London 2013

[DraconianOne]

...wonderfully unpretentious...

Bearing in mind that the last three posts put me in mind of discussing business cards with Patrick Bateman and Paul Allen, I'm amused by this turn of phrase.

[K9]

Hah, that's fair I guess. It just had a lot less frou frou than I expected from a restaurant that only serves tasting menus; perhaps there are more like that, but it didn't feel fussy, which was nice.

[penfold]

Aw shucks, sorry you missed out on Roganic. I had my best meal of 2011 there, it's a really smashing place; wonderfully unpretentious, yet producing food of the finest order. I'm not entirely clear what the status of the place is, whe it opened it was only supposed to be there for a year, yet it still seems to be going strong, and rightfully so. I hope it sticks about for a while longer. I really want to get up to L'Enclume for the real deal, but I need to save up a few hundred squid for that one I think, or persuade someone to be REALLY nice to me.

Roganic is open until the 22nd June, and they are then opening up a permanent restaurant somewhere in London.

[K9]

Bob Bob Ricard is really, really good. That's all that I really need to say about the place.

[palmer_eldritch]

Ha, you pretentious fuckers. I'm heading out for a good old fashioned curry tonight.

At the Cinnamon Club.

[K9]

Hah, oh you man of the people you.

[eldaec]

Cay Tre in Soho last night.

Had heard mixed reviews, so wasn't sure about the place going in, but all turned out well.

Small plates consistently great, Squid stuffed with Duck was the stand out item, but salt pepper squid, soft shell crab, various types of roll, all great. Tonnes of flavour in everything.

Larger plates not so stellar, everything was solidly put together but just not as interesting as the menu suggested. Plus, given the default cutlery is chopsticks, they need to learn to cut meat up before sending it to table.



I think a lot of weaker reviews of this place come for people going in with a starter+main mentality, don't do that, order many starters, skip mains entirely unless something really grabs you.

The four of us got out on the right side of £120 for 6 starters, 4 mains, and a round of cocktails - in the heart of soho for this quality I was impressed.

[Mosesandstick]

Hah, had lunch at the Cinnamon Club today. Boy is there a big price difference between the set menu and the a la carte. Set menu was interesting but nothing fantastic.

[palmer_eldritch]

Hah, had lunch at the Cinnamon Club today. Boy is there a big price difference between the set menu and the a la carte. Set menu was interesting but nothing fantastic.

We had the tasting menu, with wine. Deer, partridge, scallops etc. One of those meals where you have sorbet in the middle "to cleanse the pallet". You get a different wine with every course, and a man comes round and tells you about the wine, the grapes it is made from, the flavours to look out for etc. Oliver Letwin (a British politician) was at the table next door. A fun experience but I won't be going back for a year or two unless someone else is paying.

[penfold]

Went to Bo London with my brother last night.  It's picked up a bit of a rep since opening, mainly due to the eye watering prices but we were willing to take a risk.  We went for the chefs menu, all 14 courses of it. I can see the menu has somewhat evolved since opening, a few dishes are gone, some are replaced or have been changed considerably. I really enjoyed it, there were some exceptional courses, and some interesting modernist techniques and unusual flavours with a good number of highly memorable dishes and I've not had Chinese food in the format before.

a write up and pics are now up on my blog

[Mosesandstick]

Oliver Letwin (a British politician) was at the table next door. A fun experience but I won't be going back for a year or two unless someone else is paying.

Your menu sounded a lot more exciting than ours. I agree with your sentiment on not going back. We had David Milliband in our session.

[penfold]

Damn, being surrounded by politicians at Cinnamon Club sounds worst than being surrounded by bankers at L'Anima. At least with bankers you won't be covered in tsunami's of bullshit every time they open their mouth.

[palmer_eldritch]

Went to Bo London with my brother last night.  It's picked up a bit of a rep since opening, mainly due to the eye watering prices but we were willing to take a risk.  We went for the chefs menu, all 14 courses of it. I can see the menu has somewhat evolved since opening, a few dishes are gone, some are replaced or have been changed considerably. I really enjoyed it, there were some exceptional courses, and some interesting modernist techniques and unusual flavours with a good number of highly memorable dishes and I've not had Chinese food in the format before.

I'll have a write up and pics up sometime tomorrow.

I like your blog. Do the restaurants ever get funny about you taking pics of the courses?

[eldaec]

I've sat in 3 star places merrily snapping away with a DSLR before now.

In one case I even lost the lens cap and had the staff crawling around looking for it.

Obviously no flash and no pointing it at other diners.

[penfold]

I like your blog. Do the restaurants ever get funny about you taking pics of the courses?

No complaints so far, although like Eladaec no flash and I keep it discreet. I have a new phone due next week, hopefully pic quality will improve in future meals.

[eldaec]

In fact in some really high end places, the camera improves the service you recieve.

I suspect this is mostly because you're showing an interest in the food, so your table captain gets his chance to make use of all that esoteric crap he was made to learn - yes I would like to know the name of the specific cow this butter was sourced from (true story).

But also, you might be a blogger.

[penfold]

Viajante in Bethnal Green today, followed by a visit to Museum of Childhood.

Nuno Mendes' Viajante provided an absolute triumph of a meal, 15 dishes over 4 hours, pretty much all afternoon was spent there. Really unusual dishes and flavours from a tasting menu where you choose the number of courses, sit back and wait for a surprise with each dish. This may well be one of the best restaurants we've visited so far.

[K9]

Finally went to the permanent Pitt Cue Co, I can confirm that everything is as good as the food you can get from the trailer; I particularly enjoyed the chicken nuggets, and the pulled-pork bun. That said, I think I do prefer the simplicity of the trailer food, it's one time that I enjoy eating out of a box, I like the way everything mixes together down at the bottom.

[Signe]

I wanted to go to the Museum of Childhood but I don't have a kid to drag around and I didn't want to frighten the ones already there.   

[Ingmar]

I wanted to go to the Museum of Childhood but I don't have a kid to drag around and I didn't want to frighten the ones already there.   

Museum of Childhood sounds like it should be for adults anyway. Kids don't need to go to a museum to see it, they have it!

[Rasix]

Maybe that's just the British name for "Children's Museum".  These are basically just places to take your kid(s) to play in a semi-Educational environment. My son got attacked twice last time we went.  Yay Tucson.

[Signe]

Attacked?   

[penfold]

The Museum of Childhood is a branch of the superb Victoria & Albert museum. Basically, it's a museum of toys. Lots of cases of dolls houses from 1600 onwards, old evil scary dolls, puppets, Victorian and Edwardian toys and early 18th and 19th century clockwork toys but also everything up to present day (Harry Potter, LoTR etc), many classics from the 50s to 90s were present including many I remember from the 70s and 80s. There are also displays on childrens education, nusery and kids room furniture, sports and clothing.  Unlike most museums children are encouraged, there are play areas with toys for them to use, active displays and daily activities. Lots of kids running around having a good time. Its not stuffy at all. Its a large open building with a central area with a busy trendy cafe.

We don't have any kids, but my wife and I didn't feel unwelcome, out of place or like Pedobears. It is a great hour or two.

[eldaec]

So, last week,

Opera Tavern, being in the Salt Yard group you expect michelin quality tapas, and you get that I guess. But I couldn't help be a little disappointed that you sit down, take one look at the menu and realise this is literally Salt Yard transplanted deeper into theatre territory. And while it was very very good, I couldn't help feel it was not quite as a good as Salt Yard itself. Dishes were just slightly heavier, slightly less interesting, slightly less well presented. That said, you'd probably have a great time if not have been spoiled at the other place.

Followed this up with Great Expectations at the vaudeville. Turgid. Completely lacked the pace, wit, or adventure of Dickens and instead was played as a tiresome memory play. After half an hour or so you come to realise the only reason they did this was because they didn't want to build more than a single set. The guy playing Jaggers was ok I guess.

Next day Malabar Junction in Bloomsbury, describes itself as South Indian but actually serves dishes from across the sub continent. First time I've found a decent place for Dosa in London, and an interior that genuinely reminded me of restaurants in Mumbai. I think I found my new favourite Indian.

[Yegolev]

Just a note, I'll be going to Hawaii instead of London.

[Signe]

You should change the title of this thread.

[Teleku]

Man, this was such an awesome troll.  I should start a thread about how I'm planning to go to Hungary, and get all the Hungarians on this board to post for months about what I should do and how great it is there, though I have no intention of going!






 

[Lantyssa]

I don't think it was Yeg so much as the ball and chain.

[K9]

It's ok, we've turned this thread into the 'London Foodie Thread' which I'm fine with.

On topic: the MeatMission Roast Beef Garbage Plate is an awful lot of really tasty food for only £9.

[eldaec]

Went to see 'The Audience' last night. Reviews are accurate, Helen Mirren is incredible, the play is a lot of fun if flawed in places.

However, the awesome part is that Sir Ian McKellan was sat right behind me.

I was just sitting there, watching a play with Gandalf.

[Ironwood]

The other way to look at it would be that you were watching a play with Magneto, which is far scarier.

Or, if you want to be really accurate, you had a highly regarded homosexual man jammed in behind you.

[K9]

Speaking of Gandalf, Sir Ian McKellen is going to officiate Sir Patrick Stewart's wedding

 

[01101010]

Since I am planning a trip to London next year...I am posting this here to remember it.

[Engels]

Wow, check out the hot totty Stewart is marrying: http://sunnyozell.com/about

[Teleku]

Engage.