Two Holborn Italians

Meeting up one evening with friends G&P we go to an Italian they recommend in Red Lion Street - Isolabella.  It helps that there is a 50% off food offer! We were early so stopped for a quick glass in another Italian nearby, Bacco Restaurant and Wine Bar.  I’m not that familiar with Italian grape varieties, so I ask the friendly waiter for something similar to a Sauvignon Blanc, and he recommends the Pecorino Trabocchetto Talamonti . It is fruity and yet dry, so a pretty good choice at £7.50 a large glass.  We are also served a bowl of breads (even though we’d made it clear we weren’t having lunch there), including the wafer thin Sardinian bread, carta di musica.  The place was filling up even though it was early, so it may well be worth trying out another time.

 We see our friends go by, so drink up and go to find them in Isolabella.  We order the Verdicchio Classico, while G&P go for the Primitivo.  I had the Bresaola with rocket and parmesan, which was good,  while G and asparagus with egg, and P the smoked salmon.  For main course I have the liver Venezia, which has very caramelised onions; B has the fillet medallions with green pepper and brandy sauce, while G&P both choose Saltimbocca alla Romana. We also have side dishes of sautéed potatoes, garlic mushrooms and fried courgettes in a lovely light batter.

The place is pretty full, with a nice warm and relaxed atmosphere, and the waiters both friendly and efficient.   With the discount (which works out at just over £50), the bill is £122, so it would have been a bit pricey at full price.  But at the reduced price, It was a very enjoyable and satisfying evening.

Wine bar near Regent Street

WINE BAR NEAR REGENT STREET

Shampers in Kingly Street is an attractive little wine bar, tucked round the back just off Regent Street. It’s not a very big place and it’s always been very busy when we’ve been before, full of what appear to be regulars, so we’ve had to drink at the bar. This time four of us are having an early dinner before going to Ronnie Scott’s, so we have booked. There are a few empty tables, while the others are occupied by people finishing late and boozy looking lunches.

It has a very French feel, with posters and paintings for sale.  Actually it looks very similar to our old regular haunt, the Cork and Bottle in Leicester Square, and when we enquired apparently it was once part of the same group, but was sold off back in 1991.

We order the wine first, Montarels Viognier Côtes de Thongue Languedoc 2011 at £22 - very fruity. There’s quite a selection of specials on the board, as well as a fairly wide range on the menu.  For starters, S and V both have the pan-fried squid with chilli and ginger, which was well-received. B has the prawns , also with chilli, while I have the marinated anchovy fillets – both very good too.

Spinach featured strongly on the main course list.  S had calves liver and bacon with spinach and mash – she asked for it well done, and it came too pink, so she asked for it to be cooked some more, but even then it wasn’t to her taste.  B’s lamb fillet came with arrocina beans – and spinach – and was very tender.  To accompany my spinach, I had the char-grilled tuna steak with lentils – just this side of dry. Only V escaped, with her chicken sandwich (doorstep size) accompanied by chips and salad.

Between us we shared a pot au chocolat and a crème brulee for dessert – both very good.  So overall we were impressed with the food and the room. The only downside was the rather surly waitress, who was itching to get to the end of her shift.  With 3 bottles of wine and 12.5% service this came to £190 – less than £50 a head, so not bad for central London.

 

 

Short tour round Wales and the Cotswolds

We’d planned a few days away visiting friends and relatives, first to Cardiff, then to Bala, and back home via the Cotswolds. So one Wednesday we set off to South Wales along the M4. A couple of hours in, it’s lunchtime, so we find a pub in the Good Food Guide, the Neeld Arms in Grittleton  and leave the motorway at Junction 17. The village is a little way from the motorway, with buildings composed of very attractive Cotswold stone.

The pub itself is a 17^th century  building, proclaiming to be “proud to be a proper pub”, although it also has accommodation.  There is a simple open bar, moderately busy for a midweek lunchtime, so we find a seat near the back, with a less than attractive view over the back sheds.  There is quite a selection of interesting dishes on the specials board – fish, black pudding – and the standard menu has some unusual options too.  B is attracted by the antipasti selection with wild boar salami while I go for the pie special: steak and ale.  The landlord later tells us that they don’t have any wild boar salami, but B goes ahead anyway.  It is a very good antipasti plate, with three different meats and salamis, plus a range of salad. Some bread is served with it (though we’re not sure if this is extra – it is listed as such).  My pie is very good to, lots of meat, hot, and with a classic short-crust pastry- a proper pie.  With some wine and water, this comes to £37, pretty good value.

In Cardiff that evening, we recall a Thai restaurant we’d been to in the Brewery Yard, and return there – to find that is was an Indian, and had been when we’d visited before!  This is the Spice Quarter, with attractive contemporary  decoration, in a dimly lit series of rooms upstairs in the modernised block.  The menu has many unusual dishes, claiming to be “Authentic Indian Cuisine” – a selection of different poppadoms is the first sign of this. (We think we’ve ordered two portions, but in the end are charged for 4 – at £1 each).  To start B has Haryali fish – a crispy, pan-fried fish with interesting spices.  Normally wary of curried fish, B is pleased to find this a well-balanced and tasty dish. I kick off with the Peshawari lamb boti, a more conventional kebab style dish, despite its claims to “exotic spices”.

Main courses are a good if standard prawn jhalfrezi  and "Jalandhari duck” from the chef’s specials: roast duck in spicy sauce with cashew nuts, which comes with “lacche dar parantha”  - mint-flavoured bread. We also have “malai kofta” (cottage cheese dumplings), a dal, and mushroom rice.

The prawn dish featured good size prawns which actually had some flavour, and the duck was a deep, intense flavour, but lacking very many nuts. The cottage cheese had been a bold choice – which failed – but the other accompaniments were good. 

Service was understated,  just efficient enough, certainly not intrusive.  With two bottles of Sangiovese Malbec at £16.95 each the bill came to £95 including service, rather more than your average curry.  For the change from the ordinary you could regard this as reasonable – it felt just a little high in retrospect.

For the following day’s lunch  we’re at the Nant Ddu Lodge on the way to Brecon.  Situated in the National Park, near the reservoirs and with plenty of walking nearby, this is an attractive hotel and spa.  There is a restaurant area, but we eat in the bar, a small but pleasant space with stripped pine tables. There are plenty of specials on the board, and the standard menu is extensive with some unusual combinations.  B has the scallop linguine, which is very rich with too much sauce, while I have the stuffed trout, which is excellent. The bill is £57 including a bottle of Chenin Blanc.

Dinner the next day is at the Brytirion Arms, Llandderfel near Bala – “The Bryn”, my brother’s local.  It’s a simple, traditional pub in the Dee valley, with a couple of rooms. The restaurant area is only open in the evening, so we’re in the cosy bar which has a lovely wood fire in winter.  Of the five of us, only three have starters – Thai fish cakes for G&S, and a Thai trio for me – fishcakes, prawn roll, scallops.  All pleasantly cooked in a light batter, with a good spicy chilli sauce.  B has the grilled Gressingham duck with plum sauce for main – lovely pink slices in a balanced sauce.  I’m talked into having their signature dish the ‘Bryn bara’ – a mountain of bread  (literal translation) filled with local Welsh Black beef, mushroom and ale casserole.  Very rich and warming and no chance of finishing it!

Three ice-creams were also ordered which together with a range of drinks took it to £122 for the 5 of us – excellent value.

Our lunch stop on the way home was at the Lamb Inn in Burford, just down from Stow-on-the-Wold, another selection from the Good Pub Guide.  For a change it’s a lovely sunny day, we go through the lovely old building out into the extensive and attractive garden. I’m usually concerned about service when eating outside, but here there are staff in abundance, willing and eager to help. We’re late arriving so are lucky to get a table, as it’s obviously a popular summery spot.

B starts with asparagus and poached egg – fresh and well-executed. I have eggs benedict, also good, but perhaps more than I need. For main B has the dressed crab, which is also very good, but my crayfish risotto which, although tasty enough to begin with, is rather heavy and stodgy, and eventually a little dull.  A bottle of Chilean Luis Felipe Edwards Lot 66 Sauvignon Blanc at £19.00 and some water means the bill reaches a modest £67. With the lovely setting, the attentive service and generally good food, that’s a good result.

 

Reunion party in central London

For an annual get-together of ex-housemates etc, we decided this year to try out Cinnamon Soho in Kingly Street, just off Regent Street and down from Carnaby Street. This is the second offshoot of the wonderful Cinnamon Club in the old Westminster Library, after Cinnamon Kitchen; hopefully rather more accessibly priced.

There were 12 of us this year, so we were put downstairs, so it’s hard to gauge the general atmosphere. We’ve gone early, at 6.30pm as we were asked to, and we have been told that we will be limited to two and a half hours. Over the evening downstairs filled up with other groups and one unfortunate couple. It’s an uninspiring room, but between us we create a lively ambience.

The charming lead waiter took the drinks order promptly, and continued to be responsive as we went through the evening.  We mainly drink the Colombard Sauvignon Blanc from Horgelus, South West, France at £21 a bottle. He didn’t rush us to order though, and in the end they didn’t worry about the time limit.

Unusually there were no papadum options to keep us going, so we quickly agreed to get three plates of the “balls” selection between us while we continued to work through the menu choices. The balls were Crab Cakes, Potato Bondas, Vegetable Shikampur, Spiced Game, and Bangla-Scotch Egg. The crab and the scotch egg were good and spicy, but the others a little indistinguishable.

The booking email had offered a limited choice, but on the night were given the full menu, which was pleasing and gave us plenty of interesting options. We each chose a starter and main. I had the burnt chilli chicken, Indo-Chinese style, which was excellent with a real fiery kick.  B had the stir-fried shrimp with curry leaf and black pepper which was delicious - the little pastry cases stuffed full of flavoursome shrimps.  Other starters chosen were Kingly Seekh Kebab wrapped in a naan bread, which looked rather filling but was pronounced lovely,  Bhangra Burger with three dips – actually three little burgers, and again a largish portion – and  Tandoori chicken leg with fennel & coriander.

My main course was “Laal maas”, described as “fiery Rajasthani Lamb curry”. The meat was in a rich sauce, and was melt in your mouth, but it was not as fiery as the chicken starter really.  B had the  seared duck breast with sesame tamarind sauce, another good dish.  Other choices included: spice crusted Hake with Colombo curry sauce (looked very good); smoked saddle of Cumbrian lamb, mint onion sauce (a popular choice, generally approved); and spiced chicken korma.  We also ordered  black lentils (not as good as elsewhere),  Tandoori aubergine crush (something of a mush),  stir-fried okra with dried mango (though the mango didn’t shine through), a caper kachumbar (which was very refreshing) and a selection of breads.

As well as ice creams and sorbets, the desserts we had were a tasty, if smallish, mango brulée, and a chocolate and cumin cake.

Eight bottles of wine helped the total up to £560 (including service), or over £46 a head which bearing in mind that one of our number was a 9-year old is not cheap. But for the quality of what we had in such a central location, we all came away happy and satisfied, and we would certainly try it again.

Two Easter meals - a Chipstead pub, and a Covent Garden brasserie

RETURN TO A COUNTRY PUB

Not being a parent, I have decided views on kids in pubs, none of them favourable. I appreciate that those of you who have decided to perpetuate the human race may feel it unfair to be limited in where you can take your little darlings, but the effect on the rest of us can be startling.

So it was on a recent revisit to the White Hart in Chipstead.  On Easter Saturday, we braved the flurries of snow to walk up the country lanes from the station, and were pleased to see the fire roaring, a good few people in chatting amiably and a convenient table awaiting us.  The pub has a cosy bar, an adjoining restaurant doing a very good holiday trade, and an outside patio, which unsurprisingly was not that popular that day.  The menu extends beyond the standard classic pub meals into more challenging offerings, but it doesn’t claim to be a “fine dining” experience.

It’s understandable that on a holiday weekend, families will gravitate to the White Hart – most, however were accommodated in the restaurant, leaving the bar to the drinkers and the child-free, as it should be.  Fortunately we’d just finished our meal (of which more below), when the genial calm and sense of well-being that good food and plenty of wine can induce was shattered by the arrival of a double family group – 2 sets of parents and four kids.  

The atmosphere was transformed instantly. Two of the kids squabbled over some toy;  one wailed and one whined.  The parents chatted as if the kids didn’t exist, neither responding to them nor restraining them.  All serenity had vanished,  as the volume increased. We rushed to finish our drinks and leave.

This was a shame, as we had just enjoyed a leisurely and high quality lunch, with smooth and amiable service.  Admittedly it was a tad on the pricy side – 2 scallops with pork belly and pea puree were £10, and the total soon rose to £86 before tip.  But the scallops were very good, as were the spicy crab cakes with tamarind mayonnaise we shared with them.  B’s main course of poached chicken salad (a “light bite”) was enlivened by the orange slices, though the chicken itself was a little ordinary. My main course was an unusual pheasant kiev. The garlic filling was not as runny as I’d have liked, but there was a good kick to it; the pheasant itself maybe a bit on the dry side, though the accompanying gravy coped with that.  The vegetable selection it came with was extensive: red cabbage, curly kale, broccoli, parsnips, sweet potato fondant and far more butternut squash than any sensible person could eat.

We’d enjoyed a bottle of Chilean Viognier with that, and started on a second to go with our cheese – chosen from a selection of 6, we had Ragstone goat’s cheese, Blackstick’s Blue and  Lincolnshire poacher, a crumbly cheddar.  All very warming, satisfying and pleasurable – until the assault on the senses which drove us away.

COVENT GARDEN STALWART

We’d only discovered PJ’s Bar and Grill in Wellington Street about 18 months ago, and had held a 21^st birthday party for K there last November which went very well. However it’s been a long-standing feature of the Covent Garden scene since 1982, and has an air of permanence and history, bolstered by the celebrity photos you pass on the way to the loos.

We’d been looking for somewhere for a late lunch or early dinner before going to Ronnie Scott’s, and PJ’s came up on lastminute.com with a 50% off food offer for London Restaurant fortnight – sorted.  We arrived ahead of our friends M&G, and had started in on the Argentinian Viognier  Triviento (£20) by the time they arrived.  Mid-afternoon of course it was hardly busy, but there were enough people in to make it feel alive.

The menu choice is not huge, but interesting;  the roasts and steaks were excluded from the offer.  B dithered between at least three different options per course, before settling on the ham hock terrine with crispy poached egg to start, as did Gerry.  The terrine was very meaty, the egg just runny, though perhaps not as much as it could have been.  M had the soup of the day, celeriac and something, which was good and warming.  I had the salt and pepper squid, which was excellent, coming with a spicy chilli sauce and a good array of finely chopped vegetables.

For main course, Gerry had the calves liver and bacon with mash, which disappeared from his plate with alacrity. B had the pan-roasted sea bass with calamari and sweet potatoes and was impressed with that too.  My pork belly was a fine example, with exemplary crackling (not too tooth-threatening, but interestingly crisp), and the meat flavoursome. Sadly, M’s choice of 8-hour braised rib of beef was less successful: lots of bone, and the meat very fatty.

We’d had a second bottle of Viognier, and M&G had each had a glass of La Chamiza Malbec  also from Argentina.  Overall we’d had an enjoyable time and were happy to pay the £176 including service. Then as we were leaving we suddenly realised we hadn’t received the 50% off offer, so queried it. The manageress was very apologetic and quickly re-calculated the bill, handing us the £43 rebate in cash.  So we left with a warm glow at what (at least for three of us) had been a really good value meal.

Dim sum and a curry

As we need some things from the famous Wing Yip Chinese supermarket on the Purley Way, we decide to call in the Tai Tung for dim sum first. As usual it’s pretty busy with a good few Chinese people in there, but we’re lucky to get a table straight away. This is a no-nonsense place, so we just go for the house wine at £13.50.

We look through the dim sum list and tick off our selection on the little lottery ticket. We’ve gone for 7 dishes on this first pass – 3 steamed and 4 fried – plus jasmine tea. The selection is rather heavily prawn based: paper-wrapped prawn, prawn dumpling, prawn and chive dumpling and pork dumplings (with prawn on top).  Also grilled pork dumpling, squid cake (very good), and meat croquette (which B described as a savoury doughnut).  Generally good without being very special.

We’re pretty full, but we go round again with another paper-wrapped prawn and a mixed meat dumplings, which was billed as being spicy, but wasn’t especially, but was tasty and featured a lot of peanuts and the odd prawn. Most of the other dishes are in the outer realms of taste - chicken feet, curried whelks etc. So although we've enjoyed what we had, I doubt we'll be back very soon.

Service has been unusually friendly for a Chinese restaurant with several regulars being greeted warmly, and any questions answered happily.

With two bottles of wine and service, this lot comes to £55 – but you could get away with much less. Definitely somewhere to look in if you’re shopping on the Purley Way. 

 

Visiting friends in Theydon Bois, near Epping Forest, we are taken out to the local Indian restaurant, Indian Ocean. It’s a Saturday night, so we have to go early (6.30pm) and be ready to give the table back at 8.30pm, as it’s so busy and popular. The restaurant has won the “Tiffin Club” award from the House of Commons as the best South Asian restaurant in the UK, so the photos on the wall feature luminaries such as John Bercow and Keith Vaz.

The menu has quite a number of unusual dishes as well as the more common biryanis, baltis and tandooris. A feature is the number of different duck dishes.

Papadoms and Shiraz arrive fairly quickly. Then we select dishes: we’re advised portions are large so there’s no need to order much rice or bread or vegetables.  So B opts out of starters;   I have “Harryali Kebab” - chicken breast pieces with garlic, mint, green chilli and coriander, a rather dodgy green looking creation.  G has samosas, and P an interesting looking salmon tikka.

For mains, I have a lamb dish – toasted lamb strips with fresh green chillies – a pile of meat slapped on the plate, not pretty but nicely spicy. B tries the duck jalfrezi, which though nice meat does not have much in the way of kick it. We also share a pilau rice and a bhindi bhaji, which comes as very thinly sliced okra which have been deep-fried – more of a snack than a vegetable.  G has “Bhaarotiya” - chicken breast stuffed with raisin and garlic spiced mixed vegetables in a spicy sauce  - and P the tandoori mixed grill, which comes with naan and is huge – he can’t finish it.

Our second bottle is a Merlot as they’ve run out of Shiraz. Service has been pretty good, and the owner/manager comes over to chat, as G&P are regulars there. The place is very buzzy, and noisy, with a crowd of locals many of whom knew each other.  G&P generously paid the bill, but as main courses were around £10 each, I’d guess it came to about £70 plus wine.

For such a sleepy little place as Theydon Bois, this is a remarkable restaurant. Not sure I’d say it was the best in the UK, but I should probably bow to the much more extensive experience of Mssrs Bercow and Vaz.

Birthday treat - a mixed experience

It’s my birthday so I get to choose where we go. I’d seen Asia de Cuba online several times, so after checking a few other options, that’s what I go for when I see that toptable have an offer on a 2-course set meal with mojito. The restaurant is in the St Marin’s hotel on St Martin’s Lane, and is totally anonymous from the outside, looking more like an office block. Inside it is also rather characterless, despite their efforts. It’s light and there are round pillars with Cuban photos or books and retro radios; there are low slung filament light bulbs over every table, giving little light and just creating a network of wires; it’s not that busy and there’s no buzz to the place. It’s not helped by us being shown to a table down the far end of the restaurant, where one of us effectively has to look at the wall.

We’d checked the menu on the website beforehand to make sure there were things on the set menu we’d like.  But we’d also been warned when the restaurant rang to confirm our booking that the menu had been recently changed, making it “better and cheaper” – unlikely we thought.  So it was without much surprise that we saw that the dishes we’d liked were no longer available, and the main course options came down to salmon, chicken, a sandwich or tofu. The old menu is still on the website, so be warned.  The price has been reduced from £22 to £18.50, but that’s not really the point

The wine list is also pretty scary, with nothing under £25; we select an Australian Viognier for £29.50.  So I’m feeling a bit scratchy when the cheery waitress arrives, and I demand my mojito - they’re on their way she claims, and within seconds they arrive. They are very good, served in small jam jars, with the clean fresh mint and a good kick of tequila, so my mood lifts a little.

The waitress is very chatty, clinking our glasses together as they arrive. She squats down to take our order, so she is at our eye-level. This could feel pretty patronising, but she gets away with it with her chatter.  There is a trio of ceviche on offer at an extra £10, so choose that. This causes some confusion, as it doesn’t actually count as one of the two courses – which I means I have to order a dessert as well.  I’m puzzled by this, but as I’d been prepared to pay the £10 “supplement” anyway, actually I come out ahead.

The trio comprises grouper, snapper and salmon. The grouper is very sharp and freshly citrus tasting; the snapper a bit dull, and the salmon comes with an avocado puree and a chilli kick. B unusually goes for the miso soup with chicken – also with plenty of chilli.

B’s main course is the roasted salmon with sweet soy topping and a cucumber escabeche. Although this sounds a little dull, actually the fish had plenty of flavour and was nicely cooked, and the cucumber was good, so the dish worked better than expected. My chicken “with BBQ sauce” and sticky rice was a large portion of sliced chicken breast with just a little (enough) sauce that didn’t dominate its juiciness.  Again a dish that exceeded expectations.  My “extra” dessert was a “Cuban coffee brownie”, served with coffee ice-cream – very good.

There’s a whopping 15% service to add to the bill – and then the credit card bill is left open for “additional gratuity”. So that takes the total to £122 with 2 bottles of wine, which I think was a bit high for what it was (though you could have got away with £37 if you’d stuck to the one mojito and water).  If we’d seen the revised menu online, I doubt if we’d have booked it, but as it was I was glad to have given it a go. If go a la carte, starters were £6 to £10 and mains £18 to £25 – maybe worth it to get what you want.