Umu Japanese Restaurant in Mayfair is a favourite of the many who work at the Japanese Consulate, and understandably so. Executive Chef Yoshinori Ishii previously spent nine years at Japan’s three Michelin-starred Kyoto Kitcho and recently won Umu its second Michelin star. Chef Ishii’s haute cuisine approach to Japanese cooking means his food at Umu is graced with a touch that is both elegant and precise.

Every year Umu runs a pop up restaurant at Frieze Masters, the annual 5 day art fair that brings together several thousand years of art from over 130 of the world’s leading galleries. The last day of Frieze Masters was on the 18 October, but I managed to squeeze in a visit to the Umu pop-up restaurant before Frieze Masters finished. The Umu pop-up only offered a limited selection of starters, sushi, sashimi, and mains from the original Umu menu, but it was still a great showcase of the flavours of Umu, drawing on similar dishes and ingredients from the same sources. Umu Head Chef Yoshinori Ishii remained in charge of the pop-up and worked the sushi bar as we ate. Also in attendance was a legion of full time staff from Umu in Mayfair.

From the starters a tuna tartare salad (£17) was deliciously meaty and sweet from a fabulous shiso dressing. Dressed with micro cress, the tartare was topped with some thin and crunchy lotus root chips that worked a treat with this generously portioned dish. A seafood salad (£17) with prawn, scallop and abalone was also delectable. The seafood was delightfully fresh and sweet and worked well with the lovely lightness and acidity of the accompanying tosazu jelly.

Umu Japanese Restaurant – Tuna tartare

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PRIME BURGER – EUSTON

Last week I attended the launch party of Prime Burger’s new branch at Euston Station. Located on the first floor of the station, it is a burger joint that specialises in creating efficient, diverse, and high quality burgers that you can eat-in or takeaway. Their menu extends from breakfast to lunch and dinner, and their policy clearly states that all burgers must be done within 8 minutes or the customer has a right to claim a refund.

London Food Blog

Prime Burger was well-lit with Brit-pop blasting and the smell of burgers permeating throughout the restaurant. The place is really clean and has a small number of tables that fit 4-5 people. The was an outdoor sitting area and the large window seats were appropriately designed for those who wanted to keep an eye on their train departures as they ate.

That night I tried two types of burgers, the Prime Truffle Burger (£8.95) and the Crazy Larry (£7.25), as well as the garlic butter fries, with and without cheese (£3.50). The Prime Truffle Burger was the winner as it had a rich tomato sweetness, with a tiny hint of the truffle aioli and truffle cheese. The creamy texture of that, with the prime cut patty and fluffy bread produced a good balance of soft, sweet and savoury.

Prime Burger – Prime truffle burger

The Garlic Butter fries were delivered freshly hot. It didn’t have a strong garlic taste, and the chives on top didn’t add too much them. I later tried the same fries with cheese on top and this really elevated the taste. According to the menu, the garlic butter fries are listed without cheese, but I would definitely ask for cheese to be added.

Prime Burger – Garlic butter fries

My spice tolerance is above average, but the ‘Crazy Larry’ burger has got to be the spiciest burger I have ever had in my life. The burger consisted of fresh chilli jalapeños, hot chilli salsa, onion, mayo, tomato and lettuce. One bite into it, and my lips looked like Angelina Jolie’s. They felt flaming hot, but somehow I wanted more. A quarter of the way into the burger I had to stop, with the help of chips and water, the spiciness calmed down a bit more. In my opinion, if you need to get full to the brim and have a high spice tolerance, go for it. But order it as a meal (with fries and a drink) because it is more powerful than you’d think.

Prime Burger – Crazy Larry

Overall, Prime Burger is great for those on the go and willing to spend over £10 on burger and chips. It’s an ideal pit stop for a delicious burger before enduring a long ride on the train, and less of the type of place to linger and have a calm and long conversation with friends. As it is in a prime location, there may be times when it will be busy so be prepared for a lot of noise. As for the food, the Prime Truffle burger is definitely aa unique and great if you want something cool, fancy, and different amongst the other cafes and food places within Euston station.

A guest post by Nicole Chui – Instagram: @nicolemmapearl

SUMMARY INFORMATION
Likes:
1) The garlic butter chips (especially with cheese)
2) The prime truffle burger
3) The cleanliness of the venue

Dislikes

1) The service was slow and the venue was very noisy.

Food rating: 3.5/5
Service rating: 3/5

Prices
Burgers: £6-£11
Burger Meal deal (Burger + a drink + a side): £10-£14
Breakfast: £3 – £8

Website: http://www.prime-burger.co.uk/

To celebrate National Curry Week a couple of weeks ago, Tilda Rice threw an intimate Tilda Curry Supper Club at The Little Yellow Door, a quirky, fictional flatshare pop-up in in Notting Hill with a ‘little yellow front door’. Hosting and cooking at the event was Indian food writer, columnist for the Evening Standard and Indian cookbook author Mallika Basu. Mallika cooked for us some beautiful curry dishes, with the inspiration being how leftovers can be given a twist and transformed into a delicious dinner.

My favourite dish of the evening was the Bengali chingri malaikari – tiger Prawns steeped in a spicy sweet coconut and caramelised onion curry. This was really special. The prawns were firm and tasty, and the sauce had a wonderful, sweet intense flavour.

Tilda Curry Supper Club – Tiger prawns

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MUSCADET MAGIC

Krista from Passportdelicious.com and I recently took a tour through the world of muscadet magic. We began our trip bright and early one Saturday morning, meeting at Billingsgate market at 6am! It was a bloggers event and the objective was to discover the delights of matching muscadet with seafood. But there was a competitive element to the event as well. Working in pairs (me with Krista), we were all given a budget and tasked with purchasing some seafood with which to create a dish that would best work with muscadet. The winning dish – which was judged by Jon Massey of The Wharf newspaper and Douglas Blythe (writer, consultant, presenter, high-society sommelier and enthusiastic cook) – not only brought with it the honour of the number one spot, but six bottles of muscadet as well.

Muscadet Magic – Billingsgate Market Market

To set us up on our day, we feasted on some scallop and bacon baps from the legendary breakfast haunt at Billingsgate, Piggy’s Café. Bellies full, we ventured out into the heart and sole of the bustling market in search of our ingredients before making our way up to the Billingsgate Seafood School. Here, CJ Jackson, the CEO of the school and author of Leith’s Fish Bible took us on a guided journey into the secrets of scaling, gutting, filleting, and prepping seafood. It was an eye opener, very informational and wonderfully educational. And then we were ready! Ready to step it up another gear and begin cooking. For this, we made our way to the Central Street Cookery School where a plentiful larder had been laid out for us, and some cold and crispy Muscadet awaited us.

Muscadet Magic

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Konditor & Cook have long been tantalising London taste buds with their delectable range of chocolate brownies and their ‘to-die-for cakes’ including their famous Curly Whirly cake, a dark chocolate cake decorated with a cream cheese frosting. And ahead of Halloween, Konditor & Cook have launched their ‘oh-so-scary’ Spooktacular range of delicious treats including a Haunted Gingerbread House, a selection of Magic cakes and a Trick or Treat Box with a range of mini bakes.

Konditor & Cook -Goodge Street Branch

Konditor & Cook sent me three of their cakes and pies to try, and I must confess to being totally blown away by the pumpkin pie (£22). The filling had a gentle flavour of pumpkin, was nicely spiced and was not too sweet. It also had an excellent texture, one that was smooth and creamy. The sweet pastry base was a little soft, but the filling was so spectacular that it more than made up for pastry.

Konditor & Cook – Pumpkin pie

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Multi-award winning Italian brand, Menabrea Beer, hosted an exclusive supper at London’s L’Anima Restaurant last Monday which I really enjoyed. Brewed in the Piedmont town of Biella at the foothills of the Italian Alps, Menabrea is well known throughout Italy, especially in its Northern heartland. Menabrea is Italy’s oldest continuously operating brewery, and the beer is brewed using the same methods used since the brewery’s inception in 1846, encapsulating over 150 years of skill and craftsmanship. There are only five ingredients in the Menabrea brand of beers, but those ingredients are of the highest quality with the result being a beer that has a refreshing flavour and crisp texture.

L’Anima – Menabrea Beer

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STREET XO MADRID

Street XO in Madrid is the casual eatery by David Munoz, the chef of the highly acclaimed DiverXO, the only restaurant in Madrid with three Michelin stars. David Munoz has long tantalised diners far and wide with his extraordinary renegade approach to fine dining. When Anthony Bourdain visited DiverXO on his show No Reservations in 2010 (and I particularly loved the programme on Madrid and DiverXO), he declared that Munoz’s food was “something that should probably suck”, yet he ended up proclaiming his love for it. Back then in 2010, DiverXO only had one Michelin Star. Now DiverXO has three.

Munoz’s approach to food is designed to shock and delight, and with Street XO his approach to cooking is no less electrifying. Street XO is a temple to Asian fusion gastronomy, and draws upon an incredibly bold use of ingredients, seamlessly weaving together Western techniques with inspirations from across Asia to produce food that is colourful, delicious and different.

The décor of Street XO is no less daring. The grungy ‘street’ look of the restaurant is completed with ‘graffiti’ on the walls, neon signs and bright red colours. Diners can choose to sit on bar stools around the open kitchen or dine al fresco on the balcony, waited on by waiting staff dressed in straitjackets. This is clearly no run-of-the-mill restaurant.

One of the signatures at Street XO is the Pekingese ‘dumplings’ (€12.50) with pork, crunchy pig’s ear, strawberry hoisin sauce, togarashi aioli and gherkins. These did not resemble traditional Chinese dumplings, with the presentation representing a piece of modern art. Yet the dumplings thrilled with their exquisite flavours and arresting ingredient combinations. The meat was beautifully moist, the pig’s ear was lusciously crunchy and there was a nice touch of spiciness in the creamy aioli. The gorgeous dumplings were simultaneously creamy, fatty and crunchy, tempered by a touch of acidity from the gherkins.

Street XO – Pekingese ‘dumplings’

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AL TRAPO MADRID

Al Trapo Restaurant in Madrid is a slick operation serving a fun-filled, modern menu by renowned Spanish chef Paco Morales. With Al Trapo, Paco Morales’ vision was to give diners complete freedom to mix and choose so that they could personalise their own sharing experience. In 2011 Paco Morales was awarded a Michelin star for his Restaurant “Ferrero-Paco Morales” which closed in 2013. With his Michelin star background, Paco Morales brings a level of refinement to the quirky menu.

Situated on the ground floor of the IBEROSTAR Las Letras Gran Vía, the concept behind Al Trapo’s menu revolves around different inspirations, each of which are originally titled. The inspirations begin with ‘To eat with your hands and lick your fingers’, a section devoted to small canapé sized tasters. From there it moves on to ‘Gentle And Classy’ for something subtle and then to ‘Roguish and zingy’ for something more bold. ‘Meseta and sea’ are for all things swimmingly delicious, and then there is ‘From just around the corner’ which provides diners with a taste of traditional Spanish flavours. For a touch of the international there is ‘So far and yet so near’. A selection of ‘Cheeses from far and near’ and ‘Desserts, little indulgences’ round off the choice of culinary delights to be savoured at Al Trapo. Each section features about four to six dishes.

Our first stop was ‘To Eat With Your Hands And Lick Your Fingers’ where we tried a number of different items, the first of which was the Spanish tortilla soufflé bites with green bell peppers and anchovies (€5 – 4 pieces). These were really interesting. Inside the thin crispy aerated bread shell was a ‘cream’ filling that tasted like an eggy tortilla. The filling was a little salty, but was otherwise really tasty with a beautifully smooth texture.

Al Trapo – Spanish tortilla

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