A perfect romantic hideaway in an unlikely location

The more you travel, the more you eat out, the harder it becomes finding a place that is really special. It’s not just about how much money you spend though these places rarely come cheap. A great location helps, as does good service but the single most important factor, I’ve come to the conclusion, is that the people who are running the place are hands on.

The Old Convent ticks pretty well all the boxes - except one, of which more later. Its proprietors Dermot and Christine Gannon live in the building and run the place virtually single-handed. It occupies a strikingly beautiful building in an unspoilt location at the foothills of the Knockmealdown mountains in Co Tipperary which I could see as I lay in my bath.

The public rooms are furnished in great style. The dining room is lit by candlelight. And the food is fabulous - some of the boldest, most creative, most exciting cooking I’ve come across this year.

The dinner menu is a six course affair which may irk some. You go into the dining room at the same time and are served at the same time which results in a few lengthy waits and hungry moments when you wish you had a bit of bread to nibble (strangely not forthcoming) But the food when it arrives is so stimulating these minor quibbles seem irrelevant.

Highlights were a bold warm starter salad of 20 hour cooked Dullahollow pork belly with Cashel Blue cheese, sliced pear, pistachio praline and lightly pickled mangetout (left), a terrific combination of contrasting flavours and textures, a silkily smooth butternut squash velout given an unconventional twist with a trickle of nutty argan oil and a more than generous main course dish of rare organic beef fillet served with slow-cooked beef ribs seasoned (we reckoned) with star anise and orange and served with a sweet potato and parsnip gratin and some wicked little sauted potatoes, a dish that on its own was worth at least half the 60€ cost of the meal.

There was also an incredibly umami-rich dish of hake wrapped in prosciutto served with ‘lobster cream mac’n’cheese’ and parmesan toast, two desserts (a Kahlua and cream ice-cream ‘martini’ and a decadent chocolate fondue that arrived with a plateful of goodies including home-made cheesecake, coconut macaroons, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and various other kinds of fruit. Just pure child-like pleasure. And a couple of ‘OC’ mini cupcakes to finish.

I even like the passionfruit and lemon and ginger sorbets we got mid-meal and I really don’t like sweet sorbets in between savoury courses, not least because they destroy whatever wine you’re drinking.

Ah, the wine. The only weak point of the meal. Its not that the list was bad it was just ultra-cautious, in no way matching the boldness of serving a no choice meal of vigorous flavours. There were two very dull Australian wines by the glass, some uninspiring half bottles and not many full bottles that would have seen you right through the meal.

As it was a special occasion we splashed out on one that would - a Billecart-Salmon brut rserve champagne that loved the starter, the lobster mac’n’cheese and, surprisingly, the beef and a lovely half bottle of Domaine Cauhaup Jurancon Symphonie de Novembre (one of the highlights of the list) that was fantastic with the cupcakes and managed to cope with the Kahlua martini and the chocolate fondue but it would have been great to have had some more options by the glass or interesting half bottles to play with. (I gather the Gannons are currently overhauling the list and planning to introduce wine pairings.)

Breakfast the next morning was equally stunning with an inventive range of hot dishes (my baked eggs with smoked salmon and mascarpone was gorgeous) and some delicious fruit martinis of locally produced yoghurt piled up with fresh fruits, a clever and easy idea to copy for a brunch.

One other clever thing. There was a mini kitchen where you could make yourself tea, coffee or hot chocolate, help yourself to fruit or a snack or raid the fridge for fresh fruit juices. Having fed you so royally they must be confident that no-one would feel remotely inclined to abuse their hospitality.

All in all the OC, as it calls itself, is a great place to go for a special weekend away. Start saving now.The Old Convent is open for dinner bed and breakfast from Thursdays to Sunday nights inclusive.

I have written an article about Christmas entertaining ideas from The Old Convent which will appear in the December 2008 issue of Decanter.

Where to eat in and around Agde

There was a time when the best place to eat in Agde or its seaside satellite Grau d'Agde which lie between Montpellier and Ste on the Languedoc coast was the Michelin-starred La Tamarissire. After that closed two to three years ago it left a bit of a gastronomic black hole but a couple of new places have sprung up which have serious gastronomic ambitions.

La Table de Stephane
2 rue des Moulins Huile
Z1 des 7 Fonts
34300 Agde
04 67 26 45 22
www.latabledestephane.com

It has to be said that Le Table de Stephane, which was originally located in Cap d'Agde, has the most umpromising location of practically any restaurant I’ve been to. You reach it through a particularly down-at-heel industrial estate. It’s opposite a large cash and carry. While you’re sitting on the terrace outside gravel lorries and fork lift trucks trundle past. So why am I writing about it? Because the food is first rate, verging on Michelin one star standard.

Inside the restaurant is far smarter than you’d think from the outside. The service is slick and well regimented by what looks very much like Mme Stephane. When you sit down you get a selection of four Michelin-style amuse-bouches - a gorgeous, ice cold whipped mushroom mousse, a little disk of warm ‘cake’, a feuillet of duck (I think) and a caramelised tomato served like a toffee apple.

There were plenty of suitably seasonal choices on a sweltering hot day in July. I had a tuna tartare, roughly rather than finely diced with courgettes and beans and one of those normally superfluous drizzles that had a touch of sweetness that offset the dish nicely. My husband had baby courgettes and stuffed courgette flowers with a robust pistou sauce.

My main course (actually more like a starter) was a brik (Tunisian-style filo pastry triangle) stuffed with lightly spiced chopped cuttlefish and served with a glass of ice cold courgette cream, a delicious variation on the local squid-stuffed pastries, tieilles. Dunking forkfuls of the spicy pastry in the cool cream was just lovely.

Our other main course was a much more classic ballotine of rabbit with mushroom and truffle mash which went perfectly with the half bottle of classy Domaine de Clovallon Pinot Noir we’d ordered.

Being in a bit of a rush we didn’t have dessert but they looked imaginative and when we go back we’ll give them a try.

Three minor quibbles (apart from the view and the traffic). There was a slight repetition of ingredients you wouldn’t expect on such a short menu from a restaurant operating at this level. Courgettes and tuna appeared in both my courses. Secondly, and I admit this is a personal bugbear, with a menu this stylish and inventive why on earth have an old-fashioned cheese trolley? And I would have expected loose leaf verveine rather than a teabag.

But for the quality of food we had it was brilliant value at 52€ (£41) for two and we’ll certainly go back.

Le K’Lamar
33, quai Thophile Cornu
34300 Agde
04 67 94 05 06
www.restaurant-klamar.com

Two things immediately strike you about the K’Lamar. The bizarre name, presumably a tortured twist on calamar (squid). And the drop-dead gorgeous view across the Herault to the seaside resort of Grau d’Agde. The former says more about the place than the latter.

You’d love a restaurant like this, where you can sit right on the quay, to serve simply prepared seafood but it huffs and puffs and froths and squirts ingredients until its blue in the face. It’s not that the chef doesn’t have talent. He simply tries way too hard.

Perhaps we should have tried the menu of the day which during the week is a very reasonable 12.50€ for two courses including a salad and grilled seabass but we were intrigued after our experience at Le Table de Stephane to test the place out.

Black marks first off for not having any oysters. There have apparently been problems with the local oyster beds in the nearby Etang de Thau but they aren't affecting fully grown ones. However my husband was mollified by an impeccable plate of moules gratines (grilled mussels with garlic and breadcrumbs) which despite the inevitable drizzle of . . . we weren’t quite sure what . . . were perfectly cooked. I was also quite happy with my gazpacho although the speared deep-fried mussels that were laid on top of the odd asymmetric glass which lurched over the accompanying rocket like the leaning tower of Pisa didn’t really add a great deal.

Main courses were also slightly off-key. My husband had a veal shank topped with a bizarre disc of fried celeriac that made it look as if it was sprouting a mushroom. It wasn’t cooked quite long enough yet managed to be a bit too heavy for a fine day by the Med. I went for what I assumed to be their signature dish a plate of what turned out to be slightly chewy grilled squid with bouillabaisse froth, confit fennel and basil mash. Plus the inevitable squirts of balsamicky goo. Not bad - in fact the basil mash was great - but again just too complicated for its own good.

The bill for two of us with a 50cl bottle of ros, a half bottle of mineral water, an ‘amuse’ (salmon mousse topped with fennel chantilly) and a little shot of strawberry flavoured cream with our coffees was 72€ (£56). Not unreasonable, if not such good value as the Table de Stephane. But it’s worth going for the view alone and maybe the bouillabaisse which has to be be ordered 2-3 days in advance. Surely the chef can't add drizzles to that . . .

Where else to eat in the area:

Le Bistrot d’Alex, 5 avenue des Vendanges, 34510 Florensac. Tel: 04 67 77 03 05
Excellent simple bistro cooking in a well-designed restaurant attached to the the Florensac co-op. Ultra cheap wine, all available by the glass. Gets packed out, even out of season so be sure to book. See my review here.

Le Chateau du Port, 9, Quai de la Resistance Marseillan. Tel: 04 67 77 31 67 www.chateauduport.com
One of the many outposts of the Pourcel brothers’ empire (the Pourcels are the Gordon Ramsays of the Languedoc . . . ) Haven’t been for a while but the situation is charming overlooking the port and the food well above average for the area. Summer opening only.

Casa Pp, 29 rue Jean-Roger, 34300 Agde. Tel: 04 67 21 17 67
Housed in a rather gloomy cave-like room, down an alley off the main shopping street in Agde this doesn’t look promising but actually serves well-cooked, super-fresh seafood at a very reasonable price. .

Le Glacier, 6 av Victor Hugo, Marseillan 04 67 77 22 04
Not quite the restaurant it was in its heyday 10-15 years ago but under new owners who are obviously trying hard. Stick to the shellfish and simply grilled fish. Very good value set lunch at around 23€. - a good bet for a Sunday.

Food and wine matching in Hawke's Bay

Hawke’s Bay is a sunny, coastal province, situated in the east of New Zealand’s North Island. The region is gaining repute as a wine and food locale that marries delicious regional cuisine with a diversity of exceptional wines. Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s second largest producer of wine, after the South Island’s Marlborough region, known around the world for its herbaceous, tropical Sauvignon Blancs.

While Marlborough may win acclaim for the country’s best Sauvignon Blancs and Central Otago, the finest Pinot Noirs, Hawke’s Bay produces a wide range of award winning wines and has attracted highly regarded, top chefs and winemakers from throughout Australasia and Europe.

Ten of the region’s 36 wineries with cellar doors offer fine restaurant dining. My fianc and I picked out six to try on our recent trip:

Black Barn Winery is set in an elevated position in the hills outside of the village of Havelock North, overlooking rows of old vines, We chose their signature dish which had won the Hawke’s Bay Signature Dish Award for 2007. It was a pan roasted natural lamb short loin, marinated and filled with an olive, rosemary and lemon stuffing and served on a smoked aubergine salsa and matched their 2004 Merlot blend, a rich Bordeaux style wine, brilliantly. Aged in oak, the wine’s ripe fruit, licorice, walnuts and mulled spice were a perfect complement for the complex flavors of the dish.

Te Awa Winery, in the stony soil area known as Gimblett Gravels, offers the warmth of a roaring fire in the cool of winter and the opportunity to eat out of doors on a summer’s afternoon. The extensive garden affords perfect privacy for a romantic lunch for two or a relaxed family outing, playing petanque on the lawn between courses. We sat on rough-hewn picnic tables in the garden with white tablecloth service. We ordered the Te Awa Tasting Plate, which included a selection of Spanish pork empanadas with minted yogurt dipping sauce, curried pumpkin tartlets with locally made Te Mata goat curd with chili jam, and seared sesame and wasabi crusted yellow fin tuna. Although the tastes were diverse they teamed well with the Te Awa Sauvignon Blanc 2006, a 50% barrel fermented wine that integrates the flavors of ripe stone fruit and citrus, along with mineral notes (a reflection of the gravel soils) and leaves a lingering refreshing after-taste.

Vidal Winery, one of Hawke’s Bay’s oldest boutique wineries, is an unexpected oasis in the midst of the small community of Hastings. Vidal’s, as it is known by locals, offers a choice of dining experiences, ranging from elegant meals in the formal dining room, to lunch under the shade of sixty year old vines in the courtyard, to happy hour snacks in a casual indoor setting around an open fire and surrounded by oak barrels. Vidal’s is well known locally for the their chili squid with kefir lime dressing, a spicy dish which paired wonderfully with the floral and lime aromas and citrus flavors of Vidal’s Marlborough Riesling 2007.

Craggy Range Winery is a recently completed multi-million dollar winery, situated in the picturesque Tuki Tuki River valley, overlooking its own man-made lake, Craggy has, as its backdrop, the dramatic cliffs of Te Mata Peak, making for breathtaking views all around. Its French country style dining room, Terrôir, features an open-fire rotisserie, cooking organic chickens, and a wood fire from which came a number of other dishes. We could not resist selecting the simple, yet impressive looking, whole wood-fired fish seasoned with country herbs and lemon. This dish is artfully complemented by Craggy’s coastal grown Hawke’s Bay Kidnapper’s Chardonnay. The white flowers, fresh straw, pear and freshly picked pineapple flavors resonated with the moist fish making every bite and sip a palate sensation

Mission Estate Winery was established by a French religious order in 1851 and still retains much of the character of its past. From the outdoor terrace, diners are able to take in sweeping views over the Art Deco city of Napier, as far as the coast beyond.
Our waiter recommended their aged beef fillet medallions, char-grilled with a red wine roasted Spanish onion, creamy polenta and red wine jus, a superb example of the European influenced cuisine. This exotic combination paired well with both the Vineyard Selection Merlot 2005 with its rich berry fruit sweetness, and the Jewelstone Syrah 2005, for those who may appreciate Turkish delight flavors with fine sweet tannins and a long finish with hints of cedar and spice.

At Clearview Estate Winery, we found diners relaxing amidst the grapevines, glimpsing the Pacific Ocean only meters away. Clearview’s menu proudly proclaims that they use only the freshest local, organic and artisan produce. Unlike many of the other local restaurants, at Clearview, the herbs, olives, citrus and avocados are all from the estate gardens. We ordered the duck leg, rocket and pear salad, with cornbread and cranberry relish. This autumnal flavored dish paired perfectly with owner-winemaker Tim Turvey’s Pinot Noir des Trois which is produced by blending Pinot Noir grapes from three vineyards in different regions of the country. Described by Tim as "not Pinot Noir for the faint hearted” pinot lovers will find this wine full of black cherry, mocha and red berries dominating the front palate, underpinned with a brambly, earthy solidity of ripe tannins and cedary oak - a superlative match for this sensational signature duck dish.

We found that the Hawke’s Bay wine-growing region is both beautiful and bountiful. With its temperate climate, breathtaking scenery, and row upon row of vines, it is immediately apparent that there is something remarkable about this region. It is not just that the restaurants receive accolades for the high quality of their food, nor is it solely the production of wines that are competitive on the world stage. What sets Hawke’s Bay apart from other wine regions is that both superb food and fine wine are showcased so successfully in partnership, one enhancing the other, taste after extraordinary taste.

Trish Gilmore and Hal Josephson live in San Francisco. Hal writes:
Trish is a native born Kiwi and a Reading Recovery specialist teaching up until last year in the NZ public school system.We met when I went to Auckland in 2004 to help the Company that put GPS technology on the America's Cup yachts so a real-time 3D computer animation could be shown of the race.

I am involved in international business development and marketing strategy and for the past 4 years have been taking business executives into China not to outsource from but to do business in the Chinese market. www.chinaaccess2008.com

Venice restaurants: Eating off the beaten track

If you want to get away from your fellow tourists in Venice - and who doesn’t? - here are five very different restaurants to try. Three of them are on the Giudecca - one of the best places for avoiding the hoardes, especially at the weekend.

One (Dalla Marisa) is on the Cannaregio canal but so quirky that few tourist beat a path to its door and the other, Al Fontego dei Pescatori, central but newish ( a couple of years) under its current ownership so not listed by many of the guidebooks.

Altanella
Calle delle Erbe 268, Giudecca
041 522 7780

Altanella used to be former French president Francois Mitterand’s favourite Venice haunt and you can see why. It’s so discreet - down a tiny alleyway off the Giudecca, without any kind of sign over the restaurant - that it’s almost impossible to find. Inside the decor can’t have changed much in the past 40 years. Apart from the main dining room which is completely covered with paintings and the open terrace overlooking the Rio del Ponte Longo (lovely in good weather) it’s all dark pine and little booths. There’s a large TV in the corner by which the staff were transfixed during the Juve football match that was showing. After our main course was served they didn’t reappear for about 20 minutes.The food was mixed. The gnocchi, which was supposed to be a speciality was heavy and leaden with a pre-prepared (I suspect) sauce, the squid ink gnocchi not a lot better. My husband on the other hand had a nice fresh plate of boiled shrimp with garlic and parsley and one of our friends a glorious brick-brown bean soup, warming earthy and robust.

St Pierre came with rather a glutinous white wine sauce and the ubitiquous calves’ liver tasted more like lamb but the fritto misto (tiny shrimps and fish, squid and baby soles) was exemplary - a lovely light batter, fresh and sweet. House white is of the old-fashioned Venetian variety - almost medium dry but there’s a pleasant fresh cabernet franc by the carafe. Not much else in the way of wine though. This must be the shortest wine list in Venice.The pictures of Mitterand on the walls show him with dark hair which suggests the restaurant’s heyday was a good 40-50 years ago. Nevertheless it has a certain rustic charm. Go, I suggest, at lunchtime. Sit on the terrace if it’s fine. And order the fritto misto.

NB Altanella in common with quite a few smaller restaurants doesn’t take credit cards.

Trattoria al Cacciatori
Fondamenta Ponte Piccolo, 320 (near the Palanca vaporetto stop)
041 528 58 49

Service is langourous to a fault in this simple Giudecca-based trat but if you’re sitting on the quay in the sun overlooking the Zattere, who cares? The dishes are also carefully cooked and reassuringly authentic. Shrimps with polenta (14€) was perfectly cooked with tiny sweet shrimps and beautifully light and flavourful yellow polenta. Bigoli (thick wholewheat spaghetti-type noodles) in salsa was warming and rustic with a sweet-sour onion and anchovy sauce. Fritto misto (20€) was particularly authentic with plenty of small fish - at least 6 or 7 - as well as prawns and squid. A real mixed catch, beautifully fresh in a light batter. Mainly patronised by locals and the French who seem to have colonised the Giudecca. According to one website I looked at it’s the oldest inn on the island.

Dalla Marisa
Calle de le Canne No. 652 - Cannaregio
Phone: 041 72 02 11

You need to be feeling robust to go to Dalla Marisa. They don’t speak English. You have to be there at 8pm prompt.(rather admirably there’s only one sitting) There’s no menu - or bill. House wine (no choice - it’s red) is plonked on the table. Marisa herself (a sturdy grandmother in her late 60s I would say) glowers at you out of the kitchen. But the food is sublime.If you manage to get a booking you walk into a wood panelled room which looks basically like a workman’s caf - which is essentially what it is.

The first two platters arrive - two different pastas (there’s no explanation of what they are) Ours seemed to be some loosely rolled cannelloni with homemade ricotto and spinach (fantastic, the best pasta I ate in Venice) and tagliatelle with duck sauce, made from the legs, I would guess, both made from superbly light, silky home-made pasta.Next two dishes of vegetables, an unadorned platter of simply boiled artichoke bases and a murky, flavoursome stew of enoki and oyster mushrooms. Then two plates of meat - some delicious little veal rolls (involtini) with a light spinach stuffing and some braised sliced duck breast. Altogether a ridiculous amount of food.

Dessert isn’t a big feature of Marisa meals but it was worth making room for it. On the night we were there it was a small bowl of mascarpone, mixed with a little liqueur (possibly grappa) and lightened with a whisked egg white and served with dry dipping biscuits. Delicious.. Non dessert-eaters are offered grappa.

The wine - just red not even white - chilled and slightly fizzy like a dry Lambrusco - comes in 1 litre carafes and is totally undistinguished.No bill, as I say. The amount we owed (€175 for 5 - a bargain 35€ each even though I suspect they charge tourists slightly more) was scribbled on the paper tablecloth.If you’re prepared to do away with the usual restaurant niceties - and even be treated like an undesirable necessity Dalla Marisa is a unique and rewarding experience.

Mistra
Giudecca 212a
Tel: 041 522 0743

Mistra has about the least conventional approach of any restaurant in Venice. You approach it through a boat yard and up a cast iron staircase.The view at the top over the lagoon is just breathtaking. Luckily they’d also seated us by the front window so we could look at it all through lunch. When we got to the table there were already several plates on it. A dish of salmon marinated with fennel, fresh anchovies with capers, tiny balls of mozzarella and sweet and sour fennel. Our waiter said he’d wait till we’d eaten our starters before taking our order (although there’s a menu outside they seem to ignore it).

A dish of whipped stockfish and some deep fried zucchini strips arrived (delicious together though the stockfish was slightly too creamy)Then the waiter rattled off a list of possibilities. Pasta with shrimps, prawn or lobster or a mixture of seafood. Whole baked fish in the oven or baked in salt. A mixed salad or a selection of veg. We chose a bit of each.Everything took a long time to arive but was worth the wait. Both the pastas one with scampi, one with lobster were terrific especially the lobster one which came with a huge claw. Although we’d only ordered a portion of each there was more than enough for four.

Our two seabass arrived with ceremony, one roast with accompanying vegetables (potatoes, peppers, aubergine and tomatoes) the other encased in a pile of salt which they dismantled at table, carefully cracking the salt crust, removing the skin and taking the fish carefully off the bone. Both were impeccably cooked and beautifully sweet.

Desserts - a decent creme brulee and some fresh pineapple were simple and good. With our coffee and infusions they brought free limoncellos.An eccentric place, with slow but charming service and deliciously simple food, obviously much loved by the locals who bring their families for Sunday lunch. Our bill for 4: came to 220€

NB Even though this seems out of the way make sure to book. The first time we tried to go there on a Sunday we couldn’t get in.

Al Fontego dei Pescatori
Cannaregio 3726, Calle Priuli (off the Strada Nova)
041 520 0538

When Al Fontego dei Pescatori say their speciality is fish they mean it. The owner ‘Lolo’ ran a market stall in the Venetian fish market for 30 years and is still president of the Rialto market traders. Hence the emphasis on raw fish preparations such as ‘the clock’ - 12 different types of raw fish including scampi, prawn, seabass, sole and scallops and seabass tartare with raspberry -an odd but surprisingly successful combination (a tartare of tuna with strawberry was less good). We also tried a carpaccio of octopus with coriander which again was beautifully fresh but could have done with more coriander. (Lolo, who is passionate about his produce, serves his fish with just olive oil and balsamic vinegar - most diners, I suspect would welcome a squeeze of lemon).

Primi were good on the whole.. Fresh tagliolini with fresh tomato and raw scampi was a great dish - fresh and original, pancakes with prawns and artichokes sublimely rich and creamy, Tagliatelle with squid ink came with a rather heavy tomato sauce that disguished the squid ink flavour and accompanying scampi..though I have to say my husband loved it. Gnocchi were a little heavy and underseasoned. .The four of us shared a fritto misto which was excellent - fresh and crisp - one of the best we tasted.As elsewhere in Venice the wine list is good. We picked a delicious - Eleo Lison Tocai 2006 a lush, rich full bodied peachy white, so good that we had a second bottle.

This is a comparatively new restaurant (or new under the current ownership) where the welcome is warm and the prices fair (our bill for 4 came to 186€) Some of the combinations of fish and fruit are a bit off-key so stick to the less adventurous-sounding dishes. Lolo is passionate about his produce and you won’t get fish any fresher than this.*We didn’t get to it this time but on our last visit four years ago enjoyed Antice Stellato. Reviews indicate it’s still good.

And a couple of practical points: most restaurants, especially popular restaurants need to be booked ahead . And leave yourself plenty of time to get there. Some of them are hard to find. The normal way of giving an address in Venice is the district followed by a number but I’ve included the street too.