Really interesting article on the current state of London’s higher-end restaurant scene:

Bankers Start Feasting Again at London Eateries, Chefs Say

…and in case you were wondering, yes, yes it’s been me that’s been driving most of this demand. I am truly a Fat-but-charitable-Banker

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You don’t survive as a business for over 300 years without keeping ahead of the game. I suppose. I’ve never been a business and I’m not 300 years old, but it sounds correct. The chaps at Berry Bros. & Rudd would be the ones to ask.

Berry Bros. have been at the forefront of the wine business (surely itself the second oldest profession in the world) for over 300 years, stretching its vinaceous tentacles globally from St. James, London. But this is no sluggish drunken dinosaur; Berry’s was the first wine shop to go online way back in the kindergarten days of the internet in 1994 (2 years before Google was born!).

Innovation and a focus on quality lie at heart of what Berry’s achievements. Mark Ross, Fine Wine Commercial Manager at Berry Bros. was kind enough to spend some time to answering my FatBanker’s Five (which ballooned to seven, as we were having so much fun):

1. Tell me a little about your role at BBR and your history in the industry?
   

   I started working at an off-license when I was at University. I had absolutely no knowledge of wine and can regularly remember buying copious volumes of Black Tower to ease the disappointing university grades! Whilst there, I went on a couple of in-house courses and learnt a little about wine, and my interest developed from there really. I then left university, and a friend who was working at Berry Bros. asked if I wanted to come and ‘learn on the job’ in one of the shops, which I did for a couple of years, and then joined the Fine Wine Dept. Once in the FWD I was responsible for some 600 customers totaling a turnover of 12m GBP per annum. After 3 years doing this, I moved away from the sales side and started my current job which is Fine Wine Commercial Manager. In this role I am responsible for exploring new markets and creating offers for the Fine Wine Team.

2. Are the new markets you are looking into on the consumer or producer side, and how do you go about creating these offers?
   

   Actually, on both the buying and the selling side. We are always looking to improve and expand our ‘New World’ range, and so I like to keep my ear to the ground when it comes to new, exciting producers. However, my primary focus is on acquiring new customers in these markets. We are not so hung-up on the ‘fine wine’ label as such – if we as a team believe the wine to offer pound-for-pound quality verses price to the customer, then we will get behind it. We are very much wine lovers in this company, and as such tend to look at the wine first, and then the commercial viability of it.

3. How are environmental concerns impacting the global production of fine wine: will we see a global-warming-driven increase in UK-based wine production?
   

   We are seeing both merchants and producers becoming much more aware and trying to be more ecologically accountable. There is much talk of the UK becoming a key wine producing market of the future, but this still remains to be seen. Theoretically the soil is in place (certain parts of the south have a similar geological make-up as Champagne) and the winemaking expertise can either be developed or bought in. However, it is very much a ‘what if’ scenario at present.

4. So, you must have tasted a fair few wines in your time in the business; do you keep notes on them all? What are your tips for amateur wine-lovers? Have your personal preferences for wines changed over the years?
   

   Indeed – the real perk of this job is that if you love wine, you do get to taste your way through the great (and the not-so-great) wines of the world. When tasting wines on specific wine tasting trips, I take very detailed tasting notes as inevitably a buying decision or an offer will be based upon my/our tastings. For amateur wine lovers – it’s very important not to get bogged down by the snobbery in the industry. Essentially, (stating the obvious) wine is a subjective thing, and so one person’s favourite might be another’s least favourite – it doesn’t mean the wine is bad! My general tip for getting the most out of wine is as follows: for sub-20 GBP wines, stick to the ‘New World’. You can get great Pinot and Sauvignon from NZ, Chile et al. for less than 20 GBP per bottle, all the way down to 4-5 GBP. For those with a bigger budget, you just can’t beat the classics – Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Alsace etc. – this is where the pound vs. quality kicks in. My personal taste has been fairly eclectic. I go through phases. I started with Bordeaux, moved to Red Burgundy, then White Burgundy and am now going through a ’selective’ North American phase. However, my desert island wine would still be a white Burgundy.

5. What’s the most amazing thing your job has allowed you to experience?
   

   I think the experience of travelling to different regions to taste great wines – sometimes priceless wines – is something that most don’t experience and I feel very lucky to have done that. Also, the great restaurants are something that I doubt I would have experienced under my own steam – or not until I was a bit older and a bit more ‘cash rich’!!!

6. Have you got your own cellar of carefully selected wines? What advice would you give to those looking to do similar?
   

   Yes I have my own collection. It tends to be the case that if you work in the wine trade, you end up spending half of your wages on wines each month! I have about 60 cases (dozen) of wine from all over stored at work – from cheap to fairly pricey, from ready to drink now to needing 10 years, from French to New Zealand. For those that want to start a collection, the important thing is to make sure that you take advice but don’t be afraid to experiment. Collecting for investment is one thing, because there are established ‘performers’ that tend to do well. For drinking, there are the well-known names that would suggest to me some good knowledge, and also some names that would suggest knowledge of the ‘best kept secrets’ (Ridge & Au Bon Climat (USA), Felton Road (NZ), Zind-Humbrecht (Alsace), Ente & Fichet (white Burgundy), Cathiard (red Burgundy), Torbreck & Yarra Yering (Australia), Donnhoff (Germany), Domaine de la Soumade & La Nerthe (Rhone), Moulin St. Georges (Bordeaux) – of course there are others too. The secret is to get the best producers, focus on good/great vintages and not to become totally ’sheep-like’ to one journalist!

7. What are your ambitions for your career within the industry?
   

   My dream would be to end up running a branch of BBR in a glamorous, far-flung part of the world whilst cultivating a fantastic cellar!

What a nice chap. If you’d like to get in contact with Mark or Berry Bros. in relation to wine, pop your request in the comment form below and I’ll get in touch. FB.

We were young and in love and we were in Amsterdam being liberal. Strenuous business it is, being liberal in Amsterdam, but we managed it for whole swathes of the weekend as you might imagine – even the pumping Gloria Gaynor penetrating the walls of Anne Frank house couldn’t dampen our ardour for relaxation.

Good hotel location, placed, as we were, on Prinsengracht in the tardis-like Pulitizer. Long a favourite city for agenda-less strolling, pausing on bridges and ambling along canal banks. Definitely best approached by nibbling, both literally and metaphorically, the best bits around its edges. At lunch we escaped the heat of the day into the coolness of Envy. Darkly modern décor and a hotch-potch of contemporary dishes on the menu. One delicious rabbit salad, one over-salted cabbage and pea soup; bread to die for and a cheese selection that looked the same. Although, I’m not sure this restaurant knows what it wants to be at all…

Much, much later that night, and via a meal elsewhere, we returned to visit Envy’s sister next door, Vyne (see what they’ve done there). Great concept, fantastically executed, it was hard to fathom why this place was not rammed full of the beautiful people (apart from us, of course).

.

Restaurant Sophia, location of our earlier evening meal, was a 15 minute taxi ride out from the centre of the city. Relying on the trusty European Cities Michelin guide to find us somewhere off the beaten track was a good choice. Always nice to get out of the hubbub of a city centre and experience a local’s favourite, Sophia drips the sort of urban chic one might find in the nicer quarters of London’s Notting Hill. Sleek modern design is softened with bare-brick and rich fabrics; a large covered outside terrace provides the perfect evening setting, although the view isn’t the best.

The menu was eclectic, teetering between haute and modern European, with an asian influence. Presentation was borderline molecular and adopted the popular lots-of-smaller-dishes-so-you-can-try-lots-we’ll-call-it-tapas style. An amuse of gazpacho shots and wasabi-dressed watermelon did the job on the tastebuds.

A nice touch was the ‘Sophia Experience’ 5 course tasting menu, reasonably priced at €42.50, which comes with a ‘surprise’ menu presented in a silver sealed envelope. This started promisingly with very fresh, light marinated salmon, followed by a rich but interesting combination of lobster and Moroccan spices, served in a ‘brique’.

The gorgeous fiancée started with some oysters decorated with funky green Tobiko. Pretty unremarkable apart from the colour.

The tasting menu stumbled from its early heights via some slightly faulty execution. The potato fan that came with the halibut was beautiful, but the fish was over-cooked. While the farm chicken was very tasty, the application of the cream sauce was somewhat heavy-handed. Finally, to experience the last dish of the menu would require a €7.50 supplement, meaning the 5 course menu is not really 5 courses at all!

I think, in general, we would return for the atmosphere and style of the place. I’d also probably recommend to friends who had been to Amsterdam once or twice before and fancied something new. The food has ambition, but execution falls short. The staff were lovely and helpful (esp. to non-Dutch speakers) and were liberal with their wine, letting us taste before choosing. Liberal wine, liberal weekend.

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“FatBanker went to bank, went to bank abroad…

Last month business took me to Toronto for a few days banking. Whilst merrily relieving Canadian grannies of their savings, encouraging irresponsible lending, stealing kid’s balloons and generally causing global turmoil – all in a morning’s work us evil bankers, surely? – I built up one heck of a hunger. An exploration of the city’s culinary highlights was in order.

Knowing nothing of the city’s restaurant scene in advance was a refreshing experience (imagine approaching a dinner in London knowing nothing of the legacy of Ramsay, Pierre-White et al). First port of call? Google, Toronto Life and a selection of the active Canadian food blogs.

Whilst perusing various reviews, one name that kept cropping up was that of Chef David Lee, and his two restaurant interests, Splendido and the new Nota Bene. Delving further into the stories and rumours surrounding these two city restaurants it was apparent that Lee (and co-owner Yannick Bigourdan) had taken Splendido to the top of the Toronto culinary tree over the previous 8 years, but were now moving on to concentrate on Nota Bene.

Despite the kind words from both sides, the chatter on the blogs fueled my imagination in casting Lee as the errant husband in this divorce, moving on to pastures new, whilst Splendido, the spurned lover, is left behind to wonder what she did wrong. Indulging the metaphor a little longer, it seemed an apt response on Splendido’s part to tout an eight course tasting menu of Lee’s ‘greatest hits’ – very much the jilted wife flagrantly flaunting the keys to her ex’s most beloved sports car! My dining decision was made.

I can think of only one or two occasions when I’ve eaten properly alone (like, the full on restaurant sit down and order-for-one experience) but I actually quite enjoy it. As a single diner you keep the restaurant on its toes – is he a critic? has he been stood up? Or is he just a fat, greedy, banker looking to gorge himself silly? In addition, whilst I might be mediocre dining company for others, I’m exceptionally good company for myself, so it was in a good frame of mind that I plonked myself at the bar and ordered a Vodka Martini prior to my sitting (aside: am trying to develop as taste for this very ‘grown-up’ drink after being shown how to make them properly on our recent masterclass at Trinity but I still prefer V&T).

Greediness was confirmed with the arrival some short-lived amuse-bouche (the one, dark, photo of which can be found here before I gave up with the camera…that’ll be the martini then…). I have to confess that a tiny nasty dark little parochial part of my warped mind actually wanted the food here to somewhat provincial and lagging that of the top London eateries. After all, Toronto? Canada? No exactly front of the gastro-revolution is it?

I’m happy to say that any foolish delusions in this direction were quickly dismissed; a truffle and Jerusalem artichoke cream tartlet presented the richness of the truffles beautifully whilst retaining a remarkably delicate cream; topped with a light full-taste parmesan-crisp. Heirloom beats with a fine balsamic dressing completed the amuse.

The body of the restaurant itself was a rich warm space with gorgeous deep rosewood floors inlaid with playful golden stars. From my seat I had a sweeping view of the room, a mixture of special occasions and midweek business diners all bathed in a soft glow from the, frankly, beautiful crystal chandeliers.

Even though the tasting menu was a cheffy mish-mash – the dishes being Lee’s, while the execution Victor Barry’s – this was really of little consequence. Some of the dishes from the tasting menu felt a little lost (I’m thinking the pulled pork here in particular, presented as a Mediterranean dish) the overall standard of cooking was equal to the upper end of that from London. Standout dishes on the night (the menu served the while I was there was slightly different to that in the link above) were the Poached Lobster and the Wagu with Sturgeon caviar, the latter a dish displaying the best of impeccable ingredients.

Actually, fantastic ingredients were a feature of the evening. The best dishes were those actually presented in addition to the tasting menu (strike one for them thinking I was critic perhaps!), which included a platter of Duck Prosciutto and, something I’d never had before, Guanciale (cured pig’s cheek/jowl) which was unfathomably-melt-in-the-mouth-good.

The surprise of my evening came with another ‘off-menu’ dish. Entirely unexpected I was served a portion of breaded veal brain with a sauce gribiche. Having never eaten brain (knowingly…I mean, c’mon, I ate supermarket burgers as a kid so probably downed a fair amount of brain) I was a little wary, but threw CJD fears out of the window. Actually, the brain was tender, soft and had a delicate flavour. I was fine with it until I started thinking about it more than I should have, and then had to leave half.

(as another aside, isn’t it funny how sometimes in life you have instances where you come across something that you haven’t had any previously dealings with (it can be anything: a word, an person, a name, whatever) and then having had one chance encounter with it, suddenly another one, or multiple ones appear?!? Same happened to me with the sauce gribiche that was served with the veal brain. I’d never heard of it before I read a recipe on Orangette the other day, and then all of a sudden I’m encountering it again. Sitting on a plate next to my brain, as it were. Anyway, I digress….)

The meal was accompanied by two glasses of wine chosen with the sommelier’s help (although I have to admit the Canadian white went back and was replaced free of charge) and the service was excellent throughout the evening. Although, from what I read, there are other places I would like to try before returning (inc. Nota Bene) I would be keen to return and see how Carlo Catallo and Victor Barry impose their stamp on this institution.

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Some people bemoan Borough Market for being twee, middle-class and expensive. With produce available there as good as this, I couldn’t give a monkey’s what they say…

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(James Ellroy-esque brevity has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of creativity on my part…nothing at all)

Ate here last night. Slick. Manhattan-cum-Farringdon vibe. Couple of glasses of champagne (£7 a pop) to limber up. Warm bread brought to table. Good.

Pleasant meal form the 2-course set menu (£13.50). Seared beef salad starter. Nice horseradish mouse. Pan-fried sea bream main for the TheFatBanker. Nice capers with the fish. Slathered in olive oil though.

My gorgeous date (henceforth known as my gorgeous fiancée!!) had crayfish salad starter, followed by pan-fried mackerel main. Mackerel won the day; gazpacho-soaked croutons were the highlight.

Nice casual place to see and be seen. Hyper-friendly staff. Would recommend to friends meeting to catch up over some food. Should see more gastro-excitement here tonight…

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Decided to add some comments this month…

1. Marcus Wareing: remains the most complete dining experience I’ve had
2. Trinity: this lovely restaurant gets better and better with time – high quality cooking at very reasonable prices in a chic setting – wonderful to have as part of the neighborhood – now hosting masterclasses too
3. Per Se: I’ve thought a great deal about the dinner we had here (the meal was back at Easter and I’m yet to post my blog on it) and my view of it has changed over this time for the better; the best service we’ve expereinced anywhere
4. The Fat Duck: impossible to not thoroughly enjoy a visit here; well documented as one of the very best
5. The Square: class, a little formal to do regularly, but too good to overlook. One of London’s very best.
6. Tom Aikens: raw, powerful cooking; my main of Roe Deer looked like a stunning piece of fresh road kill and will stay with me for a long time
7. Galvin at Windows: very good cooking, very cool surroundings; makes you (and your guests) feel very special
8. The Glasshouse: great cooking, super for lunch on a lazy weekend afternoon
9. Les Trois Garcons: if you live in London, go. Best for a snug Autumn/Winter evening
10. Vinoteca: ok so it’s a ‘wine shop’ but I love the whole set-up here

Worthy Farm is a pretty special place, and Glastonbury is one heck of an experience.

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Should location count in one’s appraisal of a restaurant? The purist* in me wants to say: hell no fool! Just gimme the low down on whether the kitchen and front of house can rock my world, sod the location! Unfortunately, experience (or lack of it) leads me to believe that it’s pretty hard (for me at least) to separate a restaurant’s location from general enjoyment of the place.

Chez Bruce, The Glasshouse, Galvin at Windows; each are obvious examples of London restaurants that are complemented by their location and surroundings. Whether this actually makes these restaurants better than they would be otherwise is a moot point in my mind, as that should come down to food/service/ambience.

But consider the location question from the angle of a professional restaurant critic: which road-weary Michelin inspector is not going to be swayed in his or her review by the charming little station parade at Kew, or the green expanse of park awaiting an after lunch stroll on Wandsworth common? If location can influence in this respect and restaurant with a Michelin-focus should choose its location with great care. This makes the contrasts embodied in Morgan M all the more of an enigma.

The first time we visited this restaurant in July ‘08 I came away struck by what I took at the time to be its obvious vaulting ambition; something that surprised me given its location. A very French, formal and hushed service delivers from the kitchen beautiful, clever, dishes complete with requisite foams, towers, gels. Haute-cuisine done to a very good standard and with a tasting menu that sits behind only Trinity in its value to quality ratio. The only thing holding it back was a lack of atmosphere in the dining room, which was compounded by the slightly stiff waiting staff. Here was a restaurant, I thought (in all my aged wisdom!), reaching for (the) stars.

Coming away from our second visit (not quite enough visits for the-food-blog-restaurant-review-police, sorry) I was no longer convinced I was right before about there being a desire for (Michelin?) recognition running through the core of this restaurant. With a slightly later sitting this time (and a little more ‘buzz’ in the dining room as a result), we experienced a delightful tasting menu designed as a Bordeaux Wine Tasting evening (menu).

While maybe one of the dishes lacked a little something** the rest of the menu was delicious (the Duck with Onion Soubise in particular) and, again, incredibly well presented. My knowledge doesn’t extend to be able to comment correctly on the technical side of the cooking but to my untrained eye, the dishes appeared well executed. More to the point though, the whole experience (including the wine-tasting concept) felt like a restaurant (and chef?) that was taking itself slightly less seriously than before and having a little more fun. Maybe the ambition is simply to produce top-drawer food coupled with classical service and the desire for recognition (stars?) doesn’t feature. It would certainly explain the choice of location…

*actually, the purist in me wants to vomit at the fact that I just wrote the words “one’s appraisal”

**I’m thinking of the Ballontine of Foie Gras in particular – why does this ingredient always have appear on every tasting menu?? – which, whilst accompanied by a lovely Brioche, was unremarkable. Having said this, the maitre d’ was very accommodating in replacing my gorgeous date’s Foie Gras with an alternative tuna dish and took the time to find a decent replacement wine to go with it to boot.

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Recently, I’ve been thinking about ways I might try and improve my palate. My interest was peaked after I read a post or article somewhere (sorry, can’t find it at the mo) about a restaurant critic who practiced identifying different spices through blind-tests in a bid to improve his ability to identify ingredients. I wondered if I might try something similar; the ability to more accurately identify certain tastes can only help in my journey through all things gastro, surely?

The article also got me to thinking about whether it possible to actually become better at tasting itself, as opposed to just being better at identifying those things one tastes. I don’t intend to dwell on the semantics here (snooore!) but I do think there is a difference. Improving my tasting ability should be accomplishable through rote practice, but can I actually train to enhance my taste experience?

I’d be keen to hear anyone’s thoughts on this idea, or on any methods that other’s have tried to improve their palate, however crazy they might be…

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