The London Foodie

London Restaurant Reviews - Morgan M Barbican

2012-02-03T01:07:00.001Z

Since starting my training at Cordon Bleu I am beginning to gain some understanding of the skill, technique and artistry on discreet display in our top French restaurants. Morgan M is the first French restaurant I have visited since I started the Grand Diplome, and I looked at it with newly informed eyes.

Morgan Meunier has an impressive CV, which included 7 years training in a variety of 3 Michelin-starred restaurants in France. He won his first Michelin star in the UK in 1999, at Monsieur Max in Twickenham, and later worked at The Admiralty in the Strand.

Having run a successful restaurant (also called Morgan M, an old favourite of mine) in Islington since 2003, Morgan Meunier opened his new restaurant on Long Lane near the Barbican and opposite Smithfield's Meat Market in November 2011. The new two storey restaurant offers his affordable haute cuisine but with dishes that, while meticulously crafted, are modern and simple.

The ground floor is an accessible and informal bistro, offering an haute cuisine small plates menu. The downstairs menu is more relaxed, with a selection of smaller versions of the classic dishes served upstairs, including the raviolo of snails in Chablis, garlic froth and red wine jus and Ballotine of Foie Gras with fig caviar.

I was impressed to see that unlike most restaurants which include vegetarian dishes almost as an afterthought, Morgan M has an entire 6 -course tasting menu specifically for vegetarians, 'From the Garden' @£46. On the occasion of our visit, Dr G and I went for the 6-course tasting menu: ‘The Winter Menu’ (£50 per person), with matching wines by the glass @£30 per person. For more information on these menus, click here.

For most courses, there were two options, and therefore between the two of us, we were able to cover the whole Winter Menu.

We started with Cream of Mojette Beans, with lemon confit and pesto, served with
Le Lesc Colombard 2010, Ugni Blanc, Vin du Gers - this was a lovely, delicate starter, and set us up nicely for the dishes to follow.

Game Terrine with Foie Gras followed, served with a French bean salad, apple chutney and toasted Poilane bread, partnered with an Oloroso sherry (Don Jose Reserves Especiales). This was a magnificent terrine, studded with a fillet of rare venison.

In my opinion, the best dish of the night was the Crayfish and Lobster Cannelloni, with tarragon, Jerusalem artichoke soubise and a shellfish capuccino. It was served with a glass of Chateau Clement-Termes Gaillac Sec, 2010, from Southwest France. If by the end of my year at Cordon Bleu, I can create such a dish, I will be a happy man. The pasta was light, the filling delectable and perfectly seasoned, and the shellfish foam was stunning. An absolute winner!

Next, we had the Fillet of Wild Sea Bass, served with Torroxal Albarino 2010, Rias Baixas. Perfectly pan-fried, the sea bass was served on a bed of carrot and ginger risotto, with a lemon and saffron broth. This was an unusual combination of flavours, but delightful nonetheless. It was served with one of my favourite white wines, a lovely Albarino from Rias Baixas.

For the main course, we had Pot Roasted Fillet of Iken Valley Venison, with Farci of hare, quince puree and sauce Grand Veneur. The venison was splendid, and the sauce Grand Veneur was a revelation. A classic sauce for large game (it translates as 'huntsman's sauce'), it is based on a sauce poivrade, in which some game trimmings and strained marinade is added to the bouillon, and then finished with blood and redcurrant jelly. Very seasonal, this was a warming but sophisticated winter dish, served with a pleasingly stalky Bourgueil Peu Muleau 1996, Domain de la Chevalerie, from the central Loire region.

The other main course was Oven-roasted Suffolk Pheasant, the leg braised with raisins, glazed pear, served with liver croutons and bread sauce. Beautifully presented, I really enjoyed the gamey flavours of the bird, with the sweetness of the poached pear and contrasting savoury jus. A great combination.

As a palate cleanser, we were served a perfect Light Vanilla Rice Pudding with orange tuile. Tuiles are a serious technical challenge (as I know from my patisserie classes!), and these were perfectly executed, filled with an exquisitely light rice pudding.

For dessert, we had the Passion Fruit Soufflé and Sorbet with Crème Anglaise, served with Moscata d'Asti, 2010, Bera Canelli, and Dark Chocolate Moelleux and Milk Sorbet, served with a glass of Maury, 2007, Domain Mas Amiel. Excellent dishes to round off a memorable meal.

Cost: Winter Menu priced at £50 per person (6 courses) plus 6 matching wines at £30 per person.

Likes: Outstanding French cooking, good value for money for tasting menus and pre/post theatre options at £21.50 and £25.50 for 2 or 3 courses respectively. Well thought out matching wine flights.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: At £50 per person for this menu, I struggle to think of many restaurants in London that can offer such great quality and cooking skill at so reasonable a price. Highly recommended.

London Restaurant Reviews - The Angel & Crown

2012-01-29T23:37:00.001Z

Having thoroughly enjoyed a pub crawl taking in five of ETM Group's pubs last year (reviewed here), I looked forward to visiting The Angel & Crown, their new West End location in St Martin's Lane earlier this month.

In keeping with their other watering holes, this pub's first floor dining room is a rather smart venue, with wood panelling, tasteful artwork and a harmonious pastel colour scheme for carpets and walls.

(Picture Courtesy of The Angel & Crown)

The menu is seasonal and British, and the wine list is excellent, including some outstanding reds like Paul Jaboulet Gigondas, Chateau Batailley, Pauillac 2004, Gevrey Chambertin, Denis Mortet 2004, and Barolo, Marchesini. These are not wines to be found in most pubs, and these choices reflect the group's philosphy of bringing outstanding quality wines to all their pubs.

We had a selection of canapés including a delicious Pork Crackling with Apple Sauce, Devilled Whitebait with tartare sauce, and my favourite of the evening, Black Pudding and Scotch egg.

To accompany our canapés, we had a couple of their cocktails, all of which are priced @£7 (which is excellent value for the West end): London Bellini - pressed apple and elderflower topped with Prosecco, and St. Martin's Mule - Gosling's dar rum, vanilla vodka, fresh lime juice, homemade cinnamon syrup and ginger beer.

Starters vary from £6 to £8.50, and include some interesting items such as Snails, bacon and pearl barley @ £8, Cod cheek, cod tongue and fennel pie @ £8.50. I had the Potted Smoked Mackerel with Dill Pickle @ £7.50, which was delicious, along with a Riesling, Dr. Burklin Wolf trocken, Germany 2010 @£32.50. The wine was bone dry with pleasing citrus and passion fruit flavours, plenty of minerality and crisp acidity.

Main courses are priced between £11 and £16.50, and include Braised rabbit, grain mustard, faggots, bacon and peas @£14, and Shetland Isles mussels @ £14. I had the Pheasant and Partridge Pie with Roast Bone Marrow @ £14.50. This was a fantastically rich and gamey pie, beautifully presented with a marrow bone to support the pastry lid. For more information about The Angel & Crown's food menu, click here.

Chateau Musar is one of my favourite wine makers (reviewed here), and I was impressed to see it featured in the wine list. Usually, they mature their wine for 8 years before releasing it, but their new range of youthful reds Musar Jeune, Lebanon 2009 is very good @£31.50 - a blend of Cinsault, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes - a savoury wine with black fruit and gamey notes to match the pie.

To round off the evening, we had a Chocolate Mousse, Cornflakes and Crème Fraîche Sorbet @ £5.50. Despite the intensely rich chocolate, this was a rather refreshing and well-made dessert which was nicely matched with the luscious Pedro Ximenez sherry served alongside it.

I was impressed by the food and wine served at this new West End ETM Group pub, and was also pleased to see that they offer very reasonably priced pre and post theatre menus from 5pm – 6.30pm and 10pm – 11pm respectively, @ £14.95 for 2 courses or £17.95 for 3 courses.

Cost: I estimate that a 3 course meal will set you back around £25 per person excluding drinks, unless you opt for the pre or post-theatre menus, which are £14.95 for 2 courses or £17.50 for 3 courses.

Likes: Very good, reasonably priced, seasonal British menu, excellent wine list, very central location, elegant decor of dining room. The pheasant and partridge pie with bone marrow was fantastic.

Dislikes: Only the house wines for white, rose and red are priced below £20 on the wine list.

Verdict: Excellent nosh, well thought out wine list, great location. The Angel and Crown is an excellent choice for dinner and drinks in the heart of the West End. Highly recommended.

The London Foodie Goes to Japan - Kyushu Island (Fukuoka, Nagasaki & Beppu)

2012-01-23T00:08:00.000Z

Leaving Kyoto, we headed by Shinkansen to the most southwestern of the four islands which make up mainland Japan - Kyushu. Though Kyushu is not on the well-trodden path of most foreign tourists in Japan, this was an area I had heard good things about and decided to spend a few days exploring. From the open-air yatai stalls selling Hakata Ramen (noodles in thick pork broth) in Fukuoka to grumbling volcanoes and steaming hot spring onsen (shared, communal baths) in Beppu, and the moving Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki, there is a lot to be discovered.

Yatai Stall in Fukuoka

Fukuoka

Fukuoka is a modern and vibrant place, the biggest city in Kyushu. It is made up of two formerly separate towns - Hakata and Fukuoka. The shinkansen JR station is called Hakata, rather confusingly, and divides the two halves of the united city. If you visit, I suggest staying in Fukuoka where most of the restaurants, bars and shops are although accommodation is more affordable in Hakata, particularly around the JR station. This is where you will find most business hotels (Japanese equivalents of Travelodges) in the city for around 8,000 Yen for a double room (£67 at 120 yen/£).

Gastronomically speaking, Fukuoka is most famous for Fugu fish - a poisonous blow fish eaten only in winter. It is also known for Hakata Ramen (noodles in thick pork broth), Gyoza (fried dumplings) and Mentaiko (spiced fish roe) normally eaten on top of white rice or mixed in pasta.

Fukuoka - a modern and vibrant city

What to Do in Fukuoka

On our first night, we walked towards the entertainment island of Nakasu in the middle of Fukuoka in search of the Yatai stalls for which the city is renowned. Having walked for a couple of hours in torrential rain with no yatai in sight, we discovered that they normally come out after 10pm. The few yatai that we stumbled upon were completely full so Dr G and I decided to head off to Canal City - a newly built, state of the art hotel, shopping and restaurant complex nearby.

Where to Eat in Fukuoka

At Canal City we found "Ichiran", a bizarre restaurant at which diners can order and eat their food without any visual contact with waiting staff or other diners. We just had to try it. After purchasing tickets for our food and drinks from a machine located at the entrance to the restaurant, we sat at individual booths with partitions on either side, and a screen preventing us from seeing more than the hands of the waiting staff. The idea is to allow 100% concentration on the food in front of you.

Although we felt claustrophobic and came out in a terrible sweat in that tiny enclosure, the Hakata ramen (speciality of this city) was perfect - the broth was rich and highly concentrated with tender slices of pork belly and a perfectly soft boiled egg to accompany the silky noodles. It was a delicious dish and at only 790 Yen (£6.60 at 120 yen/£), it was also a bargain. A refill of noodles was also available at 180 Yen (£1.50), and free water and tea was also provided. I loved the food, but doubt the concept would ever translate outside of wacky Japan.

Before leaving the next day for Nagasaki, we had a quick bite to eat at Yayoiken Cafe (see Travel Essentials below for details).

This is a modest but decent restaurant, just two minutes from Hakata JR Station, serving everyday home-style Japanese dishes at very affordable prices. We had a delightful Sukiyaki and Spicy Pork Nabe for 890 and 860 yen respectively (£7.40 and £7.20).

Nagasaki

Considered one of the most picturesque cities in Japan, Nagasaki is located between steep hills and a very long, narrow harbour. The city has a long history of foreign contact (including during the two hundred year period when the rest of Japan was closed to the outside world), and so has an unusually cosmopolitan feel.

Nagasaki offers a wide range of accommodation widely dispersed around the city. The more budget hotels are around the main JR Station, but another area of choice is Chinatown in the southern, downtown district where Dr G and I stayed.

What to Do in Nagasaki

Without doubt, the main reason why people go to Nagasaki is to see the Peace Park, and the Atomic Bomb Hypocentre and Museum. As shocking as Hiroshima's own account of the bomb, it is a sombre and heart-rending experience, but unmissable for any visitor.

The city also has some impressive temples, including the Fukusai-Ji (Chinese Zen Temple), and the wooden Shofuku-Ji (Japanese Zen Temple) which dates from 1715, and miraculously survived the bomb intact. If you tire of temple-hopping, you might indulge in some Pachinko voyeurism at one of the city's many parlours, or go for a walk along the canal to see the famous but underwhelming Spectacle Bridge.

(Punters ranging from the too young to those old enough to know better spend their days and savings at Pachinko parlours across Japan - the music is deafening, the air thick with cigarette smoke, another quirky facet of Japanese popular culture)

What to Eat in Nagasaki

Portuguese, Dutch and Chinese heritage in Nagasaki extends to its most famous speciality cuisine - Shippoku. This multi-course meal is made up of many small dishes combining European, Chinese and Japanese influences, eaten at a round table, Chinese-style. It starts from 4,000 yen per head (£33), and needs to be reserved with a day's notice. Kagetsu is considered to be Nagasaki's finest Shippoku restaurant with meals starting from about 5,000 yen per person, see "travel essentials" section below for more details.

Having decided not to go for Shippoku, Dr G and I headed to Chinatown for dinner at Kouzanrou, reputedly one of the best Chinese restaurants in town. The three local speciality dishes we wanted to try were Champon, Sara Udon and Buta Kakuni, one of my favourite Japanese dishes also known as Nagasaki-Style Pork Belly (in fact I learnt in this trip that Buta Kakuni is the Japanese version of a Chinese dish).

Champon, also known as Chanpon, is a Japanese-Chinese noodle dish made by frying pork, seafood and vegetables in lard and adding a stock base from chicken and pork bones. A particular type of ramen noodle made for champon is added to the cooking broth and cooked. Our Champon also had fish cakes, beans sprouts, and cabbage. Dr G and I both felt underwhelmed by this dish - there were far too many competing flavours in one bowl, and in our opinion it lacked the clarity and depth of flavour of other less fanciful Japanese ramen soup noodles.

Sara Udon is a similar dish to Champon, containing pretty much the same ingredients which are stir-fried but using a thicker Japanese white noodle. Having been rather disappointed by Champon, we decided to skip Sara Udon and order a plate of steamed chicken in soy sauce. The chicken was very tender and tasted really good, reminiscent of the Singaporean Hunanese Chicken dish we both love.

The best dish however was the Nagasaki-Style Braised Pork Belly with Chinese Bread - meltingly tender meat in a rich, sweet sauce, a perfect Buta Kakuni.

Beppu

Beppu is a rather sleepy town, but is situated in one of the world's most geothermically active regions, which produces the world's second largest volume of near boiling water per day after Yellowstone Park in the USA. This is the main reason for visitors to come to the region of Beppu (which has a JR station) - to enjoy a long soak in one of the many onsens (natural hot spring communal baths).

The Tourist Information Office staff on Ekimae-Dori gave excellent service, spoke good English, and kindly booked accommodation for us as well as and advising on onsens (they had a large book with pictures of dozens of onsens in Beppu and Kannawa). Their recommendation was to visit Kannawa, 30 minutes away by bus from the JR station, where most of the smarter onsens are.

What to Do in Beppu

During our very short stay in Beppu, we headed to Kannawa to visit Hyotan Onsen. Arriving in Kannawa, we were surprised to see enormous billowing clouds of steam emerging from drains, buildings and springs all over the town - a dramatic sight.

Hyotan Onsen was a large complex that catered for men and women separately. The age range was enormous, with extended families from infants to grandparents enjoying naked hot spring baths together. There was a variety of indoor and outdoor pools, as well as a steam rooms, and waterfall-style showers falling 5 metres from bamboo pipes to provide water-massage. There is also the option of a hot sand soak.

The outdoor pool was stunning, set in a beautifully landscaped garden with the traditional Japanese motifs including large black rocks, Acer trees and stone lanterns. The Japanese have used these onsens as a place for relaxation and bonding family and friends for hundred of years.

Photography was not allowed for obvious reasons, but if you are ever visiting Japan to enjoy an onsen experience, I would recommend this one highly. It was clean, efficiently run, and elegant. It is opened from 9am to 1am daily and is priced at 700 Yen (around £6) per person. It also has a very good restaurant, including many dishes steamed in the hot spring.

What to Eat in Beppu and Kannawa

Jigoku-Mushi is the method of cooking food by geothermal steam which has been traditional in the region for over 400 years.

At Hyotan Onsen, we had dinner at the canteen where this cuisine is available.

Of the traditional local dishes we were advised to try, we particularly enjoyed mushi-dofu donburi @ 650 Yen (a rice bowl topped with soft tofu steamed in the onsen's hot spring, and bonito flakes) and dango-jiru @650 Yen - a delicious dashi and miso-based soup with vegetables and rice-flour dumplings (dango in Japanese), very similar to the dish my grandmother used to make in Brazil. It brought back fond memories.

We also had the local specialty of tempura chicken, with a crispy batter thicker than is the custom elsewhere in Japan, but equally delicious. All the dishes at the onsen were very reasonably priced, and the restaurant was packed with families eating after an afternoon's soak.

Travel Essentials

Fukuoka

For delicious pork ramen with "faceless" service, visit Ichiran Canal City - 1-2-22, Sumiyoshi, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka (Canal City Theater bldg.) Website: http://www.ichiran.co.jp/

For everyday Japanese home cooking at reasonable prices, head to Yayoiken Cafe - 1 - 22 Nakagofukumachi, Fukuoka Hakata Ward, Fukuoka Prefecture 812-0035, Japan, t: 092-273-1727.

Nagasaki

For Shippoku dining, visit Kagetsu Restaurant - 2-1 Maruyama Machi, t: 095/8222-0191

For excellent Chinese food and local dishes, go to Kouzanrou in Chinatown - 12-2 Shinchi-Machi

Beppu

For an elegant and relaxing onsen experience as well as some good local cuisine, I highly recommend Hyotan Onsen - 159-2 Kannawa, Beppu-Shi, Oita-ken, t: 0977-66-0527, www.hyotan-onsen.com

My Five Secret London Spots for Time Out London

2012-01-19T01:05:00.001Z

I was chuffed to be asked by Time Out London to recommend my five secret London spots recently. If you would like to know what these are, click here.

London Restaurant Reviews - Dishoom (Bombay Café in Covent Garden)

2012-01-16T01:05:00.002Z

Dishoom is one of the many London restaurants I had intended to visit but for one reason or another never got round to until recently. Since returning home after a two-month stay in Japan I've had a craving for good curries, Indian food and spices, and so Dishoom beckoned.

Having read the mother of all reviews by my friend Kavey of Kavey Eats, I learnt a few interesting facts about Dishoom that are worth sharing. I always wondered what the word Dishoom actually meant - it is apparently the Indian word used in Bollywood films to represent the sound made when the hero's fist hits the flesh of an opponent, the equivalent in English being Kapow! I knew that Dishoom was modelled on Bombay cafes, but I also discovered that at the turn of the 20th century, Persian immigrants to Bombay (now Mumbai) started a trend for all-day cafés based on elegant European coffee houses. Some still thrive to this day in their original form and location and are the inspiration for this London eatery. For more of Kavey's detailed and very informative review click here.

Dishoom is a casual restaurant with elegant painted brickwork, old photographs on the walls, dark wood tables with white marble tops, tall dark shutters and trendy, discreet lighting. I enjoyed the vintage feel that this evokes. It was also nice to be able to see the cooks in the open-plan kitchen, the chefs baking rotis in the open oven, and chargrilling kebabs. On our visit, the place was heaving with a lively West End crowd.

The menu is reassuringly short, with sections for Indian breakfast items like Egg Naan Roll @ £3.50 and Bombay Omelette @ £5.90, as well as soups from £3.70, salads, small plates including Desi Fish Fingers @£4.20 and Bombay Sausages @ £4.20, grills, biryanis and breads for later in the day. For a PDF of the menu, click here.

On our visit, Dr G and I shared a couple of cocktails (they range from £5.50 to £6.90,which is excellent value for the West End). Our cocktails were a lovely Chilli Martini made from pomegranate, homemade chilli syrup and gin, and a Bombay Pimm's - Pimm's, saffron gin, pomegranate, ginger beer, mint and orange. Both were priced @ £6.50, and were very flavoursome and refreshing.

With the cocktails, we went for Dishoom Calamari with zesty lime and chilli @ £5.20 - these had some zingy flavours, but were a little over-greasy.

The other dishes we had included Grilled Masala Prawns @ £9.50, served with lime, tomatoes and coriander. The prawns were fresh, plump and well-seasoned, and were in my opinion the best main course of the evening.

Lamb Boti Kabab - chunks of lamb marinated in red chilli, garlic and ginger @ £7.90. This had a real kick from the spices, but the meat was unfortunately a little on the tough side.

Chicken Berry Biryani @ £7.90, inspired by the classic berry pulao from Britannia Cafe in Bombay was attractively presented in a small clay pot, the rice, meat and other ingredients sealed inside for cooking by a strip of pastry used to secure a water-tight lid on the pot. Opened at the table, the aromas released are delectable.

From the grill section of the menu, we ordered Portobello Mushrooms @ £6.70. These were large and meaty, served with sliced onions and a tangy dressing. Very delicious.

Chicken Tikka is a favourite, and Dishoom's @ £6.70 version didn't disappoint - plump pieces of grilled chicken with an invigorating mix of ginger, green and red chillies.

By this stage, we were rather full, and were pleased to have the option of a small, refreshing Pistachio Kulfi @ £2.70- nutty, creamy and delicious, it was the perfect dessert after all that had gone before. Kulfi's are also available in also mango and malai flavours.

There is a short list of beers and wines, but the selection is well thought out and priced. In all, there are five choices of white and red wines, with house wines @ £18.90. There are three beers, including Meantime Union at £3.90 - one of my favourites.

We enjoyed our experience at Dishoom, and were pleased to find an Indian restaurant that serves good quality food, which unlike many other Indian places of similar standard, is affordable to most.

Cost: £49 for two people, not including drinks. This is good value considering the quality of the food and the number of dishes we ordered.

Likes: Good quality, reasonably priced food, quirky decor, central location, friendly service, lively atmosphere, well-priced cocktails and wine list.

Dislikes: It can get a little raucous, and it would be good to have a few more wine options.

Verdict: Very good quality Indian food, with quirky and fun decor at reasonable prices. Centrally located, buzzing, and with a lively atmosphere. Highly recommended.

Bring on a Foodie 2012!

2012-01-02T23:12:00.003Z

Happy new year to you all!

To kick start 2012, I will be hosting a series of Grazing Asia and London Cooking Club events at my home in Islington in the next few weeks and months, and I hope to see some of you there.

After an inspiring two-month stay in Tokyo, I have returned to the UK with lots of new ideas and recipes to try out. If you would like to learn more about Japanese dining beyond sushi and sashimi, the Japanese Supper Clubs in January, February or March will be a good place to start.

If you would like to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, Malaysian by May's Chinese New Year Special events on the 27th and 28th January will be for you.

Or if you fancy honing your cookery skills at one of our London Cooking Club events, there are a few events scheduled in the next few months which might be of interest. From Burmese to Jewish, Neapolitan and Filipino, I hope you will find something to tickle your palate.

I am also looking for budding home cooks or professional chefs who would like to host one of our London Cooking Club events in 2012 at my home in Islington, so if you would like to share your food passions with other like minded foodies, please get in touch.

Grazing Asia

Japanese Home Cooking Supper

21st January 2012
3rd, 11th, and 25th February 2012
23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st March 2012

Hosted by Luiz Hara of The London Foodie

Location: my home, Islington, from 19:30 hours

Cost: £35 donation, BYO

Book: e-mail luizharaAThotmailDOTcom

Malaysia by May - Chinese New Year Special

27th and 28th January 2012

Hosted by May of Slow Food Kitchen

Location: my home, Islington, from 19:30 hours

Cost: £35 donation, BYO

Book: e-mail mayATgrazingasiaDOTcom

London Cooking Club

How It Works

Every month, I choose a theme, cookery book or cuisine, and have a group of readers of The London Foodie come to my home to cook, eat a delicious meal, drink and talk. I distribute a suggested menu a week or so prior to the event, the participants choose their dishes and I e-mail out all recipes. Each person contributes a dish and accompanying bottle of wine. There are no fees to pay.

If you are a foodie (an amateur home cook or a professional chef), passionate about good food and would like to share some of your culinary repertoire with us by hosting one of our London Cooking Club events at my home, please get in touch, I would like to hear from you.

If you would like to take part in one of these evenings, please contact me on luizharaAThotmailDOTcom using LONDON COOKING CLUB in the subject line.

12th February 2012 - "Jewish Cooking Club" - Hosted by foodie extraordinaire Stella Newman and Ira Dubinsky who will be devising and introducing us to a fantastic Jewish menu and recipes for London Cooking Club members.

Jewish novelist Stella Newman is the author of Pear Shaped, a novel about love, heartbreak and food. Stella also writes her own popular food blogs Stella Newmans Blog and Pasta Friends.

A former political staffer in Canada, Ira now spends his days in London studying for an MBA and his nights studying new recipes. Ira is an amateur charcutier, occasional caterer, and DIY smoker construction expert.

18th March 2012 - "A Neapolitan Easter" - Hosted by Gina (@Gigi_nav) and Italian food blogger Fede Rilli of Pasta Bites, Italophiles and resident experts on their home cuisine.

15th April 2012 - "Discovering the Cuisine of The Philippines" - Hosted by Tina P who is devising a magnificent Filipino menu to show us what her native cuisine is all about.

Tina grew up in the Philippines but has since then lived in the US, Singapore, France, Hong Kong and now London. Growing up in a family of 9, she's had some good practice preparing large meals for a (critical) audience and now enjoys sharing her knowledge of Filipino cuisine with friends from all over the world.

Where to Eat Latin American Food in London - My Top Recommendations

2011-12-14T04:47:00.002Z

Earlier in the year, I was asked to recommend my top South American restaurants in London for Vamos Guide, an offshoot of the Brazilian website Jungle Drums for which I occasionally write for.

While Latin America is celebrated for its hedonistic music & dance scenes, more recently its cuisines have been in the spotlight on the London restaurant scene. Over the 20 years I have lived in the capital, as The London Foodie, I have witnessed the emergence of a number of excellent Latin American eateries, some of which I share with you here. Londoners have acquired a seemingly insatiable appetite for Angentinian steak houses, Mexican burritos & Brazilian rodízios, & with the imminent launch of the much anticipated Ceviche, the future looks bright for Latin American gastronomy in the capital.

Sabor

Favourite, stylish restaurant dishing up Latin American cuisine in Islington. Classic dishes with a modern take include deliciously authentic Peruvian Ceviche, Moqueca de Peixe (Brazilian fish stew) & Conejo en Salsa de Chocolate (Slow Cooked Rabbit in Chocolate Sauce). Very reasonably priced cocktail and wine lists, and great service.

Buen Ayre

Authentic & very popular Argentinian restaurant on Broadway Market serving the best Parrillada in town - choose from four different selections of meats, provolone cheese and mushroom served at your table on a smoldering hot grill. Great Papas Fritas (chips), and respectable Argentinian wine list at wallet-friendly prices.

El Rincon Latino

Spanish-Colombian Tapas in Clapham, tiny space but big on service! Good range of Spanish dishes with some unusual Colombian choices like fried cassava served with Ají (chillies) and guacamole, and veal Empanadas (patties). Spanish brunch also served at weekends. Buzzing atmosphere attracting a vibrant local crowd.

Empório São Paulo

Upmarket Brazilian Empório (delicatessen) & café in Parsons Green with an impressive range of top quality produce from Brazil & other countries - Brazilian Guaraná, Pão de Queijo (small, light cheese breads served hot from the oven), artisan Cachaças, & Feijoada, all served with a warm smile by owner Carminha.

Wahaca

Mexican restaurant chain started by Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers. Colourful, casually fashionable décor. Pork Pibil tacos (slow cooked pork in special Yucatecan marinade) followed by Churros y Chococate were sensational on my last visit and warrant a return visit. Good selection of Mexican beers and tequilas.

Moo Grill

The home of the Lomito, Moo Grill is one of the City's most coveted lunch spots. The signature dish (Lomito) is their delicious Argentinian sandwich of beef, chicken or aubergine served with ham and cheese, salad and fried egg. The best beef Empanadas I have ever tried were cooked by Adri, the owner's mum.

Gaucho

Top notch beef from rib-eye to fillet or sirloin and now picanha are cooked to perfection at this upmarket Argentinian steak house. The Morcilla (Argentinian black pudding) is excellent too as is the Dulce de Leche cheesecake. Great cheese platters well matched with a chilled glass of Torrontes licoroso (sweet).

The London Foodie Goes to Japan - Kyoto (Part 1)

2011-12-11T11:48:00.002Z

On arrival, the ultra-modern JR station (train) complex is very impressive, but Kyoto can hardly be described as an immediately attractive town. If you care to spend a few days in Kyoto though and discover some of its hidden beauty, you will undoubtedly fall in love with the ancient former capital of Japan.

Compared with Tokyo, Kyoto is relatively smaller and was spared much of the bombing in WWII - today, it has hundreds of thousand year old temples and shrines surrounded by beautiful Japanese gardens, magnificent palaces and original wooden townhouses known as machiya. Many of these sites were built during Kyoto's millennium at the centre of Japanese power, tradition and religion for the country's emperors, shoguns and monks. I recommend planning your trip in great detail before visiting Kyoto as there is just so much to see and experience there.

This post is about my latest visit to Kyoto, and is by no means a comprehensive list of things to do or places to visit. For more information about this magnificent city, visit the WikiTravel page on Kyoto here.

Where to Stay in Kyoto

The sky is the limit when searching for accommodation in Kyoto, which does not come cheap even at the most modest establishments. Budget accommodation will cost you anything between £80 and £100, while mid-range hotels (3-stars) will set you back about £150 to £200 for a double room. The more luxurious ryokans (traditional Japanese Inns) can cost a few hundred pounds a night per person.

Kyoto is a major tourist city, and at peak season (cherry blossom days and weekends) accommodation can be difficult to find, and prices reflect this. Osaka is only a 30 minute train journey from Kyoto, and being less popular as a holiday destination, it can offer a wider range of hotels to suit every budget.

We were recommended to stay at the Hiiragi-Ya. This is a luxurious traditional Kyoto ryokan which is the crème de la crème as far as Kyoto accommodation goes. But with my investment banking job well behind me and rates starting at £250 per person per night, we decided to go elsewhere.

We stayed at the Yuhara Ryokan which was also recommended by another Japanese friend (from Tokyo) who normally stays there. This is a traditional Japanese inn set along the Takase River. It is a delightful place, simply but tastefully decorated and immaculately clean. The owners (mother and son) speak good English and were very friendly, giving us the low-down on the neighbourhood and on things to do in Kyoto before we set off sightseeing.

Yuhara Ryokan on Takase River Walk

Our bedroom was a Japanese-style room, pretty, spacious and comfortable and with a lovely view over the Takase River. The walk along the river takes you through the geisha district of Gion (a 20 minute, very pleasant walk), and also to the centre of Kyoto including Pontocho Street. It is also a 15 minute walk from Kyoto's JR Station. At just under 10,000 Yen for a double room (about £85) for two people, this is highly recommended for its price, great location and charming hosts.

Japanese Style Room at Yuhara Ryokan

Where to Eat in Kyoto

As much as I love Tokyo, in my opinion, the best Japanese food is to be found in Kyoto. My Tokyo friends will not be impressed when they read this, after all Tokyo has more 3-michelin stars than Paris itself, I hear some of them saying. But compared with the style of cooking elsewhere in Japan, Kyo-ryori (Kyoto cuisine) is lighter and more delicate, stressing the natural flavour of ingredients over enhancement with heavy sauces and broths.

Pontocho Street

You will struggle to find a bad place to eat in Kyoto but it is always good to have some recommendations and book them in advance if you can. Also bear in mind that some restaurants will have a strict 9-9:30pm last order policy - this is because depending on the menu you choose, it might take a couple of hours to get through all the courses. There are many popular places serving a range of different dishes from the humble donburi to a full-blown kaiseki dinner (Japanese haute-cuisine) so choices are endless.

Giro Giro was highly recommended to us and happened to be a 3-minute walk from our ryokan on the Takase River. The 8-course menu devised by head chef Edakuni Eiichi features some kaiseki classics in his kuzushi-kappo, or “break the rules” casual cuisine. Price is a steal at only 3,600 yen or £30 per person.

Giro Grio - View from Takase River Walk

There are two other branches, in Paris and Honolulu. I strongly recommend this restaurant and if you do get to book, ask for a seat by the counter where you can watch the chefs in action, highly entertaining.

Giro Giro - Chefs at Work

These are the fantastic dishes that we had at Giro Giro:

Platter of amuse bouche, including grilled namafu, pickled chestnut, sushi, and tamago

Cod sperm & seaweed tempura in a glutinous daikon & yuzu pink broth

Straw-smoked salmon and oyster sashimi

Yellow-tail grilled in white miso, with daikon & ginger, onion & yuzu and pickled apple

Tofu and shimeji mushroom tempura, topped with crab in a dashi and soy sauce broth

Red snapper with burdock, cooked in soya sauce and sugar

Tonjiro of pork and crab, sweet white miso soup with thinly sliced carrots & burdock, rice and Japanese pickles (clams & daikon)

Pumpkin with bitter tea sauce, chestnut ice cream, black sesame mochi filled with sweet red bean, yasahashi with cinnamon and filled with pickled apple and blue cheese

Dr G and I went back to Manzara-Tei where we had had a brilliant meal on our last visit in 2008. This is a lovely restaurant serving "casual" kaiseki style set meals at 4,500 Yen (£37.50 @ 120 yen/£) "Sekkou" for ten courses or "Gekkou" at 3,500 Yen (£29 @ 120 yen/£) for 8 courses on the busy Pontocho Street.

The food again did not disappoint- we went for the ten-course dinner which included some local Kyoto specialities like fu (glutinous wheat gluten cakes) and yuba (soy-milk skimmings). If you like watching the busy chefs at work, ask for seats at the counter when booking (I did!).

These are the courses we enjoyed at Manzara-Tei:

Yuba scoop with yuzu ponzu

Asparagus with uncured ham, cherry tomatoes & smoked cheese

Sashimi (tuna, sea bream, yuba), with freshly grated wasabi

Grilled Sawara (Spanish Mackerel)

Wagyu beef with rock salt

Grilled Namafu (glutinous wheat cakes)

Slow-braised daikon in a thick dashi with pork belly - my favourite dish of the evening!

Tempura Assortment

Sushi and Akadashi (red miso soup)

Sweet soft tofu with red currant jam

What to Do in Kyoto

Biking

Thanks to its plain geography and grid-style streets, Kyoto is a great place to cycle and whenever I visit I hire a bicycle for the day. Yuhara Ryokan's owners recommended us a tiny cycling shop a couple of minutes walk from the ryokan where we hired a couple of bikes for 500 yen each for the entire day, that is £4.20!

Nishiki Market

From the bike shop we headed straight to Nishiki Market, Kyoto's main food hub in the centre of town. Nishiki Market is 390 meters long and runs from Teramachi Street to Takakura Street. There are around 130 shops and stalls, selling traditional Japanese food and ingredients.

As customary in Japan, there are many shops specialising in one particular type of ingredient like tsukemono pickles, Japanese sweets (wagashi), dried food, tamagoyaki (egg omelets), sushi, fresh seafood and vegetables.

Salmon Eggs (Ikura)

Unlike department stores, almost everything at Nishiki is locally produced. Nishiki Market has a long history, the first store opening as early as 1311. It is a great place to spend a few hours learning about Japanese ingredients, sampling and buying. I returned to Nishiki Market everyday during my stay in Kyoto.

Smoked/Petrified Bonito Fish Ready for Shaving for Dashi Stock

Geisha Spotting at Gion

Kyoto is synonymous with geisha and maiko (the apprentice geisha), who live and work in the neighbourhoods of Gion, Pontocho and Miyagawa-cho. Many girls are attracted to this glamorous world, but few make it through the arduous training required to become fully fledged geiko, as geisha are known in Kyoto dialect. The best time to see them is in the late afternoon as they head for rendezvous at the ochaya (tea-houses).

Dining with geisha is difficult to arrange, and expensive, but it is possible. Kyoto resident Peter MacIntosh of Kyoto Sights and Nights is able to arrange private engagements and VIP dinners.

There are hundreds of magnificent temples to visit in Kyoto and some of these will be featured in my second post.

Travel Essentials

For a printable PDF of Kyoto Walks by the Japan National Tourism Information (JNTO) - click here.

For excellent accommodation for value and friendliness, Yuhara Ryokan is on Kiyamachi Dori, Shomen-agaru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture 600-8126 , Japan. Email: ryokan.yuhara@cap.ocn.ne.jp (tel: +81 075 371 9583).

For information on where and what to eat in Kyoto, visit the Kyoto Foodie blog here.

For fantastic food at very reasonable prices head to Giro Giro Hitoshina, 420-7 Nanba-cho, Nishikiyamachi-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, +81 75 343 7070, open 5.30pm-11pm daily, or visit their website here.

For Pontocho casual dining, Manzara Tei is on 1-198 Higashisawaragi-cho, Pontocho-dori Shijo agaru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City 604-0906 (tel: +81-75-212-0028)

For information on places to visit in Kyoto, go to the fantastic site Kyoto Kyoto here.

For information on Nishiki Market and directions, visit the Nishiki Market website here.

For information on how to dine with a geisha (and much more about Kyoto) visit Kyoto Sights and Nights' website here, tel: +81 905 169 1654.

London Restaurant Reviews - Tamarai (Pan-Asian Cooking in Covent Garden)

2011-12-08T05:32:00.000Z

Few restaurants have challenged my prejudices as much as Tamarai. From the moment I walked through the door, I was ready to dislike it. The restaurant occupies the basement of a nightclub on Drury Lane, in London's West End. For a moment I wondered whether I had come to the right place, until I perceived some fellow diners through the dim lighting.

As soon as I entered, I also noted that service was impeccable - indeed, before we entered the restaurant, a waiter rushed out to warn us we were parked inadvertently in a residents bay, and gave us a voucher for a free bay in an underground parking lot nearby.

The menu, devised by head-chef Manish, is influenced by Japan, China, South-east Asia and the Indian sub-continent. To blend such an array of influences in a single menu is an ambitious task in which many fail. "Pan-Asian" cuisine can be a term of abuse (Jack of all trades, master of none) but I think otherwise - if sympathetically done, it can bring together the finest authentic dishes from different countries into a coherent whole.

Starters range from £6.50 to £16, while main courses start from £15 going up to £24. The wine list is comprehensive with a few New and Old World options priced around £20 and upwards. Cocktails are all priced at £9. While we perused the menu, Dr G and I ordered a couple of cocktails - "Tamajito" - a deliciously refreshing drink made from Japanese shiso leaf bruised over crushed ice with sugar, lemon juice, gin and a dash of absinthe, and "Punch Essential" with Pernod Anise aperitif, vanilla liqueur, passion fruit and grapefruit.

We decided to go for the Chef's Tasting Menu @ £52 per person with a tasting flight of 5 wines @ £17 per person to accompany the menu, including some great choices such as Knappstein Riesling from Clare Valley, Australia and a sweet Beaumes de Venise.

As the first dishes arrived, my initial doubts about the restaurant, Pan-Asian cooking and the varied menu were assuaged. Even the dodgy decor was forgiven. Dish after dish, Manish proved to be a truly accomplished chef - his food was delicious, well balanced and elegantly constructed. Much thought had obviously gone into each dish and I was astounded by the myriad flavours, textures and combinations of Asian ingredients that he demonstrated.

I cannot fault the food or service at Tamarai that evening, on the contrary, I can only praise it. These are the dishes that we had as part of the Chef's Tasting Menu, plus a couple of other small dishes I asked to try:

Smoked Salmon Thayar Satham (curd rice)

Corn-fed Chicken Spring Roll

Soft- shell Crab, Flame roast Coconut and Masala Mayo - I loved the combination of toasted coconut and soft shell crab in this dish.

Sweet Chilli Lotus Root - this was one of the simplest but also one of the most delicious dishes of the evening.

Beef Satay, Peanut Glaze and Wasabi Yoghurt - I really enjoyed the wasabi yoghurt with the beef satay, a well thought out combination of Asian flavours.

Caramelised Szechuan Pepper King Prawns - this was the most sensational dish of this meal, I would love to return to Tamarai to have this again (or even better - learn how to make it!).

Sweet Pomelo Salad - deliciously fresh and very well made, this was perfect with the Caramelised Szechuan Pepper King Prawns.

Black Tiger Prawns - chunky and delectable.

Thai Green Curry - the green curry tasted as authentic as all the ones I tried in Thailand, beautifully spiced and very warming.

Roasted Sesame and White Chocolate Semi Freddo - impeccable presentation of this dessert, which tasted refreshing yet creamy.

Seasonal Fruit Satay - another beautifully presented dish that brought a smile to my face. I loved the sweet, perfectly ripened fruit served satay-style, smothered in a lovely passion fruit syrup and topped with small green shoot-leaves.

Cost: £52 per person for the Chef's Tasting Menu and £17 per person for the matching wines.

Likes: the entire menu was fantastic, particularly the Caramelised Szechuan Pepper King Prawns. Very comprehensive wine and cocktails list.

Dislikes: the nighclub decor is rather challenging for a restaurant experience.

Verdict: Chef Manish cooks the best Pan-Asian food I have ever tried. I enjoyed every course of his tasting menu, and the wine matches were also perfect. Very highly recommended.

The London Foodie Goes to Japan - Tokyo (Part 1)

2011-12-04T15:43:00.001Z

When I first started working in finance over 10 years ago, it didn't take me long to realise that my heart wasn't really in it. I was crazy about food even then, but only now have I had the confidence and means to leave my job in investment banking to pursue my true passion in life - cooking.

It was a long thought out decision, requiring years of planning and saving to finance a year at the full-time Cordon Bleu Grand Diplome course which I start in January 2012. During this period, writing The London Foodie has kept me more or less sane, by putting me in contact with others who shared the same feelings as I did, and motivating me to keep going.

Happo En Park in Meguro

Having a two month break between leaving the bank and starting Le Cordon Bleu, I decided to come to Japan to research and learn more about the food of my ancestors. For those who read this site, it is no secret that Japanese food is one of my great passions, and having started a series of Japanese supper clubs at my home, I felt it was time to gain a greater depth of understanding of this cuisine.

Shinjuku's Kabukicho District

Where to Stay in Tokyo

I came to Japan at the end of October, and rented a flat in the lovely Tokyo neighbourhood of Meguro. Renting in Tokyo is not easy. In the UK, I searched for flats using two of the main accommodation websites for foreigners in Tokyo - Sakura House and Tokyo Apartments.

Top of Mitshukoshi Building in Ginza

At the lower end of the market, Sakura House offers cheaper accommodation that ranges from guest houses to self-catering apartments. The catch here is that the flats are in distant suburbs, and are very small and unattractive. Tokyo Apartments offers serviced flats mostly for a minimum 90 day stay. Flats here are geared towards the ex-pat community in Tokyo and therefore are much more expensive, but also of far better quality. While searching on the Tokyo Apartments site, I noticed a price discrepancy between similar apartments depending on whether it was let to locals or foreigners. It would help if you had a native speaker who could help you search the Japanese accommodation sites as well as the ones in English.

I was lucky to have the support of my friend, the cookbook writer Reiko Hashimoto in finding a suitable place with a friend of hers. My flat is spacious, with a large fitted kitchen (very unusual for Tokyo), and perfect for my purposes - cooking.

My Tokyo Flat's Kitchen - where I spend most of my days!

What to Do in Tokyo

Japanese Cookery Classes in Tokyo (in English)

The flat is owned, and is adjacent to the home of Kazuko-san, one of Japan's most renowned food stylists, who is also giving me a series of 1:1 cookery lessons throughout my stay here.

Classes take place in her beautiful American-style home (her husband is from the USA). Before each class, we go shopping for ingredients together at the local market, a valuable experience considering that labelling is all in Japanese. Kazuko-San explains the ingredients as we buy them, and when and how they should be used.

Cookery Class at Kazuko-San's

For my first class, we cooked an entire meal together over 2-3 hours. Of the five dishes we cooked, one of my favourites was the pan-fried tofu and chicken steaks served with two different sauces- oroshi ponzu (grated daikon radish in yuzu ponzu dressing) and teriyaki with strands of white spring onion. This would be easy to replicate in the UK, and looks and tastes fantastic.

Another lovely dish was a simple miso soup with aubergines and sesame dressing. We used a strong brown miso which was a good partner to the meaty aubergines. The aubergines were fried in pure sesame oil, which imparted a lovely nutty flavour to the soup. It was also interesting to learn her gomadare sauce (toasted sesame dressing), as her recipe differed from the one I usually use.

Work Experience at a Japanese Restaurant

I have also been fortunate enough to arrange work experience at an izakaya (Japanese small eats restaurant) in Naka Meguro. The izakaya is owned by 'Big Mama', a lady in her sixties who works single-handed six evenings a week cooking, and serving her customers. The place specialises in Yaki Niku (grilled meats) but the menu changes daily according to what she finds in the market and feels like cooking. There is a tiny printed menu, but her customers (mostly regulars) do not look at, ordering instead 'Omakase' (chef's choice).

Tiny Counter at Big Mama's Izakaya in Naka Meguro

The quality of the barbecued meats is outstanding, my favourites being thin slivers of fatty beef diaphragm which she seasons simply with a mixture of rock salt and kombu crystals (from seaweed) and marbled wagyu beef which she briefly dunks into a mixture of soy sauce, mirin and sugar before grilling.

Big Mama at Action!

In addition to the barbecued meats, there is always a daily special. As the evenings grow colder, recently we have had shabu shabu. This is a hotpot cooked at the table on a slow flame burner, using a base of light dashi stock, with vegetables and thinly sliced beef or pork. It is lighter in style compared with the sweeter sukiyaki, or more robust nabe or oden which include chunky root vegetables, tofu, eggs and koniyaku (yam jelly) among other ingredients.

After the shabu shabu ingredients are nearly all eaten, to use up the tasty broth, noodles or white rice are added together with a raw egg or two and heated through. It's a fantastic hearty dish, perfect for autumn and winter, and I will be serving it at my Japanese supperclubs.

Big Mama Cooking Shabu Shabu

Where to Eat in Tokyo

Tonkatsu (breaded, deep-fried pork cutlets) has never been high up on my list of Japanese culinary experiences, but an invitation from an old friend Atsushi (whom I met in London 20 years ago) proved me completely wrong. Atsushi promised me that Maisen Restaurant served the best Tonkatsu in the whole of Tokyo, so I didn't need much persuasion to give it a go.

Maisen is situated in the district of Harajuko, a young, hip shopping area equivalent to Camden Town in London. Tonkatsu dishes are normally served with thinly shredded cabbage and white rice and Tonkatsu sauce- a sweet brown condiment the colour and texture of HP, but sweeter and less vinegary.

But what makes this restaurant a real standout is that it occupies a former pre-World War II public bathhouse. The main dining hall was once the changing room and sports a high ceiling and original architectural details. There's an English-language menu, but lunch specials (available until 4pm) are listed in Japanese only, though there are photos.

Tonkatsu dishes are sold at around ¥800 (around £6.50 at ¥120/ £) in most restaurants. At Maisen, they retail at around ¥2,500 (around £21 - price depending on the cut of pork chosen). As I savoured my first bite of meat, I understood why they could charge three times the going rate and still be so popular. The meat was delicious - soft and tender, with a crisp, ultra-light and virtually oil-free coating of panko breadcrumbs. Even the humble cabbage was crisp, green and flavoursome. I always thought this a very uninspiring accompaniment but could appreciate then why it goes so perfectly with the rich pork.

Since the introduction of deep frying to Japan by the Portuguese in the 16th century, the Japanese have taken a great fondness for the method, elevating it to a high art, as illustrated by the dish of tempura. Like sushi chefs, tempura cooks serve an apprenticeship of around 15 years until they have fully mastered the technique.

As is common in Japanese restaurants, Maisen specialises in just one savoury dish - in this case tonkatsu. For many years Maisen has been using the same local black pigs as the source of their pork, and the resulting tonkatsu is indeed the best I have ever eaten.

If you go, I suggest either an early or late visit, because as Atsushi and I left at midday, there was a massive queue of customers waiting to be seated. Highly recommended.

Travel Essentials

For accommodation in Tokyo, the two websites I recommend are Sakura House (budget, ranging from hotels, guesthouses to self-catering flats) and Tokyo Apartments (dearer, serviced apartments, higher quality).

For Japanese cookery classes, Kazuko-san speaks English and may able to offer cookery classes with or without accommodation to foreigners in Tokyo. By recommendation only. Contact me for more details.

For izakaya dining, if you would like to visit Big Mama's, the izakaya is at Naka Meguro. As you leave the tube station, turn left on Yamanate Dori, walk 50 metres along this road. Turn left again past Book Off (bookshop), the izakaya is a few metres along this narrow street on the right-hand side.

For the best Tonkatsu in Tokyo, visit Maisen Restaurant on 4-8-5 Jingumae, Harajuku, Tokyo. Phone: 03/3470-0071. Directions: from Omotesando Station (4 min.) - take the A2 exit and turn right on the side street between Ito Hospital and McDonald's (the one with HARAJUKU above it); take the 1st left and then an immediate right. It will be in the next block on the left.

Book Review and Competition to Win a Copy - "HASHI - A Japanese Cookery Course"

2011-12-01T09:18:00.005Z

I first met Reiko Hashimoto at one of her Sushi & Sashimi classes in 2005. I felt then I had met someone who was going to change my life. It may sound absurd, but as I write this, six years later from my Tokyo flat, I know I wasn't mistaken.

Since that first fateful encounter, I returned to Hashi Cooking (Reiko's cookery school) to attend all her Japanese cooking classes as a student and more recently as her assistant. From Beginners to Home Cooking, Gourmet and Master Chef courses, I have been lucky enough to spend a great deal of time with Reiko and learn from her. An all-rounder, Reiko is generous with her time and knowledge, a meticulous planner, and a confident and entertaining teacher.

Teaching is her passion and she gives all her energy to her classes and students. There have been times after her evening classes, as we cleaned-up, when she would stumble around completely exhausted. Like an actor, her two-three hour performance takes a lot from her, but she thrives on this and loves what she does. And it certainly shows.

The publication of her first cookbook - "HASHI - A Japanese Cookery Course" has been long awaited. As with her classes, her strive for perfection drove her on, and I was fortunate enough to share some of these moments with her. With my move to Tokyo to study and research Japanese gastronomy, I was not in London for the book launch but was kindly sent a copy of her book here for this review.

As the name suggests, HASHI is structured in the same format as her classes - Beginners, Home Cooks and Gourmet Dishes (Master Chef recipes will I hope feature in her second cookbook). There is also a thorough section on sushi and another on dessert. There are separate sections for Japanese food culture, ingredients and local suppliers, and Japanese meals and menu planning which I feel are very useful and take the book beyond a simple collection of recipes. Each section builds upon the former in both sophistication of ingredients and techniques used, and is divided into 6 categories: Soups and Starters, Salads and Side Dishes, Fish and Seafood, Meat and Poultry, Rice and Noodles and Tofu.

HASHI is a solid, beautifully bound book. I like the bold red cover, the strong typeset used and the logical format of the recipes. Like Reiko's classroom recipes, the ones in the book are also concise, clear and to the point. Her prose is unpretentious, down-to-earth and fun like Reiko herself.

It is lovely to see some of these very familiar Reiko dishes in print - some I have made countless times like her fantastic "Buta Kakuni" recipe - caramelized slow cooked pork belly, cooked for many hours in a delicious broth of dashi stock, soy sauce, brown sugar and ginger. The meat is yieldingly tender and utterly delicious, and is the best pork belly recipe I know.

Image Courtesy of Mike Cooper

In the Beginners section of the book, one of my favourite recipes is the "Beef and Vegetable Rolls" - these are thin slices of rib eye beef wrapped around sticks of carrots and asparagus and fried in a deliciously rich teriyaki sauce. Teriyaki is also used to deglaze the pan after the beef rolls have been fried, making an unctuous sauce for them.

Image Courtesy of Mike Cooper

From the Home Cooks section, I love making Reiko's recipe for "Tonjiru Soup" - this is a miso based soup with chunky root vegetables and thinly sliced pork belly. This is comfort food at its best, and just perfect for this time of year.

Tonjiru - the first dish I cooked when I arrived in Tokyo

"Mabo Tofu" is another popular dish, and Reiko's Japanese version, also in the Home Cooks section of HASHI, is a winner. Originally from China, this dish is one of the best ways to enjoy tofu particularly for those not madly keen on this ingredient. Served with a deliciously spicy sauce made from minced pork and toh ban jan (a Chinese chilli bean paste), this is a rich, flavoursome and warming dish.

Image Courtesy of Mike Cooper

Reiko's signature dish - "Scallops with Creamy Spicy Sauce on Sushi Rice" is the first recipe in HASHI's Gourmet section, and rightly so. This dish encapsulates some of the most distinctive flavours of Japanese cuisine - sushi rice, seaweed, fish roe and seafood. It is also a stunning dish for any dinner party, or when I want to indulge myself a little. I love it.

Image Courtesy of Mike Cooper

Beyond Reiko's recipes and charming prose, what strikes me mostly about this book is its stunning design by Absolute Press - the photography by Mike Cooper is beautiful, so important to convey the artistry of Japanese cooking. Matt Inwood, Absolute Press' art & design director, has done a stellar job here.

HASHI - A Japanese Cookery Course is now available on Amazon. If you are a Japanese food lover like me, this book is essential read. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Japanese food and would like to learn about the cuisine, or as a gift this Christmas for friends and family. Very highly recommended.

For more information about Reiko Hashimoto and her Japanese Cookery Classes in West London or to order a signed copy of HASHI, please visit Hashi Cooking's website here.

HOW TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

For a chance to win one of two copies of HASHI - A Japanese Cookery Course, simply leave a comment in this post stating your NAME and E-MAIL address as MrBloggs(at)gmail(dot)com and stating your FAVOURITE JAPANESE DISH by midnight on Wednesday, 7th December 2011.

The two lucky winners will be randomly selected using random.org and his/her name will be announced via Twitter (follow @thelondonfoodie) at midday on Thursday, 8th December 2011.

If you do not use Twitter, I will also be publishing the winner's name here at midday on the 9th December 2011.

The lucky winners, randomly selected by random.org, of this competition were Keiko and Nourishing Nikki. Congratulations, Absolute Press will be in touch to arrange delivery of your copies. Thanks for entering this competition!

DISCLAIMER: I am a personal friend of Reiko Hashimoto, the author of HASHI but have no financial interest in the sales of her book. I have written previously about Reiko Hashimoto's classes in The London Foodie (here) and about the London Cooking Club event "Demystifying Japanese Cooking" in 2010 (here).

London Restaurant Festival 2011 - My Round-Up of this Year's Highlights

2011-11-21T17:24:00.003Z

The London Restaurant Festival ran from 3rd to 17th October this year. The third year it has run, in my opinion, it was also the best Festival we had to date. It has grown from previous years and is now a real celebration of what British restaurants have to offer.

Along with the 'main menu' events involving well-known and established restaurants, the 'side dishes' were an opportunity for new and less well-known restaurants to introduce themselves to a wider audience. In the latter category, there were some great finds and bargains to be had. In addition to this, it was an excellent opportunity to experience the cooking of top Michelin-starred chefs from different parts of the UK in London at affordable prices, including Sat Bains and Nathan Outlaw to name just a couple who cooked at Fortnum & Mason's.

If you missed the Festival this year, I urge you to keep your eyes peeled for the 2012 event. Below is a round-up of some of my favourite events this year.

Eat Film at The Covent Garden Hotel

Sponsored by San Pellegrino, this was an intimate screening of the film 'Waitress' at the Covent Garden Hotel (part of the The FirmdaleGroup of Hotels also including Soho Hotel and Charlotte Street Hotel). The film was chosen by special guest and industry insider Laura Santtini, who introduced the film. The evening, priced at £55 per person, started with a Laurent Perrier Champagne reception, the film viewing itself, followed by a delicious three-course meal in the hotel’s restaurant, Brasserie Max.

The film was entertaining, cute, mainly centred around food, and the trials and tribulations of three waitresses working in a pie cafe in the USA. The food that followed in Brasserie Max, was delicious, and the full menu which was inspired by the film, is shown below.

Shaved fennel, endive, pink grapefruit and apple salad, mint

Cinnamon, allspice and brown sugar rubbed “chauvinistic” pig slow roasted with sweet potato gratin and watercress

Wishing on a chocolate moon pie

I thoroughly enjoyed this night out, and discovered then that Covent Garden Hotel hosts a regular weekly Saturday night film club, to which I will return. This includes either afternoon tea or a two course dinner with a glass of premium wine and the movie for £35 per person, with films starting at 8pm. Movies vary from classics to latest releases. Forthcoming films include Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris' on 26th November, 'It's a Wonderful Life' on 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th December, 'The Help' on 14th January, to name just a few. For a full listing and booking details, click here.

Andaz Catch - Seafood Workshop

Led by Martin Scholz, Head Chef of Andaz Hotel's renowned seafood restaurant Catch (which I have previously reviewed here), this was a daytime event starting at 7am in the hotel's lobby. From there, we were taken by coach to Billingsgate Fish Market for a guided tour, where Martin introduced us to seafood suppliers and taught us how to select seafood.

After the tour, we were taken back to the hotel, where together with Martin and his sous-chef, we cooked a three-course lunch. This was a hands-on cookery class, in a state of the art cookery demonstration and events suite which the hotel has recently built, and which looks stunning.

The menu was delicious, and recipes were also provided. Below, you can see what we cooked on the day.

Bouillabaisse

Risotto with Chorizo, pan-fried Cod and baby squid filled with tapenade with Moroccan black olives

Crème Brulée

Andaz Hotel's Sommelier served a magnificent array of wines to match our meal, starting with Champagne, and moving on to a selection of white wines such as a '10 Chilean Sauvignon Blanc from Rapel Valley, an '09 Riesling from Mosel, and an '80 Bual Madeira Wine. We also had an '08 St Aubin, an '05 Chateau Haura Graves with the fish. To accompany dessert, we enjoyed an '83 Chateau Climens 1er Cru Sauternes-Barsac and a Chateau Yquem '98 Sauternes (legendary wine, reputedly the most expensive in the world). We finished a magnificent lunch with coffee and Cognac.

The workshop ran from 7.45am to 2.00pm and cost in my opinion a bargain price of £70 per person. Judging by my experience, should Andaz Hotel run this workshop again, I could not recommend it highly enough.

For more information about Andaz Hotel's latest events, visit their website here.

Brit-Dish at The Corner Room

In association with American Express, the official sponsors of London Restaurant Festival, Brit-Dish was one of the festival's main events, at which renowned chefs reinterpreted some of the most-loved British national dishes.

I am a great supporter of Nuno Mendes' cooking, which I have reviewed at The Loft Project in 2009 (here) and at Viajante in 2010 (here). I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in the Brit-Dish event with my friend Carly of Greedy Diva, at Nuno's new venture, The Corner Room.

Nuno's cooking divides opinions - you may love or hate it, but you will never be indifferent to it. Luckily in my case, I can't get enough of it. His food is inspiring in its creativity, and thought-provoking. His use of ingredients and flavour combinations is highly sophisticated, as his re-interpretation of humble British dishes in the menu below demonstrated.

Prawn Cocktail

Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding

Apple Crumble

A man who can make prawn cocktail, roast beef and apple crumble taste and look as exquisite as this clearly deserves to be taken notice of. His new restaurant, The Corner Room, is housed in a luxury hotel occupying the former Bethnal Green Town Hall, where Viajante is also situated. It is a single room furnished simply but stylishly with high white-tiled walls, stripped wood flooring and panelling, vintage lighting and plain wooden tables. The menu changes daily, and prices are very reasonable. No bookings are taken. Very highly recommended.

Modern Market Menu at One Aldwych

Tony Fleming put together a special menu for London Restaurant Festival, called the Modern Market Menu. This involved dining around the hotel, each course served in a different location within One Aldwych Hotel, the independent, award-winning luxury 5-star hotel in the heart of London's Covent Garden.

Starting at the Lobby Bar, the evening kicked off with a glass of Ridgeview's Bloomsbury Cuvée Merret and a tasting of oysters prepared in four different ways - natural with shallot vinegar and tabasco, jellied with watercress, deep fried with tartar sauce and chips, and angels on horseback. I enjoyed the buzzing atmosphere at the bar, with guests and non-guests mingling over cocktails and delectable bar-snacks.

We then moved down to the hotel's main Axis Restaurant for roast haunch of venison and caramelised root vegetable purée with chestnut jus. This was impeccable, and moreover was served with a magnificent individual shepherd's pie. The restaurant was very elegant, and the food and service excellent. I would definitely like to return.

For dessert, we headed up to the mezzanine Indigo Restaurant for a blackberry, elderberry and sloe gin jelly, clotted cream ice cream and blackberry mousse. This was outstandingly good - not only were the flavours of the mousse, jelly and ice cream delicious, but there was an excellent contrast of textures imparted by a crisp caramel coating for the blackberries, and a peanut brittle between the jelly and mousse.

The Festival was a great eye-opener for me, showing me that not only are there some great restaurants at One Aldwych, but also that the hotel offers a range of interesting foodie experiences. The Tasting Club includes a variety of activities, such as cookery classes, Axis Seasonal Dishes - a 12-month calendar of seasonal dishes by head chef Tony Fleming's 'Food Hero' suppliers, and "Moet Movies" each weekend, with a glass of champagne, a movie, popcorn and a three course dinner all for £42.50 per head. There is also a regular 'Ten after Ten' option of a late night or post-theatre sweet fix at Indigo, after 10pm, for a choice of dessert with a glass of dessert wine for £10 per person.

I thoroughly enjoyed the food in all the restaurants in One Aldwych, and thought the lobby bar was a great place for a cocktail or glass of wine before or after dinner. The Moet Movies beckon. I cannot wait to return.

For more information on Tony Fleming's seasonal dishes, click here .

For a full listing of Moet Movies, click here.

Nathan Outlaw at Fortnum and Mason

As part of the festival celebrations, Fortnum & Mason hosted a Culinary Carnival where guests had the opportunity to sample dishes by some of the UK’s best loved chefs, some Michelin-starred, in The Gallery Restaurant. Menus were created by the guest chefs reflecting their signature style, featuring the pick of the season’s crop and regional produce from the British Isles.

On the evening of my visit, Nathan Outlaw was the guest chef. Head-chef of The St Enodoc Hotel, Rock, Cornwall, Outlaw was awarded 2 Michelin Stars in 2011, and his eponymous restaurant has also been named this year as the Best Seafood Restaurant in the UK by The Good Food Guide.

At this event at Fortnum & Mason, the two-course lunch was priced at £27.00, or £33.00 for 3 courses, with a three course dinner at £53.00. The tasting menu at his restaurant, in contrast, is priced at £75 per person, so this represented, on the face of it, good value without a many hours' slog down to Cornwall.

The dishes we sampled on our visit are shown below.

Crispy Porthilly Oyster, Oyster Mayonnaise, Pickled Cucumber Salad

Beetroot Cured Salmon, Horseradish Cream and Treacle Bread

Roast Scallop, Herb Emulsion, Bacon and Onion Bread

Brill, English Mustard Dressing, Char grilled Leeks and Brown Shrimps

Gurnard, Squid, Fennel Salami and Orange Salad

Lemon Meringue Trifle

Espresso Custard Tart, Pistachio Ice Cream

Selection of Cornish Cheeses with Pickled Celery, Fig and Apple Chutney, Sesame and Poppy Seed Crackers

The food was exceptionally good, particularly the scallops, gurnard and lemon meringue. I believe this represented exceptionally good value, considering the quality of fish and seafood, in a four-course dinner cooked by a multi award-winning chef.

London Restaurant Reviews - Century Club Brasserie (Members Club Dining)

2011-11-18T09:36:00.002Z

Many is the time I have strolled past the Century Club's front door on Shaftesbury Avenue without realising it was there, surrounded as it is by Chinese restaurants, currency exchanges and phone unlocking merchants. I was intrigued to have the opportunity to visit and review its brasserie a little while ago, and was surprised by its cool elegance amidst the hectic surrounds of that area between Soho and Chinatown. Increasing numbers of clubs are opening their restaurants to non-members, especially those in areas like Soho and the City where there are many other dining options for members. Since clubs need to provide restaurants for their members, they can easily become a financial drain if they are not being used, and it is this that drives the trend.

I don't know what your thoughts are about members clubs, but personally I can't imagine ever signing up to one. I have several friends who have though, including at Century, and I can see some advantages in doing so. If you can afford the membership fees and have members as friends who can recommend you, clubs like Century offer you a guaranteed seat at a plush Central London watering hole (a rarity these days) without the risk of some drunken 16-year old vomiting all over your shoes, or at least so I would hope! In addition, members in certain businesses might find them good places to entertain clients.

This is not however a review of the Century Club, but of its brasserie. The Century Club currently has a full member's list, and indeed a long waiting list for new members. Members are mostly people working in media, film and theatre. It has the most discrete entrance imaginable, and is spread over several floors, the top being a very attractive open air terrace bar. I was asked not to take any pictures of any of the club rooms or members, and indeed was only allowed to photograph the food. The two images of the restaurant in this post have kindly been provided by Century Club.

Accompanying me for the evening was Japanese cookery writer and teacher Reiko Hashimoto, author of the cookbook HASHI. The manager, Sophie, welcomed us on the terrace and gave us a quick tour of the club's many rooms. We were soon seated at the brasserie, a spacious and casual room with wooden flooring and shutters, fresh cut flowers and discrete lighting.

Image Courtesy of Century Club Brasserie

Glancing through the menu, I was surprised to see how affordable many of the dishes were considering the venue, with starters between £7.50 and £13.50, and mains from £11.50 to £19.95. All the desserts were priced at £6.25. This works out at £30-£35 for a three course meal from the a la carte menu, which is not bad for the West End. Better still are the fixed priced options @ £15.50 and £19.50 for two or three courses, and the pre-theatre supper (chef's choice) @ £13.50 and £15.50 served between 5:00 and 6:30pm.

Image Courtesy of Century Club Brasserie

Reiko and I shared our starters and main courses. We started with the Steak Tartare @ £9.50 (which can also be served as a main course with French fries @ £18), and the Pan-Fried Foie Gras, Grapes and Balsamic @ £10.95. We enjoyed the generous portion of perfectly cooked foie gras, but we both agreed that the steak tartare was among the best we could recall eating in London. The meat was ultra-fresh, hand chopped and beautifully seasoned.

For our main course, we shared a Cote de Boeuf with Triple Cooked Chips @ £35 (for two people). One of my favourite cuts of beef, the meat was succulent and tender, deliciously charred on the outside yet bloody inside, and had the intensity of flavour expected of well-hung beef cooked on the bone. A real winner.

To accompany our beef, we had a lovely bottle of 2008 Massaya Classic, a Lebanese wine from Bekka Valley at £28. This tasted a little young, but had generous red berry fruit flavours and structure to stand up to the meat. House wines start at £18 with many options around the £25 mark.

To round off dinner, Reiko went for the Varlhona Chocolate Mousse and Honeycomb Ice Cream @ £6.25, while I opted for the Pear Tart Tatin with Creme Fraiche @ £6.25. We agreed that the presentation of both showed great finesse, and were a fitting conclusion to our meal.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal on that occasion, and indeed Tom (Reiko's son) and I booked for a surprise party to celebrate a very significant birthday for Reiko the following month. The Century Club Brasserie is on my radar whenever I crave a fine steak tartare or cote de boeuf in the West End.

Cost: The London Foodie was a guest of Century Club Brasserie. I estimate that a three course meal would cost around £30 to £35 (excl. drinks). In my opinion this is good value considering the location, venue and quality of food.

Likes: The steak tartare is one of the best I have eaten. The cote de boeuf was magnificent. Impeccable service. Plush surroundings and excellent location. Reasonably priced a la carte menu with good value pre-theatre and fixed price menus.

Dislikes: I cannot fault the food and service that we experienced that evening, and while members would probably disagree with me I feel that non-member diners should be allowed access to the roof top bar at the end of their meal. Currently, non-member diners are only allowed to use the brasserie.

Verdict: Top quality French brasserie nosh in ultra-central location at reasonable prices. Impeccable service, good wine list, plush surroundings, and possibly the best steak tartare in London. Highly recommended.

London Cooking Club - An Nduja Feast by Unearthed

2011-11-12T15:20:00.004Z

The London Foodie is a non-commercial blog, I do not sell advertising space and have no intention to do so in future. There are however a handful of companies that I wholeheartedly support, and Unearthed is one of them.

Founded by Simon and Carrie as recently as 2008, they started Unearthed to bring to our shores (and shelves), their food discoveries from selected artisan producers in continental Europe. In Brittany they found a smooth Duck Mousse, in Le Mans an award-winning Rillettes and in Aveyron an exceptional Saucisson Sec.

Selection of Unearthed's goodies to kick off proceedings

Their latest discovery is the Calabrian Nduja. A delicious ingredient, Nduja is a spicy spreadable sausage made from diverse parts of the pig such as the shoulder, belly and jowl as well as tripe and head, minced with roasted peppers and a mixture of spices including paprika. It can be simply spread over toast or used as a cooking ingredient in sauces and other dishes.

A few months ago I took part in an Nduja Recipe Challenge run by Unearthed, and devised a recipe for them using this ingredient - "Pan-Fried Halibut on Butter Beans and Nduja with a Lemon & SageDressing". I really enjoyed the experience and was pleased with the results. The combination of fish and pork worked well, and the Nduja added an extra level of "umaminess" to the dish. I loved the ingredient. If you would like to try this recipe at home you can find it here.

More recently, I was asked to host a Nduja Cooking Club at my home in Islington, and invite a few food writers to try out Unearthed's Nduja in a range of different recipes. As with my usual cooking clubs, I devised a menu and allocated a dish to each participant. It was also a great opportunity for us to meet (some for the first time) and cook together.

Trust an Italian to make good pasta, Fede at work!

We spent a fabulous Sunday afternoon together, you can see the menu we cooked below.

Pasta Bites' Linguine with Nduja, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

Nduja Cooking Club

Menu

23rd October 2011

Canapés

Spicy Nduja Palmier

(Recipe/Prepared by May – Slow Food Kitchen)

Unearthed Mezze Platter

(Supplied by Unearthed)

Starter

Linguine with Nduja, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

(Prepared by Fede of Pasta Bites)

Mains

Pan-Fried Cod on Butter Beans and Nduja with a Lemon and Sage Dressing

(Recipe/Prepared by Luiz & Rosana of The London Foodie & Hot and Chilli)

Pimp My Piri Piri Poussin

(Recipe by Eat Like a Girl, prepared by Qin & Nic of In Pursuit of Food and Cherrapeno)

Accompaniments

Buttered Samphire & Crispy Roast Potatoes

(Prepared by Luiz & Rosana of The London Foodie & Hot and Chilli)

Greek Salad

(Prepared by Sian of Domestic Sluttery)

Dessert

Lemon Posset

(Recipe by Kavey Eats, prepared by Cassey of A Girl Has to Eat)

Rosana's and my Pan-fried Cod with Butter Beans, Nduja and a Sage and Lemon Dressing

For more eloquent accounts of our Nduja Cooking Club, please visit the following sites:

Cherrapeno

Pasta Bites

Hot & Chilli

If you would like to join us at one of our events, visit the London Cooking Club page on this site for more information. Each person will cook one dish and bring a bottle of wine to share. There are no fees to participate in any of our London Cooking Club events.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to The London Foodie for updates via e-mail, RSS or Twitter (@thelondonfoodie) and be the first to learn when new dates are released.

Future London Cooking Club events include:

15th January 2012 - "Burma by MiMi" - Hosted by British-Burmese food blogger MiMi of Meemalee's Kitchen, and co-founder of Grazing Asia Supper Club, MiMi will be presenting us her native Burmese cuisine.

12th February 2012 - "Jewish Cooking Club" - Hosted by Jewish novelist Stella Newman, author of Pear Shaped, and Canadian foodie extraordinaire Ira Dubinsky who will be introducing us to a fantastic Jewish menu and recipes for London Cooking Club members.

18th March 2012 - "A Neapolitan Easter" - Hosted by Gina (@Gigi_nav) and Italian food blogger Fede Rilli of Pasta Bites, Italophiles and resident experts on their home cuisine.

London Restaurant Reviews – A La Cruz (Argentinian Asador in Farringdon)

2011-11-10T07:17:00.000Z

Opened in 2009, A La Cruz is John Rattagan's latest venture, a more upmarket version of its sister restaurant Buen Ayre, one of my top meat havens in London (reviewed here). Only recently I had the chance to visit and experience A La Cruz's asador grill, reputedly the first in the UK – an Argentine barbecue for slow roasting whole lambs and sides of beef supported on metal crosses “a la cruz”.

Image Courtesy of Paul Winch-Furness

Tucked away behind Exmouth Market, A La Cruz is set on a quiet residential street in Farringdon at the premises of a former Victorian pub. Beautifully restored by John and his business partner Marcelo Porcu, a former City financier, A La Cruz is an elegant and spacious restaurant with plenty of dark wooden panelling and original Victorian features, but the centrepiece is its glass-encased asador. Sitting in the main room next to the kitchen, it makes for some dramatic entertainment as the chefs spit roast entire lambs and other meats in full view.

Image Courtesy of Paul Winch-Furness

The menu reads well and is surprisingly affordable – starters are priced around £6 while the mains (primarily meats with the token haloumi wrap as the vegetarian option) vary from £16 for a 250g rib-eye steak to £25.50 for a 300g of Argentinian fillet. As in Buen Ayre, Parrilladas (Tradicional, Cambalache and A La Cruz) are also available and cost between £21 and £28 per person. In my opinion, Parrilladas offer the best value and also the option of trying different cuts of meat all at once.

On my visit, I was invited with a group of other food writers, to sample some of A La Cruz’s offerings. I met John Rattagan for the first time and was impressed by his South American warmth and hospitality. Before immigrating to the UK in 1990, John lived in Brazil and speaks fluent Portuguese with a Bahian accent!

We kicked off with a Plato Degustación @ £6 – a traditional tasting platter containing a small empanada (Argentinian beef pasty), provoleta (grilled, melting provolone cheese) and mojellas (beef sweetbreads). I enjoyed the empanada and provoleta (two of my favourite Argentine foods) but the mojellas were the real show stopper.

Sweetbread is the culinary name for the thymus (throat, gullet or neck sweetbread) or the pancreas (heart, stomach or belly sweetbread) glands of the calf and lamb. Mojellas are the thymus glands; they are at their largest in neonatal calves, atrophying as the animals reach maturity. Unsurprisingly, it is an expensive meat and a delicacy in Argentina where it is found only in some of the best restaurants. In terms of deliciousness, I would say they taste as good as well-marbled wagyu beef or foie gras. I loved my introduction to Mojellas, and look forward to returning to A La Cruz for another helping. Mojellas are available as a starter @ £6.50 or as a main @ £19.

Next, we had a selection of different cuts "parrillada style" including a large piece of Vacío @ £17, this was a tender piece of boneless beef flank, one of the most characteristic Argentine barbecue meats, it was perfectly cooked and tasted delicious served with A La Cruz’s own Chimichurri sauce.

The pièce de resistance was however the Cordero Entero that came next – a whole lamb barbecued on the asador, that looked and tasted magnificent. An impressive course for any celebratory dinner, it can be ordered for groups of 8 to 15 diners on request.

The Argentinian wine list was impressive and the wines that we tried, particularly selected by John to match the dishes we had, were spot on.

I was impressed by the quality of the meat, and the elegant but lively atmosphere that Marcelo and John have created at A la Cruz, and will definitely return for more mojellas and to try their parrilladas. Judging by my evening there, these will be as good as the ones I had at Buen Ayre.

Cost: The London Foodie was a guest of A la Cruz. I estimate that a 3-course dinner will cost around £40 per person (excl. drinks) which in my opinion is good value for money.

Likes: mojellas (sweetbreads) were sensational, as were all the meats I had that evening. Beautifully decorated restaurant. Well priced menu.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: If you are a meat lover, A la Cruz is as good as it gets. Great quality meats and value, elegant decor in the heart of Farringdon. Highly recommended.

Grazing Asia - Diwali Supper Club

2011-11-07T12:46:00.000Z

To celebrate Diwali this year, the most popular festival in the Hindu calendar also known as the "Festival of Lights", I was invited to host a special Diwali Supper Club sponsored by Tilda Rice.

Image Courtesy of Nutmegs Seven

Celebrated around the world, Diwali symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and marks new beginnings. It is a festival with food at the heart of the celebration with families and friends getting together for long, sumptuous feasts.

At my home in Islington, private chef and food blogger Maunika Gowardhan of Cook in a Curry was in charge of devising and executing the Diwali-themed, delicious menu using Tilda Rice for most of the dishes. We spent a lovely day together as I assisted her in the preparation of her dishes and learnt about her impressive career in the food industry.

Image Courtesy of Nutmegs Seven

To kick off proceedings I prepared a delicious but lethal Indian-inspired Martini made from vodka, Cointreau, cardamom and orange marmalade as a welcome drink and to accompany Maunika's Indian interpretation of Italian arancini - deep fried sundried tomato and mozzarella rice balls served with a mint dipping sauce.

As with most of the events I host, I normally don't get to eat much, but this time I managed to have a mouthful or two of some of Maunika's delicious dishes. My favourite was the Keralan Fish Curry. This was a fantastic dish also known as Meen Moilee, made by infusing lightly fried sea bass fillets in a coconut gravy with fresh curry leaves, ginger and zesty lemon juice. It was so delicious, I could have eaten that all night and nothing else!

Image Courtesy of Nutmegs Seven

The Paneer Haraa Tikka was also excellent, and another dish I would love to cook in future. What really made this dish was the addition of Maunika's homemade pineapple and black pepper chutney to grilled pieces of paneer (Indian cottage cheese) marinated in green herbs, garlic and fresh chillies.

Image Courtesy of Nutmegs Seven

The Lamb Yakhni Pulao was good and surprisingly mild in flavour making it a good accompaniment to the other fiery curries. Maunika slow-cooked chunky pieces of lamb, also making a delicious stock from it. She then fried the succulent pieces of meat with whole spices, Tilda Basmati rice in plenty of ghee, finally adding the lamb stock to cook the Pulao.

Image Courtesy of Nutmegs Seven

Other lovely looking dishes were the Haraa Masala Chicken (The Skinny Bib's favourite dish of the evening!), Baingan Ka Bharta (charred aubergines cooked in spices and fresh ginger), and Bhapa Doi, a Bengali dessert of cardamon infused, sweetened yoghurt served with mango puree and chopped pistachio.

To accompany the food, we had Santa Rita Gran Hacienda Reserva Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere, which I thought were robust and fruit-driven, and therefore good choices for the style of food we had on the evening.

Image Courtesy of Hot & Chilli

I thoroughly enjoyed hosting this event with Maunika Gowardhan for Tilda Rice; the experience has inspired me to learn more about Indian cuisine and cook it more regularly at home. For more information about Maunika's fantastic recipes, visit her website (Cook in a Curry) here.

Image Courtesy of Nutmegs Seven

For more eloquent accounts of this lovely evening, please visit the following blogs:

The Fantastic Teacup Chandeliers by Madeleine Boulesteix

2011-11-02T03:26:00.003Z

I first came across Madeleine's work in 2002, while leafing through a copy of Living Etc. She makes spectacular, quirky, culinary-inspired chandeliers out of recycled metal cooking utensils and glasses.

I tracked her down to her studio in Brixton, and we spent a happy hour or two discussing the kitchen we were designing and the colour schemes.

At the time, we were constructing a Denby-inspired 1930s cream and green colour scheme for our units, and Madeleine suggested a similar theme for our chandelier. We loved it so much, we took it with us when we moved to Islington.

Now some years later, we have just installed a new kitchen with a very different look, and once again turned to Madeleine for a centre-piece chandelier over the central island.

This time, we spotted a spectacular multicoloured glass chandelier replete with jelly moulds, pastry cutters and flan tins. It sounds barmy but looked fantastic, and had just been exhibited at the Courtauld Institute.

I don't use this site for commercial promotion, have no financial interest in Madeleine's sales and have paid the full asking prices for the two pieces I purchased from her.

But in Madeleine's case I love her work so much, I thought I had to let people know what a fantastic artist she is.

Madeleine is currently holding a brief exhibition, 'A Light Shower' at The Corner Shop, Craft Central, 21 Clerkenwell Green, London CE1R 0DX from 1-6th November. The exhibition is open Tuesday to Saturday 12-7pm with wine & snacks between 6-7pm, and on Sunday from 12-4pm. Nearest station is Farringdon.

I would thoroughly recommend a visit to her exhibition - every item on show is for sale. You can see more at www.madeleineboulesteix.co.uk, and at www.craftcentral.org.uk.

London Restaurant Reviews – Feng Sushi (Borough Market)

2011-10-15T01:11:00.001+01:00

I became one of Silla Bjerrum’s fans earlier this year when I attended a sushi master class and was lucky enough to meet her (reviewed here). I had a fascinating time as the founder of Feng Sushi showed us how to cut through fillet after fillet of different types of fish and roll the most delectable sushi.

It was also an opportunity to learn about her commitment to purchase fish from sustainable sources whenever possible, and her continuous efforts to maintain the quality standards she set out throughout the 6 branches of her restaurant chain. There are no crabsticks in sight at Feng Sushi as these are banned, Silla opts for real crab meat instead as well as line-caught , mackerel, sustainable salmon and hand-dived scallops.

I recently returned to Feng Sushi's Borough Market branch, her first which opened in the late 90s. The restaurant is rather small but is also light and airy with a very casual, canteen feel about it - light wooden tables that can be shared among diners, white and purple walls (Feng Sushi's colour), fish tanks and paper mats. Functional and a little austere, I felt the decor and seating were not conducive to a leisurely repast.

We ordered the "Borough Deluxe Sashimi to Share" @ £19.25 which contained a selection of seared tuna and salmon, hand dived scallops, yellowtail with chilli jam, and sea bass with salmon eggs. We felt that the fish tasted fresh and were very beautifully presented although we also agreed that little was gained by searing the sashimi tuna and salmon.

Feng Sushi's signature dish "Scallop Maki to Dive for" @ £7.25 was as delicious as I remember it - the rice was perfectly seasoned, and had a delicate but still firm texture. The scallops were meltingly tender and looked very attractive topped with the micro purple shiso leaves.

Next was the "Fish Tempura" @ £10 containing MSC hake (MSC = sustainable and certified) with 8 pieces of seasonal vegetables, onigiri sushi and dipping sauce. I was disappointed with this dish as I felt the batter was too thick and not as crisp as it should have been. Tempura is the one of the simplest of Japanese dishes but also one of the hardest to get right, and the chef on duty that day certainly didn't.

To round off our lunch we also had a selection of 14 nigiri and gunkan-maki (battleship) sushi, priced from £3.25 (Tamago - Japanese Omelette) to £7.95 (Ikura - Salmon Eggs) per pair. These were all competently made - the sushi rice was well cooked and seasoned, topped with excellent quality, ultra-fresh fish. Particularly good was the ama-ebi nigiri (sweet prawn) @ £5 and the ikura gunkan maki (salmon egg battleship) @ £7.95.

As a lunch-time treat, Dr G and I had a couple of cocktails - a deliciously fruity and reasonably strong Lychee Martini @ £6.25 and a refreshing Shochu Lemon Drop @ £5.75 to accompany our selection of sushi.

Cost: The London Foodie was a guest of Feng Sushi. I estimate that our meal cost approximately £30 per person excluding drinks.

Likes: excellent quality sushi and sashimi fish, commitment to sustainable fishing, well made and reasonably priced cocktails. Scallop Maki to Dive For is a winner.

Dislikes: wine menu feels like an after-thought - uninteresting and limited, tempura batter was disappointing, decor, tables and chairs feel austere and uninviting.

Verdict: Feng Sushi offers reliably fresh, excellent quality fish, ethically and sustainably sourced at reasonable prices. The six central locations across London make it a solid choice for affordable Japanese sushi and sashimi in the capital. Recommended.

London Restaurant Festival - Giveaway #4 - Food and Drink Safari at Renaissance Pubs in Clapham and Battersea

2011-10-11T00:10:00.002+01:00

The London Foodie has teamed up with Renaissance Pubs to offer you the chance to win a pair of tickets to their magnificent Food Safari this Saturday, 15th October 2011 from 12:30pm in conjunction with London RestaurantFestival.

If proper British pub grub is your thing, then head south to Clapham and Battersea and join Renaissance Pubs as they take you on a tour of four of their taverns - The Abbeville, The Stonhouse, The Avalon and TheBolingbroke.

Tickets are normally priced at £49.50 per person and include transport, food and fine wines. You’ll enjoy traditional British fare such as miniature homemade pies, quail Scotch eggs and Welsh rarebit at The Abbeville before moving onto a starter of chicken liver parfait, orange and onion marmalade served with a slice of sourdough at The Stonhouse. The Avalon plays host to the main course of slow roast pork belly served with parsnip purée, spinach, pine nuts and apple sauce whilst a pudding of passion fruit posset at The Bolingbroke ends the evening on a sweet note.

For more information about this London Restaurant Festival event or to purchase tickets please visit The Abbeville website on www.renaissancepubs.co.uk, or contact Hugo on 020 8675 2201, or email info@abbeville.co.uk.

HOW TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

To enter this competition, simply leave a comment in this post stating your NAME and E-MAIL address as MrBloggs(at)gmail(dot)com by midnight on Thursday, 13th October 2011.

The lucky winner will be randomly selected using random.org and his/her name will be announced via Twitter (follow @thelondonfoodie) at midday on Friday, 14th October 2011.

If you do not use Twitter, I will also be publishing the winner's name here at 15 minutes past midnight on the 15th October 2011.

The winner of this competition, randomly selected by random.org, was entrant number 9 HolyTShirT - Toby Henderson. Congratulations Toby, the Renaissance Pub group will contact you with further details on how to redeem your prize.

LONDON RESTAURANT FESTIVAL – GIVEAWAY #3 – WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS FOR THE BIG DEBATE “CHEWING THE FAT”

2011-10-08T01:00:00.002+01:00

The London Restaurant Festival’s annual debate was a cracker in 2010 when flamboyant foodists Janet Street-Porter and Rosie Boycott went head to head with the knife-sharp culinary wit of Jonathan Meades and A.A Gill to debate the motion ‘French Cuisine Is A Spent Force'.

This year's motion: ‘There Is No Such Thing As Ethnic Food' is subjected to a flame grilling.

Speakers will include A.A Gill, Jonathan Meades, Clarissa Dickson Wright, and Hardeep Singh, chaired by Kirsty Young.

11 October, Kings Place, 6.30pm

Tickets to include a glass of wine from Wines from Rioja and canapés

HOW TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

To enter this competition, simply leave a comment in this post stating your NAME and E-MAIL address as MrBloggs(at)gmail(dot)com by midnight on Sunday, 9th October 2011.

The winner will be randomly selected using random.org and his/her name will be announced via Twitter (follow @thelondonfoodie) shortly after midnight on the 9th October 2011.

If you do not use Twitter, I will also be publishing the winner's name here at midday on the 10th October 2011.

The winner of this competition was Felicity Spector. Congratulations Felicity, enjoy the debate!

LONDON RESTAURANT FESTIVAL - GIVEAWAY #2 - WIN A 3-COURSE LUNCH WORTH UP TO £200 FOR TWO AT VIAJANTE

2011-10-06T00:18:00.002+01:00

Win a meal for two at one of this year’s most exciting London food event courtesy of American Express®

BritDish is a landmark culinary event that’s been created in celebration of the partnership between London Restaurant Festival and American Express.

Taking place on Sunday 9th October 2011, BritDish will see five renowned international chefs reinterpret some of Britain’s most well known dishes for Sunday lunch. Exclusively available to American Express Cardmembers, diners will be treated to traditional British favourites but each with an exciting twist. Inspirational creations from Angela Hartnett, Vivek Singh, Nuno Mendes, Bruno Loubet and The River Room at the Savoy Hotel will completely turn the notion of Sunday lunch on its head.

The London Foodie has teamed up with American Express to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a table for two at the Viajante BritDish event.

The winner and their guest will enjoy a traditional British meal of to prawn cocktail, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and apple crumble, given a gastronomic twist by innovative chef Nuno Mendes.

Amex Be Inspired

Exciting cuisine from around the globe has inspired the BritDish chefs to develop their unique menus, now we want you to tell us what inspires you. American Express is celebrating the power of inspiration to help people to realise their potential and is working with youth charity ThePrince’s Trust to help inspire young people through the Amex Be Inspired programme.

So, during the London Restaurant Festival, simply tell American Express what inspires you about food and they will contribute 50p to The Prince’s Trust. Whether it’s a chef, a recipe, an ingredient or just a memorable meal, each inspiration will help fund a series of grassroots programmes across the country including a series of inspiring workshops. For more information and to take part, visit amexbeinspired.com /#amexbeinspired

HOW TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

To enter this competition, you do not need to be an Amex card holder, simply leave a comment in this post stating your NAME and E-MAIL address as MrBloggs(at)gmail(dot)com by midnight on Friday, 7th October 2011, answering the following question:

Participating BritDish chefs will reinterpret some of which country’s most well known dishes:

a) Australia

b) Britain

c) China

The lucky winner will be randomly selected using random.org and his/her name will be announced via Twitter (follow @thelondonfoodie) at 15minutes past midnight on the 7th October 2011.

If you do not use Twitter, I will also be publishing the winner's name here at 18:00 hours on the 8th October 2011.

For more information about BritDish visit londonrestaurantfestival.com/amex

The winner of this competition, randomly selected by random.org, was entrant 17 - anonymous -Matt.

Your details have been emailed to the American Express team who will be in touch with you. Well done, and thanks for entering this competition!

Terms and Conditions:

• Prize includes lunch for two at Viajante Restaurant as part of the American Express BritDish event on Sunday 9th October 2011

• Lunch will be served between 12.30 – 3.30pm

• Cost of meal is capped at £200 for two people inclusive of drinks

• Accommodation and travel are NOT included

• The prize is non refundable and non-transferable. There is no cash alternative

Posh Pub Crawling at ETM Group Pubs - ETM Gastro Gallop for London Restaurant Festival

2011-10-05T00:33:00.002+01:00

In the run-up to London Restaurant Festival (LRF), a group of food and wine writers and I were taken on a gastronomic tour of five of ETM Group's establishments. For one day only, 5th October 2011, you can experience the same trip as part of LRF for only £60 per person inclusive of five courses in five different venues plus fine wines, cocktails and transport. For more information, visit the London Restaurant Festival website here.

Image Courtesy of Paul Winch-Furness

Whenever I visit the bars of Spain or Italy I feel a bittersweet admiration for their custom of serving delectable small plates with their drinks, and how each bar is known for its particular offerings. This is a habit I would love to see extended to London where the saying "Eating is Cheating" is unfortunately ingrained in the minds of many hardened drinkers. In my opinion, drinking and eating go hand in hand, and it always a delight to find pubs like the ones we visited where as much trouble and thought goes into the food as the drinks.

Our first of five stops was at the Chiswell Street DiningRooms (CSDR) for canapés and cocktails. Occupying the premises of the former Whitbread Brewery on Milton Street, CSDR offers all-day, classic British menus devised by head chef Richard O’Connell, previously at The Groucho Club and One Aldwych. This was in my opinion the most elegant establishment, offering the best setting and food of all the places we visited during the evening.

I particularly enjoyed the mini Aberdeen Angus beef Wellington, the foie gras ballotine, brioche and Madeira jelly, and the seared Isle of Man king scallop, served with crispy bacon and pea puree.

Image Courtesy of Coralie of Tea Time in Wonderland

Other delectable canapés included smoked eel with horseradish, leek and wild mushroom tart, and soft boiled quail's egg, truffled duxelle and celery salt. A fine Old Elliot cocktail, a refreshing blend of Plymouth gin, Lillet Blanc, Peychaud's bitters, fresh coriander, lime juice and sugar, was a splendid foil to the range of canapés.

Image Courtesy of Coralie of Tea Time in Wonderland

We then boarded our people carrier to be whisked off to our next stop - The Hat and Tun at 3 Hatton Wall, Farringdon for our starter. This was a more traditional Victorian pub setting with deer antlers on the walls, taxidermy trophies and abundant dark oak.

Image Courtesy of Coralie of Tea Time in Wonderland

We were quickly seated and served our starter of Herefordshire snail and smoke bacon pie, Guinness and mushroom cream sauce. The snails were meaty and tasted delicious with the other ingredients encased in a light and crisp pastry.

Image Courtesy of Coralie of Tea Time in Wonderland

To accompany our pie, we had what I thought were some of the best wines of the evening - a fantastic 08 Montagny, 1er Cru le Vieux Chateau by J M Boillot, and also a red from the same region (Burgundy), a 08 Savigny les Beaune, 1er Cru Fourneaux by Jean J Girard. I was very pleased to see such quality wines at The Hat and Tun, and was soon to discover that the Beverage Operations Manager for the ETM Group who was accompanying us on the evening, Paulo Brammer, is a fellow Brazilian. Trust a Brazilian to find a good tipple!

It was soon time to head off to our third stop, and aboard our mini-van, we made our way to The White Swan on Fetter Lane. Similar in style to The Hat and Tun but with an impressive first-floor dining room, TheWhite Swan is another of ETM's pubs I would like to return to. Lunch menus are priced at £27 and £31 (two/three courses), while a three course dinner will set you back £35 or thereabouts. Judging by the delicious main course we had there, and the lavish dining room, these are, in my opinion, fair prices.

My roast tranche of Cornish line-caught turbot was, as their site states, hand-selected that morning at Billingsgate Market, and indeed it tasted ultra fresh. It was accompanied by Dorset crab beignets, braised young turnip tops, salsify, and bisque butter sauce. It was a beautifully executed dish with some top quality fish, being also the perfect match to the 07 South African Semillon from Boekenhoutskloof, in Franschhoek that we drank there.

Image Courtesy of Paul-Winch Furness

For dessert, we then drove across town to The Botanist in Sloane Square. More like a glitzy bar than a traditional English pub, The Botanist is a beautiful venue which certainly lives up to its glamorous postcode. There, we were served an assortment of dessert canapés including lemon meringue pie, Devonshire custard tart and baked gooseberry cheesecake.

My favourite desserts however were the fig pudding with Port roasted figs and caramel custard, and the chocolate and pecan brownies. To accompany our dessert canapés, we had a magnificent 08 Royal Tokaji Late Harvest from Hungary which was buttery, with refreshing acidity and notes of sweet honey and flowers.

Image Courtesy of Paul Winch-Furness

The evening wasn't over yet! Off we went to The Cadogan Arms on the Kings Road, just a few hundred metres away for coffee, digestifs, and a game of pool. This was a splendid evening, full of good food and wines, and I hope to be able to revisit some of these spots over the coming months.

I would highly recommend this London Restaurant Festival event tonight, ETM Gastro Gallop, which recreates this trip at £60 per person including 5 course dinner, wines, cocktail and transport between the five locations. For more information and to book tickets, please visit the website here or call Lauren on 020 7242 9122 ext 1 or email lauren.w@etmgroup.co.uk.

Chiswell Street Dining Rooms 56 Chiswell St, EC1Y 4SA (020 7614 0177)

The Hat & Tun 3 Hatton Wall, EC1N 8HX (020 7 242 4747)

The White Swan 108 Fetter Lane, EC4A 1ES (020 7242 9696)

The Botanist 7 Sloane Square, SW1W 8EE (020 7730 0077)

The Cadogan Arms 298 King's Road, SW3 5UG (020 7352 6500)

LONDON RESTAURANT FESTIVAL - GIVEAWAY #1 - WIN A 3-COURSE DINNER FOR TWO AT ONE ALDWYCH

2011-09-30T00:43:00.003+01:00

As part of the 2011 London Restaurant Festival, The London Foodie has teamed up with the magnificent One Aldwych to offer you the chance to win a fantastic three course dinner devised by head-chef Tony Fleming, with cocktails and wine for two, at their participating restaurants at One Aldwych between the 4th and 15th October 2011.

Tony Fleming has put together a delightful menu, Modern Market Menu, crammed full of delicious autumn flavours from three top British suppliers. While experiencing this gastronomic evening, you will dine around the hotel, with each course served in a different location within the One Aldwych.

One Aldwych is an independent, award-winning luxury 5-star hotel in the heart of London's Covent Garden. It is home to two prestigious restaurants, Axis serving a modern British menu and the more informal Indigo dishing up a European menu.

Starting at the Lobby Bar, the evening kicks off with a glass of Ridgeview's Bloomsbury Cuvée Merret and a tasting of oysters four ways - natural with shallot vinegar and tabasco, jellied with watercress, deep fried with tartar sauce and chips, and angels on horseback. All oysters are from Colchester Oyster Fisheries, Essex.

You will then move on to the elegant Axis Restaurant for your next course - roast haunch of venison, caramelised root vegetable purée with chestnut jus. You will also have a complementary bottle of wine expertly chosen by the restaurant's sommelier for your meal. The venison is sourced from the Denham Estate, Suffolk.

Your final stop will be at Indigo Restaurant for your dessert of Blackberry, elderberry and sloe gin jelly, clotted cream ice cream and blackberry mousse. The blackberries are from Pixley Farm, Herefordshire.

HOW TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION

To enter this competition, simply leave a comment in this post stating your NAME and E-MAIL address as MrBloggs(at)gmail(dot)com by midnight on 3rd October 2011.

The lucky winner will be randomly selected using random.org and his/her name will be announced via Twitter (follow @thelondonfoodie) at midday on the 4th October 2011.

If you do not use Twitter, I will also be publishing the winner's name here at midday on the 5th October 2011.

Please note: The Modern Market Menu is available from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th October and Tuesday 11th to Saturday 15th October only.

The competition winner, randomly selected by random.org, was MARIYA OSADCHY. Well done Mariya, thanks for entering this competition. One Aldwych will be in touch to instruct you on how to redeem your prize.

London Restaurant Reviews - Kentish Canteen

2011-09-28T11:55:00.001+01:00

Few restaurants have impressed me as much recently as Kentish Canteen. We visited on a Thursday evening and were so happy with our experience that Dr G returned for dinner the following day with a friend. Now, that is a recommendation if ever there was one!

I lived in nearby Chalk Farm during the 90s and used to drive down Kentish Town Road often. I also used to volunteer cooking for The Food Chain, a fantastic charity that provides 3-course meals for house-bound HIV and AIDS sufferers on Sundays. I spent many happy Sundays cooking at one of its kitchens a few metres away from this restaurant. I have some fond memories of Kentish Town, but truth be told, I used to dread the high street. It was dirty, ugly and full of betting shops and fried chicken joints. I was happy to return to this familiar place though, and pleased to see that a lot seems to have changed since those days.

Kentish Canteen is one of these recent improvements. It is a bright, spacious and modern restaurant, with plenty of natural light and some funky artwork very close to Kentish Town tube station. The photographic mural that dominates one of its walls pays homage to the many facets of this eclectic neighbourhood with images of its local residents, landmarks, architecture, and its early Victorian tube station. It also gives the restaurant a strong local identity and made me feel somehow connected to this neighbourhood again.

Chef John Cook (formerly at Vinoteca) devised a simple but well thought out menu at excellent value – starters are priced from £5.25 to £7.50, main courses from £8.95 to £15.95, and desserts between £4.25 and £6.75.

He also offers special sale menus (Mon-Fri noon-7pm and Sat & Sun 5-7pm) including one main (£10) or two courses (£13.50), accompanied by a glass of wine, Kronenbourg or soft drink. The beef burger with cheese, bacon, home made fries and coleslaw sounded tempting as did the pan fried haddock, pea puree, and skinny fries, both available at this discounted menu.

On our visit, Dr G and I had one of their “Larder Sharing Trays for 2”, a large board containing Serrano Ham and pan con tomate, served with 3 delicious salads and a bread tin at a mere £17.50! Such great food and value is hard to find.

All the salads were presented on big platters, Ottolenghi style, tasted fresh and were well seasoned. As we couldn’t make our minds up between the choice of Serrano ham, smoked salmon or roast chicken for the board, we also ordered a small platter of their own house-smoked salmon which was again excellent.

For main course, Dr G went for slow roasted shoulder of lamb @ £14.95 served with its own roasting jus, olive oil and lemon crushed potatoes and mange tout. The meat was meltingly tender and tasted delicious. We also felt that at this price, it was a rather generous portion.

My Sirloin steak, also priced at £14.95, was accompanied by a simple green salad and fat chips and tasted very good with the melted garlic butter it was fried in.

We ordered an 09 bottle of Malbec, Trivento Reserve from Mendoza, Argentina @ £24.95 which was a good accompaniment to our meaty mains. The wine list is predominantly Old World but also has a few New World choices. There are many excellent options below the £20 mark, but only 3 choices of white or red wines by the glass. Commendably, cocktails are priced at a mere £6.50 and contain 75ml of alcohol, equivalent to a triple shot. Camden Brewery draught beer (brewed half a mile away) is also available.

For dessert, I ordered Crème Brulee @ £4.25, a favourite of mine, while Dr G had the “Homemade Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream” served with raspberry coulis @ £4.25. As with the other courses, both desserts were well made and ended this great meal on a very good note.

Cost: around £25 for a three course meal (excluding drinks). This is excellent value for food of this quality.

Likes: good quality cooking, excellent VFM, great addition to Kentish Town Road, friendly and very knowledgeable service, well thought out wine list, filtered water promptly brought to our table without us having to request it, 75ml of alcohol in all cocktails (triple shot) priced at £6.50.

Dislikes: None – although more wine choices by the glass would be nice.

Verdict: Kentish Canteen offers a simple menu, very well executed. Excellent VFM and friendly service make this a lunch/brunch or supper spot not to be missed. We loved it. Very highly recommended.