The Flying Pig

58-60 E Dulwich Rd

London 

SE22 9AX

So pictures above are from our first visit to The Flying Pig, with T and R and their baby. It was a Sunday lunchtime, and the pub was heaving with children, so it's a good choice if you are looking for family-friendly atmosphere and don't want anyone to glare at you if you are with an uncontrollable child/baby (not that T&R's baby was anything but very well behaved the whole time). My buffalo wings were disappointing as usual (why is it so hard for UK restaurants to fry some chicken wings and dip them in Frank's hot sauce mixed with butter?) but the beef rib that A had was pretty great, and you can see how the giant chunks of beef take up over half the plate. A return visit with a different group of friends was an entirely different matter though. Friday nights, the pub is definitely not a place for children, and the sound of adults drinking interesting beer is enough to deafen a person. I had to order the beef rib this time, and it was about half the size as the portion above. It was still plenty of food though, and I wouldn't have mentioned it, except that A's chicken burger came with a piece of chicken so small that as soon as he pointed it out, the waitress brought him another chicken burger. So low score for tiny first burger, but extra points for addressing that flaw immediately. When A mentioned my beef rib was tiny compared to last time, the other waitress seemed to take the statement personally, which was a bit awkward. I'm not sure how to summarize my feelings about this place - I doubt I'll be back any time soon, and Duke's Brew & Cue is better for BBQ meat, but I suppose if I found myself back in East Dulwich I might be tempted to go one more time?

Sylvan Post

 

24-28 Dartmouth Road

London

SE23 3XZ

So it’s not often that you see a post office converted into a pub. And by post office, I don’t mean one of those elaborate historical post offices, I mean a modern day drab 60s concrete block kind of post office. But if you were going to do it, you should definitely aim for something like the Sylvan Post, which has quirky features aplenty (some little snugs in the back that look like jail cells?), a phenomenal beer selection, and food that is better than the average pricing would imply. For a pre-Christmas gathering, we all piled into catch up on stories and stuff ourselves silly – my main of mutton with some truly excellent chips on the side was everything that I wanted on a cold winter’s night. Can’t wait to get back there soon.

 

Apero @ the Ampersand Hotel

10 Harrington Rd
London
SW7 3ER

P & N and I met Lady E at her hotel in South Kensington, the Ampersand. Inside is a restaurant called Apero, which does a surprisingly reasonable dinner menu of small plates. There must have been something on their menu involving salmon roe as that is clearly what I had in the picture above - alas it is not on their website. I also had a dish called English guinea fowl, mushrooms, bacon and sherry, which came in an adorable little copper pot and was so much fun to eat (says the girl who loves nothing more than to demolish small birds). Of the other things ordered, one of my favorites was the Burrata & beetroot, olive oil crisp bread - it was so generous and creamy and fun to share. While I wouldn't go out of my way to get back to Apero, it will certainly be on my list of places in South Kensington - you could do far worse and feel far more robbed than coming for a meal here.

The Blind Tiger

697 Wandsworth Road 

London 

SW8 3JF

Lucky me, O was in town for my birthday this year so she and A and I all went out for an amazing dinner and drinks evening at The Blind Tiger. While it is definitely a pain in the ass to get there if you're not from the Wandsworth area, the place is so beautifully done up and has such a great vibe inside that we would consider making the trek back. First up, the cocktails are elegant and interesting - and at happy hour they are a very reasonable 4.50 each! I had some kind of elderflower, mint and gin concoction which was a lovely start to the evening. On to the food - steak tartare to start, and then an entire lemon sole for mains. The tartare was nice but nothing extraordinary; the sole on the other hand was absolutely outstanding with a crispness from the grilling and a gorgeous caper and brown butter sauce that I was practically licking off the board by the end. All of this, paired with some great music from Top Shelf Jazz, made for a delightful birthday celebration that I will remember, especially since I had such wonderful company.

The Britannia

44 Kipling Street
London
SE1 3RU

Mr. AB had his birthday drinks here on a Saturday night - it was quiet as anything but meant that we could all have a nice conversation without shouting, which at our age is something we value ;) Anyway - since it was clear that we should eat something while downing pints, we perused the dinner menu and I have to say, considering the state of the other meals, I chose well. My grilled fish was fresh and crisp-skinned, and the pile of chips underneath was cooked, at least. Others had the burger which was a sad, grey puck of meat surrounded by overly large, stale buns, and Mr. AB even had undercooked chips with his meal. Basically - don't go here to eat - go here to have a drink and try one of their whiskies, as that is what they excel in. We asked too much and in return received too little.

Franco Manca

4 Market Row
Electric Lane
London
SW9 8LD

Franco Manca is a bit of an institution and has been written about by a lot of people already, so I won't get into its history. A and I got to try it on a Thursday lunchtime, when it was easy to get a table. Our waitress encouraged us to get a salad along with our pizzas and it was a good recommendation - the dressing was tangy and went well with the bowl of fresh leaves. The pizzas came out quickly and were enormous - the plates in the picture above are much bigger than usual plates. We had a pizza from the regular menu with ham and one of the daily specials - a white pizza with wild boar salami and rocket. Both were pretty fabulous, though I liked the ham pizza a bit more, probably because the tomato sauce was perfectly balanced with the cheese and ham. I wish it was easier to get to and the opening hours were more extended, but it was worth the visit to Brixton and the market is pretty interesting to wander around.

2010 Jerk Chicken Cook-Off

Brockwell Park
London
SE24 9AE

I found out about the Jerk Chicken Cook-Off from Food Stories who has already written up a great review of this year's event. South London friends were quickly rounded up to join us so we could try as many versions of jerk chicken as possible.

I headed straight for Tasty Jerk, the winner of the last two cook-offs, and got a plate of jerk chicken along with a splodge of incredibly fiery chili sauce on the side. The chicken was moist, smoky and full of spices - and utterly addictive. It made me proud of my own version of jerk chicken - I think I've managed to do a decent job of making it at home.

K ordered some jerk fish which came over rice and peas with a scoop of coleslaw on top. The fish was fantastic as well - I thought jerk spices might overpower fish but that is not the case. Her fish flaked right off the bones and K was happy to give me the fish head to gnaw on.

We tried jerk chicken from several other places but I gave Tasty Jerk my personal award for best chicken. Unfortunately I was too full to try the entire animal they were roasting (I think it was lamb) but that just means that we'll have to go back next year for more...

Chilli Chutney

20 - 21 The High Parade
Streatham High Road
London 

SW16 1EX

I was lucky enough to get invited to a Qype event at Chilli Chutney - we learned how to make samosas (those are my attempts above, the potato filled one on the left and the lamb filled one on the right). The chefs are experts - they make loads of these every day from scratch, so their demonstration was deft and graceful. Once they let us normal folk have a try, things went a bit haywire, but everything still tasted nice after it was freshly fried. We're supposed to get recipes for these so I will add those to this post if I get them. After our samosa lesson, we sat down to eat some curries and naan and rice - looking at their menu I think we had tarka daal (yum) and chicken achaari, along with keema naan, roghni naan (my favorite, covered with sesame seeds) and regular naan. I was stuffed at this point but when shahi keer (similar to rice pudding) came out, I had to try a couple of bites of that as well. Everything tasted fresh and was distinctively spiced - I'll have to go back and try more of the menu. 

The Long Room

130 Mitcham Road

London 

SW17 9NH

After a morning of knocking on doors in Tooting (a friend is running for a councillor seat there in the coming May election), we stopped off to refuel at a pub. I'm starting to understand that when you go to an average pub that you don't know anything about, your best bet is to stick to average pub food (i.e. don't go wild and try fusion/ambitious dishes as you will most likely regret it). Therefore, a tuna melt and a cheeseburger were ordered and split between two of us. The burger was beefy, though it could have been cooked a bit more rare, and the tuna melt was as expected - crispy bread sandwiching melted cheese and lemony, peppery tuna salad. Salad looked like it had dressing on it but tasted completely bland, and the chips were a bit flabby. Prices seemed reasonable - about 7 quid for burger and chips, 5 quid for tuna melt and tortilla chips. I'll classify this as decent, but not memorable, but it's what I expected from an average pub.

Central Hall Cafe at the Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 5BD

After a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Darwin Centre, A and I popped into the Central Hall Cafe to grab some lunch before heading out. There were loads of tasty looking pastries but instead we tried to be healthy and ended up with tuna and rocket baguettes. These were quite disappointing - I could barely taste the rocket, the tuna was mashed with too much mayonnaise, and the baguette was bland and too soft. Plus, they were over four quid each.  I will make sure to avoid this place if I go to the Natural History Museum again - their deli and restaurant look a bit more promising.

Sandwich Box

9 Newington Causeway
London SE1 6ED

On my way to a class, I stopped by the Sandwich Box for bacon and egg on a roll - I'm not sure why but I was feeling quite in need of something filling for breakfast. It's a small place, but the rolls are fresh and soft and the fillings are fine - nothing extraordinary, just a decent breakfast roll. If I recall correctly, it was also only 1.40, so it falls into the quick and cheap category. I certainly wouldn't go looking for it again, but nor would I avoid it in the future if I happened to find myself outside.

The Table

83 Southwark Street
London
SE1 0HX

Good brunch spots are hard to find in London, so I was quite pleased to find this place which is not too difficult for our friends south of the river to get to. It's very clean and soothing inside with Scandinavian-looking furniture and lots of glass and white walls. The reason why my plate looks so full above was because in addition to the eggs benedict (english muffin, bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise) there was also a side order of pork and leek sausages. This is due to the fact that we were up very late the night before, party-hopping, so by the time we got to brunch I was starving and clearly ordered more than a normal person should eat at 11.30am. But it was all so tasty that I finished the entire plate. I also had a delightful pear, apple and ginger smoothie. Yes, I am greedy. Especially when it comes to really delicious breakfasts. Mmmm.