On a Plateau

I've been in Brighton for nearly a year and had almost given up hope of finding a bar that makes great (or even good) cocktails.

I had heard of a wine bar called Plateau and after dinner at Moshi Moshi Sushi we called in for a drink on the way home.

Finally somewhere that knows how to mix a cocktail!

My Old Fashioned took a good ten minutes to stir by hand - sugar and angostura bitters over ice first followed by a slow drip by drip addition of Woodford Reserve bourbon and twisted orange peel.

The orange oil hung in the air like a cloud adding to the experience as I took a first sip - amazing!

Decor - the bar is a relaxed mix of zinc topped bar, Tolix chairs and strolls and exposed brickwork. The menu is rustic - meat platters, cheese and steaks.

The bar staff are the cool side of relaxed - lots of heavy black rimmed specs!

Dinner, by Heston

You know it's going to be good when reservations are only released in limited numbers and need to made six weeks in advance as soon as the phone line opens.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental is a grand affair in a grand old hotel - red liveried doormen, a maze of wood panelled corridors and marbled stairs etc. The backdrop for the bar is a backlit display of spirits behind frosted glass, with bustling staff in simple apron style black wrap dresses.

You enter the dining room basically through the wine cellar - or rather a glass corridor through it (look don't touch!). In the middle of the dining room is the kitchen in a glass cube and beyond are views into Hyde Park. The decor is a mix of panelled walls,tweed clad booths and translucent china jelly mould inspired light fittings - very Britain through the ages - like the menu.

The waiting staff all wore beautifully tailored grey suits (the men) and grey suit trousers and waistcoats (the women) - service was attentive and relaxed, with just the right amount of banter

To begin...

Savoury Porridge (1660)
Roast cod palette, beetroot, garlic, parsley and fennel

The porridge was wonderful, a vibrant green colour covered with a cloud of fennel leaf with a square of cod and chunks of heritage beetroot in red and gold.

Others had
Hay smoked mackerel (1730)
Meat fruit (1500)

Followed by...

Spiced Pigeon (1780)
Ale and artichokes

The pigeon was beautifully tender and pink, about five chunky pieces of breast tossed with wedges of fennel.

Others had
Blackfoot pork chop (1860)
Hereford ribeye (1830)

Finally...

Poached rhubarb (1600)

Strips of poached rhubarb, with a perfect egg of rhubarb sorbet an decorated with freeze dried rhubarb shavings.

Others had:
Chocolate bar (1730)
Baked lemon suet pudding (1630)
Taffety tart (1660)

And then finally finally...

Chocolate ganache with caraway biscuit

Redwood coffee shop

I've not been to Redwood for a while and had forgotten how laid back and friendly it is.

I love the fact you can order your flat white Aussie style (short, strong, authentic) or Pommie style (bigger, weaker, not authentic). I dare you to order it Pommie style from the Aussie barista!

Service is chirpy and attentive, but expect a 10 minute wait whilst your coffee is individually crafted for you - reassuringly the wait is exactly the same whether the shop is full or empty...

The decor is in the 70s vintage style - Danish sideboard and low slung tan coloured sofas - but not overdone, chalkboard style signage stays the cool side of whimsical.

Music tends to be whole albums played beginning to end - pre-digital style. Today's album is the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, on previous visits it's ranged from specialist concept albums to late period Beatles.

Food - the usual range of cakes and pastries and fantastic toasties made with Real Patisserie bread, or simple toast and marmite or jam.

The clientele is a mix of mature Mac users and studious kids from the local FE college, whose campus is just behind the shop. Naturally I fit into the former group.

Kindling

Well it's now one month and five days since my Kindle purchase and I love it!

So what have I read to date?

A Guest at the Feast, by Colm Tóibín
The Stranger's Child, by Alan Hollinghurst
The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
The Skeleton in the Closet, by MC Beaton
Locked In, by Kerry Wilkinson
The Etymologicon, by Mark Forsyth
A whole edition of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

At the same time I have finished off a paperback copy of He Kills Coppers, by Jake Arnott that I was part way through.

I'm about halfway through Brooklyn, by Colm Tóibín, which I started this morning.

Ok - so I had two weeks in the 'States with train journeys of eight and five hours; and flights of one and ten hours; oh and a six hour lay-over so perhaps not a typical month...

What do I love about it?

It's light - sounds obvious, but really makes a difference when carrying it around or reading one handed on the tube.

It's small - also obvious, but it fits in my coat pocket and can be gripped in the same hand as a bag when moving between train and tube.

It allows for mood changes - choose which book you fancy based on how tired you are, rather than which one you remembered to bring.

When you don't have to worry about saving your place, you're more likely to keep reading right up to your stop or when stood waiting to board a train - those extra pages soon add up!

So any gripes?

Not every book has chapters or sections marked on the bottom of the page - as someone who likes to flick ahead to count how many pages to the end if the chapter, this is a shame.

And... I genuinely can't think if anything else!

So what about the books themselves? More on that in a future blog!