Dapur

13 Lamb's Conduit Passage
London WC1R 4RH

Once I read this review, I knew I had to find a lunch hour to pop by. It's only a 10 minute walk from where I work, but it's hidden down a little alley that I rarely walk through. Thankfully other people are good at discovering things for me. When I asked the lady behind the counter what she would recommend, she said she had tried both the chicken and lamb dishes that day and they were excellent, so I of course asked if I could have both, which was not a problem. I also said yes to all the extras on the side - including an incredible little sauce of fried, dried shrimps and chili and crunchy peanuts. It was all incredibly flavorful and on a sunny afternoon, the little tables outside are a lovely place to bask in the sunshine and have a fabulous, casual Malaysian meal.

Bian Dang

Bian Dang
Various locations, this from KERB Kings Cross on a Tuesday

My dad is from Taiwan - so this lunch box is pretty nostalgic for me as he loved pork chop rice accompanied by soy sauce eggs and preserved vegetables. I had a chance to swing by KERB one lunch time and took the opportunity to order the Beast - which is the Bian Dang's stall dish where they put pork chop, chicken and oyster mushrooms all together in one box. I figured since it would be hard for me to ever get to them again, I should go all out, and I'm glad I did - every element was fantastic and I wish I worked in the area so I could treat myself to this lunch more often.

Bao

Bao
53 Lexington St
London W1F 9AS

Bao is one of those restaurants that is hyped so much that I was quite nervous about going - but I found myself in the area around lunch time and decided to treat myself to a solo meal, something that I am getting fonder of. It lets you order exactly what you want, eat at whatever pace you feel like, and not have to worry about whether your dining companion is enjoying themselves. Especially with the dumb queues - I would feel horrible dragging someone else along to wait and then for the meal to suck. Thankfully the meal was good, though I'm not sure I will queue again, since a meal there adds up quite quickly and some elements were a bit repetitive. I had four things - house pickles, the mushroom and century egg dish pictured above, a classic bao, and the guinea fowl rice. I think because there were pickles in the guinea fowl rice, it ended up tasting a little too similar (possibly my fault for ordering both but I didn't know!) The mushrooms were the best dish for my tastes - savory with a hit of fresh cilantro. The bao was a little sweet for me, but they often are - so again, no fault of the restaurant, just not quite my thing. I see why people like it - but if I have to wait I'm going somewhere that excites me a lot more.

Smoking Goat

7 Denmark Street
London 
WC2H 8LZ

So the food experts of London have been raving about Smoking Goat, talking about the ridiculous queues and the incredible platters of grilled meat. P and I perked up our ears and made plans to visit on a Monday night - we went early, around 6pm, and it was a bit rainy, and there were plenty of tables. I don't think the place was ever full during the entire 2.5 hours we were there, so maybe the craziness has died down. We ordered a couple of beers and the fish sauce chicken wings, which were so delicious that we got a second order of them. The coal roasted aubergine dish was really smoky and lovely as well - I think I am growing fonder and fonder of aubergine. Then we decided on the lamb ribs, which came with sticky rice and a green papaya salad. I liked it all, but the chicken wings were my favorite. I'd love to go back with more people and really get into the duck and pork belly options as well - even though P and I are greedy we just couldn't fit in any more food.

Foxlow

69-73 Saint John Street
London 
EC1M 4AN

When Foxlow launched their brunch they did a month of soft opening so I booked a couple of tables - knowing how much I have loved meals at Hawksmoor I figured I'd love this too. The first visit was with J - we shared some baked eggs and the fried chicken and croissant waffle. For a girl who loves fried chicken, I was surprised to enjoy the baked eggs more. J's bottomless bloody mary also met with approval, though we both agreed that there is a limit to how much tomato juice any human being can consume in one go, as it seems more filling than other drinks.

The second visit was with S, E and A - and while the rest of the table got fried chicken sandwiches, I went for the steak and eggs in the picture above. It was fantastic and set me up for a day of drinking in high places (such as the OXO Tower). We also ordered a cronut for the table, which was just about right - a quarter of that thing was plenty for me and I could feel my arteries screaming out for relief afterwards. 

I'm even more excited that A's brew will be going on sale at Foxlow for London Beer Week in February. So we'll definitely be back to pair that beer with some more brunch dishes - let's hope I'm not shortening my life span by too much.

The Grain Store

Granary Square
1-3 Stable St
London 
N1C 4AB

J and I hadn't seen each other in a while, and Kings Cross tends to be a good place for us to meet as it's on both of our ways home from work, so we agreed to meet at The Grain Store, a restaurant I had heard mixed reviews about but was still curious to try. One of the big draws is the cocktail list brought to you from the genius behind 69 Colebrooke Row, but as we were both avoiding alcohol for various reasons, we didn't get stuck in (but not to worry, I'll be back to try it). I loved my starter, listed as asparagus, minted mushy peas, parmesan mousse - each component was full of flavor and it felt light and perfectly in season. J had the cauliflower 'couscous' & spelt salad, vegetable merguez, yoghurt & pistachio - I have no idea how they formed a sausage out of vegetables but it was excellent, and a very generous portion indeed. For my main, I saw the word kimchi and could go no further, so I selected the homemade kimchi cabbage broth, udon noodles & squid, which was again exactly what I wanted - a broth full of deep kimchi notes, with springy noodles and tender squid. I believe J had some kind of lamb and aubergine dish which she really enjoyed as well - clean plates at the end of the night for both of us, and what was even nicer is that we walked out full but not overly so - the emphasis on the vegetables really shines through at The Grain Store and I'd love to go back for more.

The Lockhart

22-24 Seymour Pl
London
W1H 7NL

P and I had both been wanting to try The Lockhart for a while, so plans were made, and we found ourselves there on a warm weekday evening. The menu makes me want to try all of it, but with just a tiny bit of restraint we find ourselves getting catfish goujons and chicken oysters to start, from the list of tiny snack plates, and then for a main I plump for the stuffed quail while P has the braised lamb shoulder. Of course we have to get cornbread (we both love cornbread) and I add some collard greens for the dark green component that will make us both feel better about our health. If you look closely at the cornbread above, you'll see that it's swimming in butter. Swimming. (Swimming in a good way, you ask? Yes.) Oh, and the cocktails! Mine is frankly weird, though it grows on me after a few sips - the smoke & mirrors with prosecco, mezcal and agave. P has a lady lockhart, which is much easier to drink - gin, maraschino, lemon and cucumber. Everything is refined, everything is fabulous, everything is bright and sparkly and funny.

Assa

 

53 St. Giles High Street
London
WC2H 8LH

So since my first visit to Assa in 2010 I've been back a few more times with my Korean food loving friends.  It's in such a convenient location for pre-theatre meals, and it always helps me deal with my kimchi cravings when they hit. This latest visit was with P before we went to go see Once (which was pretty good, but I like the film more). I have been accused of going nuts with the ordering whenever P and I get together, but it worked out well at Assa. A kimchi seafood pancake was absolutely terrific - crisp crust, juicy seafood and the fermenty funk of kimchi all combine well here (plus the pancake didn't fall apart like it does at so many other places). I also loved the kimchi and pork belly over tofu - it felt like a relatively light dish due to all the tofu and cabbage, but the shreds of pork belly gave it this incredibly luxurious edge as well. And finally, a spicy chicken dish - probably the most "normal" dish of the evening but it came with plenty of rice for two people and was a great way to round off the meal. All that, plus a couple of Korean beers - exactly the right amount for greedy people like me and P. 

Earlham Street Clubhouse

35 Earlham Street
London 
WC2H 9LD

When P emailed me about a place that was 90s themed and served cocktails and pizza, I immediately made arrangements with him to visit. Those are three of our favorite things! Walking in, I was struck by how much they tried to stuff it full of Americana - battered metal signs advertising PBR, license plates everywhere, etc. This whole obsession with the US is at full throttle in London.

Since P and I arrived at 6.45pm, we were able to take advantage of both the before 7pm special and the after 7pm special on this Tuesday night. Before 7pm, you can get a gigantic pizza and bottle of wine for £25. After 7pm, they had a 2-4-1 deal on one of the cocktails (Rolling with the Homies, Ketel 1 vodka, peach and strawberry purees, fresh lemon and sugar, topped with fizz). We opted for a "Ross and Rachel" pizza which meant you could get a half-and-half pizza - we chose the Vincent Vega (tomato, mozzarella, spicy Calabrian sausage and fresh basil) and the Ferris Bueller (tomato, mozzarella, chilli chicken, spicy salami, scotch bonnet chillies and red onion). Neither half was all that spicy, but I still really enjoyed the thin crust pizza. It took forever to eat the whole thing as it was so enormous! The wine was drinkable, and the cocktails were long and boozy and sweet, so all in all it was a pretty decent success. Just be warned - around 9pm the music suddenly got turned WAY up so P and I left in order to avoid screaming at each other for the rest of the night.

The Quality Chop House

92-94 Farringdon Rd London EC1R 3EA After seeing multiple Instagram posts about the food at The Quality Chop House, I finally decided to pay it a visit with A. It took us a while to find a suitable date but eventually we settled on mid-January and booked a table for two. They do notify you when they call to confirm the reservation that the seating in the restaurant is Victorian booths, so as a table of two you will likely be sharing with another couple of diners, but I figured we'd go find out whether or not sharing a table is uncomfortable. Thankfully the booths are quite long so you're not crammed up against each other - it's just a little annoying when you need to get out for any reason and you have to disturb the meal of the people next to you just to use the restroom. The other different thing is that there is a different set menu every night for dinner, based on ingredients that the chefs feel like cooking that day. For £35, you get an amuse and bread, 4 different starters, a main, and a dessert. The cooking is excellent - no worries about eating too much that you think to yourself, I could make that at home. The first stunner we had was a Jerusalem artichoke dish where it had been prepared five different ways - pureed, roasted, pickled, crisped, and with the skin turned into crackling. I also loved the lamb's tongue with chorizo and chickweed, and cod with mushrooms (even A enjoyed the cod which he usually finds quite bland). For mains we shared a platter of venison, both as a sliced steak and as a braised pile of tender shredded meat, on top of cauliflower puree with beetroots and parsnips and kale on the side. And finally, dessert was rhubarb with hazelnut ice cream and meringues. We were absolutely stuffed by the end and ambled out into the drizzly night two hours later, satisfied and ready to go home.

Mamounia Lounge - Mayfair

37a Curzon Street
Mayfair
London 

W1J7TX

When Mamounia Lounge invited me to review their newly refurbished restaurant in Mayfair, I said yes - I had gone to their Knightsbridge location and thought the cooking was excellent so was excited to see if the kitchen in Mayfair was equally as accomplished. I'm not sure if we ordered better dishes this time or if the chef is even more skilled - but we had a meal with some astonishingly good flavors and textures.

We kicked off with a classic gin martini that A really enjoyed, and the Sheik Royal for me - elderflower vodka and champagne. To compare Mayfair to the Knightsbridge location, we ordered the same starters as last time. Hommus Shawarma - Creamy Chickpea puree served with a centre of marinated Lamb Shawarma, and Calamari – Fried & Served on a Mixed Leaf Salad with a Sweet Chili, and Lemon Dip. The hommus was as creamy and rich as we remembered, with crisp smoky grilled shawarma piled on top - I could eat endless piles of this with the fresh pita bread provided. The calamari was crunchy with just the lightest coating of batter, though not as tender as last time.

For mains, I ordered the Seafood Tagine – Seabass, King Prawns, Mussels & Calamari served in a Charmoula, Coriander and Spicy Tomato Sauce. The portion of seafood was incredibly generous and the sauce kept me dipping my fork in for more. I'm glad I ordered couscous to soak it up. Eat quickly, as the residual heat in the tagine will continue cooking the seafood - the last few bites of prawns were getting increasingly rubbery even though it arrived perfectly cooked. 

A's order of Meshoui - Traditional Shoulder of Lamb, slowly roasted for 8 hours, marinated in Moroccan Spices and served with fresh Dates, Orange and Apricots, was one of the best lamb dishes we've ever eaten. He couldn't stop raving about how tender the lamb was - a mere push of a fork and it would fall apart. We'll be keeping an eye out for this dish in the future, but if you want a wonderful example of it, I would highly recommend this one.

We were stuffed at this point so just managed some Moroccan tea (mint tea with sugar in it) and a mango platter - but Mamounia Lounge clearly knows how to source mangoes as I've never tasted mangoes so good in the UK. We polished off the entire platter despite our fullness - it was just impossible to not finish every slice.

Mamounia Lounge is very lively on a Saturday night - musicians and belly dancing make it feel more like a club/lounge than restaurant, so if you want a quieter meal, I'd go on a non-weekend night. The food is top notch, so just pick your preferred atmosphere - either way you'll get a great meal.

Lobsterfest 2013 @ Belgo

50 Earlham StLondon 
WC2H 9LJ

Let me start by explaining how much I love lobster. Last time I was in Maine with my parents, I ate about 3 or 4 lobsters a day. There were evenings where all we did was buy a bag of lobsters and then hunker down in the hotel room to feast. I planned another trip to Maine with A, purportedly to show him New England, but mainly so I could eat some more lobster. So when Belgo invited me to Lobsterfest this year, there was absolutely no way I was going to miss it. The evening kicked off with fantastic Belgian beer - one of my favorites was Grottenbier (pictured above), a dark and ever-so-slightly sweet beer. Then Muir, lobster-chef-extraordinaire, demonstrated how to construct a lobster cocktail salad and also how to humanely kill a lobster (and even gave some other intrepid guests a chance to try their own hands at it). S and I were happy to just eat lobster in several forms - the salad had a citrussy dressing that I enjoyed (and we got a chef's tip to microwave lemons briefly if you want them to be juicier and milder in flavor). The grilled lobster was buttery and garlicky and delectable as well. By the end of the evening we were drinking sour beers with Belgo's brand manager and squeezing in some waffles with decadently rich dark chocolate sauce. Thanks to the entire Belgo and Relish PR team that made this possible - I've had quite a few great nights at Belgo in the past but the lobster element made this one even more fun!

Lobsterfest runs until 31st August 2013 and in another charming move, Belgo is paying for a lobster to be set free in Cornwall for every lobster ordered, so don't feel guilty about eating as many lobsters as you want.

Koya

49 Frith St
London
W1D 4SG

C & B arranged to meet P and me at Koya on a cold weekend afternoon. After bundling in, we settled in for a feast. Udon noodles were ordered for everyone, of course - I had the Tori Nikomi (chicken and vegetable hot pot) which came in the adorable dish above and kept its heat for ages, which made it perfect for warming me up. Everyone else was slurping up their dishes and making appreciative noises - and once we finished our noodles, we couldn't resist getting more food. Off the specials menu, we had rhubarb and beetroot pickles (which inspired me to make my own rhubarb pickles a few weeks later), the fried chicken (my only complaint was that it was incredibly messy to eat), a tofu dish that I absolutely loved but can't remember now, and probably another dish as well. I stupidly forgot to take pictures of it all so I have no way of figuring it out. Which just means I need to get back to Koya to recapture my memories. Giant thumbs up from me.

Tonkotsu

63 Dean Street  
London 
W1D 4QG

PG13 (as opposed to PGTips) had a birthday that needed to be celebrated, so off we went to have some pints and stuff ourselves with ramen. There's been a recent surge in ramen restaurants - we picked Tonkotsu as it seemed to be popular and it was conveniently located for both of us. Ordering was easy, aside from a slight indecisiveness over whether to get chicken karaage or gyoza. Gyoza it was (next time it will be chicken karaage), which was nice and crispy on the bottom, though I personally prefer my homemade ones, except for the fact that they take a lot of effort to make. On to choosing ramen - we both went for the namesake tonkotsu. What came out was a soul warming bowl of goodness with the most delightfully soft-boiled egg floating in it. The picture above does no justice whatsoever. I am getting warm just thinking about this bowl of noodles with its porky essence.

The Holborn Whippet

Sicilian Avenue
London
WC1A

This is one of A's favorite pubs because it is 1) close to work and 2) serves interesting beer. I am a little less enamored with it, especially on Friday nights when it is rammed to the gills and I get pints of beer spilled on me by people who talk with their hands. However, lunch time at the Whippet is a totally different matter. E an I gave it a whirl (and skipped the beer, since we're responsible working adults, yo!) and quickly realized that while £8 might seem steep for a steak sandwich and some fries, when you see the ridiculously large metal plate of food they bring out, it is actually completely reasonable. If you're a giant. If you're not a giant, I would suggest sharing, which is what we're going to do next time, and there will be a next time because it is a damn good sandwich. BRING IT ON.

Nizuni

22 Charlotte Street
London
W1T 2NB

Nizuni is a gorgeous little Japanese place on Charlotte Street. I chose it due to its proximity to the Odeon on Tottenham Court Road, where P&P and I were going to watch Magic Mike, and because there was a Toptable deal of some sort. Turns out it was fabulous and much better than the movie. I admit it was so long ago I barely remember what we ordered - I can see edamame, sliced octopus with citrus sauce, deep fried squid and chicken gyoza in the picture, and we must have ordered some mains as well. But even though I might not have clear recollections of exactly what we ate, I know we really enjoyed the meal and that I would definitely go back if I was craving Japanese and in the area, so that will have to be enough.

MEATmarket

The Deck, Jubilee Market Hall
Tavistock Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2E 8BE

E and I have bonded over cocktails, the West Wing, and a deep love of burgers. When I saw that MEATmarket was opening in Covent Garden, we made immediate plans to lunch there. We each ordered a Dead Hippie (double patties fried in mustard, American cheese, Dead Hippie sauce) and I had the jalapeno poppers while E ordered fries. While it was all as filthily delicious as it looks, I would definitely opt for MEATliquor over MEATmarket, as the menu is just too limited at MEATmarket. All of the burgers are double patties, which is a bit overwhelming if you're just looking for lunch, and MEATmarket doesn't have the buffalo wings that I adore so much. Still - we didn't have to wait for our food here, and if you're in the mood for a burger that will make you feel guilty, it still hits the spot.

Yalla Yalla

12 Winsley Street
London
W1W 8HQ

P suggested Yalla Yalla for dinner, as he loves it. I'd been meaning to try it for ages and was happy to oblige. We didn't have to wait very long for a table, even though it seemed like the restaurant was rammed. P had many recommendations so I trusted him - we got lamb kibbeh (raw lamb mixed with spices and bulgur wheat) and grilled halloumi to start, and then I had a mixed kebab so that I could try both the chicken and the lamb. It was very greedy ordering, I will admit - I would have been fine with just a main - but it was all so delicious that we managed to polish it all off, except for the dish they brought out by mistake - an additional portion of halloumi. When we told the waiter we'd already had some, he just shrugged and left it with us - so that turned into my lunch for the next day. I'd definitely go back - just one warning, it can be quite loud, so make sure you go with someone who has decent hearing!

Bob Bob Ricard

1 Upper James St

London

W1F 9DF

My lovely (and very generous) friend C took me out for a birthday dinner at Bob Bob Ricard, which is the perfect place to snuggle into a booth with someone you really like hanging out with - the drinks, food and luxurious coziness of the whole place makes it one of my favorite meals in recent memory. The "Push for champagne" button at each table sets the tone for the whole place - whatever you want, whenever you want it, delivered with charm! Due to the multiple drinks and courses, my memory is not the clearest, but I definitely remember having the truffled potato and porcini vareniki pictured above, each topped with a tiny onion ring. For mains we tore apart an Old Bay Crispy Chicken, which made good use of one of my favorite seasonings and paired it with the tenderness of a baby chicken. There was also a Veal Fillet Holstein, which was essentially a schnitzel topped with a tiny fried quail's egg and sitting in an incredible sauce. A shoutout to the truffled mashed potato as well, which we polished off easily, before moving on to the weirdest dessert order ever - macaroni and cheese (don't look at us that way!) and the BBR Signature Chocolate Glory, which had a beautiful dome of gilded chocolate that was then melted by the hot chocolate sauce the waiter poured over it. And of course, being extra thoughtful, my friend had also arranged for a specially decorated mini-birthday cake to appear. I am now slightly embarrassed as I read through everything we ate (and I've missed off some other bits too) - but anyone that knows me knows that feeding me is the best way to celebrate, and this is a meal I'll remember for ages.

Kopapa

34 Monmouth Street
London
WC2H 9HA


I chose Kopapa as our pre-theatre dinner before seeing Matilda (which is fantastic, by the way, in case you didn't already know). It was a while ago, since I'm not doing a great job of keeping up with blogging these days, but I'm pretty sure I had the starter described as "Pork, chilli, coconut & gapi salad on endive, crispy shallots, tamarind dressing". The flavors were really interesting - a delicate balance of salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami, all in one bite. I think I then had "Roast miso cod, Jerusalem artichoke, bok choy, soy ginger beurre blanc" which was cooked perfectly - the fish flaked off in big pearly pieces and paired well with the slightly Asian-influenced sauce and greens. Sadly I can't remember anything about what A had, but I know he enjoyed it as well - I'd certainly recommend this to anyone else who wants a slightly more elegant dinner in the Covent Garden area.