The weather was so bad on the weekend the boy and I thought a good feed would cheer us up so we went and had brunch at Lucky 7 Diner - the cool little American Diner in Notting Hill. I opted for the blueberry pancakes and the boy had the healthy breakfast (it don't look that healthy but he said it was delicious!) I have to say its the best pancakes I've had since I've been in London and you get to sit in cool booths just like Happy Days!
I've talked about this fantastic cookbook before and the boy and I had the pleasure of eating at its Notting Hill establishment on the weekend.
The place is tiny, seats about 10 people on a communal table.
My main, beef with wasabi sauce, beetroot and bloodorange salad with beans and samphire salad. Delicious!
Pudding #1: Strawberry and lime cheesecake - amazing!
Pudding #2: Flourless chocolate cake - Yum yum yum.
And to top it off, the richest hot chocolate I've had in my life - I could only manage a small size.
The food here is incredible, its not the cheapest but the experience is truly worth while. Check them out here.
Known for its food shop, bakery, deli and partisserie and we got given their wonderful cookbook and havn't been able to stop talking about how amazing it is. We've managed to visit the Notting Hill eatery last weekend and the food did not disappoint. A must visit if you can - be warned, seating is limited and expect to wait for a seat.
Every recipe I've made from this cookbook has been delicious! I'm not going to lie - it isn't always easy and it sometimes require major organisational skills to master the multiple tasks the recipe it requires. Below is one of my many favourites. I love the contrast between the lentil/rice and the spicy tomato sauce. The boy is crazy happy when I make it too.
KOSHERI
Serves 4300g green lentils
200g Basmati rice (I use wholegrain basmati)
40g Unsalted butter
50g vermicelli noodles, broken into 4cm pieces
400ml chicken stock or water
1/2tsp grated nutmegs
1 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2tsp salt
4tbsp olive oil
2 white onions, halves and thinly sliced
SPICY TOMATO SAUCE
4tbsp olive oil
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
2 hot red chillies, seeded and finely sliced
8 ripe tomatoes, chopped (This is crucial, make sure the tomatoes are ripe, it makes a huge difference to the taste)
370ml water
4tbsp cider vinegar
3tsp salt
2tsp ground cumin
20g Coriander leaves, chopped.
1. Start with the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the garlic and chillies and fry for 2 mins. Add the chopped tomatoes, water, vinegar, salt and cumin. Bring to the boil, then reduced the heat and simmer for 20mins, until slightly thickened. Remove the sauce from the heat, stir in the coriander and then tastes. See if you want to add any salt, pepper or extra coriander. Keep hot or leave to cool; both ways will work with the hot kosheri. Just remember to adjust the seasoning again when cold.
2. To make the kosheri, place the lentils in a large sieve and wash them under a cold running tap. Transfer to large saucepan, cover with plenty of cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 mins. The lentils should be tender but far from mushy. Drain in a colander and leave to one side.
3. In a large bowl, cover the rice with cold water, wash and then drain well. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the raw vermicelli, stir, and continue frying and stirring until the vermicelli turns golden brown. Add the drained rice and mix well until it is coated in the butter. Now add the stock or water, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and then reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer for 12 mins. Turn off the heat, remove the lid, cover the pan with a clean tea towel and put the lid back on. Leave for 5 mins; this helps make the rice light and fluffy.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onions and saute over a medium heat for about 20 mins, until dark brown. Transfer to kitchen paper to drain.5. To serve, lightly break up the rice with a fork and then add the lentils and most of the onions, reserving a few for garnish. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Pile the rice high a serving platter and top with remaining onion. Serve hot, with the tomato sauce.
Its taken me a had few of times to master but its been worth it, now the recipe is easy I can almost do it without the instructions. Enjoy!
This is the best ice-cream I've had in ages, if you can call it that since its dairy free. Not only is it smooth and creamy, it only has 4 ingredients in it (Water, Agave syrup, cashew nuts and coconut) - AMAZING! So its good for Vegans or people who lead a dairy/gluten free life. Husband and I could not stop gushing over the taste and it has no nasty preservatives or weird numbers. We highly recommend it.
We went to Selfridges and ate at the ice-creamist, a make shift ice-cream area on the lower ground floor which can definitely be mistaken for a nightclub.
The whole area is pretty much black with a live band playing music way TOO loud for our liking! Regardless we still had a nice time - my fav flavour being CUSTARD. Amazing!
Apologies for not being on for a while. I've been a uninspired and hadn't really seen or done anything I wanted to put on. I think also partly summer is leaving us and I know the cold and darkness of winter is just around the corner.
Anyhow, we ate some fantastic food on the weekend. First up for breakfast we finally tried My Old Dutch - a pancake house but I think its really a crepe house. The boy was slightly disappointed that it was not the big New York pancakes he was hoping for but I really liked its thiness and the crispiness went well with the butter and maple syrup. They're served on these crazy big plates, I felt so sorry for the waitresses! and in all honesty I could have eaten at least 3 of those plates cause they were so yummy.
We booked ahead - you should, the place was packed! We started with a cocktail of Lychee and vodka, yum! The food were amazing and my favourite is the king crab dumplings while the boy liked the fried seabass.
The inside is much bigger than I imagined with seats being quite low to the ground, I was quite comfortable but the boy who stands at 6'4 whined that his legs were sore. And if you get a choice sit downstairs, its a little bit darker and seemed more cosy.
We shouldn't have really ordered desserts but could not help ourselves. I had a lovely chocolate mousse and the boy ordered this bizarre bauble-like dish (pictured)
Amazingly he loved it, the shell is made out of raspberry chocolate and the inside is pomegranate jello and mousse!
The boy and I are on this ridiculous diet so just before it we took ourselves to the amazing Harrods food court.
It has lovely ornate ceilings and the place is huge! You can get completely loss with the different types of fresh food ...
a kaleidoscope of gelatos and ice-cream ....
The best looking fruits I've seen and the price is the most expensive I've seen too ...
And my favourite, Middle eastern sweets! A couple of more weeks on this crazy diet and we'll be able to eat all this sugar again.
We ate our way through Manhattan and found that our money went so much further with in NY than here in London. You get such good food for little money, very similar to Sydney.
One of our favourite places is Nha trang in chinatown. I wish I had taken a pic of it. We loved this Vietnamese place so much that we went back twice to have my favourite pho soup - and its dirt cheap! $USD5 for a good hearty soup.
Another wonderful place is Pearl's oyster bar on Cornelia street in The Village. Excellent seafood and fresh oysters. Its always packed but amazingly we were seated straight away for being a couple, big groups have to wait longer. So go in pairs!
Below are the rest of our eating adventures.
On the weekend the boy and I took a stroll and came across this wonderful Middle Eastern sweet shop Semiramis on Edgeware Road, just diagonally opposite from Argos.
They sell multitude of varieties with sweet pastries and crunchy pistachio nuts ...
These were my favourite! And they also had freshly made ice-creams. The owner was really nice giving us some samples and telling us about the different ones ...
He explained to us that his shop is pretty unique as the sweets are not "you have a couple and you feel sick" sweet. The flavours are subtle and a lot healthier for you. I can't wait to get more next weekend!
Borough market is my favorite market in London probably cause its a food market. The boy and I eat really well everytime we go. Last weekend we were blessed with sunshine so we took ourselves down to waterloo to see the chocolate fectival which was disappointing so we thought we would reward ourselves with an outing to Borough which was just a bit further down the river. And while we were there we got the greatest sausage sandwich.
This is the line to the greatest sausage sandwich place.
You pick your type of sausage, I like cumberland, the boy had wild boar. Then you choose a size - I wish I had the large not the small. They fill it with rocket ...
.. and you have a choice of sweet onions and sweet pepper sauce ...
And this is the result. YUM! Then we ended it with a blueberry cheesecake!
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