2009 in Review

It's that time of year. The time to drink lots of champagne (fantastic!) but also time to reflect and look back on the year that was 2009. Here's my take:

1. Best meal in London in 2009: Whole suckling pig at St John's. What an experience, all you need is £320 and 18 of your closest friends and you are presented with your own crispy skinned roasted pig which is carved up to reveal the most tender melt in the mouth pork you will ever taste.

Suckling pig at St John's

2. Best meal outside London in 2009: Fillet of John Dory with almonds, baby carrots and blossoms at Le Chateaubriand in Paris. At this Michelin starred restaurant the menu is set so sit back and let yourself be seduced by the culinary wizardry of Basque chef Inaki Aizpitarte.

3. Worst meal in London in 2009: Ginger chicken stir fry at The Banana Tree Canteen. The menu is far too ambitious, covering the whole of South East Asia and the food was bland and gluggy. What made this so disappointing is that friends of mine had recommended the Banana Tree Canteen so I was expecting at least a reasonable meal.

Ginger chicken at the Banana Tree Canteen

4. Worst meal outside London in 2009: Portugese chicken salad at Senhora Mae in Lisbon, Portugal. The problem with Senhora Mae is that someone in the kitchen was trying to be too clever. What could have been a simple chicken salad was ruined by adding crisps to create a truly bizarre and almost inedible dish.

5. Cookbook of the year: The Eagle Cookbook. The recipes are unpretentious and hearty and there is a whole chapter devoted to "meals on toast", now that's my kind of cookbook. Try the recipe for whole baked sea bass, it's a winner.

6. Total number of posts this year: 204. Who knew I had so much to say!

7: Most far flung reader: whoever it is who semi regularly checks in from Peru - I salute you.

8. Weirdest search term used to get to Gourmet Chick: "funny smell in silver teapot". Ok then.

Portugese chicken salad at Senhora Mae

On my wish list for 2010:

London Restaurants

Pizza East, Bethnal Green - This new pizza joint is garnering rave reviews from critics and bloggers such as Essex Eating and The London Foodie.

101 Thai Kitchen, Hammersmith - a recommendation from Limster on Chowhound, that I still have not got around to - over a year later.

Rosa's, Shoreditch - recommended by American in London as a good cheap Thai place in the city.

Terroirs - I love wine bars, and I am imagining this place is something like my beloved Vinoteca.

The Fat Duck, Bray - for obvious reasons.

The River Cafe - Hammersmith - again, for obvious reasons.

Sushi Hero, Ealing Common - lots of people, including London Eater, say this is the best sushi in London (outside the high end restaurants) I am interested to see how it compares to my go to sushi place, Pham Sushi.

Kitchen W8, Kensington - I loved my meal at the Square this year so I don't think I will be able to resist trying the latest project from Philip Howard despite some mixed reviews.

Randall and Aubin, Soho - Londonelicious liked this place and so did my friend Alice who is always great with restaurant tips.

Gourmet Travel wish list

Sri Lanka - for the colour, the curry and spices.

Croatia - for the seafood and to go sailing on a yacht.

A meal at El Bulli in Spain - I have been trying to get a reservation for a few years now, maybe this year will be the year.

Thanks for reading and here's to more good food and travel in 2010.

Links

If you liked reading this you can read my review of 2008. Embarrassing to say that a few of the restaurants on my "must go" list then, I still haven't got around to visiting.

The Elgin

Grubby old boozer gets given the gastro pub makeover. It's a common story in London and while I do feel sad that local character sometimes gets turfed out along with the worn furniture, it generally means that the food is vastly improved. This is certainly the case with The Elgin, in Ladbroke Grove. Once a fairly dodgy but intriguing pub (the Clash played there and serial killer John Christie used to drink there) it has recently been renovated and is now a "food pub and music house". I have been there a few times since the revamp, most recently for a Christmas lunch for 30 people.

Norfolk turkey

What was a fairly grotty pub has now been primped and preened to within an inch of its life. The beautiful old timber bar is a focal point for the pub itself while a large back room with bold floral wallpaper and oversized red Anglepoise lamps provides a dining area. The Christmas menu on offer was £27.50 for three courses, which I thought was better value than the £45 for Christmas lunch at The Bluebird.

The menu at The Elgin takes a fairly conservative line that is not likely to scare away any punters. Cream of tomato soup was warm and comforting if boring. The smoked rainbow trout and quail egg salad was a restrained starter featuring a modest portion of oily, flavoursome trout and a tiny, delicate quails egg on some peppery salad leaves. The roast rib of beef erred on the side of being slightly overcooked but the gravy was nicely enriching and the dish was helped along by a generous serve of yorkshire puds. We don't have goose and duck instead of turkey on Christmas day so I decided to try out The Elgin's Norfolk turkey which came in a nice thick, juicy slice with all the trimmings including carrots and parsnips and chipolatas wrapped in bacon. Despite the fact that the accompanying cranberry sauce did not arrive at the table until after I had finished the turkey I was still fairly happy with my choice.

To finish, the cheese plate which featured a selection of cheese along with some crisp breads and chutney. It was quite a bit of cheese for a single serving but the lovely pungent aromas and tastes were spoiled a little as the cheese was served fridge cold rather than room temperature.

Cheese plate

On previous visits service has been fairly attentive, but with a large group such as us in for lunch the waitresses were stretched and it was often hard to get their attention to order a drink or to bring various accompaniments to the meal. The Elgin may have been revamped but a few further revisions could be made to improve the food and service so that it is just as good as the impressive new decoration.

Essentials

Details: 96 Ladbroke Grove, Ladbroke Grove W11 1PY (Ph 020 7229 5663) Tube: Ladbroke Grove

Damage: Reasonable

6/10

Links

For nearby gastro pubs you can try the First Floor Restaurant or The Pelican.

Chicken stuffed with spinach and dates

Happy Boxing Day. I hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas. I spent the holiday in Ireland with my extended family there enjoying plenty of duck, goose and turkey. If you are not ready to face the Christmas leftovers yet here is a simple Winter supper that is easy to make and also pretty healthy. The cumin and dates give a hint of sweetness and spice so that you don't feel like you are just eating plain old chicken. I served this with piping hot roast potatoes and some snow peas (mange tout) for a splash of colour. MTV boyfriend was so enamoured with this dish that I think it is going to become a favourite.

Ingredients

1 onion thinly sliced

1 cloves of garlic sliced

Olive oil

2 dates finely chopped

100g spinach

1 tsp ground cumin

Salt and pepper

2 chicken breasts

1 tsp honey

1 tsp maple syrup

Wilting the spinach down

1. Heat oven to 200C. If you are cooking roast potatoes pop them in the oven now.

2. Cook the onion and garlic in a splash of olive oil in a non stick pan over a low heat for 5 mins or until softened.

3. Add the dates, spinach, a pinch of the cumin and salt and pepper to season and cook for another min or two or until the spinach starts to wilt down.

4. Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthways so that they open up like a book and stuff with the date and spinach mixture.

5. Place the chicken in a shallow baking dish and rub with the remaining cumin, honey and maple syrup.

6. Bake for 2o mins.

Serves 2

Adapted from a recipe in this month's Olive magazine.

Links

If you liked reading this you might be interested in this recipe for another simple supper of chicken, pancetta and mushroom stew. I think the perfect dessert to accompany this meal would be an easy apple crumble, that is if you don't have leftover Christmas pudding.

Grand Union

"Never eat more than you can lift" - Miss Piggy

Christmas party season, you've gotta love it. Girls stumbling in heels, boys ordering multiple drinks at the bar so that they don't have to queue and go back for more. It was all there in full swing at the Grand Union at Ravenscourt Park last Friday night. The place was packed but luckily there was one tiny table tucked away as Ed the manager had invited me to come and try out the Grand Union's burgers and chips.

The chicken burger

The Grand Union is huge but it avoids having a beer barn like feel thanks to the hodge podge of mismatched furniture, assortment of quirky paintings and giant chandeliers which all bring some warmth and character to the pub. On a Friday night the music is loud, very loud, so loud you can't even talk - but that's the point of this sort of pub really.

The deal is that you order from the bar and each table is identified with a numbered wooden spoon. The menu itself is divided into burgers, "breadless" which are burgers without the bread (which in my view makes them no longer a burger), and sides including salads. That may not sound like much to choose from but the array of burgers on offer is staggering from the classic beef burger £5.95 to the rather more obscure (and Christmas themed) turkey scallop burger filled with a crumbed turkey breast, stuffing and cranberry sauce (£6.95).

I go for the Greek lamb burger (£7.95) while my friend Claire tries out the chicken, avocado and bacon burger (£7.95). The burgers are huge, almost as big as my head. I thought of Miss Piggy and her sound advice to "never eat more than you can lift" and so I ordered the chips, onion rings and a salad for good measure as well. The Greek lamb burger is made from a meaty ball of lamb mince and smothered in a creamy cucumber raita sauce, hommus and a little kick of chilli sauce. The meat itself was perfectly pink and juicy but there was too much of the raita sauce making the burger a little on the soggy side and highly increasing the chances of wearing part of the meal down your front.

I know that some people would say that a chicken burger is not actually a burger at all but I thought the Grand Union's chicken, avocado and bacon burger was pretty good. It was made using a grilled chicken breast and streaky bacon to add some bite. This was an accomplished version of a much maligned burger, generous in proportion and flavour.

Mixed salad

The mixed salad (£4.95) is also over sized and is really a main in itself rather than a side dish. The chips (£2.50) are noted as being "London's best" in Time Out, but I found them slightly undercooked and certainly not a patch on the triple cooked beauties at The Bull and Last. A better option is the onion rings (£2.75) which are ringed with a thick layer of crispy batter and served with a garlic mayo. Onions and garlic - eat these and you can be sure that you are not picking up.

There is no dessert menu as this is really food designed to soak up booze rather than to linger over several courses. This is food that is perfect for its purposes. It is not food to cross town for but it is booze friendly and the sort of thing that you can eat quickly and get back to shouting over the music at your friends. There are quite a few other pubs serving mediocre and over adventurous menus that could take note of the simplicity of The Grand Union's approach.

Essentials

Details: 243 Goldhawk Road, Ravenscourt Park, W12 8EU (Ph 020 8741 2312) Tube: Goldhawk road

Damage: Such a bargain even my mother would approve

7/10

Links

If you liked reading this you might enjoy reading about the best pub meal I've had in a while, at The Panatechnicon in Knightsbridge. If you are comparing burgers in pubs I think the Grand Union's beat The Normanby's in Putney hands down.

Gourmet Chick attended as a guest of the Grand Union and received complimentary food and drinks.

Bluebird

It's the Christmas party time of year. A good excuse to get frocked up and eat and drink too much. Last weekend my friend Alice arranged a Christmas catch up for 3o girls at the Bluebird restaurant in Chelsea. She had booked the private mezzanine room but due to a mix up they double booked the room and so our group was seated in the main dining area. It didn't matter too much but it was just the first of a few service issues at the Bluebird that took a bit of the Christmas fizz out of our meal.

Jamon persillé

The Bluebird is housed in quite a large hotel complex just off King's road in Chelsea. Downstairs is a shop containing lots of overpriced but gorgeous goods and upstairs is a vast restaurant and bar area which seats up to 230 people. The space is modern and very bright thanks to the atrium above and has an achingly expensive looking fitout.

As a large group we ordered from a set price menu of three courses for £45. This was another case of a Christmas rip off given that the usual set lunch menu is £21. Head chef Mark Block's menu features a selection of traditional British dishes but there is also quite a heavy French influence.

Retro must be making a come back as the entree selection featured a classic 1970's style prawn cocktail. A cocktail glass filled with prawns and brown shrimp and drowned in a marie rose sauce was too heavy and soggy. The jamon persillé was a pig lovers dream with hunks of ham packed beneath a layer of parsley and aspic. It was meaty and flavoursome but the serving size was far too big for an entree (not usually a complaint of mine) and I don't think anyone at our table could finish it.

I was pleased to see that even on a set price menu, the Bluebird included their scotch rib eye as an option. The meat was perfectly cooked to a medium rare blush pink with a great smoky, chargrilled flavour. The steak was served with a huge portobello mushroom and tomato and came with its own basket of crunchy chips and pot of béarnaise sauce. Of the other options, the lemon sole was served as a modestly sized fillet rather than a whole fish and splashed with a creamy sauce of champagne and chive velouté.

Steak

Block's menu was at its best when it came to desserts. The mont blanc with chestnut and rum cream, meringue and chocolate sauce was a fluffy, whimsical concoction plated stylishly. While a little plainer in appearance, the nougat glacé was a triumph, filled with hazlenuts and pistachios and served with a sharp raspberry coulis.

Despite finishing our meal on a sugar high, my lasting memory is of the quite indifferent service we received. I am not sure whether we had the waiting B team but we constantly had to ask for water and wine to be refilled, and when it came to the end of lunch we were rudely hurried off our table "to reset for dinner". At this stage of the afternoon the restaurant was fairly empty and there were plenty of other tables available if people had wanted to sit down already for dinner. I can understand that the waiters had to set up for dinner but given that as a group we had just spent a fairly significant sum of money I think they could have given us a little more leeway to leave at our leisure.

Essentials

Details: 350 Kings Road, Chelsea SW3 5UU (Ph 020 7559 1000) Tube: South Kensington

Damage: Pricey

6/10

Links

I think a better option in the area is the nearby Cheyne Walk Brasserie or for something more relaxed try Jak's cafe.

Hotel Du Vin (Gourmet Chick in Brighton)

It seemed a little bit ridiculous to venture to Brighton in the middle of winter but I suppose you are never guaranteed good weather at the beach in England so at least if you go in winter time you know exactly what you are getting yourself in for. The wind whipped off the sea churning it into a frenzy against the pier. It didn’t matter to us though as we were snugly ensconced in the comfy surrounds of Hotel Du Vin.

Salmon fishcakes

We were having a girls lunch to celebrate the lovely Mez’s upcoming wedding so we started with prosecco for everyone in the bar adjoining the dining room which was filled with huge leather sofas and seemed to be designed with this sort of event in mind.

The dining room itself has the air of a shabby old Victorian salon with high ceilings, large gold mirrors and magnums of champagne arranged in rows. Our waiter was friendly and quite accommodating although he was a little vague on some aspects of the menu and the wine list (for example he told us there was no prosecco on the menu until we pointed out we had just ordered a bottle of it at the bar).

Hotel du Vin is a hotel as the name suggests so the food falls into that hotel food category of being reasonable enough but not particularly exciting. A starter of of tomato and pecorino cheese galette was rich and creamy with a crisp crust of pastry encircling it (£6.75). The salmon fishcakes with alioli and mixed salad had a crispy exterior but were strangely flavourless being more akin to a giant circular fishfinger (£6.75).

The duck confit with dauphinoise potatoes (£14.95) had a nice crisp skin but the meat erred towards being overcooked and there was not enough of the red wine jus to add some moisture to the meal.

Confit duck leg

The apple crumble was laced with cinnamon to add a little spice but the crumble topping tended to be a little soggy. A better choice was one of Hotel du Vin’s “dessert cocktails” such as the espresso martini to finish off the meal with a combined sugar and alcohol hit.

The atmosphere at Hotel Du Vin is lovely but the food is not really notable enough to make it worthwhile returning if I do ever manage to make it back to Brighton when the sun is shining.

Essentials

Details: 2/6 Ship street, Brighton BN1 1AD (Ph 01273 718 588)

Damage: Pricey

5/10

Links

If you want to read other restaurant reviews outside London you can try this one for The Miller of Mansfield in the Cotswolds or this one for The Queen's Head in the Lake District.

Shell baked scallops (At the BBC Good Food Show)

A few weeks ago Miele (those makers of high class kitchen goods that are so far removed from the ones that I have in my flat that it is not even funny) invited me to the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham. Part of the day included the opportunity to cook with Martin Blunos, previously the chef at two Michelin starred Lettonie in Bristol. The part I wasn't aware of when I signed up was that this cooking would take part on stage... in front of a crowd. Cue extreme nerves. Luckily I wasn't alone and Bron from Feast with Bron, Jan from What Do I Want to Cook Today and Kits from the Cooking Forum.

The finished product

The recipe that Martin cooked was shell baked scallops which unhelpfully involved a lot of match stick chopping of vegetables. Cue Michelin star chef casually slicing and dicing carrots in 15 seconds flat while I laboriously lingered over the vegetables with my amateur knife skills. In the end, the match stick vegetables may have had a more "rustic" appearance on my dish but the baked scallops still tasted fresh and briny. This is not an every day recipe but a real winner when you are out to impress, you just need to make sure you can track down scallops in their shells.

Ingredients

12 diver caught scallops in the shell

500g block readymade puff pastry

2 carrot

2 leek

2 celery

6 eggs

1 tbsp black onion seeds

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

3 lemons

1/2 bottle dry white wine

500ml fish stock

250g unsalted butter

Martin in action

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. In 3 small saucepans add a tbsp of butter and shake the pans to and fro to emuslify the butter and make a sauce, season with salt and pepper and a little lemon juice to sharpen.

3. Chop the carrot, leek and celery into matchstick size pieces and add the carrot and coriander seeds to one pan, the leek and black onion seeds to another pan and the celery and cumin seeds to the third pan. Add a splash of fish stock and wine to each pan.

4. Cook over a low heat until the vegetables have softened.

5. Cut each scallop into four even thickness slices and remove the roe from the scallops and set aside.

6. Roll pastry into an oblong and then cut into three even long strips about the width of a ruler so that they are long enough to wrap around each scallop.

7. Fill each scallop shell with a mixture of the vegetables from the pan then arrange the four pieces of scallop in a rosette on the top of the vegetables.

8. Place the scallop roe into a blender with a tbsp of cold water and the yolks from the eggs. Blend until creamy. This makes an egg wash.

9. Brush the egg wash over the rims of the shells then place the top of each shell on top of the filled bottom and carefully seal the join with the strips of pastry. Brush more egg wash on the pastry and sprinkle with a little salt.

10. Scrunch a sheet of aluminium foil to make 12 donut shapes to act as supports for the scallops. Place the donuts on an oven tray and then carefully place the scallops on to.

11. Bake in the oven at 180C for 8/10 mins.

12. Remove scallops from the oven and brush with olive oil before serving.

Serves four with a serving size of three scallops per person

Links

If you liked reading this you might be interested in another impressive seafood dish, try this recipe for baked sea bass with slow roasted tomatoes or if you want to eat scallops cheaply in London order the sizzling seafood with lemon and garlic at Cay Tre.

Gourmet Chick attended the BBC Good Food Show as a guest of Miele.

Chilli Cool

The thing about chillis is that they are addictive. Start off eating them and the heat will be too hot to handle, but after a while your taste buds become desensitised and you need hotter and hotter chillis to get your heat fix. Maybe that was the problem when I visited Chilli Cool in Kings Cross with American in London and Londonelicious. We've all eaten a fair bit of chilli in our time and Chilli Cool didn't quite deliver on the fiery heat that we expected from Sichuan cooking. The only thing really hot about our meal was the temperature inside the restaurant, it was boiling, we were soon stripping off our winter layers.

Dried fried beans

Chilli Cool is a pretty unassuming little place with the look of a typical Chinese restaurant. You know the drill - formica tables, wood panelling on the walls and a tiny kitchen hidden behind a curtain next to the toilets. We ordered some Tsing Tao beers in anticipation of a super hot meal and studied the menu which helpfully includes English translations and pictures of the meals.

We started with the gong pau chicken (£7.50) which was sweet and salty at the same time and satisfyingly crunchy thanks to all the peanuts in it. This was probably my favourite dish of the night but unfortunately I can't say that the gong pau chicken delivered the chilli hit we were expecting. It was the same story with the dan dan noodles, slinky coils of noodles flavoured with pork and preserved vegetables. Tasty yes, hot no.

It's not all about chilli of course so I have to admit that Chilli Cool's dried fried beans were sensational, once again reinforcing my belief that everything (in particular vegetables) tastes better with pork. Ma po tofu (£6.80) featured silky chunks of tofu in a spicy broth that was a little more along the lines of the heat we had come to experience.

Gong pau chicken

In a great example of over ordering, eyes bigger than bellies and all that, we also managed to devour the sliced beef "Szechuan style" (£8) a great bowl of beef slices swimming in broth. The beef was a little on the fatty side for my tastes but I was happy to slurp up as much of the rich broth as possible.

The good thing about over ordering in a restaurant like Chilli Cool is that they don't blink an eyelid when you ask for a doggie bag to cart home the leftovers. The other good thing is that even with a surfeit of food and a couple of beers each the bill came to £20 a head.

I thought Chilli Cool was great value for money but I was a bit disappointed in the heat factor, perhaps because the restaurant came with such great reviews from some people I really trust when it comes to Sichuan food like Mr Noodles. I wonder if we had eaten there with a Cantonese speaker instead of just us three gweilos the experience would have been different. In the future if I need to feed my chilli addiction I think a better option will be to head back to Bar Shu in Soho instead.

Essentials

Details: 15 Leigh street, Bloomsbury, WC1H 9EW (Ph 02073 83313) Tube: Kings Cross

Damage: Such a bargain my mother would approve

7/10

Links

If you are on the hunt for Sichuan cuisine try Bar Shu in Soho, if you are eating in the area you can do worse than St Pancras Grand at nearby Kings Cross station.

Gourmet Christmas Gift Guide 2009

If you are stuck in a present buying rut I have again compiled a Gourmet Christmas Gift guide with some great ideas for Christmas stockings.

1. For the glamorous domestic goddess in your life:

Apron from Anthropologie: £17.83 (this is so gorgeous that I really want one myself)

2. For the man who thinks he is Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen.

Apron from Rosie Nieper: £14.95

3. For your little sister who has a cup cake addiction:

Hummingbird Bakery cook book from Amazon: £18.45

4. For your Dad who loves the garden much more than drying the dishes:

Set of four Essential Herbs tea towel set from Etsy $20 (around £18)

5. For your friend who loves eating out and needs some inspiration for eating in:

The Eagle Cookbook from Amazon: £12.48

6. For your long lost relative

Christmas hamper from Interflora £30.

Interflora sent me one of these to try as a gift and I can report that the wine bottles are only half size but the Christmas cake is really quite good.

7. For your Grandma (maybe you can pretend you made it yourself):

Make Tea Not War Sampler from Kitty and Polly £22

8. For unexpected guests

Home made raspberry spiked chocolate brownies - the recipe is here.

Links

This is what I recommended last year.

All photos taken from the linked websites.

Gourmet Giveaway

And the winner of the Gourmet Giveaway of a Douwe Egberts hamper is Pigglet who was chosen by random number generation. The winner has been contacted and the prize will be winging its way to her soon.

The Wet Fish Cafe

The Wet Fish Cafe: it's a great name for a cafe. The name comes from the buildings original purpose as a wet fish shop. If like me, you are in the dark as to what a wet fish actually is, The Wet Fish Cafe's owner, André explained to me that wet fish are fresh fish that have not been frozen. When he discovered the building tucked away in West Hampstead André peeled back the layers of paint to uncover the art deco emerald and green tiled walls from the original fish shop.

Confit duck

The result of all this carefully preserved heritage is a really homely and charming cafe which looks like it has been churning out coffee for years. André invited me to visit The Wet Fish Cafe for their first ever supper club. The café is usually closed on a Monday night, so André decided to use this night to try out a supper club once a month where he would serve a set menu with matching wine in a communal dinner party setting (£35 for three courses with three glasses of matched wine).

I love the concept of a supper club and it was really enjoyable eating at long communal tables and talking to complete strangers. Quite a few were Wet Fish Cafe regulars who told me that they keep on coming back for the excellent coffee and atmosphere. The only problem with the night was that the food did probably suffer a little just from the fact that the kitchen had to prepare 30 odd meals for simultaneous service which I am sure is quite a challenge.

The meal started with a tomato based fish stew that was served with rouille and croutons. The stew was hearty and comforting and dotted with generous chunks of salmon, mussel and prawns, just the sort of food you want at a winters supper. This was paired with a glass of Mara Martin Godello from Spain which cut through the thick stew perfectly.

However the strain of cooking for such a large group showed when it came to our main as the confit duck leg was overcooked to the extent that it was rather dry and parched. I loaded up with the accompanying savoy cabbage and a parsnip mash instead. The duck was matched with an Israeli wine, Petit Castel, Domaine du Castel which was a lovely robust wine almost in the style of a wine from Bordeaux. This wine is typical of those on offer at the West Fish Cafe which features wines from the new world and boutique wineries.

Trifle

To finish we were served a large glass of trifle with rosé wine jelly, honey custard and raspberry sorbet. I am not that great a fan of trifle and I thought there was a bit too much going on in this one with the flavours all mixing together. This is both the benefit and disadvantage of supper club menus. You are forced to try things you wouldn't usually order which may or may not be an enjoyable experience. What really worked well here though was the wine matching. The trifle was paired with a fantastic pink fizzy dessert wine, a pink moscato from Innocent Bystander in Australia. The wine almost acted as a sorbet to clean and refresh your palate after the confit in preparation for the trifle.

I loved the idea behind the supper club and was charmed by The Wet Fish cafe itself but I felt it fell down slightly on execution. Once the chefs become more accustomed to serving so many people at the same time I think that the supper club will become a really enjoyable way to spend a Monday evening.

Essentials

The next Supper Club will be held on Monday 25 January 2010.

Details: 242 West Lane, Hampstead NW6 1LG (Ph 020 7443 9222)

Damage: Reasonable

6/10

Links

If you liked reading this you might be interested in my review of Jim Haynes supper club in Paris which is held at his atelier in Paris and has been going strong for 30 years.

Gourmet Chick attended as a guest of The Wet Fish Cafe and received a complimentary meal.

E&O (revisited)

When I first visited E&O I said that... E&O is a restaurant that does not live up to the hype. It gets regular mentions as one of London's top restaurants, with prices to match and a celebrity clientele (Gwyneth et al).

Since then I have been back to E&O twice and it was only on my most recent visit that I really enjoyed my meal. The difference was that this time we ate in the private dining room and so the service was much better than previous visits and even the food also seemed to be up a notch. If you dine at E&O in a group you have the option of a £49 "banqueting menu". The price is high once you add in drinks and service charge but it does include so much food that we struggled to eat it all.

Steamed red snapper Sichuan style

In my initial review I said... E&O has one of those annoying two sittings for dinner policies that you come across in London so admittedly it was 7pm when we arrived, however the restaurant was sadly lacking in atmosphere. Nevertheless, we were in a celebratory mood so we ordered a round of mojitos. To be honest, it does not take much of a celebratory mood for a round of mojitos to be in order. When the cocktails arrived they were so strong that I could smell the rum on my breath the next day. While I may have welcomed such value for money in alcohol at a later stage of the evening, it was a bit hard to handle in my pre dinner mojito.

The food is a mixture of different Asian cuisines, however it is mainly Thai influenced and served in small sharing size portions. We began by nibbling on edamame beans then progressed to a servings of gyoza, prawns and chilli salt squid. The chilli salt squid was probably the highlight. It was brought to the table in a cone of Chinese newspaper and it was crispy and light with no aftertaste of grease. The food was good, however it did not meet my (admittedly high) expectations and as MTV boyfriend is always keen to point out, the serving sizes were somewhat on the measly side.

For something more substantial we shared a green curry. The curry was decent although there was not much kick to it and again the portion served was rather meagre. A large sashimi platter was also somewhat mediocre and it smelt slightly fishy which is not a good sign in sashimi.

When I ate at E&O last week the banqueting menu includes all the dishes I have had previously including the same chilli salt squid wrapped in Chinese newspaper. The stand out dishes from the banquet are the wasabi prawns and the black miso cod. The wasabi prawns are crunchy and spicy all at the same time. As for the miso cod, admittedly it is a bit of a standard on London restaurant menus ever since Nobu made it famous but E&O's version is silky smooth. The dessert platter is also not to be missed, in particular the chocolate pudding and cookies and cream mochi.

Chocolate pudding

In my initial review I said... Service was lackadaisical at best. It was clear our waiter had more pressing things on his mind such as scoping out whether Gwyneth had arrived yet. Our table of five was provided with only four water glasses, we were never provided with a cocktail list despite our requests and the Riesling we ordered as a dessert wine was served warmed.

It is a different story in the private dining room where you receive your own personal waiter so that there were none of the service issues I experienced previously. I have mixed feelings about E&O because my experiences there have been so varied. While my most recent meal there was top notch, I think at the prices you pay at E&O there should be more inconsistency. Still no sign of Gwyneth...

Essentials

Details: 14 Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill W11 1NN (Ph 02 7229 5454) Tube: Ladbroke Grove

Damage: Pricey

6/10

Links

You may be interested in a nearby restaurant such as Osteria Basilica or you could try this recipe for Pad Thai if you feel like Thai.

Bam-bou

What happens when the owners of London institutions The Ivy and J Sheekey open a restaurant serving Asian influenced food in Fitzrovia? My guess was that Bam-bou would be bustling, packed with celebrities and just a little bit intimidating. I was right on one count. Bam-bou was packed when I ate there on Wednesday night with my friends Claire, Mez and Jo. Luckily though the restaurant did not come with the attitude that I was dreading.

Seared scallops and pork belly

Bam-bou is set in a restored old town house and the restaurant itself is spread over several rooms including one which is devoted solely to serving as a cosy looking bar. We ate in the downstairs dining room which is welcoming with lots of dark wood and carvings giving it the feel of Asia in colonial times. Tables are closely placed and the waiters end up squeezing behind them to deliver menus and a jug of tap water. Service was friendly although occasionally forgetful.

A large plate of prawn crackers is placed on the table, although when we get the bill they prove to be anything but complimentary (£3.75 for prawn crackers in my book is highway robbery). At this stage we are oblivious to that fact so we munch away and search through the menu which contains a mixture of Thai, Vietnamese and Chin

ese dishes.

We start with the Har Gau dumplings (£5.75) and the crispy soft shell crab (£6.25). Everything is beautifully presented on wooden trays complete with star fruit garnishes. This is Asian food with a makeover. Looks aside, the dumplings are a little on the wet side, mine slips out of its translucent wrapper as I try in vain to scoop it up with my chopsticks, however the blush pink shrimp and pork filling is tender and tasty. As for the soft shell crab, the batter is a little heavy but the crab itself is very moreish.

Mains arrive accompanied by little bowls filled with fluffy Jasmine rice and various dipping sauces. The green curried chicken with tiger aubergine and pea shoots (£11.75) is creamy with a slight hint of chilli. I would have liked a more spice (this is Westernised food) but otherwise the curry is rich and comforting. The peppered beef fillet has a subtle flavour thanks to the kow choi and shao xing wine that it has been cooked with but the portion size is a little meagre for £14.50. The best dish we order is the seared scallops with pork belly and perilla leaves (£14.25) . The pork belly glistens with fat while the plump scallops provide the perfect foil to the strong flavour of the pork.

Soft shell crab

Being the big spenders we are we accompany our meal with a bottle of the house sauvignon blanc which is a Llamera from Central Valley in Chile (£16.50) it has a delicate citrus tang that works well with the Asian flavours of the food.

When we booked we were told that we had only two hours at our table, since we decided to forgo dessert the time limit was no problem but I do hate the feeling of being forced to leave a restaurant rather than being able to linger for as long as you want. Bam-bou is not a bad option in Fitzrovia, but I think that it tries to cover too many bases and so ends up producing a rather Westernised version of "Asian" food. This means that the food is pleasant enough but it is not particularly memorable either. Go here if you are a fan of no surprises style eating.

Essentials

Details: 1 Percy street, Fitzrovia, W1T 1DB (Ph 020 7323 9130) Tube: Tottenham Court Road

Damage: Reasonable

6/10

Links

If you liked reading this you might be interested in nearby Roka for stylish Japanese food or if you really want to eat at a restaurant that offers a mix of Asian cuisines Banana Tree Canteen is an option.

Bacon, maple and pecan cupcakes

When I made these cupcakes I placed them down in front of my friends and said with a flourish "I have made some vegetarian ones as well". They looked a bit bewildered as lets face it generally cupcakes are vegetarian. These are cupcakes for meat lovers topped with a pecan nut and some bacon caramelised with maple syrup. Although it may sound like a strange combination at first, if you think about it the flavours do go together, especially if you are a fan of that classic American dish of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. I made these using a recipe I tore out from Metro a month or so ago by cup cake queen Lily Vanilli, I did vary the recipe slightly so I have added those variations here. Try them if you dare and I am sure you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients

1 handful of pecan nuts

170g unsalted butter

215g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 pinch of nutmeg

1 pinch of cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup butter

3 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup double cream

4 tsp maple syrup

1 rasher of bacon

(1 cup = 250ml)

1. Preheat oven to 190C and toast the pecans for around 7 mins or until they start to brown.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Separate the eggs and and the egg yolks to the butter mixture (saving the whites) one at a time and mix until even.

4. Sift the flour and mix with the baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

5. Separately mix the milk with 1 tsp of the vanilla essence then add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients to the butter mix gradually making sure to start and finish with the dry ingredients.

6. In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold them into the mixture into three parts.

7. Divide the batter into a muffin pan lined with muffin cases. Fill until 3/4 full and then bake for 15 mins or until just golden brown then set aside to cool.

8. Cut the bacon rasher into small squares, brush them with maple syrup and bake in the oven for 10 mins or until crispy.

9. Make the frosting by beating the butter until soft and then mixing with the icing sugar, the remaining tsp of vanilla essence, the cream and maple syrup until smooth and thick.

10. Top the cakes with the frosting and a toasted pecan and strip of crispy bacon.

Links

If you liked reading this you might like reading my review of the Hummingbird bakery or you could try this recipe for red velvet cupcakes.

Gourmet Giveaway and Gourmet Chick Sponsors

First for the Gourmet Giveaway, you can win a hamper of coffee goodies from Douwe Egberts (valued at £45) by leaving a comment below answering the following question:

How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?

If nothing else at least this competition will give an interesting insight into everyones coffee addictions. A winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) and the competition is open until 5pm UK time on Wednesday 9 December 2009. If you do not have a blog please also email me including a copy of your comment at missgourmetchick[at]gmail.com so that I have your details to get in touch if you win.

Secondly for the final video from Gourmet Chick sponsors Douwe Egberts. This video covers Columbia home of the coffee farms where Douwe Egberts coffee comes from. Cue travel envy/inspiration watching it.