Roganic: A little bit about Ben

It seems like an eternity ago that I tasted some of Ben Spaldings food for the first time. I have been rather slack all things considered in the blog department, whilst the eating has not abated (not without good reason, but all will be revealed soon enough). In that time, I have sampled menus which had been cooked by Ben twice, totalling about 23 different courses from this man. Ben is a mere 24 years old and has already had experience in some of the country’s finest restaurants, including Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, L’Autre Pied, Gary Rhodes W1 and of course L’Enclume. Now he is heading up the chefs at Roganic, Londons L’Enclume in residence, and man with skills in the kitchen belying his age.

Cafe Luc: Overpriced "blah" in Marylebone

The hardest thing I find about writing blog posts are those first few paragraphs. You know the ones, setting the scene, adding a bit of back-story of they whys and why nots and a maybe a throw a little snippet about me into the mix. Sitting here trying to come up with those few paragraphs about Cafe Luc has been hard. I simply heard about a new place opening up in Marylebone on the grapevine and then my good friend Charmaine asked me if I wanted to go with her for work. Underwhelming stuff, and unfortunately, this is probably the most exciting thing you will read from this point in.

Located just round the corner from Harley Street, Cafe Luc (an offshoot from the Le Pain Quotidien) is a brasserie charging Harley street prices. With the interior as sterile as the medical facilities the next road along, we perused the menu and chose our starters. Averaging around a tenner each, I ordered a simple goat’s cheese starter on croutons, a snip for a mere £8.90. Pleasant, but not £8.90 pleasant. Charz's crab tian was alright, and for someone who dislikes the crustacean as much as I was palatable. The centimetre thick layer of crème fraiche, however, was an unnecessary and cloying addition.

My main course of chicken supreme was tender and combined with the sweet champagne sauce made for a very average main. The mushrooms were advertised as black trompettes but look suspiciously like chestnut mushrooms. We perused them quizzically and If I had known what they were meant to look like, I would have kicked up a fuss for sure. Oh and a mysterious looking hair was dismissed by the maitre'd as a hair from the mushroom. Do mushrooms even have hair? The addition of a lemony pappardelle on the side was the highlight of an otherwise droll main, freshly made and with good bite, this was excellent pasta.

Desserts were another disappointment. Crème Caramel was sloppy with air bubbles throughout, watery caramel and probably the most alcoholic grapes I have ever had the misfortune in trying. It should have come with a warning to keep away from open flames. "Pineapple" was just that, a hunk of pineapple with a pineapple mohican and some coconut sorbet. The advertised pistachio was absent, but by this time, I don't think either of us could give a monkeys.

So there it is, a boring if expensive meal. I'm not sure as to the final bill as C paid, but I anticipate it was about £40 a head without alcohol. Over priced, underwhelming and unsatisfying. Dull.

Cafe Luc - 50 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 5HN

Anacapri, an Italian non-adventure

After "that" game at Lords, a few of my compatriots and I wanted to avoid the over priced grub from within the ground (and quite possibly the worlds biggest pies, the one above was half finished and passed liberally amongst that guys friends) and opt for some over priced grub outside the ground.

It was a Monday, I had the rest of the day off and I wanted to tick another of those "destination" eateries off my list. Having anticipated an early finish, I pencilled in a visit to the Anchor and Hope on the Cut. This is somewhere I am ashamed to say I had not yet visited (not for lack of trying on a few occasions). I roped along @shalmaneser, his brother-in-law and his brother-in-law-to-be, the big aussie, and off we went.

My planning skills appear to be a bit pants. Realisation hit me that I should actually check if they are open and sure enough, they are shut on Monday lunchtime. Now, I don't work that well under pressure and we needed to find an alternative destination. Heading to Marylebone, we scrabbled around on Urbanspoon and settled on Anacapri, a neighbourhood Italian eatery with a fair few good write ups.



We got there, it was early afternoon, and I think the staff would rather be putting their feet up and having their own lunch rather than making and serving ours. We were hurriedly shoved our menus, had our drink orders taken and had some pretty unappealing semi-stale bread dumped on our table. I think the staff were miffed by the fact that we would rather chat amongst ourselves than order. We soon got the hint and made our choices.

To start, the old stalwart, Calamari Fritti



I think you can probably guess, I didn't have high hopes for this place, but these were pretty ok. The batter was quite nice and crispy. It was also relatively grease free, no mean achievement. The squid itself was on the chewy side, indicating a few seconds too long in the fryer. And they didn't exactly taste that fresh either. A lot to hope for I suppose.

Mains? Tagliatelle Alfredo please!



Tagliatelle in a mushroom and cream sauce, win win. There's not too much you can screw up here, the whole dish was reasonable and I polished the whole lot off (mainly as I was quite hungry). The tagliatelle may well have been fresh too. Made in house? Probably not, Sainsbury's do a highly palatable fresh tagliatelle.

This was very average, inoffensive food. Very much on the pricy side, I guess they have to pay their rent somehow. Its places like this which really highlight why I like to put a bit of research into my dining choices. Put on the spot, I panic. If I had taken a little longer, I would have noticed that I could have eaten at Canteen or Galvin Bistro De Luxe for almost the same amount as I spent at Anacapri. Oh well, you live and learn.

Anacapri, 10 Dorset St, W1U 6QR