Archive for March, 2010

Delicious Lamb Recipe by Grey Lady restaurant in Leicester

Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb & Rosemary Jus

Sent in by The Grey Lady restaurant Leicester

Serves 2

For the crust
3 Fresh Sprigs of Rosemary
2 Fresh Thyme Sprigs
1 Fresh Tarragon Sprig
Large Handful Fresh Leaf Parsley
½ Garlic Clove (chopped)
1 handful of homemade bread crumbs
1 Handful of Gruyere or Parmesan (Grated)

For the Rosemary Jus
250ml hot, good lamb stock
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
1 Lean Rack of lamb, French Trimmed

•    Pre heat oven to 190°C
•    Add all the ingredients for the crust to a food processer and blend until ingredients blend together
•    Season the rack of lamb
•    Heat the oil in a large pan, skin side down, and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side (for medium rare). Remove from the pan and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
•    Press a generous Handful of the herb crust over the racks and transfer to a medium sized roasting tin, with a large knob of butter and roast in the oven for 5-15 minutes depending on how the lamb is preferred.
•    To make the jus, heat the stock and rosemary in a pan over a medium to high heat and reduce by half, stirring occasionally. Check seasoning, strain and serve over the sliced rack of lamb.

Enjoy this Lamb on our menu at the moment as part of the “3 Cuts of Lamb” Dish!

View the Grey Lady restaurant on Go dine

Guide to the Best Restaurants in Leicester

Leicester city centre is known throughout the UK as a fantastic area to enjoy a fantastic curry and the quality in this sector is undeniable. The fact remains however that there is a fantastic array of other restaurants in the area that to people in the know serve quality in every dish and at a price more reasonable than an outsider would realise.

From Italian, Spanish and other European style cuisines to restaurants that serve more exotic dishes from Lebanon the choice of restaurants on offer is great and there is a restaurant for everyone. At Go dine we seek to provide a guide to restaurants for any occasion and with our “Good For” category at the top navigation of all pages it is easy to find restaurants ideal for Group bookings, birthday parties, corporate functions and events.

The Best restaurant to one person will mean the entire opposite to another, so the ability to showcase all restaurants with a full photo range, food menus and their latest offers guarantees to be a winner for potential diners. Leicester city centre itself does have many fabulous restaurants and it is simply a case of knowing where these are…. the answer is our definitive guide to restaurants in Leicester!

Pizza Pasta Lovers

Of course there are a couple of chain restaurants in Leicester that serve Italian cuisine and it is easier than many would like to walk in to a well known restaurant with the idea that they know how Italian cuisine is. The simple fact is that a good Italian restaurant is which is independently owned tend to use authentic ingredients and recipes taken from years of experience and love of the cuisine. Signor Panza restaurant is a perfect example of using the very best of ingredients in a beautiful restaurant environment and is ideal for diners looking for a true peace of Italy. Guissepe and Roberto are two restaurant owners that use recipes passed down from generations of Italian cooking. Focusing on influences of Sicily fresh fish is a speciality and diners are given a real Italian welcome and are encouraged to relax in this beautiful environment.

Fine Dining

Although there is not a massive choice of fine dining restaurants in Leicester there is still enough choice for people looking for a restaurant that is a little special. Maiyango is home to skilled and caring chefs and offers a trendy and modern dining room to enjoy their culinary brilliance. Blade of Beef is fantastic example of a dish that uses the very best in local produce and is presented beautifully on the plate. Although at the top end of price ranges for restaurants diners can experience this fabulous place and enjoy 2 courses for £14.50 or 3 courses for only £17.50 at lunch!

British cuisine

Dont be fooled into thinking British cuisine is limited to pub style pies, slow roasts or anything with chips! There are a number of fantastic British restaurants in Leicester, again its just a case of finding them! The Boot Room restaurant in Leicester is an amazing place down a quiet street in Leicester city centre. Set within a lovingly restored boot factory the restaurant is home to a highly skilled and trained kitchen team headed by Stephen Fitzpatrick and the talented John-Paul. Modern interpretations of many classics such as pan fried Seabass are on show and with early evening menus and lunch menus from only £10.95 for 2 courses there really is no excuse to visit this fantastic restaurant.

The Loaf is a fantastic bar and restaurant on Braunston Gate that offers a unique and trendy environment to enjoy modern British home-cooked cuisine. Go dine are please to offer a buy-one-get-one-free on main courses on Tuesday and Wednesday and offers the perfect excuse to loaf on a night when otherwise TV and microwave meals may be on the cards.

There are a number of fabulous restaurants in Leicester, simply our guide to restaurants across Leicestershire to find yourself a fantastic restaurant.

Ramsay’s Best Restaurant – Press Release

‘Ramsay’s Best Restaurant’ is an exciting new series dedicated to celebrating the finest restaurants in the UK. Restaurants nominated by the public will be tested to the highest level by Michelin starred chef Gordon Ramsay and the series will culminate in one culinary hero being crowned ‘Ramsay’s Best Restaurant’.

Gordon’s journey will see him travel the length and the breadth of Britain in search of brilliant restaurants that deliver gastronomic perfection and wonderful customer service. He’ll meet restaurant owners who refuse to be daunted by the threat from ubiquitous chains and who are determined to survive the recession on their own terms and with their exceptionally high standards intact.  He’ll seek out culinary heroes working in the kitchens and front of house at independent restaurants across the UK whose brilliance deserves to be recognised.

Each of the eight heats will focus on a different type of cuisine including Italian, French, Indian and British categories and this year there’s a new category – Fine Dining. Will one of the big boys of the restaurant world come out on top? Or will a small local restaurant take down the Goliaths of the kitchen? The chef’s culinary abilities will be tested as Gordon sets the kitchen brigades some of the toughest challenges they’ve faced in their careers. The pressure will truly be on as the competitors could face anything in their heat, in the super tough semi-finals and in the head-to-head cook-off that is the series final. Only one brilliant contender can win the title of “Ramsay’s Best Restaurant.” Who will it be?

The series will follow the highs and lows of the passionate chefs, restaurateurs and of Gordon himself as he tries to find his worthy champion.

Restaurants can only take part in the competition if they’ve been nominated. We’re looking for restaurants of the highest calibre so if you know a fantastic restaurant that is worthy of the title then please visit www.bestnominate.com and nominate them now.

View the best restaurants across the East Midlands

Introducing Indian Restaurants in Northampton

Like any other town or city centre Northampton offers a wealth of choice and diversity in the amount of Indian restaurants that cater for those  looking for a spicy evening. The problem is it can be difficult to differentiate between a good restaurant and a bad restaurant purely based on either the exterior of a restaurant or the food menus that you find next to the door way.

Indian restaurant menus tend to be very similar across the board in an effort to cater for what is believed to be a British palate. The fact is that the average British diners or someone simply looking for a “curry” at the end of a night are not familiar with the careful art of mixing and understanding beautiful flavours and spices and what makes a good Indian dish. Most regular diners opt for familiar flavours and main stays across all menus tend to be dishes such as Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Korma, Chicken Jalfrezi and the Lamb Bhuna.

Unfortunately many do not venture to India for business or pleasure to taste the true essence of Indian cuisine and many will not even try the dishes that are unfamiliar to them on a menu. When chosing between one Indian restaurant and another a good indication as to the authenticity of a restaurant is the choice of dishes on the menu. It is advisable to look out for dishes that are totally unfamiliar and some of these dishes can be found in for example Chef’s Speciality sections. Within these areas of the menu tend to be the best dishes in the house as the Chef is able to use his skill and experience to cook an original dish that tends to be of authentic variety using the same herbs, spices and ingredients that would be found back home.

There are many Indian restaurants in Northampton and Go dine will not be working with every single establishment as we cannot endorse quality in many restaurants. The restaurants Go dine work with are the best in the area and we invest heavily in understanding the local restaurant scene and in many instances will seek advice from local business or public bodies.

The Tamarind – A fantastically presented restaruant on Wellingborough Road that offers authentic Indian cuisine and boasts a fine collection of Nepalese dishes also. The Tamarind is home to Tipu Rahman and Indian chef who has a trophy cabinet full of awards including best Indian Chef 2009 where he competed with 5,000 chefs to win top spot. Watch out for his Mango Chicken, an absolute winner that fuses sweet and soft mangos and compliments soft Chicken breast expertly.

Royal Bengal – A mainstay of the Northampton restaurant scene for over 30 years this restaurant continues to cook and serve its visitors in the same way it has for decades guaranteeing quality and skill in every creation.

Saffron – Owned and managed by the same skilled team that run the Tamarind quality is paramount. The staff at Saffron are very friendly and offer a vibrant and knowledgeable service to ensure diners walk away entirely happy.

There are many Indian restaurants in Northampton and with Go dine we bring together the very best….enjoy.

Restaurants in Northampton and Northamptonshire – Now Live!

Oundle Mill restaurant in Northampton

Northampton and the surrounding countryside is fast becoming an area synonymous with fine cuisine and quality independently run restaruants and Go dine have exhaustively scoured every nook and cranny to find the very best restaurants in the area. With a remit of finding at least 30 quality independently owned restaurants in Northampton and Northamptonshire the Rachel Mallows company expertly picked a number of restaurants. Performing some research before meeting potential restaurant partners Go dine were surprised to find such a wealth of cracking restaurants and eateries, with so many having such a big focus on local produce.

From the southern shores of Rutland Water all the way south west to Brackley quality is an area that all restaurants seek to achieve and a lot of independently owned restaurants, particularly out of town specialise in local produce and generally do not play around with ingredients and simply bring the best out of everything that goes into the culinary creations. The Red Lion at East Haddon is an excellent example of a restaurant that serves Northamptonshire produce using Northamptonshire Lamb in their beautiful Lamb Rump dish. Nick Bonner also sources Trout from Northamptonshire rivers and reservoirs which is remarkable for a land locked county, and in part demonstrates an authentic love for great produce.

Red Lion Restaurant in East Haddon, Northamptonshire

There are a large number of restaurants that are home to top class talent and innovation. In Northampton itself on Wellingborough Road is the Tamarind a fantastic top end Indian and Nepalese cuisine restaurant. The kitchen is home to Tipu Rahman who entered the World Curry championships to compete with 5,000 chefs from around the globe and cam away with the award! Felix Yu is another restaurant in Northampton town centre that offers Chinese cuisine but interestingly fuses other cuisine inspiration into his cooking so you will find Carpaccio of Beef and even the use of Parma ham in a couple of his dishes. Felix is a fantastic chef and has a fantastic background from cooking in top London restaurants and now enjoys the freedom of being able to experiment with dishes and culinary ideas, and now Felix Yu The Restaurant is known the area as one of the finest Chinese restaurants Northampton and Northamptonshire have to offer.

Working in Northamptonshire has been a pleasure thus far and we still have some uncovering to do, so please let us know if we have missed any fantastic independently owned restaurants in Northampton or Northamptonshire countryside.

The Falcon Hotel and Restaurant, Northampton

View the full guide to restaurants in Northampton

Ramsay’s Best Restaurant 2010

Who would get your vote for the best restaurant in Britain?

Gordon Ramsay is on the hunt for Britain’s best restaurant and he wants to know where you love to eat!

Tell us about a hidden gem or a local culinary landmark. Who do you think deserves to be crowned Ramsay’s Best Restaurant?

Following on from the success of 2009′s search, nominations are now open for ‘Ramsay’s Best Restaurant’ 2010

Simply visit the website in the poster below and vote on the best restaurant.

And please spread the word – we want the whole country to get involved.