Noak Bakehouse and Brew, Brockley

Pork belly sandwich with cabbage and apple

Noak Bakehouse & Brew, a Danish inspired café, opened back in November. Brockley is still under-served by good cafés and the delayed opening had definitely whipped up some anticipation and excitement from us local who were crying out for another addition to local dining options.

From my visits to Noak I've thought the food is pretty strong too. Our first visit was on their opening weekend where they'd sold out of nearly everything so we just had drinks and tried a couple of the sweet treats. The brownie, so often a disappointment in cafés, was really rather good. The flødeboller which my friend William tried reminded me of treats I used to be bought in French supermarkets when we were on our summer holidays.

Roast pork belly sandwich with cabbage and apple 

On our most recent trip we tried a couple of the savoury options. Pizzas have been on the menu since they opened but seemed to have evolved over time to thinner and crispier affairs. I had the pork belly sandwich with cabbage and apple. It was a tasty, if slightly messy to eat number. The pork skin had gone a bit soft and didn't have the crunch you'd expect from good crackling.

Noak brownie 

I think it would be fair to say that Noak are still working on finding their true identity. Even after being open for six months the order of service doesn't feel well drilled. The staff always seem friendly but it can be a bit chaotic which leads me at least to being uncertain as a customer. There is some definite skill in the kitchen, you couldn't cook such good sourdough and pastries without it, but there does seem to be a lack of clarity too. Fads seem to come and go with the latest being burgers, rather then sticking to the Danish bakehouse vision.

Kanelscurre

Noak makes me want to love it and pull my hair out in almost equal measure. Hopefully the local good will and skill in the kitchen keeps going and they nail the service offering so that they become a local institution that is with us for a good while yet.

Flødeboller

Since publishing this post Noak has closed and re-opened, under the same ownership, but with a different menu.

Noak Bakehouse and Brew
209–211 Mantle Road
Brockley
London 

SE4 2EW

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

An afternoon in Crystal Palace and a re-visit to 161 Food + Drink in Kirkdale

Eggs and beans at 161 Food + Drink, Kirkdale 

On Good Friday we took advantage of the early spring sunshine and spent the afternoon exploring Crystal Palace. A slightly random choice, but it is one of the parks that we've been vaguely wanting to visit for a while and it turned out to be a rather lovely afternoon.

We started by catching the train to Sydenham for lunch at 161 Food + Drink in Kirkdale that we have visited before. A small little café / coffee shop it has a nice atmosphere and tasty food for a light lunch (although having done a 17km that morning I wasn't sure that a light lunch was what I was looking for!).

Dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park

After lunch we walked across to Crystal Palace park for a look round. To the best of my knowledge, I've only visited the park once before, on an early morning run three years ago. I was a bit fearful of getting lost at the time and I now realise that I only saw around half the park on my previous visit.

The playgrounds were very busy and one of the first things that struck me was a huge diversity of languages that we heard. English was very much in a minority. It made me realise in Brockley, only a short distance away, we hear comparatively few other languages.

We started with a walk round the lower half of the park which was dominated by families and the dinosaurs.

Transmitter

Escaping the crowds we walked up to the top of the park and the half that I hadn't visited before. Overlooked by the transmitter, there were two giant terraces which I presume is whether the 'crystal palace' was originally built. The faux classical stone work dividing the two terraces is in a poor state of repair and lots of it was fenced off preventing you from getting too close.

We also found the sphinx that is going to be incorporated into the stained glass design on our new front door.

Sphinx

Leaving the park we headed to Crystal Palace Antiques for a look round and to see if we could find anything for the new house. Thankfully there wasn't too much that we wanted to buy. We did see a couple of clocks that we liked and rather than making a rash purchase decided to go and have a drink (and in my case a second lunch to mull it over). Checking out one of the clocks on the internet we discovered that we could buy it more cheaply online so didn't return to the antiques centre. Another example of the internet killing the high street!

On the way home we caught a bus which had a broken card reader so I got to travel for free. A winning end to a rather pleasant afternoon in the spring sunshine.

Longhorn, Crofton Park

Cheese burger and fries 

Just to demonstrate how well our healthy eating in 2016 is going we decided to visit Longhorn in Crofton Park for a quick lunch today. A classy Valentines Day lunch if ever there was one!

The menu is dominated by burgers and Becks chose the cheese burger and fries (£7.50), the classic order for determining how good a burger joint is. I was drawn to the full rack of ribs (£13) which includes one side. I opted for the mac 'n cheese as Becks had already ordered fries.

A side of mac 'n cheese

While we were waiting for our food the very friendly waiter bought over some complimentary tortilla chips and salsa to snack on (impressive with such keen prices). He also bought over extra serviettes and a packet of baby wipes that he advised I would be needing with the ribs!

All of the beef for their burgers comes from Longhorn cattle via Smithfield market. Their cheeseburger came unadorned without any sauces or condiments inside the bun, but was well seasoned and tasty. Adding a bit of American mustard enhanced the flavour even further for me.

It is a different style of burger from the dude food burgers going round London at the moment, which have a much higher fat content and generally come adorned with candied bacon. It was absolutely no worse for that and I'm definitely keen for another visit so I can order one of my own rather than eating half of Becks'!

Rack of ribs

Mac 'n cheese in a restaurant is so usually a disappointment and I find it becomes pretty monotonous to eat, but the four cheese version at Longhorn was one of the better ones I've had. Personally I would have added a little more pepper.

The full rack of ribs was a really generous serving (I wouldn't have ordered the full rack if I'd realised how big it was). The ribs were nice and tender. I liked the BBQ sauce without being wowed by it. Perhaps something a little smokier and less sweet would be better?

It was our first visit to Longhorn and we were impressed with the friendly service, large servings and good value. It's big dangerous having such good burgers so accessible...

Longhorn

364 Brockley Road

Brockley

London

SE4 2BY

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

A real café gem: Odelay, Frankton

Free range chicken salad

Back in 2001, well before this blog existed, I spent five weeks travelling round New Zealand with my sister, Ruth. I still have many fond from that trip. From the awesome natural beauty of visiting Fox Glacier and Doubtful Sound, to the lasting bond I built with my sister, how cheap everything was and the great food.

Food in the UK back in the 1990s frankly wasn't that great. Against this backdrop the food in New Zealand felt like a revelation. We visited dozens of small independent cafés and without exception we ate lovely fresh food served by friendly staff. Many of the flavour combinations were new and some of the ingredients too.

Steak sandwich

In the intervening years I'd put New Zealand cafés up on a bit of a pedestal. The UK has done quite a lot of catching up since then and my time in Australia spoilt me too. Would I have ruined the Kiwi café experience for myself by building up my expectations too much?

I visited New Zealand for a second time in 2012 and was sadly underwhelmed as nowhere we ate at was standout. On this trip we were four days in and hadn't eaten anywhere particularly special either (my mother in law's cooking excepted of course!). I was beginning to get worried.

Louise slice

Then we visited Odelay in Frankton and faith was restored.

Odelay is an unassuming café in the Remarkables retail park in Frankton. The staff were friendly, helpful and recognised us when we came back for breakfast the next day.

The food was fresh, well flavoured and most importantly delicious. Becks' buttermilk pancakes were given a 'best ever' pancake call. From a lady who loves her pancakes that is a big accolade.

Buttermilk Pancakes 

If there was an oddity about the place it was that all the magazines lying on the tables were from the mid-2000s. (I suspect someone had bought in their back catalogue.) And if there was a missed note it was the bircher muesli I ordered when returned for breakfast. It was a little wet for my tastes and flavours weren't quite in harmony, again for my palate.

Bircher Muesli

Thank you Odelay, I wasn't wrong, Kiwi cafés really are some of the best in the world. Faith restored.

Odelay
5 Hawthorne Drive
Unit 10 The landing
Remarkable Park,
Frankton,
Queenstown,
New Zealand

161 Food + Drink, Sydenham

Lamb and beef meetballs

I wasn't expecting to find a slice of Sydney in Sydenham, but café 161 Food + Drink, complete with antipodean waitress from the 'Gong, provided just that.

We'd been shopping for tiles over the road and, based on a recommendation from friend Laura, headed to 161 for lunch. The small café had a counter and tables made from reclaimed Victorian doors. It sounds a little bit hipster, but didn't feel like the type of place that was trying too hard and the doors probably came from the reclamation shop further up the road.

Overhearing someone order a Vegemite scroll, Becks immediately wanted a taste of the homeland so we asked for one too. The scroll contained a generous amount of Vegemite providing its own unique savoury taste. If Paul Holloywood was giving a verdict, he definitely would have said 'under baked' but that wasn't bothering Becks one bit.

Heuvos rancheros

I ordered the the lamb and beef meatballs with couscous (£7) from their compact sounding brunch menu, hoping it would be one of their more substantial options after my morning run. It was a tasty little number with five tender meatballs and a flavoursome tomato sauce. It wasn't as generous as I was hoping for and definitely could have done with more couscous to make it more substantial.

Becks had the huevos rancheros (£6.50). A fried egg topped with a little chilli, black beans and avocado were sitting on top of a tortilla at the bottom of the bowl. I didn't get to try the huevos, but the reports were good. It similarly wasn't a generous portion.

Strawberry and vanilla cake

We debated whether or not to have a slice of cake, but were pleased that we were tempted by the strawberry and vanilla cake. The cake was much lighter than I expected it to be and the strawberries provided a lovely summer hit without making it too wet.

It's just a shame we don't live closer by.

161 Food + Drink
161 Kirkdale

Sydenham

London

SE26 4QJ

Peckham Bazaar, Peckham

Baked feta parcels, marinated betroot and skordalia

The first thing I noticed as we stepped inside the Peckham Bazaar was the smell of cooking over charcoal. The second thing I noticed was a whole lamb rotating on a spit behind the open kitchen. It had me excited.

The menu describes itself as Greek, Turkish, Albanian and Iranian and there were lots of items that I didn't recognise like tarama, skordalia, adjika and kefalotyri. Our friendly waitress offered to help we any questions we had and was surprised when we only asked about one or two dishes. Our lack of questioning wasn't from any position of knowledge, but more happiness to make some random new discoveries.

Imam bayaldi, kefalotyri and sheep’s yoghurt

We started with the baked feta parcels, marinated betroot and skordalia (£6.50). We were both expecting the feta to be 'parceled' in filo, but it came in wrapped in tin foil. A much more suitable protector from hot coals. The star of the dish for me was the garlicky white skordalia.

We shared two main courses. The first was the imam bayaldi, kefalotyri and sheep’s yoghurt (£13.50). Half a slow cooked aubergine was sitting in a pool of sheep's yoghurt and was topped with some shaved kefalotyri, a hard sheep's cheese that tasted a little like parmesan. I enjoyed the dish and subtle spice of the aubergine, but thought it could have been enhanced by some fresh mint to help cut through the richness. It wasn't very substantial as a main and I thought a little on the pricey side for half an aubergine.

Spit roasted lamb, swiss chard gratin and greek salad

Our final dish was the one that caught my eye as we walked in, the spit roasted lamb, swiss chard gratin and greek salad (£18.50) from specials board. The lamb was my favourite of the food we tried. It wasn't as smokey as I expected, but the skin had a subtly spiced flavour and the swiss chard gratin was good too. However, for the price I was hoping for a much bigger serving of the lamb.

The Peckham Bazaar has been on my wish list for a while so it was good to finally make it. I liked the friendly service and the fact they are trying to do something different in suburban Peckham. Before I could become a regular they need to sort out the smoke which filled the dining room, got in our clothes and on occasion stung our eyes. I also feel they need to sort out their pricing too, better value might tempt me back sooner.


Peckham Bazaar
119 Consort Rd
London
SE15 3RU

Restaurant Review: Duke’s Brew & Que, Haggerston

Buttermilk Pancakes

A couple of weekends ago Becks and I took the Gingerline north of the river for breakfast with friends. Searching on where to go I stumbled across Duke's Brew and Que in Haggerston. The dirty American food immediately appealed, choice made.

With everything in Hackney being so on trend we feared that we might struggle to get a table. However, when we arrived at 1pm there were only a couple of other tables taken inside and we were given the pick of the room.

The slowed cooked BBQ meats from the dinner menu are sadly scarce in the brunch offerings. However, there were still plenty of calorie laden indulgences on offer.

I decided to go for the BBQ Omlette with a side of the Cowboy Baked Beans (£9.95 + £2.50). Being the only brunch dish on the menu with a taste of the pulled meats I had to order it. Sadly the pulled pork and burnt beef ends were hard to find in the folded omlette that was instead packed full of peppers. The home friend potatoes were a good accompaniment, as were the side of beans (even if they were totally unnecessary).

BBQ Omelette

Becks went for the Buttermilk Pancake and a side of bacon (£6.95 + £2). The generous serving of vanilla scented pancakes came accompanied with real maple syrup. The menu specifically stated the side of bacon was three rashers, but Becks' dish only came with two. The pancakes were slightly under cooked in the middle which created a rather doughy texture on the roof of the mouth, although I still enjoyed my taste.

As we ate the room filled up with other diners. It's a great space which sits on the right side of being themed (the sink in the toilets excepted).

All my London eats are added to my map.

Duke’s Brew & Que
33 Downham Road
De Beauvoir Town
Hackney
London N1 5AA
020 3006 0795

Restaurant Review: The River Café, Hammershith

Becks and the hot pink pizza oven

While the thought of one of my foodie friends coming to London from Sydney was an exciting prospect, it also, secretly, filled me with a little bit of dread. I think the food scene in Sydney is good. Very good. In many ways it is better than London. When Simon told me that his schedule only allowed us to meet up over one meal the pressure was raised even more. Where should I take him?

Where London does have an edge over Sydney is in celebrity chefs, Michelin stars (the guide doesn't do Australia) and European food. Places like The Fat Duck, Ledbury and Le Gavroche were all out as we were booking comparatively late. After a bit of emailing to and fro we settled on Sunday lunch at The River Café.

Becks and I

We were first customer of the day to arrive and the wait staff were still having their briefing as we entered the dining room. A large, bright and open space there are a few hits of well chosen colour with the hit pink pizza oven, bright blue wall behind the kitchen and glass splash back above the long bar. When the owners husband is a famous architect, and his practice located next door, it isn't a surprise that the space is so well designed.

Simon asked our waitress what the killer dishes on the menu were as he only had one shot to eat their signature dishes before jumping back on a plane. While insisting that everything was good and the regularly changing menu meant there wasn't a signature dish, she talked us through the menu and ingredients in detail.

Deep fried whole anchovies, artichokes and polenta

As a starter I went for the deep fried whole anchovies, artichokes and polenta (£17). Around half way through the dish I bit into an anchovy and got a mouth full of bones and scales. It was completely disgusting and I had to scrap my tongue with my napkin (lovely image I know) to try and get the small bones out of my mouth.

When I mentioned it to our waitress as she collected our plates there wasn't a hint of an apology. I know there is a risk eating whole anchovies, but even a throw away "I'm terribly sorry about that" wouldn't have gone amiss.

We decided that the castelluccio lentils accompanying Simon's scallops were the winning starter for us.

Hand made 'agnoli' with veal and veal sweatbreads. With a butter, sage and parmesan

As a main course I went for the hand made 'agnoli' with veal and veal sweatbreads, served with a butter, sage and parmesan (£18). The pasta was perfectly cooked and I enjoyed the veal filling. Although at six agnoli to a portion it wasn't exactly generous.

I enjoyed my taste of Simon's charred monkfish (£37) and thought the accompanying green beans were cooked perfectly al dente.

My sample of Beck's Devon crab, chilli, fennel herb and parsley (£21) didn't rock my world. The serving of crab wasn't as generous as that we'd had the night before at the Ladywell Supper Club and there was some shell in the pasta too. Anyone spotting a theme?

Nespole and almond tart

Desserts were a tough choice, one that our waitress was on hand to talk us through. I decided to go for the nespole and almond tart (£9), purely because I hadn't heard of a nespole before. However, I am now informed it is a loquat. They taste good in a tart too.

Simon had half portions of the chocolate nemesis and lemon tart (£4.5 each). The chocolate nemesis is cooked in a bain marie and had an almost mousse like texture as promised. The half portion was definitely a good move as a full slice would defeat anyone. The lemon tart is made of fruit from the Amalfi coast and it really did zing.

Becks made a good choice with the ice cream selection (£4 per scoop).

During the desserts I realised that Ruth Rogers, her husband and family / friends were at a neighbouring table enjoying Sunday lunch. Richard Rogers was wearing bright red socks with matching crocs. If I owned my own restaurant I'd probably do it too.

Simon and I after lunch

When it came to two o'clock we were pushed out of our table. Not something I expect at these prices, especially when there were free tables in the room and no obvious queue at the door. They whipped Becks' ice creams away before she'd finished too.

As we were leaving they were very accommodating of Simon wanting to take photos of the chef and front of house staff. While Simon was taking photos I got talking to one of the other customers and it was obvious they were regulars, in fact it sounded like they were there every week for lunch. I got the impression that a lot of the room were Sunday lunch regulars.

If I'm honest I was a little bit disappointed in The River Café. The bill was £240 for the three of us and I don't mind those type of prices if the experience matches, but I don't think it did. The food was certainly good, but it wasn't special and there were a couple of service points that, for me, didn't get handled correctly.

The afternoon after our visit I read this review of dinner a few days before. The review and some of the comments sum up my views pretty well.

White asparagus, parmesan and anchovy butter (very salty from the parmesan an anchovy butter, overwhelmed the flavour of the asparagus)

Seared scallops with red chilli and casteluccio lentils (the lentils were very good and the scallops)

Devon crab, chilli, fennel herb and parsley

Chargrilled butterfliend monkfish with rosemary and anchovy sauce and green beans in umido

Half serves of the chocolate nemesis and lemon tart

Strawberry sorbet, roasted almond and stracchiatella gelati

The River Café
Thames Wharf
Rainville Road
Hammersmith
London
W6 9HA