johnadams.org.uk

I’ve just planted three rows of potatoes in my Mum’s garden.

These are the old varieties I remember my Dad growing:

• Home Guard
• British Queen
• Navan

I’m looking forward to seeing how they grow with minimal interference!

Despite rumours that he was no longer the owner of this country pub/restaurant, his moniker still appears on the gable wall. So this is more properly known as Marco Pierre White’s Yew Tree Inn.

We went here last year on Lisa and Gav’s joint birthday, and repeated the party this year. Once again, the food was great, the service warm, friendly and efficient, and the company brilliant.

Potted shrimp with melba toast (could have been improved by warming the potted shrimp, but maybe that’s not the idea?)
Asparagus with vinaigrette dressing

Roast partridge with all the trimmings (chipolatas, game chips, bacon, brussels sprouts, chestnuts, bread sauce, breadcrumbs, cooking juices)
Steak with snail sauce and chips
Smoked haddock with crushed potatoes, poached egg and mustard sauce

Upside-down apple tart with cream
Rice pudding with red fruit compote
Creme brulee

Despite a heavily French wine list, the antipodean waitress recommended a nice and good value Aussie shiraz when I asked for a recommendation of “something like a New World shiraz”).

My Dad, John Adams, died ten years ago today, on 30 September 2007. As my niece Riona says, he died “of smoking” at the age of 64.

He lived a full and interesting life, as a husband and father, school teacher, soldier, gardener and euphonium player, and lived through some of the most dangerous times in recent Northern Irish history.

But as a person, I still miss him. There are many conversations over the past ten years I would have wished to have had with him. About a wide range of subjects including gardening, music, politics, history and business. And of course he would have very much enjoyed seeing his granddaughters (my nieces) growing up.

The last time we visited Roger, Ruth, Caitlin and Riona we were unable to get a table at Jack in the Green, a gastropub only a short taxi ride from where they live. As Ruth mentions, I’m happy to blog on the food!

The restaurant is warm and welcoming, with large leather sofas and chairs in the bar area, and well-spaced tables in smaller rooms dotted around the building. The service was friendly, competent and unobtrusive, and the kitchen specialises in local Devon ingredients.

Amuse bouche: Asparagus soup with truffle oil.

Ruby red beef with horseradish cream.
Confit of duck leg salad.
Smoked mackerel terrine, aubergine caviar, bombay potatoes.
Baked Vulscombe goats cheese with tomato dressing.

Fernleigh estate lamb.
Duck breast with baked cherries.
Asparagus with hollandaise sauce and poached egg.
Curried seabass with spicy seafood risotto.

Chocolate mousse with homemade lavender ice cream.
Greek yoghurt parfait with honey and local strawberries.
Panna cotta with local berries.

The food highlights were the lavender ice cream that Roger had with his chocolate mousse (the poor guy had to put up with three additional spoons descending onto his plate) and the lamb (pink and tender). The seabass was slightly over-spiced. The bread was really good, with four varieties to choose from, and they passed the water test. They could have provided more than five petit fours for four people, but that’s only a minor complaint as we were all stuffed by then!

We buy almost all of our fish from Murray at the Fencebay fish stall at the Partick and Queen’s Park Farmers’ Markets. So, when we took Rene and Bert down the Clyde Coast, we jumped at the opportunity to go the restaurant at Fencebay, Fins.

The restaurant is located just off the busy A78, in an old farm steading not far from the village of Fairlie. Also on site are the smokery, the farm shop and a cookery shop. Fins restaurant occupies the old byre and a more recent conservatory, and is warm and welcoming.

The food lives up to the farmers’ market reputation. It had that taste that you only get when the fish is really fresh and has been cooked with a light touch.

Mussels in a white wine sauce - the mussels were small and sweet, and the sauce really garlicky. (For some reason, I was the only person who had a starter!)

Pan-fried mackerel coated in oatmeal, onion marmalade.

Langoustines in garlic butter. Simple, classic, and around 200g of garlic butter for the whole table to dip our bread in!

Seared scallops, white wine, cream and salmon sauce. Sweet scallops, good caramelised flavour.

Cold seafood platter - hot smoked salmon, langoustines, crab claw, gravadlax, pickled herring, mussels, smoked salmon pate and oatcakes. A really well-packed, very Scottish platter.

This is the sort of seafood that Scotland exports every day to Spain and France, and is only just becoming common here.

The service was friendly, passing both stage 1 and 2 of the water test! The staff even offered more bread with the main course saying “you’ll need something to mop up the garlic butter”!

But don’t take my word for it. Support these guys in the UKTV Food Local Hero 2007 awards.