When we were last in South Africa, we went to Sirocco a few times for coffee. We could never resist their croissants despite usually always having had breakfast already. They served them with olive oil, which I thought was strange until I tasted it and grew to love them. I was lucky enough to be away for my birthday and, when Stephen asked me where I wanted to have breakfast, I knew immediately.

Sadly, they don’t serve the croissants with olive oil anymore (although I’m sure I could have asked for some on the side) but just with butter and jam. The croissants were as good as I remember though and I even tasted and enjoyed some of Stephen’s omelette. It was served with feta cheese and mushrooms and had a serving on toasted sourdough with squashed avocado on the side. One to repeat at home, definitely.

Oh, and you see those guys up there? They played happy birthday to me as I returned from the toilet. A lovely, sunny birthday.

Montagu was a strange place, like stepping back in time. We stayed at the Country House Hotel which has retained many of it’s original art-deco furnishings, they offered us sherry when we arrived to refresh us after our journey (locally produced and something the town is very proud of but it was 40 degrees outside, we were sweating hideously and very much in need of water) and had a pianist in the bar in the evenings. The water coming out of the taps was brown (the council were working on the pipes so not really the fault of the hotel) and the curtains fell down. While the place was charming in parts, it was also slightly shabby and could really do with some new carpets and bed linens.

Along with the sherry (they also make a lot of port and brandy, it’s too hot here to grow grapes needed for “normal” wine) the town is also known for it’s fruit and nuts. Montagu brand fruit and nuts are sold all over SA and the town has an enormous factory outlet selling every kind of dried fruit and nut you can think of, all of which are incredibly fresh and, mostly, very tasty.

We didn’t have a dinner reservation for the evening. We had a recommendation but that place turned out only to be open for lunch. Stephen was keen to eat traditional food in the hotel restaurant but the shabbiness put me off so we drove around (we could have walked, it’s not a big place but it was 40 degrees so we spent a lot of time in the car with the AC switched to MAX) until we found something we liked the look of. It wasn’t easy since most places didn’t have menus outside and we didn’t have a guide book but Jessica’s looked nice from the outside and had a garden.

The cooking was in stark contrast to what was going on in the rest of the town and when I looked at the menu was surprised to see they offered a tasting menu and included a number of options that were cooked sous-vide. It wasn’t Heston Blummenthal but it seemed much more forward-thinking and modern than what was going on outside of their front door.

The food was good, not mind-blowing but good quality ingredients cooked simply with just a few interesting touches. I had the scallops and risotto to begin with and Stephen opted for the potato and leek soup which was poured at the table. I think that’s considered rather passe in trendy London but again, I was surpised to find it being done here in this sleepy little town.

I moved on to Karoo lamb and Stephen had a trio of the same lamb, springbok and ostrich. None of it was cooked medium as they told us it would be but the accompanying sauces showed there was definitely skill in the kitchen and the potato accompaniments were superb. The side dish of vegetables weren’t up to much. Green beans were stringy and the carrots were incredibly al-dente. Those on the plate had received much more love and attention though and were well cooked and tasted like only vegetables that have been grown in hot sun can do.

If you happen to find yourself in Montagu then I’d definitely recommend Jessica’s. The Country House Hotel not so much (although I feel bad saying that because the staff were lovely and I’m sure brown water is really common in the country) but it is worth a visit if you’re interested in the art-deco movement.

Our first braai of the holiday, this one to celebrate New Year’s Day and made with fish that we picked up on the way back from a visit to the Waterfront. We’d actually already eaten two big plates of fish for lunch at Quay Four but there’s something about the warm weather that makes fish so appealing. It helps that fish is so fresh and plentiful in SA too. And much cheaper than here in the UK too.

The shrimp were cooked simply and then drowned in garlic butter and the angelfish was grilled with lemon, garlic and thyme. Angelfish has a meaty texture, a little like swordfish and works brilliantly on the barbecue since it remains firm and doesn’t fall apart. While it doesn’t have a hugely strong flavour, it certainly stood up to the marinade and the smoke.

Writing about Hawksmoor is not an easy thing to do. It’s a popular place and most people that are interested in food have already written about it, in a far more eloquent way than I can ever hope to achieve. I was planning to just let the pictures do the talking but the beautifully atmospheric lighting in the restaurant resulted in some pretty terrible photographs that don’t even come close to doing justice to the excellent food we ate on Sunday.

Regarded by almost everybody as the best steak in London, we visited the new Seven Dials branch on the last day of their soft opening which meant we got to eat enormous amounts of steak at 50% of the normal cost. And incredible stuff it was too.

The new restaurant is located on the site of the old Watney Combe brewery (which I didn’t know anything about until I read it on the website) on Langley Street in Covent Garden. It’s a cavernous, underground space that has been beautifully refurbished with many salvaged features, including parquet flooring from Christie’s auction house and proper London Underground tiling.

What particularly impressed me, (apart from the well-sourced, incredibly-flavoured, expertly-cooked, perfectly charred, beautifully tender, melt-in-the-mouth steak), was the care and attention that had been given to the rest of the menu. As with the original Spitalfield’s outpost, the cocktail list is extensive and quirky. We were here for Sunday lunch though and, apart from a couple of spicy bloody mary’s to start, were sticking to wine. That wasn’t a problem though since, as expected, the wine list was well thought out and reasonably priced.

On the food menu, there was plenty of fish to choose from if that’s your thing and an impressive selection of starters and side dishes. The steak is, of course, the main reason for visiting but the attention to detail applied to everything else lifts this place from “just” a steak house to a fully-fledged and faultless dining experience.

Starters of corned beef and clams in bacon broth stood out as being both accomplished and just innovative enough; this was good food, cooked well and without any unnecessary fiddly bits added.

The beef-dripping chips were easily the best I’ve ever eaten and the bone-marrow gravy was inspired. The two together created something akin to a Sunday roast and made me wonder if perhaps I should have ordered that instead. Stephen opted for the anchovy butter with his which resulted in a more traditional steak-and-chips affair but it was none the worse for it. He bucked the trend of the table and ordered the ribeye steak instead of the sirloin chosen by the rest of the group and it was a good decision. A slightly deeper, beefier flavour with an excellent charring from the Josper grill and the deft hand of the chef in charge. I couldn’t finish my steak so they wrapped it in brown paper for me to take home which made for a pretty good lunch the next day.

I would have happily paid full price for the food we ate on Sunday and hope to return soon to sample that Sunday roast. In the meantime, the bar is beautiful in its own right and well worth a visit. Quite how you’d manage to go there for a drink and not end up eating in the restaurant or at the bar though I don’t know. Which is no bad thing, in my opinion.

Hawksmoor.
Seven Dials,
11 Langley Street,
London.
WC2H 9JG

I first heard about Hotel TerraVina online some time last year. It’s a boutique hotel situated in the New Forest and was devised by the people who put together the Hotel du Vin chain. The emphasis is on good food and wine (two of our favourite things) and while staying there, you can also learn the art of sabrage.

When we were in Champagne a few years ago, we saw lots of people taking the tops off Champagne bottles with swords but never got the chance to try it ourselves. It seemed like the perfect birthday present for Stephen so I booked it and tried to keep it a secret until the day arrived.

I’m not very good at keeping secrets but I managed this one and on Wednesday afternoon, we drove down to the hotel where we were greeted warmly by the staff before checking into a beautifully decorated bedroom with a view over the nearby forest. The rooms are all named after different types of wine and are all individually decorated, many with roll-top baths in the rooms. The emphasis is definitely on quality with handmade toiletries from nearby Wiltshire in the bathroom and bespoke furniture in the bedroom made by local craftsmen.

As lovely as the room was, we were keen to investigate the well-appointed bar that we had spotted on our arrival. After perusing the open-faced wine cellar, we chose a glass from the extensive and well-researched wine list that specialised in Californian wine. Not the nasty, over-oaked type that was once associated with California but the perfectly balanced, full-bodied examples that we both love. After finishing our wine, we were led outside where Stephen was shown how to use the sabre to remove the Champagne cork by one of the hotel’s expert sommeliers. After the short lesson, it was Stephen’s turn and he did a great job of taking the cork off while making the whole thing look very easy.

Back in the warmth of the bar and while enjoying our Champagne, we were presented with the evening’s menu which had a good selection of both meat and fish dishes (there were probably some vegetarian dishes too but we didn’t register those) with a heavy bias on seasonal and local produce. We struggled to choose as everything sounded wonderful and it was obvious that a lot of time and thought had been put into creating a compact menu with quality ingredients.

I opted for the lasagne of crab and langoustine to start and Stephen chose the loin of rabbit. The presentation of both dishes was beautiful and the flavours certainly didn’t disappoint. Crab and langoustine lasagne is one of my favourite starters and the execution of this dish was stunning. The basil added a slightly unusual note that I hadn’t come across in this dish before but, coupled with the lemongrass, was a fragrant compliment to the sweet and perfectly cooked fish.

Stephen’s rabbit dish was heartier than my fish but was well balanced and just the right size to not be too heavy. Even though I’m not a big fan of beetroot, I could tell that this worked well with the earthy rabbit and was a great nod towards the change in season.

Neither of us could decide between the pork and the venison main courses so we had both with the intention of sharing. I preferred the venison and Stephen the pork so the decision was made for us quite quickly. The standout for me was the slow roast venison which just melted in the mouth. We fought over that as we did the black pudding that accompanied Stephen’s pork: a great combination and one I’ll definitely try again at home.

By the end of the two courses we were both reaching capacity but were so enjoying our time in the restaurant that we ordered a plate of cheese to share which we polished off with some dessert wine. I can’t remember what all the cheeses were but they were the perfect way to finish off a brilliant meal.

Things got a little hazy after that, for which I’ll blame the absinthe fountain. It was great fun and made even more enjoyable by the knowledgeable and charming barman who was happy to answer our questions. The full English breakfast we ate the next morning was definitely required to heal our heads and was prepared with just the same level of care and attention as the food had been the night before.

It was a brilliant trip and I can’t fault the food, the wine or the service. Since it was a gift, I can’t reveal the price here but it was great value and if you’re looking for a slightly unusual way to celebrate then I would definitely recommend the sabrage break. The hotel also offers a number of other wine breaks often with visiting winemakers which we hope to return for next year.

We spent last week in Devon and, on the way there, made a small detour to the Little Chef in Popham. I can’t remember if I’ve ever eaten at a Little Chef before, when I was small we always used to go to the Happy Eater (which I loved for it’s badges and lollipops) if we were on the way to somewhere but, having watched the Heston Blummenthal programme last year in which he attempted to re-brand the ailing chain, we thought we’d give it a go.

It wasn’t too bad actually. My scampi was a huge portion but well cooked without too much batter and fresh, crunchy fries. Stephen’s beef suet pudding had lots of meat in it which he said had a decent flavour but he wasn’t a fan of the mushy pea gravy which looked pretty unpleasant to me. The salad that accompanied my scampi (the only sign of anything remotely healthy on the entire menu) was limp and old and the mashed potatoes were tasteless and over-processed. We definitely ordered better than the table next to us though who had opted for the hamburgers which were of the rubbery, hockey-puck variety.

Just like on the TV show, the service was comically bad with lots of sour faces and people shuffling around miserably just like on the TV show. The restaurant itself was really showing the signs of wear and tear and was in desperate need of cleaning but it didn’t look like anyone was particularly inclined to do so. I don’t think I’d bother to go back but it was better than the McDonald’s or Burger King you usually find at a service station.

This post is hideously overdue and one of the reasons we got so far behind. Since we were away from home, it’s mostly a post about restaurants and I hate writing about restaurants. I like eating in them but I find it hard to know what to say about food if I haven’t cooked it myself.

It was a spur-of-the-moment trip, booked just a few days before we left for the bank holiday weekend trip so we hadn’t had much time to read up on the city’s culinary opportunities. We spent most of the Eurostar journey from St Pancras reading the guide book and panicking that we’d be forced to survive on beer and chocolate all weekend since we’d been so lax in booking restaurants.

We slept late on the first morning and missed breakfast so when we finally left our hotel, it was that weird time of day where we were too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. We got round this by eating croissants and drinking coffee in a small bar until lunch service opened. I opted for the club sandwich which isn’t typically Belgian at all but was what I fancied and Stephen went for the more traditional carbonnade of beef. Except my club sandwich came with egg which I don’t like so we had to swap. This definitely worked in my favour since the beef was was beautifully tender and fell apart at the slightest nudge of the fork. The flavour of the beer was obvious but not over-powering and while I probably wouldn’t have served this with chips, they were very good chips and worked well at sucking up any leftover sauce. Luckily for Stephen, the portion was huge so he got to eat the dish he had ordered as well as my unwanted sandwich.

We had booked to go on a beer tasting tour in the afternoon and, despite my huge lunch, by the time we arrived at the third bar, I was very glad to see that food was included. The food in question was pottekeis, a traditional Belgian cheese served with a heavy sourdough bread. Pottekeis is a soft cheese made from fromage de Bruxelles (a cow’s milk cheese) and fromage blanc which is a little like cream cheese. It’s said to smell very strongly although I didn’t notice it and is mixed with spring onions. I liked it, it’s not something I could eat a lot of since it has a mouth-drying texture to it and is very tangy but it was interesting to try and worked well with the sweeter Belgian beers.

That night, we ate at Belga Queen which was just down the road from our hotel and on the site of an old bank; the room itself retains many of the original features and is vast with high ceilings and ornate flooring. The food is modern-Belgian in style and uses beer in many of the dishes. I can’t remember what I ordered originally but it wasn’t available so I opted for lobster ravioli instead which was very good. The pasta was well made and there was plenty of lobster meat in a delicate, creamy sauce. Stephen wasn’t so enamoured by his rabbit rilletes, they were largely tasteless and there wasn’t enough bread.

I didn’t particularly enjoy my main course of rack of lamb. The portion was so big and the plate so over-crowded that it was difficult to eat, not helped by the fact that it hadn’t been trimmed very well. The sauce that was well-made and tasty to begin with quickly turned into a congealed mess and, while it worked well with the lamb, it didn’t work with oily beans at all. There were some roasted vegetables on the plate too in another, different sauce which just added to the confusion. The lamb itself was good and I enjoyed the mustard crust but again, another flavour too many.

Stephen’s sole meuniere was much better with a decent sauce and just the right amount of fish. The fries seemed a little out of place to me but they were well cooked nonetheless.

The service was mostly okay but we did feel hurried towards the end so left without ordering dessert, not that I would have had room for any given the huge portion of lamb.

So the next day we weren’t all that hungry and just grabbed some more croissants which we ate while making our way to the markets. We were hoping to find interesting things to take home from the food market but they were largely populated with fruit and vegetable stalls. Lunch was salad from an organic cafe in the centre of town.

Dinner on the Sunday night was much better since we were lucky enough to get a table at Le Pre Sale. This was the place that stood out the most to me in the guide book but there was a note to say we would need to book three weeks in advance. The concierge at the hotel said he didn’t think bookings were necessary at all, particularly not on a Sunday and that we should just turn up for a table. We arrived a few minutes after they opened at 7 and they were almost full. They managed to squeeze us in but told us we had to be out in an hour. Not a long, leisurely dinner then but we were happy to have been seated and knew what we wanted to order anyway: mussels.

There were other things on the menu, mostly fish but also some meat dishes. Most people were there for the same reason as us though and pot after pot of mussels cooked with various different orders streamed out of the kitchen. We got a bit worried when people who had arrive after us were served first but finally ours arrived: a kilo of mussels cooked in white wine for Stephen and the same for me with the addition of cream and garlic.

To say these were the best mussels we’ve ever eaten wouldn’t be an understatement but then it’s not something either of us are experts in. What we did notice, from our table right by the kitchen, was that the mussels were cooked for a lot longer than any recipe we’ve ever seen. Probably about 20 minutes instead of just until the shells are opened. This had the benefit of allowing plenty of flavour to penetrate the shell and didn’t affect the texture of the fish at all. A kilo of mussels is a generous serving but we managed it, along with the ubiquitous but very good fries. We didn’t need the allotted hour in the end but were glad to have it since the restaurant itself was a lovely place to be and full of locals that made for interesting people-watching conversation. It was all quite functional and the service was swift but, in contrast to the previous evening, was much more pleasant and enjoyable.

We had a full day on Monday but, as per the previous day, we weren’t very hungry and lunch was a quick sandwich eaten in a random cafe while we escaped the rain in St Giles and Ixelles. When we arrived at the station to catch our train back to London, I realised that despite being surrounded by waffles all weekend, I hadn’t eaten one. We had some time to spare so found a cafe and I ordered one with chocolate sauce. I liked the waffle itself but the chocolate was far too sweet. Perhaps I should have had cream too, to dilute it a bit.

And that was it, apart from some reasonable Eurostar food and plenty of complementary Champagne on the journey back to London (due to the lateness of our booking meaning that we could only get a “Leisure Select” seat on the way back).

Belga Queen
Rue Fossé aux Loups 32
1000 BRUSSELS

Le Pre Sale
Vlaamsesteenweg 20
1000 Brussel, Belgium

More pictures can be seen here.

We took the day off work on Friday and went down to Whitstable for the last day of the oyster festival. Since we were so close, it seemed silly not to go back to The Sportsman in Seasalter for lunch as we had enjoyed it so much last year.

The menu seemed shorter than I remembered previously but that’s no bad thing, I often find it difficult to decide what to eat when I’m out so a short menu makes things much easier. It didn’t take us long to decide what to order and both of us opted for fishy starters. To Stephen’s delight, they had herring on the menu which they had marinated themselves. He enjoyed it but it was slightly too herring-y for me. I did enjoy the firm texture though which struck me as being very different to the tinned variety.

I ordered the slipsole in seaweed butter as I hadn’t had either before. I was surprised when the fish arrived without any vegetables and while I appreciated the simplicity of the presentation I would have liked something else with it to cut through the richness of the fish. The seaweed butter was very good with a hint of garlic as well as the salty, seaweed flavour but it didn’t hold my interest for very long.

Sticking firmly to the fishy theme, I ordered the thornback ray which is the same dish I had last year. It was as good as I remembered, firm and meaty with a rich, nutty flavour from the butter it was cooked in and an acidic sauce to balance it all out. Having eaten so much fish to start with, it was a bit of a challenge to get through such a huge portion but I struggled on with just a little help from Stephen.

Stephen’s turbot was supposed to be brill but unfortunately they’d run out. In contrast to my dish, the turbot was rather small and there definitely weren’t enough vegetables but it was well cooked and the sweet, salty bacon was a real high point.

Both dishes were served with some mashed potatoes and some crushed, new potatoes which were fine but mashed potatoes seemed too heavy for lunch on a hot day and I was really disappointed that there weren’t more vegetables available especially since they’re so abundant at this time of year.

In hindsight, I think we should have spent more time studying the menu and started with something meaty to dilute the fishiness. And perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten all the brilliant bread so quickly and saved some to go with my slipsole.

The dining room seemed rather dark inside, and it has brightened up a bit in the pictures thankfully so that you can see things. We were seated at a table near the window, which was good because it allowed us to read the menus and study the interior to some degree. The room had very high ceilings and the walls were adorned with old paintings. The restaurant was half full in a rather curious way – one side was completely full and the other side was completely empty. This is obviously the empty half:

The waiter presented us with a selection of breads and a short menu from which to select from. We were lucky enough to be seated next to a table of people who were just finishing their starters and shortly afterwards, just starting their main courses, so we got to see a selection of dishes before ordering.

Seeing “SOS” on the menu as a starter, I immediately had to choose that as a starter since I had read about it being very Swedish. SOS stands for Smör, Öst och Sill, which means Butter, Cheese and Herring. A lot of traditional Swedish food is all about marinated herring, and as Kerri pointed out in a previous post, I love it. In the end three of us chose SOS as a starter and it was only Kerri who decided to branch out, opting for crayfish.

Being on a roll with fish, I ordered pike perch for the main course, as did Jan. The girls didn’t go for a second round of fishy goodness – Kerri chose veal and Lucy chose cheese pie which looked a bit like a very deep quiche.

Starters arrived first of course:

The SOS was really good, particularly the herring marinated in the garlic and chive sauce. There were two other types of herring, marinated in a butter sauce with some dill on top, and a traditional marinade with red onion. One of the cheeses contained carraway seeds, which was really good too. It did seem odd to most of us eat a slice of cheese with marinated herring, but it did go together well. I figured it was just a bit like eating cream cheese with salmon. More on fish and cheese to come though. Kerri’s crayfish starter was good too, with cumin in the sauce.

After we had finished these, our main courses arrived:

As I promised, there would be some more cheese-on-fish action. This time it was camembert on grilled pike perch. The pike perch was delicious, as was the baked camembert if eaten in small amounts. But not really together and not really a whole camembert at once. The roasted until almost dried beetroot bits were good too. Strangely enough, both Jan and I left half of our cheese behind.

Kerri’s veal was delicious, meaty and pink inside. Again though, the aquavit butter came in rather too large a portion, but it did complement the veal rather well. Lucy’s cheese pie was good too. We were rather too full after that to order dessert, so after paying we wandered outside and after ten minutes or so, found ourselves in a bar on a boat. Which was expensive (a common problem in Swedish bars) but a brilliant place to while away the evening.

Pelikan
Blekingegatan 40
116 62 Stockholm
Sweden

http://www.pelikan.se/

A bit of a break with tradition here; we decided to go out and eat something Spanish instead of cooking. We decided tapas was a good idea, and immediately thought to visit our local branch of Lola Rojo, which we have been to before and really enjoyed. However, it was closed due to it being a Monday. Which was disappointing, but turned out to be a good thing because it forced us to be more imaginative. Initially we thought of somewhere else nearby which we have also been to, but decided that it wasn’t as good. Then we thought of Casa Brindisa in South Kensington which is a little further away, but is really good. Again, we had been there though.

Then Kerri thought of somewhere else in South Kensington that someone had recommended… and as it turned out, they had a branch in Fulham nearer to us too… Tendido Cuatro. It did strike us just how many places there were to get good tapas.

We briefly toyed with the idea of ordering a main dish each or a paella to share but the tapas list was so tempting that we opted to order a selection of small dishes instead. This happens every time we eat Spanish food so it was inevitable really, the food was so good though that we are both determined to go back and try the paella soon.

Shortly after finishing a glass of sherry, we started with some marinated anchovies which were served with a selection of breads. These were beautifully soft and melty with a generous heap of garlic to compliment the intense fishy flavour.

As we were finishing these, out came the jamon. The flavour was good but we both agreed that the slices were a little too thick. Not that we let that stop us clearing the plate. Some Manchego was required here really but we foolishly over-looked that while ordering.

Next up was some tuna tartare with avocado served with an avocado puree and herring roe. This was very good, the avocado worked well with the tuna and there was just enough lime juice to cut through the fatty fish without over-powering it. Not a particularly appetising dish visually but probably our favourite of the night.

Of course, we had to have the pulpo. Stephen enjoyed this more than I did, the heavy-handed paprika felt very dusty in my mouth and made for a strange combination with the oil. I liked the addition of potatoes here to bulk out the dish but Stephen muttered something about authenticity which led me to believe he wasn’t so keen.

And finally, baby lamb chops with padron peppers. A big success, juicy and moist with a great chargrilled flavour and just perfect with the padron peppers. We were going to order a side dish of padron peppers but decided against it when we saw this dish included them. How I wish we hadn’t been so silly as we ended up fighting over these they were so good.

Aside from the good food, the waiting staff were friendly and attentive without being pushy. As we were about to leave they presented us with a tray of liquers from which we chose a complimentary drink. Not a great idea on a school night but a lovely way to finish the evening and a reminder of how things are done in Spain and should be done everywhere.

Tendido Cuatro
108-110 New Kings Road
Parsons Green
London
SW6 4LY