Ducksoup, Soho - London Restaurants

I may have left London, but I still have a few bits and pieces waiting in the wings. Starting with this...

Soho rocks. I love it. It has Koya, Fernandez & Wells (1 and 2), Mrs Marengo's salads (now at Mildred's), Bocca Di Lupo, Gelupo, Scoop, Spuntino, Polpo, Polpetto, Bob Bob Ricard, Flat White, Milk Bar, I Camisa, Byron, Yalla Yalla, The Breadman Cart, Cay Tre... the list goes on. Joel Robuchon is a mere skip away. I even like the weird coconut Bubbleology drinks up the road (never blogged, but my new addiction).

And now Soho has Ducksoup.

My first impression on entering Ducksoup is that it's exactly the sort of place I love to visit. London, indeed the world, needs more places that look like Ducksoup.

The white tiled walls are scrawled with the names of natural wines (although I like the idea, organic/natural wines still tend to disappoint me, with a few rare exceptions), there's a huge bowl of fresh walnuts on the counter for the cracking and there's a BYO vinyl policy for the turntable in the corner. It's a petite and character filled wine bar, with lots of cured meats and cheeses, small plates (£7 each) and a few larger ones (£14 each) where you can drop in and snack at the bar (love it) or chat at one of the few small tables lined against the wall. Friendly, keen staff are the icing on the cake.

I also love the daily changing menu (updated on on tumblr), which is hand scrawled on a bit of paper. It features things like slip soles, rillettes and cornichon, pumpkin with chestnut and goats curd, lardo, quail with pickled fennel and chilli and clementine, roast pork with clams and braised fennel, lamb cutlets with lemon and salt, chopped raw hanger steak, and a frito misto of langoustine, artichokes, sliced orange, sea bass and scallops. The people who run it all met while working at Mark Hix's Oyster & Chop House (which is fab, by the way).

This is a menu to draw people who appreciate good food that hasn't been over fussed, enjoyed over a glass of wine that will be different to your usual tipple.

My huge pan of clams in short, noodly fideo, fino and parsley starts off with a wow factor, but the alcoholic fuminess of the sherry becomes overwhelming and it's too salty for me. If the flavours were a little less heavy handed, I would have been in heaven sopping up the plentiful juices with the highlight of the meal... the delicious, thick, crusty bread.

The thick mayonnaise that came with the fresh Dorset crab was also divine. The crab meat was fresh and deliciously sweet, although the small morsels of meat come at £14 which is steep, particularly when compared to the load of the good stuff you get in the crab and pomelo salad at Cay Tre up the road for £9 or the holy grail of lobster claws at Luke's Lobster In New York for around $12. (Yes, I know sourcing impacts on price etc, but I'm just saying...)

The pricing is interesting because what I love about Ducksoup is that you feel like you're nipping in for a casual quick bite in a cool Parisian wine bar, but then you end up forking out over £40 for 2 plates of food and 2 glasses of (not as good as unnatural) natural wine. So it ain't cheap, even if you feel like you're keeping it simple.

There's a no bookings policy generally, although I was able to book for a weekend lunch.

So, I like the style of Ducksoup and I have no doubt it will be a huge success, even if not everything I ate this week hit the mark. All the cool kids that line up at Spuntino will be lining up at Ducksoup soon. I think they probably are already.

Ducksoup, 41 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 4PY (Tel 020 7287 4599)

Pub Crawl - from East to West. And I didn't go to bed in my shoes.

Photo by Paul Winch-Furness

I was on my way to the ETM Group's pub crawl when I realised how long it's been since I've done such a thing. I am officially 100 years old. It seems like a lifetime ago that I used to have gigantic nights out inevitably ending with me hoovering down a giant souvlaki before collapsing into bed with my makeup and shoes on. I even had a fabulous business plan once involving taxis and a back seat "dial your nearest kebab shop" menu. Or it might have been chicken parmas. I was clearly drunk when I conceived it and I was too hungover most of the time to implement it.

Well, how times have changed. Now a night out involves a nice, cosy dinner (once thought of as cheating), picking wines by quality rather than maximising alcohol percentage,  taking my makeup off rain, hail or shine with the full hot cloth routine (one can't be too careful about one's skincare regime), and only occassionally falling asleep with my shoes on.

Fortunately, the ETM Group has rather nice pubs. And they put on the poshest pub crawl ever, which was just my cup of tea - discovering lots of nice pubs without ever have to deal with that stale beer and old man smell of the traditional pub crawl.

Here's where we went - some lovely pubs to put on your radar:

Foie gras canapés. Photo by Paul Winch-Furness

The Chiswell Street Dining Rooms in Barbican still smelled of fresh paint (love..!) and feels airy and fun - we only had cocktails and some very nice canapés, but a swanky setting in the former Whitbread Brewery and I would genuinely like to try it for a meal from the classic British menu.

Snail & bacon pie. Photo by Paul Winch-Furness

Tucked down a little alleyway in Clerkenwell, The Hat & Tun looks more like your traditional, Victorian watering hole, and was the perfect scene for steaming hot little Hereford snail and bacon pies with Guinness and mushroom cream sauce. Accompanying 1er Cru Burgundy wines were gorgeous - one to go too for good English grub and a top wine list. This one wins the award for most likely I would return to regularly - I liked it a lot.

Turbot. Photo by Paul Winch-Furness

For a main meal, we were bussed off to The White Swan, on Fetter Lane, where the upstairs restaurant and menu is a little more elegant and refined. A terrific piece of line caught Cornish turbot came with Dorset crab beignets, turnip tops, salsify and bisque butter sauce. More stellar wines - a South African Semillon - were beginning to become a common theme. 

Desserts aplenty. Photo by Paul Winch-Furness

The Botanist on Sloane Square followed for desserts, like fig pudding with Port roasted figs, and then it was on to The Cadogan Arms on the Kings Road for much not-needed Cognac and a game of pool. By this time, I'm quite a few glasses of bubbly under. I can't tell you much more than I had fun and everyone was my best friend. It may have been a while between pub crawls, but some things never change. See The London Foodie's blog for a more lucid account and some more lovely snaps.

In sum, put these pubs on your radar - the people behind them are lovely, there's a fab wine selection, and really good grub too.


Where indicated, photos used thanks to Paul Winch-Furness.



Chiswell Street Dining Room, 56 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4SA (Tel: 020 7614 0177)


The Hat & Tun, 3 Hatton Wall, EC1N 8HX, (Tel: 020 7242 4747)


The White Swan, 108 Fetter Lane, EC4 1ES (Tel 020 7242 9696)


The Botanist, 7 Sloane Square, SW1W 8EE (Tel: 020 7730 0077)


The Cadogan Arms, 298 King's Road, SW3 5UG (Tel: 020 7352 6500)

The 10 Cases, Covent Garden - London Restaurants

The 10 Cases is a little, friendly breath of fresh air in Covent Garden.  There's a daily changing 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts scribbled on the blackboard, with 1 or 2 signature dishes that are stayers. Mains come with your choice of side dish, included in the reasonable prices.

It has a wine bar feel - except that the tables are mostly reserved for diners, and the bar alone the refuge for the boozers. There will be 10 whites and 10 reds on the menu - they stock 10 cases of each wine, and when anything runs out, they'll swap it for 10 cases of something else. Simples. And they're very friendly about giving you tastes - bonus. Drink by the glass, carafe or bottle of a well chosen wine list with prices ranging generally from about £4-£10 per glass.

Wine list and free pea shoot nibbly

The fare itself is fairly basic, bistro stuff - all very fresh, if not earth shattering enough to distract from the lovely wines, which are probably the real reason you're there.

Lovely house salad with runny poached egg and mushrooms

The rolled lamb shoulder was just ok, and while the whole, grilled Dover sole with caper berries was fresh and hearty, it was probably a tad overcooked.

Rolled shoulder of lamb

Grilled sole

There's no service charge, only a small mark up on wines but there's a £1.50 cover charge for freshly baked, warm bread, water etc. Budget on spending about £6 per starter, £16 per main and £5 per dessert.

The things that would get me back to The 10 Cases are the fabulously, refreshingly simple concept, the stellar service - so keen, so interested, so helpful (there are 2 guys behind the operation, and you get the sense they're keenly involved) - the lovely wines and the easy peasy, relaxed atmosphere. The food was a nice accompaniment but not a draw card in its own right, at least at these early stages.

The 10 Cases, 16 Endell Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9BD (Tel: 020 7836 6801)

PS. Apparently there's also a private dining room downstairs.

Medlar, Chelsea - London restaurants

Chilled broad bean and pea soup with goat's cheese & oodles of truffles

Medlar aims to be a "neighbourhood restaurant" and by the look of the full tables last weekend, it seems the Chelsea locals are happy to make Medlar a place where everybody knows your name.

Medlar opened in 2011, and is the baby of chef Joe Mercer Nairne (formerly of The Savoy Grill and Chez Bruce in London and Rockpool in Sydney) and David O'Connor (former front of house manager of Chez Bruce, The Square and, GD favourite, The Ledbury). These are serious credentials.

The decor is more refined and the atmosphere more formal than your standard neighbourhood joint, so don't go for cosiness. But what the ambience might lack at times, is made up for on the plate. Seasonal ingredients of British leanings are cooked simply and presented prettily, with an easy going French flair.

Chilled broad bean and pea soup is is certainly more summery than the conditions outside, and given some lovely depth by fresh goat's cheese and generous shavings of truffle. It looks gorgeous too.

Crab raviolo with samphire

A large, plump crab raviolo is served with samphire, brown shrimp, a fondue of leeks and a sumptuous shellfish bisque sauce. Yes, it is as good as it sounds.

Middle white pork chop and cheek comes with celeriac puree, black cabbage, crackling and marjoram. It's straightforward and tender - cooked well but not something you'd be bursting to go back for. The steak on the other hand is nothing short of sublime - an almost gamey tasting under blade fillet with juicy persillade snails, salad, superb, crispy triple cooked chips (oomph big time) and a perfect bearnaise. Award winning.

Le steak

It's hard to pick a favourite dessert - we tried a large macaroon with divine English raspberries and lemon curd, a vanilla custard pot with blackcurrent compote and langue de chat (TPG mostly hogged this so it was hard to get a look in), a terrific, chocolately torte with almonds, topped in crunchy honeycomb chunks, honeycomb ice cream and a rich, velvety caramel sauce, and (finally) the tart Victoria plum ice cream with delicate brandy snaps and shreds of sweet stem ginger.

Service is pleasant and prices are very reasonable - £39.50 for 3 courses. Lunch is a steal at £25 for 3 courses, or £30 at weekends. Enjoy!

Medlar, 438 Kings Road, Chelsea, SW10 0LJ (Tel: 020 7349 1900) www.medlarrestaurant.co.uk

The Royal Well Tavern, Cheltenham (Travel Gluttony in the Cotswolds)

You hear a lot about the pub grub at places like The Sportsman and, yep, it's good. But when I look back on some of my all time favourite lunches, my long boozey lunch at The Royal Well Tavern  in Cheltenham would have to be one of the greats. Terrific British produce, both local and sublimely fresh, are combined simply with classic French bistro style and a cosy, friendly atmosphere - a winning combination.

Pleasing little touches add to the warm fuzzies

Andy Martin trained under and has seamlessly taken over from previous head chef Humphrey Fletcher (formerly of The Glasshouse in Kew, Chez Bruce and the River Cafe among others). Not only does everything on his "stonking good food with no frills" menu sound hugely appealing, but it's all good value too - right down to a simply prix fixe daily menu at £10 for 2 courses or £12.50 for 3 (available until 7pm).  You'll find things on the a la carte menu like poached monkfish with samphire and young vegetable nage (£19) or chargrilled hoggett leg with cannellini beans, shallot puree, tomato and thyme (£17). The steaks are apparently great too. Suppliers are proudly listed on the pub's website.

Wooden tables and floors and burgundy banquettes provide a comforting atmosphere to nestle in and wile the afternoon away over a bottle of whatever takes your fancy. Among our plates were a lovely beetroot and walnut salad, sublime fresh, grilled fish with roasted chicory and a gorgeous bit of pink duck with a rich stew of lentils and mushrooms.

 

There were some lovely ice creams for dessert and the cinnamon scroll with warm custard wasn't half bad either....

The Royal Well Tavern is the kind of place you can't help but leave feeling merry and satisfied.


The Royal Well Tavern, 5 Royal Well Place, Cheltenham, Tel: 01242 221212. Expect to pay around £30 per head for 3 courses + drinks (or less of the prix fixe menu).

Quo Vadis, Soho

Barbary duck with caramelised carrots

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon when the telly broke. The papers were read, my book was boring, and there's only so many times TPG can colour code his wardrobe of cashmere V necks. Particularly when they're all a minor variation on navy blue. On the positive side, I did re-discover a love for my old Transvision Vamp CDs. We stared at the blinking theatre sign just down the road from our apartment and pondered.... What to do, what to do....

Although we live in the West End, we have become completely out of practice at going to the theatre. Would not even occur to us if the latest Judy Dench number sidled up to our front door and performed a monologue through the keyhole. But finally, my friends, the penny dropped and after a few last minute phone calls we found ourselves high-fiving ourselves all the way to the ticket box. (We saw Betrayal - quite good too, and particularly if you don't mind a bit of 'sleb sighting since it stars Kristin Scott Thomas.)

But before all that, we had to snag ourselves seats for some pre-theatre dining. Because as if anyone can wait until after the show. (Does anyone ever do that? Please comment if you do so I know you exist.) Arbutus was in the running but a quick call revealed their normally great value pre-theatre menu for the night had mains of risotto and pasta only (zzzzz....) and so I finally got to see what was behind the beautiful stained glass windows of Quo Vadis.

Beetroot gazpacho with horseradish

Inside wasn't as impressive as the outside. I think I had imagined a kind of elegant, ritzy version of The Ivy, but instead it was all quite formal and stiff and low ceilinged and white table clothed, with some lovely art deco mirrors and hotel foyerish modern art and lots of grey haired customers in pastel twin sets. And the odd glammed-up younger couple about to go to the theatre.

The pre-theatre menu is good value at £17.50 for 2 courses or £19.50 for 3 courses (the set lunch menu is the same price). The regular menu is pricier (but still looked ok) with entrees ranging from about £6.50 (Scotch egg, bacon and little gem) - £11 (Dorset crab, Heritage tomato salad) and mains generally around £17.50 (battered pollock, chips and mushy peas) - £21.50 (rump of lamb, broad beans and baby onions).

We expected good things since the restaurant comes from Sam and Eddie Hart who own the fabulous Fino and Barrafina. And all the food was really quite good - classic, cooked well, very nice, if nothing earth shattering. (To be fair, it's rare to feel the earth shatter on a pre-theatre menu.) Starters of sardines (fresh and lemony) and a silky beetroot gazpacho with a kick of horse radish were perfectly done. A chunky piece of roast plaice the size of my head was slightly overcooked but memorable for the size if nothing else. TPG's duck was cooked to a lovely pink, with a good gamey flavour and came with caramelised carrots.

Service ranged from ok to fairly hopeless in the case of 1 waiter who plonked dishes on our table without a word and forgot to return with things we'd asked for. But my main beef was with the staid, hushed atmosphere. Where's the sizzle of Barrafina, the pizzazz of Fino?

Humungous plaice with Jersey Royals

So despite a really decent meal, perhaps its the combination of the old fogey like room and the average service that left me feeling like I'd ticked something off my to do list, but with no real inclination to return. Still, at least we weren't at home playing charades in front of the dead TV.

Quo Vadis, 29 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 3LL (Tel: 020 7437 9585)

Bistro du Vin, Clerkenwell

Cote de boeuf 

As much as I'm not normally one for chains, the brains behind the Bistro du Vin restaurants know their steak and they know their wine. This is a pretty good start to get me through the door. While the menus are all largely comprised of classic, unpretentious bistro fare, each chef puts his own stamp on the restaurant using local, seasonal, good quality British produce. The suppliers are listed on the back of the menu for some pre-dinner reading.

So, the addition of Bistro du Vin to the increasingly gourmet hub that is Clerkenwell (on the site of the former Eastside Inn) is a welcome addition to the fold. (And I'm more than a teensy bit excited that an even newer branch opened in Dean St Soho this month, which I anticipate will become a regular local haunt for me and TPG. Stay tuned.)

The bar area has been livened up since the Eastside Inn days (it was always my least favourite part of the site), and although the decor is still lingering a little on the staid side, it's busy. In any case, all is well after a warm welcome, some freebie olives and pistachios and the fast provision of the excellent house marmalade martini. 

We walk past the small private dining room - which faces on to the street and features meats ageing in a glass enclosure (mental note to remember for future dinner parties) - to the main bistro. The fabulous open kitchen surrounded by a U shaped bar (for casual meals) has been retained from the Eastside Inn days. TPG and I have in mind to pop back for a burger and some fine wine at the bar. Well spaced tables and chocolate leather banquettes fill up quickly, and the atmosphere is cosy but lively.

Both our waiter and sommelier are knowledgeable about the food and wine - they know their stuff and give the impression of some real passion behind the business. We felt safe to leave the wine matching in the sommelier's hands and had no regrets. We drank by the glass to match each course, and there's a wine vending machine with some top notch bottles to be sampled without breaking the bank.


After some creamy prosciutto with figs, we start with the peppery, sweet Cornish crab and toasted sourdough and fresh, seasonal English asparagus with sauce ravigote.

Although the night's special stargazey pie was tempting, once you've seen the meat ageing on the way in, its hard to go past the steaks. We order the meaty 600g bone in sirloin from Belton Galloway (£30) and the rich, tender Cote de Boeuf from Donald Russell (£43). They're beautifully cooked and full of flavour - straight from the magic of the smoky, hot Josper charcoal grill.

If that's not enough oomph for you, you'll love the hefty side servings of roasted bone marrow to scoop on top. The thin fries were crisped up to perfection.

A strawberry sundae is loaded up with meringue and cream, but I prefer my profiteroles with ice-cream and warm chocolate sauce.

Aside from the quality of the wine, food and service, another plus is the value factor. I was invited to review so I didn't pay - but I'll happily eat here on my own coin any time.  Prices are around £5.75 - £9.50 for entrees, £12.95 - £16.50 for mains (more for the steaks), and the "plats du jour" are very reasonably priced. 

If wine's your thing, look out for the wine tasting dinners too - they sound rather special. Prices vary.

Bistro Du Vin, 38-42 St John Street, Clerkenwell, EC1M 4DL (Tel: 020 7490 9230)


Greedy Diva was a guest of Bistro Du Vin.

St John Hotel, Chinatown

I'm quite partial to the bacon sandwich at St John in Spitalfields, as a lazy heart starter to the weekend. It's not on the breakfast menu at the new St John in Soho, but its enough to know that they do the simple stuff well.

Mushrooms on toast are divinely rich and beefy, while the pretty basket of buns is shiny and sweet, with cinnamon, raison and simple plain buns in the mix.

The coffee's not bad either - although at £3.75 for a not warm enough flat white or a cafetiere, it's expensive.

The menu is short but has several serious tempters - like the ham, eggs and fried bread, or the boiled egg and anchovy toast.

But at just over £25 (including service) for the above small and simple breakfast for 2, we leave feeling slightly flabbergasted at how we just spent so much on so little. And TPG is hankering for a local supply of the pikelets and madeleines we love so much at Spitalfields and Farringdon (ooh - the madeleines are available at lunch).

Fortunately, we're in zen mode. The crisp, white room surrounded by windows is a calming little morning oasis in the otherwise hectic surrounds of Chinatown. And the waiters are the friendliest (by far) that I've experienced at any of the three St John establishments - with that gripe gone, I'll happily be back to try the traditional St John nose-to-tail dinner menu soon (where perhaps the prices might be more easily justified).


St John Hotel, 1 Leicester Square, Soho, London, WC2H 7BL (Tel: 0203 301 8069)

J. Sheekey, Covent Garden

Raspberry ripple ice-cream with boozey cherries and shortbread

Despite there being so many new and interesting restaurants popping up in Covent Garden, it's also nice to visit one of the more old school establishments every now and then. Lunch at J Sheekey was just the ticket. The old timer at the table next to us remarked to the waiter that her mother had brought her to J Sheekey as a young girl - and it feels like that kind of place.

Black and photos of theatre starlets line the mahogany panelled walls. The long standing appeal of the place comes down to its history, effortless style, seamless (if a little stiff) service and well sourced ingredients executed properly.

Gravlax

As part of the Caprice Holdings group (which includes stalwart establishments, The Ivy and Scotts), J Sheekey is predominantly a fish and seafood restaurant, and the best of its offerings is probably not on the set lunch menu that we opted for. The plateau de fruits de mer for 2 people looks stunning.

However, the weekend lunch menu, at £26.50 per person for 3 courses, is probably the best means to get away lightly in what is otherwise a pricey restaurant. 

Grilled squid

Gravlax with marinated cucumber and a Swedish mustard dressing was a small but silky starter, while my fabulous, tender grilled squid perched atop a sweet, nutty red pepper sauce.

The Sheekey Fish Pie

J Sheekey has a reputation for its fish pie - and while it's not as unctuous as the one you'll find at Bentley's, it is creamy and comforting, and laden big chunks of salmon and prawns. There's a satisfyingly thick and crispy layer of potato on top, although my pie was lacking in white fish.

Since they had run out of salmon, TPG enjoyed the rich feast that was the grilled chicken with buttered cabbage and earthy wild mushrooms - a terrific, hearty option if you don't want fish.

Clementine pudding

The clementine sponge pudding with warm custard is gorgeous - the perfect wintry dessert. The pretty raspberry ripple ice-cream was not as impressive, but the boozey cherries gave it a lovely kick and it came with a fine, crisp shortbread.

J Sheekey also offers a fish and chips and glass of house wine deal for £16.50, and it's worth keeping in mind as a pre- or post theatre option, being in the heart of West End theatre land. You could also try the J Sheekey Oyster Bar next door, which is always bustling - reservations at either the bar or restaurant can be hard to come by, so plan ahead.

J Sheekey, 32034 St Martin's Court, Covent Garden, WC2N 4AL (Tel: 020 7240 2565)