Cauliflower Fritters © Helen Yuet Ling Pang

I’ve recently started to enjoy eating all kinds of fried things at home. They’re not the healthiest of foods, but once in a while, they’re so delicious and makes a change from all the ‘good’ food we eat, whether it’s soup, lentils or beans. After eating various fried goodies throughout the year, including Japanese tempura, Chinese pan-fried dumplings, Indian cumin & coriander potato cakes, Sri Lankan fish cutlets and Indonesian crabcakes, I found another tasty treat to make – fritelli di cavolfiore or cauliflower fritters.

The following recipe comes from cookery book My Cousin Rosa – Rosa Mitchell’s Sicilian Kitchen, in which the Australian-based Italian cookery writer and chef presents simple, rustic Sicilian recipes from her family life and childhood, utilising fresh ingredients. I own several Italian cookery books, including the classic The Silver Spoon, but I enjoyed Rosa’s style and easy-to-follow instructions and managed to mark many of the pages with little Post-it notes. My personal favourites have to be polpette (meatballs), ragù di coniglio (rabbit ragù), spaghetti al nero di seppia (spaghetti with squid in black ink sauce), pasta e piselli (pasta with peas), finocchio gratinato (baked fennel) and peparelli (honey & almond biscotti).

Vegetarians will also find more than the average number of meat and seafood-free recipes to follow, including schiaciatta (broccoli pie), zuppa di ceci, porri e patate (chickpea, leek & potato soup), orecchiette con broccoli e acciughe (orecchiette with broccoli and anchovies), pasta con le zucchine fritte (pasta with fresh tomato sauce and parmesan zucchini) and pesto siciliano (Sicilian pesto).

Cauliflower Fritters © Helen Yuet Ling Pang

Fritelli do Cavolfiore (Cauliflower Fritters) -

Ingredients: (makes about 20)

• ½ large cauliflower

• 300g (10oz / 2 cups) self-raising flour

• 100g (3½ oz / 1 cup) grated parmesan cheese

• 1 garlic clove, crushed

• 3 tbsp chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten

• olive oil, for frying

What to do next:

Break up all the cauliflower into small pieces. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, add cauliflower and cook until soft. Drain and cool in a bowl.

Add flour, cheese, garlic, parsley and some salt and pepper to the cauliflower and mix lightly. Add beaten eggs and mix again. if the mixture is too dry, add a little water.

Heat enough oil to cover the base of a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add tablespoons of the mixture, taking care not to overcrowd them. Cook until golden, turn over and flatten slightly with a fork. Cook on the other side until golden and cooked through to the centre.

Serve hot or at room temperature as a pre-dinner snack. I can proudly announce that my fritters turned out very nicely and will be replicated for the next set of dinner guests!

My Cousin Rosa © Helen Yuet Ling Pang

My Cousin Rosa – Rosa Mitchell’s Sicilian Kitchen is published by Murdoch Books and costs £25.00. Thank you to Murdoch Books for sending me a copy.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

I was in Venice for only one day last year, which left no time to explore the local bacari or traditional taverns of the city. It was also so overrun with tourists that I was quite happy to return to Bologna at the end of the day. However, a bacaro by the name of Polpo has conveniently arrived in central London, just a short walk away from my office.

The interior is simple but cosy and after a few drinks, you could quite well imagine yourself in Venice rather than Soho. All the diners were clearly pleased to have secured tables at this popular eaterie, while others seemed content to wait their turn near the bar (where you can also eat). The place is dimly lit and although great for ambience, for the first time, my poor camera struggled to cope.

The menu consists of a selection of traditional cicheti, the Venetian version of tapas, as well as other smallish-sized dishes, all designed for sharing. It’s not a complicated menu, but still, important decisions had to be made. My friend and I thought we would be able to manage the following between us:

From the Cicheti & Crostini section, we ordered the potato & Parmesan croquette (£1.20), salt cod on grilled polenta (£2.10), arancini (£1.50) and anchovy & chickpea crostini (£1.10). These are all very small, so if you’re in a group, order plenty to share. Out of these, I thought I would enjoy the salt cod the most (first photo), but in fact the simple and flavoursome anchovy and chickpea crostini turned out to be the star dish from this selection.

The wild mushroom piadina (£4.80) from the Breads section was another successful choice. I had an unforgettable piadina from a small piadina shop in Marina di Ravenna nearly a year ago. The wrap was thicker and more doughy, and the piadina was eaten using one’s hands, but the Polpo version was still pretty good. I would also have liked to have tried cured pork shoulder & peperonata panino, but the meat and fish were waiting for us…

The polpette (£4.60) were far better than the ones I’ve had in Bologna (Trattoria Meloncello, famous for its polpette) – solid, meaty and rich in flavour. There were three large meatballs per portion, and a good size for two people to share, although I could happily have eaten the lot on my own. I was, however, a little disappointed with the pork belly, radicchio & hazelnuts (£5.50), particularly as I’d just had the perfect pork belly the night before at Pearl Liang.

Cuttlefish in its ink with gremolata (£6.20) and fritto misto (£6.60) was chosen from the fish section. I much preferred the succulent cuttlefish to the fritto misto, although the latter was light and delicate compared to versions I’ve had elsewhere. The slightly bitter turnip tops with chilli & garlic (£3.80) also deserve a special mention. It could almost be a Chinese dish in fact, and made a perfect accompaniment to the various meat and fish dishes.

Desserts were strangely underwhelming, and I think next time, I’d order extra savoury dishes rather than leave room for these. The serving of gorgonzola with pear (£4.90) was minute, while my ciamballa with chocolate (£3.50), a traditional ring cake from Romagna, was described as a kind of lemon sponge cake, but I couldn’t really taste the lemon under the chocolate. I’ll be investigating ciambelle recipes from my copy of The Silver Spoon in the near future and report back.

Overall, my favourites of the evening were the polpette, turnip tops, cuttlefish and anchovy & chickpea crostini. I enjoyed the ambience, very much appreciated the cheerful, friendly and relaxed wait staff and thought Polpo could be the perfect place to hang out with friends once the excitement dies down (a little).

Dinner cost a little under £90 for two people with alcohol and service charge.

All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact details:

Polpo
41 Beak Street
London W1F 9SB
Tel: 020 7734 4479 (reservations by phone)
www.polpo.co.uk

Opening hours:
Monday to Saturday – 12:00 – 15:00, 18:00 – 23:00

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Background:

Charmaine from tasty treats! and I visited Italian eaterie Bocca di Lupo back in January, not long after it opened. For some reason, we ordered from their One Dish Meals menu rather than trying various small-sized plates of food. I’ve regretted this ever since, so when Caitlin from Vinoteca and her partner wanted to eat there, a plan was set for dinner. Since my first visit, many friends and food bloggers have eaten at Bocca di Lupo and most have had positive experiences, so I was keen to try some of the other dishes.

Tip:

If you like kitchen action, then the chef’s counter is the place to be. It’s very long, but only a few of the seats directly face the kitchen, while the rest face the bar, so bear this in mind when you book. I sat right in front of the second chef David Cook as Jacob Kennedy wasn’t there, so I could see all the finished dishes being handed over (there was an impressive dish of foccacia with spleen & lungs simmered in lard and smoked ricotta) which helped us to identify what to order.

Menu:

The menu features dishes from various Italian regions, as well as some Bocca di Lupo specials (marked BDL). Most are available in small or large portions and the idea is to share them, tapas-style, with your dining companions.

What we ordered:

To share:

• shaved radish, celeriac & pecorino salad with pomegranates & truffle oil – BDL (£5.00 small) – I don’t really like ordering salads in restaurants for some reason, but this was an excellent choice with great texture (Caitlin!). The recipe for this is in the September issue of Olive magazine, so I’ll be making it soon

• Fritti Romani – buffalo mozzarella bocconcini (£2.50 each) and artichoke a la Guidia, fried crispy – Roma (£4.00) – the former was as you would imagine, crispy on the outside and wonderfully moist inside. The artichoke I didn’t like so much, as it was really quite oily

• grilled squid with gremolata – Liguria (£7.00 small) – one of my favourite dishes of the meal, this was a most generous portion considering I’d ordered the small one.  Such a simple dish and yet so perfect. I would definitely have this on my next visit

• Alberto’s father’s sausage (pork, beef, cloves, cinnamon & nutmeg) – Lombardia (£6.50) – I didn’t like this so much possibly because it arrived after we had eaten our ‘mains’ and I was too full. It was one of the most ordered dishes of the evening from 6.40 to 10.00pm (my eagle eyes didn’t miss much) and yet I wasn’t so sure about it. Sausage fans would most likely approve of the rough texture, but I’ll have to try this again when I’m hungry

• black risotto of cuttlefish & its ink – Veneto (£8.00 small) – another stunner, and also substantial given that it was a small size. Remember to smile at your friends afterwards!

‘Mains’:

• sea bream baked in salt – Liguria (£16.00 large, no small size available) – another of the outstanding dishes of the evening. It was fun watching the chef stuff the bream with fennel, cover a dish with sea salt, place the fish on top and layer more handfuls of salt over it before sticking it in the oven. It was so fresh and succulent, I could almost imagine being by the seaside and eating it. Certainly a must-order dish

• tagliatelle with pigeon & pork ragù – Veneto (£7.00 small) – this was Caitlin’s main and she heartily approved of it

• spaghettini with lobster, mussels & ginger – BDL (£11.00 small) – my main and such an excellent choice it was too. Again, I have to say that it was a very large portion given that I’d ordered the small. The lobster chunks were plentiful and generous, as were the mussels, while the ginger gave the dish a slightly spicy kick. This is something I would certainly recommend to anyone, even though one might not regard it as strictly Italian (it’s a Bocca di Lupo special)

Desserts:

I’m afraid I can’t comment on the desserts with any authority because I couldn’t eat another bite by the time they arrived. In fact, I couldn’t even bring myself to choose any of them! I had also started the meal with an upset stomach from lunch, so by the time I’d eaten all of the above, I was really struggling. I had bites of the first two, and would say that the brioche was better than the cassata. When I return for my next meal, I’d like to try the sanguinaccio.

• brioche ’sandwich’ of hazelnut, pistachio & chestnut gelati – Napoli (£7.00)

• Cassata Siciliana – ricotta, orange & chocolate layered with sponge cake & marzipan – Sicilia (£6.50)

• Sanguinaccio – sweet paté of pig’s blood & chocolate with sourdough bread – Abruzzo (£6.00)

The verdict:

Overall, we had an excellent meal and managed to try a good number of the many dishes on offer. I can’t wait to try some of the others when I go back, but I’d also order a few of these dishes again – grilled squid, black risotto, spaghettini with lobster & mussels and the sea bream. If the next visit is as good as this one, I’ll add Bocca di Lupo to my London favourites list. With regards to the wine list, Caitlin and her partner are best qualified to comment on the various wines that they tried, but there was much nodding and beaming going on next to me. The atmosphere at dinner on a Friday evening was buzzy and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I think it’s best to sit at the chef’s counter or in front of the bar. The bar stools are padded and pretty comfortable for a few hours.

The entire set of Bocca di Lupo photos on Flickr can be viewed here.

All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact details:
Bocca di Lupo
12 Archer Street
London W1D 7BB
Tel: 020 7734 2223
www.boccadilupo.com

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Background:

L’Anima, which means ‘the soul’ in Italian, attracted much attention at the recent Taste of London food festival. I didn’t sample any of Francesco Mazzei’s dishes, but the feedback from fellow food bloggers was so positive that I added the restaurant to my wishlist. Mazzei was once employed by Alan Yau as head chef at Italian restaurant Anda, which hardly anyone seems to remembers, but I had a rather good dinner there once. And he was head chef at St. Alban (where I had a disappointing meal last month) before opening his own restaurant last year.

First impressions:

The interior is minimalist and stylish, with white leather chairs, huge floor to ceiling windows and a cleverly designed wall so that diners can see into the kitchen. We were seated in the corner by the windows, a good position from where we could observe everything. The clientele on a Monday evening predominantly consisted of older men in suits, although later I counted about six women in the room. Not having been there before though, I can’t say what the lunchtime or weekend crowd is like.

Sommelier Gal Zohar (@zoharwine on Twitter or ‘the wine man’ as he likes to call himself) introduced himself soon after we were seated. A couple of days before, he learned about my impending visit through my comment on The Epicurean and had said hello on Twitter. I thought it would be interesting for Gal to choose our wines, pairing them to each of our courses, particularly given my ignorance about wine in general. He also very kindly gave us a tour of the gigantic kitchen, and later the wine cellar.

What we ordered:

The menu, which is online, features dishes from Calabria, Puglia, Sicily, Sardinia and beyond, with Mazzei’s own ‘modern’ interpretation. There is a helpful list of ‘definitions’ for diners, explaining perhaps less familiar terms such as colatura – anchovies water, licurdia – Southern Italian soup and n’duja – spicy spreadable salami from Spilinga, Calabria. We decided, in the interests of research, to order four courses each, which incidentally was far too much food.

• wood roast aubergine with burrata (£7.75) – I love the creaminess of burrata and this combination with the slight smokiness of the aubergine, a vegetable I’ve only recently started to appreciate more, worked very well.  This is the cheapest starter, but if you’re on four courses, it’s a good choice because it’s light and fresh

• ventresca tuna salad with beans & bottarga (£11.50) – this is belly tuna, moist and tender. I only had a small bite, but would definitely order this next time. I’ll never be able to eat any other type of tuna salad now!

These starters were paired with the Pinot Bianco, Alois Lageder 2008 from Alto Adige.

• taglierini with garlic, chilli & crab (£10.75) – trying to pace ourselves, we were both after something light for our pasta course. I chose well! The crab meat was so sweet and succulent and the size (you can choose from small or large) was perfect

• pappardelle with three shrimps and ‘colatura’ (£11.00) – this would have been my other choice (see above photo), with large crunchy shrimps and a light tomato sauce, with the subtle flavour of the colatura

These courses were paired with the Vermentino Riviera Ligure di Ponente « Le Serre » , Lupi 2007 from Liguria.

• spit roast leg of lamb with grilled zucchini & roasted potatoes (£20.50) – I think I made the mistake of ordering this medium-rare, when it would probably have tasted better cooked medium. However, it was still delicious, particularly with the accompanying zucchini and roast potatoes

• black pepper aged beef tagliata, marrow bone & mash (£27.50) – see first photo. We were impressed with the presentation, with the beef slices balanced on an upright marrow bone filled with mash. The mash was the best part of the dish, with marrow, black truffle, white truffle oil and Parmesan (here’s Mazzei’s recipe on UKTV)

We were also served a complimentary dish of zucchini fritti which we nibbled on. I’ve been meaning to make this at home for ages now with our courgettes, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to replicate this!

The mains were paired with the Nebbiolo, Coste della Sesia, Travaglini 2006.

• panna cotta with wild berries (£6.50) – it was impossible to finish this gorgeous pudding, one of my favourites, even though it was quite light. The berries I couldn’t leave behind though…

• liquorice zabayon (£7.00) – this was paired with a glass of Aleatico di Puglia, a Mano 2007, the only one that Gal didn’t choose. I love the texture of zabayon, though I couldn’t manage more than a mouthful as I don’t really like liquorice in any form. My friend seemed quite pleased that I didn’t have more…

The verdict:

There are quite a few people waiting to read this review, which therefore made it quite difficult to write. I think I need to return a couple more times to work out my favourites, as everyone else who has been to L’Anima seem to have theirs. From this meal, I think mine were the burrata & aubergine, followed by the taglierini. Generally, I very much enjoyed the clean, fresh flavours and light sauces of each dish that I sampled. I also need to eat one less course next time, in order to enjoy the meal more!

Apart from the à la carte menu, L’Anima offers a set lunch menu, 2 courses at £23.50 and 3 courses at £26.50, with three options from each course to choose from. And if you want a more intimate dining environment, there is a beautiful private dining room. However, I recommend booking the table in the wine cellar. It probably can seat up to 6 people and as long as you’re nicely wrapped up, as the room is chilled, it would be perfect for a group of friends.

Dinner for two with alcohol and service charge cost a little over £90 per person (a huge heartfelt thank you to my friend and WFG supporter!)

You can see the entire set of L’Anima food photos here.

10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact details:
L’Anima
1 Snowden Street (a paved street turning off Appold St at no. 9)
Broadgate West
London EC2A 2DQ
Tel: 0207 422 7000
info@lanima.co.uk
www.lanima.co.uk

Opening hours
Restaurant:
Monday to Friday
Lunch – 11.45 am – 3 pm
Dinner – 5.30 pm – 10.30 pm
Saturday from 5.30pm – 11pm

Bar:
Monday to Friday
From 11.45am – 1am
Saturday from 5.30pm – 11pm

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Background:

People seem to really enjoy the pizzas at Franco Manca in Brixton Market, South London and I’ve read many a rave review. I must therefore be one of the last food bloggers to make the pilgrimage. When little brother told me that he regularly eats at Franco Manca and Wild Caper, FM’s tiny delicatessen and bakery, I thought I’d tag along one lunchtime and see what they were feeding him.

First impressions:

The legendary queues were another reason for delaying my visit for so long. However, we timed it perfectly, arriving at 2pm on a Friday and seated within a minute or two. Even though my brother knows the waiters, I’ll have you know that there was no queue-jumping involved! Franco Manca is split into two small locations, one on each side of the covered market, with a small walkway between them, but there is just one queue. There are tables inside as well as outside and people share tables quite happily, in order to avoid a long wait.

Menu:

Everything on the simple menu is made with organic ingredients, from the flour to the toppings and the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. There are just six sourdough pizza options and one daily special (on the board), as well as a few extra toppings at 90p each. Little brother chose number 2 – ricotta from Alham Farm, Somerset, organic pork and mozzarella (no tomato) – £4.90, so I went for number 3 – wild mushrooms, garlic and anchovy (seasonal, subject to availability) – no cheese – £5.20. People all around us were tucking into their pizzas with gusto, and soon we were doing the same. I preferred the ricotta, pork and mozzarella one, but mine was lighter and probably a better choice for lunch.

According to Franco Manca, ‘the pizza is made from slow-rising sourdough (minimum 20 hours) and baked in a wood burning ‘tufae’ brick oven made in Naples by a specialised artisan. The slow levitation and blast-cooking process lock in the flour’s natural aroma and moisture giving a soft and easily digestible crust. As a result, the edge (cornicione) is excellent and shouldn’t be discarded’.

The verdict:

I can’t say whether Franco Manca’s pizzas are the best in London or not, as I don’t eat pizza often enough to be able to make that comparison. Fellow food bloggers will hopefully be able to help me out here with thoughts on this subject. However, I can say with confidence that the sourdough base was delightfully crispy, not too thick and doughy, not too thin and floppy (I don’t normally finish the crust, but none remained this time) and the two toppings that I did try were excellent. Next time, I’m going to add more extras on my pizza and ’super-size’ it up a bit!

Two pizzas, a large bottle of homemade lemonade, small salad and service charge came to a grand total of £15.70. Not bad at all for lunch in London, considering everything was organic, and I was stuffed for hours afterwards.

NB A few doors down is Wild Caper. It’s a tiny place with two communal tables outside where you can enjoy tea and a slice of cake or lunchtime soup, made fresh daily. They sell organic fruit and vegetables, cheese, Sicilian olive oil, sourdough bread and other delectable products. It’s well worth a visit after Franco Manca, and I couldn’t leave without picking up some pimenton and jasmine silver tip tea.

Click here to see the entire set of photos from Franco Manca and Wild Caper.

10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact details:
Franco Manca
Unit 4
Market Row
Electric Lane
Brixton
London SW9 8LD
http://francomanca.co.uk

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 12-5pm

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

I was excited to receive cookery book The Real Flavour of Tuscany from Quadrille Publishing to review. Books that take time to explore the culture and history of food appeal to me far more than those that consist of no more than a collection of recipes grouped into ’starters’, ‘mains’ and ‘puddings’. This one, de Mori’s fourth book on Italian food, tells the story of Tuscan cooking through 25 portraits of local ‘gastronomic and food-related artisans’, with around 90 recipes for dishes such as ribollita (twice-boiled Tuscan bread soup), risotto al midollo di bue (risotto with marrow) and insalata di trippa (tripe salad).

Even if you end up not making any of the dishes in this book, it’s still worthwhile getting this just to read about the artisans and the products they create. I particularly enjoyed the stories of mushroom hunter Silvano Mugnaini (with three recipes using fresh porcini mushrooms and one with chanterelles), the family Frullani who are chestnut growers (recipes for drunken roasted chestnuts, chestnut polenta with ricotta and chestnut flour cake) and Lardo di Colonnata producer Fausto Guadagni (with tips on how to make it, how it should look and taste and how to eat it).

It was difficult to choose just one recipe from the book to replicate, although I’ll most certainly be turning to this book again and again for inspiration in the future. In the end I settled for pasta ribbons with duck sauce, because I love pasta, and I love duck even more.  I discovered the recipe in the section about artisan pasta maker Giovanni Fabbri and it is in fact his mother-in-law’s famous recipe, made using the family’s ducks. According to him, ‘most pastas get their names from the thing they look like’, hence the wonderful sounding semi di mela (apple seeds), lumache piccole (little snails) and creste di gallo (rooster’s crests).

I didn’t get to use Fabbri’s pasta, made from just semolina and water, but instead chose an artisan pappardelle from my local supermarket that was expensive, but well worth the cost and formed the basis for three meals. I actually made this twice, because the first time I tried to cut corners and failed miserably. The second time, I followed the recipe to the word (except that instead of using a whole duck, I used two large duck legs) and was successful. It does take time and effort, and I don’t think I’ve spent so much time on one dish in ages, but I was pleased with the result and it did feel like I was dining somewhere in Italy as I ate it!

Pasta ribbons with duck sauce -

Ingredients:( this serves 6, so I reduced the amount of ingredients to make 2 large meals for myself)

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 carrot, finely chopped

• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped

• 1 small duck, cleaned and cut into 8 pieces

• 100g thickly sliced prosciutto, chopped

• handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

• handful of basil leaves, torn into pieces

• 60ml white wine

• 800g tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and chopped

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 500g dried wide pasta noodles (such as pappardelle)

What to do next:

Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook over a medium heat until soft. Lay the duck pieces in the pan, then add the prosciutto, parsley and basil. Cook, turning the duck, until lightly browned on both sides.

Pour in the wine and let the alcohol evaporate, then add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook over a low heat for 30 minutes, adding a little water if the pan begins to dry out.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil.

Remove from the heat and lift out the duck on to a board. Pass the sauce through a mouli (hand mill) or mash with a fork. Remove the skin and bones from the duck, slice the flesh and return to the pan with the sauce. Check the seasoning.

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, toss with the sauce and serve immediately.

The set of photos for this recipe can be seen here on Flickr.

More recipes on World Foodie Guide, divided into different categories, and the other Book Reviews.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

This short guide to eating in London was inspired by various people. Armelle is a reader who visited London over a long weekend with her husband using mostly my recommendations, while Jen from Jenius is an Australian food blogger visiting London next month as part of her European tour. And quite often, friends based abroad email to ask where they should eat in London, which throws me into a blind panic, because there are so many options and I find it very hard to recommend just one or two places.

When I go travelling, I usually end up writing a short guide on where to eat after the trip, as well as detailed reviews of each restaurant. A summary with links to the reviews seems to provide a better overview of where to eat in a particular city than making someone trawl through individual reviews. As a result, I’ve written guides on Beijing, HK and Macau, based on a two week eating trip last October, as well as Bologna and Madeira. When Jen emailed me, however, I realised that I’ve never written one for London. I have posts on where to eat in Soho, where to eat dim sum, favourite London restaurants and how to eat on a budget, but not a handy guide for visitors to London, who may not have much time to research eating options.

So after some thought, here are a few recommendations, grouped geographically. I’ve concentrated on the three areas of London that I know best.

Eating In Marylebone High Street

I used to live here, so this area is a particular favourite of mine. Apart from food, there are also many independent shops and boutiques (De Walden Estate, landlord of Marylebone High Street, is very choosy about whom it chooses as retail tenants). My favourite non-food shops are Skandium – Scandinavian furniture and interiors, Theory – beautifully tailored clothes from the States, Brora - gorgeous Scottish cashmere and KJ’s Laundry – women’s boutique with some great collections.

The street is also close to Selfridges, which has a superb food hall, national museum The Wallace Collection (which also houses Oliver Peyton’s brasserie, open from breakfast through to afternoon tea and dinner) and last but not least, Regent’s Park.

Breakfast at The Providores and Tapa Room, followed by a tour of all the excellent foodie destinations on and around the High Street, including acclaimed butcher and charcuterie The Ginger Pig, cheese shop La Fromagerie (where you can eat at the communal table and freeze inside the walk-in cheese room) and kitchenware shop Divertimenti (which also runs cookery classes).

Lunch on fresh fish and chips at The Golden Hind or pasta at Caffé Caldesi. At the weekends, when the area is even busier, visit the Marylebone Farmers’ Market (Sundays only 10am-2pm) and Cabbages & Frocks market (Saturdays only 11am-5pm).

Eating In Notting Hill

I worked on Ledbury Road many years ago, before it became even more expensive and trendy. Notting Hill is incredibly popular with tourists, but if you want to visit Portobello Market, then weekends are unavoidable.

Foodies should definitely visit independent cookery bookshop Books for Cooks, which not only stocks one of the best collection of food-related books and runs cookery classes and workshops, but has a tiny test kitchen where you can eat lunch.

Another recommended food destination is Notting Hill Farmers’ Market (Saturdays only, 9am-1pm) for fresh organic ingredients. 202 Café is great for brunch, while Daylesford Organic next door is pricey, but worth popping into if you’re in the area, as is The Hummingbird Bakery if you’re a fan of cupcakes. I also like having brunch or light lunch at Tom’s Delicatessen, but turn up early if you want to avoid queues for weekend brunch.

For lunch or dinner, head over to Hereford Road for simply prepared British food using seasonal ingredients, or Le Café Anglais for some Parmesan custard and anchovy toast, amongst other delights.

Eating In Soho

I’ve been working in Soho for seven years and know it well. One of my favourites in London is tapas bar Barrafina, owned by the Hart brothers (who also own Fino and Quo Vadis, both of which reside on my restaurant wishlist). If you can’t bear to queue for an hour or more, go off-peak, which is what I do. Fernandez & Wells is a must for coffee and cake, lunch or wine and tapas, and I’ve yet to find someone who doesn’t rave about it, while Yalla Yalla is a new hot Lebanese eaterie that everyone is currently talking about.

Drop by hip Italian bakery Princi, a joint venture between restaurateur Alan Yau and the Milanese boutique bakery chain, for breakfast, lunch, dinner or any time you feel peckish. But avoid peak hours unless you love chaos. At Bocca di Lupo you can share many small dishes from various Italian regions with your friends, while traditional Italian delicatessen Lina Stores is worth visiting if you’re passing by.

I like Yauatcha for modern dim sum and tea and some of the best cakes in town. To avoid the stressful ‘we need the table back in 1 hour and 45 minutes’ announcement, go for a late lunch or afternoon tea and ask to sit on the ground floor level.

I venture into Chinatown more for food shopping at See Woo supermarket than to eat, although recently I’ve been eating there more – try Leong’s Legend, Ba Shan and Rasa Sayang.

And if you happen to be wandering through Golden Square, visit the Nordic Bakery for a coffee and warm, sticky cinnamon bun. The latter is highly recommended (and is very big!).

And Don’t Forget…

Borough Market is London’s oldest and most famous food market (open Thursdays to Saturdays only), where foodies stock up on fresh seasonal produce, from asparagus to scallops. Wright Brothers Oysters, Brindisa, The Ginger Pig and Konditor and Cook are just a few of the many producers based there.

A traditional champagne afternoon tea should be high on your list of things to do, if you can spare a couple of hours to relax over dainty sandwiches, pastries, cakes and warm scones with jam and clotted cream. There are many locations to choose from. I’ve been to The Dorchester and Yauatcha, but The Wolseley on Piccadilly is also well-known for its teas. If you can’t go for tea, try breakfast there instead. The breakfast options at The Wolseley are so good that The Times’ restaurant critic AA Gill wrote a little book called Breakfast At The Wolseley (published by Quadrille), including all the recipes.

Finally Pearl Liang near Paddington Station is my recommendation if you want to try dim sum during your stay. It’s still my favourite for dim sum, along with Yauatcha.

I could go on forever, as London is gigantic, and I’ve just covered three areas. Places that I like, but aren’t centrally located, were left out, because I thought tired visitors with little time on their hands wouldn’t want to travel too far out from centralLondon for a great meal (such as mouth-watering grilled meat at Turkish Mangal Ocakbasi in Stoke Newington). If I’m wrong about this, let me know!

Visitors – I hope this gives you some suggestions. Do leave me comments if you need more specific ideas. Londoners – feel free to leave your own suggestions!

Other guides and useful ‘traveleating’ resources can be found under Useful Info and a list of London restaurants can be found here.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

A guest post from the resident chef and husband. This was incredibly delicious and unbelievably filling! And very quick to make, which is why I’ve placed this in the  Quick & Simple series.

‘This classic Piedmontese recipe is taken and adapted from one I was recently served in Italy by two excellent chefs for a fantastic Saturday lunch. It’s super healthy and much more filling that it looks. Bagna Cauda simply means ‘hot bath’ or ‘hot sauce’ in Piedmont dialect and is a kind of super healthy fondue.

You will need the freshest examples of the following vegetables, although you can use that can be eaten raw:

Fennel
Chicory or other bitter salad leaf
Mixed sweet peppers
Large salad onions
Celery (preferably with leaves on)

Alternative vegetables:
White cabbage
Carrots
Courgettes
Radishes
Celeriac

Bagna Cauda

• 4-5 large cloves of garlic
• 1 heaped tbsp butter
• 350ml fresh milk
• 100g jar of anchovies in oil (salted are also fine)
• white pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

Wash, drain and slice all the vegetables into large pieces suitable for hand dipping.

Heat milk in a small saucepan. Crush garlic and add to pan. Bring milk to the boil. Keep boiling for 5 minutes until the milk has evaporated and reduced down. Your pan may have some browning on the base. If so, place the milk and garlic into a fresh saucepan, adding the butter and melt gently, taking care not to burn it.

Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil and all the anchovies and a little white pepper. Heat gently and with a wooden spoon mash the garlic and anchovies into a thick paste. You can speed this up a little by using a hand blender. Once you have a pale brown paste, you can add a little boiling water to achieve a more liquid consistency.

Now you need to make the bath to keep the sauce hot. Boil some water in a kettle and pour into a medium-sized breakfast bowl. Place a smaller bowl (or even a ramekin) into this bowl, and ladle in the sauce. This will create a hot bath to keep the sauce nice and warm.

Serve the vegetables in a large bowl. Dip vegetables into the bagna cauda and enjoy! If the sauce becomes thicker as you eat, you can add a little more olive oil or a tiny drop of boiling water.

Eat with chunks of fresh bread and ideally a fresh young frizzante white wine’.

See more Quick & Simple Recipes on World Foodie Guide.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

Background:

Bocca di Lupo (literally Mouth of the Wolf) opened in Soho, London towards the end of last year. Several rave reviews later, fellow food blogger tasty treats! and I decided to go there for lunch a few days ago. I don’t eat much Italian food in London, as I prefer to go to Italy once or twice a year for my Italian food consumption, but I thought it would be interesting to see what regional Italian cooking closer to home would be like.

First impressions:

Archer Street is rather seedy, to be honest. It’s located in the grubbier part of Soho and I wouldn’t like to walk down there alone at night. The restaurant therefore shone like a beacon in comparison to its neighbours. We walked past a stunning bar counter (white marble) already packed with diners, and shown to our table in the dining area at the back of the restaurant, which was also busy. Our Italian waiter was cheerful and upbeat from beginning to end, which made all the difference (as will be revealed).

Menu:

We were shown two menus, the One-Dish Meals lunch and pre-theatre menu, which features seven choices, and the main menu, which is referred to as the dinner menu on the restaurant website. The latter features many dishes – crudi e salumi (raw & cured), fritti (fried), paste e risotti (pasta & risottos), zuppe e umidi (soups & stews), griglia e piastra (grilled & pan-fried), arrosti (roasts), contorni (sides) and postri (desserts) , many of which can be ordered as small or large portions. This way, diners can sample a variety of dishes from different regions.

Tips:

If you prefer tap to bottled water, it’s served in a carafe and our waiter wasn’t at all perturbed by our request, nor that we weren’t drinking wine with our lunch.

What we ordered:

From the One Dish Meals menu, tasty treats ordered the spaghettini with clams – Campania (£9.00), while I couldn’t resist the meaty option of grilled pork chop with rose hip honey & borlotti beans cooked with pork skin – Toscana (£11.00). From the main menu, we chose a starter of lamb prosciutto with pecorino in vinaccia – Sardegna (£6.50).

After what seemed like an eternity, the starter finally arrived. Thank goodness for the bread basket and olives. I liked the lamb prosciutto, but the pecorino was a little too strong for our liking. Researching it online afterwards, I discovered that pecorino in vinaccia is pecorino aged in wine barrels that have just been emptied. In my opinion, it was too overwhelming to complement the prosciutto…

Tasty treats thought her dish somewhat salty and not worth the wait. I loved my pork chop, which must have been at least two inches thick. For the most part, it was cooked through and succulent (I dread overcooked, dry pork chops), however, the meat close to the bone was practically raw. I like a bloody steak or pink lamb chop, but I draw the line at eating uncooked pork.

The verdict:

Afterwards, when I showed our waiter the raw bits, he immediately took it to the chef, then returned promptly to tell me that the chef agreed with me. But I did concede that the roast pork chop was extremely thick, so I’m amazed that most of it was as cooked through and yet still so succulent as it was. As a gesture, which was appreciated, we were served calzoncelli – fried chestnut, chocolate & anise pastries, which were delicious and not at all sweet.

The long wait for our food was the only negative point. In total, we were in the restaurant for about an hour and forty five minutes, which is a considerable length of time when we only had a shared cold starter and one main dish each. However,  we concluded that Bocca di Lupo was definitely worth a revisit, and will sit at the bar next time, where the chefs can be seen in action, to try assorted small dishes.

Lunch for two with service charge and no alcohol came to £28.00.

10 – Perfection, 9.5 – Sensational, 9 – Outstanding, 8.5 – Superb,
8 – Excellent, 7.5 – Very Good, 7 - Good, 6.5 - Above Average, 6 – Average

All the London restaurant reviews on World Foodie Guide

Contact details:
Bocca di Lupo
12 Archer Street
London W1D 7BB
Tel: 020 7734 2223
www.boccadilupo.com

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide

This recipe for pea and courgette risotto soup is the first from the Quick & Simple Series, new to World Foodie Guide. I’ve outlined the reasons behind this series in Essentials for Quick & Simple Recipes, but the main thing to bear in mind is that I don’t plan to spend more than 30 minutes in the kitchen after work.

I love risotto, but find all the stirring quite tiring. Risotto soup can just be left to simmer away for 15 to 20 minutes while you get on with other things. Just check on it once in a while! You don’t have to use courgettes and peas, but I happened to have courgettes sitting on the ‘top shelf’ of the fridge, (‘top shelf’ food needs to be used up first, as opposed to more recently bought ingredients), and frozen peas. Two vegetables are all that you need.

Ingredients: (makes 2 portions)

• 1 ½ courgettes
• handful of frozen peas
• 1 large shallot (the elongated ones) or 2 round shallots
• 2 large cloves of garlic
• some sprigs of fresh parsley for garnish
• sea salt & black peppercorns
• 2 to 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 150g vialone nano or other risotto rice
• shavings of fresh Parmesan or Grana Padano

What to do next:

Finely chop shallot and garlic, while courgettes should be thinly sliced. Wash parsley and roughly chop for garnishing. Shave the Parmesan or Grana Padano. Boil a kettleful of water.

Add butter and olive oil to saucepan over a medium heat, but don’t let the butter burn. Fry shallot and garlic until lightly browned, then add rice. Stir for a few minutes to coat the grains evenly. Add some hot water, enough so that the rice can simmer away happily. More can be added during the cooking process. If you’ve added too much, it will simmer away, so don’t worry.

Turn the heat down and don’t cover the saucepan completely with the lid. People tend to use stock to make their risottos, but this doesn’t need it in my opinion.

After about 10 minutes, add the courgette and frozen peas, mix in with the rice, season with salt and pepper and simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve in bowls with a little olive oil drizzled on top, with plenty of cheese and season if required. You can grate the cheese, but I really liked finding bigger pieces now and again!

If you’re looking for more recipes, I’ve trawled through the World Foodie Guide archive and found eight that can be prepared in under 30 minutes, which I’ve put together in 8 Quick & Simple Recipes From The Archive. There’ll be more recipes over the upcoming months.

I hope you enjoy making this, and I’d love to hear about your quick & simple recipes!

See more Quick & Simple Recipes on World Foodie Guide.

Helen Yuet Ling Pang @ World Foodie Guide