Tag: West End

Dinner at one of my favourites; Terroirs, West End

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Lunch at Massimo, West End

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What started off as a girlie lunch, just coinciding with my birthday turned into a lunch for four and was sort of a birthday lunch as my lovely colleagues gave me a card and a gift. Thanks guys!

We decided on having both starter and main course as we were in no rush to get back to the office. Luckily July is pretty quiet. Three of us started off with the raw scallops flavoured with orange and vanilla salt and it was utterly delicious, fresh and fragrant.

Ria, less fond of raw seafood, opted for baked prawns instead which were also delicious. In fact, the whole crudo and antipasti menu looked wonderful.

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We all had pasta for our main course, Rich and Caroline chose the crab and tomato linguine which looked really fresh and nice, but they were a little bit disappointed flavour wise.

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Ria and I had the spaghetti Carbonara with lightly baked egg and truffle which sounded delicious. Unfortunately it was really oily and a bit too salty. I was quite disappointed but will give Massimo another chance as I know people who have had delicious pastas here.

The service was nice and efficient which weighed up a little bit and the art deco interior with pillars and large lamps is quite extraordinary and creates a nice setting for any meal.

Massimo, 10 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5AE

Opera Tavern

Published on by Hanna5 Comments

Thanks to a great tip from Hanna aka Swedish Meatball Eats London, I ate a fabulous dinner at this establishment in the West End on Thursday, together with my Swedish friends Malin and Martin who were visiting.

The dinner was a quick affair because we had tickets to We Will Rock You an hour and a half later, but they are used to this in theatre land.

If I had not heard about this place, I would never have walked in, as both the name and exterior suggests it is a tourist trap. Inside however, it is nice in an understated way, the service is efficient and friendly and the food is amazing.

The menu offers tapas, both charkuterie, cheeses and the usual suspects like croquetas and calamari, but also a few more interesting dishes like the favourite miniburger with pork and foie gras.

Prosciutto och chroizoWe started off with some olives, bread, thinly sliced chorizo, prosciutto and a creamy goat’s cheese. All wonderful produce, and at room temperature to maximize the flavour.

After this we had scallops with pea purée and crispy parma ham; the fab burger mentioned above with a brioche type bun, caramelized red onions and a lovely mayo and the most succulent meat as well as juicy chargrilled chicken with chorizo. Nothing disappointed!

We finished off the session with more bread and aioli, chilli salami and gorgonzola. The meat was again very thinly sliced and nice and spicy. The gorgonzola was slightly cold, but came with amazing caramelized walnuts and rosemary flatbread.

We had all this and a bottle of wine between the three of us, and the bill only came to around £70 including service charge. Great value for money and a lovely hidden gem, so far at least – this a place that is up and coming. Book now because they will be full up soon…