Latest reviews by bombaybeauty's friends

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:04:27 +0000

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Rating: 4.5

Location: 4 Market Row, SW9 8LD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7738 3021

I took the rare opportunity of a day off in Brixton to sample the pizza at Franco Manca. After an in depth article in OFM a couple of months ago, the internet has been awash with chatter about this place. And I felt like it was my duty as a Brixton resident and foodie to see what all the fuss is about.

Foolishly I forgot to take a note of the address, assuming that it must be easy to find. But I found myself walking back and forth along Electric Avenue, dodging the market vendors, trying desperately to find this "hidden gem". It always helps of course if you are actually on the right road. A quick call to 118500 and I was back on track. I was put through to Franco Manca who then guided me into the restaurant which was about 18 yards from where I was standing. The charming chap on the phone even spotted me and came to greet me. Top class service from beginning to end.

Snuggled into the heart of Brixton Market, remember, if you can, that it's Unit 4, Electric Lane. The restaurant bridges both sides of the covered market alleyway which adds a great natural flow to environment. On either side are large pizza ovens that have been hand build over in Naples. They generate a temperature of 500'C which is the key to their sourdough pizzas having such a crispy crust and soft middle. I inspected them with great interest, taking notes for next year's big project where I am planning to build an outdoor earth oven in the garden. Should be epic. If anyone's got any advice, I'd love to hear from you.

I ordered the chorizo pizza which comes with dry and wet sausage from Brindisa. It arrived almost as soon as I had spoken. Given all the hype, I was determined not to be prejudiced and was hoping it would live up to all the noise. And it did. As promised it was gorgeously charred on the outside, with the appearance of tiger bread whilst the mozzarella, tomato and chorizo was perfectly cooked as well. The puffy crust was crisp on the outside and pillowy soft inside. A bit like a savoury, hot macaron!

The chorizo had a lick of char and otherwise was simply irresistible. I was tempted to add pepper and chilli oil but didn't want to tamper with something that had been thought through so clearly. The mozzarella made almost made me giggle as it unwound as I tried to eat it like some sort of practical joke. All this fatty, carby goodness was washed down by a jar of their delicious home made lemonade followed the best espresso I've ever had for Â£1!

All the ingredients are impeccably sourced with superb credentials. But the crowning glory is the sourdough base that takes 20 hours of careful nurturing before it meets its glorious fate in the super charged ovens.

I was amused when two gentlemen in suits arrived and loudly asked "are you the guys who make the best pizza in London". I felt like I stood out pretty badly in my brown cords and blue v-neck jumper, but I was a chameleon by comparison. It seems that word has spread and that this gem is fast becoming a lot less hidden.

Be warned that Franco Manca is only open on week days from 12-5. My pizza, lemonade and coffee came to well under a tenner.

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:04:27 +0000

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Rating: 4.5

Location: 4 Market Row, SW9 8LD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7738 3021

Tags: italian, cheap eat, lively

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:04:27 +0000

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Rating: 4.5

Location: 4 Market Row, SW9 8LD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7738 3021

Tags: italian, cheap eat, lively

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:04:27 +0000

Franco Manca - review by Browners

Rating: 4.5

Location: 4 Market Row, SW9 8LD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7738 3021

Tags: italian, cheap eat, lively

Wellington Arms - review by Browners

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:18:05 +0000

Wellington Arms - review by Browners

Rating: 5.0

Location: Baughurst Road, RG26 5LP, Basingstoke, United Kingdom

Phone: 0118 982 0110

Website: http://www.thewellingtonarms.com

Tags: romantic, british, family & home feel, expensive

Isnâ¬"t it about time someone built a rapid exit road from South London that links directly to the M3? Iâ¬"m sick of having to crawl around the South Circular at a pace that makes Eric the Eel look like Michael Phelps. The grizzly shop windows look the same in Wandsworth, Putney and Sheen.

Having escaped the South Circular the M3 felt like one of those conveyor belts for lazy people in airports. We whizzed along without even trying. The jaundiced trees took on a trippy effect as they shed their leaves in the gusting wind. Rather than be mugged by the modern day highwayman that is the motorway service station, we had planned ahead and booked ourselves into The Wellington Arms, just north of Basingstoke.

Unusually, we arrived on time, which gave us a chance to admire their chicken coup and immaculate vegetable garden.

We read a glowing review of The Wellington Arms in Olive about 2 weeks ago and booked it on the spot. Further delving yielded warm reviews from Giles Coren and others. Weâ¬"d been looking forward to it from the moment we booked. Everything we had read about was true. It is idyllic and must be one of the most stylish country pubs in the country.

With only 8 tables itâ¬"s cosy and full of charm. It feels less like a pub restaurant and more akin to being in a friendâ¬"s living room. Our waitress was a delight. My pint of bitter was perfect and Cowieâ¬"s lime and soda was full of proper lime. With a pint in hand we surveyed the chalk board menu, standing behind a table of very loud parents from Marlborough.

We often find it hard to choose, but this time it was as if the menu had been written just for us. Cowie was torn between a double baked goatâ¬"s cheese soufflÃ© and the scallops â¬ as was I which made things eay! And for the main event Cowie immediately chose the brill and I almost shouted out venison pie!

Whilst waiting for our food I couldnâ¬"t help noticing the plaque behind me commemorating Jason Kingâ¬"s Junior Gold medal in the Cooking Olympics. This was a sign of the brilliance to come as we were feasting on a range of sensational breads. In particular the soft dark, treacly rye bread was first class â¬ itâ¬"s all made in the village by a chap whoâ¬"s name I read whilst having a wee!

My scallops couldnâ¬"t have been cooked any better. Some people donâ¬"t like their sea food covered in butter â¬ but I do! The bed of samphire had me purring like a kitten having his tummy tickled. I was so focussed on the scallops that I almost forgot to switch plates with Cowie. Her goatâ¬"s cheese soufflÃ© was just as good. Well risen texture melted into that unmistakable taste of goatâ¬"s cheese. Fortunately our plates were cleared before I had embarrassed myself by licking them clean!

The excellence of the cooking continued with our main courses. Whilst all the other boring people on the other 7 tables seemed to be having fish and chips we fell head over heels for our more interesting dishes. My venison pie had a lid on it that any chef in the country would have been proud of. It stayed crispy until I had devoured the last morsel. The venison filling was moist and deep. The binary opposite of the dry and tough meat that occasionally plays the part of an impostor.

Cowieâ¬"s brill was huge. Enough for 4 Cowies! The outside was perfectly seared to a crispy, buttery finish, whilst the flesh inside was soft and peeled away like skate. The real treat was yet to come as Cowie unearthed a line of sweetbreads. Our cabbage and roasted courgettes were just as perfect and left us feeling like weâ¬"d just experienced the platonic ideal of a â¬SSaturday lunch, just off the motorway, on the way home after a long week at workâ¬.

From now on, whenever we have a long trip on the cards we are going to make sure weâ¬"ve got a good rural pub that serves great food lined up to refuel us! In our little alcove we started reading some books by Diana Henry who has written about the Wellington Arms in her guide to Britainâ¬"s best gastro pubs. Iâ¬"ve already ordered a copy from the new and used section on Amazon and canâ¬"t wait to plan our next adventure.

http://aroundbritainwithapaunch.blogspot.com/2008/11/wellington-arms-hampshire.html

Zayna - review by Browners

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:58:14 +0000

Zayna - review by Browners

Rating: 4.0

Location: 25 New Quebec Street, W1H 7SF, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7723 2229

Website: http://www.zaynarestaurant.co.uk/index.html

Tags: indian, pakistani, business, good value

Gilly has been raving about Zayna for the last month. In that time he has been 5 times. And is already planning his next visit! Gilly and the rest of his company have decided to adopt Zayna as their "pet" restaurant.

Tucked away on New Quebec Street in no-man's land between Baker Street, Marble Arch and Edgeware Road, it's passing trade is always going to be very minimal. The whole area is about as lively as The Millennium Dome. Frankly it's brave opening a restaurant here. With hardly any natural footfall it means that the cooking has to be extraordinary for a restaurant to be successful. Look at Dinings for instance. It's tucked away in the backwaters east of Edgeware Road and is almost impossible to find first time out... but it's a brilliant restaurant. Having not seen their balance sheet I can't comment on their economic success. But that said they are always busy and attract an audience from across London.

This evening Zayna was almost empty. Admittedly, we arrived for what can only be described as afternoon tea at 7pm... but it never actually got more than a sprinkling of custom all night. And it was a random Tuesday night. The image below from their website sums up the Mary Celeste atmosphere.

But the truth is this place should be rammed full. The food is incredible. It's a great mix of robust Pakistani flavours, stylish cooking but without the pretense that accompanies some top end Indian restaurants.

We started with a small range of small dishes including a mixture of chickpeas with pomegranate and soured cream which was a very interesting and successful combination. A mango salad offered a fresh and tropical segue. And a spiced lamb chop was a hint of the culinary glory that was to follow.

But these little starters were only teasing us. Given that Gilly understands Zayna's menu better than anyone on earth, we let him order. We were treated to three stunning dishes. Let me try to do them an iota of justice.

Steamed tilapia arrived in a candle warmed bowl, swimming in a delicate, fragrant coconut marsala. The fish eased apart like Obama walking through a crowd. Tilapia is one of my favourite fish. It brings back memories of gorging myself on it's distinctive flesh in Ghana. It's a fish that responds brilliantly to spices. It was interesting that it had been steamed first before being doused in sauce. Great dish. One that I've never seen on an Indian restaurant menu before. I can't wait to order it again and have it all to myself.

A lamb curry provided a snapshot of what a good curry house should do well. What can I say really... the meat was great, the sauce was deep and tangy. And I wanted to pick the bowl up and and lick it clean!

But the real star of the show, and indeed, the star of Marylebone, was a prawn dish cooked with wine and garlic that had all three of us fighting for the last morsel. Oddly, it transported me not to the Subcontinent, but to San Sebastian. Rich, deeply garlicky and above all sensationally powerful. The prawns were the most succulent I have ever eaten and were worth the Â£33 for dinner along.

So. Dodgy location. Amazing food. Reasonable price. I feel like making it my mission to make sure Zayna is successful. If you've read this and like Indian food you've got to pay this place a visit. Because it is normally empty you'll be guaranteed great service. I just can't wait to go back for some more of their prawns!!!

Trinity - review by Browners

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:07:11 +0000

Trinity - review by Browners

Rating: 3.2

Location: 4 The Polygon, SW4 0JG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7622 1199

Website: http://www.trinityrestaurant.co.uk/

Tags: romantic, british, expensive, french

Cowie has been revising like a geeky dervish for the last few months in preparation for her surveying exams. It's important stuff and quite stressful. So I wanted to do something local and relaxing with a touch of glamour. One of our first London dining experiences was at Polygon through TopTable. We had a wonderful meal. Canon of perfectly rare lamb and a luxurious fillet of beer if I remember rightly. But then Polygon disappeared and we almost shed a tear.

Trinity emerged in it's place with a flurry of great reviews and a menu that just begs to be guzzled up. I've been cycling past it on a daily basis and have to really concentrate to stop myself from lurching through their front door wearing my lycra and hi-vis jacket!

We were treated to a near perfect meal. The service was the best we've ever had. Everything was just right. We were given the best table in the restaurant. They remembered it was Cowie's birthday. They filled our glasses at the right time with just the right amount of wine. They didn't rush us. They even laughed at my attempt at banter! Legends!

We knew instantly what each other would choose. It's always the same and is a brilliant part of our relationship. Cowie chose the crab and tuna salad followed by a wonderful looking piece of monkfish. It was perfectly cooked. So often monkfish is over cooked, too meaty or dry. This was the spot on.

If Cowie's choices were delicate, feminine, light and the essence of Cowie. Mine were very me. Rich, meaty, a biz grizzly and sensuously deep. My starter of pigs head was sensational. Better than at Wild Honey. It oozed flavour. Not to mention a drop or two of fat!

My main course of hare two ways was almost as good. The slow-cooked, pulled leg meat was strewn in a semi circle over the top of the plate, interwoven with silky mash and brussels sprouts. And a circle of saddle meat anchored the rest of the dish. My only criticism would be to question whether the thin sheath of fat that coated the saddle shout have been seared off...

All of this wonderful food was accompanied by a classy chardonnay from the Langeudoc/Roussillon area of France. Think of a really good St. Aubin, but with a bit more to it.

Things at this point were stunning. But we were slightly underwhelmed by dessert. The lemon cheesecake arrived in a kilner jar an hour too early. That hadn't had a chance to cook it! They left the construction work up to us. Now call me old fashioned, but don't we go to restaurants to be cooked for? I'm all for a bit of interactivity... but only when it tastes good. A good baked lemon cheesecake is a thing of heart stopping beauty. This one tasted like it had come from a down-market supermarket. I don't want to be too rude because they had gone to the effort of writing "Happy Birthday" in toffee on Cowie's plate!

My Valhrona chocolate pudding was fantastic. But enough for an entire family! I tired to only eat on person's worth... but landed up eating my own body weight in rich, warm chocolate!

We're delighted to have finally made Trinity's acquaintance and are already planning our next visit. It would have got 5 stars but for the whoopy with dessert.

Peninsula - review by Browners

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:01:12 +0000

Peninsula - review by Browners

Rating: 4.0

Location: 85 Bugsby's Way, SE10 0GD, London, United Kingdom

Tags: lively, dim sum, family & home feel, good value, chinese

Fresh on the heels of a wonderful night at Trinity, I wangled a day off from revision for Cowie. Eating on Sundays normally means 3 things for us Brits. Either a solid fry up for breakfast, a slap up roast or a blinding curry. But one of the best things to eat on a Sunday is dim sum.

Cowie and I had a wonderful time feasting on dim sum in Hong Kong. We love their little parcels of joy. It's interesting that dim sum literally means "to touch the heart". It's a bit like the concept behind the Cadbury's Gorilla advert... it's all about the sheer feeling of joy. Uninhibited euphoria.

I met Lizzie from Hollow Legs at the Trusted Places blogger meetup. She's great fun and recommended that I should take Cowie to an obscure dim sum restaurant in a Holiday Inn somewhere in the region of North Greenwich. I drunkenly made it home and woke up realising that Lizzie had answered my long search for what to do for Cowie's birthday. Lizzie you're a genius.

Bravely Cowie and I ventured off to the back of beyond.. in search of the ideal dim sum birthday lunch. The whole of North Greenwich was deserted. Acres of car parks. Miles of dual carriageway. Like a scene from 28 days later... there was no-one. Anywhere.

But then we arrived at the very impressive Holiday Inn Express. Resplendent in its green and blue livery.

And we saw people. Lots of Chinese people wearing very smart clothes... all piling into a very municipal looking building with hilarious concrete lions guarding the entrance.

We queued for around 20 minutes, surrounded by loud and eager customers. Some more irascible than others. One enormous Indian gentleman landed up having a row with the brusque gentleman in charge of queuing before we'd even sat down. That takes some doing... and explains why any review you read of this place will mention the aggressive service. Charm isn't a word that's understood at the Peninsula!

We were shown to a comically large table and presented with what can only be described as a cross between a computer accessed driving test paper and a nationally lottery ticket. After a while we realised that we needed an English menu and proceeded to transfer our choices across to the dim sum ballot paper.

Cowie, went with the safety first option... but I was keen to test out the menu with a little more recklessness. This wasn't wise. The pork knuckle I bravely ordered arrived first in the form of thin, salami esque strips of cold meat... topped with what looked like sauteed onions. Wrong. One weird mouthful later and realised that the onions were actually jelly fish! When can you say you've ever accidentally eaten jellyfish as the first thing you put in your mouth on your birthday! After this brief bout of culture shock things soon got much more palatable. All of their dumplings were brilliant. None of them stuck to the bamboo steamers like you find at places like Ping Pong. In particular, the cheung fun was extraordinary. Almost worth the trip on its own.

It was a truly brilliant experience and we can't recommend it enough to anyone who wants to step out of their comfort zone for a mind opening experience. We're definitely adding dim sum to our list of Sunday must dos along with squash, The Observer, bacon sandwiches, lie ins and curries from the Holy Cow.

Caffe Caldesi - review by Browners

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:44:56 +0000

Caffe Caldesi - review by Browners

Rating: 3.7

Location: 118 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2QF, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7935 1144

Website: http://www.caffe.caldesi.com/

Tags: italian, business, good value, crowded, brasserie, lively

Our table for 5 could barely support the weight of the contents of the entire anti-pasti menu! All 6 of their starters appeared on our table and were devoured with a combination of greed, starvation and foodie curiosity. As you'd expect all of the wonderful hams and cured beef were exemplary. But the joint stars of the show were the ball of mozerella and the cougette matchsticks with calamari - a sqeeze of lemon transforms them into little sticks of joy.

Main courses were good too. My haddock was fine, but the spinach and tomatoes stole the show. The skin on the fish could have been crispier and the flesh was well cooked but its integrity had been compromised - maybe it fell apart as it left the pan and was carefully reconstructed. It didn't affect the taste - but as we all know we do eat with our eyes.

The girls had linguine with tomato, chilli and cream which looked great. I've had it before and can testify to its depth and kick. Jess had a vast veal escalope which was large enough to feed the whole of Northern Italy. Tasty though.

My panacotta with passion fruit was perfect. I am a complete sucker for passion fruit. Handled correctly I fall head over heels for it. It wobbled sexily before disappearing inside my already bulging tummy. Yum and twice yum.

We probably didn't need any Calvados - but it added to the fun of the occasion and put me in the mood for the Pie Competition to follow!

Our only gripe was the lethargic service. They didn't get anything wrong. But they just took an age doing everything. And it didn't help that we were obviously all wearing our invisibility cloaks. Probably best not to wear them next time.

Dans Le Noir - review by Browners

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:41:19 +0000

Dans Le Noir - review by Browners

Rating: 3.1

Location: 30-31 Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0DU, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7253 1100

Website: http://www.danslenoir.com

Tags: lively, dark, expensive, romantic

In a sudden fit of bravery we decided to take our wonderful Client out for an adventurous dinner. She is based in the States so we rarely get to see each other face to face.

This will now seem like a non-sequitor...

So we took her to Dans le Noir in Farringdon for a fabulous night of dining in the dark. We are working on a project that is all about sensual experiences, so it made perfect sense to finish the day's hard work with a meal that would push all of our sensual boundaries.

Arriving at the restaurant we were greeted in the foyer by a collection of very engaging maitre d's. They made us put all of our kit in a locker so that no mobile phones or watches with illuminated faces could disturb the sheer blackness of the dining room.

I don't think any of us were ready for the attack on our senese that was to follow. After a quick cocktail to instil a bit of Dutch courage in all of us, we queued up behind a blind waitress/guide and were led into the pitch black room. Some squealed. Others were a bit more stoical. We found our table using our hands and all sat down around what we all thought was a round table, but turned out to be oblong!

We groped around the table looking for water glasses and bottles. The only way you can pour everyone's wine is to put your finger in the glass and keep pouring until your finger gets wet! Not very hygenic. But great fun.

We all spoke very loudly to begin with as we acclimatised to the dark. Towards the end of the meal our voices became more calm and we shouted a lot less! It's bizarre just how reliant we all are on our sense of sight.

I found it really hard to determine what I was eating and to be honest can't quite remember. Memory works very badly when you remove the sense of sight. My starter may have involved something resembling spring rolls filled with what I thought was minced chicken and somebody else thought was tuna - which turned out to be duck.

Likewise I got terribly confused by my main course which I still swear to the this day was lamb, but turned out to be a mixture of ostrich fillet on one side of the plate and venison on the other. But we all recognised the distinctive smell and flavour of the truffled risotto that acted as a division between the two meats.

Personally I loved the whole experience. There is something very liberating about being in the dark. It may have been the amount of wine I was drinking because I was thirsty and couldn't find my water glass... but I found myself saying things at a work dinner that I would never otherwise have said. I've never had so much fun chatting a joking around a (now clearly rectangular) table. Everything seems funnier in the dark.

Be careful about coming here if you know people are claustrophobic or are a bit strapped for cash as it isn't cheap. But remember you are coming here for an experience and not simply a meal. In many ways this is the idea of a restaurant pushed to the extreme. It's not about the food. It's about opening your mind and having an entertaining time. We learnt a lot about each other during the course of the meal and feel like we all bonded along the way.

Will any of us return? Unlikely. But not in a bad way. We've all been talking about the experience ever since and won't ever forget that crazy meal we all had in the dark! It's a great place to come if you want to break the ice.

Magdalen - review by Browners

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:12:14 +0000

Magdalen - review by Browners

Rating: 4.2

Location: 152 Tooley Street, SE1 2TU, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7403 1342

Website: http://www.magdalenrestaurant.co.uk/

Tags: lively, british, expensive, romantic

My parents are obsessed with Mark Rothko. A bit like how Peter Stringfellow is obsessed with girls in plastic high heels and bikinis. It's a sort of pseudo-sexual thing. All encompassing and fascinating. So it was with great excitement that we went on a Brown family outing to the Tate Modern for their hugely anticipated "Rothko - the late years" exhibition on Friday for a private viewing. It didn't disappoint. It just served to reconfirm, if that was needed at all, that Rothko's work is as moving and haunting as Bach and Mozart. It was more like an existential philosophy exhibition than a gallery of paintings.

We returned on Saturday to be in the audience for the all afternoon seminar connected to the exhibition. We were surrounded on all sides by people with even more emphatic Rothko fetishes than Mum and Dad! Not that I thought this was possible. I guess it's a bit like thinking your pretty good at football having scored a few goals for your school side and then going off to the regional trials - only to see all the other boys can kick the ball miles and have all the kit! But I am pleased to say that the Brown family held their own. Mum has vowed never to wash her right hand again having shaken hands with Mark Rothko's son, Christopher!

Still buzzing from 4 hours of in depth intercourse about the ins and outs of the world of Rothko, we strolled along Bankside up towards Tooley street where we were delighted to find Magdalen. It's from the Anchor and Hope school of cookery. Or if you are from Bristol, it's similar to The Albany. The deep maroon walls made us feel like we were eating with the Seagram Murals hanging around us!

The menu excited me more than the others. I loved the 3 part simplicity of it all. But on the downside it means that it reads less flamboyantly than menus tended to a few years ago. Beds, jus, tranches and so forth are gone. Now it's all about guess work and trust. It's the sign of a confident restaurant.

I was in two minds about what to have. The devil inside me was whispering in my ear... telling me to have the grouse... but at Â£26 I couldn't. Instead I was delighted with my choice of potted crab which was as silky as a silkworm's sleeping bag, followed by an unctuous combination of shoulder and leg of pork - served with a mustardy sauce and the lightest crackling I have ever had. This was top class cooking. And brilliantly British.

The others had a very good cauliflower soup with walnuts and other earthy autumnal bits and pieces... and Dad had a Rothko coloured maroon on black seared haunch venison. The fish soup, slow cooked shoulder of lamb and halibut that followed were equally memorable. All bore the hallmark of a kitchen that is at ease with itself. Don't get me wrong - it was all very good food. But I wonder what they are capable when they push things a bit further?

I shared a blindingly good lemon tart with a burn sugar crust which was top class The pastry was thin and crumbled at just the right moments when you showed it the spoon. And the lemon custard was still warm and silky.

Our only criticism concerns 3 embarrassments.

1. The step at the bottom of the stairs is not the same depth as the other stairs... I almost tripped over twice in the middle of the dinning room.

2. I had to queue to get into the gents in full view of the restaurant. It didn't really feel right.

3. Dad had an altercation with the manager about their policy of automatically adding a gratuity of 12.5%. Our waitress had been fantastic all evening - so we wanted to give her a tip... but we disagreed severely with their tipping policy. Surely if the gratuity is at the discretion of the person paying... it is not up to the restaurant to behave like this. It leaves a very sour taste in the mouth and we hope that Magdalen changes their policy.

Tremendous food. The perfect place for a Rothko inspired dinner. O... and how are you supposed to pronounce the name?

The Stonhouse - review by Browners

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:12:32 +0000

The Stonhouse - review by Browners

Rating: 3.0

Location: 165 Stonhouse Street, SW4 6BJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7819 9312

Website: http://www.renaissancepubs.co.uk/SH/index.htm

Tags: posh, gastro pub, excellent pub food, young professionals, beer garden, independent pub, young and fun, friendly

My first house in London was a horrific ground floor flat with cracked lino floors, a terrifying gas oven and a serious mouse problem. Our moving in party on November 4th 2005 caused chaos. Someone hot boxed our landlord's car. Someone was sick over the fence into our lovely next door neighbour's sand-pit. Someone then fell through the same fence and propped it up with a super-market trolley. Then we let off enough fire-works to make our local community wish they were living in the Helmand Province. Then the police arrived to ask if any of us had witnessed the assault that had been committed in the pub opposite our house - in the Stonhouse.

It was the grottiest pub you can imagine. The most hostile atmosphere that makes being a Liverpool fan in Istanbul seem like a romantic holiday. My housemate at the time and I went to have our inaugural pint in our local and couldn't have felt more uncomfortable... the pool table had no baize, the walls had no paint, the toilets had no toilets and the walls were riddled with bizarre holes. It was horrific. Then mysteriously one night it conveniently caught fire and almost over night transformed into a very smart gastro-pub.

So it was with great fondness and no less curiosity that I returned to Stonhouse Street for a pre-cinema meal on Friday. I arrived feeling very warm and fairly full having been treated to some fantastic prawns and white wine at Wright's in Borough Market on the way back from the brilliant Rothko exhibition.

The transformation from ugly duckling to sauve, urbane swan is really hard for me to cope with. But in a good way. Somebody has done a fabulous job of resurrecting this phoenix from the flames.

The Â£12 fixed menu was tight but generous... whilst my crab cakes could generously be described as poor, the steak was as good as you'll get for the price. It came with a very commendable basil and lemon mayonnaise and enough chips to put a smile on Mr McCain's face.

The girls probably did better than me. Victoria's chicken liver and mushrooms on toast was delicious and extremely plentiful. I'm not one to take off marks for large portions... but it did dent her appetite for a few minutes! Cowie junior's smoked salmon pate was very smokey and beautifully coarse. Good honest food. Really tasty. Far tastier than my lump of crispy edged deep fried mashed potato with ghost of crab.

They both couldn't resist having fish pie on a Friday being the good Catholic school girls that they are. I didn't even get a sniff of it so it must have been good.

Our Chilean red was robust and good value. I certainly left with a good ready brek glow... ready to battle through 2 hours of Keira Knightly plodding her way through another period drama.

Hats off to the Stonhouse. It was completely packed when we left. We will definitely be back next time we go to the cinema - especially if they keep their Top Table offer going.

Harrison's - review by Browners

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:38:30 +0000

Harrison's - review by Browners

Rating: 4.5

Location: 15-19 Bedford Hill, SW12 9EX, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8675 6900

Website: http://www.harrisonsbalham.co.uk/

Tags: lively, brasserie, french

It's not every school night you get to meet Rick Stein! We whizzed down to Balham in a nick of time to find Rick sat at a low round table, slightly awkwardly making small talk and signing books. After a brief chat with the publicist about Rick's forthcoming TV series and book called Coast to Coast Victoria and I siddled over for a chat.

Our chat was derailed pretty quickly when both pieces of infomration the publicist had told us turned out to be emphatically wrong! There is no TV series. And the book is about his travels around the world and not just the UK.

Perturbed by the sudden end to our conversation... I grabbed a conversational topic from nowhere and landed up asking Rick Stein whether he had ever cooked a fish meringue!!! As it turned out he was really interested in the idea and I explained that it's like baking fish in salt. Essentially you stuff a whole fish such as a sea bass with fennel, lemon and other goodies... and then pour over 6 or 7 whipped egg whites. Pop it in the oven for enough time to cook it and then serve your gobsmacked guests the most moist fish you'll come across. I first read about it a really cool book called "The Daily Italian" by one of Jamie Oliver's proteges.

So look out for this badger featuring on Rick's menu sometime soon!

We broke off from the book signing and settled in for dinner. Ignoring the special offer that had drawn us in the first place... we loved our raw salmon with soy, ginger and chillie. Although it may have been a bit feisty for some. But the star of the show was the liver and bacon... Having never had liver and bacon before I was twitching with excitement when it arrived and became increasingly anxious as I saw it drying out on the pass. But I needn't have worried because it was blissfully awesome. Soft and moist. Meaty and slightly charred. The mash was brilliant and the pancetta and onion rings didn't let it down either. I feel like a smack addict. I'm now gagging for the next hit.

Having had a few OK experiences at Harrison's we are now big fans - keen to pop in for dinner more often.

Ly Ly Canteen - review by Browners

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:36:02 +0000

Ly Ly Canteen - review by Browners

Rating: 3.5

Location: 69 Bedford Hill, SW12 9HA, London, United Kingdom

Website: http://lybar.co.uk/

Tags: oriental

For some reason they have changed Ly Bar which was good into Ly Ly Canteen which is bad. Don't ask me why. Gone are the steamed sea bass, pork in a clay pot and dark mood lighting. In are imitation Wagamamma dishes, benches and bright lights.

We shared a bland salmon ramen which we doused in chiili... and were slightly more impressed by the salmon kichup manis with rice which was perfectly cooked but lacking in flavour.

The couple on the table next to us complained that their food had arrived too quickly... the implication being that the food is just popped in a micro-wave.

Our starters were actually quite decent. The sticky ribs were really good. The meat fell away from the bone. But the sauce was so hot that Cowie burnt her mouth with her first bite! Microwaved perhaps? It's actually dangerous to serve food, especially sugary sauces this hot. I remember McDonald's were once sued for serving coffee so hot it burnt a woman's lap. Maybe Cowie could sue for having her taste buds nailed! The dip should at the very least come with a government health warning.

We're disappointed Ly Bar has gone... and now looking forward to exploring the rest of Balham's restaurants. Cattle Grid and Dish Dash to be precise.

Cattle Grid - review by Browners

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:29:30 +0000

Cattle Grid - review by Browners

Rating: 3.0

Location: Balham Station Road, SW12 9SG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 02086739099

Website: http://www.cattlegridrestaurant.com/

Tags: steak

Balham is going from strength to strength. Whilst claims that Balham is the new Notting Hill might be a little bit premature... the area is definitely on the rise.

Aside from Gazette and at a push the Devonshire, you will struggle to find a decent steak in Balham. Until now.

It has filled the slightly awkward boots left by Raviolo - which didn't last very long. When you walk out of Balham station you are greeted with the sight of a large statue of a cow which makes you think you are in Milton Keynes... hardly the centre of the bovine universe.

Cattle Grid is essentially a steak version of the Gourmet Burget Kitchen. No table service. Utilitarian look and feel. Short new world wine list packed with bold reds. You get a choice of steaks - rib eye, sirloin or T bone, supplemented by two variations on piggy ribs or a burger. I admire the fact that the menu is so bare. I hate the way that some restaurants offer a billion options - Starbuck's is currently boasting that they have 80,000 different combinations of coffee. Fuck off and just give me a good espresso. Oh hang on... you can't.

... but I think I'd like to see some different cuts on the menu. Maybe a feather steak, or a hanger steak... or possibly a little bit of rump. Maybe, they'll do this once they've established themselves.

We ordered 2 rib eye steaks - medium rare. One arrived perfectly cooked but the other one was grey through the middle. Possibly we should have sent it back. The chips were good and we were delighted with the watercress salad. My bernaise sauce was a bit stingy - but then again I do regard steak eating as an excuse to eat bernaise sauce!

One of us had a very substantial burger which looked good. But strangely we weren't permitted to request how it was cooked. They insist on serving it medium well which is a bit odd. I love a juicy burger... but a meaty, cloying burger is less fun.

Our bottle of Argie Malbec was good value and was a perfect match for the steak... as it always is. And at well under Â£20 it was good value.

But the star of the show was without question the onion rings. Soft, sweet onions hid beneath a crisp, light batter. Stunning... if a little bit naughty.

We couldn't resist baked cheese cake which was served with very vanillery ice cream. Tremendous. We were really impressed.

Cattle Grid isn't the finished article. But it is an improvement on Raviolo... and will we're very pleased to have a steak restaurant in Balham. But the key question is... will we go back? I won't actively avoid it... but I reckon the steak is better at Gazette and Bodeans... plus they offer dishes that Cowie would like to tuck into too. So I have a feeling that I will return at some point... but it won't be a regular occurence. If you are going to concentrate just on serving steak... it has to knock your socks off.