Nopi – Scandelights

When my friends Tobbe and Malin came to visit last week, we had some really nice dining experiences. First up was Nopi, where I went for my birthday last year.

Back then we were a larger group so we sat at a big table on the lower ground floor, whereas this time we sat up on the ground floor.

The food served at Nopi is fresh small plates with unusual flavour combinations. The main menu has three sections; vegetables, fish and meat and there is also a dessert menu. Nopi recommends three small dishes per person, so that’s what we did. We got nine different ones to share.

To start we were served lovely bread to dip in a very grassy olive oil. Really nice but I did miss the dip we got last time.

Roasted aubergine with black garlic, harissa and pine nuts. This dish was nice enough but not spectacular in any way.

The heritage carrot salad with black olives, endive and orange vinaigrette was nice and fresh with nice flavours.

The courgette and manouri fritters with lime yoghurt were nice too, but none of the vegetable dishes we tried said ‘wow’ this time around. Last time those were the best.

But then this came out and blew me away: organic prawns with fennel, feta and Pernod. The prawns were wuite hot and it was really nice with the flecks of salt feta to take the edge off the heat. Also the sauce at the bottom of the pan was delicious. One of my two favourites of the evening.

Scallops with pig’s ear and a sauce made form black beans and ginger was also really nice, although the flavours could have been a little bit stronger. And you can see yourselves that the scallops were perfectly fried. Yu-um.

Malin ate this lovely fried seabass with smoked labneh and pickled lemon when Tobbe and I had the seafood.

She also had this twice-cooked chicken with myrtle salt and chilli sauce that I had last time too. I think this is a staple on the menu and so for a reason.

Tobbe’s choice of sirloin with baby leeks and pickled ginger with coriander and chilli salsa. Nice flavours!

The second of my two favourties was this incredibly tender and flavoursome ox cheek with horseradish cream and sour cherries. Amazing!

Although we didn’t over order we were still incredibly full at the end of our meal and struggled with the last few forkfuls, so there was no way we could have dessert. Instead we went to a nice bar and cocktails – less filling that way.

Nopi

21-22 Warwick Street
London W1B 5NE

The Friday after my biryhday I got to celebrate becoming a year older together with my London based friends. We met up in the bar The Living Room after work and enjoyed a few drinks, and then we crossed Regent St and went for dinner at Nopi, a new restaurant from the team behind Ottolenghi.

Our table was a large communal one in the basement just outside the kitchen. On the ground floor is was a different atmosphere with small tables of two and four and busier than downstairs. We enjoyed being left alone a bit and to enjoy each other’s company.

To start with we were served homemade nice bread and the most amazing carrot dip. It was all orange (of course) and we could taste lemon and cumin in it. A great start to the meal, and a dip I definitely want the recipe for!

We were a group of eight, and therefore had a group menu, consisting of eight dishes all in all. We started off with two vegetarian dishes, both absolutely fantastic. The first one was a tomato salad with wasabi mascarpone. It sounds simple and it was, but the flavours were lovely. The tomatoes were great produce and the mascarpone dressing had just a hint of wasabi, enough to flavour it but not enough to make it spicy.

We also had an aubergine tart on crisp thin pastry with the mildest and creamiest goat’s cheese I have ever tasted. Fabulous dish, especially for aubergine lovers like me!

The first of the hot dishes to arrive was grilled mackerel with lentils. My sensitive stomach can’t really do lentils, but I had a forkful anyway and it was really nice. A very fresh and summery dish.

The nicest dish (I think we all agreed on that) was one of the simplest ones; broccolini and a most amazing mash. I have never had such a good mash in my life time, and yet my own versions are quite good. 🙂

Next was the meat dishes, like this smoked duck breast with nectarines, beetroot and a sweet sauce. The meat itself was perfect and had a lovely smoked flavour, but I didn’t tink the necatines and beetroot was a great match, not for each other and not with the duck.

We then had twice cooked (barbecued) chicken, which was really nice, but it is still just chicken. I prefer to eat more unusual things in restaurant, things I can’t cook myself…

For dessert we had white chocolate icecream (lovely but didn’t taste that much of white chocolate) with berries and financiers with coffee and pecans, with a maple cream.

I am not that keen on coffee, but this was just a hint and it worked really well with the pecans. The maple cream was superb and after a while we came up with the ultimate way of eating this dessert (i.e. getting as much cream onto the financiers) by dipping the whole little cake into the sauce bowl. Yum!

We were full in a nice way when leaving the restaurant just before midnight, and I definitely want to go back. The food feels quite healthy and I love the Middle Eastern spices.

Nopi

21-22 Warwick Street
London W1B 5NE

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