Tom Parker Bowles
Tom Parker Bowles is a food writer with a weekly column in The Mail on Sunday. He is also Food Editor of Esquire and the author of three books on food. The latest, Full English, won the Guild of Food Writers’ 2010 award for best work on English food.
BICESTER VILLAGE – London
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• THE KINGHAM PLOUGH, Chipping Norton
Ok, so it’s not exactly in Oxford itself but considering the sheer quality of The Kingham Plough, it’s well worth a small detour. Chef proprietor Emily Watkins worked for some years at The Fat Duck with Heston Blummenthal and his influence can be easily seen (triple cooked chips, for a start). But Watkins is a brilliant chef in her own right, obsessed with finding the very best locally sourced food. This is a menu that celebrates comfort and pleasure, one that reflects the seasons without being overly dogmatic.
So there’s pigeon, shot in the woods around the corner, venison from nearby Stowell Park, and Stinking Bishop cheese from Charles Martell. The beer list is brilliant, the cheese board a paean to local artisans and the whole atmosphere as warm as it is civilized.
The bar food, with home-made pork pies, Cotswold Rarebit and snails and mushrooms on toast on the menu, demands its own separate visit. This is food that you really want to eat, properly sourced and beautifully cooked.
+44 (0)1608 658327, www.thekinghamplough.co.uk
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• THE NUT TREE, Murcott, Oxon
Michelin star cuisine in a thatched Oxfordshire pub, 15 minutes from Bicester Village
+44 (0)1865 331253, www.nuttreeinn.co.uk
• THE FAT DUCK, Bray, Berks
Opened in 1995 and was awarded its third Michelin star in January 2004, masterminded by renowned chef Heston Blumenthal. Good Food Guide 2008: 10/10 accreditation and Best Restaurant in the UK
+44 (0)1628 580333, www.thefatduck.co.uk
LA VALLÉE VILLAGE – Paris
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• CHEZ GEORGES, Paris
There’s nothing grand about Chez Georges, just off the Place de Victoire in the 7th. Menus are handwritten in lilac ink, wood panels and mirrors adorn the walls and the waitresses are dressed in a uniform that doesn’t seem to have changed in 50 years.
The clientele sees slick stockbrokers sitting alongside street sweepers, Chanel-clad grandes dames adjacent to heavily moustachioed government drones. But the food, dear God, the food. This is the Parisian Bistro at its best; oeuf en gelée, a perfectly poached egg sitting within an amber, savoury jelly; rich, silken duck rillettes; pert and perfectly pink lamb chops and a simple green salad that simply cannot be bettered. Even steak au poivre, a dish I’d usually run to avoid, matches decent fillet steak with a proper, nose-cleansing pepper sauce.
Forget all those Michelin-starred pleasure palaces. This is a concentrated hit of pure Parisian pleasure.
+33 (0)1 42 60 07 11
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• CHÂTEAU LES CRAYÈRES, Reims
The highly regarded cuisine of Philippe Mille in sumptuous setting, in seven acre parkland in the heart of Reims.
+33 (0)3 26 24 90 00, www.lescrayeres.com
• L’AUBERGE DE LA BRIE, Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames
The restaurant decorated throughout in rustic country style, gives the opportunity to explore Alain Pavard’s traditional cuisine. The lightness and harmony of the flavours combines with the generous comfort of the room with its warm tones.
Ask for a table with a garden view, or reserve a place on the terrace on a beautiful, sunny day
+33 (0)1 64 63 51 80, www.aubergedelabrie.com
LA ROCA VILLAGE – Barcelona
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• CAL PEP, Barcelona
If ever there was a classic Catalan eating institution, it’s Cal Pep. Yes, you have to queue, and service can be brusque. And some will moan that it’s become TOO well known,
attracting hordes of excitable gastro-tourists. But in the four or five times I’ve visited, I’ve barely had a dull mouthful. Because this is a temple to tapas, a place where these small bites are venerated and adored. You’ll find the sweetest razor clams sitting cheek by jowl with tiny clams, oozing tortillas and beautifully fried fish.
Tuna tartare is sweeter than a mermaid’s sigh, pimentos de Padron hot, salty and occasionally incendiary and baby artichokes, in season, are clad in the most gossamer of batters.
Get there early to avoid the serious queues, leave the ordering to your waiter (making sure you take a look at the fresh fish on offer too) and tuck in, with a cool glass of Manzanilla sherry close to hand.
+34 93 310 79 61, www.calpep.com
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• CAELIS RESTAURANT Palace Hotel, Barcelona
Chef Romain Fornell is inspired by French cuisine as well as new trends in Catalan cuisine.
+34 93 295 26 36, www.w-barcelona.com
• El Quim de la Boqueria, Barcelona
A family business: mother, father and son serve traditional Catalan dishes around the bar. Even the regulars have to wait for a place to sit, as El Quim is a stall in the bustling market in Barcelona: the Boqueria. Best tapas around.
+34 93 301 98 10, www.elquimdelaboqueria.cat
LAS ROZAS – Madrid
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• MARISQUERÍA RIBEIRA DO MIÑO, Madrid
If you crave the very freshest seafood, served up without pomp or attitude, then Marisquería Ribeira do Miño will send you into fits of delight. This hugely popular Madrid stalwart specialises in food from Galicia, in the north west of Spain.
An area with Celtic, rather than Latin, roots, it’s renowned for some of the finest fish in Europe, hauled from the Atlantic Ocean. The mariscada, a vast platter of plump mussels, sweet crab, langoustines, prawns crabs and everything else, is a must. Look out for the famed percebas, or goose neck barnacles, that resemble dinosaur feet and taste sublime.
There’s also proper pulpo al la Gallega and a great tuna empanada too, a Galician cross between pie and pasty. Finish off with a glass of orujo, a local brew with a serious kick. The atmosphere is loud, the service brisk and the whole experience joyous. Booking is highly recommended, although it is open until 2 am.
+34 91 521 98 54, www.marisqueriaribeiradomino.com
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• RAMSES, Madrid
Exotically designed setting by Philippe Starck for modern and international haute cuisine.
+34 91 435 16 66, www.ramseslife.com
• CASA LUCIO, Madrid
Set on a historic street, this is a venerable tasca famous for the classic Castilian food.
+34 91 365 32 52, www.casalucio.es
KILDARE VILLAGE – DUBLIN
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• CHAPTER ONE, Dublin
Chapter One has been a Dublin stalwart for almost twenty years, and it’s still as good as ever. Chef Ross Lewis is technically skilled and has an elegant palate too. But despite the Michelin star and dazzling, often complex dishes, this is a place with a big and generous heart.
The food is as much about pleasure as it is technique, and there’s nothing overly prissy or mannered. A starter of braised oxtail and truffled macaroni gives comfort food a modern twist, while the charcuterie trolley, one of the best in Europe, is magnificent. A rib of beef is beautifully cooked and has a proper beefy heft while rabbit loin wrapped in pancetta is as sweet as it is succulent. The flavours are often big and bold, but never overwhelming. And Lewis takes huge pride in the quality of his local producers.
A celebration of real, Irish food and ingredients, cooked by a very talented chef, Chapter One is not to be missed.
+353 (0)1 8732266, www.chapteronerestaurant.com
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• LA SERRE, Celbridge, County Kildare
A charming conservatory setting with a courtyard for open-air dining in the summer.
+353 (0)1 6303500, www.villageatlyons.com
• BALLYMORE INN, Ballymore Eustace
Enjoy the best of Irish food at this country pub and restaurant, recently featured in the Michelin Pub Guide.
+353 (0)45 864585, www.ballymoreinn.com
INGOLSTADT VILLAGE – Munich
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• WIRTSHAUS IN DER AU, Munich
Dumplings are the thing at Wirtshaus in Der Au, apparently ‘the largest in Munich’. Don’t come here looking for new wave minimalism, or clever little confections. This is rib-sticking Bavarian grub, served in an old brewery, washed down by steins of Paulaner beer. Pork dominates the menu, and the knuckle of suckling pig is particularly good, along with the bauernwurstl, pork sausages with a decent chili kick.
The roast pork is another favourite. Of course, you couldn’t come here without tackling one of their dumplings too. The kasknode, made with cheese and spinach, is a hefty feast. As for the puddings … there’s strudel, white Toblerone cake, even chocolate dumplings. Expect to waddle, even roll, rather than glide, out of here. But service is charming and portions fittingly vast. A real taste of old Bavarian food.
Phone: +49 (0)89. 448 14 00, www.wirtshausinderau.de
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• TANTRIS, Munich
One of the best-known restaurants in Munich, with cuisine by celebrated German chef Hans Hass.
+49 (0)89 36 19 59 0, www.tantris.de
• RESTAURANT KÄFERSCHENKE, Munich
The special and unique character of the gourmet restaurant at the headquarters in Prinzregentenstrasse is founded in its blend of pleasure and wellbeing, culture and cuisine.
+49 (0)89 416 80.
WERTHEIM VILLAGE – Frankfurt
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• APFELWEIN WAGNER, Frankfurt
Apfelwein is Germany’s own take on cider, although it does tend to sit on the tart side of sharp. And Wagner is probably the best known of Frankfurt’s apple wine taverns. The seating is communal, the atmosphere loud and jovial and the food meat-based and hefty. The staff can seem a little gruff, and the boisterous hubbub can intimidate non-German speakers. But this isn’t intentional. There are English menus, and the place is perpetually packed with locals and tourists alike.
The apple wine is served in great clay jugs (or Bembels) and pork is the star of the show. Schnitzel (or pork escalope) is available in myriad different ways, and their fried potatoes are particularly good. Pork knuckle is another classic, and their frankfurters are, unsurprisingly, excellent.
Those looking for food with a more visceral appeal should go for the black pudding and liver sausages with sauerkraut. If there are four or more of you, tackle the Frankfurt platter, a porcine feast to sate even the most gargantuan of appetites.
+49 (0)69 / 61 25 65, www.apfelwein-wagner.com
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• GENCO BUZZANO, Frankfurt
Italo-American Buzzano is a chic eatery receiving rave reviews for its steak.
+49 (0)69 977 876 76, www.buzzano.de
• SILK, Frankfurt
Exclusive restaurant in the hottest club in Frankfurt.
+49 (0)69 90 02 00,www.hoeren-sehen-schmecken.net
MAASMECHELEN VILLAGE – Brussels
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• COMME CHEZ SOI, Bruxelles
Comme Chez Soi has been wowing Belgian palates since 1926, and is unashamedly grand and sumptuous, right down to the battalion of immaculate waiters, gleaming cutlery and wonderful Art Noveau stained glass windows.
This is the sort of place where smug, fat bureaucrats settle back, undo a couple of buttons on their tailored waistcoats, and feast on truffles, caviar and lobster, courtesy of the European tax payer. But don’t let this put you off. The food here is classically French, with a resolutely modern feel. Presentation is precise and pretty, while ingredients are predictably top notch.
A salad of North Sea lobster is generous with the sweet, succulent crustacean and studded with black truffle. Fillet of beef is also paired with this expensive tuber, while sole fillets are cooked with more lobster and lashings of cream.
Yet there’s an essential lightness of touch too. Service, of course, is silken and the wine list makes for wonderful, if occasionally eye-watering, reading. Prices are predictably high but if you’re looking for the full-on, no-holds barred two-Michelin-star experience, then Comme Chez Soi has it all.
+32(0)2 512 29 21, www.commechezsoi.be
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• HOSTELLERIE VIVENDUM, Dilsen-Stokkem
It is the Chef-owner passion to revive and integrate the old cuisine Renétables in his menus. Vivendum is known for its unique price-quality ratio.
+32 (0)89 57 28 60, www.restaurant-vivendum.com/
• RESTAURANT BELUGA, Maastricht
One of Maastricht’s most famous restaurants: contemporary, tasteful, a stylish ambiance and perfection.
+31 (0)43 321 33 64, www.rest-beluga.com
FIDENZA VILLAGE – Milan
Tom Parker Bowles’s Selection:
• ALLA COLLINA PISTOIESE, Milan
Alla Collina Pistoiese has no times for the frills and fripperies of contemporary cooking. This is an old school Milanese restaurant, specialising in Tuscan food. Dark wooden panels line the ceilings, heraldic crests hug the walls alongside sports pages of an era long past. Starters of pasta e fagioli (pasta and bean soup) or artichoke and parmesan salad are as good as you'd find anywhere. Even spaghetti with tomatoes and basil transcends the everyday.
Tripe lovers will worship their tripe alla fiorentina, where the offal is silken and swimming in a rich sauce of tomatoes and parmesan. And the Tuscan steaks are decent too. This is proper Italian food. Not cheap. And you certainly have to book in advance. But in a city where good Italian food is often hard to find, this place is a gem.
+39 02.86.45.10.85, www.allacollinapistoiese.com/
The Chic Outlet Shopping® selection:
• ANTICA CORTE PALLAVICINA, Polesine Parmense
A fortified castle built in 1320 is the setting for Michelin-starred cuisine.
+39 05 24 93 65 39, www.acpallavicina.com
• TRUSSARDI ALLA SCALA RISTORANTE, Milan
The Trussardi Alla Scala Ristorante, on the first floor of the Palazzo Trussardi Alla Scala, is a landmark for gourmet cuisine in Milan.
+39 02 80 68 82 01, www.trussardi.com