Review: Dinner at River Cottage Canteen

Winchester seems to have a vast number of new restaurants popping up left-right and centre; Cote, Rick Stein and Wagamamas are all set to move in. The most recent, opening just last week in Abbey Gardens, is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Canteen.

 

Having been invited to eat at The Cottage for a pre-opening dry-run, I was very excited to see what they’d done to a building that I’d seen stand empty and unused for so long.

Upon arrival we were met at the door by charming waiting staff who escorted us to the perfect table overlooking the predominance of the restaurant. What was in danger of being a very cold building has been draped in the most beautiful rope lights that show bare filament glowing yellow; the light and candles bounce off white walls and creates an atmosphere of warmth and happiness which is only accentuated by smiley, chatty staff who are happy to advise and suggest dishes. 

Our waiter, Henry, was friendly, happy and knew everything that he should have. His personal recommendations were useful throughout the night and made the whole experience more personable.  It was really nice to go to a nice event but there be an undeniable chilled-out feeling; no one was stressing out or panicking or hovering. 

The menu was larger than expected seven dishes to start, seven for mains, three sharing boards and the choice of six side dishes. Unfortunately (for me) I don’t eat fish and the menu was quite fish heavy, but for anyone else I imagine having the choice was wonderful – everything I saw coming out of the kitchen, including Fish, looked wonderfully presented and very generously portioned. I had the beef brisket which was delightful and still so wonderfully pink in the middle and James has the Wild Boar Chop which needs a steak knife but is beautifully cooked none the less.

 On a wall near our table was a little chalk board which sported the local produce companies – it was nice to know, really nice actually, that people care where their food is coming from. If anyone has seen Hugh’s River Cottage television show, you’ll know how hot he is on local and responsible sourcing. Brimfield’s vegetables is just one of the companies that River Cottage is sourcing produce from – Brimfield’s sell all different kinds of fruits and vegetables as well as a vast variety of bread and eggs (sourced locally and ethically) and have set up shop in Kingsworthy, so not far at all! 

Other flavours and food stuffs that seemed quite popular throughout the River Cottage night were pumpkins and squashes; peppering the menu with autumnal flavours as well as apple and elderflower flavourings stocking up the bar in their own Apple & Elderflower Champagne, Apple Mojitos and more. 

Whilst on the subject of the bar, I’d like to jump-up-and-down praising River Cottage for sourcing local ale too; not just local ale but Saxon Bronze - a local ale made by one man entirely on his own.  Steve used to work for the Flower Pots Brewery in Cheriton that has given us Gooden’s Gold, Perridge Pale and more. Now, he works on his own at his King Alfred’s Brewery in Winall, Winchester brewing his ales less than two miles away from River Cottage.  His Saxon Bronze is so popular that he sometimes struggles to keep up with the demand, other times he has enough spare time to whip up some of his Winchester Pale Ale which is equally as well received. 

Dessert was probably my favourite part of the night – I don’t often eat desserts, but when I do I like to choose carefully. Spoilt for choice at River Cottage we shared the Lavender Pannacotta that came with autumn raspberries, wood sorrel and vanilla shortbread AND we also had some salted caramel ice cream on the side. Salted Caramel by Jude’s Ice Cream is also a cleverly sourced product – Jude’s is from Winchester and there are currently six magnificent flavours. For a company started by one man, who named his company after his wife, they’ve done miraculously! The pannacotta was perfect; again the portioning was huge (I am NOT complaining) and we could only just finish. The lavender flavour was just right and was far from the overwhelming soapy taste you can sometimes get. 

Overall, I had a wonderful time. The guests all seemed happy and excited to see what was in store for them and that’s one of the nicest things – locals being excited about local business that use local produce.  Would I go back? For sure, I’ve already booked a table for my Graduation day so my parents and grandmother can enjoy it too. My Nan’s very opinionated so we’ll see what she makes of it!

So, to everyone at River Cottage especially Henry, Becky and Mark – thank you for a wonderful night. We’ll be back soon and we’re telling everyone how great you are.

Massive Jolie Love & Maleficent Review

Which Hollywood actress has featured in FHM’s Hot 100 list every single year from 2002?

Too wide a bracket? Okay, well try this...

Green eyes, cheek bones and lips. Trademarks of her beauty. 

With explosive and controversial Gia in 1998, followed by the earth-shatteringly hot silver wetsuit in the Tomb Raider movies (from 2001) the world suddenly woke up to the goddess that is Angelina Jolie. 

Understandably, those of us with our noses in the tabloids may have some problems with her somewhat questionable behaviours; knives in the bedroom, kissing her brother and of course that little Jennifer Aniston hiccup – but all of those things rolled together don’t diminish the sheer talent that the California born-and-bred Actress has seeping from every pore. 

In news more recently for her breast cancer preventative double mastectomy and her humanitarian rights work, the award winning hottie is still turning out the blockbusters. Having won three Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards and one Academy Award; she, along with Leonardo DiCaprio, stands as one of my favourite actors to have never won an Oscar. 

                                   

Playing Evelyn Salt in the 2010 movie SALT, Jolie throws back to her Tomb Raider days with her bad ass female leads – on playing Salt, she said she didn’t want the girly roles anymore; “Bring me Bond, bring me the female Bourne.”  2011 saw Jolie produce, write and cast her first movie. In The Land Of Blood & Honey, her directorial debut, provoked mixed reviews but with casting actors only from former Yugoslavia, most of whom lived through the Bosnian war, she maintained her realism and captivatingly concise storyline.

I gush, I know. What I’m really here to talk about is the 2014 movie Maleficent. The new take on Sleeping Beauty stars Elle Fanning as Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Angelina Jolie as Maleficent whilst Sharlto Copley and Imelda Staunton also have roles.
Billed by Walt Disney Pictures as a dark fantasy adventure movie which was coincidentally originally meant to be directed by Tim Burton. Is does look very Tim Burton doesn’t it? 

                             

Joe Roth, producer of Maleficent, told the press that the film would not have been made if Jolie had turned down the titular role – “She seemed like the only person who could play the part. There was no point in making the movie if it wasn’t her.” Now, I can’t imagine anyone else playing this role; she has the face for this role and if she didn’t, she was determined to make it work – Jolie’s personal make up artist Tony G and Maleficent’s special-effects make-up artist Rick Baker spoke to Allure Magazine in reference to Jolie’s penchant for Maleficent Prosthetics.

Rick Baker said “Because it was Angie [playing the role] and she’s so spectacular-looking, I thought it should be her own face. I drew up an idea on Photoshop with the horns and pointy ears, showed it to Angie, and she said she wanted more. ‘I’m playing a creature’ she said, ‘...and it should be a creature.’” And apparently same went for the eyes – horizontal pupils on contact lenses that were based on goat’s eyes. “That’s also something Angie wanted. It’s funny, usually I’m the one pushing for prosthetics and weirdness, and it was kind of the reverse on this film...” 

It’s so unbelievably refreshing to see/hear/read about an Actress getting so involved in a character but also to see her actively trying to be, not ugly, but less attractive. Although, I must admit (and you’ve probably gathered) it would take an awful lot to make Angelina Jolie less enchantingly beautiful.

             

 

 

And of course, we can’t not talk about Lana Del Rey’s cover of Once Upon A Dream in the first trailer for Maleficent. This childhood sing-along song has become hauntingly beautiful whilst at the same time scaring me a little bit silly. 

AAAH! Anyway, I understand that this has become a Jolie appreciation post – I know I have digressed... onto the actual point.  

I saw Maleficent yesterday at our local Everyman cinema, in Winchester. Everyman is a cute little chain of cinemas – a little indie, a little artsy. Everyman shows maybe three or films at a time rather than Vue or Odeon showing EVERY FILM POSSIBLE! There were only seven other people in our screening, but that’s probably because everyone else went on opening weekend – Maleficent made four times what X-Men made when they both opened last weekend. Now that’s saying something. $70 million worth of something. 

One profound, for me, thing about this movie was it’s correlation with the original. The scene in Sleeping Beauty when Maleficent arrives at Aurora’s christening is so well matched; similar, yet not identical which worked really well. The constant use of Maleficent’s silhouette was ethereal and magical and completely not overused, as I’m sure some people may think.

The main reason I loved this movie so much is because in the original Maleficent seems to curse poor baby Aurora merely because she wasn’t invited to join the royalty at the christening; Maleficent the movie rights that exaggeration. 

[SPOILER ALERT] To become King, Stefan drugs Maleficent and rips off her huge-eagle wings. He presents them to, then, King Henry who dies and makes Stefan king as his successor. King Stefan had used his relationship with Maleficent to thrust himself onto the throne; breaking her heart and dashing her beliefs in ‘true love’s kiss’ all at the same time. Spurned by her first love and devastated at the loss of her all-powerful wings, Maleficent hears the news of King Stefan’s new baby and attends the christening to deliver her curse on unsuspecting Aurora. 

The effects were impressive, as was Vivienne Jolie-Pitt’s acting as Youngest Aurora – apparently she had Mommy and Daddy running after her on the set, and she only got the role because she was the only child not scared of Jolie in her Maleficent get-up. Young Maleficent and Young Stefan form a young and beautiful friendship; happy and as carefree as anyone is at that age – which is why it’s so heartbreaking when Stefan returns to Maleficent later on to betray her love. 

Overall, I liked it a lot. The 3D wasn’t massively necessary but it worked in the Fairy Moors really well and [SPOILER ALERT] when Diaval (Sam Riley) turns from a crow into a dragon in King Stefan’s castle. And my oh my, King Stefan (Sharlto Copley) – whatta bastard! I though The Queen (whose name I can’t find on IMDB) would have more of a role, but apparently not. Come to think of it, I don’t think she was a main feature in the original Disney Sleeping Beauty. And of course, a scene I missed sorely from the 2014 Disney masterpiece was the Fairies that Aurora had been entrusted to arguing over what colour her sixteenth birthday dress should be – it should be pink! No, blue!