clb
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Posts posted by clb
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I only hope that having sunk all his dosh into the place, that he can drag enough people out to Chelsea, as I cannot see it working as a local. It is far too good.
He's not too far from the original Zaika location on Fulham Road and is apparently welcoming back a lot of customers from that period.
It was worryingly quiet when I had lunch there with a friend last week: just two tables of two (the others were restaurant spies
) but the nice waiter assured us that they're very busy in the evening.Food's lovely: strongly recommend anything with paneer, the grilled lobster, the breads and the biryani.
clb
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Very funny, tarka.
I've had that kind of thing ruin an evening too (and I hate chewing gum).
clb
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Yes, a few weeks ago I had a delicious raan.
And the shami kebabs were lovely.
clb
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Which book, curlywurlyfi? Is the recipe online anywhere? Sounds fantastic...
clb, it was Ken Hom Cooks Thai and if I can find the instructions I will make it into an Amazon clicky linky. if you like I can PM you the recipe (slightly adapted by me)?
(edit to add Amazon link) (I hope)
Ooh, a PMd curlyHom recipe would be lovely. Thanks.
clb
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a happy weeknight discovery of Ken Hom's recipe for quick-fried pork mince with Thai red curry paste, lots of garlic, lots of chopped basil. served with basmati. Really delicious (I was livid when my dining companion scraped the last of it onto his plate without asking me if I would like any more). Not larb, but really good.
Which book, curlywurlyfi? Is the recipe online anywhere? Sounds fantastic...
clb
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J Sheekey in St Martin's Court in London does a fish pie, but I've never had it on the occasions I've eaten there as, perhaps foolishly, its cheapness makes me think something more expensive will be better or something else on the menu catches my attention.
Tried it a couple of weeks ago.
There is such a thing as too much butter in a fish pie.
clb
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The Upper Street Fish Shop was roughly opposite the King's Head, I think. Been shut for a few years.
The owners have the Fish Shop on St John Street now. I've not visited the FSOSJS but always felt the USFS was mysteriously overrated.
clb
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Thank you, sashimi.
clb
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From my experience:
4-Star:
Per Se
JG (but only at lunch it seems)
Le Bernardin
Babbo
3-Star:
Bouley
Daniel
2-Star:
Masa
Is this from firsthand experience, sashimi, or from reading other people's reports? I ask because of your reference to JG being worth 4 stars only at lunch "it seems".
clb
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Dinner last night at Tom Aikens was, overall, pretty disappointing though with at least one stunningly good dish.
The room is smart but cold, an impression mitigated by the warmth of the staff (no sign of the fearsome Mrs A.). A glass of Billecart Salmon Rose NV with some pretty good amuses: first two spoons and a shotglass (beetroot/brandade; excellent pigeon/fig; and unimpressive salmon/avocado). Then an excellent cup of frothy horseradish and celeriac soup with melting foie gras in the bottom. I really enjoyed this.
Menus: we chose from the carte, at £55, rather than the £70 degustation, largely because the main on the carte was chicken and one of the puddings was coffee and walnut cake. Neither excited me much.
So – to start, foie gras for H and lobster salad, at a £10 supplement, for me.
The foie gras dish was really first class and the hit of the evening. Three slices sandwiched between ultra-thin, ultra-crisp pain d’epices, with a layer of, I think, fig jam on top of the foie. Just delicious. The huge plate had plenty of other excellent things to go with the main event: lightly pickled onions, interesting little salad leaves, violet petals, apple jelly, apple froth, tiny mushrooms. Beautifully presented.
The lobster, though, was not so hot. Four pieces of “grilled native lobster”, one of which was goodish, one of which was spongy and fibrous. Two “beignets” – in fact, lobster pieces deep-fried and put on a cocktail stick. The copious amounts of peas, pea shoots and pea and mint mousse were lovely and made me think that I might have been better off with the Chelsea lady option of the spring vegetable salad.
Main courses of wild sea trout for H and pig’s head for me. The sea trout was so disappointing. Palest of colours and of flavours. None of the rich pink colour and succulent texture we’re used to from Scotland. Pleasant but ultra-buttery sauce flavoured with dill and crab from the lettuce raviolo filled with crab and ginger which accompanied the trout. The pig’s head was OK: I liked the fibrous pig’s cheek and the deep-fried snippets of pig’s ear but – and I know I should have expected this – it was just overall far too rich and far too one-dimensional in taste, if not texture. Masses of peas again, which was a bit too much of a good thing.
I drank an enjoyable glass of Domaine de l’Hortus Pic St Loup with the pig’s head, as recommended by the charming and informative sommelier. I just glanced at the wine list, since I knew I couldn’t drink much, but it seemed extremely expensive.
Pre-dessert of a glass of lime foam, mousse and jelly (very good) was followed by the caramel plate for H and the lemon plate for me. The caramel was initially wonderful – it came in masses of different forms: tubes filled with mousse, dollops of jelly etc. – but rapidly became too much. An absolutely enormous and extraordinarily rich plate. My lemon plate was a bit more restrained but only one element (the sharp and wonderful lemon foam) really shone. The cold slice of lemon rice pudding was just too solid and the fairly good lemon mousse was spoiled, for me, by the white chocolate tube in which it was encased.
OK coffee with petits fours – fairly good chocolates, made in house; tuile sheets (sesame, pistachio, chocolate, passion fruit and a couple more); warm madeleines which we were far too full to eat (much appreciated by the children for breakfast this morning, though).
Overall cost £170. I don’t think we’ll be back, despite the foie gras and the excellent service.
clb
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The latest David Mellor mailing has Le Pentole back again:
our most popular range of Italian stainless steel cookware, temporarily unavailable, now back in stockPrices as high as ever: the 20 cm 3 litre casserole sans lid is £62.50.
clb
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When we ate at Pierre Gagnaire a fortnight ago, the assistant sommelier tasted my modest bottle of Saint-Aubin, was clearly unsure about it, tasted it again and summoned the sommelier, who tasted it and at once rejected it. A new bottle was brought, tasted and served to me.
As it should be, I think.
clb
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I am having to plan the trip around the interests of my husband and two small children (though the three-year-old is a budding caseophile and will be a joy to bring with me on cheese-shopping expeditions in London).
Last time I took my four year old to La F. in Moxon St, she was fed masses of sample pieces by the sweet French guy in the horn-rimmed glasses. She loves the place.
I should also tell you that there's quite a good playground at the end of Moxon St (3 minutes' walk from La F.) which has kept my husband and two small children happy for at least an hour and a half on many Sunday mornings...
clb
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browniebaker: FYI, you might just want to get up to Islington for a visit to La Fromagerie. More French and Italian than English cheeses but it is a charming shop however a bit out of the way. Arsenal tube and then a bit of a walk. Or the 19 bus drops you off just down the street.
Did I see that they have opened a second shop?
Yes, they've opened another, larger, more central shop in Moxon Street, just off Marylebone High Street.
If you time your visit for a Sunday morning, you can also visit the very good Marylebone Farmers' Market in the car park opposite the shop and the wonderful Ginger Pig butcher's shop next door.
I think I remember reading that a top quality greengrocer's is due to open soon in the vacant premises in the same block as the Ginger Pig and La Fromagerie.
clb
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Browniebaker - Usually I can't stand Stilton, but I had some at Neil's Yard just before Christmas that was, qualitatively, so beyond anything I'd had before, I thought I was dreaming. It was one of those moments where you had to realign your entire conception of a foodstuff if the best was really this good. Creamy instead of crumbly. Smooth and luxurious instead of harsh. I still don't believe it. Anyway, I don't know if it was a seasonal product, but it was extraordinary.
Just to say, Moby, you are so right about that Christmas Colston Bassett. Creamy and wholly lacking in the acridity that sometimes characterises Stilton. I bought a huge amount and found it almost impossible to stop eating it. Caught myself stealing crumbs in the middle of the morning and last thing at night. I agreed with H that we had so much we could give some to some friends we were visiting after Christmas. When I discovered that he'd given them all we had left, I nearly cried.
I've had somewhat less good CB since then, perhaps twice, but not bought at NY itself (La Fromagerie both times, I think).
clb
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One other comment I would like to make regards dress. In general, dress even in Paris and other major European cities is quite informal. At Gagnaire, more than two thirds of the men did not wear a tie and a number were in shirtsleaves. I suspect that on a workday it might appear more formal, but this would only be because of what people were wearing already, not the requirements of fine dining.
Just to follow up marcus's point on dress. We were there on a Thursday night and again perhaps 75-80% of our fellow customers were French. There was only one man not wearing a suit. It's probably quite different on a Saturday night.
clb
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I enjoyed both admajoremgloram's post and marcus's follow-up on the March menu very much. I suspect we were there just a few days after amg (may I?
). A few of the dishes were served differently, which is in itself interesting, I think, and we responded differently to some which were the same.First, the amuse gueules: I agree that there was a degree of sweetness about several of these, but didn't find it unpleasant or unbalanced. The whole thing was about different textures, for me, and as such amused both the mouth and the mind.
In total agreement about the langoustine dish: quite wonderful. By the time we ate the dish on Thursday 18 March, the langoustine was being served whole, and there was no veal.
Nor was there ice cream with the scallops. However, the "flan" was, I think, made with sheep's milk which contributed an unusual and enjoyable slight sourness to the dish. The array of pale shades was also very beautiful: the slices of translucent scallop looked like a flower displayed over the scalloped edges of the flan.
Unlike amg, I loved the razor clam/merlu dish. It was a new (to me) method of bringing out an earthiness in fish - not the usual, overwhelming red wine-mushroom route. The earthiness came from the chickpea pancake, the diced beet greens (not cucumber for us) under the beetroot jelly, the lightly cooked mustard leaves and the wide smear of pumpkin puree.
I suppose the sea urchin/onion dish could be seen as more traditional - to me it seemed quite unusual. Perhaps, though, one could see it as a play on the traditional onion soup. Very deep, fishy, complex flavours cut through by the fennel and grapefruit.
amg's description of the foie gras could not be bettered although I didn't like it quite as much as he did. The dark chicken jelly was just a bit much on top of the stock used in the earlier scallop dish. For me, the fish dishes were more successful than the meat throughout this dinner.
Again, I loved the rouget. A perfect combination of flavours, colours, textures.
I agree that the wagyu was most disappointing. Fascinating to know that it was cooked for 72 hours. It was like a deconstructed beef stew. The high fat content of the meat was quite apparent in the way in which it melted on the tongue but the lingering flavour was not especially pleasant. The highlights of the dish were the cubes of celeriac and the pear.
I quite liked the composed cheese course, though the simplest combinations (soft chevre with slices of raw artichoke; Brillat Savarin with a nut-stuffed date) were most successful. The Fourme d'Ambert mousse with a disc of almond paste was horrible.
I think we received seven desserts in all, not counting the plate of wonderful petits fours that preceded them or the fine chocolates that accompanied the coffee afterwards. Several were extremely good, my favourites being the big glass of fluffy lemon mousse over diced pinapple with specks of lime zest and the plate with a strip of rose marshmallow half-surrounding a slice of confit lemon with a quenelle of lime sorbet on top.
Overall, as must be apparent, I loved the dinner and found it not only delicious but also very interesting. I liked the room and received the best service I've experienced. I would love to go back - probably to eat from the carte.
clb
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lately most of all: the 14-year old exclaiming: "this. is. too. good.", upon which he will rise from his chair, run to a sofa, grab a pillow and scream into it.
i like that, though of course i'll tell him to perhaps try to find a more modified/dignified of expressing his joy.
What caused that?
clb
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Some further unhappy thoughts from George Monbiot on the demise of British produce.
God how depressing. Apples are a great symbol of British (or at least English) food culture. If only 0.1% of the people that have bought Jamie's, Nigella's or Delia's books would buy some traditional British produce, like these apples.
What a pity that organisations that look after some much of British heritage, largely ignore food. There are increasing amounts of articles published on 'saving' some of the monsterous 1960's concrete buildings and one on British food. And this from a nation of newly converted 'foodies'.
Adam, it's not an either/or thing.
I'm happy to say that I'm as keen to save rare variety apples (planning to plant another espalier in the tiny back garden to join the Blenheim Orange that's there already) as I am the Barbican (done, thank goodness, or the Twentieth Century Society).
Concrete buildings are as much part of our history as apples and each give me a lot of pleasure.
Which is not to say that I disagree with the thrust of Monbiot's article. WHY do people - people who have enough money to choose, that is - buy apples grown outside the UK? I just don't get it.
clb
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The okra was (were?) a wow, but the chicken was disappointing. Got nice crusty caramelization from the honey, but just tasted like barbecue sauce.
It really is true that the key with paprika is more, WAY more, than you think is sane. For my goulash (made with Buddhist "mock duck") I must have used at least two tablespoons, and possibly three or four, for about four servings of food.
You're probably right about most paprika (I've never been brave enough to try that much) - but not the Spanish smoked stuff.
I absentmindedly added about a tablespoon to a pot of vaguely chilli-ish bean soup the other day and really disliked the over-smoked flavour.
clb
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I think I saw some white peaches in the M&S in Whiteley's a couple of days ago (there were certainly some white nectarines).
clb
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Walnut is opposite Gourmet Burger Kitchen - overall the food is average to good but they do a bloody fantastic broccoli and stilton souffle served with a little pot of creme fraiche and chives. It has a very extensive range of veggie food and friendly service and for NW is not bad.
Thank you!
I'll definitely try it (though I have a feeling that I won't be able to resist another visit to GBK first).
clb
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Best starter: Broccoli soufflé @ Walnut, West Hampstead
Complete idiot or not, tell me more please, Charlene.
There's somewhere decent to eat in West Hampstead?
clb
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Mijanou
clb
Rasoi Vineet Bhatia
in United Kingdom & Ireland: Dining
Posted
At lunch? It was indeed almost full when I had dinner there about a month ago.
clb