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Italian: de Santis

de Santis
5-23 Old St
EC1V 9HL
Tel: 020 7689 5626

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 25

The Damage: £5

The Victim: Me

The Background: Sometimes, I forget I'm a foreigner. I had to run home during lunch the other day to grab my passport so I could prove my identity. I was a little weirded out about going home at lunch  because the last time I went home at lunch, two guys from the Council were at my building and told me about the rats. Yikes.

But there were no Council guys or rats so I was in and out in a jiffy so I dropped into de Santis for lunch on my way back into the office.

The Entrance: It's just 12, and de Santis is empty. I order pasta with green beans, potatoes, and pesto. The staff walk around for a while as if they're looking for something. I honestly think they were looking for the chef. Never a good sign.

The Food: I brought the pasta back to the office and enjoyed it. For £5, it was pretty high quality. I liked it enough that I actually dropped back in on my way home from work, lured by the promise of free aperitivos. See, de Santis is a Milanese chain, and the Milanese, they love their aperitivos. If you've never had aperitivios before, well, it just means that you get some nice free snacks with your drink. So I figured I'd have some aperitivios while I waited for my food.

But there was a problem. No one wanted to take my order. The staff spent a lot of time going up and down the stairs. And when they did finally take my order, they couldn't understand a word I was saying. Now I know I don't speak the Queen's English, but I speak some pretty decent English. I was reduced to sign language, something that has never happened to me before in this country. Personally, I think they were trying to feign ignorance because they didn't want to give me any aperitivos. Weird.

The Verdict: The food, particularly take-away at lunch, is decently priced. And it doesn't taste bad. But something is wrong with the service.

Salads: Chop'd

chop'd
2 Horner Square
E1 6EW
Tel: 0207 247 8757

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, June 22

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £6

The Background: God I love chop'd. I used to work by the one in Leadenhall Market and I would e-mail my order in most days. At the time, I had fewer--how shall we say--rounded edges--and I give chop'd a lot of credit for that. Firstly, there was the salad. Secondly, there was the walk to and from Leadenhall.

These days, I am ashamed to admit that I don't venure much farther than the Pret dowstairs from my office. So I had to sign up for a 10k to get my ass in gear.

The Entrance: I walk right in and pick up a chicken and strawberry salad. The sign suggests their balsamic vinegar as a good match for this particular salad, so I pick that up too. It all probably comes in enough plastic to destroy the ozone layer, which is the disappointing bit. (Maybe it's recycleable. They don't sell any Coke or Diet Coke, and people who don't sell Diet Coke are recyling sorts, right? I don't know.)

Later On: I race my salad home from Spitalfields, convinced of two things:

1. I've left the windows open at home with the burglar alarm on so the whole time I've been out, the alarm has been going off incessantly.
2. The rats that have recently infested my building (uggh...I don't even want to thnk about it) have broken through the walls of my flat to get at the bag of trash/rubbish I've left lying in the kitchen.

Luckily, neither of these things have occurred. It was just me and my very nice salad. Hanging out.

The Verdict: I love chop'd. And I don't care what you say, I'm tagging this as American.

P.S. I totally forgot that yesterday--June 26th--was my blog's fourth birthday. Happy Birthday, little blogling. My, how you've grown! (You've also, I'm happy to say, eradicated "yummy" from your vocabulary. Thanks for that.)

More Japanese on Brick Lane

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, June 22

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £5?

The Background: You might know that I am a becoming a little obsessed with Brick Lane and Japanese food. I just really like these little stalls. On Sunday, I dropped by the one I've never been to before for a salmon cake (good, but not as hot as it could have been) and some spicy prawns. All served up in a very cool faux paper leaf. Should have gotten a picture of that!

I'll be back this Sunday to try some more stalls out. There's a good thread on Chowhound with some suggestions. I kinda want to try the Peruvian stall next. Any other suggestions?

Duke of Wellington

The Duke of Wellington
94a Crawford Street
W1H 2HQ
Tel: 020 7723 2790

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday June 18th

The Victims: Rutton, Ted, Eve, Richard, Jason, Mark, Patrick

The Damage: £40ish each

The Background: Jason is in town from New York so Richard has organized dinner. Jason is the only person I know who's actually FROM the Hamptons. When I tell people I'm from Long Island, they will often say, "Oh, the Hamptons?" Which I suppose is a compliment because maybe I have that sort of fresh-faced J. Crew sort of look about me. (If you're not familiar with J. Crew, Boden is a good proxy.) And I do like Lacoste. But I'm not from the Hamptons. And I only wish my hair was as shiny and my legs were as long as a J. Crew model's.

So we meet up at the Duke of Wellington--I am, I believe, wearing Boden!--and I walk by The Beehive and am intrigued. (When we went to Coco Momo the other weekend, I suggested we try out the new place that started with a B but I couldn't remember the name. And there it is now, right in front of me.)

The Entrance: The Duke of Wellington seems smallish and dark, but maybe it's because there are so many of us, and everyone is taller than me. We are shown a table by the entrance and by the loos (how convenient) and promptly begin to demolish about five bottles of Rioja. This was not my idea.

The Food: A number of us order the lasagna, about which we're told, "It's made with a different pasta. Is that okay?" We all ask if it's still lasagna, and our server keeps explaining yes, but with a different pasta.

I don't think our server has ever had lasagna before. About the only thing it has in common with lasagna is pasta.

The Verdict: Don't order the lasagna. Not only is it not lasagna, it's not very good either. The side salad was nice though.

La Fromagerie

La Fromagerie
30 Highbury Park
N5 2AA
Tel: 020 7359 7440

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, June 15

The Victim: Me

The Damage: About £10 for two hunks of cheese and little lemon tart.

The Background: Sometimes I think about what I would do with myself if I were independently wealthy. (Surely I can't be alone in this.) Thinking about all the possibilities can keep me occupied for HOURS.

Although I don't claim to be overly passionate about cheese, I do like cheese. And I like cheese shops. And I really liked La Fromagerie in Highbury where I was so overwhelmed by the amount of goat's cheese on offer that I surrendered myself to the somewhat surly cheesemonger and had him pick me out two. I would tell you what I ended up with, but he didn't really tell me (but nor did I ask), and they didn't put any information about the cheeses in my bag. (Is it really that hard?) So now f I go back, I'm going to have to start all over again.

So when I have the millions that I deserve, I will open a cheese shop. A friendly and helpful one. Really people, is it really that hard?

The Verdict: I'll ask more questions next time.

Thai: Isarn

Isarn
119 Upper Street
N1 1QP
Tel: 020 7424 5153

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, June 15

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £9

The Background: If you haven't noticed, I have no problems dining alone. So it was that I found myself wandering up Upper Street the other Sunday and stopping in front of Isarn just as my stomach was starting to talk. I've been intrigued by Isarn for quite some time, but for some reason or another, I've never stopped in. Isarn is owned by Alan Yau's sister, Alan of Hakkasan and Yauatcha, his sister of I don't know where.

The Entrance: I kinda dig Isarn's decor. I alternatively hate and love the chairs, which are covered with some sort of mottled cow. The service is prompt enough and sweet enough.

The Food:They've got a lunch special, so I stick with that--a green chicken curry with some sort of fish cakes and a slice of fruit. The fish cakes are rubbery and awful, frankly. The green curry is nice, but there's just not enough of it. (Although for the price--£5.90--perhaps there was just enough of it.) The slice of watermelon is a nice touch.

What I liked most was my lychee tea, not a bargain at £2.50 but very prettily presented, unique and interesting. 

The Verdict: I prefer the food at the Thai place up the street. But I do like the feel of Isarn.

Shop: Lina Stores

Lina Stores
18 Brewer Street
W1F 0SH
Tel: 020 7437 6482

Date of Last Visit: Friday, June 13

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £15

The Background: I love London. I love my blog. I love the people who read my blog in and out of London. I love when I have no plans and all of  a sudden, a plan presents itself at the perfect time and the perfect place.

Scott in Tasmania read my Fernandez & Wells post on Friday and left a comment..."Have you gone to see Tony at Lina Stores, down the road in Brewer Street?" Why no, I haven't! But it sure sounds like I should! So I did.

The Entrance: Lina's is packed with pasta and vegetables and more pasta and cheese and meats and olive oils and vinegars. It is happy chaos and I fall in love. There's home made raviolis on the counter so I order some artichoke and some spinach. (If you know the difference between ravioli and tortellioni, let me know.)

The young man serving me talks me into the pesto and the parmasean to go along with it and he is very wise. I don't know anything about sports, but Italy seemed to be playing while I was there so you can imagine three generations of Italians yelling at the TV while they are packing up my ravioli.

The Verdict: I buy four portions of ravioli and eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next few days. I'm serious. I'll be back many times.

Michelin: Foliage

Foliage
The Mandarin Oriental
66 Knightsbridge London
SW1X 7LA
Tel: 020 7201 3723

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 11

The Victim: Douglas of Intoxicating Prose and winner of my Guest Blogger contest

The Damage: £275, if you must know!

The Background: Douglas won my Guest Blogger contest back in April with his review of Galvin at Windows. The prize was dinner with me, so the date has finally arrived and I've chosen Foliage partially influenced by its Michelin-ness and its great review over on Cheese & Biscuits.

Douglas is already in the bar when I arrive, sipping pink Moet and holding a present for me! It's a bottle of txacoli, my new favorite wine. The evening is off to a good start--I like a man who can quaff pink champagne--and we haven't even eaten anything. Except the bar snacks, which aren't as nice as those at Claridge's.

The Entrance: I can't forget I'm in a hotel restaurant. I have a fondness for hotel bars, but there's just something about the decor of hotel restaurants...all that beige. We are shown our table--by a window--with what would be a great view of the park at sunset if not for all the construction out back. The staff are sweet about the awful mess and apologise in a funny and good way and we settle in to watch the sun set over the work-in-progress.

The Food: I could walk you through everything we ate, word-by-word. But that would assume I had taken notes, which I didn't. (Douglas wisely asked for a copy of the menu before we left.) But I DID take photos of everything for a change, so perhaps a few photos will speak a thousand words. Douglas and I made quite the pair as we whipped out our blogging equipment as each course arrived, I with my Canon, he with his LG camera phone (5 Megapixels, no less!) It reminded me that I should really organize a London food bloggers meet-up at some point. Dining out with like-minded souls is a good thing. What the other diners thought of us with all our snapping, we don't know. I'll come back to the food in a sec, but let me talk about the service first.

The Service: When we were first shown to our table, they seemed to kinda forget about us. No menus, no "Hello," no nothing. And it's not like we could enjoy the view while we were sitting there. Very odd. They recovered splendidly after this, but it was a slip up, for sure.

Our main waiter was a young Spaniard, and he was very enthusiastic in his service. Part of me wanted to ask how old he was because he just looked so youthful and fresh-skinned. Well done to him, once he got us started. The sommelier (German? Austrian?) seemed quite personable, which I liked. No stuffiness. Poor guy though...I didn't really see any table take advantage of his services all night, and with a half-full room....I would have been bored to tears.

Back to The Food: I caught photos of everything except the little snacks that arrived once the staff remembered that we were sitting there. Hummous with lime and twisty little bread sticks. I am forgetting the other dip, but hopefully Douglas can shed some light.

Now, off we go...

Firstly, a lovely chilled melon soup. Douglas displayed his great manners by eating his soup away from him, which is very very proper. (You should also pass the salt and pepper together, you know.)

Then a trio of scallops...I wanted to lick the plate clean.

And two preparations of foie gras, one lovelier than the other...and I must apologize but the photos are going to get darker and darker in a bit. The sun was setting...

The ubiquitous sea bass. This was probably my least favorte dish. Hmmm.

A bit of steak done to a perfect medium rare...lovely...

The first dessert...and I completely forget what this tasted like so obviously forgettable...

But this was very American (which is a compliment, skeptics!) in its peanut-butteriness and chocolate...

And then some olive oil chocolates with balsamic vinegar, which I thought were really interesting and different and delicious.

And then, four hours later, it was all over.

The Verdict: I would love to eat this way every night. But that would mean running a marathon on a weekly basis, which ain't gonna happen. But yes, a nice treat.

Lunch: Coco Momo

Coco Momo
79 Marylebone High Street
W1U 5JZ
Tel: 020 7486 5746

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, June 8

The Victims: Al, Oscar Rutton, Richard

The Damage: £15 or thereabouts each

The Background: It is just so very lovely Sunday that we must get out and go somewhere. We debate a picnic in the park but Rutton wisely decides that buying all the stuff will be too much work. So instead Richard suggests Coco Momo, right on Marylebone High Street.

I am late--I've been with the accupuncturist, my new addiction--and I'm feeling very light-headed in a good way as I slowly make my way around Marylebone to meet the boys. I approach from the west and run smack dab into them, sitting at a sunny table on the pavement, looking very 2008 with young Oscar in tow.

The Food: Salads for all of us. Nice salads. Very refreshing and relaxing and perfect for a day like this when all you want to do is sit and have something light and get a little color. After lunch, we buy some ice cream and Pouilly Fuisse and lay around Regent's Park for hours, playing backgammon and watching Oscar push his pram around.

The Verdict: Nice. 

Japanese: Matsuri St. James

Matsuri
15 Bury Street
SW1Y 6AL
Tel: 020 7839 1101

Date of Last Visit: June 6th, 2008

The Victims: Craig, Leanne, Mikaela

The Damage: Unknown. Craig paid!

The Background: Craig is back in the U.K.! Craig was my dining companion during the summer of 2004, when he was in London for work. He discovered Kurumaya for me back then, still once of the nicest little sushi places. We also checked out Sweeting's together, which I'd really like to get back to one of these days. And just a few weeks ago, we explored Sakura and Abeno Too.

He's invited me out for sushi (of course) with his wife and daughter and he's done his homework and we find ourselves at Matsuri St. James. (You may remember Guest Blogger Jon from Oishii Oishii who reviewed Matsuri Holborn the other month.)

The Entrance: The staff is very happy to see me. There's a lot of bowing and they take my coat and show me to the bar. I chat with the bartender and a businessman who is waiting for his Japanese guests. (Good sign, right?) The bartender tells us funny stories about people missing the entrance to Quaglino's right up the street.

Craig has booked the sushi bar downstairs. Most of Matsuri seems to be made up of teppanyaki-style seating, with the exception of the sushi bar in the corner.

The Food: We proceed with the ordering. I know I only have to vaguely mention soft shell crab for Craig to say yes and they arrive and they are gorgeous. There are many rolls and some vegetable tempura and some sashimi--the scallops are particularly lovable. We are all very very happy. But we forget to take any pictures, so Craig takes a photo of the tuna roll the guy next to us is eating.

The Verdict: I like it here. I'd go back.