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June 27th, 2011 Category: Bistro (££-£££) 
I tremendously enjoyed some of the dishes I had at the Opera Tavern earlier this month and was therefore keen to try its two older siblings Salt Yard and Dehesa. All three restaurants serve a range of charcuterie and tapas-style dishes with strong Spanish and some Italian influence. While dishes like the pork and foie gras burger at the Opera Tavern were amongst the best things I have eaten in the past few months and showed signs of true genius, Salt Yard was a disappointment in comparison.
All the non-cooked dishes such as Serano ham and cheese were highly enjoyable, but Salt Yard was let down by the dishes that required preparing.
 Padron Pepper (4.25)
We nibbled some Padron Pepper (4.25) while choosing the wine and these were good and nicely seasoned, if a bit too oily for my liking. Read more... (622 words, 8 images, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)
June 25th, 2011 Recently I really fancied ice cream. This must have had to do with the cold weather and the rain, as I am a very contrarian person. Whatever the reason was, I finally sampled 2 of the most talked about ice cream parlors in London which are Snog for the healthy option of frozen yogurt and Gelupo for Italian gelato.
Read more... (666 words, 9 images, estimated 2:40 mins reading time)
SNOG (Chelsea, King’s Road)
- Category: Ice Cream
- Rating: 6/10
June 23rd, 2011 Category: Cafe (but an expensive one £££)
On a sunny and warm afternoon in the middle of Covent Garden it is usually very difficult to get a table somewhere. Surprisingly not at Laduree, which might have to do with their rather astronomical prices for cakes, ice cream and of course its famous macaroons. Laduree is a French luxury tea room chain which has two more subsidiaries in London, the most famous being at Harrods.
 Read more... (403 words, 6 images, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)
June 21st, 2011 What do you do when your some of your friends and favourite food bloggers decide to join forces and found the first pan-Asian supper club in London? You are very happy, hurry there and eat!
Uyen from LoveLeluu, Luiz from The London Foodie, May from SlowFoodKitchen and MiMi from Meemalee’s Kitchen cover quite a bit of Asia between them. Even though they are all Londoner’s, Uyen is born in Vietnam, Luiz has Japanese parents, MiMi is originally from Burma and May from Malaysia. The idea is that each chef cooks one dish of his or her country’s cuisine. This means less stress for the supper clubbers and even more pleasure for the guests. Read more... (698 words, 10 images, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)
June 19th, 2011 Category: Haute Cuisine (££££)  
I took someone close to my heart for a birthday dinner at Galvin at Windows. I wanted a very special evening with romantic atmosphere (which I got), impeccable service (which I got), stunning views over London (I got them too) and excellent food (which I didn’t get).
Who gave this place a Michelin star I wonder? Either there were larger sums of bribery involved, or Galvin at Windows just stopped putting any effort into their food after they had achieved their first star in 2010. There is of course always the discussion to which extent Michelin stars reflect the quality of the food in a restaurant, but it still hardly ever happened to me that a Michelin starred place served food that was actually bordering on bad.
But let’s start with the things that I liked (because I am a nice blog):
The views:
The restaurant is located in the 28 floor of the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane with spectacular views over London. At least they would have been stunning if it hadn’t been for the apocalyptic downpour, but this is something I can’t really blame the restaurant for, can I.
The Ambiance:
Some people don’t like restaurants in hotels and think it affects the atmosphere. In my opinion this is true to some extent as hotel restaurants are usually generic and lack any edge. Even though this applied to Galvin as well, I still enjoyed the bright and spacious room and of course the view. Read more... (874 words, 14 images, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)
June 16th, 2011 Category: Bistro+ (££-£££) 
Opera Tavern is the second Spanish/ Tapas restaurant I have been to in a very short period of time. I have to admit that Tapas are not my favourite thing in the world, but even I got finally infected by the Tapas virus taking London by storm. While Tapas Brindisa in Soho was clearly nothing to write home about, I did enjoy almost everything about Opera Tavern in the heart of Convent Garden. It bodes well that team behind Opera Tavern is also behind the popular and highly regarded Salt Yard and Dehesa.
You can eat informally or even more informally at Opera Tavern. The bar area downstairs in straight view of the new Shrek musical (enough to drive me to drink) was buzzing and crowded on a Friday evening. We booked a table upstairs in the restaurant part which is more sedate but at the same time you might be able to enjoy your food without someone knocking it over or having an elbow in your side and also conversation might be possible.
Most of the food I really liked, in fact there were a couple of ‘to die for’ dishes which made me forgive some of the rather mediocre ones. I was told by a local that one ‘needs to know what to order’ at the Opera Tavern to avoid disappointment. I apparently knew what to order, as I was overall very happy, but mind, you I did ask my friend and Twitter for recommendations. Read more... (793 words, 9 images, estimated 3:10 mins reading time)
June 14th, 2011 Category: Le Budget (£)
Tayyabs is a real London institution as it is the case for few other cheap ethnic haunts. Not far from Whitechapel Tube Station, this inconspicouus restaurant is tucked away in a little backstreet. That said, Tayyabs would be inconspicuous, if it wasn’t for the hordes of people patiently waiting in front for their share of Punjabi Pakistani food.
Tayyabs was founded more than 30 years ago and has been growing from a local cafe to one of the places you have to visit in London before you die (or before you leave, which some people might argue is the same). It does not have an alcohol license and what adds to its incredible value is there is no corkage charge for bringing a bottle or two.
Finally it was my time to pay Tayyabs a visit. When you are disorganised enough to go on a Saturday evening like yours truly, be prepared to queue at least 30 minutes. Even though the turnover is high, there are a lot of people queuing too…
As soon as we were seated we got served poppadoms with raw cucumber, onion and tomato and a selection of very tasty chutneys (mango, rajita and a tomato chili one), and this for free! I The menu is small and easily fits on one double-page – there is selection of tandoori dishes, some meat and fish curries and some vegetable dishes. Apparently the lamb chops (6) are a must at Tayyabs. They came sizzling hot (a portion consists of 4 chops) and full of wonderful flavours from the tandoori grill, unfortunately they were borderline to completely overdone. While I was not fully convinced about the reason for Tayyabs cult status after these chops, I was fully taken by the wonderful garlic naan (2) which was light, soft and fluffy with just the right amount of garlic. Read more... (491 words, 7 images, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)
June 12th, 2011 Category: Bistro
Every restaurant that serves you 3 excellent courses for 19 pounds (Sun-Thu before 19:30) deserves a very honorable mention. If you get some added entertainment for another 5 pounds – that’s even better!
This is the package you get at Bistroteque in Bethnal Green, located in a little side street just off Cambridge Heath Road. You have to pay some attention not to walk past the inconspicuous entryway, but when you have finally found your destination you are rewarded with a modern, bright and spacious dining room with high ceilings. Since I have moved to London I am a sucker for big open spaces. Compared to Vienna where I used to live before everything in London is so crammed together and I really miss the feeling of vastness and space. Certainly no reason for claustrophobia at Bistroteque.
There were a range of really attractive sounding dishes on the Prix Fix Menu, so no reason to order from the a la carte.
The Stichelton, Pear, Pine Nut, Chicory, Spinach starter turned out to be delicious. Read more... (620 words, 10 images, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)
June 11th, 2011 Category: Bistro (££)
I had a blind date meeting the lovely Skinny Bib for the first time at Tapas Brindisa. (Look at the Skinny Bib’s excellent write up here, I almost have nothing to add!) Unfortunately the food was not as pleasant as the company.
Tapas Brindisa in Soho has just opened a couple of weeks ago (there was ‘Tierra Brindisa’ before) and we went in the soft opening period with 20% off the food. Its older brother on the corner of Borough Market has been around what seems like forever and is always completely packed. I ate there once and was not as blown away by the food as many others. Mind you, Spanish is not my favourite cuisine and so I might need a little bit more then just ‘good’ to convince me.
Convinced I was not by new Tapas Brindisa. But let’s start with the some positive notes. I did love the space of the Soho joint which is bright with rustic wood furniture and direct view of the kitchen. We went on a sunny day and the room was bathed in beautiful light.
But now the food. For me the highlight of the meal was the the Pan de Coca (3.50), basically pan con tomate which I couldn’t get enough of on my holiday in Catalonia. Toasted country bread is rubbed with garlic and ripe tomato and drizzled with olive oil. Yum! But in the end it’s just bread and doesn’t require a huge amount of cooking skill. I rather liked the Padron Peppers (3.50). Apart from the amazing colour, they were nicely seasoned and non-greasy. An excellent bar snack. I am glad my dinner companion insisted on the Iberico de Bellota Ham (22) which was lean and beautifully flavoured. Not cheap though! I am not a ham expert at all so I can’t judge if it REALLY was worth 22 pounds. I kind of doubt it though. Read more... (680 words, 8 images, estimated 2:43 mins reading time)
June 8th, 2011 After literally DAYS of work I have now finished my food map – all the restaurants I have reviewed including rating and link to the review.
I have no idea if anyone is ever going to use it, but I am terribly proud of it. Please tell me you like it…!
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