Nowt left to teach
As two northern lads condemned to a life of investigating the restaurants of the metropolis, the sight of a few good, honest names from beyond Watford Gap - embossed upon the covers of the selection of menus sent by Caterer & Hotelkeeper for us to choose from - proved impossible to resist.
Our choice, therefore, was to examine the gastronomic delights on offer at three recent functions towards the polar end of the M1.
The new Yorkshire Chefs' Circle would certainly not accept the notion that good food is the preserve of those to the south. It was founded recently with the twin aims of promoting local restaurants and providing a forum for chefs to get together and swap ideas.
On 5 August, in the impressive surroundings of the Tower Room of Ripley Castle, Sir Thomas Ingleby presided over the inaugural dinner, attended by 50 or so local chefs and restaurant-goers.
As befits a society promoting a county that values blunt-speaking, the menu was a model of traditional simplicity: lobster; chilled soup; fillet of lamb; pud' and cheese (English, of course).
As David Box, the resident head chef at the castle, rightly notes, it's nice to leave the diner "a small element of surprise" when drawing up the menu.
A similarly direct approach applied to the wines, with the respective courses accompanied by a Chablis, a claret and a Sauternes. Both the food and drink seem to have generated the same high degree of praise. A convivial evening seems to have been had by everyone present, marking, hopefully, an auspicious beginning for the circle.
The Spring Diner Amical of the brotherhood was held on 13 June at Thornton Hall on the Wirral. Theirs was an ambitious seven-course affair, with the menu spelling out a number of dishes featuring exotic combinations. As the chef at the hotel, David Cooke, is Canadian, it was decided to give a North American spin to the meal, with bison as a main course.
No fewer than 11 chefs (plus some part-timers) were involved in preparing the menu for the 64 confrères. And, as if directing a symphony of seven courses was not intricate enough, a choice was offered between meat and fish, as it was thought that the bison might be too strong for some tastes.
An Inniskillin Chardonnay was sadly the sole Canadian contribution to the seven wines on offer. Despite ransacking the cellars of the North-west, all efforts to track down a few bottles of the rare, Canadian eiswein ("ice wine") were unsuccessful. By contrast, sourcing the more exotic foodstuffs, including Arctic char, seems to have been a doddle.
We must come clean. Though Cheshire is our home country, the "chilled melon soup" of Yorkshire is more our ticket than the "terrine of capsicum and asparagus, garnished with duck breast and accompanied by a mango, ginger and coriander vinaigrette" which set the tone here.
Colin Fraser, general manager, fully understands this sentiment, and though he admits to some qualms about whether such a complicated menu would all come right on the night, he rejected the notion it seemed all too clever by half. "You could taste each and every element of the dishes," he insists. The bison was, apparently, a great success - more intense than beef, but with a smoother texture and very tender.
As the meal earned one of the Confrérie's rarely awarded Certificates of Excellence, his satisfaction with the results has some strong support.
Forsaking the lush fields of Cheshire, we set off to the more bracing attractions of Lancashire: to Longridge, near Preston. Here, Paul Heathcote has, over but a few years, been establishing his restaurant, Heathcotes, as one of the country's leading culinary establishments.
With the garnering in the 1994 guides of a host of awards - not least a second Michelin star - the time seemed ripe for a celebration, and the fourth anniversary of the restaurant provided a good excuse (this was, in fact, the first time the anniversary had been marked).
Two dinners were held, on 13 and 14 August. Not the least of their attractions were the guests of honour: Raymond Blanc, David Beswick, Michel Bourdin, Brian Sack and Francis Coulson - in all of whose kitchens Heathcote worked, learning his trade.
It seems a nerve-racking way to celebrate: to invite so illustrious and discerning a group, and, as host, to be away from the stove, so not directly responsible for results. It would also seem to have been quite an ordeal for Andrew Barnes, the head chef - cooking not only for his boss, but the assembled glitterati of the trade.
Heathcote had nothing but praise for his "right-hand man" though, and also commended restaurant manager Jeremy Bewick for ensuring everything proceeded smoothly.
So what do you do to impress such seasoned palates? There was a conscious emphasis on "Englishness", and on the dishes on which the restaurant has established itself.
One of the successes of the menu and choice of wines is that nothing seems to be trying too hard, and yet it does sound pretty damn good. On his own test, Heathcote proudly pronounced the results of the meals a success: "Everyone finished their bread and butter pudding."
Our voyage over, we find ourselves back in the "smoke", and we are reminded of our rigorous brief from Caterer to grill the organisers on how they may improve their events a second time around. All three were adamant they would do absolutely nothing differently if they had their time again and their efforts had been absolutely impossible to improve upon.
You can't teach them now, up North!
The Harden brothers are offering 25 complimentary copies of their new 1995 guide Harden's London Restaurants, priced £6.95, to the first 25 Chef readers who send their name and address on a postcard.
Featuring more than 800 restaurants in the capital, the guide gives ratings to a wide cross-section of eateries based on a survey of regular restaurant-goers. Send postcards to: Harden's Guide, Chef, Quadrant House, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.
