Our Frank Adventures: Britain

Showing posts with label Britain. Show all posts

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Green Room - Colchester, England

Being limited on funds during our four month adventure in England meant we had to choose carefully if we were to experience some higher end eating, other than what we could produce ourselves from the fresh and high quality ingredients of the grocery stores backed with our culinary education. We managed three very nice restaurants, none of which we were disappointed with. While this restaurant was the first we visited, we ended up writing about another one we visited after it first, The Anchor of Rowhedge, a delightful little pub restaurant overlooking the River Colne.

The Green Room, located in the North Hill Hotel of picturesque Colchester, England, is a cosy yet spacious restaurant serving seasonal dishes made primarily with fresh, local/British ingredients (some exceptions may apply) created by Chef John Riddleton, and inspired by United Kingdom cuisine.

Starting the meal with two starters to share - we always share at least a little of our plates with James, and vice-a-versa; we ordered Warm smoked duck, baby gem, chicory,pomegranate, pickled walnut for ourselves, while James ordered the Scottish-inspired Haggis scotch egg and kohlrabi remoulade with crispy capers.

The first thing you'll notice when eating anything at The Green Room is the fresh ingredients. Being locally sourced with consideration, and chosen seasonally, means they are of top quality. The smoked duck of our starter was tender and perfectly smoky, the greens of the salad crisp and the pomegranate seeds delightfully juicy.

The best of the two, however, was the scotch egg. Traditionally a boiled egg wrapped in sausage, rolled in a bread coating and baked, these scotch eggs were made from local free range eggs surrounded, instead, by haggis, a mixture of offal (organs such as heart, liver, lungs, etc) and minced onion with oatmeal, suet (a type of hard fat), spices and seasoning. It was accompanied by a tasty spicy kohlrabi remoulade sauce that brought to mind the taste of horseradish, and sprinkled with perfectly salty, crispy capers to offset the slight richness of the scotch egg. The most remarkable thing about the dish was the perfectly cooked yolk of the egg. Not cut until just before serving, the cook had to have the utmost confidence in their ability to pull the egg from the simmering water, and cool it, at just the right time. It was soft, creamy, and a beautiful shade of yellow.

Warm smoked duck, baby gem, chicory,
pomegranate, pickled walnut

Haggis scotch egg, kohlrabi remoulade, crispy capers

Chilean MontGras deGras

Sauvignon Blanc.

The main course arrived and we were greeted with beauty, and as we started a second glass of an easy to drink bottle of Chilean MontGras deGras Sauvignon Blanc.

James' favourite dish is Beef Wellington so naturally he chose the Baked pork fillet Wellington with an apple, Gruyère cheese & thyme stuffing, watercress and whole grain mustard cream sauce; while we opted for the more "adventurous" Roasted kangaroo rump with a green peppercorn brandy sauce, crisp potato cake, and wilted spinach.

The kangaroo rump was extremely tender and reminiscent of young high quality venison* (in this case specifically deer). Light in flavour yet rich on the tongue, it paired well with the brandy sauce and crispy on the outside potato cake. Honestly if offered the dish again we'd opt for other selections, but the dish was in no way disappointing. The wilted spinach added a nice touch and when brought together gave you the fresh and seasonal taste of winter.

The Pork Wellington that James ordered was amazing onto itself, with the melt in your mouth texture of a perfectly cooked pork loin cloaked in a delightful stuffing of apple, Gruyère, thyme and watercress, as opposed to the traditional pâté and mushroom duxelle (a mix of minced mushrooms, shallots and spices), then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. It was both flavourful and succulent, not at all dry as some Wellingtons can tend be, another indication that the Chef and cooks in the kitchen of The Green Room know what they were doing. The mustard cream sauce was both a natural and tasty accompaniment to the pork.

Roasted kangaroo rump,
green peppercorn
brandy sauce, crisp potato cake,
wilted spinach

Baked pork fillet Wellington, apple,
Gruyère cheese & thyme stuffing, watercress,
whole grain mustard cream sauce

No matter how full we are there is always room for dessert; or, as the British tend to call it 'pudding', which is not to say a milk-based dessert but rather a general term for the sweet course of a meal.

From the menu of delicious dessert options we chose Warm mini doughnuts with chocolate sauce, vanilla custard and strawberry jam - easy to share, though with great reluctance. James chose a Classic custard and nutmeg tart with vanilla roasted rhubarb and home-made stem ginger ice cream. Obviously ours was the best, but that's simply a personal preference, as with anything.

We found the custard in James' tart to be too bland for our taste, it would have been even better with a stronger, or sweeter flavour, while the crust itself was good, neither too thin, or too thick. The rhubarb, a very common fruit in England, was roasted and flavoured nicely and did not have the tough texture you would expect to find in a length of it. The ice cream was made in-house and it was delicious on it's own. The texture and creaminess exactly what you want from ice cream.

Our mini doughnuts were puffy, light and sweet, as a perfect doughnut hole should be, and the sauces served with them called out for being licked clean of their dish (we probably didn't...but after a bottle of wine, we may have ran our finger around each little dish to spare not a drop).

Warm mini doughnuts, chocolate sauce,
vanilla custard & strawberry jam

Classic custard & nutmeg tart, vanilla roasted rhubarb,
home-made stem ginger ice cream

Great for after a

big meal, James enjoyed a

Remy Martin XO (cognac)

The presentations of all the dishes were simple and clean. The staff was knowldgeable and friendly, they neither bothered you at the table too much, or too little, and with a raise of a finger were there when you needed them. The atmosphere relaxing and quiet, and the prices were what you would expect for a meal of high quality with the main course averaging in price from £14-18 ($22-30 at the time of this writing) and desserts around £6 ($10).

With a menu that changes with the season, we had really hoped to make it back for one more experience, but alas, our funds were cut even shorter, as was our trip.

There's always next time. And there will be a next time.

For more information on The Green Room, in the North Hill Hotel, of Colchester, England visit: http://www.northhillhotel.com/Bistro.html

*Venison is a term that is often used to describe any variety of four legged wild game animals such as elk, bison, deer, moose, etc.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Frinton-on-Sea

Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England, 2012

We have been spending nearly two-weeks moving from hotel to hotel, trying to budget what is left of funds. It's hard to explain without too much detail, but we are not able to return to the United States yet, at least not with James (more is written about that in various entries on our "big blog"). We're going to use some of this time to try to catch up some travel entries about places we're seen and restaurants we ate in, back when funds were a little more flush. As well as some writing about the interesting little villages we have found ourselves in.

These are pictures from a month ago (March 22), when we went to Frinton-on-Sea, in England (the county of Essex).

Frinton-on-Sea is a town situated on the North Sea, in South-East England, the county of Essex. The roots of the town grew in the early to mid-1800's when it had been fairly unpopulated consisting of very little aside from a church, some cottages and dotted with farms. It got big in the early 1900's and became a place for high society types to go to play tennis, golf and stay in upscale hotels. It's a sleepy town now, full of elderly residents and a large golf course adjacent to the coast, which has been partially blocked with a coastal defense concrete wall and giant rocks to limit erosion - some parts of England have a huge problem with erosion of the coasts...more on that later.

That day in March was a warm-ish and sunny day for March in England. In the distance, situated far off in the waters of the North Sea, the turbines of a wind farm turned lazily, generating electricity, but even on the clear day that it was you could barely make them out from the shore.

People rode bikes, flew kites, fished along the shore; couples walked hand-in-hand enjoying the rare March day. Frinton-on-Sea is not a place for high excitement, but a relaxing place along the sea not dotted by gaudy hotel chains; rather apartments overlooking the sea, uninterrupted vistas of the area surrounding it, a beach, and a long walking path along the sea shore.

More: Frinton-on-Sea Tourist Information

Some of the photos we took while in Frinton-on-Sea

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Three Months in Colchester, Essex

Well, now that we are relocating we can write about the town we've been living in for nearly three months now.

We were lucky to have landed in the beautiful town of Colchester, located in North Essex county of England. Lucky because it is the oldest recorded town in England, dating back to before 49 AD, when it was a Roman city. Following it's Roman occupation there is about a 400 year gap in what life was like in Colchester before it was occupied by the Saxons in 400AD.

The castle we have walked past countless times, and wrote about in both of our main blog, and photographed in previous entries here, is an English castle built atop the ruins of the Temple of Claudius. With an interesting history (which we'll try to write more about in a following entry).

There are many historical sites in Colchester; a project is underway where they are unearthing an old Roman Colosseum that the town of Colchester was built on top of. Also located in the town are the ruins of the earliest known Christian church in England, thought to date back to the 4th century.

With old Roman walls surrounding the castle grounds, the lush green grass in Castle Park that surrounds the cast, with lush bright green grass that rivals that of a golf courses, and beautiful River Colne running along the edge, full of ducks, swans (read about the swans: http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/all-queens-swans.html), and assorted waterfowl, Colchester really was a beautiful place to spend the last three months. (Read more about the area, and how we feel about James moving away for us: http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/sacrifice-of-love-journal-entry.html)

Also see:

There will be another series of photos of Colchester in the following entry, because we don't want to go get the camera to plug it in to get the photos off of it...it's... *points in distance, which is really four feet away* ...over there; as well as some more writing about our experience there.

In the meantime, check out all the photos we've taken and posted so far. The town really is breathtaking.