Freak Scene, Farringdon

Chilli crab with avocado wanton bombs

Back in early September Becks and I had a quick after work dinner at Freak Scene in Farringdon. The restaurant is run by Scott Hallsworth who has some serious pedigree having been head chef at both Nobu in London and Melbourne.

Freak Scene was originally being billed as a pop-up but has since become more permanent (I'm pretty sure). When we went, presumably thinking they were only there for a short time, they'd barely done anything to decorate the interior since the previous tenants of the building had left and the seating was canteen style complete with plastic red plates. This isn't meant criticism, Sydney gave me a love of rough around the edges Asian eateries with tasty food and keen prices. Which is exactly what Freak Scene serves up.

Writing this I'm not quite sure why I haven't been back yet...

Black cod tacos (top right) and Seared beef salad with pomegranate, onion-peanut ponzu and garlic crisps

Miso grilled aubergine with caramelised walnuts

Red duck curry with lychees

Freak Scene
91 Cowcross St
Clerkenwell
London
EC1M 6BH

Bistro Brunot Loubet, Clarkenwell

The rabbit and pork rillettes

Flicking through the Eurostar magazine on the way back from our recent trip to the Dordogne I read a short interview with Raymond Blanc. He was tipping a new restaurant in Clarkenwell run by one of his protégés Bruno Loubet. It was clearly a plug for a friend, but it piqued my interest, and I added Bistro Bruno Loubet onto my wish list. A recent dinner with school friends Rob and Joel gave me the opportunity to check it out.

I decided to order from the prix fixe menu (£20 for two courses or £25 for three) which is available if you are seated and order before 19:30.

The set menu starter was the rabbit and pork rillettes, pickled prune, cornichon and toast, which is also available on the a la carte menu. The rillettes had a lovely soft texture, but I didn't think a lot of flavour. Punch could be added via some of the hearty pile of cornichons or a dab of the surprisingly fiery Dijon mustard. I love cornichons so was happy to see such a big pile.

Squid

My main course was squid marrow with polenta and fennel. I was surprised at how tender the squid was and it went well with the oven roasted tomatoes and the bed of polenta.

I wasn't particularly inspired by the dessert menu, neither the choices on the menu nor the dishes which arrived at our table. I decided against the cheescake from the prix fixe menu and instead selected the apple tarte Normande, Calvados & caramel sauce (£6.50) from the a la carte menu. French bistros usually do some awesome tarts and bowls filled with lashings of creme anglaise, but I found Brunot Loubet didn't hit the spot for me in this area.

Apple tarte Normande

Bistro Bruno Loubert
St John's Square
86-88 Clerkenwell Road,
London EC1M 5RJ

Restaurant Review: Polpo, Smithfields

Spinach, Parmesan & soft egg pizzette

On Monday night school friends Rob, Joel and I had one of our six monthly catch ups over dinner. After Joel's successful choice of Vanilla Black last time out I put my neck on the line and suggested Polpo next to Smithfield Market. I was addicted to The Restaurant Man earlier in the year and had been looking for the opportunity to try one of Russell Norman's restaurants. Dinner with the boys seemed like the ideal chance.

Joel and I arrived early so we had a chance to order a beer and catch up. Seeing the food head to nearby tables was piquing my appetite and we decided to order a couple of the small plates to keep us going. Rob arrived just as the food hit the table which made us look like we'd time things perfectly, rather than being caught in the act of eating.

Potato & Parmesan crocchette

We stuck almost exclusively to vegetarian / fish dishes and with all the plates being under £10 I thought it was pretty good value. My highlights were the spinach, parmesan & soft egg pizzette (£8). The egg was indeed soft, but thankfully hadn't made the pizzette soggy (cooked separately?).

The chick pea, spinach & ricotta meatballs (£6) were surprisingly tasty and I didn't regret ordering the vegetarian option at all. I suspect it was the ricotta which made them taste so good. The prawn & artichoke linguine, bottarga (£8) was a generous serving for the price with sweet prawns.

Salmon tartare, horseraddish & carta di musica

If I wanted to pick the salmon tartare, horseraddish & carta di musica (£7) had a little too much horseraddish which hit you in pockets and dominated the salmon. And I thought thought the savoury dishes were better than the sweet.

Overall it was definitely a good evening. Just a shame I forgot my tape measure so I couldn't measure the height of the bar........

Chick pea, spinach & ricotta

Castelfranco, red onion & pine nuts

Prawn & artichoke linguine, bottarga

Duck, blood orange & fennel salad

Dessert special

All my eats are added to my map.

Polpo Smithfield
3 Cowcross Street
London EC1M 6DR

Restaurant Review: Hix Oyster and Chophouse, Farringdon

Just before Easter I had dinner with two school friends Joel and Rob. Our previous meet ups have generally followed a similar pattern. A quick drink at the pub followed by dinner at Pizza Express.

The routine seemed set, so when I emailed suggesting a catch up the key question was where we'd meet for a pint first. I was pleasantly surprised when the question of dinner was raised and Hix in Farringdon suggested. The dinner venue might have changed but the conversation stayed pretty familiar, with my relationship status getting a grilling.

Joel and I both ordered the Hanger steak with baked bone marrow (£19.95). Our waitress encouraged us to order it medium rare and it duly arrived suitably pink. I had a bit of trouble cutting my steak at first, only to realise I had the knife upside down, a mistake I made a few times during the meal. It wasn't the best handle design or is that a bad workman blaming his tools?

I was expecting a piece of unadorned bone marrow, but what we got was more like a parsley and bone marrow stuffing. It worked better than straight bone marrow would have done, helping to break up the richness.

We ordered three sides of heritage potatoes, sprouting broccoli and mushrooms (£4.25 each). All of them were tasty, but I thought they could have been a bit more generous in size for the money.

For desert I ordered the rice pudding, with Joel and Rob ordering the banana fritters and treacle tart respectively (£7.25). The rice pudding with a touch of rhubard was good, but just like the sides I thought it could have been more generous for the price.

I've added Hix to my map of London reviews.

The photo and recipe for the Hangar Steak and Bone Marrow can be found on the Independent website.

Hix
36-37 Greenhills Rents
Farringdon
London
EC1M 6BN