Caravan

11-13 Exmouth Market,

London. 

EC1R 4QD. 

020 7833 8115

www.caravanonexmouth.co.uk/

LM: STB usually plans out their visits in advance - this was an exception borne of some fairly horrible days at work and a need for strong liquor and food. We'd both heard good things about Caravan but previously been unable to get a table; tonight was our lucky night as we booked easily.

SN: Caravan has two outlets in London, the Exmouth Market establishment describes itself as a restaurant, bar and roastery (the latter referring to their coffee roasting facility).  It's a short walk from Farringdon or Kings Cross - DO NOT let that walk put you off - it's worth every step!

Caravan is just round the corner from Paesan which we visited a little while ago. The difference in the ambience was marked and as we sat there as night fell it turned from a busy day-time eatery to a proper busy restaurant. Then slowly back into a dimly lit but atmospheric bar for the revellers who mooch about Exmouth market and the service matches the mood.  Its a rather magical place.

The culinary prestidigitation starts immediately with a cup of gazpacho which appeared as soon as we were settled.  Its a nice touch on a close Summer evening.

LM:We started with cocktails, olives and the most divine cornbread with chipotle butter and lime.

CCVC was sharply refreshing with a kick from the clove vodka and calvados; if we hadn't been having wine I'd happily have drunk a bucket of it. Tap water was regularly brought around to top up our glasses, always a nice touch.

SN: My lavender gin cocktail "Lavender French 75" was a bit more floral than I anticipated - not quite my thing but a perfectly good cocktail.  The bread though was a marvel of moistness, subtle flavour and explosions of corn and lime.  The olives were just too mouthwatering for words.

LM: I haven't had cornbread before but was intrigued; I couldn't say if it was technically perfect but it was bloody delicious, soft and warm and studded with sweetcorn, moist from the butter and lime. Olives were gorgeous, soft and buttery, and vanished in a flash. Service was prompt too - none of this nonsense waiting around with empty plates for half an hour - and friendly.

SN:  I was impressed that the restaurant has to keep it's wines caged down stairs such is their potency, so I chose a 2008 Barbera D'Asti from the wine list as a heady but lightish red for this feast.  I thought it would be good value for money given its age and it proved to be still pretty full-bodied and complex

- sometimes older Italian reds collapse into a metallic mouthwash but this was holding up very well.  I have a soft spot for Barbera: this was a cut above the usual experience, a real treat.

SN: We had excellent guidance from the staff about the portion sizes for small and large plates.  Since we were mostly sharing we plumped for 5 small plates to share; 4 vegetarian dishes, two portions of French fries and one meat for me.  It was a good balance and left us with room for pudding.

LM: We chose small plates:

Nepalese vegetable momo was the first dish to come out, service with a spiced tomato dip. I haven't had momos since the Nepalese restaurant we used to frequent at university and I've missed them - I could quite happily have eaten these twice over - lucky for SN I managed to save one for him. SN: I'm blessed with a most considerate dining companion

Asparagus, wild garlic aioli and parmesan crisp - simple but well executed - the asparagus was plum and tender with no toughness and the parmesan crisp was more like a crumble which went beautifully. SN: it's a beautifully balanced dish - too much garlic in the aioli would have clashed with the asparagus but the relative weight of these three string tastes was beautifully judged.

Sweet Potato inari pocket with sesame chestnut mushroom and som tam was unlike anything I've tasted - according to google it's a deep fried tofu pocket usually filled with rice, in this case it was full of a deliciously smooth and sticky sweet potato puree. The mushrooms worked well in counterpoint, preventing it from being too sugary. SN: I loved this - next time we'll order one each :)

Courgette with goats curd, piquillo peppers and sherry vinaigrette was probably the least exciting of the dishes we ate - again, good quality ingredients beautifully presented but for me it lacked the wow factor of the other dishes. That said it was nice to have something plainer with all the flavours going on! SN: I'm a big fan of chunk barely cooked courgette - I hate it's watery incarnation.  I found this light and filling and whilst not intense it had so much going for it.

SN: BBQ Beef Brisket, bourbon shrimp butter: sometimes my adorable veggie fri

end doesn't know what she's missing and this was a bit of a wonder.  Slow cooked roast brisket is a robust meat but so full of a gentler beef flavour.  Some will want steak.  Some will baulk at the texture too but it just adds to the attraction for me.  It's accompaniments, layered on top, were a BBQ sauce rich in smokey chipotle and then a magnificently counterpointed shrimp and bourbon butter - all together it combined like a most wonderful treat - taste explosions are over-done and generally over-rated (unless they're actual tiny explosions in the mouth as we experienced at Club Gascon many moons ago).  This was a flavoursome, hefty, and hearty the diner willing to go that far.  Boy, was it worth it.

LM: I want to wax lyrical about my dessert before I forget too - I've been incredibly lucky with my picks recently and this was way up there. Madelines with almond butter and tangy citrus marmalade were one of the nicest things I can remember eating for a while - soft and fluffy with just the right proportions of butter and fruit to slather all over them.

SN: I had a Chocolate mocha pot with pistachio cream and sable biscuit dessert which was way off my usual diet allowance but I lapsed. It was delicate and well balanced -as all the dishes were.  The presentation wasn't quite what we'd seen earlier but with crunchy, short, biscuit made for a nice contrast.  So enthused was I about the flavour that I forgot LM doesn't like coffee...

We ended with a glass of Monbazillac 2007, Domaine De L'Ancienne Cure - delicious end to a meal where flavour ran through everything.  The restaurant had changed character in the time we took to eat our way through these finely honed and well judged combinations of flavours and textures.  

The portion options worked well for us and the service was good humour, attentive but not over-bearing.  We sat and chatted long into the night - a midsummer vigil of taste and characterful cooking.

This is a restaurant and a menu to savour and surroundings which are unassuming, never pretentious, adaptable and with service that is spot on.  It's well worth a visit.

I ended on a strong black coffee which they roast themselves on a machine next to the wine cage.  Like everything here it's unprepossessing, and of the finest quality.  It doesn't take much to get me back to a good restaurant where I feel at home and cosy - but I hope we go back soon.

Mazi

Mazi
12-14 Hillgate street,
London
W8 7SR
Tel: 020 7229 379

http://www.mazi.co.uk

SN: I could waste some words on the vineous desert that is Notting Hill Gate - we went in search of champagne and found one cocktail bar with no bartender....If you go to Notting Hill Gate it should be for one good reason and that is to visit Mazi.  I can't commend this place enough.

First an introduction to the decor/ambience is essential  - in many ways it makes the place.  The clean lines and kitchen style furniture extends out into the vine-sheltered patio (a legacy of the previous Greek restaurant on this site, Costas Grill,  which opened in 1957 no less).  On a warm summer night I imagine this place will be magical.  There are big tables and small tables and the fit is tight though everyone seems to get their own intimate space - not overlooked by others.  This is the place to bring a party to - not just because they can accommodate it - but also because the space almost demands to be filled with happy people.

We kicked off with a shot of alcohol and fruit juice the constituents of which passed me by.  The colour was vibrant and the effect was energising.
LM: there was passionfruit, sugar and booze in it. It was fantastic

SN: The menu is divided into Jars, Salads, Hot Plates, Signature Dishes and Desserts.  The waitress recommended we had five or six dishes and told us that these would arrive as they were cooked. We ordered 2 Jars which arrived with bread, 2 Hot Plates, 1 Signature Dish and a bottle of Lauren Perrier Champagne.

LM: It's worth mentioning that they knew the menu well enough to comment that there might be too much feta in our initial picks, and were happy to 'vegify' one of the other options to suit us. In fact the waiting staff were great all through - organised chaos is the phrase that springs to mind, with the  plan seeming to be whoever got to a table first serving them. They did it well though - partly due to the small size of the restaurant it must be a necessity. At no point did we have to try hard to flag someone's attention which is a win as far as I'm concerned, and the service was consistently warm and polite without being intrusive.

All but one of our picks were vegetarian dishes from the 10 veggie dishes on the menu. Dishes are brought out when ready which is great for snacking, although our table got a bit over-full at times (staff were excellent at clearing away the empties though)

We started with Grilled Aubergine with soy and thyme honey - served in a jar. The aubergine had been either mashed or pureed and was served with shoots of spring onion - spread on the generous supply of bread it was a fantastic start to the meal.

 

SN: It's worth noting these jars are substantial and I'm pretty sure you could make a decent light meal by just ordering jars (£6) and bread.

Tzatziki with only a pinch of garlic: This truly does only have a hint of garlic but it's telling and wonderfully balanced.  I'm a big fan of Tzatziki if its fresh as fresh can be - always easier to make oneself than endure watery supermarket offerings.  This was super and balanced the rich aubergine and feta dishes very well.

LM: Feta Tempura with lemon marmalade and caper meringue absolutely blew my mind - it wasn't oily or greasy, the feta was smooth and melted with a lovely crisp batter. The sweet meringue took a moment to get used to but in combination with the lemon marmalade was basically perfection on a plate.

 

SN: Louise is not kidding - I'm no big fan of feta but this was just divine.  And nice that the taste contrasts in this dish made a real difference on the palate and weren't just there to talk up the menu.  Exquisite - worth the visit on its own!  It was good to see other tables order it and have the same reaction too.

LM: Imam Baildi aubergine, melted stilton and caramelised onion was not dissilimar to a dish we had at the lovely but unreviewed pub near Pentonville (can't remember the name!)*. The aubergine was silky smooth - I'm not usually a fan of strong cheeses but (and this is a recurring theme) Mazi got the flavour balance absolutely spot on.

*SN: The Drapers Arm's - home of that saddest of foods: the burned pie

 

Black Truffle chicken Unkar Begendi (Hunter's delight)

I've seldom had chicken as succulent as this - firm fleshed and not at all watery - it was a delight.  I didn't share for obvious reasons, but there was a substantial serving for one person here. I can't speak highly enough both for the subtle flavour and the presentation of this dish.  Absolutely delightful.

   

Spinach Mousaka, basil and courgette purée was lovely but probably (and unsurprisingly) the least exciting dish of the lot - simply because it's become a bit of a staple dish -  still, technically excellent and we polished the whole lot off promptly.

 

LM: We ended a long and delightful meal with a much discussed (online) Loukoumades (soft, crispy doughnut balls), lavender honey and chocolate sorbet - a bargain at £8 because it is big enough and rich enough to share, washed down with a glass of Samos Vin Doux
 (SN: that's a glass each, I hasten to add - LM does not share glasses of wine!)

 

Kudos again to our waiter who actually stopped us from ordering two portions because of the size - really nice touch. The lavender honey in particular was knockout - the presentation in a box with smoking cinnamon in dried lavender wowed too.

 

SN: I was blown away by this little piece of theatre in a box - such a sensual pleasure and yet so simple. The smell alone turned heads around us and several of the neighbouring tables went ahead to order the same - by some feat of restraint LM didn't execute a smash and grab on the way out.

All in all this was one of the best meals we've had in a long time in terms of the quality of the food and the ambience served by chatty friends from America (in front of our table), meeting of 12 friends (to our left), intimate discussion with shopping (behind us), and young lovers (tucked away at the back).  It was noisy but full of laughter.  It serves all and at a very reasonable rate if that's required - we spent £172 but £70 of that was our well-deserved Champagne.

This restaurant has been open since 2012 and word is getting around about it's many glories.  Their idea is to revolutionise Greek cuisine on the high street - they do that.  'Mazi" means together in Greek - they do it as a team and with what I'm sure is a band of loyal customers - they can add us to their number.

In the strange lands of Notting Hill Gate this restaurant deserves every bit of the reputation it's gaining - superb!

News from the Front: Upstairs at Ten Bells, Spitalfields (SN)

84 Commercial Street, 

London 

E1 6LY

reservations@tenbells.com

07530 492986

I took a trip beyond Liverpool Street Station to find this little gem beyond Spitalfields Market.  In a part of town which is trendy and full of students sits the fore-square and long-lived Ten Bells pub on a corner like all the best pubs are. And like every pub and every shop round Spitalfields, it has an air of insouciance downstairs which it cadres off with the help of it's customers, but our target was overhead.  There is a distinct and Victorian bareness on the stairs - Dickensian .  Even upstairs the attention is to an air of neglect - but it's a very comfortable one.  And soon broken with smiley staff and candles and short well balanced menus - all aided by a rather invigorating rhubarb margarita.

My dining companion - Linda - and I chose the Crispy Monkfish Cheek, Fagioli & Winter Tomatoes - which had a tasty foam topping, crispy batter and a very satisfying bean soup beneath.  I plucked a bottle of Chablis from the wine list - and the party for two was underway.

Beef Shin, Pearl Barley & Nettle Risotto, Spring Onion & Bone Marrow 

Roast Guinea Fowl, Wild Garlic Mash, King Oyster Mushroom & Bacon 

Linda's shin beef had a wonderful lustre and smell (and taste by all accounts) - I have no idea and none of the patience required to cook shin beef to get that effect. Nettle risotto is surely one to try at home though.

My guinea fowl was as sweet and juicy and tender paired superbly with garlic mash and mushrooms.

I had a very nice cheeseboard and Linda had a chocolaty pudding which I struggled to identify because it wasn't there for long.  We had tea and coffee and chatted for a long time with a never ending supply of water and smiles from the lovely staff.

Cocktails and wine pushed up the price of what was a meal of exceptional value and in the cool evening air walking back to the station we past people standing outside pubs looking uncomfortable when they could have been inside eating guinea fowl and drinking Chablis - which I think means we won.  Lovely night :-)

Salt Yard

Salt Yard

54 Goodge St,

London

W1T 4NA

+44 20 7637 0657

Salt Yard is part of a chain - though you wouldn't think it. It is in the heart of Fitzrovia near Goodge Street Tube station and sits a 100 yards or so off Tottenham Court Road.

The area is awash with bars, cafes and restaurants and I admit had I gone down Goodge Street uninformed there isn't much that would make you pick Salt Yard out of the line-up, except that the view from the path is intriguing.

Before Salt Yard we popped into the London Cocktail Club across the road for a quick drink. Fascinating decor, friendly service and lethally strong cocktails - good start to the evening. It's a proper hideaway - well impressed with the atmosphere & decor (such as it is). We sat in a booth kitted out with an old fashioned telephone and copious graffiti and drank cocktails with gin, fig and absinthe in them.

London Cocktail Club: Exhibit I

London Cocktail Club: Exhibit II

SALT YARD!

LM: One of the first things I noticed when we went into Salt Yard was the front of house service; a couple arrived just ahead of us and were shown to their table but immediately another member of staff came over to seat us. It was a good start and the service just got better.

The menu is divided into 'Charcuterie and Bar snacks' and then for the tapas, 'meat' 'fish' and 'vegetables'. I tend to steer away from tapas because from experience I end up spending an evening eating tortilla and patatas bravas; no such risk here. Our waiter was happy to advise on options, and as soon as he twigged I was a veggie offered the special without meat.

We started with country bread, warm and fluffy with a buttery finish, and aoili. My love of good bread is no secret to anyone who knows me; this was right up there with my favourites (second only to the bread board at Viajante). I could have eaten a whole meal of this stuff. Nocellara de Belice olives were juicy and bordering on buttery - divine.

SN: it was a nice change to see a choice of breads too. It may be a bit of a digression but why don't we eat bread and aoili more? It seems to me an ideal snack and we're rarely offered it in restaurants as a starter - surely it's not because we still juvenile worries about the smell of garlic? GOOD aioli is divine and with pasta its a meal in itself. As for the olives they were divine too - with no indication of the CoO its impossible to say under which sun they were ripened but I'd like to think it was their native Sicily. But the restaurant had us at hello - important because of the disasters at Moti Mahal but also because thereafter choices become a confident exploration of a wondrous garden, not a journey through a minefield. To accompany it we had a glass of Oloroso Seco, Don Nuno, Lustau - nutty enough to go with this basic fare. We were set fair.

As I was saying - the restaurant sets the mood for a guided exploration (it's not unknow territory for the most part but it encourages curiosity. So despite a host of good well known wines from Spain and elsewhere I went for a wine I didn't know but though it might suit our various preferences. Fagus, Coto de Hayas, Aragonesas (Garnacha, Aragon 2009) - mispelled on the wine list - turned out to be a thing of fortitude and some beauty - a huge fruity bouquet which sets up a very mellow and nothing like as powerful in taste. For me it was the kind of robust wine that tapas needs - sweet enough to compliment the food but not so strong as to overpower it. I think generally restaurants find good wines nowadays seldom have I had a shack. But this one was interesting and new and a delight - I might buy a bottle or two for rainy summer days.


Let the tapas begin!

LM: My first dish was a deep fried courgette flower with goats cheese and honey. The photo really doesn't do it justice; the courgette was firm and fresh on the inside, the batter light and crispy. I could have eaten it several times over. Our waiter was fantastic at recommending dishes; as soon as he realised I was vegetarian he also offered to adapt one of the specials of the day without meat but I was too smitten with the other menu options.

Next up for the veggie, a salad of beetroot, onions, hazelnuts and goats curd. Simple ingredients but well cooked; the onion and beetroot were tender but still had bite, and there was the perfect amount of curd to balance out the sharpness.






SN: I think it's worth a close up of this salad - the colours and textures engage the eye before the tongue and the taste. The taste matched the looks.

LM: Somehow we forgot (SN: I forgot) to photograph the patatas bravas which is a shame; they bore no resemblance to the tired chunks of potato in radioactive tomato sauce seen in most chains. Beautifully spiced and served with aoili and bravas sauce on the side we munched our way through two large portions.

SN: My choices were Slow Cooked Pork Cheeks with Prunes, Oloroso Sherry and Celeriac Purée and Slow Cooked Octopus, Ratte Potatoes, Lemon, Chilli and Capers - it was a night for slow cooked everything....

The Pork was a rich slow cooked small fist of meat floating on a cloud of the most delicate puree, the texture of shaving foam (OK, that analogy may not be of not a great help) but not so light that the meat is either overwhelmed taste-wise nor sunk under the laws of gravity.  When pork is so rich the edge of an Oloroso is to be welcomed and I think the prunes take the direction a tad sweeter too.  But the soft buttery flavour and consistency of the celeriac brings us back to the savoury - a handsome journey of four tastes each in it's place.

I should also say - the dishes are Salt yard are not small - but I guess the hearty eater will need 3 or 4 but they are good value

My second dish was different again.




The octopus showed no sign of rubberiness or indeed having lost any taste as a result of its long preparation.  The potato was gorgeous and despite herbs and spices and buttery sauces - the whole thing wasn't too hard to digest.  A refined dish against the pork cheek and the deeply satisfying cephalopdian bites were like nuggets on the plate.

A first!

SN: For the first time in our long relationship Louise decided that dessert was going to be the centre of her dining and so we shared the pudding Cold Chocolate Fondant with Turron Caramel and Crème Fraiche Ice Cream.  It would have struggled to justify it but I'm so glad I joined in for two reasons.  The Fondent ice cream wasn't too sweet and the fondant was firm enough to ……… no, its no good.  The pudding was lovely but the Pedro Ximenez was just divine and I'm sure contained enough calories to be a meal in its self.  It was like drinking a tot of Evian that had been lightly flavoured with the juice of a kilo of raisins and a quart of vodka…but that's way too crude to describe this huge wine.  Maybe overly sweet for many, but boy what a corker Pedro Ximenez, Fernando de Castilla.  I had too.  After which the coffee was well met. Maybe Lou remembers the dessert…..

LM: Dessert was a wonderful cold chocolate fondant with turron caramel and creme fraiche ice-cream. The dictionary definition of indulgent, the fondant oozed out and mixed with the caramel…within around thirty seconds of the photo being taken the plate was empty. Creme fraiche ice-cream was a great idea as well; subtle but with enough body to cut through the sweet chocolate and caramel.

LM: It's worth mentioning that the amazing service and food here wasn't a one off; more recently I went to sister restaurant Opera Tavern in Covent Garden, where the veggie options were different but the service, cooking and presentation were equally wonderful; clearly a team who knows what they're doing. 

SN: In summary this was the kind of tapas to which I could get accustomed.  Varied, tasty, not to greasy, not too heavy and full of light and sweet delights from the olives to the creme fraiche ice cream.  More notable and enjoyable and atypical was the quality of the service - helpful, alert and very personable.  Our waiter was a delight and worth so much in a Soho eatery especially after I'd endured Moti Mahal and Cinnamon Soho's rubbish service recently.  Its worth an adventure at around £50 each - explore the sherry and wine, explore the veggie tapas and the delightful side lights to these filling and satisfying dishes.

Moti Mahal, Soho

It bears repeating that we do a certain amount of research to ensure we are going to good places and will get a good story to tell you as 1) everyone likes to be enthused and 2) it supports an excellence agenda we believe in.  It might read that these blogs are a celebration of our impeccable taste - that's not our intention.  As you see below not everything we touch turns to gold….

SN: Moti Mahal is on the edges of Soho just off Kingsway in a place where the streets are broad and the buildings portentous.  It occupies two floors and the decor is restrained with flowers in plentiful supply and neat white tablecloths on all the tables.  Downstairs there's semicircular booths against the walls that are plush and well cushioned and low backed chairs around the rest of the table that could probably seat 6 at a push….etcetera

We arrived 20 minutes early - our coats were taken by the helpful receptionist and I asked if we could sit at the bar until our table was ready, at which point we were taken downstairs…and shown straight to a table, a table set for three, with settings too far apart for us to sit closely enough to talk.  The drill is that Lou usually makes from the plush upholstery and I joined her on this occassion - the waiters made no attempt to move the place settings. And so began an evening of delays, misunderstandings, delays, confusion, delays and dismay.  At the end of the meal, even the card machine wouldn't work either.  I don't intend to dwell on every incident but this was the worst service we've encountered in our years of dining together. And I didn't pay the service charge so I'd say we're quits.

LM: After too long a wait (near on twenty minutes), we recieved our cocktails which were delicious when they finally appeared.

Accompanying this was a plate of DIY salad with one knife and a selection of spices. In fairness it's an interesting gimmick and turns out that radish in garam masala dressing is delicious, but a bit more of a deft touch in presentation would have been welcome; it's somewhat unexpected to be faced with an entire onion as a starter. SN: or for that matter a green chilli.  That said I like this idea - it is at least pious grazing. My cocktail was a thyme vodka mojito - splendid.

LM: It's a real shame about the poor service because for me the food was very good across the board. The menu is divided into sections: 'Begin your Journey', 'Tandoori', 'The Main Stop' with prices rising accordingly. Maybe we should have clarified but my assumption was that a starter would come first, then tandoori, then the main course.

As it happened, Wagamama style, dishes came at random times and without any clear idea of when they were next going to turn up. Fine if you are expecting that but I hovered anxiously over my tandoori paneer wondering whether to dig in or wait. In the end greed (SN: hunger surely)] won out and I dug in; the paneer was soft, salty and buttery, with a nice smoke from the tandoori spices and not too much heat. I'm not sure I could taste the fennel but it was a beautiful plate of food and very generous in terms of portion size.

Starters arrived before we were even halfway through our tandoori course leading to more confusion; I had sweet potato cake with charoli nut, cumin and ginger with a gooseberry chutney which had lovely flavours, particularly the gooseberry chutney which I'd never have thought to match with sweet potato, but suffered for being a little oily. Still, the sweet potato had bite to it and a nice crispy coating.

It's worth noting at this point that the wine we'd ordered with our starter/tandoori still hadn't turned up! We flagged down a waiter who nodded, smiled and then went and stood behind the bar having clearly not heard or understood us. 

SN: My dish from the tandoor was lamb chops and very tasty they were too.  I'd hoped they wouldn't be bland and over-cooked and they were just how I like them, tasty, pink in the middle with a modicum of fat to add to a dazzling but not too fiery taste/texture thing. The presentation could have been improved though and I am not picky about how food looks. The accompanying avocado chutney should have made a little more impact than it did - slightly aggressive when it could have been cooler.

After a while, most things in this special downstairs time zone seem to take a while, the starter arrived - a simple fish dish.  A palm leaf parcel of Sea Bass fillet covered in rich fragrant crab meat.  Its a heady combination - but there was unity in the strong spiced crab and gentle succulent mullet - would have gone rather nicely with the salad had we not eating it all (in the wait). 

 


LM: My main was the Gucchi Mutter; fresh morels and garden peas in a yoghurt and saffron sauce. Very tasty, with fresh peas (that shouldn't need to be commented on, but sadly does - I've had stale, from-frozen peas far too many times since moving here) and wonderful spicing in the sauce. Again, very generous portion size. We ordered raita and rice as sides, all of which arrived together which was a pleasant surprise.

SN: The raita was delightful rich and still refreshing, it was creamy and cucumbery (is that a word Lou?) without those limp chunks one often encounters.  A wonderful touch.  My Goat curry - now off the menu, like the Mullet and Crab - was a fantastic reminder of the rich deep flavours that are hot but not all about the hot.  The meat was tender and tasty and all I needed was the rice to match the rich and rewarding combination.

Fortunately a man came with a small teapot to water the towels before we used them - they expanded in no special hurry.

Uniquely we both decided against dessert.

Our wine on this evening to forget was a very pleasent Rioja.