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June 7, 2010 at 9:30 am · Filed under life
Three Coqs Brasserie
Let me say from the start that we really wanted to like this place. The Three Coqs Brasserie has plenty of pedigree with chefs from Bell’s Diner in Montpelier, a great location and an unusual concept of brasserie style tapas dishes combined with natural and biodynamic wines. We arrived a little early and sat in the bar area with a glass of wine whilst our table was set, over by the window.
The decor is a marked change from the previous Asian restaurant, Budokan. Gone are the long canteen benches and in place are scandinavian style wooden tables and chairs, out with the solid wood floor, in with a carpet which makes it significantly quieter than its predecessor. But what they’d done to the air conditioning is anyone’s guess — when the staff complain to the customers, you know it’s hot!
I’ll consider the wine list, rightly claimed to be a Bristol first comprising as it does solely of natural and biodynamic wines. Like me, you’ll be reaching for wikipedia right now to try and understand what this actually means unless you’re already in the buying habit. Natural wines then are those that are made with “as little chemical and technological intervention as possible”. That, frankly, is the kind of weak pseudo-science that makes my skin creep as I’m quite sure that the very best of vineyards, from France to Australia also apply this thinking. However, the drinking is the real test and our Vouvray La Dilettante 2008 Breton Loire was lovely, if a little warm, but the staff were quick to offer up an ice bucket to remedy the situation.
It was in the pouring of the wine that our first odd moment of the evening occurred. Our waitress congratulated us on our choice of wine (thank you — too kind) and then stated that they had tried a few of the wines on the menu but they’d yet to try some of the more expensive ones such as this. In the pause between customer and staff was an unsaid desire to try the wine and a missing invitation to pull up a chair. With such a small wine list, it really wouldn’t cost much to invite all staff to taste every wine on the menu.
Sat at our window seat, ice bucket on an adjacent table, menus in hand, an excellent waitress arrived to help us through the menu. On her advice, we opted to choose 7 small dishes (3 each, with a side dauphinoise potato) rather than a traditional starter and main. This perfectly suited us; we were struggling to choose from the options and the suite of small plates gave us plenty of opportunity to taste the Three Coqs style.
We chose the following: Baked duck egg, blue cheese and walnuts; Black bream, sautéed potatoes, lemon & parsley; Rabbit leg, bacon, rosemary, sautéed potatoes & creamed spinach; Deep fried whitebait and tartar; Asparagus with hollandaise and finally a warm salad of slow roast pork shoulder, fennel, hot and sweet paprika, garlic & sherry.
A hearty raised glass to the successes! The black bream was superb. Beautifully crispy, salty skin with perfect white flesh and the potatoes were just excellent. So too the rabbit — a French one-pot style casserole with perfectly cooked rabbit and bacon lardons. We could easily have had more of both of these.
A disappointing ‘thumbs down’ to the other dishes but in the spirit of trying to be constructive, some pointers for the future maybe. The asparagus and hollandaise was perfect in every way but one! Well cooked asparagus and creamy sharp hollandaise but really, just four spears of asparagus for £4 is just not good enough. This is the height of asparagus season, customers will know they can buy a bundle for a few pounds and this just seemed a profiteering plate of food. And we weren’t the only ones to notice; the adjacent table were unlucky enough get a three-spear serving and were equally surprised. Our excellent waitress noted that ‘good asparagus was expensive’ when we commented on it. I won’t disagree, but ours and others perception was of a dish that should have had more.
In stark contrast was the whitebait. Again, this was a very well cooked dish — the fish was excellent as was the tartare sauce, but portion control was ridiculous. It was at least twice the size it needed to be. We were both soundly beaten some 150 heads into the dish!
The slow cooked pork salad was nice enough but a little disappointing. It seemed to lack the promised kick of paprika, whilst the sweet paprika and sherry just took over. Very far from unpleasant, but I felt it needed something sharp to cut the sweetness. Maybe pickle that fennel?
And the baked duck egg was a dish I wanted to love but couldn’t. It tasted exactly as presented. Runny duck egg with melted blue cheese and crunchy walnuts on top. I can’t offer a suggestion to improve it but having tasted, I’m in no rush to order another.
In wonderful contrast, desserts were excellent. We opted for the assorted cheeses followed by the lemon tart. Four cheeses were presented: A brie, a hard, a blue and a goat and our server volunteered that they should be eaten in that order. That’s somewhat peculiar given the flavour of most blues, but she was quite right and boy was the goat’s cheese good! Sadly, our server did not know the names of any of the cheeses and had to refer to the menu for us. It’s not hard to remember four cheese names and I think a walk and talk through the cheeses on offer is to be expected.
The lemon tart was just sublime. The pastry was the best I’ve tasted in a long time, the lemon filling reached that perfect point between sweet and sharp and was baked to give the thinnest brulee layer. If you go, order this. I’m fearful of ordering another in any other restaurant as I fear the disappointment of comparison with Saturday night’s offering.
Finally a thought about the serving staff. Something was not right here. During our meal, we were twice offered dishes intended for other tables and once invited to place a dessert order having done so not minutes before with another member of staff. The lack of knowledge about the cheeses, the uncomfortable wine incident all lead to a feeling that the staff were not fully up to speed. Teething trouble if I’m being generous but if they’re not addressed, they’ll become reasons not to visit.
We really wanted to love this place. We really wanted to have discovered another gem of a Bristol restaurant. In truth, we almost have save for a few tweaks front of house and in the kitchen. I will revisit one day but I fear it won’t be as soon as I’d originally hoped.
If you go, let me know — and let them know too at @3coqs
October 1, 2008 at 11:39 am · Filed under life
All too rarely do you see anyone coming out in favour of particular punctuation marks. With the obvious exception of the punctilious Lynne Truss, I’ve not seen a panegyrical prose to punctuation for a long while so in a bid to correct this injustice, I offer you my homage to the hyphen.
First up, let’s just look at this sign. What do they mean? Are they advertising that here, in this Canadian suburb, it’s possible to purchase rugs of enormous dimensions. Is it that the discounts available are huge, that the space available is large or that the range is fit for a persian King?
Had the sign had space, a hyphen would have made it all so much easier to understand. “Huge Rug-Sale” it would exclaim or even “Huge-Rug Sale” and we’d all know whether to expect floor coverings of the most preposterous proportions or simply a wide range of offerings at a discounted price.
Things are clearer, less ambiguous with a hyphen. Feel free to use one today, it’ll cost yer nothing.
Next week, “I love semi-colons” (reader, notice the hyphen?)
September 16, 2008 at 7:19 pm · Filed under life
As I drove on the Isle of Mull today, the memories of previous drivers of this piece of tarmac popped into my head. Mark, Ashley and Euan: three friends from University and beyond, drove here day in day out for 8 long weeks in the Summer of 1993, as part of our Geology degree.
First Mark was dropped off, at or around the letterbox on the Loch Buie road. He would then clamber up the hills and over the headland to get to his bit of this fair isle. I’ve passed that letterbox countless times since and it always reminds me of Mark and especially the day that, sick of the rain and basalt, he caught a lift home with the postman.
Next drop was for Ashley and myself at the memorial at Loch Buie. Ashley would head West and I to the East to our respective outcrops. Just once we worked together, but the misery of horizontal rain kept us from the rocks and we sought shelter in a cave. We always met up a few minutes before our evening rendezvous so we could dissect our day — this bit of basalt blah, that dyke bosh.
But my thoughts today were especially with Euan who had the furthest to go each day and whose journey took in this wonderful bridge. Today, despite the rain, the colours were spectacular and warm, framed by the mountains in Glen More.
But Euan did not appreciate the view. For Euan was on a mission to map Carsaig — Mission reasonably accomplished.
I remember those 8 weeks very fondly. Despite our occasional fallings out over midges, socks, food, farting, sleeping arrnangements, washing, car breakdowns, long journeys, poor driving abilities, caravans and basalt, I was a lucky soul to be surrounded by such wonderful company. They were and remain good mates.
September 14, 2008 at 9:31 pm · Filed under life
I first visited Calgary Bay, Isle of Mull, when I was 18 months old. I own a photo taken that day — I’m dressed in a white arran jumper, blue wellington boots and I’ve got my Dad’s binoculars hanging round my neck (… and given they were my Dad’s, they were bashing my knees as I walked).
Every few years, I come back to this beach. Its shape has changed over the years, but it remains a white expanse of sand with gentle, cold waters. On previous visits, I’ve swum here but today was never that kind of day.
Today was the first day I was able to take my daughter Clara to Calgary. She’s 7 months old, a year younger than I was for my first visit and so not able to recreate the photo of her father — that’ll wait for another year. Wonderful place.
I threw a ball for this dog for a while. We both enjoyed it.
April 11, 2008 at 2:50 pm · Filed under digital life, life
There comes a point in every project when silly season starts — it started for me 2 weeks ago. I’ve pinpointed the reasons and I’ll be clear to watch for the signs in the future.
When all is going well on a project, when the timelines are bouncing along nicely and budgets are being met, there’s a danger that project complacency kicks in. The complacency often manifests itself as over confidence in our ability to deliver and essentially, sneak in some promises which are above and beyond the original scope. Silly season leads to panics about managing expectations and about project timelines.
If you’re on a project and it’s going well, just warn against silly season. I’ve had a headache this week undoing the fallout.
Today’s photo, like others, was taken whilst I tapped away on my computer in my office. Figured out what’s wrong?
April 10, 2008 at 6:58 pm · Filed under life
Every working day, I spend a good few hours in conference calls with colleagues in the US and Europe. In general, they are not terribly productive as much of the side conversation and nuances of the points are lost to those who can only listen in.
It takes a special skill to chair a conference call and make it productive. In a face-to-face meeting, you can see when someone is thinking through a point or is trying to interject.
I find them frustrating — they’re fine as checkpoints, but not where action is needed and decisions need to be made. Take good notes, circulate the minutes, make sure people know what they’ve gotta do!
March 31, 2008 at 9:46 pm · Filed under life
Seriously though! How can an 8 week old seem so ‘knowing’?
March 31, 2008 at 8:49 pm · Filed under life
Taken in macro, taken in my garden, this little beauty is one of the first flowers we’ve grown. I just love the architectural spiral of the leaf as the flower starts to bloom.
Once in flower, they’ll be a firey red. Bingo.
January 21, 2008 at 12:35 pm · Filed under life, news
A good while ago on a leadership course paid for by work, a question was posed: “What is leadership?”. (Rather an important question given the course’s subject matter.
The flippant anwer given by a Vice-President was that a leader was one who led. His view was that we should look around and see if there were people following. In a way, that’s right, but it’s vacuous and doesn’t define how one might become a better leader – how do you get more followers?
In an interview with The Times today, Indra Nooji, Chief Executive of Pepsi, describes leadership as the “5 C’s”:
- Competence (damn good at getting results)
- Confidence to have the courage to make the tough calls;
- Communications skills, to convey your vision and direction
- Compass pointed north to your true values
- Compassion – empathy, not sympathy.
A very fair summary I thought.
January 20, 2008 at 6:12 pm · Filed under life
Seriously, customer service is going to absolute pot in this country. I despair sometimes at the highs and lows experienced, often in the same visit.
The high point: We received a text message from IKEA Bristol saying that a cot we’ve been after for months had finally arrived in stock. That is fantastic service and is to be applauded.
The low point: We then made a special journey to IKEA on the back of the text message only to find that whilst it was technically in stock, it was certainly not available, sitting as it was high up on a shelf, far too high for a customer to shop it.
The high point: I complained. Strongly. Stated that it was ‘crazy’, ‘foolish’, ‘ridiculous’, ‘unfair’ that we had made a special journey on the back of a text message only to find that we couldn’t get the cot we needed. The staff looked sheepish and started ringing people. Eventually, after explaining to the store manager that there was an ‘incident’ (nice! I’d caused an incident!), the staff were given permission to get a ladder and get it down.
Shopping really shouldn’t be this hard. Customer service really shouldn’t be this contrary.
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