Debut Restaurant, Norwich

Debut Restaurant, within Norwich City College, is an absolute diamond in the rough for the Norfolk restaurant scene. The restaurant itself is run by the college's internationally renowned hotel school, therefore the chefs which will cook and plate up your food, and the young men and women that wait your tables are, in fact, students of the catering and hospitality courses. Of course the students are kept a close eye on but I personally think the slightly 'rough around the edges' style service just adds to the feel of the meal and all three times I have visited Debut the food has been outstanding.

Debut Logo

Debut restaurant is actually open Monday to Friday for lunch (excellent value at £9.90 for a three course meal) and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings for their 9 course dinner tasting menus (priced at an unbelievable £21.50). Although I have attended for one of these evening meals, I will blog tonight about the wonderful Festive Tasting Menu - a 9 course feast both for the eyes and our taste buds (costing a brilliant £25 including a welcome cocktail).

Bread Plate

We were told to arrive at 7pm for a 7.30pm start, and the restaurant - which is decorated beautifully with modern interior design and bold print, looked really lovely with the mixture of modern and traditional Christmas decorations. Bread was first bought to our table, which was lovely as we were starving! It wet our appetite, but then unfortunately it was a good 25 minutes until our 'welcome' cocktail and canapés arrived (in fact our wine even arrived prior to the cocktail). It really wasn't a problem, and the time then soon passed by, would have been nice to have had these a little earlier though - purely because we had hardly eaten anything all day in preparation!

Smoked salmon and caviar blinis

Vodka Cocktail

The cocktail arrived which was lovely, extremely sweet - a little like sherbet, and was soon followed by a mini spoon with a lovely mouthful of smoked salmon, cream cheese and caviar on a blini. Classic combo, it was never going to fail to impress, we did make a additional comment that the salmon portion on each was extremely generous too, which, considering the value of the meal, we were pleasantly surprised about!



Butternut Squash and mixed seeds

Next came our amuse bouche which was a lovely thick soup of butternut squash topped with mixed seeds which gave a lovely nutty flavour with quite a festive feel. The soup was piping hot and had bags of flavour. Alongside this the service had finally settled into itself a little and the next few courses were delivered swiftly and beautifully presented.

 

Smoked Eel, apple textures and horseradish snow



The third plate was the fish course which consisted of a smoked eel pate, textures of apple (an apple jelly, and a sweet apple chutney) and horseradish snow. This was one of my favourite courses, really flavoursome, and fresh with the sweet apple complementing the earthy eel and hot horseradish flavours.

Confit Pheasant, roast chestnuts and butter sprouts

The first of the meat courses was confit pheasant, and a little pheasant croquette, accompanied by a lovely chestnut, pancetta and sprout goodie pile! The pheasant was delicious, so tender and went wonderfully with the classic Christmas combination of salty pancetta, nutty chestnut and sweet sprouts. The croquette was a lovely addition and added a crispy crunch to the plate however we commented that being quite potato heavy it could have done with a touch more seasoning for it to really pop off the plate.

Mulled wine sorbet

The palette cleanser followed as a fresh sorbet which zinged with the distinct flavours of mulled wine. It was a lovely course which really got you into the festive spirit and was absolutely essential to ready our taste buds for the main event which was to follow.

Duo of beef

The other contender for my favourite dish without a shadow of a doubt was the main dish which was a duo of beef (roast sirloin and a port ragu meatball). This came with a perfectly cooked fondant potato, squash puree, caramelised onion and a wonderfully rich morel jus. I even asked for extra gravy, it was just so so tasty! The sirloin was cooked absolutely brilliantly, very pink, which meant it retained all of its flavour and kept extremely tender, and the meatball was a lovely addition, something that I'd never thought of doing before but added a lovely rich depth to the dish. All of the plates on our table were so clean they look as though they had been in the dishwasher already - a real testament to the quality of the food these young people turn out of the Debut kitchen.

Apple, calvados espuma

Feeling rather full after our excellent main course the pre-dessert was a wonderful way to kick-start our appetite for the sweeter courses. Consisting of a wonderfully sweet apple and cinnamon compote and topped with a tangy apple brandy flavoured foam, it just melted in your mouth and was like a little cloud of heaven on my spoon, really delicious!

Chocolate marquis, orange ripple ice cream

Our dessert was the final plate of food to arrive at our table and it was a heavy chocolate orange marquis accompanied by an orange ripple ice cream and strawberry puree. For my personal taste (and full belly) it was a little too rich, but would have been absolute heaven for a chocoholic, and it didn't stop me from polishing off most of the plate anyway!

Christmas pudding chocolates

To accompany our tea and coffee a little plate of petit fours completed our meal with style and finesse. Each was shaped and decorated like a little Christmas pudding and was filled with the rich pudding flavours of dried fruits and alcohol! A perfect end to an absolutely excellent meal!

Matched wines

Worth mentioning is that we also ordered matched wine package which include a white (for the eel course) a red (for the pheasant and beef) and a dessert wine. All were really good wines, especially the dessert wine, which I think I could have possibly drunk by the pint full! The three wines were £11.95 and was a really nice touch, despite arriving at the start of the meal instead of being bought as each course arrived (a thing we thought would have looked more professional, but admittedly could have given the new floor team too much to think about).

All in all I personally think Debut Restaurant is a total hidden gem in Norwich. If you look past the occasionally slow service I actually think the floor team are great, we all have to start somewhere, and they are certainly in the right place with excellent tuition and real life experience. Just be a little patient and friendly, and you'll have a wonderful evening with some of the best quality food I've tasted.

http://debut.ccn.ac.uk/restaurant-home

Winter Good Food Show, Birmingham

The Winter Good Food Show, has kick started the festive season for me the past three years now and this year was no exception.
For those of you that have never been before, the show is absolutely huge with various food theatres  (there seemed to be even more than ever this year) as well as hundred of food and drink stalls all offering free samples of their specialist produce - so go hungry, and ideally without a car so you can drink!

One corner of the show!

Our day this time began with our complementary show in the super-theatre - the biggest stage at the show. We opted to go for the first show of the entire exhibition which took the Saturday Kitchen format and starred James Martin as the charismatic host and Tom Kitchin as the celebrity chef. Brian Turner also made an appearance for the infamous omelette challenge and overall the 30 minute show was great fun and a bonus as one show comes as part of the normal entrance fee.

Super-theatre

James and Tom on stage.

The food stalls are incredibly varied with highly specialist produce such as flavoured butters and also more varied stalls with various types of cured meats or pastries. The show also has many stalls serving all kinds of cuisine from around the world, from the fail safe hog roasts to more daring options such as lamb kofta or paella.

Oils

Cured Meats

Cheese

Flavoured Butter

Sweet Treats

The drink stalls are just as varied too, with the very best gins, whiskeys and vodkas on offer as well as more unique flavoured spirits and liqueurs. What I feel makes this show so special is the passion the producers have when you ask them about their products. You can ask any question you want and they are all extremely knowledgeable, you really feel like each have invested so much time in their specific speciality, you really feel you are getting a little piece of them with each thing you buy.

World Cheese Awards

Every year the World Cheese Awards is judged during the Winter food show too, this takes place on the Wednesday (the first day) however the cheeses are able to be viewed, and some of the prize winners sampled over the remainder of the show. If you love cheese this really is the show for you, you're spoilt for choice with almost every kind of cheese you can imagine and all of the stalls offer as many samples as you could need or want, we always end up buying our Christmas cheese board every year and it never disappoints.

British Bake Off Stage

As well as the super-theatre there are various other stages giving cooking demonstrations. Marks and Spencer, Belling and Master chef all have their own areas, however one of the most popular is the Great British Bake Off stage with appearances from previous competitors of the show as well as Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.  New this year was also a Bake Off restaurant serving afternoon tea which looked very popular, alongside the Master chef restaurant serving up popular dishes over the previous seasons. It always looks and smells delicious, unfortunately we are never hungry enough to sample when we go though, we eat far too many freebies as we go around!

In previous years we have also taken advantage of some tasting sessions, which cost a little extra but are great value for money. We have sampled cheese in one before with a very knowledgeable magazine editor, and also tried various ales in another, and I'm sure this year there was a wine tasting one too, I would highly recommend.

If you are a self-confessed foodie I think going to the Winter food show is an absolute must even if only to get you into the festive spirit! There are often on line discount for the ticket prices prior to the show too, and if you go hungry you certainly will not be disappointed. Each year the show takes place inside a few exhibition halls within the NEC and usually comes the last week of November.

http://www.bbcgoodfoodshow.com/