Tamarind and Thyme

We’ve been eating quite a few of these lately:

Salades composées are just various salady ingredients (yup, meat or fish are ok) arranged onto a plate (I rather like mine with all the parts separate like above)  and served with a vinaigrette on top. Simple, fresh, light, no cooking required. Choose a good variety of ingedients – nothing’s more boring that chewing on a whole bowlful of the same thing. For the vinaigrette, don’t bother with bottled; I whisked together a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a tablespoon or two of sherry vinegar (wine vinegars are also good) and then a few tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil. Adjust the ratios to suit your taste – we like quite a bit of that vinegary bite. Salt and pepper to taste and then pour over your salad. I used to do the whole shake it in a jar thing but I found that the oily mixture always had a way of leaking out onto my hands!

Nice and light for these (few) summery days!

I’m sure many of the people crossing town to come to Ealing Common, with its Japanese community with the nearby school, are mainly going for the divine sushi experience at Sushi Hiro. They’re probably not going to the little Japanese shop (Natural Natural) nor the other little Japanese shop (Atari-Ya) nor the great Japanese hairdressers (Camiyui). And little do they know that just down the road is an equally fabulous Japanese restaurant serving home style food and yakitori, as well as sushi and sashimi. Behind the bland exterior, with the windows blocked out too but with a colourful picture menu outside and bright orange and white signage, lies a little gem in west London.

I remember that we visited Kiraku not long after they opened and feasted on yakitori and nabemono and noodles. I also remember that for two impoverished grad students, the meal was quite expensive but we had big appetites and small budgets and luckily, things have balanced out a little since then (now we’re just one impoverished grad student)! We decided to return not long ago for lunch on a weekday.

We chose off their lunch menu, with its lists of set meals, donabes and bowls of noodles (though a la carte was also available). Both Blai and I opted for their sets, dishes that come with rice, miso soup, a simmered vegetable dish, and fruit. Each set came on its own tray with the dishes all individually plated and the whole lot arranged to beautiful effect.

I went for their service set (£10.00), or their set of the day, which changes daily and is written up on a board in both Japanese and English. That day, it included both tonkatsu and a pork rib and vegetable soup. As soon as I had my first sip of that soup, sigh….. oh, I was transported back to my parents’ dining table, drinking my mother’s pork and cabbage soup, with the broth lovingly boiled from pork bones for ages. The tonkatsu too was delicious – very crispy and porky and not at all greasy. The little pouring jar on the tray contained all the tonkatsu sauce you could ever want and more.

Blai had the yaki zakana set, grilled fish set (around £10.00, I think) and chose the mackerel over the salmon. Two generous pieces of the oily fish arrived with crispy skins and a soy based sauce to pour over. The fruit to end our meals was very sweet and fresh and I loved the variety they offer with each meal.

During our meal, the place filled up with Japanese businessmen (where do they work? Is there a secret big business building in Ealing Common?!) happily popping sushi into their mouths, digging into donburi and loudly slurping noodles, all while watching the Japanese drama unfolding on the television in the corner. Service was pretty good too and made quite special by one waiter who almost bent himself backwards to answer my questions about the special set.

We liked the place so much and were so upset with ourselves for not visiting more often that we made up for lost time by returning less than a fortnight later! And for lunch again but this time, on a weekend. Instead of Japanese businessmen, we were soon surrounded by Japanese families with their offspring.

This time, Blai had the mixed fry (£10.00) which turned out to be various meats, fish and vegetables covered in panko crumbs and fried. Once again the chef proved to be a dab hand at deep frying – everything was faultless (and the crumbed onion was both a surprise and delicious!). The simmered vegetable had changed – that day, it was simmered okara (soy bean pulp mixed with slivered vegetables), a very tasty dish I’d not had before. The fruit too had changed slightly – no strawberry but a lovely juicy bit of pineapple instead.

And wanting to try something different, I had a maguro zuke don & han udon, marinated tuna on rice and udon noodle soup set (£11.00). No miso soup with this set since the delicious, slippery, tender (yet they don’t give so easily) udon comes swimming in broth. The marinated tuna was very fresh though there was a not unpleasant slimy texture to it and the rice – I suspect a bit of raw egg? Of the two dishes, the udon really was the star to me in its simplicity; I look forward to having a big bowlful of them in the autumn!

Needless to say, I highly recommend this restaurant – I’m certainly going to be a more frequent visitor! I’ve always been sat at tables but I hope to sit at the sushi bar one day. As indicated at the beginning of the post, dinner is more expensive but only because you’ll want to order a million things off the a la carte menu. I remember that it also gets very busy at dinnertime so it’s advisable to make a reservation. At lunchtime, it’s possible to drop by though you may have to wait the later you get there. If you’re on a budget, go for lunch.

Sorry, final note – I’m sure this is one of the few restaurants in London that offers a Coke float!

Kiraku
8 Station Parade
Uxbridge Road
Ealing Common
London W5 3LD

A few days after our wedding, I met my good friend Sarah from Vancouver and her husband Kevin for tea. I was told to pick the location and as it usually does, I was all nerves as I wanted to get this choice right! I opted to meet them at Piccadilly Circus with a few ideas on my mind. After learning that Kevin was a bit of a chocoholic, I knew where we’d go – La Maison du Chocolat.

My treats from this most Parisian of chocolate shops have always been takeaway – chocolates, cakes, even their divine hot chocolate. However, I noticed that they’d put in a little cafe corner in the shop a while ago but I’d not had a chance to try it out. All the tables were full when we arrived at a little past 3pm on a Sunday but a couple had just finished and we got a table after a little wait. Throughout our time there though, many other tables freed up and then stayed empty…shame as the little place is great! After choosing from the menu, the waitress came back with three glasses of tap water for us – a nice touch and quite forward looking as we really did need this to wash down all that chocolatey goodness.

It was a hot day and I wanted some ice cream. La Maison has ice creams and sorbets in little tubs but I had my eye on their verrines – layered ice cream desserts in a glass. Of those available, I chose la Verrine Pistache Framboise Chocolat – a layered dessert with a fresh raspberry sorbet, a rich and sticky chocolate ganache, creamy pistachio ice cream and topped with a candied pistachio “gravel”. With a long teaspoon, I was able to dig through all the layers and then … swoon as the combination hit my tongue. (I hope I find some time to go back again this summer while the ice creams are still available.)

I can’t remember what the name of this pastry was (Sarah and Kevin split this) but there was chocolate, passion fruit, banana and coconut all combined inside. We noted that the orange square on top looked disturbingly like a Kraft single – not to worry: it was coloured white chocolate. Actually, a Flickr search brings up a possibility of a name – Ile de Maracuja. It went down very well with the two of them.

Kevin went all out and had one of their fantastic hot chocolates (made with a fabulously ludicrous chocolate to milk ratio – it’s almost like drinking pure melted chocolate) to drink while we girls stuck with tea. These were not the cheapest teas by any means (I see from my photo that it’s a Dammann Frères tea) but the blow was lessened when each drink (only the teas and coffees) came with one of their lovely chocolates (we had raspberry).

The total came to £20 for the three of us (I think most of that was my verrine!). Sure it’s not a budget cafe but the pastries here are far better than your average tea shop and I’m happy to splash out a bit for a treat once in a while and especially if you’ve got friends visiting! Thank you for tea that day, Sarah and Kevin, and it was so nice to see you guys again! I miss you both!

La Maison du Chocolat
45-46 Piccadilly
London W1J 0DS

A few of you have already wondered why I’m not on my honeymoon but the simple reason is that we’re having our proper honeymoon later in the year. We’re going to visit Rome (first time for both of us) and any and all food suggestions are welcome!

However, we did manage a long weekend away in Snowdonia, the national park in the north of Wales. A train to Bangor, followed by a local bus, and we were smack dab in our home (at the Alpine Lodge Hotel) for three nights – the village of Llanberis, located at the base of Snowdon, the highest mountain in the UK south of Scotland. For such a small village (population less than 2000), there was some great food to be had – though it should be mentionned that this is a popular base for both climbers and people coming to walk up Snowdon. We were there to do some walking ourselves and there are many beautiful paths around that region.

One place with great food was Pete’s Eats, quite the climbers institution with it’s generous portions and low prices. Along with a hamburger, we split this plateful of egg and chips for lunch our first day.

If it’s one thing that I’ll remember of Llanberis, it’s chips (oh, and slate). These we had at Pete’s Eats were no exception – crunchy on the outside, tender inside…and lots of those crunchy little shards at the bottom of the pile!

Later that evening, we went to the Peak Restaurant for dinner, where they kindly accommodated us even though we didn’t have a reservation. While our main courses were a little oversauced, the starters were particularly good and generously portioned. Here’s my Llandudno smoked duck with mango salsa salad:

One night, we were feeling particularly lazy as we’d been out for most of the day and we opted to get takeaway pizza and fish and chips and eat it in our hotel room by the window. There’s only one fish and chip place in the village (Allports) and similarly one pizza/burger/kebab takeaway shop (Hot Shop). Both were packed and we had to wait a while before our orders were ready. This was our pizza with anchovies, capers and mushrooms.

This pizza puts most of the pizzas I’ve had in London to shame! A gorgeous thin crust made with fresh dough, just the right amount of cheese, just the right amount of toppings – all in all, an excellent pizza. Leftovers became our packed lunch the next day.

Welsh baked goods also impressed (sorry, no photos as we ate them all) – I particularly like Welsh cakes and bara brith. And if you do make it to Llanberis, we highly recommend the National Slate Museum, on the banks of Llyn Padarn in Llanberis; it was a very fascinating visit! I mean, as a kid I’d probably have hated it but now with a bit of maturity, it was quite interesting learning about the slate mining history of Wales. I’d love to go back to complete our climb up Snowdon (we turned back as we weren’t that well prepared and the weather was turning).

All our photos from our trip can be found in this Flickr photoset.

Pete’s Eats
40 High Street
Llanberis, Gwynedd
LL55 4EU

Peak Restaurant
84-86 High Street
Llanberis, Gwynedd
LL55 4SU

Hot Shop
57 High Street
Llanberis, Gwynedd
LL55 4EU

A few days before our wedding, Blai and I and an old friend of mine, Roxanne, from Vancouver were going to attend a late night prom over at the Royal Albert Hall. Of course, it being a late night concert, there was plenty of time to meet for dinner beforehand. I’d never been to Racine on Brompton Road (in spite of my recommending it to other friends!) and thought it best to rectify this. When I entered, I saw that the space itself reflected the kind of food I was expecting – bistro food: a darkly lit room, tightly packed tables, a sea of pristine white tablecloths, and a heavy curtain enclosing the doorway. It sounds terribly cliched but if it weren’t for the fact that all the waiters spoke English, I could have imagined myself somewhere in Paris (the Catholic Church across the road doesn’t help either).

Poor Roxanne was a little late due to the Great Handbag Incident of 2009 but I sat there at our little table nibbling on the proffered bread and butter until both first Blai and then she arrived. Yay to the service here – I was offered a newspaper to read when I started looking bored. When she did arrive, we all got busy deciding what we’d eat.

Both Blai and Roxanne started with the Smoked duck, French bean and girolle salad. I can’t remember much about it but they cleared their plates. Must be good then.

I’d never had brains before and was keen to try them…and what better place to try them surely? Calf’s brains, black butter and capers for me then! The brains were served whole (well, in their halves), dusted in flour and pan fried before being topped with a very punchy black butter, caper and parsley sauce. The astringent sauce cut through the richness of the brains, which I loved when I got a bit of the crispy brown edges but loved less when it resembled foie gras custard a little too much. It was very very rich. I would definitely eat it again though but perhaps in a half portion.

To follow, I chose the Grilled rabbit, mustard sauce and smoked bacon (mainly based on the recommendation of another friend who I’d sent to Racine the previous year, also for a pre-prom dinner). The rabbit was one of the plumpest I’ve ever encountered and was moist and tender. On the side was a bowlful of large boiled new potatoes, a little dull but I made do by smearing them in the mustard sauce.

Blai had the Rump of lamb, haricots vinaigrette, deep fried artichokes and a piment d’Espelette aioli. His serving almost looked like a stew, a symphony of brown on the plate, but really all the components were just piled up there. The lamb was tender, the beans soft, and the artichokes…um…I don’t recall if I had a taste. The aioli, which came in a little ramekin on the side, was delicious and I also smeared lots of it on my potatoes.

The last in our trio chose the Breast of guinea fowl, peas, broad beans and tarragon. This was the tastiest chicken guinea fowl I’ve had (not that I’ve had many examples). It was accompanied by a generous side of smooth mash.

Though we were already quite full (we couldn’t get through all the potatoes), we searched inside for that little extra pocket of space that always seems to exist for dessert. I wanted the Cherry clafoutis, creme anglaise and yes, I got it. Why have I never made this dessert before?! The cherry clafoutis is gorgeous and I wish I had room for another. Blai and I were also licking the creme anglaise out of its tiny little jug.

After getting a description from our waiter, Blai went for the Saint Emilion de Chocolat. Our waiter described it as a chocolate mousse like thing but it was far from mousse-like; it was more like a little hockey puck of a dark chocolate ganache! It was ridiculously rich and we all tried to help him finish it. Blai did soldier on though and the plate was eventually cleaned.

Roxanne had the lemon sorbet, shot of Stolichnaya vodka. A huge gobletful of sorbet came along and she doused it all with the shot of vodka. The sorbet was beautifully lemony and refreshing and we helped ourselves with her permission.

Remember how I said the tables were tightly packed? A couple of older ladies, former Sloane Ranger types, sat next to us and one actually leaned over to look at our table to see what we were eating. Her face was almost in my dish. Watch it, lady, that’s mine! If you want something less claustrophobic, perhaps it’s best to ask for one of the coveted window seats. There was not a single fault with service that I could think of and it’s altogether a pleasant place to have an excellent meal. I estimate our meal to have cost about £35 per person (but only an estimate as kind Roxanne took us out for our meal – thank you!).

Oh, the prom that night was fantastic too – four of Bach’s motets sung by the Monteverdi Choir and performed by the English Baroque Soloists, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Racine
239 Brompton Road
London SW3 2EP

[Aside: Wow, we ate out a lot during that week and a half surrounding our wedding and I've still got a few places to blog about where we ate with friends and family. I fear that July will be a great weight-gaining month for us in the future what with our birthdays and now a wedding anniversary to celebrate. Gulp. Needless to say, we're currently eating...a lot less.]