..with guest chef Graeme Cheevers, Head Chef of Martin Wisharts, Loch Lomond
Cail Bruich is a family run award winning restaurant that is situated on Glasgow's Great western road opposite The Botanic gardens. It is well known for its Scottish/French style of food and prompt efficient service. When I heard they were doing a second MadKlubben (that's Danish for cooking club) I couldn't turn this one down. A friend of mine, Craig Grozier was the guest chef at the last MadKlubben and he raved about the night, so I had to witness this for myself. Especially when I heard that Chef Graeme Cheevers was was to be the guest chef. For those who aren't in the know, he currently heads up Martin Wisharts One Michelin starred restaurant at Cameron house on Loch Lomond.
We arrived on a cold and windy monday evening in January to a warm and homely restaurant with that special kind of family feel, after sitting down and having a quick glance of the menu, I instantly know we'd be onto a winner with this menu.
Owner & Chef Chris Charalambous and Graeme Cheevers did a little introduction into what they both do and handed the reigns to Graeme to take us on a journey of taste.
We started off with the canapes which were served to us by Graeme himself, an awesome touch, we were so excited about them that we forgot to take a picture. The sharp beetroot macaroon cut right through the rich creamy foie gras mousse which was beautiful.
The Seabream was a lovely balance of simple clean flavours which was matched well with a delightful chardonnay.
The Scallop dish, what can I say to give this dish it's justice... The moment my lips touched this fork I was blown away, I was actually in shock at how well this combination went together. The basic flavours of Onion and the sweetness from the Scallops were exceptional. It left my mouth watering after every bite which was washed down with a great wheat beer. This dish laid down a serious benchmark.
Onto the Artichoke & smoked potato which was served to us by Chris, was a good plate of food. At this point though I was still ranting on about the previous dish that it almost dwarfed the artichoke dish, not to take any credit away from yet another good dish.
We felt we had a little friendship going on with Chris as he was back again, to deliver the pork dish, which was a very attractive little number. He described the dish as being topped with that he claims to resemble a Glaswegian style Pickle supper, a little cornichon that has been deep fried in a very light batter. It's was a stroke of genius, all of us loved it as well as the mexina salsa. The pork was as soft as butter, I had to savour this moment as this dish was great especially with the well matched Gewürztraminer. I'll definitely be using that little pickle in the future at some point.
Duck, honey, turnip & pomegranate... Those words alone make my mouth water. One of my fellow diners was very excited about this dish and it didn't fail to get her going once she took her first bite. I wasn't over impressed with the Corvina, it's a nice wine but I felt it was just a little too much for what was a delicate duck dish. You're probably surprised at those words but the dish itself really was the lightest duck dish I've eaten, which is a good thing.
I've previously tasted Graeme's chocolate cremeux and it is a great component and when it came out to us, it didn't let us down. The sharp citrus fruit cutting through the rich french Valrhona chocolate, cremeux was beautiful, I'd easily eat this dish ten times over.
As we came to the last sweet we were all rather merry after a good wine selection but nothing could prepare us for this final 14 year old dessert wine. It was like liquid caramel with a punch that almost blew me off my seat. It was a great choice to go with the caramel & poached pear finale.
Our service throughout the evening was great with that family, homely, yet professional touch. The waitress couldn't be more knowledgeable about every element of each dish or drink. She was charming and very very attentive.
Our service from both Chris & Graeme was a highlight of the evening. I'll definitely be back to the next MadKlubben and probably to the one after that. Keep up the good work and roll on to what can only be a great year for Chris and his team.
Thank you to Graeme for a night of great food.
**Apologise for the photo quality, we were only able to use a camera phone in this instance
Our service throughout the evening was great with that family, homely, yet professional touch. The waitress couldn't be more knowledgeable about every element of each dish or drink. She was charming and very very attentive.
Our service from both Chris & Graeme was a highlight of the evening. I'll definitely be back to the next MadKlubben and probably to the one after that. Keep up the good work and roll on to what can only be a great year for Chris and his team.
Thank you to Graeme for a night of great food.
**Apologise for the photo quality, we were only able to use a camera phone in this instance
