The pies have it

Ragu alla Ricardo

2012-01-22T09:15:00.000-08:00

When I first got into cooking, I recall one of my Meteorology lecturers, the wonderfully avuncular Ross Reynolds giving me a photocopy of a recipe for a ragu - i.e. spag bol sauce, let's face it. This recipe called for all sorts of ingredients which as a fresh-faced 21 year old was going to be a challenge. I recall fucking it up completely but the seed was sown for what is about 15 years of tinkering with recipes. I've finally settled on "my version" that's been guided by various Telly Chefs and friends. It's not authentic, unique, real, seasonal, locally-sourced, passionate or other words thrown around about food, but my version. Maybe you can give it a try and see what you think. I have a horrible feeling I may have written about this before, but what the hell.

1) Chop up 1 1/2 onions, 2 sticks of celery and 2 carrots into very small bits. Fry these in olive oil with two star anise (thank you Heston) for about 45 minutes very slowly.

2) In a separate pan (fry pan usually good for this), fry off 500g of minced beef (the better quality, the better, I'd guess) and let it sit there to get a nice crust before turning over (thank you, Giorgio). Drop this into the cooking vegetables and do exactly the same with 500g of pork mince. As with all these things, a bit of fat in the meat never goes amiss. Pour pork mince into the veg and deglaze pan with red wine.

3) Turn the veg/meat mixture up to high and empty in a generously large wine glass of red wine (something gutsy) and burn all the alcohol off until it doesn't smell "tart" any more.

4) Add 3 cans of chopped tomatoes, I usually pick Cirio which I can get in my local Sainsbury's as they're supposed to be good quality (and seem to be coming down in price - as well as suddenly getting advertised on mainstream telly) as well as a good 2-3 second squirt of tomato ketchup.

5) Let it blubber away for about 3-4 hours with the lid off on a lowish heat. Stir occasionally to make it feel wanted. As it starts to lose liquid, top it up with milk. Serves maybe 6-8 people with British "too much ragu" sized portions or probably 60-80 italian understated ragu portions. Here it is blobbing away early in its 4-hour marathon:

I actually only settled on this recipe about 2 months ago and have cooked it twice now and it seems pretty nice. I used to add pancetta as well and that might reappear in time. Who knows. The star anise came in a year ago and the "topping up with milk" was the most recent addition. The ketchup was there from the start, heathen that I am.

I love you, Anchor and Hope

2012-01-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

It seems as though the way of attracting attention to you new venture is to make it a pop-up. Do it for 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months and leave the audience wanting more. Ephemerality rules. Blogs and restaurant reviews tend to focus on the new and cutting edge. Got there first, done that, when's the next opening.

I sometimes wonder whether it would be nice for someone in their newspaper column to spend a year revisiting the stayers, the survivors that have been here for yonks and whose reputation has passed down through word of mouth: off the top of my head Blueprint Cafe (although now lacking its guiding light), St. John and here - the Anchor and Hope.

Anyhow, about since 6 months since my last visit I was back there for the Sunday lunch. £30, no choice, the pub opened out and all tables full. And you can book. I thought my last meal at Manchurian Legends could be up there with the best this year - so could this one. 2012. Two meals, two big hits.

Arriving early we got a great table in the corner and as there were five of us, everything came served on an enormous plate for us to dig into. We kicked off with a few nibbles on bread - oxtail and tongue and beetroot and horseradish that set the palate up. First up was a large plate of watercress, tangy stichelton blue chees, pecans and pear. I am in my infancy of blue cheese love, but this all works. I've seen it on the menu before - and can see why it's still there, everything playing off each other.

The main should really have come with a fanfare. A huge, triumphant plate of porchetta sat atop fennel and roasted potatoes with a magnificent gravy swimming beneath it all. The stuffing of the porchetta was deeply, deeply savoury and the only thing I could have criticised was the cracking that failed on one quarter of my slab of pork. The pork itself retained plenty of moisture. The unanimous decision was one of "Good Lord". Take a look at it in all its grainy iPhone photo glory:

Dessert doesn't usually interest me but it was good to see tarte tatin coming out - caramelised to within an inch of its life with a deep brown colour, sweetness with the slight sour hit of the mascarpone that came with it.

We were all full. And happy. Maybe it's best that the Anchor and Hope doesn't get re-reviewed for those unaware of it because quite frankly a) it doesn't need to be as it's always full and, selfishly, b) I want to be able to get a table. A glorious 9.

Manchurian Legends

2012-01-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

New Year - the event itself and the couple of days that follow it is an enormous waste of time, energy and faux excitement at the turn of the New Year. The days that follow it are usually grey and uninteresting, so I headed out to Soho where I headed to meet Soho's finest floater Mr Wilson for a pint and a suggestion of Manchurian Legends - which had seemingly split the Rayners, Corens, Normans and Gills down the middle.

It's fair to say that I wouldn't be surprised if my first meal out of the year turned out to be one of the "Top 5" that everybody loves to compile come the year's end.

We ordered based on recommended dishes from the aforementioned viewers and wasn't disappointed at all. Highlight of the entire meal was the pork, slow-braised in a oriental broth with glass noodles probably maxed out on savouriness. Yes the pork was fatty, but the slowness of the braise had rendered it wonderfully soft. And for once I take a photo that does it some vague justice:

The other killer dish was the sweet and sour pork. The instant thought of sweet and sour pork is fatty, chewy pork covered in greasy batter in a lurid overly-vinegary mass-catering sweet and sour sauce. This was bloody well nowhere near it. Thin slices of what seemed to be pork loin had been delicately battered and served in a thin, balanced vinegary sauce. Addicting, as they say in America.

There was also some lamb skewers coated in chilli flakes that had really strong lamby flavour - a little bit chewy maybe, but by no means a failure. The pork dumplings were the only let-down. Maybe it's the way in Dongbei that their dumplings have thick skin but the filling lack flavour - better off heading to Jen Cafe for something similar done much better.

But it's for the first two dishes that I'll be coming back - as well as the several other interesting options on the menu. Anyone fancy sharing a hot-pot?

Germany

2011-12-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

A long pre-Christmas jaunt to Germany to sample the delights of beer, sausages, sausages, beer, meat in gravy with dumplings, sausages, beer and dumplings. I've done a few towns in Germany now, and this year started with a work trip to Munich, a stag do in Berlin, and then back down to Munich again.

Munich is undoubtedly one of my favourite cities. I would rather have a beer in a beer garden in the height of summer than anywhere else in the world. I wouldn't say it's a go-to location for a culinary journey or necessarily for a city break somewhere that is particularly avant-garde or edgy, but from a tourist standpoint it's clean, well-kept and also surrounded by some spectacular scenery and old towns. It also has my favourite sausage (sorry, Big Apple Hot Dogs, you're a close 2nd). As you walk into the Viktualienmarkt, head to the little green kiosk on the left, opposite all the butchers and have their bratwurst. A meaty, savoury assault on the senses smeared in the local mild mustard which seems to be a sort of cross (in both in strength and flavour) between American yellow and English yellow mustard:

Berlin for the stag do gave me a chance to try their - ultimately - sinful favourite snack, Currywurst. I've used a capital letter there as I'm sure it's probably held in enough reverence to be capitalised. I headed to Curry 36 in Kreuzberg. And wasn't impressed. Two thick frankfurters were pulled from a pool of frying grease and smeared in an overly-sweet vaguely curried ketchup, along with fries covered in a curried powder and mayonnaise. Maybe I was hung over from a 6am and 3am finish the previous two nights, but nope - this one's not for me. Suitably blurry photo:

Another highlight in Berlin was part of the stag was a chance to try Ottenthal's famed schnitzel. I was half-gone by then but it was thin, crispily coated and lovely for soaking up the beer and gluhwein we'd be motoring through all day:

One other notable nod that doesn't come with a photo as the one I'd taken was shite, was the impressive "durum" - essentially a chicken kebab in a wrap for about €3 at Mustafas Gemüse Kebab. Given the amount of turkish immigration in Germany, it was always worth a try. Type in "Best kebab in Berlin" and this place comes up plenty of times. It probably shows that the queue I joined on a sleety Monday afternoon at 2.45pm was 25-long. It wasn't even lunch time. The kebab itself had 3 different sauces and about 10 different component parts. A cheeky delight and different flavour in each mouthful. It warranted the wait.

Next time around - it'll be Germany in the summer...gratuitous beer garden photos to follow some time later in the year.

A nod to the lads of the Staff Meal Truck, Boston

2011-11-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

A trip to Boston and environs earlier in the year threw up some lobster, clams, a great pizza and, from memory, quite an average burger. The one thing that stuck in the mind was a sandwich from what I think is the most inventive food truck I've stumbled upon. I'd actually wound up in a car park looking for the legendary Boston Speed Dog truck, but they weren't there so I was left to choose from the 4 or 5 that were there.

I had from the Staff Meal Truck a "pressed meatloaf sandwich". Turns out that the two guys behind the truck were both fed up with working in haute cuisine restaurants and instead put their spin on "fast" food. Heck - check out three of the items on their menu for 4th November:

- Foie Gras Bakalava (Foie Gras, Pepitas and Lavender)
- Cassoulet Sub (Garlic Sausage, White Bean Stew with Duck Confit and Bacon, Bread Crumbs)
- Pig's Head Mac n' Cheese

My sandwich back in May was meatloaf, with pastrami, home-made pickled cucumbers and a barbecue mayo. It was tremendous. And in their honour, I decided to make it myself and christen the naff Russell Hobbs Panini Press I'd bought about a year prior:

The meatloaf I use was thanks to Daniel Young of Burger Monday (and the rest of the week) fame and it is superb: - the recipe calls for a surprising amount of mustard - but that is the winning note. Massively savoury.

Pastrami was embarrassingly from Sainsbury's, and the excellent pickles from Topolski at Maltby Street. I decided to use a sturdy burger bun from St John Bakery a few arches down from Topolski. The result was lovely, even if I say so myself. I hope I've at least vaguely done the Staff Meal boys proud.

Hand pulled noodles at Greenwich Market

2011-11-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

You can spend £150 on a massive nosh-up in a Michelin-starred restaurant but it doesn't offer the unique joy of finding a hidden gem. An extremely cheap hidden gem. One of many food stalls down at Greenwich Market, this one caught my attention following the demise of a favourite hand-pulled noodle restaurant, Oodle Noodle (or is it Noodle Oodle) at the arse end of Oxford Street amongst the shit leather shops.

The actual stall itself offers chicken, pork and duck either in soup or with rice as well as dim sum that maybe I'll try next time. The soups vary from spicier offerings to more savoury broth-based ones for nonces like me.

I had the char siu soup and the noodle man quickly got to work, cutting off a section of quite wet dough, lobbing some flour around and rolling it into a tube and proceeded to work his magic. I nearly wrote "wok his magic" there but it would have been particularly twattish.

These noodles were dumped into hot water along with some pak choi, some char siu rapidly cut up and a darkish stock thrown over the top. £4.50 please. I have great pleasure in saying, in my limited noodle opinion, that the whole thing was wonderful. I am still amazed that you can get noodles from a blob of dough in about 3 minutes. They were very good - firm but definitely not mushy. The char siu portion was overly-generous, the pak choi retained a crunch and this all sat in a really intensely savoury - maybe even too savoury! - broth.

I am really struggling to think of anything better in London in terms of value of money and a satisfyingly full belly. It's just a shame they don't operate at weekends. I ate at 12.30 and by the time I'd got to the bottom of the bowl the queue was about 10 deep. Deservedly so. I'm sure if I do a saddo Nick Hornby-style "Top 5" at the end of the year that this will be in it. 9.

As an addendum, I also had some very nice chicken karaage from a nearby stall. Re-fried seemingly to order, it was crisp, hot and still really tender and moist in the middle. Two triumphs in one day.

Byron's "Uncle Sam" Cheeseburger

2011-09-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

I see that McDonald's have released some sort of 1955 burger that has seemingly sod all relation to what would have been dished up in its original restaurants, and no doubt worse quality of ingredients. Gripe over.

Actually, not fully over. A stag do the previous night had dealt me a moderate hangover; maybe 6 on the Richter scale. Junk was needed, but well-made junk. I'd not tried the Byron burger yet and they seem to be popping up everywhere to mainly good reviews. What also attracted was their nod to the US diner in their "Uncle Sam" burger.

I liked their diner - nestled in the thoroughly shit part of London that is the theatreland-cum-bad cafe central-cum-hideous pizza slices in window type fast food outlet. The friendly host with the t-shirt with the legend "medium" was enough of a hint for how I should be having it cooked.

And so it arrived:

The first impression was that it was relatively small - but was well-filled with the 6 oz patty. Lovely bun that was soft but with enough sturdiness to hold its interior without collapsing. Tomato ketchup, pickles, what I would describe as American Burger Cheese and French's mustard. The disappointing thing? Where was the flavour of the beef. It was there, but it just seemed to lack seasoning and was almost lost in the various condiments.

Dammit - I didn't want to be disappointed! Everything else seemed fine but the main feature was a disappointment. It's by no means a disaster as it was so nicely constructed, but I'm not a structural engineer. 6.

Afterwards I went for a pile of beijing dumplings at the Chinatown staple Jen Cafe. Never fails - somewhere between 8-10 home-made steamed dumplings for £5 that were well seasoned (take note, someone else!) and cack-handedly dropped by me into vinegar probably to the amusement of the local Chinatown clientele. Look at the awkward Englishman and his chopstick cack-handedness.

3 months of eating North London: Pt 6: Made in Camden, Camden (!)

2011-09-16T22:55:00.000-07:00

3 months of living in North London is almost coming to a close. I've come to the conclusion that despite my 70s hair and youthful 36-year-old looks, I am a) too late for Britpop in Camden and b) not cool enough for North London. Never mind, a return to middle-class, middle-aged Blackheath beckons as I ease buckets of Black Vanilla gelato down my cakehole.

Tried to get into Market to treat a couple of friends with a belated wedding present. Full. Good for them. Instead I recalled that the small plate menu at Made in Camden looked quite handy, and the reviews on London Eating were largely good - and a recent visit from AA Gill earned it 4 stars, which I'm assuming was promising. Oh my it was.

Camden Lager and imported weissbiers on the go, myself and the newly happy couple attacked pretty much the entirely of the small plate menu.

Pan-fried fennel, marinated feta, pistachio, salted caramel was laden with flavour and sticky pork belly, green papaya, mango, cashew, nam jim (new one on me that was something I'd like to repeat at home now I'm getting a hankering for doing some oriental slow cooked pork.

I jumped at the grilled tiger prawns, romesco, broccoli and garlic crisps - was interested to try some romesco and how it paired with prawns. It paired with them very nicely and the prawns took on a wonderful smoky flavour from whichever implement it was griddled on.

The complete show-stopper and my dish-of-the-year so far was the crisp-fried chicken, black vinegar glaze, carrot and miso puree. Crispy chicken - I would guess thigh meat - seemingly in panko breadcrumbs which swam in a savoury, vinegary sauce that I could have slurped on its own. Stunning, bloody stunning. We made the right choice ordering two at the start.

The lamb kefta was tremendously well-seasoned and tuna with caperberries with roasted peppers and egg almost had too many flavours! Not that I'm complaining. My only complaint was the lighting was quite low which rendered to zero any chances of poor-quality photos in ShitDixonVision. Staff were friendly and unobtrusive. My favourite type of staff. The bill for what were 9 sharing plates between the 3 of us plus a glass of wine, 2 dessert wines (which came in very small servings - probably my only gripe) and 3 beers was around £120.

Unplanned meals this good always raise a smile as expectation ahead of a meal can take the edge off an experience sometimes. I will return north of the border when I move back south just to go there again. 8. Quite possibly a 9, actually.

Hot dog alert - Joe's, Camden

2011-09-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

The current trend of being able to get well-made, lovingly-constructed American fast food is great news. I'm not your arbiter of knowledge on this front but it seems that the likes of Hot Chip and Meatwagon as well as great burgers in the more permanent of residences (Byron, Hawksmoor, Goodman) mean that there's no excuse to go into a McDonald's unless you're commode-huggingly drunk.

With this trend, I hope that London goes hot dog mad. Even the tinned ones made of bollocks, elbows, underarms and heels I deem as palatable, but then again I'm probably seen as a heathen for this reason. Abiye's Big Apple Hot Dogs are the daddies, but I stumbled into a recently-opened bar in Camden, Joe's, to share a couple of beers with a friend on Bank Holiday Monday and noticed a wonderful Hot Dog sign over the bar:

The place incidentally was either deliberately spartan or their seating man had only partly fulfilled his task. The 50s soundtrack and exposed brickwork was if anything a nod to Russell Norman's growing London Polpo empire. I wasn't even hungry, but having had my Hot Dog Enlightening by Big Apple, it was always worth a try. An attempted chat with the unsmiling barman revealed that they were from Gloucestershire from a man called Graham. That was all.

Nonetheless, the hot dogs were good. Thinner, so lacking the juicy texture of Big Apple Hot Dogs, they certainly had good flavour and the meat well-seasoned. And that very required "snap" was there when biting into them - something of course that you'll never get from a can of Tulip / Princes Genuine American Hot Dogs With Bits of Cock and Achilles Tendon in a tin. I liked the touch of toasting the bun, too.

Would happily have another. And almost did, the fat knacker that I am. Would say a 7 to Big Apple's 9. Let London go hot dog mad and I will hoover them up and I look forward to the proper fried chicken and/or massive pastrami sandwich revolution next.

Meatball Pizza

2011-08-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

You heard me: meatball pizza. A friend had gone to Pizza East and proclaimed the glory of their veal meatball pizza. I also had a greasy, glorious meatball pizza whilst sitting in a dreary train station in Boston awaiting one of the tins-on-wheels that is an Amtrak earlier in the year.

Stayed at my parents' glorious little place on the beach in Pevensey and wanted to knock out something that used their bread machine to encourage them to use it more. One recipe called for semolina in the crust that give a crunch and a chew. Worth a try. Here's the recipe:

For the pizza dough:

-300ml (1/2 pint) warm water (45 C)
-250g (9 oz) plain flour
-175g (6 oz) semolina
-1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 dessertspoon olive oil
-1 dessertspoon dried active baking yeast

For the pizza topping:

-1/2 a medium onion
-4 garlic gloves
-2 cans of chopped tomatoes
-1 teaspoon of salt
-1 teaspoon of sugar

For the meatballs:
-250g pork mince
-250g beef mince
-50g of grated parmesan
-Mixed herbs
-1/2 very finely chopped onion

Stick stuff in bread machine and be lazy. Fry onion and garlic for 20 minutes until very soft. Add sugar and chopped tomatoes and leave to putter for the time it takes to get the dough sorted. Mix up the meatball mixture and start them off in the over for 10 minutes. Knock back dough, let it rise again for 45 minutes, then flatted into base, cover with pizza topping, add meatballs and then smother with sliced of mozzarella. 10-12 mins at 200c.

Result?

Result. Probably the best pizza I've made, and owing to absence of bread machine of late, I've not done one in ages. Memo to Richard: must get new bread machine. Any recommendations?

Simply Seafood, Pevensey and Westham, East Sussex

2011-08-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

My parents have a place right on the beach in Pevensey which is, if anything, wonderfully relaxing. Pevensey Bay itself is a sad sight. A couple of miles of beach and not a hint of a fish stall. Indian, Chinese and chippy. The original chippy from my 80s is now a generic rough-part-of-London hybrid pizza/chicken hole.

Fortunately inland about 2 miles in Westham is a place that does do fish, admittedly brought in from Newhaven and not caught in Pevensey, it was worth a try: that and the fact that it was the subject of one of those TV restaurant makeover programmes.

Managed to get a table at 8.15 and in the end were seated at 8.45 but had wine in their conservatory. Starter was a tasty, if unremarkable crab and mango salad. Unfortunately - at least in my case - it came with overly bitter leaves - this isn't a criticism, more a personal thing. Fresh scallops with a light thai dressing, not overly powerful or heavy on the chilli were very good.

This is where I went Restaurant Nazi and against all my principles. I didn't see the show, but took upon myself to see how they were doing as a restaurant. The low-point was when a man (who turned out later to be the owner) came and sat down near us with a glass of wine and turned off a nearby light which was flooding out table with the necessary light. "Terribly bright in here isn't it". He proceeded to drink wine and talk on his phone. I like your style. Apparently he was known for just sitting around the restaurant getting in the way so clearly Mr Restaurant Inspector didn't do his job on that front. One waiter came to clear our starters and dropped a fork which slid along the floor and sat next to our table. He never came back to clear it up. Must try harder! Picky whine over.

The main courses came - I went for turbot with a shellfish reduction on a bed of roasted potatoes and cabbage. The let-down were the potatoes which smacked of sitting round a bit and had gone dry and unpalatable. The same could not be said of the turbot that was gleaming white, super-fresh, brought in from Newhaven ("why not Pevensey!" I cried to myself). The shellfish sauce was subtle, not overpowering and went perfectly with it. Most of the dish was a shining example of some great cooking.

I think I had a cheesecake for dessert. Why the hell not. Nothing remarkable, but nothing bad. All of this came to about £95 - which for three people is pretty decent value. I would be happy to have a place like this near me. Some distinct averageness, the odd flash of excellent value, great cooking. If I'm feeling mean - 6. Maybe a 7.

The Opera Tavern

2011-08-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

Had been planning to visit here as early as the first week when everything was half price. I'm thinking this is a good idea: get to soft openings as much as possible and save lots of money. Already done this at Da Polpo and Riding House Cafe. Must try harder on this front.

Dinner with old school-time friends from 20 years ago. Always good value and with one Hispanophile present I suggested the Opera Tavern. Sporting a moderate hangover from the previous night, it's always this sort of evening where lack of expectancy ends up being a good one.

A late arrival meant nibbles. Smoky marcona almonds were quite possibly the best thing I was to have all evening. Almost. Pork rillions were a mixture of fat and meat - soft, crunchy in places. Scratchings Ghia.

Guest arrived and we shared aplenty. Italian style scotch egg was ever so slightly underseasoned but the yolk was that runny-becoming cooked stage which I imagine is a bastard to get right. Crispy squid with sea purslane (first time for everything) was superbly cooked - lightly coated and with no gag-inducing chew that I hate about bad squid. The iberico pork burgers should come with a warning that you will need two - here are our four:

Superb, moist, well-seasoned - although I struggled to make out the foie gras. Maybe I have a shit palate. Anyhow, you can see why people raved about it. Chorizo was pretty good - probably more spicy than I've had before but I'm not complaining.

The winning dish for me was the salt marsh lamb with farro, broad beans and peas.

Earthy. I've never had farro before but pearl barley is the closest I could say it comes to - complete with the chew you get from it. Anyhow - the lamb. I've never had salt marsh lamb - so I never expected to have it in a restaurant that has a heavy Spanish influence. It is bloody great - I've no idea if the salty environment is responsible for the flavour, but served pink in this dish I will have to hunt down some butchers to find more. The whole dish came swimming in a wonderful savoury gravy. I suppose I should say jus or reduction here, but I don't want to.

There is so much more I want to try on the Opera Tavern. What I have tried gets a fulsome 8.

The French Table, Surbiton

2011-08-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Let's see if I can make it through talking about a restaurant in Surbiton without mentioning The Good Life. Headed down here for dinner with friends having known about it pre-Ramsay flutterings as the best in the area - they'd been there before but were only too happy to go back.

8pm table and the places was full which was to be expected. Waiting staff flying around the place without seeming to look hurried. We were ushered into the meal with a couple of pieces of their homemade bread - intrigued by the chorizo bread which was light, stained with the oil of the chorizo but subtley flavoured. An excellent bottle of Paper Road Pinot Noir and we were under way.

My friends launched into the special of crab millefeuille with heritage tomatoes which I managed to completely forget about taking a photo of as it was so well presented. I had beetroot-cured salmon that was good, but unremarkable, but with the pickled radish and beetroot that came with it, worked damn well:

On to mains and two of us couldn't ignore the "trilogy of English pork belly". Something I really should stop being a nonce about and try and do at home to save often having it at restaurants. The first bit of the trio was a pretty standard square of pork belly. Very nicely good - most of the fat rendered down with crisp crackling. The mini pork belly and foie gras burger was understandably full of flavour if slightly oily. The trilogy didn't have a happy ending - the belly and chorizo croustillant creation (seen at the end of the photo below) was overwhelmed with a strong acerbic flavour that ruined it. Grand shame. Shit photo alert:

Accompanying mash was as good as I've had in a restaurant and managed to be creamy without chef going in for the "let's see how much butter I can physically whip into the mash" approach that some high-end restaurants try to do which ends up just sickly after a mouthful. Carrots were al dente, but seemed slightly too sweet. Another main was an excellent lamb dish (or at least wonderfully presented) whose details escape me after two bottles of red, but did lead to a mild bout of otherpeoplesdinnerlooksbetteritis.

We were too stuffed to have dessert. A couple of gripes maybe, but I would undoubtedly return largely owing to the fact that a) I like that part of the world and b) I could eat the entire menu. If I went here every Friday I'd certainly think I was leading a Good Life. Oh bollocks. 7.

3 months of eating North London: Pt 5: Red Lion and Sun, Highgate

2011-08-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

A previous visit to the pub unveiled the tubular pork heaven that is a Big Apple Hot Dog. This time it was only fair to give their menu a crack. As ever a walk from Hampstead up some sturdy inclines guarantees a hunger. Or maybe I'm just sodding unfit.

I hate calling pubs quirky but it is. It's effectively half a house, or at least that's what it looks like. Large beer garden in the front, small pretty beer garden out back. Friendly staff who actually pay attention to you.

Hot afternoon = two cold starters. First up was a duck and foie gras terrine with cherry chutney and brioche. Great contrasts of savoury terrine, the massive tang of the cherries in the chutney and the sweet brioche. I always have an issue with brioche in that it gives you greasy hands but nonetheless it plainly worked.

The other starter was simply potted shrimp on some thick enough toasted bread to hold the mixture without collapsing into mush. To my relatively untrained palate it almost seemed as though the shrimps were held together with a butter which had the strong hint of brown crab meat. Maybe it was just good, gutsy shrimps. Here's a picture of said dish in the sunlight. I think I'm getting the hang of focussing my bloody iPhone...finally...

One friend eschewed any food whilst another charged into - and finished off - a sizeable feather-blade steak (some research on google also tells me it's called flat-iron in the States and paleron in France) - not overly tender but wonderfully cooked to medium rare and heavy on flavour. I was on good photo form today, so I may as well show another snap...

It's sad that I'm heading back down south to Blackheath in a month or so - as glorious a place to live as it is - as I have no pubs offering up this standard of cooking round there. I have a feeling a future visit to the Bull and Last will likely only add to that feeling. 7.

The Gurnard's Head, nr Zennor, Cornwall

2011-07-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

A five day tour round Cornwall taking in various sights and smells. Nathan Outlaw's grill where we paid £25 for a very nice, but small portion of sea-bass (that's two stars for you), the shits after some bad mussels (stand up, Sam's, in Fowey and take a bow), but two meals really grabbed me.

Stayed one night in the Gurnard's Head - an old pub/inn that was rough around the edges but served up as near as dammit the best meal I've had all year. Staff were friendly, atmosphere was welcoming, beds were comfortable - food was bloody brilliant. Why can't more stays away from home be like this?

Started wih a sea-bass ceviche - sweet with tomatoes and mangoes which initially I thought might end up a bit odd but was a hands-down success. Friend had a crab cannelloni starter that was packed with gusty brown meat in an equally gutsy crabby sauce. The main course thought was the killer - spring lamb done two ways with braised gem lettuce, broad beans and roasted "cocotte" potatoes (new one on me). Christ, I almost made a decent photo of it:

Very clever little cake of braised shoulder meat - dense, well-seasoned, to go alongside the lamb cutlet. I'll flag it up as my favourite meal of the year so far. You can bollock on about simple produce well cooked but this was the case. I wish I could remember what my dining companions had. I can't.

Dessert was a solid (not literally) apricot and almond tart. Dinner, bed and breakfast was about £120 per room. The breakfast was smashing, too - some of the best smoked bacon I've had and proper chunks of portabello mushroom that hadn't had the moisture whacked out of them from overcooking.

Oh for more places like this around the country. 8. Or even a 9.

The Fisherman's Arms, Plymouth

2011-07-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

"It's where the locals eat" said the bloke who ran the Plymouth guesthouse we stayed in ahead of a wedding down in Newquay. Plymouth, in places, is simply Bracknell-on-Sea. A 1950s/1960s urban apocalypse thanks to the friendly Mr Hitler.

We traipsed through the town and were happy to find some nicer scenery down by the sea, and then wandered back with foreboding to a shit housing estate that housed the Fisherman's Arms. Thankfully the inside was wonderfully modern but inviting and where I discovered St Austell's Trelawney bitter that accompanied me at many of the pubs throughout the trip.

Friendly barmaid gave us our menus and we had a charcuterie board to share - slathered with chorizo, bread, olives and what appeared to be a rose veal carpaccio. Mains were nothing short of enormous and impeccably cooked. The portion of mussels (cooked in cider and cream) was gargantuan. Really. Another platter of mixed fish on olive oil mash in a creamy sauce was wonderfully presented - and stupidly generous.

I went boring and had fish and chips. Yeah, shoot me down. But it was good: very, very good. Seriously thin, crispy batter, obviously fresh fish and some chunky, obviously multiply-cooked chips. The waitress asked me if I was vegetarian as the mushy peas came with bacon. Inspired. Smoky, mushy peas to go against the cod. Inspired. Did I say that already? Crap picture alert, I'll probably change it in due course to the prettier main courses the other folks had:

We almost went somewhere better-looking on the outside: apples and skins and all that. Great fishy start to the holiday. 8.

A big two-fingers to the "summer" weather

2011-07-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today I denied it was pissing down outside when it should be sunny and 25c and flick the bird at the weather by having a tomato and mozzarella salad. That is all.

Telly Chef Recipe 1: Ramsay's White Onion Soup

2011-07-16T13:43:00.001-07:00

Being a stupid cookbook whore, I tend to perve at a lot of recipes in cookbooks and end up actually doing very few. I've taken it upon myself to actually try and few recipes that the TV Chefs do.

Going completely against the grain of my plan however, the first one I did I think is in a Gordon Ramsay book somewhere that I don't have, but I stumbled upon it here on the interweb:

Pretty easy to make - just the usual arseache of chopping the onions - really must get myself a mandolin one day. Substituted Noilly Prat for Dry Martini as I didn't want Noilly Prat in my cupboard for the next 5 years.

Whizzed up and left in the fridge, I re-heated, seasoned and added cream the next day and the flavour was a gentler cousin of the wham-bam of a dark, beefy French Onion soup. It's not really worth a photo as the slowly-cooked onions and chicken stock (from the excellent but expensive Hampstead Butcher and Providore) turned it a 70s beige. 7.

3 months of eating North London: Pt 4: La du du, West Hampstead

2011-07-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

Pissing rain in summer is an excuse for a soup. Is it? I don't know. Anyhow I'd got wind (and rain) of a new Vietnamese place so went there following my jaunt to Maltby Street market. Bright and modern and woody, the staff are very friendly here. The place was full as I nibbled away in the corner - lots of families present. Kids growing up these days will be so well educated in food compared even to my generation.

I'm guessing that a judge of a good restaurant is a staple so I headed for the Pho. Order a home-made limeade to keep me going - this lacked sugar and wasn't strong on the lime. The Pho duly arrived:

For me a good pho has that aniseed punch initially and then a lingering savouriness. This had the aniseed part but just lacked the savoury hit - everyone seems to use "umami" for this nowadays. By no means a disaster - the noodles were lovely, they can tend to mush sometimes and the beef was generous.

I'm no Pho expert, but this was a bit short of the ones I've had at City Caphe and Thanh Binh in Camden, although I'll come back for a second try if time permits in my stay in Hampstead. 6.

Maltby Street Market

2011-07-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

On a morning that can only be described as shitty, I took the tube to London Bridge and traipsed through the housing blocks and railways arches of Bermondsey to reach a cluster of stalls and companies set up within the railway arches themselves. St John bakery was there which was a chance to sample their much-lauded custard doughnuts. "The napkins are over there" said the lady serving me. I took one out of politeness. I used it out of necessity. Wonderfully light doughnuts - none of your heavy 6-for-a-pound fayre from Tesco. Brilliant custard too, flecked with dots of vanilla. Will have to come back for sourdough and was intrigued by their sturdy-looking burger buns.

And from thereon in it was impulse-buy central. A smiling greek lady at the Topolski polish "arch" on Druid Street told me how her wonderfully peppery olive oil was made on her family farm. Sold. £6 for 500ml plus extra for a delightful re-usable jar. I was also waylaid by the smoked polish sausage for £3.

Onward to the arch in Maltby Street that housed the ham and cheese company and the Kernel Brewery. I have a soft spot for fennel - so was obliged to buy 100g of their finocchiona sausage. Salty, aniseedy. £3.50? Certainly.

The most buzz I found was around the 7 or 8 ale fans already cracking into the Kernel Brewery's ales at 11.30 in the morning, laughing from under the large umbrellas as the heavens opened. On the way out I popped into the large fruit/vegetable arch in Druid Street. I'd never seen San Marzano plum tomatoes in London before so nabbed a couple of those on the way out for 50p.

Miserable weather - happy shopper.

The Grazing Goat, Marylebone

2011-07-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

Every two months I talk bollocks with the same 4 friends. Mainly sport, a lot of banter and ribbing. It usually revolves around steak (regular patronage of Le Relais de Venice) but this time we went leftfield and tried a pub - namely the Grazing Goat - one of the more upmarket pub/dining venues from the Cubitt House group (Pantechnicon, Thomas Cubitt...)

All in all - pretty average. Two of us had starters - scallops, bacon, pea puree and potato wafers were all strong flavours (see below), but with 3 scallops and probably 6 mouthfuls in all, I thought £11 quid for this dish was pretty damn steep.

Main courses varied from my roast chicken (small, neat portion but - as with plenty of chicken dishes bar the one I had at Blueprint Cafe late last year - dry!), to a gutsily-sized veal t-bone steak, fillet steak (sent back as was more medium-to-medium rare than the request rare) and lamb and rosemary pie. Nothing there to blow us away, but the staff were very efficient and accepting of the undercooked steak.

The white chocolate tart with raspberries and honeycomb ice-cream that two of us had was excellent, all bar the soggy base. Another friend's apple pie was meagre and unremarkable. We were all pretty honest with our server who returned to offer us a free round of coffees for our thoughts.

At about £45 a head (and we only had a pint or two of beer with this) represents quite an outlay for posh pub food. A meal at Anchor and Hope a couple of weeks ago for the same price reminds you of how well "gastropub" food can be done. 5 - although full marks to the service (although as ever I only really care about marking the food!)

Sausages, smoke, sozzled.

2011-07-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

The best boozy moments are those unplanned. Agreed to meet a friend on the South Bank who knows his way around what's happening with London food more than most. And so at this seemingly covert "Tweat_Up" that I was suggested to follow on twitter I had a sticker slapped on my coat which entitled me to very cheap pints of cocktails - the proceeds apparently going towards getting a new smoker for the stellar BBQ at Pitt Cue Co.

"I'll just stay for the one". 20p can of red stripe led to 4 pints of Mojito at £2 a pop:

Luckily for the many merry-makers, Pitt Cue Co were there and I dug into one of the magnificent pork creations (with a smoky kick this time) from Abiye and his Big Apple Hot Dogs. 50 bourbon-soaked brownies were there - somewhere - but we managed to miss out.

Sunday drinking suddenly is fun again at the age of 36.

3 months of eating North London: Pt 3: Atari-Ya, South Hampstead

2011-07-06T14:33:00.001-07:00

I'd caught wind of good sushi near the roaring Finchley Road. Popped in there on a Tuesday evening after work. A speculative turn-up found us seated at the bar as the rest of the place was already booked. Good sign already.

We were seated at the end of the bar, able to watch the chefs mesmerically do their business. We also had a few cooked tuna pieces as an appetiser - nice touch.

Some menu staples (salmon, tuna, miso soup) were pretty much as you'd hope but specific things on the menu had caught my eye. Iberico pork tonkatsu was pretty much as it sounded - a luxurious take on another staple. Crisp on the outside, probably 70/30 pork and fat on the inside. A cardiologist's dream. And probably mine too. Mowed that up with the spicy HP-esque (call me a heathen, then) tonkatsu sauce. Really great. Note the chopsticks-in-one hand, camera-in-other hand photo ability. Who says men can't multitask?

I also took the advice of various reports on the web to give the fatty tuna sashimi a crack. About £10 for a relatively small portion of tuna, but glorious nonetheless:

Not being a regular sushi eater, this was new territory. The whole idea of fish being "fatty" seemed odd, but the texture was fantastic and I felt you didn't really want to spoil it with the various accoutrements that usually come with sashimi.

Worked out about £30 a head with a beer each - and we left full. Will return! 7 or 8. One of the two.

The Anchor & Hope is still my favourite restaurant

2011-07-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

It never fails - it just never fails. If Mr Michelin dished out stars simply for food - let's ignore the knockabout chairs and tables and occasionally sharing a table with someone you don't know - then I would have thought that the A&H would be deserving of a star. Wouldn't it? You tell me - maybe I'm blinkered with a bias of loving food there for many a year.

Five of us decided to go large on the mains and share pnly a couple of starters. The omnipresent crab on toast - a barrage of flavour as ever and also sand eels with aioli were a great start. The sand eels offered up a similar crunch to a whitebait, but without the usual over-crumbing that your standing whitebait starter can suffer from.

Mains were an enormous tranche of Beef Wellington - resplendent with mushroom pate and foie grass (at a decidedly steep £26 - well for the A&H anyway). Another great stable - the rib of beef with chips was spot on: the charred, salty outside of the ribs is magnificent here. The chips have been hit and miss before here but not today - crunch and softness inside. Slow-cooked pork belly was immaculate - crunch and softness again here with seemingly most of the fat rendered out and through the strands of meat. The winner though was marrow stuffed with a wonderful gutsy veal ragu. £19 for this (supposedly serving two).

In a miracle of belt-loosening there were desserts. Pistachio cake knocked the other desserts (including the ever-excellent subtly burnt-tasting praline ice-cream) into a sizeable cocked hat, retaining plenty of moisture.

Staff bantered away with us - although one bloke seems a bit - well - strange with a rictus grin that would put Gordon Brown to shame. But have we been going there for the staff? Doubt it. So pleasing that after so many years it hasn't lost its inventive touch for turning out hearty food. 8.

Banh mi at home

2011-06-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hooray for getting internet back at home. To celebrate, I made banh mi. It's not go to the extent in London where you can barely turn a corner without finding a banh mi but they're popping up everywhere. Having gorged on them in Boston last month (hardly the home of banh mi, but nonetheless...) I thought I'd try to make them.

Ingredients:

- Daikon, carrot and cucumber strips soaked in rice vinegar and sugar for the afternoon
- Mayonnaise and pate to smear on either side of a split baguette
- Pork from the barbecue that has been marinaded in lime juice, fish sauce and sugar
- Coriander to liberally toss into the baguette

It worked! It tasted like I remembered.

Small victories. The other guys who were in also enjoyed them - although they're probably just being polite. Now to source a Vietnamese bakery for a proper baguette with that crunch you don't get in a normal shop bought effort...

3 months of eating North London: Pt 2: Big Apple Hot Dogs, Red Lion and Sun, Highgate

2011-06-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hot dogs fall under the gamut of sausages that are a serious weakness of mine. Was delighted to discover that the Red Lion and Sun pub up Highgate hosted the much-talked-about Big Apple Hot Dogs.

It's only a hot dog - it can't be that wonderful, can it? Grab-and-go food extraordinaire. Anyhow, up reaching the pub, a cheery man caught our eye, winked and waved an enormous sausage at us. Insert fnar fnar here; I'm not going to get drawn into Nigel Slater innuendo here.

Anyhow, pints bought from the pub, there were the standard hot dogs available and also a special Big Pole. An enormous 12-inch whopper. Fnar fnar #2. Anyhow - I opted for a standard hot dog, having already eaten earlier.

All I can say is that for what is essentially the quickest of fast food - served up in about 10 seconds for £3.50 - this is nothing short of sensational, I'll stick a photo in but I doubt I'll do it justice:

Well seasoned, dense, moist meat (fnar away at your pleasure) with the correct snap of the casing as you bite into it. Abiye who runs the cart is a gent and his enthusiasm is infectious; you really want his venture to succeed, and from the sounds of his pleas on twitter - he's overloaded with work and therefore this is going places.

Apparently the guy who makes the sausages is a maverick and makes only for Abiye and his cart and prefers to be called a meat technologist than a butcher. You can call him what you want - he's just given me a "fast food" epiphany. 9!

3 months of eating North London: Pt 1: Yum Cha, Camden

2011-06-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have moved from Blackheath to Hampstead for 3 months. Long story, but it means I get a chance to eat stuff somewhere else I probably wouldn't be arsed to eat up.

Wandered through Camden on my first Saturday up there and was told of a good dim sum place in between Chalk Falk and Camden. Wandered in just as they were opened and tried my usual staples: prawn dumplings and char siu (pork) cheung fun - both as you'd find in most places. Maybe they're hard to get wrong. Went randomly off-piste to try broccoli with garlic sauce which was certainly heavy on the garlic; I'm not complaining - and the broccoli still had a bite. Broccoli is ruined when well-done.

Winner for me was the "crystal" prawn and scallop dumpling - slightly tacky skin revealing both the prawn and scallop flavours - was expecting the scallop to get beaten up by the prawn but no, it was there...

Should have got a 2nd serving but was bulging at the seams by now. Service was perfunctory and unsmiling. Should I expect any more? Will be back - half price dim sum on Monday-Wednesday isn't something I'll turn my nose up at. 7.

Lotus Floating Restaurant - E14

2010-11-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

Repatriation has involved a short-term rental for a month or so in Docklands. In my first weekend of wandering around this modern, barren place, I was pleased to note a number of potential restaurants to visit. Thomasina Miers opening a Wahaca there, Ubon, Royal China and also a curious floating chinese restaurant opposite my apartment. Starving, having shuffled from another short-term place in Central London, there was really no excuse to take the 3-minute walk across the canal.

I love places where the opinion is divided on the various food review websites and Lotus was no different. Most of the "Food 0, Atmosphere 0, Service 0" reviews that proliferated the London Eating website were due to the abrupt and rude service. These were punctuated with 10s for the food. Music to my ears. You could slap me round the head with a kipper but if the food was good, I'd be coming back. Thankfully the many zero-reviews here once again said more about the diners than the food.

It was a quick in-and-out for me. In case you were wondering, service was perfunctory - but did the job. That's all I want. 5 different dishes: pastry parcels of char siu, the same meat in cheung fun (those awkward flat sheets), prawn "har gau", simple fried dumplings and my one deviation from the standard fare, pork with pickled radish.

Let's cut to the chase - aside from the pastry parcels of char siu that were a little too sweet, everything was done as you'd expect, but the distant winner were the pork with pickled radish dumplings. Inside the thin, glutinous wrappers (of the ilk that you'd find surrounding the prawn har gau) was a crunchy mixture of pork, radish and five-spice seasoning - wonderful texture and flavour. The other winner were the home-made fried pork dumplings. Wonderful thin, crispy skin containing a seriously meaty hit of minced pork - and well seasoned too.

I looked around the restaurant to see that, aside from one guy with his extended chinese family, I was the only "westerner" there. It's often said that this is a good sign for a foreign restaurant on these shores. I can't disagree, and with 4 weeks left over the road, I'll be back - most probably more than once. Orange juice, 5 dim sum plates and chinese tea - £16. And a worthy 8.

The Blueprint Cafe

2010-11-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

Back in London for good after 7 months away in Dublin. Being away from London makes you realise a) how much you underuse it when you're there and b) how much you miss it. A wander around Shad Thames to sniff around a potential place to live also afforded me the chance to visit the Blueprint Cafe from a friend who works in the industry and has 5 times the interest and knowledge in food and restaurants than I have.

Naturally I was keyed up to go largely through excitement of being back in London again. I tend not to really comment on the restaurant itself but it was lovely - plain white, unfussy and with a lovely view right on the Thames in the buzzy restaurant area where other Conran restaurants reside.

And so to lunch. Opted for a £6 house cabernet sauvignon that was sharp but palatable. Started with the coarse jellied terrine - terrine is a theme clearly given I'd had some at the Pig's Ear in Dublin a couple of months ago. This actually disappointed - a relatively small slice with some cornichons that lacked crunch and for a small slice I was expecting some intense flavour - but it really was quite flavourless. The tiny dot of mustard that came with the dish certainly packed a punch.

Naturally hoping for better things for the main - a simple dish of chicken with fennel and celeriac. I've only really had celeriac as part of the restaurant staple - remoulade so having this was a change. The resulting simple dish was an absolute stunner. Three ingredients, perfectly cooked, all complimenting one another. Aniseedy fennel, buttery celeriac and perfectly cooked chicken. The chicken was wonderfully bronzed and charred on the outside with addictive salty skin and still very moist and full of flavour inside. Accompanied with a punchy green parsley-laden sauce - if I could remember back to everything I've had that is wonderful this year, this would be top 3 material. A joy.

The restaurant slowly filled up to half-capacity and included a courting couple, a huge, jolly table of old friends, a family with a well-behaved youngster and four twenty-somethings (one of whom claimed "the menu here is a bit weiiirrd" - which couldn't have been further from the truth - it was solid, English cooking. Despite the misfiring starter, places like this should be far fuller. £24 inc tip for a large glass of wine and two courses. 7.

Ragu obsession post #1: Sausage and fennel ragu

2010-09-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

Early forays into cooking in my early twenties that didn't involve just putting something breaded into the oven usually were something spagbollish. Over time I've become slightly obsessed with tomato-based meat sauces. I've slowly, through adoption of various recipes and ingredients (some faithful, some heathen), refined a handy spag bol - sorry, ragu alla bolognesa - not for digesting today, as last night I stumbled upon a great ragu.

I'd always want to try pairing the aniseedy glory of fennel with a really gutsy Italian sausage in a pasta sauce. Italian sausages are hard to come by in Dublin - there seems to be quite a uniform light beige mush of a sausage in Ireland. The rough, coarse, artisan sausages of the UK haven't seem to have hit the shelves yet (please do correct me on this one). Given the lack of salsiccia, I thought I'd try and make the ragu with a "premium" supermarket Irish sausage.

Fried a fairly large onion for 20 minutes to properly start to soften it, and then added (based on reading a number of different recipes), 3 teaspoons of fennel. Sounds a lot, but one recipe called for 2 tablespoons! Fried the fennel with the onion for 2-3 minutes and then in with the 12 chipolatas, about 450g of meat, sans casing. These were fried vigorously to brown and knocked around to break them down for a good 5-8 minutes and then heat up full whack for a glass of red wine to boil down and enrich the meaty mixture. The obvious canned chopped tomatoes (1 and a half cans) along with a teaspoon and a half of sugar and a teaspoon of salt - and it was left to putter along for a good hour and half as is the case of all ragus. The longer the better, but it was already mid-evening Chez thepieshaveit.

The resultant tangy, sticky ragu was an absolute joy. Served with tagliatelle and a fair few shavings of parmesan, wonderful stuff. I can heartily recommend the above, it's so easy to do. The fennel just works so well with the sausage - to use the food cliche "Takes it to another level".

Cringe.

The Pig's Ear, Nassau Street, Dublin 2

2010-09-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday in Dublin, another chance to tick off one of the Michelin-friendly restaurants. Friendly with Michelin, friendly on the pocket. The Pig's Ear offer a 3-course lunch for €19 - "Good honest Irish fare with a modern touch".

Sat in a simply decorated (white walls, wooden floors) room over looking the greenery of Trinity College, it's certainly relaxed enough to dine - and the dining area (at least on this floor) still had 20 of its 40 covers still there when arrived at 2.30pm for a late sitting.

The starter was a country-style terrine. A livery slice of savouriness, wrapped in what seemed to be bacon, but given the sinewy texture of its wrapping, it could quite easily have been wrapped in the title of the restaurant. Pleasantly flavoured - but maybe underseasoned as it wasn't bursting with flavour. The usual cornichons made a pleasant addition, and the Lyons Tea and fruit chutney was a pleasant (if maybe slightly overly sweet) accompaniment.

On to the main, duck with greens and broad beans. Came with a flavourful sauce that complimented the duck - honey and cinnamon in there - but the broad beans were a let-down. Dry, chalky, and desperate in need of some sort of liquid to remove the dry taste in my mouth - even when eaten with the duck, which thankfully was exemplary. Moist meat, crispy skin - eat everything and leave the bone behind.

Dessert was perfectly executed. Lemon rice pudding: not too lemony, and definitely not too sweet which is always the danger when the rice pudding reduces and intensifies. A lovely caramelised skin on top and a playful addition of that popping candy that harks back to the early 80s - raises a smile but doesn't intrude into the rest of the dish. The dish of the day after a stop-start beginning.

A fair-sized American gent sat on the table next to me and blocked out what was a nice view of Trinity College - he zipped in and out for the fish of the day - plaice - and was already booked in later that week with golfing friends for a slap-up dinner. Given the one or two glimpses of excellence here, I'm sure he and his golf friends can console themselves after four hours of frustration in the open-air with a good meal to look forward at the end of the day. 6 or 7. Can't decide.

Ananda, Dundrum, Dublin 14

2010-09-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

And so to lunch. A lazy Saturday, so I've decided recently, demands a long lunch. Gets you out of the house, spritely, and looking forward to what lay ahead - possibly days in advance. So I decided to "do" all the Michelin-recommended places in Dublin, starting with the non-starred residences - those where Mr Michelin suggests you should be getting a good meal. Given the current economic woes over here, I was hoping for some relatively good lunch offers, and it was just that that you get at Ananda.

Ananda is a plush-looking restaurant right on the edges of the multi-cine-shopping-eating-singing-dancing-o-plex that is Dundrum Shopping Centre. Walking into the place is quite eery: two flights of wide, very quiet stairs before entering a modern, well-decked out - clearly not your average Indian - restaurant. Very quiet, although it was 2pm, but only 10-15 people in there.

Lunch: they offer an "Indian Tapas" starter, meat or vegetarian, followed by a selection of the classics, plus tea or coffee for €16. Which is pretty good going for over here. There's a tikka massala there and rogan josh, but I thought I'd try (after my meat tapas), a lamb biryani, having had a couple before now that I've either been too dry or too greasy.

The starter was very nicely presented - undoubtedly (shame about the quality of my blackberry camera!)

The lamb seekh kebab was as you might expect it. Solid: in both senses of the word. The chicken supreme was an oddity, moist but not necessarily with much flavour but sat on a small mound of delightful beetroot chutney that was had enough spice to provide a punch to sit alongside its natural sweetness - a real winner from the starters. The spicing of the batter on the single prawn was also superb, with the batter remaining crisp but not soggy - easily done. Back down to mundanity again with a white fish fritter that sat on a some rather tasteless yoghurt. Some glimpses of the quality available, though, in the tapas.

The main course was excellent: a fair-sized service of biryani, with all good meat, still moist, and - hurrah! - the biryani wasn't too greasy or dry, a real winner, served alongside a mild curry sauce that I was expecting to have more of kick and was slightly disappointed (despite not being a vindaloo fiend) that this wasn't the case. Very moreish too unlike biryanis I've had before that seem to tail off towards the 2nd half of the dish.

€16 plus a bottle of Tiger brought things to €24 including my tip. I'd quite like to go back to eat off the main menu to see what they can unfurl in terms of non-standard curry fayre. 6.

Restaurant reviews

2010-09-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

Given that I've given myself an outlet to talk about food - cooking and dining out - I thought I'd start off with a short polemic (if that's possible) on restaurant review website. I microcosm of what I'm talking about comes in the form of a review I noticed on the (excellent) www.london-eating.co.uk website that is effectively a free-for-all restaurant for restaurant reviews, and is stacked with comments - I've put a few on there before now.

This particular review is for Mien Tay, that AA Gill recently gave an esteemed "8" for its new opening on Lavender Hill in Battersea. The review states:

"Tried this place out, tasted ok, wouldn't go again."
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0

Now the food tasted OK. That to me is probably somewhere between a 4 and 6. 2? Was the squid chewy? Did they burn the fried rice? Kindly explain, o anonymous reviewer. Service and Atmosphere got a 1 - were you sat outside directly in the path of local buses spewing out exhaust? Value for money 0. Having seen the menu, I can safely say that you're not getting anything below a 5 for Value for Money: one of the newspaper reviews called it criminally cheap. Anyhow - I just wanted to give this reviewer 1/10 for his efforts. Having said that, maybe he owns the Vietnamese place opposite (should there be one).

For what it's worth any reviews I do will get a single mark - out of 10 - and that's just for the food. I'm not here to rate service.