Category: RESTAURANT FILE

This week has been very different to a normal week for me, because I have been out eating and drinking both Tuesday and Wednesday and have drinks planned tonight as well. I love it though (although I’m tired) and I am certain that on Friday we will have a quiet night in with fresh prawns and a nice salad, and that I will have a looong lie-in on Saturday morning.

We went to a bar in Soho yesterday that is called Lab Bar (Academy) and they have really nice cocktails. To start with we had champagne, and then I had a wonderful passionfruit martini with the great name ‘Porn Star Martini’ and it had a shot glass of champney on the side. Around 10pm we realised that we were really hungry and we just went into the first place we passed by that looked decent. It can go totally wrong when you have that approach, but we were not disappointed with the pizzas we had in a place called Amalfi. That got both me and Carina thinking of the pizzeria back home in Beddingestrand (on the south coast) with the same name, and suddenly I was craving Swedish pizza. it sounds odd I know, and even though I can eat plenty of nice pizzas here, I sometimes miss the Swedish kind. It is definitely on my to-eat-list for the trip home this summer!

Last Sunday when Daniel and Maria were visiting we had booked a table at Trinity in Clapham Old Town, because we love to bring our friends there. It was nice and sunny during the short walk there, and we were the first table there. After just a few minutes it started to fill up. The menu looked amazing, so it was difficult to decide, but I think we were all very happy with what we chose.

We were given some small green (unpitted) olives when we arrived, and they were really nice. Lots of flavour but very refreshing. After that they brought in the amazing bread, and we were quite proud that we didn’t order any more. We usually do, and then we are too full to move afterwards.

Maria and I chose the shellfish chowder with bacon and saffron as a starter and it was lovely. The bacon was the most dominant flavour, and that just can’t go wrong. There was just a hint of saffron despite the very yellow colour, and the other flavours were quite muted, but together it was a fantastic taste.

Daniel also chose a soup; the crab bisque with a crab toast on the side. It looked delicious and it went down very well.

Christopher chose the smoked venison tartar (of course) with celeriac creme and an egg yolk on the side in its shell. I got to taste it and it was lovely. Lots more flavour than a regular steak tartar and Christopher thought it was better than the Wolseley’s steak tatar which he adores. I think that says it all…

For his maincourse Daniel chose the baked salmon with leeks and sorrel creme. It looked amazing, and nearly converted me to like cooked salmon again. I used to eat it all the time, and have therefore no desire for it anymore, but I would have loved to try this one. The leeks were very sweet and tender and the sorrel cream delicious.

Maria and Christopher had the traditional Sunday Roast with slow-cooked sirloin, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, gravy, cooked vegetables and freshly grated horseradish and bone marrow. This was even better the roast Christopher had last time, but the potatoes, even though they were delicious, they were quite greasy.

I thought I scored the jackpot with my maincourse, because it was utterly divine! Cooked thinly sliced lamb as a salad with sardines, lamb lettuce, baked onions that were nice and sweet, crispy sweetbread and the best of it all; wild garlic creme. I had this for my asparagus starter the first time I came here, and fell in love (literally, I can’t stop thinking about it) and could easily have has a tub of it.

The starters and mains are extremely well executed, and even though the desserts are nice, I never think they are as good as the savoury food. And I actually don’t believe that is because I am full at this stage. Don’t get me wrong, the desserts were very nice, but not that far from what one can make at home.

Daniel had the Valhrona hot pot which tasted like the middle of a chocolate fondant, half baked, and blood orange rippled icecream.

Christopher had the profileroles filled with a vanilla creme and the chocolate sauce on the side. It was nice, but not that different to other profiteroles, he said.

Maria and I decided to finish the meal in the same way, with a treacle tarte with milk icecream. The tarte was nice, although a little sharp from lemon. It was perfect to serve it with milk icecream, a creamy icecream would have been too much. I think Daniel’s dessert was the best one out of the bunch, and he was also the one who was really really pleased with his. The rest of us were nice and content, but still thinking about our starters and mains I think. For me, the lamb salad would have been enough for me, it was sooo extremely good, I even said at the table, that if I had that as my last meal I would die very happy.

The service was as always brilliant. Not too friendly, not too rigid, just the right balance. The only negative thing with our lunch was that it was raining when we got out, and we had no umbrellas. But I think the quick walk home did us good for digesting the lovely lunch. 🙂

As you can see, I didn’t take my best camera with me. I preferred to be discrete and use my little compact camera. Before I have been too embarassed to even take out a camera, so even though some of the photos are a bit our of focus, at least you get the idea of what our amazing lunch looked like. 🙂

It was typical English weather on Saturday – rain! But it was mild so it wasn’t too bad. We still managed to go shopping, first in Chelsea, then in Harrod’s and then around Piccadilly before our afternoon tea at the Wolseley at 5pm.  

Our table was up on a balcony, and it was just two tables up there. We had a perfect view over the busy restaurant, and I felt more comfortable taking pictures when we were a bit secluded from the rest of the restaurant. And to make sure the staff would not forget about us, we even had a service button on the table. Cute!

All of us chose the afternoon tea, and the boys drank Earl Grey while Marua and I chose the Wolseley’s own afternoon blend. It was nice and quite smokey.

We got two tiered plates with lots of goodies. The sandwiches were on the bottom plate and were from the right: smoked salmon on wholemeal; cucumber on white; cream cheese and celery on tomato bread; chicken and tarragon on white and eggs and mayonnaise on white. I prefere the celery sandwich and the chicken sandwich, those combinations really worked. There was nothing wrong with any of them, but I really dislike English wholemeal so the salmon was my least favourite.

After the sandwiches we carried on with the fruit scones. They were lovely and light and far from dry. I must say that they are much nicer than my homemade ones, even though mine are nice also. It was lovely with the clotted cream and nice strawberry jam.

Lastly we tried all the nice pastries. You are probably to chose a few each, but we thought it was more fun to try all of them.

We started with the Battenberg, which was a nice version of it, even though I don’t particulary like the cake. The rhubarb tarte we tried next was more my cup of tea. It was quite sharp but very nice. Next we tried the cheesecake which was heaven. It was vanilla with two layers, first the cream cheese layer and then the sourcream layer on top, which is exactly how I prefer my cheesecake. I would happily have a bigger slice of this!

The large macaroon was pistachio flavour, and I disliked thebitter almond taste. Nothing wrong with it other than my personal taste. The meringue was ncie and chewy, just the flavourting that wasn’t what I would have liked. The chocolate cake we tried next was not that great according to me either, but I can (obviously) be quite picky with cakes. The mousse was lovely but too rich for me, and the cake underneath was a little dry. I think I would have liked it better if the proportions were reversed, with more cake than mousse, but Christopher liked the mousse and would quite happily have had a tub of it! 🙂 The last pastry was a coffee profiteroles, and since I don’t like coffee I didn’t even try it. I was quite pleased as it was!

I realise that I have been extremely picky in my review but that is my nature. I dissect every single thing. But put it all together this was a wonderful afternoon with friends, and with my picky taste there is no way I would like everything in such a diverse selection as an afternoon tea. The standard was very high and I would happily come back here for there afternoon tea.

Although it was easier to take photos on the balcony, I still only had my small compact with my, and the photos are not great, but I hope you can get an idea of what it was like.

I met up with two ex-colleaugues yesterday after work, Sinead and Katie. We met at a thai restaurant in Soho, which I have heard lots of good things about, and it was actually on the Time Out list as well – Busaba Eathai.

Sinead finished work earlier than us, so she managed to get there before the crowds and grabbed seats for us, because you can’t book in advance.

During my walk to the restaurant I walked through China Town where they were celebrating the Chinese New Year (it is now the year of the Rabbit) and there were lots of people about and lanterns swaying in the sky. It is at moments like that I realise how much I love this city!

A few minutes walk later and I reached the restaurant, which I first walked past because of the subtle signage. The restaurant was really nice and furnished in dark wood. Straight a head to the right was a cloak room and along the wall at the back was the open kitchen. The tables were large square ones with room for eight people, so if you were a smaller group than that you had to share. I quite like the idea to share with strangers. It fascinates me what food people order and it is fun to guess how they know each other. Love people watching.

All three of us were starving so we ordered three starters to share and a main course each. The starters were: large breaded prawns with a nice dip, vegetarian spring rolls and chicken satay. The prawns were juicy but crispy on the outside and the dip was delicious. The spring rolls were a bit disappointing even though they were crisp, but they lacked a lot in flavour. I wouldn’t order them again. The chicken was lovely though, very moist which is not always the case with chicken satay, and the peanut dip was really nice too.  

For mains, Sinead ordered the rose apple chicken wok and Katie and I chose the pad thai, and I tried the thai roti as well, because I have never had it in a thai restaurant before.

I love pad thai and this was a really nice version. It could have been a bit heavier with ginger, but it was still delicious. There were plenty of prawns, and had the peanuts on the side. The roti was a deep fried round bread, quite similar to langos, but I don’t think it had potatoes in the batter. Nice but not amazing.

The service was good, and even though the queque was growing outside (the queque was as long as the front of the restaurant) we didn’t feel rushed. The food arrived quickly after we’d ordered it and the Sauvignon Blanc was cold and crisp and we got ice water without asking for it which is nice.

All this only cost around £60, for the three of us, which is great value for money, especially considering it included a bottle of wine.

I highly recommend this place! There are a few restaurant to chose from but the Wardour St one, which we went to, seems to be one of the more buzzing ones.

In this week’s issue of Time out, they’re listing London’s 50 best retsaurants, and I am proud that one of our favourite places came in as number 1. Applause for Terroirs! Here you can see what I have written about them in the past.

Last time I was there was in October when it was Christopher’s mother’s birthday, but I forgot to write about it then. We were sat in their new addition then, in the basement. They have different menues on the two floors and a bar on each. We started off with a glass of bubbly in the lower bar before we proceeded to our table and had dinner. The food was very good, without being to weird or to innovative, just very well cooked. I can’t remember exactly what we had, since it is such a long time ago, but I do remember that it was really nice!  

We often come here for a glass of wine, champagne or sometimes in Christopher’s case, sherry. We love to sit by the bar and chat to the friendly bartenders. It has happened that they let you try something, otherwise the lovely nibbles will keep you happy. How about salty duck scratchings, rillettes or nice French cheeses?

This is one of these really cosy places you want to go back to time after time. The atmosphere is friendly, knowledgeable and professional, all at the same time. The wine list is impressive, the food is good and you just know that you will have a great time if you come here.

When my best friend Emma came to stay with me last time we popped in here on the Friday after I finished work for a glass of champagne, and she liked it so much she wants to go back when she and her fiancée are coming to stay in March. 🙂

The location is really good as well, the restaurant is a few minutes walk from both Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Charing Cross, and luckily for me, only 5 mins walk from the office. 🙂 This place was full every night before Time Out ranked them the best restaurant in the big smoke, so make sure you have a reservation if you want to eat here.

Other restaurants on the top 50 list that I like are Dishoom (read about them here and here) and The Wolseley (read here and here), both very good restaurants in completely different ways. There were also lots of restaurants I have heard good reviews about and who recide on my (ever growing) to-do-list.  

The Time Out list for 2010 is not yet on their website, but you find the one for 2009 here.

I often get the question ‘Which restaurants do you recommend in London?’ and as much as I like to recommend the gourmet places I save up to go to, it is quite good to focus on the everyday eats as well. London is a jungle when it comes to restaurants, and there are so many tourist traps with bad food, that can ruin your day, so I’d like to name a few cheaper restaurants (many are chain restaurants that you find all over town) that I recommend, and a few that needs to be avoided in my opinion. 🙂

If you want to grab a sandwich I recommend Pret or Eat, where most office staff buy there lunch. I am not a big fan of the triangle sandwich, but here at least everything is fresh. I prefer Paul or Patisserie Valerie, where they have decent European bread, quiches and delicious-looking cakes.

If you want something more substantial than I sandwich I recommend:

Carluccio’s – Proper Italian pasta, only slow service sometimes. 

Pizza Express – Probably the most popular pizza chain in London. Nice pizzas and I like their doughballs with garlic butter. Service is usually alright. 

Strada – Even better pizzas than Pizza Express, and the pasta is also a bit better, but if you want pasta go to Carluccio’s. Nicer ambiance than Pizza express but slightly mroe expensive. Slow service sometimes.

Nando’s – Piri piri marinated chicken is the only thing on the menu (nearly) with lots of different sides. You order and pay at the bar and get the food brought to your table. Quite greasy but they have a nice sweet potato mash. Good value for money.

Las Iguanas – Mexican chain who serve both good cocktails and nice food. Not the cheapest eat, but good.

Wagamama – Nice rice and noodles dishes. You sit at communal tables with benches. Nice and fresh.  

Gourmet Burger Kitchen – Burgers from New Zeeland. Their garlic mayo and BBQ sauce are great and their burgers certainly does the trick when hangover.

Feng Sushi – A sushi chain with decent sushi. Haven’t tried any of the other chains though, there might be a better one.

Tobiko – Small sushi place in Covent Garden who serve really nice and fresh sushi. Only downside is the size of the maki rolls – they’re huge and makes them a bit tricky to eat. But it is too good to bother about that.

China Town – Lots of restaurants from choose from. Most serve great food to a cheap prize.

Ping Pong – Dim Sum chain which is quite nice. Of course not as good as dim sum in China Town, but still nice. Usually quite a queue, so come early.

Jamie’s Italian – Nice for a weekday supper. Rustic and great charkuteries. Lacks a little finesse.

Avoid:

Wahaca – mexican street food restaurant in Covent Garden that is quite popluar. But I can’t understand why. Everything tastes the same and not good at all.

Fire & Stone – pizza plca in Covent Garden that again is popular for reasons I don’t understand. They have odd combinations of toppings which could have worked if the pizza base was any good, but it isn’t. Bad service.

Garfunkel’s – a real tourist trap around Oxford St/Piccadilly. Bad food and not good value for money. 

Angus Steakhouse – another tourist trap you will pass by lots of times. Not very cheap and not very good steak.