Little Bay, Farringdon: 23rd of May, 2009

The chain of Little Bay restaurants across London is something everyone should know about. There are a few of them around (I’d been to the one in Battersea before), and they’re really worth a try. Splendorous decorations are the very definition of over-the top flamboyance (in a cute way), yet the whole experience is one of overwhelming comfort and unhurriedness. And affordability!

The food (predictably, almost) is terrific, and not least because you’re paying something of a pittance for excellent lunch. (A main course before 7pm is only £5.25!) Some good, hearty chicken liver on brioche to start was not quite perfect, but tangy and smooth. The main courses varied: some okay chicken and mash with some sort of orange vegetable mulch (ragout, I believe) was surpassed instantly by a super piece of pork, served over dauphinoise potatoes and covered in mushrooms. Top nosh, this. Apple cake and a grandly indulgent cheesecake for dessert may’ve been moderately excessive for lunch, but even not being able to finish the latter didn’t matter so much, given that the whole bill was around £20.

In current times (so I’m told) of hardship and financial strife, there aren’t many better places to go to get an honest, well-priced meal than a Little Bay restaurant. Chain owner Peter Ilic has hit a real winner with these gems, and given that he recently ran a promotion where patrons could pay whatever they felt the meal was worth, he knows it. To put it in context; if I had left only £20 for this meal, I would’ve thought I was being pretty mean. You want cheap eats with quality..? Go here.

Little Bay

Patterson’s, Regent Street: 11th of May, 2009

I have wanted to try Patterson’s for some time. It’s a restaurant I’ve heard good things about, and it certainly fits the bill for some decent modern cuisine in London – a mixture of British and European. If you get such a combination right these days, you’re ‘well in’, as they say. This evening was also fairly hastily arranged, because I was supposed to be seeing Morrissey but the gig had been cancelled. I hoped Patterson’s could help to make up for the disappointment. Things started badly, because just about every bus route coming into south central London seemed to be on diversion or stopped short of its destination on the 11th. We arrived about 40 minutes late, grumbling and fed up, but the staff didn’t mind. They were friendly and gracious from the start of the evening, which certainly helps when you’re huffing and puffing on your way into an eatery.

We were seated next to the lobster tank, which meant some spectator sports for the evening. However, I’m not sure lobster wrestling is entirely humane. (And it got boring ever so soon…) Décor-wise, Patterson’s is more or less the standard that most modern restaurants are at: inoffensive, clean, simple and comfortable. All that’s left to talk about is the food, and I really do want to talk about this food.

Starters of an exceptional piece of squab breast (even though I don’t like leeks, which it came with) and a glorious rich venison roulade kicked things off at a brilliant standard. Both dishes were expertly formed and weren’t overwhelming or overbearing. You can’t technically get better than this with starters, which is always good. As usual, I was expecting main courses to fall below the impeccable standard of the meal so far, but lo and behold..! As devotees may recall, I tried a pork belly dish during the Galvin At Windows meal (see here) which fell way below expectations. I can safely say that the (similar) pork belly with scallops at Patterson’s is light years ahead of it. Using the same amazing cut of meat, but instead of over-saucing it and adding too many lentils and some miniature clams, Patterson’s have hit the spot with this one. Juicy scallops on top, and on the side you’ve got carrot purée plus a tian (like a layered cake) of potato with black pudding and apple. Oh, and some onion confit with the meat too: superb. Also good (though not quite in the same league of fawning) was the saddle of lamb. Fatty, meaty and hearty, it’s just about what you want, but the curried milk jelly and the provençale layered veg were a tad overcomplicated. Nice potatoes with it though. Decent desserts too: a searing and sharp lemon tart with lime sorbet and orange zest sauce sucked the moisture from my cheeks before flooding them with bold taste and a real eye-opening zing. The white chocolate bavarois was very nice, but they didn’t mention the base contained nuts, which put me off.

Having read enough about it and noticed it more than once, I’m really glad I went to Patterson’s. In fact, if you like any sort of British / Modern European cuisine, you will be too.

Patterson's Restaurant

Mike's Food Gripes

It's taken a while but here you go. Ten things in the world of food that really grind my gears...

• Beans and Pulses - Kidney Beans, Broad Beans, Haricot Beans, Mung Beans, Chick Peas, Black Eyed Peas, I hate the lot of them. NB If i go to the trouble of requesting there are no beans in my enchilada please don't undo all the good work by serving said enchilada on a bean salad.

• Tough to eat food - I am sure lobster, shell fish and the like can be delicious but i don't want to have to eat using equipment that would be more at home in a tool box than a cutlery drawer.

• Asian Desserts - I am a big fan of Asian cuisine but it really seems strange that a whole continent appears to have missed the point on desserts. Fresh fruit just isn't the same.

• Under supported dishes - I understand that the meat/fish/nut roast (!) should be the centre piece of the meal but I am a young man with a healthy appetite (greedy). Just give me a few more potatoes.

• Couscous - "It's not supposed to taste of anything, it just takes on the flavour of the other ingredients." I'll just go home and have some highly flavoured cardboard then. So bland they named it twice.

• Ratio of Fish to Meat dishes - It seems to be a current trend particularly in the top restaurants but for me one or two fish options is plenty, especially if others are added at the expense of a good meat dish.

• Picking things out of your food - Menus will usually tell you the make-up of a particular dish. Please don't order a chicken and mushroom pie if you don't like mushrooms and are going to precede to spend the next 30 minutes identifying and removing them from the dish.

• SMASH! - I'm all for convenience foods if the occasion demands it but this is just unacceptable. How difficult is it to boil a potato?

• Vegetarian foods imitating meat - I understand (but disagree with) the ethical reasons behind vegetarianism but this just seems unnatural. If you don't want to eat a sausage why would you want to eat something that looks and tastes like a sausage...but not as good?

• 'Jack of all Trades' restaurants - Particularly Takeaway establishments. There is a lot to be said about catering for the masses but I always feel a little uneasy going to a curry house that also serves burgers, pizzas and kebabs.

Sophie’s Steakhouse, Covent Garden: 3rd of May, 2009

A housemate of mine (and Mike’s) had mentioned that he wanted to come to Sophie’s for his birthday meal, so when I found myself in there through chance a few months earlier, I deliberately avoided having steak in the knowledge that I would return. On that occasion, I enjoyed a rare piece of lamb which was good if unspectacular.

A few months down the line, I was determined to enjoy a proper steak dinner, and so I ordered the chateaubriand to share. It was good: tender, red and juicy. Unfortunately, the sides were a bit lacking, disappointingly. (Although the chips were good, which is becoming harder to find these days.) When you go to a restaurant purporting to be a ‘steakhouse’ in the classical sense of the word(s), you sort of expect all the trimmings to be rustic and satisfying. I’m not sure two separate pots of béarnaise sauce are quite necessary for one steak. Mike ordered the 24 oz steak, which was not quite as big as we’d anticipated, and slightly overcooked.

Starters and desserts were varied. Some cracking chicken liver parfait (framed with butter, no less) and a slightly dry, slightly flavoursome crab salad went down well, and the apple crumble at Sophie’s is a bit of a treat. Sticky toffee pudding was also decent enough, marbled with pouring cream, and served with ice cream and cream on the side.

My apologies if this review seems a little wishy-washy, but unfortunately, that’s the feeling you’re left with after you eat at Sophie’s, and there is one reason for that: the price of the food. A chateaubriand steak that costs £50 should be supreme, but it didn’t leave the imprint on the memory it should’ve done. The food here is good, but it’s not quite worth what they’re charging.

Brasserie Toulouse Lautrec, Kennington: 5th of May, 2009

This is a strange old place. No, that’s wrong: it’s a strange new place. Formerly a pub, Brasserie Toulouse Lautrec is a recent addition to the Kennington area, just off Newington Butts. (A strange location for a new brasserie, just next to Elephant & Castle…) The thing about it is, it really still looks like a pub: stone floors, heavy wooden tables, rickety toilets and all. The layout is strange too: a bar with piano (they have nightly live music) upstairs, then the restaurant downstairs which is built around the kitchen and the staircase. Again, something feels a bit off here, like it’s almost too rustic.

Fortunately, the food’s pretty good. A duck confit and gizzard salad to begin was simple and understated, then we tried some French black pudding with mash and mushroom cream sauce. Quite good but very filling. The lamb on a bed of seasonal veg with home mint cream sauce was the show-stealer though. It was fatty and creamy-textured lamb which fell off the bone and was incredibly well-balanced. The apple tart for dessert was too long in coming, too cold, too thin and looked generally unappealing. It tasted alright though, which was nice.

I do recommend trying this place out, if you’re south of the river on the Northern Line. It’s a rough diamond right now, but it could yet be cut into shape with a few months more settling in. (It opened in November.) It’s also very reasonable: we each did two courses for £18 (£22 for three) and were most comfortable. If nothing else, it’s worth it for the bizarre experience of eating a simple French meal in an old-fashioned pub in Kennington.