La Cachette! (Take Nine)

Another trip home another La Cachette meal so without further ado let's jump in!

For starter I went for the duck pitivier special. It was delicious. It was beautifully cooked duck inside a puff pastry casing on top of a tasty sauce. The duck was soft and had a lovely flavour of duck which wasn't over powered by any of the other elements. The pastry was crisp and well cooked and the sauce was tasty and there was just the right amount of it. The portion size was perfect and it was an all round great starter that I would definitely have again in a heartbeat!

Main course wise I went for the chicken with celariac dauphinoise, mushrooms and cabbage. This was insanely good! The chicken was moist on the inside but slightly crispy on the outside with a lovely flavour of sage. The dauphinoise was delicious, again soft on the bottom and crispy on top. It didn't have much of a different flavour to a normal potato dauphinoise but it was delicious all the same. The mushroom and cabbage were also very tasty and the portion size was perfect. I finished every last mouthful and would have gladly gone back for more.

Little bit disappointed with my choice of pud. I chose the apricot and frangipane tart with ice cream. It was all very dry. The cake part was powdery and the apricots, although caramelised, were chewy and not very nice to eat. I ate the cake with the ice cream and that moistened it a bit and when I got to the thicker part of the cake that wasn't as dry but it wasn't as amazing as the other two courses which was a bit of a shame.

The Old Mill! (Take Two)

Bring on the Easter Holidays and all the food it has to offer! Hooray! This Easter Sunday the family decided to go out and we took a trip to The Old Mill in Brighouse (which is a Chef and Brewer to anyone who doesn't live in the area). I've been a fair few times and I really enjoy it, but we encounter problems when there's more than four people as they can't seem to deal well with big parties. I understand that with a lot of people it means that the wait for food will be extended a little but the gap between the starter and the main was bordering on an hour and by the time it came I wasn't really that bothered about it (it didn't help that I've contracted an illness from my Spain trip but more about that on Friday). Anyway for an upmarket chain pub it was pretty alright so let's jump into the food.

For starter I had something from the special April seafood menu which was a Smoked Salmon Bubble and Squeak. This was very delicious. The hollandaise sauce was delicious, I was told it had split but it didn't impact the flavour. and the smoked salmon was to die for. Recently I've become a big fan of bubble and squeak and this didn't disappoint. There was much of a cabbage flavour but the taste was good all the same. The only thing that let this dish down was the fact that the yolk in the poached egg was hard, like a rock, and because I don't really like a hard yolk I gave this away to someone else. The dish didn't miss it but it wouldn't have been a nice addition.

Now onto the main. Our first problem lied with the fact that what I originally wanted, the Luxury Fish En Croute, was unavailable meaning I had to pick something else from a menu that on that day I wasn't overly inspired by. You know when you really have your heart set on something so much that anything else is just kind of average, this was one of those times. I eventually went for the Belly Pork and it was okay. It was cooked very nicely with a soft but crispy top. The mashed potatoes were alright and I don't really understand why there was half and apple of the side of the plate. However, the star of the show was the sweet and sticky cabbage. It was delicious and full of flavour which kind of redeemed the meal a bit.

I don't mean to be slagging off the meal because I had a great time and the food was good but a mixture of a never ending illness and lack of Fish En Croute meant it wasn't my best trip out. I'm holding out hopes for my next visit though!

Forgotten Happenings List

As last week was Bonfire night it got me thinking about how we celebrate historical events by doing certain things but most of the time we forget about what the event was in the first place. There I am, merrily enjoying the well crafted firework display, without a care in the world not thinking at all what happened hundreds of years ago to cause it. Here's a list of some of the events that I celebrate but that I had completely forgotten existed until I really thought about it.

Guy Faulkes- Let's start with the most recent to have passed us by, Bonfire night. I can understand the link between the bangs of the fireworks and the near explosions of the Houses of Parliament but it never crosses my mind when I'm there, sparkler in hand, watching the sky light up in a rainbow of colours.

Christmas- It doesn't matter if you're religious or not, Christmas began after someone said that 'the son of God' (AKA Jesus) was born. Yet this seems to get lost more and more, year on year, and always seems to revolve around presents. Not to sound like a bore but it would be nice if we could celebrate the whole point of CHRISTmas every once in a while...as well as the food and presents.

Easter- Another religious one but the point of this has been totally lost, totally. It wouldn't surprise me if someone told me that they don't even teach the Easter story in primary schools anymore. I'm not a big fan of Easter anyway as I never get through the chocolate eggs and end up wanting to vomit for two weeks due to sweet overload!