June 2012 Caveau Liverpool
Posted: 29/04/2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Food, France, June, Liverpool, Meal, Restaurant, Scousetro Club 1 Comment »
After a months break Scousetro Club returns in June with a fantastic meal at Caveau, a classic french bistro situated in woolton village. A small, intimate restaurant by Chef Dave Roberts it provides the most exquisite of dining experiences. The warm modest interior is the perfect setting for a relaxing dinner while sitting only forty covers at a time, you will feel a sense of exclusivity lost within larger establishments.
True to its name everything from the service to the food is unmatched, each dish having been uniquely designed and intricately prepared using only fresh produce creating contemporary flavours you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else outside of France itself.
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Liverpool
L25 7RE
April 2012 The Malmaison
Posted: 12/03/2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Black pudding, Chef, cooking, Food, Liverpool, Mal, Meal, merseyside, Restaurant, Scousetro Club Leave a comment »
So far Scousetro Club has been a huge success, after two fantastic meals at Lunya and Academy restaurant, I’m very pleased to announce that the meal for March will be hosted by The Malmaison. Sitting amongst Liverpool’s historic waterfront, The Malmaison Liverpool is a chic modern hotel, with excellent brasserie and luxurious rooms. The food at The Mal is centred around the very best of local produce, prepared by the head chef Adam Townsley.
The menu is below
Review
This months Scousetro was a good night, hosted by The Mal and taking place in one of their private function rooms. For the first time at a Scousetro club meal we all sat round one large table, a bit like a giant board room. The Mal’s staff had made a great effort, the room looked excellent and it made for a lovely atmosphere.
Our first course proved to be the most popular of the night, sweet perfectly cooked scallops with a delicious risotto. It was a great start to the evening, a dish enjoyed by all and would hopefully set the tone for the rest of the courses.
Second course was homemade black pudding with smoked apple purée and sauce grabiche. This was the dish I was most looking forward to, I love a bit of black pudding and I was hoping for something special. The dish came out reeking of smoke, it boded well for the course as the smell wafted around the room. Unfortunately the flavours didn’t quite live up to the aromas, with the sauce and pudding lacking the the required flavour, a heavier dose of spice to the black pudding would have really lifted what was a reasonable dish.
Braised hogget, our main course, was full of flavour soft, tender and sweet, a touch over seasoned for my tastes but very well done. I was nice to have a slightly different meat than the usual suspects. The melt in the mouth bone marrow in the accompanying sauce punctuated the dish with delicate melting flavours. A greater amount of fennel would have brought a better balance to the dish, but we were all very happy with our mains.
Dessert consisted of a soft pistachio fondant, with sweet almost marzipan like texture, it was very good and the melted chocolate at the bottom of it made it all the better. It came with a white chocolate sorbet that was nice, but very sweet. Every time in my life when I’ve had sorbet I’ve always wished for ice cream, a good dose of animal fat to wrap everything up on your pallet is generally a good thing. Thus, although I did like the sorbet I think an ice cream would have lifted this dish.
On the whole the meal was well received, the the Scousetro Clubbers enjoyed the food served to them, the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly. I was disappointed, however, to find all our meal dishes on the main brasserie menu. The aim of Scousetro Club is to provide different food and I feel that the Malmaison didn’t embrace this to the full extent.
Scousetro Club February 2012
Posted: 15/12/2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Food, Liverpool, Lunya, Scousetro Club, Spanish cuisine 4 Comments »
The first ever Scousetro Club, hosted by the fantastic Lunya, was a huge success, with over thirty people in attendance, the restaurant team ran a really excellent night. The menu, which can be seen below, offered very good food that was also challenging. The accompanying wine package offered suitable choices for all and service throughout was excellent. For a first event this couldn’t have been better, good food and a great atmosphere, it doesn’t get better than this.
I was very pleased with Lunya’s menu, for a very reasonable price, it offered lovely food, but more importantly it was challenging. Certain ingredients such as the Presa Iberica or cockerl crest were new to many of the guests. Our first dish of red tuna sashimi was a simple presentation of very high quality and very fresh fish. Simple classic combinations and a great start to the meal.
‘Flavours of the Sea’ our second course was a real challenge, beautiful ingredients such a fresh lobster and smoked anchovy combined with beetroot gazpacho, liquorice foam, caviar and orange jelly. I really loved the foam and gazpacho as a combination that paired beautifully with the sea food, the orange jelly was a bit of a shock to me. I’m not sure if the combination of salty seafood and orange work for me, but it was a dish that got everyone talking.
Cockerel crest with langoustine risotto, was another interesting plate of food, the confit cockerel crest, was so very soft almost meltingly so, carrying delicate chicken flavour. The langoustine made an excellent combination, a form of surf and turf, although a few of us felt the risotto was a bit too punchy for such delicate ingredients.
The main course, presa iberica was, for me, the stand out dish of the night, primarily for the stand out quality and originality of the meat. Presa iberica is the muscle from the back of the Iberico pig’s neck, due to the foraging nature of the pigs it is well developed with a deep red colour and fat marbling. At first glance it could easily be confused with steak, indeed if I hadn’t known it was a pork I may not have spotted it. It was richer than a normal pork but still with an underlying pokiness. Seared and served medium rare with an olive oil emulsion it was beautiful, top marks for originality.
Our dessert was the dish that perhaps didn’t quite live up to the rest of the menu, a dense sweet rum sponge was very good but the banana on top wasn’t caramelised enough, leaving the whole dish too firm. A larger serving of the chocolate ganache and white chocolate sauce would also have benefited this plate of food.
Judging from the feedback everyone had a great time, meeting new people with an interest in food and trying interesting and challenging food made for a great evening. I would like to thank Peter and the team at Lunya once again for all their work and also all the guest for trying something new and really helping with such a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
