Casillero del Diablo Winemaker Dinner

Casillero del Diablo have been flexing their mass market muscles for some time, sponsoring a premier league football club, putting both Wayne Rooney and the general public through one of the cheesiest adverts since that "Ambassador spoiled us" and rolling out a marketing package the like of which few wine brands can match of which this dinner was the London based event in 2011.

The evening included commentary by Marcelo Papa, the dapper Chilean winemaker and Peter Richards, both a Master of Wine (for which read wine trade Jedi) and genuine authority on all things vineous and Chilean. The wine flowed generously all evening and the five course meal was well prepared and of good quality, though with no highlights to comment on for my part.

Casillero y Diablo is Concha y Toro's mid market brand subject to regular and aggressive discounting at all supermarkets and bearing this in mind, it is well made and an excellent example of the benefits that the much derided industrialisation of wine production has bought us.

It is also a fabulous advertisement for the value that Chile can extract from the viticultural process with it's benign climate, low cost labour that makes hand harvesting an option at lower price points, absence of vintage variation and a scale of production that allows well made drinkable everyday wine to be sold at a price that everyone can afford.

So neither a gourmet feast nor a highbrow tasting evening but I don't doubt that a majority of diners staggered off into the night better disposed towards the brand and more likely to buy it in the future.

Sienna

Sienna is not a name I have come across, restricted as my gluttony is to London and anywhere an hours drive from it. I was therefore relying entirely on the trusty Michelin guide to help me choose a final meal whilst in Devon and there is plenty of competition. It sits amidst Mark Hix's Oysterhouse' Matt Follas' wild Garlic' the Crab House in Wyke Regis and the occasional evening meal at River Cottage which form a gastronomic trail from Weymouth to Bridport like so many edible pearls on the Jurassic coastline. The first had been dispatched earlier in the week, the last was sold out so the fat mans star helped finalise the choice.

The exterior is unremarkable and the interior a pleasant and straightforward small Mediterranean themed dining room. Front of house is pleasantly and professionally dealt with by the chef's partner Elaine Brown, the wine list is limited but offers a worthy variety of choices from both the old and new world.

Bread is home made and excellent, an the quality of ingredients is high but the technical quality of cooking is exceptionally so.

An amuse bouche of courgette tartlets showed a delicacy of touch on the pastry front and was paired with a savoury earthy "goats cheese truffle". Both bought the taste buds enthusiastically to life.

A Panzanella tomato salad with creamy buffalo mozzarella and a rich balsamic vinegar was a deliciously simple dish that relies on sympathetic treatment of high quality ingredients. A main course of loin of lamb and shepherds pie offered lamb two ways with 'peas and carrots' in the form of pea shoots and a silky carrot puree raising a smile both for the touch of humour and the primal satisfaction of a perfectly executed British dish.

Lastly, mascarpone mousse with poached peach on a shortbread biscuit, offered a light and delicate finale of cream and acidity. The cheesecake was rich (perhaps a little too much so?) and creamy whilst Petit fours showcased the chef's broad technical skill and penchant for chocolaterie.

Russell Brown has spent the last eight years nurturing this 15 cover dining room on Dorchester High street so his ability to maintain it must be something of a labour of love. Perhaps the decor and choice of music is a little dated and the noise of buses stopping outside the front window but these gripes become petty once you begin to enjoy the classically prepared french cuisine

It is a pleasure to find that Dorchester can support cuisine of this quality and that the restaurant has deservedly kept the star awarded in 2010.

Hix Oyster and Fish House

On a recent trip on the Dorset Coast we visited the Hix Oyster and Fish House.

This one of Mark Hix's five venues, a brand that is rapidly turning into an watchword for quality British dining. An unusual cross between a chalet and wood fronted conservatory on stilts, it overlooks the Cobb in Lyme Regis from a small deck and through ceiling to floor windows offers a beautiful view of the bay. On our visit, unusually warm British weather tested the ventilation of the restaurant as it does not have air conditioning. This is rarely likely to be an issue in the UK however, global warming notwithstanding.

The menu is straightforward and offers spanking fresh fish cooked simply and served by polite young and slightly nervous staff, perhaps beginning their summer holiday front of house stint in the venue.


The wine list is short and limited, heavy on the new world selections with nary a Sancerre Pouilly Fume or Albarino in sight. The cooking, however simple, is consistent. Chips are good, soft in the middle, crunchy on the outside. Crab salad and crab on toast were both well seasoned and presented. Local Bream and Bass were excellent and served with a good green and hollandaise sauce. Authentically creamy ice cream and refreshing sorbet finished the meal though we had time for a quirky little alcojelly under the name of the "Shot of Hix Fix". Wine mark ups are closer to London levels at 300% at the budget end of the list. This venue has been in place since 2008 and turned tables twice on a summer lunch service so I am sure is proving very successful.

The view through the left of the restaurant jars slightly with that through the front as the former neatly frames the crazy golf course but this is the English seaside and if the view were of the med and the locals were playing boules instead it would seem authentic rather than twee.

It would be easy to attempt a comparison to Rick Steins fish restaurant. The formula is too straightforward to be put in the same category however, aimed as it is at well heeled casual holiday visitors who will not venture far enough down the coast to try the local competition which offers a similar approach for a few pounds less.

In conclusion then, the cost of the meal is perhaps a little high given the simplicity of the food but the quality is there and the location stands out.

York and Albany

From time to time I fail to record restaurant visits here and this is usually for four reasons. Perhaps I have already written about them and am visiting again, they are bland, bad or I had such a wonderful time, I made no notes, took no photos and can type up nothing of note other than "ooohhh lovely". From time to time though, a meal can fall into one of these categories but provoke a comment for another reason.

Launched by Angela Hartnett in '08 with a predominantly Italian menu (hence the adjoining deli Nonna's) whilst she was also creating Murano to the west in Mayfair, Colin Buchan has taken on the role and all trace of his predecessor are now removed from the website.

The menu is described as Mediterranean which in this case seems to touch broadly on Italy, Spain and France, though not specifically the mediterranean parts of any of them, so no bouillabaisse, no Greek or Turkish touches. Main course prices with the exception of the pizza excepted can equal those in the Savoy Grill or Claridges so expectations are high.

The bread was good, service very competent and the dining room at the back of the venue pleasant and well lit. Confit of lamb with carrots and puree was well presented and cooked though a little richer than expected whilst the Ice cream elicited no complaints.

There is an issue however. The layout of a bar at the front with a dining room at the rear means this feels like a very well decorated gastropub but doesn't focus on the typicity of it's food enough to merit the title. Nor can it be thought of as a Ramsey twist on a traditional English pub. For this, visit the The Narrow. The cuisine is perfectly competent however the menu seems confused as does the identity of the venue.

Perhaps the fault lies with reviewer here. Possibly a walk north from Regents Park tube rather than west from Camden Town may have encouraged the elegant townhouse restaurant ambience the website advertises but I suspect the departure of Angela Hartnett has robbed it of the culinary element of this approach. And here is my point. To impress a restaurant requires a focused identity. This can exist whether the food is simple and straightforward such as Maze Grill, a tribute to it's history such as the Savoy Grill or a destination restaurant. In this case it seems absent.

So a lukewarm review here because Gordon Ramsey, for all the criticism he has received, runs some great restaurants. One can't help but feel that the inspiration for the venue has moved on and given the Mayfair prices three miles east of where they belong, there is little to prompt a return.

My First First

This is one of the great pleasures of blogging. You can write whatever you want and no-one can do more than post a snotty reply on your blog, which you can then, of course delete. With that in mind I shall record my first taste of a first growth claret. As a wine bore in the making, this is both a event of geekery, luxury and frankly enormous generosity on the part of a friend who presented this bottle at a recent meal along with a sterling steak and chips (is there a better accompaniement to claret?).

I would love to wax lyrical and roll out a Jilly Goolden like rollcall of tasting notes but rather than fill the screen with the predictable (blackcurrant, cassis, pencil box, lead, spice etc) what actually struck me most was the endless length of this wine, the freshness of the fruit that suggests a good couple of decades of life ahead of it, even at 28 years of age, and a concentration the like of which few now have the budget to enjoy and which I will remember for some time to come.

For anyone who doubts the sheer grandeur of Bordeaux's greatest, if you ever have the chance, indulge.

Cinnamon Kitchen

Spending money in an upmarket Indian restaurant is always a tough sell. Close to the forefront of your mind is the likely proximity of a budget substitute which, if the food quality is poor, acts as your benchmark. This is a reasonable test, as the quality of London restaurants such as Lahore and Tayyabs set a high bar for quality, even if they offer plenty of scope for an improvement in service and location.

Off to Cinnamon Kitchen then, the pret a porter offering from the Cinnamon Club. First impressions were a little mixed. The reception area offered the opportunity to leave your coat on an unattended rack by the front door whilst being assaulted by decade old house music from the club, the entrance to which sits opposite that of the restaurant. The wine list with it's Ramseyesque markups drove us to beer and cider and the waiting staff were a little vague, though undoubtedly friendly.

The food however was good. Welsh lamb kebabs were a good proxy for Tayyabs' Seekh Kebabs, a venison patty was well spiced, the ox cheek was pronounced excellent, the Paneer stuffed chillis turned out to be peppers but proved an interesting side dish whilst the sea bass was served with a plain cup of rice and a fruity curry sauce that was entirely inauthentic but perfectly well cooked.

This is a restaurant which tries too hard to soften the description and impact of its cuisine and seems to assume that an increase in price requires that the dishes be described and presented in a way that is unchallenging to diners or in some way international in outlook. Londoners do not need to be protected from a menu, the origin of which the country has adopted as it's national cuisine and the cost is entirely in keeping with the location in the heart of the city. Cinnamon club changes nothing about its food, but adds layers of service, it;'s sibling should try an informal version of the same approach.

Vinoteca

Vinoteca is amongst the plethora of faithful copies of modern French Wine Bars that serve an eclectic range by the glass and a thoughtful one by the bottle along with well cooked bistro food. Amongst them you'll find 28-50 (an offshoot of Texture) and Terroirs (which has since spawned Brawn). This establishment though was the first of it kind, opening in 2005 and offering a selection that veers closer to the new World than either of it's competitors. Terroirs specialises in "natural" wines supplied by Cave du Preneees and so their best selections are francophile whilst the attraction of 28-50 is the list of more than fairly priced mature wines by the bottle. All offer similarly excellent simple food. Vinoteca also boasts two establishments, one in Farringdon and a second in Marble Arch.

Add to this both the Nicolas Canary Wharf Shop and the wine departments of Fortnum and Masons, Selfridges and Waitrose Canary Wharf who have all installed a wine bar in which to crack open a bottle of recently purchased wine and we have on our hands, a veritable wine bar scene.

Trebles all round I say!