Three-Cheese Topped Pork Lasagne

Foolishly,and in my natural greed, I forgot to take a photo of Sunday night’s dinner – but frankly it was too delicious not to share so here we are. Not a health tonic, it’s much more of an indulgent, comfort-food style of eating: my Three-Cheese Topped Pork Lasagne.

This can of course be tweaked to include beef or lamb mince, but do try the pork version as it is a definite flavour winner.


Ingredients


400g lean pork mince

1 red onion, chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp dried oregano

Tin of tomatoes

2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste

Lasagne sheets (I used dried but you could use fresh or if you have a pasta maker make your own)

425ml milk

45g butter

20g plain flour

Parsley stalks

10 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Half ball of Mozzarella

100g Parmigiana Reggiano

100g Mature Cheddar


How To


The Béchamel Sauce

  1. First in a saucepan warm through the milk with the peppercorns, parsley stalks and bay leaf as well as some generous seasoning. Allow to boil, then simmer for five minutes. Take off of the heat.

2. In a separate pan melt the butter slowly, not letting it burn. Once melted add the flour, bit by bit, constantly stirring it in with a wooden spoon.

3. Sieve the milk contents into the butter and flour mixture slowly, keeping up the stirring until all milk has been added and the consistency is thick and sauce-like whilst also smooth.

4. Add about 20g of the Cheddar and continue to stir until the sauce returns to the thick and smooth consistency

5. Taste and then add seasoning where necessary and take off of the heat.



The Meat & Sauce

1. Firstly sauté the chopped onion and garlic in some extra virgin olive oil in a non-stick pan.

2. Once softened add the pork mince and continue to move around the pan with a wooden spatula or spoon until its beginning to brown.

3. Add the cinnamon and oregano to the meat with a pinch each of sea salt and ground black pepper and allow to cook for a few minutes.

4. Add the tin of tomatoes and stir through so the meat is evenly covered. Next add the two tablespoons of sun-dried tomato paste. Cover and allow to simmer for twenty minute. Just before taking off of the heat add in some roughly torn fresh basil leaves.


Assembly


1. In your greased, ovenproof dish firstly layer some of the meat.

2. Use a large spoon or ladle to pour on some of the béchamel sauce then use a palette knife to spread over the meat.

3. Add a sprinkling of the Parmesan over the sauce.

4. Top with the lasagne sheets so all of the sauce is covered and then add your next layer of meat.

5. Repeat this process so you have three layers of meat and then for the top layer top the lasagne sheets with the remaining béchamel sauce.

6. Finally use the remaining cheese to cover the top, sprinkling the Parmesan and Cheddar on evenly and tearing the Mozzarella and placing in even spots around the lasagne.

7. If you want to you can top with slices of tomato for a garnish.


Cook


1. Place in a pre-heated oven at around 160-170 degrees and allow to cook for around 40-45 minutes or until the top is a glorious golden brown and the cheese is bubbling away


Serve


Perfect with a simple green leaf salad, lightly dressed with either a squeeze of lemon or a drizzle of olive oil and some freshly ground black pepper. Serve with a glass of glorious Italian red wine - I enjoyed with a Barolo Milani 2007/8 Rocca, which was given to me recently as a present, and it went down rather well indeed.

The Table Café – A New Era

The Table Café in Southwark Street has long been on my food radar, working as I do in PR, I’ve been there with several IPC journalists for coffees, pastries and breakfast and have always enjoyed great food.

This week I was invited to a party at the café to celebrate a new era for the venue, as Cinzia Ghighoni, acclaimed chef formerly of Zucca, Duck Soup and Angela Hartnett takes over the culinary reins. I invited my friend Jade along with me promising her great food and wine, and with the re-launched wine menu, the promise was kept.

When we arrived at around 7pm the place was buzzing with people, a group of food journalists, home economists, bloggers and wine experts, all keen to try out the new style. We were greeted with a glass of Coates & Seely Blanc de Blancs NV, I’m no wine expert I’m afraid, but this was a gorgeous glass of white sparkling wine, and went down a little quickly with Jade and myself – we are partial to the odd glass of fizz and allowed the friendly waiting staff to re-fill our glasses quite rapidly.

Our first bite was a piece of the most gorgeous focaccia, moist and salty, an opening of what was to come. The next small plate was some Baccala Mantecato with polenta crisps. I’d never heard of this dish before, but enjoyed it immensely - it had a creamy fishy taste and reminded me of a garlicky tarramasalata, lovely. The polenta crisps were also good and we’d soon eaten all of these with some of the fishy dip remaining – we found ourselves heading over to the front of the place, to get more of the focaccia to mop up the rest of the Baccala Mantecato – this was right in front of the open-kitchen and we remained there for most of the rest of the evening as it gave us the perfect view of the busy and efficient chef team preparing the rest of the dishes. I’ve since learned that Baccala Mantecato is a salt cod concoction, and one that I hope to try again.

The next dish was a Friggitelli (a mild, Italian green pepper) with ricotta, marjoram and breadcrumbs, this actually reminded me of how simplistic good Italian food is. It was lovely, with a lemony flavour to the ricotta, it was beautiful in its simplicity, the toasted breadcrumbs gave a little crunch to the otherwise creamy texture and Jade and I frankly inhaled this dish – another good one.

We then had a seafood plate of octopus with the most flavoursome and delicious aubergines I’ve ever tried. Aubergines are such a great sponge of herbs and spices and these were marinated, moist and full of fresh Italian flavours, absolutely fantastic. The octopus was good too, but we could have enjoyed the aubergines alone. This was served with a glass of Prieuré de Montézargues Rosé 2011 which matched really well with the delicate flavours of the fish and the aubergine.

                                                      

The next dish was definitely my favourite – a veal dish which yet again was simple but fantastic. Slices of perfectly cooked, soft veal topped with woody girolles and completed with shavings of Scorzone Truffle – a delicious black Italian truffle and a drizzle of oil. This dish was so lovely, it felt incredibly decadent even in its simple format and was served with a delightfully dry but fruity red, Reverdito ‘Simane’ Langhe Nebbiolo 2010, another selection by the creator of the wine list, Matt Walls, who I take my hat off to for a great selection of wines.

Our Italian pudding was a Passion Fruit Tart, which had a light pastry casing and was beautiful in appearance and taste with a light and fruity cream filling. This was served with my favourite wine of the evening – a dessert wine: Château Bouscassé ''Larmes Célestes 2010. Now at this point Jade and I were getting a mini wine education from the lovely Denise otherwise known as The Wine Sleuth. As I’ve said I can’t declare to be a wine connoisseur but I did really enjoy this sweet and fruity dessert wine, and will be investing in a bottle for home consumption when I have people round for dinner as it was the perfect finale to a fabulous evening of great food and wine.

 

Shaun Alpine-Crabtree is the founder of the restaurant and has gained a 2 star award from The Sustainable Restaurant Association too for spearheading the venue’s collaboration with the homeless charity St Mungos, with whom, the restaurant work with on their herbs. It was these fantastic herbs that made up the most unusual ‘goody bag’ I’ve ever received, a batch of these herbs in a wooden box.

It was a great evening and now that I know the venue play live Jazz on a Saturday evening I may venture there in the evening as well as for the go-to for visits when in Southwark Street. The new Italian direction looks set to take The Table Café onto the next stage in an already splendid food journey.

Pitt Cue - Barbecue Heaven

Pulled Pork Perfection

So once upon a time a metallic ‘burger van’ style BBQ eaterie, Pitt Cue, sat splendid over by the Southbank, ran by Tom Adams and serving ribs and pulled pork in as magnificent a way as is possible and so the ‘street food’ explosion began and continues.

Now Pitt Cue resides in a small little corner just off of Carnaby St in a restaurant, not so much street food, more diner-style in a very popular Soho location. As with so many venues in the ‘trendy’ food scene at the moment, reservations cannot be made to eat here, one must simply turn up and wait their turn - in a restaurant with only 30 covers this can be a lengthy process. Queues out of the door are a regular sight and I guess as with other similarly no-booking-policy venues, this only adds to the allure and makes the wannabe diner wonder what is so good to make people queue out of the door - and often for quite some time too.

I finally visited recently for the first time since the Newburgh St restaurant opened with my brother Dan, and a tip for not waiting too long is to go after the lunchtime rush and before the early evening stampede. We turned up around 3pm and waited just long enough to down a couple of drinks each, and eat a portion of the fantastic pork scratchings, which were lovely salty, crunchy and delicious things of culinary beauty (see attached image). Obviously pork scratchings are not to be eaten on a regular basis as they are certainly not the healthiest of things, and I’d dread to think of the fat-content, but my word as an occasional treat these were just phenomenal.

The place really is tiny, and when waiting in the bar area I particularly noticed the oddly old-fashioned net curtains, that adorn the windows and that I haven’t seen the like of for about twenty years, I guess this feeds into the Western theme but I can’t see it taking off too much on the London food scene (well I hope not anyway).

The bar serves an array of cocktails, but having been Pisco’d at Ceviche the weekend before, Dan and I opted for a beer and a ginger beer which were both: tasty, reasonable and refreshing.

Once seated in the downstairs area we quickly decided on our meal. You can either choose to have one of the Bun meals which includes the meat of your choice in some bread with pickles, which is the cheaper way to enjoy the food, but we opted for the Meat & a Side option which is also pretty reasonable.

We decided to get two different meals and share so we could try a bit of everything so we had the Pulled Pork and the Beef Rib mains with Bone Marrow Mash and Spicy Slaw as well as the pickles that come with each dish.

Beef Rib & Bone Marrow Mash

I literally don’t know where to start with detailing this food, it was mouth-wateringly delicious, all of it! I literally couldn’t find one single gripe or moan about the place. The pulled-pork, was tender, flavoursome and fell apart at the touch of the fork. The bone marrow mashed potato was creamy, earthy and a little bit on the greasy side, naughty but very, very nice and the spicy slaw was the perfect accompaniment to all as it had that gorgeous crunch with a slightly acidic, vinegary flavour and the beef ribs were just to-die-for. They fell off of the bone and had that charred, BBQ flavouring on the crispy coat, but had clearly been cooked over time to ensure tender, delicate meat. A chunky piece of crusty bread, also charred, came with both and was perfect for soaking up the meat juices.

The meals are served in metallic tins, not unlike the kind you’d imagine a grandparent preparing their roast joint in as a child, well for me anyway.

Pork Scratchings

Pitt Cue is a must for anyone who likes their meat, BBQ style food or just to stay ahead of the foodie pack and ensure you’ve been to all of the latest ‘on-trend’ places. The meal was a treat from my brother and came in at around the £50 mark, with a few drinks each. With the Bun meal options priced at only £6.50 this is a really affordable place to eat, particularly if you’re not drinking, and don’t mind a bit of a wait, although frankly if our meal was anything to go by, the wait, however long, will be worth it.

Apricot Crusted Pork Fillet

Pork fillet when cooked well is one of the most deliciously tender pieces of meat and is one my favourites. Here is a really simple method that I love that combines a little heat from Dijon mustard with the sweetness of apricots.

I usually serve this dish with creamy layered potatoes and seasonal vegetables or as an alternative to a roasting joint with all of the traditional trimmings associated with a Sunday lunchtime meal.

The delicious crusty exterior of this dish is great once baked and gives a great, crunchy but sweet texture to a delicate piece of meat.

A good wine to serve with this is a Moscato and I have paired this with the Barefoot Moscato on several occasions as this has notes of peach and apricot which really complement the pork dish and give me an excuse to indulge in some sweet wine, which I love, but only goes with certain food.

Ingredients:

I pork fillet, trimmed and washed

2-3 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

2-3 Slices Bread – I prefer to use ciabatta or a flavoured bread such as tomato bread or olive bread

200g Dried Apricots

Tbsp Fresh Sage

Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

How To:

1.       In a food processer whizz up your bread so it becomes breadcrumbs and add in the sage leaves so these breadcrumbs are nice and herby. If you’re not a fan of sage try this with rosemary or thyme which will also work well with the pork fillet

2.       Chop the apricots into small chunks and throw in with the breadcrumbs and mix with a spoon adding Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

3.       Firstly wash your meat and then pat dry with kitchen towel to ensure all excess moisture is absorbed

4.       Rub a little salt and pepper all over the fillet to flavour the meat

5.       With a pastry brush, cover the fillet with the Dijon mustard and then roll in the breadcrumbs until nicely coated all over

6.       Place the fillet onto an oven-proof dish or tray and place into a pre-heated over for 20-25 minutes, depending on how you like your meat cooked – the crumb should be nice and golden brown in appearance

7.       Remove from the oven, wrap the dish in tinfoil and allow to rest for up to ten minutes before carving and serving with your chosen accompaniments

A Tale of Two Manchester Hotels

Recently I was invited to trial the facilities in the Malmaison Hotel in Manchester for an overnight stay as well as trying a meal at the adjoining Smoak Restaurant.

As I studied English in the city of Manchester, it’s a place I’m extremely fond of, and so was keen to extend this for more than 1 evening. I’ve stayed before in the Midland Hotel and also the Radisson Edwardian and so we decided to give the Macdonald Hotel a try for the second evening.

We arrived on a Sunday evening into Manchester Piccadilly train station to the weather that I became very accustomed to in my three-year stay in Manchester – grey skies and pouring rain. Not a great start but as the hotel is a mere couple of minutes’ walk from the station we didn’t allow it to dampen (excuse the pun) our spirits.

On arrival we took in the modern and opulent décor of the Malmaison Hotel with delight, this looked very promising indeed. We checked in, had our bags taken to our room and made our way to the bar where we enjoyed a Champagne cocktail each, to toast our arrival for a couple of days of gluttony and enjoyment.

When we made our way up to the room it was to a gorgeously decorated and spacious room made out in luxurious silvery grey fabrics, with a comfortable double bed and chaise lounge with a clean and shiny new bathroom in black marble, fabulous.

With a few hours before dinner, we walked into the city centre and indulged in some retail therapy. When we returned to the hotel, I thought it would be rude not to partake in trying out a treatment at La Petit Spa, which is situated in the basement of the hotel. I booked myself in for an hour-long Deep Tissue Massage which cost £65, and which was frankly worth every penny and more. I was welcomed into the spa, given a fluffy bath-robe, as is the norm, and invited to a beverage. The treatment itself was one of the best massages I’ve had before, and I would gladly pay again for this treatment.  

We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Smoak Restaurant – which you can read about soon in a further post – and then enjoyed a Bloody Mary or two in the bar before retiring for a very comfortable stay in the room. Breakfast was good with a wide choice of options available that were brought to your table for you as well as a buffet for the more continental options.

Overall our stay at Malmaison Hotel, Manchester was superb. The room was comfortable, luxurious and welcoming as were the communal areas which were full of squishy armchairs and sofas. The hotel manages to balance contemporary style with good old-fashioned comfort to offer a welcome mix to any guest. We were guests of the hotel, however, you can book a room with breakfast for an overnight for two people for £123, which I think offers great value considering the standard of this hotel.

On our second day we checked into the Macdonald Hotel and after such enjoyment at Malmaison Hotel, I was quite sad to leave the place, but was soon reassured as we popped to the Macdonald Hotel early wondering if we could leave our bags there until check-in much later that day. The reception staff asked us to wait a moment and the next minute we were offered early check-in at no extra cost so this was a good start too.

The hotel room was comfortable enough and decorated to a standard which I’ve come to expect at most UK hotels, although basically adorned, it was spotlessly clean and very roomy.

After the opulence and shiny-new feel to the Malmaison Hotel, I must admit the Macdonald Hotel did seem a little bare and under-whelming, however had I came for a stay and not stayed at the Mal the night before, then this wouldn’t have been the case. The Macdonald Hotel was more than adequate and was certainly comfortable enough for an overnight stay.

Once again keen to try out all of the facilities I treated myself to a massage at the Macdonald Hotel Spa. This time I had a Decleor Aroma Ultimate Body Massage which was one hour long and was hour of pure bliss and relaxation – after my massage the day before, I certainly felt relaxed and knot-free by the end of this. This cost £57 and again I would highly recommend it. With tranquil music playing and an incredibly friendly and bubbly therapist who knew when to be quiet (when I’m being massaged I don’t want mindless chit-chat) I thought this offered fantastic value for the level of massage. The only small drawback of this, was that as the Macdonald Hotel l is so vast, I had to walk quite far from our hotel room and up and down lots of stairs to get there, but this is, as I say a minor discrepancy and wouldn’t deter me from enjoying this wonderful treatment again.

The rain continued to pour and so we decided to try our our evening meal in the hotel’s in-house eatery, the Scottish Steak Restaurant, which has Two Rosettes, rather than brave the cold, wet and windy outdoors.  Scottish Steak Restaurant has an open Josper Grill which is in the centre of the restaurant so you can watch all of the kitchen action. Although the atmosphere was great in this restaurant, especially for a Monday evening, the food wasn’t quite up to the standards I would have expected for Two Rosette s, nor for the prices charged. Although the meal we had was more than acceptable, the food was on a par with a good gastro pub, and as such I would have expected the same sort of prices.

Presentation of the evening meal was also interesting – some of the dishes looked superb on the plate, my boyfriend’s main meal of pork fillet and fondant potato for example, but my main, which was a fish fillet with a creamy prawn sauce and mashed potatoes, just didn’t look great and certainly not appetising. The mash also had lumps in it which I wouldn’t expect of any restaurant. It was presented as a big, oval dollop, there are no other words to describe it, and I’ve included an image to demonstrate this.

Breakfast the next morning was actually fantastic – with an excellent array of continental and English fried breakfast foods available at the buffet counter, I enjoyed a full English of my own design which went down well.

We paid £110 for our stay at the hotel which included our breakfast, and once again I think this does offer good value for a city centre hotel and I would highly recommend the spa facilities as these were excellent. Our evening meal with a bottle of wine and two courses was around the £80-£90 mark, and as I mentioned I think this is a little high given the quality of the food, and so I would suggest if staying at the Macdonald Hotel, trying one of the many great restaurants in the city of Manchester rather than opting to try the hotel’s offering.

Make Weekly Meal Planning a Doddle

As regular readers will know, I work in the wonderful world of food PR and in over two years of writing this blog I’ve never once included any of the clients I’ve represented. However, I’ve just started working with a brand new food delivery and recipe service that has launched into the UK and I’m keen to share my review with readers.

Hello Fresh is an online service that creates weekly recipes and delivers the recipe cards along with the ingredients needed to create the meals, measured out exactly, depending on whether you’ve selected a two, four or six person meal plan.

One of the great things about Hello Fresh is the precision with which ingredients are delivered, aside from the fact that this avoids buying obscure and often expensive ingredients that might only ever be used once in a blue moon, what I think is truly fantastic is this accuracy completely eliminates waste.

When my box arrived, all of the ingredients for which only a pinch was required, came in tiny pots, all popped together in a brown paper bag entitled ‘The Little Bits. I have to say it was very exciting receiving this box of goodies, and opening it up like a gift to find out which meals I’d be preparing that week.

I trialled the 3-meal plan for two people, which I thought was a good way of testing how well the recipes worked against three different people following the instructions so I roped in my boyfriend, who is very much a can’t cook, won’t cook type and my brother who is comfortable in the kitchen but very much a novice.

Glen, the kitchen-phobic, took the first baton and prepared Stir Fried Pork & Prawn Noodles with Shitake Mushrooms. Frankly I was gobsmacked and impressed to see my boyfriend comfortably chopping, slicing and stirring, and even more so when he dished up a meal in less than twenty minutes that looked appealing and tasted great.Hello Fresh supply the customer with smart recipe cards, which on one side display an image of the finished dish, with the ingredients listed out below with an image of each, and on the other side is the recipe method, which is broken down into step-by-step stages which are illustrated clearly with a photograph. The very fact that Glen was able to follow these instructions clearly and produce not just an edible, but frankly a delicious meal is testament to the fact that these really are a simple format easy enough for anyone to follow, regardless of their competence in the kitchen.

When we received the recipe cards, this was the one I was least excited about it but it was actually my favourite one, with a very fresh chilli and coriander flavour it was thoroughly enjoyable and I’ve retained the recipe card to re-produce at a later date.

On enjoying this meal and the two that followed in the next couple of days, the first point that simply must be made is the very high standard of the produce used. The meat in particular was incredible, and in this first dish, the fresh, large and succulent prawns were what elevated a week-day meal into something spectacular.

My brother Daniel prepared Chorizo and Toasted Pine Nut Burgers with Red Onion Marmalade and Corn on the Cob. Once again instructions proved to be clear and the final result was great – so much so that a photocopy of this recipe was made so both of us could enjoy this dish again at a later date.

The final dish, which I cooked, was Chicken Skewers with Ginger Rice and again I couldn’t fault it on either flavour, ease of preparation or originality – a triumph for the third time.

I have already recommended Hello Fresh to friends and family as I think it is a truly convenient way to enjoy fresh, home-cooked meals from scratch, that are of a very high standard without the stress of visiting a supermarket or even planning meals for a week. In the fast-paced culture we live in, it’s not unusual to ‘pop’ to a supermarket after work during the week to pick up your evening’s dinner, and in my experience I usually spend £20 or more doing this, buying unnecessary extras and over-priced convenience purchases – not to mention the fact that if you go there not knowing what you’re planning on cooking (which is often half the problem) then traipsing around the aisles can be an uninspiring and definitely not an enjoyable way to spend precious hours outside of the working day.

Hello Fresh is priced from £39 per week for a 3-meal plan for two, which is what I trialled, and which works out at £6.50 per person, per meal and for the high quality of the dishes prepared and the ingredients included I think this is simply marvellous.

As readers will be aware, I’m very passionate about food and particularly about home-cookery and I think Hello Fresh is an affordable way of equipping people who might lead a hectic lifestyle to enjoy all of the benefits of cooking at home for family or friends.

I will definitely be using this service and I urge readers to try too.

For more information about Hello Fresh check out their website www.hellofresh.co.uk

Ceviche

 

It seems ‘Ceviche’ has been the buzz word on food-lovers lips for the past couple of years. I remember first reading the term on Eat Like a Girls’ blog a good year and a half ago, I’d heard the term but wasn’t quite sure what it entailed. As usual, the description on this blog was executed so beautifully, as to make one hungry whilst reading, of course I looked up ‘ceviche’ and made it my mission to try it. Each time I’ve tried ceviche I’ve liked it more than the last time and my most recent trip has been notably better than all others.

Ceviche is the technique of marinating raw fish in citrus juices and a combination of spices - so it’s pretty much a trio of my favourite foods fish, heat and citrus flavours, so it’s little wonder how quickly I was won over.

When Peruvian Ceviche opened its doors recently in Soho, I was literally chomping at the bit to get a seat at looks set to be one of the hottest tickets in town.

Finally my brother Dan and I were permitted a table on a recent Saturday afternoon approximately 4:30pm, before the early evening rush - we were told we only had an hour and twenty minutes till we’d need to vacate our table mind.

It was atmospheric on arrival, but not overly busy, and so we were slightly disappointed that once seated it took almost 10 minutes for a waitress to approach us and request our drinks order. This sobered out excitement a bit, especially as there were a good number of waiting staff. However, not to be put off I ordered a Pasion de Ceviche cocktail, liking the sound of the passion fruit and prickly pear liquer and not taking too much notice of the drinks basis. Dan ordered a Peruvian beer to get us in the mood to mull over the menu. Both were good but we soon realised we’d made a mistake.

Observing the room, almost everyone else in the place had a small glass of what looked to me like bitter lemon with foam on top. On delicately requesting what these mystery beverages were we quickly ordered one each, and so our love affair with the Pisco begins. A type of grape brandy mixed up with the favourite flavours of Peru apparently - sugar and lime, bitters and the foam element - an egg white. These were really good and went down very easily, to the point that after leaving the restaurant, we had to venture into a coffee house to sober up for a while.

We ordered, with some helpful advice from our waiting team of two, the salmon ceviche (Sakuru Maru) which we were told follows a more Japanese style, being very thinly sliced, so is good for the novice ceviche-ite, this suited Dan as it was his first time. We also ordered the sea bass in this same style. Both were flawlessly, melt-in-the-mouth perfect. I couldn’t have asked for better, in fact we were sold on the place immediately after one mouthful each of these. The sea bass was my preference, as the flavours were more to my palate, hot chilli for heat, coriander livening it up and salty nutty crunch to add texture to a fab dish.

We had some cheese tequenos - a deep fried mild cheese with a crispy, slightly crunchy pastry coat. Hot fried cheese is frankly one of those food items I think it must be impossible not to like, so clearly we were thrilled with this dish - not least because it came with a spicy mayonnaise style sauce which had a fiery chilli kick, one of my favourite dishes.

Our one dud dish was the ‘Causa Mur’ and this was probably down to our own initial excitement, and not reading the menu properly. Basically this dish was a potato base, topped with squid, prawns and avocado. Let me start by saying the topping was divine, a really refreshing mix of seafood with a slightly creamy, but light sauce with the tiniest amount of bite to it. What it was sitting on however left a lot to be desired. Dubbed on the menu as ‘a cool potato cake’, it was in fact what I can only describe as a dollop of cold mashed potato. I understand from speaking to one of the waiters that this is exactly as it should be served, but unfortunately my thought is that there is never a time to serve cold mashed potato and however on-trend that might ever become it’ll never be in favour for my palate, or Dan’s for that matter. We were not amused.

Back to the good stuff though - our chosen ‘anticuchos’ or skewer dish was the chicken which was marinated in a really flavoursome sauce and left the meat incredibly juicy, and we could have actually eaten more of this, given the choice.

We ordered one other dish which was exceptional - the ’Arroz con Pato’ or confit of duck. When it arrived, this looked exactly as confit should, it had a crispy brown skin, but as soon as you dug beyond the surface the meat was succulent, moist and tender and falling off of the bone. The flavour was really up there with delicate spicing bringing the meat to life and what really elevated this dish was the bed of rice and beans it was sitting upon, a combination of herby, coriander flavoured rice and green beans. The dish looked fantastic, colourful and vibrant, and the taste matched up to the appearance. The crispy skin was so good that we actually argued over the last bit, but this is what happens when you eat out with your sibling I guess.

We had a truly great meal in Ceviche and I wouldn’t hesitate to return, though we had a slow start with the staff once they’d first spoken to us and we’d asked for their advice they showed nothing but enthusiasm and a good deal of knowledge about the menu too.

We paid just under £70 including service for all of the above which isn’t extortionate but wouldn’t constitute being detailed as cheap either - middle of the range.

I’m going to now ask those that accompany me on meals which I’m to review to also review in marks out of five for food, service and overall experience and Dan’s marks are detailed below.

Food: 4/5

Service: 3/5

Overall Experience 4/5

Score out of 15: 11/15