle Terrace is very similar to The Kitchin, but the space and layout overall feels slightly awkward.  The same style of slick service applies.

Appetisers of crispy squid ink ravioli and mini margherita pizza were nothing special, but then, a liquid filled green jelly blob on a crouton exploded in to a ‘Caesar salad’ when popped in to our mouths.  Mind boggling.

This was followed by another intense taste sensation in the form of a carrot and coriander amuse bouche which was topped with what only can be described as cumin ‘ash’.

 

Starters of squid and crab were both delicate and interesting, as well as being beautifully prepared and presented.  The squid infact turned out to be the absolute stand out dish of the entire meal.

Freshly picked brown crab from Newhaven, served with mango, avocado and black olive.

 

Sauteed North Sea squid, with potato gnocchi, parsley and garlic

Mains of plaice and lamb were both delicious, but each had an element that we just didn’t think quite worked.  Plaice was absolutely perfectly cooked, but the onion puree was quite overwhelming, frankly not that nice either in taste or to look at, and was on the plate in excess quantity.  Lamb was deeply flavourful and succulently pink, but I wasn’t taken with the homely chickpea concoction.  However I’d happily gorge myself on a plateful of those braised shoulder crispy balls.

Poached fillet of North Sea plaice, with a Barwheys cheese crust, crushed 'pink fir apple' potatoes and onion puree

Roast rump and braised crispy shoulder of Inverurie lamb, served with chickpea, cumin and coriander

I wasn't sure what to expect from my pear and yoghurt cake dessert and so awaited it with slight trepidation.   But it was like the best kind of light and refreshing cheesecake ever, and was perfectly complemented by the zingy lemon ice-cream.

Pear and youghurt cake served with lemon ice cream

As soon as we saw they adopted the same trolley approach to cheese as the Kitchin, it just had to be done (although it’s still done best at one of our favourite restaurants, No.1).  While the all blue cheese choice prompted a slight raised eyebrow from our waitress, it did mean we were introduced for the first time to the fabulous Biggar Blue.  Homemade oatcakes and walnut bread were good, but we thought the offering of one tiny square of quince, one stick of celery and two grapes was rather mean.

 

Drinks-wise we started off with a glass of lip-smacking Bille Brut and then matched our lunch with the wine package, which turned out to be an excellent decision.  Not only was it great value but also a fantastic way to try some different wines.  In particular the ‘Antic’ Rivesaltes Ambre fortified wine served with the cheese was a revelation.  

Comparisons with The Kitchin are just unavoidable from the moment you walk in the door, but we just can’t rate it quite as highly due to some main course niggles.  Overall however a hugely enjoyable meal. 

p.s. Co-incidentally we visited Restaurant Mark Greenaway the very next day - review to come - and let’s just say we were surprised that Castle Terrace pipped him to the post in Most Innovative Restaurant of the Year category.

21212

I'm going to be upfront about this.  I didn't want to go to 21212.  My first choice was the recently Michelin starred Castle Terrace, but our usual last minute (well, a couple of weeks in advance) approach to booking meant we couldn't get in.

It might be the garish retro signage or the wordy menu which has always put me off, yet here we were pitching up to the entrance of 21212, the aforementioned signage sticking out like a sore thumb on Edinburgh's majestic Royal Terrace.

The building that houses the restaurant and its 4 bedrooms is just gorgeous.  The sort of Georgian townhouse I would absolutely kill to own.  The decor is all about the tasteful muted tones, but with opulent if a bit overstuffed materials and furnishings. 
 

With our £13.50 glass of Henriot Brut Champagne came some decidedly average nibbles.  Fantastic goddess olives (but I eat these at home with a beer in hand), some crisps, and crunchy things that reminded me of snacks you buy in tubs at the supermarket around Christmas time.  Bread was just awful.  Only one choice, which was white and pappy textured.  Not a fantastic start.

On choosing from the menu, it was easy to try everything given there were two of us and the concept is a choice or 2 starters, mains and puds, interspersed by a soup and cheese course.  The captions beside the pictures below are exactly as written on the menu.

Despite its disconcerting Indian restaurant tandoori colour, 'Spicy Pisces' was delicious, the star being a large plump scallop acting as the bedrock for the plethora of other ingredients.  And here too was our first introduction to what would become the menu equivalent to the unwelcome friend that always turns up at the pub; foam.  Kinda pretty, kinda pointless.

Duck was a bit disappointing.  Cooked sous vide (you'll see a theme developing here) it was evenly pink throughout but still slightly tough and displaying none of the advertised caramelisation or crispiness.  There was no real hint of 'spicy' in the rice either but the omelette element was a creamy triumph.  More foam again, but aside from a cappuccino frother, another piece of kit the kitchen had clearly invested in was a food dehydrator.  This produced more interesting results - the basil leaf adorning the dish having an intensified mentholly flavour.

"Spicy Pisces" 4x Fishes, 4x Mushrooms, Crumpets - Hot & Spicy Jumbo Scallops, Giant Prawns, Barley, White Crabmeat Flakes & Smokes Salmon, Morels, Shitakes, Girolles & Shimeji Mushrooms, Best Truffle Oil, Chilli & Onions, Brown Crab, Ginger & Watercress Sauce, Marie Rose, Buttered Grilled Crumpets.

Crispy Cumbrian Duck Breast, Egg Fu Yung, Spicy Rice - Caramelised Breast of Cumbrian Duck, Baked Omelette, Red Onion Egg Fried Rice, Mange Tout & "Purple Sprouting", Breakfast Radish, Lightly Smoked Soy Sauce Mayonnaise, Wasabi (Oriental Horseradish), Broccoli & Basil Puree.

Soup was layers of veg puree, carrot, asparagus, topped with, you guessed it, a pumpkin foam.  Aside from the as ever pointless topping this was a real taste sensation, with amazing depth of flavour in the veg puree layer lurking underneath.

Soup

We had been advised that there was a third option for the main course, as the pork could be substituted for beef.  This was where we really started to have doubts about whether there was any intention for the dish to marry, or if the point was for each of the individual ingredients forever to be doomed to remain single forever.  Surely they wouldn't just be serving beef alonside all of the accompanying ingredients that you would think had been so carefully selected for the pork?? - Certainly as far as we could reasonably tell - apparently so.

Not only rather unattractively smothered in the orangey sauce, the other half complained that the presentation of the beef dish - piling each ingredient on top of the other - made it difficult to see what he was eating.  He was also by now rather sick of eating out of a bowl.  His beef though was delicious.  The meat this time beautifully cooked sous vide, flavourful and tender.  Lovely veg, but the toulose sausage (originally intended for the pork dish) didn't sit well.  The other half also found the wide two pronged fork provided rather difficult to eat with.  The waiter pointed out that's why they also provide a spoon.  What's wrong with just having a decent fork!!?

(This is the menu for the pork dish, which we chose to have with the beef option) Classical Pork Supper, Old Spot, Tomato & Sage Sauce - Slow Cooked Tender Fillet of "Old Spot" Pork, Sage & Onion, Apple 123, Smoked Bacon, Toulouse Sausage, Lentils & Hazelnuts, Scottish Grown Vegetables, Oatmeal & Black Peppercorns, Potato & Artichoke Puree.

Trout was nice.  That's just about all I can say about it.  I personally don't think cooking it sous vide improves the flavour and texture more than a skillful bit of pan frying.  Macaroni - why?  The accompanying caviar 'pour over' was wasted in my opinion.  The ozone-ness (and supposed smoke) of the caviar lost in the confusion of other textures and flavours.  I should have eaten it separately.

Pink Trout "Macaroni" Rosemary & Chickpea Puree - Slow Cooked Fillet of Young Pink Trout, Saffron Macaroni, Sweet Potato & Chickpea Puree, Duo of Asparagus White & Green, Dijon Mustard Mayonnaise, Crosnes, Fresh Sweetcorn, Pumpkin Seeds, Feta Cheese Cube.

Asparagus, Spinach & Chervil Sauce, Smoked Caviar.

Cheese next - lots of it.  So much so I wondered if the poor waiter who had to tell us what each one was would remember them all.  It was good, but the accompanying biscuits and the pitiful pieces of dried pear, were bad.

Next the bubbling undercurrent of kitch-ness came bursting to the surface when the cow teapot arrived (yes I did just say that).  The milky almondy drink served was very much like the mexican drink horchata.  They drink it as it's a good accompaniment to spicy food.  I've no idea what its purpose was in this context.

We were getting a bit bored by now, and pudding didn't much raise our interest.  If anything the hideous swan/duck dish the 'P's & C's' dish was served in was positively off-putting.

Extra Winter Layers - Winter Layers of Dates & Apricots, White Chocolate & Vanilla, Pecan Nuts, Oatmeal, Icky Sticky Sponge, Saffron, Turkish Delights, Early Grey Anglaise, Crispy Biscuits (A True Turkish Delight)

P, P, P, P, P, P, C, C, C - Glazed Lemon Bake With A Fruit Compote Of Dried Cherries, Golden Pears, Salted Peanuts, Pink Peppercorns, Marmalade & Saffron Poached Fresh Pineapple, Peanut Butter & Vanilla Egg Anglaise, Dried Fruit Crisp.

Finally coffee and some good but surprisingly unadventurous truffles and fudge.  I'm sure everyone mentions it, but the coffee served in paper cups is very good (though nothing to do with the paper cups, which simply keep the coffee hotter for longer).
 

The service is impeccable.  Professional and friendly.  Just a shame that a number of the waiting staff are made to wear what quite frankly can only be described as umpa lumpa overalls, which must be, well, embarrassing.

I do get it.  It's different (for Edinburgh).  It's adventurous.  It's quirky.  But quite frankly I'm not in to different for difference sake.  The ingredients have to work together and while the skill of the chef comes through in the cooking of the individual components, it's lacking in being able to present a coherent plate of food.  There are a number of Michelin starred (and other) restaurants in Edinburgh that I'm just dying to pay a return visit to, but 21212 isn't one of them.

The Kitchin

Leftovers for dinner, so a good chance to post about lunch at The Kitchin a couple of weeks back.

Everybody and their auntie have been to, or want to go to, The Kitchin (the staff were taking a booking for March 2012 when we were there); its popularity and reputation are pretty much beyond question. 

Practically straight off a plane from Mexico, Tom Kitchin's "passion of the season" philosophy brought us straight back down to autumnal Scotland on a plate with a distinct, if delicious, bump.

Call me cynical, but as soon as a chef gains 'celebrity' status (my benchmark for celebrity being Saturday Kitchen!), I do wonder about the time they spend 'at the pass'.  While I would not doubt the competence and quality of his team, it is reassuring that Tom Kitchin's luscious locks could be spotted through the kitchen viewing window both times I've visited.  A member of staff also said I could pop in pretty much any morning if I wanted to get a book signed (the groupie that I am!), which annoyingly I've still not managed to get round to.

Apologies in advance if some of the detail below is sketchy - I forgot to ask for a menu and my memory isn't great at the best of times - I'm blaming the jetlag not ofcourse the rather scrummily dry but flavourful Pol Roger Brut Réserve, or the crisp and fruity Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc we drank. 

Aaaannyhoo, aside from a couple of minor niggles, I was reminded of a further fleeting reflection by a colleague today, who described the service as trying too hard and not 'fun'.  Personally I think this is a bit harsh, and I wouldn't go so far as to say the service in a restaurant should be 'fun' ('though maybe depends on your definition and the restaurant!) but agree there could be some more scope here for 'relating' to the individual customer.  I've experienced this done equally really very well and really very badly in restaurants (including others with Michelin stars), but acknowledge it's tricky and ultimately comes down to personal preference.

So overall, a tiny criticism that should not outweigh the exceptionally high standards of food and attentive, professional service that The Kitchin delivers.  I know I'd certainly be back again in a flash.

 Achingly clear and flavourful consommé, with a perfect nugget of succulent chicken sunk at the bottom.

Gorgeously refined game terrine.  The delicate and meticulously prepared accompanying autumnal fruits and vegetables each retainined their individual characteristics, and complemented the terrine beautifully.  Found the accompanying fried bread (with reduction/gravy?) greasy, and a heavy unnecessary layer on top of the already rich terrine.

Ox tongue, pumpkin risotto, hens egg, toasted pumpkin seeds and (iberico?) ham.  Loved it - a dish sooo all about the textures, which I'm totally in-to.  Although having said that the ham was a bit too crisp in my opinion, detracting from its flavour and scattering excessively spiky shards throughout the dish.

Gingerbread souffle with stem ginger ice cream.  I don't think I'll ever get over my awe of seeing perfect souffle's such as this come out of restaurant kitchens.  Perfectly reminiscent of gingerbread spice, with deliciously complementary - albeit very fast melting (I can sympathise) - stem ginger ice-cream.

And finally to cheese.  I'd be lying if I said I could remember all we tried, but I was relieved (if not unsurprised) that the board did include a fine selection of Scottish cheeses - not just "French and English" (clearly just a slip-up instead of "British") as first advised.