Category: LONDON-guide

Bread Street Kitchen

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On Thursday, Kristin and I went to Gordon Ramsay’s latest assition; Bread Street Kitchen situated in the One New Change Shopping Centre near St Pauls.

The place consists of a bar on street level and the restaurant is on the first floor. It has a rustic feel to it and the interior is spacious but quite cosy in an industrial way.

The menu has a raw bar section and is otherwise a mix of seafood and meat dishes with a few vegetarian options too. It is not the most inspiring menu for foodies, they are playing it safe a bit, but the targeted customers are City workers and foodies.

The most inspiring dish on the menu was crispy pig’s head with chilli mayonnaise, which we had to order.

That dish looked a bit like croquetas but were tiny scraps of tender flavoursome meat rolled up and breaded. It was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and they were nice, although not very exciting.

The next starter we shared was a safe bet, scallops, perfectly caramelized with a smooth carrot purée and treacle bacon.

My maincourse was poussin with chimichurri and a side order of mash. The chicken was tender and moist and both the chimichurri and the mash were lovely, but perhaps a bit too simple.

Kristin chose pork collar with mustard glaze and mash, and the meat was lovely and tender and fell apart.

Both maincourses were nice and well prepared, but quite similar to food I would (or could) cook at home. I prefer to eat food more complicated to make when eating out, as I want something different from what I can make myself. The portions were also very large and both of us had to leave quite a lot on our plates, which feels like a waste.

Although everything was nice, it felt a little dull, and I will not go out of my way to go back. However, if I find myself around St Pauls one evening in need of a bite, I would be happy to pop in for a burger or a main course, as it is tasty and well cooked, just not exciting enough for me, I’m afraid.

But I have to say, the service was excellent, and it is nice to see that it is such a priority in a restaurant serving this type of rustic, hearty food. The waiting staff were very efficient, proactive, discrete and professional, and that made our dinner a pleasure.

Bread Street Kitchen
10 Bread Street
London EC4M 9AJ

Spice Market

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I prefer to bring lunch with me to work than to grab a sandwich every day. To be honest, as a Swede I could never get used to English sandwished on spongy bread. But when I do go out for lunch on a weekday, I prefer to go somewhere nice and splurge a little, a reward for having packed lunches most days.

Most of the time I go for lunch, I go with my colleague Caroline and this week we ventured to Spice Market in Soho. She had been to the New York branch before so that’s why we wanted to try this place.

The cuisine is Asian and it is all served family style, i.e. the dishes are to be shared and they come out of the kitchen when they’re ready.

We ordered two starters and two maincourses to share, as well as a glass of  Sauvignon Blanc.

Before the first dish arrived we got a warm towel scented with lemongrass to refresh ourselves with. The first dish on the table was crab dumplings with sugar snap peas. The dumplings were nice but not very flavoursome and the whole dish was powdered with way too mush pepper. We also received some poppadoms and chilli sauce which was nice.

The next dish however, was really nice; eggrolls with mushrooms (lots of) served with a velvety tarragon sauce.

We ordered one fish and one meat maincourse, both were ok but nothing special. The fish was sole in a quite thick batter, and it was slightly over done and a bit dry. The ginger and basil emulsion was nice though, but didn’t add much to the bland fish.

The meat was slowly braised and incredibly tender. But unfortunately the broth didn’t have much flavour at all, just some heat at the end from the chillies. As I told Caroline, if I was cooking this, I would not have put it out on the table as it was. It needed garlic, sugar, salt and pepper, there was no oomph and not much flavour, the opposite of what you expect from an Asian restaurant.

Before we ordered we asked how large the dishes were, and we were told that they were of regular starter and main size. On the contrary though, they were huge, especially the mains. The fish consisted of three fillets and the meat was about 200 grams, so not something two girls can demolish when they have had starters as well.

It does not feel right leaving food on the table, but this time we had no choice.

All in all we had a lovely lunch, but that was more because of the company and the wine than the food. I am not sure I will go back, but if I do it would be solemnly because of the mushroom rolls and I would just order starters to share.

Spice Market
10 Wardour Street
London W1D 6QF

Champagne tasting at Harrod’s

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Last week Christopher and I joined another 300 people at Harrod’s champagne tasting. We have been to two more wine tastings there; one with Tuscan wines and one with wines from Bordeaux, and both took place in Harrod’s wine cellar. This was a bigger event however, and was therefore hosted in one of the restaurants.

I definitely had high expectations for this event, as there would be 80 champagnes to try and a few of the rarer and expensive kund.

Just like at the other wine tastings we each got a glass, a brochure about the wines, a list for notes and a pencil. Since I don’t know that much about wines I find it difficult to take notes, but I still note which ones I really liked.

Plenty of well known champagnes were represented as well as a quite a few unknown to me. The big names included Krug, Lanson, Veuve Clicquot, Perrier Jouet, Mumm, Moët & Chandon, and we defintely wanted to try a few of those, although a few we had no interest in as we have tried them before and were not very impressed.

We started the evening at the Taittinger table and tasted us through all four champagnes they had to offer. Already at this point I could feel the bubbles, because the men and women pouring the champagne were very generous! There were baguettes and water at every table though, which helped, and trays of canapées came frequently from the kitchen.

I will not bore you with which order we tried the champagnes and describe them all, to be honest, I don’t even remember them all, but I will tell you which ones we really enjoyed as well as a few that disappointed.

The champagne house that made most of an impression on us was definitely Philipponnat, a small champagne house but one of the older ones. All of their four champagnes were amazing, although the non dosé (=without added sugar) was too dry as an aperitif but would work well with food. Their Royal Réserve NV actually tasted a bit like a vintage champagne and had the butteryness of older champagnes. Uttley beautiful and great value for money.

Another favourite was Ruinart‘s Blanc de Blanc, the champagne Ruinart is most famous for, and also the only one I really liked out of their champagne.

We also tried Gosset, which was completely new to me, but I learned it was one of the absolute oldest champagne houses and they have a great reputation. And after tasting their champagnes I definitely see why.

Goutorbe-Bouillot, Jospeh Perrier och Dampierre were other brans we really enjoyed and that I would happily by. The latter is served at the French embassys around the world and the former we got recommended by one of the staff at Harrod’s who definitely knew his wines.

One of the highlights of the evening was of course to try the more expensive champagnes. It felt a bit surreal to be able to enjoy Dom Perignon, Cristal, Krug och Pol Roger Cuvéé Sir Winston Churchill in one single evening. Out of these the Dom Perignon and the Cristal were a bit to young to be at their best, but still very enjoyable. Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill however was quite disappointing, especially since I really enjoy the Pol Roger NV. As expected though, Krug var delicious.

We had planned to skip most of the mainstream brands as we have tried them before and also because we knew we would be disappointed. But with twenty minutes left towards the end we still tried a few. Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon were really disappointing after having tried all the others, and we expected that. Even the Moët & Chandon 2002 was not up to scratch. The best out of the mainstream brands would have to be Perrier Jouet, even though I am not really a fan. It lacks flavour and feels quite watery.

Out of the big names we would not buy any of the above but instead focus on  Laurent Perrier, Louis Roederer and Pol Roger (only the Brut NV), and after this tasting I could just not settle for anything less after seeing what is out there, even to similar prices.

Another champagne that I would like to mention, now that it is Christman soon, is the Leroy-Duval Paris Brut, which to me qualifies as the perfect gift. The bottle is wonderful with its Paris decor and the champagne itself is lovely, and not what you expect from a pretty bottle. It is however what you expect from the brand, which is good.

Tsunami, revistited

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You new Tsunami, the Asian restaurant I keep going on and on about? It is still going strong.

A little more than a week ago I meet up with my friend Sinead for a meal here. We started off with water and a beautiful bottle of Sancerre and some starters to share; snow crab dumplings and chicken gyozas. Both came with a soy dipping sauce and both were fabulous in its own way.

The dim sum style dumplings were sticky and moist just like they should be and the gyozas just melted in your mouth. They were far better than the ones I order from Wagamama from time to time.

For her maincouse, Sinead had chicken, which she always does. It came with a teryaki sauce and rice and looked nice and juicy.

I was very unadventurous and chose the same thing as the times I have been here before – sushi! I just can’t get enough of it and it is the best I have ever had. Just like before I had the spicy tuna rolls and the ebi fry rolls and I could eat this every day for the rest of my life and be in heaven.

Instead of pudding we had a cocktail each, that is definitely enough to satisfy the urge for sweetness you sometimes get after a meal.

The service wasn’t as great as before, our waitress started off the evening in a bad mood, but was nicer towards the end. All other staff were friendly and professional though, so still a place I recommend for service as well as food.

Tsunami
5-7 Voltaire Road
Clapham
London SW4 6DQ

Scandinavian Kitchen

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Since I moved to London I miss Swedish groceries less and less. Not because I like it less, but I have become a lot better at finding substitutes and I know which supermarkets to look in for Swedish stuff too.

But a few times a year, close to the holidays of course, I really crave Swedish food. And then I make sure I pay Scandinavian Kitchen a visit. The shop and café is situated a short walk from Oxford Circus and is open during the day.

My friend Jenny treated me to lunch here last week, and the first thing I saw after entering the shop was the Christmas beverage Julmust, a dark malty soft drink, so I gave off a little happy sound which Jenny found very amusing.

But back to the lunch, they serve open sandwiches with traditional Scandinavian toppings as well as a few different salads. They have two lunch offers on where you can mix what sandwiches and salads you like. Either three or five. We went for the large plate for £8.95 and that was great value for money. Tasty too.

Above is my choice of salami sandwich, roast beef sandwich with remoulade (Danish piccalilli and crispy fried onions, egg and prawn sandwich, salmon and dill wrap and potato salad.

Jenny chose the same salmon wrap, carrot salad, beetroot salad, meatball and beatroot sandwich and a salmon sandwich.

Here is the lovely Christmas drink! I had to buy one to take away as well, so I can enjoy it with gingerbread. Yum, yum!

It was a great lunch, thanks Jenny! And in my opinion it beats an English sandwich every day. These look prettier too!

Gaucho, Piccadilly

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A little while ago now, we managed to meet up with Ian and Anna for dinner at Gaucho, this meat-centered restaurant serving Argentinian steaks.

There are a few Gaucho’s to choose from in London, and we settled for the Piccadilly branch in between Piccadilly and Regent Street. The decor is typical for the chain of restaurants and consists of a lot of cow skin, dark wood and dimmed lights.

Anna and I had been shopping during the day so we took the opportunity to sit down with a drink and relax before the boys arrived. I had a glass of sparkling wine and Anna fresh cranberry juice. When the boys arrived we were directed upstairs to the dining room. We thought it would be quite empty on a Sunday night, as we haven’t seen many prople arriving when we were in the bar, but the dining room was almost full.

The menu at Gaucho’s was a bit disappointing with regards to starters and desserts, but the steaks (the reason we were here) did not disappoint. A waitress also walks around the restaurant with a big wooden board displaying the different cuts of meat and explains to the tables what cuts they are and how they are best cooked.

The menu was a bit disappointing with regards to starters and desserts, but the steaks (the reason we were here) did not disappoint. A waitress also walks around the restaurant with a big wooden board displaying the different cuts of meat and explains to the tables what cuts they are and how they are best cooked.

We went straight to the maincourse. Anna decided on their burger which she found really food and especially the dressing with mayonnaise, mustard and red wine was superb.

Both Ian and I chose the fillet medallion. I asked for mine blue and Ian had his rare. We also ordered fries and sauce. Bearnaise (always) for me and peppercorn for Ian.

Christopher wanted a large steak and settled for 400g sirloin and the same trimmings as me. Christopher was the only one out of which was slightly disappointed, as he thought the steak was as good as the ones we eat at home. We normally I have sirloin, from Aberdeen Angus, just like these, so I could see his point. Because I ordered a cut I don’t eat as often, I was very happy with mine. It was cooked perfectly, had lots of flavour and was so tender I compared to to cutting butter. And this was with a normal knife I might add, no steak knives needed at Gaucho.

I really like Gaucho, and my meat was spectacular. The fries were just regular fries and to be honest a little on the soggy side. The bearnaise wasn’t thick enough and tasted a bit too much of tarragon, so there is room for improvement on other areas.

Salt Yard

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The London food scene is ever changing and expanding, but last week I decided to visit a restaurant that has been around longer than I have lived in London. Salt Yard opened in 2005 already, and is still going strong. The restaurant has one several awards, is mentioned in the Michelin guide and Time Out and it was definitely about time I paid the tapas restaurant a visit.

Last week I had dinner here with my fellow Swede Kristin. We like to meet up and chat over some nice food and wine. I have been to the Salt Yard Group’s newest edition, Opera Tavern a few times and I really like it, so I wanted to try the original thing as well.

Compared to Opera Tavern Salt Yard offers more traditional tapas like jamon croquetas and goat’s cheese stuffed courgette flowers with honey, where as Opera Tavern is mostly known for their scrumptious pork mini burgers with foie gras. There was nothing as exciting on Salt Yard’s menu to excite us, but we still had a lovely meal.

Some dishes were better balanced than others, and we both really enjoyed the gorgeous Jerusalem artichoke purée with buttered girolle and poached egg. Divine.

Also the traditional tapas dishes, we had both the croquetas and stuffed courgette flowers, were well prepared and delicious.

Deepfried squid with chorizo and broad beans was a great combination and cod cheeks with beans, bacon and carrots was equally palatable.

We also had some cheese; a truffle pecorino, which was rather disappointing actually. But all in all it was a great meal. Together with a bottle of £35 Gavi our bill ended on £~85 which feels reasonable (including service charge).

Ambiance wise I think I prefer the more spacious Opera Tavern, but they have done what they can to open up the dining room at Salt Yard with white chairs. Also more space around the bar upstairs would be good, but the reason to go here is actually the food, although I see it as less adventurous than Opera Tavern, and that is a shame. There are enough dishes on the menu for the kitchen to change it up a little.

Please note: the photos are blurry because I used my iPhone camera that doesn’t work well in the dark.

Ducksoup, Soho

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This little restaurant, on Dean Street in bustling Soho has been around for a few months, but I only heard of it recently. So had Caroline at work, so we decided to go there for lunch together.

The place is quite small and there are only a few tables (of which all were booked when we arrived) but there were available places around the big bar, and considering the amount of food we ordered we were better off sitting at the large counter top at the bar than the small tables behind us.

The menu came on a hand written note and consisted of a few sections; bar food, small plates, large plates and dessert.

We ordered a little bit of everything, and it arrived when it was ready – tapas style.

The first dish that appeared was the grilled pepper with some grilled tomato wedges and capers. Simple and lovely.

Then came the bread, which was great together with the cod roe, which was a bit too salty on its own.

The rest all appeared at once, but we started off eating the mussles and clams in a traditional white wine sauce, but with the clever addition of small spaghetti strands to soak up the juices. This was lovely and the portion very generous!

Next we tucked in to the grilled octopus with its gremolata looking topping. It was really nice and the fresh herbs made all the difference.

The finale was a whole grilled mackerel, almost blackened on the skin and absolutely delicious. It was seasoned with sumac and came with a burnt lemon which goes so well with seafood.

We loved this, and for me, this was the best part of the meal. The fish was so lovely in its flavour, and the skin really crisp, so we ended up eating that too.

We also had a glass of wine each, which the waitress had to recommend as neither of us knew anything about the wines on the black board.

The bill came to a little above £50 for the two of us, which was very reasonable. The food is simple, but has that little extra something a meal out for me requires. There is nothing worse than feeling that you could cook it better yourself. I certainly didn’t feel like that in Ducksoup and we will definitely go back for more.

Ducksoup, 41 Dean Street, London W1D 4PY

http://www.ducksoupsoho.co.uk/Ducksoup.html

Tuscan wine tasting at Harrod’s

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I don’t think Harrod’s needs an introduction, and I am a big fan of their food halls, and of course the Laduree cafée. But this time we were there for a Tuscan wine tasting in their wine store in the basement.

I guess 100-150 attended this sold out event and we mingled around with our glasses trying 50 Tuscan wines. Most were red, but there were also a few whites and some vin santo.

But first, as a treat, we got to try four types of Bollinger champagne. It was two non-vintage; Special Cuvée NV and Bollinger rosé as well as La Grande Année 2002 and La Grande Année Rosé 2002. A few weeks back I got to try a Dom Perignon 2000 which was lovely, and actually a bit nicer than this Bollinger vintage. Don’t get me wrong, the Bollinger was nice too, and a lot cheaper if you want a vintage champagne, so I still recommend it.

Most wines at this tasting were, as I mentioned earlier, reds. Chianti and Brunello are the most common wines, and the most gommon grape is Sangiovese. Most reds had the main grape as Sangiovese but also had other grapes blended in.

We also got to try a wonderful rosé, that tasted Provence and a white vermentino that was absolutely fabulous. But the best memory from this evening was when we tried a beautiful vin santo. I have had several vin santo before, and other dessert wines, but this was something extraordinary. It was amazing and just blew us away. It was of course sweet, but had a deeper undertone that was just phenomenal. It is called Vin Santo di Carmignano Riserva 2005.

There were also canapées (much needed when trying that many wines!) and they were really good. They had arancini (being true to the theme), crisp salmon fishcakes, mini mini quiches with melt-in-the-mouth pastry and rare roast beef in a shortcrust crustade with horseradish, and a sweet lemon cheesecake to finish.

This was just a fabulous evening, and I learned so much about wine in general and Tuscan wines in particular from talking to all the vendors, but we also met lovely people mingling just like us, and I have a sneaky feeling we will see some of them at the next event.

Corner Room

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In Bethnal Green (zone 2), only one stop from Liverpool Street station, the chef Nuno Mendes has built his empire. He has taken over an old town hall, converted it into a hotel with his main restaurant Viajante, and the much smaller Corner Room.

The hotel is magnificant from the outside with the old, authentic decor. This is the entrance to Viajante, the entrance to the hotel and Corner Room is around the corner to your left.

I haven’t eaten at Viajante yet, but I definitely want to, and hearing about the Corner Room, I thought that was a good place to start.

As the name suggest, the smaller restaurant is in one single, small corner room with different industrial lamps hanging from the ceiling and wooden cupboards on the walls. The foos is gorgeous, gourmet food but to very reasonable prices. Or how does starters for around £7, mains around £12 and desserts for £5, sound?!

You cannot book ahead, the restaurant operates a first come, first served policy which works well in such a small restaurant.

I expected the restaurant to be more popular than it was, so we arrived at twenty past six and were the only guests. Half an hour later most tables were full. Once you’ve sat down, the waiter tells you that you have a 90 minute slot, which is a good amount of time considering the waiting staff and kitchen being very efficient. Another nice tough is that you can have as much water as you like (still or sparkling for £1 per person.

As soon as we sat down the rustic bread basket arrived and two olives filles with sardines. I really liked it, but Nick pulled a face as he doesn’t like fish that much. That made it hard for him to chose a starter, as most of them contained fish or seafood.

He settled for the green beans in the end, as there was no fish to that dish on the menu. There was however, on the plate. But Nick is a polite guy and ate it anyway and really liked it, apart from the fish.

I, very fond of everything fish or seafood, opted for the dressed Devon crab with salad and an apple and cucumber jelly. Very tasty, in a demure kind of way.

The maincourse I chose was duck confit with girolles, shredded bread, green beans and a lovely soft egg. My stomach can’t really handle green beans, and I wasn’t aware it came with this dish, but I made an exception and ate it anyway. I suffered a little, but it was worth it. Again, suble flavours that really came together. As I said to Nick: “I don’t want this dish to end”.


Nick – the carnevore – chose skirt steak with a tomato salad and chimichurri  served on a slice of bread to soak up the meat juices. He was very pleased and I can confirm it was delicious. More full on flavours than my duck, but that suits a steak better.

Although being quite full I had to try one of the intriguing desserts and went for the goat’s cheese caramel with blueberries, brioche and shiso granita (shiso is an Asian herb, similar to mint, Google tells me).

This was a great supper, which we both enjoyed very much. I will definitely be back! It was also great value for money. Including all the food, 2 glasses of wine and the service charge the bill came to £65. Not bad at all, when eating this well.

Corner Room
Town Hall Hotel & Apartments
Patriot Square
London E2 9NF
Tel: 020 7871 0460