Snacking high on the food chain

[altariel]

For my special birthday surprise weekend away my friends took me to Slough, where we had a cup of coffee at the Costa in the Queensmere shopping centre! Then we had lunch! Then we went home!

Comments

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

"Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough..." except for Heston's bit. That's a fantastic-sounding lunch.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

The weekend sounded a lot better when I realised that 'lunch' was a link. Wow.

"This menu is designed to be enjoyed by the whole table," they say. I'm sure it would be.

It sounds brilliant - what a lovely surprise to have arranged for you.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm.... envy!

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Wow! How lovely! ;-)

[hafren.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! As my granny used to say, the Lord was good to mix us, and at the mention of snail porridge I went quietly away to be ill... I think you're very adventurous.

[manna]

Ooh, how fabulous! You lucky thing :-)

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

The snail porridge is nothing like you imagine it to be. It is oatmeal cooked in an unbelievably fabulous stock (and something green which I can't quite identify) making a risotto-like base, with the snails on top (which are essentially just like seafood), and some shavings of ham for salty wonderfulness.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

What an intriguing menu! I'm glad you had a lovely weekend.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[blinks] You're a braver woman than me! I've seen some degustations here I'd go to if Greg were more adventurous, but I couldn't handle most of that. Hmm, maybe the salmon, and the mango and fir puree. The hot and iced tea sounds interesting, but what's all this nitro? It sounds a bit worrying and slightly poisonous. And tell me, what's a Mrs Marshalls Margaret cornet? :-)

[hafren.livejournal.com]

(and something green which I can't quite identify)

See, I'd want it clearly labelled....

I've never eaten snails or seafood, but feel fairly sure they wouldn't agree with me. I'm one of those really unadventurous types; basically if I didn't already like something when I was about 10, I won't now. Still, it leaves all the more for you pioneers!

[sugoll.livejournal.com]

Good Lord...

Sounds good, though.

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

Liquid nitrogen is used to make incredibly smooth, wonderful ice-creams right in front of you in seconds. When savory, they are like really-cold-mousse (so the sardine-on-toast ice cream is essentially a lovely, silky, cold fish mousse with a piece of toast, for example). Mrs Marshall patented such a mechanism for making ice cream at the turn of the 19th/20th century, only a couple of years after liquid gases had been discovered. You get a little card about it when you get the little mini cornet of ginger and mango ice cream before the sweet courses.

The "bacon and egg" ice cream is made from an egg cracked at the table (which has been blown and refilled with a custard mix), and whisked with liquid nitrogen to make the ice cream. It is served on eggy bread/pain perdu with a delicious, sweet tomato jam and the tiniest sliver of ham which adds a sort of salty taste. Americans used to bacon and pancakes will know how great that salt/sweet taste can be.

(It is also preceded by a tiny bowl of cereal - parsnip flakes with chilled parsnip milk - the flakes come in a little mini cereal-packet. So you finish the meal with a re-invented breakfast!)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Oh, nitrogen, not nitro-glycerine or some other bad-tasting chemical! That makes sense now.

Damn, that fish mousse and the ginger and mango cornet sound good. I'd go for the custardy ice cream too, hold the ham. I do note they seem to have a thing about mangoes on that menu, but I like them. though I prefer them with savoury foods like teriyaki chicken than with sweet. I've had crisp parsnip shavings over meals before, so I know the cereal would work well.

There's too much ham and shellfish--and snails--on that menu to make it worth my while though. :-)

[communicator.livejournal.com]

now that's what a taster menu should be like, amusing food you'd never have otherwise, sounds a treat

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

This all sounds fabulous (tries and fails to think of excuses to visit Slough).

[kerravonsen]

(boggles at the menu)
That certainly makes eating an adventure!

[hafren.livejournal.com]

parsnip flakes with chilled parsnip milk

Young parsnips must love it... how in hell do you get milk out of a parsnip?

[mraltariel.livejournal.com]

I *think* you infuse parsnips into milk, at a carefully selected temperature just below the milk's boiling point, strain and chill.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It was fantastic!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

You'll need to ring up 2 months in advance to secure your reservation: surely you can think of an excuse with all that time?!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The most fun bit for me was definitely the little variety pack sized cereal box containing parsnip shavings, onto which parsnip milk was poured. Oh, and all the nitro-cooked stuff was a riot! That was all done at the table: "We appear to have run out of gas for the heaters, so we'll just have to use liquid nitrogen!"

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It was amazing.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Gently, otherwise they do kick.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I bet you would absolutely love every minute of it. Not only was the food fantastic, it was funny. And the place was completely laid-back, no dress code.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm envious of myself! :-D