Before we scamper off to 2024, I’d love to know what were your best individual dishes of 2023?
A couple of mine in no particular order…
1) The Pistachio Paris-Brest at Osip in Bruton. A light yet luxurious end to the meal at one of the rising stars of the UK culinary scene.
2) I believe this was the yakimono course at Kien in Tokyo. Ayu prepared a mix of ways along with duck, squid, and a sweet, tangy seaweed only available for a couple of weeks of the year.
3) The ox tongue, paired with Nigerian Guinness at Akoko in London. Rich, smokey flavours that you feel like the meal had been building up to. It would have been easy for them to put a powder keg of massive flavours into every course, but you really were taken on a journey that built to this conclusion.
4) Can I include the best kebab of my life? Does kebab count as fine dining? I don’t care, the Lamb Beyti at Ephesus in Brighton is still on my mind. Adana kebab wrapped in a buttered tortilla on iskender tomato sauce, simply divine.
5) The Muntjac Selection during game season at The Bailiwick in Windsor. That onion was bursting with rich, braised venison shank. Perfect after a walk around Virginia Water Lake and Great Windsor Park.
Would love to hear some of yours.
by AndyVale