Ambrette Dreaming Of A White Vine Christmas

The Ambrette Restaurant at Rye announces Christmas menus
The Ambrette Restaurant at Rye recently opened the historic White Vine House, which holds 5 AA stars, has announced three Christmas menus.

Patron chef Dev Biswal, renowned for his deftly spiced fine Indian dining, has created three special Christmas menus for under £20, £30 and £40 per person. The Christmas menus, with vegetarian options, are available throughout December for a minimum of 6 people when ordered by the whole group.

The Christmas Feast menu comprises a 'Champagne Cocktail', Appetiser of the day, Delicate Fillet of Claresse, Soup of the Day, Breast of British Chicken, Grenita, and Exotic Rose Flavoured Vanilla Crème Brule, for just £19.99

The Christmas Party menus also features Breast of Gressingham Duck, with a pudding of Indian-style cardamom and Vanilla rice Dessert with Carpaccio of Gulab Jamun at £29.99.

The Christmas Extravaganza menu also has Crispy Pooris and Tenderloin of Pork, with Hand-Crafted Chocolate Silk with Home-made Ice Cream for £39.99.

Biswal's other restaurant, The Ambrette in the Old Town in Margate Indian Princess) in Margate has received wide national press recognition for his unique style. The approach has seen The Ambrette secure listings in the major restaurant guides including, Michelin and Good Food Guides and received numerous awards from TopTable, TripAdvisor, Visit Thanet and the Restaurant Show.

Double rooms at the White Vine House cost from £130 per person.

The Georgian Room seats 26, the Elizabethan Room 16, the and the Club Room 14 and the outside terrace a further 20 diners. Head chef: Deepak Surman.

Dev Biswal grew up in Calcutta. He trained at the Dubai Sheraton, before moving to London, aged 26 in 2003 for spells at Mangoes and Eriki. He became a partner in The Indian Princess in Margate in December 2006, becoming patron and rebranding it as The Ambrette in 2010

The White Vine Houseaccommodates 14 guests in 5 double rooms (one 4-poster), and a family room (sleeping four). Room rates from £130 to £180 a night including breakfast. Set on Rye's High Street, the Georgian frontage of the White Vine House belies its medieval heritage. Beneath the dining room lies a C13th cellar, complete with stone spiral staircase. Refurbished in 2005, the once grand home is now one of the country's premier bed and breakfast venues.

Each of the 6 guest rooms includes period furniture, contemporary en suites stocked with locally made organic toiletries, the latest in home entertainment technology. The original building was destroyed during one of the many French raids on the town during the 100 Years War. The Elizabethan Dining Room named for its exquisite and unique French oak panelling, which probably cost more than the original building, with each panel individually formed to fit the timber frame. The room is "signed" with a carpenter's mark visible just above the fireplace.

Weddings: Specialising in small intimate weddings the White Vine House is licensed for civil ceremonies.

Rye Bay Scallop Week: 25th February - 4th March 2012. A mainly restaurant-based event when the local delicacy is at its plumpest and most succulent. The festival features cookery schools, cooking and scallop shucking demos. The week culminates on the final day with the hotly contested 'What a Load of Scallops' race with competitors racing barrows of scallops, through the cobbled streets of Rye, to win the coveted wooden scallop plaque. www.ryebayscallops.co.uk

The Ambrette Restaurant at Rye

T: 01797 222 043 E: info@theambrette-rye.co.uk W: www.theambrette.co.uk

The White Vine House

T: 01797 224 748 E: info@whitevinehouse.co.uk W: www.whitevinehouse.co.uk

24 High Street, Rye, East Sussex TN31 7JF

Eddie Gilbert's £35 Christmas Menu

Ramsgate's award-winning Eddie Gilbert's seafood restaurant has announced its Christmas Menu.

The £35 menu, that includes a glass of mulled wine on arrival is available for lunch and dinner until 24th December, with no minimum numbers required.


STARTERS

Roasted honeyed parsnip soup, spicy croutons & parsnip crisps

Pan fried scallops, caramelised baby onions, crispy bacon lardons & a cranberry balsamic,
Cured & smoked venison salad with a chocolate & red wine glaze, soused vegetables & watercress, Thai fish & crab cake with an Oriental salad, coriander cress & a cucumber relish

A tian of King prawns, smoked salmon & salmon mousse, avocado with a dill & mustard emulsion

Peppered breast of wild wood pigeon, celeriac remoulade, Kentish cider jelly & chestnut oil


MAINS

Roasted monkfish tail marinated in red wine, pancetta, winter vegetables & lemon thyme dumplings
Grilled cod with a chestnut, parsley & garlic crust, creamed potato, green beans, seafood chowder
Pan fried fillet of sea bass, crab & mussel risotto, baby scallops, aromatic sauce Vierge
Poached delice of lemon sole Bercy stuffed with prawns & smoked salmon,spinach & crushed potatoes
Fillet of English beef, shredded sprouts with smoked bacon, beef dripping roasted potatoes,
shallot confit & a peppery port jus
Roasted duck breast, crispy leg confit, bubble & squeak, baby carrots & a black cherry,brandy & juniper sauce

DESSERTS
Christmas pudding "Arctic Roll", poached plums & eggnog sauce
Chocolate marquise with a warm spiced orange compote & a milk chocolate ice cream
A Platter of British & French Cheeses, served with biscuits, grapes & celery
Date, walnut & fig sticky toffee pudding, toffee sauce, vanilla ice cream
Kentish bramley apple & pear crumble tartlet with a stem ginger & advocaat ice cream

Crisp Mincemeat strudel with a cinnamon crème Anglaise

Coffee and Eddie Gilbert's selected teas


Bookings: T: 01843 852123

Eddie Gilbert's opening times: Monday to Saturday 11.30am - 2.30pm, 5.30pm - 9.30pm. Sunday 12.00am - 2.30pm.

Awards
Taste of Kent Award for 'Best Fish Retailer' - 2007 & 2010
Potato Council - National Chip Week Perfection Portion 2010 - Finalist
Kent Restaurant Awards 2009 - Best Newcomer
Pride of Thanet - Overall winner 2010
Thanet Times - In the 2011
Coast Magazine - Best Seaside Restaurant runner up 2010

Eddie Gilbert's, 32 King Street, Ramsgate CT11 8NT

T: 01843 852123 E: jonny@eddiegliberts.com W: www.eddiegilberts.com

Last Minute Christmas Shopping With Teddington Cheese

Panicking about your Christmas shopping? Not sure what to give? A 'cheesy gift' from Teddington Cheese is always welcome. What's more, you can order right up until Sunday 18 December for UK deliveries (Tuesday 13 December for international ones).

With over 140 different cheeses to choose from, many of which are British, Teddington Cheese is one of the UK's leading online cheese suppliers, and ships all over the UK and abroad. In addition, its two retail shops (in Teddington and Richmond upon Thames) serve the local south west London community and with Christmas being the busiest time of the year for the company, savvy locals place their order in advance online, for collection from their nearest store just before Christmas.

A range of hampers is available from just £28 to £140 or customers can design their own by making their choices online.

The website also has a selection of cheese accessories, ranging from camembert bakers to raclette grills and accessories and, of course, the classic cheese fondue set.

All cheese purchases are wrapped individually by hand in wax paper and supplied with a small tasting card detailing the type of milk, the flavour characteristics, the producer and other relevant information.

On the website, a series of symbols allows the customer to identify those which are made using different milks, pasteurised and unpasteurised.

Nearly a third of the cheeses stocked are made with vegetarian rennet, which can be identified clearly on the website by the green 'V'.

Pregnant women or anyone with concerns about eating unpasteurised cheese can identify them easily as they are clearly marked on the website.

And for the gift which can last all year, there is the Teddington Cheese Club where you can arrange for friends and family to receive a monthly selection of cheeses throughout the year. Each selection costs £38.50 including UK deliver and contains five or six cheeses (total weight approximately 1.5 kg). You can send just one monthly selection or one every month. The cheese will arrive in peak condition.

With seasonal assortments to mark dates like St George's or Father's Day there is a wide choice. Teddington Cheese sends the certificate of membership, confirming the selections chosen to the recipient (or the gift giver if they want to hand it over in person), together with a greeting card with your personal message on the date of your choice. They have the option of changing the delivery date of any cheese selection to take account of any holidays or other commitments.

For further information visit www.teddingtoncheese.co.uk

Best of beer writing honoured at beer writers’ banquet: Ben McFarland crowned as beer writer of the year

Ben McFarland was crowned Beer Writer of the Year at the British Guild of Beer Writers Annual Awards Dinner on 1st December.

The Beer Writer of the Year is chosen from one of seven category winners which seek to find the very best of beer writing and journalism in the UK.

As well as picking up the overall title, McFarland also won the Fuller’s ESB Award for Best Writing for the Beer & Pub Trade.

Last year’s winner and chairman of the judges Simon Jenkins said: “Ben is really setting the standard for writing about beer. His work is always interesting and informative – and his passion for the subject really shines through everything he writes.”

Other winners named at the event at the London Riverside Park Plaza included Mark Dredge for beer and food writing, Martyn Cornell in the online category for his blog ‘Zythophile’ and Marverine Cole, for her regional television work.

Pete Brown scooped the new award for corporate communications, Des de Moor picked up the beer and travel writing prize, and Adrian Tierney-Jones was named national journalist of the year. The Guild’s Brewer of the Year was named as Kernel Brewery’s Evin O’Riordain

Results in full:

Brewer of the Year 2011 - Evin O’Riordain, Kernel Brewery

Budweiser Budvar John White Travel Bursary - prize £1,000 plus trip to Czech Republic . Winner: Des de Moor

Shepherd Neame 1698 Award for Beer and Food Writing - prize £1,000. Winner: Mark Dredge

Thwaites Award for Best Corporate Communications - prize £1,000. Winner: Pete Brown

Brains SA Gold Award for Best Use of Online Media - £1,000 & £500. Winner: Martyn Cornell; Silver Award: Mark Charlwood

Adnams Award for Best Writing in Regional Media - prize £1,000 & £500. Winner: Marverine Cole; Silver Award: Gavin Aitchison

Fuller’s ESB Award for Best Writing for the Beer and Pub Trade - prize £1,000 & £500 . Winner: Ben McFarland: Silver Award: Glynn Davis

Molson Coors Award for Best Writing in National Media - prize £1,000 & £500 Winner: Adrian Tierney-Jones; Silver Award: Will Hawkes

The Michael Jackson Gold Award – Beer Writer of the Year 2011: Ben McFarland

Judges this year were: Simon Jenkins, winner of the 2010 Beer Writer of the Year title; Fiona Matthias, executive editor of The Sunday Telegraph; Martin Ross, journalist, writer and home brewer; Martin Kellaway, founder of Wharfebank Brewery in Leeds and Joanna Copestick, who has commissioned and published a number of books about beer.

Simon Jenkins added: "The exciting thing for myself and my fellow judges was seeing the sheer range of material which is being published about beer – whether in books, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and online."

"This reflects a fundamental change in Britain’s brewing industry, which has seen huge numbers of micro-brewers and craft brewers posing an increasing challenge to the dominance of the industry’s big boys. These brewers have brought hundreds of new beers to the market, and opened up to customers a vast new array of tastes, styles and experiences."

"These awards celebrate the very best in British beer writing. The scope, scale and variety of the work created by the winners is astonishing, and show that writing about our national drink is now being treated very seriously indeed."

On the Brewer of the Year Award given to Evin O’Riordain, British Guild of Beer Writers chairman Tim Hampson said: “Even though the Kernel brewery is not yet two years old, Evin O'Riordan and his team have created some of the most stunning beers in the country. If you're thinking about the London craft beer scene, just saying the phrase 'Craft Brewer' evokes images of this microbrewer working in his train arch brewery.

“The creative flair of O'Riordan with his passion for collaboration and generosity of spirit which has produced beers such as IPA Black, London Brick, Big Brick to name just three, speaks volumes about what is going on in the London craft beer scene and it's down to people like Evin.”

More than 230 journalists, brewers and pub operators attended the dinner at the London Riverside Park Plaza. The British Guild of Beer Writers was established in 1988 to help spread the word about beer and brewing and improve standards of beer writing in general. Today the Guild has more than 150 members – to find out more go to www.beerwriters.co.uk.

PICTURED: (l-r) Ben McFarland, Beer Writer of the Year 2011 and Simon Jenkins, chair of judges, British Guild of Beer Writers Annual Awards 2011

British Guild of Beer Writers www.beerwriters.co.uk

(EDITOR: The hearty congratulations of That's Food and Drink go to all concerned. Well done for helping to promote good, healthy British real ales!)

That's Christmas: Beat the Christmas Postal Rush This Year With Parc...

That's Christmas: Beat the Christmas Postal Rush This Year With Parc...: With Christmas just round the corner, the leading parcel delivery company ParcelsPlease advise customers of their collection dates, so the...

That's Christmas: Get creative this Christmas Original festive recip...

That's Christmas: Get creative this Christmas Original festive recip...: Ever get bored of serving up the same old seasonal dishes at Christmas? Then why not try this round up of fresh festive serving suggestions....

This month, as we head toward Christmas, head toward Tossed, too!

Another week closer to Christmas, and as the weather is getting colder, things are heating up at Tossed, the high street healthier eating place.

If you are not over-sweating from over-shopping, you might want another way to warm yourself up over-lunch. Try a hot and warming soup, stew or curry, from the new Hot and Healthier range at Tossed. Soup is great for getting your veggies as well as being warm and comforting.

Starting at just 68 calories for a Skinny Minestrone, the Tossed soups are made from 100 percent natural ingredients. There is also Leek and Potato at 154 calories, a classic Tomato and Basil and the new Sweet Potato, Coconut & Coriander. They are around £3.00 for a full size, but they also come as ‘mini’, a great addition to the equally tasty and warming stews.

With a low GI carb base of Mixed Wild Rice, Wholewheat Noodles or Cous-cous, the Tossed version of Chicken Tikka Masala is hot stuff, as is the Chilli con Carne and the Sweet & Sour Chicken, with free-range meat from Gatacombe Farm in Devon.

The low GI carbs will make sure you have enough fuel to make it through the day, and at under 500 calories for any of the hot dishes, you will not compromise your diet, even at Christmas. All at under £5.00, they will not empty your purse either. ‘Grab and go’ has never been so good.

Grab a soup or a stew from Tossed in the West End and the City, at Westfield London and at Westfield Stratford City. www.tosseduk.com Twitter @tosseduk.com or www.Facebook.com/tosseduk

Get creative with carrots this Christmas and win a £200 meal

The online garden experts from Love the Garden are delighted to announce the fourth and final vegetable garden competition of 2011 to make sure vegetables won’t be forgotten this December: the Christmas Carrot Competition!

The independent guest judge, Niamh Shields from Eat Like a Girl, will be looking for culinary creativity with carrots. The author of the best recipe will receive a £200 restaurant voucher to a UK restaurant of their choice. Three runners up will receive a copy of Niamh Shields’ cookbook Comfort & Spice.

Entering the competition is easy. All bloggers need to do is:

• Share a carrot recipe on their own blog;
• Mention the competition in the post;
• Tell LovetheGarden by emailing the URL of their entry to entries@lovethegarden.com before 21st December 2011.

The orange root vegetable is a prominent part of traditional Christmas meals, but recipes don’t have to be Christmas themed. Recipes for soups, salads, stir-fries and even cakes with this versatile vegetable are welcomed too.

Lovethegarden launched their first competition to find the best recipes for garden vegetables in February 2011, which encouraged bloggers to be creative with cabbage. The winner was Karolina with her Cabbage & Mushroom Pasties. In August, David Hall won the Potty for Potatoes competition with his Hot potato, bacon and nasturtium salad and the winner of the Taste for Tomatoes competition was Nic from Cherrapeno with her Summer Tomato Tart with Chilli Cheese Pastry. The carrot competition will be the last one for 2011, but in 2012, Lovethegarden will continue to encourage everyone in the UK to eat their five-a-day.

The deadline is 11.59pm (UK time) on 21th December 2011. For more information, please visit the vegetable garden competition page.

FACTFILE:

LovetheGarden ®, ™ and Miracle-Gro, Plus, Scotts and Pour & Feed are trade marks of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company LLC or its affiliates.

That's Christmas: Luxury Hampers Company Highland Fayre Encourage Ev...

That's Christmas: Luxury Hampers Company Highland Fayre Encourage Ev...: With recent news that shopping online has risen over the previous month and year, luxury hamper com...

That's Christmas: Davidstow Cheese for your Christmas cheeseboard

That's Christmas: Davidstow Cheese for your Christmas cheeseboard: Davidstow has been making Cheddar in the heart of Cornwall for the last 60 years. It is this expertise and skill, combined with milk produce...