Walk into a Carribbean Diner

After a Jill Scott concert at the 02 in Brixton, I was scurrying along, trying to find a place to eat. All the resaurants I know were shut by 11pm and so we ended up at an unfamiliar Caribbean diner - Bickles - on coldharbour lane. Surprisingly full for the time of night, it was evident that this little gem is frequented by regular diners who all seem to be on first name basis win the owner, a kind and down to earth gentleman to serves and recommends food to you himself. I had the goat curry with rice and beans, simple, fresh and full of spices and flavor. A wholese meal within six pounds. Add a side of plantain on the side (grilled and delicious) for just 60p. That also includes a fresh juice of your choice. I went with soursop which is a local favorite, sweet but sour. Definitely an interesting eat. I've been to this place twice this week!

Gobbling diaries

Sunday night blues, time to contemplate upon the food that's been consumed over the past few days.

I'm going to start with dessert. Because that's the way god intended it (am a massive fan of dessert before main course).

Firstly - I have to give it to the wonderful Ottolenghi for it's innovative streak when it comes to paring flavours together. My friend had a do at his place on Saturday night and picked up vanilla and rose cupcakes from the Islington branch of the deli-style restaurant. The cake itself - brilliant texture, film and dense with the perfect amount of crumble. The icing is nice and thick, embellished with vanilla pods and a distinct taste of rose water which reminds me of Persian food (yum).


Moving on to savory food, visited one of my favorite south Indian establishments in Croydon - Chennai Dosa. Don't expect anything fancy. The place is reasonably spiced, has brilliant service and is a very authentic experience. I recommend the masala dosa (large flat bread with potatoes and condiments), paneer mirchi (cottage cheese cooked in chinese inspired munchurian sauce) and idly (rice flour bread in spicy red sauce). They even have a buffet option if you want to try a variety of foods.

Now, I love courgette fries and have taken the initiative to order them at two separate restaurants on the same day - yes it was a big pig-out day. Byrons has a crumblier texture and the courgette is sliced in long thick chunks. The Pizza East (big fan of this chilled out pizza joint in East London) variety is deep fried, much like tempura, the courgette is completely lost in the batter. Complete fail. All that said, metro pizza and polpo courgette fries which I tried in another life still live on in my memory - crispy and thinly spiced wins hands down.

Sustainable taco cafe

Need to tell you about possibly the first authentic Mexican food experience I've had. We stumbled upon this no-fluff restaurant Taqueria while walking around Notting Hill on Saturday evening. Firstly, it was completely packed for 6pm on a Saturday and the decor is very simple - classic posters on the walls, plain white tables, extremely laid back. 

Started off with Bohemia beer (Brazil made me used to having this ICE COLD so I was a little disappointed by the temperature).

For our appetiser/antojitos we opted for a vegetarian dish - Botana - which is refried beans with queso fresco, guacamole, SPICY salsa (just the way I like it), pickled jalapeños and totopos. 

On to Tacos for the main meal. We ordered an assortment to share between the three of us. The waitress was very helpful and gave us recommendations. All the tacos were soft shell, my top favourites were 

1. Pescado - beer battered Alaskan pollack, avocado mash, chipotle mayo, mexican salsa, shredded cabbage
2. Tinga - shredded chicken in spicy chicken chipotle,onion and tomato sauce with sliced avocado
3. and of course, Alambres, which we were told is the more typical choice of taco with grilled skirt steak and capsicums folded into melted cheese

Now I need to rave about the extra/side which I ordered - Planto frito which is sliced and fried plantain. 

This was definitely the favourite part of my meal. Having grown up in exotic West Africa, I grew up on a staple diet of plantain and this is the first time I've had sweet plantain outside of Africa. MUCH recommended for anyone who has a sweet tooth or loves plantain. I would return just for the plantain. 

I'm going to end on this note, filled myself too much on plantain so dessert was out of the question!

Balham by foot

Set out to discover Balham this afternoon. The sun was out so thought we'd stroll around town.

Have discovered two local coffee/tea houses of worth.
1) Bertie and boo is a very busy coffee shop, the decor is adorable. There are school desks for tables (almost put mustache man off to sleep), lots of atmosphere and all the desserts are locally made. I indulged in a lavender and acacia honey cupcake (it had real bits of lavender in it), had bites of the banoffee muffin which was ok. The butterscotch milkshake was absolutely delicious. Only downside was that tea was not brewed (nasty old tea bags). All in all, great cosy atmosphere.

2) Lavish Habit is a cafe boutique. Basically its an accessories/clothing store crossed with a tea house. I bought these adorable gloves for my winter cycle rides. Check out the beautiful stool in here. Very classy place, breakfast looks great. Didn't get the chance to try anything here! Let me know if you have because I'm definitely venturing down here again soon

It's all about discovering London by foot. That's the lesson I learned this weekend.

Off to watch Wuthering Heights now. Tchau!

A cosy gastropub to warm the mood

Is there anything better than that feeling when you discover a cosy-as-hell gastropub, equipped with fireplace, traditional English charm and saliva-inducing food? Places like the Bolingbroke pub remind me, on a cold winters day (I've recently brought myself to accept that its winter by switching from my trench coat to full-on winter coat) why I chose to move to London from sunny old Dubai.

The dining room towards the back of the pub is less noisy than upfront, the glass-roof adds a sense of romance to the mood and contrasts the dark-wood paneled floor. Doesn't it sound delightful - and I haven't even mentioned the fireplace yet.

There's a list of specials on the chalk-board but we decided to stick to the main menu. We started with smoked salmon, lemon and coriander sorbet. A simple appetizer which is carefully prepared to ensure the flavors balance each other. It was a light and fresh start to the meal.

Moving on to the main course, I decided to opt for the Viscount seasonal salad - I was tempted by fried camembert and lemon vinaigrette. Instead of telling you more about my rather dull choice I'm going to focus on the great food choice that mustache-man made - Sea trout with steamed clams, tender-stemmed broccoli and saffron cream sauce. Sadly for him he had to continuously give me bites of his magnificent meal. Cooked to perfection, the sea trout had a crispy layer of skin on the top which was a wonderful compliment to the mussels and broccoli. The best part for me was the saffron cream which the food was swimming in, such a settle yet distinct taste to really bring the entire meal together. I'm definitely ordering this on my next visit.

Time for the pudding menu and boy, oh boy, I'm salivating just thinking about it. To make up for my boring choice of main course we decided to order two desserts. The champion of the night was certainly the Lemon posset with passionfruit and homemade shortbread. If you like sour, tangy treats, you're going to love this as much as I do. The lemon posset itself is delightfully creamy and tastes like fresh lemon, there's a passionfruit drizzling on top which adds sweetness and tanginess. The soft, crumbly, sweet shortbread is the perfect balance.

We also had the chocolate pot with white chocolate sabayon. Chocolate hardly ever gives me a reason to complain so chocolate lovers this is a safe choice.

The bill came out to £50 without any drinks. Not a cheap meal but definitely worth it.

Voila, taking about that has gotten me ready for seconds.

Eat, drink and be scary.

'Tis halloween weekend!


Went for a stroll down St. Johns Hill yesterday and stumbled upon a bar/restaurant that has instantly become a favorite, all hail - Power Keg Diplomacy.   


It seemed like we had walked into a time warp. Colonial-style decor, waiters with top hats and suspenders (and such good service), even a pumpkin carved with a mustache. The only thing missing was a piano man (need to find out if they have a piano night, gosh how amazing would that be). Even the music was set in the '20s. Clearly, I'm not a fan of the new millennium and if you aren't either, head down here instantly. 

Started off with a flute of the sparkling Chardonnay.


Dinner was Roasted Venison Haunch (very tender meat), roasted honey parsnips (made meticulously), pink fir apples and mean time stout sauce. A beautiful mix of flavors.

Followed up by the Sticky Toffee Pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla icecream. Not too hot. Not too cold. The toffee slightly burnt to give a much needed crunch.

Love this place. Definitely going back.
London needs more places like this.

Midnight Cake Baking Extravaganza

After a long day at work there's nothing better than a decadent slice of carrot cake. So, I rolled up my sleeves and decided to get baking, much to the amusement of both my flatmates. Pffft, the world needs to stop judging people who choose to indulge in carbs post 10pm.

Ideally, this cake would be double layered so feel free to double the ingredients, tier up, and splurge!

First, pre heat the oven to 170 degrees C.

Begin grating the carrots. Beware of grating your knuckles bloody - not fun.

Whisk the flower, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg together in a bowl and set aside.

Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until fully incorporated. Stir in the carrots and walnuts until evenly distributed. 

Pour the batter into an oiled pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean (you know the drill!). 

Cool the cakes for 30 minutes.

In the meanwhile, make the icing by beating cream cheese and butter together until smooth (mine came out lumpy, need to invest in an electric beater!). Add vanilla extract and beat in sugar, until the icing has the flavour and consistency that you like. 

Keep the icing in the fridge for 20 minutes before coating all over your cake!

TAAAA-DAAAA! It's midnight and my cake is ready.

Ingredients


Cake:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 extra large eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
400 grams finely grated carrots
1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts 


Cream-cheese frosting:
200 grams softened cream cheese
1/2 stick softened unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar (to taste)