Angels and Gypsies, Camberwell

Camberwell doesn't get too many new restaurant openings and when they do they are invariably fast food or curry based. When the Church Street hotel opened over two years ago, we were told that a local tapas restaurant was soon to follow. The newly opened boutique hotel needed to raise sufficient investment before the restaurant based on their ground floor was to be opened.



So the good citizens of Camberwell waited, and we waited, and waited. Finally, after over 30 months of waiting, Angels and Gypsies was finally open to the public. This may not seem like a big event, but in these parts, its akin to Heston opening up a Fat Duck bistro on the site of the Camberwell McDonalds.



So after such a long wait, was this place going to be any good? Suffice to say, it certainly looks the part. A beautiful faux stain glass window featuring the eponymous Angels and Gypsies tower over the spacious and bright dining room. Coming in from the cold and rain, we were greeted by a delightful waitress who was as bright and cheery as the room itself.



We were brought a little "amuse" of griddled cauliflower which was almost raw but perfectly adequate to nibble on as we perused the menu. With about 30 dishes on the menu and every one of them sounding appealing, we struggled to choose what we wanted to eat, and in the end, we kind of went a little crazy and ordered almost everything.

So instead of boring you with the finer details of every course, let me summarise by saying that everything we ate was pretty decent. A few things were quite average (such as the empanadas and the slightly burnt mushrooms) but stand out dishes for me were:



Roast pork belly with rum plum jam and Cox apple salad: My favourite dish was the pork, natch. The slow cooked belly was tender and had a fantastic crackling. Slightly on the flabby side, this didn't put me off from wolfing it down (as if fat ever put me off!). The rum plum jam was the perfect accompaniment, although the serving was on the slightly parsimonious side, with a light and interesting apple salad to finish the dish off. For just over a fiver, it was a real winner.



Jamon Croquetas - A staple of any good tapas bar, these had a wonderfully light and crisp outer crumb whilst the inside had an almost liquid consistency, studded with morsels of jamon. An exceptionally good example.



Mejiones Escabeche - Not everyone's kettle of fish, but I found the combinations of sweet and sour flavours really interesting. Even more so, I have never seen this made with mussels and I thought they lent themself quite well to this way of cooking.

How we found space for desserts after our binge, I am not quite sure, but we ordered them anyway. There were only two on the menu and they were both average, a mere distraction from the multitude of dishes we had just consumed. Angels and Gypsies certainly hadn't let me down. It may have been 3 years in the pipeline, but the end product is a polished, local neighbourhood restaurant. The food is of a good quality and considering it had only been open a week, it has started to attract the locals in already. A welcome addition to Camberwell's burgeoning dining scene and I for one am glad that is a mere stones throw from my front door.

Angels and Gypsies (website) - 29-33 Camberwell Church Street, SE5 8TR (ring the hotel to book a table)

Vamos a Iberica (an invite), Great Portland Street

Picture the scene. I'm sitting in a pub in deepest darkest Soho. I have just been served a strange foreign beer by a heavily tattooed woman, decorated with a variety of adornments pierced through her nose, ears, lip and any other appendage which dares hang loose from her body. Just when I think the evening couldn't get any stranger, I meet a mysterious Spaniard who is experiencing "troubles". Of what nature, your guess is as good as mine. As usual, in any awkward conversation, I try to bring it back to my comfort zone. So I attempt to pester him about food to get his mind off whatever is bothering him. Eventually he reveals that Iberica is his favourite restaurant before descending into the dark fug which is beginning to form around him. I get away before I get drawn into this ever evolving downward spiral.

So, a couple months down the line, I received an email from Urbanspoon asking me if I want to give Iberica a go. Fate? Probably not, but I'm going to go anyway. If any of you don't know what Urbanspoon are, they are essentially a place to find somewhere to eat, with reviews supplied by the public to help make up their minds. I contribute to Urbanspoon and they post my reviews and send me readers. I scratch your back and you scratch mine.

Iberica is located at the upper end of Great Portland Street and is a formidable space. It's massive windows and numerous light fixtures lend to a lofty and bright dining room. Inside, it is broken up into various sectors, with a generous bar area, surrounding tables, a dedicated dining area towards the back and newly opened fine dining restaurant upstairs (called Caleya).

We sat down and had a chat with Marco, one of the joint owners. Here he regaled a few stories about how the restaurant came to be, and of the effort that he had gone to ensure that Iberica was Spanish through and through. This included the tiles in the bathroom to the lampshades, designed by a Spanish lampshade designer! When it comes to the food, not everything can be sourced from Spain. Where it was too difficult or cost ineffective, they try to find alternative local sources. This ranges from the Galician chicken (which are allowed to roam wild to create a more muscular meat, almost resembling red meat) which they convinced a British farmer to start breeding for them, to the Hake, which comes from Dorset but is swapped with the Spanish fishermen out on the seas.



We were ravenous by now, so started with the trio of Iberican ham with a glass of Tio Pepe sherry to accompany it. Smooth, with the nutty flavour running through the fat only found due to the pigs diet of acorns. Expertly sliced into thin slices, this didn't last long but was a noble prelude to the meal. The sherry was dry and intensely woody, nice, but I think I still need a bit of convincing to convert to a sherry drinker.





As soon as we had consumed the ham, our next trio of dishes arrived. The ham croquettes were luxuriously viscous, studded with ham and covered in fine breadcrumbs. I have no idea how they got them onto the plate in one piece, they were so fragile. Calamari were accurate with a light batter and a gum sucking dollop of alioli to help it down. The "broken eggs" with chorizo was probably the most interesting dish. The chorizo appears lightly fried with the panadera potatoes, their oil staining the potatoes a slight crimson, and finished off with an egg mixed in. A really hearty dish, although the level of salt had me reaching for the water more than once.




(I realise that the quality of the pictures deteriorate somewhat during the night. This may have been due to the fading light, or the increased consumption of wine)

Onto the larger dishes. Here we had monkfish parcels, squid ink cooked rice, and a churrasco (rib of beef). We hadn't actually wanted monkfish, but the hake had proven to be rather popular and had been sold out. The monkfish was incredibly meaty, and just needed a squeeze of lemon to bring out all its flavour. I have never had anything with squid ink before, but its use in cooking the rice adds a hint of the sea, whilst giving the rice a creamy texture. Thrown in a few prawns and few pieces of the aforementioned squid and you have an extremely tasty dish. However, be warned. It is incredibly heavy, I was struggling after a few mouthfuls. Last but not least, the churrasco, a steal at £8.95. By this stage, we were beaten, destroyed by the multitude of courses before us, but I had a mouthful for the cause and I can certainly vouch for the beef. Cooked for 2 days, its tender and moist, infused with the flavours of rosemary and garlic.

I can see where the mysterious Spaniard was coming from. He may be a troubled young man but he certainly knows the food of his homeland. Iberica is a great restaurant selling fantastic tasty food. It may be a little out of the way, but it was packed to the gills. I think that probably tells it's own story.

Iberica (website) - 195 Great Portland Street, W1W 5PS

A bright idea at Brindisa, Borough Market

Personally, I love going food shopping. I could happily spend hours traipsing through the aisles, checking out whats on offer, what new products there are and find the experience wholly relaxing (especially at 11pm when the supermarket is eerily calm and quiet). However, there is a train of thought that one should always eat before going shopping so that your eyes do not grow larger than your stomach and go "wild in the aisles"!

This tactic is almost essential when you head to Borough market. Although there are lots of stalls selling plenty of scrummy food, I find that the whole place is targeted to tourists and is grossly overpriced. Even so, I love the atmosphere and the buzz and always enjoy picking up a few bits and bobs here. Therefore, before my latest excursion, I needed to fill myself up to try and ensure I didn't go crazy, my wallet would never forgive me.

I thought I would treat myself and try out Brindisa on the corner of Borough Market. Tapas has never been one of my favourite types of cuisine but a recent visit to Barrafina had really got my tastebuds going. On arrival, it was Saturday lunchtime and probably not the best time to try and get a table, it was absolutely packed inside and out. But like a miracle, a table for one appeared and I was sat down almost immediately.



The menu included all the Spanish tapas favourites (croquettes, spanish tortilla and meats & hams) and I was struggling to choose. Eating on your own isn't really conducive to tapas (I mean, the whole idea is to share, right?) and was slightly disappointed not to be able to give the jamon Iberico a go. However, I settled on a fairly good mix and eagerly anticipated my food.

First up, the Potato, Chorizo and Pepper omelette with allioli:



Smooth as you like, this was still soft in the middle and was light and fluffy. Quite different from the one served at Barrafina (here its served as a slice as opposed to an individial omelette), I actually felt that this one was packed with far more flavour. The chorizo added the savoury notes with the red pepper adding the sweet, a classic combination. The potatoes bulked it out and the sharp garlic hit from the allioli just added an extra dimension. Really lovely.

Next up, Crispy Pork Belly with Quince sauce:



A fairly decent bit of pork belly although it didn't blow me away. It was slightly over done, so arrived a bit tough and the crackling was erring on the side of chewy rather than crispy. The flavours were good although the highlight was the quince sauce. I know that in England, pork is more commonly partnered with apple, but the quince was a great substitute. Sweet but tart, it went well with the rich pork.

Alongside this, I ordered the Sauteed green peas with smoked bacon and Iberian ham:



What better than some fresh peas with nuggets of bacon? Arriving in a mini creuset dish, it ensured that all the moisture was retained from the peas and mingled together nicely with the juices from the bacon. Although initially a little dry on the top, mixed in with the juices collected at the bottom of the dish, it went well with the pork belly.

I wanted to order so much more, but held back and left that for another day for when I can return with some friends. The service was good and efficient, whilst the bill came to just over £20. Hunger sated, I headed off into the melee that is Borough Market on a Saturday, hoping that my bright idea would work.

(p.s. It did! Only essential ingredients bought for the week ahead)

Tapas Brindisa (website), 18-20 Southwark St, SE1 1TJ

Eat Tapas : Barrafina, Frith Street

Firstly, I realise I haven’t blogged in a while. It’s not because I have been slack, but unfortunately the hospital has once again reared its ugly head and has decided to interfere in my more social activities. As it happens, I have been in and out of hospital over the last few days for various tests and minor procedures, and all being well, should be my last for a while. Anyway, back to the food!

Now tapas have never been my favourite type of food. I mean, I love dim sum, which is basically Chinese tapas so why don’t I like Tapas? I think the answer really lies in the fact that I have never had decent tapas. I’ve been to La Tasca before (never again, major food fail) and various other smaller establishments which have never blown me away. I did have some tapas in Madrid, but only in bars and mostly potato salad, which was actually the best potato salad I have ever had. Anyway I decided it was about time I gave it another go so after my regular Monday appointment at the docs, I jumped on the bus and headed off to Soho for some real tapas.

I read a lot of food blogs and when it comes to tapas, one name seems to jump out and that is Barrafina on Frith Street. With an afternoon to kill, the sun shining and a belly to fill, I jumped on the bus and headed off to Soho. Along with the reviews praising the food, there are normally complaints about the queues as they do not take bookings. Barrafina is a pretty small place and you come in and take a stool at the bar. When I got there for lunch, it was pretty busy but there were a few spaces free and soon emptied out. So big tick, no wait and a nice cosy atmosphere.

Next tick, the menu. It’s simple and straightforward with a few selections under each of the main headings (meat, veg, fish etc...). I always liked places which keeps things simple and does a few things well. I proceeded to order the Jamon Croquetas, a tortilla and some lamb cutlets with a salad on the side. There is also an array of daily specials but not being a great fish eater, I stuck to the basics.

My plates arrived one by one and I had to stop myself from wolfing them down immediately. The croquetas were crispy on the outside whilst velvety smooth on the inside with the salty kick of the chunks of jamon. The tortilla was again, beautifully cooked with slight give in the middle, the potato still left with a little bite but cooked through. And the lamb cutlets were expertly grilled with a light herb and garlic oil just to complement the lamb. So the food, one big tick.

One thing that really impressed me with this place was the care and attention taken. The young female Spanish chef on the pass was meticulous and wasn’t afraid to send anything back that wasn’t cooked properly. She quite clearly cared about the food and one great thing about dining next to the action is that the guests can witness the commitment and skill of the staff.

In the end, the bill came to just over £20 which may seem a little steep for a lunchtime meal but at the end of the day, tapas is meant for sharing and the dishes are perfectly proportioned to do so. I ate on my own but will definitely bring somebody next time. After this delicious meal, I decided to have a wander around Soho, an area of London I have never really properly explored. Please take a look at a few photos I took here.

Look out for a bit more action from the Tehbus next week, doctors permitting.