é by José Andrés, Las Vegas

I'm not entirely sure how to start this. It feels a bit like food Jackanory. I'm going to tell you a tale of a secret room in a city made of glitter and gold with a wall full of drawers filled with memories...

I'm not going to do my usual 'review' of é by José Andrés. I'm going to tell you a story with pictures. Before I start, know this. This restaurant doesn't have a Michelin star because Michelin haven't done a Las Vegas guide since 2009 and the restaurant opened in January 2011. They use liquid nitrogen but they are nothing like The Fat Duck, they use spherification yet do not aim to be El Bulli and use plants in their simplest form but do it nothing like Noma.

I'm pretty sure that José Andrés thought 'balls to it' when he created é. This restaurant is hidden at the back of his Spanish tapas restaurant, Jaleo. It's all very covert. The website tells you nothing about the food or restaurant. There's just a logo and an email address. They have not spent a penny on advertising. We Googled how to get a reservation, but had to rely on bits and bats we found rather than a definitive 'how to'. There is no online booking system, and they are not on OpenTable like every other restaurant in Las Vegas. It's almost like they don't exist...

é is notoriously difficult to get in because it only has eight seats (really), but there are some tips I can share...

How to get a Reservation at é

• Send your email to reserve@ebyjoseandres.com one calendar month before you wish to dine.
• You must email dead on 12am PST. Reservations are given in the order that they are received.
• Explain why you want to go. 
• Give alternative dates and times - bear in mind there are only two dinner services. One is around 5.30pm and the other at 9.30pm.
• Even after you have a reservation, it's not confirmed until you return your signed confirmation. This is sent via email a couple of days later.  

As you walk into Jaleo in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, you still have no idea where this restaurant might be, as the door is camouflaged into the wall. Jaleo is a bustling restaurant offering quite casual dining. We sat at a table and were offered a drink whilst we waited for the other six diners. We were really looking forward to seeing what type of people also wanted to come to such an obscure dining location. When they arrived it was soon apparent that we would not be chatting fine dining! Three were Japanese and the other three were Spanish. None of them spoke English! Oh well, my Japanese and Spanish aren't great either...

The restaurant itself is tiny. A curved bar with a prep station sit in the middle of a small room; its walls covered in little drawers. José Andrés has filled these with mementos of his favourite food memories  Although I hope that there's no rotting food in there... 

The Menu

The menu consists of 25 small courses. To accompany your meal, you can have a wine, beer or juice pairing. My husband picked beer while I had juice. The dish titles don't really give much away, and even when they appear they often don't taste as expected! Chef Cody and his assistants are entertainers of the highest order.

I have split the pictures into sections as it does on the menu. I won't go on about every dish, but I'll give the highlights of each round. The pictures say it all really, but I'll add in a few words too.

Part 1

I spent most of this part of the menu being utterly flabbergasted! Highlights included the truffle cotton candy flecked with gold leaf and served on a replica of Andrés' own hand, and the bocata de bacalao which was a salted fish dish in a little brioche bun. All these dishes were designed to be eaten in one bite and made use of varied texture as well as flavour. Everything was plated infront of us and described in the minutest detail.

Part 2

The dishes in the second part of the menu were slightly more substantial and generally had more components. The yellow dish in the middle left of the photograph below is the chickpea stew with Iberico ham. This was sensational. The 'chickpeas' were actually chickpea puree made into chickpea shapes through the process of spherification, and the other flavours in the dish were essences or oils. Very clever indeed! Although I don't eat foie gras, the presented 'whole lobe' was pretty impressive too.

Part 3

By this point we had already eaten eighteen dishes. They may have been small, but we were dying from sensation overload! Saying that, we were onto my favourite bit... desserts. I knew this is where the magic would happen! The show was spectacular. There was flambéed sangria, Andrés' take on the popular Spanish 'flan' and an outstanding little cone of 'arroz con leche', which is similar to cinnamon rice pudding. 

The meal is finished off with '25 second bizcocho' which is a cake baked in the microwave and 'air chocolates' which melt in the mouth in seconds.

é by José Andrés is a fantastic culinary experience. We felt a little like voyers, only they could see us. Rather than booking a table at a restaurant, you have been invited into a private dining room where you are shown the secrets behind making the dishes, and the serving is turned into the greatest show in Vegas. 

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Bouchon, Las Vegas

On our first morning in Las Vegas we decided to head for the Venetian for a toot at the gondolas and hunt down one of the best breakfasts the Strip has to offer. Bouchon is a bistro owned by Thomas Keller; the culinary wizard behind The French Laundry in Yountville and is situated in the hotel part of the Venetian, away from the crowds in the Mall.

You cannot make a reservation for breakfast, and we had heard that there is sometimes a long queue for a table. With this in mind we went at about 9am (by which time it was already 28 C outside) in the hope we wouldn't have to wait too long. There was no queue at all! Apparently 9am is early... We were greeted by a friendly waitress and taken into the main seating area via a stunning tiled walk way. Everything is beautifully finished, and definitely feels more European than American. We had the choice of sitting outside (on the air conditioned balcony) or inside. We remained inside just because it was so nice.

The menu is extensive, ranging from a full English type breakfast to the more continental choices. Everything is home made including the pastries, butter and preserves.

Our waiter was fantastic. He was really chatty (and seemed to know an awful lot about Manchester) but was not intrusive. He asked us about our plans so we told him of the excitement brewing about visiting The French Laundry later in the week.

We chose the Breakfast Américaine and Bouchon French Toast. This didn't sound like a lot of food when we ordered it, nor did it appear a breakfast behemoth like those at Dottie's. However, it was unbelievably filling!

Our menu choices:

• Breakfast Américaine: two eggs any style served with bacon, country sausage & toasted brioche & a pecan sticky bun.
• Bouchon French Toast: bread pudding style with warm layers of brioche, custard & apples served with maple syrup.
• Fresh orange juice, breakfast tea & Bouchon blend coffee.

Wow. This breakfast was epic. Everything in sight was rich and packed with flavour. The bacon was maple smoked, anything bread based was actually brioche, the apples were stewed in cinnamon, the massive pecan bun was covered in sugar syrup and even the jams were full of fruit. Coffee, tea and orange juice were all refilled regularly too.

This was one of my favourite breakfasts ever. Go to Bouchon if you want relaxed dining with a flash of finesse. They also serve brunch, lunch and dinner. Well worth a trip if you're on the Strip...

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Happy Burro Chili and Beer - Beatty, Nevada

When we began researching our road trip in America, my husband started to look at the roads we would travel on using Google Maps. We had decided not to use the main highways in favour of the Tioga Pass, which meant driving through a little town called Beatty. After a bit more digging, we found a little place called Happy Burro Chili and Beer. They had won all sorts of awards for their famous chili, so we decided to check them out on our way to Mammoth Lakes.

The sun was blazing, and the fellas were sat in the outdoor bar, drinking from chilled jam jar tankards. Happy Burro is a wonderfully laid back affair with some of the friendliest people in the world. I don't think they get many people from Bolton in these parts. In fact, I don't think they get many people full stop! The lady who ran the bar showed us round then off she trot to source some of that famous chili we had heard so much about. 

In the mean time we had a chat with one of the chaps who had been drinking outside. He had (what was surely an award winning) white handlebar moustache but informed us that he normally had a full beard in the winter. He was a champion gun slinger, and there was a painting of him in all his gear on the wall of Happy Burro. You couldn't make this up. 

The chili itself is served with grated cheese and red onion in polystyrene cups. It's red, thick and has enough heat without blowing your head off. Remember, you are in the Nevada desert so no extra heat is required... It was bloody gorgeous! 

Now then. The facilities. I'm fairly confident I will never see this again in my lifetime. They are so proud of these toilets, they gave us a tour when we got there. And yes, the flusher is on the handlebar...

They like guns...

Some of the awards they have won for their chili

Before we hit the road, they were quite keen to take a picture of us together. Nice gesture. Then they grabbed 'the special stool'...

I'll be amazed if you find yourself in these parts, but if you ever do you must go. On our way out of Beatty we saw the family of burros (similar to donkeys) and a wolf! An experience we will neer forget!

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The Grand Canyon Trip in Pictures

A few of you asked me for some of the shots we took of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon. We took a helicopter ride into the Canyon, had lunch and then flew back to Vegas. Considering I'm terrified of flying this was an incredible experience. If you ever get the chance, do it! I'll spare you the narrated slideshow... they speak for themselves!

Hooters, Las Vegas

Okay. Before we begin, for those of you who are naive, Hooters is not a bird sanctuary. Not the feathered variety anyway.

I've had this urge to go to a Hooters restaurant since I became a fan of Girls of the Playboy Mansion years ago. Holly Madison was always my favourite, and before she was on Hugh's arm she had worked at the legendary Hooters restaurant.

We had two main culinary aims whilst visiting America; fine dining and burgers. This one certainly was not fine dining, but was my favourite burger experience in Vegas. You walk through a busy casino to get to the restaurant, which is situated at the back of the Hooters hotel. You're greeted by a a friendly girl in a teeny football shirt and the tiniest orange hotpants I have ever seen. The girls are all stunningly beautiful (which you would expect) but it feels in no way seedy or uncomfortable. Hooters is all about family fun.

We both ordered the house special burger which came with amazing skin-on curly fries. We also got some of their hot wings and a side of cheese sauce.

This picture does the burger no justice whatsoever. The restaurant was quite dark so it was hard to get good snaps. It was a fat burger with crispy bacon and American cheese. You can pretty much build you burger any way you want at Hooters. They even ask how you would like it cooked. This burger was my idea of heaven. I may have eaten better quality burgers whilst in the States, but this one ticked every box. It was literally dripping with meat juices (not grease), pink, served on the all important brioche bun and tasted out of this world. I felt relaxed, and by the end of it, morbidly full.

Sides. Ahh... the sides... I only ate one of the wings as I was concentrating all my powers on the burger and fries. However, I can confirm they were massive! They were hot without being ridiculous and had a nice crispy skin. Because it was football night, there was an offer on which included a pitcher of beer and 20 wings. Hell's teeth. They were serving them on beer trays - the portion size was so colossal. A heart attack waiting to happen. Which is rich coming from me.

The cheese sauce was one of the happiest moments of my life. Imagine melted American cheese mixed with a few chillies. There you go. Cheese dreams are made of this. I ate nearly an entire pot. It was so good I insisted telling our waitress all about it, despite the fact she worked there. I miss cheese sauce.

We looked so destroyed by our feast that our waitress brought us our bill. Not a chance! I had spied Key Lime Pie on the menu and was not leaving that establishment without sampling it. It was unreal. Really tangly filling covered by soft meringue and a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Divine.

Next time I'm in America I'm definitely going back to Hooters. Great service, fantastic food and a relaxed atmosphere. 

Dolly does the USA...

Evening all. I have been a little quiet of late. This is because I have been swanning around America on a quest to make Man vs. Food look like an amuse bouche. I'm always greedy, but this time I have taken the biscuit.

This year, both my husband and I turn 30. Boo. We decided to mark this milestone with a trip to America. We wanted to experience both the 'hype' and reality, so planned a trip across Nevada through to California, cramming in as much food as we could en route. A lot of our trip was only finalised in the last couple of months, as even some of the locations hinged on whether we managed to get reservations in some restaurants.

Once everything was booked, our trip looked a little like this:
Manchester - Las Vegas - Grand Canyon - Las Vegas - Beatty - Mammoth Lakes - Yosemite National Park - Napa - Yountville - San Francisco - London - Manchester.
The reason you may never have heard of some of these places is probably because there is very little there!

As well as eating in some amazing restaurants (ranging from Hooters to the French Laundry...) we saw some incredible sights and met some mental/lovely people, depending on your outlook. Some of the highlights of the trip included:

• Surviving the 40 C heat of Las Vegas
• Dining with just six other people in the hidden 'é by José Andrés'
• Landing in the Grand Canyon
• The taxi to the car rental place. Our taxi driver was a wealth of knowledge and convinced us we would be eaten by mountain lions. If not, we would die in Death Valley. Friendly chap. 
• Talking to a champion gun slinger whilst eating chilli at Happy Burro
• Finally seeing another car after about 100 miles... and getting my phone signal back...
• Seeing a wolf! (For those of you who know the game... WOLVE!)
• The huge trees and stunning scenery at Mammoth Lakes
• Yosemite National Park's many creeks, lakes and wildlife
• Avoiding running over a baby bear!
• Miles of vineyards in Napa
• The French Laundry's heirloom tomatoes 
• Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge to get into San Francisco
• Walking down Lombard Street and nearly falling over because it's so steep
• Coi knocking our socks off
• Eating some of the best burgers in the world!
• Seeing beer being made at the Anchor brewery (thanks for the tip Chris!)

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be doing posts on the places that we went to, but please be patient! I took over 600 pictures on my iPhone alone so it's taking some time to go through everything we captured! Here are a few of the journey...

Hope you all enjoy the upcoming posts!