Club night at Neils in Newport, March '08

_The lovely Neil and Chris kicked off March in Newport with a stunning three courser. We started with scallops served on black pudding a l'orange with a tarragon butter sauce. The main course consisted of the most amazing slow cooked fillet of Welsh beef (it melted on the tongue like butter!) served with seasonal vegetables in a horseradish emulsion, rounding the dish off with chicken and shallot tortellini, onion ice cream and a shallot purée. Desert was a maple syrup and pecan rice pudding with salted caramalised pecans, lime ice cream with a lime tuile.

Highlights from 2006_07

_One of the great highlights for 2007 was a visit by Massimo Bishop-Scotti, award winning Italian Pâtissier. Massimo has worked in Michelin starred restaurants and five star hotels including the Savoy Group, The Intercontinental and famously under a certain Mr Ramsey at The Aubergine. He now runs his own business near Newport where he produces beautiful contemporary patisserie but also designs deserts and cakes for M&S. We were well chuffed when he joined us in April 2007 for dinner. In exchange for consommé, jambon persillé and rabbit with pappardelle, Massimo demonstrated how to spin sugar, produced a fantastic tarte tatin (on the spot of course!) and left us with a very fine selection of his deserts. Not a bad swap me thinks! Go and take a look at his web site listed above for further inspiration...