RESTAURANT FILE – Page 17

Brunch at Avenue, St James’s

Published on May 8, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Several Saturdays ago I met up with Sinead for a very lazy (and late) brunch at 2.30pm in the afternoon, a time that suits me perfectly when there’s unlimited prosecco.

Although brunch is almost a religion in the US and even more popular in my native Sweden than in the UK, London brunches are becoming increasingly popular. We went back to Avenue, where we had dinner a few weeks previously as we thought it would be a fun place for brunch, and it definitely was.

The other guests were in high spirits (maybe even literally due to that free-flowing prosecco) when we arrived and it was a mixture of smaller parties, hen dos and larger gatherings. It’s table service here (no buffets) and you can choose from the menu and then pay a set price for two or three dishes. We both started off with eggs (as it was at least my first meal of the day), I had eggs benedict and Sinead eggs florentine. Both really nice, although my slice, I mean slab, of ham was the biggest I’ve ever seen. After the savoury start we continued with amazing waffles with berries and yoghurt.

And then finishes off our brunch with something very sweet; an chocolate and vanilla icecream sundae. Really nice as well!

We really enjoyed our brunch here and the restaurant is perfect for that type of meal. But if I’m going to be picky (and I usually am) I would have liked some more fruit with the waffle and I still think they need to change the lights (or completely do up) the ladies room!

Avenue, 7-9 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1EE

Dinner at Bo Nam Nuong Xuan Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam

Published on May 6, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

The last stop on our trip was Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. A city that I felt actually didn’t have much to offer in terms of sights. But I liked the vibe and we had a great time here! The night we got in we had a Vietnamese barbecue at the place probably most famous for it.

It’s not a fancy place (more plastic chairs) and the only item on the menu is a Vietnamese barbecue (but you can choose between pork or beef) and sides. As usual we ordered too much (one pork and one beef), rice and bread and started barbecuing.

The dipping sauce served with the meat and veg was mainly salt, sugar and kumquat juice – so nice and fresh!

When we realised we had, yet again, ordered too much we asked the guy at the neighbouring table if we wanted some more and made a friend while not wasting food! 🙂

A custom I couldn’t really get used to was to throw everything on the floor in street food places. The waiters sweep the floors and wipe the tables, but it still doesn’t look very nice.

Bo Nam Nuong Xuan Xuan, 47 Ma May Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam

Dinner at Mermaid restaurant, Hoi An, Vietnam

Published on April 30, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Our second stop in Vietnam was Hoi An, a seriously touristy town by the seafront that I actually didn’t like that much. But I think it was mainly being bombarded by sales people selling the SAME stuff that put me off. It definitely has a few things going for it; cooking schools (the one I went to was great!), tailors, beaches nearby and pretty lanterns everywhere.

Restaurant wise it was a bit hit and miss, but one night we had dinner at a really nice place (listed in Lonely Planet); Mermaid Restaurant.

We started our meal with the local White Rose dumplings that every restaurant in town offers but I think we got a good version. It’s rice paper filled dumplings pork and prawns topped with shallots and served with a dipping sauce.

For my main course I chose a salad with green mango (which I love!) and prawns with a lime-y dressing. It was really nice and fresh!

Ro had a hot pot with pork (of course), vegetables and noodles. Also really nice!

We fancied something sweet after our meal and opted for a pineapple pancake each. Either served with freshly squeezed lime and sugar or with chocolate sauce. Delicious!!

After dinner we stepped out onto a completely deserted street. What two hours earlier had been a street full of open shops and street vendors was now all closed up and dark. It felt really surreal and not what we had expected when we were told it was quiet in the evenings. Luckily there were a few bars to go to so we could stay out later!

Mermaid Restaurant, 2 Tran Phu Street, Hoi An, Vietnam

Dinner at Oc Lac Quan, HCMC, Vietnam

Published on April 24, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

We only had one evening in Ho Chi Minh City and we arrived late, so our best bet to find a restaurant open late was to go down town and we basically took the first decent place we saw.

A Western man who had just finished his meal recommended it to us as we walked past so we sat down on the small plastic chairs on the pavement. Apart from us and the Western man the other guests were all locals enjoying shellfish and snails, which seemed to be the restaurant’s speciality. The menu had a few interesting items on the menu but we settled for beef noodles and squid with lemongrass and chilli. Nothing fancy but I really enjoyed both dishes!

This was the first place where we thought it was good to just order two dishes as we always ended up with too much food at previous restaurants due to over-ordering. The portions are a lot bigger here than what we’re used too!

Oc Lac Quan, 73 Rach Bung Binh, Phuong 9, Quan 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Dinner at Marum, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Published on April 21, 2015 by Hanna1 Comment

After we landed in Siem Reap we dropped the bags off at the hotel and then went straight to Angkor Wat for some serious temple sightseeing until sundown. It was great but one day (most people recommends three) was enough for me.

Afterwards we had dinner at Marum, a restaurant school for delinquent kids. The restaurant is very popular but we managed to get a table without having a reservation, but do book ahead if you’re going.

The food was not very consistent; some dishes were nice and some just OK. The service was also shaky, which I don’t mind so much as it is a school, but I still think the food should be up to scratch considering it’s a proper gourmet restaurant – school or not. There are plenty for the cooking students to do that won’t impact the final dishes as much as it did.

The above salad with chicken and green mango and served with rice crackers was one of the nicer dishes. Really fresh flavours!

The duck croquetas wuth hoisin dip were great – definitely the best dish of the evening.

The grilled ribs with apple and radish salad had a nice flavour but the meat wasn’t tender enough.

And the jasmine tea smoked chicken with honey and orange glaze and broccoli stems seemed amazing on the menu, but was a bit of a let down actually. The chicken was dry and the smoky flavour too dominant.

The restaurant is featured in Lonely Planet and although the charity behind it has a very worthy cause I must say the restaurant feels very touristy, but it’s still nice.

Marum restaurant, #8A, B Phum Slokram, Siemréab, Cambodia

Dinner at Posto Pubblico, Hong Kong

Published on April 17, 2015April 17, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Due to overbooking of our flight (grr!) we had to spend an extra night in Hong Kong. So after having checked in at the airport hotel we took the train back to Central for some dinner and drinks, it was Saturday night after all. We wandered around Soho and liked the look of this Italian place called Posto Pubblico. hk7 After a small antipasti plate we chose a pasta dish each. Ro had the one with calamari and a bit of spice (top photo) and I had the linguine with clams. Both dishes were fresh and nice. To add some vegetables we ordered a side of grilled vegetables. They were more or less covered in oil and parmesan – very nice but not all that healthy… Posto Pubblico is a nice little restaurant. The food is fresh and we had a nice meal here. With hindsight it was perfect to have seafood before going to Cambodia and Vietnam where we probably had pork every day. Posto Pubblico, G/F, 28 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong

Dinner at Din Tai Fung, Hong Kong

Published on April 16, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

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I hadn’t actually planned to stop in Hong Kong on this trip, but since I needed to fly via either Singapore or Hong Kong I thought it would be fun to at least spend a day here. And you actually get to see a lot in 24 hours!

I travelled with my friend Rowena and as she’d been to Hong Kong before we took it quite easy sightseeing-wise but still managed to tick off taking the Star Ferry to Kowloon, seeing the light show, walking around the Causeway Bay area and the skyscrapers in Central.

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We also had dinner at Din Tai Fung in Kowloon, which both my blog colleague Elin and my friend Mattias had recommended. Located in a shopping centre and a first come first serve system I wouldn’t have found the restaurant without a recommendation. While we waited for a table, only ten minutes or so, we studied the menu and filled out the menu card with our order. Very efficient!

We ordered a fairly eclectic selection from the menu, like the blanched Chinese cabbage to get our greens…

… and these steamed shrimps. Both dishes were a little blander than we expected. It was more a heap of shrimp or veg than an actual put-together dish.

But the dumplings were really good! Especially these with pork and black truffle were delicious! We also had some pork and prawn dumplings (that didn’t get caught on camera), and they were great too.

The chicken in chilli sauce was nice tasting but had a lot of fat and cartilage left on it, so wasn’t great.

After we had finished our meal we were surrounded by Chinese people at the tables near us and watching what they had, which looked a lot better than our selection bar the dumplings, we were a little jealous. But I still couldn’t help but think that we actually have some pretty amazing dim sum in London too, at Yauatcha for example. I think I had expected a bigger difference and wasn’t that blown away, sadly.

After dinner we took the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong Island and had drinks in Lan Kwai Fong, the bar district that make London’s Soho look well-behaved! It was lots of fun though and the next day we made our way to the airport only to find out our flight was overbooked, so we had to stay an extra night in the city before going to Cambodia the next day.

Din Tai Fung, Shop 306, 3/F, Silvercord, 30 Canton Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

The Jugged Hare, Barbican – revisited

Published on April 6, 2015March 31, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

The Jugged Hare is a very cosy pub and restaurant, that I wish was closer to the parts of town where I roam the most. I was invited to their opening a few years ago and I am just as positive now after my recent visit.

The interior is nice with a clear pub/bar area and a specific restaurant area. After our nice meal here we went across the street to the Barbican cinema and watched the fab film The Theory of Everything.

My friend Tom had a lovely terrine as a starter (above) and then a main course whereas I chose two starters instead.

The first one was a lovely dish with croquetas, mushrooms and slowcooked egg.

And the second was snails with bone marrow. The snails and the sauce were lovely but the bone marrow was breaded and deep-fried which was a little too rich for my liking. Still yummy, though!

Tom’s classic bangers and mash was fabulous. Creamy, herb-y mash, first class sausages and nice gravy!

I promise to be back. Soon.

The Jugged Hare, 49 Chiswell St, London EC1Y 4SA

Dinner at Avenue, St James’s

Published on March 31, 2015 by Hanna1 Comment

In my company we don’t have the tradition to go to the pub every Friday, so I tend to grab my after work drinks with friends rather than colleagues. A few weeks ago Sinead and I met up for a glass of vino at one of the pubs near her job. Although lots of the popular pubs are far from cosy it’s still really nice to grab a drink there with lots of other people celebrating the weekend. I love that atmosphere. But we soon left to have dinner at a restaurant nearby, Avenue in St James’s.

This place has been around for a while but for some reason we hadn’t been until now and we liked what we saw. The interior was very swanky and actually nicer than we had imagined. We were seated straight away and after having ordered a glass of bubbly we had a look at the menu. We ended up with the a’la carte put the very reasonably prised prix fixe menu looked good too.

I had a warming clam chowder to start. It was very thick and smooth with bits of potato and whole clams. Very satisfying!

Sinead had the crispy chicken tacos that were delicious too!

Our maincourses arrived the second our starter plates were cleared away. A bit too soon if you ask me; we were really struggling with our main courses because we didn’t get a breather. Sinead’s cod with chorizo crumbs and cannellini beans was delicious and a substantial portion.

As were my barbecued lamb racks with cucumber and herb yoghurt. Delicious though, great charred flavour and cooked perfectly as I wanted them (rare).

Avenue is part of D&D London, Sir Terence Conran’s restaurant empire, and although we were two very satisfied customers, there was room for improvement on some areas. The service was friendly and nice, but the fact that we didn’t even get five minutes to digest our first course means bad communication between the kitchen and service. And when we were served our main courses we thought they had forgotten one of our sides and were not told it was delayed until we waved down a waiter and asked. It may sound petty but I worked as a waitress when I was at university and it is not that difficult to get it right!

And then the loos. With such a nice and fancy interior in the restaurant you expect the same vibe in the ladies room. But no. It was just a corridor with white walls, cubicles on one side and basins on the other. With bad lighting and no hand cream. Even a regular pub has hand creams nowadays.

Avenue, 7-9 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1EE

Lunch at Petersham Nurseries, Richmond

Published on March 27, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

The weekend before last my foodie friend Anna was in London and we had a lovely long wine-fuelled lunch at quaint Petersham Nurseries in Richmond on the Saturday.

It was my first time there but I love the greenhouses made into a restaurant and tea room with plats, and nice furnishings every wear. So rustic and so lovely!

We started our meal with a delicious rhubarb bellini and had a scallop each; marinated in olive oil, rosemary, lemon and chilli.

Anna then had a very springlike salad of rabbit, radicchio, polenta cubes, prosciutto and violets as her starter. It was wonderful and pretty as a picture.

I had the nettle soup which was lovely too. Just look at that colour! It was served with a dollop of thick tangy creme fraiche which was the only sidekick needed.

Four our mains we both chose the same whole lemon sole stuffed with creamy spinach, spiced butter and brown shrimps. The flavours worked really well together and we thoroughly enjoyed it – and the side of purple sprouting broccoli.

After a little wine break (much needed after all the food) we were ready for some cheese and tried these three (one was a Cornish Yarg but I’ve forgotten the others), all delicious and a perfect end to our meal.

Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, Off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey TW10 7AB