London Food Again

So it was off to London for the Main Event...

THE Cake

The bottom layer was red velvet and the top was just yellow BUT those are all white chocolate sticks surrounding the layers - yum! There was a little debate about the flowers - non-edible.

We went to Chop Shop after a matinee and had some really delicious pork belly (the special). The mash (mashed potatoes for all you "non-English" speakers), was so creamy and really good. Also a nice fennel slaw.

We had a quick bite at Franze and Evans. It was right near the flat we rented so how could we not. They had some mean gnocchi. The breakfast menu looked really nice, but we didn't get to try that out.

We also ate at the Approach Tavern. I ate there on the last quick hop over. Last time it was excellent sausage and mash. This time, it was a mighty excellent burger.

The absolute best meal was at this Peruvian place called Andina. It was tapas style so we got to try many different dishes - 10 in total. There were several outstanding dishes. We ordered two types of Ceviche - Clasico (sea bass, lime tiger's milk, coriander, limo chilli, sweet potato, choclo corn) and Tiradito de Cobia (cobia, yuzu tiger's milk, wasabi tobiko, green radish). They were equally good. The Corn Cake & Avocado was really like corn bread but 100 times better. It was very moist and flavourful. Since they said cake, I was expecting some sort of fritter. The Pulpo Chancon (grilled octopus, lucuma, butterbeans, chancaca and limo honey sauce with tomato and red onions) was absolutely the best dish. The octopus was flavourful and very tender. We also tasted a Pisco Sour. Unbelievably, when we were in Peru we didn't taste one! Sorry, I didn't take any pics - my phone was charging.

Those were the highlights. There were some other places too - a Thai place -ok - an Italian place - meh.

Comments

New Kid on the Block

So here's a picture of the new kid on the block. Ain't she a beauty? It's a Blomberg . They are fairly new to the US. They have been around in Europe for quite a while. I really liked the design. I've been dying to have a freezer on the bottom. With the old refrigerator I would constantly lose brain cells by hitting my head on the freezer will poking around in the refrigerator. It really makes sense to have the refrigerator on top - that is where you spend most of your time. When we bought the old one, it was an emergency situation. The prior one was leaking on the floor and was no longer cooling. Fifteen years ago the freezer on the bottom was just starting to get popular but we were in no situation to wait for delivery. We had to take what they had on hand. Now the freezer on the bottom is by no means unique. What is - is this freezer's design. There are 3 compartments in the freezer. I used to have a chest freezer in the basement and everything would get los...

Mr. Boston

Since we were discussing cocktails, I thought I would discuss Mr. Boston . The Sous Chef has his father's Mr. Boston and then the girls one year for Christmas got him the new version. They are different enough that you need to keep both of them. We had once thought about working our way through the book but then decided that probably wasn't a good idea. We have found some really tasty treats though. Old Mr. Boston/New Mr. Boston Here is one of them: Banana Foster (from New Mr. Boston) 2 scoops vanilla ice cream 1 1/2 oz spiced rum 1/2 oz banana liqueur 1 medium banana cinnamon Combine ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a large glass and sprinkle with cinnamon I guess there is one improvement with the new Mr. Boston - the index is a bit better. In the old version, you cannot look up the drink by name. You can only look it up by liquor - which doesn't really help you out if you don't know what is in say a grasshopper and just wa...

Almond & Jam Tarts

These are quite impressive looking but very easy to make - especially if you buy ground almonds. The really nice part is that you just press the dough into the tart pans. The only rolling is for the cut outs. Peach Jam Currant Jam Almond & Jam Tarts (Adapted from Bon Appetit ) Makes 2 tarts 7 oz (approx 2 cups) Ground Almonds or Hazelnuts* 4 1/2 c flour 2 1/4 t kosher salt 1 1/2 t baking powder 2 t nutmeg 1 1/2 c sugar 3 sticks butter 6 T heavy cream 3 egg yolks 1 t almond extract 1 Earl Grey tea bag 1 1/2 c apricot jam** 1 1/2 c plum jam** 2 t orange zest 1 egg 1/4 c raw sugar Mix almonds, flour, salt, baking powder and nutmeg in a bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolks, cream, and almond extract. Mix well. Gradually add flour/almond mixture and mix until combined. Divide dough into 3 equal parts, flatten 1 into disk and chill for at least 1 hour. Press the remaining two doughs into tart pans cover and chill....

Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

Search This Blog