Month: July 2012

Hix, Soho

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My friend Kristin, who I know from Uni back in Sweden, lives in London too, and we try to meet up once a month to catch up, enjoy good food and speak Swedish. The first time we met up we had oysters and pig’s trotters at Terroirs, so it is safe to say we’re both foodies.

My last week in London before going on holiday we had dinner at Hix, where we both enjoyed baked bone marrow.

We met straight after work and had time for a glass at Mark’s Bar in the basement at Hix before dining on the ground floor. The food is prepared in simple ways to enhance the fantastic produce. Seasonal food and local produce are definitely key words here.

I started off with a plate of girolles, just lightly fried in herb butter. The mushrooms were beautiful (and I should now, us Swedes take girolles seriously) and very enjoyable.

Kirstin chose sand eels with caper mayonnaise and received a huge plateful. I got to try them too, and they were definitely the best sand eels I’ve had.

Both Kristin and I chose hanger steak with baked bone marrow for mains. The meat was perfectly cooked (mine rare and Kristin’s medium-rare) and again the portions were huge. The bone marrow was mixed with a mustardy stuffing and baked in the bone and was absolutely wonderful. And a fun way to serve it too.

Although the portions were big we still ordered sides, which was totally unnecessary. I hardly touched my chips or Kristin her salad. We also got three sauces with the steak; a mint sauce, a hot mustardy sauce and both our favourites, the bearnaise sauce.

The food at Hix was delicious, but rather expensive. Absolutely worth it once in a while but when spending money in this price range I usually choose more complicated gourmet restaurants. This was my first time at Hix and although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I prefer St John in this restaurqnt category, but it is definitely a good thing that such a restaurant exists in Soho,

Bonus: Mark Hix’s recipe of the main course we had; hanger steak with baked bone marrow.

Steak sandwich with spinach and parmesan

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During the two weeks I stayed with my friend Nick while waiting to move into the new place, I did cook a bit although I missed my own larder and equipment. I mainly re-used old favourites requiring only ordinary ingredients found in any corner shop, but you can still make some really nice things out of basic ingredients.

Like this steak sandwich for example. The taste of crispy buttery bread and rare steak is divine, and with some green leaves, mayonnaise and good parmesan this a true delight.

Steak sandwich with spinach and parmesan, serves 1

200-300 g sirloin steak

1 ciabatta

salted butter and oil for frying

1-2 tbsp good mayonnaise, like Hellman’s or homemade

1 handful baby spinach

parmesan shavings

salt, black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Season the meat. Cut the ciabatta in half. Heat up a frying pan with butter and oil on medium heat. Fry the bread crispy and golden and remove to a plate. Turn the heat up to high and fry the meat for a minute on either side. Remove to another plate and let the meat rest for at least 5 minutes.

Spread mayonnaise on the breads and top with spinach. Trim the meat and slice it. Divide the meat slices between the breads and top with parmesan shavings, ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Tuck in!

Amazing pizza at Santa Maria Pizzeria, Ealing

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I don’t remember exactly how I heard about these fab pizzas to begin with, but I think it was through Twitter. Then later I saw this article in the FT about the five best pizzerias in London. Since my friend Jenny lives in Ealing I made sure to tell her about this place before visiting her last weekend. But when we were strolling along looking for a lunch place it had slipped my mind, but suddenly we saw this cute little pizza place and I realised that is the one, and our lunch plans were sorted.

The pizzas looked amazing and we were starving, but it was hard to decide which pizza to go for; they all sounded lovely. In the end I chose one with buffalo mozzarella, mushrooms and truffle oil and it was amazing. Best pizza ever – hand on heart!

Jenny’s pizza was just as delicious (I know because I tried it), topped with prosciutto, parmesan, tomatoes and rocket. I struggle for words to describe it, that’s how good it is.

Once we had finished our meal and could lift our gaze from the plates we realised that the pizzeria looked really nice and cosy on the inside too. And everything they served was Italian. The wine, the sparkling water, the soft drinks and the icecream.

I have one last thing to say: GO!

The Botanist

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I met Jess and Laura for a spur of the moment drink on Friday that actually turned into a proper meal. We had some errands to do and then met up at The Botanist in Sloane Square after.

This busy bar and restaurant is always popular, but it was quite quiet in the dining room when we arrived, but it soon picked up.

We were pretty slow at ordering, too busy drinking Chapel Down sparkling wine and gossiping. But eventually we managed to decide on the starters.

Jess and Laura shared this smoked salmon with horseradish cream, Irish soda bread and lemon. Good produce and the girls were happy!

I chose half a dozen escargots served in plenty of bubbling butter with garlic and parsley and bread to dip of course. Although they were served off the shell, the snails were big and juicy.

After another while we also managed to decide on the maincourses, after asking our lovely waitress a number of questions.

Laura chose a lovely fresh salad with the most amazing lemon dressing. The salad consisted of purple broccoli, peas, broadbeans, radishes, goat’s cheese curd and candied walnuts.

Jess and I chose half a grilled lobster each, with tarragon butter and chips. It was Friday after all. It was beautifully plated on a round wooden board and the tarragon butter came in a mini copper pot. The lobster was perfectly cooked and melted in your mouth, and worked pretty well with the Burgundy Chablis we had to drink.

Apart from the nice food, I really liked the ambiance and the professional staff. We were probably a bit annoying, asking lots of questions, but our waitress was friendly and professional and offered her personal opinion which we really appreciated.

The Botanist does classic uncomplicated dishes and swim somewhere in the waters between a gastro pub and restaurant, but they do it well. It is focus on good procude and good cooking as well as good front of house. I find it perfect for some wine and a bite to eat after a busy day at work which was just what we were there for.