Events

BRANCH VISIT TO JERSEY

BY DAVID CHAPMAN

On a sunny Friday morning in October 24 members of the Manchester Branch boarded a flight to the island of Jersey for a weekend stay hoping for the nice weather to last. Flight bang on time; coach awaiting to transfer us The Club Hotel & Spa in St. Helier which was to be our home for the weekend. There was just time to check-in before we went to the Bohemia restaurant where we were to have lunch. The restaurant had for some time a Michelin star but this was lost when the chef, Shaun Rankin, left to open his own restaurant, Omer, also in St. Helier. The head chef is now Steve Smith, a Yorkshireman. He has the knack of bringing Michelin stars to each of the restaurants in which he has been installed as Head Chef, the first of which was at the age of 24. He has earned this accolade successively at Holbeck Ghyll, Guellers, Seaham Hall and then the Burlington Restaurant in the Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey. Not content with those, he now has a star at Bohemia as well as a score of 6 in the Good Food Guide 2015.

An apéritif of Taltarni Brut N.V. from Victoria (Australia) helped to relax us all after the journey. This was served with a very pleasing canapé of a small serving of shredded belly pork with a layer of stewed apple within it. This was both pretty to see and lovely to taste (in contrast to my rather rustic description of it). The French maître d’ hotel, Dimitri, escorted us through for lunch in a glazed private area of the main restaurant. This meant that we weren’t cut off from the bustle beyond but our animated conversation didn’t intrude on the meals of other customers. It was to be a lunch which show-cased the sea fish for which Jersey is famous. But first came some delicious freshly-baked and still warm bread rolls. The starter was some small pieces of “fresh as a daisy” mackerel delicately cooked and served with some paper-thin slices of cucumber rolled into tubes and placed end down on the dish, some sea herbs and a smear of horseradish. The final decoration was some brightly-coloured edible flowers. The whole dish was beautifully arranged and all the tastes and textures worked really well together. Our chosen wine, “Petit Bourgeois” 2012, was a Sauvignon Blanc from one of the top Sancerre growers, Henri Bourgeois, but made from vines grown outside the appellation (permitted geographic area). Its acidity and fragrance made it an ideal accompaniment to the dish. Conversations at table focussed on the great enjoyment of the first course. For the main course, chef had chosen to oven roast some turbot, the “Queen of the Sea”. This was decorated with four mussels placed so as to mimic the four corners of a square and some thin slivers of pink cauliflower. The sauce, Vadouvan, was a stranger to us all. The restaurant staff described it as “curry” and, indeed, it had a gently spicy flavour. Internet research revealed that it includes fenugreek, cumin, cardamom and turmeric.

 The wine was a 2012 Bush Vine Chenin Blanc from The Winery of Good Hope in Stellenbosch. Although this was enjoyed, it seemed to lack the lees-aging which the like Chardonnay enjoys and was consequentially lighter on the palate than had been anticipated. Dessert, beautifully poached pear with dulce de leche and finished with some crushed hazelnuts, was delicious and well received by us all. Service was immaculate throughout and chef came out to receive our thanks and praise even though the kitchen was still busy with other guests.

The afternoon and evening was free time. Those who still felt the need, ate at some of the myriad nice restaurants in the nearby town centre and some even ate again at Bohemia.

Saturday was a free day and members variously took coach trips round the island, hired cars and self-drove to explore its beauty, used the excellent local public buses as part of walking some of the sign-posted trails or indulged in retail therapy. On Saturday evening 22 of us had an appointment with chef Richard Allen at Restaurant Tassili, the Michelin star restaurant at the Grand Jersey Hotel on the sea front. Any recommendation from Michel Roux Jr is one to be taken seriously. So when the culinary master put Richard Allen forward for the role of Head Chef at The Grand Jersey Hotel they duly offered him the position and he has been there since 2007 earning many other accolades. In a private reception room, with some wonderfully tasty and innovative canapés, we were served Quartz Reef, Méthode Traditionalle Brut N.V. made with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at Bendigo Station in the Cromwell Basin of New Zealand's South Island. Restaurant Manager (and sommelier), Shaun Corrigan, directed us to take our seats for dinner in the restaurant of which we had the exclusive use. The freshly baked bread rolls swiftly followed and then Chef provided as an amuse bouche a truffle risotto with a cep foam; this had very intense flavours and was much enjoyed.

Our five course tasting menu began with Mackerel three ways - fillet, parfait and sashimi, with Asian flavours and cucumber seeds. The accompanying wine flight began with Albarino de Fefiñanes 2011, Palacio de Fefiñanes, Rias-Baixas. Victoria Moore, writing in the Daily Telegraph, noted that, "You can smell salty sea air in the cellar of Palacio de Fefiñanes, a 16th-century palace built from solid blocks of granite. The winery, founded in 1904, claims to be the oldest in the DO, and its female winemaker Cristina Mantilla, who’s been there more than 20 years, makes my favourite straight albariño – one that dances like light through leaves." The wine went perfectly with the dish. Then chef served some Turbot with Chancre crab, textures of saffron, and a bed of quinoa.

The pleasure of this dish was slightly dulled when it appeared that there had been a shortfall in the number of cooked servings of the turbot and the additions were in haste slightly under-cooked. The chosen wine, Pinot Noir ‘Block 8’ 2011, Bellbird Spring, Waipara (also in South Island, New Zealand) led to some serious discussion. Some of the party believed it should be "white with fish" but the majority thought it was a good match with the dish. Everyone enjoyed it, even one lady who claimed not to like red wines. The third course was Foie Gras dusted with raw Peruvian chocolate and accompanied by Goosnargh duck, pine nuts, chamomile and Ximénez vinegar. Unlikely though it sounds, the bitterness of the chocolate worked really well with the rich sweetness of the liver. The wine choice was even more controversial. We were served with Scheurebe "Iphofer Kronsberg" Alte Reben Spätlese Trocken 2012, Hans Wirsching, Franken. As the word "trocken" indicated, the wine was very dry and the majority view (influenced, no doubt, by the usual practice of serving a rich - if not a sweet - wine with foie gras) was against the choice. Your correspondent disagreed.

Venison was the star of the main course. It came as venison saddle and casseroled with a haggis ‘bon bon’ broccoli, goji berries and a red wine jus. The saddle was cooked pink to perfection and was very tender. This was a very good dish. The wine match brought no discord and was greatly enjoyed. It is not often that an estate makes a wine of 100% Petit Verdot, a grape better known as the 3-5% addition to Bordeaux blends "to add a bit of seasoning", as the Bordelaise saying goes. It was Petit Verdot ‘Per Cecco’ 2007 Terre di Talamo, Tuscany. At seven years of age (of which the first two were in oak barrels) the wine showed itself to be rich and concentrated with gentle spicy tannins not hiding the black fruit and chocolate notes. Perfect with the venison.
Dessert was a picture on a plate. A piece of pistachio and olive oil cake was accompanied by chocolate sorbet and a macaroon and powder. Plates were readily left clean. The selected wine was Tokaji Föbor ‘Eszter’ 2008, Zoltan Demeter, Tokaj. Hungary has long been famed for its sweet wines and this example showed its botrytis influence and coped as beautifully with the chocolate as one has come to expect from the sweet Tokaji wines.

It might be said that to eat meals of this standard on two successive days was over-doing it but Manchester Branch members are not averse to hardship and were ready for action after breakfast on Sunday. Our coach took us to La Mare Wine Estate and Distillery in the north part of the island for a pre-arranged private visit. Set in the peaceful grounds of a traditional 18th century granite farmhouse, La Mare Wine Estate is a working 25 acre domain of which 8.5 acres are devoted to vines, making high quality wines, ciders and spirits, along with hand-made preserves, fudge, chocolates and Jersey Black Butter. We were honoured to be welcome by the production manager and wine-maker, Daniel de Carteret who took us first into the vineyard to explain about the varieties grown and the methods of cultivation, then into the chai (a posh French word for that building in which the grapes are turned into wine). He explained how the grapes were sorted, pressed and fermented and about the blending process. Our attention was directed to the oak barrels in which the top-of-the-range wines were ageing. Then we moved into the distillery where we learned all the secrets of the way in which the cider from the estate's apple orchards is converted into apple brandy.

A new development is the use of surplus Jersey Royal potatoes to make La Mare Royal Vodka and La Mare Royal Gin - the latter infused with seven classic botanicals and the delicate addition of local elderflower from the estate. We learned how the bought-in soft fruits are used to make fruit spirits - mental note, don't add the sugar until the process has ended (if added at the beginning it adversely affects the transfer of the fruit flavours and colours to the spirit). Then to a tasting of three wines starting with a pink sparkling wine and moving on to a still white wine and finally the rosé. Members were both interested and impressed by the examples shown to us.

After all this learning and the exercise involved in our visit, everyone was ready for lunch. La Mare has a restaurant beautifully designed with picture windows over-looking the vineyards. There we were well received for our pre-arranged meal consisting of a selection of platters; one with smoked fish and prawns, another with rare sirloin of beef, farmhouse and Serrano hams and a third platter with ham hock terrine, mature Cheddar cheese and French brie. All of these were suitably accompanied by appropriate relishes. If they weren't thought to be enough, we were also served some homemade Quiches Lorraine and caramelised onion and goat's cheese tarts and a selection of salads as well as crusty bread and Jersey butter. All-in-all this was a most interesting visit much enjoyed by all those attending. The estate shop was visited for gifts to take home before we left.

The rest of the day was free time but in the evening most of the party tested out other St. Helier restaurants before we flew home after breakfast the next day. The weekend was regarded as a great success - how much this was attributable to the unbroken sunshine with October day-time temperatures of 21C remains the unanswered question.