Superb food in Birmingham

I am visiting the UK from Massachusetts and have enjoyed some good, English food in a whole range of places, but today's lunch at Carter's in Moseley took it to another level.

The cured salmon starter with crab mayonnaise and pickled cucumber was an almost perfect combination of tastes and textures, the salmon underdone and delicious and the crab mayo nicely spikey. My companion had the mackerel which was also good, but with frozen horseradish and avocado, I thought there was too much going on. I notice that on older menus they have mackerel and rhubarb, which would have done it for me.

My main was a mixture of rack of lamb and lamb belly. Both were superb, but for me the belly took the biscuit. I've never eaten lamb belly in a restaurant before. Indeed, I don't think I have had it since I was a kid. It managed to be crisp, soft, meaty and unctuos all at the same time. Delicious with that taste of lamb that I think you only get in the UK/Ireland. We had a side of Jersey Royal potatoes and they were authentic, nothing like the pale imitations I have bought from supermarkets in the past few years.

We had no time for desert, but I must mention the amuse bouche. Cold almond soup was really interesting, the chocolates offered in lieu of desert were great, but just before my starter I was given a small scotch egg the like of which I have never eaten before. A soft-boiled quail's egg, wrapped in good pork sausage, and then deep fried until crispy. The combination of taste and texture was deliigntul. Only two bites, but I would travel a long way to repeat the experience.

Service was fine, knowledgeable and unobtrusive. Wines by the glass well-priced and a particularly well-chosen rioja.

Looking back over this it reads as though I have shares in the place, but not so. It would be well worth getting a cab out of the centre of Birmingham to eat here. Last time I had food this good was at TW Foods in Cambridge, Ma. And that is praise indeed.

And if you are a tourist, down the road and round the corner is a pub called the Fighting Cocks. Very traditional and currently very well run.

http://www.cartersofmoseley.co.uk/

Green Drake in U.K./Ireland

Davis Square's "Foundry on Elm"

The Saloon is a nice enough bar-room, but they really do need to get to grips with their beer. I ordered a pint of Bombardier, an English ale from Charles Wells. What I got was a pint of over-chilled, murky liquid that was obviously off. Either the beer had been in the pipes too long, or the cask had been open for too long, but that metallic taste is unmistakeable.

When I requested something else, the waitress took it away, then came back with another pint saying that there had been a mistake, and the first one was not Bombardier as ordered, but a different ale, so she had brought me a pint of Bombardier. This was just OK. Cloudy, over-chilled, but just OK. I don't want to labour the point, but at those prices I expect to get the right beer and to have it properly cared for. It ain't hard, just takes someone who cares.

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Cafe Istanbul'lu

Tonight I had the lentil soup. It had a flavour I couldn't quite identify; fresh, clean and satisfying, but without any chilli or much in the way of lemon. I liked it a lot.

The Tas Kebab was a dryish lamb stew served over a mound of rice, together with wedges of tomato and a couple of green peppers. The lamb was very good, cooked to point where it was tender, without falling apart. The tomatoes had been added late in the cooking and were perfect, done but not overdone. I think the peppers had been on the grill and were added afterwards. A classic combination of flavours and textures, more evidence that the chef here really knows what he doing with lamb. If i was going to be really picky, I'd say there was slightly too much salt for my taste, but I am not in a picky mood, so am resolved to change my taste.

And the coffee is exactly what Turkish coffee should be. If you've never had it, try it here. It is the real deal.

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Cafe Istanbul'lu

A Turkish friend of mine once said that the real test of any Turkish restaurant is the soup, and that I should ask for it even if it isn't on the menu. And if they say they don't have soup, then I should leave.

That Paca soup at the Istanbul'u is to kill for. it's hard to get the balance right in a lamb/mutton soup, but this one really has it. Not too fatty, not too thin and a really sheepy flavour. The bread that comes with it is perfect.

My lamburger was OK too, just not very interesting. I'll order something different next time, as I now know that the chef can cook.

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Where to find a selection of loose tea? Real tea, not the fruity ones

Thanks everyone for your very knowledgeable and comprehensive responses. I ordered some samples from Uptons, mainly because they offer small 35gram packs of their Darjeelings and Ceylon teas, which means I can experiment a little. My order arrived two days after I placed it and the teas seem fresh and aromatic.

I also had a look in Cardullos, which does have a wide range of loose tea. But whilst looking around I noticed their chocolate section and forgot about tea entirely.

Thanks very much for your hep

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Where to find a selection of loose tea? Real tea, not the fruity ones

Thanks everyone for prompt responses. I've just ordered some sample packs from Upton and will drop into Cardullos tomorrow.

Just by the way, I've recently been converted from strong English style tea with milk to drinking weak Ceylon single plantation tea black. A different experience, but really good once I got used to it. And much cheaper if you drink a lot of tea.

Thanks again

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Where to find a selection of loose tea? Real tea, not the fruity ones

I live in East Arlington and can't find anywhere with a decent selection of loose teas. I am looking for stuff from a single garden/plantation in Ceylon/Sri Lanka or India. All I can find in my local WF and other supermarkets is teabags, which I am not keen on.

Does anyone know of a shop in the Boston area or website offering a decent selection of loose teas?

Thanks for your help

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Samphire

Thanks very much everyone. I thought I saw some growing on Chappaquiddick Island last month, but it wasn't big enough for me to be sure. Nice to know I can buy it if the foraging fails! Thanks again.

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Samphire

Does anyone know if samphire grows on the New England coast?

If yes, anyone know where I can buy some within ten miles or so of Boston? If it is around, it should be coming into season now.

Thanks

Green Drake in Greater Boston Area

Kyrghz Kazak restaurant, Camberwell

Lots of Turkish/Russian cold starters. If they were as good as the hummus then worth ordering. I honestly can't remember much of the rest, as mains were either Turkish things I recognised or competely unfamiliar. The wine we drank was a passable French red, and at £9.50 a bottle, a bargain. Fine dining this ain't.

I booked, and they asked if we wanted to sit at a table or on traditional rugs. We opted for the table. The only they didn't check was my name. When we got there, the hotel receptionist asked if we had a booking for the restaurant, and when we said yes, he replied "In that case, you may pass." "Do you know where our restaurant is?" "No? Just follow the red carpet past the hammam and the beauty parlour, all the way to the end."

Lots of empty tables the (Tuesday) night we were there. Probably no need to book, just tell the receptionist you have.

Green Drake in U.K./Ireland

[London] Rock & Sole Plaice

Olleys, just down the road from Herne Hill Station. Eat in or takeaway. Fish is usually fine and the chips are twice cooked and great.

Green Drake in U.K./Ireland

Kyrghz Kazak restaurant, Camberwell

At the risk of damning it with faint praise, this has to be one of the most interesting restaurants in Camberwell. It is in the back of the Pasha Hotel and is worth visiting as a quiet but completely OTT oasis on the Walworth Road. The decor is, well, stunning.

The food is interesting too. We started with complimentary hummus served with rhomboids of what tasted like fried dough. Very good indeed.

My soup, (sapar, I think) consisted of thin broth with a large hunk of lamb on the bone, a potato and a carrot. Not great, should have stuck to the borscht. The other starter was marinaded herring with carrot, beetroot and sour cream. Pretty good too.

"Pasha special" is essentially a mixed grill main course with crispy noodles and sour cream. Ok, but a little overdone for my taste. The other main was a boiled dough and lamb/mutton dish with onions. Hearty and delicious.

Turkish coffee and baklava, both fine. Complete with a bottle of house red, just under fifty quid for two.

Probably not worth travelling down from North London to visit, but a great place to take visitors if you live locally. I will be going back. Don't be put off by the website - it is much better than it looks or sounds.

Green Drake in U.K./Ireland

Griswold Inn, Essex

I read conflicting reports on the food at this Connecticut inn, and they're both right. Our food in the main restaurant ranged from ordinary to disappointing. I can't understand how a bowl of chowder can arrive in front of me luke warm when there are only six tables occupied in the entire restaurant. It also takes a lot of cooking to reduce red cabbage to a tasteless mush.

But the wine bar next door to this restaurant is another world. Excellent tapas-sized dishes, creative, well-cooked and confidently presented. Between the two of us we managed six dishes, but just had to have a second plate of venison, which was perfectly cooked and spiced so that the flavour sang. Scallops, beef, pizza, soup and a couple of others I can't remember- all perfectly executed. Comes close to the top in my "best restaurant meal of all time list."

And the service was fine too.

Worth taking a detour for if you are in that neck of the woods, but do avoid that dour main restaurant!

Green Drake in General New England Archive

Any ideas for a post - theatre dinner near the National?

I would second RSJ, have eaten there three times in the last couple of months and each meal was better than the last. A great selection of wines by the glass too.

Or you could slip over to the Cut, see if the Anchor and Hope has a table, and if not console yourselves with a reasonable Turkish meal in Tas just opposite.

Whatever you do, avoid Gabriel's Wharf.

Green Drake in U.K./Ireland