Chef's recipes in Charity Cookbook
Joanna Blythman's Top Ten
Joanna Blythman review

A TOUCH OF THE BORDERS
Chef's recipes in Charity Cookbook

Famous chefs and food writers, renowned local chefs and Borders stately homes have come together to produce a unique cook book for charity. Four of Scotlands top celebrity chefs, along with some of the Borders leading culinary talents and six historic homes reveal their favourite recipes in A Touch of The Borders. All have made their contributions free of charge and all of the money raised from the sale of the books will go the special, local charity, The Lavender Touch.

Set up in 2003 the charity provides aromatherapy to people who have cancer. The book is priced at £15.00 per hardback copy which is great value for such a well produced book and is available here at The Black Bull and at various outlets throughout the Borders.

(extracted from Border Life Magazine)
10 Jan 2005

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FINE DINING.
Joanna Blythman's Top Ten

Based on good food for good value, Joanna Bythman lists her favourite eating places for 2004…from Lebanese kibbeh to authentic Jamaican nosh, there’s plenty to choose from.

Another year, another 50 restaurants reviewed. Here are the ones that stand out as being the pick of the vintage. I’m not saying that these are my top tips for Scotland – although several of them might feature in such a list of lists – just the best of those visited in 2004. In case you ever wondered, here’s the logic, albeit inconsistently applied, that guides my choice of establishments to visit.

Assumption number one – and apologies here to the very serious men in whites who have earned their badges of honour over and over – is that you don’t want to be told again about all the usual suspects, top-notch restaurants that feature perpetually in Scotland’s best restaurant round-ups. This is why I try not to review any establishment twice, unless it is under new management. I reckon you want to now about the newcomers. Number two assumption, you might even call it a prejudice, is that most readers want recommendations for affordable, good value places, not establishments which are upward of £80 for two people for food alone. That said we need a sneak peak into how the other half dines every now and then.
Pretty high up my list on the economy front is….Looking south to Lauder at the Black Bull (13-15 Market Place 01578 722208) the unexciting country pub/hotel formula has been subtly subverted. Out goes the freezer van and in comes skilled but unfussy restaurant cooking liberated from the greasy pub grub straitjacket, modernised too but still offering broad appeal. The Black Bull, like the Observatory in Glasgow…,makes a good fist of civilised pub dining, by offering children attractive and healthy options, not the standard deep-fried breaded pet food nuggets and chips.
The Sunday Herald
26 Dec 2004

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HORNS OF PLENTY.
Joanna Blythman Review

Cheers to a country hotel which has aimed to please everyone, and succeeded. Menu staples sit well with new dishes and local ingredients are used to create big, clear flavours finds JOANNA BLYTHMAN.

It’s a tricky business getting the formula right for a flourishing country hotel. I’m not talking about those elite country house establishments whose solvency is predicated on wealthy tourists and celebrations for the prospering middle classes, but less grandiose establishments heavily reliant on the repeat business of locals. Country peoples food tastes tend towards the traditional. It is a brave and possibly foolhardy establishment that can delete from its menu established favourites such as steak and chips or roast beef without risking a consumer backlash.

As a gesture towards modernity, a majority of small country hotels with dining rooms throw in ubiquitous contemporary clichés such as seared tuna or Thai green curry, frequently purchased in ready prepared, chilled or frozen forms by companies supplying the equivalent of fast food to the catering trade. This is why so much country dining remains stagnant and locked in the past.

So I’m jolly impressed by the new proprietors who have recently taken over the Black Bull in Lauder. They have seamlessly crafted a menu which won’t put old-timers’ noses out of joint but which offers refreshingly different and intelligently selected dishes that exemplify many of the progressive developments in contemporary restaurant cooking. Here success is palpable.

The Black Bull is playing to packed houses of locals who must almost be pinching themselves about their good luck. The cooking is tip-top and wisely, not over ambitious, making good use of locally produced ingredients. There is abundant choice for all ages, tastes and appetites without dumbing down. No cynical childrens menu here, just straight forward dishes, such as properly made spaghetti with meatballs which will thrill the junior audience.

Prices are low and servings are plentiful, delivering terrific value for money with most main courses in the evening prices in the £7.50 - £9 bracket. Lunchtime, as often is the case is an even bigger bargain with £1 or thereabouts knocked off the evening price.
The kitchen evidently likes big clear flavours yet the cooking is not heavy handed. I was intrigued to try the somewhat novel cod and parsnip fishcake with langoustine bisque sauce. It sounded rather like an outsider, yet it romped home on the plate with big, firm flakes of fish settling down in a surprisingly fertile alliance with parsnip and the intense, well-flavoured sauce. Nostrils were twitching with anticipation as an aromatic spinach and Lamb curry wafted by to another table and I was sorry I had not chosen it, but that regret went out the window when my guinea fowl braised in red wine with sun blushed tomatoes and black olives appeared. I reckon there was most of one guinea fowl in it, the meat was juicy and easily parted from any bone, the skin immaculately sticky and crisply lacquered. All the potentially domineering characteristics of these full flavoured ingredients had been harnessed in one delectable whole. A lot of effort, but no unnecessary fussing, goes into the dishes here. An otherwise dull chicken breast became a 3D item when pocketed with mascarpone and forceful herbs and roasted in prosciutto. English asparagus with its fleeting six-week season, came with the chicken and turned up too in a delicate tartlet. An authentic Sicilian-style cassata, that fragile shell of yielding sponge, filled with fresh ricotta and candied citrus, showed the chefs curiosity for less-hackneyed foreign delights and some lateral thinking is applied to classic puddings, such as bitter orange tangy version of a Bakewell tart, served with sympathetic pistachio ice cream.

There is none of the smelly beer-soaked, carpet and fags atmosphere at the Black Bull. It has been nicely refurbished with a split between a more conventional cosy bar area and adjoining non smoking dining room which has been stripped back to its original pleasing Georgian proportions then redecorated in a manner that is essentially modern, but does not jar with its intrinsic period charm. There is a fine wine list offering many sound, yet moderately priced, options which shows all the hallmarks of the excellent TM Robertson Wines. And the food is served at exactly the right pace.

Two items need addressed though. There is a tendency to garnish, especially starters, with a tangle of only averagely interesting salad leaves. And why go to the bother of grating good, fresh parmesan on the pasta and then serve butter in those mean little individual cartons? But that apart, he Black Bull is off to a flying start.
Food Rating: 8.5 out of 10
The Sunday Herald
27 June 2004

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