Its great isnt it ? My meal there was fantastic....i need to go back soon.

Check out what i think is the best food blogging camera ever invented...The Panasonic Lumix LX5.... I`ll let the photos speak for themselves. Type "Cumbriafoodie" into a search engine. Cheers

Witchery all the way , its in the top 7 wonders of the hotel world......The rooms are to die for, none like them anywhere in the world , every one uniquely designed. The food is wonderful Scottish traditional fayre and the restaurant is dark and very gothic , no lighting , only candlelight.Heres a couple of pics of it.

Another trip to sample Simon Rogans cuisine at his lake district restaurant Lenclume in Cartmel , cumbria. A light lunch ended up as 16 courses of Cumbrian and british produce at the highest levels of perfection. A fantastic year for Chef Rogan with the new opening of his London restaurant Roganic.Followed up by 5 AA rosettes and also a score of 9/10 in the 2012 good food guide and now ranked as Number 2 in the whole of the UK....Only pipped at the post to number one slot by Heston blumenthal.....Feast your eyes on my wonderful lunch.

Conratulations to Simon Rogan and the full team at Lenclume in Cartmel , Cumbria.
9/10 in the 2012 Good food guide and now rated at Number 2 in the UK.
Well done guys.

Theres the Witchery , proper gothic , totally "one off " and serving traditional Scottish produce , good prices and lovely meals i ve had there.Check out their website for the food pics i took during lunch and dinner.
For tip top michelin food the number one place to eat is Wisharts , prob best in Scotland.
The "Kitchin" is almost as good.
21212 is the place to go for innovative cutting edge food.

Cant seem to find the link to upload my pics , can anyone help me out here ?
Here is the link to them on my flickr gallery anyways - http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...

First lunch on opening day was fabulous.Roganic in Marylebone , London. 5 and 10 course menus on at the moment and changing every 6 weeks with the seasons.Lots of organic and wild food from around the British isles with an emphasis on wild cumbrian ingredients.

Had a wonderful dinner at Le champignon sauvage , well worth the long journey from Cumbria to Cheltenham.We ended up being fortunate enough to be "cooked for" by David everitt matthias which really got us both excited.Menus were handed back to the staff and we were left in the hands of the kitchen team to do what they do best.
All in all it ended up at 12 courses and we were both struggling badly as we waited for coffee....and petits fours....all 10 of them.I forced myself with all my energy to clean them all up but failed on the fifth.I ended up with the little golden box and packed my treats into it to finish off for breakfast.
As for service...Absolutely spot on , well trained front of house staff and Chefs good lady wife Helen took care of us very professionally indeed.We got to meet the guys in the kitchen , all decent lads willing to offer assistance in any questions about the food.....Oh about those Scarlet Elf cup mushrooms ????

( Full set of photos on flickr - sped98 gallery http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...
)
SOME PRE DINNER NIBBLES – PARMESAN CUSTARD IN CHORIZO CRUMBS , BRIOCHE CRISPS AND GROUND ELDER DIP , BACON AND SWEETCORN MUFFINS.

WALNUT AND BLUE CHEESE COOKIES , GUINNESS BREAD , SMOKED HORSERADISH AND PIGS EAR BISCUITS.

CHICKEN MUSHI WITH CAULIFLOWER FOAM.

DEXTER BEEF TARTARE AND CORNED BEEF,
WASABI CREAM, PICKLED SHIMEJI MUSHROOMS

DIVED SCALLOPS, ‘CROWN PRINCE’ PUMPKIN, CHESTNUT VELOUTÉ,
CHESTNUT AND WHITE BALSAMIC CARAMEL

ROASTED HAKE, PARSLEY ROOT PURÉE,
REMOULADE OF PARSLEY ROOT, CHICKEN JUICES

CORNISH DAB, BRAISED COCKS COMB, WILD GARLIC AND SCARLET ELF CUP FUNGI.

WINCHCOMBE VENISON, HOMEMADE BLACK PUDDING
SALT AND BURDOCK BAKED GOLDEN BEETROOT, ROASTED QUINCE

CARROT PORRIDGE, MILK FOAM

RHUBARB POACHED WITH HIBISCUS, MASCARPONE CREAM,
RHUBARB AND HIBISCUS SORBET, GIN AND TONIC SYRUP

VANILLA CHEESECAKE, SALTED CHICORY ROOT MOUSSE,
BITTER CHOCOLATE SORBET

COFFEE AND PETITS FOURS

A classic English sunday lunch at the Sharrow Bay country house hotel.Situated on the banks of Ullswater in the Cumbrian Lake district.

Full set of pics here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...

Beautiful sunday lunch in a typical English country house.Linthwaite country house hotel in Windermere Cumbria , The English lake district.

I phoned them just now... Its £199 for 14 courses plus all drinks.
They`re also including a Good food guide recipe book ...Signed by the chefs.
and a copy of the 2011 Good food guide.
Plenty of availability as they only started advertising yesterday.
Hope this helps , should be a decent night.

The Good food guide is having a 50th anniversary celebration dinner on Sunday 13th february and it`s being held at Lenclume in Cartmel , Cumbria.Chefs Simon Rogan and special guest chef Jason Atherton will be cooking a fabulous dinner consisting of 14 courses.
The night will also involve a Q&A session with Liz Carter , Simon and Jason and all attendees will get a copy of the new Good food guide cookbook.Sounding like a good night people.

Sounds fantastic Al , some lovely combinations on your menu.
As for pricing , mine was £65 for the prestige ( ended up 11 courses ) and £50 for the wine pairing.All good things to report and no grumbles at all...well maybe £4.95 for coffee n treats was a little bit naughty but by then i was too stuffed and googley eyed to bother anyways.
Cheers.

An end of xmas treat to try Kenny Atkinsons cooking at "The Orangery" Rockliffe hall.

Full set on flickr , just click on link - http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...

Some pics from my stay in the Armoury suite at the Witchery Edinburgh.
Full set of pics on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...

A couple of pics from the Witchery

Spent the weekend at The Witchery in Edinburgh , hotel rooms were the ultimate in luxury , magical restaurant serving the finest Scottish produce.Got 700 pics to try n sort through, will post a couple soon.

Fuji finepix S 9600 in macro mode , fantastic results for a very cheap camera

Great lunch at Gilpin Lodge in Windermere , the heart of the English lake district.Well worth a visit.

An Autumn dinner at Marc Wilkinsons Fraiche restaurant in Liverpool.

Here`s the pics and a link to the account pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...

Had a wonderful , cheap and cheerful English country house experience over the weekend at Hipping hall ( Kirkby Lonsdale ) Pics to follow as ive just realised i cant upload from my work computer.

A halloween lunch at the Witchery , fantastic celebration of Scottish produce.

Apparently the booking system has gone down at Aidens place so if anyone has a booking then phone to confirm.

I use a finepix s9600 and cant really complain , however im now looking for something a little more advanced as im not happy with depth of field and pin sharp focus on close ups.
Heres some i took recently.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...

Hey Linda , thank you for the lovely comments....and i actually work in the Nuclear industry ha ha....but always take my camera to dinner with me and then just snap away...The key to the pics is good natural light and then change the brightness and contrast in a photo programme like photoshop.Check the photos ive just put on from Aiden Byrnes restaurant , i think theyre better.
They actually said "Take as many photos as you want but please dont use flash"
Cheers Linda
Alan

I got the chance to eat at Aidens new restaurant within the Hillbark hotel near Liverpool on the way home from the fat duck.
Personally i enjoyed the food more at Hillbark , and it definitely goes into one of my all time favourite meal slots.
The food Oozed luxury from start to finish , Lavish use of top quality ingredients cooked to perfection.The hotel was out of this world ( as you can see in the photos ).
Very highly recommended place to eat and definitely a chef to watch......and hes a great guy too.
Check out the full meal by clicking on the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...

Had the pleasure of dining at the fat duck last thursday .My honest opinion...Fantastic show , but the jury is still out on the food.
Have a look at the pics i took by clicking on the link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24726943...