Chez Nous

Easter Monday and a dinner party at our house.

God, I hate Sainsbury's. It's impossible to plan a meal in advance, you have to just go and see what scraps they have left and then find a recipe to match. Apparently they have invested heavily in a new software system for managing their distribution. The result has been aisles of shelves stripped bare of everything edible for weeks on end - I'll bet their IT manager is thrilled. Incomprehensibly their financial results are actually improving - are they attracting a new breed of customer who is nostalgic for the 1970's or for Soviet Russia? Note to Sainsbury's - I shop with you because you're nearest - OK? The minute we get a Waitrose in Nottingham, I am gone.

I did a Jamie Oliver recipe, North African lamb with a spicy couscous. It works really well as long as you cook the lamb with the lid off (contrary to instructions), so as to reduce the vast quantities of tomato to a puree rather than a soup. The spicy couscous is fantastic - if you thought couscous was boring you need to try this. You have to hand it to Jamie - his recipes do work. They used to say that about Delia Smith but hers were always designed for someone who had 8 hours free to prepare a meal before hubby came home from the office. JO has captured the zeitgeist and his stuff is effortless if you don't count the chopping up.

I see that Jamie, sorry, Sir Jamie is now a member of Tony Blair's cabinet. Just in time for the election as well - the lad's done well. Now that Jamie has fixed the problem of child nutrition I hope he turns his attention to the railways and global warming.

The Skinny Sumo

After visiting an exhibition opening at the Angel Row Gallery, we went out to find something to eat and having an urge for something Japanese, headed for Geisha in Broadway.

Geisha was spookily empty and so dark that I could have done with a torch to find a seat. We asked to see a menu but were handed a list of expensive cocktails instead. When the menu did finally arrive, it was uninspiring and overpriced and we decided to leave and try our luck elsewhere.

Bluu, next door, was full (on a Tuesday?) and could not accommodate us which at least spared this blog from further tedious repetition and we finally found seats at the bar in The Skinny Sumo. I think this restaurant is owned by the people behind The Pretty Orchid, once a fine Thai restaurant but now in complacent decline. It used to be a conveyor belt sushi bar but was losing money and recently converted to Teppanyaki style where the chef cooks stuff up on a hot plate in front of you. Note to self, I must try Ginza on Mansfield Road again which was the first Teppanyaki restaurant in Nottingham and which used to be excellent.

In contrast to Geisha, The Skinny Sumo is like a small, brilliantly lit canteen and the staff appear to be authentically Japanese though what do I know? They're probably from Bulwell.

I tried the "Tokyo" set meal for £15 which consisted of Miso soup, a seaweed salad with a small platter of sushi and a sirloin steak with egg-fried rice and vegetable stir-fry. The food was no-frills, formulaic but competent and obviously freshly prepared since most of it was produced in front of us by a laid-back Japanese chef. The sauces tended towards the MSG-rich sweetness of Chinese food without the invigorating sharpness I associate with Japanese. However, my steak (ordered rare) was cooked absolutely to perfection, something which is distressingly uncommon in Nottingham where even a steak ordered blue is liable to come burnt to a crisp.

It was a good, filling meal and the place was lively for a Tuesday. On the whole I'd say it represents good value though Wagamamma is probably giving them a hard time these days. They forgot our lemon sorbets but soon produced them when reminded and no service charge was added to the bill for four of us. The total came to £87, including 2 bottles of wine, 2 set meals and a couple of a-la-carte dishes including a massive plate of sushi and sashimi.

Harts Again

Well I never got round to finishing the review of Bluu and by now I've forgotten what I ate so I must try harder.

We went back to Harts for a birthday party last Wednesday and while the food was excellent as usual, the service was definitely below par.

A couple of years ago I visited Hart’s for dinner and a very strange thing happened. After I had ordered my food a waiter came and discretely whispered in my ear, “Sorry sir, but the wood-pigeon does come on a bed of crispy bacon rind, will that be OK for you?” I said yes, of course - that is what I ordered. And then I wondered - why the hell did he ask me that? It seemed an odd issue to have raised. Eventually I remembered that our table for six had been booked in the name of “Goldberg” - a Jewish name.

That is the level of service that you used to get in Hart’s, the sort of service that made you, Jew or Gentile, feel like a King. Well they're definitely slipping.

We must have waited an hour for our starters to arrive, a second order of wine arrived almost with the dessert and had to be sent back. And though we sat down at 8.30, we were still eating while the abundant waiters were stacking chairs at 11.30. I don't know what the problem was - maybe the kitchens were short staffed but that doesn't explain the wine. They were quite good about it and removed the service charge from the bill before I had to ask. Still they aren't doing themselves any favours.

Bluu

Who would have thought it? I've been to Bluu a few times in order to drink but I had never considered it as a serious venue for food. It's a chain, with outfits in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Hoxton.
Hoxton? Where is Hoxton? I looked it up on Google and about the first thing I found was Hoxton Alcoholics Anonymous ( AA ) UK. which gave no clues.

Anyway, they have a super-cool location in the Lace Market and a dark, stylish interior into which many interior-design dollars have gone. The music is funky and varied - Motown, Latin-American Jazz and soul. It's not intrusive - you can certainly still have a conversation and the place has a definite buzz.
The eating was a real revelation. I started with a salad of grilled figs with "Mrs Bells' blue cheese". I don't know who Mrs Bell is, but she makes a beautiful creamy blue cheese which goes with figs and a rocket salad like a dream. The four of us shared our starters and the fish soup, grilled goats cheese and a complicated salad of ham hock and butter beans were all excellent.

The wine list starts in the £13 bracket and then seems to rise exponentially into the unjustifiable. We stayed at the bottom end, except for an accidental foray into the £16 Shiraz realm thanks to an error by the wine waiter, for which - I am pleased to say - we were not charged.

My main course was the largest Belvoir lamb shank I have ever seen, served on a bed of red cabbage and mash - perfectly cooked and deliciously warming with temperatures hovering below zero outside. Even the leg of duck looked enormous and this was part of a three-course, £15, menu fixe chosen by one of our party. The smoked haddock came with a poached egg on top. Eggs are one of the best benchmarks of a proper chef and this was perfectly cooked again - all golden and runny....

Oh God, it's 11.30 already and I have to be up at 5.30am tomorrow. I'll have to finish this another day...