Creamed egg with chive oil & views over Laguiole

I once swore that I would never go back to Rodez.

It happened in July 2006 when I was due to fly to Toulon in Provence on Ryanair. Missing my flight by the skin of my teeth, I weighed up all my various options, these being to change my flight to an alternative destination, or to come back the following day for the next flight to Toulon. Faced with the daunting prospect of having to travel out to Stansted Airport again, I decided that an element of adventure and daring was called for. And so I decided to fly to an unheard of destination in Southern France, somewhere I thought would be close to Toulon, and make my way overland instead.

Well that particular destination was Rodez. Standing at the Ryanair customer services counter and peering into the destinations map, the distance between Rodez and Toulon did not appear so far. But as I was to find out soon enough, maps on walls can be rather deceptive.

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This restaurant has now closed, and will be replaced by Heston Blumenthal’s new restaurant Dinner.

Pork belly with macaroni cheese, spiced pumpkin & black pudding

Having been to French based Foliage on two previous occasions which I thoroughly enjoyed, I came to consider this restaurant as a worthwhile destination. My first visit was for dinner on the à la carte menu, and my second, some nine months ago, was on the set lunch menu at £29, which to my surprise I found to be as good as the à la carte. The portion sizes over the four courses were also very generous, and considering the price tag, was incredible value. That and the fact that you are assured views of Hyde Park during the day made me question why anyone would consider dining at Foliage for dinner when lunch is such a fantastic option. Therefore, when fellow blogger Loving Annie suggested that we lunch at Foliage a few weeks ago, I jumped at the chance to revisit what I had always considered to be a little gem.

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Here is a guest blog post from fellow food blogger, 5 Star Foodie. An American, she’s written about some British fare from the Blue Door Bistro which she visited on her recent trip to London. Enjoy!

Bangers and mash from Blue Door Bistro

Blue Door Bistro is a lovely restaurant located in the luxury Montague hotel, close to central London sights such as British museum, yet tucked away in a secluded and quiet spot. The lobby of the hotel and the waiting rooms are finely decorated with Victorian furniture, a spacious fireplace and mahogany walls. The dining rooms are similarly beautiful, candlelit by evening and decorated with a panoramic view of London circa 1849.

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Before we move onto the practical, our day starts with a two hour theory session. During this time we will cover, amongst other things, the dishes that we will make that day. We do this in a classroom and not in the teaching kitchen. It involves the use of a whiteboard, Chef scribbling away, and us taking notes. There is always an endless stream of questions from some of my fellow students about what Chef writes on the board. Seeing as some of the people in my class don’t speak English as a first language, I went through a period of great puzzlement and bewilderment as I wondered if it is because they couldn’t read very well. But closer observation of the people doing the questioning made me realise that they are constantly squinting, and so I now know it is because they suffer from myopia and simply refuse to wear spectacles.

Chef also occasionally draws diagrams on the board, especially when there is some sort of dissection involved. This week we were to butcher a chicken which resulted in this very artistic diagram that made us all giggle.

Chef's art work

As you can tell from what he wrote, we made chicken saute chasseur. This is how it really turned out, after being butchered and cooked. It was tasty, although I have to confess a little under seasoned.

Chicken saute chasseur

We also made pot roasted chicken; and roasted poussin with bread sauce; parsley, sage and thyme stuffing; and jus roti. There is always something so delicious and wonderfully satisfying about roast chicken. As we are not allowed to take our food home anymore, I tried to stuff as much chicken as I could into my mouth before handing it over to Chef. It must have amounted to several portions. And here I was, vowing to cut back after my winter of excess…

Westminster Kingsway College:
Web: http://www.westking.ac.uk

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Have you heard about the upcoming Real Food Festival? On at Earls Court between 8-10 May, it is a showcase of produce from across Britain and abroad. A number of top chefs including Allegra McEvedy, Fergus Henderson, Raymond Blanc, Thomasina Miers, Giorgio Locatelli and Cyrus Todiwalla will also be in action at the Real Food Theatre.

The Londonpaper had a promotional offer of two tickets for £20 this past week. If you missed it, all you have to do is go to www.realfoodfestival.co.uk and enter promotional code LP09 on the payment screen. The offer is valid until 3 May 2009.