London Restaurant Guide | London Restaurant Blog and Reviews | Londonelicious

Liberty Champagne & Oyster Bar

Liberty Champagne & Oyster Bar
Great Marlborough Street
W1R 6AH 

The Victims: Feathers (you should follow her...she's pretty entertaining), Jen

The Damage: About £20 each

The Background: I had somehow got invited to a party at Movida. You know, the footballers nightclub. It's not really my sort of place, but there were free drinks involved. I was hoping that meant free champagne, but instead it meant lychee cocktails. I don't really like lychee. So the whole freebie thing was a bit of a bust.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. At the point where I was still thinking there'd be free champagne involved, we decided to pay for some champers. At Liberty. In the basement. At the oyster bar.

The Entrance: The basement of Liberty is a dark and quiet place. It seems a bit dank. And damp. But there's money in the room. We can smell it.

The Food: We all order the langoustine and chablis soup. I have no expectations. And it's fantastic. I honestly haven't stopped thinking about this soup for quite some time. It's smoky...languorous, dark. Langoustines are delicate things and this is not a delicate soup. Maybe a little bitter, but in the best possible way. It's different. We didn't check the menu at the time and I can't read the ingredients from my photos, which is a shame. I want to know what the magic ingredient is. Ah, and the brown bread is great too. 

The Verdict: OK, so I liked the soup. But I didn't like eating in the basement. The ceiling felt too close to my head and I am not a tall person. So we shall see.

Frae

Frae
27 Camden Passage
N1 8EA

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, August 16th

The Damage: £3 something. Less than £4.

The Victim: Me

The Background: Douglas got there first. And he doesn't even live in the neighborhood. And plus, I walk by here ALL THE TIME. How did I miss this place? In short, I was mad.

And I was also mad because Frae is JUST LIKE Snog. (Without the double-entendre.) And Snog is just like Pinkberry. Man, isn't there anyone out there with a unique idea these days?

The Product: It's nice. They do that whole natural tangy yogurt thing. And you can pick your toppings. I went with bananas and graham crackers. The graham crackers were a bit stale.

The Verdict: I will probably find myself back here some day. That's just the type of person I am. A sucker for frozen good stuff. Even when I know there's a good chance I will be disappointed.

Pilpel

Pilpel
38 Brushfield Street
London E1 6EU

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: A fiver

The Background: It was a Sunday and I was hungry and fancied a walk.

The Entrance: Pilpel is small. It's a take-away really. On the edge of Spitalfields. On a Sunday at 1 p.m.-ish, it's empty. I am happy about this at first. At first. Because you see THE LOUD-ASS MUSIC HAD ME WISHING THERE WERE MORE PEOPLE IN PILPEL TO DROWN OUT THE NOISE.

It was really bad. 

Yeah, not so sensitive to the needs of their listening audience. Restaurant staff should never be allowed to control the radio.

But I placed my order anyhow. Because I was hungry.

I got some falafel in a pitta (as they spell it). Along with some aubergine and some hummus. Oh, and a fresh lemonade.

 

It's very hard to take a picture of a falafel pitta. But there's mine. It doesn't do it justice. You can't even see the falafel.

But I liked that they offered me a choice of whole wheat or white pitta. And I liked that I could choose my salads. (It's sorta like Subway, that way.) And I liked how the falafel was crunchy. A satisfying crunch.

But I didn't like how I couldn't really taste the hummus. Or the aubergine.

And when I was done, I was still very hungry. But then again, I couldn't really concentrate on my food because of THE MUSIC. So maybe my stomach just needed 20 minutes or so to catch up to my brain.

The Verdict: These here were cheap eats. I'd go again. But with EARPLUGS.

Pho Sweet Basil

Pho Sweet Basil
7 Kingsland Road
E2 8AH

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, July 30th, 2009

The Victims: Gerry, Ben, Matt, Carolyn

The Damage: Cheap! Like maybe £15 each. Maybe.

The Background: It was one of those random days, and a rare one too with the sun shining. We dropped by The Wenlock and tried out some ales, sitting in their "garden" (read: field across the street). I admired the "new" floor. (i.e., They've finally  pulled up the grody carpet.) And then we wanted to check out the fire which was still smoldering over Hackney--and somehow we found ourselves wandering around the back streets behind Old Street, on our way to Kingsland Road.

Gerry and Ben go out to eat on Kingsland Road all the time so it was a good game we were playing:

Them: "No, not there. We've been there before."
Me: "Not there either. I've been there too and the loos are gross."

Until eventually, we found ourself at Pho Sweet Basil, which none of us had been too.

The Entrance: They're empty. Whereas later, when we walk down the road, Tay Do Cafe is PACKED. And they serve alchohol, where we just wanted to BYOB. No problem, they tell us. We can BYOB. (Which has part of me wondering...is that legal?) The decor is new and modern and vaguely flat-pack-like.

The Starters: Beef in betel leaves. These are old. Like someone made them last night and just didn't get around to serve them. Either that, or they are way overcooked. The beef is tough. But the vegetables are fresh. And then there are some summer rolls, which are as nice as summer rolls can be. (I always find summer rolls rather bland. You really need the sauce. And I didn't get enough sauce.)

The Mains: Lots of different things. The best, in my opinion, was Ben's dish which was a fried rice stuffed with all sorts of delicious things, wrapped in banana leaf. This was comforting and savory and filling.

Worst was Carolyn's chicken dish, which came with some sort of curry sauce. The chicken, again, felt and tasted old and like it had been cooked once or twice before being warmed up a third time to be served to us.

 

Somewhere in the middle was my mixed seafood and vegetable dish. The prawns were generous. In general, it was very generous. Lots of fresh vegetables cooked just right. This was good. I would have it again.

The Loos: Could use a good power-washing. 

The Service: Easily confused.

The Verdict: Not my favorite.

Billy Goat Tavern, Chicago

Billy Goat Tavern
430 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611

Date of Last Visit: Friday, July 24, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: $4.50

The Background: I've spent ages trying to find you a video of Jim Belushi doing "Cheezeborger cheezeborger" on Saturday Night Live. But I can't find anything. For most Americans of a certain age (read: mine) these days, that's what Chicago's subterranean Billy Goat is best known for. Although its history pre-Belushi is perhaps even more illustrious. I won't go into details--you can Google those--but it's all about a man, a goat, a curse, and a baseball team that never quite seems to get anywhere.

At the point of my visit, I've been in Chicago five full days and I'm still jet-lagged. So I drag my weary self over (under?) to the Billy Goat for breakfast, just after it's opened at 7 a.m. And I'm not alone. The locals are pouring in and the accents are cracking me up.

 

The Billy Goat is old school. Check out the tables. Yes, that's red-and-white checked formica. But look how neatly the bar stools are arranged!

Would you like a beer with your breakfast? Now seriously, Chicago liquor laws are quite strict so I'm sure they don't serve beer in the morning. Maybe...

The Food: Bacon egg and cheese on a roll. The bacon is crispy. The roll is toasted. The bun is tasty. (Really. I walk away thinking, "Now that was a good bun.") The locals are funny. (Guy walks in to the Billy Goat and says, "Two slices of wheat, toasted please." The guy at the Billy Goat doesn't even look up and shouts, "Wheat toast? What WRONG with you?"

The Verdict: I've lost track of how many times I've been here. I've been here so many times I don't even remember the first time anymore. Always fun. Always random. Always cheap. Always good times. And this, my friends, is my last Chicago post for another year or so. Thanks for reading.

Terzo Piano, Chicago

Terzo Piano
159 E Monroe Dr
Modern Wing, Art Institute
Chicago, IL 60604

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Victim: Bevin

The Damage: Unknown. Bevin paid. But assumed to be about $30 for two.

The Background: Chicago is never at the top of anyone's list of places to visit in America. But I want you to go to Chicago. I want you to love it like I do. Me, the born-and-bred New Yorker who declared, upon visiting Chicago for the first time in 1992, "Is this it? It's just one street!"

I want you to love it for it's hot and cloudless summers, where everyone takes to the lakefront or their deck. Where it's not usual to ride your bike to work or wake up at the crack o'dawn on a Saturday to go running or rollerblading or SOMETHING. And I want you to love it just as much for it's freezing cold winters, where the masses are clad in either Northface or Eddie Bauer (good to 0 degrees...Fahrenheit), where all the El stops have heat lamps and you can leave your coat on the hook under the bar. I want you to love it for its hot dogs. And its Mexican food. And its wide boulevards, air-conditioned public transport, Goose Island beer and fantastic blues bars.

And also, of course, I want you to love Chicago because of the Art Institute. One of the nicest museums in the world. (You might remember it from Ferris Bueler 's Day Off.) On this day, I love the Art Institute because it's my last day in the office for, I don't know, probably another year or so, and I get to have lunch here. At Terzo Piano, the new place.

The Entrance: Terzo Piano is big and airy and white. I admire the banquet seating at one point and say, "What color is that? Champagne? Pearl?" Whatever it is, it's lovely. (Although I can't help thinking about what my mother would say about anyone doing up a restaurant--or anywhere for that manner--in white-ish/cream-ish/beige-ish. You're just asking for punishment.)

The Menu: That's it. If you can read it. Terzo Piano is an informally formal type of place. The menu is just salads and sandwiches and pastas, really. Or at least it was when I went. It's lunch food, really. But that's what we're there for, so it's fine. (Further research shows they have an entirely different dinner menu.)

The Food: I go for the trio of burgers: a beef burger with Wisconsin colby cheese, a Wisconsin lamb burger with Capriole Indiana goat cheese, and a shrimp burger with calabrian pepper spread. Hey, I only have four days left in America, so I need to get my burger on. So I might as well have three, right? They are all nice, but the lamb burger REALLY stands out. It's rich and moist and savoury and the tangy goat cheese is a great compliment to the seasoned lamb. If anything, the beef burger is boring in comparison. (The shrimp burger is interesting. But not really burger-like.)

I like that the menu tells me where my food comes from. That's not something I saw much of before when I lived in the city. (I remember seeing Mahi Mahi on a menu once in Chicago--Mahi Mahi is native to South Florida, where I'm from when I'm not from New York or Chicago. I asked our server where the fish came from; she consulted with the kitchen for quite a while and came back to tell us it "came from a distributor.") 

Ah, and I like the fries at Terzo Piano. I'm a sucker for fries with the skin still on 'em.

Celebrity Sighting: Bevin thinks Laura Linney was sitting right behind us. I'm not super-familiar with Laura Linney, but the woman I saw sitting behind us sure looks a lot like the photos of Laura Linney I've looked up on the Internet.

The Verdict: I liked Terzo Piano. Dare I say a lot?

Sedap

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £15

The Background: I had a work drinks event the Tuesday before last and ended up leaving the bar around 8 p.m. I was walking along City Road thinking, "I really do not want to go to the grocery store and I've eaten everywhere around here" when something occurred to me: I hadn't been to Sedap yet. Sedap sounded great. Alice liked it. Bellaphon liked it. Even Dos Hermanos seemed to like Sedap; they called it "worthwhile." Well, you know what? I liked Sedap too. A lot.

The Entrance: They have a nice little crowd on a Tuesday night, so I'm surprised when they let me take a four-top all for myself. I've been to empty restaurants that force me to the two-tops. Around this time, I'm on Twitter and Kake from the Randomness Guide to London tells me to order the Kerabu salad. I follow her advice and get the version with prawns and it is DELICIOUS. It's tart and spicy, but because it's a cold dish, it's also oddly (yet appropriately on a warm evening--for London) cooling. I had told my server not to go easy on the chilli and this dish is packed full of it. I end up with the hiccups, it's so hot. Also...there are six very nicely sized prawns laid out on top of the dish. Really, this is great.

The Main: I tell my server to bring me whatever she'd recommend and it's char kway teow. The dish arrives--with more of those generous prawns--and It's like Thai pad se eu, but smokier. Meatier. I didn't think a dish could taste smoky (besides for a Chicago steak, that is), but this is smoky. In the best possible way. I fall in love with Sedap right then and there.

The Follow-up Visits: I end up eating at Sedap three times that week. One take-away. And then one lunch, and I have to say that their lunch menu is an EXCELLENT value. £5.65 for a starter, rice or noodles, and a chicken, beef, or veggie main. £6.50 if you opt for a main that's prawn, lamb, duck, or seafood. To be fair, the take-away char kway teow wasn't as delicious as it was in the restaurant...it was missing some of the smokiness and I didn't see much sausage in there. But my lunch visit--note that char kway teow isn't on the lunch specials--was just as good as my first visit.

The Verdict: Cheap. Cheerful. Delicious. I'll be back. Many times.

Perennial, Chicago

Perennial
1800 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60614

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

The Victims: Christina, Kent

The Damage: $75 USD each

The Background: I moved to Chicago in July of 1996. My mom came with me to help me find an apartment and we stayed for a few days at the Days Inn Gold Coast..."Gold Coast" making it sound a lot ritzier than it was. Our room was super tiny, and the air conditioner was questionable. Downstairs, the hotel had a restaurant, one of those old-school Chicago ones with lots of formica. We had breakfast there. It was the first place I ever ate in Chicago.

So here it is 13 years later, and I'm back at The Days Inn Gold Coast, although it's not a Days Inn anymore. It's been completely renovated.

And it's also completely empty.

It's a ghost hotel...totally kitted out like a hotel, but not operating. It's spooky, almost, standing there in the lobby, looking at the check-in desk and the big chairs. No brochures, no paper, no people. Weird.

Perennial, on the other hand, is hopping. Particularly its outside area. The crowd is upwardly mobile, wearing large sunglasses, and drinking mojitos. Not an inch of formica in sight.

The Food: I've read about the chicken lollipops online and people have raved about them. They're served in a soy reduction with cashews, and "asian" slaw. They're okay. They're HUGE actually and look nothing like I imagined. There's four of them. And they're SALTY. I eat two and give the rest to Christina and Kent. Always a bad sign when I give my food away.

Next up are sea scallops, wild mushrooms, and short rib cannelloni gratin. The scallops are great. The short rib cannelloni tasts like nothing. And the mushrooms are, again, super salty. It's just not working for me.

 

The meal is saved by the lovely dessert. The menu calls it cheesecake, but as you can see, it doesn't look much like cheesecake now, does it? That's raspberry custard, cream cheese foam, and graham cracker ice cream. The ice cream is in the center of the foam. I love all the flavours and textures here...really, very very nice.

The Verdict: I wasn't so keen on the food-food. But the atmosphere of the place was pretty fun and the dessert was great.

Clerkenwell Kitchen

Clerkenwell Kitchen
31 Clerkenwell Close
EC1R 0AT

Date of Last Visit: Friday, August 7, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £14

The Background: On Friday, I worked from home to get a proposal done. It's still not done. This is frustrating. The amount of time you spend writing a proposal is inversely proportional to the amount of time anyone spends reading it. I myself am guilty of this: anytime anyone walks into a meeting with any document longer than 1 page--maybe two--I immediately roll my eyes.

My proposal? It's currently hovering around five pages. (Overwrite and then take a red pen to it. That's my motto.)

After staring at my laptop all morning, I thought I'd treat myself to lunch somewhere. I really wanted to go to The Passage Cafe, next door to The Dovetail, but when I arrived, it was all dark and it looked like it would be a while before they were ready for service. (Despite TimeOut claiming that The Passage Cafe opens at 11..)

I had a back-up plan anyhow. The Clerkenwell Kitchen. 

The Entrance: The Clerkenwell Kitchen is cool looking. It looks like a yuppie. All exposed brick walls and chalkboards. There are very few customers. (I am eating at the ungodly hour of 12:15.) I take a seat by the window and am transfixed by the sign that proclaims that no cash is left on site overnight and how they have CCTV etc. So I have to ask. Has the Clerkenwell Kitchen had some issues?

Why yes, it has. Exciting. One guy has tried to rob the place on three separate occasions. The first time, he got away with the £20 in the till. (Um, anyone could tell you that leaving cash in the till overnight is a bad idea.) The second time, he tried to steal some food. And the third time, they caught him. Gotta give the guy points for persistence. (Apparently, he's also tried to break into about every other place on the block.)

The Food: I order the steak. I don't really know why. It takes forever to prepare...something has happened in the kitchen, my server explains. Eventually it arrives. It's doused in caper butter, which I like. And I also like the dressing on the watercress salad. The chips are undercooked. And the steak...well, it's just a steak. And they don't have any steak knives. (When I ask for one, they apologetically say they don't have any, but then they bring me a boning knife from the chef! That was nice.)

The View: The men who work in the general vicinity of the Clerkenwell Kitchen are all very attractive. You know how Hugh Grant looked in About a Boy? Yes.

The Verdict: Hmmm. I liked the vibe. And I liked my server. And I liked the view. Not sure about my food, but I'd give the Clerkenwell Kitchen another shot. Oh, you should know before you go...this is more of a lunch place. I think they're only open one night a week for dinner.

P.S. You may have noticed that the order of my posts is a bit weird these days. I am trying not to bore my London readers with my Chicago posts. Sorry!

Charlie Trotter's, Chicago

Charlie Trotter's
816 W. Armitage Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Victim: Julie

The Damage: Uh, $275 each? Ouch.

The Background: Back when I lived in Chicago, Charlie Trotter's was THE place to go if you had money and/or something very very special to celebrate. I was always hoping that someone would invite me, but no one ever did.

Apparently, none of my friends have money, and no one ever had anything to celebrate.

But now that Julie has moved back to Chicago and still has a little of that "But in pounds, it's such a good value!" mentality, I thought it might be time to go.

The Entrance: I've always liked the location of Charlie Trotter's. It's on Armitage in Lincoln Park, an area for those folks who have the money to still live in the city. Full of old-school Chicago homes. Bungalows that have become non-bungalows. I love how our taxi driver drops us off in the alley next to the restaurant, right by the trash cans/rubbish bins. I'm not kidding.

As soon as we walk in, we're greeted practically by name. Through their powers of deduction, they know who we are and why we're there. We're shown to a table upstairs...a good table, because there's no one to the left of us. And fun to go upstairs because I totally feel like I'm in a Chicago bungalow. But I'm not.

The Service: The service is truly lovely. Very professional. The only downside is that they're almost too scripted. And there are too many of them. I like to develop a rapport with my server (note...singular!). But here, there seem to be about three or four people who are waiting on us. (I feel like I'm back in London again.) This is "let me walk you to the ladies room" service, even though the ladies room is only 6 feet from where I'm sitting. (I am politely reminded to lock the door. It is a large loo. I can understand why.)

The Food: I felt too weird taking photos, and the lighting was so low that my camera couldn't deal with things anyhow. (I either need to put my old non-digital SLR back into service and fire up the dark room, or buy a new digital SLR on eBay.) Here's what I had and here's what I thought...(They were very kind and packed up our menus for me.)

Kumamato Oyster with Sake and Preserved Radish. A nice oyster. But a very very very small one. Oh, and don't eat that stuff the oyster is resting on. That's rock salt. My blood pressure is high enough to begin with.

Cold-poached cod cheek with heirloom tomato relish and Thai basil. I liked the cod cheek--very tender--but I thought the tomato relish was a bit lazy. OK, maybe it was very summery and seasonal. But I bought some tomatoes the other week and threw them into a frying pan and...voila!

Tempura of Portuguese Sardine with White Peach Consume & Spanish Chorizo: This was my favorite dish. (Although a bit paltry on the chorizo for my tastes.) A great combo of flavors...salty, sweet, spicy.

Muscovy Duck Breast with Kumquats, Wild Liquorice, Szechuan Peppercorns & Napa Cabbage: There was a lot going on in this dish. I thought the duck was great. But otherwise, verdict is still out. Too many odd flavors for me. (And I LIKE liquorice.)

Four Story Hill Farm Salt-Crusted Veal Loin with Oregon Morels, Fermented Black Garlic & Sweetbreads: Maybe it was the jet lag, but I barely noticed the sweetbreads. And I was kind of excited for them. I remember the morels though. Some people like morels. I am not one of them. I remember the creepy texture of the morels more than anything else.

Red Shisho Sorbet with Mango & Grains of Paradise: I think I nodded off somewhere in between the veal and the shisho sorbet. I hope Julie didn't notice.(Hey, I was jetlagged. And I had stayed out til 6 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning.)

Raspberries with Honey and Sage: Delicious! I was not asleep during this dish and I loved it. Tart raspberries, silken honey. Great.

Michigan Cherries with Sugared Almonds: This was a substituted dish because I have grown increasingly allergic to chocolate in my old age. Lovely. But maybe too similar to the previous dish.

The Loos: Very clean and neat (easily a top 10 loo for me) with interesting reading material on the wall...cool restaurants that Charlie has been to and kept the menus for.

The Funny Bit: We were offered a tour of the kitchen, which we accepted. Of course. Julie asked, "So is Charlie working tonight?" And their immediate response? "He's still very actively involved." Hmmm...sounds a bit fishy to me. Define "actively involved." They could have said, "Oh yes, he was in this morning" or something. But they didn't. And remember, I've been to C in Cabo. He definitely wasn't actively involved there.

The Verdict: If you don't go out to eat a lot, you'd probably like it here. If you do go out to eat a lot, you might say, "Well, hey now the food was good, but that sure was a lot of money for good."