Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

It arrived in the hands of a waiter, who moved with the lightness and grace of a ballet dancer across the restaurant floor. It had a fleshy colour. A creamy, brown kind of hue.  It was inflated to the size of a balloon, but the shape was slightly less uniform.   “Asparagus,” said the waiter. “Prepared in this pig’s bladder.”   I don’t know how many bladder-based meals you’ve had in your life but that was a first for me. The asparagus, I should say, was absolutely delicious. But not so amazing that I personally felt compelled to give up roasting food in my oven in favour of bladder cooking, from then on.  I was dining at Eleven Madison Park. It’s an extraordinary fine-dining restaurant at the foot of Madison Ave in New York, just across the way from the Flatiron Building. Tom Brady had his penthouse across the road. I once saw Rupert Murdoch walking his dog in the park outside. And the food at ELP is as fancy as the neighbours. As a winner of three Michelin Stars, Eleven Madison Park i