Il Grottino (Gourmet Chick in Italy)

Elizabeth Gilbert writes in her best seller, Eat, Pray, Love of her time in Italy "But is it such a bad thing to live like this for just a little while? Just for a few months of one's life is it so awful to travel through time with no greater ambition than to find the next lovely meal?". My resounding answer to this would be no and especially not when in Italy. A trip to Italy is a lot about the delights that await at each meal.

Chestnut pasta with clams and pesto

I have just got back from a week in Italy starting in the Cinque Terre area, a collection of five villages clinging precariously to sheer cliffs that drop down into sparkling blue ocean. You can walk between the five villages and of course you can also expend a large part of your day eating and drinking. MTV boyfriend and I stayed in Riomaggiore where we discovered Il Grottino a restaurant serving proudly local dishes.

Situated on the main street of Riomaggiore, Il Grottino is a modern restaurant with a large outdoor patio that spills onto the street. The interior of the restaurant is carved into the cliff face which is evident from the exposed rock in the restaurant. On a summer night the restaurant is full although mainly full of tourists. Perhaps the locals are not quite so keen on eating these "typical dishes". To begin, the blackboard special of stuffed mussels is described as typical of the region. The mussels are stuffed full to bursting with a dense mixture of eggs, parmesan, parsley and breadcrumbs and then placed back in their shells and teamed with a napoli sauce. The mussels are briny and the stuffing adds a welcome texture.

The mains on offer are mainly seafood or pasta. Grilled sea bream is butterflied before serving and as fresh as you would expect from this coastal town although smaller in size than the sea bream on offer at other restaurants in Riomaggiore. A local speciality that I have been told to try is the chestnut taglioni. Chestnuts are used in the freshly made pasta mixture and the taglioni is served with clams and a dollop of pesto sauce. The simplicity of the dish is admirable however it is hard to identify the chestnut flavour in the pasta.

Cheesecake with fresh strawberries

The dessert menu lists classic Italian dishes such as panacotta and tiramisu but it is hard to go past the cheesecake served with fresh strawberries. The cheesecake is served without a biscuit base although I am not sure whether this is typical for the region. A drizzle of an intense strawberry reduction adds sharpness and bite to the creamy cheesecake.

In a simple trattoria such as Il Grottino it is often best to order the house wine which is invariably decent however I ignore my own rule and instead opt for a bottle of Chianti which almost burns as you drink it. I will try not to make that mistake again in a hurry. There are better restaurants along the Cinque Terre than Il Grottino however it does provide an opportunity to sample some regional specialties at very reasonable prices. Meanwhile our search continues for that next lovely meal.

Details: Riomaggiore, Cinqueterre, Italy (Ph 0187 920938)
Damage: Reasonable
6/10

If you liked reading this you might like this review of the famous Donna Rosa restaurant on the Amalfi coast.

Gallipoli

A mini empire of Gallipoli restaurants is clustered on Upper street in Islington. There is the original Gallipoli, Gallipoli Cafe and Gallipoli Bazaar. It seems the locals could not get enough of the cheap and cheerful Turkish food on offer and so one Gallipoli extrapolated into three.

We are at Gallipoli Cafe and eating here means that you will be squeezed onto one of the closely packed wooden tables in the atmospheric dining room where bells and other Turkish looking paraphernalia hang from every square inch of space on the ceiling while old black and white photographs cover the walls.

Calamari

In a Turkish restaurant the mezze options to begin are always a highlight of the meal. Small containers of dark, sticky olives are brought to each table at Gallipoli as soon as you sit down. Soft pillows of Turkish bread arrive accompanied by lashings of creamy hummus and a moreish broad bean dip that is a skillful combination of an acidic yoghurt base with spring fresh beans. Fried calamari sports batter that is crispy rather than greasy and the calamari is pliant and tasty. However the dolmades are a let down as the vine leaf wrapped bundles are served fridge cold and stuffed with gluggy rice.

We are a table of six here to welcome my friend Johanna who has just moved to London. Being part of a large group is the best way to eat the food at Gallipoli as it affords you the chance to sample and share a few different dishes. Echoing home cooking the dishes are served in platters to the centre of the table so everyone can dig in.

From the specials board the lamb and aubergine kebab is an inspired flavour combination. The taste of the grilled lamb is enhanced by the smoky aubergine. The fish kebab is not quite as good, threaded with chunks of firm white sea bream which are slightly overcooked. The kebabs are served with bowls heaped with mounds of white rice and between this and the Turkish bread our appetites are soon sated.

Nevertheless I am a big baklava fan and never miss an opportunity to snaffle some. Gallipoli's version is served with a swirl of chocolate sauce and looked the business but the delicate layers of pastry were dry and left me with a stale taste in my mouth.

Baklava

As we drained the last of our Efes beers one of the waiters pulled enthusiastically on a bell hanging form the ceiling. Evidently it was one customers birthday as the next second the Turkish music playing over the sound system was replaced by a booming rendition of Happy Birthday. After some prodding from the waiters the birthday boy was up dancing on his chair while shots were carried over to his table. Apparently our gathering also looked in a celebratory mood as next thing we kenw a round of tequila shots were brought to our table. Oh dear.

Gallipoli is the type of restaurant that is good for groups particularly those looking to kick start a night out. The food is good but not great as a whole. Still, it is hard to complain when the bill for a veritable banquet of food along with a few drinks (and lets not forget the complimentary tequila shot) is £25 per head. Johanna was left to shake her head "Is London always like this on a Tuesday night?" she asked as we grimaced from the bitter aftertaste of tequila. I could only smile and shrug.

Details 20 Upper Street, Islington N1 1QP (Ph 020 7359 0630)

Damage Such a bargain my mother would approve

6/10

If you liked reading this read about my favourite restaurant in this area Ottolenghi. If you are looking for Turkish food why not try out Kazan.

Paul A Young

I found out a little secret about Paul A Young this week. He occasionally indulges in a Kit Kat. Not such shocking news from the general population but from a famous chocolaterie who has based his reputation on a move away from trashy mass market chocolate to good quality chocolate it is quite an admission. That's the thing about Paul (we are of course on first name terms now!) he genuinely loves chocolate and is not to precious about it all.

The cocoa pod - much bigger in size than I expected

I managed to discover Paul's dirty little Kit Kat secret when I was invited to a chocolate tasting session at his shop in Islington courtesy of Qype with a group of other people including Gastro Geek and London Eater. Full disclosure here folks. I will try not to be biased in my review but it is hard to not gush as the chocolate is of course divine and Paul himself is so lovely and very enthusiastic about educating people about the joys of real chocolate.

The Islington shop is like being inside a little chocolate box. It is tiny but opulent with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and chocolates lining the walls. The shop is freezing as the chocolates are kept out on the counter rather than behind a glass pane and so health and safety concerns dictate a chilly temperature. However, the cold factor is more than compensated by the rich chocolate scent that wafts through the shop thanks to all those chocolates displayed everywhere.

The next stage - at the plain chocolate stage before Paul works his magic

We learn that chocolate is harvested from the cocoa and plant and that some mass market chocolates such as the Kit Kat (and my personal favourite Twix) contain so little cocoa that they cannot really be called a chocolate. This is where Paul A Young chocolates differ. They are packed with cocoa, they even offer Valrhona Manjari Madagascan containing 100% cocoa solids. I wouldn't recommend it. Too much of a good thing can be very bad indeed and the 100% cocoa chocolate tastes more like cough medicine than chocolate.

After a long and considered tasting though I can say that while too much cocoa is well, a bit too much, a lot of cocoa is just perfect. My personal favourite was the 68% Porcelana which had a delicate honey flavour. Trust me to pick the most expensive, Porcelana is made from the rarest cocoa bean in the world. It is called Porcelana as when it is picked from the pod the beans look as white as porcelain.

Here are some other interesting facts I learnt about chocolate and Paul A Young chocolates in particular:

• the obsession with using 70% cocoa solid chocolate in cooking is misguided. It is all about the quality of the chocolate rather than the percentage of cocoa solids (although the amount of cocoa solids is one indication of quality);
• Paul A Young used to work as the head pastry chef for Marco Pierre White;
• cheap chocolate tastes like it is burnt - an unfortunate consequence of over roasted beans;
• at Christmas time Paul A Young sells (correction I am told at Christmas they MAKE not sell this amount) 20,000 truffles a day; and
• you don't chew good quality chocolate you let it melt in your mouth.
  
  

The finished product - the sensational truffles and filled chocolates

After tasting and debating the merits of 12 different chocolates (the Dark Madagascan Valrhona Manjari at 64% was a hit with the rest of the group but not with me as it reminded me of Cherry Ripes an awful Australian chocolate bar) we then moved onto the truffles. The highlight of these for me was Paul's signature sea salt caramel chocolate. This is a melt in you mouth and send tingles through your whole body taste sensation of a chocolate. Decadent, silky and somewhat salty all at the same time it is the best example of a sea salt caramel chocolate I have tasted. The truffles on offer include all your standard flavours along with some more wacky ones such as Marmite chocolates and a Pimm's chocolate which is actually made using real cucumbers and strawberries to give the true Pimm's flavour. How creative and crazy is that.

I promised I would try to be critical but it is a pretty hard job given how fabulous the chocolates were. The only slightly negative thing I could say is that these chocolates are expensive. You are talking £6 for four chocolates or £13 for a box of nine. Still, while not something I could afford very often I think the price is reasonable when you think of the quality of the ingredients used and the fact that each chocolate is hand made.

I am not prepared to give up my Twix bar addiction entirely but after this tasting I have vowed to try and eat less chocolate but more good quality chocolate.

Details: 33 Camden Passage, Islington N1 8EA (Ph 020 7424 5750)

Damage: Pricey (but free for me)

8/10

If you liked reading this you might like reading about my visit to Melt, the artisan chocolaterie in Notting Hill, or if you now have a chocolate craving try this recipe for cheats chocolate mousse.

Dose

Are you an addict? Do you shake and twitch and mumble each morning until you have scored your daily hit? Don't worry you are not alone. The coffee addicts of London are spread far and wide.

After enough time feeding your addiction whatever way you can it is likely that you will start to become more discerning in where and how you get your caffeine hit. This is where Dose comes in. Housed in what must be one of the smallest shopfronts in London Dose is a tiny cafe that is so small that there is probably only room for a total of three very skinny people breathing in to

stand.

There is a small selection of breakfast/lunch type bites to eat ranging from hearty soups to sandwiches such as pesto, avocado and bacon on toasted sandwiches. For getting rid of those 4pm energy lows there is also a selection of pastries and coffees.

From the takeaway salad selection the pepper and fetta salad was light and refreshing for a bargain £3. The salad was packed with spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes along with a dash of vinaigrette dressing. The saltiness of the fetta was a great compliment to the sweet tomatoes and pepper.

The main thing here though is the coffee. Run by yet another enterprising Antipodean (who appear to be taking over London's coffee shops which is not a bad thing at all) Dose prides itself on being an owner operated artisanal espresso bar. Like Lantana the coffee is made by a gorgeous La Marzocco espresso machine however using Square Mile beans. Dose uses responsibly sourced coffee, organic milk, recycles, contributes to charity and all that other good stuff so that there is no guilt factor involved in your coffee. So what of the coffee itself? This is proper coffee strong and smooth and served with one of those little patterns on top that shows off the skill of the barista and is pretty standard in Australia but hard to find in London.

If you work in the area this is the best coffee around. In fact, if you work in the area they have a promotion where you can get a days free coffee for your whole work place so convinced are the people behind Dose that once you try it you won't want to go back to Starschmucks again. I wouldn't cross town for it particularly given that the cafe itself is so tiny (it is really a takeaway type of joint) but for people who work or live near Barbican or Farringdon tube Dose is a great little secret.

Details: 69 Long Lane, Smithfields, EC1A 9EJ (Ph 0207 6000 382)

Damage: such a bargain my mother would approve.

7/10

If you liked reading this you might be interested in the coffee and snacks at Lantana in Soho. Otherwise another great place for coffee in the general area is the coffee stall at the Whitecross Street Market.

The Normanby

There are a lot of things I look at when choosing a place to eat but whether or not it is baby friendly is not usually an issue I have to grapple with. In fact, to make a horrible confession, at times I am quite happy when a place is not baby friendly at all as that means that there won't be any crying children interrupting my meal. Clearly this is the voice of a selfish, young childless person speaking and as a general rule I do love children. Really I do. However, a baby friendly place to eat became a priority when searching for a place to have dinner last night as a group of us were having dinner with our friends Rob and Michelle along with their baby Ally. My last experience of eating with children resulted in ingesting flaccid pasta in a rainforest themed basement complete with waterfalls and a life size electronic elephant (thanks Rainforest cafe). Luckily rather than be subjected to such torture again someone recommended The Normanby a bustling but family friendly pub in Putney.

The Normanby burger with bacon and cheese

The pub is modern and spacious with dark wooden floorboards, a few weathered chesterfields for lounging on and lots of tables for eating and drinking. It is a very big and open space but still feels cheery enough. Most importantly for current purposes though The Normanby quite a good job of the whole baby thing. Yes they did have a high chair. Yes we could be seated in a quieter corner of the pub out of the hustle and bustle. No, it really was not a problem to serve the Cumberland sausages and mash early for baby Ally while the grown ups (I love when in comparison I am a grown up) grazed on olives and bread. No, it still was not a problem when Ally painstakingly plucked all the petals off the gerberas adorning our table and no one batted an eyelid when a glass of water landed all over the table.

Fish and Chips

As for our meal, it was really your standard pub fare. Not great but not too bad either. The menu lists all the pub grub classics such as a pint of prawns, burgers and fishcakes. The "Normanby beef burger" is decent enough served in a warm English muffin with bacon or cheese added for an extra 50p. The burger is served with skinny but crisp fries, a salad of mixed leaves and cherry tomatoes along with a small pot of paprika aioli. Another pub staple, the fish and chips with mushy peas also fulfils its brief adequately. The cod is coated in a crispy beer batter which has puffed up around it to create an envelope which has steamed the cod gently. It is served with hand cut chips which seem to have been cooked in the same matter and the promised mushy peas.

It's not the sort of food you would travel across town for but it does the job and if you have a baby in tow The Normanby is certainly a better option that eating at a miserable child themed restaurant.

Details: 231 Putney Bridge Road, Putney Sw15 2PU (Ph 020 8874 1555)

Damage: Reasonable

6/10

If you liked this you might be interested in reading about my favourite pub meal in London at the Bull and Last in Kentish town or you could try my old local, The Prince Bonaparte in Bayswater.

The Clerkenwell Kitchen

Perched at a counter in The Clerkenwell Kitchen and tucking into a ploughman's lunch my experience was admittedly a far cry from the origins of the dish. Traditionally a ploughman's lunch contained cheese, bread and pickles and was prepared in winter time by a ploughman's wife or mother. My ploughman's did contain the same basic ingredients as the traditional version and it was suitably rustic in serving size and appearance however I think any comparisons can end there. I doubt the poor ploughman ever saw tomatoes as ripe as the ruby red beauties perched on my plate and surely there ham was nothing like The Clerkenwell Kitchen's ham which came in thick slabs cut off the bone of the quality that you only usually see at Christmas time. This was a ploughman's lunch fit for a princess.

The ploughman's

The top quality ingredients of my ploughman's lunch presented in a down to earth fashion are emblematic of the approach taken at The Clerkenwell Kitchen. It may be housed in a trendy warehouse space with polished concrete floors, exposed brickwork and designer furniture but the food is decidedly unfussy. After all, The Clerkenwell Kitchen was awarded Time Out's award for best Sustainable Restaurant in 2008. The head chef is Emma Miles who previously worked with Hugh Fearnely- Whittingstall at River Cottage and appears to be putting some of his principles into practice in the big smoke. It has an admirable commitment to fair and sustainable trade with a focus on local, seasonal, organic and free range cooking. This extends to using biodegradable packaging and recycling all waste glass, paper, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles.

The Clerkenwell Kitchen is open for breakfast and lunch during the week and for some reason that I do not quite understand only open for evening meals on Thursdays. The menu is chalked up on a blackboard and changes daily. It always includes six lunch dishes and two puddings along with a selection of sandwiches and other goodies that can be taken away for around £3.50 a pop. On the day of my visit the menu ranged from pea and mint soup to mackerel served with beetroot and horseradish.

Chocolate brownie

Even though the weather was stultifying warm the lamb chops were flying out of the kitchen. Two large chops were served in all their glory with a thick roll of fat hanging off them on top of a plate of white beans doused with salse verde and two slow roasted tomato halves. The chops were tender and blush pink inside yielding their juices to mix with beans.

Since it was just a light lunch I was after I thought I could get away without a pudding but was unable to resist the temptation of a pyramid of chocolate brownies stacked on top of the counter to the open plan kitchen. The brownie did not disappoint in a so good it must be so bad for you type of way with a fudgy interior and slightly crisp top.

While I sipped on an (organic) lemonade The Clerkenwell Kitchen also offers a choice of wines and beers. Service is very friendly to the extent that a lot of the customers were on first name terms with the staff and must work nearby and use The Clerkenwell Kitchen as a ritzy and ethically sound work cafeteria. However, I am tipping they are mainly architects and Clerkenwell media types rather than ploughmen.


Details: 27-31 Clerkenwell Close, Clerkenwell EC1R OAT (Ph 0207 101 9959)
Damage: Reasonable
8/10

If you liked reading about eating lunch with a touch of ethics and local produce thrown in you might be intersted in the Farm Collective in nearby Smithfield. Or if that photo of a brownie has made you hungry try this recipe for chocolate brownies with walnuts.

Cauliflower Cheese (Shopping with Abel and Cole)

The past week may just have been the healthiest that MTV boyfriend and I have had in a while. You see, Abel and Cole, the organic box delivery company kindly offered to provide us with a box to test out. It was not the delivery concept in itself that was unfamiliar. I am a delivery girl all the way from Net a Porter to Asos I love a good delivery. Given that I live in inner city London without a car I rely on Ocado delivery for all my supermarket basics then stock up with fresh fruit, vegetables and meats at markets. That's the rub. I've never got fruit and vegetables delivered before so Abel and Cole was a new experience for me.

8am in the morning and the doorbell rang. It was Abel and Cole with an organic fruit and vegetable box for me to try. Opening the box was a little like opening a lucky dip. What was going to be in there? I even had trouble recognising some of the vegetables (in my defence you don't usually come across spring greens in Australia). There were bananas, apples, spring onions, potatoes, broad beans, spring greens, cauliflower, lettuce, a pepper and a melon. There was so much food that it was immediately clear to me that MTV boyfriend and I would struggle to make it through it all. I had to plan as many meals as possible incorporating as many of the vegetables as possible in order to use them up before they started to take a turn for the worse. It was quite an interesting challenge but perhaps not one that I would relish every week.

Abel and Cole helpfully have recipes on their website so I was able to work out exactly what I was supposed to do with those mysterious spring greens. I scoured recipe books for innovative dishes with broad beans and for some vegetables immediately turned to old favourites such as my Mum's simple recipe below for Cauliflower Cheese using the Abel and Cole cauliflower.

I did enjoy my experience of Abel and Cole. I liked the fact that the fruit and vegetables supplied were organic and seasonal and I thought the produce was good quality. However I think that the sheer volume of fruit and vegetables is just too much for a couple rather than a family especially a couple that eats out quite a bit. I hate to waste food and right now there is half a lettuce head slowly rotting in the crisper drawer of the fridge.

Cauliflower Cheese
1 Cauliflower head
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp plain flour
2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Remove the outer leaves from the cauliflower head and cut into small florets. Place in an ovenproof dish.

3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a smooth paste and cook for 1 minute until bubbling.

4. Whisk in 2 cups of milk and stir until the sauce starts to thicken. Pour over the cauliflower.

5. Sprinkle with the cheese and nutmeg and bake in the oven for 15 mins or until the cauliflower is tender and the cheese is slightly brown and bubbling.

Serves 4 as a side dish. Goes very well with a Sunday roast.

If you liked reading this you might be interested in another side dish that goes brilliantly with a roast: Ottolenghi style fennel crumble.