Up and coming new menu

Its coming up to Summer here in NZ so we are getting super busy, it certainly has been a hectic few weeks since I made it back to the Restaurant, 1 guy walked out while I was away, so now we are 2 staff members down, its all normal in this trade I guess.(anyone looking for a job??) also a big thank you to Juan and Michiko who looked after the Pastry while I was away, Im so lucky to have two people so dedicated working alongside me, your both awesome.At the same time the numbers in both our restaurants and functions are going through the roof so its all go.

We are however changing the restaurant menu next week , All the berries are coming through,  some new suppliers have appeared on the scene with some great new ingredients, I love summer menus. New dishes with little bits of inspiration from my recent trip to Spain and the introduction of a new concept for the menu, the dessert tasting menu will be updated also, so keep an eye out for the photos of the new menu which will come up over the next.

El Celler Can Roca.

Its pretty much the end of my trip now, Ive eaten in some great establishments, all with there own personal touches that make each one differ from eachother.  Some memorable dishes, and yes some not so.
El Celler Can Roca was my last 'big' experience in Spain. I headed out to Girona after a day in Barcelona, having pounded the streets of La Rambla in the morning, breakfast in La Boqueria and the on a bus up to Girona for Dinner at El Celler de Can Roca at night.

Girona is a beautiful city, Im often envious of the people that live so close to great restaurants such as this.  For sure I wish I did. But in coming to Spain I took my chance and got a table. The 3 brothers Joan, Jordi and Joseph make up such a Talented family, they have built such a beautiful restaurant and I was about to experience what all there hard work accumulates too.

Arriving at the restaurant you walk through there little courtyard where you can look into the restaurant like a giant goldfish bowl, on the other side you can just see the chefs scurrying around getting ready for the service, I was sat promptly and as normal now went for the Tasting menu with matching wines.


13 courses of heaven followed along with 7 snacks to begin the meal, a very cool way of serving caramelised olives start the meal, hanging on a tree, i loved it. so original.
Followed quickly by Anchovy bone crisps, Black Sesame tuiles,  Razor clam Macaroni, trade mark Foie Gras nougat and a tomato and tuna Salad. All great, preparing my taste buds for an awesome meal.
I wont go through every dish, but give you a brief outline. enjoy

The first course was a Cherry soup, with a cherry sorbet and ginger Ice cream centre I think, served with smoked eel . Fantastic, nice and tart, not sweet, The sorbet really refreshing your plate , the eel was nice and meaty.

A 'double' spherification of Herring 'omelette' with a caviar, taking on the mock form of an omelette infact being a liquid centre of pure joy, great flavours, a massive success

Charcoal grilled Sole with Green Olive, Pine nuts, Fennel, Bergamot and Orange, looks simple but the flavours are so refined. faultless

Catalan Cod Pot au Feu.

This Course made the change from savoury to sweet, was one of my favourites written as Charcoal grilled eggplant confit, the smoke coming from the plate gave a great aroma while you ate the dish heightening the flavours, another great savoury come sweet from Jordi Roca. Superb

This is one of Jordi Rocas dishes, he is famous for matching desserts to fragrances, this was an adaptation of Terre by Hermes, a Chocolate Cream with Orange, Jasmine milk, Patchouli Ice Cream Distilate sand and grapefruit cake. You also get a small paper cone with the perfume on to smell after you eat to make a comparison. It was very good.

Petit Fours,Praline, Vanilla, Saffron, Rose and one called Gerd(not to sure about this one)

As you can see I started struggling with the amount of wine a little bit, but the matches were fantastic, luckily i managed to get them written down, otherwise it would have all been lost from memory

I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the kitchen and restaurant, meeting the Chef Joan Roca, Pastry Chef Jordi Roca and Joseph Roca who looks after the front, they really go out of there way to say hello to everyone and put themselves out there, I love the openness that they show.

I dont know about anyone else but I hope this guy will be handing the Roca brothers the third star that is so deserved, they have a fantastic restaurant, a great team of professionals on the floor, knowledge, skill and creativity in abundance. I love the place, and time will tell, I will be so surprised if they don't get it this year.

Arzak

To say I was excited to dine at Arzak is possibly one of the biggest understatements since, since well, Ever!! Arzak has such a massive history, yes its had 3 michelin stars for , get this , 20 years. Thats such an unbelievable achievement in itself, Juan Mari Arzak is the third generation to work behind the stoves there and is passing the gauntlet onto his super talented daughter Elena Arzak. Its incredible to think that it has over 100 years of history. He is probably the chef that has done the most for progressing Basque cuisine. A true Legend of cooking.

I was so happy to have the company of my brother who had nipped over from London for a few days, and we settled to having the Tasting menu, 5 Tapas followed by 10 course to tantalise your taste buds,

The meal was superb, the staff the same and Elena Arzak was so attentive of us from the beginning of the meal, we took a tour of the establishment, through the kitchen and to a very impressive wine cellar with some amazing technology in keeping the wines at the correct temperatures, the kitchen was large and immaculate.

The Tapas were great, there was a Black pudding bon bon tempura,  Lotus crisps with fish mousse  and Rockfish fried in some sort of crispy crust that I cant remember. a great start.

The first course was a figs and foie dish, anything with foie gets the thumbs up from me, and the figs of course went so well with them, the foie had a really thin caramel crisp on top just adding a little texture.

Moving down the menu there was a Potato crisp covering lobster, with a lobster sauce like ive never tasted before,  I love the these spanish chefs that are making the sauces and jus in the restaurants here, so bloody good!! Could just taste the sea.

The main course was a choice of Pigeon, Lamb or,hmmm one other , cant remember, I went for the  pigeon which came with beautiful spheres of rice wine and i think balsamic . blue potato spheres and potato rounds, written on the menu as Perdigones dulces which i believe translates to 'Sweet shots'.

The meal was great, and possibly one of the most colourful meals I've ever had, very striking. It came across as very playful with use of dry ice here and there, flavours were so good and dishes massively balance, Stand out dish for me was the Dulce Lunatico, loved it, it was like a white chocolate and caramel casing(may be wrong there) with a beautiful filling of and Orange gel, and came along with red wine reduction, so good.. the photo above is Chocolate with crystals and colours, A soft ganache with chocolate and rosemary ice cream and many different super thin tuile, simple but tasty.

All in all another fantastic experience fully worthy of 3 stars and for sure worth a special trip.

Elena Arzak is a fantastic host, I even left with a bottle of Rioja as a present from her, shows that

they may be super star chefs but they are kind, caring and above all fantastic chefs, true leaders in our profession.

Spain Trip Almost Complete

My trip and blogs aren't quite complete yet but I feel like writing this part anyway

When I started planning this trip a year ago now I didn't have any Idea how much of an effect it would have on my thoughts on food, service and culture, I didn't know much about Spain and with such a vast history I still dont, but I have touched the surface and will continue to study the country and learn the language when I get back to NZ. I feel touched by the kindness and openness shown to me by the Chefs, front of house staff and people in general. And it is all appreciated.

I've experienced some of the best food on the planet, travelled more in 26 days than i have in a long time, been served by true professionals, learnt so much from watching these waiters/waitresses which will benefit me once I have my own place as the standard in my mind has risen so much higher than anything on offer in NZ, Its amazing what you can learn from observing,  Ive had so much inspiration from the food in the kitchens, been amazed by some of the produce found even in the supermarkets, more so the markets, everyone must fall in love with la Boqueria when they visit it for the first time, I didnt want to leave that market.

For the first time I appreciated Jet Lag, waking me up at four in the morning on my first day in San Sabastian and heading out for a walk in the old town, smelling the baking that was going on was heaven, getting chased around by the guys washing the street was charming, and having these streets pretty much to myself was eerie, but cool.

The Architecture in Barcelona was stunning, I could spend a month there and still have stuff to do, visiting the pastry shops, being surprised to be served by a native of Ireland in Bubo, very interesting, visiting Paco Torreblanca's shops was a great highlight on my way back from staying at Hotel Ferrero and being made to feel so welcome by Rut and Paco was great, and being the only person in the building too. A big thank you to them for that, you dont know how much I appreciated it.(Review to come).

Im Going to go back to New Zealand, with a slightly different idea of what I want my food to be like, what my own style should be, what I want to achieve in the future, but I'm also going back quietly confident that I can hold my own with the skills i have developed over the years although there are things I really want to work on which i will make a priority over the next year
Looking at the work of Quique DaCosta and the Roca brothers at El Celler is what will inspire me most, but the pureness of flavour and technique at L'angle and Restaurant Ferrero will also stick in my mind.

Berasategui, Arzak and Mugaritz of course had a profound effect on my thinking too, especially the broths, consommes and juices, pure flavours and techniques that I have not practiced yet. Sergi Arola in Madrid also a highlight on the trip, Very cool restaurant , great host and sommelier and wonderful food, I  discover a few new flavour pairings there.

The Pinxtos in San Sebastian were outstanding, from the modern Feugo Negro to the more classic, Bar Martinez was great, la Cepe all great. What a great history and culture this country has in food.

So its back to NZ for me soon, Still wanting that illusive dessert restaurant, it will come, and I cant wait, but between now and then Im sure I will be back to visit, maybe not as extreme a visit as this one, 9 dinners in less than three weeks was hardcore!! will need to hit the gym and get on the bike for sure. But its all been worth it, and every penny was well spent :)

Restaurant Martin Berasategui, Lasarte

Alot of people commented before I went to Spain that maybe Berasategui's restaurant may not be worth visiting, that it may be better to save my money for somewhere else, well, Im glad i didnt listen to them, as it was a great meal with one of the best dishes of the whole trip enjoyed there, Great service and a lovely restaurant.

Martin Berasategui restaurant is situated about 20 minutes from the beaches of San Sabastian, probably best to grab a taxi there, as you will want to enjoy the wine matches they do. I opted for the Great Gegustation menu and sat back and enjoyed the meal, with some small dishes coming out, first up was the lightly smoked cod, with hazelnut, coffee and vanilla, nothing to crazy there, great flavours, and a nice espuma.

This was followed by a mille feuille of Smoked Eel, Foie gras, spring onions and green apple, peach Gazpacho with Cockels and Txakoli. Another nice little mouthful or two being advised to finish with the gazpacho.

Then we were down to business, this was the Crustacean and Ginger Jus upon aromas of vegetables, the jus was awesome and full of flavour, the broths, jus, and consomme's i have tried in Spain have been of such a high level, it really has been mastered. the quenelle was a light espuma of what i cant remember, hmm where did i put my notes!!

Moving on to something I do remember and wont forget, One of the best dishes I ate in the month I spent in Spain was this, Squid soup, with squid ink Ravioli(spherification I believe which burst in your mouth and squid tuile, the flavours were fantastic, the soup again a sign of the highest skill level. and the biscuit adding the texture, I could have had another portion of this.

Next up was the Oyster with watercress, Rocket and apple Chlorophyll, which sat just under a fennel and lemon grass cream and Oxallis. The oyster like many I had in Spain was huge, the chlorophyll was very green  and had great flavour, acted as a little surprise under the white on white of the dish.

Next Dish was a plate of fennel on different preperations, nothing to crazy , nice fennel flavours.

Then I had Cheese and Carabana oil bubbles with Endive, Iberian bacon and red onion juice.

Great flavors, almost a posh cheese and ham, the Iberian bacon is always a great flavour, the red onion juice again another fantastic clear soup and the cheese bubbles finished a great dish, using spherification again.

Next up came this dish, a Farm egg with beetroot which i didnt think held much purpose, liquid herb salad which was fantastic and  carpaccio of basque stew and cheese, The dish was really good, the yolk hidden under the carpaccio mixed in with the herb puree, and made a great dish.

Then came the Warm vegetable hearts salad with seafood, lettuce heart cream, and idionized juice, Visually stunning and you got to wonder how long it takes to knock this dish out, many different flowers, leaves and vegetable roots, taking a salad to the extreme with a slightly gelatinised liquid but not overly so, every mouthful was bursting with flavour.

The next dish was a Red Mullet with crystals of Soft Scales, juice of white chocolate and seaweeds, I missed the photo I think just because it was so bloody tasty, The scales had amazing texture with the fish being perfectly cooked, the white chocolate was an interesting combination I hadnt heard of before that worked very well.

Then came the Roasted Pigeon beautifully cooked with pasta, onions mushrooms and truffles, need I say anymore? Though not!!! maybe a bit of Foie would have been nice with it but thats being cheeky,

Pushing on and we have reached the desserts,  A pre dessert of warm and Cold Apples and roots turned out to be a chilled apple drink with a warm foam, in a small glass to be downed all together to get contrasting temperatures. Then came The coal crumbs with Frozen Yoghurt, Strawberries and a lemongrass and passionfruit shot to be drank at the end. Really good flavours, spherification again in the form of strawberries sat on a citrus granite, coal crumbs were like a biscuit crumble and a great smooth Yoghurt Sorbet,

Then Came the Banana and Vanilla stew, with citrics and Ice Cream.this was a pineapple soup, with banana, citrus foam and sorbet, very light clean flavours.

Im Glad I didnt listen to the people that said dont go, Its a great restaurant and I look forward to going back next year, the service was great, the maitre'd really looked after me well and gave me a tour of the kitchen afterwards. Huge kitchen with a shitload of chefs, but all working with purpose.

Mugaritz, Andoni Aduriz

Going back a few weeks I had the opportunity to eat at Mugaritz, not to far from San Sabastian, Dont trust your GPS to get here as mine got me completely lost. But when I got there they made me feel perfectly at home. Its a beautiful place set up in the Hills of San Sabastian, beautiful Gardens, and the restaurant is pristine. They even have toothbrushes in the toilet, thinking of everything!!

They had prepared a Tasting menu for me so I got to sit back and let them take control of me for the afternoon, I had the pleasure of having Jose Ramon Calvo looking after me for the meal. The Service was superb, knowledgeable and fun. I think I have had the best service ever in Spain, NZ sees waiting like the brits, its not really a career to them but like in France, Spain has some fantastic skillful waitstaff.

On to the meal, It started with the Stones,  made to resemble the stones that are placed on the table I guess, was a potato that was wrapped in Kaolin clay which is edible, a fun and quick start to the meal,
This was followed quickly by the minature melons with Goats cheese, which was very crunchy, and cleaned up the palate a little bit.

Next came some little prawns, not to sure of the exact species or age but they were completely edilbe, heads, shells etc, nice little snack. and then we moved on to the menu.
The first course was Roasted Tomato Salad and its own cool water. This was a Roasted Tomato, Served with a Tomato water sorbet, refreshing and clean with good tomato flavours.

At this stage I was looking forward to the meal to kick start and see some fanatastic dishs, the next one up was Oven roasted and Raw vegetables, sprouts and greens with 'emmental cheese'. This dish for me from my knowledge is what Mugaritz is all about, some amazing fresh ingredients, many from the hills around served with a sauce/soup of emmental, The flavours were striking, and the sauce was fantastic, I never tasted flowers and vegetables so great before this dish. 10/10. I loved it.
This was followed on by the some Idiazabal Cheese Gnocci in Salted Pork Boullion, with contrasting herbs, While eating this I was thinking each dish keeps surpassing the previous one, beautiful flavour and texture, I always thought its a bit wanky to put small leaves on plates, the the strength of flavour off the contrasting leaves was so good, much stronger than I expected and the Gnocci I think is made with Kuzu leaving a very pure flavour. Excellent















The restaurant was filling up now but with no detriment to the service, I the next course I had was the Carpaccio, with Idiazabal cheese, and vegetable splinters, Fun dish, The carpaccio is intended to fool you into thinking it is meat but in actual fact it is Watermelon, with sweer and sour dressing, fun dish. Not taste sensation but kept your mind thinking.
Sauteed Mullet came out next, two fillets stuck together with meat glue , with beautiful liver and vegetables, very nice dish. Fish was beautifully cooked and came well with the Garnish

Then I had the baby Octopus, I remember it was a good dish but cant remember the Garnish and it was an extra on the menu for me. Very good flavour, first time for me eating baby octopus. 

Certainly wouldnt say no to it in the future.

 

Up next came a great dish of veal roasted and perfumed with vine cutting embers,thyme salt and crisp radish, As with many of the dishes this was Faultless, the meat was so juicy and tasted so good, with such a striking presentation on the plate, all black.The Radish adding a touch of freshness, loved the sticks. so good

Iberian pork tails was next with beautiful meaty langoustines, with reduced braising juices, and Iberian Jamon, This was one of the best dishes of the night, it had a great wine match which took the edge of the strength of the Pork and braising liqour, fantastically balanced

So I'd made it to Desserts,

First up and my favourite was the Spoonfuls of Clashing contrasts, heavy cream, sweets and leaves,

turns out to be Celery root Ice Cream , with Celery root and fenugreek, Brilliant, fantastic start to the desserts  and I would come back for this dish, Followed by French Toast with Fig leave Ice Cream, This was tasty but I sort of expected a little more from somewhere pushing for 3 stars, It was a nice dish, but maybe not in the same standard as the rest of the menu, Then came  the Mugaritz Tablet, to be honest I cant remember this dish, but I remember it wasnt really for me, i Didnt like the Tablet and the bubbles didnt really serve much purpose, the Ice cream was good, but like i said it wasnt memorable.

   

All in all a great meal, a couple of thing that I didnt get but that may be personal preference as im sure some people would love the ones i didnt. It certainly wouldnt stop me going back, thats for sure.

Not long left till I head back to NZ

Its been a whirlwind few weeks of adventure, and will be heading back to the Southern Hemisphere soon,
So left to write about, restaurants will be up soon, Mugaritz, Berasategui, Arzak, Sergi Arola, Celler Can Roca, and pastry shops, Bubo, Oriol Balaguer and maybe Yann Duytsche, Might also visit comerc 24 if I have time, which is looking slim. and a bit about the Boqueria.

L'Angle by Jordi Cruz

Im a keen collector of cookbooks, many of them are of Spanish Author, mostly the places I have eaten or visited, Quique DaCosta, Torreblanca, Mugaritz, Arzak, got them all, and many more, one of my favourites is Logical Cuisine by Jordi Cruz which he published while he was at Estany Clar and held 1 michelin star. The book is beautiful, so full of information and you can see the reference point in the title, Every dish is logical, so well put together and balance. Now that I have tasted his food I can confirm that it is as good in the dish as it looks in the photos and descriptions in the book.

The Cooking at L'Angle is not the technique driven El Poblet style, and its not a simple 1 star restaurant, for me it sits in the middle, some very clever preperations, some banging flavours and amazing presentation much like the dishes in the book.

My meal started with a 'gin and tonic', which was a served in the form of a light Espuma served at the table, came with Granny smith apples and a lemon sorbet, all in a glass. Nice and fresh, I have a love of Gin and Tonic which certainly helps matters.

Next up was smoked salmon with fried breadcrumbds and Cauliflower puree, a Cauliflower Soup and eel on the coctail stick, ate well. Again the service staff were involved taking of the smoke filled cloche filling the  air with smoke to enhance the flavours using your sense of smell.

One thing that has struck me in Spain, is the Size of the oysters, the ones I have had have been massive, still full of flavour, but its the first time i have needed to cut them up to eat them, again the garnish was Apple is the guise of Criofiltered Green Apple, with touches of olive oil and I think vinegar, Aster, served with Salicornies, Again a well balanced dish, just couldnt get over the size of the oyster

Moving on , and next came the False Golden Egg Sphere, with fried bread, White Asparagus, majorcan Sausage and Idiazabal cheese, Superb dish, full of flavour, the Majorcan Sausage and the Idiazabal cheese tied everything in so well.

This dish was the Fine focaccia of Champignon mushrooms and truffle, with a champigon broth and hazelnut foam in the glass. Very light dish, The light foccacia was more like a filo or file de Bric biscuit wafer, the mushrooms were fresh and full of flavour. And the Broth in the Glass with the Hazelnut foam gave the dish the final kick it needed.

This is one of the dishes that reminded me strongly of Logical Cuisine with a fantastic presentation, this was like a risotto rice that had if i heard and remember correctly been wrapped in Pigeon Carpaccio with with little pieces of foie inside, a parmesan puree, and concentrate of grapevines made up the dish, for me the portion was maybe a little big, but the flavour was bigger, one of my favourites.

The dishes were getting bigger and bigger and i was started to get a little intimidated by the amount of food, but never the less I went on, and I glad I did, this was the Turbot with dried fruits, preserved Tomotoes and Ajoblanco. The fish was nice as was everything on this dish, but for me the stand out was simply the nuts, I absolutely loved the nuts that came with the dish, so tasty, and the ajoblance completed a realy successful dish. again i think i could have done with a smaller portion, but , never the less it was very tasty.

Next up was the Kid Shoulder with Mushrooms, Apple and a great sticky sauce, I missed the photo of this one, quite  heavy but the apple added a nice acidity and got me through and onto desserts

First dessert up was the Fresh soup of melon with yoghurt and citrus peel. just what I needed to kick start me, so fresh, great flavours. Also with this I recieved a small cocktail of elderflower and cava with grape an litchi. Again very fresh and crisp flavours.

Then the killer, Textures of different chocolate and licourice toffee and coffee, I made it through, just and this one was so taste, many textures, many flavours of Chocolate, The licourice didnt stand out to much but the remainder of the dish was fantastic. Also had peta zeta mixed into the chocolate soil which added a bit of novelty and fun to the dish.

The meal finished and I was shown the kitchen with Jordi and his Sous chef, its a beautiful one, amazing oven range as a centre Island, with a nice amount of room to work in, great equipment from the modern rotaval to Roners and other stuff that I want to get, all gone on my wish list. But the chefs were good enough to spend some time talking with me, Jordi communicating through sous chef who became an impromtu Translator.

I was just saying today to a close friend, all the chefs I have met , I have there books, follow the food through its evolution and think of them very highly, but they have been so refreshingly  down to earth and as we all share the common interest of food it makes things easy to chat about the industry and what is happening around not just Spain, but the world. hopefully one of the chefs may come out to New Zealand to visit us one day.

Alicia Foundation

Ive just stayed at Hotel Mon, by Mon st Benet, a 4 star hotel in the countryside situated by a monestary dating back to the 10th centuary, amazing setting, with a modern hotel, Old old Monestary with so much history, (learnt on a tour with the guide Martha, very informative) and beside that you have Alicia.

Alicia is a centre of research on food science, food technology and the latest innovations in cooking, In the workshop(kitchen) a scientist is paired up with a chef and they work closely together to find what , how and why things work and if it can be improved, what else we can do. They work closely with people such as Joan Roca, Ramon Morato and many other of the top chefs in Spain to innovate, improve and keep Spanish cooking at the head of the pack in global terms.

The Board of trustees is headed by none other than Ferran Adria so you know the place is serious if he is involved. But its not just the evolution of Gastronomy or innovating, changing the way we cook or think that Alicia does, they are also involved in educating kids, and have many groups of school kids in to teach them about Nutrition, and food, how it works, why etc. Also working  closely with hospitals, and other health care operations to improve eating habits,  disease prevention and awareness with regards to how our eating habits effect our health.

I had a great show around from the head of Futural Projects, Heloise Vilaseca after the tour of Mon St Benet, and a big thank you to her for showing me the kitchen and lab areas and explaining all about how it works.
Now for Lunch at Jordi Cruz's L'Angle.

El Poblet Night 2

Backto Dinner at El Poblet the next nights with friends, Didier the maitre'd of the Floor was kind enough to organise the classic menu of the last couple of years for me while my friends enjoyed the menu I raved about last night, much busier night as the previous day was a holiday and again had a nice welcome from Quique DaCosta.

One thing I have notice in the Spanish restaurants is the table top is often decorated with some artwork, sculpture or something as simple as stones, nice touch, I loved these little things place around the restaurant

The Restaurant is nice and elegant but has that look that you can tell its been refined so much over the last few years.

.

So onto the food, to start we had the bread, a nice selection of White, Brown and Black olive with a choice of olive oils, and vinegars. The Lemon vinegar is to die for.

This is the mock white Truffle which started my meal, another dish benifiting from liquid nitro, It was a parmesan foam , nitro frozen then rolled in a powder of 5 wild mushrooms. was a good way to start the meal,  was good to see my friends enjoying the menu from last night and so hard not to give away all the secrets before they ate the dishes.and I had the new menu to keep me intrigued to.

This dish was simply called Spring and designed I believe to clean your mouth, Nice salad leaves, Herbs and some tuiles made up the dish

This dish was fantastic, it was the Foie Gras with Rum and Coke Jelly , some frozen citrus and came with brioche toast,  Its been on the menu for many years and its just fantastic, clean flavours and great texture, a nice jelly sat on top of the Foie Gras cream underneath and the citrus cut the fat just enough, Many people come back just to have this dish and I can understand why.

This is a product  I never had before and wish we could get in NZ, Pressed Iberica Ham, got that salty taste but not over the top, Came with white and black garlic, lemon and ham in different preperations. really good, Like i said the first bite i thought it was a little salty but moving through the dish the balance was there, and really made your mouth water.

Now this is the daddy of the prawn world I guess, simple preperation, super simple , but god it was good, just goes to show sometimes if the product is world class you dont need much else, I wish i had a ruler as this guy was massive, and really fought with it with the old lobster claw cracker,

They were cooked in Seawater then chilled in Ice Cold sea water so believe me when i say this tasted so good, fresh and well, just pure.

Onto the desserts and here is the Violet Ice Cream, Aloe Vera, Pineapple meringue, After reading the Quique DaCosta book it was one of the desserts I wanted to try and Emulate, Anyone in NZ if you can get me Violets and Aloe call me. The flavours are good, the Pinapple meringue was full of flavour, not the typical sweet meringue you may be used to. Very good.

And Next up for me was the Lichi, with well Litchi, very refreshing frozen shells, with different textures and flavours of lichi, its refreshing how little sugar they use in the desserts here, it was a good way to wind the meal down and take me on to the last dessert, The Litchi cream on here was so delicate and everything worked so well together,

I cant thank the guys at El Poblet Enough for looking after me and really going out of there way so a big thank you to the Chef and Didier and I will see you guys again soon, hopefully next year, and I will be keeping up on my Spanish lessons Didier,  Two nights, something like 30 different dishes, all great,

Thanks guys

                                                   

Un&VeRSo  loCal

UNiVeRSo LoCal, es el menú gastronómico que Quique Dacosta y su equipo han creado para dar a conocer su visión culinaria, su trabajo

de investigación y su Pasión por la Creatividad.

Un Mundo creativo en el que  la sugestión mental, el Alma y la Espiritualidad, la pasión y el corazón, así  como el nuevo sentido del Lujo, son piezas fundamentales

de una Cocina y la Sala que expresa así sus sentimientos.

 10.10.2009                                                                                                              la Sal

Trufa Blanca del Montgó “Parque Natural de Denia”                                                                                                                                            (ilusionismo  2008)

    Nuestra pasión por la Trufa Blanca de Alba y por toda Italia, nos ha llevado a crear esta Trufa.

Primavera                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     2008

Bruma.                                                                                                                                                              (Expresionismo Abstracto 2008)                                                                                                 

      Las frías mañanas de bruma nos traen aroma a tierra húmeda, hierbas escarchadas, que se reencuentran en nuestra cocina.    

“Moshi de salsa Verde”.                                                                                                                                                  (2009)

Cubalibre de Foie gras, con escarcha de limón y rucula silvestre del Montgó                                                                              (Simetrías 2001)

Azafrán  “Mark Rothko” Salmonete                                                                                                                                         1957/2008                                                                                                                

 Gamba, Roja de Denia.                                                                                                                                       (1992)

                                                                                                                                                           

Cigala de las Rotas                                                                                                                            (Precisa rusticidad 1996)

Cenizas. “Setas a las cenizas”                                                                                                                                                                                                          2009                                        

 El dominio del fuego para cocinar ha sido y es, sinónimo de la evolución histórica del ser humano.Proponemos con este plato el control del fuego por medio de las cenizas. 

la Gallina de los Huevos de Oro                                                                                                                                  (mineralización 2005) 

PRESA IBÉRICA Joselito asada a las brasas de limonero, con terciopelo de su Jamón, ajo blanco y ajo negro en diferentes estados.                         (2008)

Nuestro acercamiento a un producto muy nuestro en horas bajas, el ajo puede ser y es protagonista armónico.                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                          el SuCRe                                                                                                   

Helado de violetas y Aloe Vera                                                                                                                        (2007)

Litchis, bajo cero.                                                                                                                                                                                       (Metamorfosis esencial 2008)

Naranja en invierno                                                                                                                                                                        (2009)
el cítrico más representativo de nuestra comunidad, se expresa desde las frías noches de invierno, con matices agrios y aromas de Rosas y Azafrán.

Paco Torreblanca, Elda and Alicante.

After my meal at hotel Ferrero in Bocairnet I headed back to Javea but stopping at Elda and Alicante to visit Paco Torreblanca's Pastry shops, The shops are beautiful inisde, much like the look of a jewelery shop.  Service staff were great and attentive, and the pastries, chocolates, and of course the Pannetone were all fantastic

Here are some fantastic little gateaux, super delicate, super tasty ,amazing textures and flavours. most leaning towards the chocolate and coffee combo.

The Large cakes, superb

Bonbon chocolate to die for

A lesson in Macaroons, a little sweeter than what I am used to put the flavour was full and strong as well as the filling, beautiful

Paco Torreblanca is one of the old school in Spains Pastry business, many of todays top talents have passed through his kitchens and gone on to great things, After my trip to Hotel Ferrero I had the opportunity to stop in and see his shops in Alicante and the main one Totel in Elda, a small town an hour or so inland from Alicante. 

Torreblancas shops are elegance of the highest quality, the entrance discrete opening up into something you could mistake for a Jewellery shop, The staff are fantastically presented and you can feel the pride and love of working in these centres of excellence. The pastry's, mini Gateaux and cakes are all kept in beautiful glass showcases, kept at the perfect temperature, not to cold, not warm, just right. Moving on to the quality, everything is precise, wonderful glazes and of course looks so tempting, As with many things in Spain so far I left myself at the mercy of the staff, I explain why I come to Spain and ask them to choose the best ones that they love, and I may add a few, so I had a few of the mini gateaux's which were delicate, full of flavour texture and contrasts, he leans heavily towards coffee and chocolate in many of the products, and fresh fruits, everything was good. 

His Bonbon Chocolate were great, perfect shines, soft centres, some liquid, and again flavourful. so tempting and leave you wanting more.  

Then onto his world famous Pannettone, At 24 euro each they are not cheap but after one taste you know what you are paying for, and that is perfection, I took one back to the family that were looking after me in Javea and we enjoyed it with coffee and port, superb, and thanks for introducing me to that combo Evert, so good. In Short these are the places that make this country what it is, he may be a godfather of pastry here, but reinvention and progression means his style is super modern, shops are slick, well oiled and untouchable.  

I must sound like broken record saying everything is so good etc. But at this Standard everything must be this good, otherwise, well I guess you and I wouldnt be visiting there shops, and like many others that are attracted to spending they're money in the shops and restaurant, it may be expensive, but for me its worth it,

El Poblet, Universo

EL POBLET RESTAURANT

You know when you think things cannot get any better, then they suddenly do and your left wandering what the hell just happened, well its been a long time since I thought that, and it was the Fat Duck back in 2003 that made me think it first when I had lunch there and it blew my mind.

                                                                

Well I just spent some time at El Poblet and ate there Univeso Local Menu at night, and holy shit it was unbelievable,  I have just eaten the best meal of my life, so I think I get away with it. The setting in Denia is illusive, the restaurant itself is a masterpiece and the maitre, well he is the man that served me the meal back in 2003 at the Fat Duck, small world it is in our business!!. I knew I would be in safe hands with Didier looking after me for the evening. 





    
  The meal was super technical, It actually started off with something familiar to me, it was a mock beetroot, (a beetroot balloon not to dissimilar to what i do at kermadec) filled with a very light mayonaisse of garlic, beet and olive oil served with different representations of beetroot. I sat back knowing I was about to be wowed. But secretly pleased that I knew and made this preperation many times, how different it is to be sat in a restaurant and eating and not serving in the kitchen






They use alot of tricks in what most of us call the Molecular Gastronomy book, Liquid nitro in abundance, dry ice, spherification etc which put a grin on myself as some publications in NZ would have you believe that these things are last year and out of FASHION haha, I beg to differ and so does every great restaurant in Spain. What does that tell you? That Spain is behind the times or some other people writing about food are living in a dream world and wanting to dictate to others what they should be eating and what us chefs should be cooking? I will let you think about that.

A moshi of Green Sauce was a highlight containing a sauce of clams and other shelfish, served with pea spherification. also a dish that they added on especially for me called 'the living forest'  was for me texturally, taste wise and in presentation the best dish I have ever eaten. It blew me away. It blew every other dish I have eaten here out of the water, even surpassing a squid dish I had at berasategui's in Lasarte which was out of this world.



I had monkfish liver, got to try Denia's famous King Prawns, sweeter and more succulent than any other I have tried. They are fished much deeper in colder water and taste so sweet . Foie gras with a texture I didnt know you could achieve with it, and trust me I have tried my fair share of the stuff in the past. All world class.

Desserts didnt hold back and were very creative, and filling , one paying homage to Paco Torreblanca's Pannetone which I had tried after visiting Totel in Elda the previous day. Truely great!!



Such a great meal finished with a tour of the premises and a chat to Qui Que DaCosta, a truly remarkable chef. I even booked another table for tomorrow to try the more traditional menu. You know the 2007 dishes etc, they're old repoirtoire. yeah right.
Bring it on.

                                                   

Un&VeRSo LoCal

UNiVeRSo LoCal, is the gastronomic menu that Quique Dacosta and his team have created to make you understand, the way he sees the cooking, his investigation work and his passion for creativity. A creative world where the mental suggestion, the soul and the spirit, the passion and heart, form this way the new feeling of luxury which are pieces fundamentals of a Kitchen Team and a Service Team who express their feelings.

09.10.2009                                                                                                                                                                                       La Sal

Beetroot                                                                                                                                                  2009

The Iberian Oyster                                                                                                                                  2009

Tartar of Red Tuna and Mediterranean Sea                                                                                            2009

Moshi of green sauce                                                                                                                              2009

Weird leaves                                                                                                                                            2009

“The Living Forest”                                                                                                                                (2007)

The suggestion is a device and a way to understand the cooking. “The Living Forest” represents perfumes, texture

And products we can find in a walk around one of our forest. Get into it.

“Tripe of Tomato”                                                                                                                                   2009

Wood.  Piece of Foie Gras roasted and allowed to stand with woods.                                                      (Essential 2008)                                                                          where and when does the life of a tree end?                                      

Pink Denia´s king Prawn                                                                                                                        2008

The Coral                                                                                                                                                 2009

Black Monkfish                                                                                                                                        2009

Senia Rice firm and soft, with morels mushrooms from Morella, braised pigeon liver and black truffle.                 2009   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     el Sucre     

The Cherry tree Blossom                                                                                                                         2009

Cantaloupe Melon                                                                                                                                  2009

Stones                                                                                                                                                      2009

On the Road Again

So I'm sat in Singapore's Changi Airport for 4 hours in Transit waiting for my flight to Frankfurt then on to Madrid arriving on Monday morning and heading straight out to have lunch at Sergi Arola Gastro, Cant wait. Was a cruisey flight to Singapore so hoping for the same to Madrid.  Its been a while since I did a long haul flight and am now wishing my Partner, Roselle is coming along for the ride, but instead she is at home working away for a top cafe group in Auckland. Missing you lots. Be patient though, will be home soon:)

It will be my first time in Spain and it seems strange having to travel 30 hours to get there, why I never went when I lived in the UK I don't know!! would have been much easier. Will be nice to see the sun again as its been a bit average in Auckland the last couple of weeks, heaps of rain, So hopefully my scottish complexion will handle the sun and I dont go toooo red.

So after lunch I get to hang around madrid till the next morning when I head up to San Sabastian and get to relax all day with dinner at Mugaritz on my first night, so reviews will be up soon and will let you know whats happening.
Of for some Airport food hmmmmmmmmmmm

New Brasserie Menu Part 3

And this is another dish hitting the brasserie menu, a super light Vanilla Cheesecake with Nino Banana cooked in Caramel Sous Vide,  Passionfruit Sorbet and Lime foam.

Seasonality

I am a firm believer in being seasonal with my menus, Its taken a while to get used to the seasons being opposite to what I was used to before when I lived in Scotland back in the northern hemisphere, so now living in New Zealand  my spring and summer is from September through to around March.

I don't see the point in having strawberries on the menu in winter or apples and pears through summer when you can find fruit in season that is of a higher quality from a local supplier. There are so many advantages to being seasonal, and when I say advantage I mean for everyone from the Guest in the restaurant , me the chef in the Kitchen, and even our local suppliers and more often than not its cheaper. Even the Enviroment benifits due to our products having less food miles. I try to source as much as possible from local growers, suppliers etc.Im not saying I'm Prefect though as I do get chocolate and a few other  Pastry products brought in from Europe, Asia and the States.

But would I buy Asparagus or Strawberries or cherries from America or Europe just because I cant be creative enough to put something that is grown locally and in season on the menu? I dont think so. Its not because I dont want to use these ingredient because I do, as they are luxury in my opinion, but also to use them is lazy. I will use them in season for sure.

When I worked at Bracu we had a great variety of fruit trees on the estate which made for such an amazing harvest time, all through the year we would be picking something, Apples and pears, Citrus from Mandarin, Lemon, Grapefruit and Limes, Tamarillos, Kiwi fruit, Grapes, Passionfruit. It was awesome and I do miss that now I work in the city. If we ran out of Lemons I would just drive up to the Orchard in the gator and grab some from the tree, now that for me that is  a real Luxury. We do have some lemons and salads growing by our roof garden private dining area but not to much, its certainly not an orchard but keeps us in touch with nature.

That takes me back to my Exec Chefs farm, Peter Thornley and his partner Ro have just recently acquired  a fantastic farm with heaps of space to grow for us and he has been kind enough to ask us what we want to be grown, what we want on our menus, which now we can plan around what is actually in the ground, which in turn gives us amazing control. We can find herbs and cress's, heirloom tomatoes, berries and many other things that have long been forgotten over time due to people just wanting the norm like cherry tomatoes, rocket, basil and mint, which is partially due to supermarket shopping I think.

Another point to look at also is preserving, this I can understand, making preserves with berries, citrus, and chutneys,pickles and what ever else. This I believe in. I have a heap of Kumquat marmalade in the kitchen  due to the short season they have here i buy alot and preserve them, or if fruit(in season) is going cheap, there is no harm in preserving it down as the flavour will be so full and give the best results so if you do want that summer hit in winter you can have it, in around about way.
So next time your in the supermarket and you see some great looking imported Items for some ridiculous price turn your head and see the NZ product on the next shelf.

Whats happening?

Its been a little bit quiet on the Viaduct this week although on Saturday both restaurants got pumped. So during the week I got the chance to play around with a few things that Ive been putting off, 
Started of trying Nitro Moulding using Ladels, Spoons, and a few other stainless tools, anything basically that I could freeze and get a nice shape from, more to come on that later in the week. 
Spring is upon us now and I had my first delivery of New Season NZ Raspberries, although a little sour they are beginning to pack a flavour, so will be looking forward to getting them on the menu in  a few weeks when they come into there own.
Strawberries also, but they too are a little firm, Just beginning to get more and more produce from Peter Thornley's Farm he recently bought, Got some nice Sorrel that I will be turning into an Ice Cream. Possibly to match up to the Raspberries, I love the flavour from the sorrel and if What I am picturing in my head works on the plate it should be a winner. 
Its such a great bonus to have produce available like this from our Chef. Something new everyday.

16 sleeps to Spain

Time has passed so quick, just 16 days till I jump on a plane and head to Spain, cant wait, so now I am just preparing and arranging everything at work to deal with my time away, Summer menus are written, function menus too, I've even managed to knock out my christmas puddings for the brasserie which will be maturing well before christmas. Relocating the Brasserie Pastry station next week which will make a much more dynamic Pastry section at Kermadec and hopefully settling everything down before I get on the plane. I would be lying if I said Im not looking forward to lying on a beach in the sun for a couple of hours here and there!!

New things to look forward to in Spain, I got my booking at Sergi Arola Gastro 4 and a half hours after I get out of Madrids Airport, So the experience starts straight away.
Also hopefully will get up and see Chocovic courtesy of Andres Lara who is working there at the moment having just been at Paco Torreblanca's Totel and at El bulli where is Partner is also working in the Pastry, Looking forward to meeting up with these guys and checking out what is new in Europes pastry scene.

New Brasserie Menu Part 2

Here is the next dish in the Brasserie to hit the menu at the end of September, It will be a white chocolate and Hokey pokey parfait, served with Mango, Pistachio and Coriander salad , Yoghurt Struessal and Raspberry sorbet, after offering the dish as a special on a couple of nights it seems to be a perfect ladies dessert and very refreshing, I will be using Chocovics Jaina White chocolate which gives has fantastic flavour nuances of Yoghurt and takes away the usual sweetness that sometimes hampers white chocolates from other chocolate houses. 

New Brasserie Menu Part 1

Starting of our summer menu soon so here is the first of the brasserie desserts to be ready for the menu. A change in Location for the Brasserie Pastry Kitchen means that we can improve on the desserts and work as more of a team, we are all excited about the changes taking place and cant wait to get into the summer busy period so here is the Tarakan Chocolate Tart With Burnt Orange and local Hazelnut Salad, Vanilla Ice Cream and a Pink Grapefruit and Rosewater Veil.

Gorse Flower Ice Cream Cont.

Here are the Pics with the Gorse Flower Ice Cream, Just a quick dish with our Chocolate Orange Aero, Kumquat and Vanilla marmalade and lemon Curd, The Gorse Flowers did give a slight scent of coconut but the flavour lent more towards a floral Passionfruit and Orange blossom.I found it to be very  unique and lent itself to chocolate very well. In a Cloudy bay wine dinner we are doing in a few weeks time I am doing the Gorse Flower Ice Cream, with Chocolate Orange Aero, Longkeeper Farm Honey,comb and Carameliszed Chilli and vanilla Scented Pineapple. There will be a more complete version of a dish to follow and the recipe will be up on the Recipes page in the next week or so, Enjoy

Here Is another dish we will work on for the Cloudy Bay dinner in late September with the caramelized Pineapple, Honeycomb and chocolate Aero.

Auckland, some hate it , I love it

Somedays I get frustrated with Auckland, weather sucks, traffic is the same, same old same old but today is one of these days I realize why I moved to the other side of the world to make Auckland my home. Many people from other parts of New Zealand slate the city, many of them think that Aucklanders are arrogant idiots, I even had someone who thinks they know the world  recently ask me if I ever left Auckland before to see other parts of New Zealand. What they don't know is I have moved away from the City 3 times and returned every time. Ive lived all over New Zealand and to be honest I love living by the mountains to follow my other hobby of snowboarding, then heading back into town by the huge lakes for a night with my friends. I almost gave up cooking to become a snowboard instructor, but to have a good balance of work and play Auckland for me is the place to be at the moment.

So back to my original thought, today I was out for a cycle after work, managed to finish a little early today as it was quiet at the restaurant. So I headed out and cycled down my usual route for a ride around the bays. It was typical Auckland weather, windy, sunny, a little rain, nice and still. Everything apart from snow. When I got to the end of the bays (cursing the head on wind) I saw a couple of Para-gliders just sitting in mid air, probably checking out the city.  Immediately making me think what an awesome city I live in, Im minutes away from the centre, minutes away from the bays and beaches, and minutes away from getting on the motorway and heading to the Mountain(although the mountain is a 4 hour drive!!SHAME!!) The Freedom these guys have just hanging out and doing what they love right in the city.

New Zealand may not be a culinary capital of the world but there are many chefs here that are pushing on and creating awesome food. I moved here for the lifestyle and its great, laid back as well as having an awesome kitchen and great restaurant working with chefs from some of the great kitchens of Europe. Life feels pretty good as it is right now, Maybe in the future I will head to the countryside and work by the lakes and enjoy time on the mountains but for now Auckland is certainly keeping me busy. Work is motivating, Im off to Spain in Less than a month now and then I am back after a month of inspirational gastronomic visits straight into the hotpot of a summer in one of Aucklands busiest Restaurants on the Viaduct,
Bring it on!!

Gorse Flower Ice Cream

Im always looking for quality New Zealand produce, or ingredients that have an immediate tie to the country, some things just come into the kitchen on a random day that make everything worthwhile. On Thursday we made an Awesome Gorse flower Ice cream with the gorse flowers collected on my Exec Chef Peter Thornleys farm in Bombay ( South Auckland), These Flowers are a beautiful yellow, and very fragrant. Hints of Orange, maybe Passionfruit but only a little and a floral scent. The Gorse is actually a weed in New Zealand, it spreads like wildfire but the weed flowers for a couple of months turning the New Zealand Country side into a yellow coated paradise.

I will post some new pics of the Ice Cream in the next day or two. Im thinking of pairing it with Chocolate or waiting till the Berries come through which according to my suppliers will be in the next few days which seems a little early as spring is just breaking through after quite a mild winter here in NZ.

Peter Thornley has just bought his new Farm and we in the kitchens at Kermadec are so excited about the produce that we will be recieving, along with the flowers we received some gorse flower honey which is now one of my favourite honeys, With berries, flowers and herbs to come from his farm this year and the list just growing as the time passes and he develops the farm it will be great to get produce straight from source again. There is something novel about having your produce grown for you, knowing the conditions they are grown in and getting the chance to pick it yourself.

Whirlwind week

Been a while since my last post, took a brief weekend to Mt Hutt to follow my other passion of snowboarding, got a foot of snow which was great, then a flight back to Auckland on thursday morning. 

Got back into the kitchen by 11 to get ready for our Veuve Clicquot Atelier dinner which. Was a busy night making the Rhubarb Balloon dish for 60 people is a bit of a mission but worthwhile, we introduced a couple of new pre desserts into the service that evening also with a Pinenut Horchata primo shake, and a licorice Custard and nitro frozen coffee Drops in our new found service wear, and to finish off we had some fantastic Champagne Macaroons. hope everyone enjoyed the food and champagne. and was good to meet Anthony from the foodie site. 

Back to reality now but so much is going on in the Industry now with Logan Brown picking up the cuisine awards which I am sure everyone will agree is well deserved to the Hospitality show and Clare Clark(ex pastry chef of french laundry) on the weekend. Good luck to everyone who is entering the comps. Im hoping to get up to the show to meet up with some of the NZ industry's leading pastry chefs. 

In the kitchen Im just planning my Spring menus, the brasserie menu should be up and running by end of September and the restaurant menu will be pushed out as soon as I return from Spain at the end of October. I love spring with all the amazing produce coming into the kitchen. And that will signal the 1 year anniversary of the revamp of the Kermadec Kitchens and Restaurants. Its passed so quick, so many chefs came and went, it certainly wasn't a dull and boring year. 

New to Kermadec in the next few months will be Ben Bayly heading up the Grove to take over from Sid, it was great working with him and Im sure he will go from strength to strength. Giulio Sturla coming to work with us having been working down in Napier at the The Old Church, and before that at Mugaritz, he will certainly bring another strength and knowledge to our team as we build up for the summer high season. 

Off to Christchurch

Little bit of subject but we all have other many interests.

Im getting out of Auckland for a few days now for a bit of Snowboarding(my other Passion), its been so long since I've been on the Mountain, such a peaceful place in comparison to the hustle of the kitchens, and one of the best places to get your thoughts in order, find some inspiration.

I will be visiting Mt Hutt in Methven for the First time, the conditions look awesome. The last few years I spent most winters in Queenstown in the South Island of NZ, Had one amazing full season, only missed 1 or two days due to wrist breaks, but got straight back up the mountain. So to only get a couple of days in this year is a bit disappointing. 

Alot of people diss the New Zealand winter sports scene but I find it much more welcoming than the French Alps, people are more friendly, seems like more of a community even with the transient nature of the seasonaires. When it snows it can be amazing, the runs maybe are a little small but the features are stunning. And for the park junkies there is an Awesome park in Remarkables in Queenstown, Cardrona near Wanaka and of course the best one SnowParkNZ where the best riders in the world are spotted every year.

Have a good weekend people. and pray for Blue skies in the day and snow overnight.

Absence

Please Excuse my absence over the last 2 weeks, been busy with moving home to a more secure building after being broken into, coming up over the next week will be a look at a  special dinner we are doing with Veuve Clicqout, a look at New Zealand cheeses, and a couple of new recipes so please be patient. 

Pastry Chefs, More Endangered in NZ than the Kiwi

When I arrived in Auckland for the very first time I knew nothing about the market here, nothing about the restaurants apart from the French Cafe which I studied due to gaining employment there. To be perfectly honest I never thought about coming to New Zealand to work, Although now it would be a fight to get me to leave. 

 Now after being here for nearly 5 years you come to realise a few things, one of the things very apparent for me is the lack of Pastry Chefs. Where are they all? The hotels have some, some restaurants do, Simon Wright does at the French Cafe and its me at Kermadec and a couple others scattered around. But not many others. Its more apparent when I choose to look for a job. ( not that I am looking). They are very few and far between, compared to the UK where I was in the lucky position to pick and choose my employment. 

I miss having lots of other Pastry chefs in the cities, as it would raise the standard of desserts, etc around town. The bakeries have become mass produced. We are lucky to have a bakery in Kermadec with an awesome Baker, Tetsuya Namekawa who will no doubt become the best baker in the country when he has his own place. The smell when I come to work in the morning is amazing, fresh baguette, pastries all done properly. No mass producing. seriously you must try his bread. 

Obviously cost does restrict some restaurants, and people like Michael Meredith and Sid Sarawhat make great desserts without the need of a trained Pastry Chef. I just hope in the future that more and more places take notice of that section that gets forgotten. Ive seen so many larder/pastry sections in kitchens. It can be a difficult thing to sway between savoury and pastry when on service, and hit a good standard. Every great restaurant in Europe has a pastry chef, and for me that says it all. 

Maybe also the sales of desserts is a factor? Is it worth the cost of a pastry chef compared to the sales? I think so, if managed well. Although I have known many pastry chefs that spend it up to have the best of this, that and the next thing. And many chefs who bitch and moan about how much the Pastry Chef costs them. I will admit to having all the toys a pastry chef could wish for in th kermadec kitchen, but what I have done is set up a station that will outlast me by a long way. 

Its my ambition in the near future just maybe just after I win lotto to open a Dessert restaurant, not like the death by chocolate which did die, I want to open something a little more upmarket on the food front. Possibly running a classic menu and a modern menu side by side to entertain and keep most guests happy, great wine, fantastic coffee, pastry classes. That is also the driving force of my trip to spain, as well as a hunt for knowledge in the kitchens there are some dessert restaurants there which Im going to sit in and study they're operation. 

Folic Acid Introduction to Bread

I found it incredible when I heard a few weeks ago about the planned introduction of a synthetic version of folic acid into bread. Obviously the government want to reduce the amount of brain damaged babies born and I sympathise with any parent who has gone through this but with studies that show Folic Acid may cause Colon Cancer, is it not treating one ailment to feed another? Maybe this is not 100% proven yet, but do we want to find out in 5 or 10 years that it is true? 
I dont understand how this can be enforced? Like everywhere else New Zealand is a place where you can choose what you want, live your life how you want, but to be forcefully medicated, on a nationwide scale? As I understand now they have deferred this ruling, so maybe we have more time to force them away from doing this. I believe we should have a choice and breads with the fortification of folic acid should be labelled clearly. 

In saying this , maybe supermarket bread sales suffer, the artisan bakery and organic breads and producers of small quantities of bread seem to be exempt from the standard that would be set by government, but will the price difference push people on a budget to buying the cheaper supermarket bread? Maybe we will get a return to more baking at home? 
what do you think? 

Kumquats

I recently recieved my first batch of Kumquats in New Zealand, It seems so hard to find these little gems here. The range of fruits and vegetables is not quite as large as I was used to when living in the UK. But what we do get is usually of premium quality,

They are quite expensive here, and only available for a short time, so my plan is to get as many kumquats as I can and make marmalade with them so I can use them for the next menu run with a chocolate dish that we are in the middle of working on. More to come on that.

So we split the kumquats in half, removed the stones added some sugar, vanilla and a little water, julienne zest of lemons and orange and pink grapefruit and made a awesome marmalade.

Although I have earmarked this for a chocolate dish the kumquat marmalade will be amazing with a smelly cheese like stinking bishop, Munster or Liverot cheese, even St vernier and the Kaipara Washed rind from Puhoi.

Blog to Blog for new foodie website

So ive been asked to blog for a new foodie website which you can check out here, also on the site are a couple of other kiwi chefs telling about there day to day musings

Chocolate Tart

Here is something a little more simple as I have a brasserie restaurant in the Kermdadec complex. The recipe has been posted on the recipes page. 

Sometimes I get a little bit over working on elaborate dishes, I just want to make a nice tart or something classic, simplify a little, here I made a chocolate tart, using Tarakan 75% chocovic chocolate served with Yuzu curd , rosewater and pink grapefruit jelly and vanilla Ice Cream, simple, but tasty as. 

enjoy

Crazy week!!

Well its been a crazy week with no chance of creativity to shine through, some F@#ker broke into my house which sort of screwed up the week. Who ever it is , your an Ar#ehole!!! and apart from that due to it being winter Ive given my guys in the kitchen as much time off as possible so Im covering a few extra shifts, anyway that was last week , new week ahead, should have some cool things for you to see this week, thanks for the patience:) 

Changes are afoot

Couple of changes to the blog this week, the blog address is now

www.sweetcuisine.net although you will be redirected automatically if you log into my old address at blogspot.com. and will start offering consultancy for pastry in many mediums, check the link at the top of the blog.

Caviar Tins

Here are the Caviar tins that I received, now, I know they have been used to death and to be honest I find the Alginate caviar balls made using the sphereification technique inside the tin a bit boring now so I've decided to use them for a pre dessert or part of the dessert degustation, today I just tried out an apple and calvados crème set with Iota so the tins don't need to be baked, topped with a crumble mix, small apple jelly and a small quennelle of Calvados Ice Cream. Tasted great but I intend on doing something more elaborate, so thats something i need to think about.

The weather here is really turning quite wintery so will start doing some specials next week to warm the guests up. Next week should be a good productive week.

Pinenut Horchata

Well I got a few sample of new service vessels to go with my dessert menu or on the tasting menu, got some normal looking caviar tins, some retro little jars and as seen in the pictures I got some little metal bottles. 

They come from a company called Arthur Holmes in Wellington NZ, So I tried out an old recipe I had for Pinenut Horchata which works fantastic, Very refreshing and tasty. and I think will go great on the metal bottles. I like to get the customer a bit interactive evenif its just to take a lid of something a put a straw in.

Horchata is made by soaking pinenuts over night(traditionally I believe it should be Chufa nuts but so far my searching in NZ is unsuccessful), The pinenuts are then Washed and blended to a paste, then you add sugar vanilla and water and a cinnamon stick, marinade overnight.

The next day I pass it through a fat filter or cheesecloth to leave a beautiful milky coloured Pinenut drink with a slight vanilla and cinnamon flavor. 

Yet to decide if it will feature on my next menu, possible at the end of the meal with petit fours.

Hope you like the pictures.

tomorrow I will show you what I did with the retro glass jars with lids. 

Cookbooks :No2- Quique Dacosta

Quique DaCosta published through Montagud Editories is one of these books that blows you away from the first sight, The Cover is shiney Silver with the man himselfs name blazed across the front of the book. The Book comes in English/French in one book, and is divided into 5 stages of the development of El Poblet. 

Section one is called Universe 1-Quique pays homage to his past and the base of his cooking, Universe 2- The focus is on the location of El Poblet in Denia with amazing seafood, Prawns, Tuna, Cuttlefish. Universe 3 moves on to the Research and development of El Poblet and the Cuisine. The team at El Poblet is well known for there research in cuisine, using Aloe vera to form jellies, Foams and as a thickener as well as its great anti oxidant and healing powers, and using Stevia Rebaudiana as a sweetener as it is naturally sweet and completely natural with none of the bad effects of normal white sugar. So you can see the healthy aspects of eating in this kind of gastronomic paradise.

The next section is called the 5 hits of El poblet Cuisine. They have taken the '3 universes' and developed dishes with 'taste, precision, essentiality, provocation and radicalism'. So in my own words this part of the book is 5 dishes which mark the individuality and perfection of a restaurant such as El Poblet.

Then the last section is dedicated to the History of El Poblet in dishes that have been created  at el Poblet that show why Quique Dacosta is such an important figure in the new wave of modern cooking not only in Spain but worldwide. 

The Photography in the book is amazing, very clean and of the highest quality, the book more narrative and like a photo album with the recipes being online, when you buy the book you recieve a password to log on to the QuiqueDacosta website. 

The Website is a different part to the book, with videos, Recipes, more picture and information on the Author and Publisher. 

For me I wish there was more dishes in the desserts, but in saying that the inspiration you can get from the savoury part of the book is immense, and with new techniques for most people to learn this book is up there with the best I have.

I will have the opportunity to work in the kitchens of El Poblet in October for a week and will be sure to share the experiences with you.

Spring menu planning: Rooibos Tea, Mango, Yoghurt, Coriander and Pinenut

It's time to look ahead to the spring menu as we have settled into the winter one so we have been testing the first of the ideas for the menu, we use similar techniques constantly but I try not to repeat dishes to much to keep things fresh and keep developing.

So we have come up with the initial dish of Rooibos tea custard set with Iota, wrapped in a mango Lime and Vanilla jelly, dehydrated 30 second yoghurt cake, goats milk Ice cream, and coriander.

So we set the Custard in Cannoli tubes with the help of acetate,

 then made a thin jelly coating with Mango juice, Lime, vanilla, gellan and agar. This forms the start of the dish. 

The jelly is made and wrapped around the custard similar to cannelloni. I then had some yoghurt cake made with albert adrias technique in the microwave then dehydrated to form a light aerated yoghurt biscuit, we then made a relish with Mango, lime and Pinenut, and micro coriander leaves finishes the first draft of the dish.

The Roobios Tea comes from south Africa, It has great anti oxidant powers and has a low tanin level, apparently very good for digestion and is said to ease peoples stress levels making it a perfect way to end a meal.

Links

Ive just created new links to my recipes photos contact and other stuff just to the left of the screen, check it out but be patient with me while i update them as the blog progresses

Pumpkin, Mulled Wine, Pinenut Croquant and Horchata Espuma,

Here is a little snippet of a pumpkin pie sorbet with Mulled wine Jelly Veil, Pinenut Croquant, Horchata Espuma, Grue de Cocao, Parkin Fluid Gel 

Chocolate Moelleux with Flexible Ganache Honeycomb wafer, Pink Grapefruit and Vanilla Sorbet,

Just having a play with the Flexible chocolate by Alex Stupak which he did for the Alinea cookbook, Really interesting texture as it feels almost plasticy if that's a word but is super creamy in the mouth, took a while to nail the recipe as it kept breaking but perseverance paid off.  This dish is just a play with what i had hanging around so development of it is under way possibly on a future menu.

Cookbooks :No1- Natura

I am an avid collector of cookbooks, especially dessert cookbooks of which I have countless, a couple of months ago I recieved my copy of 'Natura' by Albert Adria and can say that the work in this book is by far the most amazing I have seen in a cookbook. The book itself is different from the start with a padded feel to it, Along with the book which acts as a photo album you recieve a cd-rom with pictures and the recipes for all the dishes.

I wont deny that I am a keen follower of El Bulli and similar types of cuisine and as much as what people call molecular gastronomy or the more laughable phrase techno emotional cuisine(???wtf) what strikes me most in Adrias new piece of work is that there is hardly any use of the Methly Cellulose, Gums, Emulsifiers and more use of freeze dried products from the texturas Lyo range as well as sharing the techniques for 30 second microwave cake Albert Adria has gone back in time and reinvented mimicing fresh fruits but using a sorbet, a jelly and a mould of the fruits, he takes a strawberry gel made of Agar and puree'd, coats a strawberry mould with this freezes it then fills it with a strawberry puree, the results are amazing, and to be honest It wasnt until i read the book I realised it was not really the fresh succulent fruit that I percieved but a sorbet, this method is repeated with a few other fruits. 

I would recommend this book as a must for any serious pastry chefs out there, the photography is amazing, The story from Adria is captivating and the recipes are there to be tested, so far i have tried and adapted a few and they are all great

All in all I think this is his definitive work, now it seems from online articles that Albert is stepping away from El Bulli and he has produced this fantastic book he will be a big miss for the El Bulli Restaurant, For me he was the one pastry chef I would have given my right arm to have the opportunity to work under but sadly that chance  never arrived. yet. 

New Menu Balloon

When I first made the sorbet Balloon I didnt expect it to become one of this dishes that you get stuck with but due to the popularity of it I cant remove it from the menu, because of this you will see an evolution of the dish as the seasons change here in Auckland.

Right now I can get amazing rhubarb from a local supplier, very red and full of flavour which brought me back to memories of Rhubarb crumble or stewed rhubarb that my mother made when I was a child. 

I decided to pair it with hazelnuts, Anise which took form in fresh fennel dressed in caramel and lemon juice,  Ammereto custard,  fennel and lime air, and a fried rice wafer that I had been working on for a while. I was trying to create a salad like looking dish with the presentation.

Im very happy with the dish which can be a pain to plate up during service but  the menu is in its early days and Im sure it will become easier.

Inside the balloon is  a rhubarb Cheesecake espuma, I filled and cut a balloon open so you can see that it is not just a dense sorbet ball or frozen empty shell, we

 fill the balloon to order with the espuma.

Tonka Beans

I love tonka beans, for me they are amazing with chocolate and i regularly infuse any chocolate dessert with the flavour of Tonka, they are very arromatic and it only takes a little bit of Tonka to infuse a large quantity of mix. Right now I serve a Cannoli shaped chocolate egg free custard made with kappa Carragenen, Vahlrona Araguani and cream with a little salt. The texture and mouth feel are great.

The Tonka bean has flavours reminiscent to Cinnamon, Vanilla and almonds and I believe that they were used as flavouring substitute for vanilla.

The Tonka bean is mostly found growing in South America but Nigeria is also one of the growers.

I think the beans look amazing, little black beans with such a strong flavour, when you pop open the jar i can keep them in it floods the pastry section with there aroma. So much so that the great perfume makers include it in there repertoire for making perfume, and interestingly they are also used in witchcraft, but that may be another story.

Licourice, Almond, Yoghurt and Banana.

Here is the first draft of the Licourice and Almond Capsule filled with Pineapple Fluid Gel, Served with a 30 second Yoghurt cake, Almond and yoghurt crumble, Banana white chocolate puree and licourice Ice Cream. Love the balance of flavours on the dish, The Acidity from the Yoghurt knocks the sweetness from the Pineapple down, and a more natural rather than moulded look.  

New Menus

Here is the link to the new menu at the restaurant. 

Spaghetti Jelly

Here is the process for the spaghetti Jelly for the Salted caramel dish, ,

The Jelly is Balsamic and Apple Jelly, made with .65% gellan to liquid .

When the Jelly is made it is piped into plastic tubes using the syringe, then dropped into Ice Water. Using a special attachment that you can see in the photo for the Siphon I use the air to blow the jelly from the tube to order, because we use gellan we can serve the spaghetti jelly warm with the dish

Spanish trip part 2,

I'm all done in the planning for my trip to Spain, and reading Burch and Purchese's Blog is just whetting my appetite as Darren Purchese is going to do what seems like a similar trip, but before me!! jealous , well for a couple of months, 

I'm heading to Spain in the last week of September to avoid the extreme sun, ( being Scottish , Sun = Sunburn lobster style in minutes), I will be eating in Sergio Arola Gastro before heading up to San Sebastian to eat in Arzak, Martin Berasategui and Mugaritz, with the usual show arounds, still working on a stage at Mugaritz(if your reading this Giulio I may need some help), but have a couple of days arranged in the kitchen of Berasategui.

After this I will be flying down to Alicante to take up my 7 day stage at El Poblet in Denia, and with Paco Torreblanca's pastry shop Totel just down the road in Alicante I just have to make that visit.Just in case I have set aside one day on the chance of working in the Totel kitchen or even just to meet the man himself Im hoping to extract as much info out of El Poblet as possible, Quique DaCostas book is very impressive and im intrigued about there use of Aloe as a gelling agent, foamer and thickener in there cuisine.

After my time in Alicante I journey on to Mon St Benet where the research centre Alicia is housed and Restaurant Angle of Jordi Cruz. I cant wait to see this place. So many of today's top spanish chefs use the place for research, just to have a tour will be fantastic. Also the Hotel looks awesome so have treated myself and will stay for one day(opposed to the budget Accommodation for the rest of the stay,). 

I'm driving up to Girona to go to El Celler Can Roca after this and will eat there in the evening and spend two days in the kitchens trying to suck up as much info from Jordi Roca as possible, I love the desserts he produce with influences from perfumes and nature. And the new Roca restaurant looks amazing, I love the look of the wine cellars which look like they are made out of the wine boxes. 

After Girona I head into Barcelona to Inopia, Espai Sucre and Oriol Balaguer's, Sadly i wasn't so lucky to get into to El Bulli but I will persist until I get back on that plane to NZ. 

And that wraps up my trip. I'm lucky enough to be able through my work to do this trip every year and will be heading back to Spain next year with a different plan and Itinerary .

Its a bit of a whirlwind tour of Spain but I should gain alot from it and in turn share it with the guys back at Kermadec.

New and revamped Salted Caramel Mousse

This is the only dish I kept for the new menu. Its the Salted Caramel Mousse but reword with Balsamic and Apple Jelly, little Donuts, and Raisin Puree with a Granny Smith Sorbet, some compressed Apples and some pretty intense Cinnamon Meringues. I love the flavours and its perfect for this time of year

Kitchen Equipment

We were extremely lucky when we got the new kitchens at Kermadec , getting fantastic gear , We got Rational ovens all over the place, 4 to be exact, a bonguard bread oven, Pacojet, Roner's, Antigriddle, Dehydrator, induction stove a couple of Scope blast-chillers, and the usual solid tops, fryers pasta boilers.....

SO much gear and we're getting good use of it all, all in all was a 1 million dollar outfit, love it and would find it hard to give it up, unless i got my very own kitchen, so if anyone out there wants to invest in a dessert restaurant in NZ give me a call;)

Pictured above is the Pastry section

Prep sheet for new menus, a

Kermadecs kitchen is split in four sections, A kitchen serving the Brasserie, a kitchen servicing the Fine Dining a Bakery looking after bread for both kitchens, a small breakfast tasting room which sells danish, croissant and other pastries, and small wholesale to some a fantastic cheese shop,Maison Veron and then the Pastry Section serving both restaurants and tasting room, Menu changing can be a bit of a slog due to advertising and signage we need to change on the same day which means signage can change together saving money,which as usual makes this 1 day of change extremely hectic, planning is needed and Im on to it now with the first prep sheets  draft for fine dining being tested and basically getting the recipes down, in the next couple of days I will jump onto the brasserie menu and do the same and then it should all come together, ready on time. 

Chocolate Tea and Honey first test

Made a start today on the Chocolate Dessert for the new menu, Its components being Chocolate custard set with Kappa, A Earl Grey Tea Jelly and Ice Cream, Pohutakawa Honey, Honey Powder, Honey comb, and smoked salt, here is a first draft of the dessert to test the flavours which came out quite well, working on a Chocolate and tea Air to go with it and just need to finalise the plating up, Very happy with the texture of the chocolate custard,