LONDON-guide – Page 7

Dinner at Granger & Co, Notting Hill

Published on October 20, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

A Friday night after work my friend Caroline and I met up for dinner in Notting Hill. Although living fairly close-by I don’t spend enough time here, so this was a step in the right direction. We hadn’t booked a restaurant so instead tried our luck in the queue at Granger & Co (where it’s first come first serve) and since we we’re happy to sit at the bar we only had to wait for ten minutes. Amazing.

We ordered a cocktail each, celebrating the end of another work week, Caroline with a margarita and I with a perfect bellini.

Then the food followed. Wonderfully crispy Korean fried chicken with tender chicken in the middle for Caroline – so yum, especially as they had a little spice!

I had the grilled squid with rocket and coriander, and of course a little spice. Simple but nice!

Then I had the shrimp burger that I have heard Caroline rave about a few times, and it hit the spot just like I knew it would. Just as satisfying as a beef burger but a little lighter. Can’t wait to have it again.

Caroline’s main course was really drool-worthy though, and even though my burger was great I did have a little food envy of her chicken and pancetta meatballs with pasta and spinach in a lovely soothing broth with heaps of parmesan.

As usual we skipped pudding (we were way too full) and instead headed to a nearby pub for a few more drinks.

Granger & Co, 175 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2SB

Amazing eclairs

Published on October 8, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

It is thanks to a French colleague of mine I discovered the lovely bakery that is Maitre Choux. Based in Kensington it is a very niche bakery concentrating on choux pastry and they do it very well. My colleague sometimes buy a large bag of lovely chouquettes to share with us in the office for breakfast and they are certainly the best chouquettes I’ve ever had, so when my parents were in town I got us a selection of their amazing (looking and tasting) eclairs.

The flavours are (from top to bottom): salted caramel, raspberry, dark chocolate, salted caramel (again), passionfruit and yuzu, pistachio.

We loved them all but salted caramel was (hardly surprising) my favourite, but I also really enjoyed the passionfruit and yuzu and the raspberry eclairs. I just can’t get over how delicious they are and how pretty they look. They’re in a league of their own.

Maitre Choux, 15 Harrington Road, London SW7 3ES (5 min from South Kensington tube)

Eat brain? (Barrafina, Adelaide Street)

Published on July 22, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Barrafina is one of my favourite tapas places in London, both the newer one in Covent Garden (and dangerously close to my office) and the original on Frith Street in Soho. They have also just opened another restaurant on Drury Lane which I can’t wait to try! I really like that the different restaurants sport different (although similar) menus, which makes it feel like two (or now three) free-standing restaurants and not a chain.

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Felicity and I had dinner here the other week and while waiting for our table we had some Txakoli (semi-sparkling wine from the Basque region which I love) and crab croquetas. When seated at the bar we noticed they had jamon croquetas as a special and we just couldn’t resist haveing some more croquetas. The crab ones are yummy but the jamon ones were perfection. Oh wow!

Next up we had smoked salmon with white beans, fennel and a dilly dressing. It was nice but a little too mild in flavour.

The asparagus with romesco sauce was wonderful though, I’ve had it here before and it has always been a great vegetable dish.

The skewes with Iberico ham were also really nice, but I’ve had even better pork in Spain.

We then decided to try the lamb’s brain (!). Once when I came here for lunch a lady dining on her own came here especially for the lamb’s brain and raved about it, so I’ve been dying to try it ever since. And I must say I was pleasantly surprised!

The texture is very soft so frying it until crisp on the outside was a smart move and the bold flavours with lots of acidity cuts through the richness very well, so this dish got top marks from me. But, the texture is still a little strange in the mouth (like very very soft sweetbreads but more jelly like) and it’s so rich I would not have been able to finish the dish on my own. But I would happily go back and share it with someone.

After the savoury dishes we were quite content but you always have room for sorbet, right, so we had a scoop each. Felicity’s mixed berries sorbet was really nice and fruity, the perfect ending to a lovely meal.

My peach sorbet was a bit too sweet and cloy. But apart from that our dinner was fantastic, just like the company.

Barrafina, Adeleide Street, London WC2N 4HZ

Brunch at The Ivy Market Grill, Covent Garden

Published on July 15, 2015 by Hanna1 Comment

Around the same time as The Ivy was refurbished two siblings popped up; the Ivy Chelsea Garden on Kings Road (where it’s near impossible to get a table) and The Ivy Market Grill just by Covent Garden Market.

When Linus and Mirja were visiting at the end of May (where does the time go?!) we went here for Sunday brunch on their last day in town and it was such a nice send off.

The brunch menu is long and has plenty of egg dishes to choose from and everything we had was top notch. We ordered the sourdough for the table not realising it was a whole loaf, still warm. That’s several plus points just there!

Mirja had the vegetarian Full English breakfast consisting of halliumi, eggs, fried mushrooms and tomatoes, avocado and baked beans served in a mini copper pot. Really fresh and a nice breakfast dish!

Linus had the thick pancakes with bacon and maple syrup – that’s just up his street. And they were good. It’s so important that the simple dishes are cooked perfectly, and here they were.

I loved my scrambled eggs with truffle and toasted brioche. Although I make my own scrambled eggs a lot softer, these were still well-made and well seasoned, and the truffle on top was just a delicious pairing!

I will definitely go back here for brunch or breakfast; I like both the ambiance and the menu. Think of The Ivy Market Grill as a low-key alternative to The Wolseley.

The Ivy Market Grill, 1 Henrietta St, London WC2E 8PS

Dinner at Bibendum, Chelsea

Published on June 23, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Spring has been fairly busy (how is it almost July already?!) But it’s been a nice time; as I’ve had weekends away and friends visiting. At the latest visit we went to a real classic London restaurant in Chelsea that I have wanted to try for a while; Bibendum. I’m a big fan of Simon Hopkinson’s cooking style (he is one of the owners and used to be the head chef here).

The food is still very much of the same style; classic British and French dishes all cooked very well. Some dishes are simple and some are technically challenging but all the produce is top quality regardless. I like the mix of sophistication on the plate and smart casual laid-back ambiance in the restaurant.

We had a nice long meal and almost all three of us had three courses. To start Mirja and I were very happy with out choice of scallop and crab lasagne with beurre blanc and chives. Delicious!

Linus had the jamon iberico and cantaloupe and received a nice big portion. Amazing ham!

For her maincourse Mirja had the chicken supreme with creamed spinach and jus with fries on the side. It was (again) a very generous portion – and really nice!

Linus and I had the pork’s cheek (super tender) with jus, asparagus, broad beand and peas.

And creamy mash on the side. It was a great dish and all three of us needed a little breather before pudding.

Linus had the most chocolaty chocolate fondant (it was pure perfection) with chocolate sauce, caramel ice cream and honeycomb.

I couldn’t wait to try Queen of Puddings (my first time), here made with gooseberries and it was just as nice as I had expected. Mirja felt rather defeated after her chicken but shared our puddings.

We had a lovely evening here and thoroughly enjoyed everything that was put in front of us, from the olives and parmesan biscuits to bread, starter, main and pudding. And wine! I honestly can’t wait to go back!

Bibendum, Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, London SW3 6RD

Taste of London 2015, Regents Park

Published on June 19, 2015 by Hanna1 Comment

It’s time for my favourite festival again and I visited Taste of London last night after work with my fellow foodie Caroline. It was a lovely evening with sunshine (!) and lots of good food.

My favourite over-all restaurant was Club Gascon, they had some fun and different dishes executed to perfection. Plus the head chef was there handing out food and chatting away with the customers.

My favourite dish from Club Gascon was this sweetbread popcorn dish with iced Worchestershire sauce. The sweetbreads were delicious and the iced sauce cut through the richness perfectly.

Another fab dish was this tartine of foie gras and glazed strawberries. Fun and different, this combination worked really well as the strawberries weren’t too sweet.

Caroline tried their prawn burger primavera which was really nice too. It didn’t taste that much of prawns though, but was all in all a nice burger!

At Clove Club we couldn’t resist the buttermilk fried chicken with pine salt. Very tender and juicy chicken with perfect seasoning. Yum!

Roka had a nice selection of dishes and the one we both went for was this teriyaki eel sushi in a choux bun with avocado. Very nice!

We also went back to an old favourite; the SushiSamba sasa roll which I love. It’s just such a great combination of textures and flavours.

Chop Shop were also serving up some inspiring (and nicely presented) dishes.

I had the short rib with smoked cream corn and some crunchy corn bits and it was fantastic!

Caroline had their very tender hanger steak with dijon and parmesan sauce which was equally fantastic!

Caroline tried Modern Pantry’s crunchy prawns with pineapple ketchup but it wasn’t a dish that wowed us. But they won the gold medal for another dish called ‘mince & tatties’.

One of the trends seemed to be steamed buns because they were everywhere and I couldn’t resist one. The BBQ pork belly one with peanut soy sauce I had from Kurobuta was nice but not wow either, maybe the demand was too high for the kitchen to be at the top of their game.

We were very full after having eaten all of this and although I would have been happy to go back another day and eat some more, I only wished I had had room for one more dish and that was Duck & Waffle’s iconic ‘duck & waffle’ dish with waffle, duck leg and fried egg. Another time.

Taste of London 2015, Regents Park is on until Sunday 21st June.

Sharing menu at Chotto Matte, Soho

Published on June 16, 2015 by Hanna1 Comment

When my food blogger colleague Malin was in town with her friend Jenny we met up twice. Once on a Monday for some prosecco and nibbles and then on their last evening in town for dinner. We had a great time eating our way through Chotto Matte’s sharing menu and catching up.

Without much knowledge of Peruvian food I think Chotto Matte makes a good job of combining it with Japanese. Most dishes we had were really nice although there was a little room for improvement on some. The sharing menus are great way to try a few different dishes (including some of their signature dishes) and they’re great value for money too.

After deciding on the wine (very important!) we got to try the first dish; tostaditas with beef, smoked aji planka, shiitake and yuzu. Very yummy!

Soon after (the table was never empty) we received the seabass cheviche with sweet potato, Peruvian corn (they were more floury than usual), coriander and citrus sauce. Apart from the corn I really liked this dish; subtle flavours and nicely balanced. The seabass was delicious!

The gyozas with pork, prawns and cassava on a bed of sweet potato purée were a favourite amongst us all – delicious!

The spring rolls with shiitake and prawns and a ponzu salsa were nice too, but nothing special.

We really enjoyed the very tender miso chicken – it was just scrumptious! Nice barbecue flavour.

This octopus was very tender and nice but the purple potato purée didn’t add much to the dish, sadly.

And the maki rolls with tuna were nice, but I preferred the hot food.
For pudding we received a selection of sweets, and all very good! The small pots of lemon grass creme brulee and chocolate mousse with honeycomb were just the right size and the mochis fresh and light.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and the buzzing atmosphere! I will certainly come back for the miso chicken!

Chotto Matte, 11 – 13 Frith Street, London W1D 4RB

Kopapa, Covent Garden – revisited

Published on June 2, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Almost every time I go to Kopapa I have one of their burgers. Either the regular beef one or the soft shell crab version. They’re both great so choosing between the two is hard enough, so I barely check the rest of the menu as that makes the decision process even more difficult.

But there is a first time for everything so when I had dinner here a few weeks ago I dared to go out of my menu comfort zone.

While my friend had the scallops with homemade sweet chilli sauce and creme fraiche (delicious!) I had the cream of Jerusalem artichoke and potato soup with wild garlic and truffle oil. It was nice but not sadly not amazing.

But luckily the main course made up for that. The Wagyu rump beef with smoked mash, mushrooms, jus and beetroot relish was so so SO yummy!

It did pay off to try more on their menu but I won’t be surprised if it will take me a while to be done with the beef – I definitely want to eat that again. And again.

Kopapa Café and Restaurant, 32-34 Monmouth Street, London WC2H 9HA

Lunch at The Orange, Pimlico

Published on May 15, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

When Maria and Daniel were visiting a few weekends ago, we did what we always do; go shopping on the Kings Road. By lunch time we were near Sloane Sq and I thought it would be great to go to Daylesford Organic as they loved the Notting Hill branch. But it was no longer there. Luckily there are plenty of other nice places around and we went to The Orange instead.

It was a lovely sunny day so we all wanted something light for lunch, like a salad. And so we did. Maria had the hot-smoked salmon salad with broad beans and pomegranate which she really enjoyed while Daniel and I went the more traditional route and had a Caesar salad each. And it was perfect. Crispy salad, not too much and not too little dressing, crispy pancetta and just enough croutons. Also juicy chicken breast and soft-boiled eggs. My only complaint would be that the eggs were a bit too cold, but that’s a minor details. Great cooking on the whole!

There may have been another reason for having salad for lunch as well; we had our eye set on a stop at The Hummingbird Bakery in the afternoon. Daniel had a carrot cake cupcake while Maria and I agreed that salted caramel was the way to go! Super sweet but yummy!

The Orange, 37-39 Pimlico Road, London SW1W 8NE

The Hummingbird Bakery, 47 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3JP

Drinks at Bar Americain, Piccadilly

Published on May 14, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Although this is a food blog, I quite often get the question of which bars to go to, so I thought I’d post a few favourites as and when I’ve been.

One favourite where I recently took my visiting friends from home, Daniel and Maria, is Bar Americain, part of Brasserie Zèdel by Piccadilly. Set in a lovely art deco bar it feels like you’re stepping back in time. Especially as the hostess greets you in a flapper dress and the bartenders and waiters wear bow ties. It’s just one of those comfortable not-quiet-but-not-too-loud bars that I like. It’s busy and buzzing but you can carry a conversation without shouting. And sit comfortably while you sip your cocktail.

Bar Américain, 20 Sherwood Street, London W1F 7ED