Tasting Menu at Lumiere Cheltenham

I'm not sure how it's ended up like this, but it seems that I visit Lumiere in Cheltenham once every 2 years. The first visit saw me and The Chap have a straight up 3 course meal, the second saw me surprise him with the Tasting Menu there (which you can read about here), and most recently a group of 6 of us went for dinner having the whole shebang - Tasting Menu (£80) with matching wine flight (£50). Having won the Cotswold Life Food & Drink Award for Restaurant of The Year 2015, against Purslane and Prithvi, it was guaranteed to be just as good as I remembered.

After a few glasses of English fizz at - you guessed it - The Grape Escape (see my previous post), we headed over and jointly decided to take the plunge without even attempting to look at the menu. Atmosphere can often make or break a place, and Cheltenham's fine dining scene can sometimes be a bit odd in this respect, but thankfully the restaurant was full and everyone was clearly enjoying themselves... We were also charmed with the pungent but pleasing aroma of truffle, which, as we soon found out, was thanks to the bread rolls (pretty much everyone opted for the truffle one out of the selection).

Some beautifully presented appetizers arrived at the table, though I cannot for the life of me remember what they all were. The inky puffed rice cracker with taramasalata was the stand out for me; there's just something about eating black foods, maybe it's the inner goth in me or something, but your brain kind of kicks in to tell you not to eat it, yet you ignore it and enjoy the eating experience even more. I imagine that that's what eating at The Fat Duck or Noma would be like, but obviously on a bigger scale.

Sweetcorn Veloute, pancetta and parmesan straw was our amuse bouche, with a chilled glass of Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2007. Sweet, salty and smoky, the cheese straw added the crunchy element that is sometimes needed with velvety veloutes. And Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs will always have a place in my heart after we had a bottle of the '98, post-engagement, at 131 The Promenade. The '07 isn't quite as breathtaking - it needs a bit of time - but it's still a stunning English Sparkling Wine.

Laverstoke Park Mozzarella Sorbet, smoked watermelon, chorizo, apple and pickled green strawberries was next. Mozzarella has such a delicate flavour, making it prime savoury sorbet material. Light and summery, it paired wonderfully with the crisp Massaya Classic Rose 2013 from Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

I remembered this next dish from our last visit, and second time round it was just as good; Diver Caught Oban Scallops, pork belly, carrot, orange, star anise, cumin. It's a combination of flavours that just can't go wrong, and the complex, mineral Fuchs Pinot Gris 2012 from Alsace cut through it with finesse.

The award for the most attractive course of the night has to go to the Wild Eyemouth Sea Trout, smoked eel, cucumber, keta, borage. A similar award should obviously be given to the bubble wrap plate; I really wanted to take it home! The trout was cooked beautifully, the smoked eel added some depth to the light dish, and the bursts of intensely fishy flavours from the salmon caviare made it a joy to eat. We were treated to another English wine; Shoreline 2014 from Lyme Bay, Devon. Obviously, from its coastal origins, it desperately wants to be drunk with fish and seafood, and this did it justice.

The Tequila Slammer was a real highlight when we came to Lumiere last, and I'm glad it's still a feature of the menu. Food and booze spliced together with some kitchen wizardry is my idea of heaven, and thankfully, it's nothing like doing shots of that unbranded tequila (probably turps) in sticky-floored clubs as a teen.That said, I'd quite happily do shots of this tequila sorbet; not sure how well that'd go down with the other diners though.

Butts Farm Limousin Veal, carvelo, grelots, borlotti beans, celeriac, morels was our main course, and by far the best of the night; the juicy hunk of veal was so good that I felt like I could eat it all over again instantly after (I'm greedy, I know). Deep, meaty flavours ran through the glossy sauce, whilst all the other components felt quite light, and the fruity, spiced Muddy Water Pinot Noir 2010 from Waipara, New Zealand, tied it all together.

Our first dessert was Strawberries, Champagne and Elderberry. Champagne and strawberries; how very British! And that tart elderberry meringue shard... So good.

Valrhona Chocolate, English cherry, beetroot, coffee; another stand out. Cherries, chocolate and coffee are probably my desert island dessert dream, and here they arrived in various tastes and textures. The earthiness from the beetroot added another layer of flavour, ensuring that this is definitely a dessert for grown-ups. Served with a glass of red Banyuls 2013 from the Rhone Valley; sweet, full of black fruits, with notes of cocoa, it was an obvious choice for the dish.

Lastly, 'Pearl Melba' Souffle, raspberry, sweet cicely and vanilla. I keep persisting, but I really just can't get my head around soufflés. All the elements of a good dessert are there, but for some reason I just don't like them. Light and fluffy, yep, I like that, but combined with the fact that it's eggy and hot, no. The Muscat de Mireval 2013 was great though; mouth watering-ly crisp and floral.

From looking back at my previous post on Lumiere's tasting menu, I'm quite surprised to see so many similarities; I'm glad I hadn't reminded myself before going! I suppose if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but still, after 2 years I'd probably expect a bit more variation. And, although I've got a really sweet tooth, having three desserts seemed like quite a lot, especially as there were sweet or fruity elements in a few of the other dishes too.

Nevertheless, all 6 of us had a fantastic time. It really is one of the best restaurants in Cheltenham, and I'd visit again tomorrow if I could... Though I'll definitely be hitting the a la carte next time.

Burger Night at The Grape Escape Cheltenham

If you follow me on Twitter, chances are you'll have seen me banging on about my new favourite bar, The Grape Escape. I hold my hands up - I'm not even a little bit sorry - it's the best place to have opened up in town for ages. What's more, with a weekly changing 'wine by the glass' list, and the fact that it's just five minutes from home (on Bath Road), I really can't see me getting bored of it - ever. 

I wrote an article about their first tasting event for Vinspire last month; all Californian wines, and all frickin' incredible. I'd strongly suggest you read it *nudge*. 

Anyway, Saturday saw another event at The Grape Escape; Burger Night! The bar doesn't serve hot food, they simply have a fab selection of meats, cheeses, and even cake to go with their wines - so instead they managed to team up with @Burger_lad and @_Miss_Milkshake, along with the guys and girls at Real Burger Cheltenham, in order to bring the dream combo of freshly made burgers matched with some amazing wines.

Phone your request through, order your glass of wine, sip whilst you wait and tuck in once it's delivered. Easy.

I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the best burger I've ever had, however this may be down to my poor choice; I didn't think that you could go wrong with a classic, and I wanted to avoid any crazy flavours that might detract away from the mega wines. Because I don't often choose a burger when I'm out and about, when I do, I want it to be that juicy, still pink in the middle, saucy number, which drizzles down your chin, goes all over your hands, and leaves you feeling a little dirty. Unfortunately my 6oz Classic from Real Burger didn't shame me in such a way, though looking at The Chap tackling an 8oz beast, I think his did the job. I'll know for next time.

As for the wines, we were in for an absolute treat; Ant & Zoe (the owners of The Grape Escape) are big into their Californians, so decided to open some pretty special bottles from their extensive list. At £12 a glass, or £60 a bottle, you just knew they were going to be "the shiz".

I started with a glass of English fizz, whilst The Chap took on the challenge of a whole white wine flight (£12.50), and although I gave him disapproving looks for his decision, it probably worked out for the best seeing as we had to wait quite a while for our food; I've taken note, Saturday night is prime time for burgers!

The Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, 2011, was a clear winner for wine of the night for me. Back in the famous Judgement of Paris, Montelena's 1973 wine stole the show, beating the very best wine that Burgundy had to offer. This 2011 is the 40th vintage of the Chardonnay, and it shows the excellent juxtaposition of the old and new wines of California; powerful oaked Chardonnay (yes yes yes) with a delicious fresh streak of acidity that leaves your gums tingling.

We had a duo of Ridge Vineyards Zinfandels; Lytton Springs 2009 and Geyserville 2010. You can read about Lytton Springs on my recent Vinspire post, but as for the Geyserville, at 14.3% it's a weighty percentage wine without the overly weighty mouth drying effect you might expect. Rich ruby in colour, with ripe and refreshing cherry and plum flavours, it had some lingering peppermint and earthy notes that partnered wonderfully with the salty food.

Other wines we tried whilst the vinyl player was busting out some tunes (yes - this bar is that cool) were the Hirsch 'San Andreas Fault' Pinot Noir 2012 and Copain Syrah Halcon 2009; lucky us! I don't need to tell you how great they tasted, do I?

This was the second Burger Night at The Grape Escape, so there are bound to be more in the future, and they've had pizza nights too if that's more your thing. Check out their event listings online, where you'll find all the details of their tastings, 'meet the winemaker's, and general weekly offers... 

I'll see you at the bar, yeah?

All Smoke & Fire at Stockholm's Ekstedt

Back in June we went on a family holiday to Stockholm. Having booked it months before, The Chap and I, along with my parents, were seriously looking forward to sampling all the authentic Scandi style food; think proper meatballs - without even a hint of Ikea - coupled with lingonberries and pickled cucumber, herring galore, dill fronds fondling everything, and plenty of cardamom buns…

Low and behold, a month or so before our trip, Stockholm was featured in the finals of Masterchef. Now, as you could probably have guessed, food programmes are my thing, so getting this little foodie insight into the city got me extremely excited about the whole thing. The finalists first cooked at Gastrologik, which has a minimalist "new nordic" approach - along with a Michelin Star - and as such, is quite pricey. The second restaurant, Ekstedt, which also has a Michelin Star, seemed to be in a league of its own.

With no gas or electric appliances in the kitchen, every item of food is cooked over the restaurant’s beastly fire pit, in a wood-fired oven or on top of a wood burning stove. And whilst stripping back the kitchen might sound easier than tackling some sous-vide techniques, making gels and foams, or playing with liquid nitrogen, Masterchef showed us that it clearly isn't; the flustered finalists did provide some great TV entertainment though.

After watching it, I immediately urged my folks to do so too, and gaging their response - equally in awe - I decided to book us a table.

Ekstedt is one of those 'blink and you'll miss it' restaurants. Having no bells and whistles on the outside - the reputation is enough - there's just the faint scent of smoke to lure diners in. And once you're in, you'll find some of the best in Scandinavian design; birch, leather, copper and stone run throughout the timbered interior, and with some good tunes in the background, it's both rustic and relaxing. The open kitchen also gives you the privilege of seeing the super stylish tattooed chefs, in checked shirts and signature denim and leather aprons, executing every dish to perfection.

"Dinner at Ekstedt is more than a meal. It’s an experience for life." Using just heat, soot, ash, smoke and fire to infuse flavour, texture, and taste is as old school as you can get, yet here it seems fresh, inventive and exciting. The chefs swear by the Scandinavian wood they use in order to create "superior flames", giving the food a truly unique character – one, they assure us, that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.

With a menu based on ingredients from the sea, forests, meadows and fields, you can choose either the 4 course option (which is what we had) or 6 courses - easy - no tricky a la carte decisions to make! There's also a matching wine flight available, which is deemed "as ambitious as the food"; they buy small quantities of great wines, preferring them to be as natural as possible to compliment the natural flavours of the food. In other words, there are probably some very interesting and somewhat 'funky' wines being served. Trying not to blow all our Swedish Krona in one go, we decided to just get a bottle to share between us; I don't remember the specifics, but it was a cracking USA Pinot.

Almost as soon as we were seated, out came some appetisers; miniature pizzas! A thin, crispy sourdough base, topped with chanterelles, podded broad beans and goats cheese. I couldn't help but think that scaling this up to a full sized pizza would be an absolute dream, and I definitely didn't want to share these mini slices!

More breaded goods arrived at the table in the form of the springiest hunks of warm sourdough. That alone would've impressed me, but the butter it came with made it even better. Freshly churned in-house, it was served in a little dish along with a splash of tangy buttermilk (the by-product of the process of making butter). We were all banging our heads on the table wondering why we'd not thought of doing this before! Needless to say, we polished the bread and butter off pretty quickly - it was too good - and asked for more.

Apologies for the poor photography; we weren't near any windows and it was dimly lit, so my poor iPhone had no chance of being able to take any good snaps. However, our first course was smoked char with beans and Swedish seaweed. I think it shows an incredible amount of skill being able to cook something as delicate as a piece of fish purely on some ferocious flames; it would only take a matter of seconds for it to be overcooked. Smoky, salty, green and fresh, it highlighted the simplicity of the ingredients, allowing each to speak for themselves.

Next was an absolute stunner, beef baked in hay with salsify and ramson capers (seen above too). I consider myself to have had two exceptional beef experiences lately; firstly, that Galician beef at Kitty Fisher's in Mayfair, and secondly, this. A thick black crust around the outside framed the blushing red meat in the middle, and it was making eyes at me as it sat glistening on a separate 'sharing stone'. It was one of those moments when you take a bite and have to put your cutlery down to really think about how bloody good it is; even the strip of fat just melted in the mouth. The caramelised salsify and ramson (wild garlic) capers were an inspired touch, but the beef was obviously the star, and The Chap unashamedly licked his plate clean.

The last of the savoury dishes was controversially a veggie one; you'd usually expect the meaty course to be the 'main'. New potato with truffle and woodfired oven baked onion. The new potatoes weren't like any I'd had before; essentially a salty crispy shell with fluffy carb-y goodness inside - a little like mini jackets, but better - and the onion was succulently sweet. The shavings of zebra-esque truffle did it for me too.

Dessert was frozen yoghurt with raspberries and pistachio. Fresh and clean flavours, combined with a sweet nuttiness and deep, smoky honey notes, ended our dinner on a high, and we all proclaimed to have loved every inch of it.

I guess there's something very primitive about Ekstedt; man hunts food, man makes fire, man uses fire to cook food, etc. And with many restaurants now housing Josper Grills and Big Green Eggs to play with fire and smoke, is this really that different?... Yes, yes, a million times yes. To have nothing else in the kitchen other than fire is exactly what sets it apart, and the fact that it's not overdone is why it's so great. It'd be far too easy to char every ingredient, making the whole menu taste quite samey, but Ekstedt use their creative cooking skills to add delicacy and elegance to dishes, each one permeated with the essence of the restaurant. Just beautiful, and a real eye opener in the Swedish food scene. 

So, if you're cracking out the BBQ this week, crowning yourself king (or queen) of the flames, then you might want to rethink that status; Niklas Ekstedt owns it.

If you're planning on visiting Stockholm, why not take a look at my Vinspire blog post on the best bars to go to...