La Cage Imaginaire

 It was a dark friday evening when The Critic and I ventured out in search of food.  No tables were free in any of the pubs on the main road so we ducked down a side alley as it began to drizzle.  Light reflecting off the rain-wet cobbled street caught our eye and we looked up to see a small restaurant.  One quick satisfactory perusal of the menu board later and we were inside, finding to our delight that they had a table free.

A small time after sitting down and shaking of coats, umbrellas, gloves etc, we realised that this would be an ideal location for some light romancing: French cuisine; candlelight; a rose on the table; some light classical music..it didn't even feel as cliched as it sounds.  We laughed and moved on with suitably gallic shrugging of shoulders; the only love that was in the air for us was that of a hefty gossipy catch-up over great food and drink.

And so the story of serendipity continues.. The grilled halloumi with fig, pecans, cherry tomatoes and rocket worked so well.  It was the first time in the UK that I have tasted fresh figs that live up to their syrupy, delicately sweet promise.  The halloumi oozed with buttery goodness and provided a good textural contrast to the crunch of the pecans and the vegetables.  Balsamic vinegar may be ubiquitous but there's a reason for that: done properly it really enhances and links together sweet/bitter/fruit/acid tastes.  The Critic's scallops also got a very good review, but memory doesn't serve well enough to expand on this theme.

The house wines were confidently tipped by The Critic as "bound to be good; it's a French Restaurant."  The 2009 Marsanne-Sauvignon we enjoyed with our starters was perfect for a house wine- easy to drink but with enough fruit and mineral edge to keep us focussed on the taste.

We both had goose breast for the Main Course. A potentially dry cut from a potentially very fatty bird, the result was very pleasing, not at all dry with delicious crispy skin and solid dark-meat flavour complemented well by red cabbage with apricots and raisins.  The accompanying potatoes dauphinoise were gloriously rich but with distinct egginess.  It says a lot that both The Critic and I were still content to eat them as neither of us is a particular fan of eggs.  

Throughout the meal our chat was littered with comments about how outrageously good the food was, and two heads (with similar standards) are better judges than one.  It worked well for recession dining too, at £30 per head for two courses with wine. The food was 10/10; with the restaurant scoring 9/10 overall.  The only concrete fault I can comment on was over-attentive service with The Critics empty plate being removed while I was still eating my last mouthful.http://www.la-cage-imaginaire.co.uk/

Raspberry Cheesecake Perfection

This is one of a few blogs about my time working on an island with a group of people as enthusiastic about food as I am.  It was also a time when the workload for the day job was about to significantly increase, so we were all in procrastination mode.  This meant that we were all extra happy to spend a lot of time in the kitchens, preparing food, enjoying what other people had made, plus generally chilling and having some good chats.  There was also an element of raising the stakes, thus "the kettle's on, come over for tea and scones" became "the kettle's on and I've made cheesecake" then naturally progressed to several full-on dinner parties.  Good times.

Returning the focus to the cheesecake, this was made by The Panorama, and I will post the recipe as soon as I have it because the foodlove deserves to be shared.  The picture doesn't really do it justice.  It is a baked cheescake with a biscuit crust.   

I was on my way to the shops to buy ingredients for supper when The Panorama leant out of his kitchen window and asked me if I wanted tea and cheesecake. 2 hours and 3 slices of cheesecake later, it was apparent that I wasn't going to need any supper.  Normally I can only manage one slice of cheesecake but in this case I was aware that a cheesecake this good may never come my way again.  I'm salivating at the memory.  This cheesecake meets the criteria for a perfect 10/10.

Common pitfalls for cheesecakes are: cloyingly sickly, not sweet enough, too rich, too bland, too much vanilla essence and too dry.  The Panorama had deftly navigated his way amongst these and avoided them all.  The filling was rich and sweet with enough sharpness from the cheese to keep it balanced.  It was moist and there was enough grainy texture to stop it from being gooey.  The rapsberries complemented the creaminess well, by adding a slight bitterness from the seeds as well as fruity acidity.  It was definitely a chesecake with raspberries in, rather than becoming fully raspberry flavoured, and it was all the better for it.  The next challenege will be getting the recipe and seeing if I can replicate The Panorama's result.