Tuesday 26 February 2013

BBQ Heaven


Yesterday I went to possibly my favourite restaurant in London, for what I think is the fifth time. Now I would go more often, unfortunately you can't book and it isn't exactly healthy. It has won many awards in the last year (it's first), it's not snooty or posh or even that expensive but you do have to play the game to get the goods. But boy is it worth it!

Pitt Cue is a place I take people who like meat, red meat! Barbecued and dripping with flavour! Every time I introduce someone to this corner restaurant just off Carnaby street it's like going through the acts of a play. They start by saying something like "this is a little cosy". And it is, this tiny restaurant seats 30 at any one time and its almost too popular for it's own good. Patience is most definitely a virtue. You wait in the all too cramped bar upstairs, twenty to thirty minutes later its "Soooo when are we going to sit down?" or "I'm so hungry!" Unfortunately the wait is usually quite long, forty five minutes to an hour from when your name goes down on the list. The cocktails help though they have a great range of sours, bourbon, beer and cider. Once you get the tap on the shoulder and are shown to your seat you know the food is only minutes away. By this point my guests are champing at the bit, their taste buds and salivating glands already primed and ready due to the heavenly aromas coming from the kitchen and the sight of other diners plates.

Now if you are as greedy as I am, I would recommend ordering two meat dishes and two sides. You get bread and pickles as part of the course, just to make sure you roll out instead of walk. The menu changes a lot but pulled pork, sausage and beef ribs are regulars.

If I didn't know better I would say the Pitt Cue chefs use some sort of black magic, which forces me to lick the beef ribs clean. However I'm pretty sure its just a brilliant BBQ recipe and wonderfully reared meat. I know this, as Pitt Cue even breed their own Mangalitza pigs for the pork in the restaurant.Yesterday there were also extras on the menu of crumbed pork cheek and chicken nuggets which were superb! Sides include mash (with gravy), slaw, beans (with meat..... there's a lot of meat) all are fab and accompany the mains with smokey BBQ goodness!

Whilst eating my friends don't say an awful lot. The moaning and complaining is over. They just make some semi-erotic noises with a few low groans when they try a combination of the pulled pork and the gravy mash. A high pitched exclamation upon reaching climax while half way through a beef rib, or maybe that's just me.

 The final act is generally groans and a refusal to look at the pudding menu. You say genuine thank yous to the waiters and to the bar staff and leave with a large smile on your face. Forgotten is the hour you spent  juggling your drink and your bag while yet another diner squeezes in. Only the last thirty minutes of BBQ heaven are in your thoughts. You may or may not realise it then but you've just had one of the best meals you'll ever have.

Monday 25 February 2013

Original Nose to Tail + Doughnuts!

It's been over ten years since Ferguson Henderson and co started St.Johns on St. John street next to Smithfield Market. The original nose to tail theory that if you are going to kill an animal you should really eat all of it has inspired many people as well other restaurants such as Hereford road. This simple, thrifty idea captured the hearts and minds of many foodies as well as appealing to the more macho man. Whoever the audience St.john's has proven very popular with a second restaurant in Spitalfield's commercial street, opening in 2003. As well as the restaurant/hotel located just off Leicester square, which brought the business central last year. However the stand alone bakery in the popular Druid street in Bermondsey opened in 2010 and has opened up a whole new side to the business!

The focus upon bread is down to the head baker Justin Gellately, he has been rolling out his baked goods further afield than just the St.John group and you can now buy the famous Sourdough and incredible doughnuts in many different establishments. Including Selfridges, Wholefoods Piccadilly and Fortnum and Mason (where you can even choose your own filling from their range of preserves!). Even my local coffee shop The Fields Beneath has started shifting large quantities of doughnuts on a Saturday morning!

Coming back to the restaurant food I just need to read from the daily menu to start salivating...

12.00pm

£2.20
Rock Oysters (each)
£6.90
Celeriac Soup, Snails & Parsley
£7.90
Cauliflower, Chickpeas & Leeks
£7.90
Foie Gras & Duck Liver Toast
£8.90
Brown Crab Meat on Toast
£8.10
Purple Sprouting Broccoli Vinaigrette
£8.10
Crispy Old Spot, Dandelion & Mustard
£8.70
Smoked Cods Roe & Duck Egg
£8.30
Goat's Curd & Mint
£8.90
Quail, Ramson & Anchovy
£10.90
Mussels, Cider & Alexanders
£13.50
Butternut Squash, Lentils & Yoghurt
£17.10
Lemon Sole, Chips & Tartare
£15.70
Rabbit, Carrots & Green Sauce
£16.10
Crumbed Pork, White Cabbage & Aioli
£16.10
Kid Offal, Barley & Bacon
As you can see you don't have to be a meat eater but it definitely helps, that and having an experimental side. However it's not for everyone my father loves it here however my girlfriend isn't hugely keen, but does love the  doughnuts.
So I implore you to try and experiment with nose to tail eating, you may even find yourself heading down to the local butcher to get some offal. Or if not then at least get some of the doughnuts!

Thursday 21 February 2013

Gold for Britishness

Spitalfields is abundant with trendy eateries, coffee shops and exciting foodie new comers. All catering to the bankers and city slickers in Liverpool St, as well as the cool hipsters of Shoreditch and Brick lane. However this small little deli seems a little lost in the hubbub. A. Gold takes you back to a simpler time when a local shop sold more than fags, crisps and soggy sarnies.

A. Gold does it all properly, selling Monmouth filter coffee and moffat toffee two of my personal favourite brands. As well as Patum Peperium's gentleman's relish, Campbells tea, Romney's kendal mint cake, London borough of jam, Patchett's marshmallow and much, much more. A. Gold have certainly scoured the best of British produce for this classically British store. One end of the store is devoted to nostalgic penny sweets sold by weight, bring on the rhubarb and custard!

However A. Gold pride themselves upon their home made scotch eggs and sausage rolls, which are phenomenally good I have to say. Made to order sandwiches and their hot meals of the day are where they capture most of their trade. Again all the ingredients are high quality and the salt beef sandwiches (served on Mondays) are superb. A. Gold tweet their hot food dishes daily so you can keep up to date.

The shop was named after a previous inhabitant Amelia Gold, a Jewish milliner, who's sign is still above the door today. The Shop itself is not as old as the building which goes back to the 1780s. With the Thomas family taking charge in 2000. Thirteen years on they are serving and selling good old British wares slap bang in the middle of the city, and long may they continue to do so.

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Carpo Diem!


You'll go nuts for Carpo, or rather you’ll go to Carpo for nuts! This new Greek deli come coffee shop opened just a week ago on Piccadilly. The shop is beautiful it looks like this year’s harvest has come early, with baskets and bags over flowing with dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, honey and coffee. A bit too healthy for you? Well go for a visit, the staff are very welcoming and allow you to try everything and once you do you’ll understand this not just a place to buy your rabbit food. From savoury to sweet all Carpo's wares have fantastic flavours. The Spanish corn nuts make the perfect bar snack, the Thai dragon fruit look amazing, the dried mango is fab. However the dried Greek nectarines are my favourite, taking me back to heady summer holidays in the med. The flavour is the same as biting into a fresh nectarine. So good in fact that I may have eaten 300g in the past three days!





Your local supermarket cannot compare to these flavours, the fruits come from the best growing areas and dried quickly capturing the sweetness and flavour. Also Carpo don’t seem to use sulphites which nearly every other producer does. Sulphites can cause allergic reactions and it is refreshing to find somewhere that does not use them. From an economic point of view Carpo is actually better for your pocket by the gram than the scandalous chain supermarket prices.


 Carpo is a very welcoming shop, with staff handing out chocolate samples and the aroma of coffee in the air, it is a great addition to the Piccadilly food scene. Carpo has come to London from Athens where it has had success through the Greek economy to sell us some amazing products and I think we should lend them our support, even if you do get addicted to dried nectarines in the process. 


Tuesday 19 February 2013

Ceviche, Sours and Skewers in Soho!

Fancy something a little different? Well why not go Peruvian? Peruvian food is becoming very popular in the capital and a trip to Ceviche on Frith street will prove to you why. Opening roughly 12 months ago Ceviche has had a lot of success and has heralded other Peruvian restaurants like Tierra Peru in Islington and Lima in Fitzrovia.

Ceviche is a traditional Peruvian dish made primarily with the freshest fish possible, red onions, and lime juice. There is no "heat" cooking involved just acidic cooking, the citric acid within the lime essentially cooks the fish and this not only provides an extra dimension in tangy flavoring but also a fantastic biting texture. Many additions and variations make the dish really versatile. For instance simply changing different citric fruits with different types of fish create some very individual dishes. Ceviche itself have several variations including mackerel and gooseberry, salmon and satsuma, scallops and pisco. But the traditional Don ceviche seabass, lime juice and chilli exudes an amazing tangy taste that excited the tongue!

Peruvian food includes a lot of corn and maze as well as meat on sticks. Cancha a kind of un-popped giant corn kernel is the ultimate bar snack and a definitely worth starting your meal with. Peruvian corn bread goes wonderfully with your skewered meat. have either ox heart, chicken, fish or octopus all  are amazing (I've been a few times). All dishes are small and made for sharing, three or four dishes per person should do the trick. All washed down with Pisco sours or authentic Peruvian beer you'll have a wonderful meal for roughly £35pp.

Monday 18 February 2013

Great and British!


Now then we are talking Mayfair, which is unlikely to conjure the thought of a cafe or rather a British "caff" to be precise. However here the delights of a proper British greasy spoon meet with tradition and sophistication to produce the most fabulous of fry ups and more besides. The great British restaurant on North Audley street is a stone’s throw from Selfridges and  sits minding its own business next to a grand old chapel opposite green street. Walking through the doors you go slightly back in time and venturing into this sophisticated caff you realise you can go right to the back of the restaurant like a rabbit burrow. 

I went on a Thursday morning at 9.30am for breakfast and it was empty however within an hour it was half full. A Mother and child came in for crumpets, while an elderly gentleman had his usual of kippers and toast. I myself wasn't messing around and ordered the full English and was delighted to receive such a well presented fried breakfast. Now for those of you who go to great lengths to cook a full English for your loved ones may well know, presentation of up to at least seven or eight items upon a plate is not the easiest (not least when you have a hang over the size of the Albert hall!). So when the dish pictured was served up to me I was very happy, separated beans are a must in my book and if not in yours at least you can tip them out.

After breakfast the feast goes on with classics such as shepherd’s pie and fish & chips. However the duo behind the restaurant want people to have “great” British food. As well as the classics there are more intriguing dishes such as Aylesbury snails and Mrs. Kirkham’s cheese and onion Pudding. You could almost imagine yourself sitting down with Sherlock Holmes and Watson to a dinner of Goosnargh duck hash and Roast Suffolk lamb faggots, with capers.

In conclusion proper British grub done well at reasonable prices, a posh full English at £9.95 isn't to steep. But I would come again and pay double just for the black pudding!


Sunday 17 February 2013

Lucky Fried Chicken at The Grafton


Love fried Chicken? Tired of the Kentucky colonel and the clucking cottage? Well luckily for you Lucky Chip are here to save you from mundane  and average fried chicken. Building on their street food success and their Soho slider bar they are taking on another residency besides the Seabright arms. This time setting up shop in Kentish Town in a wonderfully renovated local, called The Grafton.

The menu takes on certain characteristics from the franchises mentioned above. You can have a snack box a larger bucket meal of a chicken burger. Sides include beautiful mash and gravy, fries, tangy slaw, a great potato salad and dinner rolls. The portion sizes are generous and the prices are reasonable, a more than filling snack box for under a tenner.  On Wednesdays weekly specials of chicken livers, duck hearts and gizzards are on offer. Sundays will see roasted not fried meals, with lucky chip maintaining the pubs popular Sunday roasts.  The Grafton have gone all out in redoing their first floor dining area with a new bar and 50s style menu board. The Grafton's cocktail menu is also a good accompaniment or just have a prize winning Hells larger to wash it all down with. Only issue being the lack of real cutlery we had to make do with wooden cutlery (a pet peeve) although this might have been an early opening issue.

Lucky chip or rather Lucky Fried Chicken in this instance have only been in operation at the Grafton for the past week or so but is proving popular already. Apparently it will turn into the more original lucky chip burger bar in a few weeks. One things for sure though you definitely need to head down to the Grafton, 20, Prince of Wales Road, NW5 for some finger licking good food!

Friday 15 February 2013

Welcome to the Omnivore's London Food Guide


Hello,

I like most of my fellow Londoners am an Omnivore, that is to say I eat both meat and vegetation. I also delight in the purchasing and cooking of meat and veg. Food has excited me for a long time now and I love experimenting, following the trends and introducing new ideas and tastes to my friends and family. I know my bergamots from my limes and my prosciutto from my San Danielle and would love all of London to enjoy  food as much as I do.

In these blogs I hope to take you on a geographical and gastronomical tour around London. Not only restaurants but the delis, butchers and cheese mongers explaining why they are so good and what particular products make them stand out. I am a qualified chef and although  if you are reading this you probably have many cookery books I may squeeze in the odd recipe if it so happens to be particularly taste bud friendly.

I hope to bring you the big new  food stories of London. So stick with me if you want to find out about the best food outlets and new restaurants in the capital.

Kind regards,

The Omnivore