Hush Brasserie

Jasmine ice tea with strawberry & elderflower

Hush Brasserie is one of those places I really want to be outstanding, not least because it's really close to where I work, but also because it has the potential to be great. It's just not quite there yet. Formerly the French Kitchen, Hush is part of the Sweet Potato group, who own such delights as Villandry, Sake No Hanna and the brilliant Cabana (and I say that as a non-meat eater. It's a churrascaria really, so for me to rate it they must be doing something right). I'm unsure as to where Hush fits into this, other than as a french-style bistro trying to be all things to all people. Albeit mainly tourists around Holborn and hungry office workers. Since I fall into the latter, and since they market themselves as a "business lunch" venue, I'd query why the staff seem unable to get it together. Both times I've visited they've have kept my party waiting to order and the service has been patchy to say the least. The food is reasonable, although maybe a bit overpriced for what it is, so choose carefully.

Dressed dorset crab with avocado & toasted sourdough

Whole globe artichoke & hazelnut vinaigrette

The drinks we started with were delicious. I went for the jasmine ice tea and my companion tried a white wine and strawberry concoction which was delicious. She started with the crab and avocado which I think was probably the stand out dish for me. It's a hearty portion, served with sourdough (and who doesn't like sourdough?) The crab was light and well-dressed with tasty mayo, on lots of smooth avo. Yum. I went for the artichoke because it's a fairly rare sight on an British menu, and the hazelnut butter sounded delish.  I'm a big fan of nuts. The artichoke was a bit past-its-best really, but there was enough of it to make a decent starter. I just can't understand why restaurants serve dishes like this unless the ingredients are really fresh and look good. But anyway, in comparison with the main course it was a winner.

Spaghetti with tiger prawns, chilli & garlic

Spaghetti with tiger prawns. What could go wrong? A staple in faux Italian chain restaurants, I thought this would be pretty good. Wrong. I left the majority of it and the waitress did question why, which surprised me given that it was a portion of pasta large enough for two, but stuck together in a clump and dumped onto a plate. The prawns were fine, but they were definitely added as an afterthought. Seemingly, so too was the seasoning and the chilli and garlic. I like tasty food, but apparently the chef doesn't.

Crispy duck salad with honey & mustard dressing

My companion's main of crispy duck salad with a side of fries was infinitely better-or she's far less fussy than me. Probably a bit of both, but I have had the fries at Hush before and they are good. The lobster roll I had them with on my initial visit, whilst nowhere near anything you'd get in the States, was not a bad effort. The side of butternut squash with pine nuts and raisins was nice, very autumnal and perfect to have when the rain is pouring down outside, as it was when we dined.

Roasted butternut squash with pine nuts and raisins

The desserts at Hush are good, the Mars bar cheesecake with praline ice cream is delicious and I will race you for it. Even though we weren't particularly hungry, we decided to share the other amazing-sounding Honeycomb ice-cream with hot chocolate sauce. After waiting with our dessert menus for over 10 minutes we were disappointed to be informed that this wasn't available. I'm not sure why we weren't told this when we were given the menus, but this is the issue with the wait-staff at Hush. Nice they are, but there is just something... missing.

Union Jacks

So it's Christmas, and Christmas is about one thing, right? And that one thing is eating. Well, and drinking, but in  this case let's focus on the eating element and pretend I was very well behaved around wine in December...

So, on the day enough Krispy Kreme's to feed a small army arrived in my office (don't ask) we decided to have an impromptu team xmas lunch at Union Jacks. After a breakfast of doughnuts, it would be the obvious thing to do. And this was when the existence of Jamie Oliver's newest (?) collaboration came to my knowledge. Jamie loves a collaboration, and this time he's gone in with someone I'd never heard of before, an American called Chris Bianco. Well, Chris obviously knows his pizzas, because this chilli-topped beast was a good one.

Anyone who knows me well will know I am a chilli freak, I love it hot, and I will put chilli sauce (or preferably jalepenos) on just about anything (savoury). Jamie and Chris have kindly names this pizza after me (the "Chilli Freak") and topped it with (supposedly)  different types of chilli. Although I only really saw one. But it tasted good and that's the main thing. If anything, for me it could have been a little hotter, and I had twice the amount of chilli's on mine as my neighbour did on hers. The pizza comes with a side of curd, a runny, yoghurty concoction which presumably you need to cool it down if you can't handle your heat. Needless to say, I left this well alone, but my colleagues told me it was tasty. You can pimp your pizza with slightly exotic foodie choices including oxtail and shoulder of pork, should you so wish, but I'd like to see a few more exiting topping options on the menu-maybe some grilled artichokes, olives, egg...

If you don't fancy a pizza, Union Jacks does lots of tapas-style plates too, which I'll try upon my return. The marathon bar ice cream sounded deliciously retro, and as I'm old enough to remember the traumatic (I still weep gently now every time I have to use the word "snickers") transition, I'll definitely be giving that a taste-test when I'm back in the Covent Garden area and feeling hungry.

Union Jacks has a distinctly Jamie feel to it, and is all exposed brickwork and piping, a bit "too cool for school." It's a bit overpriced for what it is, but it's not bad. Just don't expect anything too gourmet and you won't be too disappointed.

Strada-new menu review

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited to review the new menu at Strada. Now, before you really start to hate me let me just say that it was REALLY GOOD! What could be a better way to start a meal than with a massive platter of fresh antipasti? Succulent buffalo mozzarella interleaved with ripe tomatoes, bruschetta pomodoro, parma ham, salami, speck and a tasty olive tapenade made for a great first course. We were also treated to some large green olives, succulent and juicy, and a basket of hand stretched garlic and rosemary flat bread, which was gorgeous, and made us want to keep going back for more.

Mains came in two batches (just as well really!) starting with a four seasons pizza, topped with delicious artichokes, mushrooms, ground beef and parma ham. A pasta dish with Luganica sausage, pancetta, and broccoli, with red chilli was eye-wateringly spicy, but a creamy risotto with butternut squash offset that, so you should have both dishes at the same time... Second mains were a whole fish, cooked to perfection so it melted in the mouth, served with rosemary potatoes. Ahh. I love a rosemary potato, and this dish was a real taste of the mediterranean. Veal saltimboca was equally good, wrapped in parma ham (there's a theme here) and sitting atop creamy mash potato - real comfort food and perfect for this time of year.

Luckily, I have a second stomach for dessert-and it really came in to play here! Over the 3 dishes the jury was out as to which one we preferred. Luckily, I'm not an indecisive woman, so with intense concentration and numerous tastes tests I gave my casting vote to the Bunet Piemontese. (I know, I didn't try and pronounce it either!) The dessert was a new one on me, but the combination of chocolate and amaretto is a winning one in my book, and this boozy dessert was just the sort of thing I like at the end of a meal. The chocolate was somewhat like a firm mousse in texture, with crumbled amaretti biscuits and amaretto splashed over the top, delicious and boozy. What more could you want? 

The other desserts in the running for what is really the crown-of-all-crowns (I'm obviously a chocolate girl-chuck me some over?) were Affogato, a classic Italian dish of nougat iced semi-freddo, with a shot of expresso (or sometimes dessert wine-yum!) on the side which you can pour over. Strada's take on this was great to, and I really had trouble choosing. But in the end, chocolate will always beat ice cream for me. Pistachio ice cream was a delicate addition to a noisy dessert menu, and felt like the virtuous option-hence we didn't eat much! (If you're going to eat dessert, make it worth your while) It was nice enough, but had a slightly glazed look, a little bit too shiny for ice cream. Maybe the chef had polished it? Anyway, it was a great meal, and the service at Royal Festival Hall was excellent, even though the tables are very close together. Go and try the new menu, or have the Christmas one, and make sure you get some antipasti and finish with the Bunet Piemontese-if I haven't eaten it all already...


Here's the full run-down of what we had, to make you jealous, and for glimpse of bits of the new Strada menu:

OLIVES (V)

Large green Castelvetrano olives, fresh from Sicily

SCHIACCIATE LLA AGLIO FLAT BREAD (V)

great to share and the perfect start to your Italian experience

ANTIPASTO

A platter of Italian flavours: Parma ham, Napoli salami, speck

ham from Trentino, buffalo mozzarella from Campania, vineripened

tomatoes, olive tapenade and bruschetta pomodoro

STROZZAPRETI PUGLIESE

A classic dish from Puglia. Traditional hand twisted Strozzapreti

pasta, Luganica sausage, pancetta, and broccoli, with red chilli

butter & Grana Padano cheese

RISOTTO ZUCCA

Pumpkin, butternut squash, pancetta, spinach and pine nuts

QUATTRO STAGIONI

Four fabulous pizzas in one: Luganica sausage; Italian cotto

ham; roasted artichoke and chestnut mushrooms

SALTIMBOCCA MAIALE

Pork fillet with crispy Parma ham, mashed potato, green beans

and a sage butter sauce

ORATA AL FORNO

A whole sea bream, pan roasted with lemon & thyme,

served with a green salad and roasted new potatoes

Affogato (v)

Iced nougat semi-freddo ice cream with a shot of hot,

fresh espresso to pour over the top

BUNET PIEMONTESE (v)

Similar in style to a Pannacotta. A soft rich custard made with

Italian chocolate, hazelnuts, crushed Amaretti biscuits and a

generous splash of amaretto liqueur

PISTACHIO GELATO (v)

Especially made for us to a traditional artisan recipe

from Marche in central Italy

Loch Fyne Christmas Menu

I went up to Nottingham to review the brand-spanking new Christmas menu at Loch Fyne, and it didn't disappoint! It's one of a very small number of decent restaurants in Nottingham city centre, and the only place around where you can get an oyster-so it already gets my vote. I don't usually mention service, but this time it really was terrific. Gaz was a perfect host, so if you're going do give him a shout-out from me (he even gave me free ice cream, but don't worry-it didn't sway this review AT ALL...)

Fisherman's Platter

So, "What about the food?!" I hear you cry? Sorry, I got rather distracted by the free glass of prosecco (with all xmas meal booking before 9 December-so get in quick!) Well, for just £19.95 you get 3 whole courses of deliciousness. I started with the Fisherman’s Platter, a tasty selection of treats including smoked salmon, bradan Rost (kiln roasted salmon fillet), smoked prawns, potted peppered mackerel, marinated herring, marinated mixed olives, shallot marmalade all served with a slab of brown bloomer bread. Everything was fresh and tasty, and the little jars and granite serving slab were lovely touches. The smoked prawn (just the one) was absolutely delicious, and you should get some in for Christmas. Weirdly Loch Fyne don't appear to sell them (you can buy other fishy treats from their website here) but Inverawe do.

Pan-fried fillet of bream on braised fennel

Next up I chose Pan-fried Fillet of bream, braised fennel in a lemon beurre sauce, sesame carrots, buttered new potatoes & tenderstem broccoli (although the tempura of salmon and squid gave it a run for it's money). The fish was lightly pan-fried so the skin was nicely crispy, the flesh melt-in-the-mouth soft, and not a bone in sight! I love a bed of fennel, and this one didn't disappoint either, tender and mild and bathed in butter-fennel heaven. The new potatoes were good too, but the carrots seemed an unnecessary distraction on an otherwise busy plate. So I left those, for you.

Warm Chocolate Fondant

With little room to spare I wasn't relishing hitting dessert. Thankfully when this turned up my second stomach appeared as if from nowhere and there was a fight on with my dining companion for the last crumb. Well, if you will put a salted caramel sauce in your Warm Chocolate Fondant, what do you expect? To book in for  one of Loch Fyne's delicious Christmas menus yourself you need to contact your local restaurant. You can find their details, and the regular menu here. Treat yourself-it's Christmas!

Oh! A cheeky salted caramel filling? Yes please. 

Giraffe Islington Tweatup

Cocktails and starters

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a Tweatup at Giraffe restaurant in Islington. I've been to the restaurant a few times before, so I knew it would be good, but I wasn't expecting quite the amount of free food and drink we got. I met some cool people, who had also been chosen from Twitter.
The PR company running the tweatup must really like chicken, because there were at least 3 dishes which contained it, great for us non-meat eaters. The area manager from Giraffe was lovely though, and took pity on me, getting me a delicious salmon sushi rice salad. This was definitely the best savoury dish of the night, and I was confident it would take the crown as we worked our way through the new menu. Edamame beans were tasty and halloumi skewers a great idea, although I'd have liked a bit more halloumi and maybe some hummous dip for all the flatbread.

Salmon sushi rice salad-yum

The others partook in some chicken wings and duck tostadas, whilst we sipped delicious Skinny Ginny (gin with apple juice) and Louisiana Jam (strong SOCO & cherry jam) cocktails. Before I got too tipsy, the salad arrived to jealous looks from the others. Mango pieces mixed with avocado, spinach leaves, bamboo shoots and a healthy dose of smoked salmon were a great combination and the dressing was very tasty and tangy. I was getting very full by this point, but pushed myself to eat a few of the delicious sweet potato fries, which are reason enough to go to Giraffe in my opinion.

Just when we all feeling the strain, out came dessert, and what can I say but WOW. I'm not even a massive fan of dessert (actually, who am I kidding?) but the chocolate mouse crunch slipped down a bit too easily. Jude's fruit sorbet with fruit salad and strawberry coulis was a great, refreshing alternative for the dairy-free and health conscious, but I figured I'd already blown the diet so made head-long for the crumble, not expecting much. Man, was I ever wrong. That crumble (apple, almond and red cherry, served with vanilla ice cream) was the best I have ever eaten (sorry granny). Indeed, I haven't eaten a crumble since my grandmother passed away nearly 15 years ago, but she would be getting right back up to eat this one I am sure. Get yourself down to Giraffe pronto to try the new menu yourself, but save some sushi salad and crumble for me!

Trio of desserts-omg

Comptoir Libanais

I wanted to do a quick post about our tasty in-between-buying-shoes lunch yesterday at Westfield in Shepherd's Bush. I've eaten at Comptoir Libanais before, but yesterday's offering was extra tasty, and the photos came out really well. I'd not tried their tagine before, but fancied something warming now the winter chill has set in. Aubergine is my favourite veg (don't tell me it's a fruit-the whole fruit or veg conundrum is confusing enough!) so when I spotted a nice veggie aubergine tagine I had to plump for that. The OH went overboard as usual and bought a dip plate as well as a wrap for himself (not quite as visually appealing as the other 2 dishes, hence not shown here) with delicious baba ganoush and hoummus and labneh. The warm pitta and dips were really good, so I wasn't complaining too much about the extra kcals, and anyway, it's Winter so we're a long way off bikini-time.

I love Lebanese food and am really hoping I'll make it to Beirut soon to try the real deal. Until then, I'll keep making my own baba ganoush-which reminds me that I need to do a blog post about how successful my first attempt at the dip was! I'll be heading back to Westfield soon to hopefully try CL's breakfast efforts, the sumac fried egss have got my name on them!

Shrimpy's

Shrimpy's retro wall, replete with glimpse of palm tree

Shrimpy's is a serious amount of delicious fun. It's kind of my new local, having literally "popped up" in what used to be a petrol station in a pretty obscure location at the back of King's Cross station. We used to run past it en route to Regent's Park, and it was such a bleak location, the last place you would expect to find a foodie haven. The re-vamp of the King's Cross area has been planned for a long time, and the area is fast gaining it's foodie credentials, with Eat St (now Kerb) providing excellent street food to hungry King's Place staff and customers, and Caravan catering to a weekend brunch crowd. Shrimpy's is the icing on an increasingly-delicious cake, taking up around half the space of what is now The Filling Station, where you can get pizza and drinks and sit overlooking Regent's Canal.

Seabass ceviche with plantains

With a curved, corrugated-cardboard style exterior, I wasn't expecting Shrimpy's to look as inviting as it did. Dimly lit, with an abundance of pineapple-shaped paraphernalia adorning the sills and counter, retro phrases and images have been painted onto the walls. The cocktails are retro-glam too, with a spicy margarita and a "blue-rinse" (a tequila and blue bols mix) amongst others. The food is south american-style. The seabass cevice starter we chose had a lovely tiger's milk marinade, tangy and delicious, but featured a lot of corn which seemed to be doing the rounds as it was on the table when we arrived. The seabass slivers were tasty, but there weren't enough of them in the dish, which had a lot of soft plantain chunks, sweet and tasty, to balance out the lime.

The piece-de-resistance on the menu is clearly the soft-shell crab burger, although lobster did feature and looked pretty good too. The crab burger was crispy and light, with good skinny chips accompanying it, but it wasn't amazing. My monkfish with quinoa, almonds and courgettes, however, was scrummy, and seemingly the healthiest options available. It didn't look that big at first glance, but monkfish is so meaty and filling that I was struggling by the end.

Soft shell crab burger

Since we shared a starter we had room for some dessert and were really hankering after the grilled black figs with almonds, honey and mascarpone, but they had run out. We went instead for what I'd describe as a pineapple eaton mess, or as they call it "meringue, hibiscus syrup, chantilly, pinapple". I'm not a fan of creamy desserts but this was gorgeous, and I'd have stolen it if it hadn't been my OH's birthday dinner! A crisp pineapple slice stood proudly in the top of crunchy meringue, whilst chunks of tangy pineapple cut through the cream. The hibiscus syrup was delicious, and the whole dish reminded me of my childhood, when Tony the ice cream man would serve me plastic cones full of soft serve ice cream with raspberry ripple sauce all over it. I only with Shrimpy's has been so generous with the sauce-I'd bottle it and sell it it was so good.

I'd read reviews that Shrimpy's was "sceney" so I was feeling a bit trepidatious when we first arrived, but the waiting staff were very friendly and relaxed, making us feel at home. I was really impressed just before we left when I overheared the maitre d' helping some walk-in customers, one of whom was in a wheelchair. She was quick to set up a table for them with easier access, and really went out of her way to help. I'll definitely go back to Shrimpy's - perhaps when I've saved up a little as it is fairly pricey - but for a treat it's a lovely place, with great decor, tasty food and super-friendly staff.

The Gate, Islington

Mezze

Oh my gosh, what can I say? The Gate is a vegetarian restaurant (don't stop reading, don't stop reading!) that my OH has been going on about for years. Only prob? It's in Hammersmith. Doh. And I don't like to travel too far out of zone 1 or north london (ha) so we've never been. Until the nice people who manage The Gate decided to open another branch in Islington, just for me!

We popped in after work one Thursday and were offered a table which was only available until 8pm (it was 7pm when we arrived). We can eat fairly quickly, and were pretty hungry so we agreed and were pleased the service was speedy enough to allow us to neck a couple of yummy cocktails (a fresh raspberry bellini and the egyptian iced tea which I highly recommend. Drool.)

cous cous crusted aubergine

We wanted to try the mezze, which was 3 for £10, so asked for it on the side to make sure we had time to eat it. You could have it as a started or main though, as you can choose as many dishes as you want. The roasted sweet potato with tahini was gorgeous, as was the tempura (I think it was artichoke?) and the thai salad excelled itself, despite being the one I was least eager to try. It was tangy and crisp and really tasted as good as a dish you might get in Bangkok (where I think I had the best food of my life, although Singapore comes close).

corn cake and grilled veggie stack

For mains we chose the polenta and corn cake, which came stacked into a high tower with grilled veg including tomatoes, aubergine, sweet potato and artichoke. Dolloped around the edge was a mix of beans, sweetcorn and chilli, taking on a rustic, mexican salsa theme. I was feeling pretty smug that I had chosen the best dish, until at half time (ding ding) we swapped and I tasted the wonderment which was the cous-cous crusted aubergine. Looking like some weird sort of nut cutlet I wasn't expecting much, but the flavours were amazing. It was like an aubergine sandwich, stuffed with cream cheese and slivered almonds which gave it a great crunchy texture, juxtaposed with the creamy cheese which had been injected with a good kick of spice.  A little guacamole and red pepper sauce on the side made the dish complete and I was very happy to finish this off, even if it did seem tu be by far the less healthy of the two. 

No time or room for dessert, but the options looked and sounded delicious. Next time I will come even hungrier and-not that I can wait for it- the Christmas menu looks so good I am definitely booking in for that now. 

Bintang Kentish Town

Ravenous en route home from my little nephew's house - where he helped me work up an appetite by bouncing excessively in a musical spaceship thingy (don't ask...) - the OH and I dropped into Bintang, a casual little restaurant on Kentish Town road, touting a range of south-east asian menu options. I could have summoned up the strength for a cocktail, but the only drink options were soft ones (although I gather they do BYO with corkage fee from other reviews I've read).

Pad thai? or is it

Luckily the food came super fast, including some yummy blue cheese wontons, which we ate so quickly I didn't even manage to snap. Tasty, despite not having much filling, they came with a great dipping sauce which tasted like a honey-soy mash-up. Next up were 2 huge plates of noodle-based dishes, a prawn melee (I can't remember what they called it, maybe gilli gilli?) and an aubergine and tofu pad thai. As you can see from the pictures, I think they maybe got it the wrong way around, because the prawn dish definitely tasted like the pad thai I know and love, so I had to sneakily try and steal it from the OH whilst making him eat the other dish, which was a bit too sweet for my tastes. 

Sundried tomato and basil roti-delish!

The piece de resistance was the roti, which was small but amazingly delicious. We went for sundried tomato and basil, which was decidedly un-asian, but I'm all for fusion. The sundried tomato tapenade was smeared over the top of the buttery (read: seriously calorific), flaky roti and it tasted grrrreat.  I'd go back for that alone (would it be wrong to just order 7 roti?)  It looks like they do takeout  too, so maybe that'll get around the need to order mains?