We paid another visit to Truc Vert (follow link for more info) last night. It was as good as it’s always been.
The marché area seems to have been cut back to make room for more tables (sensible idea, or perhaps it’s just because it’s winter so there’s no outdoor dining).
We were in time to take advantage of the ‘three courses for £25’ menu prix fixé before 7.30pm, which is great value given a starter is around £9 and a main course around £19 anyway.
For a starter, I had seared cod and salmon fish cakes with marinated fennel, beetroot, slow roast cherry tomato and horseradish sauce (a la carte price: £8.50), followed by roast venison with sweet potato, seasonal vegetables and peas with mint (a la carte price: £18.95). The venison was tender and slightly rich with a liver-like flavour.
roast venison + sweet potato
Another member of the party had roast Gressingham duck breast with mixed bean cassoulet, roast figs and dressing (a la carte price: £18.50) which was also tender and tasty, and not too fatty (as duck can sometimes be) and a definite hit.
roast Gressingham duck
A Viognier Le Versant, Vins de Pays d’ Oc dry white wine @ £20 a bottle went well with the fishcakes starter, as did the Argentine Malbec, Bodegas Los Clop red @ £21 with the red meats.
For the third course, we each opted for a cheese mixed platter served with fresh nutty bread and Truc Vert chutney, with a port.
A couple of jazz musicians were playing which was a really nice touch but made it slightly challenging to have a conversation and hear one other.
A former Head Chef of Bombay Bicycle Club Balham in the nineties, Krishna Shah – who has a reputation for creating fine quality and diverse Nepalese and Indian cuisine – opened The Gurkha’s Diner in Balham in 2003.
Tonight was my first visit and given how busy other pubs and eating places were on Balham High Road, it was surprisingly quiet.
For us, that wasn’t a problem: we received attentive service and fine quality and excitingly different food and drinks.
Gurkhas diner – surprisingly quiet on a Thursday eve
To drink I had Gurkha beer (dry, slightly malty lager – a nice change) and we shared a few appetisers between six of us:
~ tareko squid @ £3.90
~ dayalu – potato pate made with lentils, spinach + herbs, served with sesame pickle @ £3.75
~ momoch – steamed dumplings (dim sum style) filled with tender lamb + herbs, served with achaar @ £3.90
~ saffron chamri – roasted cheese, saffron flavour @ £3.90
~ bhate prawn – chuli-cooked (ie. cooked over charcoal) prawns on sticky rice, with lime + soy sauce + sesame seeds @ £4.75
~ courgette @ £3.90
Most of these starters were new to me, certainly different from the ones you see on Indian menus. They were all cooked and served to perfection and even though the squid was my choice, the ones I’d choose again would be (in order of preference) momoch (stunning lamb flavours and quite light too), saffron chamri and dayalu.
Just sharing a variety of appetisers (meze or tapas style) would make for a really enjoyable meal, without even venturing to the main dishes.
That said, the main courses were equally good. Two of us shared rice, a Nepali bread (wholewheat, freshly baked in a clay oven – really soft and light) and three veggie (side) dishes.
Vegetable dishes:
~ dhahi bhanta (aubergine with a good spicy kick) @ £4.25
~ lukla simi (mixed beans + peas) @ £4.75
~ pasa chamri (cheese with peas + onion) @ £4.50
The dishes served here are really great quality and varied. Including a couple of beers each and the tip, the total bill came to £144 for six (£24 each) – unbelievable value.
I’m already looking forward to my next visit and exploring more of the menu.
Vast beer range at The Draft House Westbridge (Battersea)
We’ve been to The Draft House Battersea quite a lot lately, sometimes for food, sometimes just for a drink.
As it’s now reached *favoured pub* status, this Draft House branch warrants its own listing (you can read about The Draft House Tower Bridge, here).
To help you decide for yourself if it’s worth a visit (don’t just take my word for it) here are a few recent Westbridge culinary treats, so grab a beer and scroll on…
Sunday dinner one fine summer’s day
after kayaking, capsizing + swallowing a mouthful of the Thames, August 2011 – desperately in need of a better taste in my mouth:
Medium rare burger (looks like a ‘smoke’: cheddar + house-cured bacon) @ £9.75
And one winter night, Feb 2012 Hamburger special: The Yolk – 8oz burger with flat fried egg + glazed hollandaise @ £9.50
You’ll be hard-pushed to find a finer burger than the hamburger specials at the Draft House. Everything about this place has ‘thoughtful’ and ‘care’ stamped on it. Even the bar staff are passionate and knowledgeable about the range of drinks they sell.
And if you don’t like gastro food or any of the vast selection of beers, you can’t possibly dislike the wallpaper:
Wallpaper on stairs down to loos
BK pops into The Draft House, corner of Westbridge Rd
Restaurant info:
~ Lardbutty rating: 4 / 5
~ Type: British
~ Address: 74-76 Battersea Bridge Road, London
~ Postcode: SW11 3AG
~ Tel: 020 7228 6482
~ Nearest station: Battersea Park, Clapham Junction
~ Website: Draft House Westbridge – Battersea website
~ Location: Draft House Battersea map
Cây Tre, a Vietnamese café on Dean Street, Soho, is a weird and wonderful experience.
The decor is somewhat reminiscent of a classy eel and pie shop with its white tiled walls and fairly basic chairs and tables. It’s a long, narrow restaurant so even when it’s not packed it feels busy, as customers and waiters have to shuffle past you in the narrow gangway between tables.
It’s just the kind of place to go for a quick meal during a mid-afternoon shopping spree but probably not somewhere to go for a long, cosy, get-settled-in type of evening meal.
We popped in while Christmas shopping recently. Our waitress helped us with the menu and we chose a few dishes to share.
Chaû caù Laõ Voïng or La Vong Grilled Fish, cooked at the table @ £7 per person
My favourite was the Chaû caù Laõ Voïng or La Vong grilled monkfish marinated with galangal and turmeric, cooked at the table, and served with a Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham). K wasn’t a fan of all the feathery green vegetation swamping the monkfish but I really enjoyed it, with its refreshing, crisp and cleansing (something Alpine-like?) taste.
There’s a surprisingly impressive selection of drinks too: I had a glass of prosecco @ £6 while K had a St Mungo beer @ £4.50 (really lovely, malty beer brewed in Glasgow by independent brewery, WEST, the first UK brewery to produce its beers in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot, or the ‘German Purity Law’ using four core ingredients only: water, malt, hops and yeast, and no artificial additives, colouring or preservatives).
Vietnamese dishes paired with St Mungo lager
I’m not sure which part of ‘simmered fish caramelised in anchovy fish sauce’ initially appealed to us but the Mekong Catfish was fishy fish overdose. Squared.
Vietnamese dishes, l to r:
~ Caù kho toä – Claypot simmered Mekong Catfish caramelised in anchovy fish sauce @ £10
~ Kim chi – with pickled ginger, side veg dish @ £4.50
~ Toâm xaøo su su – Red Sea Prawns with Choucho stir-fried with oyster sauce, black pepper + Vietnamese herbs @ £11
All in all, an interesting and different experience – I particularly enjoyed having the monkfish cooked right in front of us on our table and served straight from the pan. And trying new vegetables – flavours that I couldn’t previously have dreamed up (like the cucumbery ‘choucho’ served with prawns).
But it’s nothing amazing and it’s not in the same league as Mien Tay.
Restaurant info:
~ Lardbutty rating: 3 / 5
~ Type: Vietnamese
~ Address: 43 Dean Street, Soho, London
~ Postcode: W1D 4QD
~ Tel: 020 7317 9118
~ Nearest tube station: Oxford Circus, Leicester Square, Piccadilly
~ Website: Cây Tre Soho website
Menu: Cây Tre menu
~ Location: Cây Tre Soho map
I first stumbled across Kennedy’s, on one of York’s quaint side streets, this autumn and enjoyed it so much I’ve already been back.
My first visit was a Sunday in October and it was mild enough to sit outside (though the interior restaurant is spread out over three floors and feels large and spacious) and a live jazz band were playing indoors (there’s often live music – bands and DJs – so it’s worth checking their events page to see what’s on).
We were greeted promptly, sat down and served by very helpful staff (who arranged the available outdoor table, allowed us to use tastecard even though we hadn’t booked, and were very accommodating with alternative ideas when the wine we ordered had run out).
For starters we shared char-grilled asparagus with soft boiled egg, parmesan and streaky bacon with a citrus dressing @ £5.95. It tasted as good as it looks:
Char-grilled asparagus starter
Then, for mains we had roast of the day served with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, seasonal veg and rich red wine gravy (I had beef, H had lamb) @ £8.95, washed down with a bottle of prosecco at £17.95.
Sunday roast (beef)
On my most recent visit – yesterday – it was a freezing cold day in York and G and I were craving some hearty, warming winter food.
G had this steak and ale pie with chunky chips and gravy @ £10.95
And I had this gorgeous fish pie with saffron mash and buttered samphire (a sea vegetable) @ £12.95 .
Again, the food was great and we weren’t disappointed. In fact, we were amused…
The ‘S’ and ‘y’ had been erased from the baby-changing sturdy station @ Kennedy’s
Restaurant info:
~ Lardbutty rating: 3.5 / 5
~ Type: British
~ Address: 1 Little Stonegate, York
~ Postcode: YO1 8AX
~ Tel: 01904 620 222
~ Nearest rail station: York
~ Website: Kennedy’s bar + restaurant website
~ Location: Kennedy’s map
*UPDATE* Nov 2011
This post supercedes Lardbutty’s previous entry on Enak Enak + upgrades the restaurant rating from 4.5/ 5 to **top rank 5/ 5** alongside Suze In Mayfair.
Every time I’ve been to Enak Enak the food has been amazing. On our visit last night – an early birthday celebration for BK – we were shown to our table with the usual warm reception.
Starters: mixed satay platter, tom yum soup + beancurd with peanut sauce
A sign of the times, the restaurant was only half full (this side of Lavender Hill is slightly off the beaten track after all) but serving staff were their usual hospitable, attentive selves.
And Nancy Lam doesn’t just put her name over the door. She was – as ever – milling around the restaurant, chatting with customers, ensuring everything was to satisfaction and generally giving it her personal touch.
For starters we (three of us) shared mixed satay (BBQ prawn, really tender spare-rib, chicken with peanut sauce and achar achar pickles) @ 12.95, chicken tom yum soup @ £5.75 and tahu goreng (crispy fried bean curd with beansprouts-disguised-as-cabbage-strips and peanut sauce @ £7.95. Beautiful.
Beef rendang – rump steak stewed in exotic spices, finished with a touch of coconut
For mains, K had his usual: beef rendang @ £9.75 (he loves it so much that even though he *wants* to try other dishes on the menu, he just can’t quite bring himself to forfeit the rendang). BK had the same, and I managed to venture away from my favourite squid dishes on this occasion and had lamb curry @ £10.50, which I requested to be slightly hot. It had a lovely warm, spicy kick to it (not hot hot) and was beautifully tender.
Lamb curry – so tender, with a gentle spicy kick
A main course averages at around £13 (including rice @ £2.75) which is inexpensive for such premium food and comfortable surroundings (even Marco Pierre White says it’s worth a visit). And bottles of wine start from around £20. All very reasonable.
Pak choi – side vegetable dish @ £6.50
Cashew nut fried mee – egg noodles with fresh veg + cashew nuts @ £8.50
Now, *I don’t like giving top scores* to any restaurant, as I believe there’s always room for improvement. But our experience at Nancy Lam’s last night was faultless. We couldn’t have been made to feel more welcome and comfortable if we’d been in our host’s own home. The whole experience was special.
Five out of five.
Restaurant info:
~ Lardbutty rating: 5 / 5
~ Type: Indonesian/ SE Asian fusion
~ Address: 56 Lavender Hill, London
~ Postcode: SW11 5RQ
~ Nearest stations: Clapham Common (tube) or Queenstown Rd, Clapham Junction (mainline)
~ Website: Enak Enak restaurant website
~ Menu (as of Nov 2011, subject to change): Enak Enak dinner menu
~ Location: Enak Enak restaurant map
The market table at the Cookbook Cafe is the kind of table I’d love to have in my own kitchen. A huge, solid wood table laden with the most tempting variety of seasonal foods: salads, antipasti, cheeses, fresh bread, and fish and seafood.
This is an ‘unlimited buffet’ with a difference.
Fish, meat, cheese, salads + more on the market table (cake table in background)
A first plate from the market table: mostly seafood and fish
Not only is there a great selection of seasonal foods but – my favourite – there’s a Japanese table:
Choose from fresh sushi / sashimi
…and a second plate of succulent salmon and tuna sashimi with wasabi + ginger
If you’re a desserts fan, there’s an appealing selection of ornate cakes. The only difficulty is deciding what to try! BK and I shared a couple of tiny nutty cakes (just for the sake of completeness), as – preferring savoury foods – we wanted to explore the cheese board. And, by this point, it was time to prioritise. Or burst.
The ‘market lunch table’ (helping yourself to whatever you like) is £18 and includes a tea or coffee. Wines start from around £30 a bottle (we had a bottle of Hugel Gentil Alsace white wine with the first courses of fish @ £28 and a Chakana Malbec @ £29 afterwards with the cheeses).
If you’ve got time to have a leisurely lunch and are in the Hyde Park / Piccadilly area, this is an idyllic way to spend a leisurely lunch but do allow a couple of hours. The market lunch table is served between 12 and 3:30pm.
Restaurant info:
~ Lardbutty rating: 3.5 / 5
~ Type: British, Japanese, international
~ Address: InterContinental London Park Lane, 1 Hamilton Place, Park Lane, London
~ Postcode: W1J 3QY
~ Nearest tube station: Hyde Park Corner
~ Websites: Cookbook Cafe website
~ Menu + online reservation: Market Table menu etc
~ Offers:tastecard
~ Location: Cookbook Cafe map
Feeding the 5000 at Trafalgar Square at lunchtime today
Facts about food waste
* UK households waste 25% of all food bought
* Around 20 to 40% of UK fruit + veg is rejected before reaching the shops – mostly for not matching the supermarkets’ strict cosmetic standards
* An estimated 20 million tonnes of food wasted in the UK from the plough to the plate
* 43 million people in the EU, 35 million in the US and 4 million in the UK suffer from food poverty
* The UK, US and Europe have nearly twice as much food as is required by the nutritional needs of their populations
– Up to half the entire food supply is wasted between the farm and the fork
– If crops wastefully fed to livestock are included, European countries have over three times more food than they need
* All the world’s circa one billion hungry people could be lifted out of malnourishment on less than ¼ of food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe
* 2.3 million tonnes of fish discarded in the North Atlantic and the North Sea each year; 40 to 60% of all fish caught in Europe are discarded – either because they are the wrong size, species, or because of the ill-governed European quota system
Well, I sprinted to Trafalgar Square at lunchtime today to see what the Feeding the 5000 campaign was all about.
It was quite literally that: 5000 portions of veggie curry being given out, free. All made from ingredients that would otherwise have been wasted: surplus food saved from going to food mountains; vegetables rejected due to being the ‘wrong’ shape.
Thankfully, there was a continuous line of people taking up the offer – it seemed very well received (judging by all of the scraped-empty dishes) and smelled gorgeous.
Curry made from food that would have been wasted
Lunch munchers – veggie curry proves popular at Trafalgar Square
A team was on stage in a makeshift kitchen demo-ing cooking with wonky butternut squash, talking through some of the facts above, while volunteer martials distributed flyers and enlightened satisfied munchers of the campgaign’s aim which is “to highlight the ease of cutting the unimaginable levels of food waste in the UK and internationally”.
Cooking with wonky vegetables
Ok, so the facts might be shocking, even embarrassing. As a nation, we waste far, far too much food. But how can this wastage be reduced and what’s it got to do with me? It’s not my responsibility is it? …is it? Can I really help to change things?
Maybe we can, collectively. By reducing the amount of food we – as consumers – waste. By recycling more. By composting. And realising what the organisations listed below are doing, not only to raise awareness in general (educating us all is a good thing) but claiming back perfectly good, surplus food that would otherwise go to food mountains and instead feeding those in need.
Food for thought indeed.
More info / useful links:
~ This event’s facebook page
~ FareShare – UK charity fighting hunger, tackling food waste
~ FoodCycle – UK charity, encouraging local communities to set up groups of volunteers to collect surplus produce locally and prepare nutritious meals in unused professional kitchen spaces, with delicious meals then being served to those in need
~ Love food hate waste – campaign by WRAP (government funded) encouraging us all to to be more efficient in our use of materials and recycle more often
