Displaying items by tag: London

Little did we know that we were in for a Seafood Boil when we booked our 'Sisters London Night Out' at Andi Oliver's new Wadadli Kitchen in Hackney Wick last week.

Although not born to it, we have family of Caribbean heritage living in Antigua and Barbuda. This was going to be our farewell supper before the three of us could meet again in Barbuda next January. So how disappointing was it to be given a load of spiel from the serving staff about the Seafood Boil being the national dish of Antigua. What utter rubbish!  Perhaps it was because we were expecting something much simpler? Or the fact that the serving staff had no real idea about Caribbean cuisine? But it was disappointing at £30 a head, more so the gob smacking £45 for a 750ml bottle of rum punch which required a further investment of £21 to add three extra shots of rum.  Give me the real roadside food of Antigua and Barbuda any day.

• rum punch
• hmm ... dive in
• prawns were nice
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Don't miss this wonderful menu of events, talks and tastings for Food Season with The British Library. Yum!

We told you eggs were trendy. Well here we have Eggslut, due to announce its first London location very soon. Signature dish is a coddled egg on top of smooth potato puree, poached in a glass jar, topped with gray salt and chives, served with slices of baguette. There's also scrambled eggs, chives, cheese and honey mustard aioli served in a warm brioche bun. Dunno what the vegans will eat ... weird name for a restaurant too.

Had to go and see why everybody's been wow-ing about the Southern French, wood fired cooking at Sardine. (Hoxton of course). There's was a taste of Italian and Spanish cuisine on the menu too, which at lunch time was a short and precise offering, with an excellent value 'prix fixe', £20 for three courses. The space is small with a large communal table in the middle and a few smaller tables for those less sociable. Food was as delicious as it sounded, slightly rustic but flavours punching above their weight. Not many places these days that settle for simple plating but that's just what we loved about it. Not a tweezer in sight.

• Le Menu
• Courgette flowers fritters
• Chicken liver parfait with cornichons
• Onglet steal, Domino potatoes and mustard herb butter
• Braised courgettes, polenta and Parmesan
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We're liking the wine on tap and the bagnums at Weino Bib in Dalston. Drink in or take away or in our case do both. The Tap Room and Deli also sells fresh, raw milk. Take your bottles and fill them up.

• great wine list
• lovely little plates of food with great service
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The best place for breakfast and to lift the spirits for my daughter after yet another operation at UCLH. 30 years of leg equalisation treatment and the after effects of pins and plates being removed from her bones deserves The Big Breakfast at Honey and Co. Warren Street. 4 minutes hobble from the hospital. We ordered everything!

• the starters that I could fit in the shot, there were more
• green shakshuka
• the breakfast menu
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Introducing the Bubblewrap Waffle, the pimped up Hong Kong sweet egg waffle that everyone wants. The business started on the streets with a stall at Berwick Street Market and now has queues of up to an hour outside their new shop in Wardour Street. Chinatown.  Three flavours of waffle, six varieties of gelato, fourteen toppings and nine sauces to choose from. Here's a cheesy Winter Flame.

And I don't mean in a dirty kitchen... CookDaily, at BoxPark in Shoreditch is where the likes of Skepta and JME eat on a regular basis. The brothers are vegetarian and vegan, teetotal and fans of these delicious meat-free dishes. 

It's a well known secret that Gilbert and George go to the same kebab house in London at least five times a week to eat supper. They have been there two out of the three times I have been recently with arty friends who I want to surprise and impress. Apparently they don't have a kitchen at home so they couldn't cook even if they wanted to. The question is, is it an Installation or not? Whatever it is, the kebabs are cooked on the traditional Mangal open-fire barbecue, the pide bread is freshly made and free, quail is on the menu, the meat is full of flavour and it will only cost you about £10 per head. This, and Gilbert and George, are the reasons I can no longer go to the kebab van on Station Hill after a night out in Bury.

I opened my front door this morning to find this on the handle. In the seemingly never-ending competition between food start-ups I thought this was a great marketing tool - I actually read it before I put it in the bin. On offer and described by Time Out as 'Swanky Chef-made Meals' were Flat Iron steak, Artisan breads, Berlin Brunch which I had to look up, Truffle Mac'n'Cheese, Avocado sourdough, Club sandwich and Prosecco or Bloody Mary - all available at weekends from 11.30am to 10.00pm. But I won't be ordering because I will be making my own.