What are you eating and drinking tonight?

[TANGODANCER]

Went round Bolton today. Didn't feel like a meal but got fish and chips from Olympus takeaway and ate them sitting on a bench. Why do fish and chips taste and smell so much better out of the paper? Delicious.

[William the White]

Went round Bolton today. Didn't feel like a meal but got fish and chips from Olympus takeaway and ate them sitting on a bench. Why do fish and chips taste and smell so much better out of the paper? Delicious.

The Olympus probably the best restaurant in town... Not sure exactly what that says about the eatery options in Bolton...

[Bruce Rioja]

Went round Bolton today. Didn't feel like a meal but got fish and chips from Olympus takeaway and ate them sitting on a bench. Why do fish and chips taste and smell so much better out of the paper? Delicious.

The Olympus probably the best restaurant in town... Not sure exactly what that says about the eatery options in Bolton...

Oooo, I think I'd hand that particular accolade to The Noble House IF it's still as good - it's a while since I was last in.

[William the White]

Went round Bolton today. Didn't feel like a meal but got fish and chips from Olympus takeaway and ate them sitting on a bench. Why do fish and chips taste and smell so much better out of the paper? Delicious.

The Olympus probably the best restaurant in town... Not sure exactly what that says about the eatery options in Bolton...

Oooo, I think I'd hand that particular accolade to The Noble House IF it's still as good - it's a while since I was last in.

I've not been in for ages, but, yes, used to be good... I've never tried Cinnamon, have you... Can't get past Spice Valley when I fancy curry...

[Bruce Rioja]

I've never tried Cinnamon, have you... Can't get past Spice Valley when I fancy curry...

I haven't, Will, and to be honest I'm not sure I know anyone that has.

I'll tell you a place that I found surprisingly good - Sizzling Palate on Bradshawgate. If you're not arsed about the furniture/decor which isn't bad, but Soho House it aint, the food was good (and they'll over-face you, trust me) and the service was very good indeed. Loses points for being a dry do though.

[CAPSLOCK]

Did I not read you could take yer own?

[Bruce Rioja]

Did I not read you could take yer own?

Oh, not sure, Caps. Requires investigation.

[jaffka]

Normally is the case with unlicensed restaurants that you can take your own wine.

[CAPSLOCK]

http://www.sizzlingpalate.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Says you can't, but I'm sure I read that had recently changed

[CAPSLOCK]

I'll have to have these at home

http://m.morrisonscellar.com/wine/09829 ... raz-750ml/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lord Kangana]

I think Bring Your Own is the future for many smaller/independent restaurants. It works out better for all parties.

[William the White]

I think Bring Your Own is the future for many smaller/independent restaurants. It works out better for all parties.

Presuming making a corkage charge?

Which should be what do you think?

And - out of interest - given the huge mark up on restaurant booze, how does it benefit them not to have a wine list?

[Lord Kangana]

No storage or outlay, no expensive held stock. No license to pay. Its very expensive to maintain a large wine list, and its difficult to please everyone, and keep up to speed with latest drinking trends. It must be added (my example below is for a large multinational) that smaller venues without significant buying power are purchasing their wine, in general, at a higher price than you are paying in the supermarket.

I'm going away after christmas, the hotel is charging a flat £7.50 a bottle. I find that reasonable, as I shall be taking bottles that will cost me a lot of money on a licensed premises. This is significantly less than most markups in hotels - I know of one specific example of a large hotel group hoovering up a consignment of (very shit btw) 36,000 cases of wine at 99p/btl and punting it out at as their house wine at £18.50.The punters lapped it up, the next wine on the list being a 5er more.

[jaffka]

I think Bring Your Own is the future for many smaller/independent restaurants. It works out better for all parties.

Presuming making a corkage charge?

Which should be what do you think?

And - out of interest - given the huge mark up on restaurant booze, how does it benefit them not to have a wine list?

jumping hurdles to get a licence from the local authority?

[William the White]

No storage or outlay, no expensive held stock. No license to pay. Its very expensive to maintain a large wine list, and its difficult to please everyone, and keep up to speed with latest drinking trends. It must be added (my example below is for a large multinational) that smaller venues without significant buying power are purchasing their wine, in general, at a higher price than you are paying in the supermarket.

I'm going away after christmas, the hotel is charging a flat £7.50 a bottle. I find that reasonable, as I shall be taking bottles that will cost me a lot of money on a licensed premises. This is significantly less than most markups in hotels - I know of one specific example of a large hotel group hoovering up a consignment of (very shit btw) 36,000 cases of wine at 99p/btl and punting it out at as their house wine at £18.50.The punters lapped it up, the next wine on the list being a 5er more.

OK, I can see that. And how it might well be good for all parties - esp a small independent. Last time I paid corkage was 4 years ago - a modest fiver a bottle...

I'm sure this is a naive question, but can these smaller places not just make their way to a local supermarket to obtain their wine? Why should they pay more than we shoppers?

[Lord Kangana]

Large companies have greater buying power. Aldi, for example, won't sell to the trade, but there are also all kinds of logistical and image issues with buying at the supermarket. You can't rely on a loine always being available, customers complaining "I can get this cheaper in Tesco". etc etc

[boltonboris]

I think Bring Your Own is the future for many smaller/independent restaurants. It works out better for all parties.

Presuming making a corkage charge?

Which should be what do you think?

And - out of interest - given the huge mark up on restaurant booze, how does it benefit them not to have a wine list?

Again though, to charge corkage, shouldn't you be licensed? Because that's profiteering on a product that they don't offer...

[CAPSLOCK]

Is Davardis bring yer own?

If so, it's worked well for them


btw LK

The small place in Ainsworth that has long been high priced (for Bolton/Bury) is up for sale

Their opening hours have been reducing year on year - still the best steak's I've had in the UK

The owners are over 60 so that may have something to do with it, or is it more likely recession/everybody eating curries

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Tonight is pie night... I've got homemade steak and ale and baked bean pie with flaky pastry, proper gravy, mash and leeks.

homemade eh, can you post the recipe then? sounds fookin champion that does.

As requested General - here is The Missus’ Homemade Steak, Ale, and Baked Bean Pie™ with proper gravy, two-tone mash and leeks.

Ingredients: For Pie filling – 2½ lb best casserole (chine) steak, 2 lamb kidneys, 1 large onion, 6oz mushrooms, 2 cloves garlic, 3 oz cornflour, 3 tablespoons corn oil, 3½ oz butter, 1 pint beef stock, Hendersons Relish (or Worcester sauce if not available), bottle of Guinness (or real ale, or good lager, or ½ pint dry red wine), 1 large can Heinz baked beans in tomato sauce, sea-salt, pepper, 1 egg, milk (or single cream). / For flaky pastry – 6 oz plain flour, ½ teaspoon salt, 3 oz lard, 4 oz butter, 7 tablespoons iced water, 1 teaspoon lemon juice / For gravy – 1lb onions, 3oz unsalted butter, 1 level tablespoon plain flour, ¼ pint beef stock, 1 tablespoon vinegar, salt and pepper, sugar / For mash – potatoes, milk, butter / For Bombay potatoes – new potatoes (or English White if not available), 5 tablespoons of olive oil, ⅛ teaspoon ground hing, ½ teaspoon whole black mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds, ⅛ teaspoon turmeric, ½ teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder, ¾ teaspoon salt / Leeks, salt.

Pie filling: Skin, core and chop kidneys. Steep kidneys in a little milk or cream for an hour. Trim and dice meat into ½” cubes. Peel and slice onion. Peel and section mushrooms. Peel and finely chop garlic. Drain kidneys but retain milk/cream for gravy. Toss meat and kidneys in cornflour. Heat oil and melt 2oz butter and fry meat on high until evenly browned. Blend in all cornflour and transfer to casserole. Melt 1½ oz butter into pan and fry onion for 5 mins, add mushroom and garlic and fry another 2 minutes then pour in beef stock and bottle of Guinness, bring to boil and then add to casserole. Add ¼ tin of baked beans. Add ten shakes of Hendersons Relish and stir in. Put on lid and cook in fan oven for 2½ hours 170ºC. Lift out meat etc with fish slice and put in pie dish (10” diam x 2” deep, fluted). Add the remaining baked beans and stir in. Reduce the casserole juice by fast boiling and pour over meat and leave to cool completely.

Flaky pastry – In cold conditions, with cold hands on cool granite surface. Sift flour and salt in a bowl. Evenly blend lard and butter and divide into 4 portions of fat. Rub one portion into flour until breadcrumb texture. Add water and lemon juice and mix to soft dough. Turn out and knead. Cover in polythene and cool rest for 20 mins. Roll out on lightly floured granite surface, and brush off surplus flour. Cut another ¼ portion of fat into flakes and dot onto two-thirds of pastry. Fold unbuttered third over and fold buttered top third down. Seal edges, cover with polythene and cool rest again for 20 mins. Turn and repeat dotting, folding, sealing and resting. Then repeat with last remaining ¼ portion of fat. Finally roll out pastry, wrap, cover in polythene and cool rest for at least 30 minutes before shaping onto pie.


Roll out pastry to ¼” thick. Lift onto meat in pie dish, moisten rim and seal edges. Brush pastry with milk and then beaten egg. Bake in centre of pre-heated oven at 220ºC for 35 minutes.

Gravy: Peel and slice onions. Melt 2 oz butter in large frying pan and low heat fry onions for 20 mins until golden brown, turning frequently (add a pinch of sugar after 15 mins). Blend 1oz butter and tablespoon of plain flour and add to hot onions, stirring in well until melted and blended. Gradually stir in hot stock. Add milk/cream from drained kidneys. Bring to boil, simmer, then stir in vinegar, salt and pepper.

Two tone mash: Boil potatoes to make mash. Drain and mash to creamy consistency with butter and a little milk.

To make Bombay potatoes – Cut potatoes into 1cm cubes. Heat the oil in a wok over a medium heat. When hot add hing and mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add potatoes and stir a couple of times, then sprinkle in turmeric. Cook for 15 mins until potatoes are lightly browned. Sprinkle in ground coriander, ground cumin, red chilli pepper and salt. Stir and cook for another 2 minutes.

Mix the Bombay potatoes into the creamy mash.

Leeks: cut off roots and tops and remove outer leaves. Slice into thick rings and boil in salted water for 10 minutes.

Serve pie, potatoes, leeks and gravy.

[Bruce Rioja]

LK - I've bought a pheasant, weighs 1lb (including lead shot, apparently). Last time I cooked a pheasant it came out like shoe leather - and I'd much prefer it pink. Any cooking tips are heartily welcomed.