Dranatically opulent brasserie near Picadilly Circus

We’d read several reviews of Brasserie Zédel, the new Parisian-style brasserie by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King (of Wolseley fame) by Piccadilly Circus, so we head along for a midweek lunch with friends M and C.   Arriving at the modest entry and small upstairs bar, you have no idea of what waits below, down the Art Deco carpeted, mirrored staircase that must surely have featured in several episodes of Poirot.  Past the Bar Americain cocktail bar (closed lunchtime) and The Crazy Coqs cabaret, you arrive at the huge brasserie, packed full even midweek. Apparently this huge room was once the ballroom of the Regent Hotel, and it has been splendidly restored with marble and lovely original lighting.  It’s a buzzy, fabulously glamorous place, but what we know from the reviews is that it’s also cheap!  Starters from £2.50, most mains between £10 and £15; Prix Fixe from £8.75 for two courses!

We join our friends at the table and settle down to take in the view. There must be around 200 people in here, with “walk-ins” accommodated at the counter.  M spots Harry Enfield at one table, and later, Eleanor Bron arrives – not our usual dining companions.  

The wine list is resolutely French, starting at £16 a bottle, with nearly all available by the glass. We have the Picpoul de Pinet at £22.50, light and fresh.  The menu of course is also entirely French brasserie (assuming you count Alsacian choucroute as French – I don’t think I’ve seen a choice of 3 couchroutes anywhere before).  To start M chooses the Parfait de Foie de Volaille, which she likes immensely but declares rather rich – so we have to help out.  C has the Pâté de Campagne Maison which is good coarse terrine.  B’s tartare saumon is the most expensive of our starters at £6.50, and fairly small, but she thinks it’s very good.  I choose the Pissaladière, because I’d recently cut out the recipe from a paper and was thinking of doing it. It’s a pastry base covered with caramelised onions with anchovies and olives.  Sadly the base was rather stodgy and the onion lukewarm, so I wasn’t impressed, though in all honesty I don’t know whether it was typical of its kind.

M follows with pan-fried plaice, which is also good, while C has the confit de canard, with white beans, which she is less taken with – dryish with dull beans.  By coincidence, B and I have both chosen the couscous with skewers of lamb, lamb’s liver and merguez. This comes served together on one platter, with huge daggers eat it with.  Some of the liver is a little chewy and the couscous a bit watery, but overall an enjoyable dish. 

B and I have desserts: crème brulee for me (excellently creamy and too rich for me – M helps to scoop it up), Chocolate Liegeois for B, while the others have coffee.

With three bottles of wine, we’ve managed to push the bill up to £172, £43 a head. But for such an experience and quality food (if not Wolseley standard), it is certainly to be recommended, and you could get away with far less.

Modern Italian in Croydon

As the name might imply Il Ponte Nuovo is a new incarnation of Il Ponte, across the road from the original, under the Croydon flyover.  We’d only been to Il Ponte once for a fairly average pizza, but as we’re always looking for places to go in Croydon with our friends P&M, we thought we’d give it a try one Friday lunchtime.

We’re shown to an oval shaped booth behind the main bar, and are surprised at the size of the place. There are several large tables, which fill up with office groups, and a whole further area towards the back, and a private room to the side.  The style is very modern, rather harsh perhaps, with acoustics which are rather challenging.

Service is prompt and we are soon into our first bottle of an Italian Sauvingon Blanc at £18.25 (lunches with P&M are often a little on the alcoholic side!).  Ordering takes a little longer, as the menu (under the control of Sicilian-born head chef, Tindaro Casamento) is very extensive – lots of interesting sounding starters (including a smoked duck salad), pasta, pizza and a good list of fish and meat dishes.

In the end we decide against starters, and move straight into mains. M and I both have the veal escalope, served with spaghetti.  This is a good sized portion, nicely breaded and tasty, and the spaghetti prevents it being too dry.  B has the salmon and prawns: this is an oven baked salmon steak topped with smoked salmon & prawns. The accompanying lemon sauce is a bit overpowering, but the fish itself is really good.  P goes for the calves liver, served properly pink, with mash and a sage sauce.  We also have a side order of deep-fried courgettes.

We outlast most of the groups, so the place becomes quieter again – it’s a slightly odd atmosphere. Service has been good, and with the 4 bottles of wine the bill comes to a bit over £150 with service (ie well over 50% on wine!).

Despite my comments about the atmosphere, I did enjoy the food, so will probably be back to explore the starter menu.

Long weekend in New Forest and Bournemouth

We’re off to visit our friends P&M at their flat by the sea near Bournemouth, and plan to call in at B’s aunt and uncle’s in Lymington on the way back.  I decide to break our journey down with lunch in a pub in the New Forest, so after a bit of research in the Good Pub Guide, I settle on the Three Tuns in Bransgore.

Getting there however proves a bit more of a challenge. First we miss the turning off the A31, then nearly miss the next turning as well.  Approaching the village, we see signs for the Three Tuns Beer Festival which is on that weekend, but then encounter a Road Closed sign – looks like sewer works. So we turn round and follow the diversion signs, and come back into the village the other way – no sign of the pub. The Guide said the pub was opposite the church so we follow signs to a “Community church”, but that is clearly not the place, and then find ourselves on the wrong side of the roadworks again.

So putting pride aside, I wind down the window and ask a lady passing by – but she’s not a local and has no idea. Further on, I have to resort to getting out and asking a passing cyclist, and at last get some directions – “opposite the church”. Anyway we eventually find the place, an attractive thatched building, with a very full car-park. There are bouncy castles and slides outside but we go on  in to the bar. There is a restaurant area as well, serving more sophisticated dishes such as rabbit pie, pan-fried sea bass, and garlic prawns, but as we’re expecting to eat out in the evening, we settle for the bar menu.

The pub is pretty busy and the service at the bar very slow, but finally I get to order – venison pasty for me and chicken Caesar salad for B. There is a range of four local beers plus Doom Bar, but we have the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and some water – that takes the bill to £37, so not a cheap place. The venison pasty is excellent – full of meat, and more like venison en croute. The accompanying chips though are only lukewarm, and the apple and shredded carrot garnish distinctly odd.  The Caesar salad is full of chicken, anchovies and fresh croutons, but the chicken itself lacking in flavour.

As the pub is “opposite the church” it fills up with guests for a wedding, including a giant of a man who fills the doorway and has to stoop under the low roof beams. The beer festival will feature various musicians, but there weren’t any there at the time. Outside the kids are playing happily, and a hog roast is doing good trade, as a steam traction engine pulls up. Clearly a fun place to be – once you find it.

That evening we are in Southbourne, and after a healthy walk along the promenade we head out to a little local Italian called Café Riva on Fisherman’s Walk, Boscombe overcliff.  The place is very simple, looking more like a beach café than a restaurant proper, but the menu is very varied, and the service prompt and friendly.  To start I have the beef carpaccio – a generous portion with rocket and onion garnish.  B has scallops and chorizo, which is excellent, coming with a tangy sauce. P goes for the mussels – a huge pot, in rich wine and cream sauce – while M decides she doesn’t want much, so chooses the melon and prosciutto, which nonetheless is also large.

For my main course I choose the fish of the day: brill. This turns out to be two large fillets, with green sauce, accompanied by excellent chips. Sadly I only manage to eat half, and although the waitress offers, we can’t really take the remainder away.  B orders the fillet steak, which comes a little more well done than the “rare” she ordered, but is still very good. P orders the extremely rich sounding chicken roulade – stuffed with spinach and cream cheese, in a creamy sauce – which he does manage to finish, but only just. M has the tagliatelle mediterrean – a vegetarian option, which she says is very good.   With three bottles of wine between us the bill is just under £130 for the 4 of us, excellent value for such good food served in unpretentious and friendly surroundings.

The next day we take a foot ferry across from Tuckton Bridge to Mudeford flats to see the £170,000 beach huts. Not for us I think. We arrive for an early lunch at the Beach House Cafe, another place that looks like a simple cafeteria. But in fact again the menu is interesting, and it is waiter service.  The starters look interesting (eg calamari) but we just have main courses.  I go for the fish of the day again – this time it’s hake on mushroom risotto. This is full of flavour, with the risotto an excellent support.  B has the mussels here, again in a creamy sauce, but not too rich. They’re tasty, but not as full and plump as she really likes them.  M has the fish pie which comes in a traditional steel dish, covered in thick golden topping with a huge prawn sticking out – seems like a fine example of the dish. P chooses the aubergine tian, which looks something of a mess on the plate. Lots of tomato sauce is topped with mushy looking aubergine and courgettes, but he seems to like it well enough.  B and I have a bottle of wine, while the others have a local cider – very pale looking, bringing the bill to about £75.

Day 3 and we head into Bournemouth and on the rich enclave of Sandbanks for a little nose around. Properties on offer at around £7 million, but there seem to be a lot for sale, so maybe you could drive a a hard bargain. From there we go into Poole, and choose the Banana Wharf,  overlooking the harbour for lunch. It’s a big place, but pretty quiet on a Monday lunchtime. The menu here is very extensive, so it takes us a while to choose. Eventually P decides on the marinara linguine, at which point the waitress points out there is a “two-for-one” offer on pasta and pizza. As M was going to choose pizza anyway, this is a good deal for us, but rubbish marketing, as there was no indication outside, and we’d been expecting to pay the full price.  The linguine is good, without masses of tomato sauce, and M’s pizza with tuna and anchovies, very thin and crispy.   B has the Eight King Prawns, hot in a garlic sauce – very good.  But the highlight in terms of presentation at least was the chicken fajitas I ordered. This arrives on a specially designed wooden tray, with the chicken (mounds of it) in a sizzling tray and the accompanying guacamole, soured cream, tomato relish and cheese in separate pots at the back, with the wraps folded in a rack on the side.  The wraps were a bit heavy, but the chicken really tasty. We have one bottle of wine (guess what, Chilean Sauvignon Blanc) while P&M have San Miguel.  This brings the bill to £66, again good value.

After lunch we say goodbye to P&M and head over to Lymington. J&E have booked us in for an early dinner at The Mill at Gordleton  just a short drive away. This is an almost ridiculously romantic setting, with a short walk from the car park over a little softly lit bridge across the mill stream to the hotel which is covered in creepers, with attractive steel sculptures spotlit in the garden.  There’s  a terrace area for summer meals, but this evening we are inside. We are first in, so get a lovely table by the window overlooking the garden, but the place does fill up pretty well for a Monday night.  Inside the décor is a combination of attractive paintings and some rather large and garish silk flowers, but the overall style is very polished – much more so than any of our other meals this weekend.

Three of us order from the set menu, but B chooses from “Signature” a la carte menu. She has the Asian spiced gravadlax of organic salmon with cucumber raita and chilli naan to start.  The salmon itself is nothing remarkable, but the accompaniments are good, and it is elegantly presented.  For main course she has the Devonshire duck breast in a cherry brandy sauce.  This is a large portion of beautifully pink duck, which comes with sweet potato fondant and  buttered greens. Definitely a good choice.  

Both J&E have the goats cheese starter, which is an ample portion, while I have the curried parsnip soup of the day – a rich warming broth. E and I then have the salmon and prawn “en pappiette”. This is a dramatic presentation of lightly charred parchment (not edible – we tried!) enfolding the fish, with potatoes and courgettes in a light sauce.  J orders the lamb, and asks for it not too pink, which is how it arrives. The main courses are accompanied by a dish of seasonal vegetables (ie nothing very interesting) nicely cooked al dente.

For dessert, I have the crème brulee – another large portion which I don’t finish – J has ice cream with ginger, and E a sorbet.

The wine list starts at £18 for the house wines (Pinot Grigio and Malbec), there are special offers on bin-ends, and a good range of wines by the glass. We chose an Argentinian Viognier (Alma Mora, San Juan 2009/10) at £22, and we also had two bottles of water and coffees.  

Several of the waiters were quite young and probably inexperienced, so were a little hesitant, but this didn’t really detract from a lovely evening. The owner was at one table with her daughter and friends, and happily chatting to the guests. And to top off the romantic style, as we were leaving we saw that one couple had been presented with a plate of chocolates, with “Happy Anniversary” written in chocolate around the edge.

The set menu was good value, so all this luxury came to just £174 for the 4 of us – you just need to find a romantic partner!

Smart bistro by the Thames

With our friend H staying, we took ourselves off to Borough Market on Saturday. Wandering around for an hour was easily enough to stimulate our appetites, so we then set about finding somewhere for lunch. Fish! was full, so we tried La Cave in the shade of Southwark cathedral, where we found a table outside in the sunshine. The menu was scary though – wines at £20+ for 500 mls, starters over £12, main meals £18 upwards – plus 12.5% service. So we decided just to have some wine and olives and then move on.  But even that proved challenging, as first the wine, and then the olives took an age to arrive. Very unimpressive.

So we moved on to Hay’s Galleria, and Cote, one of a growing chain of upmarket French bistros. It was still sunny, so we wait for an outside table. Our earlier experience has made us a little impatient, but in fact we only have to wait about 5 minutes before the charming waitress found us a table.

And what a table! Just a little back from the river, we had excellent views of HMS Belfast, and of London Bridge pier, where ferries were constantly docking. Also view down to Tower Bridge (which opened a couple of times to allow tall-masted boats  to pass) and Canary Wharf, or back up to London Bridge and Cannon Street.

The menu is classic French bistro, and very extensive. Making a selection was proving difficult, as we quaffed the very good Viognier (@ £18.50). Finally, H settled on Moules Mariniere (this version served with cream), B had steak tartare (could have done with a little more tabasco), while I chose the tuna carpaccio, which was excellent – melt in the mouth with capers, garlic and a sauce vierge.

Moving on to main courses, H went for pan roasted pork belly, which came with figs and potato puree (mash!). She was very impressed, though personally was not that keen on the figs.  B had seafood linguine, which was stuffed full of mussels, clams, squid and prawns. My roasted duck breast was also good, though it maybe could have been a bit pinker. But the cherries and sauce that accompanied it, kept it moist and tasty, as did the parmentier potatoes.

The dessert manu was full of classics, all sounding very tempting, but we resisted. Service was excellent, charming and alert. With a second bottle of Viognier, and 12.5% service, the bill for the three of us was just £108 – excellent value for such a prime position and spot-on food. A superb place to recommend, especially for tourists.

Top tapas near UCL

My old friend S. has recently moved jobs and is now herding cats (“change management”) at UCL. He’d been exploring the local area, so when I suggested lunch he came up with the Norfolk Arms, on the corner of Sandwich St and Leigh St. because he’d been impressed  by the hams hanging in the window, and the long list of tapas available.  

I arrived first, and sat outside in the sunshine with my tumbler of Sauvignon Blanc. At another table, a couple were finishing their platter of mussels and jug of sangria. Although the place outside looks like any other pub, this didn’t seem like central London at all. When S arrived we went inside. The place is full of stripped tables and floors, naked plaster walls, with huge garish mirrors, and the central bar (which divides the drinking area from the laid up tables) full of ham slicers and nibbles. It felt like it had been recently converted, but apparently it’s been open for five years.

There is a main meals menu (with sea bass and suchlike), but we went for the tapas menu which was extensive, including a variety of national dishes (hummus, aubergine salad, even Scotch egg) as well as traditional Spanish ones.  After much deliberation, we eventually choose the plate of cured meats (prosciutto, chorizo, bresaola, salami), the boquerones (anchovies), patatas bravas, and something called rojones (paprika spices pork belly) together with a basket of bread.

The food arrived fairly promptly (we’d ordered quickly to get ahead of a big group of 12 or so), and very attractively presented. The meats came on a wooden platter, together with a dish of beetroot puree (a lovely sharp flavour). The anchovies were  vertical in a small bowl, looking like a flower, and the patatas bravas complete with mayonnaise sitting on thick and spicy tomato sauce. The rojones were lovely, despite having quite a lot of fat on them – and it was a large portion.

Service was friendly and efficient without being anything special. I had another tumbler of Sauvignon Blanc, and S had Rioja. A bill of £38 (including service), seemed like excellent value, as I wandered off full and happy to explore the village of Marchmont Street and Russell Square.

Excellent curry near St Paul's

After a wine tasting at Davy’s Wine Tun, we wander down Carter Lane to find somewhere for dinner. Down Burgon Street, a little side street by the Rising Sun pub, we come across Anokha, an Indian restaurant. There’d previously been an Italian and a Thai on this site, so we thought we’d give it a try.

It’s now only a small place, maybe 20 covers, on two levels. The lower level would be pretty claustrophobic, but we were OK on the upper one. It was about half-full when we arrived, but it did fill up while we there.

Poppadoms and pickles were followed by crab cakes and spicy squid rings off the specials menu to start. The crab cakes were excellent – light, crabby, and soft, totally unlike a Thai version. The spicy squid lived up to their name, with good light batter.  The standard menu starter list was also interesting, including duck tikka, duck puree and scallops puree as well as more conventional dishes.

The main courses on the specials menu were monkfish rogan, tandoori sea bass and mussels$ in a karahi sauce. But we went for the chef’s signature dish, Aada Gosht, lamb with fresh ginger and green herbs, and a king prawn jalfrezy. Both were excellent and full of well-judged spicing. Bhindi, tarka daal, and pilau rice played solid supporting roles.

With a bottle of Merlot at £15, the total came to just under £80 – maybe more than we’d normally pay for a curry, but in central London and for such good quality still really good value.

Return to Forty Dean Street

We’d had a good time here in a group previously  (11th June), so when we were planning a reunion dinner for 10 of us, it seemed a good idea to return. We were sat further in, but it was still a good atmosphere and friendly and efficient service. As we were waiting for some of the group to arrive we had some garlic bread – not really garlicky enough.

The bresaola was not available, so I had the prawns in garlic and tomato sauce. The four large prawns were fine, but there was too much tomato sauce really. My main course was saltimbocca a la romana which came with spinach and potatoes – rather dry.  B had linguine with prawns which she thought was fine (quite spicy), but others were less impressed with their spaghetti with meatballs or the Caesar salad. After some adjustments for the amount of wine consumed (!), we paid £100 for the two of us.  A rather less successful visit than last time.