London Food Detective

Bistro Bruno Loubet: Magnificent mains, disappointing desserts...

My friend Jo was in town and when she asked me to recommend somewhere for Sunday lunch. I went one better and invited myself along!

We decided on Bistro Bruno Loubet in Clerkenwell.

Normally when I see Jo we're a bit worse for wear and in some dodgy bar or club so it made a nice change to go for a civilised meal and a proper catch-up. The Bistro is part of the Zetter Hotel and is a light and relaxed room.

The Bistro has gained numerous plaudits since opening and with it's reasonably priced, seasonal menu offering contemporary twists on classic French dishes it is easy to see why. 

Asparagus and wild garlic soup with lemon thyme milk broth

Given my love of asparagus and garlic then the starter was an easy choice for me and I'm pleased to say it lived up to my expectations.  The subtle flavour of the wild garlic enhanced the taste of the asparagus  and I loved the slithers of asparagus that ran through the soup. Delicious.

Salmon tartare, radish and pickled ginger yuzu dressing

Jo was equally ebullient about her summery salmon starter. The delicate, wafer thin, salmon combined fantastically with the peppery crunch of the radish and the subtle citrus kick from the yuzu. 

Crispy piglet confit with lemon glaze, bok choi and radishes

Mains were excellent.  I loved the crunchy, lollipop-esque crackling twirls and the unctuous, melt in the mouth fat of the pork.  The accompanying veg and lemon glaze gave the dish a slightly oriental feel, but it was the perfect pork that was the star of the show.

Rabbit 'tournedos', braised celery, carrot puree, lovag Pesto.

Jo just described this as 'wow' and it was a seriously good dish.  The rich, satisfying sauce and tender, gamey rabbit were a great match, although the accompanying veg gave the dish a more hearty winter feel than a spring/summer one.  Very good though.

Chocolate Delice

Desserts were a big disappointment.  My chocolate delice was sat on a coffee soaked base.  Given that I detest coffee and there was no mention of it on the dessert description I was going to send it back. 

Sadly, no staff were on hand (they were winding down at the end of service and were chatting at the bar) and after five minutes I gave up and dissected the bottom and ate the rest.  Even when my dish was collected the waiter (who up to that point had been ok) didn't ask if everything was ok or why I'd left a big chunk of my dessert.

Strawberries, lemon marshmallows and green peppercorn ice-cream.

Jo said she couldn't decide if the desert was genius or just wrong! For me, there was technically nothing wrong with it and the individual elements weren't bad, but they resembled a car crash in the mouth and just didn't work as a combination.  The green peppercorn ice-cream overpowered the rest and it just didn't taste right to me.

It's a shame the deserts were disappointing, as the savory dishes were excellent and I'd definitely give Bistor Bruno Loubet another chance and will look it up next time I'm in the area. 

Bob Bob Ricard: Super Sunday lunch in sumptious surroundings

I've been wanting an excuse to go to Bob Bob Ricard for a long time and when my parents got tickets for Terry Wogan and wanted to go somewhere for Sunday lunch afterwards then I knew the time had come.

Located in Soho, the first thing to say is that decor in BBR is a decadent, opulent and over the top.  It conjures up images of a fancy dining car on the Orient Express and is a delightful throw back. You instantly feel like you're somewhere special and we received a warm welcome from the staff. 

In some ways the whole experience - menu, service, venue - at BBR reminds me of the The Ivy, but done just better on the whole.  The menu is nothing too flash or pretentious containing classic British dishes with a Russian influence.  I know that doesn't sound too inspiring, but it works.

Before moving on to the food a quick word about the service. 

Our server really struggled with my dad's North-East accent and it resulted in us being brought a wrong drinks order and having to repeat things a number of times (which we found quite amusing). 

However, I thought the waitress handled it really well - she apologised profusely about the drinks, proclaiming the memorable "It is no problem - here is the customer is king! I will sort it out for you" and then making sure she repeated everything we ordered back to us *very* slowly.  She was affable, friendly and attentive - for example, she made sure the water on the table was topped up constantly without asking.  A small thing, but it does make a difference and it's amazing how many restaurants fail to do it without asking.

As it was a Sunday three of us went for the roast beef Sunday lunch:

 

Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roasted veg and gravy

On our last Sunday lunch out together we went to Corrigan's and we all agreed this was better.  The roast beef (sourced from O'Shea's) was excellent.  Served medium-rare it was full of flavour and melted in the mouth.  The huge Yorkshire puddings were light and crisp and the roasted veg and greens all cooked perfectly.  Overall I was really impressed and it's got to be one of the best Sunday lunches I've had.

Cornish Crab Cake with tomatoes, leeks and a fired Quail's egg

My mum went for the crab cakes and was equally delighted. There was plenty of sweet crab meat in the cake and it went well with the tomoatoes and egg.

Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

I was a little disappointed with my chocolate raspberry trifle as I felt the proportions were wrong.  Too much cream on the top and not enough of the delicious chocolate and raspberry at the bottom!

A mini-selection of cakes

Grace went for a mini-selection of cakes, which she wolfed down in a flash and didn't share with anyone! Her favourites were a rum-baba (minus the rum) and a light Battenberg cake.

Overall, BBR really impressed from start to finish. It's now the place I'd go and  recommend to people if they want a high quality, but non-Michelin star style, meal in London. Good stuff.

 

The Clink: Fine dining behind bars

My fiance, Grace, recently visited a restaurant with a difference and I wanted to share her thoughts on one of London's more unusual venues...

I’d never been inside a prison before. Therefore, when I had an opportunity to eat at The Clink, I jumped at the chance.

Situated inside HMP High Down in Sutton, The Clink was set up in 2009 and is the only commercial restaurant inside a British prison. Everything you experience inside the restaurant is created by the prisoners themselves. Inmates can apply to work in the restaurant either preparing food or serving guests. The furniture has been made by them and even the fruit and vegetables being served have been grown behind prison walls.

After going through security, we were led by a prison guard through a series of locked doors and gates before reaching the restaurant itself. I didn’t expect to feel nervous, but I could feel my heart beat speeding up as I was being led through. This all added to the experience.

The dining area is comparable to any other fine dining restaurant I’ve been to. Even though there are no windows, it is well lit and in-keeping with the rest of the project.  Even the art and poems inscribed onto the walls were created by the prisoners. The staff serving are extremely attentive and friendly and for the duration of the meal, I nearly forgot where I was.

What I was most impressed by was the standard of the food. The ones lucky enough to be accepted as trainee chefs are trained to a very high standard. This experience, as well as leading to national qualifications, will enable them to find jobs in restaurants on their release.

Menu

Wild Mushroom en Croute with Cream & Fresh Herbs

Roast Woodland Pork with Apple Sauce & Chateau Potatoes
served with vegetable from the prison gardens

Creme Brulee

Everything I ate was fantastic.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos, so I can't show any pictures!

I have to make a special mention of the dessert. Now, as well as having a very sweet tooth, I also love crème brulee and I must have eaten it in around 50 different restaurants over the years. This one was up there with the very best of them.

After breaking through the crisp sugar topping, you were treated to a wonderfully smooth velvety vanilla custard and then surprised by some gorgeous home grown berries. I would go back just to eat this alone.

When eating at The Clink, you are not just eating great food in an unusual setting. You are buying into a vision. By giving prisoners the skills, experience and confidence to find paid employment on the outside you are helping to reduce re-offending rates and therefore making society a safer place for you and I to live in. 

This is the thing that makes The Clink extra special and another reason why I can’t wait to go back.

The Clink is now taking bookings for Christmas lunches. If you wanted to have your work Christmas lunch in an unusual setting, you can visit in December, 12:30-15:00 Mon-Fri at the cost of £16.50 per person.

All's well at The Wells

Despite being one of the wealthier areas of London, Hampstead has a dearth of really good, high end places to eat.  By far the best food is to be found at the Wells pub, which i've visited on numerous times over my three years of living in the area and I thought it was high time I wrote a review of the place.

The Wells is situated close to the heath and the main downstairs pub reflects this with dogs being welcomed inside, big comfy sofas to relax on and there is a general laid back feel to the place.

For special occasions and for more formal dining they also have an upstairs dining room that is open throughout the week. The menu isn't anything fancy and combines a number of traditional dishes (bangers & mash, steak) with more unusual ingredients such as barbary duck and venison. Generally the food is uncomplicated, but highly accomplished and I've yet to have a bad meal there.

My latest visit was for Sunday lunch and I went along with Grace and my parents on a cold and miserable day looking forward to a filling, wholesome lunch.  We weren't disappointed.

From previous experience I know the Wells are pretty generous with their portions and that the desserts are especially good, so as we'd been out the night before we skipped starters and went straight into the main courses.

Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding

Don't worry, the roast beef did come with veg (it's hidden behind the yorkshire) and was, as usual, delicious. Three, generous slabs of rare, melt-in-the-mouth beef were packed full of flavour and were served with the sort of rich, meaty gravy that I could almost drink neat.  The veg was perfectly cooked and my only complaint would be the roast potatoes.  I like mine really crispy and whilst these were soft and fluffy in the middle, the outside had no crunch. Overall, a very good Sunday lunch.

Sea Bream with winter greens and new potatoes

Mam was delighted with her sea bream. The fish was light and delicately cooked and combined well with the accompanying tomato and basil reduction. Again the accompanying green beans, kale and potatoes were perfectly cooked and it was a good all round dish.

Venison with blackcurrants, pumpkin puree, kale and parsnip crisps

I've had this dish on two previous visits and it's fantastic. The sweetness of the blackcurrants, pumpkin puree and accompanying sauce perfectly compliment the richness of the venison. As a lover of all things parsnip the crisps are an added bonus and provide a contrasting texture and crunch. It's a really top dish and shows off the skills of the kitchen and their understanding of flavours and ingredients. Excellent.

Pannacotta

The Wells' pannacotta is also a favourite of mine.  It has a firm texture, more vanilla flavour and is sweeter than other pannacottas I've had and I prefer their version over blander, milkier ones I've had.  It came with a fig and strawberry sauce, which wasn't as good as the blood orange version I had in the autumn (which was one of my fav desserts of the year), but still went well with the pannacotta.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky toffee pudding is a long standing family favourite and my mam is a particular expert on all things sticky toffee (her favourites remain the Cartmel Village Shop one).

The pudding itself was a little dry, but came with plenty of toffee sauce to make up for it and was a good, if not spectacular version.

Service was friendly, chatty and efficient as usual and overall it was another excellent meal at the Wells.  The kitchen consistently turn out good, unpretentious food and it is by far the best food I've had in and around Hampstead.  It's not cheap and comes with the almost customary 12.5% service charge, but I believe it's money well spent and deserves the various accolades it has won.  I'm going to miss having it on my doorstep!

Great Queen Street, Holborn: Long Live the Queen!

A Meeting of Minds...and Food of Course!

Craig: Although I’ve been blogging on and off for nearly five years it is only in the last six months or so that I’ve been writing up my thoughts on restaurants I’ve visited.

In that time I’ve found a whole new world of people who share my passion for eating out and good food.

One of the blogs I’ve got subscribed in my RSS feed is Laissez Fare and I always enjoy reading his in-depth reviews.  We’ve been to a few of the same places and seem to have had similar experiences (see for example our thoughts on Le Gavroche here and here) and so I was delighted when he got in touch to see if I fancied meeting up for lunch.

After establishing we both work fairly close to each other we settled on Great Queen Street, Holborn, the sister restaurant to gastro-pub favourite the Anchor & Hope.

Now this is the first time I’ve ever met up with someone I’ve chatted too online and the occasion almost had a sense of a blind date to it.  Would LF be the friendly, helpful, chatty guy his online persona gives off or would he turn out to be some sort of foodie psycho?  I’m very pleased to report that it is the former, though whether the feeling is mutual you’ll have to check!

Anyway, we hit it off straight away and had a good chat before we got down to the serious business of ordering our food.  Great Queen Street is all about seasonal, hearty food and the menu reflects this with dishes like slowly braised mutton and pressed ox tongue.

After a bit of deliberation we decided the desserts sounded better than the starters, so we elected to go for a main and dessert.

I went for devilled Hereford Beef and LF chose the special of cold  room temperature slices of Old Spot pork with crab-apple jelly. We also shared a side of greens.

Laissez Fare: I had been looking forward to meeting fellow food blogger Craig Linton (London Food Detective, @craigdlinton) for a few weeks after I invited him to meet up for lunch a while back. Luckily, I wasn’t too nervous as I had already met another food blogger a few months back for lunch (see a post about that meal here).

Although it is always a bit disconcerting meeting someone you’ve emailed and tweeted with but never met in the flesh, I had the sneaking suspicion that we were going to get on, given our seemingly similar attitudes towards restaurants and food, which are of course the two most important things in the world (Mrs. LF is going to kill me if she reads this).

So, in the middle of our two places of work, Great Queen Street awaited. The little sister of some British gourmets’ favourite (and I cringe as I write the word) ‘gastropub’, GQS has no real name, no website, and no gimmicks. It is all simple wood and dim lighting inside, with informal but fairly knowledgeable staff. Like so many London restaurants today (St John and Bocca di Lupo spring to mind), the daily menu is presented on a loose sheet of paper, inferring that the menu changes daily and is probably more or less seasonal. And GQS checked all those boxes. The menus was quite traditionally British, and the simple, hearty fare sounded good to me as it had been a rather long and cold walk to get there.

Unsurprisingly, I arrived on time, and was shown to a little square table for two, where my blind, male food blogger date was to join me. It was all a bit weird, but luckily I had seen a photo of him online so more or less knew what to look for. A bit overanxious, I waved haphazardly to the next dude through the door based on just the faint outline of his face, who luckily happened to be the man himself. Phew.

After a long and enjoyable getting-to-know-you chat, we were scouring the menus like to men on a mission, trying to make wise selections in the presence of the seasoned foodie across the table. Decisions made, we continued with a very engaging and pleasant discussion, until the thing that united us finally arrived. Grub time.

Getting Down to Business

CL: They arrived pretty quickly and both looked good, so I was thankful when LF asked if I wanted to try some of his pork. Now my girlfriend found it hilarious when I told her that I was sharing food with a bloke I’d just met, but surely it makes sense for two people who love food to try each others dishes?

Main Course 1: Devilled Hereford Beef

My beef just melted in the mouth and the ‘devil’ in the title came with the accompanying stroganoff style sauce that had a satisfying curry kick to it and lifted the dish beyond a standard stew.  It was served with rice, half a boiled egg (not quite sure why) and some chopped gherkin, which gave a fresh, crunchy, acidic contrast to the beef that I really enjoyed.

I’m not normally a huge fan of cold pork as I find it can be quite dry, but this was moist and full of flavour.  I haven’t had crab-apple jelly for years and my memories of it are from school and I was surprised at how sweet it was.  I thought it worked well with the pork and made for a decent main dish.

Special mention needs to go to the greens we ordered as a side dish, which we believed to be black cabbage (kale).  They were well cooked and retained a bit of crunch and had a creamy mustard sauce that I thought really elevated them above the ordinary.  Very good indeed.

Brown Bread & Butter

LF: Some brown bread and butter had arrived, so we both had a small piece of it. It was pretty average and there’s nothing much more to say about it. I now eagerly awaited my main.

Slices of Old Spot Pork with Crab-Apple Jelly

I had heard a lot about Old Spot pork but had never knowingly tried it, so despite some reservations about a room temperature dish (that’s how they serve it) on a cold November day, I went for it. Luckily, I was not disappointed.

It was a very simple dish with three main components. The pork was sliced to a medium thickness and the circles of fat were left in tack around the rim. It definitely had a unique full, round, mouth filling flavor that I hadn’t experienced before.

It was surprisingly interesting and had me going back for more, especially when combined with the tangy yet slightly sweet and in-season crab-apple jelly. Because the side of greens we ordered was so delicious with its naughty, slightly creamy mustard sauce, which had a nice streak of acidity, I sort of ignored the little salad that came on my plate.

This was a shame, because when I tasted it as an afterthought, I found it was actually quite good and it would have been a nice little accompaniment to the meat and jelly. Overall, then, a simple and accomplished dish.

I had ordered a glass of Beaujolais to go with my pork, thinking a soft, easy-drinking fruity wine would marry well with the flavors. It was brought out in a little ridged tumbler (like a small water glass you get in a bistro), as was Craig’s Portuguese red, which I thought was taking the minimalism a tad too far.

It’s okay to serve wine on tap into a glass like that (like a place I went to in Venice once called Da Marisa), and Beaujolais after all is a very casual wine drunk with simple food in France, but I like my wine to breathe a bit and think a normal little wine glass would have been better.

Rants aside, the wine did what I hoped it would and was a nice sipping partner for my late Old Spotted friend.

It’s worth noting that before tasting my own dish, I was quite jealous of Craig’s main course just on the looks. It reminded me of the hearty beef stroganoff my mom used to make us when I was a teenager. Luckily, he didn’t think I was a complete freak when I asked if he wanted to taste some of my dish, and even offered up a bit of his beef. The meat itself was very soft and tender, having been stewed for a long time, and the sauce it was bathing in was not bad at all. If I had to label it, I’d say it was sort of a European beef curry sauce, with its richness being supported and enhanced by a nice underlying spice (the ‘devil’ bit, I supposed) that ruminated and lingered in the mouth for a good while. I didn’t taste the rice or the egg, but the bit of meat and sauce I did have was very satisfying indeed.

Just Desserts

CL: I’d have happily ordered four out of five of the desserts and after a bit of deliberation I went for white chocolate pudding, oranges and praline.  On the waiter’s advice LF went for the bitter chocolate terrine with chestnut ice cream. 

I often get dessert jealously, but with a certain sense of smugness I can say that I definitely chose the better dessert!

White Chocolate Pudding, Oranges & Praline

The white chocolate pudding was very good.  It had the consistency of thick whipped cream, but with a rich white chocolate flavour. The oranges had been cut into slices and been gently cooked so they had just started to caramelise and worked really well with the white chocolate.

There was nothing wrong with LF’s chocolate terrine, but it wasn’t anything special either.

LF: When the desserts arrived, I thought I’d definitely ‘won’. Oh, what, you haven’t noticed my competitive streak? :)

Bitter Chocolate Terrine & Chestnut Cream

Unfortunately, just as I learned at my other recent food blogger lunch, looks can definitely be deceiving. There was nothing wrong with my bitter chocolate terrine with chestnut ice cream. The cake itself was, dense, smooth and full of nice dark chocolate flavor. I guess it was just a bit one dimensional for my taste. The side of chestnut cream worked well and had little chunks of chestnut which paired nicely with the chocolate. It wasn’t a memorable dessert though, and I definitely had reason to be jealous this time.

My companion’s dessert was head and tails better than mine (yes, he did let me have a bite). It was a gorgeous pile of thick creamy white chocolate whipped creamy looking stuff, with a thick syrupy sauce of bittersweet oranges (and orange sections too) sprinkled with a bit of praline. The citrus cut right through the cream and made for a simple but sublime combination. I loved it and wished we had ordered two. Alas, I made my peace and tried to hide my disappointment by quickly scoffing down the rest of my okay dessert.


CL: Overall, a highly enjoyable two hour, two course lunch and I would definitely go back to Great Queen Street.  I recommended it to my boss when I returned to the office and will hopefully get him to take me on our next lunchtime meeting.

Really enjoyed my first lunch with a fellow blogger and fingers crossed we’ll do it again. 

LF: I think Great Queen Street has a lot going for it. It’s paired down, simple, seasonal and hearty food was good on this occasion and I’ll definitely be back as it’s walking distance from work. I thought that £25/person for two courses plus wine was fair enough as I left full, happy and contented. But, as is usually the case, what really made the meal was the company, which in this case made for a fun, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable two hours.


Tips if You’re Eating with a Fellow Blogger for the First Time

Make sure you’ve read their recent blog posts.

Decide if you’re going to review the place individually, together or at all.

Know what the person you’re meeting looks like, so you don’t look slightly crazy by asking the other single diners in the restaurant if they are the person you are meant to be meeting.

Choose who is going to take the photos and then share them after.  Compare embarrassing stories of partners/friends/restaurant staff getting annoyed at you insisting photographing everything.

Despite funny looks from other diners, it is perfectly acceptable to request to try the other person’s food.

LF: I couldn’t have said it better myself! :)

Rivington Grill, Shoreditch

Twitter Review:

Trendy Shoreditch brasserie serving British classics. Food ok but nothing special. Won't be rushing back, but not bad if you're in the area.

Full review:

Another glorious Saturday and I was looking for some alfresco dining to treat my brother and his wife who were down visiting for the weekend.  After a quick check of Time Out's 'Best Alfresco Dining' I thought we'd give the Boundary in Shoreditch a try.  You couldn't book a table on the uncovered roof terrace, but I was told we should get a table no problem if we got there early enough. 

Anyway, off we set from Belsize in glorious sunshine only to arrive at Old Street to a massive thunderstorm.  D'oh! 

A quick call to the Boundary confirmed that the uncovered roof was no longer an option and so plan B swang into action: the Rivington Grill, which is part of the Caprice group of restaurants. I absolutely love the Ivy (both the food and the atmosphere) and so thought this would make a good alternative.

We got there about 19.00 and it was just starting to fill up.  We hadn't booked in advance, but the staff were helpful and managed to find us a table.  The menu is full of classic English comfort food dishes - sausage & mash, fish fingers, lamb chop, roast chicken - to name but a few. 

After flipping between three or four choices I went for the rose veal escalop with girolles (mushrooms) and spinach.  The other choices on the table were: Caerphilly & leek sausages, flat-iron steak, and scallops with black pudding and bacon.  We also went for a couple of side dishes.

Service was generally good.  The waiter we had to begin with was chatty and attentive, but he disappeared half way through the meal and his colleague failed to bring us a drink order (though we weren't charged for it), but waiter number 1 returned to take our dessert orders.

We brought lovely warm, fresh bread whilst we waited for the main courses, which arrived fairly promptly.  There was nothing wrong with any of the food we had, but then again, there was nothing memorable about it either.  My veal was a little overcooked round the edges but had a nice lemon flavour, the scallops and black pudding we're ok (but came on a bed of very buttery mash that isn't mentioned on the menu), the steak well cooked and the sides all adequate, but none of it was stand out.

The same went for the desserts.  I had went for the 'Raspberry burnt cream', which was creme brulee with four raspberries plonked in the middle of it.  My sister-in-law declared her gooseberry pie 'lovely' and my brother thought his elderflower jelly was 'ok'.

It may be that none of us went for the standout dishes (the roast chicken on the next table smelt delicious to be fair) but I was left with the feeling that the Rivington Grill was going through the motions a little bit and could be a real class establishment with just a little bit more attention and imagination.

How i'd improve it:

• The tables were really packed in tight and I could hear every word of the conversation of the people next to us.  A bit more room would've been nice!
• Bring our drinks when we order them.
• Just a little bit more attention to detail and presentation.