Category: Eating out

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L’Enclume photo blog

I love Simon Rogan’s food. Our first experience of it was at L’Enclume in 2012.  We have since visited The French a couple of times and Fera and always come away excited and amazed at the creative way he uses ingredients and especially those foraged and lesser known. Here is an outline of that meal on 28th October 2012. I still remember key elements of the meal like it were yesterday. A memorable meal!

Oyster pebbles


Cockles and cucumber


Smoked eel with ham fat (no photograph but I can still remember the taste! Amazing!)

Squid and chicken


Crispy potato and coddled eggs 


Cod ‘yolk’ , sage cream, radish, salt and vinegar (Cod made into a mousse and set like a yolk. Salt and vinegar through the puffed rice)

Westcombe dumplings, beetroots and watercress
Valley venison, charcoal oil, mustard and fennel 


Jerusalem artichoke, lovage, English truffles, ragstone 


Sea scallop with sweet corn, buckwheat and meadowsweet 


Heritage tomatoes in rosehip, smoked narrow and borage 

Turbot with sea asters, mussels and onions 

Cumbrian Galloway beef and grilled carrots with brassicas and Cowmire cider 


Chestnut cream, apple, woodruff 


Cumbrian slate, quince, lemon verbena, and hazelnut (‘slate’ made from sloes)


Blackberry with plum, malt and stout 


Pear, sweet cheese and apple marigold cones (cones made from elderberry)


Petit fours of Kendal mint cake aerated ice cream and chocolate 

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Sara Danesin supper club photo blog

We visited Sara’s supper club for the first time in 2012. It’s a fantastic experience eating great Italian food with a small number of people you have never met before and be able to watch Sara work and explain her food with such passion. 

15th September 2012 (not the best photos)

Amuse Bouche of quail egg on rye with truffle butter 

Starter of red pepper and parma ham bake with a warm pearl barley salad 


Main course of confit aromatic belly pork, lentils, micro-apples and vanilla mash 


Pudding of butternut squash bavorois, bitter chocolate sorbet, hazelnut praline, fig caramel 

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The French photo blog

We visited The French on 20th April 2013, very much looking forward to another opportunity to eat Simon Rogan’s food and we were not disappointed.  This was also the first time we tried Nyetimber… This has led to an expensive habit, if you haven’t tried it you really must. It is the most stunning British sparkling wine. 

Not photographed 

Nyetimber classic brut 2008 – West Sussex

Butternut squash ‘pebble’ with natural yoghurt 
Photos: not the best quality but a record of the meal.

Manchester ale bread, French baguette, chestnut bread 


Parsnip crisp, smoked eel, pork belly 


Pickled mussel and apple gel on a pastry shell coloured with squid ink 


Beetroot mousse, laxholme goats cheese, salted hazelnuts, apple marigold 


Razor clams, egg yolk, celeriac, roasted crispy garlic and sea herbs 

Boiled sole, onions, truffle, ramsons and onion consommé  


Ox tartare in coal oil, pumpkin seeds, kohlrabi and chrysanthemum  


Fresh crab and caramelised January king cabbage, horseradish sauce, chicken skin and crow garlic 


Early spring offerings, vegetables herbs and flowers with lovage salt ( broccoli custard, carrot purée, salsify, cauliflower, radish, grilled brassicas, pea shoots, chilli garlic sauce) 


Hake fillet, buckwheat, watercress, smoked roe butter 

Reg’s duck, ruby chard, king oyster mushroom, mulled cider, nasturtiums ( duck cooked sous vide then in oven very low then coloured in the pan) 


Chamomile ice cream, chamomile crisp, rhubarb and rhubarb purée, toasted oats, Douglas fir  


Pear, pear granita, pear gel, meadowsweet mousse, rye crisp, buttermilk, linseeds 


Saspirilla parfait, saspirilla meringue, saspirilla soda 


Coffee from a small local roasthouse called Mancoco roastery