Category: RESTAURANT FILE

Yesterday Gaby and I went to Fernandez & Leluu’s supperclub, and it was a very interesting evening. Either of us hadn’t been where they live before, and we misjudged how long the bus would take and was slightly late. So embarrasing, but they waited for us, which was really sweet. When we rang the bell a girl called Mia opened the door, and it turned out she was Swedish too. She was also our waitress for the evening and really sweet. When we approached our table with other supperclub ‘virgins’ we were greeted by a bunch of friendly people. Only one person at our table of 12 or so had been there before, five times! In the room we were about 25 people sat around 4 different tables, and everyone was outgoing and seemed to enjoy themselves. It was people of all ages and nationalities with one thing in common – they all love food! One lady was there to see what it was like because she was thinking of setting one up herself, one man was in the UK for business and had read about the supperclub in his newspaper in the US and decided to go, and around one table it was a group of eight friends and co-workers who decided to go together.

As one woman said, at a supperclub the food and the company is equaly important where as if you go to a restaurant you are there only for the food. I would say that it is worth going for the food alone, but meeting nice people with the same interest as you makes it a very different experience to a restaurant visit. It is more informal and much more sociable.

Both Gaby and I expected good food, since this is a very popular supperclub, but this was over our expectations. it was several courses, all very well executed and with amazing flavours. As the guy next to me pointed out: “there is no salt and pepper on the table – because you don’t need it”. We started off with a mackarel pate on endives with garlic foccacia, and it was wonderful. I really want the recipe for the bread! Next course was parma ham with ripe melon and king prawns with a lovely herb mayonnaise, I think this course most people could make, but simple is good when you have good produce. Next (I think, I am so afraid I will forget one of the many courses) was black squid risotto and it was superb. Full of flavours and not too rich, definitely one of my favourites. Next was marinated tuna cubes with chips and wasabi mayo. The tuna was amazing, very tender and rich in flavour and the wasabi mayo was lovely too, I don’t think chips was the best complement to it, but it was a fun take on fish and chips. Next was an octopus carpaccio, and lots of it, with small capers, and it was absolutely delicious. I would never come up with the idea myself to make it, but will definitely try it. Perfect inbetween courses or as tapas. Next was another of my favourites, slowroasted lamb with potato salad. The potato salad was quite ordinary, similar to the one I make, but the lamb, OMG it was lovely! It was crunchy and tender and tasted absolutely amazing!

By this point it was quite late for us, as we had to trek home and go to work the next day. Most other people in the room and certainly at our table had had quite a lot of wine, and Gaby and I wish we had too. We felt really really sober compared to some of the others, singing, shouting etc. So next time we will go at the weekend and make sure we bring lots of nice wines! 🙂 We were the first ones to leave, but eat the dessert quickly, and I’m glad we didn’t miss it. It was pannacotta with vodka and orange with berries on top and it was really good. I think pannacotta in general is a bit boring and playing it safe when it comes to dessert, but this one was really good. As Gaby pointed out, the vodka really takes the edge of it, so it doesn’t feel as creamy.

We managed to sneak upstairs into the large kitchen and say hello and goodbye to the hosts, and it was lovely to meet them! I certainly hope they keep up the good work because both Gaby and I are coming back!

Thank you so much, we had a lovely time!

Monday mornings are not my favourite, and I always struggle to change from weekend mode to work week mode. That is probably the reason why I forgot the cable for my camera this morning and can’t upload any photos.

Instead I will tell you about that lovely place Trinity I keep mentioning. Malin came to visit us for the weekend and since I have mentioned this amazing restaurant to her a few times she was very keen to go. So yesterday we treated ourselves to their Sunday lunch. 3 courses for £25!

It is great that it takes me 10 minutes to walk there, but I would happily trek across London to enjoy their food!

It took as a while to decide on what to eat because the menu was so good. Especially the dessert section looked better than ever before. We started off by choosing different starters. Malin went for the Welsh rarebit with a nice strong mustard and pickled onions. It was nicely presented on a wooden board. Christopher chose the starter most men in the restaurant seem to choose: a charcuterie platter with duck hearts, foie gras mousse, rabbit terrine, bacon and homemade pickled. Served on a lovely board of black stone and with some toasted sourdough bread. I chose deep-fried sand eels with deviled aioli. It was also served on a piece of stone, but mina had a lighter colour. The aioli was served in a nice ceramic pot and they had sprinkled some crackling on top for crunch. Absolutely divine. I could have eaten that aioli as it was, spoon by spoon, but I managed to resist…

For mains Malin and I went for tagliatelle with girolles, peas and parmesan and it was divine. The spaghetti was soft and nearly melted in your mouth, the buttered girolles were lovely together with the parmesan and the light sauce it was served with. Christopher had the traditional roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, horseradish and gravy. The meat looked perfectly cooked and Christopher said it was even better than last time he had it.

We were all really full after the maincourses, but still in the mood for dessert. Malin and I both chose the duck egg crème brulee served in a low ramekin with a round sheet of caramelized sugar balancing on top of it instead of caramelizing the actual crème, very clever. It looked amazing and the crème was velvety smooth with lots of black vanilla spots. The caramelized sugar looked very nice and tasted good too, but there was a bit too much of it for my liking, it got a bit too sweet. Chris chose a Wigmore cheesecake, and since Wigmore is one of my favourite cheeses I had to try it. It was lovely, tasted quite strong from the cheese but was very smooth. It was served with a poire granité that didn’t taste very much but other than that we were all extremely happy with the meal in full.

Malin was kind enough to buy us the cookbook How to eat in, and we had a flick through it yesterday and are very excited to recreate some of the things we have eaten at Trinity. The recipe of their bread, which I forgot to mention, is in it. It looks quite difficult, but the bread is so good it will be worth it. It is always served warm from the oven and is nice and crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. We always have two rolls each even if we shouldn’t… Just can’t help it! 🙂

Before Christopher and I left for holiday in Sweden we had a great lunch at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s. A great start to the holiday! 🙂

It was the first time at Claridge’s and it is just lovely in there. Very old fashioned but in a nice way. In the ladies’ room there were three proper makeup tables by the door, I so want one at home. 🙂

But back to the food. We received a amuse bouche at first; a cold pea soup with pecorino and chopped shallots. I don’t really like cold soups, but this was the exception the the rule. It was divine! Silky smooth and perfect combination of flavours. As a starter we both chose the thai tiger prawn ravioli with velouté, and it was absolutely amazing. Every mouthful was so lovely in it flavours I had to make myself eat slowly so it would last longer. For maincourse, we chose differently. Christopher had the wild boar with smoked potato mash which looked amazing. When I saw his plate I was slightly disappointed with my choice of trout with radish cubes, broad beans, girolles and velouté, but my dish was so good I soon forgot all about Christopher’s wild boar. The fish was cooked to perfection, but tasted quite similar to trout I cook at home, but the trimmings were fantastic. We absolutely loved the first two courses!

Next came the dessert and both of us chose the raspberry clafoutis with raspberry ripple icecream. It was tasty and nice, but didn’t really play in the same league as the two first courses. The truffles we received after the meal were excellent though!

All in all we had a fantastic eating experience! The ambiance was more laid back than we’d expected, the staff very professional but friendly and chatty and made the meal a so much nicer experience.

I want to go again!! And visit all Gordon’s other restaurants… 😉

One of my favourite places in London is Terroirs winebar, just off the Strand behind Coutts bank.

This is a french place on two floors, and you can either stop by for a glass of nice wine, or have some cheese and bread, a light bite to eat, lunch or a three course dinner. So you always feel welcome here.

The staff is very passionate about wines, and if you are into your wines the winelist is nice reading, and the bar staff is more than happy to chat to you. The food is simple, french and delicious!

It is quite a popular place so it is best to book in advance, but if it’s just two of you, you might get lucky and be seated by the bar. We, Christopher and I, actually enjoy sitting at the bar the the most, because it’s nice to chat with the staff and try a few things to eat in no particular order.

Skylon is a great restaurant on the Southbank, and belongs to the Conran group D&D London. I have eaten here twice and both times the food was great, but the last time (a while ago now though, in October last year) it was amazing! I went there with my parents and Christopher when my parents were visiting and we all loved the food.

I remember being in pain all through the meal (stomach issues) but I still enjoyed it and remember how good it was. The menu was very in season so I had something with girolles as a starter, and since I love girolles I loved the starter. But the main course was the best! Fillet of venison cooked to perfection together with a smoked potato mash that was divine. I don’t know how to smoke mash, but I really want to learn! We were stuffed after the main course but still shared a baked alaska for two (on four) and it was great too, the show with flambé in Grand Marnier was fun too. 🙂

The first time I dined at Skylon I remember eating a lovely mackerel tartar as a starter and stuffed rabbit with risotto, which was very tasty, but at the end of the meal the risotto was a bit sickly.

If you go, ask for a table by the window as you can watch the sun set over the Southbank. It is not the most amazing view though, as the restaurant is on the second floor, but still pretty overlooking the river.

They also have a grill section, but I always find the restaurant menu more appetising and therefore haven’t been to the grill yet.