Every now and then I go on a little skite to recharge the batteries, find new ingredients, and get some exciting new ideas and meet the makers. Ostensibly, my recent trip to the UK was to visit several of our grandchildren in Bristol and Wales so they too joined us on the voyage of discovery. In Cardiff we found a restaurant called Thomas by Tom Simmons.
Among many good things we enjoyed, were mushroom croquettes with chive mayo and Parmesan and a memorable truffled mac and cheese. In Bristol, Marmo on Baldwin St yielded many memorable tastes of deliciously simple food with exquisite ingredients. I particularly remember an oozing burrata covered with freshly grated bottarga (dried mullet roe) and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
The bread and homemade cultured butter came from Field bakery in Bridgwater. So good that we later made a pilgrimage to the source where the heritage wheat for the bread is grown by inspirational farmer and citizen scientist, Fred Pryce. Still at hyper seasonal Marmo with chef owner Cosmo Sterck and his wife Lily we loved the plate of six plump anchovies in a pool of extra virgin olive oil sprinkled with marjoram.
Another highlight was fricco (a little rectangle of yeast dough, deep fried into a puffy pillow) with wafer thin slices of pancetta — they were just the starters. The dry aged pork chop with silky mashed potato, girolles, sweetcorn, and tarragon were also memorable and oh, the chocolate mousse with a blanket of softly whipped jersey cr.
