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.

Cafe Below

Cafe Below (previously The Place Below)
St Mary-le-Bow Church
Cheapside
London
EC2V 6AU
http://www.cafebelow.co.uk
Date: Tuesday 31^st August 2010
Attendees: Myself, the Baby and Gromit
Price of Meal: Approximately £7 – £8 for main and £3 – £5 for pudding

The Baby and Gromit had taken a day off work and arranged to take me for lunch near my place of work so I suggested we go to Cafe Below as I had heard it was good. I met the Baby and Gromit at the appoint hour at the St Mary le Bow church and down into the crypt we went. At the bottom of the stairs is an opening to a fairly narrow room which has a coffee bar on the right, tables and the kitchen/ serving area at the end. When you wander in further there is another room off the right which just contains tables.

The system is canteen – plonk yourself anywhere, help yourself to the jugs of water which are placed on tables and refilled regularly by the staff, go up and get food, pay, sit and eat. As we had booked we guessed that the table with the ‘Reserved’ sign on it was ours but wanted to check. We didn’t see any staff and so the Baby went to the coffee counter to let them know and I went to the kitchen bit to do the same. It was all a bit confusing I tell you! Anyway from our wander round we saw the menu on the blackboards next to the kitchen area where the cutlery is. The Baby and I went out to get food, the Baby was treating me, and Gromit went afterwards, treating himself.

The menu has as many vegetarian dishes as it does meat. The food was out on the counter being kept warm so you could see what you would get.

Mains:
Myself: spinach and gruyere cheese quiche with butternut squash chunks, rosemary potatoes and salad with a ginger and sesame dressing
The Baby: Asian vegetable ratatouille with basmati rice
Gromit: Steak sandwich with crisps and side salad

Spinach and gruyere quiche, salad and potatoes

Asian ratatouille with basmati rice

See how small the steak sandwich is, barely takes up any space on the plate, especially compared to the salad

Whilst the Baby and myself ordered and got our food straight away Gromit had to wait as his steak was being cooked to order – impressive but how would they cope when it’s busy? – We came towards to end of lunch time and it was extremely quiet.  Anyway his steak sandwich finally comes and it was cooked the way he wanted it but it was very small for the price and came with crisps, they couldn’t even stretch to chips – it was over £8! Value for money-wise it wasn’t worth it – poor Gromit! The Baby enjoyed her lunch. I tried a bit and the ratatouille sauce was spicy and good. I do find with ratatouille that the vegetables can be over stewed leaving them to be just a mush and this conformed but it tasted good. The quiche was very nice but the random chunks of butternut squash, although nice, was out of place with the spinach and gruyere. The salad was just leaves and although the dressing was nice I couldn’t taste ginger at all and only saw sesame. The potatoes were a little greasy and over cooked but decent with great roasted rosemary – crunchy and still just about fragrant.

Pudding:
Myself and the Baby: gluten free chocolate and chestnut cake
Gromit: Chocolate brownie

Chocolate and chestnut cake slice on the left and chocolate brownie on the right

The Baby had spied the gluten free chocolate cake whilst we were getting our mains and decided there and then that she wanted it. We shared a slice and it was very light, so it didn’t sit in your stomach like a brick but was but was densely chocolaty at the same time and not too sweet. We both enjoyed it lots, the Baby scraped the plate clean. Gromit was not too impressed with his. Not going into detail he said it wasn’t that great.  It had too many nuts he said, what kind of nuts I asked, walnuts? “Macadamia!” he announces in an authoritative voice, ah! I replied raising my eyebrow involuntarily.

The crypt is a lovely setting and you can see the arches, doors and brick work – very atmospheric. The unlimited water is not uncommon but it is good when a restaurant offers it. We particularly like the cutlery, decent solid stuff. The kitchen and other staff were friendly if a bit ‘lost in the clouds’. I didn’t use the toilet and didn’t even notice if there were any as I wasn’t looking for them.

Arches and pillars that make up the walls of the dinning room

All in all I felt the food was an ok price for what you got, apart from poor Gromit who seemed to get a bum deal with his choices. The Place Below didn’t really live up to my expectations perhaps this is because everyone who told me about it made it sound amazing when in reality is it a very nice casual cross between a canteen and a cafe. This seems to be the trend for church eateries now – St Martins in the Fields and St Paul’s Cathedral all have the same sort of thing. I would go there again but I’m not wildly looking for the next opportunity.

Babylon Rooftop Gardens

Babylon Rooftop Gardens
99 Kensington High St
London
W8 5SA
http://www.roofgardens.virgin.com
Date of visit: Friday 13^th August 2010
Attendees:  Myself, Cheesemonger, MBB, Chan, the Bruce-Oldfield-wearing-secret-Macau-Chinese (though she was not wearing Bruce Oldfield today so I’ll call her secret Macau), the Baker, Flea tattoo and tri AAC. In spirit and on the phone the one and only Mr Savage
Price of meal: approximately £25 pp (3 course set lunch without wine)

I start with a disclaimer…it was impractical to photograph everyone’s meal as there were so many of us so I have just documented my own meal but in the write up I will try and put in everyone’s views and opinions.

One of many dining experiences in August to celebrate or commiserate, depends on which side of the coin you are. Anyway again I have wanted to try Babylon for a while and was glad so many people were happy to try it with me. I arrived with Flea tattoo, tri AAC and secret Macau, we zipped up to 7^th floor and stepped out. We were told we were the first ones to arrive and asked if we wanted to have a drink at the bar first, we declined and were shown to our table. One side of the restaurant is glass showing us the nice view. I would say the decor was something Changing Rooms would have done to a lady’s bedroom in the late 1990 – early 2000. In a text the next day MBB describes it as ‘Naff’ which though not wrong seems a bit harsh, it was at least bright and clean. MBB came in from the terrace where he was having a beer, Chan followed quickly after then Cheesemonger then the Baker. We were all waiting for Mr Savage now. At 1pm I get a phone call – he’s only just left work! Decision made – we’re going to start, sorry Mr Savage but if you are going to be so slack with timing…

Our waiter is a young and enthusiastic man, lucky considering the other waiting staff were all stony faced! 2 dishes containing a selection of bread rolls with butter and (possibly) olive oil were placed on our table. I liked this as the selection of bread was decent and the choice of butter or oil was nice. The bread dishes were left on the table until we finished our main course – good good.

Starters:
Myself, secret Macau, Cheesemonger, the Baker and tri AAC: Risotto with crème fraiche, parmesan and summer truffle
MBB and Flea tattoo: White onion soup
Chan: Deep fried duck egg with courgette and tomato confit

Risotto with a decent sprinkling of summer truffle

Those who didn’t know each other met one another, we chatted, laughed and were generally being social whilst we waited for food and the wait wasn’t too long.

I have to say I was impressed with the shavings of summer truffle on the risotto, a decent amount and it smelt very nice. All who had truffle thought it was good. I thought the rice a trife undercooked but no one else complained. It wasn’t too creamy which pleased me. The white onion soup came with a cheese twirl and both MBB and Flea tattoo seemed to enjoy it. Flea tattoo commented that Chan’s started looked like a scotch egg, ‘no sausage meat though’ piped Chan who said the dish was very nice. It certainly did seem well cooked, the yolk was thick and runny and the breadcrumbs which coated it were golden and seemed crispy. First course a success!

The group ordered wine to share and the waiter quite unnoticed went round topping up the glasses and it seemed that he served the women first cause poor old Chan didn’t seem to get a top up.

Now before the main course came round I received a phone call from Mr Savage to say that he was at Bond Street station and had met his mother. He was using her phone to give me a call as his was dying. At Bond street station? I informed him that we were about to start our main course, he was not going to make the meal…

Main Course:
Myself, MBB and tri AAC: Pan fried sea bass with mussels, pak choi, bean sprouts, carrots and water chestnuts
Chan and Flea tattoo: Pork with potato cake
Cheesemonger and Secret Macau: Beef with some sort of greens?
The Baker: Basil gnocchi

Sea bass with vegetables and mussel (in singular)

Pretty but meagre portion of gnocchi - just 9 pieces!

Apologies that I could not remember what the accompaniments were for each dish but my own but there were lots and even though I very nearly got the beef dish myself I just can’t remember everything and it’s not on their website.

The sea bass was one of the best I can remember having. It was perfectly seasoned, moist and the skin was so crispy. I normally don’t eat the skin on things but this was lovely and I ate it all. When the menu said mussels, with an S indicating plaural, I expected more than one but we only got one. It was a bit chewy and didn’t taste of mussel but tasted of chicken stock or something similar which it has been cooked in, which was also what the vegetables were cooked in. If I was being critical I would say that the pak choi was too old – I felt like I could have chewed the leaf part for ever and it still would not have broken down, the bean sprouts would have been better if they were not stewed but left raw instead, the carrot disc were too small and thin (must have been baby carrots), the water chestnuts were ok though.

I tried a bit of the Baker’s basil gnocchi and it was nice and fluffy. I couldn’t really taste the basil but then I did only have a small bit – there were not many on the plate, it would not have hurt the fineness to have a few more, it was after all the vegetarian option so it would not have cost much to put more on! I did hear the Baker quip that they were the best gnocchi she had had. On the other side Cheesemonger and Secret Macau had two big hunks of beef on their plate. They both said they liked it and it did look good. Chan and Flea tattoo had good comments for the pork and especially liked the look of the layers of their potato cake. I must say that I wouldn’t have minded having any of the main courses.

Now I felt bad that Secret Macau had to rush her starter, we all know she is a leisurely eater and it is something I would like to be able to do. So I tried to encourage everyone to enjoy their main but it seems everyone is in the habit of throwing it down the hatch. Hope Secret Macau didn’t feel too much under pressure to shove it down. Mental note next time to be a better host!

The main course plates were cleared away and the waiter came with the crumb brush and made sure he went between us clearing all the areas of the table.

Dessert:
Myself, Secret Macau and the Baker: Peach melba with vanilla ice cream and almond flakes
MBB, Chan and Flea tattoo: Apricot clafoutis
Tri AAC: Gooseberry fool
Cheesemonger: coffee

Pretty as a peach melba!

The Cheesemonger’s coffee came with a sugar stick, don’t think I have seen that in a restaurant for a while. I thought Cheesemonger showed great restraint not to just suck on the sugar stick like a lolly which I would have done, perhaps she is far more civilised that I?

The Baker requested to see the a la carte dessert menu as she didn’t fancy anything on the TDH menu. I have to say I inclined to agree with her upon looking at it. When we saw the a la carte dessert menu it was approximately £10 for a dessert and none of them were that appealing! I had not heard of clafoutis before and Flea tattoo described it as toad in the hole but with fruit instead. I have to say the description was not the reason which I did not order it although my immediately mental visual of apricots cooked in batter with hot lard added did not help.

When the desserts did come the Baker commented that the peach slices in the peach melba looked like they came from a tin but I am please to say they were not, they were fairly firm and the dessert was not drowned in syrup luckily. I thought the peach melba looked rather attractive actually with the little flower on top, which I ate, Secret Macau tried the flower on my insistence and said it had no flavour and Baker offered her flower to me but I didn’t eat it. My flower was quite nice, the peach kept its delicate flavour and I thought it all came together rather well. The Gooseberry fool came in a lovely small clip lid jar, I didn’t hear what tri AAC thought of her dessert but I think she enjoyed it. The apricot clafoutis came and I stared into the bowl intently. I think a sweet toad in the hole was a good description actually, it did look like apricot in batter! All three apricot clafoutis diners seemed enjoyed their dessert the most out of all of us. Indeed MBB even sent me a text message the next day saying he especially liked the dessert!

Petit fours came in small boxes with ‘Bite Me’ written on them – well well well… Now I don’t know what everyone had as there were two boxes which I believe contained the same four things at either end of the table. What I do know is that Cheesemonger had a chocolate thing which she enjoyed, Chan and MBB both had the intensely fruity jelly cube, the Baker and I shared a white chocolate truffle which I thought was a nice chocolate and a mini cake/ muffin thing which was nice too (the Baker commented that it was just a very small cake, nothing special – well she ain’t called the Baker for no reason).

So the meal had come to an end and we all seemed to enjoy it. Those of us who didn’t have wine had iced water which was regularly topped up but our very good waiter. Whilst waiting for to pay the bill I popped to the toilet which had a nice and novel but in a way ‘naff’ (to use MBB’s term) fish tank to separate the men and ladies toilets. The toilets were fine although it all seemed a bit narrow when I came out of the cubical and there was a queue. We decided to go and have a look round the garden, which is on the next floor down where the bar was, after we paid the bill. I have to say the man who gave us our coats was stoney on the verge of rude in my opinion, extra glad we got the waiter we did!

Although it was wet the gardens were lovely and I could see it would be such a great setting for a meal on a good day. There were also ducks and real mini flamingos there. As we wandered round we saw staff setting up the gardens for what we assumed was a wedding (there was some sort of wedding thing going on upstairs while we ate – I didn’t mention it as it could have filled pages on its own!). There was a sort of Tuscan themed section of the garden which we thought was rather tacky but generally the garden was really very nice. Mr Savage also finally made it and joined us while we wandered through the garden!

Real flamingoes in the garden pond

I have to say it was a shame about the weather but as we were inside it didn’t really matter but the restaurant was great. The food was delicious – we all enjoyed it and the set lunch menu was great value for money, our waiter provided great service, and the restaurant was generally very nice. I would most certainly go back and will looked for another opportunity next summer to do just that!

Will just end by showing a photo of the cup cakes the Baker made for me! This is why she is known as the Baker, and I can tell you they were totally yummy beyond yummy – as soon as I opened the box a rich chocolatey smelly flowed out and when I ate one (or two) the sponge was so light and fluffy and sweet…Oh if it didn’t mean growing old so exceptionally fast, I might consider having a birthday every day!

Beautiful and yummy cupcakes!

One last note is for me to say a great Thank you to my fellow diners for taking time off work to share a great meal with me. It would not have been so good if it were not for each of you – including Mr Savage!

Incognito restaurant

Incognito
117 Shaftesbury Avenue
Cambridge Circus
London
WC2H 8AD
www.incognico.com
Date of visit: Saturday 17^th July 2010
Attendees: Myself, The Quiff and (drum roll please… I would like to introduce the debut of…) Apple Geek – The Quiff’s  “Special Friend”
Price of meal: approximately £120 in total (2 of us on a special set menu, 1 of us ordering a 2 course a la carte, a bottle of wine and coffee for all 3 of us)

The Quiff and Apple Geek pop to London periodically and we always attempt to find a nice restaurant with a deal on for dinner – one of our small indulgences. Apple Geek booked Incognito where we could have a set menu of £20 for 3 courses.

We arrived in good time and the restaurant was not very busy for a Saturday evening but there was a buzz, the large window frontage and the minimal and wooden décor helped to give it the brasserie feel. We were given both the a la carte menu and the set menu. On looking through both of them I have to say the set menu was very good with a wide choice and comparing the prices showed it was a very good deal. Apple Geek and myself went with the set menu, the Quiff went a la carte.

Starters
Myself: Grilled marinated mackerel with new potato salad
Apple Geek: Minestrone “verde”
The Quiff: Scallops with Pea Shoots, Balsamic Dressing

Mackerel and crushed potato salad

Minestrone 'verde' - lots of green

Scallops with salad piled on top

My mackerel portion was a decent size and tasted very nice although a little too oily for me I didn’t think the generous drizzy of oil was needed for a already oily fish. The potato salad was a simple seasoned crushed new potatoes which was a nice compliment as the mackerel was fairly salty. The skin came off easily although the other side was quite tough but overall I enjoyed it and appreciated the fact that the waiter told me when I ordered that the mackerel wasn’t fresh but smoked – small but important details which help to make great restaurants better and it’s what counts when there are so many restaurants serving good food – I know of many awarded restaurants who should take note, some of which appear in this blog. The Quiff seemed to enjoy his scallops and finished them fairly quickly and with gusto. Apple Geek’s minestrone ‘verde’ was basically a green vegetable (broccoli, peas, courgette and mint) soup with a lump of cheese at the bottom in a broth. Even though he is not a big vegetable fan he enjoyed it and on tasting a little I have to say it did taste good and seemed very healthy. Round one a success!

The bottle of Borg!

I didn’t have wine but the Quiff and Apple Geek shared a bottle of Borge family shiraz stellenbosch, South Africa, 2006 and couldn’t stop praising it (especially as it went straight to their heads!). We also had tap water on the table, which came in a pretty green jug that looked like it came from Provence.

Main course
Myself: Whiting fillet with olives, capers and tomato
Apple Geek: Roast sea bass, with cannellini bean salad
The Quiff: Honey Roasted Breast of Duck with Pommes Duchesse

Whiting filet which hides some wilted spinach underneath

Sea bass - if it wasn't dead, decapitated and cooked I would be worried about the green blob

A beautifully presented and tasting duck

Now, when I first ordered I went for the sea bass but then changed my mind as Apple Geek also went for it so I got the Whiting instead. When the main courses came I got the suckling pig porchetta. I told them it wasn’t what I ordered and I must commend the waiter who took it back immediately with the other mains and said he would get it fixed straight away. The mains came out again about 2 minutes later (I must confess it was so quick I didn’t notice a wait at all). We all tried a bit of each other’s main course – the duck was very tender and flavoursome the sauce that went with it was a lovely accompaniment. The sea bass was a decent sized portion and well cooked and my whiting filet was very good, the olives, capers and tomatoes made it a lovely fresh and light dish for a summer evening. We were all very pleased with our choices but I think the Quiff had the best of the bunch. On another note all the dishes were a good size, we felt fed but not conquered by it.

The dishes were cleared away quickly and dessert was offered. The Quiff declined and had an espresso, Apple Geek and myself went for our sweets along with 2 regular coffees.

Dessert
Myself: Sorbets – raspberry, passion fruit and lemon
Apple Geek: Grand Marnier crème caramel

Sorbets, french marcaron and glass of prosecco

Creme caramel and glass of prosecco

With the coffees came hot milk, we got little cubes of sugar rather than satchels, which I much prefer. Apple Geek and myself had a regular cup filled with coffee but the Quiff’s tiny espresso cup was only half filled. When he put a sugar cube in I don’t think the liquid even covered it. The desserts came out promptly. The sorbets were lovely and refreshing, not too sweet and the flavours were defined, what I mean is you could tell which coloured scoop was which flavour and not, as you get sometimes, a generic tangy sweet where all the scoops taste about the same. From my taste of the crème caramel you could taste the orange of the Grand Mariner but Apple Geek felt it was lacking in sweetness which, on reflection, I think I agree with or perhaps we are just used to the crème caramel brought from the supermarkets loaded with sugar? Whilst we were eating dessert the waiter brought over a glass of complimentary prosecco for each of us – I assume because of the mix up with the main course. I was most impressed with this detail.

Un espresso bebe

A regular coffee

We sat in the restaurant for a bit chatting about things I don’t care to mention but lets just say the company was a bit light headed and enjoyed rubbing salt into wounds. There was no pressure to leave quickly as the restaurant wasn’t that busy. I would particularly like to praise the staff in the restaurant who I felt I could always get the attention of without much difficulty, we never felt intruded upon and service was prompt – a very good balance. The one very small but it is a criticism I must make, nay protest against, is the waiter kept calling me “Madam”. Pour quoi monsieur? Puis je regarder ce vieux? Que je n’ai pas un anneau sur le doigt, c’est ce que la conversation etait au sujet!

I noted the toilets were pleasant and clean.

All in all it is a very good restaurant. I felt the food was well cooked and tasted very nice. It feels like you are in a local upmarket provincial French brasserie, a very nice feeling when some London restaurants can try too hard to be trendy. I would certainly dine at Incognito again, especially as the set menu deals are very good value – in fact I will be dining there again and this time I am taking a group of 11 other diners! I will blog again if I feel there are any significant changes to the food or service so they should not rest on their laurels when noodle notes is about…

Sidi Maarouf

Sidi Maarouf
56 – 58 Edgware Road
London
W2 2EJ
www.maroush.com
Date of visit: Friday 7^th May 2010
Attendees: Myself and Mr Savage
Price of meal: Approximately £35 pp for 2 courses each a fresh juice and a Martini or two

I hadn’t seen Mr Savage for a while, thus it was time for a catch up and to get my Nietsche back. The restaurant was chosen by Mr Savage who was so kind as to make the arrangements. So Friday after work, we rendezvous at Marble Arch station, greetings exchanged and a confession from Mr Savage that he had no idea where the restaurant was! Well lucky I did, having been there before – so off we marched. My last visit to Sidi Maarouf did not give me such a great experience that made me particularly look forward to going back but neither was I against the idea so I was interested to see what impression this visit would leave.

Outside the restaurant, on their mini porch are tables and comfy chairs for shisha smoking with the outdoor heaters and awning to cover you in un-summer weather. I’ve been to a few Middle Eastern restaurants on the Edgware Road, most of them are ‘nice cafe’ in feel – fairly basic, nothing fancy but nice enough with prices that reflect this. Sidi Maarouf is the fanciest one on the road I’ve been to. The decor hints at a luxury Moroccan tent with cloth draped from the ceiling in aubergine shades and matching furniture.

We arrived at 7.30pm and the restaurant was fairly empty and didn’t really fill up that evening.  I nipped to the toilet after we ordered drinks, these are down the stairs which are situated in the middle of the restaurant.  The Middle Eastern decor continues here with beige coloured tiling and was well lit and clean. The menu has a decent but not huge range of Lebanese food – a variety of dips, hot meze, salads, tagines and couscous dishes – their menu isn’t on the website, so I’m remembering what we ordered off the top of my head. Unusually for a Middle Eastern restaurant we didn’t even get complimentary bread or olives – a bit stingy I thought…

Starter:
Myself – Chicken with lemon and ginger meze
Mr Savage – Prawns with vermicelli meze

Lemon and ginger chicken meze

Prawn and vermicelli meze

The starters came and were plonked on the table, we didn’t know which was what so we just started as overly loud music blared out. The mezes were very hot but not greasy with a bit of salad on the side. There were 4 mezes on each plate and so we had a bit of each. The prawn meze was nice but not very flavoursome and both Mr Savage and I thought the chicken was better purely because there was flavour – I couldn’t taste lemon or ginger, it was fairly sweet/ fruity instead (perhaps we go the wrong one as I think there was a chicken and apricot one on the menu) but very nice.

Main:
Myself – Sea bass tagine with potato, peppers and tomato
Me Savage – Chicken tagine with potato and olives
Extra couscous to share

Chicken tagine

Sea bass tagine

The hot bubbling tagines came and plonked down again worryingly the waiter didn’t seem to have a good grip on them and I initially worried it would go flying into my lap. The dishes were quite big, the sea bass’s  potato, peppers and tomato were quite generous and the entire thing was covered in a blanket of some green vegetable which wasn’t mentioned on the menu (so if you’re fussy about your vegetables this would have been an unpleasant surprise). It was delicious, the fish was soft and moist and the vegetables were overcooked but this is what happens with tagines, although I came across some potato slices which were not cooked through and a few scales and small bones – they really need to be more careful. Mr Savage seemed to enjoy his chicken which comes on the bone but I’m not sure if Mr Savage knew that?

We didn’t order any dessert as we were automatically brought some baklava and a large fruit platter after we finished out main. I told the waitress we didn’t order dessert and she happily told us, it was complimentary! Not sure why and I couldn’t see any other table getting complimentary dessert but we didn’t complain and tucked in instead. The platter contained pineapple, strawberries, kiwi fruit, melon and grapes.  We munch through slowly as we were already quite full and just as Mr Savage said he had not seen any live belly dancing before a stunning, barely clad belly dancer spun out from nowhere and began gyrating to the music. As she moved around the restaurant poor ogling Mr Savage said he didn’t know where to look! “Just don’t touch” I advised the poor boy.

Fruit platter

Baklava selection

We finished off a meal with an apple shisha and some mint tea out front which wasn’t cold thanks to the outdoor heaters and fairly comfortable due to fat cushions.

Mr Savage decided whilst we were still eating dessert that he would like to return but the impression I left with was again, nice and I wouldn’t mind eating here again but it probably wouldn’t be my suggestion. The service was slow, unfriendly, unhelpful and preoccupied (which is what I regularly get at Middle Eastern restaurants – is it a cultural thing? What’s other people’s experience?) except for the waitress who brought our fruit platter who smiled. We ordered a second lot of mint tea when we were outside with the shisha and despite asking twice it didn’t turn up until the Arab sitting opposite was kind enough to bug the waiter for us. Popular with Arab regulars who the waiters know well but they are cold to other guest. The food was very good and priced averagely for a restaurant which sees itself as upmarket but I think there are lots of other Middle Eastern restaurants, especially on the Edgware Road, which usually aren’t so fancy but then there are upmarket Middle Eastern restaurant elsewhere in London, Gallipoli for instance.

The Admiralty

I am sad to say The Admiralty has now closed – lucky I ate there when I did! It has now been replaced by Tom Aiken’s Tom at Somerset House. Another place to try one day!

The Admiralty Restaurant
Somerset House
Strand
London
WC2R 1LA
www.theadmiraltyrestaurant.com
Date of visit: Friday 16^th April 2010, lunch
Attendees: Myself and MBB
Price of meal: Their usual £25 3 course set lunch offer, which is also the pre-theatre menu

We chose to eat at The Admiralty out of an impressive short list because, and I quote MBB, “I have always wanted to go to The Admiralty!” I must confess that at the age of 17/18 I had said to myself that I would feel that I had made it if I ate at The Admiralty – so happy chooser all round 😀

The Admiralty serves lunch between 12 – 2.30pm and a table was booked for 1pm. When I rocked up MBB was already in the tiny waiting bar (I think there was a full bar in one of the other rooms) with a beer, salutations were exchanged, my coat taken and we were shown to our table fairly swiftly by pleasant waiting staff. Once we were seated MBB informed me that he did not like the fact that they used a cheap plastic tray to carry is beer to the table and I must agree that looks a bit shoddy as was the decor – very nice colours and I like the set up very much especially the decorative ceiling lights but the paint needs to be touched up.

Ship shaped chandeliers

We were shown to our seats and given menus , at this point I quickly pop to inspect the loos which are not exclusive to the restaurant but shared with other services in the restaurant. They are mixed male and female, the softly lit cubicle was spacious and contained the sink, mirror and hand dryer.

Upon returning I took a proper inspection of the menu – we were given the full priced a la carte instead of the set lunch menu,  which is the same as the a la carte but with a few items missing. When the waiter came to take our order we asked for the lunch menu, he sulked off to get it – it felt like a sly move to get customers to pay more unnecessarily and worst still it seems that the other customers fell for it. After we ordered we were given bread rolls, very crunchy on the outside I have to say, and proceeded to talk about the up and coming election, ICOM cards, Michelin starred restaurants and Poland amongst other things as we dined.

Starters:
Myself: Smoked ham hock croquette with piccalilli
MBB: Shetland mussels with shallots, white wine, lemon and parsley

Ham hock on wooden platter

Plate of Shetland mussels

Just as I was wondering where our starters were they appeared. The two large ham croquettes were nicely presented on a wooden platter thing, which impressed our MBB somewhat. The ham was shredded and mixed with mustard grains, the coating was crisp and they tasted fresh and delicious. There was a bit of salad on the platter which was not so fresh and I felt the piccalilli had come out of a jar but it was ok. MBB seemed to enjoy his mussels and said they were good with a nice sauce although a few of them had not opened which was a shame.

Main course:
Myself:  South coast Sea Bass with cauliflower puree, sprouting broccoli and lemon
MBB: Pressed 12 hour pork belly with white beans, wholegrain mustard and cider

Yummy sea bass with trimmings

Pressed pork in a sea of white beans

MBB thought my sea bass portion rather small, two small fillets, but as my starter was a decent size I didn’t mind. I thought the sea bass was deliciously well cooked – crispy skin, moist and flavoursome meat. The broccoli and lemon drizzled sauce worked very well with the dish as did the cauliflower puree which I thought there could be a little more of as it was all gone with the first fillet – but we must remember this is not an award winning restaurant so must not impose those standards. I was very pleased with my choice and gobbled it up. MBB’s informed me his pork was tasty although the skin was so well done it was near impossible to cut – I was going to suggest a hammer and chisel! The presentation could also have been better – the pork was like an island in a sea of white beans in sauce but this a very minor point.

Dessert:
Myself: Chocolate crème with caramel and raspberry sorbet
MBB: Hazelnut mousse with honeycomb and lime syrup

Chocolate quenelle and raspberry sorbet

Jar of hazelnut mousse

My chocolate crème was thick and rich and nicely contrasted by the soft sweet sharpness of the raspberry sorbet, all very yummy. Although pretty I didn’t think the caramel needed to be there, it didn’t add anything and frankly it was annoying suddenly hitting a hard bit when the rest would melt in the mouth nicely.  MBB’s hazelnut mousse came in a nice jar and I thought there was quite a lot of it. He told me it was very good and certainly seemed to enjoy it.

All in all I was very pleased and impressed with The Admiralty. Lunch is very good value, the food is delicious, the setting is lovely. I like the fact that it is made up of 2 small rooms so you don’t feel lost or drowned in a vast sea of tables and the colour scheme is pleasant. The experience felt very comfortable and homely as the cooking did – good British fare. There was only one waiter working and even though the restaurant wasn’t that busy he seemed a bit rushed poor guy so I wasn’t that bothered by the slightly slow service. Another waiter appeared towards the end of the meal but didn’t do much – he saw we had finished eating but didn’t bother to clear our plates. I think a lick of paint and a few more waiters will help The Admiralty a treat.

I feel the need to tell you, dear reader, that when deciding a place for lunch on a Friday afternoon with MBB, which were within a short walk of Covent Garden, there were a few suggestions:  Pearl bar and restaurant in Holborn where Jun Tanaka is master of revels or Pied à Terre a 2 star Michelin restaurant both with reasonable priced lunch menus lost out. So, dear reader, when I get the opportunity to eat in this area next, which shall I go to? Please vote now!