Pizza al Rollo in the dark

We were getting really hungry but it’s that strange time of the day when it is way too late for lunch but just a tad early for dinner. Most of the restaurants are closed getting ready for their evening service, but we’ve been out and about and it’s cold and we want food. Pizza al Rollo was open and cheesy garlicky smells were emanating from their frankly murky interior drawing D and I in.

We gathered a few of the candles that were about to try and create a pool of light for us but embarrassingly the action of moving some of the candles extinguished them not achieving anything other than a few dead candles littering our table – not too clever!

I haven’t been here for a year or so but last time they did have two pizzas that were fabulously tomato sauce free. Tomato-less pizzas doesn’t seem to feature much on their menu at the moment but they were happy to furnish me a delicious cheesy, Parma ham and fat mushroom strewn pizza for my delectation. And that was after some very acceptable melting cheese garlic topped with roasted onions pizza bread for starters.

And both of these fine pizza creations tasted really good. Maybe we should have stopped there and not bothered with a dessert but we just wanted that little finishing touch. Unfortunately the chocolate cake topped with caramel sauce was cloyingly sweet but strangely taste free at the same time. It was more like ‘chocolate flavour’ than chocolate and was a real disappointment. We should have left after the tasty cheesy stuff and if still craving a bite of something sweet should have availed ourselves of the ice cream parlour. Well, food for thought for next time!

Oh and they get the first it was like a black hole award. How about a few more candles next time?

Cheese for breakfast

We probably didn’t really do the Harvey Nichols festive food event justice last night, I think we were regrettably still rather stuffed from the wonderful Narrow late lunch. However, we did buy some goodies to takeaway. We had both read OFM last week and had been very taken by the mention of Truffle Brie:

“£5 per 100g, Harvey Nichols - Brilliant idea if massively unaffordable. A truffle sandwich surrounded by dark, rich brie. Sensational. *****”

We had swiftly decided that despite its extravagant price we really had to try a little slice. And whilst perusing the cheese counter I got a good hunk of Grana Padano to accompany my purpose bought fabulously curvaceous Alessi knife.

With some part baked French bread straight from the oven it was the perfect elegant breakfast/brunch. The truffle Brie was truly sublime and even though we kind of intended to leave a little for MC to sample somehow we managed to scoop up every last unctuous knifeful. Sorry MC. And I've been a fan of crumbly hunks of Grana Padano ever since I tasted it at the Harvey Nichols cheese & wine event. Say cheese!

On the straight and Narrow

My previous attempts at sampling the delights of the Narrow – one of the pubs in the Ramsay family, have been thwarted by my chosen dining companion being so very unreliable – (I hope you’re squirming if you’re reading this ZZ?) Fortunately I have a much more dependable 'partner in lunching' today – D, and she’s coming to spend a couple of days with me and this is the first of our planned foodie treats.
However, the whole expedition was nearly called off with the unfortunate untimely bathroom flood that started in the wee small hours of this morning. But the timely ministrations of P the plumber and MC, the Narrow won’t be narrowly missed again.
The Narrow is nestling alongside the River Thames in Limehouse, and undoubtedly it’s very popular. Getting a table is quite tricky and the place is pretty packed with happy looking drinkers and diners.

We are starving and hungrily pour over the menu meanwhile glancing at our fellow diners at their dark wood square tables. The pies at our neighbours’ table seem too good to resist so that decision is made. For starters D has the rustic looking potted salt beef with pickles. I chose the flaky and rather fabulous plump smoked haddock and salmon fishcake with tartare sauce.

After our very fine pub fare starters we both start tucking into a plate of steak and kidney pie with mash. What really could be better than that?

But even we hadn’t been in a pie frame of mind we could have plumped for Cumberland bangers with mash and gravy or Essex saddleback pork chop with Brussels sprouts, chestnuts, apple sauce or even braised Gloucester pig cheeks with mashed neeps instead. But the pie was very tasty so we weren't disappointed.

To round off our hearty meal we finished with a round of yummy fruity crumble and slice of ginger pudding with custard.

The Narrow was worth waiting for we are now incredibly stuffed. The slight problem is that we have an evening ahead of Christmas Food festivities at Harvey Nichols 5^th floor and I’m not entirely sure another morsel could pass our lips. Whoops!

The Narrow laid on a final touch to make me feel at home, their bathroom had sprung a leak – how uncanny! Two forks for the Narrow, I am very glad I finally got there.

A festive Stanza

It’s our Christmas team lunch today and I always struggle over a destination. First of all we are pretty limited locally, though building work of a restaurant style nature is taking place very close to us so next year may have better potential secondly getting everyone together round the same table at the same time is always a real challenge and unfortunately despite our best efforts another J couldn’t join us today due to sickness. In fact we have all been taken it in turns to be ill and H’s little KK is also suffering horribly today but H really wanted to be with us today so she called upon the kind ministrations of K to tend to KK.

I’ve chosen the completely unheard of and untried Stanza in the West End. The menu looked great, modern and British and not just some dried plate of turkey and all the dull trimmings. Also, and perhaps evening more important that were able to take our booking for seven so late and so close to Christmas – phew. And on arrival I had to admit I was a little worried, it was entirely empty and you seemed to ascend from a strangely municipal entrance. The view that had been remarked on in another review was perhaps ironic as it seemed to be the not very happening street below and a birds' eye view of a fire station. Ahh maybe that’s it, perhaps they had a thing for firemen!

I managed to alarm the staff with one of my newly characteristic coughing fits and we ended up with some scrummy cocktails – purely for medicinal purposes of course served on a wonderfully sparkly granite bar top.

I start with a magnificent salad of Jerusalem artichokes, soft poached hens egg and Secretts peashoots. And it is really lovely, artfully arranged and as usual I am delighted when the golden yolk breaks and oozes over the earthy salad below. Delicious!

For the main course we all had the same brilliant idea - the aged Aberdeen Angus rib of beef (for two) 35 day aged, triple cooked chips, grill garnish and béarnaise sauce.

Now as this was for two and there were six we were fortunate we were able to pair up in twosomes of beef doneness. S and I went for rare, pink and fabulous! And what a choice, the beef was a magnificent beef, with superb chips served in little pots and my ever favourite tarragony béarnaise sauce – just stunning!
We also stepped up our five a day quota and piled the remaining space on our table with bowls of fine winter vegetables. This was a very happy cow, and we were very happy to consume it and all the accompaniments.

A perfect meal has is crowned with a little St. Clements’s cream Valrhona chocolate mousse, I have a sudden desire for a spot of dessert wine and ask the waiter’s advice as to what would complement my chocolate mousse. And he certainly found something honeyed and gorgeous for me and what a glass he served it in. I think there was half a bottle in there, and the meal ended in a hazy sweet, rich and chocolaty cloud of loveliness – a crowning glory indeed.

Stanza was a real find, okay there weren’t many of us in there but then great, we had the attentive and charming staff to ourselves. They even kindly furnished us with crackers so we wouldn’t feel left out. We had a divine time and it was with great regret we left that modern yet funky cocoon to join the real world again, phone calls had to be made, reviews done and clients placated.

Thank you Stanza, you did us proud, two festive forks for you!

Terranostra

The rather lovely B, G and S have invited H and me for lunch at the recently opened Terranostra. This is our second attempt as unfortunately I had to cancel due to yes, you've guessed it, sickness again but I have recovered (if no-one objects to my rasping cough - nice!) and this a delicious treat on this ever so frosty day. Terranostra have a quirky take on the Christmas décor, they’ve gone for turquoise and chocolate brown with beribboned baubles hanging from the ceiling. Festive but oh so modern!

The menu is modern Italian and I start with the classic Carpaccio with Rocket, Parmesan Shavings and Truffle Oil. All very accomplished, I have to say.

The others chose the impressively laden wooden platters of Parma Ham, Salami and Pecorino Cheeses and seemed pretty happy with their lot.

For the main course I fancied pasta for a change so I plumped for the fresh Sardinian pasta with Pesto Sauce but obviously didn't bank on the entirely unnecessary addition of nasty little bits of tomato. They offer to make a new one which is a little tedious as then everyone would probably finished whilst I'd still be tucking into by de-tomatoed pasta. So instead plan B was to extract each horrible little fleshy cube onto a proffered saucer. I have to admit it didn't really make it the finest plate of pasta I'd ever enjoyed. But I accept there was an element of my tomato dodging and doesn't necessarily reflect their pasta-making abilities.

There was some very peculiar confusion over the dessert order. Between G and I we wanted a simple bowl of ice cream. But how this got misinterpreted is all a bit of a mystery but after some swapping I had some Italian chocolate ice cream.

Terranostra has some definite potential; there are unquestionably a few points that need to be tweaked however. For example the ladies toilets are the coldest place ever, it’s actually quite curious. It is like you open the door and instead of stepping into a bathroom you have opened the doorway to Narnia and it’s snowing! In fact I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d turned around and seen the Snow Queen washing her hands at the sink – except she couldn’t have done. No that would have been tricky, as the sinks were sealed up! I just of course went next door into the men's but that's hardly ideal is it? Well it's early days yet and the food is tasty, that's the important thing and I'm sure the rest will follow.

A very merry Hix-mas

I’ve been looking forward to the latest Divertimenti event – an evening with Mark Hix, a chance to get some tasty festive inspiration. I was particularly looking forward to tonight as it was difficult to get a place, it’s not the sat on barstools sort of Divertimenti event that I normally go for but more of an edible seminar so I surprised with all the extra seats how close I was to not getting a place. Though frankly glancing around there seems to be a lot of empty seats so either we have spare seats to plonk our bags on or some people haven’t actually graced us with their company.

Mark has devised a series of tasty nibbles to delight our Christmas party guests with. Firstly we tuck into some Turkey and Ham Croquettes, savoury bites that definitely transport you back to the last Tapas bar you frequented. There are great way to eke out some left over ham (I know D that’s always a problem for you!) but being a deep frying pan dodger I did ask if we could shallow fry them. And Mark assured me that I probably could if I didn’t mind forfeiting some of the crispiness in favour of avoiding all that hot fat.

Next it’s the turn of some deliciously crumbly Stitchelton and Celery Salt Biscuits. Stitchelton is a new unpasteurised blue cheese but he did also say you could substitute the Stitchelton or Stilton with Cheddar, coarse black pepper, walnuts and sea salt. I’m a not a lover of blue cheese but the biscuit has a nice piquant bite to it. Though I have noticed before that often when you cook with blue cheese, it loses some of its power. Though in my experience the exception to that would be however the Four Chesses pizza at the Dicken’s Inn where the Gorgonzola hold the other cheeses hostages and then demands ransom money before it will let you have a slice.

For a alternative to Christmas Pudding, or as well as if you must there’s a Cranberry Steamed Pudding.

Our pudding that has been steaming gently in a big pan is unveiled by the lovely Mary and we all get a fat slice with some custard - definitely a “warming the cockles of your heart” type of dish. Rather appropriate on this chilling December night.

As a wonderful little extra Mark whips up some Mulled Wine Jellies, which are such a lovely idea. I adore mulled wine and this is definitely a party winner. I made some notes as to his recipe but clearly got distracted by tasting the finished products and it peters our mysteriously in the middle of a sentence. So instead I’ll reproduce Mark’s Sloe Gin version that was in his Independent column last year.

Sloe Gin Jellies
Makes about 16-20 shot glasses

400ml water
200ml sloe gin (or more gin and less water)
120g caster sugar
3 sheets leaf gelatine

Bring the water to the boil, add the sugar and stir until dissolved, then remove from heat. Soak the gelatine leaves in a shallow bowl of cold water for a minute or so until soft. Squeeze out the water, add to the syrup and stir until dissolved. Add the sloe gin then pour into shot glasses. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours or so until the jelly is set.

The jellies are fabulous as if I can assemble a suitable collection of little glasses I will certainly toasting Christmas or New Year with these. We’ve had a really lovely evening; I do prefer the slightly more intimate round La Cornue range version especially as it’s easier to enjoy the offerings off a table rather than your lap. And with that in mind I must check the schedule for Mark’s evening at Divertimenti for next year!

Tick...tick...tick...

Don’t forget if you are reading this now and live in the UK you could win some delicious chocolaty delights in the Hotel Chocolat best chocolate recipe competition.

One of my lucky readers will definitely win a yummy prize and then get entered into the grand final with the other winners.

Which of your favourite chocolate recipes bring people to their knees and elicits frequent requests for your secret formula?

Don’t delay, you have exactly twelve hours to enter your recipe here because at 1 minute to midnight tonight the competition closes and you turn into a chocolate pumpkin.

Deck the halls with chocolate and yet more chocolate!

Note: it seems that the competition has mysteriously ended early, if you would still like to enter please email me and I will try and pass any recipes on.

Meat & potatoes

Sometimes the only thing that will do is a hearty home-cooked plate of meat and potatoes. And today was definitely one of those chilled-to-the-bone and in need of central-heating-for-kids sort of days. A delicious Boeuf Daube (not the Provençal version with nasty olives and tomatoes obviously) with creamy Gratin Dauphinois and some gently sautéed with a touch of nutmeg mushrooms seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Hmmm maybe I should have added a touch of green, but the leaves in the fridge looked like they'd actually left. I think I need to heed Clotilde's handy hints for eking out your foliage on her legendary Chocolate & Zucchini site.

Suddenly it seems a much warmer day!

Yodelling for your supper

It seems that tonight is not over yet, K’s farewell will continue in the Austrian themed karaoke bar cum bierkeller – The Tyroler Hut, I kid you not! You are led to your gingham bedecked table by hearty rotund chaps clad in lederhosen whose role in life is to ply you with steins of foamy bier and/or copious shots of Schnapps whilst occasional grabbing some cow bells or accordion and revving up the crowd with some wild oompah pah band yodelling and general carousing! It really is an experience! I had my sensible ‘I’ve got to trek across town and get home safely head on’ so couldn’t be persuaded to join in the rounds of extravagantly flavoured Schnapps but others were more than willing to and not everyone was able to stand on leaving. I am naming no names!

If you are yearning for an evening of Alpine themed frivolities this you should descend the unassuming steps into this Bayswater extravaganza. It surely must be a one-off!

Clearly though it was an entirely new experience for me the Tyroler Hut patently has a keen following – note the number of references to it in YouTube or MySpace – enough said I think! I wonder if they would make me a Kir Imperial?

Down the Mall

K is off back to the land of palm tree shaped islands with the addition of her newest, pinkest member of her family. I’ve turned up at the Mall Tavern armed with pink flowers, pink cashmere and a pink bunny – well ever one for a theme!

We are led to rather a fabulous private room upstairs as there’s quite a crowd of us and start with the Champagne whilst perusing the menu. I plump for the old menu stalwart of Seared Scallops with Boudin Noir and Pea Puree. Our dining room is rather lovely with a fireplace and all those period features, actually I’d be pretty happy if I could have it “to go”, I don’t know how it would work but it would make a rather attractive and very handy annex to my flat. Hmmm, though I’d probably add a little more light, yes I am back on that subject again – but frankly it was a tad murky!

Once I’d removed the entirely unnecessary tomato concasse from my scallops they were plump and delicious with the ever welcome crumbly earthiness of the black pudding.

For my main I chose Ribeye Steak, with Roast Winter Vegetables, Horseradish Creamed Spinach with Stilton which was all very nice. It’s about then I realised one of K’s particular talents – which is ordering food. However she seems much less talented in the art of eating. You know it’s true, K! Well I enjoyed my meal anyway, upmarket tasty bistro fare though as I've now been weaned on Jeremy Lee potent horseradish I could have coped with with the spinach having a soupçon more poke!

For dessert both K and I immediately decided that the Chocolate Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream was mandatory. Though frankly one of us had to force the other to try a mouthful! Clearly we should have ordered a special meal of chips and doughnuts, may be that would have fared better. I enjoyed our Mall meal and would love to revisit and try more of their gastro-pubby menu. K’s friends are extremely lively, interesting and I really look forward to meeting up with them again - a little Antipodean enclave in Notting Hill nonetheless.

Bye Bye K, I’ll miss you!

P.S. - Fabulous earrings!

Baby Moo

I haven’t tucked into a Beef Wellington for ages and it’s something I really fancy whipping up for a spot of Sunday lunch today. Waitrose occasionally sell individual ones but I haven’t seen one there for a while and I’d rather make my own anyway. I have some puff pastry and Brussels pâté already so I just need a little hunk of beef fillet. When D and I made a large Beef Wellington for everyone early last year I think, we’d been trying to decide how to decorate the top of the plump beefy pastry parcel. I was going to fashion a pastry cow but the first attempt just looked odd, distinctly un-bovine and was abandoned so we had a change of heart and instead opted for an ‘M’ and a couple of O’s. This seemed to do the trick much better and certainly the Beef Wellington disappeared awfully quickly aided by the ministrations of LLcT and the one known as fluffy!

This time I only wanted a mini Wellington and accordingly a miniature M and a couple of diminutive O’s. I’m not sure why the combination of beef, smooth pâté and pastry is so irresistible, but it is. I could have added a layer of mushroom duxelles on top of the fillet but instead I served the chestnut mushrooms sprinkled with a soupçon of nutmeg with the Wellington, a few sautéed in duck fat potatoes and crunchy salad.Mmmm – oo!

Tis’ the season to be chocolaty

Those fabulous chocolatiers at my favourite chocolate emporium - Hotel Chocolat are challenging you, dear gentle Have Fork Will Travel readers, to dig out your finest Yuletide themed chocolate recipes and see if you can win yourself a host of gorgeous luxury chocolate goodies.

Do eaters weep at your chocolate fondant? Is your Christmas chocolate log simply to die for? Do angels sing when you cut a slice of your double chocolate chip cake? Then why not put your recipe to the test against the rest of the chocolate-cooking country. And many apologies to my international readers, this competition is for UK residents only.

All you have to do is submit your recipe – the more original the better - and you could be the proud owner of some of their finest festive chocolaty delights. The lucky winner of the Have Fork Will Travel and Hotel Chocolat Christmas competition will also be automatically entered into the Hotel Chocolat Grand Prize recipe competition and could win even more seasonal chocolate goodies!

Do you think you’re the finest chocolate chef in the land? Well there really is only one way to find out, put your chocolate thinking cap on and ENTER HERE.

Happy chocolating!

Oh and your entry must be submitted to their site by one minute to midnight on December 12^th so hurry, hurry, hurry.

New York, New York - so good they visited it twice!

So finally I have finished the blog posts from our latest foray to the Big Apple (and slightly beyond!), where the divas descended, dazzled and devoured. DD and I added some new restaurants to our recommendation list (Café Gray, Sarabeth’s and Florent), revisited a fabulous old friend (Union Square Café) and in the “low cost, high value” dining experience department got to eat a Mesquite grilled steak and another steak but with a Mexican makeover. And when we weren't eating, we were snacking so especially for DD a bagel and a melting moment - what could that flash of Tiffany be?

Sorry about the tardiness again, I successfully went from chronic jet-lag to being rather sick. The sort of sickness that meant all your brain-power was dedicated to breathing and swallowing (both rather vital I think you'd agree) and there was really nothing left over for composing coherent prose. Despite the malaise I also enjoyed some stunning meals over the last few weeks so I still have to write up Petrus, Browns, The Glasshouse, Restaurant 22 and a rather poor effort at Gaucho’s. I’ve also been hanging out at a TV studio currently filming a new cookery show, tasting some deliciously wicked new chocolates at Hotel Chocolat, poring over and cooking from many new and old cookery books, facilitating D join the 'excessive yet glamorous crockery club' and pondering the possibilities for future festive fare. So another blogging mountain to conquer, I guess the only answer is to stop eating for a while! Hmmmm, I'd rather not!

Oh, I almost forgot not only did we get to enjoy some fine eating in the Big Apple I picked up some little diva -esque sparkly trinkets as well! Well they are being so incredibly kind with the $ vs. £ rate at the moment, we are most grateful!

Sunday purple Sunday

D has been lusting after this purple crockery from M&S for a while, on her first sighting she texted me immediately and declared her deep love for it. Purple would be way too daring for me but is very D. When we visited M&S today they had kindly discounted it so D got her wish and stocked up on the plates and matching purple iridescent chargers. It seems however that MC doesn’t share her love on the new crockery and I guess we’ll have to pile it high with delicious things to convince him that they’re a good thing.

Whilst in M&S we grab a packet of their currently advertised canapés, the mini steak sandwiches and also the much loved tiny coquilles Saint Jacques. We wanted to try the chorizo, scallop and potato nibbles but there has been a run on them so we can’t try them out.

Thus we fill the new amethyst coloured floral plates with tasty food to beguile MC and enjoy another tasty Sunday lunch.

22 reasons to visit Restaurant 22

Restaurant 22 is a bit of a Cambridge legend, a converted Victorian house in the centre of Cambridge that can feed twenty six in the main room and a further twelve upstairs in a private room. As it is compact and bijou it can be quite a challenge to get a table especially if not booked far enough in advance. I’ve only eaten here once before, every time I visit and we think we should go I am thwarted by not thinking far enough ahead. Fortunately we planned this belated celebration of LLcT’s birthday a little while ago so we managed to secure one of the much-covetable bookings. The menu is available online on their website so decisions are generally made before arrival and the various merits of the choices can be debated and appetites whetted way before sitting down at one of their linen clad tables.

My only real memory from my last visit many years ago was fine bread, being sat next to a tall bookcase crammed with intriguing cookbooks should conversation fail (which I don’t believe happened), some tasty food but I cannot recall what and some full-bodied red wine which is why I think it might all be a little hazy about the latter.

This time I hope to have a clearer memory though photographs do help with that. We are bought some little nibbles which more than half the table think are a little two tomato based (I am in good company here!) but the mousse-y canapés are tasty.

My starter, in fact most of our starter were Seared Scallop, Braised Pig Trotter and Black Pudding. And as ever the crowd pleaser, scallop and black pudding is becoming so de rigour but I rather like the extra little porky twist and the ever so smooth purée. One of the feature of a Restaurant 22 menu is the optional fish course, a treat if one hasn’t laid too heavily into the Guinness bread, but today’s fish dish was Prawn and Chilli Tortellini With Roast Butternut Squash Purée and not being an enormous fan of prawn I passed in favour of more bread.

Then we had a palate cleansing Mixed leaf Salad with a zingy Parmesan wafer before our main courses.

I’d picked Roast Partridge With Puy Lentils, Rosti Potato, Garlic And Thyme when we first pondered the menu many weeks ago, it has all that wintry heartiness that I am rather partial to. In fact when I glance at set menus I am always drawn to the autumn, winter phases and not so to the summer. In the summer everyone wants to feed us heirloom tomatoes, melon, gazpacho and smoked trout and I just can’t get as excited about that.

D and I had both decided that Hot Chocolate Fondant With Orange Sorbet was compulsory, the warning about it taking an extra 10 minutes to cook would hardly deter us as being great believers of good things coming to those who wait.

LLcT and E(D) opted instead for Sticky Toffee Pudding With Walnut Ice-Cream and

MC of course choose the Selection Of British Farmhouse Cheeses With Homemade Chutney. Our chocolate fondant with the fabulous juxtaposition of the zingy sorbet was just perfect and everyone seemed to enjoy their choices also.

We finished off my some yummy truffles and jellies. It was a wonderful meal, maybe all the more enjoyable for me as I had seemingly waited so long to return again. I’m sure if I lived locally I would attempt to visit every month. An easy three forks for Restaurant 22, I am already checking out the future menus for my next visit.