My Favourites of 2011

Looking at the past year- or just under since I started writing, I have been to some lovely places. There are always some restaurants which I have gone back to time and time again. this is my list of my favourite restaurants of 2011. 
Click on each reastaurant name to go directly to the relevant post.

Nopi- for sheer elegance, both in the decor and the food

Pollen Street Social- best upmarket restaurant

Dishoom- the best value and best Indian

Sophie's Steakhouse- not only is the food great, it's great for pre-dinner drinks also and always a fun night

Bread Street Kitchen- for the best design and the best cocktails

Trattoria Del Rosso- In Bologna my favourite of the restaurants I've been to outside of London

The Harwood Arms, Fulham, London SW6

Saturday night and I was on my way to the pub for dinner. I was concerned that I had taken the wrong turning somewhere having found myself just off the bus at Fulham Broadway.

The GPS on my mobile insisted that I was on the correct route and soon I saw the corner pub on amongst the rows of attractive houses in the affluent neighbourhood of Fulham. An unassuming even old fashioned pub exterior. I walked in to the Harwood Arms. It wasn’t exactly gastropub which made it even more lovely and welcoming with just a hint of a traditional pub. Country pub meets up-market gastropub. Same for the food.

The food. If you think gastropub then this is the Rolls Royce of the pub world. The menu features British food and you can expect to find dishes like slow cooked shoulder of lamb or beef with celeriac, pickled walnuts and bone marrow.

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My starter

The food in all it’s glory is just to die for. With a daily lunch and dinner menu which is adapted to the season there is no lack of excitement. The perfectly presented dishes are simply perfected leaving you planning your next visit before you’ve even finished, that is if you haven’t been tempted by too much wine from the great wine list.

My main- Beef with celeriac, pickled walnuts and bone marrow

I say all this. Did I mention? This is the only pub in London to have been awarded a Michelin star. And well deserved I assure you. If you haven't been then make sure you do.

Expect to pay around £40pp for 3 courses, no wine

The Harwood Arms, 27 Walham Grove, Fulham London SW6 1QP http://www.harwoodarms.com/ 

Soif, London, Battersea SW11

Food menu. Have you noticed that when you are handed with the menu, looking at the prices, these look increasingly reasonable?

So what's going on I hear you ask? Have our standards changed so that we now think that it costs less? In times of uncertain economic conditions I don't think so. Food in restaurants is now being priced in lower. It is now easy to find a substantial main dish at £15. Of course there are the sides to think about. What about the starters. Starters are easily over £6 up to say £11. But still not too bad you say. I agree, it's not too bad.
Then it's time for the wine. Ah how things have changed. Even at the local gastropub the house wine will be upwards of £18. The next wine will come in priced at over £25. You see where I'm getting to.

Open for less than 3 weeks at the time of writing, my new local, Soif, has to my delight had extremely positive feedback. I turned up last minute. Although there is a bar area where you can also have dinner (and confortable looking sofas at the front if you just want to have wines accompanied by some of the lighter dishes) the waitress very kindly offered us the table of people who didn't turn up in an otherwise fully booked restaurant.

The menu completely lost me. There was no structure in terms of the starters and the mains. It was described as tapas-like menu with dishes from France, Spain and Italy, although to me it all seemed french! We could apparently share or choose two courses each. We assumed that the dishes priced at less than £10 were starters and the rest were mains.

 Rillette

Based on that I made my choice. The rillette to start followed by the braised pig's cheeks. The rillette came and was not only a dish that made you smile as you happily ate more, it was substantial. I assure you, there is enough so that you can enjoy the taste and texture without. The pigs cheeks were, the lovely waitress explained, braised in cider for hours and braised again. I found this dish very rich although I like rich flavours.

Braised pig's cheeks

I was spying at what the tables around me were ordering. Another dish was the hake with lentils. More lentils than hake it occurred to me that with other dishes such as Tete de Veau, the ingredients used, excellent quality no doubt are not the most expensive in the butcher's window. Even at Waitrose lentils cost less than a good chocolate. This makes me think as to the reasonable food prices. Ingredients are used that although inexpensive, bring us new flavours and challenge our taste buds. This for me is what food is all about. With an extensive, biodynamic wine list, expect to find a local crowd of foodies who like their wine.

Expect to pay around £23pp for two courses without alcohol

Soif, 27 Battersea Rise, London SW11 1HG, Tel  020 7223 1112 

The Markham Inn, London SW3

Saturday night and my dinner companion advised of a new place in Chelsea which is apparently all the rage and should we try it out. I couldn't believe that I hadn't already heard about it. After I overcame my initial shock of apparent ignorance in the matter, I readily agreed.

With no earlier availability, proving it's own popularity, the reservation was for a very continental 9.30pm. The lovely dark exterior of The Markham Inn can be seen as from the King's Road. I walked in through in straight to the bar; the small bar area may I add. I struggled to make my way through to the restaurant area. The table wasn't ready and i was directed to the bar for a drink with no thought of asking if they could take my jacket.

You can either have a seat at a bar area overlooking the open plan kitchen or of course a table in the large part of the dining area. In line with the ambience of the place, the menu offers a combination of French cuisine, eclectic gastropub food and also includes a few fish dishes of Mediterranean seafood. The Markham combines the element of bistros and pub in perfect harmony.

My foie gras starter was beautifully balanced by the fig tartine, making every mouthful an experience to be savoured. My burger was equally good and I would go as far as saying that this is probably one of the best burgers I've had.

Picture taken on my mobile phone

As for the service, save for the initial faux pas of the jacket, yes- I know what you are thinking but still, it was efficient and polite. The trendy interiors match with the equally trendy even glamorous crowd. Being as busy as it is this is a good spot for some people watching. The cocktail list is also worth a look at. Paired with the food the Markham's status as being 'all the rage' is justified. Whether you are after a hip place to impress your friends or some seriously good food I highly recommend it.

Expect to pay around £30 pp for two courses incl service no alcohol

The Markham Inn, 2 Elystan Street SW3 3NS Tel: 020 7581 9139 http://www.themarkhaminn.com/

Hawksmoor (Guildhall), London EC2V

I am very fortunate in having friends who include me in their dinner plans. Friday night found me, with my friends at Hawksmoor Guildhall during the first week of it's soft launch. This is the 3rd restaurant of the chain following the successful Covent Garden and Spitalfields ventures. I'm not sure as to whether it is too harsh to be reviewing a restaurant during it's soft launch but in this instance I couldn't find much to fault, both in terms of the service, which came with a smile and the food. It can only get better.

Walking through the doors you are faced with a huge staircase leading you to the basement where it all goes on. The wood and brass look around the bar give it the old school look. The leather sofas and the dark green leather seats was vaguely reminiscent of my, if not strict, then certainly severe school days. The huge dining area felt the same. I half expected one of my teachers to turn up and remind me to 'sit up straight young lady'! However this doesn't last too long as the waitors are very casual in jeans and shirts only recognised by their aprons and notebooks. I could relax again.


Crab on toast

There is a good choice of starters from mussels with stilton and bacon to bone marrow and onions- which is actually very good. I had the crab on toast, which was perfect given the meat feast which was to follow. Now the steaks. I didn't know it was quite possible to have such huge cuts- or to consume them for that matter. To share you could have 900g or 1kg of porterhouse, chateaubriand and so on. This is no place for the faint-hearted. I had the 600g sirloin on the bone (£30). The best quality meat is served cooked to perfection. Sides including 'beef dripping chips' and sauces are extra. 

900g Porterhouse





600g Sirloin






Slightly less of the 600g Sirloin



I think it took me around 40 minutes to work my way through that!





If it's quite possible, you can also have dessert (£6.50). There is a great selection of ice creams, although I had the sticky toffee pudding which was divine. In case you are wondering, I couldn't manage this on my own, my friends helped.



Sticky Toffee Pudding



As they say, you get what you pay for. Hawksmoor is not cheap, but you do get alot of steak. With quality like this and a wine list to match, they will no doubt have the city boys flocking to show off both their carnivorous appetite and their wallets.

Expect to pay around £60pp incl service excl drinks for 3 courses

Hawksmoor (Guildhall), 10-12 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 5BQ Te.: 020 7397 8120 http://www.thehawksmoor.com/

Bread Street Kitchen, London EC4M

Bread Street Kitchen is the latest Gordon Ramsay venture. Much awaited and talked about, I did have my reservations, aren't there already enough restaurants bearing his name? Located in One New Change, I see it almost daily walking past. I almost made up my mind about it even before I went there. Reading about the extremely slow service on the opening night a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking that this is typical. I already went through the menu. British cuisine in the majority with starters around the £10 mark and mains typically over £16, to £29.50 for the rib-eye, my thoughts were, overpriced for average food and unspectacular decor that I would not recommend.

I arrived to be greeted by the smiling hostess who directed me up the stairs. I went up to find a huge warehouse area which was quite stunning in a very industrial way, with the pixar-like desk lamps giving the place a very playful feel. I was told that my friends were at the bar at the far end. The far end was very far. The bar area quite welcoming despite the large and airy feel to the place. There is plenty of space, from sofas where you can look out of the floor to ceiling windows to cool seats at the bar area.

The cocktail menu is extensive and inspired. These are probably some of the nicest cocktails I've had in recent times. The perfect start to any meal, at which we were led to our table.

The food menu I found strange with three sections. Raw bar, Hot Kitchen and Wood Stone. The food wasn't bad but didn't overexcite me either. My starter of the thinly sliced beef with quails eggs, was under-seasoned. My burger, not only substantial but also rich in taste, can be overwhelming for some. Sides have to be ordered separately. Try the macaroni cheese which is lovely.

Macaroni cheese

Oysters also feature on the menu

Although with a smile, the service was slow. The starters took longer than expected and to compensate we were offered more bread. We declined the offer! After finishing our first bottle of wine, we were waiting too long for the second bottle.


Burger

 After a shared cheese plate to finish, we headed back to the bar for more cocktails. You just have to.

To be fair, I was too judgemental. I liked Bread Street more than I thought and I loved the warehouse feel. Go there for drinks. And if you feel like a bite to eat, although not cheap, you can do worse than a meal here.

Expect to pay around £40 for pp for two courses, incl service excl wine

Bread Street Kitchen, 10 Bread Street, London, EC4M 9AB Tel: 020 3030 4050 Open from 7am http://www.breadstreetkitchen.com/

Bellevue Rendez-Vous, London SW17

Don't you just love it when you have a good local place. The kind that you invite your friends to join you for dinner or a weekend lunch because you know that even if they have to make a 50 minute journey across London, they will thank you and find that the journey was worth it. Bellevue Rendez-Vous, a french restaurant just by Wandsworth Common and round the corner from the very famous Chez Bruce is not like that. This is the kind of place that makes you want to move to the area just to make it your local.

This is not your classic french restaurant with sombre tones and austere staff. The brightly coloured walls and green runners on the table it put you at ease and the friendly waitress prepare you for an thoroughly enjoyable meal.



Foie Gras

There is an option of a set menu, £21 for 2 courses, £25 for 3 and of course the a la carte. The menu includes such french things as snails for starters and rabbit as main. I had the foie gras to start. When it arrived I was somewhat concerned as to me it seemed like nothing more than a slab of velvet looking terrine. A large basket of french bread to accompany this, the taste was less slab and more velvet, and definitely foie gras. Lots of it, and you know how I like lots of food.

Then it was the rabbit for me. The waitress came back twice. The first time to say that it is served with mashed potatoes, the second to say that actually it's served with lentils. So much the better I thought. I prefer lentils.


Rabbit with lentils

The rabbit was succulent and delicious. The lentils were creamy and moreish. I'm not sure what I liked more. Nonetheless, it's a combination that I've never tried before and it works well. The best thing about it? This is a place for people who like to eat food-not just look at it. After the two courses I didn't need dessert.

Do I still think you should go? Absolutely. Do I think that it's worth a visit from locals and visitors to the area alike? Definitely. It's a nice little area to explore; complete with the local pub, boutique and overground station. If it's not raining, the Common makes for a nice walk. Bellevue Rendez-Vous ticks all the boxes.

Expect to pay around £35 for 3 courses without wine, service is not included on the bill

Bellevue Rendez-vouz, 218 Trinity Road, Wandsworth Common, London, SW17 7HP Tel: 020 8767 5810

Chiswell Street Dining Rooms, London EC1Y

Mid-week, after a serious session at the gym, found me at one of the nearest places for dinner. The Chiswell Dining Rooms, part of the same group which runs such well-known places as The Botanist on Sloane Square.

The well dressed city crowd, looked every inch as relaxed as the surroundings and their professional attire would allow. Immaculately presented, with leather seats and flowers, it reminds more of hip and happening Chelsea hangout than a city bar/restaurant.

The wine menu is extensive although my initial reaction was of a slightly limited food menu. No fish and chips or burgers in sight. In this instance I skipped starters and just had a main: the stuffed pork loin, which came with black and white pudding apple sauce, pickle jus. A large portion, nicely presented and perfectly adequate. The flavours all worked to convince me that the whole menu is well-though out and a good meal is to be had here. I must say that I found it very amusing when I saw that they brought the bread with two radishes. Yes the question mark remains!

Stuffed pork loin

Bread and radishes?

I like London because each area has it's own distinct personality. I don't think that Chiswell Street Dining Rooms is quite what you would expect in the city. Nonetheless, relaxed in it's formality, it is a perfect choice for a business lunch or dinner, or even just a drink. It is also open for breakfast, so if you are looking for an excuse for a breakfast meeting, here it is.

Expect to pay around £40 for 3 courses without wine.

Chiswell Street Dining Rooms, 56 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SA Tel: 020 7614 0177 http://www.chiswellstreetdining.com/

Jamie's Italian, London, Covent Garden

At the end of the London Fashion Weekend it seemed quite appropriate to get some food. To tell you the truth, my friend and I were heading for Dishoom in Covent Garden. But on seeing Jamie's Italy next door, we both thought that the prospect of some of Jamie's Italian cuisine sounded very exciting.

Charcuterie

I like Jamie Oliver. I like his cookbooks, I like his TV shows, I even like his magasine. So it follows that I would like his restaurant. Moreso, we all know he loves Italian food. So do I!

The first thing that I observed was how loud it was. Lots of children of course but still not a very relaxing atmosphere. The decor is a rustic one with lots boxes of 'produce' and charcuterie seeming quite tempting with an even more ingenious bread board. Quite a large and busy place but we were quickly led to an outside table as we requested. It looks like Jamie is trying to create the rustic Italian look complete with olive trees. I just don't know the last time they were watered, they seemed to be withering slightly. Anyway, how can a place be rustic when the address starts with Unit 33? Sitting down, despite the best efforts no doubt, it felt like part of a chain. Looking at the website, I realise there are so many branches that a chain is exactly what it is. Not a good sign in my book.

The menu is extensive. Lots of choice of bread and antipasti boards and plates. An interesting selection of both pasta dishes, which you can either have as a starter or a main and mains. I had the scallop and squid ink spaghetti and my friend had the bucatini carbonara-both as main courses.

My friend had asked our very pleasant waitress of the carbonara was served with alot of sauce and she was assured that's it was quite dry. It wasn't, I too thought that there was slightly too much cream.



Scallop and squid ink spaghetti



There was probably one scallop in the ink spaghetti, cut up in slices. The squid was small and there were also capers in the dish which I found did not go well with the pasta or the scallop. The delicate nature of the (few) slices of scallops seemed to be overwhelmed by the natural intensity of the capers. I also wasn't overjoyed by the combination of the scallop and squid. At £13.90, I think this was overpriced and certainly not what I would expect to pay at a place like this, which to me resembled Italian chain restaurants in London.

If I was to rate it, I would give it one star (out of five that is). The only positive comment I have to say, is about the service, the waitress was very friendly and polite and couldn't apologise enough when we said we hadn't enjoyed our meal.

To conclude, I still like Jamie Oliver and I'll still buy his books. But I don't like his restaurants. I can assure you, I won't be going back and I suggest you don't either.

We paid £33.55 for our meal and two glasses of wine. Service is not included in the bill

Jamie's Italian, Unit 33 10-12 Upper St Martin's Lane WC2H 9FB http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/covent-garden

Made in Brasil, Camden Town, London NW1

Recently I haven't been a particularly good blogger with few new posts. I have a few recipes I would like to share, more reviews and so on. For a number of reasons I just haven't got round to it. To be fair to myself, work, and more importantly my boss (boss, if you are reading, take note), have kept me so busy that I have little energy left for anything else. On another note, I haven't been anywhere which has been notable enough, for whatever reason-which includes not being good, that I immediately want to inform my followers- yes all twelve if you- about.

Yesterday, after an extremely long and exhausting day, I was lucky enough that my friend agreed to a drink. It was a beatifelly warm day so we went to Camden Town. I obviously don't go there enough. The sheer number of people is quite overwhelming but very refreshing to see such a different crowd of people. It's true what they say, the world is a different place south of the river, so crossing that divide is always interesting.

First, I declared my wish for a drink and within moments, my desire for food. We sat at one of the numerous bars overlooking the Canal just by Camden Lock for a beer, in what was left of the rest of the sunny(ish) afternoon. I remembered of the Brazilian place I happened to go a few times for drinks so I suggested we try the food there.

We made the short walk to Inverness Street and walked past the numerous bars/restaurants, which, by the way, all look equally interesting and walked into Made in Brasil.  The salsa music in the background, which together with the promise of food perked me up in what was for me a tiring Saturday otherwise.The decor is funkier than the outside would suggest with some low tables for drinks at the front, a bar which whose look promises wonderful cocktail and tables at the back. The courteous waitress led us to a table, by the window as we requested. It was quite early, 6pm, so we were two of only a handful of people there.

The drinks menu is extensive and has all sorts of lovely cocktails. It took longer to decide on drinks than on food. Almost always, I have wine with meals. This time I opted for a pineapple caipirinha. I've had a fair few cocktails in my life and only was this good, at £6.50 it is excellent value.



Pineapple Caipirinha


The menu consists of authentic Brazilian dishes. To be honest, I am not familiar with Brazilian cuisine so if anyone knows better you can verify this. However, I do know that halloumi is certainly not Brazilian which was one of the starters! But there was a good selections of both meat and fish dishes and a few vegetarian choices also.

To start, we settled on Lula 'a dore'- bread crumbed baby squid and the coxinha- chicken pastries. Both were straightforward dishes, the baby squid was a nicer version of calamari and the chicken pastries were what I would recognise as chicken croquettes. Although we happily ate them, I wouldn't say that these were out of the ordinary and quality that you would expect at the least.

Lula 'a dore'



Coxinha

I had the feijoada to continue. This is slow cooked mixed pork and black beans stew served with rice. The stew comes in a separate bowl which you add over the rice. As previously mentioned, I can't comment on how authentic the dishes are, or how true the flavours are to local brazilian cuisine, however I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. The portions were substantial and the stew was lovely with perfectly cooked pork.



Feijoado



My friend has the Virado a paulista: pork cutlet with poached egg and brown beans served with rice which was an equally substantial dish, and as tasty.

Over the course of our meal it started getting much busier, with people who seemed to know their brazilian food better than us. I have once been there after dinner when the music gets going and everyone is there not for the food but the cocktails. Whatever your 'usual' kind of place may be, you will enjoy this, with a mixed crowd and interesting people watching. The fashion sense is certainly different to that in south west London.

We ended our meal with alcoholic coffees which I recommend. The service is in fact very good which for some reason surprised me. I know I may be unfair here, but I was expecting typical run-down bar kind of service. Far from it. Although I wouldn't suggest you make a trip to Camden Town just to go here, if you are in Camden Town, then it's certainly on my list of recommendations. This place does get packed so if you want to sit down, get there early.

We paid £31pp incl service for two courses, a cocktail each and an alcoholic coffee each

Made in Brazil, 12 Inverness Street, Camden Town, London NW1 7HJ Tel: 020 7482 0777
http://made-in-brasil-bar.co.uk/