First Korean dining experience disappointingly underwhelming

Described by The Guardian as ‘the best Korean restaurant in the country’ we had high hopes for our visit to Manchester’s Koreana. Having never tried Korean food we were looking for a culinary experience with a difference and, if the rave reviews were anything to go by, we weren’t going to be disappointed.
A word of warning. If your partner suggests driving into Manchester the night before a major cycling event just remind him how easy it is to travel by train. We spent a good hour driving round one way systems and avoiding the big hole blocking off half of Deansgate, at first confused by the fact that every parking bay in the city centre appeared to have been suspended. Then it dawned, the city’s streets were going to be closed off the following day to allow cyclists to celebrate the joy of travelling by two wheels. I almost wished I’d jumped on the bike myself when we finally made it into the new NCP car park at Spinningfields where a notice informed us that we would be parted with far too much of our hard earned cash to spend a couple of hours parked in the city centre on a Saturday evening.
We finally headed down the stairs into Koreana half an hour after our booking time but with the restaurant only a third full this didn’t appear to be a problem and we were shown to our table by the extremely friendly staff, all dressed in traditional Korean white aprons with bands of colourful embroidery.
Service was friendly and efficient and we quickly ordered a bottle of Argentinian Torrontes, sadly flabby and served without a wine cooler, alongside two Emily Bishop style ornate wine glasses and accompanying chilled tap water served unassumingly in half pint glasses.
After much debate, we opted for the set menu which offered five courses and was certainly well priced at £18.95 a head. My partner wanted to try a dish he had seen reviewed, the Bibim Bab which wasn’t on the set menu but which, after a small discussion, it was agreed he could have instead of the choice of main courses on offer.
For our first course we ordered deep fried seafood and the Gu Jul Pan which came served in a traditional four compartment bowl and consisted of deep fried chicken balls, deep fried beef in breadcrumbs, unusual mini pancakes and something else deep fried! Both dishes were disappointingly (and perhaps unsurprisingly) greasy and lacking in flavour.
Next came a bowl of beef consome with mini beef dumplings, themselves quite tasty but wallowing in an uninspiring and almost musty tasting broth. Edible but certainly nothing to write home about.
Our third course included a pair of delicious chicken kebabs, the meat cooked to perfection and dripping in a deliciously sweet teryake style sauce. The mini beef and potato pancakes I ordered (Gamja Buchim) can only be described as bizarre, especially the orange coloured ones which tasted like sweet potato gone wrong but were in fact made from Kimchi, a member of the same family as the Chinese Pak Choi.
So far totally underwhelming.
Our main courses showed some promise. I quite enjoyed my Beef Bulgogi - strips of beef marinated in soy, sesame, garlic, ginger, spring onions and pear, stirf ried and then wrapped in crisp lettuce leaves spread with the accompanying (again strangely musty tasting) chilli sauce. Fresh and tasty but I was disappointed to find some of the lettuce leaves adorned with a fine layer of soil.
After great anticipation, my partner tucked into his Bibim Bab, an earthen pot containing rice, noodles, seafood, chicken, pork and an almost fried egg which he was instructed to mix all together to allow the flavours to fuse. It was, he said, okay.
The highlight of the evening was the home made ice cream and sorbet we chose for our final course. The sour plum wine sorbet was tart and refreshing and the ginger ice cream was a zingy, divine combination of small chunks of ginger and creamy cardamom. Possibly one of the nicest ice creams I have ever eaten.
Despite ending on a high note, we were sadly underwhelmed both by our first experience of Korean food and by the Koreana itself. Nothing was exactly wrong with it (apart from a few minor slip ups in the service and of course the offending dirty lettuce leaves) but it just didn’t live up to expectations. If, as the Guardian says, it is ‘the best Korean restaurant in the country’ I fear greatly for the future of Korean cuisine.

The Best Indian Buffet EVER!

Kismet
98-100 Buxton Road, Heavily, Stockport
SK2 6PL
Tel: 0161 480 4470

Phenomenal! There’s just no other word to describe our Sunday buffet experience at Kismet on the Buxton Road, an unassuming looking restaurant sat alongside the busy A6 in Stockport, choked up more than ever this particular Sunday afternoon thanks to road works.

As car after car pulled slowly past, their occupants looking more than a little fed up I wanted to run out into the road and shout ‘Just pull over, park up and join us.’

We’d heard good things of the place but had somehow never managed to fit in a visit before. But with the kids terrorising their grandparents in a caravan in North Wales for the week, we decided it was time to check it out – and are so we glad we did.

Only one other family was inside dining when we arrived around 3pm and, as we were shown to our table by our friendly waiter we glimpsed the huge plate of tandoori chicken, and bhaji they were piling onto plates of fresh salad. It almost made us wish we were only there for the buffet menu.

We ordered two cokes, having partaken of rather more alcohol than we should have the night before (when the kids are away, mum and dad will play!) and were immediately brought our drinks and a basket of freshly cooked poppadoms with the usual chutneys to enjoy.

Munching our way happily through crisp, warm poppadums dipped into the mango and yoghurt chutneys and a fresh onion and tomato one (no lime pickle for me, its one taste I just can’t tolerate), I asked what the form was for the buffet. We were told that our starters would be brought over next, after which we could help ourselves.

Not expecting these, we couldn’t believe it when we were presented with the piping hot dish of tandoori and pakora chicken, onion and courgette bhajis that the other diners had been tucking into a short while earlier. The bhaji were hot, crispy and delicious dipped into the remaining chutneys. The tandoori chicken was superb and plentiful, with two pieces each, perfect with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice from the wedge provided. The pakora chicken was perfection.

By this time the restaurant was filling up and as we moved onto the buffet our waistbands were already feeling the strain but how could we resist? All piping hot, we had a choice of six different curries including a spicy chicken madras and a creamy, beautiful chicken korma as well as a rhogan josh and a lamb and potato karahi. The accompanying Bombay potatoes were as freshly cooked and piping hot as the curries and the chana masala with its al dente chick peas was out of this world. For those with a bigger belly there was also nan bread to mop up the sauces.

Our meal finished with a plate of fresh orange wedges and a shared serving of Shamai, apparently a Bengali version of an Indian dish known as Bombay pudding made from rice vermicelli noodles cooked in milk. Suprisingly lovely, especially served with fresh cream, it was like the Bengali equivalent of my mum’s rice pudding.

An amazing feast with wonderfully cooked, fresh and fantastic tasting food that is miles ahead of most buffet offerings we’ve experienced, our meal at the Kismet was made complete by great service. When we saw a framed Great Moor Junior Football Club shirt (our son’s team) with the Kismet logo on the front it made our day. It seems the restaurant sponsors one of the older age groups.
Things got even better when we were given the bill – just £17 which included 3 cokes. The buffet costs just £6.95 a head (£4.95 for children), runs from noon until 10pm every Sunday and is possibly one of the best value dining experiences we have ever had.

Seashell Trust abseil and zip wire challenge

I did it! And yes it was scary - or at least going over the edge at first was but then it was fantastic and I loved it! We had a wonderful day out, the weather was lovely, the family all came along to support me and I have already raised over £300 so a BIG thanks to everyone who has pledged money so far - it will all go towards a new sensory room for deafblind kids at the Seashell Trust. And if anyone else would still like to sponsor me you can donate online at www.justgiving.com/michelehart.

I am very proud of myself today.

Enjoying the fruits (or veg) of our labours

Our first proper growing season (apart from a few herbs in pots in previous years) and we are now starting to enjoy our first few meals made with wonderful fresh produce straight from the garden. It seems Martin is not only a great chef but a great gardener too - who'd have thought he had green fingers?

Am tucking into a lovely salad of lettuce and spring onions (pulled just 10 minutes ago) with tinned mackerel and some balsamic dressing and feeling very smug and healthy as I write this. But what else have we been feasting on of late?

The First Supper - see above - a lovely salad from the garden (apart from the tomatoes) with fresh home grown herbs and warm potatoes straight from the earth.

Our first baby carrots

Fantastic supper - great piece of rump steak with home grown potatoes, baby carrots and sprouting broccolli (all from the garden) - and a big dollop of Dijon mustard - yum!

Mr Green Fingers himself surveying his kingdom

Treacle and Thierry eyeing up the lawn - which clearly needs some more work!

Cheers & Bees

What a fantastic day I had yesterday. I was honoured to spend it with three fine gentlemen - Goerge Philiskirk, the Beer Doctor no less, the lovely John Axon of The Cheese Hamlet in Didsbury and his father, the BIG Cheese himself, Arthur Axon.

So with good company sorted, we then set out to educate food and drink writers across the North West with our fantastic cheese and beer matching roadshow - a selection of fine beers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and of course good old Blighty, paired up with some amazing cheeses from The Cheese Hamlet. And what a revelation it was! Blimey, even those cynical boys at Manchester Confidential were blown away with Gordo declaring the choice of cheddar to be the best he had ever tasted and waxing lyrical about Worthington's White Shield and Brakspear Triple, perfectly matched with a fine Colston Basset Stilton. My own personal favourite? The stunning Frambozen raspberry beer from Belgium tasted alongside the divine, soft, runny, delicate flavours of St Felicien, an unpasteurised cow's milk cheese from France.

A great day was had by all - well apart from when I managed to lock my car keys in the boot in Manchester's Northern Quarter. Spectacular service from the RAC sorted us out in good time though. And then a hairy moment when I got stuck in some kind of nightmare scenario wandering up and down the metal fire escape at Manchester Confidential Towers only to find locked doors on each floor and thinking I could be trapped there forever.

And guess what - I get to do it all again today. Rowena Forbes, Neil Sowerby and the teams at both Smooth Radio and Key 103 are in for a right treat - as I kept saying yesterday, there's nothing like putting some cheers and bees together!

My first meal from the garden

What a great month it's been for the garden - lots of lovely sunshine and plenty of rain too - with the end result being that our first attempt at growing our own veggies is so far proving to be a huge success. My colleague Guy Watson of Riverford Organic would be proud of me!

We have an abundance of produce in various different stages of growth - spuds, tomatoes, radish (all munched, more on their way), lettuce, spring onions, broccoli, carrots, butternut squash, chillies, peppers and all sorts of different herbs in pots.

And last night was a cause for celebration - I enjoyed my first meal from the garden! How healthy I felt as I sat down to a delicious salad of Cos lettuce, spring onions, basil, coriander and hot Pink Fur Apple potatoes (with some tomatoes from Morrisons thrown in), all lovingly assembled by my 10 year old son who has long been someting of a gourmet but until last week showed no interest in learning cooking skills from his chef dad - suddenly after making scones at school he wants to do everything. Didn't he do a cracking job plating up my salad - and serving it with a glass of chilled water in a champagne flute?!

See if google knows what YOU like to do....

I have Twitter friend Whoopsie (http://z00ts-space.blogspot.com/2009/03/friday-fun-what-do-you-like-to-do.html) to thank for this bit of Friday fun. Give it a go:

1. Go to Google
2. Type in "(yourname) likes to"
3. Copy and paste the first 10 search results back into this email, and share the love

Here's my results (abd some personal comments which seemed necessary):

Michele likes to dance (true
Michele likes to sew (can't even sew my son's Beavers' badges on straight - husband has to unpick and redo!)
Michele likes to pile on the flower brooches (not really)
Michele likes the music (depends what it is)
Michele likes ball park food (? Is this dodgy pies and hot dogs?)
Michele likes to eat (of course)
Micheler likes hammers (scary!)
Michele likes to say that you've got to use your fun tickets (hear, hear)
Michele likes to shop (especially if bargains are involved)
Michele likes to do everything but she doesn't drink if you take her to a bar (the biggest lie of all!)

Give it a go, share the results via Twitter, Facebook or add your blog post's URL to the comments.