I had some time to kill before a meeting in London, needing coffee and a place to catch up with some work. A few of the places I had see in the Clerkenwell area were busy, so pleased to see there was some room in a branch of Benugo. It was early afternoon, so there was no queue and I ordered a flat white. The flat white looked and tasted great. The seating wasn’t very comfortable, but even so it was adequate for catching up with stuff.
Time for a light lunch
I was checking my e-mail when I got a special offer through from Wahaca offering me one from a choice of street food dishes for just one pound if I bought another. Well it’s been sometime since I visited Wahaca for lunch, so when I was looking for a light lunch I found a branch of Wahaca, I thought well why not. I wasn’t very hungry, so decided to purchase just two dishes, one for full price and one for the offer price of a pound.
What was interesting was that the staff in the branch of Wahaca I was in, didn’t realise that there was an offer sent our by e-mail, and it took the intervention of a manager to sort it out. That is something that does frustrate and annoy me with special offers is when you try and claim the offer, the staff don’t know what to do, or know nothing about it.
So what of the food? For the full price I went with the Chargrilled steak Baja Tacos with avocado & chipotle salsas.
This was a delicious dish, the steak was chargrilled and sliced, it was still rare. The salsas were tasty, not to spicy and complimented the steak nicely. I could have added grilled cheese for an extra fifty pence, but I am glad I didn’t, because I don’t think it needs it.
For the special offer dish, I went with the Buttermilk chicken Baja Tacos served crispy fried with habanero & white onion relish & spiced mayo.
These were really nice, the chicken was crispy and hot, the relish was spicy and tasty.
Of the two dishes I preferred the chargrilled steak dish, though both dishes were very tasty. The service was good, the food service was quick and efficient. The experience reminded me how much I enjoyed the Wahaca food. So I might not leave it so long next time.
One of these is not like the other
On my most recent visit to Prezzo, I decided to have something different, however they had a run on the Calabria Burger so I had to choose something else. I had enjoyed the Fiorentina Pizza on a previous visit. So needing to make a quick decision, I decided to go again with the Fiorentina Pizza that I had last time.
The Fiorentina Pizza is a classic pizza with spinach, olives, mozzarella and an egg. The last time I thought this was a very tasty pizza, I really liked the toppings and the base was cooked well.
So as you can imagine my expectations were quite high, however though my pizza was nice, the egg, which last time had a nice soft yolk, was fully cooked this time. The flavour was still there, but I had a slight twinge of disappointment that it didn’t look like this.
I did contemplate complaining, but wasn’t sure if I had grounds for a valid complaint, especially as I wasn’t sure how the egg was supposed to be cooked on the pizza, maybe the last time I had it, it wasn’t supposed to have a soft yolk.
Nice coffee, but the service is a bit of a yolk
On my way into work decided to try somewhere new for coffee. I quite liked the look of Yolk, it felt stylish but not too hipster. The breakfast menu looked very interesting and tasty, but I wasn’t hungry, I just wanted coffee.
I was quickly served, which was nice, and my order of a flat white along with my name was taken.
The process then was to wait for ages for the coffee, they had three people taking orders, but only one person making the coffee, so of course the orders were backing up.
I did get my coffee in the end, but there were loads of coffees in front of me. I’m glad I didn’t order a latte as there were plenty of those, and many had no names. The slowness and randomness of the serving of the coffee did put me off slightly, but I might go again, mainly as the breakfast menu was tempting.
Having said all that the coffee was rather nice, well made and tasty.
Another visit to Prezzo
It took five years from my first visit to Prezzo to visit it again. This time is was less than month since my previous visit to go there again.
Having had an enjoyable meal at their branch in Euston, this visit was a family celebration at the branch in Weston-super-Mare. This is quite a new branch, less than a year old. We arrived early evening on a Saturday, or you could have even described it as late afternoon. It’s a nice smart clean restaurant with a variety of seating options available. We were quite a large party so we just had some tables pushed together. We were given a warm welcome and we sat down perused the menu. Unlike a lot of places these days, their set menu is available all the time, seven days a week and it is quite a good set menu at that.
I started with the Caprese Salad, tomato and burrata cheese with basil pesto and balsamic glaze.
The tomato was ripe and the burrata cheese was fresh and tasty. A really nice starter.
I had the Fiorentina Pizza, a classic pizza with spinach, olives, mozzarella and an egg.
This was a very tasty pizza, I really liked the toppings and the base was cooked well.
I wasn’t going to go with a desert, but I did fancy a coffee, looking over the dessert menu, I went with the Affogato. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream served with a double shot of espresso and a lemon cannoli. Wasn’t too enamoured with the cannoli, but did enjoy the espresso over ice cream.
Overall a tasty meal. The service did leave a little bit to be desired, initially it started off well and our food arrived in a timely manner. However we did get asked three times if we wanted dessert, seemed they were desperate to provide us with dessert. They also provided us with the wrong bill. Ah well, it was a tasty meal.
It was rather disappointing…
In my continuing adventures around Fetter Lane looking for places for lunch, I decided this time to try out the Nusa Kitchen at Adam’s Court. It certainly has a striking shopfront.
They have an extensive menu across soups, salads and rice boxes. I went with the large Vietnamese Chicken, fragrant flame grilled chicken served with coconut rice and salad for £7.95.
The service was quick and efficient and though it wasn’t too busy when I went, I can imagine it moving faster when there is a queue.
My initial reaction on opening the box was one of disappointment, I was expecting grilled chicken, it wasn’t grilled, well it might have been but there was no grilled look or flavour. The sauce was scattered across the chicken, however it lacked flavour. I couldn’t detect the coconut in the coconut rice, but it was otherwise cooked well, nice and separate and not sticky. The salad was fresh and interesting. Even with the disappointment of what it looked like, alas the eating experience didn’t change my perspective, and it was a disappointing meal overall. I don’t think I will return.
Steak in France
I spent most of the day travelling by train from London to Brest in Brittany, travelling via Paris. I had been invited to speak at a conference on libraries and analytics. The last time I had been in France was in 1998 (or was it 1997) when I spent a weekend in Caen. In the 1970s and 1980s most of my summer holidays were spent sailing to France and in 1982 I went on a fantastic school trip to Brittany.
When it was time to leave, I headed towards St Pancras. This is a huge station, but I found the Eurostar check-in and headed towards the departure lounge. This was my first time on Eurostar and it felt weird, in the sense it was like going to an airport, but this was a train. After checking in I had some time to wait until I could board the train. So I had a coffee and then I managed to get some Euro from a cash machine for the trip. The Eurostar was one of the newer ones and was very comfortable.
We arrived in Paris Gare de Nord.
I didn’t have much time to get across Paris. I had to buy a Metro ticket first and this was a bit challenging. First I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of ticket I needed, second my card did not work in the machine and I didn’t have any change, only notes. So I went to a patisserie, bought a pastry and then had the change to buy a ticket. The Metro felt old and dirty, but it wasn’t too long before I arrived at Gare Montparnasse. What I didn’t realise was how far the SNCF station is from the Metro stop for Gare Montparnasse. It’s about a kilometre, so I had to walk along this long subway tunnel from the Metro to the station.
It felt like I only made my train. The train was really long, with twenty odd carriages, and as the train split along the route, my reserved seat was in one of the furthermost carriages so I had a long walk along the platform to get to my carriage and my seat.
It was a comfortable ride and I enjoyed looking out of the window at all the scenery. It was nearly a four hour jouney from Paris to Brest, but when we finally arrived in Brest I walked to the hotel.
It felt both strange and comforting to be back in France.
I was staying at the Hotel Oceania Brest Centre. I was only staying one night at the Oceania. The hotel was easy to find and the welcome was warm and friendly. My French language skills leave a lot to be desired, so I was thankful that the reception staff spoke excellent English.
The room was simple, but had a desk as well as a very comfortable bed. The en-suite was a little cramped, but the actual shower was huge (and probably explained why the rest of the space was cramped).
Unlike the British hotels I stay in, there were no coffee (or tea) making facilities in the room, there was just a solitary bottle of mineral water. That’s just a cultural difference.
I had been invited to the conference dinner, but was tired and to be honest the thought of being stuck at an event for the night with no one I knew and everyone else speaking French, did not appeal. So I ducked out and decided to go out and have something to eat.
I really enjoyed my walk around Brest, I walked down the main boulevard, arriving at the harbour, which is a major naval base for the French Navy. As I walked down, trams were going back and forth.
Down at the harbour there was a huge bridge across the river, and nearby was the massive chateau.
Part of me wished that I had arrive the day before so I could have explored the town and visited the chateau. The organisers of the conference though had booked my travel and hotel, so there wasn’t much (if any) time in my schedule for sightseeing. When I was organising the trip I had the offer of them organising the travel or I could have done it. The reason I took the train was that there was no easy route for flying, it would have taken longer than the train and then there was the challenge of getting from the airport to Brest. I did think about driving down to Plymouth and catching the ferry across to Roscoff and driving down to Brest. This did appeal as I thought I could spend some more time in France to see Brittany, which I hadn’t been to since 1982. However I wasn’t sure about the logistics of this. So went with the offer of the travel to be organised by the conference hosts.
Brest was badly damaged during the war that a lot of it had to be rebuilt post-war. As a result it doesn’t quite have the charm of other French cities and towns with its modern architecture.
I walked around Brest trying to find somewhere to eat, but in the end decided to hit the hotel restaurant, the Nautilus, as it was getting late, and when I finished I wouldn’t have too far to walk back.
There was a nice warm welcome from the staff on a visit to the Nautilus. They have English menus so if you have a poor grasp of the French language then at least you know what you will be ordering. There is a limited, yet good choice on the menu, which I think is a positive thing. Many of the items are not very French, so I went with the ribeye steak with pomme frites.
The steak was cooked perfectly and was delicious. I di dn’t think too much of the frites, which felt like they had been cooked twice. I enjoyed the meal and the service was excellent. It was getting late, so I retired to my room to get some sleep.
Grilling in Euston
So I was staying overnight on the Euston Road before heading off to France on the Eurostar the following morning.
Having been walking around earlier I had noticed the Cattle and Co and it looked both inviting and interesting.
Having looked at the online menu I had quite liked the idea of chargrilled squid, which regular readers of the blog will know I quite like.
However the online menu must be slightly out of date as there was no squid on the menu, however to compensate there was a selection of grills that I hadn’t seen online.
Of the starters I did think about the Buttermilk Wings, but the “Now we talkin’” spice rating of the Buffalo Sauce made me think again.
I was tempted by a couple of items on the main menu. If I was really hungry I probably would have gone for the The Cattle Platter.
The formidable showcase of what we’re about here at Cattle & Co. St Louis Rib, Beef Short Rib, Smoked Chicken Thigh, Honey & Beer onion rings, and in just in case you needed something else; Fries. A wheelbarrow taxi service home also available upon request. No judgement here, we’ve all been there.
As I wasn’t starving (and I was eating alone) then decided that at £35 it was a bit extravagant to go for something that sounded delicious.
I also quite liked the sound of the Buttermilk Fried Chicken as well as the Angus Short Rib.
Now we’re talking. Our imported smoker really showing off its potential with this dish. Hickory smoked on-site for at least 12 hours (Low and Slow), Pickles, Sauce, AND Your choice of Fries.
In the end decided to go down the “specials” route and have a grill. The grills covered a range of prices, but was tempted by either the hangar steak or the lamb rump. In the end I went with the lamb.
It was served with a confit tomato, mushrooms, a green salad and some melted garlic butter. I did order a side order of truffle and parmesan fries.
I had expected the fries to be served with a large helping of freshly grated parmesan and grated truffle. That expectation was based on seeing a similar dish at one of the Bristol Street Food markets. However I didn’t see any real evidence of either parmesan or truffle. The fries were nice and I did enjoy eating them.
So what of the lamb? The lamb was cooked how I asked, the cut was full of flavour and it was really tender. I really enjoyed the chargrill which imparted a great flavour and hadn’t been overdone. I couldn’t believe how tender it was, easy to cut with a regular knife.
I also enjoyed the other accompaniments on the board. The tomato was lovely and tender, yet still full of flavour, so much nicer than just either a chargrilled tomato half or even an uncooked one. The mushrooms were nice as was the salad.
The service was warm, friendly and efficient. I should say it took some time for my food to arrive, but I wasn’t in a hurry and good food does take some time to cook. I think there were quite a few people in the other side of the restaurant by the kitchen, it was much quieter on the side I was in by the bar.
Would I like to go again? Yes I would.
Yes, it was okay
Staying up in Ealing for a couple of nights on our second night we went to Pizza Express, in the main as they do a very nice gluten-free pizza and the other places we liked the sound of, didn’t have a strong or varied gluten-free menu. Well to be honest the little one who is on a gluten-free diet wanted pizza, so pizza it was.
Though it was Friday evening and we hadn’t booked the place did have space for us and we were given a warm welcome. Compared to other Pizza Express establishments, this was rather crowded and cramped, but we weren’t elbowing each other, so was okay.
I did consider going with the pasta, but from the menu it sounded like everything was cooked in the pizza oven, al forno, anyhow, so I went with the pizza.
I ordered the Quattro Carni Pizza. Finocchiona, Coppa, Milano salami, pancetta, tomato and buffalo mozzarella, finished with rocket and shaved Gran Milano cheese on a Romana base.
The food arrived quite promptly and I loved the fresh rocket and Gran Milano cheese on top of my pizza. I did think the pizza was a little over-cooked for my liking which meant it was difficult to discern the four different meats on the pizza, but there were some good flavours in there. The rocket and cheese on top added some nice freshness and bite to what otherwise could have been a somewhat salty pizza.
The service was excellent, and made what was otherwise an okay pizza experience, into a good pizza experience.
Not that different, just a little different
I know in my last blog post about SheSellsSushi I said that I would go for something the next time I went to Lisa’s stall. Well I did and I didn’t.
I once more had the delicious Beef Donburi. This is succulent short rib slow cooked in a teriyaki style marinade of soy, fresh ginger and garlic. It was served on a bed of rice with beni shoga, mayu and spring onion. Do I know what they are? Well I know what spring onions are, as for the others I would need to Google them.
As usual it was delicious and full of flavour. The beef was meltingly tender and the garnishes added to the dish. I always love the care and attention that Lisa pays to each and every dish. This isn’t just thrown togther, this is food artistry made with love and passion. The result is amazing cooking and delicious food.
I once more went again with the tempura chicken hirata bun. The steamed bun is made with activated charcoal and inside is a couple pieces of crispy tempura chicken.
I do like the combination of flavours and textures in the bun.
So though I went with my normal order, I also added a side order of Takoyaki in octopus and duck varieties. These are freshly cooked on the stall and always look really nice.
They are covered in a range of sauces and garnishes, and I couldn’t tell you what they were, but thankfully Lisa on her website describes them as dumplings with tonkatsu sauce, japanese mayo, toasted seaweed and bonito flakes. Again some googling required for some of those ingredients. I did enjoy these, however having had them from SheSellsSushi (and Yo! Sushi) I don’t think they are my favourite dish, so next time it will probably be the just the donburi and the hirata bun. However if the summer weather has gone, I might just try out the ramen. Oh and one day must try the sushi.