STK at ME London - 29th of May 2013

STK is the funky steak house chain from America with restaurants in both Vegas and New York. It arrived in London a few months ago in the new ME Hotel on the Strand.
I have read mixed reviews about it and i tend to agree with what other reviewers have said.

I got 4 vouchers for STK from Groupon that had a deal on - £49 for starter, main (steak flight), dessert and a glass of champagne - for our friend Adrian's birthday.

You can enter the restaurant from the street or via the hotel lobby. At first glance it is very 80's, black and shiny chrome everywhere and as per other reviews, a lot of TOWIE lookalikes.

We had a few drinks in the bar before dinner and the cocktails were very good. I had to ask 3 times for us to get seated however which i thought was funny since they kept telling me when booking and re-confirming the table that there is a STRICT turn around of the tables - max 2 hours - then you have to vacate..

We started off with the champagne and some warm brioche covered in a blue cheese butter and a pesto dip on the side.

I then had the crab salad as a starter which was nice (but i can make a better one) one of my friends had the grilled goats cheese and beets which looked very nice.

It was then time for the main event, the Steak flight, which consisted of a 100 gr each of Fillet, Ribeye and Sirloin served with a very tasty house sauce. It also came with a side order of artfully stacked Truffle chips and we also had some mac'n'cheese. Carb fest!
The steaks were lovely and tender and the mac'n'cheese was very cheesy and yummy. The chips were nice but a bit soggy for my taste. It war enjoyable but i have had better food in Hawksmoor or Gaucho.

 

For dessert i had the Rhubard and champagne trifle - nice but didn't really have a lot of rhubarb flavour and it had too much cream.

 

All in all it was good but the real downside was the music - it was super loud so you had to almost scream in order to make yourself heard across the table. However, this is the image of STK.. they have a DJ in the middle of the restaurant and has a funky vibe etc.. It is probably ok if it is only 2 of you but for a table of 4 it was difficult to keep a conversation going.

 

 

 

Yauatcha Macarons - 26th of May

I can never walk past Yauatcha and NOT look in their window or go in and look at their display.. all the pastries, macaron's and chocolates are so beautiful to look at - i am definately going here for tea and cake one day - their pastries are almost too pretty to eat.

This time i just bought some of their more interesting flavoured mac's to take home and try.

Clockwise from top:

- Pina colada
- Cola
- Popcorn
- Salted caramel
- Jaffa cake
- Bubblegum (pink one in the middle :-))

The clear winner was the Popcorn flavour - really really lovely and buttery with lots of popcorn taste.. i will need to try and replicate this one myself.

I also really liked the Jaffa cake mac but the orange jelly could be a bit punchier i think - another one i want to try and make.
Bubble gum and cola tasted too artificial for my taste. The salted caramel and the Pina colada were both a bit so so - nice but not memorable.

Dessert experiment - 25th of May

Baking and cooking is relaxing hobby to me and i often get together with my friend Karin and we cook/bake away on a saturday sipping some chilled wine.

We decided to try a layered cake/dessert that my cousin hade originally created on this particular Saturday.. it consists of a brownie base followed by a layer of creme brulee, then a chocolate ganache and finally a raspberry bavarois and some decorations on top made out of meriengue, almond cookies, raspberry jelly and fresh raspberries..

Each layer has to be created separately and then assembled one after the other and freezing the cake inbetween...took a good few hours but we were pretty pleased with the result.
I don't have a recipe as such since we googled recipes as we went along.. but hopefully this will inspire you!

It was really lovely to eat but also very rich and probably consisted of at least a thousand cals - very naughty!

brownie and creme brulee layer

Final result!

Burger & Lobster - 18th of May 2013

3rd time lucky taking my hubby to Burger & Lobster Soho for lunch on a Saturday.. previous times there has been a waitlist for 1 hour.. not what you want when you are hungry and we have given up and gone elsewhere. This time the lobster God was on our side and we got a table immediatley - Yay!

So, for anyone who is not familiar with B & L - it is a restaurant with no menu and they serve, you guessed it, burgers and lobsters. You can have the lobster in a brioche bun or you can have a whole lobster either grilled or steamed. All 3 options come with a side salad and chips. Nice and simple.

I love the ready picked lobster in the warm brioche and that is what we both had.. highly recommend it. Hubby is now hooked!



Lobster roll

Dinner at Kettner's - 11th of May 2013

I went to an evening show case at Kettner's a few weeks ago with some colleagues where we got to view the various private dining/conference rooms that they offer whilst sipping champagne and eating canapes.
There was also a draw at the end of the evening where MY business card was pulled out of the ice bucket and i was the lucky winner of a £100 voucher valid at Kettner's. Yay! :-)

So, i quickly booked myself and hubby in for dinner to spend my voucher.

We arrived at 8pm and the bar and restaurant was really busy and had a great atmosphere. Got a cosy table for 2 and started off with a cocktail (St Germains fizz - elderflower, raspberry & prosecco)

For starters i had a "Beetroot and Gin cured salmon with lime creme fraiche" which was light and nice. Karim had the "Steamed mussels" which he enjoyed very much.

For mains we went for the steaks, i had the Rib-eye (8 oz) and he had the Sirloin (10 oz). Some chips, salad and steamed vegetables on the side and bearnaise sauce.
Both steaks were perfectly medium and very tender.

Rib-eye

For dessert i had the "Chocolate bomb" which consisted of a chocolate shell filled with a milk chocolate mousse, salted caramel and cream. It looked great and was nice but a bit sweet for my taste.


chocolate bomb



chocolate bomb dismantled :-)

Karim had a "bailey's and coconut tart" which i tried and it was very good.

Kettner's is a nice little spot for a meal, a lot of people come here pre/post theatre for drinks and/or dinner and a lot of groups out for dinner. It has got a great atmosphere and has a brasserie feel to it. It is not fine dining but it is a great spot.


 

Lunch at home - 5th of May 2013

We decided to invite some friends (The Anderson - Allen family) over for lunch and as always i pull out a load of my Olive/Delicious/Good Food magazines for inspiration.. this time the April 2013 issue of Olive won both the main and the dessert :-)

The main looked so simple yet delicious and it delivered on both points.. i would definately do this again.. and again.. my guests even asked for the recipe!

Here it comes!

Baked chicken with mascarpone and tarragon (serves 4)

4 x breast fillets (on the bone and with skin)
250 gram cherry tomatoes
1 tub/250 grams of mascarpone
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 bunch of tarragon finely chopped
2 tbsp grated parmesan
4 tbsp of rinsed and slightly dried capers
drizzle of olive oil/salt and pepper
1 tbsp of concentrated chicken stock or equivalent

Heat the oven to 200 C (fan)

Mix about a 100 gram of the mascarpone with the mustard, grated parmesan and half of the chopped tarragon. Season with salt and pepper.
Gently separate the skin from the chicken breasts to create a "pocket" and fill/spread with 1 tbsp of the mascarpone mix. Smooth the skin over. Put all the chicken breasts in one layer in an oven proof dish and drizzle with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Put in the oven for about 35 min until done and the skin is crisp.

in the meantime, put the cherry tomatoes in an oven proof dish, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and put in the oven for 20 min until the tomatoes are releasing their juices and are cooked.
Take the tomatoes out of the oven and pour the tomato juices in a small saucepan and reserve the tomatoes - keep warm under foil.
When the chicken is done, take out and pour the cooking juices into the saucepan with the tomatoe juice, also add the rest of the mascarpone, the rest of the tarragon and the chicken stock, salt and pepper and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes until it comes together.
Heat a small frying pan with some olive oil and fry the drained capers until they frizzle.

Divide up the tomatoes and the chicken on the plates and pour some sauce over - serve the rest in a jug on the side. Sprinkle the fried capers over. Bon Appetit

I made oven roasted mini potatoes to go with this dish (just needs 25 min in the oven) and it worked really nicely.

Dessert.. i was very intrigued by this recipe.. you will understand why when you read it!

Pineapple Crumble with Ice cream (Serves 4)

100 gram caster sugar
4 tbsp water
2 bananas - sliced
1/2 a red chili - seeded and chopped
1 small piece of fresh ginger, chopped
1 vanilla pod - split (or vanilla extract - 1 tsp)
100 ml orange juice

1 pineapple - peeled, cored and cut into bite size dice/chunks

1 tub of ice cream (Caramel/Ginger or Vanilla)
Sprigs of mint for decoration

Crumble:
50 gr butter
50 gr flour
50 gr sugar
50 gr ground almonds

To make the sauce, put the water and sugar in a pan and heat until you have a light caramel then add the chili, ginger, banana and vanilla and stir together. Let it come to a simmer then take of the heat, let cool, remove the vanilla pod and either mix in a blender or use a stick blender. Sieve and reserve the sauce (should have the consistency of custard) This can be done in advance.

For the crumble, mix the flour and butter in a food processor then stir in the sugar and ground almonds - pour onto an oven tray and bake for about 15 min until golden (stir a couple of times to create some different sized crumble pieces) Take out and let cool (this can be done in advance)

Put the pineapple chunks in an oven proof dish and pour the sauce on top and mix. Put in the oven for 20 min until slightly caramellized and the pineapple is slightly cooked.
Spoon the pineapple mix into glasses, sprinkle some crumble on top and then add ice cream and a sprig of mint.

Really lovely dessert, you can really taste the chili/ginger/banana in the sauce - it's a keeper!

Balthazar London - 28 April 2013

Yes, i have been to Balthazar in NYC many years ago and yes, it is a fun buzzy place.. now they have opened a sister restaurant here in London's Covent Garden, just next to the Piazza and the Opera house.

We were going for an early Sunday breakfast/brunch (10:30am) with friends and their 2 year old.
There were a queue of people already at 10:30am who tried their luck at obtaining a table with no reservation - and at least 4 staff who just stood there and "greeted" but could not help with anything :-) Their job was just to say hello and tell you to wait and speak to the person in charge at the front of the queue.
Well, we had a reservation and were seated quickly at a round table with a good view of the dining room. I had an earl grey tea which tasted like breakfast tea so i sent it back.. got a new tea which still didn't really have any aroma of bergamot but hey, if that is what they call earl grey, then i guess that is as good as i can get it.

The menu is a typical crowd pleasing menu with something for everyone.
I went with "Eggs Royale" which is like an Eggs Benedict but with salmon instead of ham. This was served with a side salad. My pet hate with these sort of dishes are that most of the time the muffin underneath is cold / soggy.. plus points due here, the bread was toasted and crispy.. and the eggs were perfectly cooked.

My hubby went for the burger & fries (at 10:30am!!!) and i have to say that the bun itself looked amazing, a glazed brioche bun with sesame seeds. Apparently the burger tasted good too. Our friends went for the burger and for the pancakes. Pancakes were ok but that's all.

Balthazar is a good choice if you want to do some people watching, eat some simple classics - but be ready to pay since it is not cheap and it won't blow your mind (only your wallet - the bread basket is £14 - can you believe it)