Best Tapas in London?

When I was invited down to Alquimia restaurant in Putney following the launch, I really wasn't expecting much...which sounds a bit harsh. But tapas is tapas, right? How wrong could I have been.

I can honestly say that the meal I had at Alquimia was the best Tapas I've ever had...including in Spain.

Don't be put off by the appearance of the outside of the restaurant...it looks small and insignificant, but go through the doors and you are welcomed as one of the family to experience a really authentic and delicious tapas menu.

There were plenty of choices on the menu, so me and my sister (my dining companion on this review) asked them to just bring us what they thought we should try and they went all out.

Every dish was fantastic, well thought out, presented with care and most importantly - delicious.

Try the tuna tartare - something I'd never have gone for...but which was amazing.

I'll be back!

Paletilla ibérica "Paletilla ibérica"



Freshly carved Iberico Ham




Tuna Tartare - something I never would have ordered but that was stunning



Patatas Bravas




Chorizo Riojano “a la sidra” Spicy chorizo from Rioja with cider



Calamares fritos a la andaluza Fried squid Andalucian style

Gambas a la plancha con ajo-aceite Grilled prawns with garlic oil

Torrija de vainilla con helado de leche Spanish vanilla sweet bread with milk ice cream

A most amazing drink - milk infused with rum, spices and orange - I could have drunk a pint of this!

http://alquimiarestaurant.co.uk/reservations/ 

 

Darcy's Restaurant St Albans

It's always a good sign when I don't have time to take pictures of the food, as I'm too busy eating...but that's exactly what happened when we visited Darcy's restaurant in St Albans.

It's the second time we've visited and the second time was just as good as the first.

We began with cocktails downstairs in the bar area, then headed upstairs for the main meal.

We started with a sharing platter of Duck Gyoza, salt and pepper squid and miso soup - a really good start to the meal.

I then opted for the special fish dish which was pollock wrapped in chorizo and my other half went for the meat special, the pork belly.

Finally, to finish off the meal, my dining partner chose the dark chocolate and honeycomb bomb, which looked amazing. A massive cone shaped chocolate creation.

Chocolate bomb

 

I chose the After Eight dessert cocktail - mint baileys mixed with mint choc chip ice cream. Incredibly decadent, but worth visiting just for this!

 

Another great meal thanks to Darcy's - we'll be back!

 

Take a look at Darcy's here: http://www.darcysrestaurant.co.uk/

Bill's restaurant - St Albans

My friend first introduced me to Bill's, when we met for a drink in Covent Garden. Great place to meet friends, in a fun environment.  I loved it from the first visit and have returned on many an occasion. I've also tried the one in Soho.

So, I was excited to see the new St Albans venue open recently and my husband and I went along to give it a go. The new restaurant has replaced the rather short lived restaurant, Baroque, on Chequers Street, right in the centre of town and just down from Jamie's Italian.

The restaurant mirrors the other Bill's restaurants in London, with the same quirky set up, menu and buy from the shelves. We went on a Tuesday night, and it was already packed with a variety of people...proving its initial popularity.

Staff were friendly and helpful - nothing was too much trouble. So we started our meal in a good frame of mind.

We ordered a Bill's Burger and the mac n' cheese and weren't disappointed. We split both and there was certainly enough! Great food, lovely drinks and great service.

Delicious burgery-ness

The mac n' cheese

Bill's Beer

Pink lemonade

Bound to be a favourite in St Albans.

Visit: www.bills-website.co.uk for further information

Burger and Lobster





There's a real trend at the moment in London for restaurants which you can't book for without a minimum party - from MeatLiquor and Bubbledogs to Burger and Lobster. I hate this trend. There's nothing fun about queueing for hours or having to go away and come back - so i've avoided them like the plague unless with a big party.

The one exception to the rule however, is Burger and Lobster. Who can resist? 

Yum Yum



At an upfront £20 for a whole lobster, lobster roll or burger, i'd have been mad not to try it.

And i've now been twice already, once to the soho venue and once to the Mayfair one and am planning plenty more trips!

Tip (you can book for a table of over 6, so worth getting a group together, if like me you don't like hanging around)




http://www.burgerandlobster.com/

Union Jacks - St Giles, Covent Garden (ish)

As you can probably tell by my review of our visit to Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant, that the experience put me off not only him, but visiting any of his restaurants...so it was with trepidation that I went along to Union Jacks.

There are three things we discovered that this restaurant does really really well - pizza, ginger beer and service. 

Number 1: The staff at the Union Jacks we went to near Tottenham Court Road (St Giles) in London were fabulous.  So, if you are reading this 'Mr Manager of the restaurant' the whole team deserves a pat on the back.

The menu is slightly confusing but the team are well prepped to take you through it all, answer any questions and give advice. Great team.

Number 2: homemade ginger beer was a real winner too - I could just go back for that!

And finally Number 3: Pizzas. I went for the Old Spot, a favourite of most diners which saw the tomato on a regular pizza replaced by apple sauce and topped with pork scratchings and pork shoulder.  An interesting combination if a little too sweet. Delicious pizza though and the base was absolutely stunning as cooked in a wood fired pizza oven.

My other half went for the plain margaret (a typical tomato and cheese pizza) topped with pork shoulder. This was the most delicious pizza. The tomatos (jack hawkins) were so tasty and added a real flavour to the pizza. Definitely go for this one, if you visit as you can top with a variety of different options.

We'll be back to try out the others....

A Margaret pizza with shoulder of pork

The Old Spot pizza

http://www.unionjacksrestaurants.com/

Heston's Dinner

I seem to be the last person in London to have made it along to Heston's Dinner - but finally the other Friday we made it down to The Mandarin Oriental to see what all the hype over the last couple of years has been about.

I opted for the cucumber and lobster soup while Sean went for the meat fruit. Both were great, but the meat fruit was the clear winner - as it was bound to be. Smooth pate topped in a tangerine/orangey flavoured topping to create a tangerine for your pate.  Lovely stuff.

Main course was a bit of a gamble. I went for the special of the day which was an offal pie of sorts. It included kidneys, tongue and the usual bits and pieces usually discarded, all covered in deliciously buttery puff pastry. It was really tasty and I enjoyed it all except that a couple of the kidneys weren't prepared correctlyand included the gristle inside (which should have been removed). Sean went for another special - a rib steak. Deliciously melt in the mouth, he loved it.

We decided to forgoe any of the traditional puddings and hop right into the Liquid Nitrogen ice cream.  If you eat one thing at Heston's Dinner - this should be it.  The waitress comes to the table with a kenwood looking machine stuck onto a trolley (doesn't look impressive to be honest) but it is fantastic fun.  Dry ice is added to a custard to create instant ice cream which is served in a pastry cone and then you are given various topping options. We both went for apple popping candy.

Absolutely delicious and who doesn't look a bit of amateur dramatics at the table. We had people in the restaurant thanking us for ordering it, so they could watch.  A great little trick to get you leaving on a high.

The best thing about the entire experience was the service. We were made to feel important, welcome and were given a fantastically warm greeting. They were particularly helpful when it came to my nut allergy and made the whole evening really delightful.

A fabulous experience.  One day to be repeated!

Le Grand 8

A few weeks ago I decided to take a Eurostar trip to Paris with my friend, Rhi.  We decided a girly weekend of much food and drink was in order. My highlight of the trip was definitely the restaurant we fell upon one evening.

We actually ended up stumbling into the most fantastic restaurant near Sacre Coeur. With amazing views across the city, friendly staff and the most amazing food, we felt right at home.

As the restaurant, Le grand 8 was really busy, we were seated with a couple on a table for 4 and this turned out to be the best thing. The couple were incredibly friendly and let us taste their wines, chatted to us and generally made us feel at home.

It turned out that the restaurant was renowned (and is in the UK too) but we didn't know it. Known for it's food and it's wide variety of natural wines, people travel far and wide to go there.

I started the meal with a dandelion, lardon and egg salad. Bitter tasting but the egg took the bitterness away the lardons complimented them perfectly. My friend opted for the Foie gras.

For my main meal I chose an octopus risotto and really wish I'd taken a photo! I was served a good portion of deliciously creamy risotto which was then accompanied with a tentacle of octopus. An absolutely amazing, melt in the mouth dish.

Our friendly neighbours let us try some of their wine too - no idea what it was but it was called L'Insolent and was deliciously fresh and fruity.

What made this restaurant so fantastic is not just the friendly atmosphere that you don't always get to experience in Paris, but also the amazing seasonality of the food. The menu was presented to us on a blackboard.

Fantastic value at just 15Euros for a two course meal and a fantastic and affordable selection of wine, this was the best meal i've had in a very long time. Superb!

I'm not the only one who thinks this place is fantastic. Since visiting i've seen this blog, where the blogger, Wendy also thinks this is an amazing place to visit:
http://www.thepariskitchen.com/2011/02/le-grand-8/

Visit the restaurant's website for more info:http://legrand8.fr

Jamie's Italian - St Albans

I'm pretty lucky really. I work in Soho and live in St Albans which means i'm surrounded by good independent restaurants to pop into.  But every now and then I also enjoy a trip to one of the bigger chains such as Pizza Express or even Pizza hut on occasion (I know, I know, but when you are a child of the 80s, it was the best we had on offer!)

So, I was looking forward to trying out Jamie's Italian, now it has finally reached St Albans.  It was our 2nd wedding anniversary and we decided to save a bit of money and just pop out somewhere local.

We started the meal with a chacuterie platter between the two of us, which was pleasant enough, but ended up costing a ridiculous amount as you are charged per person and not allowed to share!

My other half had the fritto misto as a main, which was presented fantastically. See the image below and had a good mixture of fried fish.  However, it was a little bit 'too much' and would have been nicer if it had come with some salad or something to break up the 'friedness'!

I chose the squid ink spaghetti with scallops. (See image below) Again, presented really well but was incredibly disappointing. The Spaghetti was chewy and plastic like and the scallops were watery and unpleasant.

All in all, really not a wonderful experience i'm afraid to say, which is a shame. Although maybe we just chose the wrong dishes?

I don't think we'll be going back again to be honest, when there are plenty of other fantastic restaurants in the area and it isn't cheap.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/

Wicked Lady, Wheathampstead

So, i've been a bit slack in keeping up with my blog - but don't worry, i'm back on board again and have been visiting plenty of restaurants to tell you all about. So i'll be working backwards over the next few days.

Last night was the most gorgeous weather in a long time and the perfect opportunity to go for a drive into the countryside for a pub dinner. The Wicked Lady in Wheathampstead really is in the middle of nowhere. It's not the first time i'd been as i'd visited previously for their Sunday lunch which is pretty impressive and takes up an entire plate.

Last night though we went for the regular menu, sharing some rosemary pizzetta and splitting the fishcakes and the spit chicken in garlic with chips. Finished off with a decadent Eton Mess and Caramelised Banoffee Cheesecake. Fantastic.

This is standard pub fare at it's best - service is impressive as they were incredibly busy but didn't leave us waiting and always had a smile. Food was good and hearty.

Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

http://www.thewickedladypub.co.uk/