Sparrow, Lewisham

Lentil vada, coconut chutney

On Sunday night we went to Sparrow in Lewisham for Becks' birthday. We've wanted to go since they opened but morning sickness and a baby had got in the way until now.

The menu is an eclectic mix of Italian, Indian and south east Asian influences with some French and north African flavours sprinkled in to. It sounds like it could be a car crash. Can one kitchen really pull off all those different flaovurs in a cohesive way? I'm pleased to say, as it was a birthday dinner, yes they can.

Burrata, slow cooked courgettes

It was difficult to pick a favourite from the mains. The green risotto still had incredible bite but there was no hint of chalkiness and the pine nuts sprinkled on top had been toasted deeply adding a great flavour. How did they manage to toast them that darkly without burning them?

The vada, burrata and lamb were all dishes I'd order again too. Already being full we shouldn't have ordered dessert but did the lure of sugar drew us in. They didn't feel up to the level of the main courses but it's a bit unfair to judge them when we were so full.

It took us a long time to get to Sparrow, but hopefully we'll organiser another babysitter and be back sooner next time.

Green risotto, pine nuts, perroche

Slow cooked lamb, polenta, carrots

Ginger loaf and butterscotch sauce

Mont Blanc

Sparrow
2 Rennell Street,

London

SE13 7HD

Super Thai food: Supawan, Kings Cross

I recently read Marina O’Loughlin's review of Supawan, and like many other people I suspect, decided I'd like to try their Thai food for myself. A catch up with my friend Ed last night provided the perfect opportunity.

Marina was universal in her delight at Supawan. We had two awesome dishes and two a bit more average, although the highs definitely outweighed the lows.

First, the highs. The neua yang (grilled beef) is described on the menu as coming with a grounded rice and mint dressing. What they didn't mention on the menu was the amazing sauce that had us both spooning it over our rice to make sure we ate every last drop.

The second excellent dish was the Thai squid (pictured). At first glance it looks like any other deep fried calamari, but the chili and tamarind coating took this squid to a whole different level. I could have very easily eaten another plateful.

The two dishes that slightly missed the mark were two staples that I love ordering on my visits to Thailand. The first was som dtum (papaya salad). In Thailand this salad is ferociously hot and it is a dish that just doesn't work without chili and our just didn't have enough. Phakbung fai deng (stir fried morning glory) universally comes in tasty garlicky sauce, but this one was just a little bland and without enough punch in the sauce.

The beef and the squid were definitely enough to make me want to go back. Hopefully I find some more highs from the menu. At £25 a head it was excellent value and our lovely server even tolerated my poor Thai.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure the bathroom tiles are the same ones as we have in our bathroom too.

Supawan
38 Caledonian Rd
Kings Cross
London
N1 9DT

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

Afternoon Tea at the Langham Hotel

Palm Court at the Langham Hotel

Last weekend we decided to go for afternoon tea at the Langham Hotel. It is one of the more expensive options in London, but not excessively so and it also gave us the chance to try some of Cherish Finden's baking. Considering how brutal her judging is on Bake Off Creme de la Creme, surely it must be good?

We spend a very pleasant three hours sitting in their afternoon tea room, listening to the piano being played and being well looked after. Pro tip, ask for a cushion to put behind your back as their seats are quite deep.

Selection of sandwiches

Rather than being given a tiered cake stand and letting you get on with it, you are each served a plate of sandwiches, followed by warm scones and then a plate of cakes. We were offered additional sandwiches and scones before our plates were cleared at the end of each 'course', but there was no way we could fit any extras in.

I'm only a very occasional tea drinker, but it appears they take their teas seriously with several exclusive blends. They brew the tea before bringing it to your table, which has the upside that you don't get an over stewed pot, but the downside that your tea can take quite a while to arrive.

Plain and fruit scones

From the sandwiches the classic ‘prawn cocktail’, iceberg, potato bun, tomato powder was my favourite. Becks isn't a big prawn fan so I got to have two.

For me the stand out cake was the Rikakaka - Crunchy sable, tonka and orange cream, fresh cherries (bottom centre in the photo below).

Cake selection

The Ledbury, a reprise, Notting Hill

Venison balls

During our week off in early June, Becks and I decided to book lunch at The Ledbury after our beautiful meal there three years ago (is it really that long?).

The service had the same relaxed but incredibly attentive vibe and the food was of course excellent again. My highlights being the crab and tomato soup, the guinea fowl thigh from the main and the Sauternes cream dessert. 

Last time we had wine by the glass, but this time we decided to share the the wine pairings. (I generally avoid the matching wines as they leave me wasted and take away my enjoyment of the food.) There were some unusual selections in the paired wines, enabling us to try some things we'd never have chosen for ourselves and they all matched the food brilliantly.

Entertainment came from the table next to us who were out celebrating a birthday. The daughter was down from Leeds Uni for the day and was proudly telling the rest of the family about her extensive international travel plans. Does she do any studying? Where does the money come from? All the father wanted to make sure was they the chef knew he considered his main course "historic".

The food and service may have been as excellent as the first time, but some standards are slipping at The Ledbury: the gents' loos no longer have Aesop hand wash and moisturiser. What is a man to do?

Crab and tomato soup

Sourdough

Stream broccoli with mussells and a mussell bisque

Guinea fowl with white asparagus and almonds

Sauterne cream with apricots and an apricot ice cream

Petit fours and mint tea

The Ledbury
127 Ledbury Rd
London
W11 2AQ

The Pickled Fork at the Grosvenor Arms, Earlsfield

Asparagus with sheep's milk cheese, peas and Jersey Royal vinaigrette

Last Wednesday night I was the guest of Go Earlsfield who invited me out to dinner at the newly refurbished Grosvenor Arms on Garratt Lane in Earlsfield. The pub has only been open for five weeks following a change of ownership and refurbishment. The pub certainly looks brighter following the renovations and the new team are very friendly (with crushingly firm handshakes), but the place still needs a few finishing touches / pictures on the wall before you could call it properly homely.

We were there for a collaboration with the Pickled Fork, a local catering company, who put on a couple of pop up dinners in the upstairs of the pub last week.

Barbecued octopus with broad bean hummus

There was live jazz and a glass of prosecco to greet us in the bar downstairs before we all headed up to the restaurant on the first floor. I was very pleasantly surprised by all of the food which had subtlety and an interesting combination of flavours in every dish. Reading the menu it would be easy to think they were trying a bit hard, but everything worked together really well.

The starter was new season asparagus with smoked Sussex sheep's cheese, raw peas and a Jersey Royal vinaigrette. Are there really potatoes in the vinaigrette? There did seem to be and it created a subtle and creamy texture. If I had to split hairs, one of the spears of asparagus was cold and it would have been much better at room temperature allowing the flavours to come out more.

Pulled lamb's belly with spelt pitta and tabouleh

My favourite dish was the middle course of barbecued octopus, broad bean hummus, nduja, pickled chicory and dukkha. The octopus was tender and lifted by the spice of the nduja and pickled chicory. The balance of soft and crunchy textures worked well.

Before our mains we were treated to a song by Elsa Hackett who appeared to be a friend of the two jazz players and was also dining in the pub. A young jazz singer who is studying at the Guildhall School of Music, there was something of the Amy Winehouse about her voice. A very good singer indeed.

Strawberry pavlova with a basil syrup

When our main of pulled lamb's belly on a fermented spelt pitta, with spelt tabbouleh and roast garlic yoghurt came out I thought it was a bit on the small side for a main, but I was forgetting I was three courses in at this point and it filled me up perfectly. The lamb and tabbouleh were great. The pitta was more robust than your average pitta, but then it can't be easy making them out of spelt. I finished GE's dish which tells you all you need to know.

The dessert was a strawberry pavlova with elderflower, nyetimber and basil syrup. If I'm honest I'm still unsure what nyetimber is!

The Grosvenor Arms
204 Garratt Lane

London

SW18 4ED

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

Roux at the Landau, Langham Hotel, Marylebone, London

Mini baguette

Dinner at Le Gavroche has been on our wish list for a while, but the difficulty in getting a table and the prices have so far stopped us visiting. But when Becks spotted a Time Out offer for Roux at the Landau we jumped on it. Michel Roux Junior's cooking at a cut down price? Yes please!

The Landau is situated inside the Langham Hotel just north of Oxford Circus and makes a very pleasant escape from the bustling crowds and I'm sure is popular with all of the TV executives located just over the road in New Broadcasting House.

A landau, I learnt on the evening, is a luxury city carriage from the eighteenth century and the dining room has been decorated in a style sympathetic to the heritage of the landau. The dining room was classic with a few contemporary nods.

We might have been getting a cut price deal with three courses, half a bottle of wine, coffee and petit fours for £42.50, but the service was full price with a high staffing level in the restaurant. In the main the service was pretty relaxed, although in classic French style the sauces were poured over our plates at the table. (I only got lucky once, but Becks was sauced every course.)

Canapés

We both thought the value for money was bordering on the exceptional. The food was, relatively, simple but cooked with high quality ingredients and well cooked. My pumpkin soup was rich and deep in flavour, while the pollock was beautifully cooked and I only wish there was more of the crisp brandade. I might have been, gently, told which cheeses I was having rather than being able to choose form the trolley, but they were all excellent and the piccalilli went really well with the cheeses.

Becks was big fan of her game dartois starter and the coconut rice pudding with passion fruit sorbet was a contender for dish of the day.

We might have had a special offer, but the regular menu du jour is a very similar price and worth keeping in mind if you are need of a classy escape from the hustle and bustle of Oxford St.

Game Dartois, celeriac, mushroom duxelle, Cumberland sauce

Pumpkin soup with toasted almonds

Pollock, char grilled peppers, crisp brandade, Calcot onions, marjarom 

Braised rabbit leg, bulghar wheat, preserved lemon, monk's beard 

Cheese plate

Coconut rice pudding, chocolate crumb, passion fruit

Roux at the Landau
The Langham,

1 Portland Place,

Marylebone, 

London

W1B 1JA

An afternoon outing in London: Mr Buckley's and the Long White Cloud Café

The rosti at Mr Buckley's

Recently we've been in the trap of thinking that to do something exciting we'd need to get out of London. What we were failing to remember is that there are a lot of areas of London we've never explored and stumbling into a few new places closer to home can be just as much fun.

A few weeks ago Becks had seen an advert for a vintage furniture flea market in Bethnal Green that we thought we'd visit. We took the overground to Whitechapel and our planned walking route was blocked by the Crossrail works, so we started to drift in roughly the right direction without worrying too much whether we were taking the most direct route.

When we arrived at the flea market we could see a queue of people snaking out of the door so we decided that we'd go in search of some lunch instead, heading vaguely in the direction of our second target of the day, Warren Evans to look at mattresses. 

Hipster orange juice

We were both beginning to get hungry and spotting a highly reviewed brunch place called Mr Buckley's on Google maps we headed in its direction.

Mr Buckley's was busy with a young crowd of people. I'd feared that it might be hipster hell, and despite our juice being served in mini milk bottles, the beard quota was pleasingly low. We both had the potato & rosemary rosti with poached eggs, smoked bacon, avocado & hollandaise (£8.50).

I was a bit mixed on the food. On the plus side the avocado had an awesome seasoning on it that I couldn't pick out and the hollandaise was good. On the down side the bacon was cold, the eggs  little over cooked and the rosti was definitely more of a hash brown. The portion size was also quite small. I would have been quite happy paying £12 for something larger.

Overall it was pleasant without being spectacular and was expecting a bit more given the reviews I'd read.

The counter at the Long White Cloud café in Hoxton

Leaving the café we walked down Columbia Road, skirting round the flower market which was heaving, and into Warren Evans to check out mattresses. After lying down on eight to ten different beds we came away having purchased a memory foam mattress. It wasn't what we expected to buy and might be a little premature given all of the delays with the house!

Leaving Warren Evans we had a drift round some of the shops on Columbia Road and saw two chairs in a vintage furniture shop for twice the amount we've paid for a pair of similar chairs. Quietly pleasing that we might have found the odd bargain with all the house expenditure going on.

As we were heading back to the overground Becks' Kiwi radar kicked in and she spotted the Long White Cloud Café across the road. Of course we had to visit.

Banana bread

As we were queuing up for our drinks we heard the girl behind that till tell the people in front of us that the café used to be owned by some Australians. The Aussies might claim the pavlova, but I haven't heard of them trying to re-name the red dessert after the land of the long white cloud just yet so don't think she can have got that quite right.

Regardless of the current ownership of the café the antipodean roots are still shining through with a counter full of tasty looking treats and one chef cooking hot food on a tiny hot plate. My banana bread was thickly sliced and tasted very good.


Mr Buckley's
277 Hackney Road

Bethnal Green

London

E2 8NA

Long White Cloud Café
151 Hackney Road

Hoxton

London

E2 8JL