Month: February 2015

Throwback Thursday – Beast

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As I’ve been lucky enough to visit so many wonderful restaurants in the past, I’ve decided to introduce a weekly blog post, talking about one of those places each week. My very own ‘Throwback Thursday’. And today I’m writing about Beast. The other half and I went there for my birthday in October last year, and it’s one of the best meals I’ve had in London. The premise is simple. They serve crab and steak. And fortunately those are two of my very favourite things 🙂 On arrival at Beast (located just behind Oxford Street), you head underground in an elevator, to be greeted by a tank full of live crab, and a fridge full of meat! It’s not the kind of place for those who don’t really like to think about what they’re eating. Beast is very upfront about this – you can even handle one of the live crab if that takes your fancy (although that was one step too far for me!) You are seated at long, wide, wooden benches, very ‘Norwegian’ …

Champagne Lunch at Club Gascon

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When I sadly left my old job at 2K at the end of last year, I was given a wonderful leaving gift – a champagne lunch for two people at Club Gascon – they know me very well!! Tim and I went along to the restaurant in Farringdon a few weeks ago, during our lunch break. As a Michelin-starred French restaurant, the service is impeccable, as you would expect. But it was, without a doubt, the best lunch break I’ve ever had! We were greeted with a glass of champagne and a delicious amuse bouche. I chose the crackling slow cooked egg, truffle and salted fingers, followed by the winter veal variation, confit salsifis and bacon. Both were to die for and even the small touches, such as the breads and accompaniments, were excellent.     I was given this gift via Truly Experiences. I hadn’t come across them before, but the service was great – they managed the restaurant booking and made sure I had everything I needed. The gift was given to me …

Ginger Pig Sunday Roast

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The Christmas before last, I bought Tim a voucher for us both to do a butchery class together at The Ginger Pig, which is how I became aware of the company. I’ll do a blog post specifically about the experience later, but soon after booking the class, I learned that there was a shop just a 15-20 minute walk from our flat, in Victoria Park village (Lauriston Road). You may have seen in my ‘about’ section, my late Dad was a regional manager for the Meat and Livestock Commission, so high quality meat has always been important to me. And I don’t think you can get any better than The Ginger Pig, especially as the livestock are raised in North Yorkshire, where I was born and spent my childhood. We chose some Beef Fore Rib (one rib) which was more than enough for the two of us – we cooked it with good old Yorkie puds and veggies, it’s our ideal Sunday night treat! The staff in the Lauriston Road shop are incredibly helpful and …

Brunch at Caravan

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I first went to Caravan in Kings Cross a couple of summers ago with friends, and loved it. But being a bit out of the way (it’s tucked away behind the station in the Granary Building), it’s not the most obvious place to think of going – but it’s always worth it. We took a long (2 hour) walk along Regents Canal from our flat in East London to Kings Cross, so we’d certainly worked up an appetite by the time we arrived! As always, it was incredibly busy (you can’t book a table for brunch at weekends) and there was a rather ridiculous one hour wait for a table. Luckily they told us we could also eat at the bar, where conveniently, two bar stools were sitting there with our names on them. Despite it being so busy, we were served quickly and the food arrived in a respectable amount of time. I had the baked eggs, tomato pepper ragout, greek yoghurt, sourdough toast and merguez sausage, while Tim had the barbeque baked beans, …

Paris Hen – Dinner at Restaurant Miroir

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My hens surprised me again in Paris with a fab dinner at Restaurant Miroir in Montmartre. People often associate French cuisine with good wine and cheese, and perhaps more daringly, frogs legs and snails (incidentally, I adore all of those!) But dining at Restaurant Miroir certainly opened my eyes to what French cuisine is actually about, as we were surrounded by French diners, away from the tourist traps of central Paris. Despite studying French to degree level at university, there were types of meats and cooking methods on the menu that I was clueless about. But I loved the mystery! I started with foie gras, followed by a ‘pot-au-feu’ which I shared with my future sister-in-law – it’s a beef stew with carrots, turnips, celery, onions and leeks, served with broth and marrow. It felt like real home cooking and was absolutely delicious.   I topped things off with a rice pudding based dessert (the actual name escapes me), which again, felt like proper home cooking, but with a sophisticated edge. I would highly recommend …

Paris Hen – Brunch at Angelina

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During my recent hen do in Paris, my lovely hens arranged for us to go for breakfast at Angelina. Averting our eyes from the overwhelming delicatessen/patisserie counter, packed with brightly coloured macarons and cakes, we headed into the tea room. Originally founded in 1903, Angelina (as it says on its own website), has built a reputation as a place of sophistication and indulgence. It didn’t disappoint! I chose the traditional Angelina breakfast – at 30 Euros, it’s not a cheap breakfast, but it was so delicious that it was worth every penny! You’re given the choice of tea, coffee or hot chocolate (I opted for the latter, and it was so incredible that I can still taste it, weeks later!), fruit juices, mini viennoiseries, bread with butter, Angelina honey, jam and chestnut cream, a fresh fruit salad, and eggs cooked however you would like them. I stupidly looked into whether you could buy Angelina hot chocolate in the UK, and it’s available online for just over £5.00 a bottle! Must suppress those cravings, for the sake …

Valentine’s at Wright Brothers

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Despite being a big seafood lover, I hadn’t been to Wright Brothers before. We booked an early table for Valentine’s Day at the Spitalfields branch and when we arrived, their amazing ‘pound a pop oysters’ offer was still going on. This takes place Monday to Sunday, 3pm-6pm – it’s a fantastic deal for Oyster lovers! So naturally, we snaffled a few before ordering the rest of our meal. We went for the Petit platter, which had a brilliant selection of seafood, including whelks, langoustines and mussels – all were lovely! Don’t be fooled by the name, it was plenty big enough! For my main course I had the half lobster, chargrilled, with chips and garlic butter. The butter had been melted over the lobster (I was kind of hoping it would be served on the side, like they do at Burger and Lobster) but it didn’t matter, really. We finished off with a yummy sticky toffee pudding and a whisky. The restaurant has a great ambience and dim lighting/candlelight (my favourite – I have real …