Wednesday 18 April 2012

Vinoteca

Vinoteca is a wonderful wine bar that serves excellent food in Farringdon, just on St. John Street. It also has a venue in Marylebone but I’ve only frequented the Farringdon venue on occasion over the past 4 years. It was here I suggested to catch up with my friend from South Ken.
We arrived after work and unsurprisingly in a venue that doesn’t take reservations, the space was already full for dinner, comprising of a typical after work mixture of professionals, business and creative types. We were offered the extensive wine menu and offered a bar stool while we wait for space to me made. Although our host tells us that the wait should be 45 minutes, we waited only 15 minutes. This was just enough time to order a glass of prosecco and browse the wine menu. Given the extent to the menu I found it difficult to make a decision and we eventually settle for a Santa Duc.
Upon being seated we order some olives and almonds to nibble on. They’re salty and tasty. For our mains I order the lamb and my friend goes for the polenta. Both main courses arrive quickly, probably too quickly as we're still nibbling on the olives and almonds.
The lamb is served with delicious mashed potatoes, greens and gravy. The cut of lamb is full of flavour and falls of the knife. It’s cooked to perfection. The polenta is served with cheese, greens and gravy. I tasted the polenta and it was quite nice, but nothing to particularly rave about. Ok yes, fantastic no. The lamb however I would say was pretty fantastic.
For me Vinoteca is more than just the food, it’s the wine and the ambience. The seats are packed tightly together as you would expect in any French bistro. It’s a great place for a chinwag and a good catch up with old friends. It would also be a great location for a first date or a nice evening out full stop. I would also recommend it for a working lunch. French in design, the wine and food match the French expectations. My only advice would be to seek advice to navigate the wine menu. 
The courses are affordable, the lamb excellent in value at £14.95 and the polenta at £10.95. The olives and almonds cost £3 and the wine just shy of £22 per bottle. It's probably because I'm spoilt for choice in some my regular haunts in that sparking water is provided by the house. At Vinoteca it was charged at £2.50 per bottle and this was a bit annoying. I would have much preferred for an extra couple of quid added to the cost of the mains and serve filtered sparkling and non-sparkling water. But it's not a stickler. Our bill for 2 came to £100 tip included.
Vinoteca on Urbanspoon

Ducksoup

After previous failed attempts of visiting Ducksoup in Soho, it was for Sunday brunch that I eventually visited this popular establishment on Dean Street. It’s a small venue comprising of stools at the bar, a daily changing menu and a handful of tables scattered throughout the L-shaped venue. The menu is simple suited towards a tapas of sharing dishes, complemented by a fuller main course menu from the kitchen.
I arrived slightly before my brunch companion, so spent time people watching and checking out the venue in general. Ducksoup has the vibe of being a bit too cool for school and not in a good way necessarily, and on the Sunday we visit the venue is frequented by parents with their freshly delivered infants from the stork. It’s surprising that babies so small take up so much space, or at least their buggies do. The parents seemed to have little interest in moving said contraptions (the buggy that is, not the baby…though….).
Seated at the bar, we started with the (excellent) bread, green olives, saucisson seche, and delicious ratee potatoes served with dill and cucumbers. I could not find fault with any of these selections. They provided a wonderful array of flavours and I additionally liked the assortment of ware they came served in.
We followed the tapas with an order from the kitchen. Here we opted for the marinated seabass presented with blood orange and the shoulder of braised lamb and canelli beans served with zatar . With hindsight ordering both of these at the same time was an error. The reason why this was a mistake is that the seabass struck me as being a traditional cold starter.
It was tasty and I think would have tasted even better if we had ordered it as a starter or at least earlier than the lamb. Instead, it arrived the same time as the lamb which had a strong meaty taste to it and overpowered the more refined flavours of the sea bass. What’s more was that as the lamb was truly mouth watering. Really, just superb. All energy was expended on admiring the melt in your mouth lamb and the sea bass was forgotten about somewhat so I don’t think it received the justice it deserved.
While we ate, records were spun from the player located just inside the door. We decided to share a crème caramel for desert. It was underwhelming at best, by far the poorest or our selections, just really bland I suppose. At £5 for dessert, bland is not the word I want to have to use to describe my dessert.
So, the venue is nice, the food very good, there was something however that just didn’t quite hit the spot regarding the clientele. Maybe it was just an off day. That said, the food couldn’t be faulted (except the dessert). Lunch for 2 excluding alcohol came to around the £40 mark.
Ducksoup on Urbanspoon

Burger and Lobster

So I sent the word around, putting forth that Mayfair was offering a restaurant purporting to serve burger or lobster for £20. That’s right, £20, in Mayfair. Suffice to say, people were interested. Having finished earlier than anticipated at my pre-arranged hair appointment, I headed up early towards Green Park and to the restaurant as a no reservations policy was in operation. As it was a Friday evening, I assumed it would be busy. I arrived around the 6.30pm mark and already the list of names was long. Others clearly had a similar plan to my own. The lovely doorman took my name and number and informed me that it would be around 2-3 hours by the time I would have a seat. He directed me to a boozer around the corner where I and my friends waited and caught up. For the most part we discussed whether we would have burger or lobster. You’d be surprised the level of self reflection and soul searching that takes place when deciding on what to opt for. Two of the boys, proud as punch decided to go halves, so traumatised were they by the potential of food envy.
A couple of hours in we had not received any telephone call so we figured we’d head back and have a drink at the bar while we waited for the patrons to finish up their food. Luckily we did as the kitchen was soon to close. The front of house manager seated us at the bar to enjoy a beverage while we waited for our table.
Seated at the bar we got chatting to the barman to solicit advice on what to eat. For him, it was the burger every time, and when he informed us that the kitchen was soon to close, we hurriedly placed our order as the trauma would have just been too much had we missed out on the food after all the discussion. After pronounced deliberation we selected 2 burgers, 2 lobsters and 1 rolled lobster. When the floor manager returned he told us that he had informed the kitchen that we had arrived and that they would have continued for us anyhow, which was a very nice touch.
As we awaited our order we looked on enviously at the patrons around the bar enjoying their dinners. A look of contentment permeated their facial features as they masticated their food. Being seated at the bar offered the advantage of watching the barmen make the cocktails, an artistic endeavour in itself.  

It didn’t take long for our order to arrive. All the mains were served with fries and salad. The plates are monsters, their contents wonderful. The lobster was offered grilled or steamed.  The consensus was that grilled would be best giving a slightly smoky feel to it. The thing with lobster is that it makes your work for it. A lobster scissors was provided but I required assistance to break through the shell. The reward was succulent lobster. The rolled lobster in a brioche bun was a calorific intake of happiness rolled in a light mayonnaise type sauce. There was a bit of a kick to the mayo, maybe some wasabi, but just a slight kick.


The burger was served with bacon, melted cheese, lettuce, red onion, tomato and pickle. The pattie is quick simply phenomenal , and it has the added benefit of being possible to just pick up and bite into unlike the lobster which makes you work for its goodness. Each main course was very satisfying. One of the boys upon completion of his burger said with an understated aplomb that it was probably the best burger he had had in the last two years. He likes his burgers.
Before we visited, we had concluded that £20 seemed cheap for a burger but expensive for a lobster. Following our dinner, and in anticipation of my next visit, I think I would select the burger as it was truly delicious. That is not to say that the lobster was a poor second best. It was not. It was also most excellent. It’s just that the burger rocked and joins the upper echelons of the burger society in London, joining the greats like Lucky Chip, Hawksmoor and so on. Fine company to be in.
Whether it was the fact that he spotted us taking pictures of our delectables and figured out that a blog may ensue, or whether he was just a decent bloke – the latter I think, and if the former, how bad; our barman offered us a tour of the lobster tanks. The transportation of the lobsters follows the seasons. At the time of our visit they were flown over twice a week from North America. As the season progresses they travel from further south down the East American coast. It’s nice to be guaranteed that the lobster is fresh. Shame they don’t get to see more of London after travelling such a distance but hey ho what to do.
Advice, get there early and get the name on the list, otherwise you will be disappointed. Be prepared to wait a couple of hours. Just head to a local boozer, there are several around the corner in Shepherd Market to choose from to suit an assortment of tastes. Oh yes, and if ordering cocktails, do not order the long island iced-teas as part of the soul of the barmen die each time a patron asks for this drink.
The venue is great, the staff at the door, the management and the bar staff were flawless in their professionalism and friendliness. If I was to make any complaint, it would be that being Mayfair, there were a fair few wanker banker patrons in attendance. Hopefully they buy the expensive wine and cocktails (long-island iced teas I assume) that keeps the venue rolling over. Our bill for 5 people totalled £140 inclusive of tip and 1 beer each in addition to our burger and lobsters.

Burger & Lobster on Urbanspoon

Dehesa

We are spoilt for choice in this fair London of ours when it comes to food and more specifically when it comes to Spanish food. I am fortunate enough to have Moro of Exmouth Market a 5 minute stroll from my workplace, Jose’s and Pizarro’s are in my ‘hood’ on Bermondsey Street, and last but not least, Dehesa is but a hop, skip and jump from my swimming pool on Marshall Street.
It was then to Dehesa that I booked an early Friday tapas for my cousin and I before we headed off to the theatre to see The Ladykillers – a good show by the way, Graham Linehan (of Father Ted fame adapted the screenplay), and Malcolm from In the Loop stars. By early, I mean 6pm, and as I had just gone for a swim at the aforementioned Marshall Street GLL pool (great reconverted art deco pool, I highly recommend), I arrived around 5.30pm. I was happy to spend a spare half an hour contemplating life, the wine menu and listening to the fantastic music on the in-house music system. Think Slow Train, Nina Simone, Nighmares on Wax, Gotye. All great tunes.
I was sure to be early as my cousin informed me that I shouldn’t be late as she had no phone. No problem thought I as I sipped on my very nice glass of red and contemplated what we would order from the tapas bearing in mind the vegetarian lifestyle choice my cousin has chosen for herself.
By 20 past 6, there was still no sign of the cousin. At this stage I was fairly peckish from the 2km swim and salivating at the chorizo, piquillo peppers, and tortilla the menu offered. I had previously enjoyed the pork belly at Dehesa and the lamb chop (both excellent), so I was beginning to regret my choice of dinner companion. Eventually I received a message on Facebook from the cousin messaging me from the Apple store on Regent Street trying to figure out where the restaurant was. Eventually she arrived to Ganton Street; it was I think a victory for the accountant.
In the interim, I had ordered the padron peppers, grilled chorizo with aubergine and paprika oil, salt cod croquettas with romesco sauce, the tortilla, and the spinach and ricotta malfatti. I was upset as I really wanted to taste the prawns sautéed with garlic, parsley, chilli and fino sherry; but when I say the cousin is a vegetarian, she’s a proper one, not even the delights offered to pescatarians will sway her convictions.

The tortilla was excellent. Just the classic sort, very simple, yet I countless occasions previously, the taste is overdone mush. At Dehesa, the crisp exterior nestles together nicely with the eggy potato centre, perfectly seasoned. Ditto for the padron peppers (or pardon peppers as Microsoft keeps trying to correct me; excuse me said the pepper, no excuse me) presented with rock salt which again were simple and very enjoyable.
Upon first inspection, I was not particularly impressed with the patatas fritas. They seemed to look a bit too chippy for my liking. However, they were something of a revelation I think due not only to the romesco and alioli sauce, but also due to what I think was a chilli type gentle coating of the patatas. Though it could have been paprika. My ignorance stands to be corrected, but as I said it was just a gentle hint so forgive my ignorance. The chorizo was as expected, of good quality and well paired with the aubergine and paprika.
I was least impressed with the salt cod croquettas, but that’s mainly because I really feel the only croquette that should walk the face of this earth is the ham croquetta. Much the debate has been had about the merits/demerits of the constituent elements of the croquetta and essentially like everything with food, it comes down to personal conviction. However, for me the ham croquette is the winner every time. The salt cod is just too overpowering for my liking. The cousin enjoyed the spinach and ricotta malfatti though I didn’t taste.
At this stage we requested the bill that was until we spotted the waiter arrive with truffles to the couple seated beside us. With the time ticking close to 7.30pm, we decided to risk it and order one, and though we were late for the theatre it was worth it. 3 truffles were presented with a glass of sherry and biscotti on a rectangular wooden board.
At this point, I should probably point out, that as well as being a vegetarian the cousin was also off chocolate for lent. Why do people give stuff up for lent, I prefer to become a better person. So essentially then, I ate the truffles. They were delicious combining a rich centre that was not quite solid, yet not quite smooth and dusted in cocoa powder. Eventually we got the bill (£60 for 2 including wine and dessert), and headed off to The Gielgud Theatre full of excellent tapas, excellent wine and excellent music. Topped off with the excellent service, I offer my compliments to the chef, staff and whoever put together the song list. I love being spoilt. It suits my personality.
Dehesa on Urbanspoon

Pitt Cue Co

I have been meaning to visit Pitt Cue for some time. Located in the heart of Soho on Newburgh Street, Pitt Cue has made a name for itself for carnivore type foodies. Pitt Cue is another of those small restaurants in London that does not take reservations. It’s very much service on a first come first served basis. Some find this off putting. I don’t have a problem with it at all. So long as you have a bit of time, don’t mind having a drink at the bar or at a neighbouring watering hole while you wait, then no problem. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Friday evening. On the evening I arrive at Pitt Cue, a queue has already formed. Fortunately for me, one of those in the queue is my friend. The doors opened at 6pm and patrons are quickly seated either downstairs in the small restaurant or upstairs on the stools by the window or wait at the bar. We are not in the first sitting but our very friendly host directs us to the bar.
The tiny space makes for quite an intimate atmosphere and you certainly get to know your neighbours. I reckon they can hold about 30 covers-ish. The host does not flinch when she sees my folding bike and we make space for it in the bar. It’s that kind of place. I’m not given a choice in the type of drink despite a bar offering multiple whiskey based cocktails. My friend decides that we are having whiskey sours and who am I to argue. The sours are quite delicious and easily a drink you could get very drunk on given their nectar like qualities. Though I’m fairly sure they’re one of your five a day, so that’s all good. What’s even more exciting are the cows that are handed out with the drinks to account for your bar tab.
Ours was a brown and white friendly sort of cow, unlike the cow that knocked me out in the farmyard when I was 3 years of age. But, I’ve built a bridge over that episode…bad cow.
The concept for the menu is simple. You choose your meat along with a side. As it was my first time at Pitt Cue the shredded pork and ribs had to feature in our dishes. The special was onglet but the smells emanating somewhere in the environs screamed ribs and pork. So we opted for the pulled pork and beef ribs. We got it with a side of burnt end mash and a side of chipotle slaw.

And what about the taste? Amazing. Amazing all round. It got to the stage where in between bites the only words emanating from my mouth was the word amazing. And I like to think of myself as having more than one word in my vocabulary.
There was only one way to eat the barbeque coated ribs – with both hands and then devour with your teeth. A fork and knife just will not suffice. Even writing about it now, I can smell of the beautiful barbeque flavour. There’s no getting away from it.
The slaw had a delicious spicy tang to it, served with corn and a dollop of sour cream, and was the only piece of vegetarian type food we came across. Well I suppose you could include the hunks of bread as vegetarian but as the only aim of the bread is to mop up the meaty barbeque mush, this doesn’t really qualify as vegetarian. Even the burnt end mash, you guessed it, creamy and amazing, had a meaty texture to it, served as it was with, yes, burnt end meat.

The main courses came served in old enamel type containers, the type you’d normally serve milk to your cat in…or if you’re one of my friends, the type of bowl that he had his breakfast served to him in each morning growing up. Spot the unloved child.
We had beer with the mains, because it simply feels like what should be had. Around 8.30pm there seemed to be a lot less people waiting so for those who are not particularly enamoured with the whole waiting game, this might be the optimum time to arrive.
For dessert we had a bourbon pudding and a peanut butter brownie. The brownie was ok, I’ve never really been a fan of brownies since I made them at home myself and saw what I actually put into them. I just don’t get the level of enjoyment out of what goes in. The bourbon pudding now was another matter altogether. Just amazing. Melted in the mouth, came with a scoop of ice-cream, it really was amazing (I promise I won’t use the word amazing for a long time after this post). 
As you can see from the review, I clearly found Pitt Cue to be amazing. Each member of staff we encountered provided fantastic and friendly service. Our bill came to £31 + tip for the food. As we had (a lot) of alcohol, the overall bill totalled £92 tip included In summation, from the door in to the door out, the service, the food, the drink was perfect. This should definitely be high on the list of any carnivore out there. Do a good deed, bring a vegetarian with you and convert them to the meaty side. They’ll thank you for it. Pitt Cue is the kind of venue that makes you feel sorry for vegetarians. It’s just an experience that everyone should enjoy. Flawless, and oh yes, AMAZING.
Pitt Cue Co on Urbanspoon