YAUATCHA, SOHO

Without a doubt my favourite Chinese meals in London have been at HKK which has sadly recently closed it's doors. Part of the Hakkasan Group, and with its own Michelin star, it was a smart but friendly and very slick Chinese doing fixed menus to die for. Beautiful plates of food each with their own story and history were paired perfectly with drinks, giving you a meal and a night to remember on every visit. So having shed a little tear about its closing, it was time to find my new favourite Hakkasan restaurant. And when I was invited to check out Yauatcha in Soho, my problems were solved!

I'd heard good things, and they too have their own star, so I headed down to Soho, to see if it could live up to my HKK dreams.

Yauatcha have two sites in London - Soho and Broadgate Circle in the City. The Soho site is vast. A large, bright open ground floor level, with a slightly darker, moodier cavernous sprawling out downstairs. We sat on the ground floor level and kicked things off with tangy, refreshing mocktail (it was pre Kili and I was on a bit of a cleanse!) Closely followed by plate after plate of incredible food. I'd found my "new" HKK!

We started with one of my favorites - the venison puff. I order these whenever I go for dim sum and Yauatcha's were the best I've tried. Light, flaky pastry encased rich, gamey venison meat, so soft it all just melted in the mouth. Dunked in a ludicrous amount of chilli oil I could eat these more often than I should! Whenever I think of dim sum an image of steamed, light dumplings comes to mind, but whenever I get to a dim sum restaurant it's these that are first on the list. The wagyu beef version that Yauatcha do is also excellent - a strong meaty, fatty alternative to the gamey venison. 

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TEMPER, SOHO

I don't normally go to a new restaurant three times before I review it but for one reason or another that's what happened with new meat joint Temper in Soho. No big deal, because I love it, so I'll be back many more times too! Temper is a massive and beautiful basement restaurant with booths, tables and 'at the counter' seats where you watch all the action in the kitchen in the middle of the room. And by action I mean the huge grills and barbecues where all the meat is smoked and cooked. The restaurant brings in whole carcasses, they butcher everything on site and even make their own tacos and flatbreads that all the delicious meats are served on. 

Having been three times now I think we've tried everything on the menu, which is split into tacos; chopped, smoked and grilled meat; sides/vegetables; sauces; and sprinkles. And it really is one of those restaurants where with a group of 4 or more (with appetites like me and my friends) you can work your way through the whole menu.

My personal non-meat favourites from the tacos section are the aubergine and chipotle miso, and the crab and pickled onion pork skin, both of which come as build your own tacos. 
  

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HOT GIN ROOF, SOHO

Ham Yard Hotel in Soho are hosting a brilliant Hot Gin Roof this January and February in collaboration with gin legends Sipsmith. I headed up to the hotel's rooftop last night to have a sneaky preview on what'll be on offer and if you're a fan of gin, hot cocktails and/or exclusive secret Soho rooftops then you definitely don't want to miss this!

From 20th January to 16th February you can head up to the private roof terrace at Ham Yard Hotel to try the cocktails yourself. There's a welcome hot gin and tonic on arrival and then a hot gin cocktail of your choice to follow included in the ticket price, plus an intro by one of the Sipsmith distillery team. Which is pretty good for £18 a ticket - though book fast as I know quite a few dates have already sold out. There are two sessions each evening - 6pm and 8pm (or just 6.30pm on Sundays). There's a huge range of original and re-imagined cocktails on offer. I tried a couple - the hot Negroni was perfect, made with Sipsmith London Dry Gin, Campari, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino and Red Berry tea, and served in a teacup.

Equally as good was my Reverse Martini - a mix of Sipsmith London Dry Gin, vermouth mix, vermouth bitter and topped with a deep fried olive. Warm, punchy and delicious. 

I went to Hot Gin Roof twice last year and had a great evening both times, so if it sounds like your thing then get booking now, and maybe see you there!

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KRICKET, SOHO

I'm sure you know by now that I'm a big fan of Kricket. I've reviewed them twice, and they've appeared in my Top 10 2015 and 2016, the latter being due to the fact that they've got a new restaurant. I've been twice now since they secretly opened in Soho in December, taking Rhea with me both times so we could eat all the sharing plates of Indian food they're serving up at their new site on Denman Street. Not only is the food as good, if not better, than the original site in Brixton but the interiors are some of the most beautiful I've seen in any restaurant. I know I sound like I'm gushing, but honestly, go and visit their Soho restaurant and tell me if you don't think the same....

Our first visit was the launch night. We had a sneak peak of the restaurant and gorged on the non stop mini versions of their signature dishes that were being handed out. Starting, of course, with Keralan Fried Chicken with curry leaf mayo and deep fried curry leaves. Worth a trip for this alone. The chicken is some of the best fried chicken I've ever tasted.

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CASITA ANDINA, SOHO

Casita Andina is the newest offering from Martin Morales, who already has two Ceviche restaurants in London as well as the original Andina on Redchurch Street. Casita Andina is on Great Windmill Street in Soho and serves up Peruvian inspired sharing plates. I headed there with Lou to check it out and we loved most of what we tried. There's ceviche plates, salads, nibbles and hot food. Being one of the hottest days of the year we bagged a table on the upstairs terrace and got stuck in, starting with excellent pisco sours.

Food wise we ordered a couple of nibbles to munch on while we perused the menu - avocado fritters with panca chilli and anchovy salt were nuggets of deep fried avocado in the lightest of batters, doused in chilli and salt. Absolutely delicious. As were the cruditos - lightly pickled vegetables including baby carrots, asparagus and courgettes, on top of a wonderful broad bean puree. Such a tasty and healthy dish, I would order this just to have with drinks even if I wasn't eating there. 

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VERMOUTH ON THE ROOF, HAM YARD

Ham Yard Hotel is nestled away in the middle of Soho and is one of my favourite places to pop in to and escape the hustle and bustle of the busy tourist filled streets surrounding it. Up until the end of last year their beautiful roof terrace was only open to hotel guests, but that all changed with their winter Sipsmith rooftop pop up, and their current Vermouth on the Roof pop up that's taking place til Sunday 4th September. 

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SENOR CEVICHE, SOHO

Senor Ceviche is my kind of place for a fun night out with a girlfriend or three. It's in the perfect location for some post-shopping or pre-partying in Soho, it's fun, lively, they play great music, serve excellent cocktails and even better food that's made for sharing. I popped down with Bron a couple of weeks ago after being invited to review it and we made a pretty good dent on both the cocktail and food menu. There's something for everyone and you can have as much or as little as you like.

The food at Senor Ceviche is based around Peruvian BBQ and ceviche dishes and there's a good mix of the two on the menu. We started off with the "clasico" and the "senor ceviche" ceviches. Both are sea bream ceviche with aji limo tiger's milk, red onion, sweet potato puree and coriander, then the "senor ceviche" also has avocado, octopus and tempura baby squid. I love ceviche anyway but these were both excellent versions of it, with the tangy, fiery tiger's milk perfectly complementing the balance of fish and vegetables.

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ROUX AT THE LANDAU, MARYLEBONE

When the lovely people at The Langham Hotel got in touch and asked if I'd like to come and test out their restaurant Roux at the Landau, I already knew the exact date I wanted to go... last Friday, on our way to Paris. What better way to start a girly weekend in the French capital than a three course meal at the restaurant owned by one of my favourite chefs before we jumped on the Eurostar. Despite the big names in the kitchen and the very grand setting, there's an excellent and affordable lunch menu - 3 courses, half a bottle of wine, coffee and petit fours for £45 - that we tried out.
 
The three course lunch deal gives you three of each course to choose from. A limited but truly mouth-watering menu, it was hard to choose what to have. While we were trying to make up our minds we were brought some lovely little amuse bouche.
 

For starters, I'd been eyeing both the game terrine, chestnut, pear, rosemary brioche and foie gras butter, and the cod brandade and confit, grilled squid, preserved lemon, monk’s beard. Luckily, Lucy wanted the terrine, so I had the cod and squid, knowing I'd get to try some of her terrine too! The cod was perfect - the most delicate of flavours married together in a dish that was just divine. Each element shone through without overpowering the other. The squid was cooked exactly as it should be and was so tender, and the lovely gentle citrus notes from the preserved lemon elevated the whole dish.
 

 
Lucy's starter was also sublime. The terrine was packed full of different cuts of different meats, again, all perfectly cooked, and still so juicy, unlike many dry terrines I've had in the past elsewhere. The only disappointment of her dish was the brioche which I found too dry, maybe even a little stale, though a good dollop butter and it was less noticeable!

Mains were a choice of seabass, crab bisque, Calasparra rice, fennel and lime; roast guinea fowl, Vacherin glazed gnocchi, king cabbage and hazelnut granola; or butter poached pork belly, three corner garlic, pickled mustard seeds and mead. Lucy had the seabass with crab bisque which was good, but it was my main of pork belly, as recommended by the waiter, that was the winner. The pork itself was melt in the mouth, while the sauce had incredible depth of flavour to it and the barley was the ideal grain to mop it all up.

 

I adore rhubarb - I love the flavour and versatility of it as an ingredient, and also the fact that it's in season from January, when little else that's exciting is! So for pudding we shared a selection of the cheeses, and the stem ginger pavlova, poached Yorkshire rhubarb, sherry and rhubarb sorbet, which turned out to be one of the best desserts I've had in a while.

 

 
Roux at the Landau is fine dining at its best. Yes, it's a formal restaurant, with a big name chefs on the door, but the quality of food and standard of service you get for less than £50 a head including booze is ridiculously good. The menu changes almost weekly, so check it out and get yourselves down there for a seriously good lunch.
 

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HOPPERS, SOHO

Unless you've been living under a rock or you don't read any restaurant reviews, then I'm sure by now you've heard of Hoppers, the new spot in Soho serving Sri Lankan food from the people behind Gymhkana, Trishna, Lyle's, Bubbledogs, The Kitchen Table and Bao. Hoppers has been highly reviewed by some of the biggest names in food, and with a no booking policy its popularity has gone through the roof. I've been a couple of times now, and by the second visit they'd installed an app queuing system whereby you can leave your phone number in the queue, pop to the nearest pub/bar and wait in the warm with a drink, until you get a text saying your table's ready, rather than huddled under the awning of the building opposite as we did on our first visit. Don't let the wait/queue put you off going though - you need to try this food. As you'll see on Thursday when I post my top 10 restaurants of 2015, it's made its way on to there, which is saying something with the amount of restaurants I've been to this year. And Hoppers is ridiculously cheap, particularly if you don't drink too much (both times I've been our drinks spend has far exceeded what we've spent on food....)

And talking of drinks, what better place to start. There's a slightly weird and wonderful cocktail menu at Hoppers, and to be honest, most of them include ingredients I prefer on my plate than in my glass (curry leaf, peppercorns, cashews) so on both visits I've gone for the Hoppers gin and tonic, made with lemongrass infused Sipsmith gin, Indian lemon, lemongrass and tonic, which is a zingy and refreshing drink and a great start to the meal. I had a sip of Emily's Colombo no.7 gin and tonic (gin, fresh curry leaves, cinnamon and cardamom tonic) but much preferred mine.

 

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MAC & WILD, WEST END

 

Mac and Wild is a meat lover's dream restaurant, recently opened north of Oxford Street by street food heroes The Wild Game Company, who won "Street food of the year" at the YBFs and Best Signature Burger at the National Burger Awards 2015. They source their venison and beef, and in fact all their meat, from their own estate in Sutherland in north Scotland, and it's all butchered by founder Andy's family's butchering company.

Bron and I popped in to Mac and Wild to check out their seasonal, red meat and game heavy menu after our rum tasting with Angostura, and were very pleasantly surprised. As we both come from the West Country the rustic décor of the restaurant appealed to us immediately - there are butcher's hooks hanging from the ceiling, shotgun door handles and small tables (made out of a felled tree from Andy's parent's estate) snuggled together to eat on, all lit with candles. The menu is short and sweet - a few bites, three starters, double the number of mains and a couple of puddings.

We started with a couple of the nibbles - haggis pops with a whisky sauce, and battered fish with tartare sauce. The haggis pops were the winner, and I'd probably only order these again as two deep fried things was a bit too much deep frying to start with for me personally.

Starters were excellent. Mackerel, parsley emulsion, cucumber and cider celery. Perfectly cooked fish whose oiliness was cut through by the parsley, cucumber and apple flavours. Bron had the mushroom, brown butter and spring onion which I also loved, as did she - the mushroom flavour was so well balanced on the dish, and I really liked how they'd used big, thick slices of the almost meaty mushroom. Awful photos courtesy of candle light....

 

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MILLI'S KITCHEN SPANISH POP UP - THIS WEEK

If you're in Soho this week or next, then promise me you'll pop in to The Sun and 13 Cantons on Beak Street to try out some of Milli's amazing Spanish food?

Milli's doing a Spanish pop up at lunchtime and dinner time at The Sun and 13 Cantons, serving up delicious dishes like squid ink croquettes, sliced sirloin steak with potatoes and aubergine with honey, to name just a few. The tapas dishes range from £4-10 and there are about five vegetable, five fish and five meat dishes to choose from. They're also serving sherry, and smaller nibbles, so even if you haven't got time for a whole meal, I'd really recommend you pop in for a nibble and a drink!

Lunch is from 12-3pm Tuesday - Sunday, and dinner from 6-10pm with spaces still available on 26th, 27th and 30th October, and 2nd, 3rd (when I'm going) and 4th November. To book a table email info@milliscatering.co.uk or if you're going for lunch then just drop in.

Photos 100% stolen from Milli's blog, and taken by the wonderful Bec

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THE KITCHEN TABLE at BUBBLEDOGS

Last weekend I had a real treat. Some time at the end of last year a plan was made to visit The Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs, a chef's table run by James Knappett that won its first Michelin star last year. Obviously, with a Michelin star comes a long waiting list, so we weren't able to get a Saturday night reservation until last weekend. 10 of us had a booking for 7.30. The Kitchen Table has 2 sittings each evening,with the first group of 10 arriving at 6.30 and the next arriving at 7.30, and each group sitting round half of the counter that wraps around the central kitchen. When I heard there were 2 sittings I was worried we'd be rushed through our meal, but that's not the case at all as they stagger the sittings rather than doubling up.

The meal at The Kitchen Table comprises of 12-15 courses, each described on the menu by just 1 word that summarises that particular dish. This was the menu on our visit.

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REX AND MARIANO, SOHO

A couple of weeks ago I published this post, which was a list of restaurants I hope to visit in London this year. Some are new, some less so. The evening that post went live I was in Soho for a meeting which finished earlier than I'd expected, so I decided to pop into Rex and Mariano, one of the restaurants on my list, for a quick bite of dinner on my own. I don't eat out alone often, but actually kind of enjoy it when I do, especially when I end up sitting at the oyster bar where the executive chef of this particular restaurant group is working, and is happy to chat to me and answer my incessant questions!

Rex and Mariano is all about food from the sea. The kitchen areas are divided, as is the menu, into 3 sections - raw, grill and oyster bar, as well as a bread station, where the fresh bread made on site is sliced and served up for eager diners. The kitchens are open and sit at the back of the dining area, and you can either sit at tables in the restaurant or right up at bars along the front of each "cooking" station. The restaurant is the newest offering from the Goodman Group (Burger & Lobster, Beast and the Goodman steak houses), and was well reviewed by Jay Rayner a few days before I visited meaning it was absolutely heaving early on a Thursday evening at the beginning of February.

I was seated at the oyster bar, much to my delight, and a very chirpy waiter talked me through how to order my drinks and food. Everything is done via iPad here, which I initially thought would be a long winded, annoying process, but actually was lovely as it allowed me to pick and choose dishes at my own pace, and add on extras as the evening went on.  I started with an oyster, and some tuna tartare that I'd seen a photo of on Instagram and have been craving ever since. I only had my iPhone with me as I didn't even know I'd be eating out, so the photos may be a bit grainy, but I will be back and will take my proper camera then. I've never seen or eaten oysters as big as the ones here, they were gigantic. I ordered a rock oyster, but was convinced to try a native too, and it was bigger than my palm! All oysters are shucked to order and served on ice with lemon and red wine shallot vinegar, just at they should be. You also get a bottle of tabasco for your table.

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KANADA-YA RAMEN, SOHO

It's not often I go to a restaurant and come out declaring it's the best version of whichever food they're serving that I've tried, so it's a big deal for me to say I've found the BEST ramen that I've ever tasted, especially when it's a no-booking restaurant with food served so fast that you're in and out within 30 minutes. But that restaurant exists and it's Kanada-Ya.

I was invited to visit Kanada-Ya on a cold and rainy Wednesday evening. I arrived with Hugo at 6.30 to see a huge queue outside already, with probably more than 20 people queueing for this 24 seater ramen bar. The restaurant is small and compact with a semi open kitchen - there are bench tables in the centre and a few tables against the windows. The place is buzzing and no sooner has one table been cleared, than the next hungry diners waiting outside are ushered in.

The menu at Kanada-Ya is short and sweet. You choose from 3 options of tonkotsu (which means pork bone) ramen (noodle soup) - all made with the same creamy 18 hour pork bone broth, the toppings alternate slightly between the choices. Their three options of ramen are:

- Original ramen - broth, chashu pork belly, wood ear fungus, noodles, nori and spring onion (£10)
- Moyashi ramen - broth, chashu pork belly, wood ear fungus, noodles, nori and spring onion, topped with blanched bean sprouts (£11)
- Chashu men - broth, deluxe chashu pork collar, wood ear fungus, noodles, nori and spring onion (£12.50)

You can also add extra noodles (£1.50), black garlic sauce (£1), spicy miso (£1.50), Hanjuku egg - a soft boiled egg marinated in soy (£1.80) and extra nori (£0.50). We both went for the Chashu men with spicy miso, and an egg for me. You can also choose how you want your noodles cooked - extra firm, firm, regular or soft. Hugo went for firm and I had regular. The wait between ordering your ramen and it arriving at the table was less than 5 minutes. And when it does arrive you're greeted with a steaming bowl of goodness.

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GIN TASTING at THE WARWICK

How much do you know about gin? I'm sure if you like to drink it then you know which your favourite brand is, but if you're like me, then not much more than that! I went to a gin tasting a couple of weeks ago at The Warwick in Soho, who've just had a refurb and have added a sparkly new Gin Emporium. I learnt so much about how to taste it, what to look for, and which gins they pair with different garnishes - a fascinating evening that I want to share with you.

Gin came to the UK from Holland in the 17th century and immediately became the drink of choice for many due to the fact that there was no tax on it, unlike other spirits. It has grown in popularity since then and has had a recent revival, with lots of small producers popping up due to the relative ease of making it.  I'm going to talk you through the botanicals used to create the flavours of the 8 gins we tried, as the lovely team at The Warwick did for us at the tasting.

We started with Portobello Road, which as you might've guessed, is made on Portobello Road, where you can go and make your own gin as well. It's made using botanicals including lemon, orange, nutmeg and liquorice, but if you go to the distillery you can make yours with whichever selection of botanicals you fancy. At the Warwick it's served as a gin and tonic with Fever Tree tonic (as all their G&Ts are) and with a ruby grapefruit garnish to bring out the citrus botanical flavours.

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