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The London Foodie Goes to Laos - Vientiane

November 1, 2013, 1:30 am
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After a deliciously calm and soothing spell in Luang Prabang (see reviews Part I and Part II), we made our way south to the sleepy capital of Laos, Vientiane.  The road between the two is still in very poor condition, and whether by private car or bus, it is a long, uncomfortably bumpy 12 hour journey which many break with a stay in Vang Vieng. As there is now a low-cost direct flight option from Luang Prabang to Vientiane (with Laos Central Airlines), we decided to take a very civilised 30 minute flight for only £41 each.


Despite being the capital of Laos since 1563, when King Setthathirat relocated his capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane fearing invasion by Burma from the west, the population is still under 1 million, and it feels more like a provincial town than a major city.  It is a place for strolling, cycling or sitting in a cafe.


Where to Stay

We stayed at the Hotel Khamvongsa, a family run hotel in the old part of central Vientiane. This was a simple guest-house until it was extended and upgraded by the current owner in 2009. We stayed in a bright, spacious room, decorated in French colonial style for a mere £27 per night.



The hotel is only 100 metres from the Mekong river, and a short walk from the shops and restaurants of Rue Setthathilath, in a quiet location opposite the Buddhist temple, Wat Inpeng.


Breakfast was served in the restaurant, and was good, with fresh tropical fruit, pastries and cooked Laotian options. I would recommend this hotel as a good value, clean and friendly place in Vientiane.


Where to Eat

We had dinner at Makphet (meaning chili in Lao). This is a restaurant run by Peuan Mit, an organisation founded by Friends-International in Vientiane in 2004, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to address the needs of street children and young people in Laos.


Popular with ex-pats and western tourists, the place is run to train young students some useful cooking and hospitality skills in a country for which tourism is a major source of income.


The dishes are Laotian in concept, although somewhat modified for western tastes.  Makphet was the most expensive restaurant we ate at during our visit to Laos, and we were warned that service could be erratic, but knowing that proceeds were going to a good cause, we went with an open mind.


I enjoyed all the dishes that we ate at Makphet. The Madam Khambot's pork and pumpkin laap with mint (£4.20) was an interesting version of Laos’ national dish, with the addition of fried cubes of pumpkin to the mix of minced pork and herbs.


The Banana flower salad with grilled pork fillet served with garlic and tamarind dressing (£4.20) was also good although a tad sweet for my taste. There was quite a lot of coconut added to this dish which although delicious was not mentioned in the dish’s description.


My favourite dish was the salad of beef fillet marinated in Lao whisky, pan-seared and served with tomatoes and frangipani flowers (£4.60). The beef was pleasantly tender and very well seasoned.


We also had a dish called “Ancient Fish” (£6.25) - this consisted of crispy battered fish fillet pieces seasoned with tamarind sauce and served with a deliciously tangy green mango salad.


The grilled aubergine dip (£1.80), known locally as Jeow, was also good and very spicy as expected.


Unusually, there was only one white and one red wine on offer in the restaurant.  We went for a bottle of  2012 Wolftrap, a blend of Viognier, Grenache and Chenin Blanc from South Africa, it was crisp with a good depth of fruit, and very good value at £16.


What to Do

There are few sites of interest in Vientiane, but it is still enjoyable just to stroll around, and stop at the various temples, shops, cafes and bars scattered around town.

Cycling Around Town

We hired a couple of bicycles for 90p per day each; there are numerous cycle hire shops around the centre of town. Make sure the bikes are roadworthy and enjoy a day cycling around Vientiane, a rather flat town which is ideal for cycling. We visited all below sites on our bikes.



Pha That Luang

This is the national symbol, and most important religious monument in Laos.  It is a three-layered gold-painted stupa, thought to date back as far as the 3rd century in its original form as a Hindu temple.  It became a Buddhist temple after missionaries brought a holy relic (believed to be the sternum) of Lord Buddha.  It was rebuilt and ransacked several times, before King Setthathirat relocated his capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane and ordered the re-construction of Pha That Luang in 1566. Originally covered in gold leaf, it was plundered or destroyed on a number of occasions,  and finally reconstructed after WWII, sadly without its gold encrustation.



It is around 2km east of the centre of town, but is easily reached by cycle or tuk tuk, and the inner courtyard has many Buddha statues.  Entry costs 40p.

Temple Visits - Wat Si Saket

Wat Si Saket was built in 1818 in the Siamese style of Buddhist architecture, with a surrounding terrace and an ornate five-tiered roof, rather than in the Lao style. It is believed that its original design is what has kept it safe as the armies of Siam that sacked Vientiane in 1827 used the compound as their headquarters and lodging place. It is the oldest temple still standing in Vientiane.



The French restored Wat Si Saket in 1924 and again in 1930. Wat Si Saket features a cloister wall with more than 2000 ceramic and silver Buddha images.



Visit the Black Stupa (That Dam)

Located at Thanon Bartholomie, near the US embassy, this stupa is the mythical abode of a seven-headed dragon that protects Vientiane, and was last renovated in 1995.  It is thought to date to the 16th century.



Bicycle Touring

We tried to join this tour, but unfortunately it was full on the day we were in town (they only accept 12 people per day). By all accounts, it is an excellent way to tour the city and its surrounding villages on a guided bike tour (http://www.vientianebycycle.com).



Travel Essentials

Hotel Khamvongsa  
P.O. Box 2338
Khun Bu Lom Road
Ban Vat Chan
Vientiane

Our double room cost £27 per night.

Makphet Restaurant
Behind Wat Ong Teu parallel to Sethathirat Road
Vientiane

Lao Central Airlines

A budget airline founded in 2010, this company currently flies only between Luang Prabang and either Bangkok or Vientiane. Currently flights from Luang Prabang to Vientiane cost £41 one-way, with Bangkok flights costing £83.

There are several companies that offer buses, during the day or overnight, for around £15 one-way, but given that a flight is so affordable and quick, there seems little reason to use this route unless you wish to join the sozzled teenagers floating downstream inside inner tubes in Vang Vieng. It must be admitted that the landscape around Vang Vieng is achingly beautiful.
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London Restaurant Reviews - JW Steakhouse

November 5, 2013, 1:44 am
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Where: The Grosvenor House Hotel, 86 Park Lane, London W1K 7TN. www.jwsteakhouse.co.uk 

Cost: £75 per person plus service for the #steaksecret menu. From the standard dinner menu, starters range from £8 to £27, main courses from £16 to £44 (for the Tomahawk rib eye steak), and desserts from £7 to £12 (for the fabulous cheesecake).

About: JW Steakhouse opened in 2010 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, and features American USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) certified beef from Creekstone, as well as Aberdeen Angus from Macken Brothers of Chiswick. The menu, not surprisingly, is focussed on steak.  On the evening we attended, we sampled the new 'steaksecret' menu, which was released in October 2013. The restaurant is situated on the ground floor of the hotel, which opened in 1929, and after extensive renovation was opened as a JW Marriott hotel in 2008.


What We Ate: We tried the #steaksecret menu in one of the restaurant's private rooms. We kicked off with a warm pumpkin tart with smoked bone marrow and served with crispy dried-smoked beef. I quite enjoyed the wonderfully rich autumnal flavours in this starter.


Next we had a tempting trio of delicacies: the steak tartar is a great favourite of mine, and JW’s version had superbly aged fresh beef, well seasoned and was served with a soft egg on top. Alongside, there was a single oyster Rockefeller (in tempura batter, served in the shell on a bed of green herbs). The third morsel was a dainty Maryland crab cake with tartar sauce.


For  the main course, the #steaksecret menu offers a beef tasting plate. Head Chef Julian Ward came to show us the range of marbled steaks on offer, before disappearing into the kitchen to rustle up a Highland Wagyu fillet steak served “Oscar style” (with crab, asparagus and bearnaise sauce). 


Alongside, we were served a mini Tomahawk steak.  I haven’t come across the Tomahawk steak before, but it is a bone-in, 2 inch thick rib steak with the entire rib left intact, and resembles the native American-Indian axe. The rib is trimmed of meat and fat, giving a beautiful presentation, and the meat benefits from the great flavour of the marrow within the bone. To complete the trio of steaks, we had a slow-braised short rib, which was unctuously tender and full of flavour.


As accompaniments for our steak, we had creamed spinach, the most wonderful lobster mac ‘n cheese with chunky and meaty pieces of lobster tail, crispy onion rings and fat hand-cut chips.

Still dreaming of Lobster Mac & Cheese….
All accompaniments were outstanding and portions were very generous, American-style!


I’m becoming quite a fan of ‘pre-desserts’ as a palate cleanser, and the Bourbon Granita  at #steaksecret was a very good example, simultaneously refreshing and decadent. 


We had a classic American dessert - a selection of doughnuts – Key Lime, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Bourbon jelly. The Key Lime doughnuts reminded me of my stay in the Florida Keys a few years ago and all the Key Lime Pies I enjoyed there, they were delicious.


What We Drank: Entrance to the #steaksecret diners is via an unused side door of the hotel where a barman awaits with a table filled with some great cocktails.


As an American steakhouse, the wine list has a strong American slant. We had a great selection of American wines from Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California of course, but also some interesting options from further afield.  I enjoyed the Stag’s Leap Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (£63) with the crab cakes, and with my steak the Chimney Rock Tomahawk Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, both from Napa Valley.

Best of all though was the Red Tail Ridge Pinot Noir, 2006, from Finger Lakes, New York State.  This had classic Pinot elegance, with gentle redcurrant fruit. Both these reds were fine wines especially for the #steaksecret menu, and are not listed on the menu. Both cost in excess of £100 per bottle.


Likes: I really enjoyed this meal, and thought the menu was generous and hearty, with top quality ingredients showing through including very fine American beef. The wine list was impressive, although with matching prices. The lobster mac and cheese was a highlight.

Dislikes: Despite its lovely location, the restaurant deco felt rather like a Harvesters pub.

Verdict: For an all American evening of great food, including prime beef steak, lobster mac and cheese, Maryland crab, doughnuts and cheesecake, there are few better places to visit in London. Highly recommended.
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The London Foodie Goes to Cambodia - Phnom Penh

November 7, 2013, 12:00 am
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After a couple of weeks in Luang Prabang (see posts here and here) and Vientiane (reviewed here) in Laos, we took a short 90 minute Vietnam Airlines flight to Phnom Penh, to start our exploration of the Khmer Kingdom of Cambodia.


Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia, located at the meeting point of the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap (a river in the wet season, a massive lake the rest of the year). During the terrible years of Pol Pot in the mid-1970s, the capital was deliberately emptied of its entire civilian population who were sent to work in the fields as part of his 'permanent revolution' and anti-intellectual drive.


Although Phnom Penh was liberated from the Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese army in 1979, it has still to regain its former beauty (it was known as the Paris of the East before 1970), but we noticed a big improvement since our last visit in 2005.



Mekong Riverfront

The riverfront, which has recently been planted with gardens and has a number of cafes and bars, is a good place to stroll along, take in the sights and for people watching. There are a number of interesting sites and markets to visit throughout the city centre, and it is both educational and moving to learn from some of the Khmer Rouge sites in and around the capital. There are a lot of new developments taking place in Phnom Penh, with new buildings and roads being built everywhere, the city has an exciting feel about it, a place where things are changing so fast that it’s almost palpable.


Tuk-Tuk driver making his way on the wrong side of the road...
Where to Stay
    
Raffles Hotel Le Royal

Our introduction to customer service at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal was nothing short of exceptional. Inside Phnom Penh’s international airport, we were whisked away as soon as  we set foot on the ground by one of the hotel’s concierges. He took care of our visas as we whizzed past long queues, with no awkward conversations taking place or time being wasted at immigration barriers. Our passports were returned to us before the luggage arrived at the belt, the most hassle free visa I can ever remember getting.


It was a short, 30-minute drive by the hotel’s BMW limousine to the splendid Raffles Hotel Le Royal. Originally opened in 1929, it was designed by French architect Ernest Hérbert in a blend of Khmer, Art Deco and French colonial style to cater for the influx of wealthy visitors on their grand tours of the time. It still is Phnom Penh’s top luxury hotel, with many illustrious guests having stayed there over the years including Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Kennedy, and lately Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.




I loved the hotel’s original art deco features, the huge teak staircases against the elegant black and white tiled floors, the high ceilings and louvered shutters. Think Great Gatsby meets Indochina glamour for an idea of how beautiful is the Raffles Hotel Le Royal.


Our room was the Angkor Suite, one of the four Landmark Suites in the original 1929 main building. It had two double bedrooms, a living room, a private balcony and three bathrooms. 


It was furnished with Khmer antiques blending into a French colonial design, oriental rugs on dark wood floors and many gorgeous Art Deco features including original bakelite light switches.


The bathrooms were huge, one with a shower, the other with the original claw footed bath, white tiles and cool marble floors.


This was an enormous suite of 140 square metres, and also one of the most stunning we have ever experienced.



The Angkor Suite includes a personal 24 hour butler who was there to help us with everything we needed, including polishing our shoes, ironing our shirts for dinner, and booking our air tickets to Siem Reap.  He also arranged all our transport around town and made our restaurant bookings.


The hotel has a central courtyard with a large outdoor swimming pool, surrounded by a lush tropical garden with mature tall trees. There are two restaurants, a couple of bars, and a deli, in addition to the spa.


We enjoyed having a few cocktails at the Elephant Bar, reputedly one of the most happening watering holes in town. As with other Raffles hotels around the world, the Phnom Penh location also has its own signature cocktail - Femme Fatale, a homage to Jackie Kennedy made from Champagne with a dash of strawberry liqueur.



In addition to Le Royal Restaurant, the hotel’s fine dining option (See Where to Eat section below), Café Monivong is where breakfast and a more informal buffet lunch or dinner are also served.


We loved the huge breakfast buffet each morning serving everything we could have wished for - cooked Asian and Western options, pancakes, waffles, cakes and myriad pastries - it was a feast to the eyes!


I enjoyed a few plates of freshly cut fruit, a must-have in Asia where fruit is generally so sweet and flavoursome, and platefuls of stir-fried noodles, rice and chicken soup, dim sum, and Dr G’s favourite Eggs Benedict.


The Raffles Hotel Le Royal was one of the most wonderful hotels we have experienced. Its  Art Deco grandeur and elegance, the comfortable rooms and top nosh we had were second to none. It was the service however that really made it for us. From the general manager, who was there to greet us when we arrived or to bid us farewell as we left at 6:30 in the morning a couple of days later, to the butlers, concierges and every other member of staff, the attention and care they showed to us were outstanding and made our stay a very special one.


A Note on Khmer Cuisine

Traditional Khmer cuisine is one of the world’s oldest, and is considered by many to be the mother of all southeast Asian cooking. This is a country where seasonality and the use of local produce are not just fads but a fact of life in a place where virtually no food is imported. Fish from the Tonle Sap and the Mekong is abundant, and is used in its many forms - fresh, smoked, dried or fermented alongside myriad local herbs and vegetables.


Rice is the nation’s staple food, and is eaten from breakfast to dinner, as a snack or an accompaniment to other dishes in a meal, or even as a dessert.


The cuisine makes abundant use of fresh ingredients, a multitude of herbs, green leaves and fruit, counterbalanced by the salty taste of fish sauce, dried shrimp and Prahok. This is a fermented river fish paste, almost a national institution, used to flavour many dishes.


Unlike its neighbouring countries, Cambodian food is not mind-blowingly hot, with a more predominant use of black pepper than red or green chillies. Kampot pepper from Cambodia is thought to be among the best and most aromatic in the world.


Another important flavouring in Khmer cooking is Kroeung - a paste made from many ingredients blended in a mortar, including cardamom, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, fresh turmeric, lemongrass, galangal, garlic shallots, coriander and kaffir lime leaves.


A typical meal would consist of soup, salad, a fish or meat course with vegetables and rice, often served simultaneously. Desserts are often based on fresh fruits and coconut.

Eggs in ash

Where to Eat

Malis

Malis was highly recommended to us as the top Khmer restaurant in town. It is headed by Luu Meng, a Cambodian chef who is garnering celebrity status in his hometown, particularly after filming with Gordon Ramsay for Gordon’s Great Escape, I suppose this should raised alarm bells!


The menu is extensive but well designed and beautifully photographed. The dishes are presented under various headings like salad, curries, or desserts with detailed explanation to facilitate ordering. We asked the chef to prepare us a tasting menu of his choice with some of his signature dishes.

We started with a deliciously refreshing green mango and smoked fish salad which had a number of different ingredients, flavours and textures - thinly shredded green mango and carrots, peanuts, deep fried crispy shallots, crunchy smoked fish, dried shrimps, sawtooth coriander and fresh chillies.


We also enjoyed another green leaf and mint salad with small local scallops. It had local herbs including sawtooth coriander and fish leaves, thinly sliced snake beans, and bean sprouts, seasoned with a sweet and sour dressing. The salads were followed by a soup of paper thin slices of young bamboo shoots with smoked fish, sweetcorn, green leaves, and winter melon.  It was a traditional Khmer soup with a delicious and highly concentrated clear broth.

The main courses were the ubiquitous fish amok served in banana leaf, and accompanied by aubergine puree, and Prahok Ktis - a dish of fermented fish and minced pork flavoured with various ingredients including shallot, garlic, turmeric, palm sugar, coconut, galangal and chilli. The fish amok was unfortunately underwhelming and lacking in seasoning only rescued by the two other dishes, particularly the Prahok Ktis which was bursting with flavour and was utterly delicious.


The wine list was limited and pricey, but we managed to find a bottle of De Bortoli Chardonnay 2012 for £17.30 from Australia.  With a hint of oak, crisp and green, it was a suitable accompaniment to the food we sampled. 

Malis was one of the most expensive restaurants we experienced on this trip. We spent over £60 for a meal for 2 which in Cambodia is unheard of. We enjoyed the food at Malis although we are not sure the food was any better than at other establishments we tried at a much lower cost. It is a case of style over substance in my opinion.

Restaurant Le Royal and The Writers Bar at Raffles Hotel Le Royal

In addition to a cafe, two bars and a deli, the Raffles Hotel Le Royal is also host to Restaurant Le Royal, a fine dining venue serving Royal Khmer and modern French cuisines. Lately the hotel has been exploring menus offered to some of its more famous visitors from its heyday pre-1970.


On our visit, after careful research, they were able to recreate the menu offered to Jackie Kennedy for her visit to Cambodia and Angkor Wat in 1967. If for no other reason, this offered a fascinating glimpse of what was considered French Haut Cuisine in the 1960s, and I was interested to give it a try. The menu can be enjoyed with a matching flight of French wines and a cocktail (Femme Fatale) as an aperitif.


We started with a deliciously creamy chicken soup followed by a rissole (pastry case) of duck foie gras, both dishes washed down with a glass of 2011 Chablis William Fevre which we felt was a good match.



We were then served a green leaf salad tossed in balsamic vinaigrette, with croutons and tapenade. For main course, we had a medallion of fillet of beef stuffed with wild mushrooms which was unbelievably tender, well cooked (medium rare just as I ordered) and very tasty. We had a glass of 2006 Saint Emilion Grand Cru, Chateau Croix Figeac which again was an excellent choice.




For dessert, we all enjoyed creme caramel and a few crepes suzette cooked a la minute and served with a glass of 2010 Chateau Laulerie, Cote de Montravel. This was a delicious sweet wine made from Semillon grape from the Bergerac area.


On the day we arrived, we had a light lunch at The Writers Bar, where afternoon tea is normally served.


We enjoyed a beautifully made banana blossom and seafood salad and a few fresh spring rolls with prawns, both very expertly prepared and delicious.


What to Do

Central Market

This market, like Raffles Le Royal Hotel, is an elegant building from the French colonial era in the 1930s, and is striking both from the inside and outside.


The central domed area contains jewellers and clothing stalls, and the surrounding area is a more traditional local flower and food market, including restaurant stalls.


It gives a good insight into local foods and customs.


Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21 Prison)
Street 113, Boeng Keng Kang 3, Chamkar Morn.  Entry £1.50

This school was converted into Cambodia's most important prison in 1975 when the country was being ruled by the brutal Khmer Rouge under the dictator Pol Pot. Over 14,000 people were tortured here before being killed either at the school or at the Killing Fields. Only 8 prisoners survived. The museum is sad but poignant, well set out, and very well worth a visit preferably before Choeung Ek.


The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek 
(17km south of Phnom Penh). Entry £3.

This can be reached by tuktuk, taxi, or via any number of tour operators in town. A former Chinese cemetery, this is where the Khmer Rouge killed many thousands of Cambodians. There is an audio guide which helps make sense of the site, as well as a small museum, and a Buddhist stupa containing over 8,000 human skulls collected from the mass graves in the area.


Travel Essentials

Raffles Hotel Le Royal
92 Rukhak Vithei Duan Penh
Sangkat Wat Phnom
Phnom Penh

Room rates vary according to room type and seasonality. During our stay State Rooms were available from around £120. The larger suites may cost around £1,000 per night. For full rate details, please visit the Raffles Hotel Le Royal website.

Malis Restaurant
136 Norodom Boulevard, Phnom Penh

We flew with Vietnam Airways, which offers one-way flights from Vientiane to Phnom Penh for £100.

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Jackson Estate Wines and Sushinho - An Unlikely Pairing?

November 9, 2013, 12:00 am
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Words & Photography by Greg Klerkx

To begin, a geography lesson: find the point on the Earth’s surface that is roughly equidistant between Japan, New Zealand and Brazil…their point of convergence, in terms of distance. If you answered ‘somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,’ you get a gold star. 

One might think that an evening combining food and wine from these disparate nations might be similarly at sea, but the fine folks at Sushinho and Jackson Estate neatly deflated that concern. I had the pleasure of tasting seven of Jackson Estate’s recent vintages paired with an equal number of Sushinho’s Japanese-Brazilian specialities.  Far from feeling like the culinary middle of nowhere, this was a mostly delightful evening of discovery.

Starting with the Jackson Estate whites, a trio of Sauvignon Blancs demonstrated both control and versatility as well as the subtle difference a single year’s vintage can make to a wine’s character. The 2012 Jackson Estate Stich Sauvignon Blanc (RRP: £12.99, widely available in the UK) was a light-lees delight, strong on grapefruit and elderflower with a hint of lime…refreshing. The 2013 vintage (available in the UK early 2014) was like the 2012’s slightly pricklier sister: notably less floral in nose and mouth, even slightly vegetal with green pepper notes. If the 2012 is summer sultry, the 2013 is more autumn crisp.

A third Sauvignon, the Jackson Estate Grey Ghost Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (RRP: £22.50, widely available) shifted gears altogether: an almost astringent nose, hard notes that gradually relaxed into rich, honey-treacle loveliness and a long, luscious finish. Somewhat unfortunately, the Grey Ghost was paired with Sushinho’s least exciting offering, the Sushinho Roll & Shitake Roll, the former being appropriately salmon-crispy yet slightly underwhelming and the latter not rising above a somewhat watery mouth-feel and barely discernable shitake sweetness. 

If these were Sushinho’s low points of the evening, a ringing high point was the spectacular Blackened Butterfish: meltingly buttery and smoky, served like cheekily chunky sashimi, and the one dish that I heard my fellow diners begging for more of (the restaurant kindly obliged).


This was paired with the very fine Jackson Estate Shelterbelt Chardonnay (RRP and availability, TBC), which was smooth, rich and burnt-almondy and proof that in the right hands, Chardonnay – that most over-wrung of modern white varietals - can still deliver subtlety, depth and even a few surprises.


Sushinho showed its classically Brazilian side more fully with a one-two punch of meaty mains. The Pork Rib-eye was oily and tender, while the Miso Glazed Lamb managed to achieve its tricky balance of signature ingredients so that the former didn’t overwhelm the latter. Both dishes were served with fabulously moreish cassava chips – crispy on the outside, fluffy and sweet on the inside – and an underwhelming hodgepodge of baby vegetables. The Jackson Estate reds offered were up to the task, of note being the Jackson Estate Vintage Widow Pinot Noir 2011 (RRP: £19.49, widely available), a fabulously lively example of the breed that brimmed with ripe damson, chewy licorice and just a whisper of black pepper.

The evening finished with Passion Crumble served with churros. I’ll admit to being a bit wary here: many years enjoying street-vended churros in California makes one rather fussy about these impossibly addictive Spanish pastries. But Sushinho handily sidestepped my fears with cigarillo-sized churros were crispy yet not crunchy, moist yet not greasy. I probably could have done without the admittedly tasty pot of dulce de leche provided for churro-dipping, if only because the Passion Crumble itself provided plenty of tangy, creamy accompaniment.

But this was merely the sin of overkill, which I can abide at the end of so enjoyable an evening. I ate it all quite happily, my trans-oceanic culinary adventure complete.
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London Restaurant Reviews - Naamyaa Bangkok Cafe

November 11, 2013, 12:00 am
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Name: Naamyaa Bangkok Cafe 

Where: 407 St. John Street, Islington. EC1V 4AB

Cost: Small plates or starters range from £3.90 to £8.50. Main courses cost from £8.00  to £14.50. Desserts are from £4.00 to £6.50.

About: The latest venture of Alan Yau (founder of Wagamama, Hakkasan, Yauatcha and Busaba Eat Thai among many other restaurants) in collaboration with Thai food expert David Thompson,  Naamyaa Cafe has a range of dishes from Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia and Burma. It is named after Naamyaa, a one-plate Burmese meal consisting of fermented rice noodles with a shared curry sauce, and a variety of fresh, fragrant, spicy, crunchy and pickled condiments. Perhaps oddly, Naamyaa also serves some western favourites such as burgers and chips, Caesar and Niçoise salads.


The restaurant occupies the ground floor of a bland, brand-new office block more or less opposite Angel station, but the interior has the beautiful stylistic touches we have come to expect from Yau - rows of golden Buddhas, an open-plan kitchen with rows of bottles and glasses lit up like chandeliers, chefs with flaming woks, and a wall tiled in pink Buddhist temples on a white background.


Naamyaa has had some fairly mixed reviews, and I think it is the highly packaged formula that puts some Londoners off.  It already feels like a chain although so far there is only one.


What we ate: We opted for a range of Asian dishes, starting off with Changmama's panfried turnip cake, Chinese chive and bean sprouts (£5.50), and jasmine tea smoked baby back pork ribs (£8.50).


The turnip cake was good with a lovely charred-flavour from the searingly hot wok, the pork ribs had tender and delicious meet that fell off the bone - both excellent.


We also had the green papaya salad, with green bean, cherry vine tomato, birds eye chilli, dried shrimp and peanut (£8.50). This was surprisingly authentic, and better than many we had eaten a few weeks earlier in Thailand and with just the right amount of heat.



The braised tofu, aubergine and shimeji (£9.40) was very good tasting both earthy and wholesome, I was very pleased to have ordered it.


Mussaman beef curry, with potato, pineapple, peanuts and a dash of coconut cream (£11.50) was also well made, with flavoursome, tender beef and a richly concentrated broth. The portion was however minute.


Pad Thai Gai (£9.10), had tender slices of chicken, noodles and beansprouts, it was well flavoured but a little more heat wouldn't have gone amiss.


Morning glory, yellow bean, Thai garlic & red chilli (£5.80) was good and simply served, very much like I've eaten in Asia.


What we drank: We shared a bottle of Petra Unger, Grüner Veltliner 2011, Austria (£30). This had crisp fresh acidity, but little of the more complex mineral, citrus and peach flavours I look for in a Grüner Veltliner at this price range. This was a very disappointing choice. Most wines available on their menu are priced within the £20-30 bracket, with only one option below the £20 mark.


Likes: A good central location in Islington. The jasmine tea smoked baby pack pork ribs and the braised tofu with aubergine and shimeji were great.  

Dislikes: The restaurant design and decor feel more like a chain-restaurant, and the proximity with Jamie's Kitchen (or it that Jamie's Italian?) next door does not help!

Verdict: A good new local option for Islington, with some very good Southeast Asian dishes in a beautiful but informal setting, sadly in a rather soulless location.  The combination of authentic Thai with burgers seems a little strange, and this lack of focus may go some way towards explaining why the restaurant does not seem yet to have been as much of a hit as Busaba Eat Thai.
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The London Foodie Goes to Cambodia - Siem Reap & Angkor Archaeological Park

November 13, 2013, 4:39 am
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After a couple of days in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia (see post here) we headed off to Siem Reap. In northern Cambodia, Siem Reap is the closest town to the Angkor Archaeological Park, by far the most visited tourist destination in the country. We visited Siem Reap 8 years ago, and were astounded on this recent trip to see how much the town has grown over this relatively short period of time.

Angkor Wat Temple

Siem Reap has a small but busy international airport serviced by many airlines from neighbouring South-East Asian countries, including Air Asia, the most economic of all budget airlines but sadly booked out during the period of our visit. We took a short 30-minute flight with Cambodia Angkor Air, the national airline carrier, from Phnom Penh.

Apsara Traditional Dance

Another option would have been taking a speed-boat as we did on our last visit - it takes about 6 hours but it is a fun journey that we spent mostly on the roof deck taking in the sights along the banks of the Tonle Sap. The journey costs £23.50 one-way, but since the roads have improved and flight costs have fallen, the demand for this service has dropped and it no longer operates daily during low season.


Since the start of the 20th century, the ruins at Angkor have been on the tourist destination list. By the late 1920s, it had become one of the great tourist destinations of its time in Asia.


Stretching over an area of some 400 square kilometres, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire of the 9th to the 15th centuries. The most famous are the Temple of Angkor Wat and at Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations. In 1992, the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Ta Prohm Temple

Where to Stay

Raffles Grand Hotel d’ Angkor

One of the most beautiful and elegant hotels we experienced on this South-East Asian trip, the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor is housed in a magnificent 1932 Art Deco building in the centre of Siem Reap.


The hotel was built as the first luxury hotel in town, to accommodate the increasing number of wealthy travellers on their grand tours. Like its sister Raffles hotel in Phnom Penh, the Siem Reap location exudes a great sense of place and style of a bygone era.


Behind the French colonial façade, the hotel’s interior reflects the understated elegance of its time - a real art deco statement for those who love the style, of which I am a huge fan. I felt at times like a protagonist in a Merchant Ivory production and half expected Simon Callow to come out of one of the rooms in full period regalia.


I loved the black and white tiled hallways, the rather dark and soothing interiors, the gorgeous ceiling lights and original 1932 birdcage lift which was beautifully restored and still in use, as well as the Cambodian antique artifacts tastefully dotted around the hotel.


Gorgeous Art Deco Toilets at Raffles Grand Hotel d' Angkor
The public areas of the hotel are beautiful, including the Elephant Bar - one of the most celebrated in town, and an homage to 1930s Art Deco. It is kept soothingly dark to contrast with the brilliant light and heat of a day’s sightseeing at the temples.

Darkly soothing Elephant Bar

The Conservatory had  a colonial atmosphere, overlooking the pool and gardens, and was a great place for afternoon tea or an aperitif in the evenings, when there was a pianist performing.


Our room was a spacious suite (Cabana Suite) with high ceilings that opened up to a private terrace overlooking the swimming pool, reputedly the largest in the country.


The suite, designed in French colonial style, was stunning and had a large four poster bed, two bathrooms, and a living room area by our bedroom. Modern technology, air conditioning, TV, WiFi and the like, were discreetly integrated without looking out of place in a 1930s Art Deco building.


The swimming pool was huge, in a beautiful greenish-blue hue, and was the place to be after a long hot day of temple visits.


Breakfast was our main meal of the day - not surprising as there was such a huge spread to choose from the buffet.

Crepe station in action...
Freshly steamed dim sum breakfast

I had their delicious steamed dim sum, stir-fried yellow noodles, a number of French pastries and freshly cut tropical fruit, not counting a glass or two of Buck’s Fizz, with proper Champers and orange juice. That kept us going until dinner time!

My favourite breakfast station!

Local stir-fried noodles + Mortadella slice, my own breakfast combo!
Although there has been a lot of development in Siem Reap, it is still a hot and hectic southeast asian town - it was a great comfort to be able to retreat to the tranquility of the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor. I can’t think of anywhere else I would rather stay in Siem Reap.


Where to Eat

For a “Note on Khmer Cuisine” where I give a brief summary of this fascinating and ancient south-east Asian cuisine, please see my other post on Phnom Penh here.

Cuisine Wat Damnak, run by Frenchman Joannès Rivièreis is regarded the top restaurant in town. I had lots of recommendations to visit this place, but sadly it was closed during our low season visit. Another recommendation was Bopha Leak Kloun, for authentic Khmer food, which unfortunately was also closed for the rainy season.

Marum

Instead, we headed to Marum, another restaurant in the charitable group that provides training for Cambodian youth and street children. This is affiliated with a group of restaurants in Cambodia and Laos under the umbrella of Friends International, one of which, Makphet, we tried in Vientiane, reviewed here.


The restaurant is rated highly on Tripadvisor, and is frequented primarily by tourists, so whether the food is authentic or not is open to question. That said, we enjoyed the food we had at Marum. The restaurant is simple but nicely decorated, with a bright, modern feel.


We started off with a warm prawn, pork and prahok dip with vegetable crudite and crispy rice (£3.80). Prahok is made from fermented fish, and in this dish was mixed with minced pork and prawn. This is eaten as a dipping sauce into which vegetables and crispy rice fingers are dunked.


Alongside, we had a green papaya salad with crispy sun-dried beef (£2.80) - zingy and flavoursome, with a good contrasting textures with the sun-fried beef.


We also had a dish of very tender pork belly which had been braised with palm sugar, pineapple and preserved fish, served on sticky rice crust (£3.50). It was accompanied by jasmine rice (75p).


Café d’Angkor at the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor

On the day we arrived, we had a late lunch in the Café d’Angkor. The food at the cafe is primarily French and Italian, with a few Cambodian and pan-asian choices. The head chef, Wade James, an Australian and former Londoner, trained with the likes of Raymond Blanc in the UK before heading to Asia years ago.


We had a couple of noodle dishes - a simple yellow noodle stir-fry with minced pork, shrimps and vegetables (£12), and also a fresh rice noodle soup (£12) in a lightly curried broth with chicken and myriad herbs and vegetables. Both dishes were well made and very delicious.


What to Do

Temple Visits

The Angkor Archaeological Park is located about 20 minutes to the north, by car or motorbike, from central Siem Reap. It is easy to arrange guided tours either via hotels or at the many agencies in town.

Temple Visits by Tuk Tuk - great fun

Alternatively, you can just buy a guide book, hop in a tuktuk and go at your own pace for significantly lower rates.  You can expect to pay around £8-12 for a tuktuk for the whole day to take you on the‘Little Circuit’ that covers the most popular and well-known temples including Angkor Wat and Bayon Temple, or £10-15 for the ‘Big Circuit’ that covers a different set of temples, still very interesting but over a wider area.


Even more cheaply, you can hire a bike for about £1 per day. Although the area is flat, the climate is tropical and the distances are quite large, and a round trip of 15-20 miles in one day is to be expected. Having had a guided tour on our previous visit, we decided to hire a tuktuk driver for two days, to take us round both circuits.

Entrance to Angkor Wat Temple

The temples are stunning in size, ambition and beauty. On the first day, we visited the largest and most famous, Cambodia’s national symbol of Angkor Wat itself. Worth viewing at several times of the day including at dawn, it merits at least a few hours of your time.

Inside one of the courtyards at Angkor Wat Temple

We then visited Bayon Temple, with its 216 carvings in stone of the same face, thought either to be that of Buddha, or of Jayavarman VII, the 12th century king of the Khmer kingdom during whose reign the temple was built. It is a stunning spot.

Bayon Temple - my personal favourite

Finally, we made our way to Ta Prohm, the only major temple which has been left unrestored and still has jungle trees growing out of and around the stonework. These three temples are the iconic images of Cambodia, and warrant several days of exploration. If you only have a day or two, as we did, make sure to start early and get these three into your first day’s itinerary.


The following day, we took the big circuit. Notable temples included Preah Khan, dedicated by Javarman VII to his father.


Neak Poan is a temple set on an artificial island created within a massive man-made reservoir, measuring 3,500m x 900m.


Ta Som was notable for its large elephant statues guarding all four corners.


With entry passes at $20 per day, or $40 for three days, it makes sense to spread your visits over three days exploring the fascinating temples and engineering works at Angkor Archaeological Park.   

Royal Khmer Cookery Class at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor

We took the Royal Khmer cooker class at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, which started with a local market tour led by Head Chef Wade James


It was a good opportunity to learn more about the raw materials that go into Khmer food, and to see some of the excellent fresh herbs and produce that are abundant in the markets.


On returning to the hotel, Cambodian chef Ming Fin took over and demonstrated a five course meal for us.  The class was very hands-on, and we each had our own workstation. Luckily, most vegetables, meat and fish had already been prepped, which allowed us to cook an entire five-course Khmer lunch.


We started with a refreshing Khmer version of green mango salad, a staple in many southeast Asian countries. A crunchy salad of under-ripe mango julienne cut, with carrot, boiled prawns, dried shrimps and finely chopped smoked fish, basil and roasted peanuts. The salad was brought together with a zingy dressing of fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, garlic and red shallots.


Next we prepared a sour seafood soup with pineapple and tomato. The broth was made by taking fish stock and adding fish sauce, tamarind juice, chillies, galangal and sugar. After bringing this to the boil, we added blanched squid and prawns, pineapple and tomato. With such simple ingredients, it was surprising how delicious and well balanced the soup was.


For the main course, we made a red chicken curry.  Khmer curries start with making kreuong - a blend of spices including fresh galangal and turmeric, kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, dried chilli and shrimp paste pounded in a stone mortar, or blended in a food processor.


We sauteed a few teaspoons of the kreuong in hot oil until fragrant, added the chicken pieces and browned them a little.  Finally, we added cubed onion and sweet potato, coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, curry powder and chopped peanuts. We simmered until the chicken was cooked, then added a local oil called makak, similar to palm oil but tasteless, to achieve a red colour for serving. This was a thick and intensely flavoured curry, sweet and mildly spicy.


We also made wok-fried black peppered fillet of beef, know locally as ‘loc lac’. After marinating the beef in a blend of oyster and soya sauce with sugar, cornflour, black pepper and chopped garlic, we then quickly seared it in a hot wok. Cleaning the wok, we sauteed some garlic, added the seared beef, and deglazed with Chinese wine.  Finally, more freshly ground black pepper, soya and oyster sauce were added, and reduced until thick and glossy.  


The dessert, pumpkin custard, was made in advance as it needs to be chilled overnight.  But we did see it being prepared, and it was very simple. Taking a small pumpkin, cut a hole from the top big enough to allow the seeds to be removed. Prepare a custard by mixing egg yolks, sugar, coconut milk and salt. Strain it into the pumpkin through the hole, and place the pumpkin in a steamer. It takes about 2 hours to cook over a very low and steady heat, and is then left in the fridge overnight. To serve, the pumpkin is cut thin slices, and plated with passion fruit garnish. Simple, but delicious and very pretty on the plate.


This cooking class was one of the highlights of our visit to Cambodia.  Chef Ming Fin’s passion about Khmer cooking and culture was inspirational. I enjoyed his detailed explanation of Khmer cooking and customs, and how it related to the food of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, as much as I did his delicious food. At the end, Chef Ming Fin disappeared into the kitchen and recreated the whole meal for us again to enjoy for lunch.

Travel Essentials 

Temple Visits at Angkor Wat

Passes are required to enter the Angkor area. They are on sale at the front gate for 1-day ($20), 3-day ($40), or 7-day ($60) intervals. 

It is easy to arrange guided tours either via hotels or at the many agencies in town. Alternatively, you can just buy a guide book, hop in a tuktuk and go at your own pace for significantly lower rates.  You can expect to pay around £8-12 for a tuktuk for the whole day to take you on the ‘Little Circuit’ that covers the most popular and well-known temples including Angkor Wat and Bayon Temple, or £10-15 for the ‘Big Circuit’ that covers a different set of temples, still very interesting but over a wider area. Even more cheaply, you can hire a bike for about £1 per day.

Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor
1 Vithei Charles de Gaulle 
Khum Svay Dang Kum
Siem Reap
www.raffles.com/siem-reap

Room rates start from £230 per night for a State Room (32 sq m). We stayed in a Cabana Suite (72 sq m) at the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, which currently costs £766 per night. 

Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor Royal Khmer cooking class. This can be arranged with the front desk, and costs $85 per person including lunch. It is usually arranged privately, rather than as a larger mixed class.
  
Wat Damnak Restaurant

Bopha Leak Khluon Restaurant
Samdech Tech Vong Street
T: 012 630 570
One way flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap cost around £65 with Angkor Air Cambodia
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London Life November 2013 - Food by Luiz Hara

November 15, 2013, 12:00 am
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For the best "bolinhos de bacalhau" outside of Portugal, as well as discovering the American steak fest at #steaksecret or possibly the longest restaurant waiting list in London, these are all in my latest November recommendations for readers of Heathrow Express. To find out more click here.

Palate cleanser at Dabbous

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A Christmas Lunch Preview at The Gallivant Hotel, Camber Sands

November 19, 2013, 12:30 am
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Words & Photography by Marina Benjamin

Name: The Gallivant Hotel

Where: New Lydd Road, Camber, East Sussex, TN31 7RB (http://thegallivanthotel.com)

Cost: The Festive Menu (available from 2nd-24th December) costs £24 to £34 per head, depending on the day of booking, and whether it’s lunch or dinner. The New Year’s Eve Menu is £75 per head. There’s also a Christmas Party Menu served on 14th Dec, and a Christmas Day Menu, for £39 and £65 respectively. Children are welcome and are catered for at reduced cost.

About: Tucked away behind the hillocky dunes of Camber Sands, where the beach stretches for 5 miles, is the Gallivant Hotel. L-shaped, single story and with drive-in parking, it resembles an American motel; in fact, there is a real mid-Californian coast vibe to the place, with its driftwood décor and white-washed floors. Plus 1 and I were given a ‘deck room’, which captured the beach-house style perfectly, and had a wonderful rainforest shower to boot. The bed was extremely comfortable, and foodie treats such as home-made stem ginger cookies, smoked almonds and salted caramel popcorn, bespoke of the inventiveness promised by the kitchen.


Camber Sands is a stone’s throw from the medieval town of Rye, where cake shops jostle with antique stores along winding cobbled streets, and also Dungeness, where cultural adventurers can visit Derek Jarman’s garden-in-the- wilderness at Prospect Cottage. If you’re looking for a weekend away from London, The Gallivant is a perfect spot in one of the South coast’s loveliest areas.

What We Ate: The kitchen at the Gallivant is headed by Trevor Hambley, who is my kind of chef; by which I mean, he eschews molecular chemistry, witty deconstruction, and ubiquitous foams, in favour of using fresh seasonal ingredients and treating them well. Once again, very Californian. His sous chef, Benjamin Fisher, who prepared our meal, spent a year working at the French Laundry, in Yountville, under Thomas Keller, who like so many highly rated Californian chiefs, is a disciple of Alice Waters – the guru of kitchen-garden cooking, and the primacy of good ingredients. 

We were offered a sampling of different dishes from the various Christmas menus: three starters, a choice of two mains, and a fantastic pud that offered more proof of excellence that one could ask for. The starters were diverse and all beautifully prepared. There was a game consommé ‘pie’ – deliciously meaty broth topped with a puff pasty hat – that tasted rich and comforting. Just the thing for a cold winter’s night.


Another dish balanced little cigars of salmon roulade against a very tasty crab beignet, full of fresh meat that sang of the sea.


The only starter that didn’t really do it for me was a nicely cooked bit of turbot, topped with a potato puff, and dressed with whelks in curried oil and a smear of cauliflower puree. Everything in this dish was delicious in itself, but the ingredients somehow didn’t come together.


When it came to mains, Plus 1 ordered the festive turkey. What arrived was both fascinating and more-ish. It was a turkey ball, composed of breast meat on the outside, wrapped around slow-cooked thigh meat, and with an apricot flavoured stuffing in the centre. Doused with a saucy cranberry reduction, it was effectively an edible Christmas bauble. I opted for the pheasant dish, which was my favourite of the evening. Slivers of tender breast meat were served on green beans, and a fritter of confit leg meat sat atop a couple of cubes of potato Dauphinoise. Zinging things up were a Madeira reduction and some scattered dollops of damson jelly. This dish was technically accomplished, punching well above the weight of most Xmas menus, and also mouth-meltingly good to eat.


The pudding, too, was scrumptious. It was billed as pecan pie, but proper pecan pie has a slightly gelatinous quality to it, on account of being made with caro syrup. This one – and this is no criticism, believe me – tasted more like a cross between pecan pie and treacle tart. Plus it was served with some very tasty Christmas pudding ice cream. Yum, yum, and more yum.


What we drank: We had two wines to accompany our food flight. The white was a bone dry Chablis from Gaston Andre Pere et Fils (at £27.90), and the red, an earthy Fleur de Lisse Saint-Emilion (£32.70). Casting an eye over the well-chosen list, I found plenty of wines I’d like to try next time. And the house white is a very tempting Viognier Marsanne – one of my favourite white wines, and only £4.50 a glass.



Verdict: The seaside location is wonderful, and in the morning we enjoyed a brisk beach walk before tucking in to the Gallivant’s delicious breakfast, where there are egg choices for every preference, and a bounty of homemade breads and jams. The hotel staff were uniformly warm and helpful. And while not all the rooms at The Gallivant are as nice-looking or light-filled as the deck rooms, even the small rooms don’t skimp on comfort. The Gallivant’s trump card, however, is its kitchen, ruled over by two very talented chefs, who turn out wonderfully flavoured food with a lot of love and a good dollop of imagination.
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An Evening of Christmas Baking with Richard Bertinet and a Recipe for Chorizo & Manchego Breakfast Muffins

November 21, 2013, 12:42 am
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Words & Photography by Simeen Kadi

A recent crisp Autumn evening found me in Marylebone at L’Atelier des Chefs enveloped in a cloud of cinnamon and allspice. Lurpak, Britain’s favourite butter brand, has just launched a slow churned butter and I had been invited to put it to good use in some Christmas baking.

My baking skills aren’t up to much so it was lucky that Richard Bertinet was on hand with some great recipes, tips and seemingly heatproof fingers. Richard Bertinet is well known for his cookery school in Bath and for his award winning cookery books (find out more here). And, I am sure that those who have attended one of his classes will also know him for his easy, genial manner and his patience.


We started off watching Richard mixing together dough for Spiced Christmas Tea Buns, but it wasn’t long before I was elbow deep in sticky dough. Richard was very handy with simple tips for working the dough, such as keeping your arms loose and working through the torso. And the ‘French Shrug’, the insouciant movement of shoulders and hands practised by our Gallic neighbours (especially Parisian waiters) which is both infuriating and alluring in equal measures. When used by Richard it instantly relieves sticky hands from gooey dough – try it next time, it really does work.

Richard Bertinet is a real authority on baking and we heard how bread making in the West has developed over the centuries, from mediaeval techniques for frasage (the initial mixing of ingredients) to the right method for stretching the dough to ensure enough air has been incorporated.



Stuffed with walnuts, cranberries and a goodly amount of the rich, slow churned butter, the dough was not very pliable at first but with perseverance (not my strongest trait) I got it to approximate Richard’s silky smooth dough. And after a turn in the oven and slathered with lashings of rich butter there wasn’t much to distinguish my paltry effort from that of the master baker.


Lurpak’s slow churned butter is actually very good – the long slow churn in small batches delivers a deep, earthy flavour and a rounded creaminess. We used it to make chocolate and orange crumpets, although, for my money, I would prefer to slather the butter on plain old toasted crumpets any day.


If you have more patience than me (very likely) you might like to try one of Richard’s savoury recipes:

Chorizo & Manchego Breakfast Muffins


Working time: 40 minutes
Resting time: 1 hour
Baking time: 30 minutes
Makes 14 good sized muffins










Ingredients:
  • 100g Manchego cheese
  • 150g cooking chorizo
  • 450g strong bread flour
  • 50g fine polenta or semolina
  • 2 tsps sea salt
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 20g fresh yeast (or 2tsp dried yeast)
  • 275ml water
  • 75ml full fat milk
  • Semolina for dusting
  • Lurpak Slow Churned Butter for serving
Method:
  1. Grate the cheese and dice the chorizo.
  2. Mix the flour, polenta or semolina, honey, sea salt, yeast, water and milk to make the dough. Then add the cheese and chorizo and fold into the dough. Leave to rest for an hour.
  3. Lightly dust your work surface and turn out the dough onto it. Turn the dough over and dust with semolina. Roll out gently to a thickness of about 2cm. Use a 10-12cm cutter to cut out the muffins.
  4. Place a griddle or flat frying pan over a medium heat. Oil the pan and add the muffin circles making sure not to crowd them in the pan – make them in batches. Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
  5. To serve, slice in half and spread generously with the butter.

Lurpak Slow Churned Butter has just been launched across the UK. For more information and for recipes go to their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LurpakButter/app_169525643247814

Richard Bertinet’s Cookery School can be found on http://www.thebertinetkitchen.com/
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The London Foodie Goes to Thailand - Bangkok & a Perfect 16-Hour Stop-Over

November 25, 2013, 3:17 am
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Bangkok is one of the major travel hubs in Asia, and whenever I travel to the southeast of that continent, it is more than likely that I will stop over for a day or two there. This is the first of two stop-overs in Bangkok I made on this latest trip to Asia. The second was for 3 days, and will be posted later.

Many things can be said about Bangkok, and few will leave it feeling indifferent. I can think of few places further removed from my everyday life at home in north London. I love Bangkok for her frenetic pace and brash nature, the unrelenting heat and humidity, her crazy characters, but above all Bangkok is the home of the best (and most affordable) Thai food in the country.

Bangkok skyline from my room at The Metropolitan Bangkok

And so, having had a relaxing couple of weeks in Laos and Cambodia, I was looking forward to my 16-hour stopover in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok en route to Phuket.


Dinner at Nahm was for me a no-brainer, so to get the most out of my 16 hours I decided to stay at TheMetropolitan Bangkok Hotel (where the restaurant is based), have a spa treatment at COMO Shambhala followed by cocktails at the Met Bar, hit the bars and shopping district of Silom, and then collapse into bed before my flight to Phuket the next morning.

Where to Stay

The Metropolitan Bangkok Hotel

I am a great fan of COMO hotels, having stayed at Uma by COMO hotel in Ubud, Bali reviewed here. The Metropolitan Bangkok, created by Singapore interiors architect Kathryn Kng, has 171 rooms and suites.


The design in the public areas of the hotel, as in our room, was of clean open spaces filled with plenty of natural light, and a tasteful blend of Asian antiques with furniture by contemporary designers.


Our room followed this theme – with dark wood flooring and whites, it was simple but well furnished, clean, airy and comfortable. The bathroom was in limestone, and was elegant and spacious. The room had great views of the city, and given the location and my plans for the evening, I could not think of better place to rest my head for the night.


The hotel has a well-equipped gym and a 20 metre outdoor swimming pool that looked very tempting (the pool, not the gym mind you), but with so little time and anticipating a week in Phuket, I had to give it a miss.


Breakfast was taken at the Glow restaurant, and was one of the best I had in Thailand. The cooking was light, healthy and fresh, and follows the healthy eating concept of other Glow restaurants in its sister hotels I tried in Ubud. The buffet was varied and generous, with a good selection of juices and yoghurts, fresh cut fruit and granola, pastries, cold meats and cheeses.


I particularly enjoyed their ricotta and avocado salad, and the smoked salmon, courgette and dill salad, both fresh and delicious. Most importantly, the coffee was good and strong.


I also got to enjoy one of their cooked dishes – stir-fried rice with prawns and an egg sunny side up, with chilli and lime, which was really delicious and kept me going until dinner time.


The hotel is well located on the South Sathorn Road in the business district of the city, a pleasant 10 minute walk from Rama IV Road in the Silom area, the busiest shopping district of the city with thousands of shops and bars, as well as the saucy Patong night-market area. In all, it’s a great location to stay in Bangkok.

What to Do

Massage at COMO Shambhala

Having checked in, with a couple of hours before dinner at Nahm, I decided to book myself a 75-minute deep tissue massage at COMO Shambhala (3,000 Baht or £60), the hotel’s luxury spa. This was a restorative treatment that got me walking on clouds. The masseur was very professional, and the setting opulent. Compared to spas in London, this was good value for the quality of treatment and setting, and made a great start to the evening.


Where to Eat

Nahm

Listed by San Pellegrino’s 50 Best Restaurants of the World at number 32, and at number 3 for Asia, my meal at Nahm was the main purpose of this stopover. I was lucky enough to try the menu in Nahm’s previous location at The Halkin Hotel in London (reviewed here), so I hoped I was in for a treat.


The restaurant had subdued lighting, dark stone floors and displays of lush tropical greenery and orchids. It had a coolly elegant feel about it, and on the night we were there it was full.


The set menu was a very reasonable 1,800 baht (around £35 per person) for canapés and 5 main dishes including salad, soup, relish, curry and a stir-fry, steamed or grilled dish. These were all presented at the same time, as is customary in Thailand. We also had a bottle of 2011 Australian Yarra Valley Chardonnay - Little Yering (£35), which was a good partner for the food we chose.

We kicked off with a selection of 4 delicious canapés – with fresh and vibrant flavours to stimulate the taste buds, and contrasting crunchy textures, they were ideal appetisers that heralded good things to come.

Smoked fish, peanut and tapioca dumplings:


Salted thread fin perch with ginger, chilli and green mango on betel leaves:


Blue swimmer crab, peanuts and pickled garlic on rice cakes:


Prawn and coconut wafers with pickled ginger:


Following the canapés we had two of the clear soups on the menu – one made of minced pork and prawns with pak warn and squid, and the other of roast duck with Thai basil and young coconut. The clear broths of both soups were intensely flavoured but also refreshing from the myriad herbs and vegetables, like tomato and young coconut. I enjoyed having the soup as a cooling accompaniment to some of the hotter dishes.


I love the combination of crustacea and pork, and the salad of fresh water crayfish with pork and Asian pennywort was no exception –zingy, sour, sweet and nicely balanced.


The relish was a delicious dish of minced prawn and pork simmered in coconut cream with young chillies, red shallots and coriander, fresh vegetables and deep fried cured carp.


The coconut and turmeric curry was also outstanding – it had blue swimmer crab meat and a refreshing tang from the calamansi limes cutting through the richness of the coconut-based sauce.


The stir-fried soft shell crab was spiked with chilli, salt and coriander, very crisp, and light as a feather, it was one of the highlights of our meal.


We also had a couple of desserts – the pistachio pudding and golden tear drops with perfumed mung beans, and another of pandanus noodles with black sticky rice, water chestnuts, tapioca and coconut cream.


These were authentic Thai desserts and very different from what we expect of puddings in the West – they were packed with a variety of different flavours and textures and rounded off our meal very nicely.

Drinks at the Met Bar

One of the hippest bars in town and conveniently located in The Metropolitan Bangkok, The Met Bar draws in a crowd of locals and expats who know how to party. After the fantastic meal at Nahm, we headed there for a couple of cocktails and for some serious people watching. We didn’t hang out long as we had an early flight to catch to Phuket, but the evening was going strong as we left around midnight.

Bar staff getting ready for the evening

Travel Essentials

The Metropolitan Bangkok
COMO Shambhala Spa
Nahm Restaurant
The Met Bar

27 South Sathorn Road
Tungmahamek Sathorn
Bangkok 10120
Thailand
T +66 (0)2 625 3333
F +66 (0)2 625 3300
W comohotels.com/metropolitanbangkok

COMO Daily Rates start from THB4,500 (£90) for a City Room (exclusive of tax and service, room only)
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Assiette Anglaise - A French Neighbourhood Gem!

December 3, 2013, 5:38 am
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Words & Photography by Felicity Spector and Luiz Hara

Name:Assiette Anglaise

Where: 489 Liverpool Road, London N7 8NS, 020 7609 0300, http://assietteanglaise.co.uk

Cost: Surprisingly affordable with starters at £7 on average, main courses between £12 and £17.50 and desserts at £6.

About: Assiette Anglaise is a lovely neighbourhood restaurant, in the slightly hidden away site, which used to house Morgan M (now based in Smithfields reviewed here). Its head chef, Matt Tarantini, who took over in October 2013, has a great pedigree - formerly cooking at Elliot’s, Hibiscus, and Odettes. It serves dinner from 6-10pm Tues to Sat, and brunch from 9am-4pm at weekends.


What We Ate: We knew we were in safe hands as soon as the bread arrived, a beautifully flavoured baguette made from sourdough and buckwheat, from the specialist French supplier La Boite au Pain. Alongside, a spiky dish of tapenade and some fresh, vibrant olive oil. A great start.

There was a huge choice of charcuterie and terrines: this is clearly a place that knows its meat. Luiz bravely chose the crispy pigs head terrine (£6), and the steak tartare (£8). Both were exemplary: the crispy fried cubes of terrine were surprisingly light, the meat inside was rich without being too fatty, balanced by a piquant sauce gribiche on the side.


The huge portion of tartare, astonishingly well priced at £8, came with an egg yolk in the shell, and toasted baguette - it was silky, moist and very well seasoned.

Fantastic steak tartare at Assiette Anglaise

For the main course I chose the ricotta gnudi with pumpkin, chestnut and sage (£12): all my favourite ingredients on one plate. The gnudi - basically a sort of potato-free gnocchi - were delicious: plump little cylinders, the sweetness of the pumpkin and chestnut offset cleverly by the sage sauce. One of the most satisfying vegetarian dishes I’ve had in a while - and all praise to the kitchen for not resorting to the usual mushroom risotto.


Luiz had the bouilabaisse with crab rouille (£17.50), which arrived with plenty of seafood in a tomato-rich sauce: a generous pile of creamy crab on some toasted baguette balanced on top. It was hearty and warming, well spiced and perfectly cooked. We shared some garlicky kale and soft, sweet roasted parsnips on the side - both a very reasonable £3.


From a short selection of desserts we chose the rather spectacular mille feuille with almond cream, toasted nuts and caraway plums, (£6) and a slightly disappointing chocolate tart (£5), the only dud note of the evening - the water based ganache was beautifully smooth but not nearly sweet enough, while the pastry could have been crisper. The accompanying star anise custard, however, was a triumph, particularly with some of the plums stolen from my companion’s plate.


What We Drank: We began with a French Martini (£6) - a refreshing vodka based concoction with just a hint of bitterness, made from Chambord liqueur and pineapple juice that got the evening to a very good start.

Champagnes start at a very reasonable £45 per bottle of Philipponnat Champagne, or £32 for a bottle of Vouvray La Dilettante from Domaine Champalou, NV which is a Cremant (French sparkling wine from other areas of France beyond Champagne). These are very reasonable prices for a restaurant of this caliber.

With my steak tartare, I had a glass of 2010 Galets Rouges from Château Mourgues Du Gres in Rhone. This is an organic wine from old Syrah grapes, it was full bodied, and well structured and again very well priced at £25 per bottle.

To accompany the bouillabaisse, I opted for a glass of 2011 Réserve De Gassac from the Languedoc (£25 per bottle), this was a lovely blend of Viogner and Chardonnay which worked really well with the fish and seafood main.


Likes: The décor was light and bright, with tables on either side of a long central bar, which worked well in the narrow space: the staff were really friendly, and everything we ate was expertly cooked. There was a wide range of dishes on the menu, all very well priced - and unlike many French restaurants, vegetarians won’t go away disappointed. The wines are mostly available by the glass as well as the bottle - offering plenty of choice.

Dislikes: I’d have preferred a slightly sweeter, more indulgent chocolate tart.

Verdict: Assiette Anglaise is a great neighbourhood restaurant that’s also worth crossing town for. They really care about the quality of their produce, as well as the cooking: in short, Assiette Anglaise is the kind of place that everyone would love to have at the end of their street. Highly recommended.
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London Life December 2013: Food by Luiz Hara

December 5, 2013, 12:30 am
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This month, some of my recommendations for Heathrow Express' readers include dim sum at the gorgeous Hutong on the 33rd floor of the Shard, as well as other regional Chinese cuisines at Soho's Ba Shan for Hunanese or Chilli Cool in Kings Cross for some of the best and most affordable Sichuanese cooking in London. Discover my favourite local French restaurant Assiette Anglaise and also the fantastic tasting menu available at Jason Atherton's Pollen Street Social.

To find out more, visit the Heathrow Express site here.


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Chino Latino - The Cure for the New Year’s Eve Set Menu Blues

December 9, 2013, 2:51 am
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Words & Photography by Greg Klerkx and Luiz Hara

Name: Chino Latino 

Where: Park Plaza Riverbank London, 18 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7TJ, http://www.chinolatino.eu/london

Cost: £79 per person for 10 courses (service and drinks not included). 

About: A preview of Chino Latino's New Year's Eve 

Dining out on New Year’s Eve can be a dicey affair: too often, one is stuck with an overhyped prix fixe that invariably underwhelms, not the greatest beginning to anyone’s new year. If you’ve had this disheartening experience, this New Year’s Eve take your festive self to Chino Latino at the Park Plaza Riverbank London for a wonderful exception to this dismal rule: a marvellous NYE menu that is astounding value in terms of price and quality.

As its name implies, Chino Latino specialises in Pan-Asian food with hints of Latin verve. There are multiple locations in the UK and elsewhere, many ensconced in modern hotels like the Park Plaza Riverbank, which is located on the Albert Embankment near Vauxhall Station and within eyeshot of the Houses of Parliament and nearby landmarks. Inside the hotel, Chino Latinoinhabits a sleek, gently lit space adjacent to the lively main lounge.

To celebrate 10 years of Chino Latino, Head Chef Werner Seebach has created a 10-course NYE tasting menu (£79 per person) offering a retrospective of the restaurant’s favourite dishes and new plates inspired by Peruvian, Mexican and Japanese cuisine. The menu, served sharing-style, is arranged in four themes: Small Dishes, Next Course, Main Dishes, and Dessert.


The New Year’s Eve Tasting Menu is available for booking between 5:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. Once you’ve enjoyed the food, you can slip over to the mod-chic lounge for a DJ-driven celebration that promises to last until well into the wee hours of New Year’s Day.

What We Ate: We began with the Small Dishes, two-thirds of which were delightful. A trio of mouthful-sized beetroot stacks with yuzu cream cheese and a port reduction were light, refreshing and immaculately presented.


The Tenkasu roll – tuna, salmon, sea bass and avocado – was sublime, elevated by the addition of crunchy tempura crumbs and just the right amount of spicy miso chilli dressing. 


Alas, the Kampachi sashimi, though beautifully served on a translucent Himalayan salt block with sprigs of samphire and crispy discs of garlic, fell victim to a bit too much ‘Latino’. Kampachi, harvested from deep off the coast of Hawaii, has a very delicate, almost floral flavour but here it was quite swamped by the muscular red pepper rocoto dressing. Individually, the sashimi and dressing were lovely examples of their respective forms; they just didn’t quite work when put together.


The trio of Next Course dishes began with marinated blowtorched salmon, which was smoky and smooth, and the next two dishes were even better.



Grilled scallops were perfectly cooked, the natural sweetness of the scallop heightened by a sprinkling of crushed wasabi peas and a dollop of yuzu aioli (yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit, like a slightly sour mandarin orange: it’s a key ingredient in yuzu-pon).



The Wagyu beef taquitos brought a smile to our faces even before we’d tasted them: the taquitos were presented in a kind of filigreed trellis and served like so many tiny ice cream cones. They tasted as good as they looked: each cone was a savoury blast of succulent beef, jalapeno, red onion and aji panca, a smokey and almost fruity Peruvian pepper.


The Main Dishes continued the wonderful form. This was our first taste of chipotle miso – chipotle with white miso, mirin, sake, and sugar – and it was a revelation, particularly as paired here with a gorgeous, moist filet of Chilean sea bass.



A plateful of succulent lamb cutlets, marinated in Korean hot pepper paste and served with wasabi cream, disappeared in moments.


As we polished off the final morsels of lamb cutlet we were distracted by a wonderful aroma, emanating from a dish served several tables away. This turned out to be English sirloin steak on hot rocks, soya, mirin, garlic, 180g/300g £18.00/£29.00. Though not on the NYE menu, a plate was ordered and proved to be a real highlight: thinly sliced sirloin cooked teppanyaki style but on hot rocks, both clever and creative, not to mention absolutely delicious.


What We Drank: Chino Latino New Year’s Eve Tasting Menu does not have suggested wine pairings but the restaurant’s modest but effective wine list provided plenty of choice. With the Small Dishes and Next Courses, we stayed happily with the Sancerre La Fuzelle, Adrien Marechal (£35 bottle/£8.50 glass), lively with citrus and gooseberry and very sympathetic to both Asian and Latin American flavours. Just ahead of the beef taquitos we moved to a Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon (USA, £29.50 bottle/£8.00 glass), smooth, rich with dark berries and chewy liquorice. This stood us in good stead until the cutlets and sirloin, at which point we switched to the earthier Luis Felipe Edwards Lot 37 Pinot Noir (Chile, £24.50 bottle/£8.00 glass).


Likes: On the NYE menu, the scallops and seabass were divine; but come another time for the hot-rock English sirloin from the main menu (or order it on NYE if you’re ferociously hungry)

Dislikes: The desserts on the tasting menu – passion fruit cheesecake and moshi ice cream – were a bit misjudged, and a disappointment after what was otherwise a fabulous meal.

Verdict: The 10-course New Year’s Eve Tasting Menu is marvellous value for money; lovely food in a relaxed atmosphere, with attentive and knowledgeable service. Highly recommended.



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Sushisamba - Nikkei Cuisine with a London Groove

December 10, 2013, 12:00 am
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Words & Photography by Simeen Kadi and Luiz Hara

Name: Sushisamba Restaurant and Bar

Where: 38th - 39th Floor, Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY, http://sushisamba.com/location/london

Cost: Small plates from £8 to £23 including sushi and ceviche, large dishes from £16 to £49, average spend per person £50 (not including drinks or service)

About: There is definitely something childishly exciting about the glass lifts at the Heron Tower, home to Sushisamba and sister restaurant Duck & Waffle. The way the city drops away as we sweep swiftly skyward is astonishing. Once on the 38th floor the thrill continues with 360° views and a great outdoor terrace.

London Skyline from SushiSamba Restaurant

Our table overlooked the east of the city with twinkly lights stretching out to the horizon and we spent a few minutes identifying landmarks and scoring points on our aerial knowledge of London’s cityscape. The restaurant is a large buzzy space with low, curved banquettes and an enormous orange installation hovering above which makes everyone look like they have spent too long at the (or possibly in) St Tropez.


Staff are very cordial and knowledgeable and we were given a potted history of Japanese immigration into Peru and Brazil – Sushisamba is about the resulting Nikkei cuisine of the Japanese who settled in large numbers in Lima and São Paolo and incorporated traditional Japanese cooking with the ingredients and dishes of their new homeland.

What We Ate: The menu is divided into Small Plates, Raw, the Robata grill, Samba rolls            and Nigiri & Sashimi. We started with some Green Bean Tempura from the Aperitivos menu. The batter was crisp and it was a good, salty starter while we perused the menu, although the truffle in the black truffle aioli was only just discernible.


Crispy Taquitos followed which were bursting with flavour – yellowtail marinated in lime and served with aji panca and miso infused with the flavour of roasted corn. Aji Panca features frequently on the menu and is a vibrant red paste made from a smoked, mild red pepper from Peru. Chillies gave the dish an extra kick.


Wagyu Tataki was layered with a silky coat of foie gras and topped with a fried quail’s egg – a small but perfectly formed mouthful.


The Chicharon de Calamar was a satisfyingly large mound of crispy fried rings of squid which had been tossed in a sticky coating of tamarind, lime and a zingy pico de gallo sauce. Crunchy, sweet and sour, I could eat this dish every day.


Dishes from the Raw menu include slices of Yellowtail Sashimi Tiraditowith a zesty sauce of jalapeno and lemongrass and Sashimi Seviche of Tuna with watermelon and tiger’s milk which was a little wan – lacking in the mouth puckering zing of limes and chilies.


Chilean Sea Bass Anticuchos (let’s hope it was sustainably caught as there was no information available) came as two generously portioned skewers of exquisite fish anointed with miso and served with a drizzle of sweet dulce de leche on a bed on giant Peruvian corn.


Poussin, also from the Robata grill came as a teriyaki, served with a delicious yuzu kosho mayonnaise.


From the large plates we chose the Moqueca Mista and we were not disappointed. A large earthenware dish brimmed with seafood cooked in a rich coconut sauce, coloured with dendeoil, a bright orange palm oil typical of Brazilian cooking. In a nod to neighbouring Argentina, the rice that completed the dish was mixed with chimichurri herbs and seasoning. And, crowning it was one enormous prawn.


This was a lot of food but we did it justice and almost all of it was very good. And we still managed to make room for some sushi. The São Paolo Samba Roll, ordered in honour of my dining companion’s hometown, was complex and delicious. Perfect sushi rice encased scallop, masago, tuna, salmon yellowtail, avocado and sat up provocatively, dressed with hacho miso soy and chive oil and topped with a morsel of truffle.


We weren’t done yet. Desserts here are worth the short lived discomfort of overeating. A bright mango mousse which came alongside a zingy kiwi-mojito sorbet and a lime and coriander sauce made for a refreshing end to the meal. With Love From Rio was rich and decadent, an intoxicating mix of valhrhona dark chocolate ganache, coffee mousse and a silky tonka bean ice cream. Organic Red Chocolate Chili Peppersfeatured a Peruvian chili mousse, which was sweet with a fiery kick, alongside a raspberry and red pepper sorbet and a bright red tuile.


What We Drank: The wine list at Sushisamba is long and priced at the top end, as you would expect from a City restaurant of this calibre. And the cocktails make the most of the restaurant’s unique blend of Japanese and South American flavours. But the real winner, to my mind, is the extensive sake collection. One of the largest and best kept sake cellars (if sake is stored in a cellar, must find out one day) in London should not be missed, especially as it provides the perfect accompaniment to the food.


Maurzio Palomba, the head sommelier, knows his sake and expertly paired our dishes. We chose to go by-the-glass and received a short and insightful introduction to each sake. A highlight was the Takara Mio Sparklingsake, which was bone dry and minerally, lifted by the effervescence. Kokuryu Black Dragon was complex and rich, while the Dassai 39 would make for a fabulous evening of sipping – although your wallet will not thank you for it.

Busy City crowd

Likes: delicious Nikkei cooking, good service, fantastic range of sakes on offer, we thoroughly enjoyed the food and the London views from the 38th floor.

Dislikes: it is a pity that bar was positioned where it is, it is seriously overcrowded and noisy and it detracts from the food experience at Sushisamba.

Verdict: Sushisamba is more than just a fabulous view with a restaurant attached. Chef Claudio Cardoso’s kitchen delivers well executed dishes full of flavour and complex combinations - this is not to be confused with gimmicky fusion. The crowd is a mix of moneyed City workers and couples on a special night out. And the stonking view fills my heart with the joy of being a Londoner.
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Product Review - Acer Iconia A1 Android Tablet

December 22, 2013, 7:30 am
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Disclosure: I was given an Acer Iconia A1 Tablet to write this review

The nice people at Acer gave me one of their A1 tablets to try out, and I thought it might be good to use while doing some restaurant reviews.   The 16GB version retails from around £130, making it quite a bit more affordable than the iPad mini 2 which starts at £320. It's compact and nifty, with an 8 inch display, and weighs only 410g, making it easy to carry around or hold in one hand when reading.


I liked the intuitive system that guides the user through the set up. It has a front camera for selfies and video chat, and 5 megapixel rear camera, as well as a rear-mounted speaker for audio applications.  I found the sound rather tinny, and I'm sure movies would sound better with a pair of headphones.

It comes with AcerCloud, which lets you save content to the cloud rather than clogging up the memory, and it is possible to add a wide selection of apps from Google Play Store. It has Wifi connectivity, and 3G is available at extra cost. I found the battery life reasonably good at 8 hours, which would be enough to keep me occupied for most of the foodie travel flights I take, and the screen is clear enough to make it a good option for catching up on a novel or two via the Kindle app.

Overall, this seems a good budget Android tablet. The main drawback for me however is the camera quality.  It has reasonable resolution in daylight, but in the kind of low light settings I regularly meet when reviewing restaurants, it is no better than other comparable tablets on the market. I found the images grainy and lacking in focus taken under low light so I am still reliant on my SLR Canon on these occasions.

Still, with Xmas coming up, if you fancy a tablet that looks impressive but doesn't break the bank, and is easy to use for wifi-based web surfing or reading a Kindle book, this is definitely a good option.

Other Acer Iconia A1 Reviewshere.

The Acer Iconia A1 Tablet can be purchase at Tesco Online for £159 here.
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The London Foodie Goes to Thailand - Phuket Island (Part 1)

December 26, 2013, 5:02 pm
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After an overnight stay in Bangkok (reviewed here), we caught an early morning flight with the efficient and very affordable budget airline Air Asia, landing at the airport in the north of Phuket island. Having spent three weeks travelling around southeast Asia, we looked forward to a few days of relaxation by the Andaman sea.


Phuket is the largest Thai island, and is situated on the Indian Ocean coastline a little over 500 miles south of Bangkok. Phuket formerly derived its wealth from tin and rubber, and was on one of the major trading routes between India and China. More recently, its top industry has become tourism, which has transformed the island into Thailand's wealthiest province.


Phuket is a very popular travel destination with people from all over Europe and the USA, and lately Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans and Russians have been visiting in increasing numbers. This might make it sound like a touristic nightmare, but while there are very westernised towns like Patong, actually the majority of the island looks much like mainland Thailand.

Cape Panwa from Sri Panwa

Most beaches are on the west coast of the island, with Phuket Town to the southeast and the airport in the north.  Phuket's population  is a melting pot of indigenous Thais, Thai-Chinese and ethnic Malays.

Where to Stay

Set on the top of Cape Panwa in the southeastern tip of Phuket, Sri Panwa is a collection of 52 villas built within a stunning gated compound with breathtaking views over the Andaman Sea and surrounding islands.


The villas are scattered over a large area of this hilly region, and there are buggies to drive guests between the various buildings.

With a spa, gym, games room, several swimming pools, tennis courts, an outdoor bar and two restaurants, there is plenty to occupy guests, although we found it surprisingly difficult to tear ourselves away from our accommodation.

Games Room

Sri Panwa's Private Beach
Our villa had two separate buildings, one for sleeping, the other a spacious living room with its own kitchen, bathroom and veranda, for lounging and relaxing.

View from our Villa at Sri Panwa and Plunge Pool

All the villas have their own infinity plunge pool with views over the sea.


The facilities in the rooms were remarkable, with both indoor and outdoor jacuzzis, a shower that doubled up as a steam room, a free minibar (except for wine), a Nespresso coffee machine, and Bose sound systems with a variety of cool playlists preloaded on iPods.


Bedroom at Sri Panwa Villa
The place is owned and managed by Vorasit Issara, known to all as "Wan", who lives in a spectacular hilltop mansion, surrounded by the hotel villas. He comes from the prominent Thai Issara family, who are known for developing some of Thailand’s best known residential and commercial landmarks.


Living Room at Sri Panwa Villa

I met Wan while visiting the "Baba Nest" cocktail bar, which is open in the early evening for guests, and is adjacent to Wan's private roof-top swimming pool.

Living Room at Sri Panwa Villa

Baba Nest is a stunning spot to watch the sunset, we had a couple of cocktails there one evening and were blown away by the scenery.


Sunset at Baba Nest, Sri Panwa
Breakfast at Sri Panwa was one of the highlights of the day. In addition to a generous buffet laden with pretty much everything you could hope for like freshly cut fruit, pastries, cold meats, cheeses and hot Western and Thai dishes including various curries and noodles, there was also an a la carte menu from which guests could order.



The banana pancakes with a drizzle of maple syrup and the eggs Benedict with a truffled hollandaise sauce were both utterly delicious and we kept returning for more.


Sri Panwa is considered one of the top resorts of Phuket, and having spent 4 glorious nights there I can understand why. The place is gorgeous, immaculately maintained and the villas beautifully designed with the most stunning views of Cape Panwa. I loved Sri Panwa and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to stay on Phuket Island.




Where to Eat

My only regret about Sri Panwa was that I did not eat at its restaurant, Baba Soul Food, for all four of the evenings I stayed there. As I usually do during my trips, I tried to find other good restaurants and places to eat outside the hotel - a big mistake on this occasion!


For one of the evenings, I visited the nearby Sawasdee Restaurant, which turned out to be one of the worst meals we had during our visit to Phuket - a tourist trap, the food was incredibly sweet, the portions tiny and the service abominable,  an experience to be avoided at all costs.

Phuket Street Food

On one other evening, we had a selection of street food from the hawkers selling their fare outside the hotel along the sea front.




It was sensational - we had barbecued tandoori chicken wings, spicy green papaya salad and sweet roti filled with bananas and with a generous drizzle of condensed milk.


Phuket Street Food - Roti with Bananas and Condensed Milk
Baba Soul Food, Sri Panwa Hotel

The more formal of Sri Panwa's two restaurants, "Baba Soul Food", is run by Chef Boom, who did much of her training at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.  Her cooking was exceptionally good, well balanced and bursting with fresh Thai flavours.

Chef Boom in Action

On our first night at Baba Soul Food, manager Kae, was kindly enough to put together an outstanding tasting menu for us, we couldn't have been in better hands - Kae's knowledge and enthusiasm for her native cuisine was impressive.


We kicked off with a selection of 5 delectable Thai appetisers:

Fresh Thai veggie spring rolls with spicy green chilli dip


Duo of shrimp green curry and shrimp coconut dip with crispy rice crackers



Deep fried minced chicken and shrimp, Chinese chicken sausage, carrot and onion with spicy green chilli dip



Deep fried shrimp cake with red chilli dip



Deep fried potato and onion spring rolls served with a chilli dip, known as Poh Pia


Following the appetisers  all other dishes were brought to our table at once, Thai-style. We had a fantastic spicy green mango salad with local yam citrus dressing which had just the right amount of heat, with good sweet and sour flavours from the dressing.


One of the restaurant signature dishes is the crispy duck salad - a delicious concoction of fried shredded duck, vibrant chilli, shallot and spring onion, peanuts, and a zingy Thai coconut and chilli dressing.


For soup we had two - a  spicy coconut milk soup with tiger prawns, herbs and lime and another - a clear Chinese soup with pickled cabbage and pork ribs. They were both highly flavoursome and refreshing.


The more substantial main courses, all incredibly delicious, were:

Stir fried Andaman crab meat with lime sauce


Stir fried local Miang leaves with minced shrimps in soy sauce


Crab meat in Thai red curry


Phuket style pork belly braised in a sweet and salty soy sauce with mushroom


We were really full by dessert, but Kae insisted that we tried their crispy Khao Mao (shredded rice) served with warm caramel and coconut milk, and luckily we did. It was really good - a perfect ending to a perfect meal.


For our last meal while staying at Sri Panwa, we returned to Baba Soul Food, and had another splendid meal. We ordered the spicy green mango salad with local yam citrus dressing (£5) again as we liked it a lot on our first night, and it was just as good as we remembered. We also tried Yam Neur Yang, a grilled Australian beef salad with mixed vegetables and a local yam citrus dressing (£7), the flavours were fresh and beautifully balanced.


For main course we had two dishes - Kua Kling Moo - stir-fried pork in red curry paste (£8) which was deliciously spicy, and also Gaeng Massaman Neur - Australian beef Massaman curry with peanuts (£8.20), which was creamy and a little milder.


Chef Boom's cooking at Baba Soul Food was by far the best Thai food we had during our stay in Phuket and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the island.

Chef Boom and Baba Soul Food Manager Kae

Pak Naam Seafood Restaurant

We were lucky enough to meet Suganda, one of my Thai classmates from Cordon Bleu, who lives near Phuket, and she took us to a great local restaurant for some of the best seafood we had during our visit to southeast Asia.


At the Pak Naam Seafood Restaurant, we had some really good local dishes that were simple in conception, but worked brilliantly because of the absolute freshness and quality of the fish and seafood.  Dishes of grilled prawn, steamed fish with chilli and lemon sauce, stir-fried clams with basil and fried rice with crab were really flavoursome.


The place was packed with Thai families, and I would very much recommend this as a good value, quality restaurant in Phuket for seafood.


What to Do

Phuket is of course an island, so many activities revolves around the sea in one way or another.  It is a great place for swimming or snorkelling by yourself, but it is also possible to arrange freshwater and sea fishing, scuba and snuba-diving, yachting, jet-skiing, windsurfing, and parasailing, if you are the energetic type.

Temple Visits

We paid a visit to Chalong Temple, a 19th century building that is the oldest on the island. It is certainly worth a look, but lacks the splendour and rich history of temples in Bangkok and Luang Prabang.


Phuket Aquarium 

The Phuket Aquarium is located at Cape Panwa, right next to the entrance to the Sri Panwa Hotel.  It is a small but interesting tropical aquarium with a dazzling variety of fish and corals, as well as some interesting exhibits and photographs of the island before and after the 2004 tsunami. They make the point that mangroves, as well as providing a rich ecosystem, were also crucial in absorbing much of the energy of the tidal waves, and make a powerful plea for their future protection.


Spa Visits

Phuket is one of the most popular spa destinations in the world, home to oases of comfort and pleasure that are difficult to leave when the time comes. Sri Panwa has its own spa with stunning views over the ocean.


I had a 60-minute Aromatic Thai-oil Massage that started with a foot bath and scrub in the cool shade, to the sound of the many waterfalls in the spa. There followed a very relaxing and proficient massage using Thai acupressure points, and I left feeling rejuvenated and serene.


Travel Essentials

Sri Panwa Hotel
88 moo 8, Sakdidej Road,
Vichit, Muang, Phuket 83000, Thailand
Tel: +66 7637 1000
Fax: +66 7637 1004
E-mail: chill@sripanwa.com
Website: www.sripanwa.com

Pak Nam Seafood
52/220 Ratsadanuson Road
Tel: 076 240240

AirAsia flights from Bangkok to Phuket cost around £70 return per person. http://www.airasia.com
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The London Foodie Goes to Thailand - Phuket Island (Part 2)

December 30, 2013, 12:30 am
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After a few days at Cape Panwa, on the southeast coast of Phuket (reviewed here), we headed west to Pansea Beach. Only a 30-minute drive north from the tourist town horror of Patong, Pansea Beach is fortunately a totally different proposition.


Sometimes known as "millionaire's row" on account of the luxury villas, and the VIPs who like to stay there to get away from the crowds, Pansea Beach is a scenic enclave with clear water, fine white sand and tall tropical trees. It is a lovely spot for a relaxing and stylish break with prices to match.


Where to Stay

The Surin Hotel

The Surin Hotel is part of the YTL Group of Hotels of whom I am a huge fan. Recently, I was lucky enough to stay at two of their properties in Malaysia - Pangkor Laut, the flagship luxury resort on Pangkor Laut Island and also the elegant Cameron Highlands Resort - reviewed here and here.

The lovely Surin, view from Pansea Beach


Nestled away from the crowds of Phuket on a pristine and quiet stretch of shoreline overlooking Pansea Beach, the resort is a 25 minutes car journey from Phuket International Airport and a 30-minutes drive from Patong Beach and historical Phuket Town.

Sunset on Pansea Beach
Formerly known as The Chedi, The Surin was acquired by YTL and completely renovated by Paris based designer Ed Tuttle, one of America’s most celebrated architects. Enjoying a tranquil beachside location, all hotel rooms are self-contained cottage suites perched on a sloping hillside overlooking the sea with direct access onto Pansea Beach.


With a consistent Thai colour scheme of green, saffron, and gold set against neutral grey and white paintwork, the rooms are tasteful befitting the hotel's membership of the Design Hotels group of independent boutique hotels. We loved our cottage – small but perfectly formed, it was elegant, with a beautiful and serene feel about it and only a few metres away from the beach.


With a striking black hexagonal shaped swimming pool overlooking the beach (sadly closed for repairs during our stay), several bars, Thai and Italian restaurants, a gym, spa and a stunning reading room, the hotel has all the amenities for a stylish and relaxing stay.


Enjoying some sticky rice with mango and a chilled Singha beer at The Surin Hotel
The Surin gym is small but well equipped with treadmills and exercise bikes, with great views of the sea. It is probably one of the most under-utilised gyms in the world.

Probably the most under-utilised gym you will ever see....

... and this is why!...
The dining room at The Surin, where breakfast is served, has walls of glass, affording great views of the swimming pool, beach and bay.


Breakfast was excellent, with an array of tropical fruits, charcuterie, smoked salmon and cheeses, as well as yoghurts, bread and fresh juices. There were also stations to order freshly baked waffles, crepes and omelettes.


Where to Eat

Suay Restaurant

Situated in a beautiful wooden house surrounded by a covered veranda in Phuket Town, Suay Restaurant is a 20-minute taxi ride from The Surin.


Suay is owned and run by a renowned Thai chef, Tammasak Chootong who trained in Germany and worked at the Michelin-starred Top Air Restaurant in Stuttgart. Returning to Thailand, he worked at a number of international hotels before setting up his own restaurant and cooking school at Suay. The restaurant, reflecting the background of its owner, has a casual if somewhat Western feel to it, offering a range of authentic Thai and fusion dishes to suit most palates.


We started with a cappuccino of galangal and coconut served with grilled sea scallop on a lemongrass skewer (£3.50). This was good, with the succulent scallop and sweet coconut flavours counterbalanced by the astringency from the lemongrass.


Next came a succession of dishes served simultaneously. The green papaya salad with fresh squid strips and ground peanuts (£2.50) had a good amount of heat and partnered well with the grilled pork neck salad (£2.20), one of the best dishes of the evening.


The spicy salmon carpaccio Suay style (£3.00), one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, was adequate as was the fresh prawn spring rolls with peanut sauce (£2.80).


The roasted duck in Thai red curry with lychee (£4.30) was flavoursome although there was little duck to be seen.


Dishes were mostly well made and seasoned, but we found the portions a tad ungenerous. Suay Restaurant is regarded among the best restaurants in Phuket Town and is definitely worth a visit.

What to Do

Swimming and Water Sports

The Surin overlooks Pansea Bay, with its stunning fine white sand, and the bay is a great place to swim and for water sports including snorkeling and surfing. This is also a good location from which to visit some of the neighbouring islands like the famous Phi Phi.

Just one note of caution - the sea on the west side of Phuket can get very rough, particularly during the monsoon season, and every year a handful or two of foreigners drown there. It is important to take notice of the flags indicating whether swimming is safe or not. The Surin has lifeguards permanently at the beach during the day, and they rescued swimmers on more than one occasion during our stay including yours truly!

How could I have missed that red flag?!... It was nearly kaput for me.

Spa Treatments

The spa is at the top of a steep hill overlooking the bay within the hotel’s grounds, but fortunately there is an electric buggy to whisk guests up for their appointment. We had a blissful 60-minute oil massage there that got us walking on clouds upon completion. Highly recommended.


Golfing

There are several top quality golf courses near The Surin (including the Blue Canyon Country Club and the Phuket Club), and the reception can book and arrange transport for anyone interested.

Visiting Patong

This is one of the party capitals of Asia, famous for its nightlife. There are hundreds of bars, clubs and restaurants clustered on the beach road and Bangla Road. We spent a couple of hours there without finding anywhere particularly good to eat or anything worth seeing, a total nightmare of a place.


Travel Essentials

The Surin Hotel
Pansea Beach, 118 Moo 3
Cherng Talay
Talang, Phuket
83110
Thailand
www.thesurinphuket.com

Room cost varies widely depending on season and room type. Our one-bedroom deluxe cottage cost from around £350 per room per night.

Suay Restaurant
50/2 Takuapa Road
Talat Nuea, Mueang
Phuket, 83000
Thailand
www.suayrestaurant.com

AirAsia flights from Bangkok to Phuket cost around £70 return per person.

http://www.airasia.com
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The London Foodie Goes to Thailand - Bangkok Revisited

January 3, 2014, 12:30 am
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At the end of a month-long trip in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, it was a great pleasure to finish in Bangkok. A lot can be said about this manic city, but one thing is universally agreed – love or hate it, no one leaves Bangkok feeling indifferent. I have experienced both emotions during my few visits to the Thai capital but learnt that a little research into transport and places to stay and eat will go a long way there.


Bangkok is hot, humid and polluted, and on top of that, it is not a place designed for those who love walking. My number one tip while in Bangkok is to take taxis wherever you go, they are affordable, some are air-conditioned and if you are a foreigner, they will probably be cheaper than tuk tuks (without the annoyance of haggling as they are metered). If you happen to be anywhere with a Sky Train station, that is another efficient and very inexpensive transport option. Keeping away from the intense heat and minimising the hassle of getting from A to B will make a huge difference to your experience there.



But looking beyond these issues, Bangkok has a great deal to offer to visitors that more than make up for its drawbacks. A foodie’s paradise, Bangkok has many fantastic restaurants, 4 of which are among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list by San Pellegrino. There were not enough meal times in the 3 days I spent in Bangkok to fit in all the restaurants and street food I wanted to try before returning to the UK. I had a pretty good stab at it though as you can see in the Where to Eat section below. But still, I cannot wait to return.


Where to Stay

The Siam Hotel

Without giving too much away in the first paragraph of this write-up, The Siam Hotel was one of the best hotels I have encountered – the striking décor, the collection of tasteful, original artwork and antiques and the impeccable service made for a unique experience.


Although the main hotel dates back only to 2005 when it was conceived by architect Bill Bensley, the houses at the front facing the Chao Phraya River are original Thai wooden houses, bought by the owners with Jim Thompson in the 1950s.


The owners are the Sukosol family, famous in Thailand as entrepreneurs, businessmen and theatre impresarios, also involved in music and cinema, and notable art collectors.


The hotel aims to recreate the era of King Rama V (1853-1910), and houses the Sukosol family’s vast collection of art and antiques, in a setting that could not be more striking.



Tastefully built in a black and white colour scheme, the hotel is a sanctuary of Art Deco elegance and style, with antiques some of which date back over 1000 years.



The rooms are clustered around a central courtyard with a large island water feature planted with trees and long ferns.

There is a gorgeous long swimming pool adjacent to the Chao Phraya River surrounded by lush gardens and verdant shrubbery.


Our room was one of the hotel’s spacious 100 sqm Riverview Suites. With ultra high ceilings, an enormous king size bed, and beautifully furnished with an eclectic display of artwork and antiques.


There was also a stunning bath and separate shower, internet-TV and a Swiss Jura coffee machine in the sitting room.


Entrance to our Suite at The Siam
Each room has a butler, and ours (Oat) was extremely helpful, taking care of our ironing, restaurant bookings and flight check-ins.

Oat patiently showing us around the hotel as I take a thousand photos...

He even noticed (I guess from our passports) that our last day there was Dr G's birthday and arranged a birthday cake for the room.

Thank you Oat!

The Siam Hotel has a small cinema furnished with original antique folding wood and velvet French cinema seats as well as a library, curio gift shop and art gallery, and a charming French-style café.


The Curio Shop at The Siam Hotel
The hotel’s gym is probably the most beautiful I have ever seen – decorated with Thai sporting memorabilia, it has the latest machines and gadgets, but also has a Muay Thai boxing ring with training offered, as well as a fitness, Tai Chi and yoga instructor, to complement the infinity pool by the riverside.



The Siam Hotel Spa evokes a luxurious opium den with elegant therapy rooms, steam and sauna facilities, a mixed bathhouse with hot and cold plunge pool, and a hair and nail salon. It is a stunning setting.

The Opium Spa at The Siam

Part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group, the hotel has 39 rooms set in 3 acres of grounds in the historic Dusit district on the edge of the Chao Phraya River, with the Grand Palace 15 minutes away by boat.

Cafe at The Siam Hotel

Accessible by taxi or limousine, the hotel also has a complimentary river shuttle on a very stylish launch of gleaming varnished wood with white leather seats, which we used on several occasions.


The free boat shuttle service at The Siam
Breakfast is served in one of the lovely Thai wooden riverside houses, or in the garden, and was a mouth watering affair. Dishes are prepared a la carte, and were excellent.


We had freshly made waffles and a deliciously cheesy Croque Monsieur, coffee and juices overlooking the river.


The Siam Hotel is one of the most stylish, efficient and professional hotels I have ever stayed at, and I cannot think of anywhere else I would prefer to stay in Bangkok.


Where to Eat

Having dined at the magnificent Nahm restaurant a few days earlier (reviewed here), we were keen to make the most of our two nights in Bangkok. For one of the nights, we booked ourselves into Bolan, but there were a few other places, reviewed below, that I did not want to miss on this trip.

Issaya Siamese Club

Issaya Siamese Club is owned and run by chef Ian Kittichai, and serves modern Thai cuisine in a historical 1920's Thai home in central Bangkok.


It is in a beautiful setting, decorated in shabby chic Thai style, with a private walled tropical garden. It is brightly coloured, and on the night we were there, the place was heaving with a primarily Thai clientele.



While we perused the menu, we kicked off with a couple of refreshing Issaya Mojitos (£6) and a selection of amuse bouche including aubergine with deep fried shrimp and tuna tartare which were excellent.


Having opted for the Issaya Set Menu at a very reasonable £28 per person, we enjoyed three very different but equally delicious starters:

Spiced pork baby back ribs glazed with chilli paste, served on a portable bbq pot at the table – the ribs were meaty, spicy and very tender.


Banana blossom and palm heart salad served with crispy shallots and roasted peanuts in a chilli jam dressing – this was beautifully presented, with some great fresh flavours and textures. A vegetable often eaten in Brazil, I love palm heart for its unusual flavour, something between asparagus and baby bamboo shoots. I was surprised and pleased to see that the Thais eat it too.


The grilled beef with fresh herbs and vegetables in a charred birds eye chilli vinaigrette was also really good and well presented.


To follow, we had a refreshing mulberry sorbet - rich, smooth and concentrated, and served elegantly in a champagne coupe, this heralded good things to come from a kitchen that so far had not faltered.

There were three main dishes, all served together. The first was a charcoal-grilled Sankaburee spiced chicken which was flambéed at the table - it was succulent with a wonderfully barbecued flavour.


The boneless lamb shank in Mussaman curry served with pickled cucumber was, however, the star of the evening. Amazingly tender, the lamb combined really well with the peanut and coconut-based Mussaman curry.


The tiger prawns in a peppery holy basil sauce worked very well – the licorice hints of the holy basil combined with the fresh seafood were a marriage made in heaven. It went really well with the fried multi-grain rice with Chang Mai mushrooms and garlic.


We were very full by this stage, and were glad that dessert was a light and refreshing jasmine flower panna cotta with jasmine rice ice cream and jasmine rice tuile. This was one of the best desserts I have had for a long time, with a lovely fragrance and balance of sweetness and lightness.


To accompany our meal, we had a bottle of Languedoc Chateau de la Negly 2008 (£32.50), expertly chosen by the house sommelier - a blend of carignan, grenache and syrah, it was the perfect choice, with a nose of cherries, vanilla and spice and went well with the food we ate. Having had a lot of poor wine at stratospheric prices in Asia, our wine said heaps about the restaurant. You would be hard pushed to find such quality at this price in a restaurant in London let alone Asia, and I was really pleased to taste it at the Issaya Siamese Club in Bangkok.



At end of the meal, we were served some spectacularly good and creatively presented petit fours, and a digestif of Mekhong River Whisky - an interesting drink which is in fact much closer to rum, being distilled largely from sugar cane and blended with Thai herbs.


Dinner at the Issaya Siamese Clubwas excellent. I loved the food and ambience, and it was well priced with tip top service. I can't wait to return - highly recommended.

Benjaron Royal Thai Cuisine at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Silom

One of the reasons I was in Bangkok was to investigate the Cordon Bleu school in the city, where I am considering taking on a professional Thai cookery course in 2014. Cordon Bleuin Thailand is affiliated with, and located in, the five star Dusit Thani Hotel. As part of my ‘investigation’ of the course, I decided to have lunch there before my appointment at Cordon Bleu.


Benjaron, the Thai restaurant at the Dusit Thani Hotel, was perhaps unsurprisingly very good.  Mieng Kham, a dish of dried fried coconut meat and herbs, wrapped in chaplu leaves (similar to betel leaves) and served with mieng sauce made from ginger, shallots, fish sauce, sugar and coconut (£4.50) was wonderful. There were sour, sweet, hot and crunchy elements which were a sensory delight.


Next, we had Yam Som, a spicy pomelo salad with winged beans, shredded chicken and shrimp (£5), which was again incredibly good.


Nam Prig Long Rua – a dish of fried shrimp paste served with crispy fried fish (£5.50) and Gaeng Kiew Wan Nuea Moo, a green pork curry served with coconut flower (£5.50) with steamed rice were both delicious and well made.


Service was unfortunately quite sullen and uninterested - we had to ask for the waiter’s help on a number of occasions, and felt that we were resented for it. The hotel and restaurant is situated in the busy Silom district close to the night market and shopping centres. Being a luxury hotel with a long history, it is a lovely spot to visit and is definitely a restaurant I would recommend.

Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant at the Cabochon Hotel

Owned by a Taiwanese family who have a chain of hotels and restaurants back home, Cabochon is their first venture in Thailand built as recently as 2011. Antique and vintage car collectors, the hotel’s décor reflects their owners’ impeccable taste for the good and beautiful things in life.

Cabochon Hotel

Part of the exclusive Secret Retreatscollection of hotels in Asia which includes the magnificent Tugu Hotel Lombok (reviewed here), Cabochon has a French colonial style and elegance, and beautiful antiques tastefully displayed around its 8 guest rooms, restaurant and lounge bar.

Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant at the Cabochon Hotel

The Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant specialises in serving Northeastern Thai food from the seldom-visited Isan region and neighbouring Laos, cooked in an open-plan kitchen.  Having been fortunate enough to spend a couple of weeks in Laos earlier on this trip (reviewed here and here), I was looking forward to some more Laotian food.

Open plan kitchen, Laotian & Isan Thai street food at Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant

The restaurant itself is made from timber salvaged from Thai wooden houses, is tastefully decorated, and is an airy, light and lovely spot for lunch. I loved the open plan kitchen and the antique décor. It is located in a quiet cul-de-sac just a block back from the manic Sukhumvit Road - a haven of tranquillity and good food.


The menu has myriad choices of Isan and Laotian small eats, and is very reasonably priced.  We kicked off with a dish of crispy deep-fried squid (£2.80), and some deep fried Thai fish cakes (£2.20), which were excellent with our Singha Thai Beer.


The Isan pork sausages (£2.80) were equally delicious, as were the green mango and shrimp salad (£1.80) and grilled pork shoulder (£2.80).


Hotpot is a favourite dish of mine to serve, as those of you who have been to my supperclub will know, so I was pleased to be able to share a magnificent Thai steamboat, with beef, pork, squid, fish balls, tofu, chillies and green vegetables, all set over a terracotta charcoal burner on our table.


Dessert was as assortment of shaved ices with different toppings including green tea, red bean jellies and tapioca (£2.20), with a generous serving of condensed milk, wonderfully refreshing.


Lunch at the Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant at the Cabochon Hotel was one of the highlights of our trip to Bangkok. It was excellent value for money, had a lovely atmosphere, and can think of few places I would rather be for small eats and a chilled beer or two in crazy Bangkok.
   
Bo.Lan

Listed among the 50 best Asian Restaurants by San Pellegrino, Bo.Lan is undoubtedly a top foodie destination in Bangkok. It was opened by Duangporn Songvisava (Bo), and her Australian partner Dylan Jones (Lan), whom she met working at David Thompson's Nahm restaurant in London. Bo was named the Veuve Cliquot Asia’s Best Female Chef in 2013.


Bo.Lan has an a la carte menu, as well as a set menu called 'Bo.Lan Balance' (£35 per person) which we opted for, based around five dishes - a Thai salad, a chilli relish (or kreung), a stir-fried dish, a curry and a soup.


We started with a selection of tantalising amuse bouches which included Thai wafer with red chicken curry, lamb cured squid wrap with egg net, tapioca pearl stuffed with pickled turnip and peanut, spicy mushroom salad, and steamed minced prawn and egg. This was a promising start to the meal.


Thai noodles with southern style fish curry were next. Served with coconut cream and peanuts, this was a wholesome and delicious dish.


The remaining dishes were brought to the table together. These were equally delicious and provided a range of flavours and textures. They included:

Curry of grilled pork and green banana.



Stir-fried chicken with baby aubergine, bamboo shoots, mushroom and orange chilli.


Salad of green Mekong samphire with grilled squid and prawn.


Crispy fish cake and soft-boiled egg.


Pork rib soup - I love eating meat on the bone, but sadly in this dish the bones were so overcooked that they disintegrated in the mouth, which was not great.


For "pre-dessert", there was a serving of jack fruit with coconut cream, shaved ice, red water chestnut, jasmine syrup and sweet corn. Dessert was gorgeously presented but in terms of flavour, it was a little disappointing in my opinion. We had custard apple with coconut milk, peanut toffee, herbal jelly, guava and pomelo, with Bolan signature tea.


What to Do

Bangkok is a major capital city, with hundreds of options for entertainment, temples,
palaces and sightseeing.  The list below is by no means comprehensive, but include a few of the activities I experienced on my latest trip.  Some other options worth exploring are the Royal Palace, and a number of major museums. A few options close to the restaurants and hotels featured here are below.

Wat Po Thai Massage

Close to the Cabochon Hotel and Bolan is the Wat Po Thai Massage School on Sukhumvit Road. This is a great place to get an authentic Thai massage from expert instructors, at the almost unbelievable price of £3 per hour. There are locker facilities, and clean pyjamas are provided for the oil-free massage. If you are interested, they also offer a 5-day course so that you can learn how to do Thai massage yourself.


Jim Thompson House

Not far from The Siam Hotel, Jim Thompson's House is a must-see place in Bangkok.  The home of a self-made American entrepreneur who founded the Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company, it is made from six traditional Thai-style houses constucted from teak which the owner purchased from various parts of Thailand, and was completed in 1959.  In 1967, Jim Thompson went on holiday with friends to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia (reviewed here).  There he set out for a walk in the surrounding jungle but never returned. Thus began the Jim Thompson legend.  Today, his house is a stunning place to visit, stylishly blending Thai and Burmese artefacts with Italian black and white marble tiles to create a harmonious and unique home. There is also a fine restaurant and shop.

The Siam Hotel Excursions


The hotel offers river excursions which can be arranged at the front desk, as well as cookery classes for up to 6 people at their riverside Chon restaurant, which includes a market tour followed by the class and lunch. They also provide private barge tours. They provide a booklet of recommendations in the room for off the beaten track restaurants, shops and antiques.

The beautiful House of Chao for fantastic Asian antiques

Travel Essentials

The Siam Hotel
3/2 Thanon Khao
Vachirapayabal, Dusit
Bangkok 10300
Thailand
T +66 (0) 2206-6999
F +66 (0) 2206-6998
E info@thesiamhotel.com
http://www.thesiamhotel.com

Rooms cost from £280 per night, and the Riverside Suites that we stayed in cost around £440 per night.  You can book direct, and the hotel is also offered on trips with the business travel group Cleveland Travel (www.clevelandtravel.co.uk) and Cox & King's (www.coxandkings.co.uk)

Issaya Siamese Club
4 Soi Sri Aksorn, Chua Ploeng Road, Sathorn, Bangkok.
Telephone: +66 (0)2 672 9040-1
Email: contact@issaya.com
http://www.issaya.com/issaya-index.php

Benjaron Royal Thai Cuisine at the Dusit Thani Hotel
946 Rama IV Road
Bangkok 10500
T: +66 (0) 2200 9000 ext. 2699
E-mail: dtbkfbth@dusit.com
http://www.dusit.com/dusit-thani/en/dusit-thani-bangkok-restaurants-a-bars/benjarong.html

Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant at the Cabochon Hotel
14/29 Sukhumvit 45 Road
Klongton Nua, Wattana
Bangkok 10110
Tel : +66 2259 2871-3 Fax
info@cabochonhotel.com
www.cabochonhotel.com

Bo.Lan Restaurant
42 Sukhumvit 26
Soi Pichai Ronnarong Songkram Klongtoey
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Phone:+66 2 260 2962
http://www.bolan.co.th

Wat Po Thai Massage
Various branches in Bangkok and Chang Mai
http://www.watpomassage.com/2014/index.php

Jim Thompson House
6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama 1 Road
Bangkok
Tel: (662) 216-7368
http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/index.asp

House of Chao
9/1 Decho Road
Silom
Bangkok
Thailand
(BTS Chong Nonsi)
Contact: 00 66 2 6357188

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London Restaurant Reviews - Pieds Nus

January 7, 2014, 12:30 am
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Name: Pieds Nus

Where: 19 Blandford St, London W1U 3DG, www.piedsnus.co.uk

Cost: Small plates (to be shared) range from £2.50 to £12.95, desserts from £1.50 to £8.95.

About: Pieds Nus is the pop-up restaurant opened in late 2013 just off Marylebone High Street by David Moore, owner of Michelin starred restaurants Pied à Terre and L'Autre Pied.


I visited it for the first time in October 2013 with a friend soon after it opened, and enjoyed it so much I hurried back for a second visit last week.

Pieds Nus has a laid-back and casual feel about it, the décor is unpretentious but tasteful, with subdued lighting creating a restful atmosphere. The idea behind Pieds Nus is to provide food reflecting David Moore’s culinary background in a less formal set-up. The menu is divided into 2 appetizers, 3 vegetable dishes, 3 fish and 4 meat dishes, all intended for sharing.


The head chef is Ed Dutton, who worked with David Moore at Pied à Terre on Charlotte St for two years, and was head chef at Tom Aikens Restaurant.


Interestingly, the temperatures used for cooking the fish and meat dishes are stated against each item on the menu, 42°C for the confit salmon or 82.2°C for the spiced lamb neck for example (nothing being cooked over 100°C) indicating great care and thought for the ingredients used.


What We Ate: Faced with a small but tantalising menu, and feeling somewhat indecisive, we opted to try the whole lot save for the desserts.

We started with a glass of bubbly and a couple of appetizers - the moradas cornicabra olives (2.50) and a platter of thinly cut Iberian ham (Paleta Iberica D.O. Bellota Reserva £10.95), made from top grade, acorn-fed Iberian pigs. The slivers were extremely fine and marbled, with a magnificent texture and flavour.


To accompany our appetizers and most of our small eats, we also had a basket of warm and freshly baked breads (£4.50) including bacon and onion brioche, black onion seed flat bread, and milk loaf, which were fantastic with a serving of humus.

Our first vegetable dish was the pickled, raw and charred vegetables with celeriac oil and truffle (£9.50), which was beautiful in its presentation, and had a joyous extravagance of crunchy, crisp and creamy textures.


Baby artichoke, wild mushrooms and pine nuts (£7.50) was also very good, with the artichokes sliced in half and charred, and partnered with a medley of wild mushrooms.


The slow cooked duck egg with riced potato and Belper Knolle cheese (£6.50) was probably my favourite of the vegetable dishes - light and airy, but richly flavoured with cheese and truffle shavings, all brought together by a lightly cooked and still very runny duck egg yolk.


Alas the scallop dish was not available on the night we were there, but we didn’t do too badly ordering the seared yellow fin tuna with pepper and black olive (£12.00) instead. The tuna was wonderfully fresh and tender, and served as perfect, pepper encrusted discs on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes, black olives and chives.


The confit salmon, gently poached in a water bath at 42°C, was luscious and meltingly tender served with deep-fried shavings of cauliflower and pink grapefruit (£8.50). The cucumber "noodles" were a refreshing addition providing also a surprising texture.


The meat options started on an excellent note with the beef tartare with smoked eel (£11.95). I am sucker for good steak tartare, but this took the classic into new territory with the beef hand chopped, the raw egg yolk replaced by tiny crispy quail eggs, and a streak of wasabi cream to bring a touch of heat.


Next was the 62°C poached rose veal with celeriac choucroute and truffle (£12.95). This was my favourite of all the meat dishes; the veal was tender and delicately flavoured with truffle shavings.


The 12-hour 98°C slow cooked pig belly with potato and carrot (£11.95) was very good too, with a perfectly crisp and crunchy skin, flavoursome meat and delicate curls of poached and pureed carrot.


Finally came the spiced lamb neck with aubergine and couscous (£11.95). The lamb was delicate, flavoured but not overwhelmed by the Maghreb spices (cumin, cinnamon, paprika and saffron), and served with a glossy aubergine sauce.


By the time dessert came, we had little room left, but shared a magnificent dessert of banana Financier with maple syrup and banana ice cream (£6.50). This was outstandingly good, beautifully presented with the ice cream sitting on a sweetly crunchy base, and a perfect crisp but almost vanishingly thin layer of caramel on banana slices.


We then had a couple of small doughnuts (£1.50 each), which were light and crispy, with a generous dusting of sugar and cinnamon.


What We Drank: The wine list is well thought out and very reasonably priced with entry level wines starting from £19.50 and other excellent choices below the £30 mark (including a Rias Baixas Albariño for £25.50). We had a glass of sparkling Pinot Noir 2012 from Cordillera, Miguel Torres, Chile (£5.50 per glass or £25 per bottle) with our appetizers, which was a good aperitif.

With our main meal, we shared a bottle of Montlouis sur Loire 2012, from Clos du Breuil, F Chidaine (£42). This was a lovely dry Chenin Blanc from Touraine in the Loire valley, with tart green apple flavours and excellent minerality.  It stood up well to the range of flavours in our meal.


We also had a couple of glasses of 2008 Rioja Reserva Bodegas Ostatu (£8 per glass or £39 per bottle) with the spiced lamb neck. This had blackberry and vanilla notes, and great intensity and depth of flavour.

All wines were selected by Arina Graham, the restaurant manager, and were excellent choices in our opinion.

Likes: Great cooking by Ed Dutton, very good and well price wine list, casual but tasteful restaurant in the heart of plush Marylebone. Excellent service and the best banana dessert I have tried (Banana Financiers), worth crossing the City for!

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: An excellent pop-up restaurant in Marylebone, with a well-priced, small but delicious menu and a great wine list.  Hurry to get there because it is scheduled to close in April 2014!

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The London Foodie Goes to Estonia - Tallinn

January 14, 2014, 12:30 am
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After a brief spell of independence between 1918 and 1940, Estonia fell under Soviet occupation until 1991, when it re-gained its sovereignty. Estonians were quick off the mark to restore the country to the beautiful and highly cultured nation it used to be, and today, Estonia is also one of most technologically advanced states of the European Union, which it joined in May 2004. In 2011, the country joined the Eurozone and its capital, Tallinn, was European Capital of Culture.

Tallinn Skyline

Possibly the main tourist destination of the Baltic Region, Estonia is sandwiched between Russia, Scandinavia and other Baltic nations. Home to Arvo Pärt, one of the giants of contemporary classical music, and the nation that gave Skype to the world, I was thrilled to be invited by the Estonian Tourist Board to this intriguing part of Europe to discover and report what culinary surprises the country had in store for Tallinn Restaurant Week.


In its 3rd year, Tallinn Restaurant Week is a festival that brings together some of the best restaurants of the Estonian capital - 35 restaurants were taking part in 2013. Like the London festival that we have come to anticipate each year, Tallinn’s offers a multitude of meals specially designed for the week’s festival; some of these are excellent value too. If you thought that all there was to Estonia’s culinary legacy were sauerkraut, pork knuckle and boiled potatoes, think again and read on.


Whether or not you will travel the earth for that perfect meal, Tallinn still merits a visit for it is one of the most beautiful and well-maintained medieval towns of Northern Europe. With direct, 3-hour flights from London’s Gatwick, Tallinn is easily accessible and a perfect City break for a long weekend away from home.

Russian Orthodox Church


The heart of Tallinn is its Medieval Old Town, a fairytale neighbourhood of gabled houses, gothic spires and cobblestone streets that dates back to the 13th century. But as much as Tallinners pride themselves on their city’s medieval heritage, it is the modern side of the city which I found most inspiring.

Tallinn's Medieval Old Town

In addition to being one of Europe’s most technology-oriented cities where Skype was invented, Tallinn offers free public wi-fi, and is where parking payment via text messages or sms was first introduced. Tallinn is also the first European capital offering free public transport for its residents since 2013.


Tallinn is a highly compact city, most of which can be easily explored on foot without the need for taxis or buses. Most of the sightseeing attractions, cultural events, dining, shopping and nightlife are located within the Old Town.


I spent the few hours I had between the various restaurant meals meandering up and down the narrow cobblestone streets of the Old Town, taking in the sights of this enchanting place (while trying to burn up some of my newly acquired calories). With my TallinnCard in hand (€24 for 24 hours/€32 for 48 hours), I was hopping on and off one of the city’s sightseeing bus tours as well as enjoying free access to many of its museums, galleries and other attractions.


If you are planning a City break in 2014, I recommend Tallinn as a destination - you will not be short of things to do and see but most importantly, there will be plenty of fantastic food to enjoy!


Where to Eat in Tallinn

Tchaikovsky

One of the city’s fine-dining restaurants located at the historic, 5-star Telegraaf Hotel in the Old Town, Tchaikovskyserves a fusion of Russian-French cuisines in very plush surroundings.


The restaurant has been listed as Tallin’s no.1 restaurant (and Estonia’s 2nd) among The 50 Best Restaurants in Estonia, a list compiled by the country’s top restaurateurs and other relevant figures in the industry.


Executive chef Vladislav Djatuk, an Estonian of Russian parents, heads the busy kitchen and was kind enough to welcome me into his restaurant to try his seasonal 6-course tasting menu (€72/£60).


We kicked off with a refreshing and exquisitely presented crab salad with avocado and passion fruit hollandaise. The combination of colours and textures in this salad was truly a work of art.


This was followed by wild mushroom “pelmeni” and cheese gratin with potato espuma. The dumpling pastry was freshly made and very delicate, the perfect casing for the earthy mushroom – pelmeni like I have never tasted.


For main course, I had a roasted cod fillet with shavings of pumpkin, baby carrots, langoustine and beurre blanc, which again was beautifully presented and delicious.


The roasted venison fillet was next. This was served with chokeberry, Jerusalem artichoke, fondant potato and cauliflower in a rich Madeira sauce. This was a wonderful main course, the venison was tender and flavoursome, and was a perfect partner to the Chateauneuf du Pape I enjoyed it with.


As would be expected for a restaurant of this calibre, the wine list was well designed and comprehensive. I enjoyed a 2010 bottle of Mersault by Louis Jadot with my starters and roast cod, which was a great suggestion by the sommelier.

After the cheese course, I had one of the restaurant’s signature desserts – the Pavlova à la Tchaikovsky. This was a ravishing concoction of crumbly meringue, fresh cut fruit and flowers, and raspberry sorbet which was refreshing and a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.


I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner at Tchaikovsky, shortly after landing in Tallinn. The tasting menu I tried at the restaurant was of 1 or possibly 2 Michelin starred quality (the Michelin Guide has not yet ranked any restaurants in the country), and it cost a fraction of any similar meal in London.

Neh

Neh is the city bistro of the country’s much acclaimed Pädaste Manor, a historic 15th century Baltic estate located in an unspoilt nature reserve on Muhu Island in the Baltic Sea. The small luxury hotel and spa at Pädaste Manor houses the restaurant Alexander, listed as the top restaurant in the country.


At Neh, respect for Nordic Islands’ cuisine is clear, with food and produce from Muhu, as well as other neighbouring islands.  This style of cooking makes great use of smoking, pickling, drying and salting which is part of the indigenous heritage. Excellent quality lamb and pork, as well as game such as venison, moose and wild boar are abundant. Neh features fresh fish from Pädaste Manor, as well as wild greens and herbs from the forest, fields and beach of the estate.


The dining style at Neh is rather more casual than at Alexander I am told, and prices are more affordable. We sat at the Chef’s Table in the restaurant kitchen, which can be reserved for parties of up to 5 people for a set fee of €295/£244 or £49 per head for a six-course dinner. Other menus and price options are available.

Chef's Table at Neh

Danish Head Chef Yves Le Lay is the man in charge of Neh’s kitchen, whom I had the pleasure of meeting to chat about Nordic islands’ cuisine, but more importantly to try some of his creations.


We started with a platter of local tapas, aptly named “Made in Muhu” (£15 for 2 people). This consisted of a delectable selection of Muhu’s best bites - smoked moose, cured venison, smoked Baltic herring, smoked cod mousse, chicken liver mousse, whipped butter and pickled cucumber.


The beef heart tartare (£12) was served next. Beautifully presented and well seasoned, it also had marinated wild garlic and droplets of sous-vide egg.


This was followed by the “free-range egg 100 minutes” (£8), a gently sous-vide egg, served with salt roasted tuhlis potatoes (a local variety) and spiced Baltic sprat. Packed with flavour, this was a creamy, warming and comforting dish.


For main course, I had a pan-fried pike perch (£16) served with a parsley chlorophyll dressing, roasted cauliflower and cherry tomatoes. This was a simple and very well made dish with the quality of the ingredients coming through perfectly.


The sea-buckthorn posset (£6) with burnt butter-spelt crumble was a refreshing dessert that ended a perfect meal on a good note.


The meal at Neh was not only delicious but also an amazing educational experience for me – I learnt and got to try the Nordic Islands’ cooking and some of the native ingredients used by Chef Yves Le Lay. I could see some resonance to Japanese cooking, particularly in the use of pickling, drying and fermenting, which bring out the umami and concentration of flavour of ingredients. As with Japanese food, the ingredients were key to the dishes we had and were also of excellent quality and freshness.

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Neh; the restaurant is a must for anyone visiting Tallinn and who would like to learn about the native Nordic Islands’ cuisine. I cannot wait to try Alexander at Pädaste Manor on another occasion soon.

Leib Resto ja Aed (Bread Restaurant  & Garden)

If I only had one meal in Tallinn, I would probably make Leib Resto ja Aed the one.


This was my favourite restaurant in town – it was also the 3rd restaurant that I visited for lunch that day (yes, my 3rd lunch that day), and I still remember vividly, every mouthful I had that afternoon.

The food was exquisite and unpretentious – local, fantastic produce, simply but beautifully cooked and paired with some great wines. Partners Kristjan Peäske, an award winning sommelier, and head chef Janno Lepik a former Londoner who worked at Rhodes W1 and Babylon, have a winning formula and are bringing a fresh and modern perspective to Estonian cuisine.


I met Janno who was kind enough to explain the idea behind Leib Resto ja Aed and chat about Estonian cuisine. The food menu is very reasonably priced with starters costing from £3.75 to £6.70, main courses around £7 to £17.50 and desserts from £3.50 to £7.50. The wine list is also comprehensive and well thought out reflecting Kristjan’s contribution to the partnership. Every dish on the menu can be paired with a matching glass of wine available to order.

Chef Janno Lepik

The restaurant opened two and half years ago and has a large garden, which I am told is the place to be during the summer months. In addition to the freshly baked bread for which the restaurant is famous, there is always, weather permitting, something being cooked on the garden grill.

I started with a dish of potted trout (£6.50) served with bread and a salad of pickled onions, cucumber and beet leaves. The combination of flavours was really well thought out, with the different elements of the dish complementing each other. The potted trout was paired with a 2011 white Rioja by Luis Cañas made from old Viura and Malvasia vines, which had enough body to work a treat with the trout and pickled onions.



I have a real weakness for bone marrow, and so Leib’s roasted bone marrow (£5.80) served with gherkin-onion salad and toast had to be ordered. This was also fantastic, the meaty flavours heightened by the addition of horseradish cream and a concentrated red wine jus. I had this with a glass of 2009 Chardonnay by Chateau Ste Michelle from Washington State (US), an unusual pairing which worked well in my opinion.



For main course, I had Janno’s overnight cooked lamb neck from Rägavere Manor (£13.25) served with pearl barley and beetroot cream. Flavoursome, tender and very succulent, words fail me to express how delicious this was. Expertly matched with a 10 year old 2003 Laudum Gran Reserva from Alicante, made from Cabernet Sauvigon, Monastrell and Merlot varietals aged in French and American oak, it was a combination made in heaven.


I was sadly too full for dessert, but hope to be returning to Leib Resto ja Aed in the near future for more of Janno’s top nosh, Kristjan’s faultess wine cellar, and the best of Estonian hospitality (and of course dessert!). Very highly recommended.

Chedi

Singaporean Goh Wee Boon, a former Hakkasan sous-chef (aka Simon), heads the kitchen at Chedi. This is Tallinn’s answer to Chinese fine-dining championed by Hakkasan and Yuatcha in London.


Chedi is a beautiful and elegant restaurant with prices to match. The food was exquisite, the dim sum made on the premises, and the service second to none. The pricing however seemed not in keeping with similar establishments in London.


The baked venison puff (£9), was as good as I remember having at Hakkasan – the pastry was fresh and the meat filling, sweet and well seasoned. The price however for 2 dumplings (not 3) was in my opinion excessive.


The dim sum platter contained prawn-bamboo with XO sauce and goji berry and prawn-scallop filling (£9.50) which were light and very delicious, but again eye-wateringly expensive.


I met Head Chef Goh and visited his kitchen to watch him prepare one of the restaurant’s signature dishes - stir-fried, black pepper rib eye beef with Merlot sauce (£19) which was delicious and gorgeously presented.


Bocca

A couple of doors down from the Chedi, Bocca is one of the most popular and highly regarded Italian restaurants in Tallinn. I met Italian Head Chef Nicolo Tanda, a native of Sardinia, and had a fantastic meal with him there.


We started with a magnificent dish of scallop and king prawn with asparagus in a delicate white wine and ginger sauce (£13). The foie gras with cognac seasoned fig and melon in blackberry sauce (£13) was also delicious and beautifully presented.


The grilled rack of lamb (£22.50) flavoured with a crust of almonds and myriad herbs including parsley, thyme, oregano and basil was sensational, the meat perfectly cooked. It was served with a delicious goat’s cheese terrine and blackberry sauce and a glass or two of San Jacopo Chianti Classico, one of Chef Nicolo’s favourite wines on his menu.



To round off, I had a deliciously zingy and refreshing Sorrento Lemon Tart (£5). Creamy and very moreish, this was also expertly made.


Italian food is one of my favourite cuisines but I am rarely impressed by Italian restaurants in London or abroad. My meal at Bocca was however exquisite – the food was faultless and as delicious as (if not better than) a lot that I had while living in Italy. Highly recommended.

Travel Essentials

Estonia Tourist Board
Lasnamäe 2
11412 Tallinn
Estonia
Telephone +372 6279 770
tourism@eas.ee

Visit Estonia
http://www.visitestonia.com/en

Visit Tallinn
http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee/eng

Tallinn Restaurant Week
http://www.tallinnrestaurantweek.ee/en/

The 50 Best Restaurants List (Estonia)
http://www.flavoursofestonia.com/eng/restaurants#2013

Tchaikovisky
Vene 9, Tallinn
Phone: 6000610
tchaikovsky@telegraafhotel.com
www.telegraafhotel.com

Neh
Lootsi 4, Tallinn
Phone: 6022222
info@neh.ee 
www.neh.ee

Leib Resto ja Aed
Uus 31, Tallinn
Phone: +372 6119026
info@leibresto.ee
www.leibresto.ee

Chedi
Sulevimägi 1, Tallinn
Phone: 6461676
info@chedi.ee
www.chedi.ee

Bocca
Olevimägi 9, Tallinn
Phone: +372 6117290
bocca@bocca.ee

www.bocca.ee
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