Author Archives: Grace

The Modern Pantry at Meza

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For some reason Meza is doing a series of “guest” residencies and this month’s feature is Anna Hansen’s The Meza Pantry. I’ve been meaning to head over to The Meza Pantry for quite some time now so was very excited to hear about the guest spot – but before booking I made sure that her signature Sugar-cured New Caledonian prawn omelette was on the menu!

Before getting on to the exciting stuff that is the food I first want to comment on the service. Too many times a restaurant experience has been let down the by all that surrounds the food and sadly I felt a little let down tonight. For a start when we first got to Meza at about 7 we were one of the first ones in the restaurant so it was strange that we were asked in a matter which suggested that if you didn’t have a reservation you wouldn’t have a chance of dining tonight. And it didn’t really get full until we left at about 9.30, and even then there were still a few empty tables. Then, the waiters didn’t really seem to know much about The Meza Pantry being at Meza and we weren’t even given the tasting menu at first, water was not constantly topped up and they failed to realise that truffles would come with the tasting menu (even though it was stated plainly on the menu.) On the plus we were seated at a four-person table rather than trying to cram us on to a two person table, and despite being entreated by our booking that we must return the table by 9.15 we weren’t rushed out of there when the time came.

But enough of that. On to the exciting stuff. I was too excited to focus on any one thing on the a la carte menu so convinced Pat we should try the seven-course tasting menu for £50.

Our first course of Beetroot, currant, okra & feta fritters with tamarind orange cream seemed, to be honest, a little on the over-cooked side from the looks of the dish but upon first bite I found that it was cooked just right. The orange part of the cream, however, did lose a bit against the tamarind which gave it more of a yoghurt type of flavour than citrus.

Organic salmon sashimi, truffled umeboshi dressing, yuzu tobiko and celery cress was so lovely and fresh and a great balance to the first rather rich and heavy dish.

Our third course of the night was the dish that I had been looking forward to … forever. Sugar-cured New Caledonian prawn omelette, spring onion, coriander, and smoked chilli sambal. Hello, my mouth had suddenly come alive. The sambal was a perfect foil for the sweet of the omelette. Creamy and moist. Loved it! Worth the wait … just a shame there wasn’t more!

I thought the next dish of Chilli garlic snails, chestnut & nutmeg puree and red veined sorrel cress would have a bite to it but the chilli was not at all present though the garlic flavour was strong. The chestnut and nutmeg puree was incredibly interesting and an odd pairing with the chilli garlic, though I think it actually worked.

Roast cod, chorizo & clams, squid ink mash, sea aster had the makings of a great combination. The chorizo was great (and this time the chorizo had a bit of bite) but the cod itself was not at all seasoned. Deliberate or intentional I’m not sure.

One of the reasons that I was wanted to try the tasting menu was that it featured a pork belly dish. Anna Hansen is also known for producing a good bit of pork bell so the slow roast Duke of Berkshire pork belly, sweet potato & fenugreek mash, Cox apple and sour cherry chutney sounded absolutely divine. Just a little disappointing! The pork belly wasn’t tender and the crackling hadn’t been given the amount of time it deserved so it was burnt rather than slowly crisped. 🙁

Finally, another feature of The Meza Pantry menu is the famed Hokey Pokey ice cream which comes from Australia and New Zealand combined with Caravan espresso to make an affogato. Hokey Pokey is basically vanilla ice cream with bits of small toffee. We didn’t get Hokey Pokey but we did get a toffee-flavoured ice cream which in the end worked quite well with the espresso.

Rounding out the meal were The Meza Pantry truffles which they nearly forgot to give us. There were three different sorts with the salted caramel definitely being the best. The other two flavours were some sort of chilli chocolate and a currant one. It must have been a little too hot in the restaurant as truffles were melting all over our fingers!

A good balanced meal. Am so excited that I’ve finally managed to dine at The Meza Pantry!

Ristorante Semplice

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Ristorante Semplice is a one-michelin starred rated Italian here in London that I hadn’t really heard about until the offer came upon on groupon. £35 for the seven course tasting menu (normally £85) was too good a bargain for Jenny and I to ignore. I was surprised at how easy it was too book a meal – normally with these offers it’s a near impossibility!

Upon first sitting down we were given these very thinly sliced baked vegetables (so thin and fine that it was almost like eating air), parmesan puffs and thin crisp bread. A couple of the pieces were threaded with olive or tomato juice. All very cute but I particularly enjoyed the parmesan puffs which were at one strangely sweet and salty.

Then the bread came! Options of foccacia (rosemary and thyme), tomato bread, and brown bread and another which I can’t remember. Interestingly bread offered right up until it was dessert time. Conscious of not getting over full on breads I tried to resist the bread but it was so delicious … lucky we didn’t have to wait too long for …

Carne di manza Fassone all’ Albese – Fassone carpaccio ‘Alba Style’. When this was brought to the table it was also served with salad “mash”. I know. The carpaccio itself was not very strongly flavoured for me. Jenny detected the hint of lemon or citrus which she enjoyed – but I felt it was bland.

The next dish had more flavour. Coda di rospo alla Milanese con panzanella di lattuga cappuccino e uova di quaglia or Baby monkfish “Milanese” served with gem lettuce “panzanella” style and soft quail eggs. Individually quite delicious though I didn’t understand the necessity of having the monkfish breaded and fried, and the panzanella was slightly too vinegary. Oh and it might have been nice to have both halves of the quail egg …

The Passata di carote, tortelli di ricotta di bufala e arancia – Carrot soup, buffalo ricotta cheese and orange tortelli we received next was one of my favourite dishes of the night. Great taste in the carrot soup and the tortelli had an interesting hit of cheese chased by the orange. Very different!

I love love love ragout so the next dish of Sedanini all’uovo con ragu’ di capriolo e salsa al cavolo nero – homemade egg sedanini pasta with venison ragout and black cabbage sauce was right up my alley. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous flavouring – all three items worked very well in balance. The black cabbage sauce was strangely verdant!

From quite a high to something a little less dramatic and exciting. San Pietro con passata di ceci di Spello e spinaci saltati – John Dory served with “Spello” chickpea sauce and sautéed spinach. Chickpea would not have been my choice to go with this but overall a well cooked dish.

Desserts started with Frittella di mela golden, crema inglese alla canella e gelatina di mela. Apple fritters (there was only one!) with cinnamon custard cream (delicious) and apply jelly (very fresh and strongly flavoured). Disappointing that the fritter tasted very strongly of oil so not sure it was fresh.

Of course the finale had to be something with chocolate. Fondente di cioccolato Domori, pannacotta alla grapapa, pan di spezie e sorbetto al cioccolato. “Domori” chocolate fondant served with grappa pannacotta, crispy spice bread and chocolate sorbet. Perfectly melty fondant and surprisingly light. I particularly liked the croutons which were nice and caramelly.

Some cute, if not exciting, petit fours.

We had an enjoyable time at Ristorante Semplice. The name might be simple but the food tonight certainly wasn’t. Complex and intense flavourings for the most part in the food gave us a different spin on traditional Italian dishes. The service was efficient (pleasingly water was topped up without noticing – except towards the end) and friendly with lots of preggos, you’re welcome, pleases, etc. however I felt they didn’t properly explain the food to us. Food was delivered with a nice “Here is your monkfish and quail eggs” when actually it was more than just that and I felt it would have been better if they had gone into more depth about the food. Great value for money on the groupon deal, probably a touch on the expensive otherwise.

Sucker Punch

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Sucker Punch tells the story of Babydoll, who is institutionalised by her abusive stepfather after she witnesses him abusing her little sister and accidentally kills her. She enters the institution where she is to be lobotomised as arranged by her stepfather so she can’t inform the police of the true story. Babydoll enters a fantasy world where the institution is a brothel and meets up with a bunch of other girls trapped inside. It was hard to really know the difference between reality, and fantasies within fantasies but the main gist is that when Babydoll dances in the brothel she imagines a world where her and the girls are fighting off their enemies.

It felt like a comic book, video game, music video all rolled into one. I liked the fact that the main theme throughout the movie was one of (female) self-empowerment and of course it was fantastic that the kick-ass leads were all females. Yes it had its cheesy moments such as when this geezer (the Wiseman who was kind of the girls’ spiritual guide in the fantasies) would spout saying such as:

– If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
– Don’t ever write a check with your mouth you can’t cash with your ass.
– For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.

Visually it was stunning with awesome sets and awesome costumes. Great soundtrack to the movie too. It’s a shame the plot got in the way sometimes … but if you can put aside the plot you can sit back and enjoy the eye-candy this movie delivers.

Duck and Free B&J Ice Cream

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Sandra and I met up for a Crispy Duck date tonight … cute fishies …

.. I didn’t think we’d ordered that much to eat over dinner until I went to go and claim a free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and was halfway through it before starting to feel super full. Sandra was on a no dessert plan for Lent she handed me her ice cream too! It was a real struggle to get through them both!

Every year B&J have this Free Cone Day. It’s a great marketing ploy to raise their profile. The odd thing is that they don’t even limit how many cones you can have. I was speaking to two people in line and one of them had been moving through the queue since 3pm and when I was speaking to him was currently waiting for this 16th cone! The other girl was on her 9th! Crazy what people would do for free foods!

Spring Day at Southbank and the Tate Modern

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I’m absolutely delighting in this lovely weather we are having at the moment. I met Nate, Caro, Gaspar and Cesar (he was sleeping most of it) for brunch at Giraffe at Southbank before taking a long stroll all the way to the Tate Modern to check out Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds.

Shame the Seeds are now cordoned off from the public (actually it was cordoned off within 48 hours!) It used to be open but too many people were stealing the little Seeds (apparently a single seed sold for £28 on ebay) and I also read somewhere the porcelain replicas were slightly poisonous. It was an impressive sea of seeds to behold!

This is something you also don’t see everyday, one of the London Eye capsules being towed around on the back of a boat!

Circolombia: Urban

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I’ve always wanted to go to the Roundhouse to see something so when Circolombia came up it seemed like the perfect show to showcase the benefits of a venue like the Roundhouse. The story of Circolombia Urban is a very touching one and the show’s very essence is interwoven by this story. The performers are from Circo Para Todos (Circus For All) a circus school set up in Colombia for disadvantaged young people, young people who would otherwise be likely to be in a gang or other negative situation. The show is circus but told through the young performers eye – what they saw/see as poverty-stricken youth.

The circus tricks themselves were nothing too unusual or different but when taken together with the atmosphere it made for touching and high impact performance. The soundtrack was pretty awesome – dance, hip hop, reggae and there was live signing throughout as well. It could have done with some polish – but, as Craig pointed out, the rawness of the show gave it an element of danger which made it a little bit more exciting. Every trick we were on the edge of our seats thinking, will they fall, will they finish the trick?!

Some of the acts which I really enjoyed were the skipping ropes, the tightropes (felt a bit for the males in the performance as the male performers bounced up and down on their crotch (yikes), and an almost ballet-type piece. It was all so raw, so sexual almost!