Another visitor, another meal

This time it was John Reppy visiting (another former Bell Labs person, who previously had a Cambridge sabbatical and who we in fact saw here in January).  He is now at UChicago and kindly offers us lodging and supports our gluttony when we do the fall dropoff.

John's visit to Cambridge was an occasion to try out Midsummer House Restaurant - the local Michelin 2*.  I was a bit skeptical as the menu didn't look that exciting and the 1* we went to for my birthday was very disappointing.   But luckily I was wrong. 

We arrived at 9pm (that was the only time I could get a reservation).  As soon as we were seated the first of many custom trolleys was brought by.  Just as I suspected, I found a youtube video of the first: the Champange Trolley. Next, before we even got any menus, the little dishes started arriving.  That was a clever move because they were so awesome that when we had to choose between the 7 or 10 course meal (our only options), we went for 10. This
was foolhardy as with all the extra food before and after, the meal was more like 20 courses.  So between being out of training and it being near 1am by the end, I couldn't quite manage.  Mark, on the other hand...  Oh, and we also had the accompanying wine flight (although Mark and I shared one).  That was well worth it, the wines were obscure and amazingly well paired with the food (and in fact often didn't taste good without the food).

This professional review actually nicely captures our experience.  We even had some of the dishes mentioned (the beetroot/goat cheese, and the scallop/quail egg).  We also had lots of truffles, I guess it is that time of year.  One of the desserts was very similar to something we saw on Heston Blumenthal - a chocolate dome in a hard shell that dramatically dissolved when the sauce was poured over it.

It was quite interesting to compare this place with the 2* we had gone to in London.  They are definitely in an equivalence food class somehow, and we got the extravagant tasting menus at both places which led to meals that went on for 4 hours!  But while the London place was all elegance, this place was theatrical bordering on tacky.  Although the chef was British the staff was mostly French and hard to understand.  They also did some arcane things. Since I had made the reservation  they asked me if I was in charge.  What this meant was that I was the only one who had prices on my menu!  In NYC it used to be that only men were  given the menus with prices, so I guess this was an improvement.  But when it was time to leave only the females were given chocolates for the road.

The walk home was interesting, since we have never been out that late.  The pub that we had been to for dinner with John during his January visit was overflowing and could be heard blocks away at almost 2 am.

Anyway, a fun dinner, but I am still recovering today.

London Calling

Tea Department at Fornum and Mason

More friends from NJ (Howard and Lisa) inspired us to finally take the train to London.  It is actually quite easy and similar to getting from NJ to NYC.  Our flat is a 10 minute walk to the train station. From there an express train is under an hour to King's Cross, and from there we can transfer to the tube.

We had bought advance tickets to see Rubens and his Legacy at the Royal Academy of Arts (the first day of the latest "blockbuster").  Luckily the crowds were not horrific and the exhibit was not exhaustingly long.  It turns out that there is a lot more to Rubens than just Rubenesque women.

Since we got to the Academy early we had a little time to explore Piccadilly Street (in the ritzy Mayfair neighborhood, where we in fact passed "The Ritz").  We first discovered Hatchard's Booksellers which reminded us of the former Rizzoli Bookstore in Manhattan (interesting selection of books and a beautiful space).   Right next door was Fortnum and Mason. I have never been in such an elegant department store, not even in Manhattan.  It was like stepping into the original Selfridge's from the recent BBC show.  We focused on the famous food hall and purchased some tea.

The real point of our trip, however, was to eat our Michelin 2* dinner at The Greenhouse. It has been years since we have been at a restaurant of that caliber and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our 4 hours there.  The food was French-inspired but very light (as these things go), with layered creations mixing many flavours and textures.  It was wonderful having a chance to catch up with Howard and Lisa as well as to revive our past eating days.

New Jersey on the Cam

We have not even been here a week and have already met up with people from the states - John and and his daughter Elly - who we knew from NJ and Bell Labs.  John is in fact now a U of Chicago professor and our host when we do fall dropoff.  John had previously done a sabbatical  in Cambridge (at Microsoft).  We met him at the Maypole, his old local when he lived here.  Later we were joined by Tim (another former Bell Labs person) and his family; Tim is now CS faculty at Cambridge and Fellow at Kings.   A fun time.  Felt like Pittsburgh seeing the pub serve chips with the lasagne :-) Except we had just walked to the Sunday market and back when we got John's email about meeting up, so had to walk right back and beyond to get to the pub (over 2 extra miles!).