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Christmas Pig at St Johns

January 13, 2013 Patrick British, Michelin Starred, Restaurants, UK, World's 50 Best

For the past two years, I’ve missed a Christmas time tradition run by the former Burger Tuesday crowd but this year I was free to join in on the annual Christmas pig tradition. As I mentioned, the group has got together to order the whole sucking pig at the Michelin starred St John Restaurant (although Chris ended up reserving the original St John restaurant because the Spitalfields one ended up all booked out. )

We had a pretty large table to share the pig – somewhere between 12-14 people and reports from previous years implied that we wouldn’t really have any problem devouring the whole pig. I started with a Gin and Tonic as others downed some beers, and we tucked into the generous sourdough bread slices and yummy British pats of butter (not enough for the table that we ended up asking for more).

The pig comes with a set menu, or at least it did around this time. Trying to order a set of starters and desserts for such a large group is hard, let alone plan in things appropriately for the main event. Our starter was an interesting salad combining fairly raw cauliflower, broad beans, parsley and a very strong vinaigrette. Although a number found it strange, the vegetables were probably a great way to start the appetite without filling it with meat.

We consumed bottles of this nice red wine.

The pig arrived at a table just off in the near corner where we were allowed to take photos before they carved the pigs into smaller pieces for distribution. The pig flesh was soft, moist and amazingly tender. The only strange thing was that the crackling wasn’t very… crackling. It turned out to be a lot more chewy and moist than what I had hoped for.

The pig came served with a generous heaping of potatoes and cabbages. Both perfectly cooked and full of natural flavour. I’m happy to report unlike stereotypical cooking, the vegetables were not overcooked or anything like that.

Some of the people who came along in the evening, including Chris who organised the entire night. Well done!

The remains of one of the pig legs.

And some more of the Burger Tuesday crowd celebrating the annual Christmas pig.

And yes, it was quite a big table… with more people.

For dessert, they ended up serving one of the largest pies I have ever seen served.

Naturally served with custard, although they should have served more with it. They only had two small jugs of custard with it and it disappeared very quickly.

We could see the kitchen from our table. Even the use of the white board, indicating some of the changes to the dishes or the different wines on offer for the evening. Early on we could even see the suckling pig hanging around in the kitchen, just waiting to be served.

Remnants of our wine.

And finally the outside of the hotel.

A marvellous meal with some great company.

Name: St John, Restaurant
Found at: 26 St. John Street, London, EC1M 4AY
Website: https://www.stjohngroup.uk.com/

Christmas Meal at Galvin at Windows

December 28, 2012 Patrick French, Michelin Starred, Restaurants, UK

Another year, and another Christmas meal with my Italian friends. This year, I offered a choice but the group consensus was to try Galvin at Windows Restaurant and Bar. We first met at the Bar, located on the 28th floor of the Hilton Park Lane.

The bar itself was heaving from people visiting for the Christmas spirit. It’s very comfortable, and if you are happy to wait, there are quite a few places to seat with table service with minimal standing space at the bar. The drink selection, impressive and although quite pricy are very well made by their mixologists. I turned up slightly early, waited at the bar for about ten minutes and then was offered a table when everyone else arrived.

As you can see, you get a pretty good view standing.

The bar itself is also just a decadent. The lighting is dim without being dark, and a golden circle highlights the busy bar area where waiters and waitresses alight their table’s empties and collect a few more orders to drink.

Enough about the bar. As we were here to celebrate Christmas. We had a look at the a la carte menu, but finally agreed to settle on the tasting menu. It’s expensive but I think it was a good special occasion to spend it on.

Here’s Luca enjoying the atmosphere.

The bread basket arrived – a classic white plait, small baguette and some brown bread served with a creamy mound of butter. A simple selection, but well executed.

A small amuse bouche arrived, a small mouthful that was part mousse, part sweet and some other ingredients that I’ve sort of forgotten now. I do remember it being very good though. Rich, but just enough to get the palette going.

Our first dish from the tasting arrived, a scallop ceviche, kohlrabi, cucumber, ruby grapefruit and soy. We had the wine pairing, and a relatively sweet wine came alongside this one as it helped bring out the natural sweetness from the scallops. A light dish, well seasoned and tart on the palette but that really all came together.

Here’s the wine that came with this dish.

Our next course was a ballotine of foie gras, kumquat puree, spiced salt and a vanilla brioche. I’m not a huge fan of foie gras – it’s just a little bit rich for me, and the taste doesn’t really do justice to the intense farming process necessary for me. I’ll eat it, but not be one to order it. A brioche pairing works well – although I think having a slightly more toasted brioche provides a nicer texture contrast against the softer flesh.

Our fish course was a poached fillet of Cornish brill, a herb potato crust, Enoki, shellfish and dashi broth. It’s a strangely Asian inspired combination that came from this French kitchen, but one that worked really well. I particularly liked the crust – a soft potato breaking out from a toasted topping then made way for a soft, white flesh. Each bite covered with a salty, earth broth that I just wanted to drink every drop.

Here’s a photo of Marco enjoying his dish.

Our next course was going to be a meat round, so they wheeled out the fancy knifes.

Toni appreciating the weight in the cutlery.

In the end, we didn’t really need the knife since the venison was so soft. Slow cooked saddle of Scottish venison wrapped in Alsace bacon, braised shoulder beignet, red cabbage, watercress and sauce grand veneur. As you can see in the photo, our beignet ended up being more like a croquette, but one that was burstig with flavour from the softly cooked, shoulder. The venison literally melted apart, and the bacon a good addition to season the meat. This was definitely agreed upon as one of the best dishes of the night.

Of course the venison goes with a glass of red.

After the venison, they brought the menu back to ask us whether or not we wanted the cheese course.

Naturally, we said yes. It was our first Christmas meal of the season after all.

An impressive selection of cheeses accompanied with all the usual fruit, chutneys and cracker selection. Very nice.

Our first round of dessert arrives, a lemon posset, strawberry juice and Breton shortbread. This was one of the best posset’s I’ve ever eaten. Super creamy, full of citrusy notes and perfectly paired with a strawberry juice with a tart sweetness that complimented it all. The shortbread was a nice contrast to the posset as well.

The final dessert arrives, after we are getting really full. It’s a white chocolate mousse, blueberry compote and green tea ice cream. Both of the components were relatively light – green tea has a light flavour and white chocolate mousse much better than a heavier plain or dark chocolate mousse would have. A nice course to finish the tasting.

Of course we have espressos to help us digest, and they come accompanied with petite fours.

Finally, our bill arrives with an impressive jar of marshmallows. We try one.

Service impeccable, food very well executed and a great dining venue for special occasions.

Name: Galvin at Windows
Found at: London Hilton Park Lane, 22 Park Lane, London, Greater London W1K 1BE, United Kingdom
Website: http://www.galvinatwindows.com

Breakfasting at Caravan

December 27, 2012 Patrick Aussie, Cafe, Coffee, Restaurants, UK

It was a fairly rainy day that I met up with a colleague to talk breakfast about the new client I was going to join. We decided to meet somewhere close to my work, and decided on Caravan. It’s a great place that roasts its own coffee, has a great brunch offering on weekends and just a nice atmosphere all around.

Although tempted by lots of the different offerings on their menu, I started with a flat white whilst I waited for my colleague to arrive.

Well made – a perfect “heart” and all the things I look for in a well made flat white – not too hot, creamy milk foam, and a good combination, I probably could have gone for a second coffee.

Breakfast finally arrives – I went for the caramelised banana served atop a hearty bowl of porridge. The porridge was perfectly stodgy and there was plenty of banana caramel to go around without being too excessive – it was pretty sweet after all, but just enough for the entire bowl.

Name: Caravan Restaurant
Found at: Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QD
Website: http://caravanonexmouth.co.uk/

Truffle Menu at Cantina Del Ponto

December 25, 2012 Patrick Italian, Restaurants, UK

Truffle season lasts only a very short time around London, and every year many restaurants host a truffle special menu for this short time. We headed down to a D&D London restaurant, Cantina Del Ponto down by Tower Bridge to celebrate with their affordable menu.

This was actually attempt number two, after trying to book for the first day of their truffle menu only to receive a call in the afternoon telling us the truffle delivery had failed and that they weren’t able to offer us the menu that evening. I did appreciate the call to ensure we did waste a trip out there, but I found it strange they couldn’t get a delivery earlier than the day of the menu.

We rebooked for another Monday later in the month, and the restaurant was quite empty. Monday’s tend to be quieter than normal, and this area in particular tends to be very quiet, so the result was a pretty empty restaurant at 6pm. A few tables filled up later in the evening, but it largely remained empty.

They offered us the a la carte menu, but seeing as we were here for the truffle menu, we decided to go for the menu. The only disappointment on the menu was that the truffle dessert wasn’t present and they substituted their well-known chocolate cake.

We started with the bread basket, containing some foccacia, some plain bread and served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The first course on the menu, was a beef carpaccio, served with shavings of parmesan and truffle. I wasn’t quite sure about this dish, but as soon as I put one of the delicate slices of beef into my mouth, it exploded with a mouthful of flavour. Salt, umami, yumminess.

The next dish was a truffle tagliatelle. The pasta was thick, perfectly al dente and covered with a butter truffle sauce. I didn’t find the flavour as strong as the previous dish but it was still very fulfilling.

A little bit of parmesan helped too. We finished up with the chocolate pudding served with a scoop of ice cream. It wasn’t quite the chocolate fondant that many other restaurant serve, but it was good nevertheless.

Name: Cantina Del Ponto
Found at: 36c Shad Thames, London SE1 2YE
Website: http://www.cantinadelponte.co.uk/

Kim Chee

November 11, 2012 Patrick Asian, Korean, Restaurants, UK

Kim Chee opened a long time ago in Holborn and is really popular with the huge number of people willing to queue outside to sit at the communal tables. The tall ceilings, dark paneling and nice interior reminds me of a Hakkasan-inspired restaurant without the prices.

Fortunately the food is still pretty good. I ended up here meeting a friend for an early lunch so we didn’t have to queue. Go at noon during the week and you get seated pretty quickly. Ordering happens via touch remote and food arrives relatively quickly. The menu is very well assembled – nice pictures but I opt to for the Dolsot Bibimbamp (a hot stone bowl served with raw beef and vegetables and rice that you mix together). They provided lots of hot chilli paste and the bowl very well heated to toast the rice in just the right spots.

My dining companion went for the tofu noodles because she was vegetarian. She mentioned it was pretty tasty though a bit hard to eat when the noodles arrived on a plate and you only had chopsticks to eat it with.

The restaurant filled up quickly but it wasn’t too hard to get the bill and, perhaps we were lucky, we didn’t feel rushed as one might expect in a place where the rent isn’t going to be cheap. I’d come back but I’m not so sure about the lining up thing.

Name: Kim Chee
Found at: 71 High Holborn, London WC1V 6EA
Website: http://www.kimchee.uk.com/

Bistrot Bruno Loubet

November 8, 2012 Patrick French, Restaurants, UK

I’m definitely spoilt for choice of restaurants in my area. Italian. French. American. Vietnamese even. I’m only lacking a really good Chinese place but I can still walk to Chinatown in half an hour and I have my favourites there even though it changes a lot. Walking to Chinatown still takes effort, but that’s a different matter. As I said, I’m spoilt for choice and one of the restaurants that made the most commotion (and had the most praise) on the Internet was the return of Bruno Loubet, who settled in at the restaurant in the boutique hotel, The Zetter.

I had a lot of praise for restaurant in the Zetter when I wrote about it last and I’m pleased to say that the Bistrot Bruno Loubet takes that even further. The bread, served with some deliciously tasty butter was beautiful – slightly chewy crust and soft and wonderful. A short focused menu made it hard to choose as they all sounded wonderful. I settled for the beetroot ravioli, rocket salad, fried breadcrumbs and Parmesan was absolutely define. Strong flavours, beautiful textures and really well balanced.

My sister ordered the corn fed chicken ballotine, Nicoise salad, and soft poached quail egg, a very decadent but just as perfectly executed and presented dish.

For the main, I had a special of the day, it was a slow braised ox cheek with a tangy mango salad. Fusing a small number of Asian ingredients, this dish literally melted in the mouth only requiring a small prod for the flesh to melt away. The mango was sharp, slightly acidic and did well to cut through the heaviness of the meat. Best of all, the sauce, like all French sauces was heavily reduced and packed full of flavour. I snuck in a bit of bread to wipe up a lot of it. It was that good.

My sister opted for the duck dish mainly because she enjoys duck and it came with some interesting potato croquettes. Served with asparagus it was pretty darn tasty.

We ordered a side of seasonal vegetables as well and it really surprised me about how well peas and carrots can taste when cooked well, and of course, drizzled with a bit of butter.

Service here was really good and with a menu that changes often, I would love to make this a regular haunt.

Name: Bistrot Bruno Loubet
Found at: 86-88 Clerkenwell Road City of London, Greater London EC1M 5RJ
Website: http://www.bistrotbrunoloubet.com/

Polpo Smithfield

November 5, 2012 Patrick Italian, Restaurants, UK

Russel Norman is praised a lot for his ever growing empire of small restaurants with big food. The original Polpo located in Soho proved popular and expanded into Covent Garden before his most recent escape into the area of which I live. Pretty much opposite in fact. I remember the opening very well because loud music and swarms of people came to the opening where I feared I may need to sleep regularly with earplugs other than the days that the club, Fabric around the corner, had some popular DJs in town.

As you can see from one of the opening evenings it was pretty packed with a long queue and waiting list. I think we waited about an hour and half before being seated. Not really a problem as we downed a few bottles of beer and I caught up with a friend, Tom, before he set off to relocate to the other side of the world. He was pretty excited as well at a recommendation because he’s a big foodie (we both ate at Noma together before it was ranked number one in the San Pelligrino Top 50 restaurants in the world list).

The menu is pretty simple, inspired by the small plates found in the Venetian backstreets of Italy and enjoyed with gusto by the locals. We tried a mix of various small dishes although many of the photos turned out poorly with a combination of being shot only with my iPhone and very dim lighting that doesn’t really reflect off the brick-bare walls.

I remember ordering the veal and porcini meatballs (£6.5) as I’d heard all of the meatballs were really good. Though meaty, dripping in juices and pretty good, I didn’t find the porcini flavour shining through as much as the meat.

The mackerel tartare, horseradish and carte de musica (£7.5) didn’t have the bite that we were hoping for and the Fennel, almonds & curly endive salad (£5) quite under-dressed and not much else.

Unfortunately they ran out of the dessert I wanted to try (a flourless orange and almond-cake) and I ended up settling for a small tiramisu pot (£5) a bit steep at the price despite hearing Russel Norman talk about the way that he crafts them on a BBC podcast.

On a good note, I’m pleased that the popularity and noise of Polpo Smithfield has calmed down. I’m also pleased, in a certain way, the food wasn’t as good as the hype everyone made it out to be. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice for a couple of small plates but it’s not going to be a substitute for a nice, home cooked meal or the many other alternatives in area.

Name: Polpo Smithfield
Found at: 3 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6DR
Website: http://polpo.co.uk/

Tierra Peru

November 2, 2012 Patrick Peruvian, Restaurants, UK

Although not really intending to have more Peruvian, Noelia and I ended up at another Peruvian restaurant the same week we ate at Lima. On entering, this restaurant definitely felt like the type of place that Peruvian families would go on a regular basis. And probably drink a lot of Pisco Sours. Or something like that. Once again we thought it was a good excuse after the gym since it has egg white in it. Protein’s good for you right?

Hungry after the gym, we started first with the fish ceviche. The fish was a bit chunkier, the serve much more generous and presentation very rustic. More importantly the flavour was still very good. I particularly liked the additional of giant toasted corn kernals as it gave a very different textured crunchy to the zesty, slightly spiced fish.

We also tried a very interesting “fruto del mar”, a mix of seafood with mayonnaise and whole heap of other things. I liked this one less because it came across as a bit confused to me. Don’t forget I’m not exactly an expert on Peruvian food.

Noelia ordered the steak that was a huge portion that she didn’t finish. The steak, sliced into small strips and tossed with lots of other stuff was also served with rice and home made fries. I like peruvians, like the Chinese seem to enjoy their starch.

I ordered the “Carapulcra”, an interesting stew with both a pork rib and chicken. I would definitely order this again even though the pork rib was slightly tough and slightly fatty (some would say this is a good thing). I like the background hint of chilli and the slight smokiness that came out of the sauce.

Tierra Peru is a nice alternative that is much easier on the pocket and just as good for something different.

Name: Tierra Peru
Found at: 164 Essex Road Islington, London N1 8LY
Website: www.tierraperu.co.uk

Lima

October 30, 2012 Patrick Peruvian, Restaurants, UK

Earlier this year, I read a blog about Peruvian food being the next “thing” and Lima was one of the first London restaurants to hit my reading radar. After talking it through with a friend fiercely passionate about Peruvian food (I’ve never been so can’t really say) we thought we’d check it out.

I think we were really lucky getting in before they really opened and lots of other foodies would hit. We started with a Pisco Sour, a very classic drink that is a little bit too easy to drink. I think we finished with a Pisco Sour if that gives you an idea of how easy they are to drink as well. The interior to Lima is bright, airy and very well modern. According to Noelia, my passionate Peruvian-loving friend, Lima takes on what one might imagine Peruvian food imported into a discerning and competitive Fitzrovian-based restaurant might be like.

We started with two ceviches. A classic white fish ceviche with the white tiger’s milk and decorated with crispy red onions bits. Absolutely delicious. The fish was still delicate, the sauce crisp with lime and a good bite from the background of the chilli.

We then tried a scallop tiradito but this time covered in a bright yellow chilli emulsion. Tasty, clean and zesty but the ceviche really worked better for me.

After reading about the dishes people ordered, I had to order the suckling pig confit served with puy lentils. The crispy skin was absolutely devine, the flesh fall about fantastic and succulently moist – a really good combination balanced by the rest of the dish.

My dining partner went for the halibut, that was beautifully presented, well cooked but didn’t seem to have as much flavour as the pork. I thought the corn parfait was a really interesting spin on the entire dish as well.

Name: Lima London
Found at: 31 Rathbone Place London W1T 1JH
Website:http://www.limalondon.com/

Breakfast at Christopher’s

October 18, 2012 Patrick American, Brunch, Restaurants, UK

I’ve heard a lot of Christopher’s and although I had heard about it, didn’t realise where it was in Covent Garden, lot alone what sort of food it served. I met my Italian friends their for a Sunday brunch to catch up to see how they were.

Being Sunday, we decided to live a little and whilst others stood with the classic Bloody Mary, I took the opportunity to be efficient in the caffeine and the alcohol hit and go for the espresso martini. Well presented and with a double whammy of effect.

A “starter” of pancakes were ordered. They were pretty small after all and were pretty light and fluffy.

And then being quite gluttonous, going for a “main” of eggs benedict served with a hash brown. Both eggs perfectly poached, wonderfully citrusy hollandaise as it should and a bit more carb loading with a hash brown.

The atmosphere is very nice, and I have to admit I felt a little under dressed in the white-table clothed environments with just a jumper, t-shirt and jeans. Fortunately the service was just as wonderful and nothing really noted or observed.

Name: Christopher’s
Location: 18 Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London. WC2E 7DD
Website: http://www.christophersgrill.com/