Hush Brasserie

Hush Brasserie
8 Lancashire Court
Brook Street
London
W1S 1EY
www.hush.co.uk
Date visited: Saturday 9^th April 2011
Attendees: Myself, The Quiff and Apple Geek
Price of meal: approx £18 per person for 3 courses with 50% off cocktails are £9 each

After a lazy brunch at Smith of Smithfields we had a lazy walkabout, a wander around the Saatchi Gallery and the V&A, and a bit of shopping although le Quiff and Apple Geek swore they would not shop. Soon it was dinner time and we were wondering down New Bond St looking for Hush. Apple Geek was sent off on a reconnaissance mission and as he leapt and bounded like a gazelle peering into alleyways and possible mews entrances, le Quiff and I watched. Soon after he turned back, waved manically for us to come – he had found it!

Not a very good view out of the window we sat next to

Hush is located off the main road in a beautiful cobbled mews which is quiet, clean and surrounded by pretty historic looking buildings. You can dine alfresco at Hush on a nice day. Our table was inside the restaurant which is really beautiful too; hints of many French themes; think quaint Provence, think ostentatious Louis XIV baroque, think modern slick French restaurant. We are in the main dinning room on the ground floor but there is a private hire room and bar upstairs where the toilets are – the toilet makes me think of large homely luxury cottage in Provence with l’occitane products. We are given the special offer menu which is a pared down a la carte.

Starter:
Myself: Organic salmon tartare with lemon oil and chilli with toasted slices of sour dough bread, tap water
The Quiff: Spring pea soup with Welsh rarebit toast, Bond 75 cocktail – has gin, mint and lychee juice amongst other things
Apple Geek: Salt and pepper squid with tartare sauce, Mayfair cosmo – Absolut Citron Vodka, Grand Marnier, Cranberry Juice, Fresh Raspberries

The Bond 75 cocktail standing behind well weighted salt and pepper dispensers

The Mayfair cosmo in 1920 style champagne glass, is this what makes it 'Mayfair'?

The food came really quickly and we assumed this was because we were eating early and the restaurant was quiet. The drinks came not long after we started eating and both the Quiff and Apple Geek enjoyed them. The Bond 75 was sweet but refreshing and the Mayfair cosmo was nice but we couldn’t work out what about it made it a ‘Mayfair’ cosmo – answers on the back of a postcard if you can tell me!

Sourdough toast and salmon tartare

A radioactive green pea soup with Welsh rarebit on the left

Calamari and tartare sauce in background

The first thing to say about our starters was that they were big portions. Le Quiff had a huge bowl of soup with a generous slice of rarebit which would have sufficed as a lunch on its own. I tried some of the rarebit which had good flavour and le Quiff said the soup was very good. Apple Geek said his squid was ok. I tried some and I don’t know why they battered the squid rings and the batter was a little too thick, so it was calamari really. Neither was it salt and pepper but the batter was a sort of mild curry flavour so other than the fact that it wasn’t really what it claimed to be apart from squid it tasted quite nice and the squid wasn’t over cooked. My salmon was very nice and well seasoned, the capers were good and there wasn’t too much raw onion in the mix (as with my complaint with SOS, if you are going to put raw onion in something you have to say no matter how little you put in!) and it was very finely diced as was the chilli which wasn’t too strong. The toast was thin, crispy and tasted very nice. I enjoyed the salmon but couldn’t finish it; I was already feeling full and didn’t know how I would tackle the main course.

Our plates were cleared away quickly and our mains came just as fast, I still had the taste of salmon in me mouth!

Main Course:
Myself: whole roast sea bass with lemon and thyme
The Quiff: slow roast belly pork with Mayfair cassoulet
Apple Geek: Hush hamburger with cheese
To share: Aspen chips (parmesan and black truffle) and green beans with garlic and shallot

The sea bass

Pork belly and Mayfair cassoulet

Hush burger with ketchup

Chips and beans

Waitress was sure to let us know that our mains didn’t come with anything on the plate other than what was stated so we decided to get the side dishes. Appearance wise we liked the fact that there plates were individual and different – nice touch. Apple Geek said his burger was very good and liked the thought put into the placing of the burger’s garnish. Le Quiff enjoyed his pork belly and was impressed with the crackling on it and though he liked his cassoulet couldn’t see what made it a ‘Mayfair’ cassoulet rather than a regular cassoulet. Neither were there any vegetables in it as the waitress had said. My sea bass very nice – moist and I don’t recall getting any stray bones in it. I liked the fact that you get half a lemon wrapped in muslin to stop the pips falling on to the fish.  I couldn’t finish the fish, especially with the side dishes which we shared. The chips had great flavour and I really liked the black truffle with it but they were a bit soggy and not crisp enough. The green beans also had great flavour and were nicely al a dente but could have been fresher, they were a bit limp.

Our plates were cleared away quickly again, the dessert menu handed out. We had been served by the same waitress throughout and she now came speeding round for our order dessert but as our first two dishes were so big we asked if we could have a 10 minute breather before ordering. After about 15 minutes we were ready to get dessert but the previously super attentive waitress kept speeding pass as if we weren’t there. And here I have to do justice to Apple Geek – the waitress was walking pass our table and he SAID to her ‘we’d like to order please?’ and she ignores him! How rude, how rude, how rude? Service was quite good up until that point but that is terrible – we’re all disgusted-repulsed-offended-outraged-insulted and in shock! After we recover (we’re not dramatic at all) the Quiff gets the attention of another waitress and we order.

Dessert:
Myself: salted fudge ice cream
The Quiff: warm valrhona chocolate pot
Apple Geek: sticky toffee pudding with crème fraiche

Delicious salted fudge ice cream

Warm chocolate pot with biscuits

Sticky toffee pudding

The restaurant was busy now but the dessert came with lightening quick speed and we wondered how they did it all so quickly? Anyway overall the desserts were very good and we all enjoyed them. I really enjoyed my ice cream which tasted just as described you could make out both fudge and salt it came with stick of honeycomb dipped in chocolate which was also very nice. Dessert was cleared away quickly and the Quiff got an espresso and after a while we get the bill, visit the toilet and leave – no tip for the waitress other than be consistently attentive.

The espresso

Summary: Hush is in a great location and setting and the service would have been very good if the waitress had not been so bad at the end. The food was certainly worth it with 50% off, it was tasty and the portions were generous. It wasn’t quite fine dinning which is what it seemed to be aiming for but I felt it was more like good homely food – a bit like the decor that seemed to be aiming for one thing but wasn’t quite one thing or another but worked well.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen

Gourmet Burger Kitchen
13 – 14 Maiden Lane
Covent Garden
London
WC2E  7NE
http://www.gbk.co.uk
Date visited: Saturday 26^th February 2011
Attendees: Myself and Scarer of the Month
Price of meal: approx £10 each

I have not seen Scarer of the Month for 2 years and so when she turned up in London from Canada saying if I was to see her I have to buy her dinner I agree. There was not much this or there about it, Scarer of the Month only generally eats meat, carbs and cheese so GBK was the perfect option.

After a stroll from the British Library, past Euston, down Tottenham Court Road, via the British Museum, down to Covent Garden we stopped for dinner at GBK. The restaurant looked busy but we got a table straight away. Knowing Scarer of the Month’s eating habits I didn’t really need to ask her what she wanted just what she wanted to drink. I looked through the menu and I really like the choice they give you but apart from the Kiwi burger I always think the other ones are just a classic burger with different sauces. I’m quite sure that when I first went to GBK however many years ago that it wasn’t just the sauces that were different but there was filling/ extras that were more inventive. Anyway, reminiscence over – I go to the counter and order.

Myself: Classic burger and a tap water
Scarer of the Month: Cheese burger with no mayo, no salad, no relish, coke
To share: Large portion of chips

Simple classic burger

Cheese and burger

Chips chips chips

So we chat and laugh and reminisce as our food arrives. My classic burger is very nice and I enjoy it much.  The chefs in GBK must churn out so many burgers and yet in all my visits I’ve not had one which I thought was bad luckily. The meat was done well and in all my times going to GBK only a few times have I had hard bits in the meat that I couldn’t chew. The relish was nice and sweet, the tomato and lettuce was fresh enough. I picked out the few thin slices of raw red onion. I ordered our burgers to be medium and Scarer of the Month wanted hers to be done a bit more but it wasn’t too rare for her and she seemed to enjoy it and woofed it down despite showing me the interior a few times. The chips were very good, no complaints there. All in all a really yummy dinner.

No problems with the service it was efficient, no fuss and non intrusive.

We didn’t have anything else and after we finished eating we left.

Summary: Yes I do like GBK and have been to a few different branches. It does it’s job well – cheap filling, good quality. I’ve had quite a few different burgers from there, tried the salad, had a few milkshakes and even a fab lolly from there. I will be back no doubt.

 

A summary of my Kinver eating weekend

A summary of my Kinver eating weekend
Friday 20^th August 2010

Scheduled in the calendar was a weekend in Kinver in the company of The Quiff and Apple Geek – this was part of an on-going month long set of celebrations. I would like to share my experience of my weekend away through the medium of food as there was quite a bit of it …

On Friday evening after work I caught the train up to Sandwell and Dudley and was met at the station by my chuffer, The Quiff, who drove me to my lodgings for the weekend – the lovely home of Apple Geek. I was greeted by Apple Geek at his door and after warm salutations and putting my bags down was greeted by a beautiful cake. Apple Geek had baked the cake his very self, iced it and everything! I was touched and instantly gained 10lbs by just looking at it!

After this and thats Apple Geek put some cheesy ciabatta balls to warm up in the oven before the main meal. The Quiff was tasked with putting together some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip the bread in. I restrained myself from having any of the bread though they smelt lovely. I wanted to save myself for my dinner which Chef Apple Geek would be cooking and I was looking forward to.

Dinner on Friday night, as cooked by Apple Geek with the Quiff as Sous Chef:
Myself, The Quiff and Apple Geek: Pork medallions in a cider apple sauce with fat chips and vegetables

Pork with chips and vegetables

Pork with chips - Apple Geek's meal

The chips were already in the oven when I arrived so Apple Geek pan-fried the pork whilst The Quiff microwaved the vegetables in the bag. I have not knowingly had vegetable cooked this way before but I heard it was a good way of cooking them as it meant they kept lots of nutrients? The sauce the pork came in was very nice, slightly sweet and quite light. The pork was done perfectly – the meat was cooked through (very important with pork) but was still moist and not at all chewy or tough, something that is easy to do with pork. The chips were my kind of chips – fluffy on the inside and nice and fat so you can get a real bite of it. I was most impressed with the vegetables. Although I can’t tell you what the nutritional values were of these microwaved ones were compared to boiled vegetables I thought they tasted very nice and had the right amount of crunch to them and it was a good varied selection of broccoli, carrots and beans. There was plenty of food and we ate until we were stuffed.

After a chat and I believe some TV we returned to the kitchen for dessert which we couldn’t shovel down immediately after dinner as we were all so full.

Dessert
Myself, The Quiff and Apple Geek: Intensely chocolately mini pots of chocolate

Intensely chocolately chocolate pots (and spoon)

I think Apple Geek got them from Marks and Spencers and they were wicked! Very chocolatey but not too sweet, consistency was like a thick paste which meant it had a little bite, the chocolate would roll about in your mouth coating it before falling down the gullet and it left a residue on the spoon that you had to consciously scrape off. The pot was just about the right amount per person as it was so thick and intense. Yum yum yum M&S – I am impressed!

Saturday 21^st August 2010

A nice lie-in, a slow waking and lovely hot powerful shower to start the day. Apple Geek was working so I spent a delightful few hours with the Quiff. Breakfast was a cup of Darjeeling and cereal then we went for a trip to Stratford upon Avon – the home of the greatest British writer, William Shakespeare.

Othello Bar and Brasserie
Mercure Stratford-upon-Avon Shakespeare Hotel
Chapel Street
Stratford-upon-Avon
CV37 6E
http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-6630-mercure-stratford-upon-avon-shakespeare-hotel/restaurant.shtml
Attendees: Myself and The Quiff
Price of meal: approximately £10 pp, including tip

We had lunch in the pretty historic town at the Mercure hotel’s Othello Bar and Brasserie. The Quiff said he and Apple Geek had eaten here when they visited Stratford-upon-Avon. The exterior is Tudor in style and I suspect that it is heavily reconstructed and/ or modern. The interior has dark wooden floors, fairly bare with dark furniture and widely spread out tables – it was nice that the tables were not regimentally set out and generally allowed much space between them. We were sat at one of the window seats and given menus. There seemed to only be two members of waiting staff and the restaurant was not busy but service was slow – slow to take our orders and slow for the food to come, although I note the drinks came quickly and service was generally friendly. Both myself and the Quiff noticed this and I wondered whether it was because we are used to the rush of things in London, generally service outside of London a little slower and laid back?

Lunch:
Myself: Vegetarian club sandwich containing halloumi, avocado, tomato and lettuce with crisps
The Quiff: Aberdeen Angus burger with chips

Dissection of vegetarian club sandwich

Burger and chips, ketchup in shot glass

The Quiff’s burger was a bit small I thought but it seemed fun that his chips came in a soup bowl. He said that the burger was good. My club sandwich was good too and I liked the thick chunks of avocado but did not feel that the halloumi needed to be deep fried. The food did the job and was not bad, decent for what it was , for the location and price. After lunch we went off to visit the house where the Bard lived!

We got back to Kinver about 5pm where Apple Geek was waiting and we had tea/ coffee and finally the yummy yummy cake.

Snack:
Myself, The Quiff and Apple Geek: Yummy yummy cake and a cuppa tea

Yummy yummy cake slices

Apple Geek must have put a lot of love into the cake when he was making it! The sponge had risen well and was slightly sweet, light and fluffy – I don’t  even remember chewing it! The jam was raspberry, spread on thickly but not over poweringly so and the icing, which I later found out was only put on to hide cosmetic imperfections, was a smooth butter cream and not too sweet – just to my liking as I am not a big icing fan usually because it is too sweet. The flavours came together well and I tried to eat it slowly so I could savour each chunk, it was so moreish. I find it a shame you can’t taste the cake and a shame I have to write about it as it makes me salivate just thinking about it… Yes reader it was yummy yummy and full of love!

I can’t remember what we did next but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Iron Chef America (so much better than the UK version!) then it was off for dinner.

The Old Gate at Heathton
Heathton
Calverley
Shropshire
WV5 7EB
http://www.oldgateinn.com/
Date visited: Saturday 21^st August 2010
Attendees: Myself, The Quiff and Apple Geek
Price: Unknown as The Quiff and Apple Geek kindly treated me, check out their website

The Old Gate is a pub, which to me seems to be in the middle of nowhere. It certainly did look, on the inside and outside, like a ye ol’ traditional country pub. We went inside and the staff enforced the impression of a ye ol’ traditional country pub. We walked through a series of small interconnected rooms to our table which had menus placed at the ready and the specials were on a wooden board.

Starter:
Myself, The Quiff and Apple Geek: Sweet chilli glazed chicken wings and breadboard with olive oil, olives, tomatoes and hummus to share

Chicken wings starter for one!

Breadboard with brown and white bread chunks, stewed tomatoes, black olives, hummus and olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a pot

The Quiff and Apple Geek had been here before and told me the portions were huge. The plate of chicken wings for one was huge for one person – if we only had that as a starter to share I think we would have been ok. The wings were very nice, decent, unfussy fare as you would expect from a country pub. The breadboard had big hunky chunks of bread and a generous smattering of all the other bits. I didn’t have any bread as I was saving myself for the main as I saw the size of the starters and of other people’s portions, but the olives, tomatoes and hummus was nice though I suspect that most of them came out of jars. The Quiff and Apple Geek did seem to enjoy it though and I was very tempted by the bread.

Main Course:
Myself: Salmon with nicoise salad
The Quiff: Steak and ale pie with chips
Apple Geek: Duck leg with mash and vegetables

Salmon with nicoise salad

Steak and ale pie with chips

The duck with mash and veggies hidden behind big bunch of parsley

Yup – the dishes were generous, good hearty fare. We all seemed pleased with our choices, the Quiff seemed to have so much in his dish it was leaping out. I found it a little unusual that there was a poached egg instead of a boiled egg with my salmon and salad also there was asparagus and no lettuce but it didn’t really matter as there was a lot of green beans, olives and the salmon was a decent size. The poached egg was runny too just how I like them. What was a little off putting for me was the amount of anchovies simply because I don’t eat them (childhood horror story you can ask me about it later). Thumbs up for the portion size, thumbs up for the heartiness, sorry for lack of seasoning for the fish and as the salad had a balsamic glaze there was no dressing so the salad was a little bland (admittedly I can add my own salt or ask for dressing) but all in all it was decent and encapsulated the pub in a dish. Apple Geek seemed to enjoy his duck, it was something he had last time and thought was excellent so I hope it lived up to experience. The Quiff said he really enjoyed his pie (and on tasting Apple Geek quipped that he thought it was the best out of the three dishes), which looked very generous on the meat front.

Unfortunately none of us could finish our main courses as they and the starters were fairly large but we all enjoyed a good hearty meal. As we were fairly full and there was yummy yummy cake waiting back at Apple Geek’s we didn’t have dessert but headed back. After we had digested dinner a little we had more yummy yummy cake we played Samba de Amigo on the wii to try and burn some calories.

Sunday 22^nd August 2010

Another lazy lie-in followed by a relaxed and lovely breakfast. Apple Geek had laid out a hotel buffet-style spread consisting of many pots of jam and different tubs of butter and greek yoghurt. Bacon was being cooked to a crispy finish under the grill and bread was baking in the oven. We had tea and began picking at whatever we felt like. I begun with unadulterated greek yoghurt, then had some of the seeded bread which I absolutely lovely oven fresh and warm (seeded is also one of my favourites). I layered this with President’s butter and some damson jam interspersing this with crispy salty bacon. Oh this is my idea of breakfast/ brunch – good food, excellent company and relaxed.

The breakfast spread

We worked off breakfast by hiking up to Kinver Edge, seeing some sandstone Troglodyte dwellings and then trekking back to the car. When we got back we revitalised ourselves with more yummy yummy cake and a cuppa tea and decided we wanted to have a barbeque lunch as the weather was good and we had the make the most of the last of the British summer. Apple Geek got some bits out of the freezer to defrost and then we went to watch more Iron Chef America – battle Egg Plant.

Lunch:
Myself, The Quiff and Apple Geek: a mixture of buffalo burgers, herb butter marinated chicken, sausages, salad with a honey mustard sort of dressing made by The Quiff, fresh baked garlic bread and the seeded bread from this morning.

The table spread

Meat on the barbeque

Again my kind of lunch – no not because there was lots of meat but leisurely and relaxed. It was all good food and well cooked by Apple Geek (he can barbeque anytime in my opinion). specifically I would like to mention that the garlic bread was particularly nice and the salad dressing made by the Quiff.

We ended with retro jelly sweets!

And that dear reader was the last of my weekend eats up Kinver way. I thoroughly enjoyed it especially the company and I have to say my favourite meal from the weekend was the cake, one of the nicest cakes I have had so a massive Thank you to Apple Geek for baking it. But I would like to take a moment here and thank both of my companions and hosts for the weekend, I had a great time – it was just what I needed.

Oh if only every weekend was like this one?

If it were you would be spherical like a globe my dear!