If you go down to the woods today...

Then make sure you have some Marine Ices ice cream! I've bigged-up MI before and today tried two of their flavours at Kenwood House in Hampstead. Both the strawberry and the toffee were top-notch, with the former being very fruity and the latter crunchy and sweet in a non-cloying way. There's something quite simple about their ice creams in a world of mega-combos, extra bits and biscuits all-over-the-shop, but they remind you quite how nice a plain ice cream can be.

Hampstead

After a chilly session in Parliament Hill Lido - where I ignored some sage advice that you need to get angry before going into the water so as to raise your body's temperature - I was in need of some warming tucker. Lucky, then, that I was meeting people at The Coffee Cup in Hampstead, which is an old-style cafe that specialises in no-nonsense breakfasts, albeit to a fairly nonsensical crowd. I had a cheese and onion onelette with chips and while I can't say much about it, since it was good in a way you'd expect, I certainly left much warmer than I'd come in.

What do you do when someone suggests eating somewhere you don't fancy overmuch?

This was the dilemma I faced last night after going to see a movie with some friends at the Renoir at the Brunswick Centre. Fortunately the restaurant dilemma was a minor concern because we had a just watched an extremely disturbing film - Yella - and my I was, frankly, just relieved to be out of the cinema and in a cosy environment where the strangeness of the film cold dissipate as we dissected it over some food and beers. This was how I ended up back at the Hare and Tortoise, and this was no bad thing, for once in there I remembered why I hadn't liked it the first time, which was chiefly because they had brought me the wrong dish, and on a night of terribly slow service I had accepted this substitution, even though the vegetable and rice bowl I had was terribly dull. A return visit offered the possibility of getting my original pick from the menu, which was some kind of vegetable and rice bowl flavoured with chillis and satay sauce. The waitress warned me that it'd be pretty spicy which elicited some kind of 'bring it on' comment from me, for the food was terribly bland last time, and it was not nearly as spicy as I would have liked, but for less than a fiver, this was an impressively hearty bowl of pretty tasty food, and I'd be tempted to go back and have that and a pint of Kirin on a night when I felt I really needed warming up. We ordered many sides and starters as well - gyoza, spring rolls, edamame, fried tofu - and all were pretty decent, though I think that there is a general problem in the place with a slightly shabby service culture and a pack-'em-in mentality which, while understandable at the prices they charge, is not shared by all places at this price point.

Maison Bertaux

Maison Bertaux had been on my hit-list for a while, so as I found myself ambling along Shaftesbury Avenue after a great swim at Oasis, I knew that MB's time had come.

Now this may seem like a slightly strange thing to say, but I feel that it's only recently that I've really, really got into cakes. You may feel that you can recall a stack of instances from the past which would disprove this delusional idea, but what I mean to say is that I seem to have acquired a new catholicism when it comes to cakes and I have begun to embrace the cakeness of cakes, for whereas I formerly looked for the cake which I thought would be the stodgiest, heaviest and sickliest, and said "I'll have two of those", I now seem to be going for what I believe people consider to be more classical cakes, full of cream, cakes that totter, cakes with fruit, cakes that look cute, goddamit, cakes that can even be light in their own way. It was thus that I came to pick my cheesecake in MB on the basis that it was the most singularly wobbly cake I have ever seen in my life. I usually like a stiff, solid, cheesecake that majors on the biscuit base and the cheesy topping, but there was something quite irresistible about the quiver of this particular cheesecake.

But let me not get ahead of myself overmuch, for the cheesecake was but a pudding, and before that I had a slice of excellent pizza which was quite unlike other pizzas in that it was made on some kind of flaky pastry, much more patisserie than doughy, and all the better for it. In truth, the slice of pizza itself was a reasonably substantial meal, but after big session in the pool, who doesn't deserve some cake for pudding? The top of the cheesecake was remarkably creamy, with just a hint of sourness from the cream cheese and, I think, either, lemon or lime, and washed down with a Diet Coke, it made for one of the most satisfying lunches I've had in ages. Sat outside on Greek Street the people spotting ain't bad either, and when you have a giant wobbly cheesecake sat on your table, it;s quite amazing how many people cannot resist staring at the cake, wishing that it was theirs!

Kalendar

If you're ever walking off the Highgate end of Hampstead Heath and in the mood for eggs florentine, then Kalendar on Swain's Lane is a worth a shot, but tell them that you really like hollandaise and you'd love it if the chef could see fit to not stint on the hollandaise with your eggs, because, if I had one complaint about this place it was that the hollandaise barely covered the eggs and the spinach. The eggs were certainly cooked just right and the vibe on the terrace was nice in the sun - if a little too full of life's winners, darling giving it and I'd like you to make sure that my cappucino is extremely hot! to the waitress - but they need to learn to go large on the hollandaise.

Risotto secrets

There was a time making risotti fell right out of fashion, most especially in Sharj where, for reasons which have still not been wholly divined, our risotti started to go badly wrong. Was it the water, the stock, the carnaroli gods? Anyways, ever since it's been hard to summon up much enthusiasm for making risotto, so it was somewhat surprising that I woke this morning knowing that mushroom risotto would be on the menu in the Cross.

I had visions of going down to Borough and picking up all sorts of wild mushrooms, but when I arrived there I was glad that one of the first stalls I saw was a great fruit and veg place where the guy was selling bags of three giant field mushrooms for a quid. Who needs to fork out loads of cash for a handful of cepes when you can have more delicious mushroom than any risotto can take for a nugget? Borough then continued to belie its reputation for priciness as I found another stall where I bought a large box of Kentish strawberries for another pound. These turned out to be probably the nicest strawberries I've ever had in my life as they had a gentle perfumed flavour which was not really apparent from their colour as they were more a deep pink than the dark red of tough supermarket varieties which have presumably been bred to be that colour whatever their stage of ripeness.

Whilst at the market I also bought some cup cakes to take along for a walk on Hampstead Heath which I'm going on manana - new Sunday fave - and reflected on how cup cake fever seems to have suddenly taken over the London foodie scene (these were from Decadent Cakes, who I haven't come across before, and a later report will have to comment on both the vanilla and raspberry varieties).

Where are the risotto secrets he spoke of, you may be asking? And why is he writing in this rather speedy, elliptical style? Can he be reading Midnight's Children at the moment and is the thingumyjig quick-quick, oh yes, style of Mr Rushdie now in his own pen? So, those risotto secrets, based on one succesful dish tonight, so no promises more generally:

1. Set aside the amount of wine you plan to use, then double it, then double that, and now you may have an appropriate amount for a risotto. I've no idea if I cooked with authenticity tonight but the wine-i-ness of the dish was one of its great pleasures and it occurs to me that perhaps a really good risotto needs that alcoholic flavour we know and love in fondue, most especially to leaven what can be the rather leaden taste of the rice.

2. Forget stock cubes because they can often taste nasty and dominate the risotto. Instead, use copious amounts of dried herbs when you cook the rice and onions in butter. I used tarragon and chives today and they worked very well with the wine, but others could be substituted.

3. Cook the vegetables in a separate pan (field mushrooms with butter, garlic, oil, pepper and salt for me) and do not add them to risotto, but place them atop at the end. I kind of always knew that cooking some vegetables in a molten rice mix was not a great way of retaining their flavour, but not letting the vegetables and rice meet at all was a bit of a revelation, though I am willing to learn that it was someone else's idea!

4. Use lots of salt.

5. Serve at least half vegetable mix to half risotto, if not more vegetables, because, to be honest, that's the interesting part, and the risotto is there for texture and for contrast.

Tonight wasn't as good a set of taste memories as a tomato and cheddar risotto from back in the day, but it wasnae bad at all, and my recovering brother was pretty glad of it as a Saturday night meal, which was pleasing.

Pho news

Pssst, fans of Pho. I've got some news for you.

Actually, the one confirmed fan of Pho who may be reading this knows this already, but the good news is that there may be another Pho coming somewhere central soon. Number7 and I chatted with the owner tonight, having introduced Edo to the joys of the place, and he was telling us all about his plans for expansion, and assuring us that he was pleased that we always ordered the same things from the menu. He also said that we were to tell him if the dishes were ever better or worse than we expected, but on all our visits the standards have never slipped and given that I like the summer veggie rolls and the pho with crispy tofu, mushroom and chilli so much, I find it hard to think that it will ever please me more than it already does. I've talked about those dishes at length before, so I shan't drone on, but it is good that the London reader who has yet to go there is keen to go, and one hopes that friends down under will be equally keen when back in the Smoke.

Ciao Bella

A problem with many neighbourhood Italian restaurants is that they're really terrible, as b and I once discovered in a city that shall remain nameless where we were taken to some friends' favourite Italian which was always reliable... hmmm, always reliable to serve rubbery, chewy mozarella of a kind that I had genuinely never encountered up until that day, anyway. Exxie ain't a whole lot better really, with a whole load of Italian restaurants which serve up food which is basically only half as nice as fresh pasta from Tesco, and garlic bread made with margarine in another place that shall remain nameless.

Anyway, all this is a longwinded way of saying that I am very lucky that my local Italian is Ciao Bella, a lovely place on Lamb's Conduit Street, where one can sit outside even on brisk evenings thanks to their heaters (it's OK as long as you don't own your own heaters, I believe), enjoying the lovely nibbles of breadsticks, queen black and green olives, and big hunks of top quality parmigiano. And the best bit is that all of that part of the meal, which amounts to a luscious starter, is free. Actually the best bit is that it's delicious, but being free is a bonus. The prices all round are very fair - the same you'd pay in Exxie or anywhere else - with pizzas at about six or seven pounds, and they are not insubstantial things. I go for the Ciao Bella, which has tomato, mozzarella, aubergine and an egg; topped off with some chillis it's a comfort-food winner that I could eat pretty regularly through the winter. This is a restaurant to skip lunch for, and when you have those hunger pangs in the middle of the day, you just need to think of the parmigiano in the evening, a class of red wine, and then the satiation of pizza.

Abu Zaad

It's amazing that it's September and that this is the first time I've blogged about what is one of my and my readers favourites places in London: Abu Zaad. Blimey, we've got good taste, haven't we?

The other day b and I had some cheese sambousek, yog+cuce, pickles, olives, lentil soup and mint and lemon juice. Let's start with the last first: wowza! that's a great sour combination in that drink, with such an interesting meld provided by the two ingredients that makes it a real rare super mix. An extra trick is to stir vigorously with your straw to deepen the colour of the drink. The sambousek were as flakily, chewily, saltily, creamily, savoury as I remembered, with such a nice kind of slightly coarse edge to the filling which comes from the spices. B noted that the yoghurt and cucumber was made without garlic, which is indeed something of fault, and another salad was also inadvertendly added to our bill, BUT that was quickly taken off and their reputation for excellent service was fully restored as a waiter chased us down Uxbridge Road as we had left a bag in there. Oh, and I forgot the olives, which were stuffed with carrot, which was yuuuummmmy. Let's hope that a full blog writer and readers party shall occupy a table for 4 there before too long.

Le retour

We went to New Tayyabs this evening and it was really excellent. I recall it being an OK place, but not nearly as good as its cheerleaders suggested to be, but I think that they were perhaps right and that I was wrong. Just like with Bob Dylan, who I guess I always liked, but I would never have thought that I'd spend three weeks listening to Best of Bob Vol. 2 obsessively. Or reading novels, a subject on which I am willing to bore anyone at the moment - why on earth did I spend years and years ignoring them in favour of bloody newspapers? I guess that it helps your pub quizzing, but when you're rejected by the historians' University Challenge: The Professionals team, you know that it's time to start reading books.

The highlights of Tayyabs are very high indeed because the paneer tikka and karahi tarka daal were up there with the best of them: you knew that the former would be good from its admirable searing and it had that luscious chewiness that you expect from the best of its kind, while it was a great sign that the daal was ochre in colour and it looked reasonably dry: two key signs in my book, for if a daal looks too yellow or too liquid-y you know that you're in trouble. This one was deeply smoky and my fave of the main dishes, of which the others were an indifferent saag aloo and a decent vegetable karahi. The naan was top notch in that it had probably emerged from the oven 30 seconds before arriving on the table, and the poppadoms were really delicious.

The service was, if one is being kind, prompt, and if one is being honest, rude. Waiters hover in the manner of a family member who is OCD about being early as they wait for the rest of their party who are going to make sure that everyone misses their train. They remove your dishes before everyone has finished eating and need to be managed in a pretty stern way, but that's OK because that's just the way it is there and I cannot remember spending a better £10, inc. service, on dinner in London in a long time. We'll be back.

Lentilles

After quite a few days of carbs + cheese, my body was telling me that it wanted something different and, if possibly, full of vegetables:

Puy lentils with roasted vegetables (adapted from many recipes)

Boil puy lentils and when cooked and drained, add lime juice, one chopped chilli, rock salt and olive oil.
Roast carrots, red pepper and red onion at a high heat in chilli powder, lots of cumin seeds, rock salt and olive oil, making sure to turn the vegetables a couple of times.
Serve with a big dollop of Greek yoghurt or ricotta.

The real key to this dish is to not stint on the cumin seeds, since the chief pleasure is that great rich smokiness that the vegetables acquire, along with a serious crispiness having roasted quickly. The vegetable selection could definitely be altered - potatoes would work reasonably well, green peppers, salted aubergines or other root vegetables, though I do think that carrots and red onion are a must.