On the list… Plane Food

There can’t be many people who are tempted with a trip to Heathrow’s terminal five, but I am one. Not for the planes you realise – I’m not a fool – but for the food.

Gordon Ramsay is one of the landmark restaurants in the place and promises to offer something a bit different to the usual airport fare – no plastic seats here. The only downside of course is that you have to book a flight with British Airways to eat there.

The Evening Standard did an interesting piece on the restaurant here.

Slow down buster

There’s this little Italian sandwich shop I used to go to occasionally for lunch. Fresh ingredients and all the rest of it. Can’t fault them on that. But my goodness, did they make every customer feel like they should be in a rush: “come on now, who’s next” “hey, hey, hey, next please next please.”

This shop was in East London but frankly it could have been on any high street in London. By contrast then, let me introduce you to the most chilled out little lunchtime place I’ve found yet. It might even be the best lunchtime stop in London.

The Curved Angel Cafe is hidden down a side road off Clerkenwell Green, not far from Farringdon tube. This place just hums: doorstop-sized ciabatta sandwiches, delicious toasties, loads of fresh juices and, really importantly, really friendly staff. Add in a warm, chilled out atmosphere and cheap but really enjoyable food and you have, as I say, a great place to stop for a bite.

Love Food Hate Waste

I’m intrigued by a new campaign ultimately funded by the government to encourage us to waste less food. Love Food Hate Waste is a fancy new campaign to help us make the most of leftover bits in the kitchen. Nice idea.

I am loving… Spanish stew

There’s a little Spanish deli around the corner from my office which serves the best lunchtime treat: a cup of chickpea and chorizo stew.

Brindisa also sells salad boxes, sandwiches and meats, but it’s the stew that really marks this place out. I’ve tried to replicate it myself, with limited success. Nigel Slater‘s recipe in The Observer looks pretty good but I made the error of not leaving it to cook for long enough and using tinned over soaked chickpeas. Take note.

There are more Spanish recipes in 1080 Recipes, which includes contributions from Brindisa’s head chef. I’ve been meaning to buy a copy.

Something for the weekend

Brunch. The ultimate wake-up treat on a Sunday, right?

It would seem so judging by the line of bruncheries down my high street and the rise and rise of places like Lucky 7 in Notting Hill.

But the answer is no. The best start to a Sunday can be found tucked away in a few select locations around the centre of London – big dark rooms, often with mirrors and lots of gold.

Yup, my Sunday treat is a good serving of Dim Sum. I love it so much I even have Dim Sum mates, with whom I go to Dim Sum. We were friends before, but we now only meet in Chinese restaurants.

The Ping Pong chain is making a good fist of sticking a Dim Sum restaurant on every corner. They are good, and I’m glad they are spreading the word, but you can’t beat Royal China for a good Sunday lunch.

I tend to go to the Queensway branch, though they also have restaurants atBaker Street, St John’s Wood, Canary Wharf and Fulham. The company also owns Satsuma on Wardour Street but ignore that for now, we’re talking Dim Sum.

The beauty of Dim Sum is that you pick loads of small dishes – steamed dumplings, spring rolls, pork buns – so you get a huge variety, the food just keeps coming, and you still only pay about £10-15 a head, depending on how greedy you are and whether you go for the egg tarts for pudding (we do).

So, find some of your own Dim Sum friends and block out your Sunday lunchtime now.

On the list: Unpackaged

Don’t need three layers of packaging around your apples? Think you can cope without a couple of bags to protect your bananas? Then you might be interested in Unpackaged (walkable from Farringdon or Angel tube). Opened last year, it appears to be a bit of a ‘back to basics’ idea – bring your tupperware containers and fill them up… with rice, seeds, flour, muesli, toilet cleaner..

It reminds me of those discount shops that used to exist where you scooped up all your shopping into plastic bags, though I reckon the goods there were anything but organic and wholesome. In any case, we tended to scoop up our family shopping from Tesco.

I’ve been meaning to pop along to Unpackaged for a while now. I’ll report back if/when I make it.

> The Camden New Journal covered the opening last November

> Monocle has a picture 

I am loving… Nusa Kitchen

It’s a bit of a trek from where I am, but Nusa‘s soups always brighten up my lunchtime. Everywhere sells soup, but this isn’t just soup. Yesterday I had Mexican borracho bean soup with salsa and rice; the other week it was a South Indian tomato-ey thing.. and each time served with freshly baked flat bread. The menu changes every day too.

Nusa is based just up from Barbican and they’ve just opened a second shop near Bank. WestEnders can only hope that they branch out a bit more.

In the meantime check out Nusa’s recipes section.

A stick in the sand

It might seem odd to start a blog about my favourite London eating places some 40 miles south of Croydon and within striking distance of the English Channel, but if I am to split the great from the mediocre and the mediocre from the awful, I need a benchmark.

My benchmark, no I’ll use the term yardstick, sits nestled behind one of the big beachfront hotels in Brighton, a short walk from the pier. Not quite Mayfair, but then I’m not setting out on a search for the kitchen that will most readily push me towards my credit card limit.

What am I after in my food nirvana? I’m not quite sure, but I suspect the experience finishes with the following: a sense that it doesn’t matter how big the bill is, or what little charges have been added here there and everywhere (“They charge for bread?”)… I don’t care, because it was worth it.

It surprises me to admit, as a meat eater, that my favourite restaurant of the moment is a vegetarian place. Terre a Terre is a spacious restaurant serving delicious meals – no dull stuff here, just plates of food that really display the effort that has gone into bringing out a beautiful mix of tastes. It seems I’m not alone in liking this place (see Brighton-eating, but ignore the whingers). The restaurant itself had a lovely feel to it, homely even. The tables – and this is important – were positioned such that nobody was touching shoulders with anybody else. We had our own little space and the staff made sure they didn’t infringe on that by striking just the right tone – welcoming, helpful, chatty, but not too much.

Basically, it was all there. We didn’t want to leave.

Terre a Terre isn’t cheap – we spent about £70 for two people including pudding and wine – but it was worth it.

Making the comparison isn’t going to be easy, but wherever I go, and whatever I try it’s always going to be at the back of my mind – a yardstick against which all others will be measured.

> The Guardian quite liked it too

All you can eat

This blog is about eating. Specifically, in London. But it is also about the bits that come before and after – the search, the anticipation and the savouring.

From food stores to sandwich shops and pubs to restaurants, I will be using this blog to flag up the best and slag off the rest.

This blog isn’t just about reviews or tips though. I will also be blogging about foodie things I come across that might be of interest.

London has got loads of places to try out. If you come across somewhere or something that I should be writing about, drop me a note.

Joe

March 2008