Dish of the Month- November 2012

[Paprikaboy]

Seared fillets of hare with chestnuts and a mushroom and pepper sauce.- Rules

Perfectly cooked , still pink slices of hare fillet. A deep rich sauce of the kind you keep going back to after you have finished the main components. Also a pancake as light as you like.
Superb cooking.

Rules
35 Maiden Lane
Covent Garden
London

[lacemaker]

Rules for me as well - their roast grouse with greens, game chips, bread sauce and red currant sauce.

Grouse cooked perfectly, lots of flavour, the mix of greens and cabbage was so good that my wife stole half of mine straight off my plate, and a wonderful, spicy bread sauce. My only complaint would be the excessive sweetness of the jelly.

[Kavey]

Oh wait, I have another contender... I'm not good at narrowing things down.

Had an absolutely fantastic Sunday roast lunch at The Victoria in Sheen, head chef Paul Merrett though he wasn't in that day. Enormous and perfectly cooked slab of pork belly with superb crackling and all the veg cooked just right too. Bloody great value, friendly service and proper tasty.

[Harters]

That one's handy to know. My trips down south are usually to the Richmond/Brentford area (researching at the National Archives) and I'm starting to run out of new places to try. After a long day with the dusty files, I never want to travel too far but, if my geography is serving me right, Sheen is just down the road from Richmond?

[zuriga1]

Sheen IS right down the road from Richmond. I tried a great sandwich shop in East Sheen last summer after a visit to Kew Gardens. Pickle & Rye has a very good salt beef sandwich, not to mention daily soups that are worth a go. I only wish I lived closer to that area.I'm not biased at all, but the owner grew up close to where I did.

[Kavey]

Yes indeed. It's not my neck of the woods but as my sister lives in that direction, it was very handy. My first visit was a (PR) review, and we had a really superb dinner.

So when my sister and I wanted to meet somewhere to celebrate our shared birthday, I suggested this place. We opted for a relaxed Sunday lunch and it was great. Another bonus is that, in the pub side, dogs are allowed, so my sister and her BF could bring their little dog. In the attached conservatory, which is very slightly more formal, but offers the same menu, no dogs are allowed.

[Kavey]

Reg’s Guinea Hen, LEEKS and offal. PENNYROYAL and Cowmire cider
~ by Simon Rogan at The Cube, Royal Festival Hall

Reg, by the way, is the farmer who raises the guinea hens... and the capital letters indicate ingredients grown or foraged by Simon / his team.

A moist and juicy piece of breast meat, a more flavoursome leg and a fabulous ragu of liver, heart and gizzard, served with the most amazing baby leeks, a meaty jus laced with cider and drizzled with a vivid green splash of pennyroyal oil, though I couldn't really pick up or describe the taste of the pennyroyal.

There were a couple of other great dishes during the meal too.

And...

Popcorn Chicken Nuggets
~ Jesse Dunford Wood at The Parlour in Kensal Green

Moist white chicken inside a fantastically crunchy coating, which probably has crumbed popcorn mixed in for flavour, served with mayo and popcorn. Addictive.

[Harters]

Reg will be Reg Johnson who raises chickens and ducks at his farm at Goosnargh, Lancashire. Not organic or free range but he seems to have cornered the upscale restaurant trade. It dates back to an early relationship with one time Michelin starred, and onetime northwestern cookery god, Paul Heathcote and his restaurant at nearby Longridge.

Didnt know he was now doing guinea fowl. I'll definitely be looking out for them.

http://gilpinlife.co.uk/goosnargh-chi...

By the by, the link is to Gilpin Hotel - a really good example of the Lake District country house hotel. Restaurant (which is well worthwhile) is open to non-residents for lunch and dinner.

[Kavey]

Yes, it is indeed Reg Johnson of Goosnargh, I didn't include more details as didn't realise they'd be of any interest... he's only very recently started doing guinea fowl, according to Simon...

[abby d]

Martin Wishart's Fregula Sarda - veal sweetbreads roasted in buckwheat, winter chanterelle.

rich, savoury and lick-the-plate-clean delicious.

[Harters]

Was that at Edinburgh or Loch Lomond, Abby?

[abby d]

Edinburgh. There's a report in the recent thread.

[greedygirl]

Pumpkin stuffed pasta at the River Cafe in W London.

[MonkeyC]

Mallard 2 ways (for 2) at the Anchor & Hope: confit legs, roasted carcass, breasts roasted medium rare. Perfectly presented. The confit legs were served on top of braised endive and some kind of semolina-derived polenta substitute.

The rest of the meal was also great but was overshadowed by the mallard: smoked mackerel with celeriac, pickled herring with horseradish and beet root, pear/walnut/frisee salad, cassoulet for two, flourless chocolate cake and a scoop each of ginger and vanilla ice cream.

Anchor & Hope
36 The Cut
Southwark
SE1 8LP

[klyeoh]

I can just "taste" that mallard dish from here - sounds spectacular.

[MonkeyC]

Yes, this was an entirely different species from your Bayswater duck adventures!

[ManInTransit]

Mine would be burrata, parasol mushroom and truffle at Kitchen Table, London

[Kavey]

That is talking to me... in pictures of food, in my head. Gulp!

[mjgauer]

Nice one keeping this series up!

For me, 'T22' ramen at bone daddies in soho - actually all their varieties - I've been back four times in the past two weeks! Average noodles but incredibly tasty broths - both chicken and the pork for the tonkotsu. Highlight has to be the eggs- amazing orange molten yolk and punchily seoasoned exterior. Best ramen I've has outside of Japan (and including some varieties there)

[Harters]

We've not been overwhelmed by the food offerings this month (and are unlikely to be overwhelmed by offerings in the closing days). So, I'll have to vote for the venison fillet and mini venison pie at Gimbals, Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire. But it's a vote I cast without too much enthusiasm - except for it being local Bambi and bang-on for seasonality. And it's helping me to reconnect with venison - something I used to eat often but it fell out of favour with me soem years back.

http://www.gimbals.co.uk/

[klyeoh]

Sounds absolutely delicious! And Rules is such a beautiful space as well.

[Harters]

It's good to see hare on a menu. So rarely done - even by places that happily cook wild rabbit

[Paprikaboy]

Yes I do like hare and the missus had the hare hot pot which was fantastic.
I was going to have it but thought a hare starter and hare main might be a bit much.
Did have rabbit offal starter and braised hare main last time out at St John so maybe I should have done!