THE LITTLE YELLOW DOOR

There's nothing more fun than eating at a pop up - every time is something different so you never quite know what to expect. I love them so much that I started doing my own one just over a year ago, and when I was invited to The Little Yellow Door in Notting Hill for an evening of drinks, bloggers and food by The Wandering Chef I couldn't resist.

I arrived at The Little Yellow Door - which is just that, on the wettest, windiest Wednesday for a while and was practically blown up the stairs when the door opened. Regaining my composure, my coat was taken and I was given a block of lego in return which would be exchanged for my first drink of the evening. The Little Yellow Door is a licensed premises, set out like someone's living room. There's an eclectic mix of furniture and art around the room, which has 2 long tables at one end, the bar at the other, and a huge projector halfway down the room playing The Big Lebowski. Menus are hidden inside magazines which cover the coffee tables at the bar end of the room. We were warmly welcomed in by the "flatmates" who made sure we had everything we needed including our first drink - The Libertine - an Earl Grey infused gin, lemon, gomme and egg white cocktail served in a china teacup that was a strong as it was sharp, and utterly delicious. This was swiftly followed with a house punch, an ever changing recipe served out of a huge silver urn on the bar. Last Wednesday's was a fruity and refreshing concoction. No sooner had I said hi to London blogger Angie who had organised the night, than it was time to take our seats for the meal.

The Little Yellow Door is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and though we were there on a Wednesday, we had the "Friday night experience" - where drinks are served and food is a feast of a meal at the tables, before the room is transformed for the after party. You need to book in advance to eat there and tickets are available here. Thursdays and Saturdays focus more on drinking than eating, but TLYD are launching a weekly Wednesday night mid-week dinner from the 11^th February.

So time for the food - I don't know what I was expecting but for some reason I didn't think I would be bowled over by the food (and I also didn't know beforehand that it was The Wandering Chef)- I stand corrected! The food was seriously good, and the Italian feast we were served went something like this:

Starters were platters of burrata with mint pesto, cured tomatoes, smoked aubergine, confit onions and rye crisps; prosciutto, lardo, peach, basil and almonds; smoked beef carpaccio, mustard dressing, crispy capers  and salted ricotta - my favourite of the starters, I can't get enough of capers!; and arancini of mushroom and asparagus with truffle and porcini mayonnaise. This set the tone of the evening - fabulous ingredients, cooked perfectly that packed a massive flavour punch.

Next was the first course of egg tagliatelle with spiced duck ragu, made with duck leg and livers. So rich and delicious, the sauce was wonderful.

Main course was belly porcetta with caponata, pickled baby vegetables, sultanas, capers and pine nuts. The balance of sweet and sour was excellent with the rich pork that was cooked to perfection and I loved the fact that it was served without carbs - we'd had our fill of those with the duck ragu, and I wouldn't have been able to eat pudding if the main had been bulked out.

With just a tiny bit of room left it was pudding time - a trio of mini sweets - Sicilian cannelloni with fruit peel and pistachios; pine nut caramel tart with Marsala raisins; and chocolate and tiramisu panna cotta, topped with amaretti biscuits.

I loved all the puddings but I think my favourite of these was the pine nut tart - a brilliant take on treacle tart, topped with a boozy, jammy raisin puree.

Last but not least was coffee and cigarettes - an espresso martini made with Grand Brulot, espresso coffee and tobacco gomme, served with a cigarette and a box of matches, which went down particularly well with me as I think I was the only smoker there!!

After dinner we went back to the bar for some cocktail pyrotechnics which involved a lot (more) booze and some icing sugar, and made for quite a spectacular end to a really fun night out. I'll be back at The Little Yellow Door soon, but want to make it on a Friday night so I can really get stuck in to those cocktails without worrying about work the next morning!