RESTAURANT FILE – Page 25

Breakfast at The Chelsea Quarter Café, Chelsea

Published on November 13, 2013November 14, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

I really should start a survey comparing London’s Eggs Benedicts. It is my absolutely favourite breakfast dish both at home and out. When I’m not sampling Eggs Benedicts I usually go for a croissant on the go. And yes, my breakfast choices are super healthy.

These eggs from The Chelsea Quarter Café on Kings Road were perfect. Consisting of a slice of toasted sourdough with proper ham (not the pressed version – shudder), perfectly poached eggs and bright yellow hollandaise they were a delight to tuck into.

The worst Eggs Benedict I’ve ever had was at Bluebird Café, also on Kings Road, which I didn’t expect at all since the restaurant is really nice. Hopefully the café chef was just having a bad day but that was a terrible breakfast; cold eggs, cold hollandaise and not very nice flavours. Shudder indeed.

The Chelsea Quarter Café, 219 Kings Road, London SW3

Lunch at Flat Iron, Soho

Published on November 11, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

I love the rustle and bustle in Soho and that there is such an eclectic mix of restaurants. A new-ish restaurant I tried a couple of weeks ago has a very limited menu but offers, as the name suggests, flatiron steak. One of my favourite cuts; quite grainy fibers but very tender meat.

Like a lot of Soho’s restaurant, this is a first come, first serve type place with no table reservations. Arriving in the middle of the lunch rush we were lucky to nab the last two seats at one of the communal tables.

As soon as we sat down water and a bowl of popcorn appeared at the table. Awesome!

The menu is sparse with only the flatiron steak and sides or today’s special; a slowcooked beef stew. My colleague and I both went for the steak, cooked medium-rare as suggested by the waitress with chips, bearnaise sauce and a side of creamed spinach to share.

The steak was really nice and the chips crispy. The bearnaise sauce (which I am extremely picky with) got my approval, although it had a tad too much vinegar in it.

I really like this place. It’s unpretentious and what you see is what you get. And the food is well-prepared, very tasty and not expensive at all. It makes perfect sense to start this type of restaurant in recession. Good steak restaurants in London are, let’s face it, quite expensive and so many places offers very disappointing steak although for a better price.

To instead specialize in just one cut (but a great and affordable one) to keep the costs down is in my opinion, brilliant.

Flat Iron, 17 Beak St, Soho, London W1F 9RW

Dinner at Randall & Aubin, Soho

Published on November 6, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

London has plenty of cosy restaurants and one is certainly Randall & Aubin, bang in the middle of bustling Soho.

Randall & Aubin is a French brasserie with a lot of seafood on the menu. It is relaxed yet still a little bit decadent with oysters and shellfish plateaus on the menu. It is first come first served and usually packed with people, but if you get here around 6pm you usually don’t have to wait too long. Alternatively show up for a late supper when the crowd has petered out.

I came here with a group of girls celebrating an engagement. Luckily we got a table straight away and had a relaxed supper with a few bottles of cava, some nibbles and a main course each.

The photo above shows how hungry we all were; reaching out for the food as soon as it was placed on the table. That’s my girls! 🙂 We shared a half pint of shell-on prawns to peel and dip in mayo (that’s how we do it in Sweden too) and a few servings of their zucchini frites with basil mayo that are a-ma-zing!

Gaby and I were seduced by the specials on the black board and both thoroughly enjoyed the lobster roll in broiche with skinny frites. So fresh and juicy!

Laura chose the bouillabaisse traditionally served with croûtons and rouille.

And Jenny had the crab and lemon risotto that looked fab, although the portion was rather small…

We had a great evening here with wine, good food and plenty of fun chat. It is quiet enough to be able to carry a conversation but still bustling enough inside to remind you that you’re in Soho. I would recommend Randall and Aubin for a date, dinner with other couples or just a group of friends.

Randall & Aubin, 14-16 Brewer Street, London W1F 0SG

Dinner at one of my favourites; Terroirs, West End

Published on October 14, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Some things in life we fall in love with. I have definitely fallen hard for London and some of its restaurant. One I always come back to and which has yet to disappoint me (like that’s possible) is Terroirs.

If it wasn’t for all the French people I work with I may have missed out on visiting this gem in the beginning. Now, a few years on, it has been voted best restaurant in London by Time Out and has expanded down in the basement as well as opened sister restaurants all over town. But I am really glad I was there in the beginning, as it feels more like my restaurant that way.

But even if you walk in now and become a regular I hope you will enjoy it here as much as I do. The staff is so friendly and familiar, the food is always lovely and pretty fuss-free and the atmosphere is just nice and relaxed.

A few weeks ago I met up with Jenny to celebrate a few things and dragged her here. We started off with a glass of bubbly (Dne Agnes & Rene Mosse, Anjou), a lovely deep rosé sparkling wine. In fact we liked it so much we decided to go for a bottle as well.

And some food. Everything on the menu looked lovely but we both chose the whole crab. The chef thought they didn’t have enough brown meat in them and gave us a crab toast too, which was very kind. The (quite spicy) crab toast on sourdough was really nice, but nothing beat the simplicity of the fresh crab with luscious mayonnaise and lamb’s lettuce, fresh baguette and salted butter.

Such a nice meal (and rather fun with all the mess, especially as we sat perched on stools at the bar) and a wonderful evening.

And that’s why I recommend Terroirs. Again. And again.

Terroirs Wine Bar and Restaurant, 5 William IV St London WC2N 4DW

Dinner at Arbutus, Soho

Published on October 5, 2013October 4, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Arbutus on Soho’s Frith Street is a very relaxed Michelin starred restaurant. It hold one star, serves up delicious food but there is not a linen tablecloth in sight.

Instead the interior is modern and clean with wooden tables and sparse decorations. The less is more philosophy seems to go for the food as well.

I was here with Laura and Gaby last Saturday to celebrate Laura’s birthday. We had a drink at Lab bar first and then a glass of prosecco here at the table while studying the menu.

Laura and I chose the same starter and this dish seems to be one of their signature disges with crisy pig’s head with potato purée and pickled turnip. The meat was crispy and soft at the same time and plump with umami. It was divine and matched the smooth puré and sharpness from the pickle perfectly. I can’t praise this enough!

Gaby’s vegetarian starter was just as wonderful. Both grilled and tempura tenderstem broccoli with an amazing Caesar mayonnaise. This is certainly the nicest broccoli any of us have ever tasted. So so good!

We were certainly lyrical about the starters and could have had every single one however the maincourses didn’t stand out as well on the menu. We all chose the beef recommended by our waitress and it was magnificent when it arrived.

It was quite a grainy cut but cooked to perfection and full of flavour. The dauphinois potatoes were delicious too and the spinach and onion pieces as well. Such a delight to eat. However, this is quite close to the type of food I would cook myself (although obviously not as well!) which is why I was more excited about the starters that felt less like home cooking and more restaurant-y. With that said though, the hearty mains really work with the rest of the Arbutus’ concept and I really enjoyed my beef.

After these meat heavy and delicious dishes I was really full but still decided to keep the girls company with a pudding. This one scoop of absolutely perfect dulce de leche icecream and a few spoonfuls of milky custard was a perfect ending to my meal and I managed to finish it despite being so full!

Gaby and Laura chose a more put together dessert with aerated white chocolate (it looks like pre-sliced white bread), poached pears and an amazing salt caramel mousse. Such a great combination of flavours although the pears were a bit on the harder side.

This was such a fabulous meal. We enjoyed absolutely everything; from the service, the wine, the relaxed interior, the painting made from pencil shavings to the almost pornographic pictures from the 1920s in the restrooms… But most of all the food! Absolutely a-ma-zing!

Arbutus, 63 — 64 Frith Street, London W1D 3JW

Dinner at Bluebird, Chelsea

Published on October 1, 2013 by Hanna1 Comment

I’ve always loved the sight of Bluebird passing it by on the Kings Road. The restaurant empire almost looks like its own little town with a café, cosy courtyard tables, bar, restaurant, shop and function rooms.

And now finally I tried the restaurant for dinner. The interior is very nice; a tad luxurious without being stuffy and I was happy to see Iittala glassware on the table, a nice touch.

Sinead and I went here on a Friday night and we were both really hungry, so we ordered a glass or champagne each and then went straight for the maincourse. I managed to pinch their last Friday special; Lobster Thermidor with frites and Sinead chose their tiger prawn and monkfish curry.

My half lobster was perfectly cooked and the creamy Thermidor sauce delicious! There was enough sauce to dip the frites in and a simple leafy salad to freshen up the dish. A perfect Friday treat in my world.

Sinead’s curry was prettily served in a shallow copper dish with the rice in a matching container. Poppadoms were served on a separate plate and both were very nice.

As it was a Friday we felt we could treat ourselves to pudding. Sinead received this pyramid of still warm donuts rolled in cinnamon sugar served with a thick custard and jam. They were utterly delicious! Although the wooden board it was served on was almost too small to hold them all.

I went for one scoop vanilla icecream and one scoop raspberry sorbet and they were both delicious. The icecream was creamy and tasted properly from vanilla and the sorbet had a rich raspberry taste.

Bluebird was exactly what I had expected; lovely food with nice ambiance and decor. The service was a bit bumpy, but the waiters really tried their best and were very friendly. It just seemed to be some confusion as to to was covering our table.

Bluebird Chelsea, 350 King’s Road, London SW3 5UU

Lovely luncheon at Dvor, Split, Croatia

Published on September 12, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Split is not a large town so after a few days we had exhausted the town centre and explored different areas of the town and stumbled upon this wealthier area with tennis courts, fancy cars and among others, restaurant Dvor, where we had lunch.

It was placed just by the waterfront overlooking a beach. We sat in the garden enjoying the amazing view and gorgeous food.

We started off with an amuse bouche; a wooden board with grassy olive oil, crostini toasted in an wood-fired and house charcuterie (prosciutto and salami). Such an amazing way to start out meal.

The menu was charmingly written in perfect English with funny (and slightly arrogant) comments from the chef on it, stating how nice his food was. We had a tough time choosing from the menu as we could eat it all, but in the end Gaby decided on a cod risotto, which to me, sounded a bit strange but it was utterly delicious! A chef who can cook like that is allowed to be a bit arrogant…

I had the homemade tagliatelle with prusciutto, black truffle (which I never seem to be able to resist) and rocket. It was seriously creamy with deliciously strong flavour. I absolutely loved it!

After stuffing us full with the gorgeous food we sat enjoying the view and our wine for a while people watching. The other guests seemed to be a mix of families, couples and ladies who lunch.

The only downside with Dvor was (unfortunately) the service. Both the food and the lovely setting weighed up, but I still find it inexcusable for a good restaurant to have bad service. Our waiter was both a little grumpy and left us waiting when the kitchen was backed up, the apology arrived at the same time as our food. And when we wanted to settle the bill our waiter was nowhere to be found so we had to wait again.Hopefully it was just a temporary glitch otherwise I would suggesting hiring some new waiters.

Dvor, Put Firula 14, 21000 Split, Croatia

Sushi lunch at Bota Sera, Split, Croatia

Published on September 11, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

My dear friend and travel companion Gaby loves researching and it was thanks to her efforts we found this sushi restaurant in Split. It appears sushi is more fine dining than take away here and it was certainly the first time I ate sushi on a linen tablecloth. Very pleasant! We also had an amuse bouche (lovely tuna paté with crostini) while waiting for our sushi to be prepared.

The restaurant we went to is called Bota Sera, overlooking one of Split’s many (pebbly) beaches.

We chose four different type or rolls that we shared and they were all very nice. From left to right; salmon skin roll, tiger roll, philadelphia roll and rainbow roll.

We also tried their vegetarian spring roll which was more like a huge croqueta than a typical spring roll. It was very nice though, and I loved the honey dip with fresh red chilli that it was served with.

There are quite a lot of different food influences in Croatia, especially Italian, but it was nice to find sushi as well as I always crave it in hot weather.

Bota Sera, BAČVICE BB, 21 000 SPLIT

Dinner at Fife, Split, Croatia

Published on September 10, 2013 by Hanna4 Comments

When asking anyone about restaurant recommendations in Split, Fife was always among them so we had quite high expectations when we went there. It looks really cosy and was packed with people every evening we walked past.

We knew the restaurant served rustic, hearty food but I guess I still expected a little finesse which was lacking. The food was cooked from scratch and definitely OK but not much better than that.

Seriously generous portions though. This was two portions but could probably feed four.

We had the classic Croatian cevapi which was nice, but not superior others we had elsewhere.

The portion of calamari was enormous and it was pretty good, but I must admit that my own homemade one is even better and since it is such an easy thing to cook I was a bit disappointed by that.

I still think Fife is worth a visit, the atmosphere is great and it is seriously cheap here, just don’t expect anything other than decent basic home cooking.

Fife, Trumbićeva obala 11, 21000, Split, Croatia

Dinner at Antika, Stari Grad, Croatia

Published on September 5, 2013September 5, 2013 by Hanna1 Comment

One of that last night on the yacht we decided to all eat together in pretty Stari Grad, at the Antika restaurant, recommended by our skipper.

It was a cosy courtyard restaurant full to the brim with guests so it was pretty buzzing, but we also noticed there was some kind of children’s play on at the square just adjacent, which created a bit of extra noise. We could have coped with that but then the spectators thought it was fine to stand around us between the tables to cheer and take photos. Needless to say we were rather unimpressed.

Eventually the play ended though and we could finally enjoy our dinner conversation. The food however was very good. Most in our group had the breaded and baked feta salad as a starter. It was huge (consisting of a whole block of feta, breaded and baked plus salad items) so although it was very good I was glad I saved myself for my steak.

From the moment our skipper had mentioned the word steak I knew what I was having and it was probably the best priced piece of fillet steak I’ll ever eat. Very tender too and the creamy gorgonzola sauce with dill was lovely too. Perhaps nor local cuisine, but very good.

Gaby had the seafood in a white wine and tomato sauce which was also delicious. And we even ‘met’ a new type of mullusc. It looked like a cross between a muscle and an oyster, it was cooked like the mussels but you had to open it yourself (i.e. it didn’t open itself while cooking) but neither the taste nor texture was that nice; it was rather chewy and bland. Fun to try though!

Antika, Duonjo kola, Stari Grad, Croatia