Well, the time rolled around again last week for another Food and Beer festival at one of our favourite pubs in Newcastle, the Bacchus. These are gluttonous affairs, consisting of 8 courses, each matched with a half pint of real ale from one brewery. As time has gone on they have refined the format, and now the brewer usually comes and talks about each beer and the brewery.
It's not just about the beer though, despite its popularity among the Camra community in Newcastle. The festivals are a chance for Paul, the chef, to get away from the normal (always excellent) pub grub that is served the rest of the time, and experiment with ingredients and combinations he doesn't often get to cook in a restaurant environment.
This in turn, means that I often get new food experiences. It's at these festivals that I've had oysters and snails for the first time (the oysters were great, the snails were the one course I have ever not finished in the Bacchus - but then, I'm squeamish about snails anyway) and memorable combinations like Chocolate and Courgette Brownie, and Mexican Style Strawberries with nachos, sour cream and cracked black pepper.
Last week's festival was matching beers from Fyne Ales who are based at the head of Loch Fyne in Scotland. I think it was one of the best, and most consistent of the festivals, and I enjoyed it immensely. None the less, me being me, I can always suggest improvements.
So, on to the courses themselves:
Course 1: Caviar (with Hurricane Jack)
Straight away, something I've never eaten before: caviar, served with Scottish wheat cakes. Really simple flavours, that packed a punch for the first course of the day. I loved the salty, fishyness of it, and I was surprised that the texture wasn't slimy in the least. The savoury wheat cakes worked really well to balance the salt. Having said that, I'm not sure I'd ever pay huge amounts of money for it.
As for the beer match, I thought it was a great one.
Course 2: Moules Mariniere (with Pipers Gold)
Mussels are a recent love, but a great one, and these were done to perfection. I tried to claim our friend's, who doesn't like mussels, but his wife got there first. Shame. A classic combination, and I can't say much more about it (other than it inspired me to finally try cooking them myself the other day).
As for the beer, it was another good match.
Course 3: Piri Piri King Prawn Filo Parcel (with Avalanche)
The parcels in this course were served with Jasmine rice. It is a good combination, although I think the rice was a touch to delicately flavoured to stand up to the massive amount of chille and lime in the parcels. I did think however that the prawns were well spiced, in the sense that they were very spicy, but you didn't lose the flavour of the prawns or the lime.
The beer match was great, and really helped to calm the spice down.
Course 4: Caramelised Onion, Bacon and Goats Cheese Tart (with Maverick)
This was one of the best presented dishes of the day - maybe not imaginative, but it was one of few that had a variety of colour on the plate. And sometimes I couldn't care less about stacking things on top of each other in an artistic manner, if there's no colour. The pastry was crumbly and buttery, and the filling packed full of salty sweet flavour. It came at just the right point in the meal as well, with the dairy being able to eradicate the storm of spice still lingering from the prawns. One of my favourite dishes of the day.
The beer match was ok, but not that memorable.
Course 5: Lamb with Balsamic vinigarette
I think this course is designed purely and simply to show of the quality of the meat. It was superb. Yes, it was just lamb, lettuce, and a balsamic dressing, but the lamb was still gorgeously pink in the middle, melt-in-your mouth juicy, and the balsamic vinegar combined with the distinctive taste of lamb fat on the crunchy lettuce was to die for. It's a dish of contrasts - the bite to the lamb and the crunch of the lettuce, and the sharpness of the vinegar and the grease of the lamb. Great.
Course 6: Venison stuffed with Haggis
The flavours in this were great, really robust and warming on a cold autumn night, but I can't help feeling that it just looks boring on the plate. I would maybe have put a tiny heap of pickled red cabbage with it, more for the colour than anything else (although pickled red cabbage would have worked wonderfully well). I also found that my piece was just a touch tough and dry around the edges, although those near me didn't have that problem at all. Maybe it was one of the first to be plated and spent a little too long under the warmers. I have to give them a little leeway for getting 30 plates for each course out within 5 minutes of each other after all.
Course 7: Scone with fruit preserve and clotted cream
The scone was gorgeous - crispy top, soft and fluffy in the middle. Even Chris ate it without bothering to pick out or complain about the raisins. The fruit preserve was good, but not as good as our friend Cath's. But hey, who's complaining?
Course 8: Espresso Creme Brulee with Shortbread
The custard in this was nice, but unfortunately the sugar on top was not crunchy! And the shortbread was slightly undercooked, giving it a doughy middle. It's a real shame, because this would have been a fantastic end to the meal had it been perfect. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it of course. Things have to taste pretty horrible before I won't eat them.
Over all, I think the balance of courses was great, although more vegetable matter would have been lovely. I really like fishy stuff but am not great at cooking it so I loved the fact that the menu was relatively heavy in fish. I thought some of the dishes were superb, most particularly the lamb, the mussels and the tart. It wasn't perfect, but that was ok. Each time the standard goes up as the Bacchus team get more experienced. I think the beer matches this time were the best and most consistent of any of the festivals I've been to - there wasn't one I disagreed with, although some worked better than others.
As ever, I had a great time, and I can't wait for the next festival we go to.
No comments:
Post a Comment