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Snog

2009-07-15T06:30:00+01:00

Snog
9 Brewer Street
W1F 0RG

Date of Last Visit: Friday, July 10th, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £3.55

The Background: On Fridays in summer, my very generous employer lets us leave a little early, assuming we've worked later during the week. So this past Friday, I found myself wandering Soho for a bit. I popped into Snog, thinking I might have some frozen yogurt before lunch. (Yes, before.)

Snog is fun. I like how they've made the most of the name. Snog. Hah. But Snog is also pricey at £3.55 for the smallest portion with one topping. They call this size "little."

To their credit, I actually thought the "little" was quite big. The blackberries were quite big as well, and they were perfect, mashed up into the tangy natural yogurt. (Note: It's not vanilla. It's just regular yogurt.) I did things a little backwards on Friday--I had the yogurt and then was going to have lunch, but this Snog tied me over.

The Verdict: Fun. Good. Pricey though.

Nice Bar Snacks: Veuve Clicquot Bar at Harrods

2009-07-14T06:29:00+01:00

Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar
Harrods
87-135 Brompton Road
London SW1X 7XL

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, July 9th, 2009

The Victims: Jen, Feathers

The Damage: About £15 each. But the snacks were free!

The Background: We dropped into Harrods for the sales the other night. Crazy sales. Really unbelievable. If only I were rich. And thin. I'd be wearing half-off Valentino right now.

We needed a little break at one point, so we dropped into the Veuve Clicquot bar and ordered a glass of champagne each. Pricey at £14.50 for the gold, and £15 something for the rose. But when our complimentary snacks arrived, we felt a lot better. Some nice crispy cracker bread, studded with sesame seeds and poppy seeds. And some delicious tangy yogurty cream to scoop it all up with. A nice surprise. And just enough to tide us over for the rest of our shopping.

The Verdict: A nice little oasis, but pricey for the champers. Next time, I'll see if I can snag the snacks by just purchasing a £9 glass of wine.

The Question: Where are your favorite complimentary bar snacks?

Les Trois Garçons

2009-07-13T06:30:00+01:00

Les Trois Garçons
1 Club Row
E1 6JX

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

The Victims: Bevin, Jimmy, Linda

The Damage: About £50 each

The Background: It's a Tuesday night and it's gorgeous out so we try to get over to The Boundary Rooftop. There's a 45 minute wait to get up to the top. So then we consider eating at The Albion, but I can't get excited about the menu. So I suggest Les Trois Garçons, a place I've wanted to try out for quite some time now, for the decor alone.

And maybe there's the rub. If you want to go to a restaurant mainly for the decor, maybe you'd be better off at the Rainforest Cafe.

The Entrance: It's really bright out, which is an odd look for Les Trois Garçons. It's the type of place that I think would do best at dusk or on a dark night in December. With candlelight. There are a lot of things, sparkly things, hanging from the ceiling. In the bright light of day--and particularly a day that's close to the longest day of the year--entering Les Trois Garçons feels like stumbling into a funhouse with the lights on. Not so fun.

The clientele is also pretty dressed up. We're a little, shall we say, casual. This doesn't seem to bother the restaurant at all, but I felt like I made the wrong restaurant choice on the wrong night. This is confirmed when we're handed the menu...£42.50 for TWO COURSES. Ouch.

The Food: Foie gras for me to start and it's smooth and buttery. I'm still smarting over the £21.25 price tag on it, but in for a penny, in for a pound, huh? (Probably more like a 1/3 - 2/3 split on the price, I know.) The only let down here are the toasts. Although they look gorgeous from a distance, they're sandy and crumbly. And although maybe that's meant to be a good foil to the foie gras, I just end up making a mess. (And yes, another night where I've left my real camera at home. Sorry.)

Jimmy and I both opt for the lamb as our main and it is pretty good. I like the soft cushions of gnocchi. The lamb could have been a little bit pinker, but overall, it's respectable. My only problem (besides for the price) is the size of the dish. I am not one to leave food behind, but I had to hand Jimmy my plate half way through as there was no way I could eat more than four slices of the lamb. Odd that I'm complaining about the price and then giving half my food away, I know.

The Loo: There's only one. And it was a bit of a mess when I visited.

The Service: They pulled the bottled water trick. We asked for still water. They brought us TWO bottles, and poured very generous servings. I didn't check the bill, but what do you think? £8 worth of water?

The Verdict: Not for me. The only way I'd go back is on a TopTable discount. Just too OTT (and a bit dated, at that) and too pricey.

Zurich: Caduff's Wine Loft

2009-07-10T06:30:00+01:00

Caduff's Wine Loft
Kanzleistrasse 126
CH-8004 Zürich

Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 26th

The Victim: Former London restaurant blogger Howard

The Damage: A lot. It was all in Swiss Francs so honestly, I have no idea.

The Background: You remember Howard, right? Howard of Food & Drink in London? Well, he's moved to Zurich, Switzerland. And I needed to be in Switzerland for a wedding that required all sorts of planes, trains and automobiles to get to, so I figured I'd fly to Zurich on Friday night, have dinner with Howard, and then head to Bellinzona on Saturday. A good plan.

Howard has chosen the restaurant. He's also on-call for work for the evening, which I'm a bit worried about. What if I end up eating alone? Defeats the whole purpose of the pit-stop, no? Luckily, I needn't have worried.

The Entrance: Caduff's is large and airy and light during the daylight. Once the sun goes down, it gets really really dark in the restaurant. Practically only candle light. Really. It was very dark. We're shown a table in the back corner and I start to eavesdrop on the very international crowd while we start looking things over.

The Weinkeller: Caduff's is famous for it's Weinkeller. I forget how many bottles they boast, but it's a lot. Our server sends us downstairs to pick our bottle. Now this is fun. Lots of dusty bottles lying around, and a very nice and very multi-lingual host to help us out. Howard is up for spending some cash. I'm not, and I think he will remain forever disappointed in me because of this. Sorry, Howard. We eventually agree on a half bottle of something I can't remember. (I am trying to take it easy because I have to get up at the crack o'dawn the next day. And we've already had a beer at my hotel and then aperitifs at the restaurant. And we're getting something by the glass for our starter. And I just know already that there will definitely be a dessert wine.)

The Starters: See how dark the restaurant is getting? That's a very generous portion of scallops with a lot of breadcrumbs (which you can't see) covered in summer truffles. Lots of summer truffles this month. The scallops are large. But they taste a little old or maybe just a little overcooked. Also, I kinda think the presentation is a bit 1980s roadside inn. Some sort of clamshell on a bed of sea salt. Hmm. It's good. I suppose.

The Mains: Howard and I get the same thing...pigeon wrapped in cabbage served on ratatouille. This is a hugely generous portion. I end up giving half of my pigeon to Howard, it's so big. And the pigeon isn't as tender as I imagined it being. It's tough. Not dry. But not tender. And there's so much ratatouille. I am a little overwhelmed. I take a disliking to the cabbage wrapped around the pigeon. I sorta regret my order and wish I had opted for the vegetarian pasta something or other instead.

The Verdict: This is probably a good place for one of those work dinners where you have to entertain 10 people from 10 countries. The Weinkeller alone is pretty cool. Food-wise, I applaud the restaurant's "local, seasonal" ethos, but taste wise...eh. Not for me. That being said, it was great to see Howard again. I THINK I may have convinced him to start a Zurich restaurant blog. He takes such awesome photos and is an excellent writer. Don't you think he should?

Eastside Inn Bistro

2009-07-08T06:30:00+01:00

Eastside Inn
38-42 St John Street
EC1M 4AY

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, June 13th, 2009

The Victims: Rutton, Al

The Damage: About £40ish each?

The Background: If you fiddle with a food blog, never Twitter where you're going for dinner. Because before you know it, you might end up Twitter-friends with the chef's brother or something. And the chef's brother might tell the chef that you're coming and the chef might drop by your table to say hi and then the chef's wife might drop by the table to say hi too and then you might just fall in love with them both because they're both so nice and you want their new place to be just as successful as they are nice.

So be careful, you know?

The Entrance: I am the first, as always. Rutton is on a bus on the other side of town. Like Westbourne Grove. (Tube troubles, he tells me at the time. But when arrives, he elaborates about running into our friends Dev & Connie at Baker Street on the way and how he just had to have a beer with them.) While I'm waiting for Al, I joke with one of the servers about the review of Eastside Inn in that week's Time Out. That's my server there in the picture. Or at least, my first server. Because after placing my drink order and asking for some tap water, someone else asks me if I'd like to order a drink. And then a little while later--while I'm still waiting for that drink--a third person asks if I'd like a drink. I feel very looked after. But it is a little like Groundhog's Day. (The movie.)

With the boys running a bit behind (Al wasn't THAT late--maybe 7 minutes), I order some snacks. And this endears me to the Eastside Inn immediately. Proper little snacks. Some radishes, served with butter and sea salt. Some very good olives, and some goats cheese and toast. We end up combining the radishes with the goats cheese. A nice combination.

The Starters: Chef Bjorn tells us about his specials...there's what I keep calling Kalbskopf in my head but I suppose you'd call veal head? Calf's head? I forget what Bjorn calls it. Served cold in a carpaccio-like way. And then there's a roast chicken for two. Rutton confuses our server completely by ordering the veal to start and then placing two orders for the chicken, one for him and one for Al. I clear it all up. For me, it's squid to start and the calf's head as my main.

I like the flavors in the squid, which are mixed up with peppers and a nice zesty vinaigrette. The squid seems a little chewy but maybe I need to eat more squid to figure out how chewy is too chewy for fresh squid. (I do think I've eaten a lot of squid. See my About page.) The only thing is...it just seems a little messy, there in its bowl. Like it should be more organized, more neatly piled. Hmmm.

The Mains: Next up is my calf's head, which is a heartier dish than I had imagined. (I obviously was not paying attention while Rutton was polishing off his as a starter.) This is a pretty generous portion. I like it. The veal is sturdy but soft, and it's a cooling dish on a warm day. Rutton and Al are digging into the chicken and they polish it off so quickly I don't even get to try it. I can only tell you that they like it. A lot.

The Wine List: The bistro wine menu is very abbreviated. There's a Torrontes on it, which I'm familiar with after passing the Wine & Spirits Education Trust Exam. (I'd suggest some tasting notes for the bistro menu, personally. And while CdR might clearly mean Côtes du Rhône to me, it means nothing to the average punter.) After some discussion, we end up asking for the wine list from next door, and then the very patient sommelier talks us through some options. (Now if only I could remember what we selected!) Later I'm thrilled to discover they actually will sell by the carafe, as we're not really ready to polish off a second bottle. (I swear that during our meal, the unsteady and uncommunicative couple next to us polish off two bottles of wine between the two of them, but maybe I am just imagining things.)

The Atmosphere: If I were to go back, I'd grab a space at the counter, which overlooks the kitchen directly. I'm a sucker for show kitchens. Decor-wise, I don't know...something was missing. Or maybe the lights were too bright. Or maybe we were just sitting too far up front. When I think "bistro," I think cozy. There's a modern-y newness to the bistro side of the the Eastside Inn that could use some warming up.

The Verdict: I thought the bistro side of the Eastside Inn was good. I'd give it another shot, for the warmth and enthusiasm of Bjorn and Justine alone.

Dinings

2009-07-06T06:38:00+01:00

Dinings
22 Harcourt Street
W1H 4HH

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Victims: Craig, Leann, Mikaela, Jen

The Damage: About £40 each

The Background: Craig is my sushi buddy. It started many years ago, at Kurumaya in the city. A great little place that you should really visit. (Even the skeptics on London-Eating.co.uk like it.) (Get a booking for downstairs.) Last summer, Craig invited me along to check out Matsuri St. James. For some odd reason, I still haven't taken him to Pham. One of these days. Anyhow, Dinings was next on our list.

The Entrance: Dinings is small. Very small. Much smaller than I expected. We're shown downstairs to a small room that we end up sharing with that one other table in the photo. It's perfect, really. Although it's a bit hot. Just a bit.

The Service: Exceptional. I had run into our server the previous weekend at Taste of London--she was working the Dinings booth--but she had no recollection of me whatsoever. Before we figured this part out, I asked for a run-down of her favorites. Total enthusiasm for and great knowledge of the menu. She was so good, I asked her to do the whole thing again when the rest of our party arrived. Some might have found this annoying. But she obliged. And it was even better than the first time.

The Food: We followed all our server's recommendations and the food just kept coming. We started with the seabass carpaccio with truffle salsa and ponzu sauce. Lovely. Clean. But my absolute favorites were grilled eel and foie gras maki with summer truffle and the pork belly. The pork belly! Really, the pork belly.

The Verdict: I liked it here. A lot. Nice service. Really interesting menu. This is not a California rolls kind of place. Really great food. Not cheap though.

£1.50 Old Street Station Breakfast

2009-07-03T06:18:00+01:00

The Cafe in Old Street Tube
Old Street Tube Station
London, EC1

Date of Last Visit: Many

The Victim: Me and my co-workers. Females, mostly.

The Damage: £1.50, numerous times over.

The Background: After all the controversy the other day, how about something simple? Something cheap. Healthy. Tasty. Yes: Today I bring you Old Street Station's £1.50 yogurt, fruit and nut cup.

Here's how it started...A few weeks ago, all the girls in my office were talking about the "amazing" fruit and yogurt cup at the weird take-away in Old Street tube. For £1.50, they told me, you get a whole lotta yogurt. And a whole lotta fruit. And nuts! Some nuts too. Less money than a Pret Pot, and about three times the size.

I had to experience this yogurt cup of magnificence for myself. So I dropped into Old Street tube one morning before work the other week.

And there they were, lined up across the countertop. The unrefrigerated countertop, but presumably they hadn't been sitting out that long. I paid my £1.50 and off to work I went.

The Verdict: I thought the yogurt was okay. A tad warm, as I expected. It wasn't bad yogurt, but I think I like Pret's better. It was the fruit that got me. This was A LOT of fruit. And good fruit. Not just the cheap stuff. There were mangoes in here. And strawberries and grapes and blueberries and God knows what else. Sometimes it was hard to tell, given how globbed up it all was with yogurt. The nuts were peanuts. Added a nice crunch.

But the value? Can't beat it. Really, £1.50. Next time you're hanging out at Old Street tube in the early hours, get yourself one.

Morgan M, Plus Some Thoughts on Freebies

2009-07-01T06:30:00+01:00

Morgan M
489 Liverpool Road
N7 8NS

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 3rd

The Victims: Sarah, Gaby

The Damage: Gaby paid.

The Background: If you haven't noticed, I do like to eat.

But I like exploring more. Some of my favorite posts--the posts I really enjoy writing---are not the ones that are all about a dinner out and a London restaurant review.

I like the adventure posts. The getting-on-a-bus-and-going-somewhere posts. The something different posts. I enjoy a good day out, with multiple stops, some with food. Some without.

When I first started my blog, I borrowed a post from business writer Seth Godin about creating a blog disclosure statement and posted my own on my About page. My Disclosure Statement has gone through various iterations over the years. For a long time, it said something like "I will go out of my way NOT to write about things that other people want me to write about, except when there's a lot of champagne involved." And for somewhat of a shorter time, I removed my Disclosure Statement completely because I felt like I was violating it so utterly and completely.

Case in point. My friend Sarah runs a site for new moms in London. A month or two ago, she went to an event about women in business and met Gaby, who just happens to do PR for restaurants. Sarah says, "You must meet my friend Krista." Gaby knows my work and says something like, "Krista from Londonelicious? I'd love to." And we all arrange to meet up for lunch at Morgan M in Highbury, a place I've always wanted to go to. And a place that Gaby does PR for.

I like Gaby instantly. I want to help her understand bloggers and blogging and Twitter and all those good things. I like Morgan M instantly as well. It's peaceful and relaxing and a great "Ladies who Lunch" sort of place, and you know that I not-so-secretly wish that I were a lady who lunches. Instead, I'm a lady with a full-time job, an addiction to restaurants, and a train that leaves for Paris at 5 p.m. on a Wednesday.

The Entrance: I like how I'm met at the door of Morgan M. and how they take all my belongings away; I've come straight from work with a lot of stuff that I need to run home with after lunch and throw in a suitcase and turn around again and head back to Kings X with. (Are you still with me?)

I like the plates at Morgan M. They're pretty. And I like how while I'm waiting for Gaby and Sarah to arrive, the staff offer me my choice of good magazines. Not bad magazines. Good magazines. (I choose a travel magazine.)

I feel a little pressured to order the tasting menu, which is what Sarah and Gaby opt for. I am on a bit of a diet these days, and really I am not that hungry. Plus I'm heading to Paris and I know I have a multi-course dinner to look forward to. So with some negotiation, I manage to secure just two courses (plus an amuse-bouche) to Sarah and Gaby's five courses (plus amuse-bouche). (Generally, Morgan M prefers that the entire table opt for the tasting menu, but I think I must have looked panic-stricken at the thought of a full menu, so they relaxed their restriction for me.)

The Conversation: After we order, we go back to talking about bloggers and London food and restaurant bloggers and restaurant reviews in particular. Gaby says that she's counted, and there's something like 70 of us London food bloggers these days. I note that she should start looking at the wine bloggers too because for a restaurant like Morgan M with such a nice wine list, I think she's got an additional market.

We talk about the real critics and I learn that although the big ones have budgets and pay-their-own-way, the smaller ones get everything comped. This makes me angry because here I am, paying my way for everything (or, well, nearly everything), and some of the professional restaurant reviewers actually get all their meals for free? But then, I get angry at myself; if I just went around London accepting freebies all the time, I'd kinda feel like somebody's mistress. All the nice things, but no respect in the morning...

Somewhere around here--or maybe it was sooner--our amuse bouche arrives. It's a chilled cream of broad bean and horseradish foam and I love it. Think summer! It gets me pretty excited about whatever will be coming next.

One blog we talk about over lunch is LondonEater. Kang's blog is a young one--he just started last summer--but he does seem to have quite an appetite and his photography is really great. (I should note that I did bring my real camera to Morgan M, only to find that the batteries were dead. Hence the Blackberry photos.) His prose, in my opinion, is quite effusive and eager. Lately, Kang has accepted invitations to a number of restaurants, who have comped his meals. This has me wondering: what if every guy or gal with a decent food or restaurant blog in London knew that they could possibly bag a free meal at most restaurants, just by dialing for dollars? Would it change the game a bit?

I talk about my own experience with accepting freebies directly from restaurants. There was my meal at Cafe Anglais with Lizzie and Niamh and owner Charlie McVeigh. There was my wine tasting and sushi session at Tsuru. And my German meal at Vinoteca. And now there's my meal at Morgan M with Gaby. All were memorable, fun, and delicious experiences. Maybe that's all they should be. But there's a "but" in there somewhere.

Over my very nice starter of lightly seared yellow fin tuna, provencale vegetables, tapenade, and red pepper and basil sorbet (the sorbet was very surprising--I processed red pepper and basil, but not sorbet, when I read the menu), we talk about my on-again/off-again ethics policy. It's back on these days. Somewhat because of my inherent Catholic guilt. Somewhat because I hang out with a lot of economists and know that there's no such thing as a free lunch. And somewhat because in the last few months, I've noticed a shift in two types of things...

1. The volume of e-mails and invites I'm getting from companies and their public relations departments.
2. The types of things my fellow bloggers (myself included) are posting about.

I can only speak for myself. I won't say it's no fun--it's always fun--but it's less fun for me to blog about a free meal. It feels like work. And although I always say I'll write whatever I want, there is this odd pressure to write in a certain way. Maybe this would be different if I reviewed restaurants professionally. This is, after all, just a very time-consuming and sometimes expensive hobby for me. But writing about free meals all the time feels a bit like cheating. And it's even less fun for me to blog about the same free meal that other bloggers who got the same free meal are blogging about. I kinda like it when I am able to write about something unique.

Plus--I have to think about it from the restaurant's point of view: If a restaurant were to pay for the meals of bloggers, one blogger at a time, that would be an expensive proposition that may not lead to much in the end. As I like to remind people, never OVERESTIMATE the power of my blog. I may get a couple of hundred visitors a day, but in a city of 8 million people? Drop in the bucket. Gaby pointed out that although I may not think my audience is that large, the important thing is that it's very much made up of London restaurant enthusiasts. I don't disagree. But still...if you look at all the comments on all the main London food and restaurant review blogs, there's a lot of audience overlap. I remember joking at one fabulous event that a bunch of us were invited to, "When do you think they're going to figure out that we all know each other?"

OK, back to the food. The menu, which Gaby very kindly let me take with me, says I had the seared fillet of John Dory, Braised Cuttlefish, Barigoule Vegetables, Steamed Courgette, Saffron, and Enbeurre sauce. I remember being surprised that there were potatoes in the dish. This was a good, respectable main, but it paled a bit in comparison to the lovely broad bean cream and the surprising seared tuna.

I told Gaby that if she really wanted to engage with bloggers, she should do a communal event. Something informative and educational that you could invite a bunch of people to--not just one or two. How cool would it be if Morgan M were to invite a bunch of bloggers into the kitchen to prepare a dish and get to know the chef and staff? This would communicate the restaurant's key seasonal message. (And the fact that they offer a veggie tasting menu!) Or, I suggested, how about a session with Morgan M's sommelier? Tell us about the wine list and why it was constructed the way it was constructed. Or maybe just a Q&A with the chef along with a few small tastes of menu items? Perhaps I'm weird, but there's more joy in it for me with those sorts of communal and educational experiences than there is in a free meal. I think the content is more interesting than something like "And then we had the freshest of scallops, straight from the sea." And I somehow feel less conflicted about saying yes to a freebie when I'm learning something new. I don't know...you tell me.

The Desserts: They were lovely, but I only had a bite or two of each so I don't feel ready to comment. One was a dark chocolate moelleux and the other a raspberry soufflé. Also, there was a really really great rice pudding. Yes, a lot of dessert!

The Verdict: I loved my meal at Morgan M. And I very much enjoyed meeting Gaby and getting the scoop on things from the perspective of a super-nice and super-knowledgeable London restaurant expert. The experience, however, has me thinking about the ethics and hidden pressures of freebies. (Acknowledged or not.) Do you say "yes," because at the end of the day, you're not getting paid for this and you're just out to experience new places? Or do you say "no" because you don't want to provide anyone with free advertising?

As I wrote earlier, what if every guy or gal with a decent food or restaurant blog in London knew that they could possibly bag a free meal at most restaurants, just by dialing for dollars? Think about it. (I am sure at least a few people have tried and/or will try dialing around. Let me know how that's worked out.)

Shortly after my lunch at Morgan M, LondonEater was invited to dine for free as well, so you can read about Morgan M on his blog too.