5 February, 2010

Club Bart – Ferndale, Michigan

Brunch – proper brunch – is one of my favourite meals in the world. It’s something I haven’t really been able to find an American equivalent of in London. If I want Huevos Rancheros or a fatty Denny’s-style om nom skillet, I’m pretty much forced to either A) make it myself or B) go back to America. So when I was in Michigan for Christmas, I took advantage of everything breakfast with booze has to offer.

One of my first stops was Club Bart in Fashionable Ferndale.

As my friend and I sat down, I realised just how hungry I was. Only problem was I couldn’t decide to go for sweet or savoury. Normal people would just flip a coin or get over themselves and choose one. Me? I just ordered both.

My savoury was Stuffed Breakfast Biscuits:

(American biscuits, if it’s not clear)

Club Bart Brunch Ferndale

Light, fluffy and buttery biscuits – one stuffed with spinach and feta, and the other with bacon and brie. It also came with two poached eggs and hash browns. Besides being an absolute heartattack on a plate, this was great. It’s everything a fatty American breakfast should be. I think even Paula Deen would be shocked at how much delicious butter was used in this dish.

I also ordered a Blueberry Pancake:

Club Bart Brunch Ferndale

I love that you can get a single pancake add-on for $2 at almost any brunch place in the States. Even if you only take a couple bites, it’s worth it. The pancake wasn’t particularly memorable, but it definitely hit the spot.

Now… if anyone knows where I can get a good American style brunch in London complete with mimosas/Buck’s Fizz and a sizable Mexican section (I’m desperate for a decent breakfast burrito), I’m all ears.

Club Bart on Urbanspoon

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4 February, 2010

Recipe: Bengali Squash Soup

A little background for this one…

There once was a girl named Melanie Seasons who procrastinated more than anyone in the world. Back in November, a nice man named Lewis asked if she would like to try out some Indian recipes in conjunction with National Curry Week and a promotion that Cobra beer had on. He even picked her up in a zany Karma Cab and brought her to work to explain all about it.

Fast forward two months, and she’s just now getting around to writing about it. She is a rubbish blogger friend, clearly.

That, I believe, brings us up to speed.

I decided, in accordance with January soup detox month, to try to make an Indian inspired soup.  There aren’t too many Indian soups, according to Anjum Anand who is the host of the BBC’s Indian Food Made Easy and author of my newest cookbook, so I had to improvise.

I took a recipe for a side dish of butternut squash and chickpeas. For the recipe, you’ll need:

Bengali Squash soup

  • 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 red chillies
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 tbs turmeric
  • 3 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 rounded tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp crushed fennel seeds
  • 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp ginger paste
  • 2 litres of veg stock
  • 500 g butternut squash, peeled and deseeded
  • 175 g of canned chickpeas
  • 1 tbs garam masala

Heat the oil in a large pot, and add in the bay leaf, chillies and crushed fennel seeds, and cook over low heat for about a minute. Add in the onion and cook for about 3 minutes or until the onions are slightly translucent. Stir in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, sugar, cinnamon and ginger paste. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Add the veg stock and the squash and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the squash is fully cooked.

Stir in the chickpeas and garam masala. Simmer for another 5 minutes, and then blend until smooth.  Voila!

My only word of advice is that you might have to tweak the spices to taste. I ended up having to add in a lot more to really give it some pop. Once I got the right combination though, this soup really shined. It was easy to make, and I’ve since experimented with a couple of the other recipes in the book (mini corn cakes with coriander mint chutney and Punjabi chicken curry), and they really were a lot easier than I thought Indian food could ever be to cook.

Thumbs up.

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2 February, 2010

Little Hanoi – Shoreditch

Yes, ok, I know January posting has been light. This is because, like everyone, I was on January detox. It has thus far included a lot of porridge, a lot of experimenting with making soups (ask me about my bitchin’ Tortilla) and a lot of not drinking. It has also included two trips to Pizza East, but let’s not talk about that.

So! Last night was the first night I’ve been to a new restaurant since Christmas. Oh, how I missed it.

I found myself wondering around Shoreditch after going to the absolutely amazing Fitzrovia Radio Hour. (By the way, if you want a fun night out, do go. I can’t recommend it enough.) Anyway, after the show, it was late-ish and Leif wanted Chinese. I couldn’t find anything on my UrbanSpoon iPhone app, but no matter -  we stumbled upon Little Hanoi instead.

Tucked down Curtain Street, Little Hanoi is a small Vietnamese understated hole-in-the-wall. They were open till 11pm and had a full bar, so that was good enough for us.

The menu at Little Hanoi is huge – at least 7 pages long – which makes it difficult to narrow down when you’re absolutely famished and everything looks good. I was pleased to see they had a fairly decent wine list considering what I was expecting, so we ordered a bottle of Viognier.

We had two starters, the Spring Rolls and Salted Squid:

Little Hanoi

Little Hanoi

The spring rolls were pretty good. I wouldn’t say they were bland per se, but they definitely needed a dipping sauce. They luckily came with the brothy kind of Vietnamese sweet and sour, which was very tasty. I thought the roll itself was a bit more egg roll than spring roll. The wrapping was quite thick.

The squid was lovely. It had a really nice mix of peppers, spring onions and onions. Not too oily and not overdone. Only minor complaint is that the breading was also a bit thick. It would have been nicer and it been a bit fluffier.

For my main I went with the Sliced Duck with Ginger and Spring Onion:

Little Hanoi

Not sure what the sauce was on here. I think maybe just a general brown garlic? It didn’t really scream Vietnamese to me, but it was definitely good. The duck may have been slightly chewy, but the ginger+onion combination of flavours made up for it. I slightly worried about my breath after.

Also should mention I got a side of steamed rice with it that I could tell had been sitting around a while. And it was £2. I still find it ridiculous that they can get away with charging that much for something that probably costs them 1p per portion.

Leif went with the Beef Noodles:

little hanoi

This also didn’t scream Vietnamese to me. The noodles were just ok. I thought they needed a load more salt. The beef was the only thing that really added anything to the dish. I did, however put a few noodles with my duck instead of the stale rice – that was brilliant.

Little Hanoi is perfect for what it is – cheap East Asian cuisine, open late and smack-dab in the middle of a neighbourhood full of bars and clubs. I also hear they have a great, extremely cheap lunch buffet. I would come back here again.

Little Hanoi on Urbanspoon

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27 January, 2010

I <3 Tortelloni from Selfridges

My friend Sian (who just launched the brilliant new fashion blog, A Change of Dress) is obsessed with the tortelloni at Selfridges food hall. After the salad event at Chop’d she picked up a few and raved about them. So a few weeks ago, I decided to give them a go too.

The filling on the day I went was wild boar. To go along with it, I picked up a nice sharp pecorino. After dropping them in boiling water for about a minute, I sauteed some onion in butter, garlic, lemon and dried herbs, dropped in the tortelloni – a couple flips of the pan and they were done.

Gorgeous…

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25 January, 2010

The Formosa Dining Room and Prince Alfred Pub – Maida Vale

Isn’t it amazing how you can live nearly next door to a place for a year and a half, and never quite get around to eating there?  That’s because, in London, I tend to stay Central for my food, if not just for the fact that I’m usually meeting people who are coming from all different directions. That’s how I’ve come never to actually eat at our local pub, The Prince Alfred. It’s a shame, really.

The pub itself is gorgeous: beautiful woodwork, etched glass and private stalls surrounding the bar that are separated by tiny door frames that you have to crouch down to get through. It’s pretty cool.  Their restaurant, The Formosa Dining Room, is set off to the back. It’s a completely different, more contemporary style. It’s pleasant. Nicer than run-of-the-mill pub, but not quite fine dining.

My flatmates and I decided to finally go for a Christmas dinner before we all went our separate ways (the States, Austria, Devon) to visit family.

I started out with a brie pot with bread:

Eh. It was ok. While the bread was supposed to be crisp, it just ended up tasting a bit dry. and even though I was necessarily a fan, there wasn’t enough of it. We finished the bread with half a pot of cheese left. I hate it when that happens.

For my main, I had the butterfish with sweet potato purée and a Champagne sauce:

This was delicious. A very delicate, crispy top was contrasted by a very moist and flavourful meat. I was quite pleasantly surprised by it. The sauce was simple, but it had a lot going on. But to be fair, anything where the main ingredients are butter and booze is bound to be damn tasty.

For dessert, the chocolate brownie with ice cream:

I’ll admit this a brownie ice cream sundae sounded a bit Applebee’s, but it was the only chocolate on the menu, and I had a craving. It was ok, because most chocolate is good, but not anything I would order again. Glad they warmed the brownie though. Otherwise it would have been very dry.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Service was prompt and courteous. Not sure it was the greatest value in the world with about £25-£30 a head (splitting a starter and dessert, including wine) though. In the future, I think I’ll stick to the pub side. There are still a few restaurants in Maida Vale I want to try before I go back here.

Formosa Dining Room, the Pre Alfred on Urbanspoon

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12 January, 2010

The om nom cat

I think this cat and I belong together. He can be the mascot for this blog.

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6 January, 2010

Restaurant Bucegi – Sinaia, Romania

Another gem from my trip to Romania…

After train ride to Sinaia in Transylvania, a near-attack by stray dogs, and getting lost on the way to Peles Castle, I was STARVING. Like, raving lunatic ‘You-Wouldn’t-Like-Me-When-I’m-Angry’ hungry.

I stopped at one of the first places I saw, a half traditional Romanian restaurant, half pizzeria called Restaurant Bucegi.

I was going back and forth about what type of food I should order. I mentioned in my last post, the Italian influence on Romanian cuisine. The happy result of this is the amazing Italian food in the country.  Even though I’d already had pizza in Romania at least 3 times by this point, I opted for it again. I’m so glad I did.

Pizzeria Bucegi, Sinaia Romania

Gorgeous bubbly crust, melted cheese, fresh ingredients… Who’d of thought that a little hole in the wall would produce better pizza than I ever had in Italy?

And the thing is, Bucegi isn’t really unique. It’s about the same as every other Italian place I went to. Cheap, good food, and something for everyone.  And to top it all off, my bill came out to the equivalent of £6 with a main, a glass of wine, still water, coffee and service.

Restaurant Bucegi
Sinaia, Bd. Carol I, Nr. 22
Tel: +40 (0) 244 313 902

–Restaurant photo from Sabin.ro’s Sinaia Gallery

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4 January, 2010

Caru’ cu Bere – Bucharest, Romania

Back at the beginning of December, I went to Romania. It was sort of a spur of the moment trip. I never in my life planned to go to Romania, but I had an extra week of holiday time, SkyScanner told me the cheapest plane ticket was to Bucharest and I actually do know someone there who has always promised to show me around. Sorted.

The first night I was there, my friend Mihnea took me to Caru’ cu Bere, one of the more famous traditional Romanian restaurants in the country. The restaurant is gorgeous – half beer hall and half neo-Gothic cathedral, this place is always busy.

Not really having any concrete idea of what Romanian cuisine is made up of, I ask and am told it’s essentially soup, stews and polenta – Eastern European stereotypes with a twinge of Italian. Okey dokey. That’s what I do.

I start out with the ciorbă de burtă – tripe soup.

Caru cu Bere Romania

I’ve never had tripe before, and you know what? Not heinous.  I’m not sure I’d go for it every day, but it wasn’t bad. The difficulty I had was how the meat actually looked. It was a bit pale and looked a bit stringy, which creeped me out slightly. The taste was nice though. The soup broth itself was super buttery, so it was nice to have that huge-ass loaf of bread you see behind the bowl up above.

We also had a sharing platter of cured meats, olives and cheeses, where I quickly realised another characteristic of Romanian cuisine is size.

Caru cu Bere Romania

By the time the starters were half-way finished, I was full. Without any time for my stomach to settle, my main, the Tochitură Moldovenească - Moldovian Stew – arrived.

Caru cu Bere Romania

The Moldovian Stew is a traditional dish of cubed meats in a heavy sauce served with polenta topped with a sharp cheese.  It is seriously heavy, and seriously good.I don’t even want to think of what the sodium count is on this, but it was so tasty, I went back for seconds a few days later.

I skipped dessert, and rolled home to my hotel – falling asleep in food coma glory.

Caru’ cu Bere is one of those places you just have to go to if you’re in Bucharest, and I’m fairly certain everyone does. It introduced me to Romanian cuisine, and set me up for the rest of the week, lending context to the cuisine – mainly the Italian influence.

Normally when thinking of Eastern European food, you think all goulash and cabbage rolls (and they have that too) but it’s the other ingredients – the parmesan, the polenta, the olives – that make this type of cuisine unique. Ultimately, it’s what makes it shine.

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28 December, 2009

Balan’s – Soho

Balan’s is generally known for their breakfasts. They usually get overall good reviews for food, but bad for service – which generally is how breakfast places go. I, however, went for dinner on a Sunday night. My friend and I were thinking Thai food in Soho, but Busaba Eathai was too busy. We found ourselves starved and walking down Old Compton Street and Balan’s seemed good enough.

As we walked in, I realised that this was probably the most flamboyant restaurant I’ve ever been in. I mean, if the location wasn’t a dead giveaway, the zebra-printed walls complemented by purple flourescent light certainly were.  Plus, I could never get the attention of any of the waiters, but my male friend seemed to get along just fine! I had fun teasing him about that.

We were seated and brought some delicious warm assorted breads with some sort of bitter tomato salsa that I’ll definitely avoid next time.

The dinner menu at Balan’s is a bit all over the place. No doubt, you’ll be able to find anything you think you’re in the mood for.  On the starter menu, you’ll see the Greek nibbles situated next to the Quesadillas, for example. The menu is huge too – I counted 21 different main dishes.

We skipped starters, and headed for the main course. I went with a Swordfish with black bean rice, tempura shrimp papaya mango salsa:

The swordfish was prepared medium rare, which was perfect. The black bean rice was just ok – a bit dry. While the mango salsa helped out the dryness, the dish needed more of it. I did get a second ramekin of it though, which made things a lot better. The tempura prawn was brilliant  – just wish there was one or two more of them. I could have done with less swordfish and rice, and more salsa and prawns. It’s going in the right direction, it just needs a bit more balance.

My friend, with Busaba still on the brain, went for Thai Curry with Shrimp:

I love all the colours that come in this dish. It just looks lovely.  Stir-fried Thai spices, onions, peppers, cashews, and coconut cream with egg noodles, this dish was a lot spicier than I thought it would be. That’s a good thing. Apart from the non-menu-listed cucumbers, the noodles were a winner.

Balan’s is pretty good. Not the greatest, not the worst. I do love, however, that the dining room is open till midnight (turned more bar scene after that). It’s perfect if you’re out late, but still want to sit down to a meal. Keep Balan’s in your back pocket for such an occaision, but don’t go out of your way when there are other restaurants in Soho open and not busy.

Balans on Urbanspoon

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18 December, 2009

Pizza East – Shoreditch/Bethnal Green

Pizza in London compared to America, is mostly ‘just ok’.  For me, when you pick up a piece of pizza, it should be thick enough not to droop and to support the toppings that are on it – and all the pizza I’ve had in London doesn’t do that. It’s just a bit bland and thin. Perhaps that’s why it’s necessary to eat it with a knife and fork (oh, you silly Brits and your compulsive cutlery habits!).

That was, until, Pizza East came along. Pizza East was opened up recently by Nick Jones, the dude from Shoreditch House (which is incidentally around the corner). But unlike Shoreditch House, Pizza East’s food is worth all the hype.

The interior is hip. I feel comfortable in here, which is more than I can say about most places in Shoreditch.  It’s also very busy – even at 4pm on Saturday.

My friends and I sit down and order some Olives and Almonds:

Pizza East

Gorgeous. These olives were some of the best I’ve had. Firm and full of concentrated flavour. They were absolutely huge, and I could have happily snacked on them the whole meal.

For a starter, we split the mussels:
Pizza East

Very plump. There was some sort of creme fraiche on these that would have been too much if they used any more of it. It was just a touch, and it was perfect. For three of us, we could have used some more bread for sopping though.

I himmed and hawed over what to get for my pizza. I had it narrowed down to about 4 choices, but finally decided on the Veal Meatball Pizza:
Pizza East

Served with prosciutto, sage, lemon, parsely and cream, this may be the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life ever ever ever.  The crust was bubbly and soft, and it was seasoned! No bland dough! The sage and cream were absolutely made to be paired with veal. As I took a bite, the sauce just sort of bubbled up and engulfed all the other toppings. It was so good.

Others on the table included the Prawn with Garlic, Spring Onion and Marjoram:
Pizza East

This was interesting. The marjoram gave it a bit of Earthiness, which was nice. I was a tad confused by the spring onion though, and I think we all would have preferred a bit of cheese. Still, it was delicious.

The last pizza was the Speck with tomato and rocket.

(Side question: Do you know what ’speck’ is? Neither did we. Apparently it’s like prosciutto, though I’m not exactly clear on the difference and neither was our server. It does, in fact, look a lot like prosciutto – which begs the question, ‘why call it speck, if it looks and tastes like prosciutto AND prosciutto is actually on the menu? Anyone? Anyone?)

Pizza East

This was a much more classic pizza. The speck and rocket were so amazingly fresh, it almost felt like it could be healthy. Plus, it wasn’t dripping in cheese.

The pizza here is brilliant. Every single bite is popping with flavour, and to my absolute delight – everyone I saw in the restaurant abandoned their proper knife and fork, and got down to eating pizza the way it should be eaten – with your hands.

Pizza East on Urbanspoon

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