Plot is new to Tooting’s booming scene. Sandwiched in the Broadway Market it spreads out into the usually bustling walkway to serve some of the finest small plates of seasonal British produce. At just 15 seats it’s about as intimate as they come, so make sure to book.
On Sunday we visited the Tobacco Dock in East London for this year’s Junipalooza event. Unfortunately we missed celebrating World Gin Day itself there on the Saturday but we were able to benefit from the Sunday’s slightly longer session which meant we could fit more gin in! Every cloud.
I couldn’t say it better than this man’s apron. Indian food is the most incredible combination of flavours and textures.
London street food kings KERB brought together the finest traders to coincide with the Southbank Centre’s (where this is based) festival on South Asian culture and arts.
We visited our favourites, Horn OK Please, whose dosas are so simple, but so delicious with an amazing combination of textures and flavours, and then went on to The Cheeky Indian for shredded crispy lamb with plum and mince lamb with peas. Not forgetting fragrant chai, smooth and creamy mango lassis and crispy bhajis that we also somehow found room for!
The market does tend to be a little short on seating but if you don’t mind exploring South Bank you can usually find a spot to make your own. It’s worth going down even when this particular festival isn’t on, as for the rest of the season it’s the turn of the Southbank Centre Food Market which has some equally stunning food from all around the world.
I already can’t wait until next year’s festival!
Time Out recently did a feature on Garratt Lane, a road close to where we live in south west London. As part of this, they listed all the trendy places you must go along this road, in order to stay cool.
The Jolly Gardeners is a local pub with a restaurant headed up by Masterchef 2010 winner Dhruv Baker. It’s a real hidden gem with a compact menu, allowing the chefs to focus on delivering some truly stunning plates of food.
We opted to go straight into mains and, having been salivating since reading about it in Time Out, had to go for the pork belly. The pork was beautiful, proper melt in your mouth. It had incredible flavour from fresh chimichurri over the crispy crackling skin. Sitting on a bed of buttery, silky spring greens, roasted beetroot and carrot and cardamon puree it was as much a treat for the eyes as the tastebuds.
My wife had the daily special, perfectly pink roast lamb with dauphinoise potatoes that were the ultimate decadent complement to the meat.
I’m kicking myself knowing this has been on our doorstep since we moved to the area years ago, but now we’ll most definitely be back for more!
The last night of our honeymoon. Where do you eat to finish the week of incredible Spanish food?
The answer was right under our noses. Just down the road from our apartment, in nearby Camp de Mar, was an unassuming black sign which led the way to a hidden gem nestled on the hillside.
Flor de Sal is the restaurant of Chef Jonay Hernandez.
The restaurant’s extensive tapas menu combines traditional Spanish classics with modern flavours and ways of cooking. It was so hard to chose what to order that we actually experienced a restaurant first: being told not to order more food!
Even before our food arrived we were hugely impressed by the freshly baked olive ciabatta slices that we were presented, alongside the restaurant’s namesake, the black olive salt. It was served in a ceramic star fish with a miniature spoon alongside Mallorcan olive oil.
As an amuse bouche the waiter brought out a small blue bowl containing a pinch of shredded potatoes. Neither of us really knew what to expect. He then proceeded to pour a beautiful soup over the potatoes, made from an Ecuadorian vegetable. Beautifully creamy, it made for a deliciously unexpected start to the meal.
To break up our massive (but restrained) tapas order we were informed our dishes would be arriving in 3s. First up was a trio featuring a goat meat taco, an egg cooked 2 ways, and grilled goats cheese.
The soft corn taco cradled the tender, slow-cooked goats meat and black beans. The rich dark colours contrasting beautifully against the light taco and sour cream topping.
Next up was the egg. Looking like a cross between a scotch egg and a Spanish croquette, we cut into the crunchy fried outer layer to reveal the beautifully runny yolk. It dribbled over the pureed potatoes and garlic which surrounded the fried egg.
Think cheese on toast couldn’t get any better? Wrong. Who needs the toast when you could just have more cheese. More beautiful goats cheese. Grilled in a small skillet with a herb dressing that was so decadent and moreish.
Then it was time for part 2… cubed croquettes of iberico ham with a sweet jelly, ‘wrinkled’ potatoes, and octopus tacos.
Cutting into the fried croquette revealed the cloud-like centre. Soft, creamy potato encased in salty iberico ham and crunchy breadcrumbs.
Wrinkly potatoes don’t really sound like something you’d expect from a restaurant like this. It’s actually a big nod to the chef for using local ingredients that wouldn’t have made the grade elsewhere and gone to waste. New potatoes, lumps and all, were presented to us with two ‘mojos’. One red, one green.
It’s not every day that your dinner is served to you on an octopus tentacle, even a ceramic one. In came the second helping of tacos, this time with a distinctly lighter flavour. Fresh octopus served in lettuce leaf tacos. I’m a big fan of corn tacos and am often left disappointed when they’re swapped out for greens but these worked remarkably well. A gem lettuce style leaf would’ve possibly been more appropriate for holding the juices in though as a lot of the beautiful flavour poured out the side whenever we went in for a bite.
The waiter had been right. As incredible as they were, there’s only so much tapas a body can take in one night…
We had to go all the way for the final meal of our honeymoon though and tapped into that magic second stomach, reserved for dessert, even when you’re full.
Having made our choices we were presented with a little palette cleanser in the form of a small lemon sherbet mousse. Only a few spoonfuls, but just the right balance of sweetness and sharp to get us in the mood for what was to come.
I’d ordered a creme Catalan and my wife, a chocolate and beetroot mousse.
There’s not much more satisfying than that first crack of the sugary crispy top of a creme Catalan. The smooth cream working perfectly with the sharp berry compote accompaniment.
Beetroot isn’t normally by go-to choice for dessert, it’s not even my go-to choice for vegetables, but it added a beautiful moistness to the chocolate and helped cut through what could’ve been overly rich and intense. The mousse was topped with hazelnut ‘soil’, which outside the theatrics was a small rock-shaped chocolate truffle, and tasted delicious.
It was the unforgettable meal that I’d been hoping for, and thanks to the waiter, I now have the perfect excuse to return and sample the dishes we didn’t get to!
If you’re in south-western Mallorca visit this small, unassuming slice of food heaven.
Meetings in West London aren’t all bad. Having borrowed the Brand Museum for a team meeting we decided we needed some kind of reward. Time for a little slice of the Caribbean in West London: Boom Burger.
As it was my first time there I opted for their classic – the Boom Burger, a cheese burger with bacon jam. While unfortunately overcooked, the meat itself was flavoursome and the and bacon jam really brought out the best of it.
I’m not normally a fan of tomato in burgers as they can tend to make the bun soggy but the beautifully toasted brioche held together well with the salad and the sweetness and texture really complemented the burger.
The atmosphere was great and plantain fries are always a good addition to transport you to more tropical climes.
While it didn’t blow me away I’m definitely going to be back to try the Jerk Boom (their chicken burger) and Fish Boom, which looked incredible.
(3/5)