Archives for August 2018

Close to hitting the Target – Marksman Public House

August 27, 2018 by admin

Strange Decor of Restaurant.

You always know when you screw up and Sunday was one of those times. However much I wanted to blame other factors I knew deep inside it was my fault- albeit (here I go again making excuses for myself !) Who can predict English weather ?

Mrs W and I had been talking for weeks, months , dare I say years, about visiting Columbia Road flower market. It’s literally a 45 minutes walk from our flat and is there for the taking each and every Sunday. So we have a Bank Holiday coming up and I had not organised anything for the long weekend. By the time it had occurred to me and we had vaguely started to discuss a potential weekend away, any decent Hotel in the UK we had looked at was fully booked or were asking for £650 a night ! The thought of spending 6 hours moving at 3mph on the M25 also discouraged the idea. A weekend away in Europe ? A week beforehand all flights are booked or again seeking ridiculous sums of money and of course the airports would be experiencing one of their busiest days of the year – wouldn’t It be so nice to chill out at home together and not have to worry about all this potential hassle and eye wateringly crazy prices ? Yes. Agreed. So it appears I have got away with not organising anything for the weekend (phew!) but now had to think of something entertaining for a chill out weekend. And this is how my plan to visit Columbia Road is formulated.

Now as we all know we have been experiencing one of the driest hottest summers on record, and each and every Sunday during the past few months have been glorious. It’s now Bank holiday weekend – I put our plan into action and we set off for our adventure into Hackney. It is dry but the sky is looking a little ominous. We manage the walk there without being rained on, but literally as soon as we arrive and spy the first Sunflower the heavens open. If you have visited this cornucopia of plants and flowers you will know it is a little busy and rather cramped. There is literally 2 metres of space between the stalls which contains three lines of people – one each of stationary people looking or buying, and one narrow line of people moving – very, very slowly. It is not conducive to keeping dry during a downpour – not helped by people with prams the size of Range Rovers or people who are prepared ( or more prepared than I) with umbrellas zigzagging dangerously hither and thither. We got wet. We got soaked. Then we got wet again. Probably the first Sunday in months that Columbia Road had seen a spot of rain and it’s the same Sunday that after years of planning I decide we should be there. The saving grace ? I had Pre booked lunch in The Marksman Public House.

This local favourite was another spot that had been on my radar for years but I had always thought the Flower market and pub should go hand in hand, notwithstanding friends recommending it to me for many years. It is owned and run by Tom Harris ex St Johns Hotel where he attained a Michelin Star and Jon Rotherham ex Jamie Oliver’s 15. It is very much an old fashioned boozer downstairs, with lots of polished wood and Gents propping up the bar as if they live there. Our table was booked for 12.30 but by 12.00 we were so cold and wet were already in the pub looking for hot food and a roof over our head. The main restaurant is upstairs and first impressions were a little frustrating in that, admittedly we were 30 minutes early, we were advised the kitchen had only just opened and therefore were asked to take a seat at the bar and we would be called in 10/15 minutes. Whilst a swift pint is always welcome others arriving were being taken immediately upstairs. 5 minutes of this was enough and a further approach was made requesting to be seated post haste due to our bedraggled condition – this time thankfully, positively responded to.

The upstairs room came as a bit of a surprise as it just seemed out of step with everything downstairs. A rather sparse Scandinavia style room with a weird ceiling (Carpeted?). However we were warmly welcomed and provided with a menu which we read through quickly determined to get some hot food ASAP.

Basically the menu has 4 snacks on offer including some Black treacle sourdough for £4 which we ordered. 4 starters and 4 main courses with 3 options for sharing between 2. These options looked great – a Roast Chicken with beans and Aioli, A Chicken, leek and tarragon pie, and a Hereford T- Bone plus a Yorkshire pudding which we were advised would involve 1Kg of meat and would be a £30 supplement to the 2 course deal at £29 a head. However as Mrs.W hardly does red meat these days, 1Kg of Beef for one would be a little over the top, or so methinks. Therefore for starters we selected a Sweetcorn Soup with Brown Crab Toast and a Pigs Cheek and Potato pie. ( I missed out on what is supposedly a legendary beef and barley bun with horseradish as a snack, but next time!). Other options were Cured Mackerel with Pickled Fennel and Saffron, or Courgette, Sunflower Seeds and Salt Lemon.

Hot and inviting Sweetcorn Soup

The Soup was a bowl of hot and inviting deeply coloured orange/yellow thick liquid with bits of charred corn floating around an island of pink crab mayonnaise kept afloat by its toasted little boat. Mrs W extremely happy with it – good depth of taste, the morsels of corn giving it a bit of texture and taste remanent of bbq corn on the cob.

Cheeky little number !

My pie was accompanied by pickled cabbage in a piquant mustard sauce with yellow pickled beans that complimented the meaty cheeks and soft potato/ pastry just right.

If I could not have my 1Kg of Beef then I had no other choice than to order the traditional Roast Hereford Beef which would come with Carrots, Roast Pots and Horseradish Cream. The beef was succulently rare in the middle ( albeit I was not asked how I wanted it done), the carrot roasted to perfection – soft and sweet- and Roasties pretty good too( albeit not up to mine at home !)

Hereford Beef

The Horseradish Cream just the right amount of hotness, nicely judged, the only disappointment was that the gravy was a little thin, tasteless and portion wise, a little ungenerous. Could of asked for more but was not impressed enough to do so.

Mrs W went for the Cod, Mussels and Sea Purslane – again scored a high five with her choice. Large piece of skinless cod steak, beautifully moist and prepared – albeit I thought upside down presentation wise ?- a lovely sauce/ broth requiring a spoon to be requested to finish it all, and rounded off by the herby/ salty Purslane, almost having a nutty and crunchy finish to it.

Upside down Cod ?

Other choices on the menu involved a great looking slow cooked Tamworth Belly Ham with Cocoa Beans and Roasted Onion, and a Veggie option of Celeriac Tart with Braised Mushroom.

Both portions were large and a dessert almost seemed to be off the cards until we spied a dish of Nectarines with Iced Almond that we thought we could just about manage between two – £4 supplement to go up to a three course dish. The Nectarines just ripe, sweet, soft, refreshing, singed by a blow torch ( or grill) and accompanied by a type of Almond Granita.

Nectarines with Almond Ice

We accompanied the meal with a Carafe of Portuguese Dao which was fruity, had soft Tannins and just enough body to combat the Roast Beef, good value at £19. Bill for 2 ( including a glass of Rose for Mrs W) – £ 90 plus service. Would be a good idea to return to test the menu away from Sunday Lunch which is sometimes not representative of a restaurants full capabilities.

We came away dry, sated and very happy with our meal other than a few minor adjustments being required. Mainly Gravy ! So I had been forgiven for not organising a weekend away or for being responsible for the deluge that had descended upon us, and we had even bought 3 Succulents for a tenner – Bargain meal, Bargain plants !

The Marksman Public House, 254 Hackney Road, E27SJ.

tel 0207 739 7393

Rating – Food 4/5 Very Hot Pan

Service 4/5

WSET Level 3 Award in Wines – Intensive Course : its Level 2 on Steriods !

August 19, 2018 by admin

First Morning – Paperwork and Lexicon at the ready

Have just spent the last 6 days of my life totally absorbed in Wine education to the extent I have been having Grape nightmares and waking up at 3am with the Wine Shakes !

To explain – all students on the Leiths 9 month Cooking Diploma were obliged to study Wine and Spirits WSET Level 2, which in itself stressed out a lot of people. We were generally having a wine lecture and tasting once a week and therefore the Course was spread over a period of 6 months or so. Many of us found this difficult as by the time the Exam came along it was challenging to recall lectures from months and months earlier. This resulted in most of us cramming the revision like mad on the week before the Exam. This style of cramming worked for me and fortunately I managed a pass with Distinction. The exam itself involved 50 multi choice questions each with 4 possible answers whereupon 2 could usually be discounted pretty easily. Therefore whilst it was not straightforward, with the correct study and understanding it was an exam that was passable without too much stress.

When I mentioned to one of the Leiths teachers I was interested in Level 3, I was advised it would be wise to undertake the Exam as quickly as possible – basically whilst everything I had learnt to date was still fresh in my “Homer” style brain, IE I need to move some stuff out of my brain before I can make room to absorb and memorise any new facts !

Never enough room in the brain !

With this in mind I established that not only are the WSET Wine courses ran pretty frequently (so many Winos about !), but that they also run 5 day intensive courses with the appropriate Exam the 6th and following morning. In a moment of weakness, and realising their HQ where the courses took place was in Bermondsey Street ( only 10 minutes walk away from me), I signed up for a course starting Mid August. This was back in the first week of July. My payment and registration was quickly followed up with the Course materials – a 200 page book, a study/ workbook, Specifications and the WSET Wine Lexicon for tasting Wine. You are also sent access to an online classroom that contains all the PowerPoint presentations that we would be seeing during the Course, and a number of videos recommended to watch before the Course would commence.

The study guide explains the Exam is a significant undertaking and recommends that you allocate a minimum of 54 hours of home study, and that if you are undertaking the Intensive Course this should all be done before the Course commences – S**t ! That shocked me, and already the countdown to the first day was ticking away !

Anyway during the 5 weeks before the Course I read the book from cover to cover and watched a selection of the videos. It was difficult to get the balance between my real job , my social and family life, and this study, but I did what I could – of course never enough. I had also been recommended to read Micheal Schusters fantastic book “Essential Winetasting” and whilst I would highly recommend it, I only managed to get page 40 out of 224 before undertaking the class – BIG MISTAKE ! The book is superbly written and I will continue studying it even though I have finished the course. It really is a great companion to the course, and I would have benefitted if I could have finished it before the Course started. Drat and double drat !

Monday 13th August me and 27 other students sat down in the Vintners Room at WSET HQ and nervously sat looking at our books waiting for the first lecture. I had the feeling that most, if not all, were thinking “ why am I here, what have I done !” and after the second day this was very much the mantra encircling all students all of whom had looks of bewilderment and disbelief that we had already tasted 28 wines. Indeed we were told early on that we would be tasting 82 wines over the next 5 days and then 2 more for the blind tasting exam on Saturday. 10 wines on the first day, 18 each subsequent day – so they were easing us in on the first day !

A selection of some of the 84 wines to taste !

The first morning was really all about the process of tasting wine and what WSET were looking for when we were to describe a wine that we were sampling. It all follows their Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine, covering :

– Appearance

– Nose

– Palate

– Description of Aroma and Flavours, which involves Clusters of potential descriptors sorted into Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Aromas and Flavours.

– Conclusions

This would become our “Bible” for the rest of week and our bedrock for describing the wines at every session. All of our tasting on the first day was blind to get us used to understanding the completely different characteristics of each wine and to help us feel more comfortable to convert what were smelling and tasting to the written word. This was extremely challenging for me as my palate and nose are not very sensitive and I was struggling on most of the tastings to determine the nose and the flavours that both the Teacher and other students were picking up. Forest Floor anyone ? Tar and Leather ? I had thought initially it was a matter of training your senses but I now believe it is a physical “disability” on my part! If your receptors are not up to the task then it does not matter how many times you taste/smell you will not find what they are talking about. I even thought I had made a huge mistake in signing up but now I had to soldier on !

We were tasting many different styles and levels of quality involving wines that retailed from as little as £6.49 – a simple Muscadet from the Loire, to an £80 bottle of 1985 Vintage Port, which looking back through my notes simply had a comment of “WOW!” with a smiley face ! Having said this the majority of wines we were lucky enough to taste were Premier examples of the types we were studying, and sampling the range over such a short period had the advantage of comparing the styles with each other in a way you would not usually have the opportunity to IE 6 wines on your table per session. The disadvantage is that you were maybe sampling heavy Red Wines at 09.30AM, and that after 3 or 4 days all were merging into one and you could not recollect what you had been drinking the previous day – or even the previous session. Of course we were advised to judiciously use our Spittoon as drinking 18 fairly large glasses a day would probably hospitalise us. Apparently they have had an experience with one over zealous taster who had to be rejected from class for being too loud and disturbing his fellow students !

OK – just one more then !i

Another sage piece of advice was to keep to the official WSET lexicon of descriptors and not to veer into your own fantasy world by describing aromas of “ Mechanics Trousers” or “ Like my Grandmas bedroom” which had both been utilised by students in Exams previously !

What about the Teachers and other Students in the Course ? The Teachers were all of an excellent quality and really did know their stuff. I have huge respect for their knowledge and the way they were doing their best to impart this to us. They may have all had their own style but I can honestly say each and every one were impressive, patient and eager to pass on their passion and knowledge. As to the other Students then many of them were somehow involved in the Wine Industry already. I met Sommeliers, Vineyard workers, Wine retailers,Hospitality Personnel and Restauranteurs. A few were doing the course as a potential Career change and a few more for pleasure and curiosity – like me. Generally I felt out of my depth at times as the questions from Students were demonstrating an enviable existing breadth of knowledge, however I continued undaunted and must say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learnt more than I could have imagined.

We did a Blind Tasting mock exam on Thursday AM and I failed – again confirming my fear of my receptors not being up to what they should be. I could not even tell a white wine had been heavily Oaked and I got the red wine completely wrong , which was a cheap example of a Cote Du Rhône. The red comment on my feedback was “ misunderstood the structure of the wine” – I think this was a kind way of saying I was an idiot ! Only 46% scores – need 55% – not a good omen !

As regards the Exam itself then I undertook this at 09.30 am Saturday. It involves a half hour tasting of a red and a white wine. 50 multiple choice questions and a dozen or so questions covering all learning outcomes that required freestyle answers – 2 hours to complete this part of the exam.

The results unfortunately are not advised for 10 weeks so I will not go into detail here about my thoughts other than :

– Blind Tasting – I think ( fingers crossed) I understood the 2 wines a lot better. Hopefully a fruity White with no secondary or oaking, and a more complex red which had potential aging.

– Multi Choice – A breeze as I studied well. Would hope to gain a Distinction if it were stand alone.

– Freestyle Questions – really difficult, obscure Austrian wines, inexpensive SAfrican reds and Fortified Muscat’s that really screwed me up. Very few points from anything I had really focused on IE France, Germany, Spain,Portugal, and no opportunity to utilise my knowledge of Carbonic Maceration, Passito and general Viticulture !

Unfortunately you need a minimum of 55% on each section so even a high score on the Multiple Choice will not assist a 50% score on the Essay style questions. At least you can resit them !

My heavenly Wine !

Let you know the result in 10 weeks time. In the meantime my favourite Wine from the 84 ? An Allegrini Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico 2013 retailing at £49.99 – if I could only drink one wine for the rest of my life this would be the one !