Category: RESTAURANT FILE

Le Chardon, Clapham

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Although I like to discover new restaurants all over London (and especially central), sometimes it is quite nice not to venture too far from home for a meal out.

On Sunday, I met up with Laura, who lives in the same area, and we went to the cosy Abbeville Road for lunch. To the French restaurant Le Chardon to take my Taste Card out for a spin.

I have been to this restaurant once before over a year ago and although we enjoyed the food, the service decreased as the restaurant filled up and we were sat ignored for 30 minutes after our maincourses. Not ideal.

They were better this time, but the service could still be smoother. It was the little things, like forgetting cutlery and ketchup, but it does a lot for the overall dining experience.

The food here is classic French bistro and not innovative or gourmet, which is nice sometimes. You know what to expect and if the produce is good and the food cooked with knowledge then it is usually good.

Laura started off with a bowl of mussels and they were big nd juice. Definitely good.

I wanted to warm up, so I chose the French onion soup which was nice with the right amount of cheesy croûtons on top.

For maincourse Laura had a whole seabass and it was perfectly prepared; the meat was tender and fell of the bone.

I chose a more carnivorous approach and had the steak (rib eye) with bearnaise sauce and chips. It was good, not great but then I didn’t pay very much for it either.

With our taste card discount the bill came to £36 in total and that is definitely reasonable, don’t you think?!

The Stonhouse, Clapham

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Although I tend to go out eating all over London, I sometimes neglect my own local area, Clapham. I am a fequent visitor to two lovely restaurants, Trinity and Tsunami, but other than that I don’t eat out locally much, which is a shame really.

A few Fridays ago I met up with Laura after work, who also lives in Clapham, and we decided to meet up somewhere local for a drink and some nibbles. A pub I really like is the Stonhouse, it is non-pretentious but nice and I have never been disappointed there, although I probably didn’t expect the menu to be quite as good as it was, as I’ve only had burgers here before.

We ordered tosted focaccia that arrived on a board with bith green tapenade and balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The green olives where not pitted and lovely and buttery. We just couldn’t stop eating them. The chips were nice too, chunky and crispy yet fluffy in the middle.

But the best nibble for me was without a doubt the baked cheddar pannacotta which arrived warm with a tomato chutney. The texture was slightly firmer than a regular pannacotta, but the cheddar flavour was lovely and a good pairing with the chutney.

Sometimes this is all you need after work; some tasty nibbles, a (large) glass of wine and a chat.

Best burgers in town – Meatliquor

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On Thursday Kristin and I met up in the insanely large queue outside probably the most popular restaurant in London right now; Meatliquor.

We were standing in the queue for a whole hour and a half before we finally were seated in the restaurant. It was even snowing as we were outside and we were so so cold, although as soon as we got into the restaurant we warmed up quickly.

The interior is rock chic with a modern painted ceiling as well as some Victorian decorations. It is dimly lit, with good music playing and the ambiance is very laid back.

Because of the large queue we expected the staff to be really on the ball to seat everyone and turn the tables around quickly, this was not the case however, we saw several empty tables before it was our turn to sit down. But as soon as we ordered the food the service improved.

Our cokes, served in the old style glass bottles and with an old jam jar as a glass, arrived instantly and short there after the fabulous chicken wings we shared as a starter. They were succulent and juicy with crispy skin and a nice spicy sauce, served with homemade blue cheese dressing. Yu-um!

Shortly after our burgers, fries and slaw arrived on a large tray. Kristin went for the green chilli burger and on close inspection we noticed there was a lot of crushed chilli in it. I chose a traditional bacon cheese burger and loved every bite.

The buns were soft and held together well, not like the dryish ones you get in some places. This was quite buttery as well, bioche style. The burger it self was lovely and rare in the middle and proper grilled on the outside adding a lot of flavour. It was seasoned well too. The bacon was nice and crisp and underneath the burger were large pieces of gherkins and dressed lettuce.

The fries (skinny ones) were ordinary, but still perfect because they were freshly cooked and very crispy. Also the slaw was nice, not too greasy, instead fresh and crunchy with carrots and white and red cabbage.

It is safe to say that we will come back, and I urge everyone to pay this place a visit. But try to go either at lunch time (they open at noon) or early or late evening.

Oh, I almost forgot. The price. We almost got a shock when we saw that the bill only came to £30 for the two of us; it felt like we had eaten more than that. But it was accurate. We’re certainly not complaining!

MEATliquor
74 Welbeck Street
London W1G 0BA

Opera Tavern, once again

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On Sunday when Emma and Claes were visiting, we wanted to make the most out of their last day here. So we got up faily early on Sunday for a walk around Westminster, followed by art spotting at the National Gallery, then a walk to Covent Garden and Opera Tavern where we were going to have lunch.

I have been to this restaurant quite a few times now, and it is always really busy, apart from, apparently, around lunch time on Sunday. Fair enough, tapas is not the tradional Sunday meal, but we really enjoyed our lunch here.

We were freezing after our walk, so we jumped straight to the hot foods on the menu, which made our waitress give us a funny look. Unintentional of course, and we just found it funny.

To start, we had some grilled bread and alioli. After inhaling that we could be civilized and actually enjoy the food.

I had promoted the amazing mini pork and foie gras burgers, so Claes and I had one each and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Emma chose mackerel with fennel and apple salad and fried chorizo instead and loved every bite.

The rest of the dishes we shared and the first one was cuttlefish (with ink) and a cannellini bean stew. Sublte flavours but it was a lovely dish.

We then had tender slivers of beef with velvety celeriac puree, brussel sprouts and red cabbage. Absolutely lovely!

We also had the classic patatas bravas with two dips. Not amazing, but totally what we expected.

We also shared a fresh salad of pickled salsify with truffle and root vegetable crisos on top. It was very different but delicious.

After all of this, we were full but wanted something more anyway, so we ordered another round of bread and alioli and some cheese. We settled for a menorcan hard cheese made of cow’s milk, called Mahon. It was quite firm and reminded me of pecorino a little.

After this and a bottle of wine, we were no longer freezing and could go for another walk before it was time for Emma and Claes to head to the airport.

Tsunami, once again

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On Friday, Emma and Claes arrived in the afternoon so they went for a walk while I finished work and afterwards we went home to mine to leave the luggage and have a pre-dinner drink (recipe to follow) before going to Tsunami for dinner.

I know I have written about this place before, but I am still impressed, and that’s why I want to share this meal with you.

We were rather (understatement) hungry when we arrived, so we ordered a starter each to share. The first starter to arrive was my choice of yellow fin tartare with a quail egg yolk on top. I have had this before and it was just as nice this time around. The presentation is wonderful as is the flavours of roe and wasabi.

Next up was Claes’ choice, and also the best starter for the evening; deepfried prawns with the most luscious sauce! Safe to say we finished that sauce off with our little spoons.

Emma’s choice was a warm starter – perfect before the sushi – and she went for the peri peri yaki tori. The chicken scewers were very moist and the soy based dipping sauce added some heat. Lovely!

When it was time for the sushi, Emma and Claes had some pretty high expectations, thanks to me raving about it, but the sushi did not disappoint. Quite the opposite – the two talked of nothing else the whole weekend. 🙂 We started off with ten pieces each and had tuna rolls, snow crab rolls, spicy tuna rolls, tuna and avocado rolls and ebi fry rolls.

We then ordered another few pieces each of the two we all liked the most (the ones I always eat here as well); the spicy tuna rolls and the ebi fry rolls.

We also had two bottles of a crisp Italian chardonnay, which left the bill at a very reasonable ~£120, service charge included, for the three of us.

I have been to Tsunami quite a few times now, and when they keep deliver like this, I’ll be back again and again. To me this is the perfect neighbourhood gem; great food, nice presentation, (very) reasonable prices and relaxed staff.

Tsunami
5-7 Voltaire Road
Clapham
London SW4 6DQ

Spot, Malmö, Sweden

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My last evening in Sweden was spent with my parents in the good company of lobster and wild duck, but my last day in Sweden, the day efter that dinner, I went into Malmö with my dad for lunch and later met up with my best friend Emma for a coffee.

The place where dad and I went for lunch is a place that has existed for ages, but I had totally forgotten about it. The experience, although just a having a pizza, was so good I thought I’d tell you about it too.

The restaurant is situated really close to the pedestrian street and is always really busy. The interior is very rustic with wooden tables and chairs and a large pizza oven in the corner.

You order and pay at the bar, then help yourself to newly baked bread, glasses, cutlery and napkins. There is oil on the tables to dip the bread in as you wait for your food.

We both ordered the same, the prosciutto pizza and it was sooo good. The base was nice and crispy with just enough topping, plenty of cured ham and some salad on top. And it tasted wonderful.

I ate so much more than I normally do, just because it was that nice, and also so I could avoid the poor food options at Copenhagen airport (although Lagekagehuset is OK).

Spot Restaurant
Stora Nygatan 33
211 37 Malmö
Sweden

My favourtie London restaurants 2011 and where I will spend my money this year…

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It is fun to summarize the past year, don’t you think?! The way I will do it is to reminisce the restaurants I enjoyed the most during the last year.

Lovely tomato salad at Nopi

Below is my list of the best (for me) ten restaurants in London 2011, but it is not a list with the best on top or bottom, just a list, not a ranking, I liked them all in different ways.

  1. St John – I want to go back here very soon. It is a place for proper foodies who enjoy different cuts of meat and non-fancy but delicious meals. We had the best lamb sweetbreads here ever, and the madeleines for pudding are to die for.
  2. Apsleys – we had lunch here on a Top Table offer but we were treated like regulars. Great service, amazing food and that little extra you want when you go to a really nice restaurant.
  3. Opera Tavern – this is a very accessible place for me. There is something for everyone, it is walking distance from the office and the food is fabulous and not very expensive. The pork burger with foie gras is sublime and the range of small cooked dishes, cheeses and charkuteries are great.
  4. L’Atelier Joël de Robuchon – My colleague took me here for an amazing birthday meal. Relaxed yet fantastic, both decor, food and service.
  5. Da Polpo – cheap and cheerful but well cooked. Only downside is that you can’t book a table for the dinner service.
  6. Tsunami – one of my best local restaurants and they have amazing sushi.
  7. Nopi – I am a huge Ottolenghi fan and this restaurant is the perfect place. Lovely dishes and great vegetarian food.
  8. Terroirs – not exciting, but cosy and comfortable with nice no fuss food. A gem I come back to often.
  9. Corner Room – gourmet food to low prices in Hackney, and it was amazing!
  10. The Square – the food is wonderful at this, two starred place, but you need plenty of time to enjoy the meal.

In a city as large as London (same population as the whole of Sweden!) restaurants pop up all the time, and it is difficult to keep up. So I made another list comprising of the London restaurants I want to visit the most this year. Most on the list are fairly new, but there are some old gems I haven’t had the opportunity to visit yet too.

  1. Hawksmoor Seven Dials – you can have steak for breakfast here! That’s a great reason, don’t you think?!
  2. Dinner – Heston Blumenthal’s London restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel seems fabulous and the whole menu consists of old dishes, even cated (i.e. c 1390 etc). Can’t wait to try it!
  3. José and Pizarro – The same man is behind both restaurant. First José opened and made sherry hip again, then Pizarro followed. Tapas and sherry in Bermondsey, anyone?
  4. Cut 45 Park Lane – now you can get proper American steak in London, cooked by an American too. Expensive, but I think it is worth it!
  5. The Delaunay – The team behind The Wolseley has opened a more casual restaurant in Aldwych, with five stars from Time Out and as good food and service as the Wolseley, I will certainly go!
  6. Meat Liquor – Apparently the best burgers in town. Unfortunately you can only queue up and not book, but again, it seems worth it.
  7. Hix – I am a bit ashamed to admit that I haven’t been to this London institution yet, but I will go this year – promise.
  8. Pollen St Social – Ranked one among the world’s 50 best restaurants I sooo want to go. Jason Atherton’s place.
  9. Roganic – the couple behind this restaurant already runa a gamous restaurant in the Lake District and I can’t wait to try one of their menus consisting of either six or ten dishes.
  10. Koya – famous for its udon noodles, is a cheap place perfect for lunch, and that is exactly when I will visit.

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

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