Kitchen Pranks

We have all had it done to us, and yes we now do it to our junior chefs but kitchen pranks keep everyone smiling even on the worst days.
I found this link online and for me it epitomises what happens to new staff members and juniors when they start a new job, so funny.
Check this out, priceless, put a smile on my face anyways,
Anyone out there had something similar or kitchen pranks to share?

Merry Xmas

Short staffed still and what a month Ive had, super busy no days off 15+ hours a day, hence not to many posts from me, not much time to be overly creative the last month, just focusing on getting prep and service done in the most efficient and painless way possible, there have been a few painful days.

Any way this is just a quick post to say I hope you all have a safe and merry christmas and have an awesome time be it with your families or at work or where ever you are, For me I managed to sneak the day off and will no doubt head to the beach( still cant get my head around sunny christmas's) just doesnt feel the same as a snowy or cold winters morning.

Enjoy the festive period :)

Rooibos and Caramel Custard

So this is the third dish from the new menu at kermadec, no smoke or bubbles on this one, slightly more conservative but my favourite,

Here you have a really soft custard set in acetate in our cannoli moulds flavoured with a special blend of Rooibos tea and caramel using Iota to give it a super soft set. on the bottom of the plate is a Mango cream, pistachios and freshly diced mango, Pistachio and Mango tuile making full use of the croquanter from texturas,

Then is the 30 second yoghurt cake, i love this, my favourite of the microwave cakes, also some coriander which goes so well with the mango, Pink Grapefruit and Vanilla Gelato and a syrup made from hibiscus flowers.

Exploding Strawberry Milkshake

So here we have another dish recently gone on our menu, influenced by my trip to 3 michelin starred Restaurant Arzak in San Sabastian. I serve a milkshake poured tableside which then starts to bubble up and sauce the rest of the plate which actually makes up the main part of the dish.

We chose many flavours from spring and summer, concentrating on berries, a jelly veil is made from an intense jus extracted from strawberries, this is draped over cheesecake mousse and then we garnish up and around the jelly with strawberries, raspberries, black and blue berries, a blackcurrant meringue, strawberry and blackcurrant fruit tuiles, Pineapple sage flowers, coriander flower, corn flowers.

Also compressed watermelon adds a little bit of extra freshness to the dish. a small amount of black olive and muscavado powder adds a little savoury touch.

The dish is finished off with a lavender Ice Cream and then of course the Strawberry milkshake poured by the waiter.

Check out the video here of the milkshake at the table

Nayarit Chocolate Creameux

Here is the Nayarit Chocolate Creameux with Mandarin Jelly, Licourice Nitro Caviar, Chocolate and coconut soil, and an Ice cream flavoured with the Barrel of the Jack Daniels.

The Chocolate is set in the fish bowl on an angle.

We infuse the Jack daniels barrel under pressure with our Ice Cream base and cook it sous vide, marinade it for two days in the fridge then pass it off and freeze as for Pacojetting.

Also served is some freeze dried Mandarin and some glazed Chocolate Puff Pastry stick.

Here is the video of the dish at the table, sorry about the shaky hand, must be working to hard,

The bowl is sat on a dish filled with the barrel of jack daniels whiskey chips,

El poblet is No More

Thats right El Poblet is finished, No More, I hope you all got the chance to eat there before it all ended.
But dont fret it has just changed its name to Quique DaCosta Restaurant with a fantastic new website which you can see here http://www.quiquedacosta.es/index.asp?Idioma=ES&opc=10&pag=Home .
The website is awesome with fantastic pictures, links to the Quique's personal blog, check out the menus etc.
I had heard rumours about the name change but couldnt find anything until I stumbled across this last night.
Well worth checking out guys, the chef is a genius, the food is outstanding.
also check out http://quiquedacosta.blogspot.com/ 

Round up

So thats it, all my blogs of Spains restaurants are complete, and what a journey it was, Im looking forward to the next trip, once I save back up again after destroying my savings, curse the weak NZ Dollar!!!!
So here is a little best of list of my trip
Best Restaurant Meal:- and Best Service
Im struggling to choose between El Celler de Can Roca and El Poblet, both very different, the food in each was outstanding, innovative and amazingly tasty, memories of the el Poblet seafood dishes will live a long time in my memory, so to will the Olive tree at El Celler, and the the desserts. I think I would have to go for El Poblet as my best dinner in Spain over all. The service was fantastic over the two nights I ate there, Didier the Maitre, well he is the man when it comes to looking after  people in the restaurant and his confidence spills over into his team who are fantastically presented, so proud of there jobs and know the menu inside out. The Food, well I experienced everything, from the 2009 menu full of innovation, dry ice, Liquid Nitro, amazing flavours, a real experience, and then was the classic  El Poblet menu, which was still just as strong as the 2009 menu, faultless. This is my favourite restaurant I have ever eaten in. Quique Da Costa is a genius, a gentleman and an amazing chef and will for sure reach the 3 michelin star status he deserves.

Most memorable dish,
Again a few choices here, there is the Squid dish I had at Restaurant Martin Berasategui's, The Foie, Whisky and coke dish from El Poblet, and then there is the Lactic dessert of Jordi Roca. And as it is imprinted in my memory I must go for Berasateguis squid dish I had. Squid biscuit, consomme and sphere, the flavour was so distinct, I can still recall the aroma from it. world class in every way





Best Hotel
Hands down this goes to Hotel Ferrero, the next closest Being Hotel Mon, which was not even close to touching the standards set by Rut and Paco at Ferrero, The hotel has it all, A world class restaurant, a stylish and luxurious design, stunning bedrooms with everything you want, beautiful outdoor pool area, attentive staff. Just recently been included in the relais and Chateaux guide which is all about luxury.
I loved every minute and felt so relaxed at this hotel.


Best Breakfast
Again Hotel Ferrero knocks everyone out of the park with there breakfast, an amazing choice, the best ingredients, super fresh, and just awesome. Sat out in the spanish countryside on my own balcony on a beautiful fresh morning. The Perfect start to my day.

I will always Fly with:- Singapore Airlines they rock, best service, most attentive stewardesses, awesome amount of room in seats(even in economy);) Everything just seemed to be of a better standard on the flights with them than the other carriers that i flew with.

Dont fly Lufthansa, worst flight of my life both ways, Singapore to Frankfurt and the return leg. Most uncomfortable, worst food, and not the most friendly stewerdess's in the world, everything seemed like a drama for them, even getting a glass of water!!

Best Budget hotel i stayed in was Pension Alameda in San Sabastian, Location was awesome, right on the edge of the old town, near all the best Tapas joints, and 30 minute walk to Arzak, the beach was a 10 minute walk away, well priced and the owners were the most lovely people that looked after me while I was in Spain, really nice people and I will stay there when I return to San Sabastian next year.

The High speed trains operated by Renfe were a great way to get around the country and so cheap, really affordable and would advise you to pay the little extra and go for first class, its not expensive and so worth it, as accurate as I have ever seen a train service, really comfortable, and gets you around Spain fast, maybe not as fast as flying but much cheaper and very comfortable.

Best Tapas,

I loved eating at El Feugo de Negro, the Tapas were more on the modern side with a cool bunch of people socialising round the bar, just so good having world class Jamon, peppers etc in a relaxed surroundings like this, would love to have similar in NZ.

Favourite Town,

This for sure is San Sabastian, I loved the place, has a great feel to it, relaxed, a bit old school but modernism sneaking in when you least expect it, a fantastic city, with great food, awesome beaches, super friendly people and amazing restaurants. Really felt at home there, maybe it was something to do with being on the Atlantic Coast, and was sad to leave. Fantastic memories. It has a wonderful history too with so many seafaring battles taking place just of its shores.

Sergi Arola Gastro

On my first day in Spain, Madrid to be exact I was straight out for lunch after the mammoth journey from NZ, So it was straight from the airport to the hotel, dump my bags and to my of to the first meal of my tour of spains restaurants.

Sergi Arola Gastro is in a beautiful area in Madrid, reminded me so much of South Kensington in London where you would visit Tom Aikens or Gordon Ramsays restaurant. Leafy streets, obviously a wealthy area. The restaurant is situated on the first floor, a door man leads you up the stairs to a hidden doorway that slides open as you approach leaving you with a view of a very modern restaurant, the table settings being stand out of all the restaurants I visited.

The service staff as you would expect at a two star are very attentive, the food is fun, not overly crazy but a few nice touches here and there. The flavours are spot on. As with many of Spains top Chefs, Sergi Arola spent time at El Bulli so you see spherification, thin flavourful jellies, interesting flavour combinations and a fair bit of interaction with the waiting staff who had to finish quite a few of the dishes at the table.





First up were the Snacks, or Tapas as they called it, A small cone of popcorn Ice cream with corn brunoise was first up, sounds like it would be sweet but was quite savoury, then moving on was a 'Waldorf salad' which turned out to be  a sphere of celery jelly, encassing an apple and walnut cream, served with a rich Chicken Consomme, the aroma of the consomme was spell binding. Being my first meal I was so excited, the smells of the food, the interaction of the waitstaff had me thinking how amazing the rest of my trip would be.

Then the classic made modern potatoes 'Brava' arrived, small cylinders of potato with aioli on top finished the tapas, we were on our way to the entrees,

The first entree was a Tartar of beetroot with a sphere of Mango, Goats cheese and yoghurt sauce and tender leaves, Simple presentation but great balance, the tender leaves were to use as a 'bread, to drop the tarter on to and eat, memory tells me that this was stand out, simple yet packing a punch, and its great to eat with your finger isnt it??

Next up was this little morsel, It was swiss chard filled with Oyster brandade, caviar and sour cream, and potatoes. Again as you can see the presentation is immaculate as I was to become accustomed to in spains top restaurants, the flavours clear and direct and luxurious.






Sadly my camera died a death after this photo, and what followed was some amazing dishes, my first taste of many sardines to be eaten while i was in Spain came with Roasted and crispy fried egg, and black trompets, the sardines beautifully cooked, nice and plump.

Then came the Cod Chins with snails from the sea and land, Pearl onions individually stuffed with tapande, Black pudding and a garlic and parsley ice cream which was cleverly stuffed into a snail shell, how very cool, loved the presentation of this dish, the garlic not to over powering in the Ice cream.
another winner.

Pigeon from the region of Navarra followed with marinated foie gras, lovely sliced ceps and a rich jus, the pigeon cooked to perfection, I would have liked a bit more foie gras, although there was good balance to the dish, I probably just craved it having been denied the pleasure of having Foie available in NZ as it is not allowed to be imported apart from the poor quality tinned rubbish.

Green tea microwave sponge came next,  with orange concentrate, rose caramel wafers and a lemon verbena ice cream, not much to say about this, maybe expected a little more from a two star,

The second dessert was a  frozen souffle of candied fruits and kirsch, set in a little metal coup, with Blackberry spherification, and hazelnut cream, again very simple and a bit of a let down,

Then came the last dessert which for me was stand out flavour pairing, It was a Dark Chocolate Cream with freshly diced apple, Strudel crumble mix and Coconut sauce poured at the table, a really great dish. Simple, but delivers a great end to the meal.

I was given a tour of the restaurant behind the scenes by the restaurant manager after my meal, and the place is immaculate, spread over two floors with a seperate prep kitchen. Its a fantastic set up. I can only thank them for the sheer hospitality shown to me by everyone. A superb meal by any standards.

El Celler de Can Roca, 3 Michelin Stars

Congratulations must go to the Roca brothers, today they received their third Michelin star, the most coveted award in the culinary world, which as I said in my review of the restaurant would be so well deserved and for sure they should not have had to wait so long, with a new restaurant and kitchen there was little doubt in my mind that I was eating in a restaurant that was for sure punching above its weight.
The hard work, dedication and innovativeness of these brothers shines through and the meal for sure was in the top two that I ate in Spain.
Well done. I have so many good memories from Girona and cant wait to return next year to spend more time there. More news on the Spanish Michelin awards to follow. :)

Paco Morales and Rut Controneo

I managed to get up to Hotel Ferrero where Spain Chef of the year for 09, Paco Morales is wowing his followers with his food and partner Rut Controneo pushing the front of house to high levels.


Let me tell you about the Hotel first, for me its one off the best I have stayed in, I dont have big budgets, and managed to stay here on a lower rate but having worked in and seen some of the finest  country house hotels in the UK a let me tell you they are pretty amazing, this is up there at the top, Attention to detail is impressive, style impeccable and the location, perfect.

It took me a while to get a taxi with my broken spanish from Villena to the hotel, but when I got there I felt at home straight away. A beautiful pool area, amazing gardens and orchards and oh so quiet compared to the hustle of madrid where i had just been.

Aidan Brooks of aidanbrooks.blogspot.com suggested on a forum on Egullet that I come visit and see what I think, and having read up a bit I was very excited about the food. The one downside to my stay was that I was the only guest but boy, did I get looked after, 3 waiting staff, an army in the Kitchen , Paco Morales and Rut Controneo both there, which made the stay feel so much more special.












As you can see from the pictures its a little piece of paradise and Im sure that within time the place will reach the acclaim it deserves, 
So then onto the food.


I was the only diner which felt very strange but the team made me feel at home, taking me to the kitchen and meeting the Chef, it amazed me to see the whole team on , with just me dining, I felt a twinge of guilt about having them work just for me.. but well they made a great experience. The first course that came was of young Walnuts, beautifully white and nothing like the dry ugly walnuts you may be used to , these were succulent, served on a sable, at the same time the bread wafer standing proud in a piece of stone along with butter and goats cheese mousse like texture.

Next from the kitchen came the salad of Jerusalem Artichoke with Sea Lettuce, Arbequina Olives, Green Apple, Citric Melisa and Hazelnut.Beautiful fresh hazelnuts with bright green cubes of Apple , again great textures and flavours.

followed by Cubes of Cuttlefish with Asian pear impregnated with black garlic. Reminding me a little of Mugaritz with many different contrasting herbs, the pear was slightly warm lovely cuttlefish. The Herbs here were so full of flavour.

Next up was possibly one of my favourite dishes, sublime, It was the Baby Prawns of Santa Pola with Guacamole, black olive and Almond milk. The balance was great , I loved everything about this dish, the simplicity, the impact so good. A real highlight. The Black olive seemed to be brushed onto the bottem of the bowl with the prawns and guacamole on top, finished with a almond milk, simply delicious and as good a dish I had anywhere.

I think this is one of the Chefs Signature dishes, It was a Consomme of Smoked tuna, with baby Courgette, and Marine Pine Caviar.

Fresh flavours, with a great impact from the consomme. the marine pine caviar I think being mock caviar, but my memory fails me there,

Thin Slices of Fatty Salt Pork with Judas ear wild mushrooms, Lambs Brain and Pimpinalla followed and how beautiful is this dish , again the look is simple but the flavour was amazing, 

This was the monkfish foie, with Cauliflower and turnip water , another favourite of mine, I love the texture ,  you dont get monkfish liver very often in New Zealand so I was quite excited to get this dish, the presentation is so clean, turnip water added a great secondary flavour to the dish,

Here is dish similar to one I had at Martin Berasategui, It was called the Market in the Dish, and was all the vegetables and herbs found in the locality of Hotel Ferrero, something of a palate cleanser before the hearty main courses arrived.

The Flavours were so clean and pure, I recall it was a slightly jellied Tomato water with everything arranged on top, so clean and pure, good flavours.

This was the first of the main courses, It was The Crusted stuffed cod with Tender onions lentils and Pancetta, The crust was scorching hot, a beautiful white colour encasing the Cod inside cooked to perfection, The crust was made from Potato Starch, The textures were great, Crispy crust, really sticky and a fantastic rich sauce, The only thing for me was I burnt my tongue on the crust. other than that beautful dish.

This was the first of the Desserts, Apple compressed and made an amazing green colour using spinach and applying the osmosis technique, with Pastry Cream , Apple Puree, biscuit crumble and Apple Sorbet, Really refreshing after the marathon of dishes I just ate,  good textures. The Pastry chef at the time was Aidan Brook, sorry we didnt make it for a drink after, 
This dessert was followed by Elderberry meringue with Blackberry Sorbet and dried lucky clover(not picture) . again really fresh and light and a perfect way to wind up the meal.

 

All in all Paco Morales in my opinion stays true to the values of food, you could be blindfolded and still know what you are eating unlike in some other restaurants I ate, The flavours produce were superb, technique was interesting. The hotel has just this past week been entered in to The Relais and Chateaux Guide book which is fantastic news, now all they need is Michelin to have a look, surely deserve more than one 'Estrella' from Michelin!! Paco and Rut are a fantastic couple and so welcoming, and I'd like to thank them again for looking after me so well. hope to see you guys in New Zealand some day

Final draft of the New Menu

Atelier’ The Workshop 
A free thinking environment. Evolution, morphing, seasonal, the classic, haute cuisine,
symbiosis are all elements explored in this dessert

Nayarit Milk Chocolate Crémeux
With mandarin gel, licorice, caramelised bitter chocolate puff pastry and
ice cream flavoured with the barrel of aged Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey

Rooibos Red Bush Tea And Caramel Custard
With mango, coriander and pistachio, 30 second yoghurt cake,
Hibiscus and a pink grapefruit and vanilla gelato

Exploding Strawberry Milkshake
Served with vanilla cheesecake, lemon curd, strawberry jelly, with many flavours
of summer fruits and lavender ice cream

Nitro White Chocolate Shells
Iced Jaina white chocolate shells with lychee, fresh raspberries, wild sorrel ice cream
and chilled consommé of yoghurt and lemongrass

The Atelier dish is something I can keep on menu, and use it for the evolution of a dish,  this month I have chosen to work with milk, and create a dish using milk in all its form, from ewes milk, milk curds, making milk biscuits, caramel from lactose etc. Which is great for recipe development for us. almost like a special dish of the day, but more concentrated. 

Evolving to a more Dynamic Pastry team

Above is the area for restaurant service.

My Pastry section at Kermadec is not massive but I think well utilised, We have just completed moving the brasserie pastry section up to the old bakery area since the bakery has now been moved off premises to make more space for our increasing capacity and other commitments, I now have a tidy little space housing both Restaurants pastry sections which in turn gives me so much control over what is happening during our days, with some extra bench space to come, and having some great equipment available to us its a real pleasure to work there.

Above is the brasserie pastry area , just after service

As summer comes and we are consistantly pushing out 100+ for lunch and up to 200 for dinner in the brasserie as well as 80-90 in the Restaurant as well as functions in our two function spaces it was essential that we made the move. We can now operate as a more close nit team and bail each other out as the services peaks and falls in both restaurants, it can be a bit of a push when both kitchens are pumping. Plates everywhere. but I don't think there are many other pastry kitchens in New Zealand like it which I am quite proud off, as like i said before pastry is a bit of an after thought here. but slowly peoples attitudes are changing.

Some dishes

So we have managed to get the new menu up and running and now its into crazy season, so the pics are a bit slow in coming , The one above is the Nitro moulded shells, made with white chocolate Ice Cream and freeze dried raspberries that come with a Raspberry and lychee dish, with Yoghurt and Lemongrass consomme, Wild sorrel Ice Cream and below are some lychees filled with a white chocolate Ganache the coated in a jelly made of Raspberries. The full picture of the dish will follow soon.

This next photo is of the Rooibos and Caramel Tea Custard dish thats been in the works for quite some time, it comes with pink grapefruit and vanilla gelato , mango Gel cubes, Pistachio and hibiscus, I thought this may be the dish that doesnt prove so popular but the sales have not been to bad, I love the flavour of Rooibos tea and the health benifits are an added bonus.

Then next up is a Nayarit Milk Chocolate Creameux  with nitro frozen Licourice licourice caviar, Mandarin in freeze dried and jelly, Chocolate puff pastry , Chocolate, coconut and popping candy soil and an Ice Cream flavoured with the barrel of the Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey. We serve it in a fish bowl sat on the woodchips from the barrels of Jack Daniels which were used for the Ice Cream. The dish is pretty simple, but the flavours are to die for.

Next post will talk about the exploding milkshake dish inspired by restaurant Arzak

Up and coming new menu

Its coming up to Summer here in NZ so we are getting super busy, it certainly has been a hectic few weeks since I made it back to the Restaurant, 1 guy walked out while I was away, so now we are 2 staff members down, its all normal in this trade I guess.(anyone looking for a job??) also a big thank you to Juan and Michiko who looked after the Pastry while I was away, Im so lucky to have two people so dedicated working alongside me, your both awesome.At the same time the numbers in both our restaurants and functions are going through the roof so its all go.

We are however changing the restaurant menu next week , All the berries are coming through,  some new suppliers have appeared on the scene with some great new ingredients, I love summer menus. New dishes with little bits of inspiration from my recent trip to Spain and the introduction of a new concept for the menu, the dessert tasting menu will be updated also, so keep an eye out for the photos of the new menu which will come up over the next.

El Celler Can Roca.

Its pretty much the end of my trip now, Ive eaten in some great establishments, all with there own personal touches that make each one differ from eachother.  Some memorable dishes, and yes some not so.
El Celler Can Roca was my last 'big' experience in Spain. I headed out to Girona after a day in Barcelona, having pounded the streets of La Rambla in the morning, breakfast in La Boqueria and the on a bus up to Girona for Dinner at El Celler de Can Roca at night.

Girona is a beautiful city, Im often envious of the people that live so close to great restaurants such as this.  For sure I wish I did. But in coming to Spain I took my chance and got a table. The 3 brothers Joan, Jordi and Joseph make up such a Talented family, they have built such a beautiful restaurant and I was about to experience what all there hard work accumulates too.

Arriving at the restaurant you walk through there little courtyard where you can look into the restaurant like a giant goldfish bowl, on the other side you can just see the chefs scurrying around getting ready for the service, I was sat promptly and as normal now went for the Tasting menu with matching wines.


13 courses of heaven followed along with 7 snacks to begin the meal, a very cool way of serving caramelised olives start the meal, hanging on a tree, i loved it. so original.
Followed quickly by Anchovy bone crisps, Black Sesame tuiles,  Razor clam Macaroni, trade mark Foie Gras nougat and a tomato and tuna Salad. All great, preparing my taste buds for an awesome meal.
I wont go through every dish, but give you a brief outline. enjoy

The first course was a Cherry soup, with a cherry sorbet and ginger Ice cream centre I think, served with smoked eel . Fantastic, nice and tart, not sweet, The sorbet really refreshing your plate , the eel was nice and meaty.

A 'double' spherification of Herring 'omelette' with a caviar, taking on the mock form of an omelette infact being a liquid centre of pure joy, great flavours, a massive success

Charcoal grilled Sole with Green Olive, Pine nuts, Fennel, Bergamot and Orange, looks simple but the flavours are so refined. faultless

Catalan Cod Pot au Feu.

This Course made the change from savoury to sweet, was one of my favourites written as Charcoal grilled eggplant confit, the smoke coming from the plate gave a great aroma while you ate the dish heightening the flavours, another great savoury come sweet from Jordi Roca. Superb

This is one of Jordi Rocas dishes, he is famous for matching desserts to fragrances, this was an adaptation of Terre by Hermes, a Chocolate Cream with Orange, Jasmine milk, Patchouli Ice Cream Distilate sand and grapefruit cake. You also get a small paper cone with the perfume on to smell after you eat to make a comparison. It was very good.

Petit Fours,Praline, Vanilla, Saffron, Rose and one called Gerd(not to sure about this one)

As you can see I started struggling with the amount of wine a little bit, but the matches were fantastic, luckily i managed to get them written down, otherwise it would have all been lost from memory

I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the kitchen and restaurant, meeting the Chef Joan Roca, Pastry Chef Jordi Roca and Joseph Roca who looks after the front, they really go out of there way to say hello to everyone and put themselves out there, I love the openness that they show.

I dont know about anyone else but I hope this guy will be handing the Roca brothers the third star that is so deserved, they have a fantastic restaurant, a great team of professionals on the floor, knowledge, skill and creativity in abundance. I love the place, and time will tell, I will be so surprised if they don't get it this year.