Lunch in Richmond

We’re in Richmond on a Xmas shopping expedition. I have researched some places for lunch, so we cut off the shopping street down a quiet alley and go towards the St Mary Magdalene church to look at La Buvette.  The menu looks interesting (French obvs), and the place charming. A passer-by says it is really good, but we decide against because there’s an office Xmas party in full flow, complete with speeches!

 

So we head down to the river and stop off for a drink at Jackson & Rye.  It’s an attractive bar/café with lovely views from the window seats, but as we’re only having a drink we are sat further back. We peruse the menu – American accented, with egg and pancake options, New England chowder, Cajun spiced chicken and of course steaks.  It’s unusual but not quite hitting the spot, so we decide to press on to the third option – and to return here if that’s no good.

 

The third option, near the end of Richmond Bridge, is Chez Lindsay, also French.  It doesn’t look very open, but I try the door and we go in.  It’s quite a surprise, because past the small front area and the bar there is a bright open room with picture windows facing down to the river.  Sadly there are also some ugly buildings in the way. We get a seat by the window, although alongside us there is a table laid for 12.

 

From the very reasonably priced wine list we order a bottle of Viognier at £23, then order our food and some very nice bread arrives.  The party of 12 then arrives – senior gentlemen, the eldest of whom claims to be 80, greeting the waitress like long lost friends. It’s not clear what the relationship is.  They apologise for making a noise, and we are offered the chance to move to another table, but in fact they’re not too bad at all.

 

For starters, B has the salad de magret – several excellent slices of lightly smoked duck. My moules “St Malo” are also really good, in a light white wine and cream sauce that begs to be soaked up with bread – though I manage to resist.  For main course B chooses the Galette aux Fruits de Mer, which comes topped with a langoustine – perhaps too much sauce.  My king scallops “St Jacques” comes with lentils and rocket, and is very good indeed.  We also order some frites and a tomato and onion salad.

 

Service has been good throughout, apart from a slight delay for the first course. But just as well we were ahead of the big group.  With a second bottle of Viognier and 12.5% service, the total comes to just over £110, which is pretty reasonable.

September to November

Round up – September  to November.

Hutong @ Shard:  As a party of 6, we were sat away from window – go in a smaller group. The set meal was disappointing – good monkfish and sweetcorn soup, followed by fair dims um; but badly let down by the main course. The deal was 9 dishes - a con, as that included the rice and it seemed the lettuce wrap.  And they were pretty ordinary – chicken and cashew nuts in the lettuce wrap, duck with rice.  We ordered 2 desserts between us, including weird black sesame dumpling. Others report the a la carte as good, so maybe give that a go. The wine list had suitably sky-high prices, so we had 4 bottles of rose @ £45, taking the £35 set lunch up to £80 a head

Senor Ceviche, in Kingly Court, off Regent Street: our second visit, was as good as the first but we had an almost identical choice of 6 dishes, as we wouldn’t have wanted the others. Free vegetarian slider (“sanguchitos”)  to begin (as they were new to the menu),  pork belly and mixed fried squid, prawn and cod; two ceviches, one salmon, the other sea bream and king prawn; chicken skewer and flat-iron steak.  First time we had black beans too,  All good, and very filling. With 2 bottles and 2 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc plus 12.5% service this comes to £122 for the two of us.

Da Mario, Endell St, Covent Garden: second visit to this homely Italian. All the classics done well, with fish specials. £300 for six including just 10% service added.

Bacco, Holborn. A more sophisticated Italian, but still very friendly service.  I had the tuna carpaccio and the pork belly, which were both good. 3 bottles of house wine at £19 between four of us took the bill to £200 including 12.5% - good value.

Riverside Cantonese, Cardiff:  it’s match day, and we’ve left it late to book, so we end up at this Chinese in a less than salubrious area.  I was very pleased and surprised to find it was a buzzing and smartish.  We had a selection of starters (missed the dim sum menu) and a couple of mains. £93 for two, with own choice of tip added.

Ben Thanh, Twickenham. Another match day but this time have booked early - only to find no-one else there when we arrive.  This small Vietnamese restaurant is fairly basic, but the staff were friendly and obliging. The four of us shared the platter to start – Vietnamese rolls, fried squid, pork and chicken satay.  The ladies had noodles with beef or chicken, while the chaps both went for Phô, the noodle soup – meatballs or king prawn.  The meatballs were not a hit, but the rest of the meal was good.  Three bottles of quite a nice NZ SB @ £17.80 took the total for 4 to just £110 before tip.

House of Hô, Old Compton St (website is the Percy St branch). Another Vietnamese and four of us again, but different friends this time.  Starters include soft shell crab and seafood ceviche; mains lemongrass chicken and shaking beef. Also two desserts and 3 bottles of SB at £24. With 12.5% this comes to £205 for four.  Much more sophisticated place, in centre of Soho, so maybe that’s fair enough.

 

Belated catch-up - June and July

I’ve got behind on my Chompers blog recently so here is a quick catch-up. Sadly some of the details have now faded in my (fading) memory.

The Old Spot, Wells:  Our friend H lives in Wells, so when it came up in “1000 places to eat before you die”, we thought it was too good a thing to miss. With T&K we venture down to Somerset and head off out to the restaurant.  After a quick drink in a pub which used to be a prison, we head round to the restaurant.

The back garden is beautifully positioned with an excellent view of the Cathedral, but from inside there is practically none.  The main feature though, is a particularly grumpy Head of House, who clearly wishes she was somewhere else.  Service is slow and offhand, and we are unable to get a second bottle of Pinotage, going for a Malbec instead.

Which is a shame, because the food itself is not half bad.  Starters included a salmon roulade, feta salad, pork terrine and a salad. From the main menu two of us have the duck breast and three the lamb with hummus.  We also share a cheese plate.

At £205 (3 bottles of wine) it’s pretty good value, except that the service has left a very sour taste.

Percy and Founders  opened up on the site of the old Middlesex Hospital, off Mortimer Street , so is a convenient location from Oxford Street.  Six of us descend one lunchtime. It’s quite a large place, so they concentrate the few diners into one section of the restaurant, with a window through to the beautiful décor of the old hospital chapel.

Starters include a tuna tartare, “heritage” tomato and goat’s cheese and for me the speciality crab and lobster scotch egg (£12.50).  Coincidentally (or perhaps because of a limited menu), 3 of us order chicken salad, and 3 crab linguine – the latter is very good.  We also have desserts – crepe, ice cream and a stunning peanut butter parfait.

With three bottles of wine  - Picpoul  @ £23 and Poivre d’Ane @ £28 (we had two tee-totallers) and service, this comes to £260.

I’ve reviewed Chez Bruce before, but this is the first time I’ve been there with B – plus M&G and C.  Again there is the calm smooth service that makes you feel so relaxed, though this time perhaps a little jollier – maybe in response to a group rather than a couple.

I’m afraid I don’t recall the details of our meals – the bill simply records two 3 course lunches and three 2 course ones, plus a John Dory supplement (B). It also records 3 apple and elderflower G&T’s, a strawberry bellini, 3 bottles of Viognier, a half carafe of house red and a glass of muscat !  Not surprisingly perhaps I do recall a feeling of warm contentment!

The set meals are such good value at lunchtime (£29.50 for three courses, £24.50 for two), so a total of £335 for 5 (£67 a head) seems very reasonable.  Do go.

One of the extra benefits of Chez Bruce is a special offer of half price meals at its sister restaurant, the Glasshouse in Kew, also Michelin starred.  So B and I take ourselves off there a few weeks later.  Rather more beige than the Wandsworth place,  the Glasshouse still has a good relaxed feel. It’s surprisingly busy for a mid-week lunch, but the service remains unruffled.

Again my memory of the dishes has faded. The half-price £12.25 for 2 courses, £14.75 for three, though, clearly can’t be beaten. We have kirs to start, a bottle of white at £29 (that’s the challenge with offers like this) and two glasses of red to go with the cheese course, so the bill, with service, comes to £115.

I’ve also reviewed Babur Brasserie at Honor Oak Park before.  A bit off the beaten track, but “worth the detour”.  Six of us again arrive for their annual birthday event, to sample both their special menu and a very wide-ranging standard one.

Our starters included crab idli, cod cheeks, scallops, and some fiery goat patties.  Mains included special butter fish, goat curry, lamb back strap and (for me) Kalaunji prawns, which sadly were rather dry.  Sides of spinach, daal, and aurbergine were excellent.  But overall a good meal.

With four bottles of wine (Viognier and Carmenere), Cobra and coffee, we got up to £300 before service.  One of the best value up-market Indians around.

 

 

 

Excellent tapas in Lower Regent St

After going to see the “Inventing Impressionism” exhibition at the National Gallery (excellent, go if you can), we’re looking for lunch. We had considered Boyd’s on Northumberland Avenue with its garish looking furniture, but when we walked past it looked rather unwelcoming. So instead we decide to head for Bilbao Berria, a tapas and pinxtos place on Lower Regent Street.

On the way we stop off at Pall Mall Fine Wines, in the Royal Opera Terrace. This is a quirky little wine bar, featuring the cartoons of Private Eye contributor, Simon Key.  They do charcuterie and cheese but we resist this, and have a bottle of unusual Picpoul Frisant, which is very good indeed – softer and sweeter  than a champagne, but with plenty of interest.

Then on to the tapas. It’s now 2pm, and it is fairly full. But we do get a table near the window – and near a large office group, who are fortunately a) not too loud and b) about to leave.  There’s a lovely buzz to the place, and an elegant modern style – no tapas clichés. The ceiling is a maze of winding metal piping forming a false ceiling; there are three Iberico jamons ready and waiting to be sliced; and attractive looking little pinxtos perched on the bar.

There is a 3-course “Business lunch” menu at £18, but we decide to go for the interesting and unusual selection from the a la carte.  Naturally, first we order some wine – I choose a white Rioja, called “Seduccion” at £25 (one of the cheaper options), which the attractive waitress serves with a giggle. Though it may not have been the name she was laughing at – the wine was bright yellow, and seriously sweet, not at all what I expected, and probably not the best choice to go with the tapas.  Anyway, we persevere (B eventually saying “this stuff grows on you”).
We ask how many dishes to order, and as well as suggesting that four should be enough unless we were really hungry, the waitress suggests her favourites – curiously, the most expensive!  There are several very nice sounding fish dishes, a good range of ham (obvs) and a number of other attractive options.  

After much deliberation, we choose the plate of cured meats – an Iberico ham, a spicy chorizo, a salami and some lomo, served with very crisp little breadsticks, and some bread we order.  This is a good sized portion, which arrives first, and we pick at throughout the meal.  Next up is a “remarkable”  prawn dish – two king prawns, in a “kataifi” crust more like a Turkish sweet than a batter, served in a glass with a brilliant spicy tomato sauce and garlic puree. Once the prawns had gone we were still scooping up the sauce with the breadsticks, and the waitress then brought a spoon.

The third dish to arrive is the sea-bream ceviche.  This comes with what look like dark prawn crackers that taste very strongly of salt cod – ugh!  The ceviche itself is good, perhaps not as sharply cured as it might be, and cut into smaller pieces than we expected.

The waitress arrives to tell us that, our fourth dish is on its way shortly, but that 3pm the kitchen will close, so do we want to order anything else.  We decide against more food, but have a 500ml carafe of Mont Ferrutx from Mallorca (£20).

The final dish is roasted neck lamb, one of the waitress’s recommendations we’d already spotted. This comes with some chopped nuts and olives,  a (one) fig and a weird rather solid foam, but the lamb itself is tender and tasty.  The way the dishes have been phased has worked very well, especially as the cured meats lasted to the end.
With the typical West End 12.5% service, the bill comes to £105, which we think is pretty good.  As we’re finishing off, a waiter brings a replacement jamon to fit into the contraption ready for slicing. It arrives in a very lovely black sack with a gold foil over the heel.  It seems such a waste the way the waiter cuts into the sack and throws all the wrapping away.  We ask about the differences between the hams, and the waiter is happy to chat  – normally there are three different ones apparently but at the moment they only have two, one from Cordoba and one from Salamanca.  

Overall, a very enjoyable lunch experience – just avoid Seduccion if you go!

 

Good Young's pub near Kew Gardens

After leaving Kew’s “Plant Finders Fair” with S&S we walk across Kew Green, past the cricket match to look for lunch. First we look into The Botanist, which I’d thought looked nice online, but B is unimpressed by the menu. The Coach and Horses across the road is calling, with its outside tables and pretty pansies  in the sunshine.


We find a table for 4 outside – nice new wooden furniture, but a bit cramped – and I go in to get a bottle of wine. I ask for Sauvignon Blanc and get The Mission, another of our NZ tour wineries, at (as it turns out) £25.75 – they do have a Chilean at £20.  The ladies decide that despite the sun it’s not warm enough outside so we go in to the Library Bar.  It is a very attractive and characterful place. As well as the Library (with loads of gardening books), there is a good solid pub bar, and a more formal dining room with “theatre kitchen”.  It is a hotel too.

The menu is largely a standard Young’s pub menu, with maybe a couple of more interesting options, plus a modest list of specials.  The ladies both choose the gourmet burger, with bacon and cheese, while the lads both have goat curry off the specials list.  The burgers, on brioche, accompanied by onion rings and good proper chips are fine – B reckons that they were so fat free they were a little too dry.  The goat curries come with an array of accessories – papadums, naan, tomato and onion, mango chutney and an aubergine mush. The main act itself comes sizzling on a skillet, accompanied by yellow rice.  The goat is a distinctive flavour – you wouldn’t confuse it with lamb – and suitably spiced so that it the heat creeps up on you as you finish off the dish.  Very unusual and a successful dish.

The bar staff have been charming and helpful, and the food arrived pretty promptly. There’s been a fair turnover of people in, but it’s never been busy.  With three bottles of wine and two coffees (they do soy milk) the bill is just shy of £150 without service – maybe pricey for one course (2 at £14 and 2 at £16.50) though you could get away with less with some cheaper (or less!) wine.

Smart dining in Clerkenwell

As the “Bill’s” empire grows and grows, serving healthy breakfasts and interesting lunches, the upmarket variant, Granger & Co, has opened a branch in Clerkenwell  (there’s another in Notting Hill) – an altogether different proposition.  After meeting up with M&G in the nearby Crown Tavern (itself a splendid venue), we walk round the corner to the restaurant.

As we enter, we’re struck by the light from the huge windows, overlooking the churchyard. The décor is also bright and fresh, light wood, suited to the Australian origins.  The young, keen staff show us to our table, and the waitress points out an offer on Pegasus Bay Sauvignon Blanc – which has to be done as their winery was where we had one of the best lunches on our NZ tour together.  Mind you, at £22.50 for a half bottle carafe it’s no bargain even on offer.


The menu is brilliant – it’s very tough to decide what to have.   G has the lamb pizzetta: this is a 6”x3” rectangle of pizza dough topped with tasty spiced lamb, halloumi and ricotta with pomegranate seeds. M raves over her  kim chee, spinach & ricotta dumplings. B has the tempura shrimp, which is very lightly battered with a flavoursome shrimp inside, and a sizeable portion. My grilled squid is melt in the mouth, served with coriander and rocket.

The main courses continue the high standard. G’s parmesan crumbed chicken schnitzel is rich and tasty; M has the yellow fish curry, with spiced butternut squash; B chooses the  turmeric spiced chicken, which is also rich and deep with flavour; my beef shin mole, served with rice and breads is a more modest portion, but easily tasty enough.

From the appealing dessert menu, we decide just to share a panna cotta between us. After the Pegasus Bay, we have a Gascony SB – “Le Potager du Sud” (£25) – and a Spanish red - ribera del duero (£24.50).  With 12.5% service this is just over £200 for the four of us – well worth it for such a relaxed, tasty and enjoyable evening.

Tapas near Paddington

After seeing a friend off on the train at Paddington, we decide to have lunch in a tapas bar she had taken us to once before , San Miguel’s,  near Edgware Road station.  We descend the narrow steps down into the basement bar/restaurant, to be greeted warmly by the host. Not least because apart from one other person, we are their only customers on this Monday lunchtime.

Nonetheless there is still a warm and cosy feel to the place, with good linen tablecloths and napkins. It’s fairly small with nooks and crannies so that helps too.   We order a white Rioja – “Muga” (£22) – which is quite light for a wine from this region.  We chat with the patrone – he’s not worried by the lack of custom, Monday is always quiet – and they have been here 12 years.

There’s both a tapas menu and a main meals list – we go for the former.   B notices there is a cover charge of £1 a head – and we do in due course get a bowl of excellent bread.  We choose the garlic prawns, which are sizzling hot with a fair amount of chilli; the kidneys in sherry, rich and warming; the pork kebabs, good with peppers; and an unusual dish of fried aubergine slices, which manages to be crisp and dry.  The portion sizes lean towards the modest and four dishes in the end seems not quite enough. So we then order the plate of Manchego cheese (and of course another bottle). This also seems to be a modest portion, especially at £5.75.

Service has been attentive throughout, even through a change of shift – though as we’re only one in here by the end, you might expect it to be.  Service charge is just 10% so we come away with a bill for £78 – pretty fair. Even better, we are offered a drink on the house – glass of wine for B and a brandy for me.  Certainly somewhere to come back to, perhaps on a livelier occasion.

Return to a cute little Italian

We used to go to Pulcinella in Coulsdon  fairly frequently but for no particular reason it’s been a while. But for some reason, on a Friday evening, the idea comes up so we book a table and then get the bus down.

It’s as well that we booked – the place is full, and people are being turned away. That means there may be as many as 20 people in there!  It’s like eating in someone’s front room – if that person had a passion for Italian décor clichés, stopping just short of candles in Chianti bottles.  The cuisine is Neapolitan and chef Mario also runs cookery courses (or “coarses” as their website has it!) covering the whole of the Campania region.  The most distinctive feature of the place though is that there is an ever-changing selection of at least six specials written up on three blackboards.

We order some Frascati (£16) from the attentive waiter – a vast improvement on the lady who used to be there, and clearly didn’t want to be, or on Mario himself doubling up as both waiter and chef as had been the case on some quiet Tuesday lunches.  We also order their garlic bread with mozzarella which, as always, is gooey and very garlicky.

I have the smoked mackerel starter off the specials board, which is very good and fishy. But we both return to the standard menu for mains – B has tagliatelle with mushrooms and prawns, and I have the pork loin with mushrooms.  Both are good but not special. 

With a second bottle of wine, this comes to a very reasonable £70 plus service.

Easter eats - country pub lunch, Islington bistro and regular pub haunt

It’s Good Friday and we’re a bit at a loose end, so we decide to catch the train and head to the White Hart in Chipstead.  It’s a 10 minute train journey to the station from Purley, but another 20 minute walk uphill to the pub – so you feel you’ve earned your lunch.

I reviewed this place two Easters ago, when I railed against unruly kids. This time the two kids there are very well- behaved, the little puppy being more of a handful – but even that is pretty good, just lively.

We had booked, and although it was quite busy it probably wasn’t entirely necessary. We have a table in the bar area – which we prefer – as the restaurant was already pretty full.  We start by ordering a bottle of Rare Vineyards Marsanne Vigonier (£19), and settle down to choose our food. 

There’s a pretty fair selection of pub staples with some more interesting dishes, like venison rump – but as we’d seen a deer near the path on the way up from the station, that option seemed a bit indelicate!  We decide to have the cheese stuffed peppers as an appetiser – they are somewhat spicy and come in a vinegar which detracts from the wine.
For starter, B has the scallops, which come with a thin sliver of crackling and sesame seeds. The scallops are very lightly cooked, so are very rich.  My duck spring roll comes with a gooey plum and a salad enlivened by star anise.  It’s good, though perhaps not quite as meaty as the one at Ping Pong the other day.

B has the sea bass fillet main course, with a tomato and rocket salad on the side. The fish is good, with nice crispy skin. The fish is supplemented by beetroot which colours everything around it, and a rather nice crisp fennel salad.  The rocket in the salad is wilted, and the dressing very vinegary – well I think so, B quite likes it. 

I choose the salt beef hash of the “light bites” section, so decide to supplement it with chips. In fact, the hash has loads of potatoes in it already, and I end up with a carbs surfeit.  Tasty enough though.

Service has been fine – no problems, nothing stand out. We’ve had a second bottle of wine, and as there is time to kill before the train back, opt for a couple of glasses of Nieto Malbec too.  That brings us up to £107 – with optional service to add. 

On Saturday we have tickets for a comedy night at the Union Chapel, Islington, doors opening at 6.30pm. So we need somewhere for a late lunch/early dinner in Upper Street.  I’ve done some research but not decided on anywhere specific, so when we emerge from the tube, we walk down to see what’s what.  

We head on down initially towards Ottolenghi. They don’t take bookings until the evening session, so we know we will be lucky to get in. And indeed there is a big queue, which we’re not interested in joining.  Just a few doors along is a French bistro – La Petite Auberge – whose menu looks interesting and reasonable, so we plump for that.

There’s a lovely warm atmosphere inside, and lots of classic French style – wooden beams, art deco travel posters for Cannes and Nice, Piaf on the soundtrack. It’s just this side of clichéd. The place is something of a rabbit warren, with several tables on the ground floor, more on a mezzanine level, some lower down – used for staff meals mainly- and a separate section for their speciality crepes.

It’s pretty busy, but we’re offered a nice table (for four – “all for yourselves”) fairly close to the front.  There’s a table of Arsenal supporters celebrating a win over Liverpool – but in a restrained Islington sort of way.  There’s also a birthday party group upstairs – the slowest and dullest rendition of “Happy Birthday” I’ve ever heard!

The charming chunky French waiter (down girls!) takes our order – a bottle of Viognier from Pays D’Oc (£21.50), and sparkling water initially.  The menu is a startling range of all the classic bistro dishes you can recall – even down to the frog’s legs. There’s a special lunch menu at £8.95 for 2 courses, £10.95 for 3 (but with an extra £1 at weekends), which has plenty of dishes worth trying.

But we go a la carte.  B has the salade de volailles – chicken livers and bacon; the salad is secondary and the sauce delicious, a definite success.  My “crevettes a l’ail” are in fact king prawns with more of a chilli hit than a garlic one, but again very good.
Which is all the more confusing because B’s main course “gambas” are virtually identical, just more of them served with rice.  Still very good though.  My main course is the most expensive on the menu: filet mignon – char-grilled beef medallion on grilled smoked pork belly in a brandy and shallot sauce, served with potato gratin – all of £16.95!  Served medium rare as ordered, this is a lovely classic dish.

As crepes seem to be their speciality – and most other tables have been ordering them – we go for a crepe suzettes to share.  Good large crepe, excellent orange, lovely vanilla pod ice cream – but it could have done with some flamed brandy, making the crepe a little crispier.

Service throughout has been good. The second bottle of wine has taken the total up to £103 – with just a 10% service charge (where else does that these days?).   I know there are loads of restaurants in Islington but you’d be hard pushed to find better value for money than this.

Easter Monday is sunny, so we head off to Epsom Downs, and after a short walk, back to a regular haunt, the Derby Arms.  It’s normally a reliable place, but the last time we were there they had an off day, so we’re not sure what to expect this time. We had booked, but surprisingly it was fairly quiet, much less than a usual Sunday.

We order the Rothschild Viognier (£22) from one waitress, then after a little pause a second one brings us a Cabernet Sauvignon.  Sent away, she returns a little later with a Shiraz Viognier – getting closer!  Third time lucky we get our wine – by which time the starters had arrived.  She has to go back a final time to get the ice bucket too.

After this dodgy start, things began to improve. B has the crab and crayfish pot, served in an attractive little kilner jar accompanied by two crisp pieces of lightly toasted soda bread. It’s perhaps a little too cold to begin with, but the flavours do come through and it is very enjoyable. My starter of black pudding cake with poach egg and hollandaise is also good – there’s enough black pudding in amongst the potato, and the hollandaise is good and sharp; the egg wasn’t runny unfortunately as having it soak into the potato cake would have been excellent.

For main course I order the roasted sea trout, but the waitress’s little pad device tells her straight away that there’s none left. So good intentions defeated I fall back on beef and ale pie and chips!  It comes in a metal pie dish with puff pastry topping, which really should have been crispier. Inside it’s full of air, and at first I struggle to find any beef.  But as I press on I do find several tasty chunks – it’s just that the dish was larger than it needed to be.   The chips are OK – no more than that – more like fries; and the accompanying carrots al dente.

B chose the pork belly with scallops, because their usual special scallops starter came with an unattractive sounding parsnip puree.  The pork belly is a large, tender piece of meat with good crackling and accompanied by a lake of sauce. The scallops are juicy, but rather dominated by the sauce. I know scallops and pork is a popular combination, but usually the ratio of ingredients is the other way around – this doesn’t quite work as well.

The restaurant end of the pub has a nice atmosphere, with photos of horses on the Downs for sale. There are a lot of people out enjoying the sun in the garden, but this means the back door is open and we get a very chilly draught through most of the meal.  A second bottle of Viognier takes our bill to £89, with service left open. Despite my quibbles I thought that was reasonable for a filling and enjoyable meal.

Three January birthday celebrations

M&G invited us to lunch to celebrate B’s birthday, and came up with Northbank as a good venue, on the Embankment path just north of the Millennium Bridge.  We’d been there (or its predecessor) before, sitting outside for a drink with the great view, but hadn’t previously eaten in the main restaurant.

We have a bottle of Prosecco between us in the bar to start and then move on in to a surprisingly busy room for a mid-week lunchtime. The clientele is rather corporate-looking, as is the general design of the place – apart from a rather radical wallpaper design, replicated on the menu cover, featuring a mugging, a homeless person and police cars, against a background of London tourist sights!

G orders both some white, the enticingly named Original Sin Sauvignon Blanc, from La Vierge, South Africa, and the equally intriguing red  Saurus Select Malbec from  Familia Schroeder, Patagonia (though there were some votes for “The Idiot Shiraz”).  Both are excellent, though we later as we needed another bottle, we had some debate about whether there was such a thing as a second Original Sin!

For starter I have three excellent scallops served with black pudding and B has a rather simpler smoked salmon served with melba toast.  M’s potted chicken comes with some interesting gherkin pieces, while G’s grilled mackerel is also good. A pretty solid start.

Main courses are even better.  My pork belly has crackling that is perfect, better than any I’ve had – crisp, yet not teeth threatening, and comes with a luscious sauce.  B’s duck breast is also lovely – nicely pink and again with a good sauce. M chooses the fish of the day, whole plaice – another winner. G’s calves liver looks a little over-cooked to me, but he’s very happy with it.

We’re pretty full, but the Malbec remains enticing so we order a plate of cheese between the four of us to provide an excuse. The portions of the four distinctive cheeses (including Yarg) were quite small, but that was fine as they supported the wine excellently.

M&G generously paid (thanks, guys) so I’ve no idea what it cost – not cheap I suspect.  Apart from the slightly corporate atmosphere, this was an excellent place with some of the best food we’ve had in a while.

A couple of days later on a Friday night we find ourselves in Bam-Bou, a Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese restaurant in Percy St, at the junction with Charlotte Street.  It’s a gorgeously decorated place on several floors, with a cocktail bar at the top, which is where we join S for a drink.  We’ve had to book early, as the restaurant had said they were busy, so we’ve fallen in with the doors at 5.30pm. Obviously it’s pretty quiet then, but the bar fills up within half an hour. We each order cocktails (about £10 each) and then a bottle of Chenin Blanc at about £20. We’re joined by A who chooses a Japanese whisky from the extensive (and expensive) list.

We go to our table on the ground floor at 6.30pm – the room is only half full. In fact it never gets really full (though there is some turnover of tables) so we don’t quite get why we had to be there so early.  We make the mistake of allowing A to order the wines – his taste is a little on the pricey side, so by the end of the evening it all mounts up. Nonetheless you can’t say a word against the Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc from Margret River or the Elderton Shiraz/Cabernet from Barossa Valley.

We share starters between the four of us – edamame beans while we order, then soft shell crab, crab and green mango salad, Hanoi ribs and grilled prawns. All were good without standing out, except perhaps the crab salad which was a very good fresh dish.

For my main course I had the slow braised ox cheek.  It was very tender but didn’t have much spiciness. B on the other hand had the very chilli-tasting wok prawns which was very good.  S had crispy quail which had a nice batter, and A had a vegetable noodle bowl, with some grilled aubergine.  We shared a rhubarb parfait and coconut panna cotta for dessert.

The service was very good (efficient and quiet) and the atmosphere excellent – buzzy and oriental.  Because of the cocktails and expensive wines the bill came to a whopping £377, two-thirds of which was booze.  £100 for food for four is not so bad, so more careful diners could manage to get good value for money.

On Monday we’re off to Ronnie Scott’s to see Billy Cobham (no, I hadn’t heard of him either, but he was good and the Guardian review liked him too).  So we try out Nopi, an Ottolenghi restaurant off Regent Street beforehand.

As we’re eating early, the place is nearly empty when we arrive, but we are still shown right to the back – obviously we’re not the beautiful people they expect.  The décor is restrained and relaxing beige, with light wood furniture.  We’ve opted for the main restaurant, though apparently you can eat downstairs to watch the “theatre kitchen”. 

We order some spicy roasted nuts and the cheapest white wine (Savia Viva Classico Blanco, Penedes - £25) while we consider the menu. Like Bam-Bou the wine list shoots up quite quickly (£140 for a Trebbiano anyone?).  Sparkling water is free though.

Like many places now, the approach is small sharing plates, so we order four.  The trouble is that each is the price of a main course in a more down to earth place.  The menu leans heavily on vegetarian dishes but we have two meat, one fish and a cheese dish.

The venison with caramelised yoghurt, blackberries and peanut crumble is very tender and tasty but not as interesting as the ingredient list suggests.  The “twice-cooked baby chicken” with chilli sauce is very moist and melting, with the chilli being a hint of flavour rather than dominating. Stone bass, urid dahl, hot and sour aubergine is similarly good with subtle supporting flavours. Burrata (a very soft light cheese) with coriander seeds and accompanied by blood orange is refreshing and tangy at the same time.

With an extra glass of wine each, this brings the total up to £97, broadly acceptable in the end. As we leave the place is full,  and the display of veggie dishes looks impressive.

And here's March - a busy month

Davy’s winebars were running their annual tasting at the Vintners Hall at Southwark Bridge – so that had to be done!  Emerging around 2pm, we decide to walk back towards Borough Market for some lunch, and fall into an old favourite Black and Blue for some sustaining meaty protein.  We’ve been here several times, and the organisation has expanded into a small chain of six restaurants including the lovely wine bar Archduke at Waterloo.

This time of day the place is not too busy, so we get served pretty quickly. A bottle of ES Vino Malbec from Argentina (£28) seems the right thing to top up our earlier intake.

B has chargrilled garlic king prawns to start – lovely, great garlic hit. I go for the chicken satay, which was also good. But then disaster. We’ve ordered the Cote de Boeuf for 2 (600g) medium rare – when it comes it is inedible – all sinew.  We struggle with it for a while (accepting that we might not be in the most sensitive critical state!) but have to give in. The waiter, seeing we’ve left most of it, asks if there was a problem and we explain – and to their credit, without any fuss, they simply remove the price from the bill (given that this was £36, that’s no small deal).

So, an unsuccessful experience, well handled - £51 for wine and starters.
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Later in the month, we have a Sunday clear so wander up to the South Croydon strip of restaurants – the “Restaurant Quarter” as the council likes to call it – to try a fairly new brasserie with the unusual name of YUMN (Arabic for “welcome” apparently).  As it’s a Sunday they are only doing their set Brunch menu, which is not normally our thing.  But it sounds quite interesting so we decide to give it a go.

It’s quite a big place, but the front section is given over to the buffet. Despite quite a few people being in, there’s not a great deal of atmosphere – and a very weary old “easy listening” soundtrack.

There’s a first course of soup – this time it’s cream of cauliflower. B decides to pass, but I go for it. It does what it says on the tin – it’s creamy and cauliflower; nice bread too.

Next up is the “market table”. Now this is pretty impressive. Loads of seafood, from dressed crab, prawns several ways, smoked salmon, poached salmon, mussels, potted shrimp, potted mackerel – take what you want. Also duck rillettes, chicken liver pate, salads and breads.  This is practically a meal in itself.

There’s about half a dozen options for main course, including of course Sunday roast with all the trimmings. B chooses the burger, while I go for the steak frites.  The burger is fine, but nothing special – nice chips. The steak however is an impressive piece of sirloin, cooked medium rare as requested, a significant dish in its own right.

With a bottle and a couple of glasses of a very acceptable Merlot (£17 a bottle), the bill comes to a very reasonable £98 (before service).  We’ll certainly go again, maybe to try the normal menu – but as a family Sunday brunch it’s a winner.
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We’re meeting S for dinner, and the chosen venue is Spitalfields.  We’ve arranged to meet in Bedales first – a sister bar to the one in Borough Market.  We are early so we manage to bag a table near the back, which is lucky as the place fills up quickly – one girl just having one cup of coffee and using the wi-fi is eventually asked to leave.  Nice spot, though not as much character as its sister in Borough Market.

For dinner we are booked into Blixen (crap website!), which B has read a good review about by John Walsh in the Independent.   It’s very busy and buzzy – a good atmosphere. Our table is perhaps rather too close to the kitchen, with the noise from that – the beautiful people are out front.

We order a bottle of house white – Cortese from Italy (£19) and some padron peppers and then decide on food.  S has ox tongue salad to start, the tongue being compressed into very rich croquettes.  B has a squid and chorizo stew, which was very stew-like, with beans – an interestingly and warm different take on the common combination of ingredients. My beef carpaccio is very thin, but an ample portion – very acceptable.

Main courses are Monkfish tail with cauliflower and mussel broth for S (nicely cooked); sea bream  with white beans and  broccoli  for B – a good crispy fillet; and (surprise!) pork belly for me – good and rich, with a crispy mash.  S has a dessert – the bill says it was “cremeux”- but frankly I’ve no recollection! – and we each have a glass of sauternes.

Good service by bright young things.  The total was £140 including service.  Spitalfields has a lot of new restaurants these days, but this is definitely worth a try.

It’s March 31^st, a famous day for excessive stress.  I’m struggling to finish a report we’ve promised for today, haggling with colleagues over two words here and some formatting there.  We finally reach a compromise and I can send it off and breathe again.   B on the other hand is off to the O2 to an Elvis exhibition!

So we agree to rendezvous at Waterloo at Cabin, the Corney and Barrow winebar on the upper level – much recommended, if a tad pricey. I’m in the doghouse for ignoring what B wants to do, so I Ieave the choice of restaurant to her.  And after many times criticising it for being too expensive for what it is, she goes for Ping Pong, a branch of the dim sum chain on the Southbank.

When we arrive it’s busy – a 20 minute wait. There’s a bar upstairs so we decide to wait it out with a £20 bottle of Chilean SB –with fancy technology to alert you when your table is free, and staff to back it up. In fact, it’s much less than 20 minutes when they call us down to a shared table – two pleasant young ladies and a rather earnest trio (2M, 1F – relationship uncertain).

We order a fairly standard combination of dishes: edamame beans, 4 fried dishes (Vietnamese rice paper rolls, beef and chilli parcels, soft shell crab and an odd Shanghai chicken dish), and 4 steamed ones (crab and prawn – brilliant, scallop and shitake, chicken and garlic and a very weird spinach beef fillet dumpling).  

After that we still have room so we get a second chicken and garlic, a duck spring roll and a beef gyoza dumpling.

Service has been fine – though we were bit miffed that the two ladies who ordered after us got some of their food first, and the edamame beans took a while to arrive. It’s a buzzy and fun place, and we’re really enjoying ourselves until I realise that we are probably at least 20 years older than anyone else in there!   We have two more glasses of wine.......

Total £96 including service – fine for the Southbank, far more than you’d pay for similar in Chinatown.

Catching up - February

Apologies to regular readers, things have been hectic recently, so I'm only now catching up on February. March to follow over the weekend.

After a show at Soho Theatre with M&G, we decide to try out the Dishoom in Upper St Martin’s Lane.  But when we get there, there’s a huge queue outside, which is not for us thank you. Apparently you can book for 6 or more, but otherwise you have to take your chances in the cold and rain. After a quick look around we decide to schlep back to Dean St and go to the Red Fort, which  I’ve been wanting  to try for some time.  

The Red Fort is busy but they find us a table easily enough.  The wine list has a huge selection of French wines by region, plus several from around the world -  but it is a little pricey, with only a few under £30. The El Supremo Argentinan Malbec I order (£25) is sold out, so I go for the Chilean Falerina Carmenere (£29) – and very good it turns out to be too.

B chooses “Pocha Hera Jhinga”  - marinated spiced king prawns in a crispy batter – to start, while M,G and I share a starter selection advertised for 2. The selection comprises tandoori prawns, salmon tikka, scallops, tandoori chicken , spinach patties & stuffed mushrooms – and is more than ample for the three of us.  All very good indeed.

The mains carry on the high quality you’d expect of the place. M tries the spiced roast rabbit, which is very moist and full of flavour. B goes with the chicken tikka – very large pieces, nicely spiced. G has the Welsh lamb biryani, served in a sealed pot. And I have the Hyderabadi bhuna lamb.  We accompany these with bhindi, dhal and 2 extra pilau rice. Everything is lovely – there’s only one thing: the portions are huge, twice the size (and twice the price) they need to be. They happily put the remnants into doggy bags for us to take away – and B&I have them for an excellent lunch the following day.

Service is prompt and efficient – pleasingly unmemorable. We only have the two bottles of wine, but the bill comes up to £250. Excellent food, but more modest portions would  have been preferable. Certainly a great place to go if you’re feeling hungry!
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Meeting up for lunch with friend D on a day due a bus strike, we decide to stick close to Waterloo, and head down past the Old Vic to the Waterloo Bar and Kitchen. We have booked, but that was rather a waste of time as there is only one other table in on a damp Monday lunchtime and the place is rather lacking atmosphere. The staff are cheerful and attentive though. 

 We choose a reasonably priced South African Chenin Blanc – Journeymaker (£18.95) – from a list that, while nowhere near Red Fort prices, wasn’t especially cheap. For starters, D chooses the prawns off the specials board, and checks that they come already peeled - which they can do. B has the squid with chorizo, cooked just right, and I have a small starter portion of pork belly with very thin crackling.

For mains B has the seabass fillet, a modest portion but with a good crispy skin. D’s roast chicken with leeks and mushroom looks a little ordinary, while my haddock with soft boiled egg is very salty. Unusually for us – must be D’s influence – we have desserts too: three scoops of ice cream for B to her personal selection, a rich and gooey chocolate brownie for D, but a rather flabby crème brulee for me.

 We had three bottle of the Chenin, and with 12.5% service the total comes to £180, surprisingly close per head to the Red Fort. But then we had dessert and twice as much wine per head - though no leftovers for lunch the next day!

JANUARY ROUND-UP

It was B’s birthday and we finally get around to going to see the Late Turner exhibition at the Tate. So for lunch we decided to try the Rex Whistler restaurant there.  Understated it isn’t.  The semi-underground room  is covered with murals – expedition in pursuit of rare meats – making it very dark and forbidding. The place is pretty much full, with the obvious demographic – we’re probably the youngest there.  

Our table is down at the back squeezed in near the server’s area, but it is at least near one of the small windows so we do get some natural light. The “award-winning”  wine list is extensive but naturally not cheap – we settle for the Klein Konstantia SB at £30. Not  “quick wine”  though, despite being near to the servers.

The set menu is £25 for two courses, £30 for three – plus a weird £1 per table suggested donation to the Tate!  To start I have the Dorset crab with brioche crumb – two small dollops of encrusted crabmeat. The sweet brioche works well with the crab, of which there is plenty, though the fragments of shell I could have done without.  B has the crispy duck egg with ham hock and green beans. The egg was cooked just right- slightly runny – and the ham hock a good salty accompaniment. 

For mains course I have the chicken breast with mushrooms - here’s not a great choice. That’s fine its way, just a little dry and with not a lot of flavour. B has the sea bass, again with green beans, which is a rather small fillet and again not with a great deal of flavour.  I’m tempted into the dessert by the coffee and hazelnut trifle, which comes with a huge layer of whipped cream and very stodgy coffee sponge – I don’t get close to finishing it.

Overall, at £133, not a great success, apart from marvelling at the décor.

 The following week, we’re off to Ronnie Scott’s, and decide to go try a place on Shaftesbury Avenue called The Noodle House beforehand. There’s an offer on to include a glass of Prosecco – fine if you like warm wine.  But the place is buzzy and interesting and the wine (a Tempranillo) reasonable at £19.  We start with some chilli ginger edamame beans, then have crispy calamari – very nicely done, melt in the mouth and light batter – and duck dumplings full of meat.  For main course we had black pepper beef with peppers and butter prawns (spicy) with jasmine rice ( no noodles despite the name). All very tasty and pretty good for £60.

G&S are down for a few days, performing at the Jermyn St theatre and then going to conferences etc. So after the show on the Sunday we aim for Cinnamon Soho – only to find it shut.  So we wander the nearby streets and happen upon a tapas place called Pix Bar (for pinxtos) in Ganton Street. Apparently there are branches in Bateman St, Covent Garden, Islington and Notting Hill too.  It’s just a small bar really, with the pinxtos dishes on the bar in true Basque style.  £1.95 for the ones with short sticks in, £2.95 for larger ones with long sticks.  The small ones a basically slices of bread with toppings; the larger ones more interesting, some kept warm in a cabinet, chorizo, ham.  Between us we manage 11 small ones and 14 larger ones! With a couple of bottles of Rioja at £21 and a whisky that comes to £126.  The service has been very friendly and the little place is quite full, including a couple of tables of Spanish people happily chatting to each other.  A find.

The next day (Monday) we’ve signed up for the 4 of us to go for a 10-plate dinner at Crazy Bear in Whitfield St, “Fitzrovia” (is that really a place?) at a special offer price of £29.95 (normally £39.95).  Crazy is the word for it!  The ground floor is not too extreme I guess, but downstairs is a louche bar, all dark and seductive. The loos are weird – you arrive at what seems to be a brick wall and wander up and down looking for door or sign. Eventually someone comes to help you and presses a magic brick and, “open sesame”, a door appears.  Inside the loo, it’s all black and sparkles. I give up trying to find the urinals (which I guess must be somewhere in the darkness) and use a cubicle which is at least visible. Washing your hands is an experience too  - as hands from the ladies suddenly appear the other side. Very odd!

This ten-plate dinner turns out be roughly three courses.  There’s a sushi course – salmon and tuna – then a dim sum course (har gau and pork dumplings), with some edamame beans appearing on the, and then for mains duck, seabass, beef curry, pak choi and rice.  It’s all very good indeed.

Wine is not cheap £27 for a Spanish white and £29 for a Malbec, but at £233 for 4 people overall it felt like good value.

Staying down in Hove with M&G, we go out for dinner at a lovely little fish restaurant – The Little Fish Market.  It is little – perhaps ten tables – and when we arrive there is one couple already there.  The waiter is absolutely charming and friendly and chats away with us throughout  - no sales pitch just a straightforward discussion.

The main topic of that conversation was why they moved from an a la carte menu to a five course set menu for £50 a head. Basically it came down to the fact that with just one chef and one front of house it was hard to sustain a full a la carte.

So we settle down to the meal - trout terrine with crispy quail’s egg to begin – excellent, full of flavour; butternut squash ravioli – not quite my thing; for the central course there is a choice: I have the beef short rib with cabbage - B has the lemon sole; this is followed by sea bass fillet with crab mousse; and then mango and chocolate with coconut.

For taste none of these courses could be faulted. But you would have thought that perhaps the central course might have been a bit more substantial – as it was it seemed like 5 amuse bouches. A quick kebab on the way home seemed an attractive prospect!

M&G generously treated us, so I don’t recall the wines we had or the total bill.  So would I recommend it?  If you’re not that hungry and want some great flavours, then yes; if you’re starving, try the local curry house.

The following day after a bracing walk along the seafront into Brighton, we head to M&G’s favourite lunch spot – Plateau, by the Town Hall. Another small, intimate and friendly place, this also has a limited menu. The eponymous platters – meat, fish or veggie – and a few specials on the board.  B and M share the meat platter – a fine selection of cold charcuterie, more than they could cope with; G has the special option of two small plates – a boudin noir and ox cheeks; I go for the bavette steak with fries and chimchurri – a seriously hot sauce.

With a couple bottles of wine this comes to just £140 for the 4 of us. Friendly service too. Go!

G&S are down again and have a late train back to the North on a Sunday.  So what better than a dim sum in Chinatown? Lots of options, but we settle on Harbour City, a slightly smarter than average place. It’s pretty busy so we get sent upstairs – this is busy too, so they give us a table for 8 by the window.  We order wine and tea, then settle down to examining the dim sum menu. We end up with Vietnamese spring rolls (good), paper wrapped prawn (excellent), prawn dumplings (two types, both OK), beef dumplings (so-so), prawn dumpling in spicy soup (certainly spicy), grilled dumplings (fine) followed by a half crispy duck and pancakes.  At £124 for 4 (only B and I were drinking) that was a pretty good deal.