Venison dim sum

Review: Row on 5, Mayfair

I’m developing some clear preferences in my old age, I think. Nowadays I’ve got a strong preference for more informal mid-range dining, preferably ambitious and often ethnic. Small plates almost always feature. But as Row on 5 has just reminded me, I also love a real splurge on a destination restaurant where you feel super …

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Baked rice and duck

Review: Asador 44, Cardiff

The food scene in Wales has improved beyond measure over the last decade, with the charge led (I would argue) by Ynyshir on the fine dining front. It sometimes feels like half the best places to eat in Wales are headed by alumni. That aside, Cardiff itself has also burgeoned with good eats; The Plate …

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Scallop roe hash browns

Review: Heaneys, Cardiff

Heaneys is a handsome, friendly, comfortable and capable fine dining restaurant in the nice Pontcanna suburb of Cardiff. Thirty minutes walk, or a ten minute taxi ride on a rainy December night, from the Castle. We went with the long tasting menu, because ’tis the season to over-indulge after all! And a beef fat old …

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Pheasant

Review: Crispin, Clapham

We moved to Clapham five years ago, and the only small independent restaurant that critics and bloggers were ever bothered with – the Dairy – immediately closed. Roll on five years, and we’ve now got Crispin at Studio Voltaire, the third or fourth outpost of this lil’ bunch of small plate places. Let’s hope they …

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Shepherd's pie

Review: Cinnamon Bazaar, Covent Garden

Can I write a fair review here? We met up at Cinnamon Bazaar with friends, six of us for a sociable dinner a few weeks before Christmas (though close enough for all the decorations to be up in the streets and the festive menus to be popping up in the restaurants). So perhaps my mind …

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Review: Row on 5, MayfairReview: Asador 44, CardiffReview: Heaneys, CardiffReview: Crispin, ClaphamReview: Cinnamon Bazaar, Covent Garden

Review: Lahpet, Covent Garden

Categories:

London, Restaurant Reviews

10 May 2022

Lahpet

Lahpet

I can’t remember the last time I got to try a completely new cuisine. Oh, I must be getting old and jaded! But luckily I’ve found Lahpet and had my first introduction to Burmese food. This is something I want to tell any foreign tourist visiting London for a holiday: the whole point of London is how brilliantly (if expensively) we have got the whole world of food in one city. By all means have a fish and chips, and maybe a meal at Quality Chophouse. But then maybe fill the rest of your time with tables at… oh I dunno… Barrafina, Humble Chicken, Kiln, Paradise, Padella and Lahpet. The world in a city.

Anyway, Lahpet. We started with fritters, apparently a big street food thing in Burma. All three were good although the slightly gooey sweetcorn and shallot (the black one) had the best flavour and texture. The pickled green tea salad was a revelation. “All salads should be like this” as

Fritter box

Fritter box

Maureen put it. It was just crunchy right through, from the garlicky chips of double-fried broad beans to the pea shoots and peanuts, but with bright and earthy flavours from citrus and those pickled green tea leaves. Chicken thigh skewers were char-grilled beautifully.

We also chose a great curry; Hake Masala. The gravy was wonderfully bright and punchy, something like a south Indian moilee, and the lemongrass flavour in the cassava rosti that came with it was a really clever and delicious addition. I hope lemongrass cassava rosti is a real thing in Burma, because I’d like to meet it again some day! Coconut rice was good with it. We also got a side of Burma’s favourite relish: balachaung, a mighty hit of pounded dried shrimp with lime and chilli and stuff. It is dangerously addictive, but does also rather overpower anything you eat it with.

We had a good sized lunch for about £22 each before drinks. Lahpet can go straight up into the pantheon of “handy places to know in the West End for a delicious casual meal.”

Green tea salad

Green tea salad

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Review: Five Little Pigs, Wallingford

Categories:

Cafes etc., Rest of UK, Restaurant Reviews

10 May 2022

Kedgeree

Kedgeree

Serendipity. We decided to walk a section of the Thames Path starting in Wallingford, and then up popped a review by Jay Rayner of the Five Little Pigs in Wallingford. So we decided that brunch at the ‘Pigs would be a great start to a six hour walk!

Wallingford is an odd town. It looks a bit tattered and most of the shops are ones you’d imagine to have been there for thirty or forty years, gradually fading. Yet its a handsome old country town and right in the middle the main supermarket is a large Waitrose. Plus it has the Five Little Pigs, which seems to have parachuted in from Marlow or Henley, very smart and modern but relaxed.

I had to have the full English, or as they call it: the Five Little Pigs. Sausage, white pudding, black pudding plus two rashers of bacon = five. I think the bacon is cheating. Maybe lard to spread on your toast would finish the five better? The toast was EXCELLENT. Not often I put toast in caps. Thick sliced, scorched, of the most delicious seeded sourdough, apparently from the Orange Bakery in nearby Watlington. All the meat is local too, and every element was excellent. Particular shout-outs to the very herby white pudding and the utterly piggy sausage. Special mention to the tangy rhubarb ketchup they’d whizzed up to go with it all.

Maureen’s kedgeree was satisfying too, hefty on the trad English curry flavour. All in all a worthy brunch, and I came away with a strong sense that you wouldn’t be disappointed by lunch or dinner at the Five Little Pigs.

Big piggy brunch

Big piggy brunch

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Review: Mirazur, Menton, Cote d’Azur

Categories:

Fine dining, Michelin, Overseas, Restaurant Reviews

10 May 2022

Beetroot rose

Beetroot rose

The important question to answer: is a meal at Mirazur worth 380 euros per head? That’s just the menu, no drinks. Although this being France, the wine list had options all the way down to 60 euros!

Anyway, the answer is “no” by any objective measure. I’ve enjoyed two or three tasting menus every bit as accomplished recently for well under half the price. I guess you’re paying for the “World’s Best Restaurant” moniker and the three Michelin stars.

Well, to be fair, you are also paying for a bloody amazing view of the sun setting over the Cote d’Azur through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window walls, for immaculate but actually warm and friendly service, and for some really splendid loos.

Razor clam chawanmushi

Razor clam chawanmushi

Also really exquisite presentation. There were more simply beautiful dishes served at this meal than I’ve seen at any other table. Maybe it was all the flowers…

The Mirazur tasting menu is themed and rotates with the lunar cycle; leaves, flowers, fruits, roots. I’m sure the lunar cycle thing is very important. Stop rolling your eyes, oh cynical reader! But I do have to respect the dedication to theming. We landed on flowers and flowers ran through every course of the menu, in inventive and often delicious ways. There were some truly stellar touches. Geranium infused oil to dip bread in was absolutely exquisite, strongly yet sweetly perfumed. There was a langoustine dish in three parts, and the stuffed head was absolutely belting. The other two parts were both very nice.

Artichoke tart

Artichoke tart

But I did find myself using the terms “very nice” and “lovely” through a lot of the courses. And I really wished I could be going “phwoar!” or “oh… WOW!” more often. The main course was an artichoke tart (artichokes being flowers, yar?) and I thought that was a brave and imaginative choice. Unfortunately it wasn’t really a pleasurable eat, the myriad of artichoke slivers on the tart looking quite beautiful but also quite dried out and chewy. The raw artichoke salad and the little artichoke tortellini in broth were both much better. Very nice.

So, yeah. Mirazur is in a stunning spot, and has given itself an ambitious and inventive theme. You will certainly have a splendid feast of highly refined French cooking, it will look utterly beautiful and you’ll be very well looked after. You can decide if that’s worth around £350 per person before drinks.

Mirazur sunset

Mirazur sunset

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Moilee with roast monkfish

Categories:

uncategorized

6 May 2022

Start by frying…
* 1 big shallot finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves
* 1cm piece of ginger
* 12-15 curry leaves
* 1 tsp mustard seeds

Once the shallot is soft add in…
* 1 tsp turmeric
* ground up kaffir lime leaves
* 1-2 red chilli, finely chopped
* 1 tsp ground coriander
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Then add…
* 200ml coconut milk
* 100ml dashi
* 1/2 tsp salt

Let this simmer for 20 mins, adding a bit of water if needed. Meanwhile roast monkfish (or another white fish) for 8 mins at 200c. Tip any pan juices into the moilee. Add the fish to warm through, and some tomatoes chopped in big chunks.

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Herb flavoured oils

Categories:

Recipes, Showing off

15 April 2022

These are really easy to do, so thanks to chef at Aulis for explaining how!

Take a great big bunch of your herb, chop it roughly and throw it in a blender. Add plain olive oil, or you could try rapeseed oil, maybe 200ml for a big bunch. Oh: if your herbs need washing first, make sure they are all dried out.

Now you blend the herbs in the oil. Keep the blender on for several minutes, basically until it has actually started getting really warm to the touch. The heat is going to activate the herbs in the oil so keep it going like that for a minute or so.

Then strain your herb oil through muslin into a jar or bottle or something. If you keep it in the fridge it’ll keep for weeks and weeks (though you might need to remember to get it out 15 mins before using it, as it can go solid in the fridge).

Basil oil… dill oil… wild garlic oil… endless ideas! Just drizzle the oil on your food sparingly as they are super-strong.

Oh, one more idea. Mix one of these oils with two parts extra virgin olive oil, and it’s great for dipping bread into!

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