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Archive for the ‘English’ Category

Forge and Co, Shoreditch

Posted: April 7, 2015 in British, Cafe, English, London
Tags: Forge & Co, London Food Blog, Modern British, Restaurant Review, Shoreditch

Forge & Co located on Shoreditch High St offers a unique new social workspace for interested takers. Across four floors, Forge & Co lends it’s offices, hot desks, meeting rooms and event spaces to growing businesses without the burden of overheads. While on the ground floor their Canteen serves a contemporary menu from their British brasserie.

Set in a 1950’s Modernist building, their reasonably priced menu focuses on seasonal modern British cuisine that is locally sourced. They dish up a varied menu across breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner menu. There is also a friendly nod to the traditional English Sunday roast offering a selection of roast meats with all the trimmings. They also offer a great selection of share platters and drinks that include bespoke East London cocktails (of course!), a friendly and affordable wine list, and brewery-fresh local craft beers to cater to the after work drinks crowd.

Leek & Caerphilly cheese croquettes (£5.00) melted in the mouth. Beautifully crumbled, they were soft, creamy and cheesy. The mango and peach puree added a lovely sweetness, cutting through the fattiness of the croquettes.

The duck rillettes, toast & cornichons (£7.50) arrived filled with large doses of shredded duck. This was richly flavoured and textured with duck pieces however this was let down with the bread being slightly stale.

The smoked mackerel, potato salad & poached egg (£7.50) was overall a beautifully flavoured dish. The smoked mackerel enhanced the overall flavour of the potato salad, adding that extra depth of smokey flavour to each bite. With the addition of fresh herbs this gave the dish a lovely lift.

Buttered Bacon Brussel Sprouts

Posted: January 5, 2015 in American, English, Recipes
Tags: Bacon, Bacon Lardons, Brussel Sprouts, Buttered Bacon Brussel Sprouts, Deep Fried, Dinner Parties, Pancetta, Recipes, Recipes for Christmas, streaky bacon

The idea behind this recipe was inspired from my meal at Swine & Co, in Sydney and my visit to the US. They do a lot of deep fried brussel sprouts there! I wanted to do something similar for Christmas but it had to be quick and easy. I didn’t do a test run before Christmas, all I knew is that I wanted the brussel sprouts to be cooked in butter and bacon fat until the sprouts was blistered and brown. I wanted to create the illusion that they were deep fried by cooking the sprouts in bacon fat and butter. Then I wanted to top it off with crunchy bits of bacon to have the texture of crackling. This turned out really well and it was such a delicious way to enjoy brussel sprouts that I had to share!

Enjoy! x

The Porchester – Bayswater, London

Posted: December 23, 2014 in British, English, London, Pub Food
Tags: Bayswater, Bishop's Bridge Road, black pudding, British Food, Burgers, Burgers in London, English Food, Food Blog, food porn nation, London Food Blogger, London Foodie, London Restaurants, Paddington, photos of food, pictures of food, Porchester, Pub Food, Pub Grub, Restaurant Review, W2, W2 5AA

The Porchester is a gastropub located in the heart of Bayswater. Part of the Young’s Pub Group, it is a colourful local completed in warm autumnal colours. The interior skillfully strikes a balance between a modern and a traditional English pub. Similarly this concept carries through to the menu which is traditionally British but cooked with a modern flair.

To begin, we couldn’t resist ordering a few items from the bar snacks. The chicken wings (£4) fell off the bone and were slightly charred which gave them a lovely caramelisation. Cooked with chilli, they also offered up a light kick of spiciness. A ranch dressing was a nice accompaniment to these subtle yet spicy wings as it provided a deliciously cool and tangy contrast.

The chorizo and black pudding scotch eggs (£3.50) was the standout from the bar snacks. The black pudding and chorizo paste struck a great balance in the scotch egg as it was soft and subtle without undermining the delicate flavour of the runny egg. The textural contrast between the soft gooey interior of the egg against the crunchy crumb coating made it even more scrumptious.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Posted: September 4, 2012 in British, English, Fine Dining, London, Michelin Restaurants
Tags: Best Restaurants in London, chicken liver parfait, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, food porn, food porn nation, Heston Blumenthal, London, Mandarin Orient Hotel, Meat Fruit, one michelin restaurants in London, photos of food, pictures of food, Popular London Restaurants, Restaurant Review, Tipsy Cake

Second stop. Dinner by Heston.

Dinner was the most highly anticipated restaurant opening in 2011, receiving about 6,000 calls a day for restaurant reservations alone. eBay saw restaurant bookings auctioned off at the £50 mark. It even pipped its very own mothership, The Fat Duck (#13) and entered the San Pellingrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2012 coming in at 9th place.

The inspiration behind Dinner takes us back to Heston’s TV series, Heston’s feasts – (watch online) where he took a step back in time to resuscitate the long lost archives of British gastronomy. Each menu on the item references the period in British history as well as, the cookbook where it draws its inspiration from.

bread

complimentary bread

Here you have the meat fruit (c.1500) which was commonplace during the Tudor dynasty. It is quite the mutli-sensory experience and a true testament to Heston’s indisputable genius. It is a chicken liver parfait in the guise of a mandarin fruit and it is made with a mandarin glucose jelly to reach its carbon copy exterior.

The appearance is flawless, texture is velvety and the taste? Absolutely mind blowing.

You can watch how he makes it here.

meat fruit

Meat Fruit (c.1500) Mandarin, chicken liver parfait & grilled bread
£15.00 – must have item

The roast marrowbone (c.1720) again, is visually deceiving. Whilst served to resemble that of a marrowbone, you need to scoop out to reveal the wonderfully buttery little snails lurking on the inside. Surprisingly the anchovy lifts the butter and elevates the whole escargot experience. The pickled vegetables were not nearly as exciting but visually complemented the dish well.

roast marrowbone

Roast Marrowbone (c.1720) Snails, parsley, anchovy & mace, pickled vegetables
£15.50

Like all meat served at Dinner, the Fillet of Aberdeen Angus (c.1830) was prepared sous vide and finished off in the purpose built hearth to give it its smokey and charred coat.

With a perfectly pink centre, the beef was juicy and tender. It was served with a jus and mushroom ketchup and traditionally this is also served with a side of triple cooked chips. However, I was disappointed to learn that they were not serving the triple cooked chips due to not having the particular potatoes in season.

This is particularly heart breaking knowing how far we’ve come and with the knowledge of how arduous it is to even make triple cooked chips!

rib eye

Fillet of Aberdeen Angus (c.1830) Mushroom ketchup & chips
£38.00

The Black Foot Pork Chop (c.1860) was served with a pink centre and was another excellent main. This is served with cabbage, tender ham hock pieces, puffed pork scratchings and finished with a delicious Robert sauce which is historically served to the likes of Henry IV!

black food pork chop

Black Foot Pork Chop (c.1860) Hispi cabbage, lardo, ham hock & Robert sauce
£30.00

The tipsy cake (c.1810) is the second quintessential item you must have on this menu.

The brioche turned cake is drenched in copious amounts of alcohol, butter and cream. (Which is enough to make your heart turn). The glorious goo finds its way around each brioche segment and knows exactly how to disintegrate, melt and implode on you.

It just stops you in your tracks and is absolutely heart breaking.

Just wow.

The pineapple piece is coated and spit roasted in sugar syrup for 2 hours and while tasty, it’s the brioche that’s the real show stopper.

tipsy cake

Tipsy Cake (c.1810) Spit roast pineapple
£12.00

The White Hart, cocktails that eats like a meal

Posted: May 3, 2012 in English, Modern Australian, Neutral Bay, Wine Bar
Tags: best bars in sydney, Edible Cocktails, Heston Blumenthal, Neutral Bay, restaurants, The White Hart

When you enter the gorgeous British concocted setting, it is oh-so-dapper and swoons you with its dashing English charms. The White Hart in Neutral Bay is famously known for showcasing the best cocktails in the area, and it’s popularity is rising, encouraging a mass exodus from south of the bridge. Edible cocktails being the main attraction.

Ranked as #2 best bars in Sydney and recently dubbed the top honour of Best Small Bar of the Year in 2011, I was very intrigued to find out more. It offers an extensive boutique cocktail menu, fine wines, tapas and dining menu to boot.

What an absolutely stunning looking dish with its bright colours leaping out at me from the table. The taste of it was equally as appealing with the creamy saltiness of the garlic aioli fish sauce along the sweet tang of the white balsamic jelly.

I almost went for another one. I only curse the day I couldn’t have a faster metabolism.

edible cocktail breakfast mojito

breakfast mojito – serves 2

The breakfast mojito is your deconstructed version of your cuban cocktail. The breakfast drink crosses more into your high school science experiment.

You brush your teeth with the mojito toothpaste (and don’t forget your gums). Rinse any residual paste with the listerine mojito mouthwash and knock that bad boy right back. Nibble away at your candied mint leaf until it disintegrates, then take your syringe and shoot on up your dosage of rum. What an ingenious way to get wasted!