Big lumps of slippery smooth tofu the texture of crème caramel rose and fell in the chilli hot currents of the deep red liquid slowly swirling in front of me, the odd prawn floating to the surface. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting jjigae to to be, but it wasn’t this.
Not that I was disappointed, far from it, this was exciting. I’ve eaten a lot of food from a lot of countries over the last three decades but Korean is a new thing to me. And boy, have I been missing out. (more…)
My first brush with proper Sichuan/Szechuan cuisine was something of a sweat soaked revelation. It left me panting for more. The question is, would Chilli Cool get through that notoriously tough second visit? All that expectation and the unrepeatable joy of a new discovery is tough to beat.
I remembered the crispy flavourful intestines, the earthy and hot lamb skewers and most of all that heavenly aubergine. Oh God the aubergine. Obscenely tasty I’d elevated it onto an oil-drenched pedestal. So it was with both trepidation and excitment that I wandered into the dining room. (more…)
Pork belly. Those two words open up vistas of pleasure for most carnivores. Who would have thought that something so simple sounding could deliver so much pleasure? The antithesis of the push for lean dry tasteless meat that blighted the menus and school lunches of my eighties childhood, belly is full of interest and excitement.
And at lunch, well, it’d be a sin to pass it up. Meemalee, Mr Noodles and I were trying out 28-50. Named for the latitudes between which most wine is grown, it’s the more casual, wine-focussed, sibling of Texture. With the stripped back simple wood tables and underground space, there is something of both Terroirs and Vinoteca about 28-50. (more…)
Tea and chocolate. More daddy or chips than port and Stilton surely? That’s what I thought as I wended my sticky and hot way through sunbaked Fitzrovia trying to find Tapped and Packed, where I was to participate in a tea, coffee and chocolate matching evening run by Green & Blacks.
Coffee and chocolate, that I could see. They’ve closed the curtains on a multitude of meals from Turkish grills to Aussie seafood. I just couldn’t see fine teas standing up to a deep and bitter 75% cocoa dark chocolate. Just goes to show how much I know. (more…)
If Koya had ears, they would’ve been incandescent in the months since its low key opening back in April this year. Quiet the opening might have been, but within days cyberspace was awash with excited chatter as foodies across the capital and beyond sampled the deceptively simple noddle-centric menu.
Of course, the worry is, when you hear so many good things, can the place itself actually live up to the hype. And so it was with some excitement, tempered with more than a dash of trepidation, I found myself in a queue with a group that included Mr Noodles, Tom and Jen, Uyen and others, patiently waiting for table. (more…)
Vinoteca. Vino Teca. It’s all in the name really. Vino, wine, the glorious grape. Rightly known and talked about for it’s fabulous choice of wines by the glass, this simple wooden floored winebar has a (albeit widely known) secret. The food here is pretty damn good too.
These guys pay a lot of attention, not just to the food and the wine, but to how the two combine. Their daily changing menu has glasses of wine matched to each dish that you are free to select should you want. And the cooking, like a good wine, is full of clear, well balanced flavours. (more…)
45 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1M 5RS, 020 7065 6810, www.gntrbt.com
C’mon guys, where’s the fricken robot? If you’re going to call a place ‘Giant Robot’ you’ve gotta have a big old metal beastie in there somewhere. On further questioning, it seems like this Match Bar facelift was named for a robot that appeared in the square opposite for a while, before marching off to terrorise biological lifeforms elsewhere.
So, there is no robot in Giant Robot, but there are plenty of other attractions. Not least some tasty old balls, giant prawns (almost as good as a robot) and cucumber flavoured water. (more…)
This wine bar attached to the feted Club Gascon of foie gras fame is a bit like a virgin visit to France after seeing loads of nouvelle vague films. It’s as smart, swish and chic as you expect, with the odd seemingly familiar thing that turns out to be not quite what you think.
So there we were, the estimable Meemalee, Chris and myself, perched at a high table in an almost empty bar eyeing the specials speculatively. I, for one, was feeling terribly decadent. This is not the sort of place I usually head for a Friday lunch. And it all seemed rather good, in a cool Alain Delon kind of way. (more…)
The Clerkenwell Workshops, 27-31 Clerkenwell Close, London, EC1R 0AT 020 7101 9959 www.theclerkenwellkitchen.co.uk
This is a very “Clerkenwell” place to eat. A stripped back factory/workshop space all exposed brick and wooden floors, full of media types in their converse shoes and pinstripe jackets earnestly chatting over a latte and custard tart. And every lunchtime it’s packed out.
The reason is that the food is fresh and fabulous, the cooking simple and unfussy. The menu shifts chameleon like with the seasons, depending on what the chefs find that morning. One day might see onglet and chips, the next beetroot cakes and salad. Those converse clad media people obviously know when they’re on to a good thing. (more…)
Treninnow Cliff Road, Milbrook, Cornwall, PL10 1JY 01752 822345 www.theview-restaurant.co.uk
Perched atop a cliff looking out over waves rolling in to Whitsand Bay in Cornwall, The View was a most unexpected gem. Forget Jamie’s 15 in Newquay, or Steinsville in Padstow, this remote restaurant is where you’ll get the best of Cornish cooking, and in a setting that knocks the socks off any other.
Housed in cabin, rather nondescript from the outside, are a scattering of plain tables on a warm wood floor, surrounded by white walls hung with local art. And some of the most consistently well cooked – and freshest – fish I’ve eaten in a long time. (more…)
