On not mucking things up

I forgot my camera I'm afraid, but not sure that even pictures could convey just how unbelievably cheesy the food remains at the Beer Engine under its new ownership. I had a vegetable lasagne which had a layer of cheese (goat's cheese and cheddar I think) which would not have disgraced a cheese feast pizza. The dish was v tasty and super filling, with a simple salad on the side, just as was the case under the previous owners. The bread was a bit weird but other than that it was a tremendous relief to discover that the new owners have not tampered too much with what was a really winning formula of ultra-cheesy baked dishes and all round cosiness.

Still all about the yaki

What more can I say about okonmiyaki? I love it, and now have Suzy's recipe, for what is one of the greatest dishes of all time in my book, and certainly the cleverest use of white cabbage. And check out the breakfast bar in the new kitchen at SVR! And one other thing: some Japanese chilli is also a pretty cool addition to a cheese yaki.

Abu Zaad otro vez

A quick trip to Abu Zaad for a meal that was satisfactory in that it was nice and I was full of tasty things quite quickly, but less so for the fact that poor old b was feeling too ill to eat and was forced to watch me munch my way through many cheese sambousek, houmous, babha ghanous and tabbouleh. All of them were very good, esp the first mentioned, but those yummy lemon and mint juices were probably the real highlight again. Note to self: remember b's point that you can actually get mezze deals when you order three or so dishes, which works out much cheaper than ordering single plates. After the meal I went to see Water at the Hammersmith Lyric, which is a really good play about global warming, but not at all worthy and much more moving than one might imagine.

Under the weather food

I was feeling really drained and rubbish one night last week, so I decided some colourful comfort food was in order, centred on spinach and its powers of life-force enhancement. The dish in the photo consisted of a whole big bag of spinach, with yoghurt, olive oil, salt and pepper, and then some couscous with chilli, cheddar, tomatoes and chickpeas. Not one for the purists out there but it did the business in terms of making me feel better than I had when I started cooking. Much more spinach in my recipes this week I think, because, for some reason, I can feel something of an obsession coming on with Popeye's fuel: just add some Olive Oyl and all will be well (boom, boom!).

Sci-fi macro sushi shots

Suzy and the Moose very kindly brought sushi round to the Cross the other night. It came from the delectable selection available at the Japan Centre which is, to my taste, the best takeaway sushi I've had in London. I'm not quite sure what was in the first roll pictured and I must confess that I was at first slightly concerned that it might not be veggie, but I think it was and the mish-mash of colours is proof of the eclecticism you can find in Japanese sushi (the nicest thing about this variety was that it was full of something crunchy, which may have been toasted sesame seeds, but may have been something else entirely). The avocado makki is more explainable and no less yummy for its familiarity.

How do you make a parmesan crisp?

a
You scatter grated parmesan in a disk on a frying pan (no oil), heat it up, start to worry a bit, turn the heat off, fail to notice to that you've actually turned the heat of the risotto off, ignore the extra work you are causing the risotto stirrer, and hey presto, after a few more minutes of cooking, and some cooling time, you have a parmesan crisp for the top of your risotto.

Hot Shots: Part Deux

Back to pudding shots inspired by eating out, and I think I've discovered a new one which is a fairly ridiculous and fun way to end a meal. I made my apple pie shots with cinammony yoghurt, but that seems quite staid next to a glass filled with, from the base, crunched up ginger biscuit, yoghurt with candied fruit, frozen lemonade, and then some watermelon Pop Rocks: zing, crinkle, crunkle, kapow, I like Pop Rocks and the specialist sweetie shop Cyber Candy, in Covent Garden, which supplied them.

This is the power of Macro

Back to Kalendar in Dartmouth Park after an exceedingly bracing swim at Hampstead lido - pool temp down to 11 and outside it was 8, um, er, chufty budge awarded please? - which was very lovely as it was a sunny morning. It took a while for my teeth to stop chattering, but when they did I was ready for some splendid eggs florentine which, as I hope the pictures show, were composed with great delicacy and while there still wasn't enough hollandaise, there was masses of spinach, and I trust the pictures convey some of my delight as the plate was set in front of me. They're taken on the macro setting, so I am learning! As I have eveidently learned to love eggs!!

Canon can

My camera is back! Well, the brother of the brother of the brother of the original Canon is back, and I am just delighted to have an Ixus once again. Please send me tips as to how I can make sure I don't lose this one.

Its initial outing was to Shikara in Fitrovia, an Indian place that Number7 and I chanced upon as we strolled between other Indian restaurants which we rejected on the bases of their prices and their slightly strange menus. The resto turned out to be just what we wanted, as we knew from the moment that we looked at the menu: no nonsense tasty food at pretty reasonable prices, with a few Tiger beers and nice service to ease us into the weekend. Poppadoms were excellent as they came with really good chutneys (one of the photos shows the merits of adding all four chutneys to a piece of poppadom), while Number7 seemed very pleased with her generous portion of a spicy chicken dish whose name this vegetarian has forgotten. I had a side of saag paneer which was nicely candy-ish in that way it can be and some hot and sour potatoes, the name of which escapes me, but this was the first time I had seen these babies on a menu since leaving Sharj. They were suitably sour and with some garlic naan they made for a real feast. Friday was really one of those days when I craved Indian food - I want to say 'I needed it' - and it's nice to go somewhere that really sates that craving.

That low winter sun

For no good reason today began, as yesterday had, with exercise. I'm not sure I ever expected to spend a Sunday running out of London towards the M25, past the houses of footballers and their wives, marvelling at the tackiness of their gates and the size of their packs of rottweilers on display, but plod, plod went the Enfielder and I, through Cockfosters, Oakwood and lots of other places which had previously just been names on a tube map to me. After some shooting the breeze we then headed to Cafe Nero with E for pannini, and the mozzie and tomato one tastes pretty good after all that pavement pounding.

In the name of avoiding work, I then walked west from London Fields, down trendy Broadway Market where I felt very uncool compared with the fashionistas with their big shades, through Columbia Road (where some great flowers can be had at bargain prices at the end of the day, down Brick Lane and then awandering home. In Brick Lane I stopped off at one of the Beigel places to pick up some granary bread for a bit of a cooking session tonight. I also bagged two 'bowl fors' or 'quid fors' - I can never remember what they call those plastic bowls of fruit and veg which are a nugget each - of shallots and limes, at the super bargain rate of two bowls for £1.50, end of the day offer guv. What I plan to make is a plate of shallots roasted in honey and sesame seeds, slices of avocado, roasted toms with herbs, cucumber in salt, chilli and lime, and lots of bread and aioli on the side.

Cy Twombly never fails to rock my world

If you're going to pay...
but hang on, some backstory: today began with a swim outdoors at Hampstead, after which you feel really quite awake, and then continued in the British Library, where I managed to hit my word target for the day in just four hours. Some hurrahs later I found myself in the new pop art exhibition at the Gagosian which, at the risk of hyperbole, is one of the greatest exhibitions of modern art I've ever seen, and it is but two streets away from me, so I will go back and back and back. And then a bit later I was walking towards Islington to buy fruit and vegetables and on this day of great London things, I thought I'd pop into Paul A. Young, chocolatier

So, if you're going to pay £2.75 for a chocolate brownie - in a city where every single cake shop seems to make them - you know that you have to go "Sweet Jesus" as you bite into it. Luckily Paul A. Young came up trumps and this was one of the deepest and most satisfyingly rich cakes I've had in a long time. As readers of this blog know, that includes a fair sample of cakes. In truth the brownie is so rich and so heavy that it would make a great treat for two, but since I had a feeling that I had a cold coming on, I figured that the extra chocolate was probably medicinal in my case. I bought some chocs too, though I'll save them for another day...

Master bakers

Given my fondness for bakeries, it seems somewhat bizarre that it's taken me more than 18 months of living near Exmouth Market to check out Jesshops, a no nonsense traditional baker of a kind that is becoming quite rare these days. I visited on my way for an early morning swim, and thence to work, and was in a slightly foul mood, but this lifted somewhat after the swim as I bit into my Belgian bun (50p) which was possibly the most-iced bun I've ever eaten. Further news of their offerings in the very near future methinks.

Quick pasta recipe IV

1. Boil pasta.
2. Whilst it's boiling, grate mature cheddar and chop garlic.
3. Drain pasta and add shelled peas, one pot single cream, salt, plenty dried thyme, the garlic and the cheese.
4. Eat one portion and then realise you want another.
5. Feel ashamed at the idea of a third plate, but dip fork into pan and snaffle loads more.

What makes a good sandwich

Or, rather, how a good sandwich can be a really simple one. I have a tendency to simply go too far with sandwiches, adding endless ingredients (salad, mayo, mustard, cheese, capers etc etc), when actually one really top quality kind of sandwich is a piece of good bread, some butter and some excellent cheese. I realised this the other day as I bit into a sandwich made of some lovely Italian bread from Gazzano's, lots of butter and a delicious goat's cheese from Neal's Yard and it was so damn tasty, not least because you could really taste all three ingredients and there is something especially delicious and salty about butter melting into bread in your mouth or, for that matter, cheese melting into butter into bread. Hmmm, is it clear that I'm writing this whilst rather hungry? Better nip to buy some cheddar for some pasta with chilli and cheese.

Is innate conservatism a bad thing when it comes to food?

This was a question I posed myself after a working lunch at what has become my no.1 London lunch spot: El Vergel. The attentive amongst you - 3/3 I imagine - will have noticed that almost all of my food posts lately have been about regular haunts and, as a consequence, I don't have all that much new stuff to write about. Now this is almost certainly a poor way to hold the attention of your blog audience, but is it also a bit too conservative an approach to eating out? After all, part of the purpose of this blog was to try new things and to go to new places, so what I think I'll do is set myself some food challenges for the rest of the year today, which my readership are most welcome to join me on. Before that I should say that EV was as good as ever: the tacos with refried beans, guacamole, salsa and spring onions are just one of the most interesting combinations of the earthy with the zingy/light that's out there, and I should also say that another super appealing feature of the place is its space, which is tiny and rather cavernous, but it feels quite like you're eating in a magical world when you're in there. Like Pho, this is somewhere where I've never had anything other than my preferred dish, and also along with Smiths of Smithfield, I think it forms a part of my current holy trinity of reliably great food at decent prices in Londinium.

So, now onto the more difficult task of wrenching myself away from the tried and trusted, so as to think of adventures with which to close the year. I had a post rather like this in January, which generally turned out to be too full of places in which I can't afford to eat, but it did encourage me to visit (or to be invited to) places like Tibilisi, Masters Superfish, Monmouth Coffee Company and Neal's Yard, so here comes my autumn list:

1. Camino: a newish tapas place in the so-called Regent's Quarter, which is a flash little development near King's X station: i.e. I have no excuse for not going, especially after it got a good review from P and E.
2. Tooting's south Indian restaurants: very high up on my list, because I keep hearing good things, but can I find a travelling companion to the Deep South/
3. Wahaca: new Mexican in Covent Garden which is supposed to be rather good and pretty good value.
4. The famous toasted cheese sandwich guy at Borough - if he still exists.
5. St John: word is that you can eat puddings at the bar, which sounds pretty good.
6. The place where you can get felafel sandwiches by Camden tube - I will go there!
7. New Malden, for th e whole Korean experience.
8. I also want to learn to cook some new things. Suggestions?
9. More cup cake outlets: London's hippest cake option at present!
10. Somewhere new in Exeter, but not in Princesshay!

Birthday meals II

Sooooo, it's ya birthday and you like food; can there be much better combos than Smiths of Smithfield for brunch, Borough and Neal's Yard for cakes and cheese, and then a late dinner at Pho (it needed to be late after my earlier indulgences)? You're right because that's a super set of places to go with supa-dupa people and none of them ever disappoint: SoS is always super buzzy and the food always delish, Borough is just fun and NY is one of the best sample-heavy, friendly and ace places in London, and Pho is, well, Pho. The pho was pretty hot on Sat and someone was confronted with the amusing sight of me in a bib perspiring more than a little lightly, but, then, if you can't be an idiot on your birthday then when can you?... Thanks to the peeps who made it such a good one.

Birthday fondue

After the relative disappointment of the fondue at City Limits, it was a serious treat to be taken to Tiroler Hut in Westbourne Grove for my birthday. We began with a good selection of bread including some rye bread and an especially delicious variety filled with caraway seeds. With a crisp, chilled glass of Gruner Veltliner this was an excellent start to the meal and the fondue which followed did not disappoint for it was correct in its cheesiness, its booziness and its all-round "oh my God I could eat this stuff till I exploded-ness". That was not really an option as the portion was not gigantic but nor was it stingy by any means. The bread was decently crusty and it was a treat to be reminded of the places to which a good fondue takes you. We had some raw vegetables for dipping which were, frankly, a bit of disappointment and a waste of time. Who wants to waste their fondue on a piece of raw parsnip when there's a hunk of bread waiting to be covered with the golden cheese? For pudding we had a chocolate fondue which was just excellent. At first we thought that there wasn't quite enough, but actually the size of the dish was excellent and there was a great selection of fresh fruit (grapes, strawberries, plums, satsumas and apples) to dip in, as well as some wafers and marshmallows. The chocolate was extremely chocolatey and the grape-choc, plum-choc and straw-choc flavours are pretty deeply imprinted in my mind. Service was good throughout and we managed to escape just as the truly cheesy aspect of the restaurant was kicking off: oompah-classics played on a synthesiser by a man dressed in lederhosen... A top dinner all-round for which thanks to fondue fan number 1.

Meal-deal

There really aren't all that many London restaurants that can be recommended for their deals. Indeed, I guess the very concept of a meal deal would conjure up notions of fast foodery that they'd rather avoid, but Sofra in Exmouth Market is a very honourable exception. I went there earlier in the year and I can't quite recall what we had, but it may well have been the two courses for £7.95 summer menu which we ate off tonight. The returning samurai and I both had the mezze plate as a starter and vegetarian moussaka as a main, and I have to tell you they were damn tasty. The starter plate is big and the main not so big, but between them they make up a really hearty and tasty meal. For the mezze you get felafel, houmous, a bean salad, pickled pepper and tabbouleh. The moussaka is yummily creamy and comes with a nicely-dressed green salad. The bread is extremely good and I'd recommend this place for down-tempo tastiness any time.