Trastevere is a charmingly picturesque area in Rome to the west of the river Tiber but still easily accessible from the city centre by foot. I was keen to try a restaurant there; when we were there at the beginning of the month, there were very few tourists around and Trastevere felt like “old” Rome. Dan from Essex Eating recommended a couple trattorias in the area and that’s how we found ourselves at Da Augusto one lunchtime.

The trattoria was a little tricky to find. When you get to Piazza de’ Renzi, there’s one clearly marked restaurant…that wasn’t Da Augusto. There’s no sign for the trattoria but there is a menu posted up – and this was the only hint of the restaurant (except for when it’s packed, of course, with tables spilling into the square). The photo below is what the place looked like when we left.

The menus are handwritten and are in Italian on one side and English on the other, the only hint that tourists do find this trattoria. When we were there, we were the only tourists – the rest of the tables were full of Roman families, single businessmen, couples meeting for lunch. We weren’t any less welcome though; our waiter was very keen to practice his English on us. There’s loads of character to this trattoria: it’s rammed with chattering Italians, the plain wooden tables are packed close together and are topped with just a large piece of paper, and it’s clearly a family run place and I love it more for that. From this environment, we expected a home style lunch and we were not disappointed.

Ravioli was available the day we were there and we opted to split a dish of it to start. There was no indication of what the ravioli filling would be but it turned out to be ricotta and spinach between delicious thick homemade pasta sheets. We were given the option of meat sauce or tomato and basil with our ricotta and we chose the former. What came out was a tomato sauce and we found a telltale shred of tripe within it – I think this was the sauce from trippa alla romana! Waste not, want not. Fresh and delicious and a big portion too – six huge ravioli.

We split two second courses. The first was agnello alla cacciatora, lamb cooked with white wine, garlic, rosemary and anchovies too, I think. The meat was falling off the bone and the simple ingredients complemented that characteristic lamb flavour. Every bit of the sauce was sopped up with bread.

Our second second course was straccetti con rucola, strips of beef with rocket leaves. Though plainly cooked, the beef was thin and tender and obviously of good quality and the rocket leaves added a peppery contrast to the robust meat. Again, we inhaled this.

I couldn’t turn down dessert, not when they’re listed on the menu as “Dolci di Nonna Leda“. Oh yes, grandmother Leda was in charge! (And did I see her in the kitchen? There was a nonna in there…) A torta con pinoli to split again, please. It was a slice of sponge cake with thick pastry cream on top with a good layer of untoasted pine nuts. The Romans love their pine nuts but we were surprised to see most of them untoasted in desserts. But this untoastedness worked well with our light cake and cream – toasting would have made the pinenuts overwhelming.

We wondered why it took a while for our bill to come; it was because we actually needed some time from a waiter or waitress to recollect what we ate and to calculate our total bill on our paper tablecloth. We left after paying about €30, certainly good value eating. The place was absolutely rammed by the time we left so get there early!

Da Augusto
Piazza de’ Renzi, 15
00153 Rome, Italy

We cannot go all the way to Italy without having gelato! To maximise the number of flavours tried, we split each and every cup we ordered. The place we frequented the most was Il Gelato di San Crispino, purveyors of artisanal gelato made with top quality seasonal ingredients; their gelato is considered some of the best in Rome. Of course, the best comes at a price with what I consider a “regular” sized cup of gelato coming in at about €3.50-4.00. They don’t offer cones.

We ran into one branch by the Pantheon and this became our go-to place in the area. Our first cup was of two flavours of sorbet: pomegranate and bergamot. Wow. It sounds cliched but the pomegranate really was full of the flavour of the fruit while the bergamot was so highly scented, almost like perfume. Very fruity and not too sweet.

As soon as we finished that cup, we turned around immediately and headed back in. This time, hazelnut gelato and gelato di San Crispino (a honey cream). These were much richer and creamier, as expected. Their eponymous gelato was like dunking my tongue into a pot of honey while the hazelnut was exactly that – nutty.

On another visit, we split three flavours in a larger cup: pistachio, lemon and pear. The pistachio was a little weaker than I expected – I’ve been spoiled by the delicious gelato at Oddono’s in London. Lemon was wonderfully citrusy while pear was my favourite of the lot – you could almost detect that slight graininess of the fruit.

This really was some of the best gelato we had in Rome. OK, a massive craving for gelato has now set in…

Il Gelato di San Crispino
Piazza della Maddalena, 3
00186 Rome, Italy

This is the branch near the Pantheon that we frequented but there are a few other branches in Rome; all are listed on their website. Too bad we didn’t fly out of Terminal A at the airport – there’s one there!

We spent a very long morning exploring the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (gosh, they’re big sites) but skipping the interior of the Colosseum; we’d see that on another trip, we reckoned. But it was near on 2pm and though we weren’t extremely hungry, our feet were starting to get sore and a sit down was much needed. The plan was originally to head to Trastevere and look for a restaurant there (I had a few on my list) but we ended up running into Giggetto after first going through the Portico D’Ottavia. The place was full and not only of tourists but locals too. And there was no waiter outside calling us inside – always a bad sign. This settled it – this was where we were going to have lunch and rest our feet. Only when I returned to London did I realise that An American in London had also made a visit here back in 2006 – her post was one I read a while back when I was planning for this trip. Oh, and hey! I just discovered that Londonelicious also went there earlier this year.

We started with a plate of their fried specialties, which they advertise with huge photos outside their restaurant. Don’t be put off by these – they fry things excellently and every table had a platter of some assortment or other. We shared another carciofo alla giudia, a filetto di baccalà (salted cod filet) and a fiori di zucchina ripieno (stuffed with mozzarella and an anchovy). That artichoke was even better than the one we had at La Matriciana, if that’s possible, and the courgette flower was absolutely gorgeous with its melty, chewy, cheesy filling with that anchovy saltiness. But the star of the plate was their filetto, the flaky, toothsome, salted cod sitting in perfectly crisp batter.

This time, we skipped the pasta course – I was a little pasta’ed out and one day without it would be ok, right? I opted for the Saltimbocca alla Romana, which arrived as three small veal escalopes with prosciutto and sage (the sage was sandwiched between the meats), all sitting in a thick white wine sauce. The veal was tender and as tasty as you can imagine though the ingredients are simple. The wine sauce was incredible and we sopped up every last bit with our bread.

Blai ordered the Trippa alla Romana – tender yet slightly chewy pieces of tripe in a tomato sauce with mint. I’d always found tripe to be a bit tasteless but this one had a slight …. tripey flavour? Not sure but the tomato sauce had certainly infused into the offal. And the mint intrigued us as we’d never heard of adding it to a tomato sauce before but hey, the Romans know what they’re doing.

We ended the meal with a tartufo nero for Blai and an espresso for me – I wasn’t taken by any of the desserts on offer. The tartufo was quite nice though – very rich and chocolatey gelato with a vanilla centre. The meal was a total of €50, making it not a budget meal but definitely one we thought was lovely. Some reviews online speak of terrible service but we didn’t encounter any problems.

Giggetto Al Portico D’Ottavia
Via del Portico d’Ottavia, 21
00186 Rome, Italy

After a morning of church viewing, our tummies were crying out for something to eat and after a bit of disappointment at the Mausoleum of Augustus (totally covered in overgrowth and surrounded by big fences – it was a no go), I came across a big sign/map for ‘Gusto. The Graphic Foodie had recommended the place to me via Twitter and it was on my list of possible places to eat. ‘Gusto turned out to be a complex consisting of a restaurant/pizzeria, a seafood restaurant, a wine shop, a kitchenware shop, and I’m probably leaving out a few other things too. With such a vast collection of shops, I was wondering how each would fare – we settled on the pizzeria to find out.

At lunchtime, the ‘Gusto pizzeria had a few special menus on offer – one for pizza and a drink and another for the buffet and a drink. Buffet? In Rome? I recalled my initial disbelief over some interaction on Twitter with SpiceSpoon when she said that she’d found that buffets in Rome were fresh and excellent. I took a look at the offerings and decided it was definitely worth a try – everything did look fresh and vibrant and so delicious.

There were many locals there for lunch, always a good sign, and the majority opted for the buffet. There were both hot dishes and cold salads and I sampled bits from both. Of the food on offer, I skipped the roast chicken and the polpette but had silky soft aubergine slices topped with crispy breadcrumbs, sliced rare beef with a balsamic reduction and pine nuts, whole grilled prawns, roasted tomatoes filled with risotto. Fresh mozzarella knots, thickly sliced juicy tomatoes, grilled aubergine slices, grilled courgette slices, cooked spinach, and my favourite, the spinach braised with garlic and peperoncino.

As is usual with buffets, you’re welcome to go and refill your plate! I was craving vegetables and everything was amazingly fresh and simple yet tasty. If there’s one thing I learned on this trip, it’s just how simply Italians cook their food and overall, it’s the quality of the ingredients that counts. As for carbs, the bread basket on our table provided enough for me – my favourite was the crispy sheets of baked pizza dough.

Blai had a pizza, which turned out to be Neapolitan style with a soft, chewy, puffy crust. It was as delicious as it was beautiful but of course, I have no idea what the best is, not having been to Naples!

The bill for our lunch was only €20 altogether. If you’re in Rome but are unable to get yourself to this part of the city, it seems that there are a number of places offering a buffet at lunchtime and I’d recommend trying one.

‘Gusto – Pizzeria
Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9
00186 Rome, Italy

We landed in a very wet Rome. By the time we’d got through immigration and collected our bags and hopped on an express train (from a pretty terrible train station, I must say) and arrived in Termini, it was dark and drizzling and the harsh lights reflecting from the wet road and the cars speeding towards you made for an unpleasant walk to our hotel. After we checked in and settled ourselves in, we heard a roar from outside and opened the shutters to see heavy rain and hail coming down! We were stuck there for a bit but as soon as it lightened, we went straight out with our umbrellas, in search of a nice place to have dinner.

Somehow we stumbled upon La Matriciana, an old trattoria dating back to 1870, located across from the opera house. It looked promising, being absolutely packed with both locals and tourists (it’s hard to avoid us tourists in central Rome) and so we stepped in from the dampness outside. We struck lucky and were seated immediately at one of the few remaining tables for two. I think we came just midway between the early and the late diners as all the tables around us started turning as we looked at our menus. Tables were packed tightly together, making you privy to your neighbours’ conversations, but we noticed this in every restaurant we ate in. Blai also exclaimed at the level of light in the dining rooms – there was lots, also something we’d encounter over and over again. I like it!

We weren’t looking for all four of the usual Italian courses (antipasto, primo, secondo, dessert) and so left out the meat course. Actually, I learned that most restaurants are very flexible as to the courses you take and sharing was never frowned upon. And so onto our antipasti. One carciofo alla giudia (Jewish style artichoke)…

… and an insalata di puntarelle.

We deliberately ordered particularly Roman specialties. The Jewish style artichoke was flattened and deep fried and shattered under our knives and well…it’s deep fried so it’s hard not to love! The leaves became paper thin artichoke crisps while the heart was still tender and moist. At €6 a pop, they may seem a little steep but when you’ve travelled from the land with no artichokes, you’ll pay almost anything. And this seemed to be the going rate for them at all restaurants. The puntarelle was entirely new to both of us and I had already settled on it when we walked in and I saw a bowl of it soaking in ice water. It’s related to chicory and so as expected, it’s slightly bitter and and it’s cut into thin strips before soaking to make it curl and to keep it crunchy. It was tossed with a deliciously rich garlicky, anchovy dressing and this bitter, savoury mixture was gorgeous. We wiped up all the dressing at the bottom of the bowl with chunks of break. I think we were more drawn to this than the artichoke!

We followed these with some more Roman specialities: bucatini alla matriciana …

… and a rigatoni alla carbonara.

This first experience with a true Italian al dente was a real eye opener for us – I wouldn’t describe it as hard but the pasta did have a good bite to it; we’re now trying to figure out how to replicate that exact same level of doneness at home! My amatriciana was delicious with plenty of tomato sauce (that surprised me) and the bucatini felt like the perfect pasta for it. The carbonara was beautifully yellow (did they only use yolks?) and by far the most creamy and luxurious carbonara we’d ever had. The bacon in both dishes (was it guanciale?) had a good rich porky flavour and was definitely not at all like the cheap pancetta we get at our local supermarket.

Time for dessert. Actually, I almost contemplated not having dessert (gasp!) but then I reminded myself that I’m on my honeymoon and that’s surely excuse enough to indulge at every opportunity? (yeah, please don’t point out the fact that we skipped the meat course…) A pera cotta alla bella Helène, con cioccolato belga for Blai …

… and a tiramisù for me.

The pears were selling very well that night and we saw them being plated behind me before flying to all corners of the rooms. As expected, Blai’s poached pear was tender but not mushy and paired (ha!) well with the chocolate sauce. My tiramisù was in its own little bowl and the mascarpone cream was both light and creamy. There were little bits of chocolate scattered throughout too; I’ve not had this in a tiramisù before but I saw this more than once on menu descriptions in Rome. I think they’re a great addition, giving a good textural contrast to all that cream and soaked biscuits which can feel like baby food after a while.

We left both full and happy. The bill came to about €50 overall without wine, which seemed reasonable considering the quality of food we had. You know, I think we did quite well for our first meal in Rome.

La Matriciana
Via del Viminale, 44
00184 Rome, Italy

It’s hard to believe that this meal took place over a week ago. We’re now back from our honeymoon in Rome and despite the bad weather on the first two days, the trip was fantastic. I can’t wait to go back to Italy!

But before our flight out of Heathrow Terminal 5 (my first time flying out from that terminal), we had an early lunch at Gordon Ramsay’s first foray into airport feeding – Plane Food. We got a table for two located as near to the planes as possible. Looking around, it looked like most customers were of the single businessman type though I did see one large French family there for a late breakfast. We decided on two courses each, skipping the starter.

Blai had the Roasted cod, polenta chips, peas and spicy ketchup (£12.50). The cod was moist with crisp skin and the peas were slightly mushy, not exactly what I was expecting but I was told they tasted nice. We both loved the polenta chips – crispy outsides, soft insides and perfect with the chunky tomato chutney on the side (pah, not really ketchup).

I too had something fishy with the Smoked salmon and haddock fishcakes with harissa mayonnaise (£11.50). I first saw these on Londonelicious but never thought I’d order the same thing but of all the main courses listed, this one was the most appealing at the time. The fishcakes were full of flaky fish and excellent. The harissa mayonnaise could have used more of a kick – I couldn’t taste much harissa.

We couldn’t skip dessert of course! I had the Pear tart Tatin with vanilla ice cream (£5.50) while Blai chose the Mandarin cheesecake with chocolate ice cream (£5.50). My tart Tatin was quite nice and very large but unfortunately, only lukewarm. Blai’s cheesecake was wonderfully light and fruity. Overall, the food was excellent for airport food (an environment I’m sure is not short of restrictions).

Service was a bit slow though for a restaurant at an airport; when everyone’s got a plane to catch, it’s unacceptable that one has to ask twice for the bill. That bill was reasonable but I thought the £1.50 cover charge was a little unreasonable. Is that really necessary? Anyway, apart from that, we were enjoying ourselves so much that we had to run to our gate to board our plane and then we were on our way to Rome…

Gordon Ramsay Plane Food
Terminal 5 (after security)
London Heathrow Airport

With the recommendations of both a Neapolitan and a Sardinian, a group of us girls from work headed to Rossopomodoro near Covent Garden for dinner a couple Friday nights ago. This Italian chain has received quite a slating from the blogging world but it seems it’s all their dishes, apart from their pizzas, that disappoint. So, sticking with the pizzas must be the thing to do.

I bullied poor Mirna into sharing both a red pizza and a white one with me; unsurprisingly, the latter is made without tomato sauce but this can be added if you miss it. It was a long wait for the pizzas but I think it was worth it (and hey, the place was packed and we were a large group).

Our pizza rosso was La Verace (£10.20) with tomato sauce, DOP buffalo mozzarella, DOP extra virgin olive oil from Sorrento and fresh basil. I’m sure it’s difficult to find a more carbon-unfriendly pizza with all its ingredients flown in from Italy but you know what? I didn’t care as it was delicious with its great tomato base and dollops of fresh melty mozzarella. The base was both thin in the middle and thick (in a puffy way) out towards the edges and had a good chew and flavour. Excellent.

For our pizza bianco, I chose the Carmelo (£9.30) with Provola cheese, Neapolitan sausage, friarielli (Neapolitan wild turnip tops) and fresh basil. (Ah, those turnip tops! We had the same amount on our pizza as there was on that plate at Polpo.) I loved that combination of bitter greens with savoury meat and the herbal bite of basil. What would have made it better would have been some sweet tomato… I missed it! I need to get used to white pizzas, I think.

Even though we were all pretty stuffed (and the two of us were doubly so as we controlled pre-dinner hunger pangs with a char siu bun snack), I split a Mandorlotto (£5) – Almond flavoured ice cream with Nutella, whipped cream and chocolate brittle – with another colleague. Our waiter confirmed that all their gelati were made with buffalo milk – is this the norm in Italy? If you don’t like the flavour of bitter almonds, you won’t like this. I thought the gelato was alright though a bit icy and there was no sign of chocolate brittle unless they meant cocoa powder. But Nutella with ice cream – why haven’t I thought of this before?! What a fabulous combo that I will definitely recreate at home. Still, just an ok dessert from Rossopomodoro. I’m definitely going back but it’ll be just for those pizzas.

Rossopomodoro
50-52 Monmouth St
London WC2H 9EP

There are two other branches: one on Fulham Road and the other in Notting Hill.

I’m heading off out of the country soon and so I’ll be away from the blog for a while. New posts in about a fortnight!

Just as I was coming out of the bathroom this morning, our buzzer went off and Blai picked up the answerphone. Postman. Was it for us? (We have to check this as most postmen we encounter just press our button by default regardless of who the package is for.) But it really was for us – Mr and Mrs. Blai went down to get it as I continued getting ready for work.

Blai returned to our flat with a medium sized package that neither of us were expecting. And from Spain! Oooh, what could it be? He commenced opening it, unwrapping layer upon layer of paper. By the time I was ready to leave for work, Blai had finally torn off the last of the wrapping.

Bonet! This name caused our hearts to flutter excitedly – this patisserie near to Blai’s parents’ place in Barcelona produces some delicious pastries and I love to see what they come up with when I’m there. There are lots of different Catalan pastries, many of which are associated with a certain time of the year. And for this time of the year (All Saints falls on the first of November), panellets rule. Blai’s parents had sent us a package of these gorgeously nutty sweets.

Each of these walnut sized pastries is made with marzipan and potato. The most traditional are rolled in whole pinenuts or chopped almonds. We had plenty of these as well as other variations such as those dusted with sugar and topped with jam or chestnut paste and those flavoured with coconut or orange peel. They are just as delicious as they sound, with a lovely tender texture and a not too sweet almond flavour.

For the two of us who have to work this weekend, these treats are much needed. Moltes gràcies!

It’s not often that I cook a large cut of meat; I find it quite intimidating. Likewise, it’s not often that I follow a recipe to the letter but I did both a couple weekends ago. This recipe had been sitting in the back of my mind for ages, ever since I watched it on Jamie at Home: slow roasted lamb shoulder and it looked foolproof. It turned out fabulously – the lamb falling off the bone at the slightest tug and the meat so soft it needed little chewing. The mint and caper sauce was tart and brilliant alongside; I expected the mint to be a bit too harsh but it had mellowed in the heat. Really, you’ve got to cook this as it’s almost effortless and the results are excellent. And don’t throw away the roasted garlic – beautifully gooey!

I even went so far as to make the mashed root vegetables and cavolo nero on the side. Both turned out well but I’ll probably switch up the sides next time.

Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Garlic and Rosemary
adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe.
serves 4.

1.5 kg lamb shoulder on the bone (original recipe says 2kg but the change in weight didn’t affect cooking)
large handful of rosemary
1 large head of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to the maximum temperature it can go. Trim the lamb shoulder of any excess fat and slash any remaining fat all over.

Break the garlic into cloves and leave them unpeeled. Put half of the garlic cloves and half of the rosemary sprigs into the bottom of your roasting tray. Place the lamb on top, season it well with salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil on top. Scatter the rest of the garlic and rosemary on top. Cover the roasting tray with two layers of aluminium foil, making sure to seal it well.

Put the roasting tray into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 170C. Roast for 4 hours.

Hot Caper and Mint Sauce

1 tbsp flour
500mL hot vegetable or chicken stock
3 tbsps drained capers (in brine)
a small bunch of fresh mint
2 tbsps red wine vinegar

Roughly chop together the capers and mint. Set aside.

When the lamb is ready, put the lamb shoulder (along with the rosemary and garlic) on a serving platter and keep warm. There will be liquid at the bottom of the tray – transfer this to a bowl and return a tablespoon or two of the fat to the roasting tray. Place the roasting tray on a hob at medium heat. Add the flour and stir through well. Then add the juices from the lamb (skim off the remaining fat) and the stock. Boil for about 5 minutes. Add in the capers, mint and vinegar and simmer for another minute before serving with the lamb.

I came across this post by One Hungry Chef midweek and his recipe for homemade marshmallows looked so easy that I got a sudden need to make them. I was reminded of the light, fluffy guimauve from Pierre Marcolini and hoped to recreate that exact texture and flavour. I liked that his recipe also didn’t include egg whites or corn syrup, the first being an ingredient I think doesn’t belong in marshmallows and the second being one that’s hard to find here in the UK. Never one to leave things alone, I modified the recipe to lie somewhere between One Hungry Chef’s and Sugar Plum’s.

And the tweaked recipe turned out well! The most important thing to have is a candy thermometer as it’s imperative that your sugar syrup gets to the correct temperature. An electric hand mixer or a stand mixer is also useful as it’ll save your poor arm from a long stint at whisking. The texture that resulted from the recipe below was spot on – just perfectly light and the marshmallow just melts in your mouth, a far cry from the uniform cylindrical puffs you get in a bag. I’m keen to try making other flavours too – mint or rose or orange flower immediately come to mind.

Vanilla Marshmallows
makes about 50 (of course, this depends on what size you make them).

400 g sugar
2 tbsps powdered gelatin
300 mL water
a large pinch of salt
2-1/2 tsps vanilla extract
powdered/icing sugar
cornstarch/corn powder

Prepare your marshmallow container – a 20-23cm square pan is good. I just used a baking dish of approximately that size. Mix together equal volumes of icing sugar and cornstarch. Lightly oil your pan and then dust the bottom and sides with this sugar/cornstarch mixture.

In a large heatproof bowl (mine’s Pyrex), pour in 150 mL of the water and then scatter over the powdered gelatin. Set aside.

In a small heavy based pot, pour in the other 150 mL of water and all the sugar. Set over medium heat and whisk together occasionally until the sugar has all melted. Bring the mixture up to 115 Celsius. (This took longer than I expected!) Take off the heat. Pour the syrup over the gelatin in the bowl and stir together well. Add the salt and the vanilla and continue stirring, allowing it to cool a bit.

With a hand mixer (of course, if you have a stand mixer, use it!), beat the syrup at medium/high speed (I switched back and forth between the two) for 12 minutes. After this time, the mixture will have doubled in size, thickened, and be opaque. Pour into the prepared pan, smoothing the top down if needed. Dust the top with more of the sugar/cornstarch mixture and cover with a sheet of greaseproof paper. Set aside at room temperature for at least 4 hours (or even overnight). Proceed to lick the beaters and the bowl!

When the marshmallow is set, turn it out onto a chopping board and cut it up into squares. I found kitchen scissors to be the best for the job; you could even use cookie cutters to make shapes. Dust all the cut edges with more of the icing sugar and cornstach mix. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a couple weeks.

All you North American’s out there are probably wondering if these marshmallows make good s’mores! If you’re curious, these are graham crackers sandwiching a bit of chocolate bar and a hot toasted marshmallow. Graham crackers aren’t easy to find in the UK but you might be able to happen upon a Filipino brand I’ve seen at an Asian supermarkets. I used a chocolate covered stem ginger biscuit as my base and topped it with a toasted marshmallow (stuck it on a skewer and held it over a gas burner).

Only as you can see, the marshmallow didn’t get toasty enough as its delicateness causes it to melt before browning; the toasted flavour is spot on though. I think a small blowtorch is in order!

Or try floating these babies on top of some rich, dark hot chocolate – look at these posts by One Hungry Chef and foodie hunter for inspiration!

At about 7pm last Thursday, I was sitting down at a table at Polpo, the latest must-try place on the Twittersphere, excitedly reading through the placemat menu under my nose. The place was buzzing and lots of people were being turned away at the door. Everything sounded so good and as I was dining with three other very keen food lovers, I knew we’d get a chance to order a good sampling of what was on offer. However, at about 8:30pm, we left unhappy and still hungry. Here’s what happened in between.

While waiting for the others to arrive, a couple of us ordered nonalcoholic cocktails, exclaiming at the good value prices of only £3 each! Only when we came, we found the prices to be the exact opposite – not such good value at all. Actually, they were quite expensive for what’s essentially a combination of fruit juice and sparkling water, all served in tiny kindergarten water tumblers.

When the others did arrive, we started ticking off our choices on the menu; bizarrely, some items were listed in Italian while others were not – very strange and there didn’t seem to be any logic to it. Anyway, a crostini or two each along with some arancini, those lovely deep fried risotto balls, to start. Then a pizzetta bianca, as we’d heard good things about it. Two meat dishes. Four seafood dishes. Two vegetables. We’d order desserts later.

Our nibbly things arrived first. The pizzetta bianca was a thin 6 inch round of dough topped with cheese, onions and oregano. It was tasty but nothing spectacular. My Spratti in saor crostini was well priced and tasty enough but I was having difficulty seeing what I was eating again. The light was so low (so “romantic” others might say) that one eating companion asked how the cabbage was on my crostini. Only it wasn’t cabbage but onion. It’s not that I’m complaining about the darkness because I was unable to take proper photos but when it’s so dark that I cannot actually see what’s on my plate – does the restaurant have something to hide? In case you’re wondering what spratti in saor is, it seems to be fried sprats marinated in a tangy escabeche-like sauce. At least, that’s what my taste buds told me; it was too dark to confirm this visually. As for the arancini? Biting in one was like taking a mouthful of plain white rice. There was no salt added whatsoever and the little bit of inoffensive cheese in the middle added little to its flavour. I found myself reaching for the salt shaker.

A good while after these nibbly things, our other dishes arrived and yeah, they were a lot smaller than we’d expected them to be and we probably wouldn’t have minded if the cooking impressed. The Cuttlefish in its ink, gremolata was really delicious – excellent tender cuttlefish in a briny rich sauce. But Slow roast duck, green peppercorns, black olives, tomatoes was bland – chunks of soft duck in a tomato sauce and I couldn’t detect any green peppercorns. Mussels and clams came in a large mound but we quickly realised that a lot of it was mainly shell. I counted maybe two or three minuscule clams and half of the remaining mussels were closed and inedible. The Pork belly, radicchio, hazelnuts had good flavours throughout but it just didn’t make you sit up and take notice. The Octopus salad had the opposite problem of the arancini, being oversalted. Fennel, bobby beans, cobnuts turned out to be exactly that – thinly shaved raw fennel with blanched bobby beans, all scattered with roughly chopped cobnuts. A lovely salad that really showcases the quality of the ingredients….well, it would have been if I hadn’t been distracted by the small handful of fennel and all of three beans. The Fritto misto we ordered never turned up at all, as I only recalled this morning.

The biggest kicker of the evening though was the Turnip tops, chilli, garlic which came in the most ridiculously sized portion – that’s it in the photo below! I’m torn between calling it mean or just pathetic. And here’s the real blow: on the menu, it’s listed for £5.80. To be fair, on our final receipt, it became £4.80 but a fiver is still too much for what we received.

After all these dishes, we still had large spaces in our stomachs to fill. I believe we could have honestly ordered all that again twice over but we were tired of their food (and frightened of doubling our bill) and even gave up the idea of trying their desserts. Along with service and two of their cheapest bottles of wine, the total came to £100 for the four of us.

After reading so many good reviews and experiencing so much of the online hype about Polpo, to say I was disappointed is a bit of an understatement. The cooking in the kitchen really needs to be reviewed as well as the prices versus portion size issue. Nothing to complain about the service though – everyone was professional and pleasant and the room itself has a good vibe and is pleasing (and would be more so if the lights were turned up a bit).

Polpo
41 Beak Street
London W1F 9SB

I had to add this on as an addendum to the post – we took our still hungry bodies over to Bodeans on Poland Street and feasted on a second dinner of baby back ribs and Buffalo wings!

Remember that huge trayful of eggs? We’re not finished with them yet! We had quite a number of meals of fried eggs (once with fried Spam in a sandwich) and then luxurious scrambled eggs drizzled with truffle oil, all on toast. We actually went through those eggs quite quickly due to their diminutive size – I’d gladly take another trayful but the chickens are growing and so are the sizes of their eggs. No more bargain egg trays for the rest of the year.

I came across this recipe for fried eggs and spaghetti on Mark Bittman’s blog in my initial search for egg recipes and made it one night for dinner, tweaking it by keeping the garlic and adding another breakfast classic, bacon. Why not? Bacon and eggs, go together like a horse and carriage… or something like that. It’s kind of like a carbonara but with more of an eggy chew, I reckon. Anyway, this meal comes together in about 10 minutes – once again good for late weekday nights.

Bacon and Fried Egg Spaghetti
serves 2.

4 rashers bacon (any kind you want), finely chopped
4 small eggs (or 3 large)
2 cloves garlic, minced
a good pinch of dried chili flakes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
a small handful of flat leaf parsley, minced
200-250g spaghetti

Set a pot of water to boil for the spaghetti.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add about two tablespoons of olive oil. Fry the bacon until it’s almost done to your liking and add in the garlic and chili flakes. Continue stirring as it cooks. When the garlic just starts getting a bit of colour, turn off the heat.

In a separate frying pan, heat enough olive oil to fry an egg or two. Fry the eggs one or two at a time, taking care to keep the yolk fluid – so sunny side up or over easy are both good. Add them to the bacon pan when done and continue with the rest of the eggs. Salt and pepper the mixture.

Salt the now boiling water and get your spaghetti cooking. When it’s done, add it to the pan with the bacon and eggs, along with the parsley. Stir the whole lot together, breaking the fried eggs up in the process, allowing the yolks to coat the spaghetti strands. Add a little of the pasta cooking water to help with the stirring and some extra virgin olive oil for extra flavour. Serve.

Skylon was a futuristic, cigar shaped, insectile tower that stood as the symbol for the Festival of Britain in 1951. It stood on the Southbank for not much longer than a year before it was scrapped but there are many people in London who still do remember it, which we learned when watching a documentary on the Festival on the telly; I think this was shown about the time the Royal Festival Hall was reopened after its refurbishment in 2007. This was also when Skylon was reborn but this time, as the name of a new restaurant within the hall.

As we were heading to a concert at the RFH last Thursday (Berg’s Wozzeck – fabulous!), I wanted to have dinner somewhere closeby and having not tried Skylon before, I proposed that we head there for their pre-theatre menu. Skylon is divided into two areas: the restaurant and the more casual grill. We stuck with the grill, hoping that dishes would be turned out quicker and enticed by the slightly more affordable set menu. In the grill, it’s £19 for two courses and £22.50 for three.

We shared a starter: Foie gras chicken liver parfait, tomato and apple chutney, toast poilane. This was quite delicious with the sweet-sour chutney working well with the rich, creamy parfait. The toast was excellent (I love pain Poilâne) but I wish there was at least another slice.

For Blai, the Salmon and smoked haddock fish cake, baby leaves, tartar sauce for a main course. This was a lovely, big, fat fishcake with lots of fish within; a nice example but still, it’s just a fishcake.

I chose the Confit leg of duck, warm puy lentils, red wine jus. The duck leg was a good size but wasn’t as tender as that amazing confit de canard I had in Paris. The puy lentils were a lovely accompaniment, cooked with a perfect bite but the red wine jus wasn’t so much a jus as a sticky, almost jammy reduction. A little more sauce would have been nice. So that’s both main courses that were just ordinary.

Luckily for us, desserts were more interesting; feeling rather greedy, we each opted to have one. My Verbena poached peach melba, yoghurt sponge, vanilla ice cream came in a tall glass with crunchy fried antennae. OK, they weren’t really antennae but simply fried batter and heck, I love anything fried and crunchy. I swooned over the soft, moussey texture of the chunks of yoghurt sponge but couldn’t taste any verbena within the peach. Well, the raspberry puree did overpower most of it…the dessert could have used a little less. Still, I scoffed the whole thing rather happily.

Blai’s Lemon curd tart, cinnamon sable, yoghurt ice cream was certainly very pretty. However, he felt there wasn’t a good curd to base ratio – the base was just too thick and almost a challenge to chew. The cinnamon was also a bit too strong, overwhelming the lemon curd.

A huge downside of Skylon is the lack of light in the restaurant when the sun goes down. There’s a huge and dim main chandelier-like light and candles on each table and that seems to be about it. Most of the light came from the floor to ceiling windows facing the Southbank and they do provide a gorgeous view of the crowds and river. But towards the end of our desserts, I was struggling to differentiate between the peaches and cake. I don’t like eating in the dark! Service too was hit or miss – when anyone did serve us, it was all very pleasant. However, trying to catch the eye of the waiters and waitresses was difficult. And there were many waiters who were standing around so I wonder what they were doing apart from ignoring us.

But would I go back? Well, if I’m short on time and need a quick meal before a concert, then yes, perhaps – the location is what it’s got going for it. That said, there’s a Canteen a couple floors below and the portions are larger there for the same price or less (and that’s a la carte, not a set menu) and the quality of the main courses is at least the same as that in the Grill. £19 for two courses isn’t cheap for the quality of food that we got; I’m curious as to how the Restaurant compares.

Skylon
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XX

There’s a stand at my local market that sells the most beautiful free-range eggs; the farmer’s name is David Emmett but it’s usually a woman or a boy manning the stall. I’m not sure what they feed their chickens but the yolks are consistently a gloriously, rich orange that I’ve not seen in any of the supermarket free-rangers. While they usually sell their eggs (medium or large sizes) by the dozen or half-dozen, about two weekends ago, they had small eggs. And not only that, they were selling them by the tray (30 eggs!) for only £2! I couldn’t help myself and walked, no, skipped off with a trayful.

But at home, where my tray seemed to take on mammoth proportions, there was the problem of what to make with them all. Well, for a start, cheese soufflé, one of the few dishes that Blai’s actually requested for me to make. I’ve made individual chocolate soufflés in the past but never a big one and so I turned to a blog whose recipes have never done me wrong: Orangette. Molly’s recipe is that of Julia Child’s, the doyenne of French cuisine, and with two such ladies backing this soufflé, I knew it should turn out reasonably well. Incidentally, I looked up the recipe in the Larousse Gastronomique and it’s pretty much the same.

We ate the light and fluffy, yet deceptively rich, cheesy soufflé with a simple salad on the side, with lots of vinegar in the dressing to cut through the creaminess from the main dish. Despite the richness, the two of us somehow managed to put away the whole thing, normally meant for four.

Cheese Soufflé
adapted from The Way to Cook, by Julia Child via Orangette.
serves 3-4.

2 tbsps finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano (I used another hard cheese – Grana Padano)
2 1/2 tbsps unsalted butter and more for buttering
3 tbsps plain flour
1 cup (250 mL) milk
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
a few grinds of black pepper
6 small egg yolks (or 4 large yolks)
7 small egg whites (or 5 large whites)
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyère cheese

Preheat your oven to 200C, with the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Prepare your baking dish – I used a deep, round stoneware dish about 20cm in diameter. Butter the inside well and then dust all over with the grated hard cheese.

Now make the bechamel. Heat the milk and keep hot. Heat a small pot over medium heat and melt the butter in it. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon and cook for a minute or two, taking care to keep stirring and not letting the mixture burn. Take off the heat and pour in all the hot milk at once. Stir furiously, you don’t want lumps! Place back on the heat, reducing it to low, and slowly cook for a few minutes until the bechamel is thick. Stir in the salt, pepper and nutmeg. When thick, take it off the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Beat in (you can still use the wooden spoon) the egg yolks one at a time, incorporating well.

In a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites until firm peaks are formed. Fold about a quarter of the egg whites into the bechamel mixture to lighten it first and then fold in the rest, alternating spoonfuls of egg whites with small handfuls of the grated gruyere. When everything is incorporated well, gently pour the souffle into the prepared baking dish. Use your spoon or a spatula to trace a circle in the souffle along the side of the dish.

Gently place the soufflé dish into the oven, closing the oven door as carefully as possible (do not slam it!). Now follow all the primary rule for good soufflés: do not open the oven door while it is baking! Bake for 25-30 minutes. The top should be golden brown and the souffle risen at least a couple of centimetres, maybe more – of course, if you’re unable to see through your oven door, I guess you’ll just be timing.

Take it out of the oven, marvel at the soufflé’s puffiness and serve immediately! A soufflé waits for no one! But really, if it doesn’t work out this time, a fallen soufflé is just as delicious as a risen one. As you can see, mine didn’t rise very evenly; there’s always room for improvement!

More excellent soufflé tips can be found at 101 Cookbooks. And also a thank you to Kim Kian for the lovely stoneware dishes!

After attending the launch of Tastes of Singapore at Selfridges last week (photos here), I hopped over to Wahaca in Westfield to attend a Qype event – a tasting of the new dishes on their autumn/winter menu. I’ve been to Wahaca before when, in a nutshell, the food was hit and miss and the service wasn’t to my taste. As I hadn’t been impressed by my first visit (and I had blogged it), I wanted to get my thoughts down on this recent visit. This tasting brought their main dishes to my attention: there was a gorgeous mole and a wonderful pipian. The fish tacos were also delicious. There were other dishes that were less successful, though – the vegetable burrito and sauteed greens come to mind and I wasn’t enamoured with their pork pibil taco. Still, it was enough for me to give them another try and to order from outside the street food section of their menu.

Just a few photos from the night:

The full set of photos (along with descriptions and thoughts) can be found in this Flickr photoset. Thanks to Chris for organising this event and it was great meeting some new faces: Kelsie and Mel from Travels with My Fork and Luiz from The London Foodie.

Wahaca
1074 Westfield Shopping Centre
London W12 7GB

Last Wednesday, a friend from work organised a dinner at Song Que – I was really looking forward to it as I’d not been to Pho Mile in a long time and Song Que is meant to be one of the best along the stretch. Even on a Wednesday night, the place was packed and there was a constant queue (albeit a short one) at the door. Though a table was booked for us as 7:30pm, we didn’t make it there until 8pm but luckily, a large round table freed up just in time for us seven.

The menu is long and takes quite a bit of perusing. When a dish is ordered, the waiter whips out his ballpoint pen and scribbles your order number on the paper tablecloth near you, Wagamama style. Watch out for those waiters – they love a good joke or two. I asked one for some chili sauce for my pho and he shook his head – no; I was so puzzled as I’d seen bottles of the stuff on other tables. He walked away as I sat there in confusion but then promptly came back with all the available condiments and with a big grin on his face, happy that he’d played a good joke on me. Uh huh.

Anyway, I ordered a Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk to drink, something I would later regret as I lay in bed that night, my mind racing. I wasn’t to know of those effects, of course, as I sipped on this sweet, icy treat.

To start, we ordered a number of appetisers to share between us. I don’t remember their Vietnamese names (I didn’t take a photo of the menu) so bear with me as I call these dishes by their generic sounding English names!

First up, beef wrapped in betel leaves. These juicy little parcels came with a small pile of rice vermicelli, lots of mint and Vietnamese basil, and plenty of pickled carrots and daikon in a green pepper cup. Delicious.

The grilled squid in tofu sauce was tender and tasty though I wasn’t actually sure what the tofu sauce was.

The meaty spring rolls were good specimens of the Vietnamese variety but nothing seemed to suggest anything particularly special about these ones.

Two large summer rolls came to each order, each one plump with three prawns. The freshness of these went down a treat.

For the vegetarian in our group, we ordered the green papaya salad minus the pork and prawns. Even without these meaty delights, the salad was gorgeous! It took a lot of self-discipline not to gobble up the whole plateful and thus leave none for our vegetarian.

The fried soft shell crabs were excellent; the hacked up crabs were lightly battered and fried and served with a scattering of garlic, spring onions and sliced chilies.

I thought the weakest and most disappointing of our appetisers was the prawn paste on sugar cane. The prawn paste was fine enough but the sugar cane itself was quite terrible to chew on after the paste was chewed off. The prawn paste had left an almost unpalatable saltiness to the cane. Ah well.

For mains, it was every man for himself. A couple at our table opted for the single dish with egg fried rice option but I have no idea how Vietnamese these dishes were as they were sitting on the opposite side of the table. A couple others went with the bun (rice vermicelli) with various porky things on top – I think there was grilled pork, shredded pork and perhaps more of the spring rolls.

For the final three of us, we each had pho with rare steak, well done flank, tendon, tripe and beef balls. Now this pho just blows the pho at Pho out of the water (how many phos in one sentence?). The broth was deeply beefy, the noodles not at all mushy, the herbs generous and fresh, the beef all delicious. The portion too was huge and probably would have been enough for me. We dipped our heads towards the bowls and slurped away happily.

As we were full to bursting, we skipped dessert, the only offerings being ice cream and a che, a Vietnamese soupy dessert. It was for the best, we reckoned, as we rolled out of the restaurant after splitting the bill – £16 each. (You can easily get away with spending less than a tenner if you stick to just the pho or bun and a drink.) So far, Song Que is the best Vietnamese restaurant I’ve been to in London – what are your suggestions for worthy competitors?

Song Que
134 Kingsland Road
London E2 8DY

Sometimes only bread will do. But when it’s a Sunday night and all the shops are closed, you have to fend for yourself with what you’ve got in the cupboards. Spring onion pancakes don’t require any particularly fancy ingredients and if you’re a fan of Chinese cooking, you’ve probably already got sesame oil in your cupboard. If not, substitute regular sunflower oil.

This recipe makes six crispy spring onion pancakes that I like to serve with a dipping sauce of soy and Chinese black vinegar. Some toasted sesame seeds would do nicely in there too.

Spring Onion Pancakes
makes 6.

2 cups plain flour
1 cup boiling water
1/4 tsp salt
sesame oil
5 spring onions, sliced finely
oil for frying

In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt and boiling water until it all comes together. Carefully use your hands to then knead the ball of dough until it’s smooth, about 5-10 minutes. If it’s still too hot, let it cool for a bit before starting to knead. Wrap with plastic wrap and set aside for at least 30 minutes; keep it in the fridge if you’re leaving it for longer.

Divide the rested dough ball into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a flat, thin round, dusting with flour if the dough is sticking. Brush the surface of the round with sesame oil and then sprinkle over a sixth of the chopped spring onion. Roll the round tightly like a swiss roll, with the oil and spring onions on the inside. Curl this now tubular dough piece into a tight snail shape, tucking the end underneath. Now roll this snail shaped piece of dough out into a round about 5 inches in diameter. Pieces of spring onion will start falling out but don’t worry – just show them who’s boss and jam them back into the dough. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces (I start to fry at the same time as rolling them out).

Heat a frying pan (mine is nonstick) over medium heat. Add about a tablespoon of oil and fry each pancake on both sides until golden brown, draining on kitchen paper when cooked; repeat with all the pancakes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Oh, the summer is leaving us this year but I can still reflect back on some great al fresco meals we’ve had – ok, who am I kidding? I have a bit of a photo backlog from this summer and I’m finding a few gems here and there to share with you. Like that day we went bicycling along the Thames and the path was so pebbley that I thought either one of my tires would get a puncture or my teeth were going to jiggle out. And then we came home and used Google Map Pedometer to map our ride and it turned out to be 30km – nice. Only when I thought about it, it felt like much longer since we were negotiating all those pebbles.

At about lunchtime that day, we’d reached Richmond – no coincidence since I’d timed for us to arrive there for our midday meal. We were headed for Stein’s, a consistently busy beergarden on the Thames serving Bavarian food and beer. It was a fine day when we got there but do call ahead if the weather’s bad (as suggested on their website). I can’t remember if they had outdoor heaters.

We parked nearby, secured our table, and I joined the long queue for food. The queue moved at a snail’s pace, what with the people wishing to practice their German, people unclear on what to eat, people unclear on the drink policy (drinks are only served with a main meal and a pretzel is not a meal!). Drinks you collect immediately but the food is brought to you when it’s ready. To drink, I had an Almdudler sparkling herbal lemonade imported from Austria; no photo of it but it tasted like a slightly gingery lemonade – gorgeous stuff.

To eat, we ordered the Bayerische Schlachtplatte – a Bavarian Sharer platter for 2: A selection of grilled Nuernberger, Thueringer and Polnische pork sausages & bacon, served grilled with lots of sauerkraut and potato mash, all with a little Bavarian flag on top. While the little Nurnberg bratwursts weren’t up to scratch, the Polish style one and the big Thuringer bratwurst were both delicious, as were the Polish sausage and the bacon. The bacon was actually sublime – porky and meaty and a far cry from the watery specimens found at most supermarkets. The big slab that looks like Spam is Leberkäse (don’t worry – no liver and no cheese in it) and it was very moreish as it wasn’t as salty as the version I’ve tried previously. The sides were alright – nothing can compare to the memory of the porky sauerkraut I tried in Munich!

The platter might look huge but we managed to put it away rather easily and also found space for a slice of mediocre Sachertorte. A number of cakes are on display for dessert and are joined by a few others listed on the menu – I’m up for trying the Dampfnudel mit Vanillesauce next time! Actually, what I’d like to do is gather a group of friends to try Die Grosse Bratwurst Sause (a whacking huge platter) for 6-8 people!

Stein’s
Richmond Towpath
Rear of 55 Petersham Road
Richmond TW10 6UX

The National Trust were having a Heritage Open Day on Saturday, 12 September and we took the opportunity to visit Osterley House, set in Osterley Park. We’d both been to the park but had never set foot inside the house and we were pleasantly surprised to thoroughly enjoy our visit – perhaps we’ll take visitors there next time. The surrounding park is huge and consists of not only the manicured gardens but also working farms (we always take the time to pat the horses). The existence of these farms also results in a farm shop filled with lots of magnificent fresh produce, located near the parking lot.

I bought a few bits and bobs from the shop but was totally indecisive over a massive bagful of Swiss chard going for a song. How was I going to carry this home on my bicycle? Well, we found a way:

With pinenuts and raisins at home, I knew what I’d do with our new treasure. With the leaves, I made a Catalan Style dish to go alongside a tortilla I made with the colourful stems. It’s not necessary to separate the stems when making this dish though – I just liked the idea of a full Swiss chard dinner! Anyway, this makes for a lovely vegetable side dish, with the sweetness of the raisins and nuttiness from the pine nuts complimenting the greenery. Spinach is a good substitute for the chard, but use lots as it shrinks more.

Catalan Style Swiss Chard
serves 2 as a side dish.

500g Swiss chard
30g pine nuts, lightly toasted
30g black or golden raisins
1 clove garlic, minced or finely sliced
2 tbsps olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Wash your Swiss chard and cut the thick stems from the leaves. You can either save the stems for another dish or slice them and boil them and add them later with the boiled leaves (the stems take longer to boil). Chop the leaves into smaller pieces and blanch them in boiling water until tender (you may need to do this in batches). Drain, squeezing out the water, and set aside.

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the pinenuts and soaked raisins and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and continue sauteing until the garlic is fragrant. Add the cooked Swiss chard and continue sauteing for another couple minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and then serve.

I’ve barely had a chance to sit down at my computer and compose a post this week due to some craziness at work. In lieu of a proper post, here’s another long overdue list of my faves from the food blogs recently.

The Homesick Texan provides a recipe for bacon jam. I’ll let that sink in: bacon……..jam.

It’s aubergine season and I’ve been bookmarking loads of recipes for these gorgeous silky vegetables. mmm-yoso!!! have recreated a spicy steamed eggplant dish with sizzling soy sauce they had at a restaurant. And it looks good!

From Lekker lekker lekkerste, there’s a recipe for spaghetti with butter crab sauce. This fusion dish is based on Malaysian butter crab; the ingredient list is simple but it sounds totally scrumptious.

I want to eat at Spring the next time I’m in Paris! I know the lobster sandwich isn’t available all year round but something tells me that the menu is always good here.

This rainbow of quickie pickles at Kitchen Scraps is pretty inspiring. As a big pickle fan, they’re like jars of jewels to me.

I’ve written about Le Vacherin before, when I visited for dinner, and it was only dinnertime that I’d visited until about a month ago, when we went for lunch. It was at Thring for Your Supper where I first learned of the bargain of a lunch he’d had there. On Sundays, when he went, it’s £19.50 for three courses; on all other days, it’s £16.50 for three courses and £14.50 for two. (I notice that the website has been updated this month to £19.95 and £16.95/£14.95, respectively).

Luckily for me, Chiswick is but a gentle bike/bus ride away from home and we chose the former option that Saturday. I parked directly across from the restaurant so it could be watched at all times – I still freak out about bike thieves. Cue Blai – “No one wants to steal your bike.” Well, yes, perhaps my vintage folder isn’t exactly on the hot list but I love it so much.

We were the first into the restaurant (I was hungry!) and we were seated in a prime spot by the window (good for my incessant looking out at my bike). Bread and butter were brought out almost immediately – the butter being one of my favourites in London as one gets both plain and anchovy. The butter should have been a little softer though – they were still fridge cold.

From the lunch menu, I chose with the Bayonne ham with celeriac remoulade to start. It’s exactly what it says on the menu – a generous pile of thinly sliced Bayonne ham (similar to prosciutto) drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with pepper alongside a slightly smaller pile of grated celeriac in a mayonnaise-based dressing. A bite of this, a bite of that – they balance each other nicely – the saltiness of the ham and the creaminess of the remoulade.

For Blai, the endive salad with Roquefort and melon – he adores blue cheese with endives and found that the addition of the sweet melon entirely complemented this classic duo.

I wanted something fishy and light for my main course and so chose the sardines with roasted peppers. Two whole grilled, filleted sardines lay atop a mound of sweet roasted red pepper and fresh endive that was just starting to wilt under the heat of the fish. Nothing fancy but it hit the spot.

Blai also wanted something piscine and ordered the smoked haddock, mustard sauce. I can’t remember much about this dish other than he enjoyed it very much and cleaned his plate. It does look lovely!

Summer Pudding is surely an unusual offering from a classically French restaurant! Blai’s dessert definitely looked like a prime example of this bread based, fruit stuffed sweet.

My Île Flottante was perfect. Seriously, this was the nicest one I’ve ever had and I nearly licked my bowl to prove it. The poached meringue was fluffy soft, the creme anglaise was beautifully vanilla-y, the caramel sauce not too sweet and the almond slices were caramelised and crunchy. Perfect.

What a total bargain of a lunch this was! If the thought of getting to Chiswick makes your head ache, it looks like Le Cassoulet, Malcolm John’s second restaurant in Croydon, is equally as good. I was sad though to see that Le Vacherin was mostly empty for lunch that day – perhaps it was the middle of the summer hols. I shall return for more lunches in the future (especially since I hear their chicken liver parfait is gorgeous)!

Le Vacherin
76-77 South Parade
Chiswick
London W4 5LF

As my Brussels post was becoming a bit epic, I decided to post the take home goodies separately. A number of well known Belgian food shops are located in and around the Place du Sablon and I decided to hit up the ones that were particular to Brussels. Neuhaus, Godiva and Cote D’Or chocolates can all be purchased in London so those were all missed (I’m not a fan of Godiva myself). That left Wittamer, Pierre Marcolini and Dandoy.

I started at Wittamer and chose 250g of chocolates at about €12.

I was quite taken with the fresh cream chocolates – huge, slightly chewy and uh…creamy. That big, tan coloured praline on top was a fresh cream coffee chocolate. However, I was greatly disappointed by a pineapple praline whose description was better than its execution.

After, Pierre Marcolini (why did you close your Kensington shop?!), where I purchased a boxful of his chocolates (34 in a box – one of each available , though the eagle eyed among you will notice two of one kind – hmm)…

… and a length of vanilla marshmallow.

It’s hard not to compare the products of the two chocolatiers. At €17 for the Pierre Marcolini box (about €70 per kilo), this was more expensive than the Wittamer chocolates. If the little jewel-like chocolates are that pretty girl you have your eye on, the Wittamer chocs are her thug of a brother who won’t let you near her. While delicious, the Wittamer chocs lacked the Marcolini refinement and their flavours were more muted. Of the Marcolini chocolates, the pink peppercorn, safron, the Pierre Marcolini Grand Cru and those with crunchy Quimper wafer were particularly memorable while the mango one was the most disappointing. Notice the trend? Perhaps tropical flavours shouldn’t be attempted. I had to buy the marshmallow after seeing this image on the Marcolini website – it’s so light and fluffy and is probably the best marshmallow I’ve ever had. I’m spoiled for life.

I ended with Dandoy, the Brussels-based biscuiterie. Here I bought 300g (about €11) of a selection of their biscuits, my favourites being Patience (a chewy almond macaroon with a hazelnut on top), Earl Grey (a butter biscuit scented with Earl Grey tea) and Chocolate Perlé (a shortbread with bits of chocolate and hazelnut). They have gorgeous biscuits and an equally gorgeous pain à la grecque (also in my previous post).

There are definitely other excellent food shops in Brussels but those were left out due to a lack of time. Good thing there’s a cluster of them in the Place du Sablon!

Pierre Marcolini
Rue des Minimes, 1
Place du Grand Sablon
Brussels, Belgium

Wittamer
12 Place du Grand Sablon
Brussels, Belgium

Dandoy
Rue de Rollebeek, 50
(just off the Place du Grand Sablon)
Brussels, Belgium

This past weekend, Blai and I hopped over to Brussels on the Eurostar for a little break. Here’s the back story: A number of weeks previously, I was invited to a Little Food Break to Lille (by We Are Social, the PR company for Eurostar) but couldn’t make it as a friend was in town that same weekend. I thought that was the end of it when I wrote back to turn it down but they then kindly offered me a pair of Eurostar tickets to Paris, Lille or Brussels instead. Of the three cities, Brussels was the only one I’d not been to and so I jumped at this chance to finally visit it. So that’s how we found ourselves in St Pancras station early on Saturday morning, picking up our tickets for the train. (Can you believe that Royal Mail lost the posted tickets twice?!)

The reason behind all this publicity is a new advertising campaign called Little Break, Big Difference that encourages people to try out a short journey to the continent – the Little Food Break was a day out in Lille. Initially, it seems ridiculous to go for just a day but when you realise that from London, it’s about 2.5 hours to Paris, 1.5 hours to Lille, and about 2 hours to Brussels, then a day trip is certainly doable! They’re encouraging a few themes to the trips. I’ve since learned that they’ve been conducting Little Breaks for various interests; apart from the Little Food Break to Lille, there was also a Little Art Break to Brussels, a Little Fashion Break to Paris, and a Little Music Break to Rock en Seine.

Back to the trip! I requested overnight return tickets as I was very keen to see as much of Brussels as possible, this being our first time there. Upon hopping onto our 8am train, we were surprised to see that they gave us Leisure Select tickets, entitling us to a meal, a spacious seat and lots of reading material. All these little extras made the two hours zoom by and before we knew it, we were in Brussels.

We arrived at 11am local time and hit the pavements almost immediately; we planned on walking all over the city! Luckily, we discovered that Brussels is indeed a very walkable city: mostly flat but with a few small hills and its old centre is quite compact. What struck me almost immediately was the city’s gentle nod to its bande desinée (comic book) history, what with the comic strip walls and the cartoony street signs.

We made it to the historic and touristy centre and the Grand Place (Grote Markt in Dutch), where a beer festival was going on – shame we’re not big drinkers! It looked like each stand was dedicated to a particular Belgian brewery and the square was already packed so early in the day. We moved away from this area and towards the Eglise de Saint Catherine in a quieter but equally pretty area that’s much less touristy. As we were just about to walk into the church, we heard the sounds of a marching band and ran out in time to see not just the band but a whole parade full of horses and carriages, one set for one brewery! This must’ve been tied to that beer festival! We did eventually go into the church, which had statues along the main aisle, something we’ve never seen before.

As someone filled up at breakfast on the train (which, to be fair, was much nicer than most offerings on airplanes), we opted for a light lunch of a sandwich and Belgian fries. We purchased a serving at Fritland next to the Bourse and sat on the steps while munching on them, amused by the antics of a school group consisting mostly of Goths. These thick cut chips were mighty tasty with a big dollop of sauce andalouse, a typical Belgian mayonnaise based sauce that’s ever so slightly spicy.

After a visit to the cathedral (again with the statues on the columns and also a wonderfully ornate pulpit), we wandered over to our hotel for the night to check in (I found a great deal online). And I had a nap. Yeah, the early start got to us and we needed a bit of a refresher; that’s the nice thing about spending a night – the opportunity to take it easy. After the brief respite, we went out again and wandered through les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, the oldest shopping arcade in Europe, picking up a few chocolate truffles along the way. And so we continued, passing a pleasant afternoon by wandering the streets of Brussels, swinging by to see the Manneken Pis, visiting a number of churches and uh…munching on those chocolate truffles.

Soon, it was dinner time and we made our way to Viva M’Boma, where we had a reservation for that night (with the help of the nice concierge man at our hotel). This booking was essential; a few parties were turned away as they didn’t have one. This modern restaurant with its almost clinical looking white tiled walls serves very traditional Belgian dishes – exactly what I wanted to try while I was here – and I’d first heard about it here at On (Glorious) Food and Wine (you might like to know that the service seems to have improved since then!). To start, Blai and I split brains (again!) meunière, which they even split for us onto two plates. My second brain dish was possibly even more delicious than my first, with the edges crispy and the sauce meunière and the gently pickled vegetables complimenting the richness of the organ.

To follow, we chose some very traditional dishes – for Blai, stoemp of the day with bacon and sausages. A mountain of stoemp, a potato mash with the addition of a vegetable, arrived along with two massive fresh sausages and crispy fragrant bacon. He adored this; he must have mentioned that these were the best sausages he’d had in ages at least ten times during the meal.

For me, I had the waterzooi with chicken. Ever since I was introduced to the word in a French class ages ago (we were reading some passage about Belgium, I think), I’ve been fascinated by waterzooi and on trying it. Here was my chance! What showed up was a light stew of chicken (half of one) with vegetables – the broth opaque with the addition of egg and cream. It was brilliant for a summer night, the gentle flavour of the dish tricking you into thinking that you’re eating quite lightly.

Though we were now both pretty full, we pressed onwards to dessert; and with no regrets too – they were both fabulous! Blai had a baiser de vierge (kiss of the virgin…or uh, something much ruder if you get Google to translate it), which was two crisp meringues sandwiching a big scoop of raspberry sorbet.

I chose the tarte au sucre, also very typical of Belgium, which came with a scoop of beautiful vanilla ice cream. As you can imagine of a pie that’s filled with sugar, it was sweet but incredibly moreish. I found space for the whole thing.

We rolled out of there after parting with just €50 (we didn’t have wine), passed through the Grand Place at night (now full of the sounds of breaking glass) and headed back to the hotel for some more sleep.

The next morning, we had a nice lie in, hot showers and a breakfast of tea and pain à la grecque from Dandoy, purchased the day before. This sweet, chewy yet crisp bread has a heavy scattering of big sugar crystals, making it more like a biscuit than a bread – delicious.

After checking out, we wandered round to see the Opera building, where surprise! there was a little outdoor concert that morning featuring Mongolian musicians and a throat singer. If you’ve not heard this before, it’s quite special – the voice is controlled in such a way that two lines can be heard at once – one lower (the fundamental frequency) and the other much higher (made up of harmonics), which carries a melody. This was my first time hearing it in person – I’d only seen some amazing examples on YouTube!

After some time at the concert and a quick glance at the Jeanneke Pis, we strolled down to see the Marché du Midi, next to the Gare du Midi (which houses the Eurostar terminus). Now this was a proper market! Row upon row of beautiful fresh produce, fish, grilled meats, tubs of olives sat alongside the other usual market purveyors (think underwear, wallets and other miscellany); luckily there were enough food stands to keep any keen foodie busy. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to join the queue for a Moroccan flatbread with olives, cheese and honey, as so well described on Orangette.

Not just food markets abound but also flea markets – such as this one we passed not far from the Marché du Midi. I admired a brightly painted patio set before remembering that (a) I was not in London and (b) even if I had been, we don’t have a patio/balcony.

We couldn’t stay long, however, as it was lunchtime and we hastened to Les Brassins, located nearby to the Avenue Louise, a posh shopping street (not that we did much shopping – most shops are closed on Sundays). I understand that it’s a popular place but the restaurant was very quiet that day and seemed even quieter still as the solitary restaurant/bar on the street. From the specials menu, we first split an order of the croquettes aux crevettes (shrimp croquettes). These creamy bechamel based croquettes were filled with plenty of little brown shrimp (as you mentioned, Catherine!) and fried to a brown crispness. That’s a filling I’m going to have to try at home!

Blai had the duck leg confit with pleurotes. We had no idea what pleurotes were but they turned out to be lovely big oyster mushrooms, quite an unusual accompaniment to duck confit, no? On the side were a dishful of freshly fried frites.

I chose the moules marinieres (mussels in Brussels!) and a huge potful scented with onion, celery and flat leaf parsley was brought to me along with a side dish of frites. It took some time for me to work my way through them all but I persevered. All delicious though a few were a bit gritty.

We finished the meal with “lighter” desserts of speculoos ice cream (me) and pear and lime sorbets (him). It’s probably best that I don’t have an ice cream machine at home… I can imagine my girth growing totally out of control.

Conscientious that time was ticking by, we walked with full bellies towards les Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique where we looked at both the Ancient Art and Modern Art collections until they threw us out at about 6pm. It was definitely time well spent – we thoroughly enjoyed their collection of Flemish art and I was thrilled to see a painting by Hieronymus Bosch and some wonderful pieces by Pieter Brueghel (both elder and younger).

There was enough time after the museum closed and before our train for me to get some goodies to take home. Wittamer, Dandoy, Pierre Marcolini – but I think this post is long enough so I’ll dedicate another post to what I bought! And still after all that shopping there was time and we found ourselves sat at the Wittamer cafe with a cappuccino, a hot chocolate and a waffle with cherries, ice cream and crème Chantilly.

I was terribly disappointed with the hot chocolate – it being a very milky and powdery version rather than a thick, rich French-style one I was expecting. Oh well. Thankfully the waffle was delicious.

And so ended our lovely little break in Brussels. We strolled back over to the Gare du Midi, now laden down with various shopping bags, and sat in a cafe outside waiting to check in. I bought another waffle for the trip – this time a thick, yeasty and sweet gaufre de Liège – and we soon boarded our Eurostar train. Another meal, another nap and we were back in London.

We’re already discussing the possibility of more little breaks in our future! We already knew about Eurostar’s £59 return fares to Paris, Lille or Brussels but we just haven’t taken enough advantage of our proximity to so many great destinations (well, time and money are a factor!). We’re keen to go back…and also to see Lille together…and oh yes, back to Paris…

All the photos from our Little Break to Brussels can be seen in this Flickr photoset. Thank you very much, Eurostar and We Are Social!

Little Break, Big Difference

Viva M’Boma
17 Rue de Flandre
Brussels, Belgium

Les Brassins
Keienveldstraat 36
Brussels, Belgium

My friends gave us a pasta machine for our wedding and I put it to use a few weekends ago!

Thank you so much, Mirna and Rachel and Sasa and Chris! There’ll definitely be more runs with it – I’m going vary my pasta thickness (though what I made was a lovely toothsome batch) and experiment with other widths and perhaps some lasagne too. We thought to serve the fettucine I made with a very simple tomato and caper sauce – recipe below.

A Tomato and Caper Sauce to Toss with Pasta
serves 2.

a few handfuls of the loveliest tomatoes you can find – we used a mixture of “sungold” and “jolly” from the farmers’ market
1-1/2 tbsps salted or brined capers, rinsed well
olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh basil

Leave the small tomatoes whole and chop the larger ones into a size similar to that of the little ones.

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add the capers. Fry for a minute before adding the tomatoes. Stir occasionally until the tomatoes have just softened but not for so long that they’ve all broken down into sauce. You still want some chunks in there. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and tear over lots of fresh basil.

Toss with cooked fresh pasta for two.

If I want to gorge on croquetas (croquetes in Catalan), I’m either going to have to wait for my annual trip to Barcelona or make them myself. There’s no place to buy them ready made to fry at home and it’s rather silly to order so many at a restaurant. I have tried making them in the past but I wasn’t happy with the recipe, though the resultant croquetas did taste nice enough. The bechamel didn’t have enough flour in it, resulting in a liquidy mixture which made for some extremely hazardous frying.

If you’re not familiar with Spanish croquetas, you might mistakenly believe that they’re filled with a mashed potato mixture, similar to the croquettes from other countries (the UK and Japan instantly come to mind). However, these creamy crusty morsels are made with bechamel, a very thick bechamel, with bits of meat scattered throughout. You form them when the bechamel is cold, and hence extra thick, before rolling them in beaten egg and then breadcrumbs. And you’re not limited to making them in the typical cylindrical shape: the ones at Barrafina and Fino are big and spherical and I once had some rather delicate examples at a restaurant somewhere in the Catalan countryside where they were simply lumps (about a teaspoonful each). As we’ve sampled every shape though, we do believe that the traditional croqueta form offers the best ratio of crispy outside and smooth and creamy inside.

I’ve put a range in the amount of flour in the recipe – use less and the croquetas will be creamier but more difficult to handle and more likely to sputter when frying. Use more and they won’t sputter and they’ll be easy to handle – but they won’t be as creamy. However, both still make a yummy croqueta! And of course, you don’t have to make them with Spanish jamón (in Catalan pernil salat) – you can use finely chopped cooked chicken or chopped ham (what the Spanish call jamón York – pernil dolç in Catalan). These are all quite classic fillings but hey, let your imagination run riot!

You could serve a few as a light starter or even as a finger food with drinks. Or do as we did and scoff the whole lot as a main course (for 2) with a salad on the side.

Croquetas de Jamón
makes about 24.

60g jamón, finely chopped
80-100g plain flour
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
500 mL whole milk
1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
5-6 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
salt to taste
a good grating of nutmeg
2 eggs
dried breadcrumbs
oil for frying

In a small pot, combine the milk, peppercorns, bay leaves and the onion halves. Bring to a simmer and continue simmering for a few minutes. Keep warm until required.

Heat another pot or pan to medium heat and add the butter and olive oil. Fry the jamón for a minute or two and then add the flour and stir until a paste is formed. Slowly add the hot milk, stirring or whisking very well each time you’ve added a ladleful or so. When all the milk has been added, let the mixture cook over a low heat until very thick. If you feel your bechamel is too thick at this point, add a little water or milk to loosen it. Add the nutmeg, stir through and then salt the mixture to taste. Pour this bechamel into a flat bowl or baking dish, cover it with plastic wrap – pressing the wrap onto the surface, and then refrigerate until cool (an hour or two).

Set up your workspace – you’re going to make croquetas! Beat the two eggs with a little water in a bowl. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate or a large piece of baking paper (the flat surface helps you to roll the breadcrumbs onto the croquetas). You’ll also need a plate or a container to hold your formed croquetas. A little chopping board for working with the bechamel is also useful though not necessary.

Take a lump of the cooled bechamel and roll it into a long sausage. Cut this sausage into croquetas. You could skip this by taking tablespoonfuls of the bechamel and forming them in your hands. You could even make little lumpy croquetas or large spherical ones. Whatever takes your fancy. Dip them in the beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs, making sure to coat each croqueta thoroughly. Repeat until all the bechamel is used up. Refrigerate the finished croquetas for at least an hour before frying.

Heat your frying oil over medium heat (I used a frying pan and shallow fried them – you can deep fry, of course). Fry until golden brown, turning carefully to fry each side – try not to puncture them; they’re very delicate. Drain on kitchen paper and serve while warm.