londonelicious: a london restaurant blog

Have You Met My Friend Txakoli Yet?

Let me present my new favorite wine. Txakoli! Not only is it delicious, it's fun to say. (It's pronounced something like CHA-kol-ee.) Txakoli is white. It's sparkling. You pour it from up high. And it's Basque. I predict it will be the new hot thing. That assumes it's not already the new hot thing because, well, I have been living under a rock these last few months. I've found a couple of blogs that have written about the delights of Txakoli already--not too many, which suggests that the tipping point has not yet been reached...
Drink the Good Stuff
Elm City Wino
A Passionate Foodie
Thirst for Rioja
La Fromagette

Have you seen Txacoli in London? If so, where? And when? And did you drink it?

Steak: Santa Maria del Buen Ayre

Buen Ayre
50 Broadway Market
E8 4QJ
Tel: 020 7275 9900

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, May 17

The Victim: K

The Damage: About £17 each

The Background: K is leaving me. She and A are going back to NY (Connecticut, actually) next weekend. I am DEVASTATED. I suggest a day out around town to some places K has never been before. We start at Broadway Market. Afterwards, we hit the British Museum for K's first and last look at the Rosetta Stone (my second), and then it's off to tea at Liberty and some fondling of Liberty's household goods. I do love fondling the goods at Liberty.

With such a big day out, sustenance is  necessity. K likes her steak. I'm glad we're in Broadway Market because of her affinity for steak and my affinity for going somewhere I've never been before so I can pump up my London food blog.

The Entrance: Everyone is speaking Spanish but us. We're the total gringos. To give K credit, she speaks some good Spanish. But she doesn't break it out. I was kinda hoping for that.

The Food: We order two small filets and some empanadas. I think the empanadas are good. Cozy. But I am not falling all over myself over them. The steak, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. And I'm not a steak eater. K proclaims it one of the best steaks she's had in the U.K., which is high praise. I also order a green salad, which ends up being  a waste because both steaks are served with green salad. (I wish someone had warned me of that.) The steaks were also accompanied by some lovely nice big chunky white beans. Yum.

The Nice Bit: They have a lovely outdoor patio at Buen Ayre. It was pouring rain when we were there, of course, but I'd come back just for that.

The Verdict: Nice. Would have been better with some Malbec. :)

Breakfast: Pick More Daisies

Pick More Daisies
12 Crouch End Hill
N8 8AA 
020 8340 2288

Date of Last Visit: May 10th, 2008

The Victims: Al, Louise

The Damage: They paid while I was in the loo! So angry.

The Background: Louise and I are getting our ass kicked on a weekly basis. Her name is Bridget and she makes us run through Highgate Wood. OK, she doesn't really make us do anything. She's helping us. Because in July, we're running the British 10k. We're crazy.

So after an ass-kicking session, Al & Louise introduce me to Pick More Daisies. Can you see the menu? They have HUEVOS RANCHEROS. Wow. I should have gotten this. Instead, I did the sensible thing and ordered the California Sunshiine and had peach sorbet for brunch. Along with two poached eggs, some wheat toast, and a whole lotta fruit. Life doesn't get much nicer than that now, does it?

The Verdict: Nice. I wouldn't mind a return visit.

Dim Sum at Harrods: Xin

Xin
Harrods Food Hall
87-135 Brompton Road
SW1X 7XL

Date of Last Visit: Monday, May 6

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £20?

The Background: I've left Aunt Ursula and Uncle George in Paris and have returned to London for some retail therapy at the tail-end of the bank holiday weekend. I stop into Harrods to look at everything. My wallet remains intact.

I am hungry though, very much so. So I drop into the food court to have some dumplings at Xin. The best part about the meal was the tea, which blossomed as I drank it. The dumplings, however, were gloopy and forgettable.

The Verdict: I'll be going back to Harrods, for sure. But I'll steer clear of Xin.

Berthillon, Paris

Need I say anything, really? And yes, I did take a bite of the lovely almond-y bit in my Berthillon ice cream sundae before I snapped this photo.

Rue Cler, Paris

Date of Last Visit: May 3rd and 4th

The Victims: Aunt Ursula and Uncle George

The Damage: None.

The Verdict: I will gladly return to Rue Cler. If only we had a pedestrian zone of food shops here in London!

Butler's Wharf Chophouse

Butler's Wharf Chophouse
36e Shad Thames
SE1 2YE
Tel: 020 7403 3403

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, April 30th

The Victims: Aunt Ursula, Uncle George

The Damage: £50 or thereabouts

The Background: U&G have been to see the Tower of London. I've stayed home to catch up on life, but I find myself quickly at loose ends. They call me to punch in around noon and I express my boredom and offer to meet them for lunch.

They are so very cold and wet when I pick them up at the Starbucks on Shad Thames that traveling for food is not an option. We walk into the first restaurant available, which is the bar at The Butler's Wharf Chophouse.

I love having no expectations. I assume my food at the Chophouse will be good, but not great. I assume service will be okay. They exceed our expectations in so many ways as to have me repeatedly wonder out loud, "And why is it that I have never eaten here before?"

Firstly, the bread. There's bread with rosemary in it. It's amazingly good and zingy. When our bread bowl is empty, my uncle asks our server to just fill it up with the rosemary slices. Over on the sideboard, there's an oasis of bread. Hundreds, if not thousands of slices, ready to be served. We are enraptured. (OK, I am exaggerating on the thousands bit.)

Secondly, my carrot soup. It's the perfect remedy to such an awful, awful day. It is warm and comforting and salty and (perhaps not surprisingly) full of carrots. I am in love.

Thirdly, the fish and chips. This is my aunt and uncle's first and only experience with fish and chips in London. My uncle is a heavy duty recreational fisherman. We're talking tuna, here, mainly. Lots and lots of tuna. He used to have a license plate that said Blue Fin. (Don't worry, he understands more than most about what's happened to the world's stocks of blue fin tuna.) My point in telling you this is that he's caught the fish and cooked it himself (or skipped the cooking entirely and just eaten it directly). He knows fresh fish. And he is in love with his fish and chips. He notes that if the fish were any fresher, it would leap from the plate. Days later, and they are still talking about the fish and chips with that starry sort of wondrous look in their eyes.

I have the sea bream and it's nice and healthy. Then I go and ruin it all by eating all their leftovers.

The Verdict: I will be back, and I'll order my own fish and chips thank you.

Pub: Princess Louise

Princess Louise
208-209 High Holborn
WC1V 7BW
Tel: 020 7405 8816

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, April 29th

The Damage: £5?

The Victims: Aunt Ursula, Uncle George

I don't often write about pubs. But I have to mention the Princess Louise in Holborn. This is truly a lovely, lovely pub. If your family appreciates good tilework and molding like mine does, well, you'll love it forever.

A few days earlier, I had contacted Stonch, over at Stonch's Beer Blog, and asked him for some pub recommendations for me and my aunt and uncle--some places that they would talk about for days and months afterwards. He gave me three: The Princess Louise, Ye Olde Mitre, and The Lamb on Lamb's Conduit Street. I had hoped we'd make it to all three, but we were so worn out by our trips to Salisbury,  Bath, and Greenwich, that The Princess Louise was all we got to. That's okay though, as it was a hugely successful visit and Aunt Ursula and Uncle George haven't stopped talking about the beer (Samuel Smith's) and the woodwork since.

The Verdict: Go.

Bath: The Pump Room

Pump Room
Stall Street
Bath
BA1 1LZ
Tel: 01225 444477

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, April 27th

The Victims: Aunt Ursula & Uncle George

The Damage: £25 or thereabouts

The Background: Our feet HURT. I knew the Roman baths were big, but I had no idea HOW big. We've been in the baths in Bath ALL DAY. I am tired. Weary. And in need of some tea and cake.

We wander all around Bath in search of tea and cake and end up back where we started, at the baths. The Pump Room is attached to the Roman baths and we settle in for some tea.

Service is swift and efficient (they are closing in 45 minutes) and my carrot cake is really and truly lovely. It's got an orange twist to it which is unexpected and delicious.

Uncle George gets the trio of pastries and we are jealous momentarily until once again distracted by how wonderful the carrot cake is.

All throughout, there's a live orchestra playing. It is all so very peaceful and mellow.

We leave refreshed, but we are happy to never see another Corinthian column again as long as we all shall live.

The Verdict: The Pump Room in Bath is excellent for a place that could easily be a tourist trap.

The Man Who Ate the World by Jay Rayner

Can you tell I've been on holiday? Yes, I did  a little bit of reading. The Man Who Ate the World by Jay Rayner was the last of the stack...I read it on the Eurostar to and from Paris, which I thought was very apropos.

I really enjoyed this. Immensely. I sorta want to read it again. I was so engrossed in this that two different Eurostar staff members stopped me to ask what I was reading. (Love Eurostar Leisure Select.)

Rayner has a fantastic ability to use the richest, fattest, most lovely words in describing dining and restaurants and food.  And he's funny. I laughed out loud when I got to the Tokyo chapter and he talks about trying to find a restaurant..."It looks like the kind of place where a woman with too many cats might lead a life of quiet desperation." (For the record, I am allergic to cats.) I loved that he flew all the way to Geneva to find the white wine vinegar his mother-in-law favors, only to fnd that Genf is closed down for a bank holiday. What I want to do now is re-read and see if I can rank the restaurants by Jay's loveliness of experience. He spends a lot of money on a lot of food in The Man Who Ate the World, but the funny (but perhaps not surprising) part is that he doesn't always get bang for his buck. You, however, will not have that problem if you head out and buy this now. It's really very very good.