London’s Best..? Santa Maria – Ealing, Wednesday 12th May, 2010

After reading a piece in Time Out some time back about London’s best pizza, I decided I just had to visit the number one venue. On a balmy Wednesday night, I forsook watching Fulham come close to Europa League glory and wandered out to Ealing with a very scrutinising face on.

Pizza is quintessential Italian (or, rather, Italian-American) rustic food. It is no-frills, no-complications fare. There is something wonderfully universal about pizza: it is just so popular: hell, I’ll wolf down a Domino’s once in a while (but I draw the line at Pizza Hut). In fact, I’d go so far as to say I don’t fully trust people who don’t like pizza. Suspect judgemental calls aside, I did wonder the following: how do you quantify impeccable pizza?

Okay, there are areas you can touch on for sure… The base must be soft, thin and crunchy at the crust. The toppings must be generous, flavoursome and yet not overdone. The finish should be not at all greasy but certainly not too dry. You can go on and on (as I once did about burgers), but the point is it’s damn hard to judge anything so well-loved.

Santa Maria has not been open long (it opened earlier this year) but its rise to fame has been metronomic. The feature in Time Out all but pushed it to superstar status. So much so that two of us went there at 9pm on a Wednesday night and still had to wait for 15 minutes to get seated. I can sort of see why.

Firstly, everyone in Ealing is delighted they’re so close to such a popular and famous eatery that they can call their own. And I don’t blame them for that. Secondly, it’s just so rustic and pretty that anybody would want to go there. Opposite a small green, housing a traditional wood-fired oven and buzzing with patrons, who wouldn’t pop in there on the odd evening? Lastly, the pizza is good. Really good, in fact. But not amazing. Hang on, has pizza ever been amazing?

Whilst I chewed on my first mouthful, I thought three things: one, this is not the best pizza I’d ever eaten; two, what is the best pizza I’d ever eaten?; and three, by heaven, the dough was perfect. I can’t honestly say what the best pizza I’ve ever eaten was or where I ate it. There’s something about pizza at a roadside café in Italy that galvanises the senses, thick American pizza has a delightful charm, and even some of the stuff you get in Soho is great. But the best..? A tough call indeed.

So, the bases are just incredible: perfectly soft underneath, perfectly crisp on the crust and perfectly thin. That’s one excellent factor taken care of. Now, as for the rest, it just didn't quite click. We tried two pizzas, the Santa Carmela (ham and mushroom) and the San Daniele (drier base with cherry tomatoes, rocket, ham and parmesan.) I felt the first would be perfect and the second was a more adventurous choice. In the event, the safe choice of ham and mushroom proved to be something of a letdown (left).

The toppings were fairly slapdash, and it looked as if it had been thrown together with a minimum of fuss. Now, if you want to produce and serve food in that way, I have no problem. But it has to be good if you want to do so. Not that this pizza was bad as such, it just could've been nicer. Surprisingly, the second effort was better (right). Even though it looked a bit dry and bland, the combination worked perfectly. I think this was where the excellent bases really came into their own. Despite fairly large sections of crust, it was never dry, never tough and never too chewy.

So, two pizzas down, off we went. I cannot clearly say this is the best pizza I've eaten in London, but as I mentioned earlier, I couldn't really say what is. Santa Maria is good - at times great - but there is something missing. One final topping of quality, you might say. It's almost there but not quite. Personally I think it's to do with the publicity and reputation they've acquired from being awarded London's best pizza: it's easy to start increasing turnover at the expense of quality in the face of such fame.

All that said, however, I would go back. It's a little ironic that if I hadn't read about this being London's best pizza, I might not have been there, yet having gone there with that knowledge, I found it a little disappointing. I still don't know how to judge perfect pizza. Maybe there just isn't any in London. Maybe pizza is never perfect. Maybe it's impossible to judge. However, Santa Maria..? An utterly charming, genuine local eatery. Good for them.

Santa Maria

Dover Street – Mayfair, Tuesday 4th May, 2010

I popped into Dover Street with a friend I’d not seen in ages some time back. She suggested we tried somewhere “on Taste London”, which sounded good to me, so Dover Street (surprisingly situated on Dover Street in Mayfair) was our choice.

A name as daring as this suggests the place will do exactly what it says on the cover. It is a restaurant called Dover Street, so it must be on Dover Street. It is a restaurant so it must serve food. Sounds kind of robotic, right? Welcome to Dover Street.

Dover Street is quite a big place which is a bar, restaurant, music venue, cabaret room, theatre, members club, game room, opium den… Well maybe not all those things. But it is too big. And confusing. Empty, too. I found the experience a little lacking when it came to any kind of proper restaurant ambience.

Parts of the meal were good, like the beginning: some asparagus risotto served with some seared foie gras. (Not everyone is as greedy as me, and my friend was happy to pick at my starter and dessert.) For the price and the season, the dish was quite acceptable. Relatively fresh, well-combined with some mild cheese sauce and not overdone. Not too heavy either, which can happen with bad risotto.

With main courses, they clearly decided that more = more, which fits right into the clinical precision of the place. Ridiculously over-stuffed plates of rack of lamb (dull) and cod (slightly less dull) were placed before us by our waitress. (Who, by the way, I think was doubling as security, given her attitude, attire and fancy earpiece.) The lamb was dry, tasteless and poorly presented and the cod was swamped by two mounds of mashed potato.

I decided to try an apple tart tatin for dessert which wasn’t bad. Again, Dover Street serving up exactly what is on their charter. It’s hard to say much more than that because the dessert was fairly representative of the meal: unspectacular, functional and a bit bland, if not bad.

My companion remarked that she wanted to go back to Dover Street on one of their jazz nights, indicating the place ought to be more bustling with some live music on a Friday night. That’s almost certainly true, since given the place’s location (on Dover Street, right?), it’ll be full of workers on a Friday night looking to get nicely sloshed.

That might be the problem with this place though: it’s a faceless city bar/club that has been plonked in the middle of Mayfair, and now is trying to maintain the aching surefootedness of the former whilst acquiescing to the upper-class whimsy of the latter.

Maybe I’m looking at it from the wrong way though: it’s been here for thirty years. Given how dead and uncharismatic the place is, that surprises me. Perhaps my friend is on to something: you do need to be there for the music. Either way, I’m interested in the food, and that is not up to snuff at the moment. If they could try a few more dishes like the risotto to start, they might be on to something.

What I think they do need to do is separate the restaurant from the hollow bar area and start taking their food seriously. It’s not great (or even very good) yet, but one day the food at Dover Street might match the reputation and musical stature of the place.

Dover Street

Quo Vadis – Soho, Sunday 25th April, 2010

Sunday night dinner often has the potential to be a grandiose affair. Reminiscent of traditional memories of a late-evening Sunday roast with the family, I often feel like a good splurge on a Sunday night, despite how much more difficult it makes Monday morning as I get older. Quo Vadis were running a half price menu on Sundays, so the other half and I popped along for a spot of dinner.

The first thing that struck me about the place was the menu: it was enormous. Huge choices, wide selections and much to take in. A natural fear I have of big menus is that the food quality isn’t going to be up to much. If somewhere is offering loads of choice, they can’t be doing all the dishes particularly well. From the cross-section of the menu that we sampled, this is not the case at Quo Vadis.

The Dublin Bay prawns we ate to start were almost the size of lobsters (left). The other half being a bit of a seafood connoisseur, I was eager to hear what the verdict was. Given that I still hear about these to the day, I can assume they were up to scratch. (And I liked them too: fresh, firm, sweet and vibrant.)

I went for the decidedly more opulent choice of scallop with black pudding, pancetta and ox cheek. Whilst all the elements seemed in place, I wanted to try this just to see if they could pull off such bold flavours on one plate. They could. A glorious combination they made to look effortless, and in fact almost undersold. Still, very delicate and rich as I’d hoped, and nothing to complain about.

Main courses were fairly thrilling. A piece of pork shoulder that had more minute variations in taste, texture and appearance than I thought possible was smothered in gravy and served with apple sauce. (I told you I like overdoing it on a Sunday.) This, however, was trumped by the outright excellent steak and chips with béarnaise we also tried (right).

We’re talking thick, rare, exceptionally cooked steak. Steak that is moderately chewy outside, but soft as anything inside. A beautiful, dark chocolate brown with a deep red centre. I’m getting carried away, but that was the quality of the meat. The sauce was spot on and the chips were outstanding: fluffy, crisp and chunky.

Once main courses were out of the way and my emotions had stabilised, we ate some dessert. Predictably the other half went for a chocolate fondant which was predictably good. I decided to test the menu a little further with the apple millefeuille and caramel parfait. It was almost as good as it sounds: fatty, syrupy richness and flaky, buttery pastry. You can’t fail when you get an apple dessert right.

Given that we were eating a heavily discounted menu on Sunday night, we did go a bit crazy, but it was well worth the indigestion on Monday morning. I enjoyed all the dishes we tried, and some of them were downright exceptional. Offer or no offer, it’s certainly a restaurant worth going to. After all, where else in the sleazy, glorious Eurotrash of Soho can you find decent English food?

Quo Vadis

Japanese Five Times in a Few Weeks, April-May 2010

Apparently Spring is the season for Japanese food. Having tried quite a bit of it in London but always hearing about somewhere better, the other half and I undertook a 16-day mission to find out about a few of the supposedly better places that offer Japanese food across the capital.

Our journey alternated between west London and the west side of the City. We managed to try various bits and pieces without trying to be too repetitive, but staying close enough to the mark to compare each place. So, without further ado…

Yoshi Sushi – Tuesday 20^th April, Hammersmith

Yoshi Sushi was a stop on the way home from Westfield at Shepherds Bush, so we were quite keen to get in and out with minimal fuss. The place is a very standard Japanese affair, with dark walls, unspectacular décor and plenty on the menu.

We wanted to try as full a sample of the restaurant without getting bogged down in the menu or spending too much money, and in the event we did a pretty good job. We shared a set of courses and also ordered another couple of dishes to flesh out the experience.

For the most part, it was lovely. Some excellent eel (left) was tender and rich like all good eel should be. Their tempura, sashimi and scallops (below) were also pretty fine: each one well-cooked and lightly flavoursome. We finished off with Tonkatsu, a fillet of pork coated in breadcrumbs and served with salad and sauce (right) which was quite as good as it sounds.

Despite its unspectacular initial appearance, Yoshi Sushi is most certainly worth a visit because it is offering inexpensive, uncomplicated Japanese food which hits the spot at 9.30pm on a weekday night. Top stuff.

Abeno Okonomiyaki – Friday 23^rd April, Bloomsbury

Okonomiyaki cuisine is closely related to the teppanyaki style of cooking at the table that so many people associate with Japanese food. You know the one: chefs cooking on a hot grill plate serving to customers at the table fresh from the grill. Well okonomiyaki isn’t far off. Literally meaning “grill whatever you like”, the food consists of a savoury pancake made from various Japanese staples and flavoured with whichever toppings you care to try.

…It’s hard to explain. The idea is great, and the presentation and theatre (as you might expect) are terrific. The ingredients are combined at the table and moulded into thick patties which are then grilled on the table’s hotplate. After they are cooked, various sauces (Japanese mayo and ketchup, as far as I could see) get thrown on, and they’re served hot, fresh and promptly.

We tried a couple of pancakes; one with noodles, one with seafood. Both were pretty much on the money: crispy, flavoursome and nicely varied. The side dishes (some rice balls and noodles) were almost an irrelevance. Acceptable, but detracting from the main event. I suppose you obey the name: when you go to Abeno, eat okonomiyaki.

Abeno is most definitely worth a visit. It’s simply something a bit different when it comes to Japanese food. Inexpensive, authentic and a bit of table theatre thrown in. Very enjoyable.

Abeno Okonomiyaki

Ribon – Friday 30^th April, St. Paul’s

Ribon had long been on my list of places to visit ever since a friend of mine told me it was the best Japanese food he’d eaten. A little online research seemed to corroborate with his testimony: everyone in London seems to love it. Naturally, this meant I had to give it a go.

Myself and three others shared a few dishes on a Friday night: Asian food in general lends itself to the splendour of group eating, I find. Ribon is top-notch Japanese food, there’s no denying it. The okonomiyaki we tried for the main course was possibly better than that we’d tried at Abeno, which was surprising. The prawn tempura was exquisite: light, fluffy and succulent (left). Some breadcrumbed scallops were possibly even better. Perfectly formed within their surround, I couldn’t believe how good these tasted.

A bowl of udon noodles with meat ‘n veg was as comfortable as such fare should be, and some grilled beef tongue wasn’t half bad either. Most surprisingly, I found I could eat and tolerate the sushi, which is a popular delicacy I usually can’t get excited about. Their sashimi was really good though: tender, rich and flavoursome (right). (Those three qualities encapsulate perfectly to me why sashimi is generally better than sushi.)

Whilst some of my friends took a bit of convincing, Ribon is a great meal out, and yes, possibly the best Japanese food I’ve eaten in London. As with many Asian restaurants in the capital though, you have to pick to their strengths. Anything grilled comes with a very strong recommendation. Do try it out.

Ribon

Kiraku – Saturday 8^th May, Ealing

We had taken a trip to Ealing on a Saturday lunch time to try Sushi Hiro, which the other half had been tugging my arm about for weeks, only to find the place was closed for a staff holiday. Never to be denied, we turned right, walked down four doors and entered Kiraku, a local, friendly looking Japanese joint that was bubbling and busy.

As I say, it was a Saturday and I was a little bleary-eyed from a long week, so uncomplicated comfort food was in order. Half-intentionally, I decided to try whatever tempura Kiraku could throw at me. Fortunately, they know their tempura. Prawns, tomato and courgette: beautiful (left)!

The other half ordered a large bowl of udon noodle soup which was okay, but I just can’t get the hang of Asian soups; they don’t agree with me. Still, the noodles were good and the meal was right on.

Should you be in Ealing and you fancy some hearty Japanese lunch, go here. It’s unlikely to disappoint.

Kiraku

Sushi Hiro – Thursday 13^th May, Ealing

So, one evening in the following week, we finally got around to trying the restaurant that – allegedly – offers the best sushi in London. Or used to. The old owner was renowned far and wide for putting the best raw fish on rice in front of you in our great city for some time. Unfortunately, the key word there is “old”: he’s not there anymore.

Now, I will absolutely not belittle the work of the chefs who work at the place currently. There is no doubt making sushi is a fine and refined art. Watching them lovingly prepare the dishes to order was impressive indeed. However (and I will get this right off the bat now): I just don’t like sushi.

There, I’ve said it. That most pretentiously coveted foodstuff which is piled high in supermarkets all over the place just doesn’t do it for me. It’s bland, stale-tasting, limited and a downright waste of fish. Sashimi is good, sushi is not.

On the topic of sashimi, we actually did try a very delicious piece of tuna at Hiro which, when extracted from the annoyance of the cold rice, was delectable. As it tends to be, the eel was lovely and firm, but the rest fell way short for me. The other half was also less than impressed in the main.

We were backed up by a friend who had often visited Hiro when the old owner was still in place, and he admitted the place had gone downhill since then. Either way, I think the sushi here is still pretty good (as long as you like sushi, which I don’t.)

So, there is a lot of good Japanese to be had out there in London, you just need to know what it is you're looking for. The highlight of this set of meals was undoubtedly Ribon, but apart from Sushi Hiro, there was plenty to enjoy about each place. If recent Michelin guides are anything to go by, we should all be eating Japanese at the moment. Get involved.

Villandry Kitchen – Chiswick, Friday 16th April, 2010

A spot of lunch on a summery spring day rarely fails to satisfy – unless the lunch is awful – and in the middle of April (following a Cornish getaway at the start of the month), the other half and I rendezvoused for a quick bite during my lunch hour.

Villandry have just opened a new part of their affordable French brasserie/bistro chain in Chiswick, which is good. The bad thing is the building they moved into replaced Ground, a great burger joint that was miles better than the bafflingly popular Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

The food here is utterly unspectacular but highly adequate for a quick lunchtime in-and-out meal. Nothing we tried was bad, but similarly none of it was amazing. A mushroom and cream sauce assortment underneath puff pastry will always do the job, and the main courses weren’t too shabby either. A decent macaroni cheese gratin and some okay pork belly (a special of the day) didn’t massively spark the imagination, but weren’t bad at all.

A lemon tart for dessert later was pleasant enough – any halfway decent lemon tart should be – and was served with some crème fraiche. Unfortunately we had to wolf this one down a bit since I had to get back to work fairly sharpish, but it didn’t malign the meal unfairly.

The fare at Villandry is going to win no plaudits, but ruffle few feathers. And that’s what it’s trying to do. So that’s just great. Another useful addition to Chiswick’s array of eateries.

Villandry