How Bazaar

Chor Bizarre

16 Albemarle Street, W1S 4HW

Stepping off the street in one of London's most extravagantly cosmopolitan areas, it's almost ironic that stepping into an Indian restaurant has an almost homely familiarity about it in this city. Despite Chinese food overtaking Indian as the nation's favourite takeaway, (I suspect the proliferation of late night/24 hour Chinese takeaways has something to do with this...Indian takeaways rarely open during the later hours), the South Asian cuisine remains a firm favourite amongst Londoners, with more modern interpretations such as Amaya, Dishoom and Masala Zone packing out with punters as much as the ''older'' favourites.

Social climbing up Pollen Street

Pollen Street Social @PollenStSocial
8 Pollen Street, W1S 1NQ

Given the responsibility of booking somewhere for my parent's birthday is always one riddled with high expectations, due to somehow having 'expertise' in the matter. My PhD funding doesn't exactly stretch a great deal, so needed to find a great value lunch deal that also had some edge of sophistication  After about 2 hours sifting through menus, reviews and locations, I finally came across Pollen Street Social with 3 courses for £29.50. Stands to reason then after all that time the Evening Standard published a great piece on set menus, not more than a few days after my tiresome search,  no PSS in it though. But after an ringing endorsement from Shahz  (worth 10 reviews!) I was pretty pleased to get a reservation for a Saturday lunch with a week to go!

Bea's Diner - Butter(milk) me up

Bea's Diner @Beas_bloomsbury

Arch 76, Druid St, London Bridge

Recently, Maltby Street Market has been getting a growing reputation for great produce and food. However, not being a particularly early bird, I've always managed to miss out on the infamous St.John bakery custard doughnuts and breakfast at Bea's Diner. Having just got back from the US I really miss epic breakfasts that aren't as frequent to get over here, just your typical english fry up. This time would be different, after an 'early' wake up managed to get to Bea's Diner for about 12.30. They advertise they are open from 9-2am, but once things have sold out thats it. So if you are planning a visit get there for before 12, as by the time we got there, no orange juice, only one and half cups of 'bottomless' coffee. Least we managed to get their amazing buttermilk pancakes and roasted strawberries, and eggs benedict. Roasted strawberries are a bit of a revelation, can't say I've ever tried these before but wow that hit of flavour is fantastic. Great start to weekend.

Yum bun, it's all in the name

Yum Bun @Yum_bun
31 Featherstone St, EC1Y 2BJ 

The tide doesn't seem to be going out for these pop-up/street food to permanent ventures. From Pitt Cue Co, Flat Iron to Patty&Bun and a few more to be opened soon, seems like not a month goes by without another coming to fruition. Now it's Yum Bun's turn in the sun (which is where exactly?).

After a few months off the streets the much revered 'Yum Bun' are back and with their own place right near Old Street tube.  It's a very simple, small unit that has not lost it's streetfood roots as it's primarily a takeaway with little space in to eat (although you can take next door to the Rotary Bar & diner). They are much the same mini luxuries of a steamed bun with fantastic flavour combinations as we've had from their stall. The menu is beautifully cartooned above the ordering counter. As well as the usual staples we've enjoyed so much of pork belly with hoisin and portabello mushroom, miso & walnut, they are joined by ox cheek & coriander, and chicken with tartare sauce. It's £6 for 2 buns, so you can mix and match if you want, or get a bento box with miso soup, salad, and a gyoza if you really feel hungry. And if you fancy sweet to round it off there is the Ice Cream bun, with coconut meringue and ice cream from sorbitum ices, another street food success.

Second time lucky

Since we started this blog, we've managed to get through our fair share of burgers, however up until now, not had a chance to sample any of Lucky Chip's offerings, bar their tiny ones at Slider Bar. Lucky Chip have been expanding to different corners of the city, from their van in Neilt market, to Bethnal Green, Soho and now Kentish Town, while becoming Chilli Stand Off champions in between. Then, they moved onto another increasing popular fast-food staple 'done properly' with  their short lived Lucky Fried Chicken residency upstairs at the Grafton (no thanks to a cease & desist from the Colonel :(  ), and it was as good as fried chicken gets, the mash was pure indulgence as well. However it's gone now, but they are staying on purely as a burger bar. Maybe they should have kept on the chicken in a 'now you didn't see anything here, you hear' as a paper bag of edible goodies slides from under the counter.

The Battle of the Brasseries: Balthazar vs Delaunay vs Zedel

So we recently had the pleasure of trying out the new hot table in town Balthazar as well as the slightly more established Delaunay. Instead of doing straight reviews, we thought we'd try something a little different with a post comparing the two restaurants as well as the other very reputable London brasserie, Brasserie Zedel. So without any further ado, let's get ready to rumble...

Round 1: Balthazar

4-6 Russell St, WC2E 7BN

First up is the new kid in town, the London outpost of the fêted New York original. Balthazar doesn't need much of an introduction from me, as you probably know it's one of the most hyped openings of the year so far and notoriously difficult to get a table for (one long day of repeated calling got us a table at 5.45 pm on the third day after opening).

The Clove Club Climax

The Clove Club  @TheCloveClub

Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT

This is one clove club that won't leave your mouth numb, but after this meal you'll still be drooling. Taking permanent residence in the beautifully restored Shoreditch Town Hall is The Clove Club, set up by 'St.Vibes' after their successful stint (still ongoing) in Upstairs at The Ten Bells. With reviews from 'Upstairs at..' still scintillatingly superlative it seemed a no brainer to book in for their new place before it became impossible to get a table. The Clove Club is split up into 2 areas: the bar, with a great selection of beers, wines and bar food, and then the restaurant itself with open kitchen serving up the '5' course meal. At £46, it may seem like a lot.. but believe me, it was worth it.

Food Over....California - Part II

This is the second part of our Californian foodie journal, from a different perspective this time. Owen did a great job of covering the more typically American food in the last post, so in this one I'm going to cover some more cosmopolitan restaurants, including Mexican (lots of tacos!), Japanese, Chinese... and Modern Californian, which to me is basically Mediterranean-style cooking done with the excellent local produce available in the region.

John Salt Part II - All Smoke, No Mirrors

John Salt @JohnSaltN1

131 Upper street, Islington

John Salt opened in November with Ben Spalding at the helm, with his much revered taster menus & bar menu. Much praise was lavished, including from us, but it was all cut short rather abruptly, with Ben replaced with Neil Rankin, former head chef of Pitt Cue Co. Neil was already in talks to go into another one of the 580 ltd group's pubs at the Owl & Pussycat in Shoreditch. Looks like John Salt have pulled another Ace out of their sleeve with this new signing, with food cooked on another spectrum (or a big green egg). With Rankin's renowned expertise with all things meat and barbeque and some rather exquisite Asian influenced dishes, the place is a haze again with recent glowing reviews in Timeout and the Metro, as well as from the smoke in the kitchen

De Barcelona a Brixton

Boqueria (@BoqueriaTapas)
192 Acre Lane, Brixton, London, SW2 5UL

London has no shortage of options when it comes to tapas. Whether it be the genuine article (Barrafina, Jose, Brindisa), or the multitude of tapas ''fusion'' places such as Kopapa, Imli, Bocca di Lupo, Bodega Negra... the list goes on and on! So I must admit I always have a slight apprehension when it comes to trying new tapas places. Don't get me wrong, I've had some of the best meals of my life sitting atop cramped bar tops in Barcelona, but it's rather difficult to differentiate yourself from other places when there's two-a-penny serving the exact same dishes on every high street in the city.