Wirral Life December 2018 | Page 48

W L LE COCHON AVEUGLE by Carl Housbey As this is the December issue, I must start off by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, as well as thanking you for reading my articles over the past two years, please keep it up as I have plenty more interesting places to write about in 2019. This month I headed over to York to visit the Christmas markets with Mrs Gastro Grazer, and whilst York is without doubt a very picturesque city filled with a great many interesting places to visit, I feel certain that the market stalls serve exactly the same Gluhwein and Bratwurst as every other market throughout the UK. Therefore, I tend not to bother much with the food stalls and concentrate on tracking down a great local restaurant to eat at instead. York has a very vibrant food scene, so there is no shortage of places to choose from, but I already had my sights set on dinner at Le Cochon Aveugle. This cosy yet quirky 30 cover restaurant used to be one of Michael O’Hare’s, but since 2014 has been run by Chef Patron Josh Overington and his wife Victoria supported by a very small team of friendly staff. To save you digging out your dusty old French phrase book I will tell you that the name Le Cochon Aveugle means The Blind Pig in English, which is very appropriate when you consider that the ‘blind’ tasting menu of contemporary European cuisine has been inspired by the French classics, and is all so delicious that I guarantee you will make a pig of yourself – I certainly did. I wanted to be able to chat to Josh so had booked to sit at the kitchen counter, which also gave me the opportunity to watch the amount of skill, and attention that goes into each and every dish. We started with several snacks, goose ham ‘maison’, smoked eel blini, and a Boudin noir macaron all of which were delicious, but my favourite was the chicken liver parfait on chicken skin with walnut which had a beautifully creaminess from the parfait and that satisfying combination of fat / saltiness from the crispy chicken skin. 48 wirrallife.com The meal itself starts and finishes with egg, the first being L’Arpege egg which is a warm runny egg yolk topped with cold crème fraiche and chopped chives, an homage to the one served at Alain Passard’s 3 Michelin Star restaurant in Paris, whilst the final egg one is a tiny version of a classic creme caramel made with Sauternes. In between are eight courses of truly sublime food, particularly noteworthy was the intensely flavoured 60-day dry aged beef tartare served with tunworth & artichoke, and also the fresh as a daisy hand-dived Orkney scallop cooked ‘a la ficelle’ with a rich sea urchin butter. It’s clear that Josh and his team take great care to source the very best ingredients and are proud enough to namecheck their suppliers such as Ken Holland whose vegetables are used in the flavour packed organic squash veloute with nasturtium ice cream, as well as accompanying the mouth-wateringly tender Roe deer cooked with juniper and a truffle bordelaise. The wines served throughout the meal all matched the food perfectly, and some even made an appearance in the dish itself, such as the Vin Jeaune granita that was used to great effect with a soft creamy Smoked Kumomato oyster, and the best thing is if you fancy even more wine after dinner you can make your way a few doors along Walmgate to Cave du Cochon where you can enjoy a large selection served by the glass or perhaps even a bottle as the sensible mark-up makes it wallet friendly. Mrs GG and I are fortunate to have eaten in many excellent restaurants around the world, but I must say that very few of them are run by such an enthusiastic and genuinely delightful couple as Josh and Victoria, which is why I have no hesitation in recommending that you make the trip over to York, but make sure you book well in advance by clicking on www.lecochonaveugle.co.uk or by telephone on 01904 640222 as tables are in very high demand. Why not follow me on Twitter @carlhousbey to see what else I get up to.