Byron Burger

In the world of eating out regularly, enjoyable constants are hard to find. There are those places you'll keep going back to, but finding one is not easy. As any regular readers will know, my ongoing romance with Le Vacherin and Launceston Place are testament to this. However, the kinds of places I feel the most smug about are the ones you see everywhere. Gems in front of you which other people might dismiss instantly.

Byron Burger is one such gem. The burgers here are just about the best you can get whilst still paying a reasonable price. Currently London-confined, the chain is about to expand all over the country and by golly, everyone's in for a treat. I remember going to Byron for the first time in Westfield and being thrilled that they did proper burgers, cooked to order, and a great milkshake to go alongside.

Since then, I couldn't tell you how many times I've been to various Byron branches across London. They are always there; convenient and appealing. The classic is always enough for me: a rare burger with simple trimmings, sauces and chips. It doesn't get much more satisfying. Add in a milkshake or two (if you're feeling adventurous) and it is exactly what you expect and hope for.

All that said, I worry if the Byron ship might be about to sail. Last time I was there, I mentioned I wanted my burger rare and they said I would have to do with medium rare. Not quite what I was expecting. It seems hard to believe that with the constant expansion (a new one seems to pop up in London every month or so), the quality and consistency won't suffer. I truly hope not, because this is one chain I'm absolutely stuck on.

They won't let you down, they won't overcharge, they won't do anything outside what you're expecting. Byron is (at the moment) the best chain restaurant in London, probably in the UK. They are superb at what they do and it is something worth trying out when you get a hankering for a decent burger at a decent price.

Byron Burger

Da Polpo: Covent Garden, Friday December 16th, 2011

Russell Norman is single-handedly re-shaping comfortable eating in trendy parts of central London. The brains behind Polpo, an instant smash hit in Soho, he and business partner Richard Beatty now own a belt of restaurants across the middle of the capital, with three restaurants serving Italian bar food, one (Spuntino) serving American diner food from the 19th century and one (Mishkin's) serving Jewish deli fare.

It is a great success rate. The franchises have been developed on the idea of doing things very simply and very well. It is, in essence, exactly what modern places should be doing if they want to remain current and fashionable. The cost to set the places up is remarkably low and the philosophy admirable. It makes for an extremely impressive burgeoning empire.

In December last year, the wife and I decided a little after-Christmas party food was in order. As with one year prior, a bit of Italian cicheti (tapas) was on the cards. We first tried Polpetto, given that I had heard a lot about it: there was a power cut in Old Compton Street. On to Polpo, remembering how much we had enjoyed it first time: there was an hour or so wait for a table. Finally to Bocca Di Lupo, hoping to re-enact last year's fun: there was no availability at all.

And so we found ourselves in Covent Garden. The final hope we had was in Da Polpo, the most recent Italian addition to Norman's brand. It's also the biggest, which I didn't know at the time. Had I know this, we might have gone straight there instead of trekking around the west end in vain for the best part of an hour beforehand. There was no wait for a table and we were in the mood for cicheti, that's for sure.

We started with some arancini, the fried and breadcrumbed rice balls which can often be doughy and unappetising. These were a bit of a treat (left). Small but perfectly moist yet solid within, the mushroom and cheese inside was a great set-up for the meal to come. At £2.50 they may have been a bit of a stretch, but quality almost always trumps price. In Covent Garden it certainly does.

Our next plate was moscardini, which are little octopuses. They were served drizzled in olive oil and some mild herbs and, despite looking rather scrappy, actually tasted rather good (right). Not chewy, slightly meaty, semi-soft, they were another welcome plate on the table. That, I think, concluded what one might term as 'starters' and 'mains' came along. My vagueness is because the plates are so haphazardly brought to the table that it can be tricky knowing where you are with your meal. I don't believe this is a bad thing, though. It adds a touch of rustic frivolity and homeliness to the occasion.

Next up was a dish which sounded as rough and brutish as anything you'd be able to find in an Italian bacaro: roast pumpkin, speck (rich, savoury ham) and ricotta (left). It was a disgrace. The pumpkin was stringy, undercooked and sour. The ham was strewn messily on top with the dry cheese matted in amongst it. I managed a few measly mouthfuls before packing it in. A waste of time, effort and - ridiculously - £7.50.

Fortunately, the next course re-railed the meal in a comforting way. Spaghettini and meatballs was a lovely reminder of what great Italian food can be like in a restaurant, a bacaro or at home (right). Al dente pasta, perfectly solid & soft meatballs along with a slightly spicy tomato sauce: there's nothing more you need.

Our final dish was a pizzette bianca, or a small white pizza. Light mozzarella, mild onion and some dough to add a bit of weight to the meal made for a good accompaniment (left). It was another winning and reasonable dish at £5.

Overall, the meal was definitely worth it, leaving a small impression on the wallet but a bigger one on the palate. Da Polpo is probably the safest bet if you're in the mood for some cicheti in central London. It's got the shortest waiting time of any of Norman's restaurants and the menu is as reasonable and fun as the rest of them. It's certainly the most 'now' way of eating if you're in the area, so my suggestion would be to swing by if you're passing through.

Da Polpo

The Kensington Crémerie Crêperie

It was a momentous weekend for Out Of The Frying Pan a few days ago. The two main protagonists of this project (myself and the other half) got married on January 14th. Henceforth 'the other half' will now be known as 'the wife', which should save me some typing effort. It also happened to be a supremely wonderful day which we will cherish forever.

Our relationship has more often than not been characterised by food. We love to eat and try new restaurants whenever possible. We also love to go back to our favourite places: Launceston Place, Byron, Le Vacherin (the venue we chose for our wedding lunch incidentally, with a review to follow)... One place that has come up in our travels more than once is the Kensington Crémerie Crêperie.

It's an ultra-relaxed café offering crepes, ice cream, drinks and no frills. The quality is high enough to merit numerous re-visits: whenever I'm in South Kensington I am always tempted (usually temptation leads to greed and greed leads to a quick bite). I've been asked on a few occasions where to eat in South Kensington and my answer is always this place. Rather than the overpriced bakeries and suspect Asian restaurants near the tube station, or the 'just like mama used to make' tourist-traps on the A4, head for the wide pedestrian-filled section of Exhibition Road and relax.

Best enjoyed on a sunny day with an outside seat, you can't beat a good ham, egg & cheese crepe, followed by a banana & chocolate dessert pancake or some ice cream from their gelaterie, which is another matter entirely. A relatively recent addition, they bought out the vacant lot next door and extended their cosy little crepe café to include an ice cream bar as well. I'm very glad they did.

The mango, passion fruit and cheesecake ice creams they offer are worth the visit alone. Proper thick and creamy gelato, there's just no comparison to the rubbish that is on offer in most other stands around the capital. If you're too full or hot to go for a crepe, at least pop in for a cup of ice cream as you stroll about the South Kensington streets.

It's a small and friendly institution, one that should be sampled the second you're next visiting any of the Kensington museums. Crepes and ice cream...what more could one want?

The Kensington Crémerie Crêperie

Franco Manca: Chiswick, Wednesday 11th May, 2011

Pursuing amazing pizza is not an easy thing. When I ate what is apparently the best pizza in London, I was somewhat let down when I realised pizza is very hard to extensively glorify. Not to say it was bad, just not as wonderful as I had hoped.

When people talk about great pizza, Franco Manca is a name that comes up time and again from those in the know in London. Well, it's a name but not as I imagined. I always thought that this Franco chap must be a pizza wizard, probably a chef who started it all and is now cashing in on his success as part of a wealthy retirement. Franco is indeed a part of the story, but Franco Manca isn't. "Franco Manca" means "Franco's missing" in Italian. The name is an homage to the man who owned the small restaurant where the chain's Brixton flagship shop now stands.

They started out with a small shop in Brixton and have since gained the recognition of more than just those in the locality. I'd heard about the place before one had opened in Chiswick and they have now opened a new venue in the Stratford branch of Westfield. According to reports, Brick Lane and Covent Garden ventures are due in the near future.

The other half and I met up for an early dinner with me fairly ravenous after a day's work and her nothing of the sort after lunch at Hibiscus. I admired Franco's instantly for their willingness to revel in simplicity. Similar to the success Byron have enjoyed since bursting on to the scene a couple of years ago, they have clearly identified that pared-down menus are supreme when it comes to good cheap eating. There are six pizzas on offer and we tried two of them.

They were unreservedly excellent. Thick, soft and appetising sourdough base is what Franco Manca pride themselves on and they are right to do it. These are pizza pies that demand to be torn into and scoffed down as quickly as possible. In short, perfect pizza. This is, lest we forget, rustic and traditional peasant food. Pizza will never be properly posh (pasta is another kettle of carbs), so it's time we started looking for affordable greatness covered in cheese and tomato.

If the bases were near-perfect, the toppings also weren't far off. We had a ham and mushroom pizza which was terrifically thick and juicy. Gloucester Old Spot ham and wild mushrooms is a combination which was made to be put on puffy dough. Really intense, filling stuff that held your attention for more than a couple of bites.

Secondly, we went for the pizza with cheese, tomato and chorizo. They made the point of stating that the pizza had both dry and semi-dry sausage on top, which I liked. It was truly excellent. A nice twist on the more typically Italian sausage on pizzas, it was salty, sweet, thick and utterly moreish. You wouldn't want to eat two but the taste was so good you'd probably want to try.

So maybe Franco Manca is the best pizza in London? A little further down the District Line, Santa Maria in Ealing remains a great place, but I think Franco's is better simply because I expected less. Either way, go there for a pizza whenever you feel like it or are in the area. It's high quality, low complexity, affordable food. London hopes Franco remains missing.

Franco Manca

A Little Korean - Assa: Soho, Monday 14th March, 2010

I've been to both branches of Assa before, but this was a visit where I think I understood the appeal of simple Korean food more than my previous experiences. A very traditional, get-you-in, get-you-out London Asian restaurant, there is much to be said for spending £10 or £15 here on some uncomplicated dinner.

I was also more informed about what it was we actually ate. Last time I was part of a group which sort of ordered and left me to get on with it. This time, in a party of three, I was able to have more input into what was on the table.

When eating Korean food, there is an iconic dish one must try: kim-chi. It's important to try this because it is synonymous with Korean eating right down to the roots. Rough, fresh and assembled at the table, it's a stunning synthesis of several quaint and traditional culinary forms. The only problem is, it's horrible. Sour, ridiculously spicy and generally unpleasant. Which is a shame, since hot rice, vegetables, sauces and a raw egg combined at the table in front of your face should be amazing.

Of course, not everyone agrees with me. The other half and the friend who was at the table with us devoured some kim-chi soup - like the should-be-good rice but actually predictably vile - which had a huge lump of tofu floating in it. I tried some, choked and didn't try any more. However if you like thin, spicy, sour soup (with tofu) this will be right up your street (left).

Fortunately, the rest of what we ordered pressed my buttons. Pork belly was peppery and snappy but unnecessarily dusted with sesame seeds. The taste was good but the slices so thin you were quickly transported from flavoursome meat to unpleasant fat and back again fairly quickly. The same seafood pancake as before was enjoyed as thoroughly as before (right). It was crispy, thick and soft in the middle. It's much like an omelette but one you feel happy to fill with other foodstuffs.

We completed our table-full with some noodles. Glass noodles were ordered with vegetables and they were practically fought over. Glass noodles, unlike the standard kind, are based on sweet potato and as such they have a far more distinctive, chewy texture. They work remarkably well when combined with old-fashioned greasy sauce and veg to make a delicious and filling comfort food. Beef udon noodles were similar: the kind of thing you just didn't want to stop eating (left).

The right kind of dishes can make a lot of difference when it comes to Korean food. When you've got the food on the money, sharing it and wolfing down mouthfuls of assorted dishes becomes a treat and one that is easy to see the appeal of. It's not glamorous cuisine but it can be a lot of fun. Best eaten with friends or having a few dishes to share, Assa is certainly a good, cheap meal out.

Tokyo Diner: Soho, Thursday 6th January, 2011

The malady that many multicultural foodies in London commonly suffer from is that you can't get genuinely good Japanese food anywhere. There are exceptions: I personally enjoyed Ribon greatly and many seem to think Asakusa is as close to the real deal as you'll get in London. On price alone, they may have a point.

Chinatown is not necessarily known for its outstanding Japanese restaurants, but Tokyo Diner is standing strong as it approaches its twentieth anniversary next year. Richard Hills is the Englishman behind the venture which has brought a fairly consistent stream of success. Influenced by an extensive knowledge of Japanese people and culture, the inspiration behind the café is to recreate the sort of everyday typical restaurant one would find in Japan. Essentially, this place should have the same pull as Asakusa.

It doesn't, for a few reasons: it's not as charming, it's in Chinatown and it doesn't have the same feeling of authenticity as Asakusa. The only other factor is the food. A perfect test of this kind of restaurant should be an early evening cheap and cheerful lunch with a few friends. So here we go...

We tried a healthy sample of dishes, starting with a sashimi set of salmon,sea bream and sea bass (left). For 12 slices of raw fish, £10.60 is a bit toppy for a place that prides itself on being affordable, but they were rather fresh and refreshing. We also ordered a starter / side dish of chicken kara-agé which is chicken legs fried after being marinated in a soya-based sauce (right). You'd think they had been battered but the delicate balance they struck with the chicken made the skin crispy and the dish light enough to stay on the side.

Oyako don (or chicken with eggs and rice in a bowl) was fairly decent as a main course. The problem for me was that they'd pelted this with egg to the extent that it almost overwhelmed the chicken. Two of us had a tonkatsu bento box, which was fried and breadcrumbed pork cutlets with rice, pickles, sashimi and the typical seaweed-infested Japanese salad that, no matter how it is presented, always looks like the result of trawling a midlands canal. However, as with any good bento box, we were quickly mixing all parts of the assortment of food as quick as our hands and mouths would let us (left).

Finally, we sampled the chicken katsu curry, apparently the most popular dish on the menu (right). It was easy to see why: mild, enticing curry sauce with more or less meat 'n potatoes. Everyone should march out of Wagamama and proceed directly to Tokyo Diner to see what a more proper and earthy katsu curry tastes like. It's curry for the British who aren't obsessed with Indian food.

The issue that some people might take with Tokyo Diner is that it seems awfully try-hard, even patronising at times. They take it as their duty to explain the significance and popularity of each dish, even the styles of dishes, supplemented with extensive descriptions of what it is you're looking at. The haughty, know-all restaurant-goers amongst us may feel this is them blowing their own trumpet at just what a genuine experience they're giving us. We'll judge this for ourselves, thank you very much.

Not me though. This is the effort of somewhere that is so passionate and caring about what they do that they have taken it completely to heart. They are imploring the customer to not only enjoy their food but to embrace and immerse themselves in it and the cultural nuances of Japanese eating.

There is almost nothing to dislike about Tokyo Diner. They are open twelve hours a day all year long and apparently once turned over 550 covers in one day. I would wager that most of those people went home having had a lovely, bustling and lively meal which left them full, satisfied and not much lighter of pocket.

Possibly my favourite part of this place is their ethos on service and patronage. They insist you don't tip at the restaurant, apparently a nonexistent etiquette in Japan. All they ask for is that you recommend this place to your friends if you enjoyed it. Here's me doing my bit for them.

Tokyo Diner

Assa – Soho, Wednesday 3rd March, 2010

Assa is a small Korean restaurant near Tottenham Court Road tube station that has recently expanded, opening a second branch in Soho. Obviously they’ve been successful in their first home, because this second one is far bigger and more comfortable than the first poky (but cosy) venue.

Korean food is pretty good. It’s spicier than Japanese and not quite as varied as Chinese, but certainly worth investigating if you like Asian food at all. Some decent chicken with rice, spicy chicken with vegetables, a seafood omelette pancake, grilled pork belly and thin glass noodles with vegetables all disappeared without any fuss.

It’s not spectacular. But then I don’t think there is anywhere in the UK that you can get spectacular Korean food. But Assa, along with Ran, makes Soho a decent place to go if you feel like getting into Korean cuisine. Assa is definitely worth a look, and it won’t set you back much either.

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