London - Tea at The Wallace Collection

On a recommendation, we booked tea at The Wallace Collection. Good company with AG and JF, good tea, pretty good sandwiches, cakes and scones (although more yeasty than crumbly), atrocious service. 

We arrived (3:00pm) and not only did they completely forget to seat us (3:10pm) even though we had reservations but it took forever to take our order (3:25pm) and then even longer to bring it out (4:15pm), all the while others seated after us had already begun drinking their tea. We were assured that it would only be a few more minutes as the scones were about to come out of the oven all the while plates of scones were being brought to tables seated after us. Huh. Interesting. It's tea. I'm sure your water is boiled, your sandwiches are already made and fine, maybe your scones need some reheating but please, it does not take 50 minutes for a teapot and some pastries to arrive. 

Conclusion? It's good but not worth it unless you are really patient, not hungry and don't mind sitting around waiting.

London - Hakkasan

It felt like walking into a club - on an otherwise dark and empty street, a bouncer and a girl with a clipboard stand outside the restaurant, seeing if your name is on the list. Then proceeding down the stairs, doors are opened, reservations checked again, coats taken and finally you are led to your table. The interior has an amazing design blending Chinese motifs (think cut-out lattice panels instead of walls) with trendy back-lit walls in blue and purple tones. The space seems larger than what it probably is, thanks to the panels, and yet somehow doesn't reach that deafening loudness of some restaurants.

AG and I had decided the previous night at Amaya that we would stick to ordering cocktails at Hakkasan as well. As always, I don't remember what they were but I tend to order ones that are rum or tequila based. The first one had pear and tequila and the second one that I ordered was a take on a pina colada but AG and I actually swapped cocktails and I ended up with a cocktail that had vodka and muddled grapes. Regardless, they were all delicious.

Again the small-plates trend (which I really do so love) continued. We started with the jasmine-tea smoked organic pork ribs - sticky sweet fall-off-the-bone tender deliciousness melting in your mouth. The serving size, four babyback ribs per person, was much larger than we thought it would be. After we commented between ourselves that that wetnaps would be welcome, we were given two bowls of water with lemon, and a hot towel. They think of everything here!

Next was the vegetarian dim sum and each of us got 4 pieces of whatever vegetable goodness was in there (the only thing we didn't really like was the bean curd used to wrap one of the pieces). These were really delicate and I remember liking the one with the green skin best. I was kinda dreamily thinking about these for a long long time afterward.

  

No more small plates! Now came the mains. We couldn't do without a veggie dish so we got the braised tofu, aubergine and shiitake mushroom claypot in blackbean sauce. We left the tofu and just feasted on the eggplant and shiitake mushrooms, of which there were definitely not enough of. They should take the tofu away and double the amount of veggies in this dish - we would have gladly ate (and paid) more for it if they had done that.

The Peking duck-style stir fry with veggies didn't really taste like duck...could've been pork for all I knew. We might've been better getting the duck and mango or the crispy duck rolls off the small plates section if we wanted duck but this still was pretty good.
On a last-minute whim I decided I wanted one more dish so we ordered the double-cooked slices of Berkshire pork belly with cabbage and firm tofu. This dish was the most disappointing with overly dry slices of meat but the cabbage and sauce were redeeming. I think we would've been upset had we not had so much other delicious food.

We finished our meal with an overly-sweet yuzu posset with blackberry compote which was their take on a lemon meringue pie. 

 

And then the waitress came over with the bill, which we asked to split, and then she got confused and left, and so we figured out how much half of the bill was and told her when she came back, and then she got confused again and left and another guy came to charge our cards. WHEW. And then we went to meet up with AP (JPs brother) whose birthday was the next week!

Now having been here, I kinda wish JP and I had made it over to the Miami Hakkasan location. Next time. And note to self: their veggies and small plates are much better than the mains so stick to those.

London - Borough Market

What kind of Food Ninja (a term coined by some Americans living in stinky-cheese land) would I be if I did not make an obligatory stop to this London food mecca? Saturday morning, after being thwarted by not only engineering works on the tube, but also the City of London Lord Mayor inauguration (or something like that), we made it to Borough Market at the respectable hour of noon (yours truly was thinking about getting there around 11am so we actually did quite well!).

Samples galore! Cheeses, jams, spreads, chocolates...mmmm. Here are a few snapshots of that afternoon:

We weren't just freeloaders - we did manage to buy some things, like the German Cheesecake (above) which was not very good - dense and with a cake-like base - and as such, half of it ended up in the trash can. We also got some brambleberry jam and some kind of cheddar from Neal's Yard Dairy, which I intend to use in my Thanksgiving cornbread.

More importantly, we got a chelsea bun (below, upper right) from Flour Station.

It's essentially a dense, yeasty cinnamon-raisin roll but less so on the cinnamon. I'm glad we didn't eat it on the spot - warmed up in a microwave the next day and spread with some salted Bordier butter it was something else entirely.

We were actually super full from all the sampling and eating that we didn't even try everything that was recommended by various sources. I guess that'll give me good reason to return next time...

London - Amaya

Michelin-stared Indian restaurant? And it serves small plates?! Um, yes please! There's really none of that curry-heavy cooking at Amaya. This is primarily tandoori-based, which is great when you either (a) are nervous about Indian food or (b) you don't want to have an Indian food baby in your tummy after your dinner. I was the latter.

Cocktails were in order as neither AG nor I could imagine drinking wine at this restaurant - sleek, modern and glitzy. Me gusta! I rarely remember which cocktails I order but they were good. One of mine had tequila and lychee and the other one was a passionfruit caipirinha.

We stuck to only small plates (no biryani) and it was fairly easy deciding what we wanted from the veggie dishes (although it was difficult to limit ourselves). But we had difficulty in the fish/poultry/meat section. Do you get the chicken tandoori lollipops? Or lamb grilled on a skewer? Or how about some chicken chops? Or does one pick scallops (no because I don't eat them) or an actual fish? Luckily, our waitress gave us fantastic recommentations. We hadn't even thought of ordering the tandoori-spiced monkfish but this may have been the best part of the evening - two meaty pieces of fish on a mini-skewer, rubbed in spices and grilled. I've heard that monkfish is easy to overcook but this was perfection. And it's not as scary looking here as when it's whole.

The second recommendation from our waitress was to get the chicken or lamb chop. I think we picked wisely. The two fat golden-brown lamb chops came with a surprise - they were stuffed with spiced minced lamb! Genius and delicious. And if you're wondering whether they always give two to an order when you order the "small plate" version, the answer is no. AG had gone to Amaya with her parents and they gave them three pieces on a plate, which is actually very thoughtful because it's always awkward when there's not enough pieces for everyone.

Following our meat dishes were the dal, which while quite plain in and of itself, was livened up by the set of spices (coriander, salted peanut, masala and plum sauce) that accompanies the meal and a raita. It would've made more sense had they served us the raita at the very beginning as we would've like to have tried it on the lamb but regardless, it helped elevate some of the less-interesting dishes. The least interesting was probably the little cakes made of spinach and fig. I didn't detect any fig in there and these were so uninspiring that I forgot we ate them until I came across the picture.

We had almost forgotten to order the simple broccoli dressed with yogurt (and our only "large plate") but so glad we remembered as this was the standout vegetarian dish that night. The other veggie dish, smoky grilled aubergines at first fell flat but once livened up with the (pomegranate?) raita were actually somehow addicting!

Ending our meal was probably the stand-out dessert of the week - an eaton mess. Typically British, it's essentially pieces of meringue, some whipped cream and red berries. The juice from the berries softens the meringue, which in turn adds a pleasant sweetness and the cream adds a hint of richness.

This was most definitely my favorite meal of the weekend and I'd go back and eat there again any day. As long as I can have the broccoli.  

London - Tendido Cero

Unfortunately overshadowed by the other meals that week, Tendido Cero was nonetheless delicious tapas in a romantic setting (as most tapas places should be!). It was also the first time I attempted to take the bus, but failed (as happens quite often it seems) and took a cab. It really wasn't my fault - the bus that is supposed to come every 10-12 minutes didn't come for 30 and I was already late.

AG and I apparently both love Rioja so instead of picking the cheapest, we picked the second cheapest (we're so classy like that but I mean really, we don't know that much about wine except for what we like). The waiter kinda scrunched his face up when we ordered the wine and recommended the one for £9 more. Meh, sure, whatever! So we went with the waiter's recommendation and it was pretty good!

You know what else was pretty good? The most amazingly awesome Serrano and cheese croquettes that we ordered. These were little fried balls of melty-cheesy goodness. I didn't really detect that much ham in there but at least I saw it so it was definitely there.  We also ordered the pan con tomate y jamon Serrano. I like my pan to be toasted and rubbed with garlic. Unfortunately, they didn't toast the bread and it turned soggy from the tomato spread much faster than we would have liked it to. Did we care? No, not really, it was still delicious!

We also ordered a stew of white beans with chorizo (on second thought, maybe the spicy chorizo cooked in cider would've been better but we didn't want it to be too oily), and some crunchy (read: breaded and fried) Arzua cheese with sweet tomato marmalade, which we both agreed would have worked better towards the end of the meal since the marmalade was overwhelmingly sweet.

Lastly, the piquillo peppers stuffed with oxtail  was meh because the texture was just off, with both the peppers and the oxtail (which was actually quite flavorless) both being mushy. An then we can an unremarkable crema catalana, which is like a creme brulee but ours had cinnamon sugar on top.

It kinda sounds like our meal sucked but no, it was quite good but just not as good as it could've been. And much better than the La Tasca chain for tapas (errr...that's a not-so-nice dig from me...sorry if you ever read this AP!)

London - Ottolenghi

Ottolenghi, you deserve your own, lengthy post. I can sing praises all day. Everything in your store screams "eat me!" Butternut squash, roasted aubergines, chili-laced broccoli, glazed carrots...my god, if I had one of these near me I'd never eat elsewhere nor would I cook! Screw the meat, this is vegetarian paradise. So since there's no Ottolenghi in the U.S., the next best thing is the cookbook. You know, the holidays are coming up, hint hint.

(They had a no-photo policy but I managed to sneak a quick one of the pastry section from the hallway leading up to the store)  

AG left work early and stopped by Ottolenghi for takeout dinner before I got there. Vinegared beets with apples, broccoli with chili and garlic, glazed roasted carrots, potatoes and grain salad and sugar snap peas and green beans, and a pear and sultana tart that tasted like fall...I knew I wanted more.

Wandering over the next morning, I picked out the flourless lemon polenta cake for breakfast, which was moist and studded with candied fruit. The icing of top (delicious and ridiculously sweet in its own right by the way) gave the cake the right not-overwhelming amount of sweetness. It was really hard to leave half the cake...good thing I cut it in half before taking a huge forkful. 

And I couldn't not go back again so on Sunday morning, we dropped by to pick up £25 worth of veggies for me to take back to Paris. Mmmm...gonna be waiting for that cookbook. But in the meantime, I might pick up some broccoli or aubergines.

The start of a weekend in London

Time for a long weekend. Armistice day in France = visiting AG, who I went to school with and who was my roommate for 2 years while she's in London. Equally as food-obsessed as me. She works so I had two days of entertaining myself until the weekend. I didn't really feel like going to any museums (although I did drop by the British Museum for two hours) which left only two things - shopping and eating. You can guess which one I focused more on. And so I took myself over to Covent Garden with the intention of wandering around, looking at some stores and finally finding my way over to Wahaca, a Mexican market-based restaurant. First, I'd like to mention that I'm too tall to stand against the "leaning seats" in the tube- I have to bend my head forward. It is not a comfortable position. Also, unlike at the Abbesses stop in Paris, at Covent Garden you get a warning that "there are 193 stairs, the equivalent of a 15 story building" to get to ground level so really, unless you're in fantastic shape, you best be taking the elevator. Which I wisely did. 

After wandering around, trying some things on, taking a picture in Neal's Yard (Dairy and Remedies are both there), the rain started to drizzle, as it most certainly always seems to do in London, so I started in the direction of the restaurant where I seated myself at the bar and proceeded to order an agua de Jamaica. But they're not as cool as me (hah!) so they just call it Hibiscus water. Menu held the usual suspects - tacos, taquitos, quesadillas, burritos, etc etc. But most things are served as small plates. I seemed to have missed this and when I got my pork torta with conchinita pibil, this arrived:

Tiny torta! £4.85! Good but not as good as the ladies at the back of Tehuitzingo grocery store in NYC. This was when I realized that this is glorified street food at expensive prices. Good, sure, but also overpriced. But then again, isn't everything (£4 one-way tube ride?...I got an Oyster after that). The agua de Jamaica previously ordered was downed in a few gulps and then I was convinced to get the hibiscus margarita (tequila during lunchtime, fabulous idea). Good but not great - the one with hibiscus and blueberries at Toloache in midtown Manhattan is a thousand times better.

Despite my better judgement and sensing I might still be a tad hungry, I ordered one more small plate - black bean tostadas.

Disappointment. Don't get me wrong, the flavor was there but it wasn't really a tostada but a large round tortilla chip with a teaspoon of refried beans, topped with lettuce and tomato, corn and blackbean salsa...it tasted more like I was eating chips + fresh salsa than a tostada. But I must commend them on the two accompanying salsas they serve - a chipotle salsa and a habanero salsa. The chipotle brought an earthy smokiness (perfect for the torta) and I thought it was spicier than the habanero, which kinda just numbed your mouth while the chipotle set your lips on fire. Conclusion: if this is some of the best mexican food in london, there are most definitely opportunities to be had.

On Thursday, I had two lunches. The first was an overly-greasy fish and chips of which I ate maybe about 1/3, and the second was wagamama. I couldn't come to London again and not eat there! Actually, the only other time I have been to wagamama was sophomore year in college when we based our operations management project on them.

Behold the chilli men (hah, funny name) - soba noodles (I got really excited there because I thought it was like buckwheat soba but no, tear) with mangetout (wiki says this means either snap or snow peas), spicy tomato sauce, chicken and veggies. Exactly what you need when its cold and drizzling outside so it totally hit the spot although it was actually not as tasty as I remembered. The spicy sauce was heavy on the heat and lemongrass, light on the veggies and noodles overcooked. In retrospect it may have been better to order two appetizers...oh well, can't always win can you?

I would also like to add that had I decided to live in London, my blog might be titled "eating my way though M&S" - there are so many things there that I want to eat. Its like TJs on ready-made, ready-to-eat, takeout crack. Look at these juices!

Stay tuned for more small-plate obsession in London, lots of veggies and some market tidbits. Oh, and one of the most awful services ever in the form of ridiculously long waits. Yay!