Upstairs @ The Ten Bells

A visit to Jack the Ripper's old local, the Ten Bells? Don't mind if we do. So unfortunately says most of Shoreditch on a sunny evening last week, as we fight our way through the crowds quenching their summer thirst on the streets outside this famous East End pub.

We finally make it upstairs, and are greeted by a breezy waiter in the blessedly breezy second floor dining room, with fabulous statement paintings on the walls and satisfyingly chunky wooden tables. Initially a pop-up restaurant run by the Young Turks chef collective, the place has become a permanent, albeit quirky, eatery - perfect for a friend's birthday dinner.

Our waiter recommends a zingy Hendricks, vanilla and 'roasted' lemonade cocktail to start - the perfect antidote to a day of sweaty London tubes and over-heated office. We accept. And enjoy so thoroughly that we order a second...

We then tuck in to a selection of wild and forage-themed dishes, typical of the Young Turks' style. Buttermilk chicken and pine salt is cushioned by fronds of real, fragrant pine needles - KFC for forest hermits. Thin cucumber ribbons hide a creamy cheese & silky ham centre and make a refreshing morsel. I'm not a mackerel fan, but even I savour the wonderful smokey fish and pork flavour combination in the cured & smoked mackerel, pink melon, cucumber & speck.

 

 My friend goes for the plaice dish, but I make a beeline for the lamb cutlets. Oh, the lamb, in a delicious beaded, oily gravy, accompanied by my absolute obsession: stalk-on artichokes. It is cooked to perfection, just the right side of pink, and so succulent as to render me speechless for at least a few seconds.

 

 

A few more roasted lemonades later ('they're full of fruit and healthy') and we're done. The desserts do look incredibly delish and avant garde (the ewe's yogurt mousse makes us waver for a good minute or two) but we regretfully decline, in the interests of saving room for more birthday drinking later on...

What a ripper
84 Commercial Street
London
E1 6LY

 

London's upper crust burger invasion

In a week that's seen the arrival of two of the biggest names in burgers - Shake Shack and Five Guys - I'm delighted to discover that there's one more name to add to the London bun fight: Steers.

Hailing from my home country, South Africa, I have many fond memories of the joint. Namely, 3am visits to replenish energy levels (after having shaken my more youthful booty in the best of Cape Town's discotheques).

I head down to its new site at Clapham Junction, full of anticipation. I'm confronted by many other South African ex-pats in equal states of excitement, all taking selfies in front of the Steers sign. It feels good; a little slice of home - and it tastes just as I remember. The Rave burger and fries, with the trademark Steers salt and lashings of barbecue sauce - bliss.



Here's my first Vine - an ode to Steers in 6 seconds. Note: The final frame is a sad face. A sad, sad face - it was all over too soon.

Give yourself a patty on the back
Steers
313 Lavender Hill
Clapham
London
SW11 1LN

 

The Rookery

I'm torn. For the past year or so The Rookery has been my number one recommendation for people visiting our little corner of London. Warm, friendly gastro pub (dark wood and exposed brick) with interesting seasonal menus, really inventive nibbles and great ales on tap. Yet something's gone awry. The gorgeous, salivate-just-thinking-about-them burgers on brioche buns aren't so saliva-inducing any more. The 'charred' bun is now frequently just plain burnt, the patty dry and uninspiring. Ditto the mac and cheese - too watery, low on the cheesy. Word from our neighbours is that the original chef has left - we despair. Why, why would the universe do this to us #firstworldproblems.

But still, we persist with the place, mainly because it's a mere stumble from our front door - but also because the long-standing staff are just brilliant. Helpful, but not intrusive; funky/stylish, but not too cool for school. 

So we take our friends from Ireland over the road for another try on Thursday - where we are pleasantly surprised. The place is packed; the staff still brilliant, and the menu has some lovely new summery twists. My feta and watermelon salad is beautiful, and the sweet/salty combo works a treat - a real taste of my South African home, where the salad is a perennial fave.

The new little fishcakes are packed with salmon chunks and come with a feisty take on tartare sauce. The coronation chicken, with a side of warm mini naan breads, is totally moreish and gets our table's vote for dish of the day.

The pear and apple crumble to follow gets the thumbs up all round - but then the Rookery crumbles have never faltered. My tea with Baileys is served without the raised eyebrows I usually get elsewhere. 

Great meal, fantastic, professional service. It's back on my hot list...

By hook or by c(R)ook(ery)
The Rookery
69 Clapham Common South Side
London
SW4 9DA

Street Feast @ Merchant Yard

Take a car park in Haggerston, East London; add loads of London's most innovative food vans, long trestle tables, Shoreditch types and a cocktail bar - then top it off with a tasting menu from of-the-moment chef Ben Spalding... Welcome to Street Feast.

Incredible pork and pickled ginger gyoza from Rainbo kicked things off...

Then we headed over for our 8-9:15pm Ben Spalding sitting. Bread & butter mousse (served on the back of your hand), then creamy corn soup, spicy lime prawns, lamb in caramel, warm cake batter and finally apple vodka fudge. Plus Prosecco - and lots of it.

I'd love to say we quit while we were ahead - but many more beers and cupcakes may have featured later...

New Year's Eat

New year, new resolutions - namely, to eat more and write about it. And what better way to kick things off than with a recap of our epic NYE countdown feast.

Cooking for four different appetites, four different tastes - and for one latecomer, who would only be able to join the party at 10pm - added spice to the overall menu planning. Whatever happened to 'you'll eat what you're given' I grumbled, whilst frantically paging through recipe books and scouring Pinterest for something to suit the requirements of our fussy foursome. What felt like days later, weary with food fatigue, I settled on the following:

Starter
Zesty smoked salmon on Nigel Slater's classic corn fritters.

Main
Roast sirloin with cauliflower cheese, steamed green beans and my famous roast potatoes (if I do say so myself). I also fashioned a sauce with the pan juices and a splash o' cream - hardly Delia, but it did the job.

Dessert
The Londoner's famous/infamous slutty brownies with good quality vanilla ice cream. I may not have her bottom, but her simple brownies are a dream to whip up.

Slightly overcooked sirloin aside (curses!), the empty plates seemed to indicate less indigestion, more indignation that there weren't more brownies. And I have to say, Jamie Oliver's Know Your Onions food game (picked up by my sister in a Clapham Junction charity shop for a song) did add to the overall foodie atmosphere - one for Christmas stockings in 2013?

Top 5 things to eat heartily in Boston & Cape Cod

I'm back - and definitely bigger - after a truly gastronomic trip to New England. Beautiful weather, boisterous locals and big portions just about sums up this little corner of the States. We ate long and we ate hard - here's a summary of some not-to-be-missed local eateries and eats:

Clam chowder
Why have I wasted my time with any other soup? Oh creamy, be-clammed gloop of loveliness, you have ruined me for all other broths. We ate this liberally out of mugs, with a side of oyster crackers, in both Boston and Cape Cod, but the best version was in the Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard.

Canolli
Fat cigar-shaped shells (chocolate dipped or not - your choice) filled with cream, custard, ricotta, chocolate cream, chocolate mousse or... the list goes on. The Italian North End area of Boston provided the greatest selection, namely at Modern Pastry Shop or the more traditional Mike's Pastry (we tried both) where the queues were literally out the door.

Lobster Rolls
In London, lobster is a delicacy. In New England, it's a God given right. We did not see one menu sans lobster throughout the region, including one memorable lobster-stuffed chicken in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard. But no dish could match the power, the sheer juicy, mayonnaisey, messy joy of the basic lobster mayo roll. Our first one was enjoyed in the foodie mecca of Faneuil Hall in Boston and we didn't look back. Another truly memorable version served on a soft, fresh, lightly toasted brioche was enjoyed in the harbourside Legal Sea Foods on our last day - bittersweet indeed.

Softshell Crab
Now my favourite London place to enjoy this eight-legged delight is Ealing Broadway's Hare & Tortoise, but New England is in a softshell league of its own, particularly as the critters were in season (June). I was served a curried softshell crab laksa in a vessel that would have qualified as a salad bowl in any British home. And ate it all - plus starter and dessert. Try Pearl in Nantucket for this and many other seafood gems, including fabulous sushi.

Oysters
As with lobster, it's all about the oysters in this part of the world. We had a double whammy of oyster magic on our second night in the Back Bay area of Boston at Island Creek Oyster Bar. Deep fried oyster sliders to whet the appetite (little 'burgers' on toasted brioche buns - heavennnnn) and then half a dozen of the most exquisite oysters I have ever tasted, accompanied by their recommended shot of vodka.

Special mention should be made of some pretty spectacular brekkies. The legendary Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe kicked off our holiday with blueberry pancakes the size of my head plus bacon plus lashings of syrup plus home fries - way to start the day heartily, if not heart failurely. I also fell hard for the banana bread on Nantucket, enjoyed the same way as Sydney locals do - slightly warm, no butter, with your morning coffee.

Cycling the coastal paths on Cape Cod & walking the Freedom Trail on Boston helped to work off the above grub, but essentially I'm living it large after one of the greatest culinary weeks ever - go Patriots.

Easter cupcakes to die for

A few months ago I awoke to the sound of my sister's laughter coming from the lounge. This was unusual for two reasons: (a) It was way too early for anyone sane to be both awake and in good spirits and (b) we'd had a pretty festive evening the night before and the resultant hangover was no laughing matter.

I hauled myself out of the guest bedroom to investigate and found my sister creasing up in front of... Lorraine Pascale's baking show? The reason turned out to be the bizarre intro montage of her show - 'Model! Paris! Car Mechanic! Oven!' - which probably says more about my sister's odd sense of humour than it does Lorraine's production company. Nevertheless, what stuck with me was not the shots of the stunning Lorraine against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower but her damn fine buns that came later in the programme. I resolved to try one of her recipes asap.

Asap turned into 2 months later, when I came across a drop dead delicious-looking Oreo cupcake recipe in the April Observer Food Monthly, courtesy of Le Lorraine. So I kept it and made it for Easter Sunday yesterday - and they were a hit!

One thing I will say is that these little guys were butter-tastic and filling as anything, so if you happened to be saving room for Easter lamb or any other such grub, operate a go-slow policy. And if you ever want a figure like Lorraine's, ditto.