Roast suckling pig

For her birthday, KK organised a huge day of celebrations, starting off with a treasure hunt in a park in North London that, despite the threat of rain, looked glorious with all the leaves lying fallen in their beautiful autumnal colours. Her husband, as host, went into character as a pirate – donning a rather bad pirate’s accent in the process – and for the ultimate look in authenticity, all the clues had been beautifully hand drawn as maps, stained with tea and with their edges burnt to look frayed. My team fared dreadfully, but we all got to share in the winnings – lots of yummy chocolates – so I really had nothing to complain about.

The treasure hunt was followed by drinks, which were then followed by the ultimate prize, a roast suckling pig feasting dinner at St John Bar & Restaurant in Clerkenwell, a one star Michelin restaurant which is also ranked number 14 in this year’s San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards. Having never tried the roast pig at St John’s before, I was really looking forward to it, especially because we were all absolutely ravenous from a full day of scavenging for treasure. Along with the pig, which is designed to feed 14 to 16 people, the feast includes a choice of two starters, side dishes and two desserts (pricing policy mentioned below).

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Roast beef

I have long wanted to try Sonny’s. It’s one of those restaurants in South West London (Barnes) that is well liked by the locals and holds a steady reputation as a pretty decent venue. Ed Wilson of Terroirs use to cook there, so it’s churned out some notable chefs. I’ve booked to go there before, but for one reason or another have never quite made it. So it was not without irony that we ended up at Sonny’s on this occasion purely by chance – when the first restaurant we went to around Richmond way was booked out, and the second one we tried to find a table at stopped serving Sunday lunch at 2pm.

But it was my fault that we were so late. After having been homeless for about six weeks after getting back from my summer trip, I finally moved into my new flat a couple of weeks ago. It therefore seemed opportune when arranging to meet up with some guy friends who I invited around to check out my new pad before we headed out for lunch, that I may as well get them to help me move some furniture around. And then it seemed like another good idea to ask them to help me with those mysterious problems that I always seem to have with certain electronic devices, eg, the TV. When all was done and it was 2:15pm, I was not only starving but ever so grateful that we finally found a restaurant that would accommodate us

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I remember the opening of The Modern Pantry more for its timing than anything else, for it coincided with the announcement that Lehman Brothers had gone into bankruptcy. The popular press swooped on this fact, with most calling the opening ill-timed.

A year on and thank goodness the restaurant is still here. The downstairs café area was boasting a full house on the night of our visit, although the upstairs dining room, nicely decked out in blue-grey walls, black tables and bleached wood floors, was only half full. Head chef is Kiwi Anna Hansen who previously worked with Peter Gordon at both The Sugar Club and Providores, the influences of which shows in the little fusion touches which dot her menu.

We started with a baked bee pollen crusted ricotta, pear, sorrel, endive and lucques olive salad with a Manuka honey and lemon dressing and a quinoa lavosh (a flatbread) (£7.50). The baked ricotta, with just a hint of sweet honey, was delicious. Creamy and light, it did not overwhelm the palate by being too heavy or rich. It was slightly crunchy from the pollen and resembled a fluffy savoury cheesecake. The lavosh, crispy and light, was also very tasty. The salad was dull however. The pears were sweet and firm, but barely dressed, it was difficult to taste the honey or lemon in the dressing. It was also underseasoned. Despite this, the quality of the ricotta made this dish worthwhile.

Baked bee pollen crusted ricotta

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Omelette Arnold Bennett

I first went to Bumbles about three years ago and remembered it for having really good food at very reasonable prices. In fact the food was so good for what I paid that I was pleasantly surprised. I discovered the restaurant purely by chance, through a friend who worked in Victoria where it’s located. It seems to the sort of place that hovers low on the publicity radar, but is well liked by locals and those in the know. Case in point – it was absolutely packed on the night of our visit.

So how did visit number two fare? Overall it was resoundingly excellent. The restaurant offers an `a la carte menu from which you can also choose three courses for £20. This works out cheaper than ordering those dishes individually, although certain items incur a supplement. There is also a cheaper limited option 3 course menu on offer for £10. We chose 3 courses from both the `a la carte and the £10 set menu so I will cover the dishes that we had from the `a la carte menu first, listing the `a la carte price of each of those dishes as I go along.

To start, an omelette Arnold Bennett with smoked haddock (£5.95) was superb. Made with a combination of gruyere, parmesan and cheddar cheese, the omelette was creamy, luscious and rich. There was a beautiful balance between the cheeses and the haddock was firm and tasty. This dish was plate-licking good although more care could have been taken in cleaning the rim of the plate before presenting it.

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Baked oyster with gooseberry granite

I found it mildly amusing to read what had been written on the ‘location tab’ of The Sportsman’s website, a one Michelin starred gastropub situated in Kent. It goes something like this:

“A common theme in many write-ups and reviews is that The Sportsman is remote, bleak and a bit of a dump. Equally, many regulars find this point of view shocking as they love to arrive early, go for a walk on the beach and then have lunch or dinner.”

I suppose the view of the former group was not easily dispelled for me, seeing as the day of our visit was a rainy, bleak day in June. Who would have believed it was summer?! And the long journey from London (a tube ride to Victoria Station, a 1½ hour train ride to Faversham, and taxi from Faversham to The Sportsman) further confirmed the assertion of remoteness.

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Rose & Crown

Sometimes, it takes me a while to make my way to a new restaurant, even if I am desperate to try it. I put this down to having too long a shopping list of places to visit (or maybe I am just slow!). Take Bocca di Lupo for instance – it look me months after it opened before I finally went. And Rose & Crown, a restaurant which opened in Highgate in February was no different in this respect.

What initially caught my eye about Rose & Crown back in February was that the Chef and proprietor, Gareth Thomas, had trained under Jean-Christophe Novelli at Auberge du Lac; at Le Quartier Francais, a boutique hotel and restaurant in the Franschhoek region near Cape Town, South Africa, and which was at the time number 46 in the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants; and under Gary Rhodes at the Michelin-starred Rhodes 24. It’s not a bad CV, which led me to wonder if I might be onto a winner. And seeing as there are so few reviews written on it, I was also wondering if I would be the one to uncover an undiscovered little gem. Make haste I thought, try and be a good little blogger, go before anyone else beats you to it. But no, in my usual slow crawl mode, I only made it there last week, some 3 months after I first heard about it.

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Foie gras with dark caramel sauce

I have been eyeing up Launceston Place, a Modern British restaurant, for a little while, ever since Tristan Welch accepted the post of head chef in November 2007. After five months of planning and refurbishment, the restaurant reopened in March 2008. Tristan was previously at the two star Michelin restaurant Pétrus (which has now been renamed Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley) where he worked his way up from the position of junior sous chef to head chef in less than 18 months. With stints at Le Gavroche, and L’Arpège in Paris as well, it’s hard to overlook his culinary pedigree.

The restaurant is tucked away in the backstreets of Kensington, and is housed on land which was once part of the manor of Earl’s Court. The original structure of the restaurant (actually four houses joined together) was built circa 1839 and adds to the building’s sense of history. The façade is undeniably charming, but the interior of dark charcoal coloured walls and floors is austere, and rather harsh for a setting intended to exude old world charm.

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1901 @ Andaz

Isn’t it funny how when you are running late, there is always a problem on the London Underground? Or maybe there are almost always problems on the Tube, but it’s just that such delays are much more noticeable when you’re in a rush. I was in a hurry to get to lunch, and readers who have read my Viet Noodle Bar post will know that when food is on the cards, I like to try and be on time, although admittedly only with varying degrees of success. Therefore, I started to fret as the train was held up first at one station, and then again at the next. “Lunch is waiting for me. Is my entire journey going to be like this?” I thought, gritting my teeth.

But somehow, I managed to arrive at Liverpool Street exactly 3 minutes before my lunch reservation at 1901 at Andaz. Wow, how about that for miraculous timing! I rounded the corner out of the station and saw my lunch companion (1) head into the restaurant, and (2) then come straight back out. It seems that from a distance he had spotted me and decided to wait for me outside instead. Later he would tell me he saw me out of the corner of his eye and that he recognised me from a distance by my ‘walk’. My ‘walk?’ I know a supermodel I resemble not, so what about my walk could be so memorable? Did it resemble a waddle, like the side to side action of a penguin in motion? But I did not ask. I didn’t want to. Some things in life you are just better not knowing.

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