Entrance is free but you need to get a ticket – go here for details:  Kitchen Cabinet details.  I’ve got one  – hope to see you there.

Most of the restuarants require advance booking for the offers and the precise offer does vary so you’ll need to check on the website One Leicester.  Among the most interesting are two for one main courses at Kayal (when ordering two courses), two for one on a special menu and live Indian music at Chutney Ivy and 30 per cent off the food bill at Cedars Lebenese (plus belly dancing).  Many of the chains, independent restaurants and cafes are also running offers.

If you are still swithering then its worth bearing in mind that there will be free parking  at the Newarke Street, Haymarket and Dover Street car parks after 6pm.

A short way out of town on the Kettering Road,  the Oat Hill is in the shadow of the local branches of both Aldi and Lidl. If that puts you off, it shouldn’t because this is a really rather good dining pub. There’s a smart and comfortable bar – big comfy sofas, heavy red velvet  curtains, young staff all in black and so on.  The restaurant is equally appealing and the menu is well designed and seemed to be well-priced. We passed on starters because it was really just a quick supper but given the quality of our mains I wished  I’d gone for something such as roasted breast of pheasant  with roasted honey soused root veg or baked figs with melting gorngonzola and rocket salad.

My main was slow braised shin of beef   - a flavoursome cut I’ve eulogised on this blog before and done very nicely here, presented beautifully on excellent creamed mash with two contrasting sauces making the plate look a ying and yang symbol, a dark port jus and a creamy, mustardy sauce. The cheffy parsnip crisps were just right and a bowl of veg were perfect.   Deborah’s sea bream with crayfish and tomato bisque  was also very good indeed - two large fillets with cripy skin and real depth of flavour and a well-made sauce.  These were well-concieved and well-executed dishes.  We shared a desert that was well up to standard, a creme brulee with beautifully pared slices of ripe pear and excellent homemade shortbread.

It’s always nice to find a place that exceeds expectations and The Oat Hill did for us  – Deb immediately booked to go back with a friend next week.  There is a proper chef in the kitchen and while it may not have the picturesque setting of some gastropubs out in the South of the county,  I think this place should definitely be on your radar when in the area.

Oh and Joan liked it too.

I think the doubters would have been won over at this week’s wine tasting event with Amphora wines because it brilliantly showcased the skill in kitchen. Tom Cockerill put together a four course game menu that was wine-matched by Patrick Whenham-Bossy of Amphora, a former sommelier at La Gavroche and Hambleton Hall no less.

Things kicked off with a sweet and fruity Malvoisie frizzante aperitif from Lombardy before a stunning local game terrine – a thick tranche of cuts of  meats wrapped in parma ham and studded with grapes and pistachios, providing a beautiful contrasting range of  flavour and texture. It was a brought together with  a fine cumberland sauce and matched with an a 1999 Chateau Grand Pey Lescours, Grand Cru  St. Emilion.  Next up were perfect tortellini of wild rabbit with pine nuts and micro leaves and a wonderfully intense, beautifully clear game consomme. The rabbit was coarse cut and satisfying,  finely seasoned with pepper and lemon and further enhanced  with a glass of Oloroso Riserva by Emilio Lustau .

Main course was a rich and warming venison casserole  with smooth celeriac mash and a root vegetable pave. This later was cut so finely on a mandoline that it needed only the briefest of cooking, meaning all the elements maintained their flavour. Comfort food of a high quality, taken to a higher level with a glass of  Chateauneuf du Pape “Capelan”.

Desert was a dark chocolate mousse with olive oil, perked up with white chocolate thins flavoured with rosemary and seasalt. I always find herbs with chocolate a high risk strategy, but when it works it can be great and these were fantastic. This was matched with a South African muscatel de Frontignan, almost less of desert wine and more of  a digestif.

So you get the picture.  Fine food, fine cooking.   Some of it simple, some of it more technical, all of it done with style. I got the feeling the chefs were enjoying laying on a bit of a treat – and that’s a great feeling to get coming out of a kitchen. I’d say look out more of these special events because this one was great.

I tried a few new dishes including a super fish soup that was as smooth and flavoursome as a classic lobster bisque, a fiery starter of adipoli kozhi – tender chicken pieces with chunks with onions, black pepper ginger chillies and shavings of coconut, and main courses  such as pala beef chaps which is beef with mushroom pepper sauce and spicy beans, spicy potatoes and crunchy matchsticks of bread.  Other favourites were consistently good.  Kottayam egg fry doesn’t exactly sound over appealing – “batter fried boiled egg with chutney” – but is a complete delight, with heavenly freshly-spiced sauce. Tilapia pollichattu - the fish being wrapped in banana leaf which seems to seal in in falvours and succulence – features another superb spice mix.  Ammmachi piddiyum kozhiyum was a great chicken dish served up with rice dumplings in coconut sauce – the dumplings were fairly anonymous and  too glutinous to my taste but again the spicing in the dish was top-notch.

The Hairy Bikers with Jaimon Thomas (right) and colleagues outside Kayal

The restaurant seems permanently packed and there’s a great buzz about the place. I’ve heard some complaints of service being slow – though I’d attribute this more to fresh food and busy-ness rather than a staff attitude problem. Prakash heads up front of house in Leicester and I’ve rarely met someone more committed to customer service.

Anyhow I’m pleased to give them a further plug especially as they feature on TV this coming Friday 16 December at 3.45pm in the Hairy Bikers Best of British programme on BBC2. Jaimon Thomas used to zoom around Kerala on a bike and his old Royal Enfield has pride of place in the restaurant.  The Hairy Bikers were there though to learn dosa making skills  – and it’s worth bearing mind by veggies disappointed when Kayal morphed from the vegetarian Halli that its masala dosas are great,  up there with best I’ve ever tasted.

The HB’s visit follows on from Jamie Oliver visiting Paddy’s Marten Inn and Hugh Fernely Whittingstall’s recent visit to Indigo which included a dosa-making stint at a lavish wedding at De Montfort Hall (still available I think somewhere on 4OD).  Great to see our restaurants recognised in this way.

Now I’ve not been yet so reports from you lot are welcome, but I like the cut of it’s gib – nothing too fancy or pricey but it looks fun enough. Evening menu has fully garnished 28-day hung steaks at around £12,  other dishes such beer battered haddock, pork tenderloin wrapped in sage and serrano, free-range chicken breast with garlic and thyme rosti and grazing boards come in at around £9-£12.   If it’s all done well – and head chef Adam Lynch has worked at a high level before  –  that sounds a bargain. Breakfasts sound promising too – full English, eggs benedict, eggs florentine, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon etc.

It’s located at 32-36 Braunstone Gate, next to Left Bank.

When it comes to mince pies I hold with the shorter, the richer, the better. This pastry is basically 3-2-1 parts of flour, butter, sugar. So 300g of plain flour, 200g butter, 100g of flour will make a good dozen pies. Whizz it in a processor with an egg and maybe two tablespoons of water and you’ll get a nice sticky dough ball (you could add a little ground almonds if you like).  Break off a piece about the size of a golf ball and on a floured surface press into a circle, leaving it fairly thick – maybe 3mm - and then line a little paper cake case, gently pushing it down. Fill with about two teaspoons of mincement, then press out a pastry lid in the same manner  and lightly crimp the edges to make a seal.  Bake for around 15 mins (I put them in a muffin tin)  at gas 6, keeping a close eye on them.

Dust with sugar if you want.

You’ve got to respect the efforts of the Hong Kong immigrants who’ve put Chinese food in every town in the nation, but we all know they presented a simplified version of a complex cuisine in order to attract the timid locals. But our relationship to China is very different now. Earlier this year I patched up two separate friends  who both happened to be on business in Shanghai at the same time – inconceivable a few years ago.  And of course it works  both ways - friends who teach in higher education say their classes are packed with Chinese students.

All of which means we’re leaving behind the chow mein years.  Chinese restaurants are catering for Chinese clientele who expect what they enjoy back home.   Thus it was that four of us paid a visit at the weekend to Han Dynasty on Abbey St, near St Margaret’s bus station in Leicester.   From the moment we entered it was clear it was going to be fun but also that we were well out of our comfort zone.  The joint was jumping,  packed full of young Chinese, with large pots bubbling away on their tables.  Once seated we were asked if we wanted a la carte or “hotpot” -  we jumped in and said hotpot, which resulted in big approval from the staff. Our waitress, who had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on a human being, promised to explain what to do.

Each table has an induction hob at each setting and and barbecue grill in the centre.  You choose a soup flavour, which becomes your cooking broth steaming away on your hob.  Then a visit to the buffet bar to create your dipping sauce from a wide range of ingredients, most of which we were in the dark about. Then it’s collect a variety of marinated meats and fish and a selection of raw veg, varieties of tofu, dumplings, salads and other stuff. Back to your table to grill what needed grilling, poach what needed poaching and dip what needed …well you get the picture.  It took us a while to get up to speed, somewhat nervously looking around to see how were others doing it.

Once we realised we were along the the right lines we started to relax – the Tsingtao helped  – and realised some of this was really nice food. Can’t tell you much about precise ingredients but certainly the prawns and squid were great, the meat was tasty and there were many hits and as well as a few misses among the unfamilar stuff. Best of all  we felt was the concept – good fun, very communal, flexible and interactive. We were having a really good time, and this seemed preferable to loading up with fried food and sticky sauces keeping warm under lights. A few things confused me – once we’d loaded up the soup with noodles and veg, it started to reduce down into a really tasty mixture. Then before you could stop them, someone filled it up with some watery stock. Maybe I’m missing the point.

So apologies to all you sophisticates for this naive newbie account, but we all start somewhere. Han Dynasty has branches in Birmingham, Nottingham and Plymouth – if you’ve been to any of these  or indeed to similar places in downtown Beijing, and have tips on the best ways to enjoy, please do share.