London Food Detective

August Round Up: Ice cream delight and a return trip to Launceston Place

I've been looking for an excuse to re-visit Launceston Place since my first visit in January 2010, so when I got some D&D vouchers for a present, there was only one place I was going to go!

We weren't disappointed on our return trip.  The lamb was excellent once again and I loved my apple tart dessert.  The staff can be slightly aloof, but apart from that it remains one of my favourite places in London.

My parents were down visiting and we took them on a quick gourmet tour to buy some ingredients for us to then cook for them.  First stop was Paul A Young's new Soho shop, where we got a selection of chocs and a jar of salted caramel, which was absolutely fantastic.  It's expensive at £7+ a jar, but it has to be one of my favourite sweet things ever.  I hid the jar from Grace so she didn't steal it all!

We then went to La Fromagerie to pick up some cheese, before popping next door for some steaks from the Ginger Pig.

In between we popped into Fortnum and Mason for a decadent ice-cream sundae.  We greedily had one each (together with the moreish melted chocolate sauce) and all completely devoured them.

Ice cream was a theme for August with trips to Haagen Dazs cafe, Gelupo and Scoop.  I'm planning a full post on all these places soon.

I had my first trip to Meson Don Felipe on the Cut near Waterloo with work colleagues and was left slightly underwhelmed after previously hearing ok things about it.  This was bog standard tapas, served in a slapdash manner and it just seemed like a place that has seen better days, which is a shame. 

The difference in quality to Camino, which I re-visited a few weeks later was huge.  The Presa Iberica (Iberico black pig shoulder blade cooked medium-rare) remained a firm favourite.

The other major disappointment in August was having to cancel a planned trip to Roganic, which seems to be picking up plenty of plaudits.  Hopefully we'll make it soon.

On the plus side, we had a return visit to the excellent Banana Leaf curry house in Croydon and enjoyed another trip for breakfast to Bill's, although it was the Brighton branch this time.

 

Mystery pork scratchings & some pleasant surprises: February Restaurant Highlights

February started with visits from two sets of friends, which gave us an excuse to eat out a fair bit as two of the girls were pregnant and so pubs & clubs were out!

The first week of February we went to the Salt Yard (full review to follow) and then the following evening I took them for their first Byron Burger - I should be on commission for the place - which they both loved.

Later that week, I squeezed in a visit to meet a friend near Victoria and before drinking far too much and dancing badly in a dodgy club, I had a decent meal at the The Queen's Arms in Pimlico.

A good sized and tasty pork chop, which was only let down by the fat not being properly crisped and an excellent sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel ice-cream (though they could've been more generous with the icecream).  The pub had a good selection of real ales in the pub and it's worth a look if you're in the area.

The next day was a trip to Polpofor lunch.  It's the first time i've been and I enjoyed it much more than my visit to Polpetto. Favourite dishes were the mushroom piadina and the duck ragu.  The restaurant was buzzing and it was a relaxed, enjoyable meal with good food.  I'll be back...

We then crossed the road to Yu-Foria for some frozen yoghurt.  The toppings were very good (I had Oreo's and choc-mint sprinkles) but at the end of the day it's just not as good as proper ice-cream!

On the evening we went to the Crack Comedy comedy club in Wimbledon.  As part of the deal you got a two course meal at the local Thai place - Mae Ping.  Normally these offers result in some pretty dodgy food, but I was really impressed with the quality and portion size of what we were served.  The chicken satay was especially good and came with a spicy peanut dip. They have five branches across south London and I'd definitely go back to try the full menu.

I had my first trip to Tas on The Cut near Waterloo with some work colleagues and, like Mae Ping, was pleasantly surprised.  It's a Turkish restaurant and we went for a meze style selection of dishes that we all shared.  Everything came served with some excellent warm pitta bread and the best dishes were the fresh cold starters, such as the humus and aubergine with chickpeas.  There were a few mistakes with the meat and fish dishes (mussels were badly overcooked and chewy) but overall it was a decent meal and good for a works outing where there should be something for everyone to enjoy.

Everton beating Chelsea in the FA Cup resulted in an unplanned 8 hour drinking session in Victoria.  Memories of the evening are a bit blurry, but I do remembering drinking too many Jager bombs with a random group of Americans and these amazing, 10 inch pork scratchings from a pub that I can't find via google. If anyone recognises them then let me know!

Amazing pork scratchings, but where did I have them?!

 

 

 

Burgers, beef & rhubarb pannacotta - January's Restaurant Highlights

I tend to eat out at least once a week, but often circumstances don’t allow me to take photos or write up where I’ve been. 

For example, it would be a little bit rude if I’m out with non-foody friends or with work and I write up a scathing or just simply dull review of a place.  Frankly, I’d look a bit of a **** and I do this blog as a hobby rather than anything too serious.

Anyway, the orginal idea of the blog was to be an online diary and so I’m going to make a more conscious effort to round up the places I’ve been in a particularly month.

So, in short, that’s really a long, convoluted way of saying here is a quick summary of places I’ve eaten in January...

#MEATEASY, New Cross

There’s been a lot of hype and reviews about this place and even Marina at the Metro (my fav restaurant critic) reviewed it this week.  I took my friend who was on a flying visit from Uganda and said she was craving meat, so it seemed an obvious choice.

It was a fun place – a cool, speakeasy type joint above a pub in New Cross.  They had a slightly chaotic ordering system and the food arrived in a bit of a haphazard way, but it was made up by a top-notch burger and some of the best onion rings I’ve ever had.

Would I go back? Possibly, but MEATEASY might lose its charm/novelty factor on subsequent visits. Although the burgers were really good, I’m not sure they were that much better than my favourite Byron burger (and Byron’s fries are much better) and I’ll probably stay in town with them and their ordered service and professionalism then venture out to New Cross. 

Sartoria, Saville Row

An agency I used to work with invited me to their post-Christmas dinner at Sartoria, a D&D restaurant near Saville Row.  They’d hired the whole restaurant and as well as having our glasses of wine generously topped up at every opportunity we were served a surprisingly good medium-rare steak, which is unusual for banqueting/mass catering as it’s usually over done and/or cold.

I’d consider going back and trying the normal menu and hope it’s more Launceston Place (yay!) than the Blueprint Cafe (boo!) in the D&D stable...

Giraffe, South Bank

This place is fast becoming my quick dinner (i.e. lunch to you non-northerners) meeting venue near work and I went three times in January.  Plenty of choice, good booths to have a conversation in and excellent value.  The food is consistent and flavoursome with my favourites being the hot 'Thai' duck stir fry and the simple but tasty chicken schnitzel. Along with Byron it’s probably my favourite restaurant chain in London.

Zucca, Bermondsey

I wanted to take my team out somewhere nice before Christmas to say thank you for their hard work over the course of 2010.  Unfortunately we had to postpone due to illness and so went along a couple of weeks ago and I was seriously impressed.

I’m not always the biggest Italian fan, but the food from the small, compact menu was excellent.  I had a luxurious, warming oxtail ragu with polenta to begin with, followed by a rustic, wholesome slow cooked chicken stew with sausage.  The chicken was especially good – served on the bone in the pot it fell off the bone and melted in the mouth and was simply delicious.

I finished off with an excellent milky pannacotta with teasingly tart stewed rhubarb.  I will definitely be back...