Restaurant review: THE PICKLED HEN (Marble Arch)

Such is my fondness for exploring London restaurants using deals I’ve pre-bought on the internet, that I bought a Sunday brunch for two deal from BuyAGift at The Pickled Hen of London Marriott Hotel Marble Arch. The deal entitled us to unlimited Presecco for two hours and a Sunday brunch for £39.

You definitely get bang for your buck with this deal. Apart from the main, where you order a la carte, everything else from the brunch was buffet-style. Normally, when I think of buffets, I'm reminded of copious amounts of food on display, all of questionable quality. That wasn’t the case here at all: there was choice, but it was all refined and prepared, like cute little quiches, a generous cheeseboard and cold cuts including small slices of salami.

Two photos of just some of the awesome foods you could have:

Restaurant review: THE BREAKFAST CLUB (Soho)

The film is iconic, setting the bar for talky-dramedies channelling teenage angst for years to come. So famous is it, that is has been name-dropped or riffed on in several teenage-orientated movies, including Easy A and The DUFF, and most recently, Ready Player One.

The restaurant was established a good 20 years after the film was released, but such is the goodwill and strong reputation it has forged, that The Breakfast Club is as crucial to any London-based foodie’s itinerary as the film is to a movie buff’s viewing list.

I had long been scared off eating here, however, because on any random walk past the restaurant, it had always had a massive queue outside it. Having succumbed to the marvels of Eat Tokyo and On the Bab, my favourite Japanese and Korean restaurants in London, respectively, however, I modified my outlook on queuing.

Both these restaurants don’t take reservations, yet the food has been worth the wait, so with my fingers crossed, I hoped The Breakfast Club was another example of this.

As it so happened, I needn’t have thought about it so much. Whilst the restaurant is hot property during brunch times of 12pm – 3pm, we went a little after this, so we were seated straight away. So if you have an aversion to queuing, worth bearing in mind!

Between us, we had ‘Huevos al Benny’ and Korean fried chicken pancakes. With both priced at £10.50, I considered the portions to be very reasonable: -

Restaurant review: LANTANA (Fitzrovia)

I’ve trialled lots of cuisines in my experience sampling London’s restaurants, but one country’s dishes which I haven’t had enough exposure to is Australian food, and I sought to rectify this by sampling the food of Lantana, which I had heard good things about.

I had the big bubble (Bubble ‘n’ squeak with cumberland sausage, poached egg, black pudding, muhammara and sautéed spinach), pictured below.

I absolutely loved it. The poached egg was one of the finest I’ve had, and the tomatoes had been roasted exquisitely. The tomatoes’ soft texture complemented the rest of the meal, which was quite solid.

I’ve historically found that sausages tend to be the weakest part of breakfast menus, because they tend to cost the most, and profit-driven cafes and restaurants would rather opt for the value brand instead of the Taste the Difference.

The best part about staying in a Premier Inn?

That would be the breakfast buffet!

Monday's breakfast

Wednesday's breakfast

I didn't bother taking a photo on Tuesday, seeing as I tend to get the same items every day (as you may have surmised from the two photos, which basically play like a food version of Spot the Difference).

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Something I sampled this week that I wasn't so keen, on the other hand, was strawberry beer:

I needed a beverage to consume whilst I watched Chelsea vs Middlesbrough, and this drink was so vile that I really took my time with it. So at least there was that; that it lasted me the entire match and saved me having to pay for another pint! #SilvaLinings

Two Omelettes I Cooked This Week.

When I was on holiday in Amsterdam in June, I had the sickest omelette. It tasted great, but I took slight umbrage at having to shell out an extra Euro for every extra ingredient. I knew it would be much more financially viable to cook my own omelette; the only problem is that I don't usually have time and I'm not the most culinarily gifted. 

Well, circumstance would have it that this week, I made time. On Thursday, I visited my friend Rebecca's new flat for the first time, and we cooked together, and on Sunday, I made Tom a meal by way of reciprocation for all the times he's cooked me a delicious hangover cure. In producing two omelettes in such short succession, it allowed me to hone my skills at making them whilst the production process was still fresh in my mind.

Omelette 1 (Thursday omelette)

Step 1: Cut potatoes and fry them with oil

Step 2: Cut onions and fry them with oil too (I used three onions)

Step 3: when the onions and the potatoes are about equal time from being cooked, put the onions in the same frying pan as the potatoes

Step 4: whisk eggs in a cup. Pour the eggs (6 were used here) into the frying pan and distribute evenly around the pan to bind the ingredients together

End product, viola!

Omelette 2 (Sunday omelette)

The main difference between this one and the first one was the inclusion of cheese, which worked with the eggs to bind the onions and the potatoes together. I also included parsley (which Rebecca told me added to the flavour of omelettes), and, because I am absolutely obsessed with onions, I use red onions as well as white ones.

Step 1: Cut potatoes and fry them with oil. I cut these pieces much smaller than Thursday's, so that they'd cook faster

Step 2: cut red and white onions into small pieces

Step 3: (slightly different because I could only find one frying pan, ha). I had fried the onions for about 15 minutes in this frying pan before I put the onions in with them to cook. Parsley was also added (and a cheeky bit of salt)

Step 4: whisk eggs and pour them into the frying pan to bind all the ingredients together. Add cheese to omelette after eggs have begun to set. We used more ingredients this time, so used 9 eggs for the omelette.

I didn't take a final photo because it wasn't very aesthetically pleasing, haha. But me and Tom polished off everything that was in the photo above in one sitting, so who cares how it looked? XD

Overall, had a really fun time making these two omelettes. When Tom comes back from Uni in a few weeks, I reckon I'll chop a few pieces of salami and embed them into the omelette. Maybe add tomato too. I could go on and on and on. Who knew, cooking can be enjoyable?!

Three delicious meals I had in Amsterdam.

As you know, when in London, I'm constantly on the search for the best breakfast it has to offer, the last cooked breakfast of which I had was utterly uninspiring. The breakfasts in Amsterdam, on the other hand, were superb. The basic omelette (and toast) was just €3.95, but each additional ingredient was an extra Euro. I asked for cheese, onions and tomato. I wasn't entirely convinced the amount of onions they included (or lack thereof) merited €1, but the cheese really gave the omelette fantastic flavour and the tomatoes were a welcome, healthy addition too.

Another thing I dig about Dutch breakfasts is how generous they are with the butter. In this picture, there are two mini-sachets of butter, but if you wanted more, they would casually give you about five. Delicious (and enough to give oneself a heart attack!)

I ate this pizza at an Amsterdam restaurant called Casa di David, and the taste evoked memories of my favourite pizza place in London, Icco's. It had a thin base, which I love, and focused the taste of the pizza in the ingredients used in the toppings. I had a tuna and red onion pizza, which complemented the cheese and tomato perfectly. As it was an Italian restaurant, they had bottles of balsamic vinegar and olive oil at the ready, which I used to make a nice dip to dunk my pizza crusts in. Nom!

Again, orange juice is my drink of choice with my breakfasts! What I liked about this meal was that they allowed you to swap ingredients. I don't like mushrooms, so instead of them, I asked for onions (the more perceptive readers might have realised I have a penchant for onions). Due to being burned by that godawful Bella Italia breakfast, I was wary of how the sausages here would taste, but graciously, they were both moreish and healthy. The yellow egg yolk was also a nice addition to the meal; gave me something to dip my crusts into!

The search for London's best breakfast: Bella Italia.

I'm gonna cut to the chase; Bella Italia's won't be winning. The sausage tasted extremely chewy and poor quality, the bacon was too hard, there weren't enough baked beans and the potatoes were flavourless. Think the photo shows the quality (or lack thereof) of all the ingredients pretty well.

Grade: E

RESTAURANT REVIEW: On the Bab (Shoreditch)

Readers of my blog will be all too aware that I don't have much time for restaurants who make their punters queue up. I just feel it brazenly declares that the restaurant cares more about making money than it does about the culinary experience of the people dining there. And The Table Cafe, one such restaurant which operated on the no-booking policy, proved to be a complete disappointment. Queuing up in the rain for this restaurant, I was struck with a sense of déjà vu and feared that, for the second time, I would have stood in the cold for ages, only to be served a below-par meal like a mug.

Fortunately, things didn't work out like that; I'm happy to say that On the Bab went some way towards restoring that balance in the Universe. Korean food is one of my favourite cuisines, and some of my favourite restaurants in London are delightful Korean places which offer fantastic value for money (there is a fantastic cluster of such restaurants around Tottenham Court Road, offering a much more palatable alternative to the over-baked American diners that are littered around the capital). On the Bab, which has chains in Shoreditch, Covent Garden and Marylebone, is another such place.

I cannot recommend the 'On the Buns' enough, which are Korean-style burgers, fill to the brim with goodness (you can choose between chicken, pork or beef; we went for the latter), and on delicious steamed bread with vegetable fritters to give the concoction extra texture (and nutritional value). 

Practically everybody in On the Bab had a 'Yangyum chicken' on their table, which was, no hyperbole, the best fried chicken I've ever had. Admittedly, my bar is quite low (I would happily feast on KFC every day for the rest of my life), but this was cooked so meticulously, drenched in some of the most moreish sauce I've ever sated, that I simply had to order another portion. The crushed peanuts worked a treat in this dish as well - it's not usually an ingredient I have much time for, but, applied sparingly to the fried chicken, it managed to bring out the flavour of it more.

No Korean meal is complete without a Bibimbab, and the succulent conflation of flavours (pictured in closer detail in the Snapchat picture at the top of this entry) was a flavourful party in my mouth, to which all my favourite foods was invited. And best of all, the items we ordered didn't feel like disparate entities. You could have a bit of this and then a bit of something else, and it all tasted fantastic.

My only slight criticism of this place was that we were sat on a side-stool rather than a table, and thus, there really wasn't enough space to place all the food we'd ordered, the cocktails, our cutlery and our plates. But I'll allow On the Bab his shortcoming and not let it detract from their Perfect A grade, because, in terms of dining experiences in London, this is one of the best places I've had the good fortune of visiting.

Grade: A

Restaurant review: ERMEI SICHUAN (Chinatown)

The food was plentiful, and, some of it, delicious. The egg-fried was good compared to some of their lazier neighbours, and the liquid element of the chicken soup (pictured at the far right) was precisely what one needed on a blisteringly cold January evening. 

However, the actual chicken component of the soup itself tasted underdone, and the meat thing (bottom, centre) was full of cheap fatty pork and practically inedible.

Restaurant review: THE TABLE (Southwark)

As with The Breakfast Club just a few streets down, The Table Café boasts a no-reservation policy and as such, has a queue of people waiting outside in the freezing cold. That, already, puts it in a realm with 10 Greek Street, which irritates me because it automatically signals that the restaurant cares more about their overall revenue than they do about the dining experience of the punters.

Breakfast watch: Luna Café (Chiswick)

The sausages were a little burnt, but the actual ingredients used for it was very high quality. Big fan of the crispy bacon and the oily hash brown. Decent amount of baked beans, and just look at that deliciously buttered toast! 

The only real downside was that for drink, you could only have coffee or tea. I wanted orange juice! That would have washed the meal down better. And I don't really like mushrooms, so I would have rather had more of the other ingredients rather than the mushroom.

Overall though, very solid.

Grade: A-

Restaurant review: THE DINER: (Soho)

Continuing with new-found hobby of frequenting Soho for American brunch joints, I turned my attention to The Diner. Situated in the extremely happening Ganton Street/Carnaby Street area, it’s just a few minutes walk from Oxford Street, and thus, had it been a hit, would have been a go-to place for me to replenish my energy before doing weekend clothes shopping, which as you all know, is an activity that is oh so stamina-quenching.

Unfortunately for The Diner, whatever treats their menu boasted were all negated by the horrific service we experienced there. We had one blonde guy, who looked like a Poundland Liam Hemsworth. My friend asked if we could sit near the back, when the restaurant was empty, and he just barked at her, ‘no, you sit here’. 

Furthermore, whenever I called him to bring us water, or that we were ready to order, he couldn’t hide his look of utter annoyance, as if he couldn’t believe the audacity of these twats to DARE to pull him away from his friend who he was chatting to, to order their food. To add insult to injury, The Diner helps itself to a handsome 12.5% mandatory tip for service on the food bill. Hilarious, given how we all but had to serve ourselves, with a waiter that was clearly pressed at his life decisions to drop out of fashion school, and chose to take it out on us.

Pictures of the food and drink I had is below.

The dish itself was good, a mishmash of many of my favourite things, and the drink was deliciously sweet, if a little overpriced at £4.20. But to be honest, this place could have the best food in London and I wouldn’t go back again because of that insufferable waiter.

Grade: D

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Update: 19th October 2014.

I went to The Diner in Shoreditch on Saturday. Whilst the menu and the prices were identical, the altogether more cheerful, less uppity service from the waiters and waitresses attending to us means I'm now happy to bump this place up to a B+. What a difference some good service makes, eh?

The eggs benedict with salmon were tasty enough, but I wasn't a fan of the haphazard addition of orange slices on the plate. It didn't add anything to the meal, and just seemed incongruous. Thus, the best eggs benedict I've had in London remains Café Richoux in Mayfair. 

However, the MVP at The Diner that I didn't sample in my first visit here was the hard milkshakes (milkshakes with a cheeky dash of alcohol in), specifically, the True Blue. Mainly blueberries, this was one of the few drinks I've had where it tasted better with the addition of booze. You have to try it out. For £8 you get a handsome amount (enough to fill a the glass in the first review, twice), and honestly, it's the most fun I've had getting tipsy.  I also had a Strawberry Cheesecake hard cocktail, and that, by normal standards, would have been scrummy. But True Blue was in a league of its own.

In future, I may just come here for the milkshakes. Sod the food when the milkshakes are that heavenly!

Bill’s (Holborn) and Jackson + Rye (Soho)

Last Sunday I went for brunch at Bill’s, and the Sunday before that, at Jackson + Rye, so it makes sense to talk about these two places together.

Jackson + Rye is brunch spot with heavy American influences in its decor, particularly that of the New York variety, all diner-style booths and a jukebox-type soundtrack blaring in the past. It boasts a fantastic range of egg dishes, of which I went with the salmon option, as well as offering macaroni cheese as a side dish, something that is a complete novelty to us Brits, who are used to having it as a free-standing meal. Seeing as I was there, I thought it would be rude not to, and indeed, was not disappointed. I'm of the belief that the more cheese, the better, and this side dish was all but drenched in it, and high quality cheese, too.

I went with my MSc lot, three of whom had the eggs with avocado, which was very well received by them. On my end, I adored the salmon, and welcomed it as a healthy alternative to the English fry-ups I usually have for brunch on a Sunday. The macaroni and cheese was wonderfully moreish, unashamedly dripping with carbs and made even better when I added a generous helping of salt. For dessert, I had continued with cheese, devouring a cheesecake of sorts, which came with its own berry sauce. It was artfully decorated and went down a treat, if being a little wanting on the portion-for-price ratio.

Overall, Jackson + Rye operated like an upmarket, slightly more high end version of TGI Friday’s. The few downsides were that we went at a very busy time, and thus, found it difficult to get the waiters’ attention, as well as the fact that they helped themselves to a 12.5% optional tip. Now, it says optional, so we didn’t pay it, but then, when we left, the waiters called us back in because apparently our bill didn’t add up. On a second glance, they realised that it did - we had paid for our food, just declined to pay the 12.5% gratuity because we didn’t feel they earned it. It was all a bit awkward, but I’m firmly of the belief that you should let people choose whether or not they want to tip you. That this place gave themselves a tip, and then passive aggressively chastised us for not paying it, means I am reluctant to recommend it effusively, despite how yummy the food was.

Bill’s boasted an altogether different palate of food: European dishes, as well as the hearty full English, and it was this that I had for brunch last Sunday. I loved it. Like my macaroni cheese at J+R, it was dripping full of carbs, and all the better for it, and the streaky bacon was done exactly how I like it (I’m picky when it comes to bacon). To balance out the salt intake, I had some sugar intake in the form of my first ice cream soda float and it was revelatory! Such was my noobishness when it came to this drink, that I didn’t clock that I was supposed to drink it as soon as the straw went in, meaning a substantial amount of it fell onto the table, but the waiters were switched on and instantly cleaned up for me, no reproach at all.

The upside down cheesecake dessert, whilst expertly packaged in a dinky clear jar and lid, had its proportions of textures a little jumbled up - I would have fancied more cream, and less biscuit, but it seems churlish to let that mar what was otherwise a thoroughly recommendable brunch spot, which will now be forever remembered fondly as the place where I had my first ice cream float.

Jackson + Rye: B-
Bill’s: A-

Restaurant review: BIBIMBAP (Charlotte Street)

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of dining at BiBimBap, a delightful Korean restaurant on the happening Charlotte Street. To kick off proceedings, I had some Korean plum wine. It was served in a glass a little larger than a shotglass, with an actually grape in the glass. Cute!

I had two sides: the indispensable seafood pancake, which, as ever, did not disappoint, as well as squid. Both whetted my appetite sufficiently for the main meal, and, graciously, managed to be delicious without being inundated in sauce, meaning you could actually savour the flavour of the food. In the region of £6 each, these both represent good value for such healthy appetisers. 

In addition to the taste, what really struck me about each of the BiBimBap dishes were the flood of colours in each of the dishes. Every dish was presented meticulously and gorgeously, looking as good as it tasted.

For main, I had the chilli chicken bibimbap. The balance between the meat and the greens was spot-on, and the fried egg on top added to the visual and sensory pleasure that was the meal. The staff were super-attentive throughout my stay, and unlike at other places where they disappear off and forget what you ask for, I was looked after within seconds of my request, which impressed me greatly. Furthermore, for a little extra, you can get brown rice (cooked so that it is deliciously crisp), further boosting this place’s healthiness credentials.

I was the first one in the restaurant when it opened at 6pm, but it got busy very quickly. Considering the cultural treat that a visit to this place was, I’m not surprised! The prices are very reasonable and the down-to-earth, hospitable atmosphere makes this a perfect place to bring friends to for a fun night out. Don’t miss out.

Grade: A

If you would like me to review your restaurant, drop me an email at lemon_and_lime7@hotmail.com and I'll get back to you promptly.

Mugen (Monument)

Grade: A-

Restaurant review: CAFÉ RICHOUX (Mayfair)

A brief walk away from Bond Street Tube station is this delightful French patisserie and café, which I cannot recommend enough. Whether it’s breakfast, brunch, dinner or lunch you’re after, you’d do well to give this place a visit.

As it was early afternoon that I went there, I figured it wasn’t too late for an eggs benedict. The last time I had an eggs benedict in a restaurant was in Smollensky’s back in September 2012. I’d thought that was pretty fantastic, but the Richoux one just blew it out of the water. 

I’d requested to have the eggs soft, as runny eggs with the yolk all yellow is one of my favourite things to consume. They’d cooked it to that level, and better. And the salmon that was served with it was brilliant as well – no Sainsbury’s salmon there. At £12.95, the dish wasn’t cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for here, and that is quality, quality, quality. Even the salad on the side was perfect; the little sprinkle of balsamic on top elevated it above the usual bog standard out-of-the-pack rabbit food.

For dessert, I had three macaroons, chocolate, vanilla and lavendar. Pretty much a given considering we were in a French café. However, since my nightmare experience in the unbelievably pretentious and up-its-own-arse Ladurée, I’ve approached macaroons with some trepidation. Fortunately, the macaroons here actually tasted good. So light I felt like I was floating, yet conversely, deliciously creamy. The lavender in particular, was a delight, both because of the rarity of the flavour, and also the blend of biscuit and filling.

As you may have noticed, I am generally quite a difficult to please food-blogger. If I’ve shelled out for a meal and the slightest thing goes wrong, I’ll remember it and jot it down so I can bitch about the restaurant’s shortcomings on my blog with the venom of the deadliest snake. That's just how this Chinalady rolls. However, I genuinely do not have a single gripe with Café Richoux. 

Tasty, elegant dishes, and a great vibe, this is exactly how French dining in London should be. Simply put, everything Ladurée aspires to, and fails to be.

Grade: A

For more of my restaurant reviews, click here. If you would like me to review your restaurant, drop me an email at lemon_and_lime7@hotmail.com

Emsy tries her hand at cooking a full English breakfast.

I had some help from Theo (read: he cooked pretty much everything other than the hash browns, tomatos, sausages and baked beans, which I was in charge of. And I ruined the sausages).

The cooking process:

 

 

The sausages were a rather embarrassing phail. Basically, I put them in the grill thinking they were cooking as the grill was warm, but that was just heat from the oven cooking the hash browns. So by the time I worked it out, the sausages were late, and looking distinctly unappetising. Anyway, here they are:

 

 

And the finished product:

Contents: 3 slices of bacon, garlicy mushrooms, fried egg, three fried tomatos, baked beans, three hash browns.

 

And it was absolutely delicious! We'll see what mistakes I make in the kitchen next weekend...

 

 

 

Restaurant review: SMOLLENSKY's (Strand)

Such is the bustling, crowded nature of the Strand, that blink and you’ll miss Smollensky’s Bar and Grill, which is wedged in a small space just next to Boots. It’s quite unfortunate for them, yet fortunate, in some ways, because, on the day of paying this place a visit with the girls from work, their grill was broken, meaning I couldn’t choose a steak or a burger that I had my eye on. This is at the same time fortunate, because I love fish, and tend to mark seafood and grade dishes more leniently. So, that little setback was good and bad.