I recently started a new job so have been trying out restaurants near my new offices in Farringdon. As part of this I took my girlfriend out for a nice romantic meal at a French place that came highly recommended (the person who told us about it was sworn to secrecy by a guy who took her there on a date, it turns out she likes us more than him!)
The restaurant is hidden down a side street just off a quaint square halfway between barbican and farringdon station.
It definitely feels like you have made a special discovery when you walk through the door into the brick lined walls, there is a piano in the centre which was being played by someone when we arrived giving the whole place a warm and friendly feel.
Whenever I go to a new restaurant I am alway nosey and look at what the other guest have ordered, just so I can get an idea of size and also to maybe give me a hint about what I may have order myself, looking quickly from table to table I couldn't see a single thing I wouldn't want to eat, beautiful cuts of meat, fresh poultry and salads where pretty much everywhere accompanied by some very nice looking wine.
Once we were seated (right next to the aforementioned piano) we got to peruse the excellent menu, which offers 2 course for 28.50 or 3 courses for around 35 we also got told about some really very interesting specials, including quail and partridge. For started I went for the gratin of black pudding, which tasted sensational while my girlfirend chose the mushroom tartine. These were both generous in size and passed the clean plate test (there was nothing left of the tartine for me to try again, although I am told it was really good).
For mains we both went for specials, I chose to pay a supplement and had partridge, which was suuculent, tender and very tasty, servered with some chips and a salad while my girlfriend went for the quail, I did manage to get a mouthful of the quail (as I have never tried it before) and I have to say it was even better than my partridge, with a really nice flavour and texture.
I would highly recommend the Cafe du Marche as a great place for a date, it is everything you would expect from a quaint little french restaurant in the side streets of Paris, but stuck in the middle of London.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Foxtrot Oscar: restaurant review
What better way to follow an Evening with John Torode than with a spot of Sunday lunch with Gordon Ramsey at his Foxtrot Oscar restaurant (obviously we saw neither of them, but you know what I mean)
Foxtrot Oscar is set in the heart of Chelsea, right next door to Ramsey's head office and I think it could be considered a perfect location for Sunday lunch after a leisurely stroll through Battersea Park and along Chelsea Embankment. I have to say I have been before and I really like the small intimate feel, it is more gastro pub than fine dining, but I really do enjoy the experience.
Currently you can get some really good deals on the Sunday lunch menu, we managed to get a deal for on 3 courses for 25 quid. The selection is slightly limited, but if it isn't for you you can always go for the very reasonable a la carte menu (which comes in at about 8 pounds for a starter and 15 for a main).
The starter I chose was a very tasty French onion soup, my only issue with it was I would have preferred a bit more soup. My girlfriend and the friend who came with us chose to have the roasted marrowbone, although my girlfriend didn't particularly like hers, I think this was mainly because she hadn't tried it before and was surprised by how fatty it was (our guest was rather more glowing about it, pointing out, quit rightly, that the best bits for flavour are in the fat)
The main course options were roast sirloin, roast pork belly, a cheese burger or an aubergine pasta dish. Being the carnivores we are we ordered the first 3 options, I went for the burger as having had a big slab of pork the night before I fancied a lighter option, I was given a chance to choose how I wanted it cooked (pink or well done) which was a nice touch and also a good sign of the quality of the meat (I chose pink and it certainly didn't let me down). Our guest was also given the option on how cooked he wanted his sirloin to be, which, like any one of taste would chose, was as rare as the chef recommended. He was treated to an excellent piece of beef, slightly bloody in the middle, but with crispy fat around the outside. The port belly my girlfriend was served up also looked amazing (again a good sign is that I can't comment on the taste because despite its generous size she finished the lot!)
This bought us onto the desserts, where accompanied by a really quite excellent Hungarian Tokaji we had a cheesecake and sticky toffee pudding. My vanilla cheesecake really was tasty (although by this time I was starting to feel slightly full) and again I am assured that the sticky toffee pudding was also good (I could have tried this but I have to be honest, I ran out of space to fit it in!).
So in summary I would highly recommend a trip to Foxtrot Oscar as good value and with its calm laid back and comfortable decor one of the best locations for Sunday lunch I have found in London
Foxtrot Oscar is set in the heart of Chelsea, right next door to Ramsey's head office and I think it could be considered a perfect location for Sunday lunch after a leisurely stroll through Battersea Park and along Chelsea Embankment. I have to say I have been before and I really like the small intimate feel, it is more gastro pub than fine dining, but I really do enjoy the experience.
Currently you can get some really good deals on the Sunday lunch menu, we managed to get a deal for on 3 courses for 25 quid. The selection is slightly limited, but if it isn't for you you can always go for the very reasonable a la carte menu (which comes in at about 8 pounds for a starter and 15 for a main).
The starter I chose was a very tasty French onion soup, my only issue with it was I would have preferred a bit more soup. My girlfriend and the friend who came with us chose to have the roasted marrowbone, although my girlfriend didn't particularly like hers, I think this was mainly because she hadn't tried it before and was surprised by how fatty it was (our guest was rather more glowing about it, pointing out, quit rightly, that the best bits for flavour are in the fat)
The main course options were roast sirloin, roast pork belly, a cheese burger or an aubergine pasta dish. Being the carnivores we are we ordered the first 3 options, I went for the burger as having had a big slab of pork the night before I fancied a lighter option, I was given a chance to choose how I wanted it cooked (pink or well done) which was a nice touch and also a good sign of the quality of the meat (I chose pink and it certainly didn't let me down). Our guest was also given the option on how cooked he wanted his sirloin to be, which, like any one of taste would chose, was as rare as the chef recommended. He was treated to an excellent piece of beef, slightly bloody in the middle, but with crispy fat around the outside. The port belly my girlfriend was served up also looked amazing (again a good sign is that I can't comment on the taste because despite its generous size she finished the lot!)
This bought us onto the desserts, where accompanied by a really quite excellent Hungarian Tokaji we had a cheesecake and sticky toffee pudding. My vanilla cheesecake really was tasty (although by this time I was starting to feel slightly full) and again I am assured that the sticky toffee pudding was also good (I could have tried this but I have to be honest, I ran out of space to fit it in!).
So in summary I would highly recommend a trip to Foxtrot Oscar as good value and with its calm laid back and comfortable decor one of the best locations for Sunday lunch I have found in London
SOS: restaurant review
Smiths on Smithfield was the venue for a friends party on saturday night and as we were there I thought it would be a good idea to try John Torode's eating establishment for a spot of dinner first.
SOS is an interesting place, split into four levels with restaurants and food for different occasions on each floor. The ground floor is a nice bar with some good snack food, the first floor has an impressive stocked wine room where they serve pizza and more simple fayre. There is also a private dining room on the first floor that caters for parties.
The top floor is the fine dining room, with views of St Paul's and most of the city of London, but sadly we were a little short of time for a full tasting menu so we had settled on the second floor which specialises in grilled meats.
I started with chicken liver parfait which was served on a toasted brioche
with a homemade pickle, the whole ensemble worked well together, with the pickle cutting through the richness of the parfait. My girlfriend was less impressed with her choice of French onion soup, although it was solid it was a little acidic.
For main course I settled on the pork belly and mashed potato, while my girlfriend went for a classic steak frites. The pork was well cooked and the meat was tender and juicy, although some of my crackling had failed to crackle properly (which always a bit of a disappointment) it was served with an interesting parsley garnish which really complimented the fattyness of the meat.
My girlfriends mild disappointment continued with her sirloin steak, although it was cooked exactly to order she said it was the meat was good, not great.
The wine list was also pretty darn good, and in reality it would have been nice to have a red wine with the meal but as we were there for a night out afterwards we ended up going for a very nice 2008 Izadi white Rioja.
To sum up I personally thought that the food was good, and the general decor was really cool as was the night out later, I would recommend it as a solution to a number of eating and night out conundrums. I am definitely keen to go back and try the top floor soon.
SOS is an interesting place, split into four levels with restaurants and food for different occasions on each floor. The ground floor is a nice bar with some good snack food, the first floor has an impressive stocked wine room where they serve pizza and more simple fayre. There is also a private dining room on the first floor that caters for parties.
The top floor is the fine dining room, with views of St Paul's and most of the city of London, but sadly we were a little short of time for a full tasting menu so we had settled on the second floor which specialises in grilled meats.
I started with chicken liver parfait which was served on a toasted brioche
with a homemade pickle, the whole ensemble worked well together, with the pickle cutting through the richness of the parfait. My girlfriend was less impressed with her choice of French onion soup, although it was solid it was a little acidic.
For main course I settled on the pork belly and mashed potato, while my girlfriend went for a classic steak frites. The pork was well cooked and the meat was tender and juicy, although some of my crackling had failed to crackle properly (which always a bit of a disappointment) it was served with an interesting parsley garnish which really complimented the fattyness of the meat.
My girlfriends mild disappointment continued with her sirloin steak, although it was cooked exactly to order she said it was the meat was good, not great.
The wine list was also pretty darn good, and in reality it would have been nice to have a red wine with the meal but as we were there for a night out afterwards we ended up going for a very nice 2008 Izadi white Rioja.
To sum up I personally thought that the food was good, and the general decor was really cool as was the night out later, I would recommend it as a solution to a number of eating and night out conundrums. I am definitely keen to go back and try the top floor soon.
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Simple stir fry sauce
My girlfriend is a big fan of stir frys and slowly I am being converted to her way of thinking, after all they don't take much time to cook, are healthy quick and relatively easy, in fact most of the skill is making sure that the vegetables are the right sort of crunchy.
To try to make it a bit more complicated I decided I was going to create my own stir fry sauce. This is not particularly difficult or inventive, infact I basically looked at the ingredients which a couple of those in the supermarket used and went from there.
You will need
a lemon,
a lime,
White wine vinegar
Mirin
vegetable stock cube
ginger
chilli
black pepper
honey
soy sauce
worcester sauce or fish sauce
Finely dice some fresh chilli, peel the ginger and garlic chopping finely. Fry these in some olive oil for 2 or 3 minutes before turning the heat down and adding the juice if the lemon and lime along with a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar, a tablespoon of the mirin.
Crush the stock cube into the sauce and add a tablespoon of honey, a few drops of soy sauce and a couple of drops of the fish or Worcester sauce.
Sprinkle in some black pepper and leave this to simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally, this should be enough time to chop up the veg for the stir fry.
To try to make it a bit more complicated I decided I was going to create my own stir fry sauce. This is not particularly difficult or inventive, infact I basically looked at the ingredients which a couple of those in the supermarket used and went from there.
You will need
a lemon,
a lime,
White wine vinegar
Mirin
vegetable stock cube
ginger
chilli
black pepper
honey
soy sauce
worcester sauce or fish sauce
Finely dice some fresh chilli, peel the ginger and garlic chopping finely. Fry these in some olive oil for 2 or 3 minutes before turning the heat down and adding the juice if the lemon and lime along with a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar, a tablespoon of the mirin.
Crush the stock cube into the sauce and add a tablespoon of honey, a few drops of soy sauce and a couple of drops of the fish or Worcester sauce.
Sprinkle in some black pepper and leave this to simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally, this should be enough time to chop up the veg for the stir fry.
La Rueda: restaurant review
It doesn't always have to about fine dining, I really appreciate somewhere that is a bit different, has a decent atmosphere and also offers good value for money. With that in mind I thought I'd write a bit about La Rueda on Clapham high street, which me and a small group of friends visited for a Friday night meal before heading out for a few drinks.
The restaurant itself feels fairly authentic with a number of the staff who's first language actually appears to be Spanish, which we took to be a good sign. there was a wide array of tapas on the menu, covering many of the usual favourites (causing one of the group to comment that it was a fairly English style menu, although I would suggest that this is more because of the crowd they are catering for rather than a genuine lack of authenticity).
The wine list was certainly authenic with a decent number of both very nice red and white Rioja's (we went with the Marques of Carcares Red and White at around 15 pounds a bottle each).
We all ordered the recommended 3 or 4 dishes each (21 dishes between 6 of us) but I would say that this was far too much food, I suspect we could easily have fed another person and still have had something left over.
I always think that a good bell weather at all tapas restaurants, regardless of the claimed quality, is the calimares. They are always the first thing I try as I like to know how skilled the chef is. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised as they were excellent, tender and tasty, which set the tone for the rest of the meal really. The seafood was all really well cooked and I thought the sausage in wine and several of the other dishes were very good. I was slightly disappointed by the patatas bravas but on the whole I would recommend it to a larger group who want to try something different before going out for a few beers elsewhere.
The restaurant itself feels fairly authentic with a number of the staff who's first language actually appears to be Spanish, which we took to be a good sign. there was a wide array of tapas on the menu, covering many of the usual favourites (causing one of the group to comment that it was a fairly English style menu, although I would suggest that this is more because of the crowd they are catering for rather than a genuine lack of authenticity).
The wine list was certainly authenic with a decent number of both very nice red and white Rioja's (we went with the Marques of Carcares Red and White at around 15 pounds a bottle each).
We all ordered the recommended 3 or 4 dishes each (21 dishes between 6 of us) but I would say that this was far too much food, I suspect we could easily have fed another person and still have had something left over.
I always think that a good bell weather at all tapas restaurants, regardless of the claimed quality, is the calimares. They are always the first thing I try as I like to know how skilled the chef is. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised as they were excellent, tender and tasty, which set the tone for the rest of the meal really. The seafood was all really well cooked and I thought the sausage in wine and several of the other dishes were very good. I was slightly disappointed by the patatas bravas but on the whole I would recommend it to a larger group who want to try something different before going out for a few beers elsewhere.
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