Lunch at Gramercy Tavern

Patrick American, Michelin Starred, New York, Restaurants

I count myself extremely thankful to be able to dine at some of the places that we do on our trips. I have to admit this trip to New York has been one of our most decadent. My sister and I took our cousins out to lunch at the Gramercy Tavern, a combined restaurant and tavern awarded a one-michelin star for the past six years. Impressive!

Here’s a picture of their menu.

All of their plates and dishes had the same logo.

They provided butter and salt.

To go with a sourdough bread or the brown roll (which I went). Unfortunately we wanted more but the bread guy wasn’t around. This probably explains why the old man at the table next to us distracted the bread man when he came to our table.

This is the Cauliflower, red quinoa, prunes and peanuts dish.

Then the Red King Crab, Sunchokes and apples

Then the Calamari & Carrot Salad, Toasted Pine Nuts and Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette

It was still really cold outside from the blizzard and I needed something to warm me up so for my appetiser, I chose Red Krui Squash Soup, Brussels Sprouts, and Apples. On first taste, the soup simply blew me away. It was everything a think hearty soup should be, perfectly seasoned (not in the way the Brits like) and the brussels sprouts centred in the soup with additional leaves topping it off. The toasted squash seeds added plenty of crunch and the drizzle of, what I’m guessing as, pumpkin seed oil deepening the flavours.

For mains, there was the Roasted Hanger Steak, Fingerling Potatoes, Russian Kale and Bourbon Sauce.

As well as the Red Snapper, Toasted Green Wheat, Kale, Trout Roe, and Squash Sauce

In addition to the Pork Croquette, Red Cabbage, Aji Dulce Pepers and Spiced Port Sauce

And finally my dish, Braised Lamb Shoulder, Heirloom Beans, Wild Mushrooms and Brussels Sprouts. Lamb seemed to appear on many menus, much more than I remembered than ever before in the US. I hoped for a rich, deep, soft lamb minus all the fat and I got it in this umami-rich dish. I counted at least four different types of mushrooms and there was plenty of beans and sauce to go with the dish. I may have been the last to finish, savouring each mouthful.

On to desserts! Here’s the Dried Cherry Cheesecake, Black Pepper Cookie and Cherry Lemon Sorbet. Reports had it the black pepper didn’t really come through.

Next up, the Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding with Cocao Nib Ice Cream.

And apparently, a slightly disappointing Sticky Toffee Fig Cake with Coffee Ice Cream. It apparently didn’t have the toffee flavour it should have had with not much sauce. It does look rather dry doesn’t it?

Finally here was my dessert, Peanut Butter Semifreddo with a chocolate macaroon. Americans obsess about peanut butter, much to most Europeans distaste. I don’t mind it, so I always like to try it in different things. In this dessert it worked really well. You can see the semifreddo served atop half a macaroon and then complemented by yet another one on the side. It was also served with some lightly caramelised hazelnuts.

And finally, some petite fours with yet another macaroon and tiny orange chocolate tart.

I have to say, this place really earns its food. Despite the outward appearance of simple ingredients, each dish really came alive and other than a few misses on the desserts, everyone raved about each of their meals. They have a slightly more casual, dining tavern but I’d be pretty happy going back regardless.

Name: Gramercy Tavern
Found at:
Website: http://www.gramercytavern.com/

Second Trip to WD-50

Patrick American, Michelin Starred, New York, Restaurants, World's 50 Best

After cancelling plans at Daniel NYC due to the snow (they had a very limited menu based on deliveries not making it), we looked around at a few other options. I had previously eaten at WD-50 before, but my sister hadn’t so I called up and found that they had a table free for an early dinner at 6:30pm.

You can see from their fairly plain entrance that it doesn’t look that special from the outside. In fact, that small glowing neon light (their name) makes it fit into the rest of the neighbourhood. I remember walking past it last time in the heavy rain, so watch the street numbers at the same time.

We got a table that looked out on all the other ones. I felt it worked quite well until someone sat at the table directly next to us and fortunately they sat down as we were on our dessert courses. There’s some booths to the left as well that are kept for larger groups.

Mmmm. Here’s the menu. Not sure who’s lips they are. Maybe they should have had them licking their lips for what was about to come.

Here’s the wafer thin bread they brought for us to snack on. Covered in nutty toasted sesame seeds, it was a nice way to start the snack whilst waiting.

Our first dish, striped bass, gingerbread, plum and pickled ramp played around with a sweet and sour combination with earthy tones provided by the gingerbread sauce on the plate.

Next up was their playful take on a classic dish, the everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese. WD-50 is well known for taking classic ingredients and transforming them into things you’d recognise but not quite in the same way. Here, the tiny bagel is actually a small bit of ice cream. We wondered how they got it to look “toasted”. I wasn’t a big fan of the smoked salmon threads by itself, going much better combined with the other ingredients.

Next up, Foie gras, passionfruit, chinese celery. Here, they cleverly stuffed the foie gras with a passionfruit sauce, helping to cut through the richness of the dish.

Here’s another shot after opening the foie gras.

Another strange dish was the scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, kindai kampachi. On the side were tiny bits of crispy potato, all looking cut to the same perfection and toasted to a crisp shell. The scrambled egg “ravioli” looked like it’d been shaped in a mold. It wasn’t stuffed with anything though.

When asked about the next dish by our waiter, I told him the truth, that I wasn’t a big fan of the cold fried chicken, buttermilk-ricotta, tobasco honey sauce, and caviar. I really liked certain elements to the dish such as the tobasco honey sauce which I could have eaten all day. It had a kick to it like normal tobasco wouldn’t. The chicken, whilst tasting delicious, didn’t have the crispness you’d hope for a fried chicken. I think the small bits of crispy chicken skin were supposed to make up for it. I guess that’s the thing about experimental food – some things work, others don’t.

This dish was a bit harder to see, bay scallops, bone marrow, parsnip and black sesame. I’m a huge fan of black sesame. In fact, you could almost call me addicted. Here the black sesame formed a paste/sauce on the bottom with the scallops and parsnips on top and the gooey bone marrow grated on top before the whole bowl was heated under a grill. The result was a rich and soft dish with deep meaty flavours.

I think we both agreed our next dish turned out as one of the best, the beef and bernaise. Inverting the textures you’d expect, here we have a deep flavoured beef consomme, surrounding three bernaise dumplings. I savoured each moment slicing a small part of the dumpling that almost oozed as a rich bernaise sauce would as you cut through it. Mmmm.

I’m guessing our next dish was a take on the seasonal offerings, squab breast, cheese pumpkin, corn bread and pickled cranberries. We didn’t have the sharpest knife to cut into the squab. It really needed it too being surprisingly chewy and had to slice.

Desserts next! First up, White beer ice cream, quince, caramel and caraway. Here, the flavours of the beer really came through though well tempered with both sharp and sweet flavours from the quince and caramel.

Curds win me over all the time, so this next dessert turned out my favourite. Here we ate grapefruit curd, campari, hibiscus and sorrel The grapefruit curd is the solid, almost jelly like substance in the middle. Sorrel came in the form of a delicious ice cream with the sheets of hibiscus those rice-paper thin sheets. A mixture of hazelnuts and other crunchy stuff provided the addition of texture.

Almost done, I think the cocoa nibs won my sister over with soft chocolate, beets, long pepper and ricotta ice cream.

Finally as we had our coffee and tea, they finished up with cocoa packets and a milk ice cream coated in chocolate shortbread. The latter tasted like a small ball of cookie and cream, which I guess it is whilst the cocoa packets contained a powder-like crunchy substance that reminded me of milo.

Looking back at the meal, I think we did the best thing by going for the tasting menu. We sampled lots of different combinations and although I think some of the ingredients appealed to me more on the a la carte menu, it’s hard to really guess how a place like WD-50 delivers them. Next time, I would go back to the a la carte and then try the dessert tasting menu.

Name: WD-50
Found at:50 Clinton Street, New York, NY 10002
Website: http://www.wd-50.com/

Peking Palace

Patrick Asian, Restaurants, UK, Vegetarian

Tucked away on a busy street in Holloway Road, we ventured out into the extreme cold to dine at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant called Peking Palace (apparently now taking on the less appealing name, “Loving Hut”). Strange? You betcha. Good? Indeed. Our relatives in New York once took us to a similar place, apparently Buddhist run to typical Chinese dishes with mock meat. Here was us testing this small restaurant.

Things looked pretty good with this first platter of appetisers. Boy were we hungry. The ribs probably felt the least close though tasted strangely the same as one would expect. The “prawn” toast also felt a little bit gummy, as I suspected some sort of turnip paste instead.

We next went for the “duck” and isn’t it strange to see how close it looked like to the original. It even had whatever was the equivalent of the crispy skin and meaty flesh minus all the typical oil of the real duck. Served with spring onions, hoisin sauce and pancakes it really didn’t seem to be any different from the original.

Next up, “crispy beef”. We wouldn’t normally order this when dining at a Chinese restaurant yet wanted to see how it compared. Very close to the original as well. The “beef” was very thin yet the taste persisted even with its crispy coating.

Probably the weakest dish that we had, the meatballs seemed a little bit doughy if not slightly chewy and one jumped off the table as I tried to put my fork in it. We were also a little disappointed the sauce seemed to close to the our next dish.

The aubergine. No need for mock meat here.

We decided to have fried rice with “king prawns” and the wobbly equivalents sat on top of the rice when they first delivered it. Reasonable tasting fried rice.

Apparently the carrot cake was pretty good.

My toffee banana was devine, and despite asking if they had non-vegan ice cream it turned out surprising well. I think it might have been a soya-based equivalent instead of a rice milk that makes ice cream too gritty for my liking.

I really enjoyed myself at this restaurant and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a healthier Chinese meal equivalent. Everything tasted very light and surprisingly packed full of flavour. I think their other name was probably better and I’m surprised they changed the name after only a few weeks when we ate there.

Name: Peking Palace (now Loving Hut)
Found at: 669 Holloway Rd, London, United Kingdom N19 5SE
Website: http://www.thepekingpalace.com/

Caravan London

Patrick Brunch, Coffee, Restaurants, UK, Where's the good coffee?

Breakfast time is not something that the British do well. The standard, and most familiar, is the full English from your little cafe, to help ease the ringing from the night before. Fortunately many antipodeans are stepping into London to fill a void, with one of the latest yet another protege graduating from Peter Gordon’s well respected The Providores.

Run by some coffee-loving Kiwis, my respect for them extends beyond the normal appreciation of a decent flat white (pictured above) because they roast all of their own beans on the premises. Awesome!

I came along here whilst working on some writing for work because I got to work from home before flying out for the Christmas break. They open at 8am so out I went from home to brave the cold thinking a coffee and a decent breakfast would help kickstart the brain. My laptop came with me and it wasn’t as crazy busy as the queues that form on the weekend so they didn’t really have any problems with that all.

Above is the Corn bread french toast, bacon, rocket and avocado (£9) that proved a delightful breakfast. Slightly crispy egg covering combined with the salty bacon, soft richness of the avocado and the only thing that felt healthy on the plate, the rocket. I definitely couldn’t have this everyday but is worth going out for something different.

Service throughout was perfect. Dishes whipped away not immediately after I put my last fork down but without letting the plate linger. A constant check to make sure the caffeine quotient didn’t fall too low and a very prompt card machine when I signalled for the bill and left my card. It’s the sort of service I’m happy paying for the 12.5% they put on bringing the total up to £19.46 for two coffees, an orange juice, French toast. Not the cheapest of places.

Remember that places that do breakfast well are hard to find in London so are sometimes well worth paying for. This one wins another bonus point for offering take away coffees as well.

Name: Caravan Restaurant
Found at: No. 11-13 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QD, United Kingdom.
Website: http://www.caravanonexmouth.co.uk/

Melur

Patrick Asian, Malaysian, Restaurants, UK

It was a dark and stormy night… on Edgware Road. Roaring traffic and rain made it hard to make out the tiny passageway leading down to the the basement dwelling Malaysia restaurant known as Melur.

We sat down, in a rather dimly lit root. Cavernous on first look, it starts to fill with other diners as we peruse the menu. A popular haunt it seems, and it seems like they had some regulars. The menu offers an extensive range and was almost overwhelming on what to order. Fortunately their dishes are exceptionally priced and all very reasonable. I can’t remember seeing (m)any dishes over £10. Bargain!

Here’s the fried squid pictured below. Light, crispy and a really huge serve for an appetiser.

I’d convinced my dining companion to try roti canai since I hadn’t eaten this since my visit to Singapore many years ago. A light slightly spiced sauce quickly mopped up by a freshly cooked roti. Mmmm.

We tried this rather unappetising looking grilled chicken with curry sauce that tastes completely different from how it looks. Complex flavours and a real spice kick to it all. I could eat all this sauce with my rice alone; which I did when I finished the last piece of chicken.

Our vegetables of the evening aubergine though nothing to ring home about.

Here’s the rice ball and coconut dessert.

I indulged in the toffee banana with ice cream. A great way to push me from being full to way stuffed.

As far as Malaysian food goes, Melur delivers. It’s atmosphere isn’t the poshest place but then when the food is going at the price they’re charging that really doesn’t bother me. Flavours trumps that for me. I think I’d really enjoy bringing a much larger group so that we can try many more dishes from their menu.

Name: Melur
Found at: 175a Edgware Road, Paddington, London, W2 1ET (don’t believe the google map location – it’s located on the North West corner near a traffic intersection)
Website: http://www.melurlondon.co.uk/

Hawksmoor Covent Garden

Patrick British, Restaurants, Steak, UK

Any good foodie will know about Hawksmoor. Apparently it and Goodman’s are the biggest contenders for great steak restaurants in London. Don’t get go near any of those Aberdeen Angus Steakhouses, and don’t get me started on the terrible value of the Gaucho chain.

The good Italian family and I (in the role of honorary family member) arranged for a Christmas gathering at the second and newest location of Hawksmoor in Covent Garden. As much as they call themselves on the seven dials, it really doesn’t qualify. I looked forward to the evening since I’d heard so much about it and I’ve always enjoyed my steaks when dining at their Commercial Street location even despite the infamy of their Kim Chi Burger.

With a booking a 9pm, we decided to meet a little bit earlier. Unbeknownst to many people this location actually has a reasonably sized bar where you can even book a table to dine on. The bar was certainly busy when I sat down just after 7pm. Every table seemed busy though cleared down as the night went on. Their cocktail list seemed pretty exhaustive with plenty of inventive drinks and many pages to flip through.

Sitting in the bar area, everything is table service though unfortunately it took me about twenty minutes before I managed to order my first drink. A shame considering I sat in front of the maitre de with numerous waiters zooming between the bar and the dining room (pictured above in a poor iPhone-quality photo). On the plus side, I tweeted about it to the @HawksmoorLondon twitter who pleasingly responded (more on that later).

Our time for dinner finally arrived and quite famished from the waiting happily ordered after perusing the menu. Toni got the 6 Cumbrae Oysters (£10) (pictured above) whilst both Luca and I choose the ribs (pictured below). I’m happy to report the soft succulent flesh of the pig remained juicy and tender with plenty of flavour from the sauce covered around it. Don’t expect an American-style BBQ ribs – on the menu, they’re called Tamworth Belly Ribs (£9) so they are a bit more fatty than expected. It’s all worth it for the flavour though. Though happy with that dish, if I returned I’d try the Grilled Lamb Chops with Mint & Caper Salad £10) since I read many reviews.

Three of us decided to share one of the 900gram porterhouse steaks since we wanted something more juicy, although Marco decided to go solo on his 300g fillet (£30). Ordering it for medium-rare, we expected pink, juicy slices served on the tiny skillets. Unfortunately what arrived was a much more medium to well done steak. We noticed it only after grabbing a small slice and went to tell our waiter about the terrible fate this Ginger Pig-sourced piece found. We flagged the maitre de with our waiter nowhere to be seen, and with a single look, agreed with our observation before immediately sending back for another one. The second time around, we got a much better looking piece of meat, although they kindly let us keep the previous one. I forgot to take any pictures of this in action.

Fortunately all of the sides lived up to my expectations including this deliciously soft and creamy Mac and Cheese (£4) that arrives in its own little cast iron pot.

The beef dripping chips (£4), though really, really bad for you tasted amazing. Nice, crisp and full of flavour.

A couple of us also went for dessert. Here’s my decadent cornflake mini-sundae (£4) that worked to finish me off for the evening.

We finished off the evening with a round of whiskey (mmm, smoky Laphroaig £10.50) and an espresso (£3). The maitre de delivered the drinks and told us he would get them on the house apologising for the meal stuff up and the twenty minute wait earlier in the evening. Well done on Will from Hawksmoor for sending someone across.

Unfortunately the third strike arrived when we hit our bill and I scanned it to make sure it looked correct and found two desserts added that we never really had. Even though it didn’t have a huge impact to our bill because of the amount of food and drink we had, I found it particularly annoying to notice these two items slip in. Pointing it out to our waiter, he apologised acknowledging those dishes were for the table next to us.

I really wanted to love my Hawksmoor experience. I wanted great food, great service (which the 12.5% really did not warrant that night) with great ambiance yet they faltered a few too many times. Customer service did well to make up for a number of misgivings yet it concerns me that restaurants of such fame have these fundamental problems. Oh, and did I mention it’s not on the Seven Dials as much as they claim all over their website, it’s down Langely Street near the famous Pineapple Dance Studios.

Name: Hawksmoor Covent Garden
Found at: 11 Langley St, London, WC2H 9JG
Website: http://www.thehawksmoor.co.uk/sd.php

Zilli Green

Patrick Asian, British, Italian, Restaurants, UK, Vegetarian

Another month and another vegetarian outing. Our last outing brought us to Zilli Green, the vegetarian outpost of Italian chef, Aldo Zilli. Located really centrally in Soho, it’s a great spot for all of us to meet at because it’s pretty much surrounded by all sorts of transport.

When I walked in, one of my dining companions already had been seated. The first dining area isn’t very large – in fact, it’s no larger than a small hallway and I thought it was going to be a much larger place. Maybe there’s some seats downstairs.

They went to quite a lot of effort to cram in plenty of tables. In fact, I noticed this clearly when sitting down and found my legs almost barely squeezing in between the two table legs and the chair. No space for them to sit outside. Hmph.

Anyway, on to the food. Zilli Green’s menu covers a broad range of dishes. It wasn’t quite as Italian-centric as I anticipated with dishes inspired by Asian classics, British favourites and the touch of Tex Mex. Each menu option lists some useful symbols to help choose if you happen to be vegan, nut or gluten allergy-friendly dishes. Helpful!

Quite a few of us went for the Squash, Corn & Feta Quesadillas with Guacamole & Sour Cream (£7.90). I’d hoped for a bit more kick than we got, and though the flavours tasted strong and well prepared, seemed a bit overpriced for a starter.

I admit I’m obsessed by truffle flavours at the moment. Their umaminess and richness add so much depth to the dishes, it’s my winter comfort food. I was struck when on the menu, two dishes included this magnificent ingredient. In the end I picked the Tagliatelle, Porcini Mushrooms & White Truffle Oil (£13.90). I think it was the extra dash of oil and the porcini mushrooms that did me in. Perfectly al dente pasta and each mouthful a flavour sensation, I was certainly pleased by it.

Fortunately someone else went for the Mushroom & Fresh Truffle Risotto, Grilled Asparagus & Mascarpone (£11.90). I had a small taste and the truffle flavour seemed a bit more sublime, it carried on the palette slightly longer probably due to the creamy mascarpone.

Another person ordered the Cous Cous & Soya Burger with Pickled Cucumber, Avocado, Mustard Dressed Mixed Leaves, Homemade Mayo & Ketchup, Thin Chips (£10.90) though wasn’t particularly impressed by it. They reported it not bad, but not the best vegetarian burger they’d ever had.

We had better reports from the handful of people ordering the Thai Green Curry with Sweet Potato & Thai Vegetables served with Quinoa (£11.90). Strong flavours and a very reasonable serve though slightly out of place in what I’d consider an Italian restaurant.

On all reports, it’s worth avoiding the Tofu Sausage with Spring Onion Mash, Mushroom Gravy & Mushy Peas (£11.90). Perhaps it’s just me, but I think it’s always a bit dangerous trying to replicate a dish typically relying on the quality of the meat to make it that good.

I wasn’t close enough to capture the picture but one other diner recommended avoiding the Beetroot Gnocchi filled with Blue Cheese in a Red Pesto, Potato & French Bean Sauce (£10.90) where the giant sized (and few) gnocchi ended up being very chewy pillows with, as they described it, ” what tasted like splashes of bottled pesto”.

Zilli Green isn’t going to win any Michelin stars for service any time soon, although we do have to acknowledge one of the waiters who, when pressed for vegan-friendly ice cream, went next door to sister restaurant Zilli Bar to report on what gelato and ice-creams they had. Apparently vegan-friendly ice cream wasn’t favoured by this group of vegetarians. Upon making our waiter go next door, my dining companion couldn’t help but feel compelled to order a scoop.

Their slightly different twist on the classic, Apple, Currant & Clove Crumble with Cream or Ice Cream (£5.50) had be tempted yet was completely full from the rest of the meal.

Name: Zilli Green (currently moving or closed)
Found at: 41 Dean St, London, W1D 4PY

Brunch at Lele Nha Hang

Patrick Asian, Copenhagen, Restaurants, Vietnamese

One thing I never realised about Copenhagen was its fascination for the weekend brunch. I think it’s something that London has drilled out of me where the city doesn’t really start to move until midday. Not great for morning people. Fortunately Copenhagen is a much less sleepy town, at least on a Sunday morning.

Reading about the Copenhagen brunch culture, I started to look around at a number of options and discovered LeLe Nha Hang did a very different brunch. I remember eating here last year, extremely impressed by the combination between classic Vietnamese with some modern techniques and Danish ingredients. What a strange combination a brunch might make when these two worlds collide. We had to go here.

I’m really glad that we did as well. Considering the wide selection and the buffet style, it really is great value at DKK155 (£18) even if you have pay a bit extra for drinks.

To start off the brunch, I needed my daily caffeine fix so the Vietnamese style coffee was definitely in order. Strong and without being too sickly sweet, this was a great start to the day. Of course they offer many other classic brunchtime drinks including all of their intriguingly unusual drinks all very well named. Care for an “Apocalypse Now” (Johnnie Walker Black Label, Cherry Heering, Chambord & Bitters)? What about a “Red Dragon” (Absolut vodka, dragonfruit, strawberry & hot stuff)?

Their asian influenced brunch roughly splits into a small number of tables. There’s the cold cut table where they stock the salads, cold seafood including this perfectly rolled smoked salmon pieces pictures above and the tiny sushi rolls pictured below. Another table stores the hot stuff (split into the western and asian section), a breads and pastry table and then a very large desserts table.

Of the hot stuff, you get everything from the steamed dumplings influenced with vietnamese spices, fried spring rolls, noodles and fried rice all the way to the western waffles, a variety of sausages, hashed potatoes, pancakes and, what would brunch be without eggs and bacon?

I pretty much stopped at most of the mail meal. Despite the wide girth of the desserts table, my widening girth from the other meals made me stop to really think about what I really wanted off the table.

I’m not a big fan of chocolate fondue and although they cakes all looked really appealing, none of them really stood out as being extremely different or out of the ordinary.

I satisfied myself with having a number of sticks skewered with fruit and a few dragonfruit and kiki fruit slices available in the large bowls.

It’s worth getting here early (or at least booking ahead) since the whole restaurant filled up with people and the you-know-its-good queues of locals forming outside in the cold. It’s great value, excellent quality and definitely worth giving it a go.

Name: Lele Nha Hang
Found at: Vesterbrogade 40, 1620 København, Denmark
Website: http://lele-nhahang.com/

Return to Reef and Beef

Patrick Aussie, Copenhagen, Restaurants

Returning to Copenhagen for a conference, I ended up eating at one of the places that impressed me during my stay here for work last year.

Here’s a summary of what we had:

“Oz Wildfire Wonton” Spiced wildfire crocodile wonton with native honey and passionfruit chili drizzle (DKK95)

“Ranina Ranina” Panko crumbed saffron and chive spanner crab cakes with bush tomato romesco, jalapeno aioli and pickled vegetables (DKK94)

“Redcliff Beef” marinated with garlic, native thyme and tasmanian mountain pepper served with potato fondant, crispy onion rings, caramelised onion puree, seasonal vegetables and shiraz sauce (DKK275)

“Red emperor” – Deep sea fish with macadamia and lemon sauce, cauliflower puree and seasonal vegetables (DKK 192)

“Oz trilogy” – Pavlova, passionfruit cheescake and mango olida eucalyptus sorbet (DKK95)

“Oz trilogy” – Pavlova, passionfruit cheescake and mango olida eucalyptus sorbet (DKK95)

“Death by chocolate” – Five individual chocolate desserts (DKK135)

Name: Reef ‘N’ Beef
Found at: Jernbanegade 4, Copenhagen, Denmark
Website: http://www.reefnbeef.dk/

A La Cruz

Patrick Restaurants, Steak, UK

There are quite a number of Brazilian grills around London yet not as many of Argentinian ones around. My last time was eating at Buen Ayre several years ago up in Broadway Market. I noticed around the back of Exmouth Market one quite close to where I live that I finally got around to eating at.

When you walk into the restaurant, you notice a slight smoke in the air. This comes from the magnificent Asador or fire pit where you can see a number of meats roasting. We dined there early on during the week so they probably are used to roasting many more meats. It’s definitely an impressive sight to see.

Upon ordering, we got served some nice soft bread. Instead of butter however, we got aioli to spread across the bread. I have no idea if this is a common thing or not, but it tasted pretty good.

We also ordered the mixed empanadas to start with. It’s a bit hard not to enough pastries filled with assorted mixtures.

Here’s the picture of the spinach empanada above. I think the Caprese one was my favourite out of the three that we had. The ham and cheese one tasted strangely like a mini calzone.

We decided to go with for the A La Cruz Tradiciona Parrilladas at a very reasonable cost of £21 per person without the sweet breads. It comes with a whole heap of meat. In fact, there was so much meat that it would have been much more than what I think I’d eat during an entire week. It arrived with boneless flank, pork sausages, black pudding, chistorra, lamb and some other beef cuts. So. Much. Meat. I walked out with a food coma. Fortunately it was all really tasty and well seasoned that it didn’t really need anything else to go with it.

Not anticipating the amount of meat, we also ordered a side of chips (super crisp, fluffy and covered with garlic and parsley) and a side salad of rocket and Parmesan for some greens. Service was okay although our tap water remained unfilled for quite some time and we waited for sometime to flag a staff for the bill (when there were only four tables seated).

Would I return? Yes if I was in dire need of a protein injection. Could I eat that much meat again? Not this year.

Name: A La Cruz
Found at: 42 Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HU
Website: http://www.alacruz.com/