Mr Bao, Peckham

Smashed cucumber and golden kimchi

"Would you recommend the peach beer?"

"No."

That was pretty much how our evening at the excellent Mr Bao in Peckham began last Saturday night. (We ordered a Taiwanese beer and some sparkling sake instead.)

Tender stem broccoli with ponzu (we'd already eaten some broccoli
before I took this picture)

The food at Mr Bao is very reasonably priced, with everything under £5 and a lot under £3. The fair pricing meant that we were able to sample a good selection of the menu between the two of us.

We ordered five of the small share plates, including the smacked cucumber, golden kimchi, Taiwanese sausage, tender stem broccoli and sweet potato chips.

The golden kimchi, made with pumpkin, was definitely a highlight, but all of them were really good. The battered and deep fried sweet potato chips was a generous serving for £2.50 and I loved the simplicity of the steamed broccoli with ponzu.

Sweet potato chips and pork dumplings

The quality of the starters got me very excited about the steamed buns which were still to come and the whole reason I'd dragged Becks to Peckham for dinner. The flavour of the fillings was definitely on point. My favourite being the slow cooked lamb with pickled red onion and mint. The lamb was tasty in itself, but the pickled onion and mint just lifted the whole bun.

The bao were also surprisingly easy to share between two, retaining their structure as we ate them. The buns themselves I found a little heavier than expected and stuck a bit to the roof of my mouth.

Mr Bao pork belly and shredded lamb bao

I really enjoyed our dinner at Bao. The food, particularly the share plates and the lamb bao, was fantastic and the service was really friendly too. At £28 for two people (excluding drinks and service) you can't argue with the value either.

I've added Mr Bao as a favourite to my London eats maps.

Bao Didley, chicken

293 Rye Lane

Peckham

London

SE15 4UA

Padella, London Bridge - lunch with Fergus Henderson (well almost)

Pappardelle  with 8-hour Dexter beef shin ragu &
Tagliatelle with new season asparagus

Becks and I have both recently read reviews of a new Italian restaurant in London Bridge called Padella. Described as good value and, more importantly, tasty, we both put it into the memory banks. When we found ourselves in London Bridge on Saturday lunchtime it was the obvious place to visit.

From outside Padella looks like a pretty small spot. There is a counter wrapped round the kitchen and another bench facing out towards the street. (I discovered later they have more seating downstairs.) Luckily they could fit us in with two seats at the kitchen counter, directly in front of the head chef and a man grating vast quantities of parmesan. He grated so much that I suspect there might soon be a shortage in Parma, so get yourselves to the supermarket quickly if you need any more.

Pici cacio e pepe

Sitting at the counter was a great way to experience the restaurant. Beside parmesan grating man, there were four other guys working the kitchen. The first chef blanched the fresh pasta before passing it onto the second chef - with pleasing splashes all over his whites - who finished off the pasta with the sauce. Finally we had the head chef checking all of the dishes and the quietly efficient pot wash keeping everything in order. They looked every bit a well oiled machine.

One theme from the reviews was that the dishes were quite small so we decided to order three pastas. Just after we'd ordered Fergus Henderson walked in and sat down just behind us. I thought this was some top celebrity spotting, but most people I've spoken to since haven't known who Fergus is. Nose to tail eating anyone?

If you are only going to serve one thing it better be good and Padella pretty much nails it with their pasta. The signature pici cacio e pepe (pici pasta with pecorina, salt and pepper) had a slight bounce still left in the pasta. A couple of mouthfuls had possibly a bit too much pepper for me, but that's kinda the point for this dish. The pappardelle with 8-hour Dexter beef shin ragu was also a highlight. I wish they sold the ragu in jars to take away.

Almond tart

About midway through our main courses Fergus' starters were served (not that I was looking you understand). When their table was cleared, the plate of salami was only half eaten. The look on the head chef's face when the plate was shown to him was a picture. The man was mortified.

There was a tiny bit of room left after our mains so we ordered an almond tart. The coarsely ground almonds made it another winner.

Padella
6 Southwark Street

London Bridge

SE1 1TQ