London Restaurant Reviews - Galvin La Chapelle

Galvin La Chapelle

Recently I was celebrating an important anniversary and decided that it was time to treat myself and Dr G to something a little special. Galvin la Chapelle seemed liked the natural choice.

Housed at St Botolph’s Church Hall, a Victorian grade II listed building, the brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin provide a setting that is magnificent, and can rise to any occasion.

Think high (20 metre) ceilings, exposed wooden beams, long arched windows and massive church-like chandeliers. Freshly cut flowers are ubiquitous. The Galvin brothers have created a highly theatrical space for their restaurant with great elegance.

Front-of-House staff were friendly, inviting us to sit at the bar while our table was being prepared. However, it was not until 30 minutes later, when I reminded them of our reservation, that we were shown to our table. We were surprised by this because by that time (10.15pm), there were plenty of vacant tables.

Service from then on was faultless - our waiter was friendly, efficient and discreet throughout. The menu was short, seasonal and well thought out, and before long we had placed our orders.

Our first starter, the “Lasagne of Dorset crab, velouté of chanterelles” @ £11.50 was a well presented dish, with layers of light and delicious crab mousse interspaced with fresh pasta in a foamy crab sauce. The mushrooms added to the delicate crab flavour giving a rich, earthy, almost truffle-like finish.

The “Terrine of Landaise Foie Gras and leeks in truffle vinaigrette” @ £12.50 was also good and looked fantastic. Although the visual symmetry of the dish was appealing, to my palate, the leek almost overwhelmed the foie gras.

The pièce de resistance however was the “Roast Chateaubriand in Hermitage jus with truffle macaroni” (for two) @ £53. With great aplomb, the beef tenderloin was brought to our table with a whole roasted garlic head, and carved by our friendly waiter. The meat was flavoursome, juicy, and sublimely tender, served with a highly concentrated sauce reduction made with Hermitage wine.

The “Truffle Macaroni” was a splendid accompaniment, the highly scented truffle shavings combining well with the cheesy pasta, an elision I would have never thought feasible.

One of the desserts was the “Selection of French farmhouse cheeses” @ £10.50. I normally order a platter of cheese to finish off the red wine but on this occasion I wanted to see how La Chapelle’s own cheese board would compare to my all-time favourite Chez Bruce’s.

Having to go down a level to where the cheese board was rather than it being brought up to our table was a bit odd. Despite boasting a good range of French farmhouse cheeses, I still believe La Chapelle is not on a par with Chez Bruce’s (where the cheese board is brought to you). The selection I chose was nevertheless quite delicious – they were mostly unpasteurised, pungent and creamy.

This was followed by “Chilled Chocolate Fondant, banana yoghurt ice cream and honeycomb” @ £8.50. We were impressed by the presentation and flavours of this dessert. Bitter chocolate and bananas is, in my opinion, one of the best combinations of flavour in any comfort/feel good dessert. The addition of honeycomb was inspired, giving an extra layer of texture and complexity.

Their wine list was as expected very impressive with bottles starting from around the £20 mark but escalating steeply upwards. The Rhône is one of my favourite wine regions in France (Burgundy being top of the list) and for the occasion I ordered a 2007 bottle of Rasteau @ £39. The Rasteau was as good as I remembered it to be, and partnered our beef and cheeses perfectly.

The total bill was £159 including a serious wine and 12.5% service. Looking at the bill I was pleasantly surprised to see that La Chapelle only charges £1.50 for its bottle of water (normally priced at £4 or above at similar restaurants).

We spent just under £100 for our food bill (or £50 per person), and I consider this to be good value for a restaurant of this calibre. I have, on many occasions, spent similar sums for very mediocre meals in the West End of London.

Verdict – Spectacular setting for any special occasion with food to match. Friendly and efficient waiting service but slightly let down by front of house staff. I will certainly return to try the more affordable 3-course prix fixé menu @ £24.50 (lunch only) or the less grand Galvin Café de Luxe also at the same venue.

London Restaurant Reviews - Viet Grill

Viet Grill

Vietnam has one of the most sophisticated cuisines in the world and is one of the few countries I keep returning to particularly for its food.

Closer to home, I have been heading to Kingsland Road for my fix of Vietnamese food and have become Song Que’s indisputably “Number 1 Fan” in the last few years. I had resigned myself to its scary plastic lobsters and unfriendly service. If only I could taste its magnificent pho soup - all would be forgiven.

It is all about the food, and although I do not believe Asian cooking should necessarily be “cheap”, I certainly do not want to pay a premium for the sake of trendier decor. I have thus viewed the recent smartening up of some of the restaurants on Kingsland Road with a little caution.

It was with these thoughts in mind that Dr G and I went to the newly re-opened Viet Grill on Kingsland Road. Despite getting a complimentary meal offered by its PR machine, I feared I might dislike this restaurant.

It was a Friday evening at 8pm when we arrived and the restaurant was buzzing. Despite the long queue of customers, we were soon shown to our table. First impressions were good – front-of-house staff were friendly and polite, the restaurant had been painted with a beautiful design of banana leaves and decorated with some nice touches like wooden bird cages, a beautiful aquarium and some modern but discreet lighting.

Tables were positioned very close together and we soon struck up a conversation with a delightful couple “Olivia and Moosa” who were sitting next to us. They were regulars at Viet Grill and were very positive about the food despite being a bit weary of the high density of diners the restaurant catered for at any one time.

Our starters did not take long to come; these included “Mango Salad” (sun-dried squid, Viet mint, peanuts, mango) @ £7. I was delighted by this, and loved the flavour and unusual consistency of the sun-dried squid. It was a deliciously refreshing salad with some interesting flavours and started the evening on a good note.

The “Piggy Grilled Aubergine” (spring onions, minced pork in tangy sweet and sour sauce) @ £5.50 was the next starter and, in my opinion, was one of the best dishes of the evening. I love aubergines, and the addition of spring onions and pork to a rather delicate and well-balanced sweet and sour sauce made for a very good dish.

This was followed by the “Feudal Roasted Beef” @ £9, a Saigon speciality, this tasted as good and fresh as the ones I remember having in Ho Chi Min City.

A “Mixed House Platter” @ £7 per person was served next containing Mango Salad, Imperial Spring Rolls, Fresh Soft Rolls or Goi Cuon, Beef Wrapped in Betel Leaves & Chilli Salt and Peppered Squid. I always order goi cuon and beef in betel leaves whenever eating at Vietnamese restaurants, and Viet Grill’s did not disappoint. The Fresh Rolls had just the right amount of vermicelli, herbs and prawns, and were fresh and delicious.

This is one of the simplest dishes on any decent Vietnamese menu, and can be prepared well in advance. If prepared too early and not stored, it can smell and taste of the refrigerator. This was not a problem at Viet Grill. Fresh Rolls are also great to be made at home and served as canapes if you can master the softening and wrapping of rice paper sheets. I would recommend practicing it thoroughly before your guests arrive!

 The first main dish was “Viet Quail Curry” (with aubergine, crunchy okra, coconut and spicy curry sauce) @ £8. This was unusually spicy for a Vietnamese dish but had some interesting flavours and textures coming through from the crunchy okra and quail meat. It was not an easy dish to share as the quail was served whole and on the bone.

The other main dish was “Slow Cooked Mekong Catfish” (poached in caramelised fish sauce, simmered in a clay pot and finished with cracked pepper and fresh chilli) @ £7.50. Viet Grill’s description which I quote above in brackets was very apt but it does not do justice to this fantastic dish – the sauce was deliciously sweet and salty and gave the dish a richness I had not yet tasted, complementing the fish perfectly. By far the best main of the evening and one I will make sure to order again.

I love having my food prejudices challenged in this way, and this time, I am pleased to admit that Viet Grill came up trumps. Most dishes on the menu were more sophisticated and authentically Vietnamese than other restaurants in the area with very friendly and helpful service.

 

Verdict – Delicious Vietnamese food served in beautiful surroundings by some very friendly staff. Viet Grill has certainly raised its game and I hope it will become a standard setter for other Vietnamese restaurants in the area. Highly recommended.

London Underground Restaurant – Cucina Cinzia

Cucina Cinzia (UPDATED on 1st March 2011)

Few if any Supper Clubs can boast a chef especially flown in from Italy, their suitcase loaded with local produce and an inexhaustible enthusiasm for their regional cuisine. That is what is on offer at this innovative partnership between the delightful Jill and chef Cinzia of Florence, Tuscany.

Last Saturday, Dr G and I headed to well-heeled Fulham for the first supper club evening of Cucina Cinzia. We had a real sense of excitement; being their first event, it was hard to know what to expect.

We arrived at the elegant home of Jill, an American who has lived in London for the last 11 years with her husband and two children. First impressions were good – we were soon welcomed into Jill’s beautiful family home, offered a glass of Prosecco and personally introduced to each of the other guests.

It felt as if we were taking part in an old friend’s dinner party, such was Jill’s personal welcome, except that we did not know any of the guests or the host!

Cinzia joined us in the living room where we were served the “Stuzzichini” (or aperitifs).  These were dainty cheese pizze and parmesan cheese straws; they tasted fresh and delicious and were the perfect accompaniment to our Prosecco.

Cinzia speaks little English, but her enthusiasm to communicate goes beyond any language barriers, although Jill is fluent in Italian is always at hand to translate. Being half-Italian, I learnt a little about the language from my grandmother and more recently in Genoa as part of my Business and Italian degree. I loved being an Erasmus student there despite carelessly blowing my whole year’s budget in about 3 months eating out. It didn’t bode well for a career in Finance…

I put my rusty Italian to some good use. Despite my faltering grammar I was soon chatting to Cinzia about Tuscany, her passion for food (she greatly admires Japanese food), her beloved Tuscan cuisine, and about the dishes we were about to sample that evening. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

We were then served our antipasti “Tris di Crostini” – a trio of Crostini Toscani (made from chicken livers), Leek & Gorgonzola Crostini, and Dittini di Mousse al Finocchiona.  The latter, and my favourite of the three, was a delicate pastry filled with a mousse made from Finocchiona.

Finocchiona is a cured Tuscan salami, marbled with fat and flavoured with wild fennel seeds. It is aged between 5 and 12 months, and is made of 50% lean meat (pork belly & shoulders) and 50% fat (pig cheeks).  The flavour of this salami was intense and utterly delicious, and it worked remarkably well in the mousse and pastry.

Our next course was “Zuppa di Farro” (Spelt Soup with Cannelini beans and Leeks) – I was initially intrigued by this dish but was pleasantly surprised by how creamy and delicately flavoured it was. It was a deliciously hearty soup with the cannelini beans and fried bacon giving it a real lift. I loved the delicate but wholesome flavours of this soup.

“Pennette al Frantoio di Marco” was served next. The pennette pasta was accompanied by a delicious sauce made with olives from the grove of Cinzia’s brother-in-law Marco. We were also offered some highly concentrated olive oil to drizzle over our pasta. This had also been pressed from olives at Marco’s grove.

 

This was one of the simplest but also one of the most sensational dishes of the evening – it encapsulates what for me is the essence of Italian food – the very best ingredients cooked in the simplest possible way.

A gorgeously decorated platter of “Frutta Fresca” (fresh fruit) was served prior to dessert and worked well as a palate cleanser.

“Torta di Ricotta e Pinoli” (ricotta and pine nut cake) was served with “Mousse al Caffe”. The cake was deliciously moist and creamy. This was also a clever combination as the delicate sweetness of the ricotta cake contrasted well with the light and slightly bitter flavour from the espresso mousse.

 

 

I felt privileged to have experienced Cinzia’s cooking, Jill’s generous hospitality and the company of some very charming diners. Cucina Cinzia is a real gem of a supper club, and one that I am certain will be over-subscribed in no time.

 

 

Verdict – One of a kind, I cannot think of any other supper clubs offering such authentic and delicious Tuscan dishes as Cucina Cinzia. For real Italian food in London this is definitely the place to go. A great addition to the underground dining scene in London. Highly recommended.

...What Others Are Saying...

By Tiffany Morris on 1st March 2011: The London Foodie review of this restaurant sounded absolutely incredible. I was excited to try it and invited along two friends from Cambridge that both love Italian and were intrigued by my enthusiasm for London underground restaurants.

We arrived at Jill’s home and were greeted with Prosecco and led to the garden to meet the other guests on what was a beautiful sunny Friday evening. The aperitifs included fried zucchini flowers with a very light batter that were absolutely delicious. The rest of the dinner flew by and while the atmosphere was relaxed and lively, the food was unfortunately not memorable.

The main was filletini of pork with spaghettini di verdure (very fine julienne of sauteed veggies twirled on top). My friends’ compared it to Tesco value pork with some chopped veggies. As we were leaving Jill and Cinzia gave us each a little jar of Tuscan herbs to take away. They were lovely hosts, and despite my love for the simplicity of Tuscan cooking we felt this was just too simple. I know Cinzia brought many of the ingredients from Italy, but it just wasn’t obvious in the meal. The meal was nice and we enjoyed the atmosphere, but we wouldn’t be quick to go back.