Happy Birthday to me

I've been chided by several friends for my lack of posting recently. I've been busy cooking and eating lots of delicious food, naturally, I just haven't found the time to sit down and write about it. In particular, it was my birthday last week and I got a fancy new camera, so much of the day was spent taking pictures of food, there was plenty of oppurtunity as we went to Borough Market to buy indulgent food, and then lunch at Franco Manca, the pizzeria in Brixton that everyone's talking about. If you're ever in the area, or even if you're not, go here. Organic thin crust sourdough pizza cooked in a wood burning stove at 500C, this is pizza as pizza should be and all for about £5 a pizza! Like I said, go here.




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GBK

I've not written a post on eating out for a long time, mostly because I've just moved into a new flat, so we've been eating in A LOT. Happily, GBK were doing 2for1 vouchers so we felt vindicated in spending money eating out.

Aaah GBK, why are your burgers so big?? Just look at this monster - yes it looks impressive, but no, I cannot fit it into my mouth. So, when I inevitably try (I refuse to use a knife and fork) everything splodges out onto the plate and my lap and the floor and I am left only with a corner of bun. This acutally drives me mad, why make a burger that doesn't fit into your mouth???

Ok, rant over, the burger pictured, was actually very mediocre, I'm not really a fan of 'veggie burgers' that are actually just vegetables (portobello mushroom 'burger' anyone?), a much better vegetarian option is the falafel burger, its still massive and this time with hummus and cucmber raita and sweet chilli sauce to dribble down your front, so it will still end in tears naturally, but at least it astes good. Meat eaters will do a lot better, the burgers are apparently amazing and much more mouth friendly.

Oh and the chips are tasty too, but you have to order them separately and on top of the burger, it the amount of food that literally leaves you waddling out of the door. Read more...

The Lavender Bakery

So, whilst trying to find a website for the post on Violet Cupcakes, I came across this blog for The Lavender Bakery. Another business making beautiful cupcakes with local, seasonal, organic and fair trade ingredients. It was this picture that caught my eye, how cute is this cake? I also saw a post where someone ordered lots of cakes to use as party invitations, I want my own cakes with my name on now! Read more...

Violet Cupcakes at Broadway Market

One of the treats I procured at the market were these dinky little cupcakes from Violet, the stall next to ours, click here for pictures of the stall - which is beautiful. This are a bit more special than your run of the mill cupcakes, even more special than the more famous cupcake sin London. Firstly, its all organic ingredients. Secondly, the sponge itself is nice too, too often with these cupcakes, its all about appearances and the sponge is all dry and hard. Thirdly, the icing was amazing! They use real fruit purees to colour the icing, and you can really taste it. I must experiment with my own soon....

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Born and Bread Bakery

I spent the weekend selling bread for the Born and Bread Bakery. They are a fabulous artisan bakery selling the most delicious organic breads all made from a sourdough starter and baked in a proper wood-fired oven. They sell in the equally fabulous East Dulwich Deli as well as at various markets all over London. The best bread has to be the huge sourdoughs below, you can buy it in quarters and is definitely the most popular.
Its a fairly random arrangement, but basically, every so often I sell bread for them at one of the several markets they do. Its a bit of extra cash and I get to take home lots of lovely bread. Still, no one like getting up at 7.30am on the weekend...
I did Broadway market on Saturday. A bit out in the sticks for a South Londoner like me, but if you live anywhere near Bethnal Green, its worth a visit, make sure you don't eat before though as half the fun is all the stalls selling food to be eaten straight away. Special mention must be made of the stall selling amazing organic coffee (and Hampstead Tea!) opposite our bread stall at the entrance to the market.

Sunday was Queen's Park Farmers' Market, part of the LFM markets. I particularly like LFM farmers' markets as they are really strict about who sells there so you know that all the producers there genuinely grow and produce their food locally. Queen's park was actually quite big and had a fantastic range of products. I got some of these beautiful roses below and some fish from a stall sellling hand picked shellfish from the Dorset coast.

In retrospect, its actually so much fun doing the stall. I am still entertaining romantic notions of having my own market stall, even though doing it week in week out is serious work for next to no money... It did make me resolve to try harder to buy my food from markets though and not Waitrose (its on my way home from work). When you start with quality ingredients, its so much easier to cook anyway as everything tastes so good already.

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Piece of Plenty

I went to visit Sally, whom I worked with whilst at Piece of Plenty, who are fabulous artisan food producers. They chiefly make granola, but I'm particularly taken with the seedy sprinkle that I literally sprinkle on everything. This is the kind of food you'd make yourself if you had the time (or inclination).

Anyway, naturally, there were suitably delicious things for dinner. We had homemade falafel, which just uses soaked dried chickpeas, and reminds me I must get the recipe and try them myself, with lovely pan fried and caramelised peppers , this is such an easy way to cook peppers, I will also do this myself again and give the recipe. Along with a mango salsa , some raita and other salads making the most of summer. Given the lovely weather recently, we also got to eat outside which was delightful seen as though I live in a first floor flat.


We had some fellow foodie friends eating with us and thanks to a sizeable Harvey Nicks discount, one of them decided to bring the water pictured, which actually sells for £12 a bottle!! The thinking was you have to try these things once, if only to see what the fuss is about. You'll notice that its called artesian spring water, I thought this was a pretentious way of saying artisan, but turns out its actually a type of well...
I must say that my palate was not sophisticated enough to taste any difference, that and I'd already had a glass of red wine, but the other diners seemed to like it....

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Toptable Treat

I wanted to branch and try some of the lovely restaurants in London that I'm always going on about. I tried toptable on a reccomendation and found The Rivington Bar and Grill, in Greenwich, owned by the same people as The Ivy and full of lovely local food. With Toptable we got 50% off food, which is of course a great deal, but in retrospect probably made me a bit reckless, hence I ordered a whole lobster! What the heck, it was worth it! The scallops were also divine, as was the simple tomato salad I started with amongst other things... Maybe I'll be booking more things on Toptable.



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The Florence

Another post on The Florence in Brixton/Herne Hill if only to mention the MASSIVE yorkshire puddings, look at the this beast! After initial scepticism on my part, it has to be said the roast dinner (including the yorkshire pudding) was pretty good. This also reminded me that I must try a Nigella recipe where she fills a massive yorkshire pudding with whipped cream and maple syrup for pudding. Amazing. Read more...

Custard Tarts

I love going out for coffee and the weekend always seems like the perfect time to do so. We ended up going to a little deli in Dulwich Village and when I saw these custard tarts, I couldn't resist.

Oh my god, they were amazing! flaky pastry, rich vanilla custard, a hint of nutmeg... Honestly, the best custard tart I've ever eaten. I bought two more to take home and the next day they were still reassuringly amazing. This has now made me somewhat obsessed and I'm going to try and make my own as soon as possible. watch this space...

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A Good Food Day

Today was a good food day, especially as I didn't cook any of it (Sunday will be my cooking day). First stop was a late lunch at Green and Blue, what a fabulous place, they are primarily a wine shop and deli, with a cafe next door where they serve all the delicious food they sell in the deli. A lot is homemade, what isn't is excellently sourced. not to mention the wine, mmmm.. you can pick any bottle from the shop and drink in the cafe.

Seen as though it was already 3pm by the time we sat down to lunch, it only seemed proper to start things off with a little bellini (and some more prosecco later..). My friend Rose had the leek and spinach quiche which was rich and tasty served with a salad full of veggies. I had the smoked haddock and leek pie, amazing! Rich buttery pastry filled with creamy haddock filling. The perfect lunch.

An afternoon of drinking ensued (and some chippy chips about 6pm), by 11pm I had the munchies, we thought we'd just get a rubbish burger, but then we stumbled on the lovely Hisar on Lorsdship Lane, a kebab shop with a difference, first of all, you can have a beer whilst you're waiting at one of the little tables with cushiony seat, secondly this is top quality kebab food. I had the falafel, loads of big crsipy chickpea bites with hummus, tzsatiki, chilli sauce and salad, the perfect after pub meal!

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Canteen

I love so much about Canteen, they're all about Great British Food, everything is responsibly and nationally sourced - good quality meat and sustainable fish. The menu's all comfort food classics its all cooked to order and reasonably priced (in the realm of the lower quality chains all over London). So all in all pretty good, plus its Tom Aiken's restaurant and I have a bit of a thing for Tom Aiken...

My personal favourites are the pies, daily changing veggie and meaty pies, served with mash and greens - mmmmm. Plus they only cost £9!

There are two restaurants, both in fabulous locations, Spitalfields and The Royal Festival Hall, both with lovely plush booths and central communal tables to give a canteen feel. Make sure you book though... Read more...

Time for Tea

The most pleasant thing to do of an afternoon in my opinion is to have afternoon tea. The most important things are lots of tea, scones, clotted cream and plenty of time spent. When I was in Oxford, the best place by far was The Rose, possibly my favourite place in the whole world. They have wonderful leaf teas (my favourite being the vanilla tea) and the scones are seriously the best I've ever tasted. They make them all in the kitchen daily. And, crucially, they serve them warm, with lots of clotted cream and homemade jam.


The picture above isn't actually taken in the Rose, it was a lovely tea room I found on a country walk with my friends Jamie and Jen. They had clotted cream, but the scones weren't amazing. Anyway, I'm sure I'll writing a lot more about The Rose in the future.

What follows is the recipe from The Rose itself, should you be inclined to make your own...

Ingredients
750g organic self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
50g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter
a pinch salt
320-350ml milk
1 egg, whisked to use as egg wash

Sift the flour with baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut the butter into dice, rub the butter into the flour with a very light touch, ensuring your finger never touch the butter, always keep the flour in between. Continue until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
Add milk, cut into the mixture with a palette knife a few times to distribute the milk better. Then gather the mass together gently rather than kneading. Roll out onto a floured tabletop to a thickness of 2½cm. Stamp out with a scone cutter. Place on a baking tray and brush the top with egg wash. Bake for 20min at 180-190°C. Read more...

Cafe Provencal

Cafe Provencal by Herne Hill station is one of those places that I cycle past everyday on my way to work, but it never really registered. Anyway, with something to celebrate and many of the other restaurants in the area exhausted, we decided to give this a go...

We were pleasantly surprised, the decor is all haphazard bohemian, and the atmosphere is really relaxed. The menu was good with regularly changing specials and it all looked homemade. I had the pasta special, white truffle ravioli with spinch and walnut pesto and it was delcious! served with a side salad too. Special mention must be given to the massive, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside chips - amazing.

Seen as though we skipped starters, we decided to have dessert and coffee, my favourite way to end a meal... we had good coffee and a prune and chocolate brownie. Sounds a bit strange but the sweet and gooey prunes worked really well. Plus, how lovely are the cups?

This is the kind of place to come for weekend lunches/brunches or a relaxed evening meal. I'm sure I'll be back.... Read more...

Woodlands

The second is Woodlands, a South Indian vegetarian restaurant. It was recommended to me by an Indian friend, so I thought that was a pretty good indicator. The interior was much more spacious and light than your typical Indian restaurant, the service was very good and we had a wonderful time.

The menu was overwhelming, most Indian food in this country is Punjabi, typically meatier, greasier and fattier; so there were lots of dishes that I'd never seen before. We plumped for the rice and lentil puffs studded with cashew and chilli that came with a delicious homemade coconut chutney. Then woodlands korma and saag paneer. It was all so delicous, light and delicately spiced. The saag panner was particularly good. Given we opted for pretty safe choices, I definitely need to go back as there's so much to try! Some people on the table next to us got thalis, which is a tray holding several little dishes and they looked fab.

Hmmm, when can I go back...
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Wahaca

I'm really annoyed with myself as I ate in 2 really fabulous restaurants the past 2 evenings and I forgot my camera! Now I know its all about the pictures, but I thought it was worth at least worth mentioning them as they are definitely worth visiting. Plus, it gives me the excuse to go back and take pictures...

The first is Wahaca, the much hyped restaurant of Thomasina Myers. Apparently its been completely packed since opening and I can see why. Its hearteneing to see a restaurant do something well and actually be successful. I think I fell for the idea of Wahaca first, all the chicken and pork is free range, the fish is sustainable and they sorce as much as possible locally, pretty good eh? Anyway, yes it is busy, we got there at 6.30 so didn't have to wait but by 7 the queue was out of the door. But, I guess in that area of soho where everything is so touristy and overpriced, its worth it. Considering how busy it is, the service is also friendly and efficient

The menu is well thought out too, its kind of like spanish tapas. We had about 2 of the smaller dishes each to share, we were excited at the prospect of eating happy meat so went down the meaty route a bit, but the fish pastor, mushroom quesadilla and frijoles turned out to be the best. The highlight may possibly have been the churros, but that's probably down to nostalgia (many afternoons spent eating exquisite churros in Valencia) more than anything else, they were good though, if a little too crisp and the chocolate was excellent, hence the completely empty bowls at the end. All in all we spent £14 each including wine (and churros), so good value too! Read more...

Gordon's wine Bar - the perfect meal

Gordon's Wine Bar is already well established as a cult favourite in London. As anyone who tries to go there after 5pm will attest. General practice is to squeeze in with everyone else in the cavernous cellar and hover by tables until one becomes free. You have to be pretty quick though as there are usually about 10 people waiting behind you.


This, however is all part of the charm, its not this packed for nothing. This is one of London's oldest wine bars, and it really is a wine bar, they only serve wine and port, Madeira or sherry from the barrel. The food is another of its all important charms, simplicity is key, but it is done very well. There are homemade pies and massive scotch eggs. But we plumped for the ploughman's, there's a large range to choose from (although I'd have liked more English cheeses), lots of crusty bread, butter, pickled onions, pickle. The portions, it must be said, are massive. We had about 4 ploughman's between 6 of us and I was pretty overwhelmed by the mass of cheese. We managed sot finish it though..

Wine, bread and cheese, all in all the perfect meal. Read more...

Leon

Most people know Leon as somewhere to get a tasty, healthy lunch on the go without worrying whats in it. The superfood salads are downright delicious, as is the brown rice pilaf and the slaw which accompany most of the bigger dishes.

Anyway, my point, you can also go to Leon for dinner. Its the same yummy food, but served on nice plates with candles and wine. Somehow it works, pick the right Leon (we went to the one in Spitalfields market) and you get a lovely cosy atmosphere, not too many people and cheap (surprisingly good) wine.

We went fo rmy friends birthday and it was perfect for us as really we just wanted somewhere we could get nice food, drink lots and talk all night, which we did for about £20 each. Not bad! Read more...

Camden Arts Cafe

Staying out late, not making lunch and working on Finchley Road mean that my options for lunch are pretty limited, usually to Waitrose (surprisingly unappetising) sandwiches. Anyway, a lunch date and a bit of googling led me to the Camden Arts Cafe, the kind of place you could happily while away an afternoon in (if you didn't have to work).


The food was really good in the sense that they use seasonal ingredients and you can tell its all been made there. I opted for the panini which was probably a bit boring, but nice none the less, we also had a small salad plate of exciting salads with lovely soft bread. The soup looked good as did the other various tarts and salads in the fridge. The pastrami sandwich is worth trying too.


I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot more time there... Read more...

The Big Bang

Working at The Big Bang during my student days, the free meal we got at the end of the shift was seriously the highlight of my day. Sad as that might be, this is the best sausage and mash ever. The Big Bang only serve sausage and mash, but they are testament to doing something simple really well. Plus, they are loads of different sausages and mash, so really there are loads of variations. It all comes with peas and red cabbage, this is what sets them apart for me.


I always have the mushroom and tarragon sausages, by far the nicest veggie sausages. The pork and apple though is probably the best meaty one. I always have mustard mash too, but the rose mash (bright pink due to beetroot) is another good one.

Since I was last there, I'm sure the portions have shrunk, but they're still pretty big. The service is also a bit 'friendly' , but all in all, definitely worth visiting Oxford for. Read more...

The Florence

The Florence on Dulwich Road is not your traditional pub, but more in the vein of the trendy gastropubs that are everywhere now. This is not a bad thing, its spacious, airy, full of comfy couches, perfect for a Sunday gathering of friends or a cosy date. All this and they have Aspall's cider and house red and white on tap too!

The most important thing, the food, is pretty good. In that its exactly the kind of thing you want to eat after a few too many pints. Burgers, bangers and mash, pies... all very reasonably priced too.

We went for a hotdog topped with fried onions, which was pretty damn good. Anything topped with fried onions is good in my book. We also had little cheddar and pea pasties, not really pasties, more delicate than that and the filling was a bit too pureed, but they tasted delicious.


The Bishop on Lordship Lane seems to be in the same group of pubs, the food is equally good as is the atmosphere. Read more...