Useful place for lunch and wine near Borough Market

We’re off to the National Theatre so we head up to London Bridge early to wander around. It’s a sunny Saturday, so Borough Market is heaving – every available space around Southwark cathedral is occupied with people munching their way through their take-aways. We stroll through and make our way to The Wine Wharf, the wine bar part of Vinopolis on the Borough Market side of the building.

Though everywhere else is really busy, the Wine Wharf is pretty quiet surprisingly. Maybe because it’s rather gloomy here indoors when people would rather be taking advantage of the spring sunshine – the window tables are taken too.  Still, the place has a nice character – stripped walls, lots of corks in jars, and upstairs some comfy settees.

There’s a choice of Viogniers, so we go for the Viogner Delas 2011 Pays d’Oc at £25 because it’s served by the glass as well.  The food selection has lots of tapas-style platters and light bites as well as a number of main dishes. We’re in a grazing mood, so we choose the garlic & chilli tiger prawns with char-grilled ciabatta  and the salt and pepper squid, and also take the “build your own platter” option: hummus, aubergine dip and stuffed chillies were our choice. On a whim as I order at the bar, I also go for some smoked almonds.

And I’m certainly glad I did. We’re waiting about half an hour for the food, despite the fact there’s hardly anyone else in the place.  When the food does finally come we’re brought an extra bowl of pitta bread as an apology – whoop-di-whoop!

The prawns were something of a disappointment, being rather cotton-wool, not very spicy and the char-grilled ciabatta made all soft by the oily sauce. On the other hand the squid were very good – a substantial portion, crisp batter and tender squid. The stuffed chillies were also nice and the hummus firm and nutty, though the aubergine was rather oily.

With a couple of extra glasses of Viognier the bill is £57 without service. Service has been friendly and attentive in its way, despite the initial delay.  There are plenty of options around Borough Market, but if you want something reasonable with good wine then the Wine Wharf is a good place to go.

Intriguing Thai-Malay restaurant near London Bridge

Meeting up with S, we’re off to Champor Champor, hidden away round the back of London Bridge station and Guy’s Hospital. It’s actually not that difficult to find, but it’s not a very attractive area.  Once inside you’re overwhelmed by the décor, but unfortunately we were shown to a threesome table rammed up against a wall with little view of the room. Annoying, as although busy the place wasn’t completely full. As well as attractive wall decorations, curtains and plenty of artefacts, apparently there is a wooden booth on a mezzanine level with a romantic table for two.

They don’t claim to be for purists, but the menu is a wide-ranging set of Thai and Malaysian dishes.   The wine list is a mainly combination of Spanish and French with a few Italian and some NZ thrown in at the top end. We choose the Lagarde Viognier from Argentina at £28.50.

There’s some confusion over delivering the starters we ordered – there were two duck options and I think they brought the wrong one initially. The duck was S’s choice – three parcels of shredded roast duck with hoisin sauce rolled up in roti. This was remarkably large for a starter, so it got shared around – and very good it was too.  B inevitably went for the soft shell crab, which was a good example of its kind, with crispy batter, some spiciness and yet some flavour of crab as well. My three scallops with pancetta, and apple salad with spiced lime juice was also really good. The scallops were a good size and very succulent; the pancetta crispy and plentiful; and the apple salad was stand-out excellent – crispy, sharp, spicy.

Main courses carried on at the same high level.  B had the king prawn green curry: plenty of prawns, a strong sauce,  oddly served with discs of butternut squash.  S had the sizzling sirloin with sliced onion and wild ginger: neat strips of tender beef, with a subtle tang. But my beef rendang took the prizes. It came in a huge porcelain pot, and was so delicious and rich – super.  As well as rice and roti, we perhaps unnecessarily ordered stir fried halloumi cheese with chilli and spring onion – a dish in itself – and stir fired aubergine.   Clearly we were defeated and asked for a doggy bag – and I had an excellent lunch the following day.

Nonetheless the ladies insisted on ordering desserts. Chocolate and chilli cheese cake was as yummy and decadent as it sounds. Steam taro and black rice pudding was comfort food but the accompanying mango ice cream really stood out.

It’s S’s treat (thanks, really good of you) and she had a Taste of London card which meant the cheapest of each course was free, a saving of £30 before service.  We just had the one bottle of wine, which meant that the total was a little over £131.  Certainly excellent value for the food – it’s a lovely room, so if you go make sure you get a better table than we did.  

New places in Purley, Covent Garden and Shoreditch

A new restaurant opened up just down the road in Purley in January replacing Napule e’, next door to Buenos Aires. Those poor souls who support Crystal Palace will recognise the name – Speroni’s . And indeed the Palace goalkeeper played host to the whole Eagles team recently. It seems to be a collaboration with Buenos Aires, as we have seen the manager in there during the decorating work – which is perhaps not surprising as Speroni is Argentinian. 

They have done a lot of work on the place, painting the outside, replacing steps and put a lot of effort into the interior decoration. The window display is a series of shelves with kitchen utensils, bottles etc, presumably intended to give a homely feel, but in fact making it look a bit like a hardware store.  When we’d booked for 4 of us on a Friday evening we were told that the best they could was 9.30pm, but fortunately they rang back a day or so later to offer us 7.30 instead. It’s buzzy and lively, if not quite full, and the waiting staff are welcoming.

We’ve gone along with K&I, so we order both a white (Garnacha) and a red (Malbec). Both are nearly the cheapest at £28.50, and the list goes up alarmingly.  B thinks the menu is quite short, but still struggles to choose something she fancies, so goes for a staple, seafood pasta. The choice of pasta turned out to be tagliatelli or penne, when she would have preferred linguine or spaghetti. The only distinctive seafood was mussels, which was a bit disappointing.

I had a “Portobello bruschetta” to start – mushroom on bread with Parma ham and poached egg – very good.  My main was slow-cooked lamb - very tender and tasty but rather odd as it just came with a couple of potato dumplings. I’s starter was salmon gravlax, which looked good, and he had a cod in peppers dish for main course.  K’s chicken dish seemed rather ordinary. K&I ordered churros for dessert which B tried and really liked.

The service was very good, very friendly but efficient. With a second bottle of white, and a modest 10% service charge, the bill was £176 – more than half of it for wine.  B rated it a 7 out of 10, but worth another try. I certainly enjoyed the meal, but we’ll probably just go for house wine next time.

 

After working up in town one day I suggest going out for a meal as I’m all posh in jacket and tie.  B fancied a Chinese but we struggled to find one around Covent Garden or Victoria, so we settle for SticksNSushi in Henrietta Street. B said it was a “café” which makes me dubious (not up to my sartorial elegance!) but it’s far from that. In fact it’s a stylish, dark place with bare walls but comfortable chairs. Rather loud music near the entrance but as we are taken further and further inside it is quieter – in fact it is huge, going right through to Maiden Lane I think.

We’ve been given a table which would seat three,  with one on a banquette (odd arrangement). The menus (plural) are vast, so we order some Journeyman SA Chenin Blanc at £17.50 and edamame beans in a spicy sauce while we have a think.  The wine and beans arrive very rapidly (“quick wine” – excellent, and the beans are tasty too), and we work our way through the choices. There are a lot of set meals, and as I often find with Japanese it seems like either you have small portions or you pay a lot.

As the name implies there are several yakitori skewers with various things, plus a good range of sushi rolls, sashimi and nigri. We eventually (after being asked if we’re ready several times by  the waitress) order three dishes which I think of as “starters” and two “mains” – though of course they are not presented in that way.

Ebi bites are prawns in a very light, almost bubbly batter – a good few of them too for £6.80. We have two tuna skewers (Maguro chilli), which are a little disappointing, being rather dry despite the red onion, teriyaki and chilli topping.  The third “starter” is a skewer of scallops wrapped in bacon with herb butter (hotate to bacon) – excellent.

The two more substantial dishes we’ve ordered are a paper-wrapped duck roll and coal-rice soft-shell crab roll (ie black rice wrapped around pieces of crab). Both are wrapped with avocado and lettuce – and both are really good.

The service has been very good and cheery, if a little fast, but that’s OK as we started late. We have a couple of glasses of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and that takes the bill (incl 12.5%) to £90. Well worth it for an interesting and tasty meal. With all the choices on the menu we’ll certainly go there again, or to the branch on Wimbledon Hill.

Oh and I almost forgot – it’s a Danish Japanese restaurant! All the staff have T-shirts with Danish mottoes. Not sure what the Danish connection is, but there you go!

 

The team I’m working with on one project has decided we should go out for a team dinner to build up rapport, so we have a table booked at Dishoom in Shoreditch. Not being familiar with this part of town, I allowed myself plenty of time to find the place. So I have a little time to kill wandering around beforehand, taking in the upward mobility of the area.  I walk past Maison Trois Garcons  - a “lifestyle café” (for heaven’s sake!) – and call in the Owl and Pussycat for a swift half.  

This must once have been a classic old boozer, but it has now been totally refurbished and then artfully distressed.  Where once there may have been Red Barrel, there’s now continental beers (and admittedly a couple of real ales). Pork pies have been replaced by “apple dogs” and goat’s cheese salad. The Racing Post by laptops – everywhere.  The clientele are probably refugees from Silicon Roundabout, and deals or business plans are being discussed at each table, though to be fair there was also an Everton supporter bemoaning their performance.

So it’s no surprise to find Dishoom is a stylish place too. Billed as a “Bombay café” (when did “café” change meaning?) this is a large establishment policed by elegant greeters, with a comfortable bar area.  Dark woods and tiles, and comfortable booths and tables are all around, and there’s a good lively vibe even at 6pm.

Only four of our group have arrived on time, so we press on and order a mixture of nibbles. There are no papadums, so we have the colourful and slightly spicy “far far” crisps/crackers, okra fries (excellent, little okra deep fired and dipped in tamarind or chilli), bhel (the puffed rice and tamarind dish), and calamari.

That keeps us going till the others arrive and order more, which comes pretty quickly. We have more okra fries and a keema pau (minced lamb with a sweet bread).  The main dishes I had were some spicy lamb chops (pretty meaty if not that spicy) and a chicken biryani (unexceptional). Others also had matter paneer and vegetable biryani). There were supporting dishes of black daal, raita, dishoom slaw, and gunpowder potatoes as well as plenty of naan bread.

Service has been very good. I have to rush off, so don’t know what the bill came to, but looking online the most expensive dish was the lamb chops at £11.50, and the house wine was £19 a bottle, so I’m guessing it was pretty reasonable.  Certainly worth another try, maybe at their branch next to Stringfellow’s in Upper St Martin’s Lane.

November catch-up

I’ve got a bit behind with my reviews so here are a few quick comments on recent places we’ve been.

Cay Tre, Vietnamese restaurant in Dean Street. A group of 8 of us descended on the interesting place recently. It’s lively and buzzy, maybe a bit canteen-like, more suited to a group than a couple. Lots of unusual dishes on the menu, especially starters. My choices perhaps weren’t the best – chicken and prawn pancake followed by a noodle bowl . But others’ dishes did taste good. Definitely worth a try at under £100 for 2.

Cape Town Fish Market in Argyll Street is ideally positioned for shopping or the Palladium. Part of a SA chain with a good reputation, this branch doesn’t quite hit the spot. It’s attractive enough with a big fish tank, but the service was poor, and the food unexceptional.  The salt and pepper squid was ordinary, though the queen scallops in the shell attractive and nicely cooked. Fish “potjie” (spicy pot dish) was bland and the salmon teriyaki ordinary. At £79 with a bottle of wine, it’s not expensive for where it is – but we won’t be rushing back.

PJ’s in Wellington Street is an old favourite, a warm welcoming straightforward brasserie in Covent Garden. There were 6 of us for dinner – I had duck spring roll “shots” – 3 spring rolls with different sauces served in shot glasses – very good. Other starters were Arbroath smokie, Gorgonzola and fig tart, scallops and pancetta, merguez sausage and lobster and crab pate.  My main course tuna loin was just the right shade of pink, while others enjoyed chicken cordon bleu, lamb tagine and tuna Nicoise salad. With 3 bottles of wine this came to £83 a couple, but there was a 50% off food offer (which they do quite often) which saved us £70 overall.

A weekend in Cardiff to watch Wales v Australia (enough said) started with dinner at Woods Brasserie in Cardiff Bay. Set in a lovely old building, this restaurant is quite stylish and modern. There was a limited choice on the set menu, but a la carte available as well, I had scallops followed by duck breast – very nice. B had venison carpaccio then fish and chips; others had game terrine (very meaty) and pulled pork.  With 2 bottles of wine and a couple of glasses this was £140 for 4. I was impressed; B less so.

Finding somewhere for lunch on match day was always going to be a challenge, but S remembered a tapas bar they’d been to before - Ten feet tall in Church St, off St Mary’s St. Remarkably this wasn’t very busy at all, though we did have to sit outside. Tapas were 3 for £10 or 6 for £18, so we had spare ribs, chilli prawns, chicken pesto, belly pork, Serrano ham, and meatballs.   There were 4 pieces of each but they were rather small. Tasty though.  With wine at £13 bottle, a useful place to know for a quick lunch.

We’d pre-booked Pica Pica in Westgate Street for after the match – just as well as not surprisingly it was heaving.  There was a set rugby tapas menu for 4 available at £25 a head. This included pizza tostadas and patatas bravas, potato wedges, grilled mushrooms, bread and taboulleh was so was high on the carbs. Dates in bacon (nice idea), lamb kofta, piri piri chicken, meze platter, whitebait and chicken wings were also included along with a bottle of wine.  Not as elegant as lunchtime, but tasty.  Somewhat disrupted by someone rushing in from the bar area and stealing a lamb kofta from my plate!!

Southwark and Kings Cross

SET LUNCH AT LA CAVE

M&G suggest lunch at La Cave in Southwark, as it has an offer of £15/head for 2 course lunch with a glass of champagne.  We’ve been there before and know it’s ticked away on the lower level near the cathedral, so we arrive promptly to find M already there. G is on his way – and inevitably gets lost, so arrives needing the glass of fizz to calm him down.  As the name implies, the restaurant feels underground, and is sparsely decorated.  When we arrive there are only a couple of other people there, mainly playing with a coffee and a laptop – a few more do come in over the lunchtime, but it’s never busy.

The set lunch menu is wider and more interesting than I’d feared.  B and G have the mussels to start – a good sized steaming bowl in a good marinière sauce (no cream!), though they have to ask for bread. M has the chicken liver pate which is also large, with plenty of gherkins and pickles, while I have the goat’s cheese in filo pastry with honey – very interesting.

Service is fine, very French – amused but not completely on the ball.

For mains, M and I have the seabream, which is very good, with crisp skin and good flavour. B has the chicken in prosciutto and G the bavette steak – both pronounced acceptable. We have two bottles of Spy Valley, NZ Sauvignon Blanc at £31 and an excellent red Cote du Rhone (Grenaches/Syrah) at £28.50 (both at the bottom end of the price range). So with some water and coffee and 12.5% service our £60 lunch comes to £186.30 – beware of special offers !

 UNUSUAL MENU AT THE GRAIN STORE

We’re meeting J&K, so somewhere near King’s Cross is the best bet, and J suggests the Grain Store. Looking at the menu online, we’re a bit wary as there are mainly vegetarian and vegan options, but with nothing else to suggest we go with it. The restaurant is round the back of the station, across the canal and effectively the Central St Martin’s canteen in Granary Square. The whole area is a major development, so soon it will be very busy. On a Sunday lunch the Grain Store is already very buzzy, a bright lively space, with big windows, exposed ducting in the ceiling and an “exploded” kitchen – not as terrifying as it sounds, just open to view.  The place is owned by Chef Bruno Loubet and The Zetter Group's Michael Benyan and Mark Sainsbury, following on from the popular Zetter Townhouse.

We’re there first so order the white Rioja at £23 – pretty much the cheapest.  off. J&K arrive and we’re chatting away for ages until we eventually order), which seems to irritate the waitress. It’s 2.30pm and we’re told the special from the “Josper”  oven (apparently a charcoal combination grill/oven) is “off”, but as it was rabbit, we probably wouldn’t have gone for it anyway. The menu is slightly confusingly arranged into starters, medium-sized brunch items and mains. K has the Jerusalem artichoke soup with lovage pesto – very thick and warming. J has the mushroom & duck liver pâté, with celeriac remoulade and mulled wine jelly, which she is pleased with. B and I share a brunch sized (actually quite modest) fried duck egg with creamed chestnut mushrooms and toasted hazelnuts – a good and warming dish as well. For mains course J tries the wood pigeon , which she’s not had before. This comes with fermented red cabbage, tea soaked golden grapes and a truffle dressing, and is served fairly pink.  Not quite her taste I think, but pretty nicely cooked. K has the smoked salt lamb with lime pickled potatoes, minted cucumber, and fried egg from the brunch list – again quite modest. B has ordered the sea trout with Vietnamese style salad, and squid à la plancha – to be told that there is no squid. She asks what she will get instead, to be told she may get a bit more salad!  When it arrives there are no obvious extras, and the fish is pretty ordinary.  My braised beef with four splodges of root vegetable purées and some roasted onions is falling apart and very tasty, though the vegetables add little. It’s now 4pm, so we’re sternly instructed to order dessert quickly as the kitchen is closing. J orders the apple, blackberry & elderberry crumble which apparently comes with olive oil ice cream though it tastes just like vanilla to us. I get the carrot cake with goji berries (so hip!) and chamomile ice cream- the cake is good and moist. With three bottles of wine, a couple of glasses of house white, some water and a coffee this comes to a bit shy of £200 including service, pretty good value.  The place is very fashionable and rather too self-aware, but certainly a good option if you’re in the Kings Cross area, and if you are entertaining a vegan.

 

Glorious view over the river at Richmond

Meeting up with friends S and S at Richmond station, we walk down to the river and along towards Petersham. We’re heading for the Petersham Hotel which sits just south of Richmond on a hill overlooking a curve in the river. It had rained earlier but by the time we arrive the sun is shining and everywhere looks crisp and clean.  We’d asked for a table by the window, so we get the super views down  to the river (though they do claim that you get good views from any table). The restaurant itself is “modern classy” – neither achingly fashionable nor traditionally olde worlde – maybe a 90’s design.

We start with a bottle of South African Viognier (Wide River, Robertson) which at £24.50 is one of the cheapest on the list. And settle down to choose from the Summer set lunch menu (which ends on 16^th October). As we do that we can see the Royal barge Gloriana is heading away down the river. There is a huge boat race on today, with literally hundreds of vessels apparently, so this is a really good spot to watch from (a bit far away perhaps).

For starters we have the cured mackerel and pancetta with a chick pea salad and yoghurt dressing, and calves liver with chorizo and a little risotto.  The mackerel is really fresh and zingy, and the calves liver pink (and the risotto green!). For main course I go off piste and choose the chicken escalope wrapped in prosciutto with mozzarella from the a la carte list. Very enjoyable. B has the stuffed skate, as does S, and the other choice was a honey roast duck.  All well cooked and presented simply, without too many frilly diversions.

For dessert , S and I have a bitter chocolate bombe, with caramelised banana and pistachio ice cream – excellent. The other S has a summer fruit parfait which was also good.  B sticks at 2 courses.

By now we’ve finished 3 bottles of Viognier, but when we order another to go with the coffee, they have no more – another place we’ve drunk dry. So we move up to a Hawke’s Bay NZ Sauvignon Blanc (£29.50).

Service has been very good – efficient and friendly without interfering. They manage the trick of keeping our wine glasses filled without seeming to be trying to get us to drink faster. (As you can see we drank enough anyway!).

The bill comes to £260 including 12.5% service. But it’s not till later that realise that they have charged us for three 3-course lunches at £26.95, one 2-course lunch at £22.95 AND £17.50 for my chicken as well.  Bit naughty.

So looking back, although we enjoyed ourselves and the view of the river and race was super, the food itself was probably only OK for that price.  As an evening venue with no views it may be less appealing.

Catching up - July

Hampton Court by the river

Back in the summer, we were off to the Hampton Court Flower Festival for their opening evening event.  So we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at the Mitre Hotel by the bridge. It was a lovely day, so we were pleased to find there was still a table available outside on the terrace by the river, even one with an umbrella to shade us from the sun. It’s a gorgeous place to be, watching the ducks and the boats, and the occasional paddle steamer pottering around.

We started with (what else?) a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc (£22.50), and some sparkling water.  B wasn’t that hungry so we shared a starter of chilli salt and pepper squid, which came with a good cucumber and onion salsa. It was lightly battered and gently cooked, so avoided the rubbery texture, and would have been an ideal snack at any time. For main course B had the spicy garlic lime chicken breast, lightly fried with rocket & red onion salad. The lime did really shine through, so this was a very refreshing summer dish.  I had the “Oriental style” fish and chips, which was strips of salmon deep fried with chilli, chips and a soy dipping sauce. An unusual variation on the classic, this was also a good dish for a hot day.

Not everyone was enjoying their meal however. One lady complained that the fish in her (ordinary) fish and chips wasn’t fresh.  The manager responded quickly (though at first believing it was we who had complained) and tried to assure her that it had been freshly delivered. Unimpressed the customer chose to switch to a risotto. Perhaps this reinforces the general rule of not ordering fish on a Monday.

Service generally was a little brusque, though with a change of shift we did get a more charming waitress eventually. All in all a pleasant place to be on a nice day, and at £70 pretty reasonable.

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Brasserie Vacherin

Malcolm John’s Fish and Grill has been re-branded as Brasserie Vacherin to match his other restaurant in Sutton and Le Vacherin in Putney, so we had to go along to see what this meant for the menu.  We are again eating early, this time ahead of a comedy show at the Fairfield Halls, and so it’s fairly quiet on a Sunday afternoon.  After Kir Royales to get us going, we order the Viognier, from Languedoc, at £23 – full of fruity flavour.

My favourite tuna tartare is still on the menu, but B beats me to it. It’s a fresh and zingy creation, with chilli and ginger, and more substantial than it looks. I start with scallops, cooked just right, with black pudding and bacon to make it heartier.   B’s sea bass is also a standard from the old days, and is still a sound version of the dish, presented quite simply. My supreme of hake off the specials list is rather flavourless in comparison, but meaty enough, accompanied by chips in the signature tin can.

Unusually for us we decide to share a dessert – crepe suzette.  This is a very fine example, retaining a good degree of sharpness in amongst the melting sauce.  With a 12.5% service charge added, this lot comes to £95, much the same price as it used to be.

Just 3 weeks later we decide to visit again, on a Saturday night so we have booked. The place is virtually full, and we’re rather shocked as we’re  to our table to find a live singer belting out the classics directly at us. It’s so loud you can hardly hear yourself think, and the choice of songs so hackneyed it makes Radio 2 look cutting edge.  The ladies night out at the table alongside him are lapping it up though.

We have Kir Royales and Viognier again and this time I get the tuna tartare. B has prawns with garlic and parsley, three of them nicely grilled in their shells. My main course veal escalope is rich and oozing. B has the grilled crab, again with chilli and ginger, which is a bit of a battle to extract from its shell. And again we have the crepes suzette – nothing too adventurous!

The couple at the table next to us are sharing the chateaubrand which comes served on a stand complete with bone marrow and saucer sized mushrooms. Even at £50 this looks like an excellent option.

This time we’ve racked the bill up to £120, with a couple of extra glasses of Viognier. Still pretty good, though I’d avoid Saturday night next time.