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.