Tamarind and Thyme

The Argentinians like steak; no, scratch that – they LOVE steak. And I was going to eat like an Argentinean one Tuesday night a couple weeks ago at Constancia, an Argentian grill on the corner of Tower Bridge Road and Tanner Street, who bring in all their meat straight from Argentina. I believe it’s been open for a couple years already and there are mixed reviews online but hey, we (me, Blai, Mirna and her husband Sasa) couldn’t get into our first restaurant of choice that night and steak seemed like a fine alternative.

Those same mixed reviews state that you’ll walk out of that restaurant smelling like the parrilla, the grill on which all the meats are cooked. Actually, I didn’t even notice this open air parrilla in the restaurant until Mirna dragged me over to see it – we were all seated in the front by the windows. Sitting here also resulted in our not stinking – excellent!

Blai and I started by splitting an empanada de carne, which was filled with a saucy spiced meat and olive mixture. Oh, I wish I had two or three of these to myself! Excellent pastry and a good moist filling.

A basket of sliced bread was also brought to the table at this time, accompanied by a little pot of what the waiter called mayonnaise and pickles. Sure enough, this creamy, pickley mixture was a fine spread on the little slices of bread. Once again, I had to restrain myself from eating too much as we were soon about to approach the meatfest.

For mains, we decided to go all out (hence the minimal starter) and order the Parrillada Constancia (for 2 people): Bife de Chorizo, Ojo de Bife, 2 Chorizos, Morcilla, Provoleta. Let’s do a simultaneous breakdown and translation into English. We got 10oz of sirloin steak (bife de chorizo), 11oz of ribeye steak (ojo de bife), 2 Argentinian style pork sausages (chorizo), black pudding (morcilla) and provolone cheese with oregano (provoleta). The meats for all four of us came out on a huge platter heated from underneath by glowing coals.

Of the two steaks, the ribeye was my favourite, it being more flavourful than the sirloin. What we should have done though was take the steaks off the hot platter and let them rest on our plates for a while; instead, we dug in immediately, which may have affected the flavour and juiciness overall. The morcilla was absolutely gorgeous, possibly the best black pudding I’d ever had. It was tender and meaty and quite rich. Finally, we left our chorizos on the hot platter till the end, which might be the reason they ended up a bit dry but the flavour was alright, not as outstanding as that of the morcilla. These are not to be confused with Spanish chorizo which is spiced with plenty of smoked paprika – the Argentinian chorizo is just a coarse pork sausage. There was a little pot of delicious chimichurri on the table and this helped with the sausages.

To accompany this all and to make it a well-balanced meal, we had a humongous bowl of chips on the side. It really was a huge bowl.

And here’s the grilled cheese for 2, which came in its own separate dish. Yup, hot melted cheese is always a win though I couldn’t finish my half.

Despite stuffing our faces with the meat platter, we couldn’t leave without having dessert (gosh, we’re pigs… or perhaps it’s more apt to say we’re cows here). We split the Flan Casero con Dulce de Leche – homemade flan with Argentinian dulce de leche (the waiter confirmed that this latter was made in Argentina). This was excellent – very eggy and with a good texture and surprisingly, it went well with the rich dulce de leche.

All that beef didn’t come cheap though – with a few drinks, the bill came to about £50 per person, which is steep but not surprising for a steak meal. I like Constancia; it’s a fun place to eat and the food is good overall (though I still have to try Goodman and Hawksmoor) but I doubt I’ll be indulging in steaks very often – they burn a hole in one’s wallet!

Constancia
52 Tanner Street
Bermondsey
London SE1 3PH

Thank you to everyone who entered! It’s been really lovely to read your comments – ranging from the amusingly blunt to the slightly surreal! And it’s been great getting to know more of you!

So, with the use of a random number generator, I’ve drawn #10 as the winner – congratulations, Steve Fox! I’ll be in touch through email.

I was also quite chuffed to see Tamarind and Thyme mentioned in the Times (the Universal Register section) on Thursday. Welcome to anybody who came over after seeing the link there!

Three years! Can you believe I’ve been at this for three years?! The last year especially has been great – I feel like I’ve met more readers in person than ever before and I think Twitter has helped a lot with that. What else has happened? Well, we got married! We went to Wales! We went to Brussels! We went to Rome! It was a big past year and this year is looking set to match it.

This blogging milestone really snuck up on me and it was last week when I realised it was already mid-May and what in the world was I going to do to celebrate this? Well, how about holding a giveaway; yes, I’m giving away stuff – foodstuffs that I really enjoy and hope that you will too. No company sponsored this – it’s all out of my own pocket.

Here’s what’s definitely in the food giveaway package:

A tin of limited edition garlic Spam, as seen in this post. It’s Monty Python themed!

A jar of Tean’s Gourmet crispy prawn chili, as featured here in this post.

In addition, I’m going to personalise the box of goodies for the winner with a few selected extras, depending on where you’re located: what I mean is, if you’re in London, I doubt you want a jar of Marmite, for example. I’ve already got ideas of what to send if you’re in the UK or Europe, or you’re from the rest of the world, and I’ll be in contact with the winner to discuss this.

To be in with a chance to win it all, just leave a comment! It can be absolutely anything; heck, just drop by and say hi – I know there are a few of you out there and it would be great to “meet” you all! I’ll draw one of the comments randomly and that commenter will have all of this posted to them. The draw will take place on Monday, 31 May at 22:00 (BST) and I’ll announce the result soon after. I’ll leave the comments open so you can still say hi but of course, you won’t be eligible for the draw (sad face).

Thanks again to all the Tamarind and Thyme readers out there and I hope to “meet” more of you this upcoming year!

We had a visit from Blai’s mother last week and she was keen as usual to taste the best of what London had to offer. There was some serious pressure! One request from last time was fish and chips and thank you very much to everyone on Twitter who responded to my plea for the best fish and chips in London. It’s clear that there’s no consensus on the issue but one that did come up again and again was Masters Super Fish (Ibrahim of Will Eat For Money is a big fan) in Waterloo. Two Monday nights ago, we went there for dinner.

To my surprise, there was a Masters Super Fish and a Masters Chinese takeaway side by side! Only in London: the waitress was Chinese and the cook was Italian and the cuisine was English. The fish and chip restaurant itself looks like it hasn’t been touched in 30 years or so and the majority of the customers looked like regulars.

After we put in our orders, three plates with three boiled prawns each were brought to the table along with a basket of sliced baguette and butter pats. I wolfed down my prawns and then one of Blai’s prawns and then had to restrain myself from snarfling all the bread too – I was starving but the giant plates of food arriving at the other tables made me hold tight.

Blai and his mother chose the cod…

… while I had the haddock. When your plates come, the waitress also comes over with large bowls of pickled cucumbers and pickled onions – I had one of each. It turns out I quite like pickled onions.

We also had a side of mushy peas, our “greens” for the meal.

I loved that the sauces came in Chinese rice bowls! With so much tartar sauce, there was no need to ask for more.

The fish was beautifully fried and very fresh. The chips were tasty with a good potato flavour but a little soggy, which was a little disappointing. Still, it’s a solid place for fish and chips. I’m keen to try all the other places that were recommended to me (The Golden Hind, Fryers Delight, Golden Union) but it’s going to take time – I don’t think I can handle fish and chips more than once a month! What’s your favourite fish and chip place?

Masters Super Fish
191 Waterloo Road
London SE1 8UX

Hey, it’s another quick pasta dish suitable for busy weeknights! As usual, no time to cook plus a tiny kitchen that needs some new organisation results in fast meals. I do pride myself on making do with what I have though and what I did have a while ago was quite the bounty of mushrooms and only little ol’ me to feed that night. It was pasta I was craving and I came across a Jamie Oliver recipe online that would suit. There’s a lot of hate going around for him and say what you like but his recipes are ideal for the small kitchen.

This dish really highlights the flavour of the mushrooms so do branch out from the regular white button ones. I’ve made this spaghetti a few times already, each time with a different combination of interesting mushrooms (the photos are from two different days). Oyster mushrooms and shimeji mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and Portobello mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and enoki mushrooms – endless combinations! And hey, if you can afford it/find them, wild mushrooms would be superb.

Spaghetti with Mushrooms
adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver.
serves 2.

200-250g spaghetti or spaghettini
300-400g assorted mushrooms, cut or torn into bite sized pieces
1 clove garlic, minced finely
a large pinch of chili flakes
2 tbsps olive oil
splash of white wine
large pat of unsalted butter
juice of half a lemon
a small handful of parsley, chopped
salt to taste

Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta.

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the oil, followed by the garlic and chili flakes. Stir briefly and then add all the mushrooms. Continue stirring. When the mushrooms start exuding water, add the splash of white wine and continue cooking until the mushrooms are as done as you like. Add the pat of butter and the lemon juice and stir through. Salt to taste.

The water should be boiling by now. Salt well and then boil your spaghetti until al dente. Drain and add to the mushrooms along with the chopped parsley and toss. Serve.

I’m submitting this post to Presto Pasta Nights, this week hosted by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.