Ho-ja

39 Goldhawk Rd
Shepherds Bush
London W12 8QQ

I was in Shepherds Bush for a gig and since I'm so rarely in the area, I had a quick look at interesting places for a casual dinner beforehand. Ho-ja popped up and as soon as I saw that it was Taiwanese, I was sold (my dad's from Taiwan, I miss that food sometimes). I went with popcorn chicken, which came with a generous scoop of rice, along with beansprouts and broccoli. You also choose a sauce, and I asked for curry - which essentially turned my meal into the Taiwanese version of a katsu curry. It was an ideal solo meal, cost less than a tenner, and fulfilled some nostalgia for me, so thumbs up all around!

Duke of Cornwall

 

48 Fulham Palace Road

London W6 9PH

 

S and I met up with some of her friends before a gig at the Hammersmith Apollo (this guy, if you're curious). While wandering the area looking for a place to have a drink and a bite to eat, we stumbled across the Duke of Cornwall. Its menu is not that promising - the pictures of the food are terrible and we were all a bit concerned, but when you're hungry and pressed for time you're willing to take a chance. Turns out, we're all happy we did - my pad thai (boring, I know) was actually delicious, if a little on the sweet side - it came with proper crushed peanut and chilli garnishes and was an absolutely enormous portion for under £7. We scarfed our food, along with some wine, and then hopped across the road for a wonderful evening of music.

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.

Pizza Brera

Upstairs at the Lyric Hammersmith

London

W6 0QL

More fun activities with A. This evening, he had suggested that we get tickets to see Morning by Simon Stephens at the Lyric Hammersmith (mixed reactions from the three of us - I thought it was ok, A & F were not impressed at all). F joined us there and we went with the easy option of pizzas at Pizza Brera, eaten out on the roof garden. While this bit of Hammersmith is not exactly lovely, the roof garden did a good job of hiding the less scenic views behind wooden structures and vines. Mine was a Parma pizza with tomato, mozzarella, porcini mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, parma ham, rocket leaves, and parmesan shavings. I happen to love a forest of rocket leaves on top of my pizza, but A and F were a little less enamored with the greenery. I think A had a Piccante - tomato, mozzarella, fresh chilli, ventricina salami, roasted peppers, fresh thyme, and oregano, though my memory is not too sharp, and F went for my pizza without the heaps of rocket on top. A thin, crispy base complemented the pizzas well and it was certainly a massive step up from most chain pizzerias, so I was pleased. Even my giant appetite was unable to defeat an entire pizza though - I think two people could easily share one pizza with something on the side. I wouldn't head out to Hammersmith just to have this pizza, but it is a decent option if you're seeing a play.

Mamounia Lounge

136 Brompton Road 
Knightsbridge
London
SW3 1HY

I'll be honest and say that Knightsbridge is not one of my usual haunts, but when I was invited to come to Mamounia Lounge to check out their Moroccan and Lebanese menu, it seemed like a good reason to expand the horizons a bit. A short walk from Knightsbridge station, Mamounia Lounge is decked out more like a bar/club than restaurant, and I probably wouldn't have thought about it as a place for dinner if I was just walking past. Inside, it's all dim lighting and dark, intense colors. We started with the long cocktail list, and I tried a Gold Digger cocktail (passion fruit, vanilla, vodka, champagne) and A had the Mamounia Old Fashioned with Flor de Cana 21 rum. They were both well balanced, though A did realize he'd chosen an after-dinner drink for his pre-dinner drink. 

To start we had the incredibly creamy Hommus Shawarma (topped with grilled lamb), and deep fried squid which managed to be both crispy and tender. The mixed grill and lamb shank tagine mains also showed off the skills of the kitchen - I'm not sure I've ever had a chicken kebab that was so juicy and full of chickeny flavor, and the lamb shank was braised to a fall-apart consistency that just needed gentle prodding with a fork. 

Desserts were not as stellar as the savory dishes though - the Mahalabia, an Arabic pudding garnished with pistachios, tasted mostly of roses to me, which was unexpected as I'd never had the dish before and there was no mention of that flavor on the menu. The fig tart had a rather thick, stodgy pastry, but it was saved by the fabulous cinnamon ice cream. This is going to sound disgustingly greedy, but our waiter was insistent that we try the chocolate fondant and brought it out for our third dessert, and to be fair it was the best of the three. 

For something sweet after a meal that won't stuff you even further, I'd suggest going outside for a shisha - we had the mixed fruit tobacco pumped through mango juice, and it was a more unique, fun experience than the dessert menu. That's a popular option though and there isn't much space outside, so you do need to book in advance.

Since we were there on a Friday night, a stunning belly dancer performed after dinner - a bit of extra entertainment if you're looking for it! It seems to fit the neighborhood well - I would hesitate a bit at the prices, especially as I live close to Dalston where meals like this would be half the cost, but you do get a more glamorous presentation in return, and there are certainly many comparably priced places in Knightsbridge without the quality cooking seen here.

Goodfoodetc was invited to review Mamounia Lounge.

Pearl Liang

8 Sheldon Square
London
W2 6EZ

Pearl Liang was the last meal for our west London weekend, and boy was it a doozy. I can now see why so many people have gone hunting for this restaurant in the strange area known as Paddington Basin - on a Sunday morning, there is nothing else open in the area except for a lonely little Sainsbury's and a Starbucks. We probably over-ordered for two, but it didn't matter - A and I polished off everything like champs. Next time I have a craving for dim sum, I will be running back here - everything we had tasted fresh, with good quality ingredients, and the atmosphere inside the restaurant was great too.

List of goodies we ate, with the really exceptional ones in bold: Wasabi Prawn Dumpling, Shanghai Dumpling with Pork, Pork Shu Mai, Shredded Taro Crispy Prawn Roll, Crispy Aromatic Duck Roll, Fried Octopus Cake, Bok Choi with Garlic, Chrysanthemum Custard Buns

Taqueria

139 Westbourne Grove
London
W11 2RS

Taqueria has been praised by several of my friends so I was pretty excited to try it. As usual, there was a wait for a table - this place is so popular, and unfortunately after eating there I couldn't quite figure out why. Here's what we ordered:

• Sope fried masa boat, refry, salsa, crema, crumbled cheese, onion, coriander with house made Mexican chorizo £4.50
• Carnitas shredded slow cooked pork, green salsa, pickled jalapeño, diced onion, coriander £6.00
• Puntas Albañil skirt steak, smoky bacon, onion, green chile, sliced avocado £6.50
• Tinga chicken in a spicy chile chipotle, onion and tomato sauce with sliced avocado £5.50
• Gringa pastor (pork) and melted cheese sandwiched between 2 corn tortillas £6.50

The only one I really loved was the Puntas Albañil, with its large smoky nuggets of bacon. And the prices seemed a little steep - we spent about the same amount at Cafe Luc the night before and that was a much more luxurious and expensive-tasting meal. The other complaint we had was about the Bloody Maria we ordered - someone thinks that salt should be the main flavor in that cocktail because we had to dilute it with almost an equal amount of water before it was drinkable. Maybe this was an off night, but there are too many other places to eat better food - I doubt I'll be back.

Hummingbird Bakery

133 Portobello Road
Notting Hill
London
W11 2DY

Hummingbird Bakery is renowned for its cupcakes, but I think they're overrated. I tried a red velvet cupcake just to make sure I wasn't missing out on something revelatory, and indeed, it was far too sweet for me, and even a tad dry. Their "New York" cheesecake failed our taste test as well - it was not nearly dense enough, so A will have to continue searching for an acceptable slice of cheesecake in London. Thankfully, in addition to our two failures, we also ordered a savoury muffin, and this was the highlight - cheesy without being heavy, it was scarfed down and we were amazed by how much we liked it. I'd get the savoury muffin again, but I can't see myself going back to Hummingbird Bakery much - the disappointment to happiness ratio was too high, and it's not cheap either.

Drinksfusion @ the Cobden Club

170 Kensal Road
London W10 5BN

The Cobden Club is a private members' club in West London, though on some evenings they have gigs that are open to the general public. I am generally biased against private clubs, but since Qype was holding a cocktail and canapé event there, I trudged out west and had my name checked at the door to make sure I wasn't some ruffian trying to harass people posher than me. The event was really more about Drinksfusion, a company that combines cocktails and food for parties. To that end, they had some specialty cocktails that were being generously poured all evening, as well as little shots of drinks that were paired with the canapés.  The salmon with poppy seeds above was great, as was the seared tuna paired with watermelon shots. I was concentrating a little bit too hard on the bellinis and gin cocktails (read about the drinks here) and before I knew it, giant trays of chocolate fondue were being placed on tables. Strangely, the chocolate was not hot, though it was still liquid - aside from this odd temperature, there's not much that can go wrong with dipping fruit in melted chocolate. During a quick chat with one of the founders, I was reassured that Drinksfusion is not only for corporate accounts - they claim that their drinks only run about 3-4 quid a head at a party, which is pretty reasonable if you're doing something special. Seeing as how they are so passionate about their food and drinks, I bet you wouldn't have to worry too much about your event if they were the ones running it.