OXO Tower

By far one of the flashest restaurants I have been to this year is the OXO Tower for a friends 30th birthday treat - set in the iconic building on the Thames with the most incredible views of London - it felt like a real fine dining treat.

We watched the fog roll in over the skyline as we were recommended wine by the sommelier and tucked into our three course dinner presented on crisp white linen. It was a great experience but I decided not to take photos for two reasons - the first I just wanted to enjoy it, and the second - there is a blue lighting scheme which would just make all the food look grey and not do it justice.

I went for crab wrapped in a cannoli style casing but had massive food envy of the lobster tempura served with a clear consomme one of the girls had. This I followed with the Venison with pistacho and even though on my way to being too full I went for the hazelnut pannacotta - perfect after the rich meat of the main. We all got stuck in to the birthday girl's Chocolate Plate - four heavenly puddings in one dessert.

This felt special - the views, the food and the company all made it... but there was something missing. It may have been the vast high ceiling and weird blue tinge to the lighting but it had a coldness, it is one of those places I am glad I have experienced but I do not feel the need to rush back and take others, which surprised me.

Disco Bistro

The beginning of December always marks a time where I will be eating lots, drinking more and exercising less and this year looks like it will be no different as we have lots of foody treats planned.

To kick things off we went to Disco Bistro for a friends birthday on Monday night. This restaurant has popped up in a proper old fashioned London boozer, The rising Sun - a short stroll from the grandeur of St Pauls with a more formal setting upstairs and snack in the bar.

Upstairs is quite a collective and eccentric scene with an old routemaster chairs, a taxidermy squirrel with a lamp in its mouth and a bit a blackboard scribbling by graffiti artist Pure Evil. The food and menu are both small but in my opinion perfectly formed.

We went for some snacks to share instead of a regular starter, these were presented in plastic baskets and felt quite dirty (but in a good way) until you bit into them and realised the ingredients were actually quite fancy.

Savoury doughnuts filled with cheese and served with a warm apple sauce, spicy chilli chicken wings with a goopy and moorish marinade and my favourite a lobster corn dog - the outside looked artificial but the lobster inside was meaty and had such a huge hit of seasidey flavour.

In total contrast the mains were beautifully presented and of a smart restaurant standard. The deer came medium rare with spiced pumpkin puree, cabbage and pickled pear plus there were popped barley on top adding an unusual texture of grown up Rice Krispies. It was a great flavour and texture experience on a plate and really pleasing to the eye. I fell in love with that little bambi on a plate.

Everyone else was equally impressed with their mains - a crackled hake wrapped in deep fried pig skin and a saddleback pork chop with a perfect duck egg but I think mine won best dish as it was such a feast for the eyes.

For pudding I went for the cheese from Brocknall farm - the cheese is produced in such small quanities they only sell it to four restaurants, Disco Bistro being one. It was beautiful - strong but creamy and perfect served with quite a sweet dressing and pickled onions.

They are only there for a few more months but I tempted to go back and try the Disco Burger in the bar.

Burger and Lobster

Burger and Lobster has had a lot of hype since opening in its first branch in Mayfair at the end of last year, so much so it opened its second branch in Soho and then one in Farringdon round the corner from where I work last month.

The idea is simple - three items on the menu. Choose from a whole lobster, lobster roll or a burger for £20 each, plus they all come with a side salad and skinny fries.

The pictures are not the best as the place is quite dark and atmospheric with wooden walls, leather booths and industrial style lighting. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for a a table to become free as we could not get through to book on the phone, so supped on Prosecco as we waited. The food may be good value for the amount and quality but the drinks list is on the pricey side, even though cocktails the divided in the B cocktails and L cocktails to match the food.

I went for lobster (complete with plastic bib) and my friend went for the lobster roll. Mine came with garlic butter too which I tended to just dip the huge amounts of meat into as I was already making lots of mess, which is all part of the fun - it was delicious - really meaty, fresh and being finished on the grill just added a slight smokiness to the lobster. The lobster roll was also great and a lot easier to eat, the bun tasted slightly sweet and a little crispy, reminding me of fried bread my Nan used to make.

The burger looked good too but for £20  doesn't seem like great value when you can have lobster.

Even though we were full we still wanted to hear what was for dessert (no written menus due to only having a few options), we both went for the white chocolate parfait with chocolate and honeycomb. They came in individual ice cream pots which was a cute touch and made them feel very homemade, the parfait was like really creamy ice cream and the white chocolate flavour really burst through, complimented by huge pieces of Crunchie style chocolate bar throughout.

To top off the great food and atmosphere, our waitress was really very lovely and seemed as enthusiastic and excited about what were we eating as we were. I can't wait to go back, so going this Thursday with another friend and definitely having the lobster again - how decadent...

West Hampstead Farmers Market

London has quite a few farmers markets but our nearest is good half an hour walk away in Queens Park so we did get very excited when it was finally announced that West Hampstead would be getting one every Saturday.

It started a couple of weeks ago but due to prior commitments I couldn't make until this week. It was a beautiful sunny autumnal day for a little mooch around the stalls, it is not huge but there is enough good quality stalls to be worth the trip. A few meat based ones, a couple of bread stalls, vegetables - common and some unusual stuff and a few specialising in chutneys, cheese, garlic and cakes plus an independent coffee stall too.

First stop was for a coffee, which was disappointing - slightly grainy at first which may have been the chocolate sprinkles but became nicer and smoother the more you drank, only to become grainy again towards the bottom.

We wasn't sure what we wanted so had a little walk round and then went around again (it only takes 5 minutes). I spotted some good looking pork ribs and remembering we had a spice kits for BBQ Memphis pork thought I would grab them, it was £7 and there were loads of them from Roundwood Orchard Pig Company.

Mat has his eye on a pie from Wildflour Bakery so we went for a chicken and mushroom one to share for a lunch, and then decided to grab some vegetables to go with it. I had my eye on some unusual purple carrots so grabbed them with some broccoli. I didn't expect the purple carrots to still be orange inside - they tasted like sweet regular carrots but did add another unexpected colour to our lunch.

We had run out of chutney so we tried some at the Isle Of Wight Garlic Farm stall and settled on one with apricots, garlic and ginger to compliment the chicken pie. They also sold garlic butter, smoked garlic and elephant garlic.

Our friend Chris picked up some celeriac and bacon to make a soup.

On the way back we popped into The Kitchener, West Hampstead's kitchen shop and grabbed a Typhoon griddle pan - something which I have quite fancied for a while and as we have Jamie Oliver latest cookbook - 15 minute meals - quite a crucial piece of kits for most of the recipes.

Ooh look... another mini burger

Having joined the gym this week I have been trying to have a healthier approach to food and drink (basically less of it) but this lunchtime I totally fell off the virtuous wagon and gave into these plump little beauties of meat and melted cheese.

The slider selection from Giant Robot is perfect due to their miniature size, 3 different flavours and full on flavour. Instead of being mini burger patties they are meatballs - one of beef, one of pork and one of veal and all covered in tomatoey sauce, cheese and mustard - plus one had BBQ sauce and the other a pickle. Wash this down with a cold glass of Pinot Grigio and they are worth falling of the wagon for.

Fumo - Little dishes, big flavours.

When a new restaurant opens in Birmingham it can make a lot of noise as even though the place is the countries second city it is not a huge place and fine dining is limited. If that restaurant is also owned by the best known and most reputable Italian in the area - San Carlo, the buzz is huge, and they are offering a new concept for the Brummies too - small plates of Italian tapas called cicchetti to share. This is popular in London already with the likes of Polpo and even San Carlo owned Cicchetti but Fumo is big news for Brum.

It was my Mom's birthday so it seemed an great way to treat her and have a bit of time together. She had already been for lunch and raved about it, which was good as there is no menu on the website so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The place is in a great location, just up from San Carlo and overlooking the square which holds Birmingham Cathedral (and Louis Vuitton). The interior is beautifully done with a huge cocktail bar as the focal point, it seemed a shame to bi-pass those so we supped champagne and then moved onto the cocktails. I went for an expertly made Bramble and my Mom a Japanese Moijito, which even though liked, she switched to the Bramble too for her second cocktail.

By 7.30pm the place was starting to get very full so we grabbed a table (another no reservation policy restaurant) and started to have a look over the huge menu, there was so much we wanted to try so we asked the waiter for a bit of advice - happily he recommended the few things I had my eye on already.

We had a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio and some olives and a bread basket to keep us going. First up was the gorgonzola gnocchi in a parmesan crisp - it doesn't look very pretty but was so tasty - a perfect combination of textures and things I love - cheese, potatoes and... more cheese.

Next was deep fried calamari which was lightly battered, not at all chewy and served on a specially designed newspaper - cute.

The meatball pizza had a good kick to it and a really thin, crispy base.

Last, the stand out dish was the prawns in chilli and garlic - wow. Juicy, really fresh and the flavours really let the prawns flavour burst through... but why only three as a sharing plate I think should come in evens to save people in twos fighting over the extra one - my Mom won as it was her birthday but she did share it with me - bless.

The desserts were great too, a classic cheesecake and affogato - ice cream drenched in coffee, but now we were full to burst and so was Fumo, it was heaving by the time we left with it people three deep at the bar and people waiting for tables to become free to eat, I was just glad we got in there when we did.

So... the food was amazing, the staff knowledgeable, helpful and friendly and the cocktails perfect, plus my Mom had a great time which is the important thing - we will definitely be going back.

More Burgers... just mini

Another evening out and another burger joint.

To celebrate one of our team going off to get married we all decided burgers and drinks were the best way to do this. As there were thirteen of us we ideally wanted somewhere we could book, the thought of queuing for a table at Meat Liquor for hours on a work evening was not appealing... and we discovered that Lucky Chips latest venture was bookable.

Lucky Chip has one of the best burger reputations in London so they decided to take a residency at a cool cocktail bar in Soho called The Player (owned by the guy who set up Milk and Honey) and set up Slider Bar (for those who have never heard of a slider, they are perfectly created miniature burgers).

We had to pre-order as there were so many of us and I was worried there may not be enough food as we were sharing starters and the burger were to be miniatures but I needn't have worried as we all ended up stuffed. Everyone I dealt with on email, the phone and on the night were helpful and friendly and that makes a huge difference when there are many people to please and something to celebrate.

The Player is inconspicuous, hidden behind a dark doorway and down a basement in the middle of Soho. The decor is 1970's Americana with old TV's dotted about, exposed brick, leather booths, formica table tops and a giant moose head on the wall - cool in a retro way. It is pretty dark in there too so the pics are not the best.

So, on to the food...

The starters were amazing and delivered with a little pizazz, it was obvious everything was considered and thought through. There was pulled pork under a smoke filled glass jar, served with a pickled cabbage side that was to be layered up in soft steamed bun and drizzled in a sweet sauce.

The mac 'n' cheese looked bland and a little weird with the huge pieces of truffle on top but tasted amazing - creamy and indulgent and not claggy, which can often happen with this dish.

The stand out starter though was the mini bucket of chicken - crispy, boneless bite sized morsels of heaven, they came with creamed corn - something I have never had before but have since been dreaming of the sweet yellow mush, and homemade coleslaw, deep fried cheesy bites and a hot chicken gravy in a mini squirty sauce bottle.

Then the sliders - you had a choice of two, most of which include the aged beef pattie so I went for a classic double cheeseburger with american cheese, mustard, ketchup and pickles and the El Chappo - blue cheese, bacon, alioi and jalapenos. I took a bite of each to decide which one I should save to the end. The El Chappo had a good kick but the double cheese burger was delicious - it was small and perfectly formed. The only thing that let it down for me was the fries - I love salt but there was way to much on these for me and they were quite stubby and crispy, but they may have just been from the end of the batch as my friends were longer and you could taste the potato.

Everyone was really happy with their choice of burgers and there was barely a crumb left.

This just left the ice cream burger - this was what I was waiting for and my anticipation only grew as we were each presented with a tiny burger box. Inside was a perfect looking slider which as you bit into was cold and sweet - my brain did a little dance of confusion as it tried to work out whether this was good or not. The bun was sweet and had a cake texture, the pattie was ice cream and sprayed with chocolate, the ketchup was cherry jam and the cheese, a slice of apricot jelly. At first I thought it was like a choc ice but that was just the ice cream section and eventually decided it was similar to a Wagon Wheel as they ice cream had a marshmallow texture and taste. Half way through I decided I loved the concept more than the taste, so left the rest... but this dish divided the group, some devoured theirs within seconds and others felt the same as me. It was definitely a good fun dish that created quite a debate.

I really want to go back as it was such a great night - good food, good company and the staff were lovely. Plus the drinks were great too - I had a lovely gin cocktail, the London Buck Highball created with gin, lemon juice and ginger ale - yum.

Dirty Burger

After a day of drinking at Ginstock, Mat was craving a good burger. I was not overly hungry but knew I could still manage one even after the epic feast of mini curry, pigeon wrap, oysters and mussels which I had devoured in between seven gin cocktails.

We decided to head to Kentish Town and try Dirty Burger - a few friends had been and raved about it, so on their recommendation we knew it could offer just what we needed to soak up the alcohol of the day.

We found the new Pizza East and entrance to Chicken Shop (both of which, like Dirty Burger are owned by the Soho House group and I want to try soon) but no Dirty Burger - we asked inside Pizza East and was directed to the car park around the back.

As we turned the corner we found a rusty shack leaning up the side of the building and instead could see this is where the burger action was happening. You queue at the counter and choose the only burger on offer - the cheeseburger, pay (a bargain at £5.50 for the burger), take your number and take a seat until it is ready.

There is one large wooden table in the middle which seats about 14 and there about 8 tall stools around the edge, there are newspapers and loads of fresh napkins in the middle which everyone helps themselves to. You can see into the tiny kitchen as they cook your burger to order and in no time it is ready.

Wrapped in traditional greaseproof paper with their branding emblazed across it feels suitable naughty but also quite considered. The burger itself was really good, the meat was juicy and cooked how I like it, the slightly sweet bun and goopey cheese melted on the bun as it cooked was amazing. I didn't realise it would come with the mustard - I don't usually like the stuff but it I have changed my mind when it is balanced with the burger and pickles. We also went for some onion rings and crinkle cut fries - again naughty but worth the calories.

They also serve Birra Moretti on tap, this beer is getting everywhere and is turning into one of my new favourite lagers - especially good with a burger.

We will definitely be going back, but I am not sure how snug it will be in the winter... who cares I will be munching one of the best (and most reasonably priced) burgers in London.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

I have been a massive fan of Heston Blumenthal since he burst onto the cooking scene years ago with  his magical food wizardry and weird concoctions and have been totally captivated by his love of theatre and nostalgia often seen in his TV programmes.

You can therefore imagine how excited I was to go to his first London based restaurant as a treat with Mat (in honour of how hard he had been working) - Dinner.

We began our evening in The Library bar in the Lanesborough Hotel with some yummy gin based cocktails, and even though they were the most expensive cocktails Mat has ever drank (£15 each, which I explained is typical of fancy London hotel bars) he seemed to like the three tier tray of posh nibbles that accompined them. We were trying not to eat too many as we were saving ourselves for dinner but the olives, nuts and posh twiglets were too moorish to resist. We sipped our cocktails whist sitting in an opulent fake library in high backed chairs surrounded with chesterfield sofas, wood panelling and faux walls of books whist a a baby piano was being played next to us. It should have felt stuffy but the staff were lovely and the atmosphere light and friendly.

We then took a stroll along Knightsbridge high street and looked at Harrods all lit up at night before heading in for a late sitting in The Mandarin Oriental, our table wasn't quite ready so we sat at the bar and Mat had the most expensive beer he has ever had and I went for a hugely expensive Hendricks and tonic, which thankfully came with a slice of cucumber. The bar would have been quite nice but as it was 9.30 on a Saturday night was full of quite loud, obnoxious drunks, which did ruin the atmosphere slightly but as we were shown through to the restaurant, the drunks disappeared and we amongst the bustling atmosphere of Heston's Dinner - ice creams were being created at tables so the fog of liquid nitrogen rolled across the floor and the kitchen was incased in floor to ceiling windows so you could see all the action and the pineapples (for the Tipsy pudding) roasting on spits.

The menu is inspired by long lost recipes and each dish is accompanied by the year it is from, but they obviously all have a Heston twist. We argued over who was going to have the most famous dish - the meat fruit, Mat won as it was his treat (and I was promised a large bite). The perfect looking satsuma (or mandarin as it was called on the menu) was delivered on a rustic wooden board with some grilled bread - it looked so much like the juicy fruit and it was odd to cut into it and reveal the smoothest chicken liver parfait. You could also eat the rind which spread easily like a fatty orange-d flavoured jam with the parfait - it was gorgeous and do rich I had too have two large bites to help Mat along. In stark contrast I went for a light and fresh starter of scallops and cucumber, the cucumber came in so many different ways - pickled, foamy and pureed. Perfect with the delicate flavour of the scallops.

Mat thad the powdered duck with fennel and umbles (which I think are offal of some sort). Again really delicious but so rich I think Mat was going to struggle to have a dessert. I went for the Spiced Pigeon and Ale, slightly pink in the middle and melted in the mouth as easily as the creamy mashed potato we shared as a side. Best mash ever.

We just had to have pudding and even though I really wanted the ice cream which is prepared at the table with liquid nitrogen, it takes two and Mat wanted chocolate. He again managed to pick the richest thing on the pudding menu - the chocolate bar with gold leaf was a dense bar of dark chocolate with a passion fruit jam and ginger ice cream - it beat him though and he could not finish the whole thing. I demolished my brown bread ice cream with salted butter caramel, pear and malted yeast syrup - it reminded me of peanut butter so I loved it.

After all that I still managed to find space for the little shot glass of a smooth chocolate ganache served with a shortbread studded with fennel seeds, reminded me of a posh Choc Dip.

The meal went the same way as the drinks and became our most pricey meal out ever, but I think it was worth it as a treat. The food was great and so different to anything I have eaten in a long time - the staff were fine (nothing to complain about or shout about either), the setting was the same, I like seeing the kitchen and the vintage jelly mould lamp shades were a nice touch but quite bland other than that. Here it is all about the grub, and it lived up to the hype. Maybe, The Fat Duck next....

Sunny lunch at Caravan

The sun was shining so we decided to head to Caravan on Exmouth Market, it is one of the few places with seating outside in the area around work where you can eat.

It took ages to decide, so we supped on the yummy house white wine whilst we had a little think about it. Myself and a vegetarian friend decided to go for 4 smaller plates and a side to share. This mini feast included grilled asparagus with a decent sprinkling of salt, cheese filled aracini with a tomatoey dip - the cheese just oozed out, crispy tofu with beansprouts and a vietnamese sauce, a pickled mushroom amd watercress salad and a goats cheese pancake. Everything was amazing and only an hour later I want to go back and try more!

In the background of the second picture was a large plate of wagyu beef my other friend had with duck fat roasted potatoes - even though the size seemed small she was satisfied with the taste by the end of the meal and full enough to head back to work.