London Supper Club - White Room Supper Club

White Room Supper Club

I recently visited Claudia’s supper club in Islington for her Fish and Seafood evening. Originally from Germany, Claudia has also lived in Australia, South Africa and London and her cooking reflects her cosmopolitan background.

Location

Set in a delightful loft style apartment by Regent’s Canal in Islington, Claudia’s flat is, as her supper club’s name suggests, ultra modern and mostly white. It is light and airy with large, beautiful windows which allow plenty of natural light.

Food

A keen cook, Claudia takes her inspiration mostly from her native country’s recipes. The evening’s menu however was not entirely German, and soon after being introduced to some of the guests, we were seated and presented with an amuse bouche of scallop and mango ceviche.

As a starter we were served a lovely smoked fish pate with salad and Claudia’s own homemade bread. The pate was good but the bread, topped with sea salt and freshly baked, was excellent.

This was followed by “Seafood Risotto” which Claudia cooked perfectly. The rice was still slightly al dente, and had a deliciously creamy quality as good risotto should. The seafood tasted fresh and delicious, and I thoroughly enjoyed this dish.

For main course, we had “Fish fillets stuffed with macadamia nuts”. This dish had an unusual but not unpleasant texture, and the pureed macadamia nuts had been ground with fresh herbs. It was a generous portion served on a bed of wilted spinach.

A rhubarb pie and rhubarb cream in chocolate cup was served as dessert. I enjoyed the tartness of the rhubarb against the dark chocolate, and felt that the combination worked well in this interesting dessert.

Drinks

Claudia served us canapés (the homemade choux puffs filled with horseradish cream were particularly good) with “fruit punch” on arrival.

The White Room Supper Club is BYO and charges no corkage. Claudia also stocks some wine which guests can purchase for an additional donation.

People

Claudia is German, but lived in Australia and the UK for many years. She is a very friendly and caring host, and will go the extra mile to make her guests feel welcome.

Claudia can seat about 10 people around her table making it an intimate event akin to a large dinner party. There were nine of us that evening, an interesting mix of people from different age groups and nationalities.

Dr G and I met Steve, a charming theatre producer (of Vagina Monologues fame) and his wife Chrissie who decided to move from Croydon to another apartment in that same building a couple of years ago.

I was pleased to see some familiar faces like Annette, a German banker whom I have known for a few years, and a half Persian, half Irish woman with whom I exchanged many stories about my attempts to cook tadig and other Iranian dishes.

Cost: £25 per person although she is considering increasing the donation to £30 or possibly £35 depending on the evening’s menu.

Likes: interesting mix of people, great setting, local supper club (I staggered home at three in the morning!), excellent choux pastry and freshly baked, homemade bread.

Dislikes: it would have added to the experience if we had been advised of the menu beforehand either via the blog or e-mailing or a clear explanation prior to each course being served.

Verdict: Claudia is a keen and very ambitious cook and a delightful host. The White Room Supper Club is another interesting and cosmopolitan addition to the London’s underground restaurant scene.

Seeking the Best Dim Sum in London - Royal China Club

Royal China Club

Located on soulless Baker Street, the Royal China Club (RCC) is one of the many fashionable restaurants that seem to be livening up an otherwise lacklustre street.

Part of the Royal China Group of restaurants, the Royal China Club was opened as the group’s answer to the challenge set by upmarket dim sum eateries like Hakkasan and Yauatcha, with menu prices to match.

Accompanying me on the day were Dr G and Mr Noodles who politely accepted our impromtu invitation to dim sum. The restaurant has an elegant feel with large tanks filled with lobsters and other crustacea dominating its entrance.

As well as the standard dim sum dishes the menu also contained some unusual choices like the delicious “Pan fried fillet of duck breast” @ £4.60, served in large slices on a hot sizzling plate.

Another unusual but flavoursome dish was the “Fillet of sea bass wrap” @ £4.60. Beautifully presented, the dish consisted of fillets of sea bass wrapped around crunchy vegetables in a spicy broth.

The “Shanghai pork and crab dumplings” @ £4.20 were also good, holding a fair amount of concentrated broth in a fine, translucent skin.

One of my favourite dim sum dishes is “Prawn and yellow chive dumplings” @ £3.90. I was pleased to find RCC’s dumplings to be excellent – the morsels were bursting with a generous amount of filling, they tasted fresh and had a delicious herby/garlicky flavour from the chives.

The “Bamboo pith and prawn dumpling” (har gow) @ £3.90 were beautifully pleated, and well cooked – the skin had a slightly chewy/sticky texture which is the sign of a well made har gow.

“Lobster dumpling with rice wine sauce” @ £8 was a let-down in both execution and flavour. The delicate meat was completely overwhelmed by the other ingredients, and at £8, we all felt it was overpriced.

Onto more familiar grounds, I felt that the “Baked char siu pork puff” @ £3.60 were as good as I hoped they would be. I love these puffs, and nearly always order them for dim sum. They remind me of Brazilian/Portuguese “Empadinhas” (although in our version we use prawn or chicken and sometimes palm hearts). The pastry was deliciously buttery and flaky holding the delectable and sweet char siu pork filling.

One of the most interesting dishes was the “Glutinous rice omelette with duck” @ £5. Similar to the more ubiquitous “glutinous rice in lotus leaf”, RCC’s version was novel with a thin outer layer of fried egg, and tasted delicious.

Another traditional dim sum given the RCC revamp was the “Sesame paper prawn with mango“@ £3.80. The sweet mango worked surprisingly well with the combination of prawns and coriander, giving a real lift to the dish.

Cheung fun is a “must-have” in any dim sum meal and so we ordered “Veal cheung fun” and “Dover sole cheung fun” both at @ £4.20. Despite the novel presentation, I felt both dishes were rather disappointing – in my opinion cheung fun is all about the different textures (and flavour), and I did not feel these types of meat and fish worked well against the silken rice wrappers.

The biggest disappointment however was the “Braised E-fu noodles with soya sauce” @ £9.50. The noodles were mushy and sat in an indiscernible brown sauce with little, if any, flavour.

The saving grace to a “hit-and-miss” lunch was our dessert – “Coconut moss dumplings with black sesame seed” @ £3.90. The black filling was gloriously nutty contrasting well with a delicate coconut flavoured wrapper.

To accompany our dim sum dishes we had a pot of “Tieguanyin” oolong tea (also known as Iron Goddess of Mercy) @ £4.80 which was delicately flowery and very refreshing. The tea pot was regularly topped up with freshly boiled water without us needing to ask for it.

Cost: £81.40 including 12.5% service or £27 per person.

Likes: excellent prawn and chive dumplings and glutinous rice omelette with duck dshes, novel presentation, attentive and polite service.

Dislikes: higher than average prices, some of the dishes were ambitious but did not quite deliver like the lobster dumpling and veal cheung fun.

Verdict: Good quality dim sum restaurant with high aspirations but lacking in consistency. Higher than average prices, excellent service, and elegant setting. Given the high prices and inconsistent cooking, I would rather spend an extra few pounds and go to Hakkasan. Despite this, I would still recommend RCC over the nearby Phoenix Palace where cheaper prices go hand in hand with poor quality dim sum and rude service.

London Cooking Club - "From Hanoi to Saigon - A Vietnamese Voyage"

"From Hanoi to Saigon - A Vietnamese Voyage"

For our third London Cooking Club evening a few weeks ago, we decided to host a Vietnamese themed event inspired by two of my favourite cookery books "Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Recipes from the Heart" and “The Songs of Sapa” by Pauline and Luke Nguyen.

We were pleased to have some new members joining us for the evening – Louise, Alain and Veronique, my sister Patricia, Betina, my Brazilian friend Sidnei, and Linda.

We were also delighted to have Hoa with us, a Vietnamese student who helped us to prepare and serve most dishes as well as telling us some interesting stories about the food we were about to try.

All recipes were taken from the above two books with each person contributing at least one dish and accompanying wine. It was a fun evening with a great atmosphere as we all participated in the cooking and tucked into some amazing Vietnamese food.

The recipes were surprisingly easy to follow and only a few unusual ingredients were required which were purchased at Longden Supermarket on Hackney Road.

To start the evening, Dr G prepared “Bi Cuon” (soft rice paper rolls with pork loin and scented roasted rice powder). The meat was marinated in sugar and fish sauce, boiled until the sauce was reduced and caramelised and then cut into fine strips. Shredded pork skin was added to the meat, and then seasoned with garlic, oil, sugar and ground roasted rice among other ingredients.

The pork mixture was rolled tightly in rice paper with lettuce, perilla, basil and mint leaves and served with a dipping fish sauce. This was a deliciously refreshing dish and a nice alternative to the more popular “goi cuon”. Hoa showed us how to roll them, and we all had a go at preparing our own. It was a great way to start the evening and to get people participating and talking to one another.

To accompany the rolls I prepared “Goi Du Du” (green papaya salad with prawns and pork). I would not have attempted this without purchasing one of those Vietnamese vegetable peelers on my recent trip to Vietnam (virtually impossible to julienne a whole papaya without one). I love the combination of shredded green papaya, mint, perilla, pork and prawns in this salad, making it one of my favourite dishes in Vietnam.

This was followed by Linda’s “Bun Bo Xao” (wok tossed beef and lemongrass on vermicelli noodles).

The beef had a delicious wok-charred flavour and a strong scent of lemongrass, and it accompanied the cold rice vermicelli and other ingredients perfectly. I loved the balance of hot, cold, sweet and savoury elements of this dish. Linda was a little hesitant about cooking this but she made a great success of it.

Our Vietnamese guest Hoa prepared “Suon Ram Man” (pork spare ribs braised in coconut juice). I was pleased that she had decided to prepare this as I had never cooked with young coconut juice before – the meat was marinated in a mixture of garlic, oyster sauce, sugar and fish sauce, deep fried and then braised in coconut juice. The meat was incredibly tender and having absorbed the sweetness of the coconut juice, it tasted delicious.

Veronique and Alain cooked a splendid dish of lemon grass and chilli chicken called “Ga Xao Xa Ot”.

The chicken, whilst cooking, absorbed the flavours of the lemongrass, chillies and other ingredients, remaining tender and succulent. This was a simple but delicious dish served with Jasmine rice.

Patricia and Betina made what I think was one of the most successful dishes of the evening, and one I cannot wait to try again – “Thit Kho Trung” (caramelized pork leg and whole egg with chilli and pepper). The meat was coated in hot caramel and cooked in stock, fish sauce and sugar for about 45 minutes before whole boiled eggs were added. Thirty minutes later, the meat was melting in the mouth, tasted sweet and utterly scrumptious. A real winner.

To accompany the main dishes, Louise cooked us a delicious dish of “Ca Tim Nuong” - char-grilled aubergines with prawns, roasted peanuts and shallots.

For dessert Patricia and Betina made “Che Khoai Mon” (Black sticky rice with taro and sweetened coconut cream). I enjoyed the nearly chocolaty quality of this dessert - the creaminess of the dark sauce coming from both the starch of the taro and the coconut cream was exquisite.

As in previous London Cooking Club meetings, most people were meeting for the first time that evening but still a shared sense of fun, camaraderie and above all, love for good food prevailed. I would like to thank all the guests for being so kind and for the effort they put into cooking all those delicious dishes and for sharing them with us.

Our next meeting will be in June 2010 and the theme will be “Ottolenghi” inspired by the cookery books “Ottolenghi The Cookbook” and “Plenty”. Please visit our Facebook page “London Cooking Club” or e-mail me if you would like to take part.