nikkib

2 days into opening and we had an outstanding lunch at Da Polpa on Maiden Lane. Home made foccacia and ricotta to start while we selected our dishes, followed by pizette of zucchini, mint and chilli which was wafer thin and cooked to perfection with the mint proving the perfect foil to the chilli. Pork and fennel meatballs were amazing, juicy, tender and packed full of flavour. Chilli prawns and heirloom tomato salads were other successes. With a camapri spritz, a 500ml carafe of coretese and another 250ml glass of the same wine, a bottle of san pelligrino,a strawberry and cream ice cream cone and an affogato for £60 including 12.5% service this is a real hit. Service was great, friendly and accomodating ( the waiter reined the table next to us in and stopped them from over ordering) and Russel of course keeping an eagle eye on proceedings. I will definitely be back

loving all the great summer veggies at the moment - salad of broad beans, radish, peas and seared asparagus, rosemary roasted sweet and new potatoes, peppers roasted with garlic and tomato and portobello mushroom with pancetta, chilli and tomato. Served with crusty bread. Tonight i am trying sobaaddicts ricotta gnocchi from his foodblog - wish me luck...

Airplane food on the way to London from Beirut. Omelette with spinach, tomato and potato witha bloody mary (is it bad that i have my own mini tabasco bottles and celery salt for use when flying?!)

Salad with white wine vinaigrette, tomato, bresaola and parmesan. Served with crusty bread with olive oil and balsamic and a couple of glasses of viognier.

oh yum yum yum - i just bought some ricotta, will definitely be giving that a go... IN terms of vegetarian cookbooks - try and get hold of either Plenty by Ottolenghi or the Vegetaraian option by simon hopkinson, they have to be two of my absolute favourites - i think Plenty is more your style though...

that is exactly how i cook, when i have time off from work. I look for seasonal ingredients and then see what i feel like cooking when i get home!

could you make some of the ricotta gnudi like they serve at the spotted pig? mmmmm

lightly flour it and cook it with brandy and butter and add it to a salad of bitter greens with strips of bacon, artichoke, wild mushrooms and a poached egg on top

Jenni, could you describe what exactly your breakfast was? It looks delicious but i must confess i have never heard of idli or sambar...

St JOhn is a must still, have cocktails and a snack at Hix (think oysters or the amazing trealey farm smoked meats) Scotts or the oyster bar at sheekeys are a definite hit as well happy eating, maybe try the gilbert scott in Kings Cross for some true "english" - i havent been but my family are raving about it

Hi heidih - the croquetas were like a fried bechemal sauce dotted with pieces of shrimp - and yes, definitely try the cumin seed biscuits at home, they were great, wafer thin but hard enough to scoop the guacamole up with. Still jealous of the blog posts with all your wonderful home grown avocados and citrus and herbs etc

some recent meals another trip to momo for a glass of wine and some snacks in the bar, a great avocado salad (guacamole) with cumin biscuits and a tomato salad with strawberry foam which was excellent, i shall be playing around with the strawberry tomato combo at home for sure Sitting on the jetty at Cafe L'orient enjoying the sunshine with some hummus and tabouleh (more about the surroundings than the food but both dishes were fine) And back again for some very good but very rich shrimp croquettes this is the life.... Pizza at Aliacci in gemmayze - a white pizza so no tomato sauce just a fresh pesto coating, spinach, mozzarella and parmesan, a great pizza, wafer, wafer thin And lastly lunch today enjoying the sunshine at the St Georges swimming pool (even swimming pools dont escape political slogans in beirut!!) Mexican almaza with lemon juice and salt rim and a warm cheese, pickled cucumber and turkey ham sandwich what a way to spend a day off!!!

Thanks Heidh - it has been a great week reading your blog and getting a peak at life in your part of the world!

i do a really nice courgette ribbon and spinach dish where you literally heat them in a pan for a minute with some chilli and lime juice when i do a shrimp gratin - and always a nice bottle of a good californian chardonnay or if i am feeling flush puligny montrachet....

I had some left over salad of peas, radishes, chilli, lebanese cucucmber, alfafa sprouts, sweetcorn & cherry tomato so stuffed them into arabic flatbread with avery well fried egg ( didnt want any drips as i was sunbathing :-) ) and habanero tabasco - pretty good and kept me filled up most of the day

Still had some chickpeas and salad ingredients left over from last night so made another salad this time with aubergine fried with cumin seeds, chickpeas, tomato, lebanese cucumber, sweetcorn & radish with the juice of 1/2 a lime squeezed over it. The main event was far more successful than last nights "falafel" attempt (thanks for the falafel link heidih - i shall be trying some of those next time for sure) Grated courgette with a red chilli, cumin, coriander, an egg and 2.5 heaped tbsps of self raising flour. Boy - these were good - i will definitely do these again. Served with habanero tabasco and feta cheese over the top.

Had a ton of chickpeas in the cupboard so tried a variation on falafel, blended chickpeas, flatleaf parsley, cumin, coriander, garlic & chilli served with a salad of fresh peas, sweetcorn, radish, alfafa sprouts, cherry tomatoes & lebansese cucumber which i seasoned with lime juice, a little salt and pepper and some spices i picked up on my last trip to damascus (indeterminate still but tasty!)The "falafel" were ok - should have bound them with something - any ideas? I was going to use egg but didnt want them so spongy.... The salad was great - very tasty indeed and i shall be making it again.... some of the ingredients the salad in process the falafel in process falafel ready for the pan the final result....

http://threemonkeysandahippo.blogspot.com/2011/03/arnabeet-mekleh-fried-cauliflower-salad.html This is my favourite way to eat cauliflower - add it to a salad of rocca, peppers and radish with a sprinlking of sumac ( a citrussy middle eastern spice) and tahini in toasted pitta bread for a great snack or as a side order with roasted quail for example...

http://www.soukeltayeb.com/tawlet.php opened last year and has just opened for brunch. I think the link expalins everything but basically it is run in conjunction with a great farmers market and only opens for lunch. Every day( or week maybe?) they have a different chef, a local lebanese housewife who will cook the specialities of their region/family. It is great and great to have "home cooked food" I had been sick for a few days and literally hadnt eaten and feeling a bit weepy for some of my mums home food thought this would be the next best thing - chicken soup for the soul and all that. The buffet had a selection of maybe 8 starters and mezze from kebbe, tabbouleh, hummus etc to mains of stuffed intestine, okra stew, Ouzi. Oh it was perfect, just what the Dr ordered. $30 gets you all you can eat and arak/soft drinks( i opted for arak naturally)

MOMO HAS OPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you not familiar with Momo, it is a great Morroccon restaurant in London, good food, very "designed" (madonna had her 40th (i think) there) and great drinks. It is a 200 seater all day concept with a separate bar and terrace serving cocktails and bar snacks (mezze style mostly) and a restaurant with pastilla/tagine etc type dishes. I love it here and it is currently THE hottest ticket in town, Momo (as the owner is also known) is a genius - google him and check out his retinue of places in London/Paris and put them on your list of places to visit, you wont be disappointed. I only had 2 starters (tragiaclly i have eaten the same thing everytime i've been but that shows you how good it is) Gazpacho which was the absolute most delicious gazpacho i have ever had ( and i order this anytime i see it on a menu without fail) I almost think it had some strawberries in it as it had a delicious sweetness along with the usual tomato/pepper bite. Followed by Pata Negra with pan con tomate - another favouriteand one i havent found anywhere else in Beirut. This was o good i didnt even take a photo (oops) but what can you say - fancy ham, bread and tomatoes..... MMMMMMmmmmmmmm Also some shrimp kebbe and hindbe (dandelion in oil) i had in downtown last week and lunch today (well my only meal of the day at 5pm when i was on my way home from work and fancied a rose flavoured shisha to smoke and figured food might be a good idea too!) Abdel Wahab is an absolute must, its a great lebanese restaurant with a beautiful roof terrace for eating on in the summer. Usually i have loads of mixed mezzes but today i was craving lamb and carbs as i was tired after a long Easter weekend at work so Kafta Aryass (minced lamb in arabic bread) followed by sahlab ice cream and angel hair with honey. Followed by a cafe blanc and an easter egg from the waiter !This is a true doint miss experience if you do visit Beirut.

Dios Mios!!! may i ask for the recipe..... that just looks amazing! Never tried cooking cochinita pibil before but i sure do enjoy eating it!!!!

I'll report on the wine when I open it. Maybe tomorrow. It was about $6.00 so if it is drinkable, I'll be happy. If not, I can probably get the same effect by hitting myself on the head with the bottle . The KitchenAid is an accident waiting to happen. I really need to clear some space in a low drawer... Shiraz viognier is actually quite an aussie blend, the viognier softens out the shiraz while adding to the fruitiness and the perfumed fragrance - highly recommend you pick up a bottle if you happen across one - i'm a big fan of D'arenbergs Laughing magpie if you see it....

hi heidih - it was literally a batter coating the aubergines - thicker than a tempura and excellent, really very good. Halloumi doesnt get molten inside when heated (or not when i've done it/eaten it any way) it is quite chewy. I usually do it by slicing it more thinly than in the picture and putting it into a hot non stick pan - no oil or anything needed. lave it maybe 15 seconds or so and then turn it over, if its not browned enough i just repeat again until i get it the way i like it. One of my favourite ways to eat it is in a pitta bread with a fine dice of cucumber, red onion, tomatoes, pepperdew sweet peppers and lots of coriander. Its also great with sweet figs in syrup - give it a go.....

my mother always has multiple packs of trifle sponge despite the fact that she makes trifle maybe once a year and bottle after bottle of gravy browning - like enough to make gravy with ebery day for about the next 10 years! Its a running joke now.

Kim - you should do a pre theatre dinner at Quo Vadis in soho 3 courses for £20 (can be expnsive otherwise) also would second st john - you can get a seat in the bar easily enough without reservations and casual dress is no problem at all ( if you do, the bone marrow is a must, as are the madeleines they bake to order and you MUST have an eccles cake with cheese) Any of Russel Normans places - polpetto, polpo and spuntino, all in soho, all no reservations (polpetto is above the french house one of the only pubs in central london worth visiting)The Toucan is also worth having a guiness in if you have any guiness drinkers with you. Terroirs off the strand is great for some good charcuterie and nice wine by the glass. Borough market is a must - do ensure you are there no later than 11am to avoid most of the crowds, th walk along the thames that takes in borough, the tate modern and waterloo is one of my favourites in london. Vinopolis could be worth a visit if you like wine and want to do a tasting.... If you like chinese try bar shu (szechaun and frighteningly hot) in soho as well (its not cheap but wow is it good) Pop into yauatcha in soho and have a cake and tea (or a cocktail) from the amazing chinese inspired patisserie selection. Have a great time!!!