Benares - An East meets West love story

When I was a youngster, I was lucky enough to be exposed to all sorts of food. My parents have always loved eating and I learned to appreciate food from all over the world. I may have been principally a fussy eater, but one of my favourite cuisines was Indian food. Fuelled with my dads love of it, it appeared regularly as a dinner option. Thing is, the regularity of this meal started to wear me out, and over the years, I guess you can say that my interest had waned.

Unshackled: Alyn Williams at the Westbury, Mayfair

Procured off the Westbury website 

When it comes to fine dining, I actually often find it very hard to put the experiences into words. Most of the time, it is impossible to fault the cooking of the food, but I can't help that the higher up the Michelin scale you get, the higher the chance of the food boring you to death. This is partly why I have never got round to writing up mega-restaurants such as Gordon Ramsay or Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. Both restaurants definitely rolled out course after course of well cooked dishes, with great produce and fantastic service at the core of what it is trying to achieve. Yes they were good, but lacked any wow factor.

Food trends, BBQ and Burgers (and Lobster)

Every year at about this time, there is always a little talk about what the newest food trends are going to be. Of what everyone will be eating and what to expect in the restaurants. I was pretty confident about my prediction of American based food last year, and I was mostly not let down. What we really wanted was some good old American BBQ and we certainly got that from the little silver bullet under Hungerford bridge in Pitt Cue. Barbecoa was less sucessful, but mainly for trying to cater en masse and the intention was there. Letting pre prepared mounds of meat to stew do not lend well to BBQ.



Burgers were also a huge part of 2011, with Meat Liquor opening and a dozen other places rising to prominence in the burger game such as Lucky Chip, Honest burgers and the Admiral Codrington. Burgers have always been a popular comfort food, so I guess it's rise once and for all was not too much of a shock.

What did surprise me was how well the street food scene has taken off this year. It's always been there in drips and drabs, but really just needed someone to grab it by the balls and get pitches. Petra Barran and her eat.st movement have been fundamental in making this happen, and we now have a burgeoning street food scene growing in London.



Personally, I don't envisage much of a slow down in the street food scene in 2012. In fact, I definitely see a significant growth in the New Year. With the success and growth of markets such as Brixton Village, Netil Market and the Long Table this year, I would be extremely surprised to see independents in decline. Even with some of the bigger boys entering the fray soon (rumours abound for a Jamie Oliver van, or even one from Pizza express), I don't think they will be able to cope. What these places have in their favour is that they specialise, and what they do they do well. I really think this specialisation is not only going places in the street food scene, but in the bricks and mortar scene too.



Only last week, I was lucky enough to pop into the new kitchen of Pitt Cue to sample some of their delights. Working amidst a building site (they hope to be fully open in early January), they managed to knock up the most amazing smoky little pulled pork bun. Adorned with some homemade pickles, each bite was bliss and before I knew it, it was gone. Then I tried a little of their beef cheeks and pickled shiitake and I was back there again, in that little meaty happy place. Pitt Cue aren't going to be messing about, they are going to stick to what they know and do it well. Pulled pork, ribs, pickles and a few little experiments when they have a little bit of time. Nice.



Which brings me to Burger and Lobster. There is so much I can say about this place already, but I will keep it short. I love it. The only menu they have is for the bar, and you merely get the choice between a lobster or a burger. At £20 each, they both arrive with fries, salad and condiments (pickles or a butter sauce). Although the burger may be veering towards the pricy end, the whole lobster is exceedingly good value. Only other menu additions are a lobster roll (at £18 I believe) and two mousses, chocolate and lime. I see myself developing a bit of a lobster addiction in the near future.



So there you have it, a few long winded (yet brief compared to what is actually going on in my head) thoughts on the year and what we may expect from the next. As with any trends, you are never truly able to know what is going to happen, but where we have seen food heroes made out of people such as Mark (aka The Ribman) and Abiye (aka Mr Big Apple Hot Dog), expect a few more in 2012. Embrace specialisation, after all, there is nothing wrong with actually being rather good at a few things.

*Pitt Cue will be located at 1 Newburgh street and is due to open in early January. I was also a guest at a dry run for bloggers at Burger and Lobster.*

Burger and Lobster - 29 Clarges street, Mayfair London W1J 7EF

Pollen Street Social - A flying visit

By the time you would have read this write up, you would probably have read everything you ever wanted to know about Pollen Street Social. After all, it appears to be the new Dinner, the must visit location in the capital. People went crazy when the phonelines opened (myself included), all scrabbling for a reservation, and much like Dinner, I was really pleased to have got a table a few weeks into their opening.

Damn and blast. As luck would have it, my long and luxurious with some of the lovely folk of twitter was cut short by work. Scheduling our anniversary party on the same night as our reservation, a party where all our customers were invited, it would have to be an eat and run mission.

Mini Bites: Princess Garden, Mayfair

One of the goals that I once aspired to is to eat as much dim sum in my life as is physically possibly. Fattening but ultimately quite rewarding, I am sure you will agree. Hopefully, after these endeavours, I would be in a position to learn the intricacies of the perfect dim sum brunch, but mainly to have some amazing eats, and to be fair, I'm not doing too badly.

Life after Atherton: a return to Maze (invite)

It has been almost two years since I was last at Maze. It was my birthday and I was taking my dad out, and the whole meal was OK, nothing more. A lot can change in the space of two years, and in the case of Maze, a lot definitely has. Executive chef Jason Atherton has left to open his own restaurant, and the focus of the menu seems to have veered away from the sharing element.

Murano, Mayfair: Bu-bye Signore Ramsay

Murano glass ceiling at the Bellagio in Vegas. I don't have any pics of the actual restaurant. oops.

One of my fondest “foodie” memories goes back to the days as a child, where I was sat in a neighbourhood Italian restaurant in Frankfurt, watching the incredibly capable pizzaiolo's slave away in front of a large open wood fired clay oven. As a seven year old, I was transfixed, watching them weave magic from dough and produce the finest pizzas I ever remember eating. Watching my father devour his spaghetti vongole and my mother coo over her scaloppine a la Milanese, my love of Italian food was born.

In my vain attempt at trying to replicate that feeling of happiness and content, I have begun searching out many of what are considered the “finer” Italian restaurants in London. These have taken in L’Anima, Theo Randall and Bocca di Lupo to name a few, some good, some bad, but none quite evoking the same memories (although Bocca came close). Murano, run by Angela Hartnett (of Welsh-Italian heritage), was next on the hit list and I expected great things from a restaurant wrestled off Gordon Ramsay.

As tempted as I was to indulge in the a la carte, or even the tasting options, wallet restricted me to the much more reasonably priced set lunch menu (a snip at £30). Whilst we perused the choices, a wooden board of charcuterie staved off the hunger pangs. The accompany bread basket was filled with a few delights including a superb focaccia (a good standard bearer for any Italian restaurant), and an amuse of arancini balls were also excellent.

My starter of wood pigeon and coca beans was intriguing but tasty. I can’t say I had ever eaten coca beans but the smoky flavour sat well alongside my generous breasts of wood pigeon. The cubes of pancetta and parsnip puree added saltiness and sweetness and the whole was pretty good, although would have benefited from a few less beans.

My main of venison with parsnip and winter veg, was in a nutshell, pretty damn sexy. The tender slices of loin were cooked perfectly, with a caramelised nugget of meat on the side, absolutely bursting with flavour, and the veg was, well, veg. But very well cooked veg at that.

The meal was going rather swimmingly. Mains had been polished off and everyone seemed pleased (this may have been due to the wine and glass of champagne we had to start, I’m not ruling this out). For me, the real party pleaser came in the form of the palate cleanser, a symphony of mini ice creams and sorbets placed on a frozen glass stand. Each one burst with flavour and even if some didn’t exactly hit the spot (basil, I’m, looking at you), it was a nice way to lead us into the desserts.

Even though my two companions both opted for the cheese cart, where they were adorned with pretty much as much cheese as they desired from a vast selection, my sweet tooth prevailed and I opted for the lemon cream and foam, with a hazelnut dacquoise and mint. I think the best way to describe this would be a citrus explosion, with the lemon cream smooth and tart, and the foam slightly sweet. The slices of grapefruit added a slightly sour juice explosion where all the flavours just mingled in your mouth. I’m not sure how there was a “dacquoise” involved, but the nuggets of biscuit added a nice change in gear of texture.

So in summation, I had a pretty damn enjoyable time. Everything we had eaten was expertly cooked, and care and consideration had been taken when considering balancing flavours and textures without being overly complicated. The service was perfect, without being too obtrusive and were always there to answer a question, take a wine order or pick up your napkin, all the travails you may actually encounter within a restaurant. I hadn’t felt like I had missed out by being restricted to the lunch menu, but peering over the fence into the garden of the tasting menu revealed a myriad of other delights. I will be back in 2011, and next time, my wallet will be prepared.

Murano - 20 Queen Street W1J 5PP

Hibiscus, Mayfair: A tale of two halves

Whenever I spend any of my holiday time in London and not abroad, I invariably end up hunting for some good places to eat. The capital is awash with great lunch deals and these “holidays” are one the only times that I get to indulge. Hibiscus is a great example. A popular two Michelin starred restaurant where the three course a la carte will set you back a royal sum of £75. Not necessarily nosebleed territory compared to some of its neighbours, but still steep compared to a very affordable £29.50 for their lunch menu.

As sister number 2 was also off work, and she enjoys food almost as much as I do, she decided to join me on various jaunts during a week of eating (which would include a trip north to Birmingham and one east to Seasalter). The dining room was much smaller than I expected, with about 15 tables spread out over the compact dining room. I found the island in the middle of the room (where much of the food went when it came out of the kitchen) a little odd, but I guess it was fairly practical for distribution purposes in a small dining room. Between the two of us, we managed to cover off most of the lunch menu options.

We were first brought out what we were told was a Hibiscus fizz with a pineapple foam, which was ideally to be consumed in two mouthfuls. Innocuous enough and the first mouthful brought a pleasant taste of hibiscus with a slight hint of pineapple. The second was far more interesting and a lot more unexpected, as we encountered some spherified (sp?) pineapple juice, which burst in the mouth and flooded your mouth with pockets of tangy pineapple juice. In the words of Rob Brydon, “my bouche was amused”.

The starters arrived and my royale of parmesan was crowned with some candied walnuts and doused with a warm salsify veloute. The strong flavour from the parmesan slowly melded together with the veloute, and with the walnuts adding a different texture and pockets of slight sweetness, I thoroughly enjoyed this dish. A good balance of flavours and textures. My sister’s crab and lobster salad (£5 supplement) was pronounced as highly enjoyable, although she was slightly put off by the intensity of the little dabs of liquorice on the leeks.

With my sister “calling dibs” on the blanquette of pork, I opted for the equally appealing 48 hour cooked Ayrshire rib of beef (£10 supplement). Served with an intense but absolutely delicious white beetroot and horseradish purée, the beef was as tender as you would expect a piece of meat which had been cooked for two days to be. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this dish, but with a hefty £10 supplement, I would have expected a little more from this. More puree than just a little dab would be a good start. Sister’s dish was excellent as I expected and I was filled with a little bit of jealousy, although I did manage to sample a good few mouthfuls. The smoked mash was plentiful and a little out of place, with the strong flavours detracting from the real star, which was the perfectly cooked pork.

So far so good, but unfortunately it all went downhill for me at this stage. My dessert of iced chestnut parfait with a Sharon fruit sorbet was just plain weird. The flavours were all rather muted but incredibly one dimensional and lacked any real penetration of flavour. I can’t criticise the execution, just the flavours which didn’t agree with me at all. My sister’s fig dish wasn’t really to her taste either, but I thought it was pretty decent, with well cooked figs and a punchy raspberry sauce/gel.

I was disappointed with a sad ending to what was otherwise a pretty decent meal, and opted for a cappuccino to drown my sorrows. What arrived was such milky drivel with no discernible coffee flavour that Starbucks down the road would have been embarrassed to serve it. The petit fours that accompanied it included an over salty salted caramel, a smoked fudge which tasted of smoked haddock and a weird herbal white chocolate truffle.

As I have got older, sweets have swiftly become my favourite part of the meal and such a damp squib of an ending left me with a bad taste in my mouth, regardless of how much I may have enjoyed the first two courses. And what started out at £29.50 set lunch soon adds up with all the additional supplements. Don’t get me wrong, you can eat well without all the supplemental dishes, I just don’t see the point of having a lunch menu when a third of the menu contains a significant additional cost. All being said, the quality of the cooking cannot be disputed and I enjoyed much of the meal I was presented with. Just sort out the desserts and the coffee.

Hibiscus - 29 Maddox St, London W1S 2PA

Goodman, just good meat

I have been incredibly slack in writing up my posts of late. As a result of laziness and eating out too much, I have far too many posts in draft, each slowly going stale and if I leave them much longer, they will probably go off.

Which is one of the reasons why I feel compelled to write this post and ensure that it too does not go "stale". And what makes this so special? Pure and simply, good meat.

A recent trip to New York made me open eyes to how seriously some people take meat. Burgers and steak are two of the lifeblood which seem to keep the New Yorkers moving. I was so spoilt for choice that I struggled to choose locations for both in my short time there. In London, until recently, I had to settle on the Hawksmoor for my dose of steak. More recently, steak restaurants such as Palm and more noticeably, Goodman, have opened.



So on a dark November's night, myself and the Tweatup crew congregated upon Goodman, a Russian owned steakhouse, specialising in beef of weird and wonderful origin. Most importantly, it is the home of USDA, 100% grain fed cow from the heart of America (Nebraska to be precise).



The nights focus was clearly all about the meat, but we all politely decided to dine like civilised people and ordered a starter each. Whilst others opted for lobster bisque and oysters off the seafood heavy starter list, I opted for some Frank Hederman salmon. I was pleasantly surprised to find it on the menu. My introduction to salmon after a long self imposed abstinence (owing to me detesting the stuff) came about from a visit to @eatlikeagirl's Covent Garden market stall. My first taste of the Frank Hederman smoked salmon that she had brought over from Ireland was delightful and I was converted. The salmon was just as tasty at Goodman and a nice light start to the meal.



So, the main event, prepare for a meat overload. The management at Goodman had kindly prepared a mystery steak tasting for us. 3 different meats of differing cuts, the challenge was to spot what was from where, all with separate coloured flags so we could spot which was which. The first to arrive on my plate was the chateaubriand, easily recognisable but woefully overcooked. Nice flavour but bad grilling had let it down. Thankfully, it was the only steak which wasn't a perfect medium. The "green" was slightly one dimensional but tender and juicy, with the "white" similar in flavour. The "none" had a fair amount of fat running through it which provided the meat with an intense and extremely satisfying flavour.



The stand out for me, however, was the "red". Incredibly succulent with nuggets of fat, this was an amazing steak, with only the "none" coming close in terms of flavour. So where did they all come from? Here are the results:

White - English, from the Lake District
Chateaubriand - Scottish
Green - Scottish, grass fed rib-eye
Red - USDA, grain fed rib-eye
None - USDA, grain fed porterhouse

Yup, I am an American beef lover. There, I have said it. Suffice to say, at the unveiling, past semi identifying what the cuts were, we were totally wrong as to the origins. I know I secretly wanted to love the British beef but when it came to flavour, the USDA won hands down for me. I should also add that we devoured every single side too, as well as a multitude of sauces (a red wine and stilton jus, mushroom, a fiery peppercorn and a smooth béarnaise), all of a high quality.



After all that, all I could face for dessert was some homemade ice cream. A simple end to a quite gargantuan meal. We must have been brought out about 5kg of meat between the nine of us, and not a morsel was left, so good was the meat that we were gnawing at the bones as the waitress tried to wrestle them away from us.

Goodman is a great steakhouse. The food was excellent, as was the service, and that USDA beef really was their trump card. A quick chat with David, the manager, revealed that next on the cards, 2 whole ribs of Australian and New Zealand Wagyu! It will of course come at a cost but the mark up is surprisingly shallow, one of the benefits of having crazy rich Russian owners, I suppose.

I felt slightly guilty that I had enjoyed myself so much, almost like I was cheating on the Hawksmoor. But when I heard that David and the management of the Hawksmoor were "buddies", it made me happy. The gentle one upmanship can only lead to better steak in London, so amen to that.

Goodman (website) - 26 Maddox Street, W1S 1QH

Eat Modern European: Maze, Mayfair

Its Monday, its my birthday and I have the day off. What a better a way to spend it than having lunch with my dad. Today's destination, Maze in Mayfair.

One of my favourite shows on TV is the Great British Menu, a competition putting two chefs from the same region against one another in the vain hope that at the end of it all, one of their dishes makes it to the end of series "banquet". Before this show, I hadn't really heard of Jason Atherton, but he managed to get two of his dishes through to the banquet and I vowed to give his restaurant a visit.

After a relatively painless bus ride and a short trek past the American embassy, we were there. As soon as we entered the front door, we were treated extremely well. Drinks orders taken, menu's brought to us and explained and bread fresh out the oven in the blink of an eye. Excellent service which was maintained throughout the whole lunchtime.

Order of the day was the Set Lunch menu. Maze works on a "many small dishes " basis. From the main menu, the waiter suggested you go for 4 dishes per person. As we were opting for the set lunch we had choices from a selection of 9 savoury and 4 sweet courses. Between me and my dad, we managed to cover all but one of the savoury courses and had 1 sweet each. It was a lot to take in, here's how it went:

Marinated Beetroot, Sairass Cheese, Pine Nuts

First up and pretty disappointing. Although well presented, the cheese overpowered the whole dish and I was struggling to pick up the beetroot. Didn't think the pine nuts added anything.

‘Prawn cocktail’, tomato fondue, lettuce ice, cocktail sauce

This was an excellent dish. Arriving in a cocktail glass, the lettuce ice was sprinkled on separately and added a lovely refreshing twist to a classic dish. The cocktail sauce was in puree form and together with the tomato fondue and the prawns, formed a great contrast in textures and flavours. One of our days favourites.

Smoked Cornish mackerel, mackerel tartar, olive jelly

Owing to my aversion for really strong tasting fish, I stayed well clear of this. My dad thought it was ok.

Braised shin of veal, pea and broad bean risotto, aged parmesan

A soft and flavoursome piece of meat. The accompanying pea and broad bean risotto was fresh as a summers day and the smooth fresh flavours were a fantastic contrast to the deep and meaty veal.

Red mullet bouillabaisse, saffron aioli, croutons

Again, my fish aversion meant I avoided this. Tried the bouillabaisse, which tasted pretty good.

‘Warm Scottish breakfast’ London cured salmon, smoked haddock risotto, egg and bacon

This was the star of the show for me. I'm very wary of "re-inventions" but this dish really worked. First we were presented with the salmon (twice cooked, cured then grilled on one side) which had a deep Portobello mushroom puree along side. Accompanying this was the smoked haddock risotto, containing one quails egg yolk and a sliver of bacon. I normally hate salmon (the fish thing again) but even I couldn't resist this. The flavours of the mushroom subtle alongside the slightly salty cured salmon. Although the risotto was almost a secondary dish, the yolk reinforced the richness of the risotto and was absolutely delicious. A winner.

Confit shoulder of lamb, pea purée

Now, I have eaten a lot of lamb recently. Tayyabs lamb chops (nigh on unbeatable) and loads of lamb at Taste of London (from Tamarind, Benares & Toms Kitchen). All slightly different and all lovely in their own way. This was succulent and melt in your mouth as you would expect, but nothing really that memorable. I'm beginning to think once you've tried one, you've tried them all. I'm still waiting for that lamb dish to blow me away like those lamb chops...

Roasted Barbary duck, parsley root, English cherries

Our last savoury dish and pretty disappointing. The "cherry" gravy didn't taste of cherries and the duck, well, it just tasted of duck. Boring.

Chilled cherry and mint soup, toasted marshmallow, cherry sorbet

More cherry and this time slightly more successful. The cherry and mint soup was sweet, whilst the sorbet a nice tart contrast. It could have done with being more chilled.

Rice pudding, raspberry jam, pecan ice cream, maple syrup

A pecan pie in rice pudding format. Sweet, unctuous and delicious. The pecans added the contrast in textures and added another dimension to an already great dish. Hitting the raspberry jam at the bottom was like unearthing a hidden treasure. A great way to end the meal.

Phew, a lot to get through. A nice concept and a good way to try out what the kitchen is capable of. It was good, but was it great? Hmm, not really. Although the service was impeccable throughout, the food never quite lived up to it. I'm still waiting to be blown away, and one day, I will find that meal that fulfils that criteria on every level.

Maze (website), 10-13 Grosvenor Square, W1K 6JP