TheKua Does Food

Going back through some photos from Copenhagen was this wonderful cafe I had brunch at whilst staying over one weekend. Located slightly north of the great lakes, and on a side street off Stroget, The Laundromat Cafe sits welcoming patrons to its alfresco dining.

I love discovering and trying out unique places like this. It was started as a way of creating a nice environment for people to hang out and enjoy themselves whilst actually doing their laundry (hence the name). I can’t actually recall seeing any of them because I sat outside, but I’m sure that they probably have them out back. Regardless, it was certainly popular with locals.

Their brunch menu seemed quite reasonable and, like most Danish cafes, a nice balanced offering of both healthy options, and the greasy fry up. As you can see below, I opted for the greek yogurt with museli, an orange juice a coffee.

Like most places in Denmark, the coffee was great (although quite large), and the yogurt was also served with some fruit. I’m not sure how much the breakfast was, but I remember thinking that it was pretty reasonably priced.

As a tourist, you’re not likely to stumble across this place but it’s definitely worth seeking out if you want something a bit more unique and for locals.

Name: The Laundromat Cafe
Website: http://www.thelaundromatcafe.com/
Found at:Elmegade 15 / København N.

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I think there’s a good reason why Gordan Ramsey’s empire is starting to crumble, with our visit to Maze a testament to what you pay for a brand instead of the quality that you get. I remember seeing Maze when I first moved to London, thinking about how reasonable everything seemed on the menu only finding out later that they were for tapas-sized portions, not mains. Whoops!

Everything on the inside is definitely decadent and looks like it certainly deserves a Michelin star from the intimate detail with cutlery, the tableware and the interior wide and spacious considering how central its location is near Oxford Street.

The bread selection was lovely decent with a mini baguette and some bread sticks. The butter was so-so, not particularly flavoursome but okay nevertheless. As you can see, presentation was nice as well.

We came here on the three course lunch deal, which is probably the best value rather than ordering ala carte. Of course, you suffer a limited selection but you get a good enough idea of the quality of the food. Unfortunately I only took pictures of the starters, a beetroot and goats cheese salad which was delicious and a great way to start. I remember having fish for the main meal and though it was a much better serving than the pork belly, I don’t remember it being particularly special.

At the end of the meal, you also got some, not quite, petite fours (chocolate ginger and turkish delight here).

Out of all things considering, ambience and the brand are probably the two things you pay the most for. I remember service being particularly sloppy (we had to ask for top ups of our water) and no one seemed to really take notice of when we finished our meal and wanted the bill. I don’t even remember it being particularly busy.

Gordon’s empire may be built on something, but I can tell you that if this is what it was built on, he’s got many better places to compete with.

Name: Maze
Found at: 13-15 Grosvenor Square, London, W1K 6
Contactable on: http://www.gordonramsay.com/maze
TheKua.com rating: 6 out of 10

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I’ve lived around the corner from The Zetter for quite some time and although I’ve gone drinking in their court yard, I’d never really sat down to eat. Mainly because it seemed a little bit poncy (i.e. pricy) from the outside. I mean when you have wallpaper (as shown below), you think it’s going to be all for show.

With some great deals on Top Table at the moment, it’s definitely worth going. In fact, after eating there I still think it’s a good place for a quality dinner regardless of whether or not you get the deal. The focus for The Zetter is modern Mediterranean with foods from all over, though noticeably more focused on Italian and Spanish themes. Take for example the bread, a simple, slightly crisped rosemary foccacia with some olive oil for dipping.

I had quite a bit of difficulty choosing from the menu, a good sign that it had some interesting dishes. I have a feeling the their menu is seasonal as it was printed on a piece of paper and then supplemented by some daily specials. I decided to start with the aubergine soup, served with creme fraiche and a piece of garlic toast.

I’m not sure if you can really tell in the photo, but it was deliciously thick and had strong flavours though was slightly over-seasoned with too much black pepper. A bit of a shame because everything else was so nice. Next up was the main.

A twist on the classic Paella, this version was made with Orzo (an Italian rice shaped pasta) though served with plenty of seafood and available for a single person (unlike all other places that seem to mandate at least two people have it). Chock full of flavour and bursting with seafood, this was super enjoyable.

Although their best dessert was apparently the crème brule, I’ve been a sucker for Tiramisu for a while, so I was intrigued by the “Zetter Tiramisu”. Served in a glass, it was the traditional layers although I think they’d opted for some sort of coffee liquor and had some fresh berries to provide a tart contrast. Served with an almond biscotti, perfect for dipping it wasn’t long before I had finished it.

I remember a very extensive wine menu although we weren’t drinking that night. They also seemed to have some reasonable and interesting cocktail creations as well. Service on the other hand was impeccable throughout. It was prompt, our tap water was constantly filled up and we were never pressured into being upsold or anything.

I’d definitely go back for a meal again.

Name: The Zetter
Website: http://www.thezetter.com/
Found at: St John’s Square, 86 – 88 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5RJ.

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Now that I have a bit more time not commuting I’m going to try to backtrack some of the wonderful places I’ve had a chance to eat at in the past.

One of the first that springs to mind is Ebisu, owned by D&D London (formerly Conran restaurants). D&D London is always well known for all their stylish restaurants and Ebisu is no exception, housed in a harbour side building offering three different dining experiences (Italian, Japanese and Bar & Grill). Ebisu is just one of them.

Each table is complete with seasonings including white pepper, salt, and the lovely Japanese pepper mixture, Shichimi, all with a very nicely presented container. Whilst waiting for everyone to arrive for dinner we ordered some wasabi peas and some edamame. Although I wouldn’t think there to be that many differences, the wasabi peas were definitely the best I’ve ever had, strangely fresh and full of wasabi-goodness.

The following dish is the yellowtail carpaccio with an orange and ginger dressing. Light, summery and super fresh tasting.

Disappointingly the following dish, advertised as “rock shrimp” weren’t the same rock shrimp that is farmed in the US that I’ve had at both Nobu and Morimoto. The tempura shrimp was still delicious, light and crisp batter with the grated ginger and delicious dipping sauce.

Definitely the highlight for my meal was the Robata Grilled skewers. The one at the back my personal favourite (pork belly that was soft, lean and yet full of flavour), the other, a beef skewer with miso.

Freshening it up was a wonderful freshly cooked asparagus with yuzu hollandaise. The asparagus was perfectly cooked, still crisp yet soft at the same time. The yuzu flavour wasn’t particularly strong but present enough to give it that extra zing.

Service at Ebisu was pretty impeccable. Our tap water was filled up pretty consistently and we were asked enough whether or not things were okay. Whilst I’d probably keep this place as somewhere particularly special, it was a great treat during the week.

Name: Ebisu
Website: http://www.customhouse.dk/uk/customhouse.html
Location: Havnegade 44, 1058 København K, Denmark

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Moto is found in the meat packing district of Chicago. Unlike other cities where the meat packing district has now been overrun, this meat packing district is still full of butchers and trucks carrying carcasses and their processed goods to their destinations. It seems to definitely stand out on its own.

Moto is much smaller than I thought it was going to be with room for probably no more than 50 or 60 covers. The greeting area is just as small and there is only one set of toilets available for each gender. Décor is understated with only a curtain hanging from one side of the room and a mirror with wooden panels on the other.

This restaurant is yet another one of those that specialise in using modern cooking techniques, ala Fat Duck and Il Bulli with this chef’s speciality known as creating edible paper creations jam packed with printed flavours. They offer a 20 course tasting menu and a 10 course tasting menu and we were pretty happy with the latter one.

Our first dish was an assortment of small flavours, served complete with the menu printed onto edible paper and then propped up against a thin slice of garlic toast.

I can’t really remember all the little flavours but you can see the toast sitting atop some whipped butter, a poached garlic bulb with some toasted sesame seeds. And I think the black dots were balsamic but can’t really remember what the green sauce was.

The next dish was a trio of dishes made to look like a breakfast, yet cleverly made with savoury flavours. On the left was a shrimp cake, a breakfast “gazpacho” made with, what looked like, tiny scrambled eggs and then the item to the right what looks like an egg is actually a puffed garlic, deliciously light and delicate dotted with a yolk that was made out of corn reduction. The shrimp cake was firm and crisp, the gazpacho packed full of summery tomato flavours.

Our next dish, the “instant risotto” was made out of puffed rice, topped with a roasted piece of flaky piece of fish and made with some English peas and micro grains. They had already poured a soup into it, and we were asked to mix it together until it really became the consistency of risotto.

Here’s the result:

Whilst not working perfectly (I think there was too much soup) we all agreed it was a tasty dish. The puffed grains of rice gave that crisp contrast to the dish, almost giving it the firmness you’d expect from properly cooked arborio rice.

The next dish was a baguette and gruyere cheese whipped together, pasted to the side and then brûléed to give it some additional caramel notes. The spoon sitting on the centre had brown onions that had been cooked on the spoon itself, with an onion broth being poured at the table. On top of all this sat a home made, dehydrated and then puffed onion ring towering magnificently above the entire dish.

Our next dish was the pequin capon (a variant of some sort of chicken). I can’t really remembering the details of what this dish was served with but I do remembering thinking how tasty it all was. One of my fellow diners commented on the excellent plating (which I thought looked like a fish) but him noticing the tiny sliver of celery leaf on the sauce used to offset the entire look.

It also came served with an edible paper in a small plastic bag, brushed the flavour of buffalo chicken wings. It had some great kick to it.

The next dish definitely wowed us all, presented as the cuban pork sandwich and presented as if it were a cuban cigar sitting inside an ashtray. Cleverly made with vine leaves wrapping a cuban pork mixture inside, with a ring of edible paper acting as the cigar paper) and then sitting in a pile of, what looked like, ashes. These ashes, of course, weren’t like any other, made with a combination of black and white sesame seeds and then a cuban spice mixture. Absolutely delicious and something that was definitely memorable.

Our “reuben lasagna” was made with a crisp flake soaked in dill sauce, topped with home made thousand island sauce, and then layered with different items. It was also dished up with some dill pollen which had a surprisingly strong flavour. I can’t remember exactly what was in the middle of this as well.

Our next dish, made to look like an Italian cannoli was yet another sweet looking dish made out of savoury items. The wrapper, a fried tortilla holding a deliciously divine duck mixture, came served served with jalapeno powder and a deep, complex mole sauce.

I’d never had mole sauce before, and if this was anything to go by, I’d definitely order some more again. The jalepeno powder had that delicate, melting in the mouth flavour leaving just enough kick to tell you of its origins.

The happy face was a combination of passionfruit and raspberry sorbets, sitting atop a mint pesto and served with fresh raspberries, a raspberry sauce and coconut ice. Although I thought it would have been too many flavours yet it turned out to work perfectly, making it an excellent palette cleanser and a lovely tropical theme.

This corn cake was steamed and served with some candied corn and a rich brown butter sauce. It was surprisingly light and airy.

Our final trio of desserts was amazing starting with a “bomb”, filled with liquid graham cracker, covered in chocolate, with a sugar “wick” that they actually set on fire.

The next was a mini hamburger, this time sweet acting like savoury with the bread made out of sweet brioche, topped with sesame seeds, the burger patty being a peanut butter mixture, and the cheese (a banana purée), the tomato ketchup (maraschino purée) and the only real thing in there being a real piece of iceberg lettuce. The trio was finished off with a chocolate mousse log (picture not shown), light and delicate but definitely out-wowed by the other two dishes.

It was so impressive that we asked to see if we could have another of the diabetes-inducing yet spectacular bomb. Surprisingly, our waitress said she’d see the kitchen would try and so we ended up with five more sparkling bombs at our table. Yay!

I had a wonderful time dining with my four other guests (Ron, Ajit, Alistair and Tom) experiencing the delicious and complex flavours all presented in an inspiring environment. Whilst not cheap (USD200 including a starting cocktail, a bottle of wine and a large bottle of beer) it was definitely a great experience.

Name: Moto Restuarant
Found at: 945 W Fulton, Chicago, IL, USA
Website: http://www.motorestaurant.com/

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