Pride and Pizza at Donna Margherita (an invite), Clapham Junction

A couple of weeks ago, the PR machine from Donna Margherita, a popular neighbourhood Italian restaurant sent me an email asking me if I would come and try their food and write about it. I love Italian food and it didn't take me long to accept. "Full disclosure" I said. "Of course" they said.

It turns out I haven't been the only blogger to have been invited. In fact Londoneater, Food Stories and Gourmet Chick had all already been and written up their opinions, but the positive reviews had got me hungry. Actually, ravenous.



I was cold, wet and grumpy by the time I got to Donna Margherita. The first day of Autumn had well and truly arrived, public transport had almost ground to a halt and the scrum through the umbrellas was on the verge of making me very mad. I was instantly much happier once I got inside Donna Margherita. It was 8pm and it was bustling. Nearly every table was filled and the atmosphere felt "busy" with the gentle hum of conversation and soft lighting.

Enrico (one of the Vitale brothers who run the restaurant) met me enthusiastically and we left the food selection in his hands.

First up, Frittur’ e Gamber e calamar...


What a great start! This was a relatively straightforward combination of squid and prawns. The prawns were simply cooked (my sister said they were delicious, I have "issues" with whole prawns) and the squid perfectly fried in a light batter. The batter was crisp and the squid yielding, perfectly done and no sign of any rubberiness.

... Swiftly followed by Melanzane alla Parmigiana...


The only slight dud in the meal. Not in terms of flavour, but it was stone cold when it got to our table. If I was paying, it would have gone straight back. However, the flavours were spot on. The tomato sauce was absolutely packed with flavour and the aubergine cooked enough so it had just begun to yield. All topped off with gooey, creamy and ultimately delicious mozzarella. A simple dish reliant on great ingredients.

...and joined by bruschetta. No pics for this one, I ate it very quickly. However, two types arrived, one with smoked cheese and friarelli (an Italian green I am told) and one with a simple tomato, garlic, oregano and basil topping. Wasn't so keen on the smoked cheese one, far too many strong flavours but the tomato bruschetta was another example of how all you need is top quality ingredients to maximise flavour.

Next up, the famous Margherita pizza



Enrico came over and "educated" us on how to properly eat a Neapolitan pizza. In order to savour all the flavours of the tomato, basil and mozzarella, we were told to fold the pizza so we could get all the flavour in one hit, and wow! The mouthful was a taste sensation to me. The sauce was light and tangy, with that subtle sweetness radiating from the tomatoes. The base was soft and doughy. Mix that together with the smooth and delicious creaminess from that imported Italian mozzarella, and there you have heaven my friends.

I have been looking long and hard for THAT pizza to trigger one of my earliest childhood memories. Back when I was a wee toddler in Offenbach, Germany, we had an Italian restaurant at the end of our road which served what I thought was food from the God's. I don't remember many details, other than whenever my parents said we would be going, my little eyes would light up. Ever since that day, I have been looking for the moment that triggered that feeling. Yes, I tried Franco Manca and enjoyed it, but it didn't bring on those memories. This had them gushing back. I was elated.

After the pizza came risotto, with Italian sausage and that veg again, friarelli.


I was still on that pizza high, and sort of disappointed it was over. The risotto was also very good, and I really should give it the credit it deserves. Delightfully savoury nuggets of sausage meat intermingled with the slightly bitter friarelli and the rice had the requisite bite.

The meal was over. We were offered desserts but we were stuffed and tired. I had really enjoyed myself, the food was great, and we had been showered with attention. One of the questions that came up in a discussion on twitter was what the service would be like had we been paying customers. I made a concerted effort to see how others were treated, but all I saw were happy customers, attentive waiters and Enrico drifting through the dining room, talking to as many people who would listen to him.

The feeling I got from Enrico is the immense pride he had for his own product. He spoke passionately of his restaurant whilst constantly qualifying the providence of his ingredients, not defensively, but because he seemed genuinely happy with the end product. He evangelised his products Italian roots wherever he could. I can't say I am an expert, but the flavours speak for themselves. All the food we had was delicious.

I may have been one of a legion of bloggers who have been invited, but my opinion was the same as most, great simple and tasty food. On this evidence, their PR machine appears seemingly unneccessary, although, I guess it keeps their name out there. This one may have been a freebie, but I certainly intend on returning and sampling the rest of Enrico and Gabriele's wares.

Donna Margherita (website) - 183 Lavender Hill, Clapham Junction, SW11 5TE

A meal of diminishing proportions, Busaba Eathai

Busaba Eathai, an interesting assortment of words, probably formulated in a marketing company's wet dream. Oozing cool, with its simple but sleek image, it certainly has grasped the public's attention. Now located across three sites, the ever expanding Thai restaurant chain seems on the verge of bursting onto London's eat and go scene, much in the fashion of Wagamama.

I have actually long been a fan of Busaba. I have learned to avoid the Soho branch where queues have been known to stretch down Wardour street, and normally gravitate towards the Store street branch, conveniently located across from Goodge street station. This branch certainly is the image of cool. Tealights, gold buddhas and wooden interiors accompanies the all too familiar trend of communal dining tables. The staff, mostly attractive, young and predominantly foreign, were polite if a little distracted.

As I was dining alone, I was wondering how I would be able to fit in my favourites of pandan chicken and squid, normally suited for sharing. Lo and behold, the menu has shrunk! Not the selection, mind, this is still as extensive as ever. Instead these dishes have been made into side dishes so I could happily order them, (relatively) guilt free.

Thai Calimari

Strangely sweet nuggets of squid. I'm really not sure what makes these Thai, or what brings that strange sweetness to this dish, but I love it. The light batter is covered in that sticky sauce, with smatterings of peppercorns. Highly moreish.

Pandan Chicken

Morsels of chicken wrapped and roasted in pandan leaves. The roasting of the chicken in the pandan leaves imparts a slight flavour reminiscent of fennel, but slightly sweeter, hard to convey. The chicken was soft and tender and again, I really can't stop myself from eating this. Plenty of flavour, sauce is unneccesary in my eyes (but this is also coming from the person who doesn't use hoi sin in his aromatic duck pancakes).

Pad Kwetio

To finish, I decided to go for the pad kwetio. I would say that this dish has a stronger origin in Malaysia as opposed to Thailand (where char kway teow is a hokker stall standard), it is essentially a wok fried dish of flat noodles. Nice, inoffensive and perfect to fill the hole. One thing I had noticed is that the portions are definitely getting smaller. Fine when you are intentionally reducing the portion size (such as the chicken above) but not so acceptable when the prices are going up.

Busaba is a great place for a pit stop. It's quick, fairly inexpensive, and as long as you avoid the Wardour street branch, you should get a table with minimal fuss.

Busaba Eathai (website) - 22 Store Street, WC1E 7DF

A not so hidden gem in Brixton. Franco Manca

Its taken me a while, but I have finally managed to make it all the way to Brixton and sample the delights of Franco Manca, a pizzeria making and selling Neapolitan style pizzas located in the heart of Brixton Market. The embarrassing thing is that I live literally 10 minutes away by bus, and coming from a self-confessed pizza fan, I hang my head in shame that I had never made the journey earlier.



Anyway, confessions aside, Brixton Market can be a bit of a maze. Split up into various sections, it came across as a warren of corridors, filled with exotic fruit and veg, strange people selling even stranger produce and a wealth of shops peddling African women's hair products. In amongst the madness, you will eventually come across Franco Manca, an open fronted restaurant split in half by the meandering halls and a massive wood fired oven either side.



We were early, as we were warned that arriving a minute past twelve meant certain queuing. In fact, so early were we that we ended up in the deli/bakery next door (Wild Caper for those that may be interested), where we sampled two lovely coffees and bought some fine sourdough bread (my sister bought some sprouts, but I'm not really into that sort of thing).



Dang, we took our eye off the ball. 11:50 and the seats were all nearly filled! How this happened, I will never know but we managed to snaffle the last two seats and gazed at the menu. The menu is curt to say the least with 6 pizzas on the main menu and 2 on the specials. I desperately wanted to try one of the "white" pizza specials, but I needed to try the tomato base first so chorizo with extra mushrooms for me. The sister went for a number 4, the salty special (capers, anchovies, olives etc...).



We had also ordered a side salad and I hate to say it, but this nearly stole the show. Not only was it beautiful to look at, but each constituent part was well thought out and tasted fresh and light. Purple sprouts, an assortment of herbs and leaves and even a few chickpeas added great contrasts in flavour, pepperiness and texture, with the slightly sweet vinaigrette adding the icing on the cake.



And then the pizza's appeared, and they were everything you could want in a pizza. Arriving with that slight char from the wood ovens, dough bubbling at the edges then crisping up to give that requisite crunch. Thin and light throughout, complemented by top quality ingredients, all sourced by the owner himself, the proud providence of the ingredients displayed on each and every menu. This really was quite special.



I really want to proclaim Franco Manca as one of those hidden local neighbourhood gems, but as the queues testify, this is anything but. The word is out and the masses flock to Brixton to sample these fine pizza's. I asked the waitress if they were considering expanding and she politely declined to answer. Secretly, I hope they don't. If they rolled this out it would certainly lose a large amount of its charm, and I certainly don't think your going to find a better location than in the heart of Brixton Market.



Franco Manca (website) - 4 Market Row, Electric Lane, Brixton, SW9 8LD

Does it get any batter? Masters Superfish, Waterloo

Firstly, apologies are due regarding the terrible pun used in the title. The truth is, you're going to have to blame Julie Goodyear of Coronation Street fame for that one. She is but one of the many "famous" names who adorn the walls of Masters Superfish, endorsing their fine fish and chips. Who am I to argue with such a heavyweight of the soap world?



Masters Superfish are located a mere stones throw from Waterloo station. Looking dishevelled and unloved, blinds half drawn, it actually hides a very decent chippy. As the walls suggest, this place has been around for a long time (other than Julie, I noticed Lovejoy's cheesy grin peering over me). The decor is certainly a throwback to the 70's with Formica, laminated menus and sticky tables the order of the day.



We sat and ordered, haddock and chips for me, the special of sea bass for my compatriots. Almost as soon as the menu's were whisked away, we were presented with a basket of bread and some rather sad looking prawns. A bit of a change from the usual chippy, but well received nonetheless.



Soon enough, the main event made its way onto our table, and I was pleasantly surprised. The crisp, light and relatively grease free exterior gave way to a beautifully cooked fresh fish, gently steaming within its fortress of batter. I believe that they get their fish fresh from Billingsgate market every morning and on this evidence, I certainly wouldn't doubt that. Chips were adequate if nothing special but a special mention has to be made to the accompanying pickles. The gherkin was crisp and not soggy as gherkins often are, and the pickled onion, gum suckingly sharp and again beautifully crisp. Only real bum note was that the tartare sauce was seriously lacking.



Masters Superfish certainly isn't going to win any awards for service or looks but what it does deliver is an awesome plate of fish. I have only really started to eat fish over the last year, but when I taste fish as good as this, I really start to wonder what took me so long.

Appearances can indeed be deceiving. Look beyond the crumbling green facade and you may just discover a gem. Covered in batter and served with chips and pickles.

Masters Superfish, 191 Waterloo Road, Waterloo, SE1 8UX

No food, just drink. Dirty Martini in Covent Garden

This blog is predominantly focused on food, but I am determined to diversify it a bit and appeal to a wider audience, so how about a few words on a cocktail bar?

Located in the heart of Covent Garden, and occupying the former premises of the Retoxbar you will find Dirty Martini. A cosy cocktail bar, they have a variety of cocktails on offer, but with a clear focus on martini's. Filled with smoked salmon from @eatlikeagirl's stand at the Covent Garden Food Fair, I headed on down to this basement bar and met a few friends.

The bar was rammed, people probably attracted by happy hour where martini's can be purchased at half price, for a mere four of your English pounds. I was swiftly warmed by my friends that I needed to block order. "Why so?" I asked. "Cos the barmen are bloody slow" was the rather curt reply.

And she was right, half an hour at the bar before the barmen finally got round to serving me and another 10 to make the damn things. This is definitely by far and away the worst thing about this bar. They just simply couldn't cope. That having been said, the barmen clearly put a lot of energy into their cocktails and the end product was of actually a fairly high standard.

Japanese Martini

Wokka Saki shaken with fresh watermelon and fresh apple juice and twist of lychee liquor. Refreshing and reassuringly strong, sweetened by the apple juice and nice subtle undertones of lychee, one of my favourite fruits. Came with a lemongrass swizzle stick. Note to self, do not chew lemongrass.

Cherry Blossom and Espresso Martini

Cherry Blossom: Belvedere Pomerancza Vodka, shaken
with fresh raspberries, lemon juice, syrup de gomme & a dash of Maraschino Cherry
Liqueur. Not the biggest fan. Quite sour and not enough cherry flavour. Note to self, flower is just for garnish, not for consumption.
Espresso: Finlandia Vodka, butterscotch schnapps & Tia Maria, shaken with espresso. A coffee with a kick and my favourite of the night. Didn't eat the coffee beans, learnt my lesson by now.

Lychee Martini

Millers Gin shaken with Kwai Feh Lychee liqueur, lychee juice & garnished with a lychee. It had to be done. After the Japanese martini, I had a serious taste for lychee. Sweet, strong and lovely. Thought about eating the lychee and devoured it when nobody was looking.

Dirty Martini is a great little bar if it wasn't for such slow service. Having said that, it did start emptying out a little later on, even though the happy hour was still in full flow (it ends at 9). Definitely check it out if you are in the area and you need to satisfy your alcoholic cravings.

Dirty Martini (Website), 11/12 Russell Street, Covent Garden, WC2B 5HZ

A tale of two Zeitgeist's, from Lambeth to Kennington

I'm a strange mix I am. One major part of the fact that I am a "rather unusual chinaman" is the fact that I was born in Frankfurt, Germany. My parents, two non-German speaking Chinese Malaysians took the crazy notion that moving to Germany, starting a business and raising kids would be a good idea. That said, my parents made a good fist of it, with my fathers tropical fish industry doing well and my family accepted by some of the kindest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

And the food. Even as an eight year old, I had a mighty appetite and being in Germany, much of this revolved around all things meat. In fact, one of my fondest memories as a child was our morning ritual. First we would go to the bäckerei for our breakfast bread rolls. And then we would go next door to the metzgerei, essentially a German deli, where we would be given slivers of all the sausages to taste before choosing which ones we wanted to have with our rolls. I always knew which one I wanted, but could never resist snaffling as many freebies as I could. Even at 8 I was a foodblagger.



20 odd years later, I find myself in London, and to cut a long story short, the sausages here just aren't the same. Nothing beats a bratwurst. Or a good gelbwurst. Or even slices of bierwurst. I had been yearning for some good honest German tucker when I noticed the Zeitgeist lunch box (an offshoot of the Zeitgeist pub), a small, unassuming shop displaying its wares in the window. MEAT. And lots of it.



It had everything. Salt Beef, Leberkäse, Wurst and Schweinebraten to name a few. They even had German potato salad and gherkins. And best of all, proper German mustard, lighter and smoother than the English version. On my last visit, I opted for their lunch deal, choose anything that will fit into a box with a drink for a fiver.



Wow, this really brought me back. The potatoes, whilst very greasy, were interwoven with strands of sweet onion and salty flecks of ham. Some parts of the potatoes had crispier bits where it had been cooked a little longer, all adding to the difference in textures. I had a bit of roast pork with this and this was also outstanding. Tender pieces of pork speckled with peppercorns, all finished off with a squeeze of that mustard. Easily a fiver of anybodies money.

After this meal, I was due to meet Mr Ed and I thought I would go for the full house and chose to visit the Zeitgeist at the Jolly Gardener. The main outlet and claiming to be a German gastropub. The pub itself is very nice, but my day went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

The menu contains all the usual suspects, but what I really wanted was the Wiener schnitzel. A breaded pork cutlet, deep fried and smothered in a creamy mushroom sauce. Frankly, this was ok. But really no better than that. I was hoping for some serious German tucker, so good I would regress to the good old days.



Regress? I nearly fell asleep. The schnitzel was nigh on tasteless, although, to its credit, grease free. The mushroom sauce was strangely sweet and again lacked flavour. I had to restrain myself from dumping a whole load of salt all over it. And don't get me started about the "side salad". A few brown leaves of iceberg lettuce, two bits of cucumber and tomato, combined with the most putrid dressing I have ever tasted. It was as if the chef had used cooking oil, run out of vinegar, so substituted it with water and then let his hand slip when adding the sugar. Ghastly.

The evening meal was a disaster in my eyes. Even hovering around the £10 mark, this was a total waste of money. It was nice catching up with Mr Ed, but I don't think I will be coming here again. In the future, I think I will stick to the Lunch Box.

Zeitgeist Lunchbox - 141 Westminster Bridge Road,SE1 7HR



Zeitgeist @ The Jolly Gardeners - 49-51 Black Prince Rd,SE11 6AB



Website for both

Sustenance on the Southbank, Benugo Bar and Kitchen

Southbank, one of the best places in London to wander. Packed to the brim with a great diversity of people, I don't believe that there is a nicer place to be on a balmy and bright summer's evening.

Dotted all the way down at intermittent intervals are places to eat of various shapes and sizes. From chains to upper end dining, you can find them all within spitting distance of each other. Having already visited the Skylon Grill on a previous visit, I decided to try out Benugo Bar and Kitchen within the confines of the BFI.

I was meeting the curiously named Mountain Goat. This particular breed threw in his well paid job at very well know company (forgoing free food, and probably more importantly, free cake) to climb mountains for a living. As far as I am aware, he hasn't been classified insane. Yet.

Anyway, we met, we chatted and we scampered around a bit looking for this well hidden place, which incidentally is actually located slap bang inside the BFI. Benugo Bar and Kitchen is an offshoot of the Benugo clan of coffee and sandwich shops. On entering this lofty space, this place clearly had no intentions of being a coffee bar, with furnishings closer to that of an upmarket All Bar one and a rather resplendent bar situated at the back. We headed over to the restaurant on the right hand side of the room and were given our menu's. So far so good.



Benugo B&K prides itself on its British classics and the food appears firmly routed within these loose restrictions. I decided to order a Watermelon Martini (start as you mean to go on) as some above average bread was brought over, accompanied by some rather bland butter. The martini was crisp and reassuringly strong, although the overall taste of watermelon was somewhat lacking.



For me, I ordered the lamb chops with garlic mash and mint pesto. The lamb chops were very nicely cooked, with the pre-requisite grill lines. It must have hit the grill at quite some temperature as the fat had begun to crisp up whilst to middle remained pink and moist. The mash was ok, not that much garlic flavour really coming through, and I never seem to understand why so much mash is normally piled on the plate. If its really rich, you don't need the mounds of starchiness, although if it was that rich, you would probably polish it off anyway and make you feel ill. Lastly, and probably the most confusing for me, was the mint pesto. It really didn't have that much of a mint kick, but the dominating flavour was the cheese (parmesan I assume), used in the making of the pesto. A rather more restrained use of said cheese would really have helped the dish along, instead, it totally dominated all the flavours.



The goat went for the Chicken, ham and mushroom pie, with the only proviso being that I was allowed a taste. My mouthful was a little strange, dominated by something sweet. I wasn't sure where this sweetness was coming from, but the mountain goat assured me that my taste buds were playing tricks on me as he silently but stealthily devoured his pie.

Benugo B&K is a good value but ultimately average restaurant. I think the cooking is above average but the flavourings of the dishes definitely need work, judging on this experience. Prices are competitive with mains starting under a tenner and not more than £15. Once the bill was settled, awaiting the final musketeer, we toddled off in search of beer surveying a frankly startling London skyline.



Benugo (Website), BFI Southbank, Waterloo

Camberwell's Finest, FM Mangal

Camberwell isn't notorious for being the culinary capital of London, let alone South London, and probably not even Southwark! However, I have lived in the area for a while and it astounds me as to the variety of food you can get here. We have Italian, Greek, African, Caribbean, Indian and Chinese restaurants as well as having numerous pubs serving pretty good grub and before I forget, need to mention the chippies and kebab shops! The latest addition to the neighbourhood is FM Mangal, which as it's name suggests is a Turkish ocakbasi (an open charcoal grill).

Located on the site of an old African members club, it's conveniently located in the middle of Camberwell Church street, and the smell of the grilling meat can be smelt all the way down the road. Quite some sphere of influence.

I'm a huge fan of their takeaways. Every time I pop in, they welcome you like an old friend and try to ply you with tea and Turkish delight. After multiple visits, I thought I better do a quick write up of it. Turning down the Turkish delight (not my thing at all) I accepted the offer of some apple tea and sat opposite the coals to wait for my food.




The takeaway box deal is amazing value. For £5.50, you get two Adana kebab with grilled chillies and tomatoes, a side salad and a heap of Turkish flat bread. The Adana kebab are long strips of lamb flecked with herbs and chilli peppers wrapped around skewers and grilled over those coals. What we get is a taste sensation, the char on the outside containing succulent, smoky lamb. The bread is cooked on top of the meat so that it retains some of the juices whilst cooking and is sprinkled with a dash of paprika. The salad on the side is quite substantial and is stuffed with cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, herbs and all sorts of other veggie goodness, all doused in a vinaigrette. And I can't forget the chilli sauce, containing just the right amount of heat, infinitely superior in comparison to the tomatoey mess you usually find in your high street kebab shop.

I love FM Mangal, it takes a large amount of willpower for me not to pop in every night. I haven't actually been in to eat yet, but no doubt this will happen soon enough. Here's to Camberwell getting one step closer to becoming that culinary capital.

FM Mangal, 54 Camberwell Church Street, Camberwell, SE5 8QZ

Aperitweat 3.0

Aperitweat is a twitter meet up with a difference. Originating from Italy, aperitivo is essentially pre-dinner drinks with a few nibbles, designed to open up the palate. So was born Aperitweat, an opportunity for tweeple to meet in real life and enjoy a few drinks and nibbles. Previously based at Al Volo in the heart of Brick Lane, for 3.0 we relocated to the South Bank and a wine bar called Viva Verdi.

At the core of this lies a small group of devoted organisers. What do they get out of this? I am not sure other than a sense of satisfaction. With Aperitivo being fundamentally Italian, it's no surprise that a fair few of the organisers are too. Hats off to @gioias & @palmamod as well as dash of Irish in @niamhhughes.

So you can't have Aperitivo without food. And there was plenty. There were bowls of pasta salad, lots of little balls of mozzarella on cocktail sticks, mini sandwiches containing various types of ham (my favourite being the mortadella), lots of cheese (including huge hunks of parmesan) and little bruschetta things.

Really descriptive aren't I? Well, the event in my eyes wasn't about the food. It was about meeting people and tonight, it was also about raising awareness for endometriosis, a chronic debilitating condition affecting around 2 million women in the UK. The evening was informative, fun and any money raised through the raffle was going to a good cause too.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable night. I got to meet more people that I talk to over twitter and even bumped into a few who aren't. Some I had even originally first met in real life. Crazy, I know. Even though one of the co-founders is heading to the Big Apple, I'm sure that these events will carry on. Anything that brings people together has got to be a good thing, right?