Vinoteca Kings cross - 15 March 2015

I managed to snatch up a table at Vinoteca Kings Cross during their soft opening stage where they had 50% off all food and drink. We got a couple of friends to join us for lunch on the Sunday.. which happened to be Mother's day and our friend had forgotten to book somewhere for him and his family so we saved the day! :-)

Soft openings can be chaotic and confused which is why you get a discount of course - but I have to say that the lunch went really smoothly. A couple of minor mistakes but hey, that can happen in established places too. We spent over 3 hours lingering over food and drink and enjoyed every moment.


What I love most about the menu is that each dish has a recommended glass of matching wine as optional - rather affordable too. From about £3.50 for a small 125ml glass - bargain.

We started off the meal with a bottle of prosecco to toast mum..and some nibbles of olives and catalan almonds (love those almonds).

I then had a starter of Orecchiette pasta with sage, butter, garlic and parmesan. A very tasty bowl of pasta with good flavour.

I then had the grilled Cornish mackerel with warm pickled vegetables, pine nuts and capers. The pickled fennel &  carrots were lovely and pickled just right. The guys had Sunday roasts with beef and Yorkshire puds. They tucked in too quickly for me to take a photo but it looked really good and I am told it was!

 I shared desserts with my friend, first some lovely cheese and then one of the best pannacotta's I have ever had - soft, super wobbly and very light with pink moscato poached rhubarb - lovely!

We had a great afternoon with lots of food and wine and I would happily go back again paying full price.

Swedish princess cake - all rolled up - 7 March 2015

Swedish princess cake is a classic cake but I wanted to make it rolled like a log - for my god son's birthday.

Sponge:

3 eggs
1,5 dl caster sugar
1 dl plain flour
1 dl potato flour
1,5 tsp baking powder

- whisk sugar and eggs until fluffy. add the flours and baking powder. pour into an oven tray and bake for about 5-7 min at 230 c. I line my tray with silicon paper which makes it super easy to peel off. After turning it out onto another silicon sheet I roll it up loosely to get the round shape and let it cool like that. Makes it much easier to roll it up with the filling later.

Filling - I made a thick vanilla custard (around 2 dl) and whisked up 3 dl of double cream. I then folded in two thirds of the cream into the custard.

when the sponge had cooled down I put a layer of raspberry jam on  - spread out evenly - then the custard cream mix. Rolled it up and spread a layer of the leftover whipped cream all around.

Decoration - I had bought some golden marzipan that I coloured green (kept some back for other colours). I then rolled it out between silicon sheets and put it on the cake. The rest of the marzipan became little bees (with almond flakes for wings) roses, leaves etc. I added some edible shimmer spray and sprinkels. Ta da... done.

Sushisamba - 22 February 2015

Sushisamba is such a great restaurant - high up in the sky in the Heron Tower with lovely Japanese/Brazilian fusion food. Difficult to get a reservation but I had booked far in advance and got a table on the Sunday evening.

Walking in to the restaurant at 8 in the evening it was hard to believe it was actually a Sunday evening. The place was full!! The bar was busy and the restaurant did not have a single table free - I guess Sundays are the new Saturdays! :-)

Having been before we ordered some old favourites' and some new items. The food did not disappoint - light, fresh and interesting. Here is a selection below of what we had. We also had the obligatory black cod but forgot to take photo evidence. 

 Shrimp tempura

 Kanpachi Tiradito

 Yellowtail Taquitos

 Samba Salad

 Mixed sushi incl Samba rolls

Passion fruit cake

The Ivy Market Grill - 22 February 2015

I took my hubby out for lunch on his birthday at the newly opened "Ivy Market Grill". Smack in the middle of Covent Garden it was a very lively atmosphere and reminded me of an informal French brasserie. The food menu has got something for everybody - I had a very tasty fish pie with a lobster sauce and hubby had a chicken escalope. We were both happy with our choices. Great venue for a catch up with friends or for a quick lunch.