Tag Archives: gastronomy

london getaway 2016 | day 9

11 Thursday Aug 2016

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london day 9 (8)

My next to last day in London was quite eventful. I had plans to meet John @cityjohn at Borough Market and walk along the South Bank, but he got delayed so I started off with a quick lunch at Arabica (recommended by Thane @thaneprince and it was amazing).

london day 9 (1)Happy barman Emanuele working on some colourful cocktails

london day 9 (2)Muhummara: roasted red peppers, harissa, toasted mixed nuts

london day 9 (3)Armenian-style Lahmacun: Levantine flatbread, spiced lamb, tomatoes, peppers, pine nuts, lebneh

John met me half-way through my Lahmacun and helped finish it off and then we made our way over to craft beer bar The Rake which was celebrating their 10th anniversary, and where we knew we would most likely run into beer expert and mutual friend Melissa Cole @melissacole

london day 9 (4)Melissa and John

london day 9 (5)

Juuso and James at the Wine Pantry

From there John & I made our way over to the Wine Pantry, a spot recommended by my friend Mark, which features English wines. We had a small tasting of three wines before having a full glass of something we both liked. Then John had to meet his cousin at the cinema and I had a bridge to cross (all by myself – check out to photo!) and we said our “hasta luegos”.

london day 9 (6)Have I mentioned I’m slightly obsessed with the Shard?

Once over the bridge I walked straight up from London Bridge to Spitalfields Market, stopping to have a final dinner at Taberna do Mercado.

london day 9 (9)green beans in tempura with a mussel and coriander broth
london day 9 (7)

Bifana: bísaro presa pork, yeast mayo, fennel

Then home to start packing…

london getaway 2016 | day 8

10 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, london, restaurants, travel, trips

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london day 8This was the second BIG EVENT in terms of friends meeting up for a special meal in the evening, but first I was meeting my friend Thane @thaneprince for a quick bite at Calcutta Street, a new place that has been getting rave reviews.
london day 8 (4)

Unfortnately we found nothing to rave about, the food was plain at best, mediocre at worst. Nothing horrible, just not tasty. And we were served some cloudy Italian “natural” white wine, which didn’t help. Apparently the dinner menu is more extensive – at lunch we only had the choice between 4 wraps. Meh.

london day 8 (1)

Undaunted, Thane took me to a pub just around the corner, built on the grounds of the old Middlesex Hospital. Nothing remains of the hospital other than the church, which is now a freestanding bulding (before it was enclosed within the hospital) and you can see the church from inside Percy & Founders, which is where we went for a restorative glass of “unnatural” wine.

london day 8 (5)

After that I did a bit more shopping and general roaming around, looking for some gifts to take home. And once again I GOT LOST and only just made it in time for dinner at one of London’s newest spots – Pidgin – which offers a set menu (just the one) that changes weekly. On this occasion there were eight of us…

london day 8 (6)

london day 8 (2)John @cityjohn Robin @HERMANOPRIMERO Mark @marcooth Oli @cotedupy (Hugh – not on twitter) Phoebe @plemess Nicola @shedlikesfood

london day 8 (3)Delicious tasting menu, though with cocktails and several glasses of wine we certainly drank more than we ate. We finished the evening at a pub around the corner, which is where things go a bit fuzzy for me, other than the boys putting me into an Uber after the pub closed.

london getaway 2016 | day 3

05 Friday Aug 2016

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london day 3 (1)One issue with my otherwise fabulous apartment in Wapping is that the WIFI is dodgy, to say the least, making it impossible to work. And although not ideal, Mark suggested I pop over to the nearby Yurt Café to take advantage of their WIFI. Turned out to be an unusual and interesting venue, a massive yurt with a small patio basically under the rail lines. So I was able to get some work done and it was a nice place to spend the morning.

Later on that evening came one of the week’s BIG EVENTS. Dinner at Som Saa…

london day 3

london day 3 (2)Mark @marcooth, John @cityjohn, Thane @thaneprince and “look no hands!” Bob

london day 3 (3)whole fried sea bass – spectacular presentation but didn’t quite deliver on taste

london day 3 (4)star dish of the evening – pork neck with “nahm jim” sauce

While the food was mostly good (though nothing spectacular other than that one pork dish imho) it was a terrible shame that a gathering of witty and wonderful people ended up in a shouting match across a rather narrow table because the FUCKING MUSIC WAS TURNED UP TO MAX. Seriously… why? It’s a small venue, and it’s a restaurant (with a small bar area as you come in). Ironically the bar is quieter than the restaurant. So what’s with the fucking ear-splitting music, unless it’s to make clients eat up and leave fast so they can turn more tables? Som Saa started off as a pop up and, after the owners went off to do research in Thailand, they opened this very new restaurant in Commercial Street. I’m told they didn’t actually change their pop-up menu much after their research and to me it all felt a bit contrived. Staff didn’t seem well-trained… overall not an experience I’d repeat.

london day 3 (5)all the Som Saa dishes we tried

london day 3 (6)just to show I wasn’t exaggerating about noise level – we measured it

Afterwards us diehards (John, Mark and me) headed to a wine bar in nearby Spitalfields Market as Thane & Bob headed home (they had an early morning next day). Can’t remember the name of the wine bar but Mark ordered for us and we enjoyed a couple of lovely wines – always a treat for me to try non-Spanish wines. Afterwards I got on one of my trusty 3 buses that seemed to take me almost everywhere and got home to find messages from the boys asking me to check in. Nice. Nice friends, great evening out.

el merendero

22 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by in food & drink, gastronomy, Malaga, malaga getaway

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merenderoRemember that lunch I mentioned with Victor and Andrew? We went to El Merendero, located right on Malagueta beach in the landmark Antonio Martín building. After having been abandoned for many years it was transformed into La Moraga by superchef Dani García in 2010, which was then bought by another group that continued to run it as La Moraga, but without the same spirit. Recently the space was taken over by Grupo Gorki, which has transported three of its restaurants from the city centre to the beach: El Tres, Bao and El Merendero. I’d been to El Merendero for tapas at the bar, but this was the first time trying out the restaurant.

Malaga June 2016

As you can see, it wasn’t half bad! What you see up there is Málaga sausage tartare, crispy fried lemon boquerones, artichokes topped with jamón and chopped egg, and – the star dish – tuna parpatana au jus with soufflé potatoes.

andrew victorAfter lunch we stopped for a penúltima on the rooftop of recently opened Roommate Valeria. A perfect afternoon with dear friends.

we want plates

29 Friday Apr 2016

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jamon jamon

For those of you who don’t follow the wonderful @WeWantPlates on Twitter, it features (as the name suggests) photos of weird and, sometimes frankly disgusting, ways of serving food that leave you seriously wishing for a plate. Everything from the almost standard roof slates and mini frying baskets, to various shoes, hats, toys, etc. Always good for a laugh (or sometimes a retch).

Anyhow, at the wine awards this week we were served a few snacks afterwards and suddenly THIS thing came around. I don’t know what it’s supposed to be. A jamón volcano with bread stick lava spewing out the top? It didn’t do anything to harm the wonderful jamón attached to it, but it also didn’t do anything to inhance it. So you know… why not just use a plate?