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Mrs. Kibble's

Mrs. Kibble's
57A Brewer St London
W1F 9UL

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, May 30th, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: Less than a quid. Just for some jelly beans.

The Background: I'm really not much of a sweets person. I like cheese. Maybe the occasional cheesecake. Ah yes, and lemon tart. And baklava. But chocolate? Not really for me.

When it comes to candy, I sometimes like licorice (the red kind) and gummi bears and maybe jelly beans. And really, that's about it. But as I was walking through Soho on my way back from lunch (and shopping) and passing Mrs. Kibble's, I thought, "Hmmm...jelly beans."

So I stopped in to peruse the selection and I wondered, "How the hell do they pay their rent?" Someone must be buying in bulk, because my £1 purchase ain't going to help things much. I mean, they're nice. And it's a cool, nostalgic business. I want to like them, and I want you to like them. A lot. And maybe lots of people out there are ordering £20 of jelly beans at a time. But I don't know. Maybe they sell bulk online? (They don't, that I can find.)

See, you never know anybody's story now, do you?

The Verdict: You should go. Because it's cute and old fashioned and nice. And there are a lot of sweets for you to try. And I want to know more about them and how they make their money.

Raab's the Baker

Date of Last Visit: Saturday May 16th, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: Not much

The Background: I've lived in Islington for more than four years now. And every so often, I still discover something new. Like the other day, when I got on the bus that just happened to go up the Essex Road. And I saw a few people queued up outside a shop. And I looked closely (or as closely as one can from the upper deck) and saw that it was a bakery. In Islington. That I had never seen before.

The Entrance: So I stopped there on my way back home from Dalston. And it was crowded. I had to queue. What I liked about it was that it seemed like everyone knew each other, and all the neighborhood kids must have worked there. To be honest, the donuts all looked a little sad. They could maybe work on their presentation. But in bakeries, as in all things, there is willingness and there is ability. And Raab's has a lot of willingness.

My Order: I honestly had no idea what to order. But I felt like I had to be quick about it. So an apricot and walnut loaf it was. Covered in sesame seeds. Did I want that sliced? Why yes, of course I did. And a few quid later, it was all mine. And I will admit to eating more than one slice on my way home.

What I really wanted, however, was pumpernickel. This country does not do pumpernickel, does it?

The Bread: Well, I certainly went for a novelty loaf. But I'm a sucker for that stuff and I liked it. I liked it a lot. I was sad when the loaf was gone. Very sad. Not sad enough to get on the next bus to get me another, but sad enough.

The Verdict: Why do we buy mysterious bread in bags from Tesco? Why not go to Raab's?

Pierre Hermé Paris

Pierre Hermé
72, Rue Bonaparte
Paris

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

The Victim: Dad

The Damage: About 9 euros

The Background: I'm taking dad to Paris and Champagne for Easter. I've told him we can do anything he wants. I only have three things I want to do.  Pierre Hermé is one of them.

I forget how many stairs there are in Paris. My 68 year old dad is a trooper. We are on and off metros and up and down stairs and then there we are, at Pierre Hermé. I explain to my father that it's the place with the long line outside.

Everyone in the line is either American or Japanese. It's funny. A little.

The Entrance: The line moves rather quickly and I explain to my dad that we're not here for the pastries. We're here for the macarons. He says he's had macarons before, but I know he hasn't. He's thinking the coconut and chocolate ones that we'd get a lot back on the Island. (The Long one.)

The Service: Sweet. Attentive. I tell the man it's his choice and I want just six. He loads me up. I wish I could tell you what flavors I had, but I was given no notes. Nor did I take any. So you will have to live with the photos...

And my little purchase...

The Verdict: These were good. I liked them. But you know--they seemed just a little too soft and fragile. I know macarons don't travel well, but seriously, these died so much earlier than the ones I've purchased from Yauatcha and Ladurée. They demanded to be eaten. Immediately.

And I obliged.

The Verdict: Still a good visit in Paris. Smaller than I expected. And the macarons? Well, just a bit too soft.

Peggy's Cupcakes

Peggy's Cupcakes
The Backyard Market (the market across the way from the Sunday Upmarket)
Brick Lane

I was wandering around Brick Lane the other Sunday when I ran into Peggy's Cupcakes. You might know that I've eaten a lot of cupcakes in London. Peggy's are some of the prettiest. If I weren't on a huge diet at the moment, I would have had one. But I didn't. I just stood there staring for a while.

They don't make miniature cupcakes, if you're asking. Just these. Which is a bit of a bummer if you're subsisting on fruit smoothies. But again, still nice to look at.

Maison Bertaux

Maison Bertaux
28 Greek Street
W1D 5DD

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, February 28th

The Victims: Four university students I took on a Foodie Tour of London

The Damage: £15 for all of us

The Background: So after taking Kiwi musician Flip Grater on a Foodie Tour of London (and a vegan tour, no less), I thought I might try to make a little side-business out of doing this. Yup, that's right. I'm now offering customized gourmet food tours of London. To get the kinks out, I'm taking four university students from my old university in the States for a quick spin around Soho. Maison Bertaux is our last stop.

The Entrance: Maison Bertaux is cramped and kitschy. I dig it. And the window displays just look so over-the-top, jam-packed with food. My tour group squeezes into a table of four and we start making our selections.

The Cakes: We split some cheesecake and a chocolate éclair between us. (I've tried to encourage the guys NOT to eat a full meal at each stop on our London tour. This has been hard. Must do a better job of outlining this upfront.) All the food looks a bit better than it tastes. The cheesecake isn't as good or gourmet as what I had at The London Review of Books, but it's fine.

The Verdict: A fun place to visit, more for the kitsch than the food.

The Reminder: Tell your friends about my gourmet tours of London!

The London Review of Books Cakeshop

 

The London Review Cakeshop
14-16 Bury Place
WC1A 2JL

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, January 24th 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £5

The Background: I am having a great London day. Manicure, pedicure. Fantastic crepe. Eyebrows taken care of. And now I feel like a slice of cake. So I Google the London Review of Books and find myself at their cakeshop.

I first heard about the London Review of Books via an article in the New York Times all about the actual London Review of Books, the magazine. It was talking about their personals section. Have you read these yet? For those of you too lazy to click the link, let me post a few:

Dear LRB, I have no money. Please run my advert for free. I want a woman who is 38. Let her know I’m really clever and good-looking. Thanks.

Yesterday I was a disgusting spectacle in end-stage alcoholism with a gambling problem and not a hope in the world. Today I am the author of this magnificent life-altering statement of yearning and desire. You are a woman to 55 with plenty of cash and very little self-respect. When you reply to this advert your life will never be the same again. My name is Bernard. Never call me Bernie.

If forced to commit, I’d say I feared geese more than ducks. Man, 47. Fears geese more than ducks.

The Food: After buying myself a few books, I step into the cakeshop. It's a bit cramped, truth be told. But apparently, they have free wi-fi. This seems like a good place for an intellectual date. So go for it, if you're reading this and are intellectual and need a good place for a date. Take him or her here.

So I order myself a decaf and a slice of cheesecake. And wish I had brought my laptop so I could have gotten in some blogging. I have a lot of restaurant reviews to catch up on!

And the cheesecake is the most honestingly refreshing slice of cheesecake I can ever remember having. The biscuit crust! The cake! The mixed berry topping! It is all so perfect that I have to go to the counter and ask where they've procured such a cheesecake.

Apparently, the owner has a friend. Who makes him/her a cheesecake every so often. I wish I had a friend like this. Look at this cake. Just look at it!

 

The Verdict: Go on an intellectual date here and wow the object of your desire with a slice of cheesecake. Really. Really! This was fantastic.

Muffinski's

Muffinski's
5 Kings Street
WC2E 8HN

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, 10 January 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £4 something

The Background: Honestly, I really need to go shopping. All those New Year's Resolutions about cooking and baking and having a full refrigerator in 2009...yes, they were crap, those resolutions. Total crap.

I felt like a muffin. So I sat around Google'ing "muffins in London." I figured someone out there has to be specializing in muffins. And I was right. Muffinski's is. So onto the bus I went.

The Entrance: Muffinski's is really just a sandwich shop. With a lot of muffins. I feel pressured to order and select a Honey Banana Muffin. And I get some apple juice. I think the apple juice was more expensive than the muffin. That sucks. But seriously, they do have a lot of muffins. And they're not those disgustingly huge and under-baked Starbucks ones. They're just the right size.

The Muffin: The muffin is good. I'm happy. Only thing is, I'm still sorta hungry. (The muffin broke my fast at around 11 a.m.) Hmmm.

The Verdict: Not a destination by any means. But if I needed a muffin and I were in Covent Garden, I'd get a muffin here.

Macarons

L'atelier des Chefs
19 Wigmore St
W1U 1PH
http://www.atelierdeschefs.co.uk/

Date of Last Visit: 15 November 2008

The Victims: Many. (And I'm stealing this list from Helen who did all the work.) Niamh from eatlikeagirl and Trusted Places. Su-Lin from Tamarind and Thyme. Alice from An American in London. Lizzie from Hollow Legs. Tom from The Food Flunky. Mark from Food By Mark. Jonathan from Around Britain With A Paunch. Abi from foodrambler. Alex from The Princess And The Recipe. Mia from Urban Foodie. Shuna from eggbeater. Josh from Cooking The Books. And Heather, a Trusted Places reviewer.

The Damage: None! Except to the waistline.

The Background: I am back at L'atelier des Chefs for the THIRD time. I must like it here.  This time, the enormously generous people at TrustedPlaces are treating us London food and restaurant bloggers to a macaron class. You do know I love macarons...(with one o or two).

It's nice to be in a room full of food bloggers, although I did immediately develop a case of camera envy. Nearly everyone's got an SLR with those special macro lenses. And all I've got is my Nokia N82. It doesn't stop me from snapping away though.

We're broken up into teams--Chef Baldwin mentions a foie gras macaron and I immediately get myself onto that table. Our  macaron biscuits are  made with squid ink, which gives them a gray cast. Not as exciting as this team's batter...

We set to work piping batter onto trays. This was a lot harder than it looks. You had to get the pressure and the angle just right.

Definitely a bit labo(u)r intensive, and you know I don't like to work for my food. But the finished products were lovely and delicious...

So...things I learned about making macarons...
1. They're pretty labor-intensive (I've tried Google-ing "easy macaron recipe" to no avail.)
2. Sift, sift, sift.
3. It's essential to get all the air out of the biscuits before you cook them. You can do this by holding your baking tray about two feet about a table and dropping the tray down onto the table. This is a pretty satisfying exercise.

It's funny (and nice), meeting people for the first time when you only know them through the Internet. This was a great day out, and maybe, just maybe, I'll try whipping up a batch of these little suckers over the holidays . Maybe.

Keep reading for the recipe for salted butter caramel macarons, with many thanks to the folks at L'atelier des Chefs...

Oddono's

 

Oddono's
Selfridges Food Hall
400 Oxford Street
W1A 2LR

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £2

The Background: I had some time to kill on Oxford Street so I dipped into Selfridge's. I couldn't resist the temptation of a little caramel gelato. So I got some. And it was good.

The Verdict: It was good, but not as good as Scoop. Plus, even though you're sort of tucked into a corner, the Selfridge's food hall is really loud. Not restful. Not restful at all.

Ottolenghi

Ottolenghi
287 Upper Street
N1 2TZ
Tel: 020 7288 1454
http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, September 28th 2008

The Victim (Literally): Me

The Background: I love Ottolenghi. But I also hate it, hate it, hate it. The thought of going into Ottolenghi on a weekend morning fills me with dread, no matter how delicious their salads are.

Why? It's because it's a freakin' FREE FOR ALL. All these random people (yummy mummies, young urban professionals, where hair gel goes to die, etc.) squeezing into the little entranceway, trying to place a takeaway order WHERE THERE IS NO SYSTEM. No system at all. It is total and utter CHAOS.

There's no deli counter ticket machine. What I wouldn't give for one of these (thanks to snowdeal on Flickr)...

Because otherwise, you're just standing there, saying to men in cashmere and women in large sunglasses, "Are you waiting?" (And really, who wears cashmere on a day like Sunday???)

The Verdict: Go. But forewarned is forearmed.