London dining round up

I got back from a brief tour of the London dining scene on Sunday, which was inspirational and motivating as well as expensive and filling. I’m only really after small portions of vegetables for the foreseeable future... I thought I would share a brief roundup, as pretty much everywhere we went was very good.

We started at Lyle’s for supper, a set menu from ex St John Bread and Wine chef James Lowe, in the old tea building in Shoreditch. The menu included pollack, pheasant and a few other things, five courses in total, and it didn’t set my heart racing. It turned out to be delicious, really clever, wonderful cooking. The first course was a tumble of roasted celeriac ribbons coated in some kind of wonderful stock and hiding in the middle was a beautiful poached egg and fresh tarragon, it was lush.

Also of note was 40 Maltby Street, a wine bar with food in a railway arch, in amongst the stalls of Maltby Street market. Another trendy food market, but it was a nice atmosphere and good stalls, even on a rainy January day. Some of the make shift ‘restaurants’ have their chairs and tables laid out in and around piles of wood, tools and everyday life. 40 Maltby Street occupies one end of an arch, slightly make shift in its pallet furniture and tiny kitchen, they sell lots of bottles of wine, with a few by the glass and delicious plates of food. Ham and cheese, cuttlefish stew on toast, duck hearts with bread sauce, salsify fritters; it was all really, really good. You should go.

After suffering another away defeat at Chelsea (we suffered it last year too), we headed over to a little smoky bar in Soho, The Smoking Goat. It seems to be reviewed everywhere I look at the moment and doesn’t take reservations so I was concerned we might not get in and had a back up list of other non reservations in Soho (Koya, Tonkotsu, Barnyard, Pitt Cue, Duck Soup, Copita...) but it all turned out fine... The dining gods seemed to be on our side all weekend. 

The Smoking Goat is a ‘wood Ember Barbecue with Thai flavours’ kind of place; it is fun, busy and smoky and has good food. We had a lovely aubergine salad full of spice, smoked lamb ribs and roast duck, a selection of dips, Thai salads and rice arrived too, with some lovely red wine. Having gone to eat so early due to the match and reservation fear, we had finished dinner by about 7pm, so we then went and got a bit drunk in a weird Spanish bar...

The final day’s lunch at Bocca do Lupo sorted out any hint of a hangover, delicious bagna cauda, hare ragu, deep fried salt cod, ox cheek with chocolate and baby cornettos made for a very pleasant lunch...

We also managed to take in Sager and Wilde, Shoreditch Grind, Trullo, St John bar, St John Bakery, Ace Hotel cafe and J Sheeky (all good), as well as a couple of exhibitions... good going really...

Absence

I've been in Italy; eating, driving round, lying in the sun, visiting different places, for a whole week... There's lots to tell about beautiful Puglia and it's delicious food. I also need to tell you about how the Raw Food Supperclub's went and I don't think I've posted anything like a recipe for ever... I have smoked briskets, salami, meringues, amazing green beans, allotment updates and other stuff all waiting to post, so now that the busy summer is over I should just get on with it!

A Lakeland Jaunt

I've been on a short jaunt to the Lake District, in a quiet little valley, with only deer and sheep for company. We took Mr. Smokerson and a stack of cooking books and enough food to feed a small army for a few weeks... I made some old tasty favourites and discovered some lush new things...

On the first evening by the fire the best new discovery, ham hock with parsley sauce, new potatoes and broad beans. Slowly simmered ham hock, with a delicious mustardy white sauce packed with parsley poured over the ham, fresh broad beans and new potatoes that have been browned in butter and ham stock... so good...

My next favourite was a St. John side dish that I made to go with some smoked duck; fresh green beans from the allotment, dressed in roasted garlic and shallots, capers, anchovies and parsley, pretty simple but totally tasty...

 

We had lush smoked ribs, even though I think Mr. Smokerson is having some issues with his thermometer, poor guy... a quick blast in the oven saw them right, delicious smoky and sticky in a paparika, garlic and mustard rub, lots of coleslaw and homemade white buns... they didn’t even need bbq sauce.

We had a bag full of beans, courgettes and beetroot from the allotment to get through so made lots of salads, pizzas and a delicious orzo pasta dish with beetroot, pinenuts and feta which I'll have to share too...

 

It sounds a bit like I didn't do anything but cook, but it was actually pretty relaxing and there was plenty of time hanging out by the stream... A few walks, actual swimming in an outdoor steam (my feet are just about back to life), fishing (we caught a baby brown trout, unfortunately far too small for supper) some driving round the countryside in circles lost and a general good time all round...

Dining in Lyon

I mentioned Lyon in my last post but thought I'd tell you a little bit more as it was so delicious. A beautiful city that I didn’t really know much about before I visited, I had heard talk of amazing food, Michelin stars, markets and cocktail bars, which was all I needed to know really...

 

I was there for a few days, having taken a laborious route via Schiphol, where the plane left everybody's bags behind; thank goodness that we only had hand luggage. I did not want to spend all weekend in one outfit with no make up or toiletries, the poor people of Lyon did not deserve that...

The food, the delicious, delicious food... We ate so well, Le Café des Fédérations being the highlight. A poached egg in red wine with lardons to start, who would have thought it could be so delicious! Cured meats, creamy lentils, salad Lyonnaise, black pudding, praline tarts and all the cheeses... Saint-Félicien, my new best friend. Amazing. Raymond Blanc was there the week before us, we obviously have good taste!

 

We drank delicious cocktails, I've never been to so many lovely cocktail bars in one weekend. La Passage with it's Luxury Spritz is still stuck in my mind; Aperol, Champagne and soda, my god, so so good... L'Antiquaire where we sat outside with Negroni's and The Monkey Club, my new favourite bar, pity it's 850 miles from Newcastle... Full of taxidermy, butterfly's and cocktail Archaeology; Absinthe in teacups and long forgotten recipes revived... Then there were the little pots of red wine everywhere we went; ahh, the tasty pots...

 

 

 

Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, the most amazing covered market, full to bursting with every meat, cheese and fish you could think of. A lunch of oysters, tiny grey shrimp and wine. Amazing. The pink praline tart was a pretty special way to finish. La Garet was another good Bouchon and Butcher was a lovely steak filled way to spend our last night. I was struck down with some awful bug on the way home, thankfully it didn't ruin any of the holiday, I would have been devastated to miss out on any of the pots, cocktails or feasting that went on...

...and I think we've found a woman who knows a woman who can get hold of some Saint-Félicien back home, so fingers crossed we can carry on being friends...

 

 

A Southern French Road Trip

I've been on a little French road trip for a week, it seemed like a lot longer as we took in so many different places. Driving from Nice to Marseille as the sun set in front of us was a pretty lovely way to start the holiday...

Marseille is France's oldest city, huge and varied and beautiful; I probably only saw the tiniest portion of what it has to offer in the three days we had there, but enjoyed it all. A huge port, tiny winding old streets, beautiful architecture, little beaches, bars, restaurants, a pretty cool hotel; we took them all in. A trip up to the Camargue was a beautiful day too. Driving along the waters edge we saw wild white horses in their hundreds, flamingos and black horned cattle.

After a spot of food poisoning, not much fun on holiday, we travelled back along the coast through Cassis and Bandol to Valbonne, where we were staying next. Unfortunately the first thing I chose to eat after 24 hours of no food were some snails. I've never had them before, I was in France, why not? Turns out I'm allergic to the little fellas; quite severely... A waiter throwing a lobster salad over me the next day brought an end to my food based dramas thankfully. I only wish someone had thought to take a photo of me with a whole lobster stuck to my arm and dress, it was a good look...

Our week came to a close with the wedding of some very special friends; a beautiful, beautiful day full of friends, flowers, laughter, a tiny bit of sunshine, quite a lot of wine, dancing and delicious macaroons...