The Great House, Lavenham, Suffolk 30th April 2011

We visited The Great House Restaurant the day after eating at Maison Bleue. The restaurant is situated in the tiny village of Lavenham where most of the buildings have been around for six hundred years. The Great House is a hotel as well as a restaurant.

At first, we saw nothing familiar about the interior of the restaurant. However, it slowly dawned on us that The Great House shared some similarities with Maison Bleue. Both restaurants have very similar abstract paintings on its walls.  Both restaurants also had very similar flowers on its tables. My brother then pointed out that The Great House served the same bread as Maison Bleue. Our waiter then explained that the same company runs both The Great House and Maison Bleue. The staff at The Great House was a lot friendlier than those at Maison Bleue though.

For starters, my mum went for the tuna and mackerel sushi with olive oil, lemon juice and sesame seeds. It was a very delicate dish and the fish was not overpowered by the lemon flavour. My brother had a ballotine of foie gras marinated with Port and served with grilled brioche. My brother thought the flavours complimented each other well and the presentation of the dish was exceptional. I had saddle of rabbit for my starter, which I enjoyed immensely. My dad’s choice of carpaccio of veal with lemon juice and Parmesan cheese was inspired. The meat was incredibly thin and just melted in the mouth. We were all impressed by the quality of the starters.

For main course, I had rack of English lamb with rosemary sauce. The meat was beautifully cooked but the rosemary sauce was perhaps just a tad too subtle. The rest of my family had the venison with red wine, mustard and cranberry sauce. The venison was by far the star of the show.  It was cooked to perfection and packed a strong flavour. 

For dessert, my mum opted for a selection of Suffolk cheeses from the cheeseboard. All the cheeses she chose were very strong in flavour and aroma. I am not one to judge cheese, as I have a dislike for the strong ones, but my brother and dad both agreed that these cheeses were very good. I had an apple tarte tatin with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. The tarte was gorgeous. The apples weren’t too sharp, but had enough tang to balance the sticky caramel sauce. The ice cream gave it a bit more moisture. My dad and brother both had the orange tian, which was a shortbread biscuit topped with marmalade and fresh orange segments. Both thought it was a good dessert, although my brother more so than my dad. All the desserts came with small sugar-crafted objects, which my dad thought were a bit too sharp and uncomfortable to eat. 

RATINGS

Food quality 8/10

Service 8/10

Ambience 8/10

Presentation 8/10

Value for money 8/10

OVERALL 40/50

Great

An overall better experience than Maison Bleue, with friendlier staff, better food and better value for money. The waiters and waitresses coped brilliantly with the annoying wooden beam hanging from the low roof, and the manager, who was amiable and amusing, charmed us. We would definitely go again in the future.

Author - CT (13)

Photography - LT (15) and DT (40) 

Maison Bleue Restaurant, 29th April 2011

Maison Bleue is situated on a quiet street in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The restaurant is French (as you might have guessed from its name) and it is quite easily distinguishable from its neighbouring buildings by the small blue awning above its front door. The interior was more modern than most of the surrounding buildings with no wooden beams protruding from the walls and ceiling.

The service was efficient rather than outstanding.   We did not have to wait long for our starters. My dad insisted on trying the fish soup, which was on the a la carte rather than the set menu. He had expected something similar to seafood chowder and was therefore somewhat disappointed to find that it was not so. The soup was presented with cheese, croutons and some sort of mayonnaise on the side. The flavours were very ordinary and none of the sides really made much of an impact. My brother had opted for a tuna carpaccio with soy sauce, ginger and wasabi, which sounded a lot like sashimi. The soy sauce flavour stood out but there was no point in which the wasabi could be tasted. This dish though was very well presented.  My swordfish was rather untidy and was a tad over seasoned. The soft fish complimented the crunch of the vegetables well. My mum had mackerel on a bed of courgettes, shallots and coriander.  The mackerel was competently cooked and Mum declared that she enjoyed her starter.

For main course, I had roasted Dingley Dell pork, which came with leek, mash and purple carrot. The pork was well cooked, although it lacked a bit of flavour. My brother had sea trout with homemade egg tagliatelle and sorrel sauce, which he enjoyed. My dad ordered the gilt head bream with olive tapenade. It was a flavoursome dish with the fish being cooked precisely. My mum had grey mullet marinated with lemon and thyme and served with a pesto dressing. She said it was cooked well and the tang of the lemon balanced the fish flavours perfectly. There was a clear improvement from the starters. 

Dessert was probably the best course of the night. My mum had a strawberry tart, which was served strangely as a shortbread biscuit. The shortbread was divinely textured, and was not too sugary. My brother’s dessert was a chocolate cylinder with ginger mousse and a chocolate-based biscuit. He found it rather average, as he would have liked to have tasted a stronger ginger flavour. My dad and I both went for the lemon and rhubarb tart. This was an outstanding dessert with the rhubarb coulis balancing the sweet and sharp flavours incredibly well. The consistency was just right with the top lemon layer being luxuriously smooth.

RATINGS

Food Quality 7/10

Presentation 7/10

Ambience 8/10

Service 7/10

Value for money 7/10

OVERALL 36/50

Good

Despite being slightly let down by the starters, the overall experience was certainly not bad by any standards and I would definitely go back if the lemon and rhubarb tart was still on the menu.


Author - CT (13)

Photography - LT (15) and DT (40)

Dego Italian Restaurant (Saturday, 9th April 2011)

As some of my mum’s relatives were staying with us, my dad pounced on the opportunity to use his tastecard, which allows him to get discounts in participating restaurants. Most of the restaurants that take part in this are places that need more publicity and advertisement. We last used our tastecard at Original Tangines, a restaurant that we were extremely disappointed with. We were expecting more from Dego, an Italian restaurant on Great Portland Street, London.

The restaurant has two floors.  The ground level floor is a wine bar and the underground floor a restaurant. The dark walls of the restaurant are decorated with some random paintings.  The room itself was rather small with a cocktail bar at one end of it. Several bulbs shielded by red tinted lampshades lit the room, whilst the speakers played a monotonous drumbeat. This atmosphere gave the room a somewhat promiscuous air to say the least. As we ordered our meals, it was evident that there was a slight language barrier between us and the waitresses, who did not seem to fully comprehend what we were saying and spoke with a very heavy accent. 

My dad, my brother, my cousin’s boyfriend ( C ) and I all went for the beef tartare to start. This was prepared at our table and was a very delicate process. The beef was not too sharp, something many people get wrong when preparing tartare. The meat retained most of its natural sweetness and the spices added were just recognisable. I personally thought it needed more pepper but my dad and brother disagreed. My mum started with pea and red mullet soup. I had a little of it and was surprised. The pea flavour was very strong but not too sweet, and the fish was flaky, although there was not much of it. The cocktails were also very good both in flavour and presentation. The virgin raspberry mojitos that my brother and I chose were sweet, sharp and had a subtle mint flavour, which was very refreshing.

Amuse bouche of salmon and asparagus

Preparing steak tartare

Steak tartare

Pea and red mullet soup

We were worried at how big the primi piattis would be, as we have experienced gargantuan pasta dishes previously. The waitress told us that they were quite big, as well as gesturing with her hands how big they were, and so we decided to order just one pasta dish to share between my dad and my brother. Strangely, the amount of pasta was very small. The dish was pasta with duck ragu, which was very average. I had a smooth potato and leek soup with scallops. The soup was smooth and saporous. The leeks were a bit on the chewy side.  However, the scallops were very well cooked (although there was not enough of it) and had a crystalline crust. C and my mum had pasta with rabbit ragu. Although my mum liked it, C thought it was over seasoned.

Potato and leek soup with scallops

Ravioli

Pasta with duck ragu

Pasta with rabbit ragu

For secondi piatti, my dad chose the paper steamed sea bass. The fish was fresh and cooked to perfection. The accompanying beans were very good as well and my dad thoroughly enjoyed the dish.  My brother and I had both chosen confit duck with rocket salad and a grapefruit dressing. The dish probably should have been called rocket salad with confit duck, as the former was much more abundant than the latter on the plate. The duck was lacking in nearly everything. The skin was very buttery, which I did not find to my taste. The meat fell off the bone nicely, but it was very unpleasant in the mouth as it had a grainy texture. The whole dish could have been a bit more brackish and the salad needed much more dressing to match its abundance. 

Confit duck

Paper steamed sea bass

For desserts, my mum chose a chocolate and caramel meringue in ginger sauce. Although it was described as a meringue, it was more of a crème. However, the ginger sauce complimented the honeyed flavours of the chocolate and caramel. My dad and brother had rose parfait with real rose petals. This arrived at the table with an entire rose settled horizontally on the plate. My dad was revolted by the flavours and left me with the rest. Since it tasted very much like rose Turkish delight, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My brother and I also enjoyed the rose petals, which my dad could not understand either. My aunt had a beautifully presented traditional crumbly cake. 

Chocolate and caramel meringue in ginger sauce

Crumbly cake

Rose parfait

RATINGS

Food quality 7/10

Presentation 7/10

Ambience 7/10

Service 7/10

Value for money 7/10

OVERALL

35/50

Good

Though the food was by no means ambrosial, it was certainly above average. Service was not bad but there is room for improvement. Presentation was varied, with some dishes appearing extravagant and others looking drab. An above average meal but it is unlikely that we will become regular customers. 


Reviewer - CT (age 12)

Photography - DT

Blue Elephant 3rd April 2011

 The scent of lemongrass, a cascading waterfall and dozens of exotic plants. These are all things that we were familiar with when we entered the Blue Elephant restaurant. The restaurant is situated in West London and serves mostly Thai cuisine. Though it lacks a Michelin Star, our previous experiences of this restaurant were very pleasant and we have fond memories of this place.

Since it is Mother’s Day, I feel obliged to say that my mum looked great today. Sadly, I would be lying. It was in fact the restaurant’s interior that looked and smelt amazing. The floor of the restaurant is mostly wood with several bridges crossing the tiny stream that runs through the Blue Elephant.  Several varieties of carp swim in this stream and this has always been the case. There was a vague smell of lemongrass in the air and exotic plants could be seen throughout the entire building.

We had come for the Sunday buffet and were conveniently seated directly next to the starter buffet area. A bit further on was the main course and dessert area. The starters were extremely varied, ranging from salads to soups. First were the prawn crackers. I immediately noticed that they were much browner than the usual ones and had a much stronger flavour. There was then a rather odd salad, which consisted of a variety of crunchy, pickled vegetables. The flavours and textures were good, although nothing spectacular. Then there was the noodles and soup. This option had a little corner of it’s own with a lady asking what you wanted in your soup and then serving it to you in a matter of seconds. There were a variety of meats and noodles and you could choose whether to have yours with or without spring onions and bean sprouts. I found the soup luscious with a perfect balance of flavours. Next to the soup bar was the marinated pork salad. Although it was not something I was familiar with, I tried some and was pleasantly surprised. The textures of the onions and pork worked very well and the same could be said for the flavours. Something I do know and love is chicken satay. However, we all agreed that this take on it was very poor. The taste of coconut milk was overpowering, the peanut sauce was too runny and not flavoursome enough. A poor and rather disappointing effort. My mum and dad’s favourite starter was the betel leaf parcel. This was a crunchy betel leaf, which wrapped up an incredible combination of nuts, chilli and herbs. It worked brilliantly, although it was very chewy and you had to put it all in your mouth in one go to realise the brilliance of it. The paper prawns were very good with the sauce inside going extremely well with the fishy taste of the prawn and the crunch of the outer layer. The last of the starters were the spring rolls. They were packed with crunchy vegetables and went very well with the chilli sauce. 

Fresh young coconut

Starters

Starters

Noodle section

Unlike the starters and desserts, the main courses were very limited. There was Jasmine and wild rice, vegetable stir-fry, chilli beef, duck with vegetables and roast lamb. The vegetable stir-fry was average with no real punch or standout flavours. I did not try the beef myself although my brother said it was very good. The duck was cooked very well and the sauce complimented the pak choi nicely. I did not try the lamb, which my brother said was unspectacular and cooked in an English way rather than a Thai one. 

Mains

The dessert table was an wonderful sight to behold. There were piles of fresh fruit, jelly and rolls, which were placed next to intricately carved out watermelons. The variety of fruit was immense ranging from the familiar strawberry to a prickly fruit that we did not even know the name of. The jelly was an exotic version, which I have seen before. It is made of seaweed instead of pectin, giving it a subtle crunch and had chunks of fruit embedded in it. I prefer this to the pectin version, as I enjoy the texture better. The rose rolls were very odd. Whilst similar to a Swiss roll, it had a much richer flavour and a smoother texture and I thought it worked very well. Further on were mini deep fried breadsticks. These were slightly different to the Chinese breadsticks that I know, as their texture was more like that of a doughnut, and lacked a salty flavour. Overall, the desserts were a great success. 

Fresh mini doughnuts

Desserts

Fruits

Beautifully carved watermelon

Thai and Oriental Desserts

RATINGS

Food quality 7/10

Presentation 7/10

Ambience 10/10

Service 8/10

Value for money 9/10

OVERALL 41/50

Excellent

A wonderful experience. The restaurant has great ambience and delivered good food that was presented well.  The waiters and waitresses provided good service and they were extremely efficient in taking away our used plates. An impressive meal.