Social Eating House, London W1F

My memories from when I was little were those of a simple life. Courtesy of my dear parents. Except the food: The bad food, the good food, the commoners food, working class food and the posh food. Food was the priority.

We (brother and I), learnt to have food any way it was served. From the humble fasoglia-butter beans- which remain some of our favourite food, to rabbit (yes I do know), fish, steak and almost everything else. From posh restaurant to the local kebab place. We would go everywhere and so I learnt to have food any way it came. These days I make my way through some of London’s finest restaurants to the most authentic street food found at the spectacular Jemaa El Fna square in Marrakesh.

Fast forward to last week and in it’s 3^rd week of operation, I had a reservation at Jason Atherton's new 'social' venture: Social Eating House. This is in Soho. Forget Pollen Street Social or the like, this place is every little bit designed to suit the area. The bare brick walls, white washed to give just a tad of warmth and what I found to the beautiful portraits hanging off the walls just to add a touch of elegance, the 80's ceiling design and the tables whose tops were identical to a 70's criss cross parquet flooring. I know you won't admit it, but you all know what I'm talking about.

 

Social Eating House- The relaxed Soho interior

We sit ourselves down armed with the lovely and concise menu. Some jars at the start which we ignore. What are jars anyway? Why can’t I have a small portion of something in a bowl? Why does it have to be in a jar? It’s not like I’m at a farmers market choosing jam or preserve or whatever one would call it.

While deciding on food I ordered the wine. I tasted the wine. About 3 times. On the fourth time, the exceptionally observant waitress noticed that I was uncertain of something, takes it away and after a few minutes someone comes back-I have not said anything either before the wine was take away or after, in case you were wondering- and says that it's good just needs to be decanted. My friend steps in says that if we (including them) are not sure, we should have another bottle of something. Within 3 minutes we had a different bottle that we had chosen. Nice that she noticed that I was uncertain.

Another thing I had noticed in the meantime. The waitors were flying past with things on their trays that resembled bags used for steaming rice.

We soon found out. My friend's starter of mushroom and something was in fact mushrooms served in what I am still convinced was a microwaveable bag, on a cast iron plate. A pair of scissors was produced and this was cut open and left on the side, with a separate plate. Almost like a side to a starter but without the starter. If I could give a Michelin star, which of course I cannot do such a thing, I would give the first ever star to microwaveable mushrooms. This of course would be withdrawn as I am sure that the head chef, Paul Hood, does not microwave food and has used some brilliant method to cook the mushrooms in a microwaveable bag. So this leaves the mushrooms with no Michelin star, my reputation in tatters and most importantly a starter which despite initial appearances lacks any substance. A note to the creator, there can be such a thing as too much love as the smothered mushrooms would confess, if only they could talk!

Mushrooms in a bag

My starter was also a complex dish of ravioli with of wild boar bolognaise. It was ok.

For mains, my friend had mac & cheese. This I thought was lovely, and our waitress didn’t lie when she said that this was not your usual mac & cheese. I had the bavette steak from the specials. For all of £18.50 this comes with sides of chips and salad and sauces. Excellent value for money.

However. HOWEVER. I got my side of chips. I got my side of salad. My side of two sauces. Lovely. And a big empty plate. Steak was then served on a wood slab on the side. This took me a few moments to figure out. Despite their best efforts when I was little, when it came to table manners, my parents failed to prepare me for this. I looked at my dinner and thought I must be the only person in the world who doesn't know what to do with steak on the side. After silent deliberation my cool self and I decided we would not be beaten. We took our fork and steak knife and in the most elegant manner we could muster picked up the piece of beef from the wood slab and placed it on the plate. I am still praying that this is what one should do when presented with such a conundrum and that I have not missed some method like when eating spaghetti with just a fork having ditched the spoon a decade or so ago.

Steak on the side

After all of that? The outside was overcooked. The inside was just as I had asked: medium rare. It was a case of rough around the edges, but go past the exterior and there was a delicate and sensitive inside.

The dessert however was a different story all together. We shared the honey almond sponge, goats curd ice cream, orange. I don't know what the intention was but this tasted of marmalade on toast. There was sponge. There was ice cream. There were orange blobs: marmalade on toast. I don't even like marmalade. The result was incredible, almost miraculous. I don't know if the desired effect of this dessert was different and my taste buds went off on a completely different tangent, this was incredible and I loved every spoonful of it.

Delicious dessert

I was impressed that the staff were happy to listen to criticism. They even offered us a tour of the kitchen, which is always lovely. The problem here is that food still doesn’t know if it wants to be in Mayfair, Shoreditch, Paris even or Soho. It is still on the road to self-discovery. I don’t know if it will get there, I would like to think that it will. Maybe it should follow the sign post that says back to basics. On that road it would rediscover simplicity. Even if it decided to stop before destination basic, I do believe the recipe would spell success.

Would I recommend that you go? The truth is no. Would I go back? Do you know, they were so eager to listen to my comments, which in itself deserves a second chance. So I will go back. I hope next time the food is a little more self-assured and with more straight-forward. Then I would be happy to recommend the Social Eating House.

Rating 2/5

Expect to pay around £55 pp for 3 courses incl wine and service.

Social Eating House, 58-59 Poland Street,London W1F7NR Tel: 020 7993 3251 www.socialeatinghouse.com

The Hinds Head, Bray

I have already discovered that I enjoy day trips. For me it starts with the half hour journey on the bakerloo line. While it would normally be a chore, my daily commute to work packed like a sardine on the waterloo and city line, doesn't allow me anything more than trying to avoid the armpit of the tall fellow commuter standing next to me. So 11.30 on a Saturday morning, the bakerloo line is an almost welcome trip. Cut off from the outside world, without even entertainment from text messages on the phone, give me a welcome half hour to read the papers together with a sense of gratification for having managed to read a whole article with no interference.

So paddington station for a proper train journey. We left London's hustle and bustle and a mere half hour later arrived in Maidenhead, for our short taxi ride to Bray, a relaxed place with a liking for Michelin star pubs- this is also where the Fat Duck is- on my wish list of course.

1pm lunch at The Hinds Head, a one Michelin star pub owned by Heston Blumenthal. Very much the pub menu, I found it somewhat lacked excitement. Although my starter of mackerel was every bit as light as it should be and perfectly done. The roast cod was equally perfect, although the I was disappointed the the mussel broth had only two mussels. I simply loved the triple cooked chips (then again I love chips) and the scotch egg is worth trying. 

Roast cod with mussel broth

My favourite part about this though was the bar area of the pub. I mean this is a real pub where you can have real drinks- if I remember rightly we did very well with the bubbly.

I'll put it this way, I wouldn't complain if this was my local!

But still, take yourself outside London and time really does not matter. This was just a lovely day, made even nicer by our destination. In fact this is one place I would like to go back to. 

Rating 3/5

Expect to pay £50pp for 3 courses, no wine incl service

The Hinds Head, High Street, Bray SL6 2AB Tel: 01628 626151 www.hindsheadbray.com/

Burger & Lobster, London

I must be the last person writing about this place. I do talk about it though. All the time in fact. It’s my new place where I take my out of town friends to impress them with my knowledge of London’s restaurant scene. Ok, in terms of knowledge not quite a feat I know, everyone knows about it already.

It’s mostly a no reservation policy (although you can reserve for larger groups). I have been to 3 out of the 4 branches. It works something like this: you arrive, give your name and mobile number and in exchange you are advised of the likely waiting time. At the Soho branch we waited for over 2 hours, 1.5 hours at Mayfair, and a mere 30 minutes at the city branch. They are cool though. They let you have drinks at the bar or even somewhere else and call you when the table is ready. Most people have drinks at the bar there, which is a scene in itself. The bar staff know their alcohol and if you are not tempted by any of the drinks on the menu, they are more than happy to make anything else for you. Be prepared to part with most of a £10 note for a cocktail.

Now for the food. This is a theme restaurant. It’s either a burger or a lobster. That’s it. You know when you go somewhere and the waiters ask you if you know how it works. When you do finally get a table the very efficient waiters spend about 5 minutes explaining that there are only two things on the menu-there’s no written menu- it’s a verbal one. Burger or lobster, a whole one. There is also the choice of a lobster sandwich, which comes in a brioche. The latter is plain pointless if you ask me. All come with a salad and fries and cost £20=. I should mention that from the moment you order, the food arrives within 5 minutes, if not less.

I find this a paradox. How can a burger cost £20? This must be one of, if not the most expensive burger in London. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but in London there are many burger joints with a lot of good burgers. And they don’t cost near as much!

But then there is a lobster, a whole one for just £20. This feels like its good value, I’m not convinced that it is- but what would I know. But there aren’t many lobster joints, which means that there aren’t many good lobsters either.

So most of us go there for the lobster, which is a good lobster. In fact it’s so much fun that we want to go back. We want to go back somewhere where the waiting time on average over an hour. And we are happy about it. All to have some lobster, which will cost us the meagre sum of £20=. But by the time we sit down we have already become very familiar with the cocktails and end up spending upward of £60 per person, when all we wanted was to have a lobster.

On reflection, this is a dreadful place. Whether you are in Soho, with the cool and trendy crowd- this by the way is my favourite- or in Mayfair with the size 6 designer clad ladies, trying to impress an eligible bachelor by pretending to like food, or the city branch with all the suits. The place is decorated in the manner of an upmarket shack: it appeals, and the waiters are clearly good at their jobs. The kitchen staff must be ok too although how difficult is it to cook a lobster?

I still don’t know when it is that we started not only enjoying but it seems wanting to wait for what feels like an age to eat. It seems that we are loving it. Waiting list has become the new reservation. But really, let me be honest, it’s awful. Save for the lobster of course. And the cocktails. And the service. And the ambience. All that aside, it’s awful.

Did I mention, I am back there next week. I just can't help myself. It must be all the waiting.

Rating 2/5                                                            

Mains are £20=, no starters
Burger & Lobster 4 locations around central London, check their website for full details

The Hand & Flowers, Marlow

I have concluded that, like a spoilt child, I am a spoilt friend. My friend not only booked lunch, 4 months ago, thought to include me seeing as I like food, and even booked all the tickets with clear instructions as to where to meet and where we were headed. A Saturday day trip which took us to Marlow. Lunch was booked at The Hand & Flowers.

This is a small yet extremely popular establishment. It's no surprise. This delightful little pub has two michelin stars, in fact, it is the only pub with two michelin stars.

Lamb

I am trying to find suitable adjectives to describe the food. The thing is I find this difficult. Other than saying that the menu is a good combination of British and French dishes. The food is good, the service is excellent, and the dishes come out looking beautiful. What more can I say?


What was refreshing was the space we had. There is no compromising on the space to get more tables in. You see these may not be pub prices but you do get what you pay for and there is something to be said about comfort.

That's it for a review.

The novelty here and what made this so special was that it was a day trip. How much fun. It's almost the same excitement I had as an 8 year old, when my parents would take me on a day trip on a Sunday. From making sure I left home on time, finding the right platform at the station and finding my friends, all of us organised with coffees in hand and prepared with the weeks anectodes to entertain us on the hour long train journey there.

We didn't need anectodes on the way back, the alcohol we consumed ensured that we laughed at everything from the the train doors closing to the the train pull into a station (I know!).
So yes, day trips are fun, so much fun in fact that we've arranged some more. And The Hand and Flowers, would I go back? Before we left we made another reservation. In 8 months. Needless to say, my only responsibility is to turn up.

Rating 4/5                                                                          

Expect to pay £80pp for 3 courses, sides and wine - there is a set lunch, £15 for 2 courses £19.50 for 3 courses

The Hand and Flowers, 126 West Street, Marlow SL7 2BP 

Tel: +44 (0)1628 482 277 

Note: You may need to book up to 10 months in advance, check their website for more details

An update

To state the obvious there has been no review in January.

I lost the food buddy (or maybe they just lost themselves!) to whom I promised I would save the first review so I could get their feedback and help. No matter, it's now February and here I am with lots of ideas about where to eat and what to write about.

So, keep visiting, keep reading and most importantly, keep eating!

2012- A year in review

In hindsight, I kept a low profile in 2012, at least on this blog. I can't say the same about other things. Amongst others I finally managed to move to a new home at the end of the summer, my friends and I even squeezed in a barbecue. Despite the lack of reviews I can assure you there was no shortage of restaurant meals.

Just to name-drop but a few:
Burger and Lobster-such fun with all the mess I managed to make with the lobster but at £20 it is one expensive burger they serve there.
Dishoom-the new one in Shoreditch. Like the original one in Covent Garden but bigger and more glamorous with a bigger bar.
Colbert-the new place which took the place of Oriel on Sloane Square. Now, for many reasons, I thought I would hate it. But I didn't. You had to wait for over half an hour to get seated. The crowd is what you can expect from the area, the waitors are French or act French and the food is not on the cheap end- £45 for a main and a glass of wine- although I did have a steak Dianne. But somehow, even if we did have our meal on the bar, surrounded by people battling it out to get drinks, I liked it. In fact I liked it a lot.

Some older and trusted places like Asia de Cuba. Even managed a couple of soft opening weeks, notably STK London. Can't possibly comment, they say it's a unfair to review on soft launches and I think they are right. But I had fun there, the company was good.

It has been noted by someone that this blog has been neglected. I have resolved that the first restaurant review of the year will be in January; which I hope, as promised, will be jointly with someone.

Wishing you all a happy and delicious 2013.

Anyone For Tea?

Tea and Tattle, Bloomsbury London WC1B

A stone's throw from the British Museum, Tea and Tattle can easily go unnoticed save for the pavement sign outside Arthur Probsthain: Oriental and African Bookseller, the bookshop which hosts the teashop in it's basement.

A traditional tearoom which blends in seamlessly with more contemporary design. The walls are adorned with traditional pictures and older posters in modern frames and clocks ensuring that you don't miss any post-tea engagments. This concept also applies to the menu. Beside the selection of loose leaf teas and coffee and of course scones with clotted cream there is an inviting selection of sandwiches (made on the premises) and cakes.

A charming place and a worthwhile stop if you are in the area. The bookshop upstairs also deserves a browse.

Rating 4/5

Expect to pay around £8pp for tea and a snack. Open 9am to 6.60pm Mon-Fri, 12pm-4pm Sat

Tea and Tattle, 41 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PE www.apandtea.co.uk

Powder Keg Diplomacy, Battersea London SW11

I have, so far, been to the Powder Keg Diplomacy twice. I know you will read on but you are thinking why didn't I write about it after the first visit. You know what it's like. Girl about town, one party too many and it now feels inappropriate to review it without going back a second time.

A relatively new addition to Battersea's St John's Hill, it brings a trendy note with it. Once inside and you are walking through layers of ambiance. The front, looking out on the main road, has low chairs and sofas inviting you in a for a coffee or a drink. Then the bar with it's booths of high tables and then at the back the larger dining area. A Victorian inspired theme with warm colours and a vintage feel makes everyone relaxed and comfortable. The menu varies seasonally with game a feature. As a bonus, there is a weekend brunch menu till 5pm alongside the lunchtime menu.

My starter of braised ham hock and poached egg was almost like the British cottage version of eggs benedict. Felt quite right actually and more hearty than the usual eggs benedict, with toast served on the side and the ham hock, surprising not overpowering but adding to the velvety texture of the poached egg.

Braised ham hock and poached egg

For mains the sunday roast is a good option although the horseradish horse lacked any kick. In fact it reminded more of a stubborn mule refusing to move instead of the much desired, in this instance, kicking horse. Minor maybe. Important definitely.

Pheasant

The dish of pheasant looked equally inviting and my mussels not only plentiful but just as I would expect mussels to be. The service is polite and efficient although the waiter did need to be reminded about the bread for my mussels. Admittedly, I think the chef was trying a bit too much here. I was delivered a designer portion of three small slices of some fancy-I think focaccia- bread with olive oil and the works. A word of advice. Keep it simple. The traditional crusty bread would have done splendidly.

The other thing about the Powder Keg Diplomacy is the drinks list. Exciting wines-we had one from India- with prices starting at just under £17. There is also a very respectable selection of ales. And for the cocktail lovers, you won't be disappointed. The cocktail list is even more respectable. The drinks list will keep you there at least another hour. That's a promise.

Irrespective of what comments I have to make for individual elements of a restaurant, my rule of thumb is 3 questions. Would you come back? Would you invite your friends? Would you stay for one more drink? Let me be honest. This isn't Michelin star standard. No matter. The answer to my questions: Yes, Yes and Yes; in that order. See you there..     

Rating: 4/5

Expect to pay around £28pp for 3 courses without wine- cocktails are around £7.50 each, you will be tempted to have at least two..

Powder Keg Diplomacy, 147 St Johns Hill, SW11 1TQ Tel: 0207 450 6457 http://www.powderkegdiplomacy.co.uk/

My Favourites of 2011

Looking at the past year- or just under since I started writing, I have been to some lovely places. There are always some restaurants which I have gone back to time and time again. this is my list of my favourite restaurants of 2011. 
Click on each reastaurant name to go directly to the relevant post.

Nopi- for sheer elegance, both in the decor and the food

Pollen Street Social- best upmarket restaurant

Dishoom- the best value and best Indian

Sophie's Steakhouse- not only is the food great, it's great for pre-dinner drinks also and always a fun night

Bread Street Kitchen- for the best design and the best cocktails

Trattoria Del Rosso- In Bologna my favourite of the restaurants I've been to outside of London

The Harwood Arms, Fulham, London SW6

Saturday night and I was on my way to the pub for dinner. I was concerned that I had taken the wrong turning somewhere having found myself just off the bus at Fulham Broadway.

The GPS on my mobile insisted that I was on the correct route and soon I saw the corner pub on amongst the rows of attractive houses in the affluent neighbourhood of Fulham. An unassuming even old fashioned pub exterior. I walked in to the Harwood Arms. It wasn’t exactly gastropub which made it even more lovely and welcoming with just a hint of a traditional pub. Country pub meets up-market gastropub. Same for the food.

The food. If you think gastropub then this is the Rolls Royce of the pub world. The menu features British food and you can expect to find dishes like slow cooked shoulder of lamb or beef with celeriac, pickled walnuts and bone marrow.

<><><><><><><><><><>

My starter

The food in all it’s glory is just to die for. With a daily lunch and dinner menu which is adapted to the season there is no lack of excitement. The perfectly presented dishes are simply perfected leaving you planning your next visit before you’ve even finished, that is if you haven’t been tempted by too much wine from the great wine list.

My main- Beef with celeriac, pickled walnuts and bone marrow

I say all this. Did I mention? This is the only pub in London to have been awarded a Michelin star. And well deserved I assure you. If you haven't been then make sure you do.

Expect to pay around £40pp for 3 courses, no wine

The Harwood Arms, 27 Walham Grove, Fulham London SW6 1QP http://www.harwoodarms.com/