Delicious baked eggs at Coco di Mama

Coco di Mama is a new chain of Italian cafes which have been popping up all over London. Serving up a great selection of pastas at lunchtime, as well as some excellent Italian-style coffee, they are also the source of my new favourite breakfast treat.

Mmmmmm....

The baked eggs florentine is simply incredible: closer to a crustless quiche than what I would traditionally think of as 'baked eggs', the rich, buttery egg custard, shot through with tender spinach and topped with a glossy brown gruyere crust, is mind-blowingly good.

And despite tasting pretty decadent (and being big enough to keep you full right through to lunch), it's healthier than you would think - according to the sign, it contains a mere 267 calories. I'm quickly developing a Coco di Mama habit - I've been at least 3 times a week since I made my discovery - and I definitely recommend checking them out!

 

Now Street Food: Ping Pong, but quicker

I recently changed jobs, and my new office - near Liverpool Street station - has placed me in walking distance of a plethora of new lunch spots.

I've always been a fan of Ping Pong, but mealtimes there have tended to overrun - not ideal for a weekday lunch. So I was pleased to discover Now, the new "fast food" addition to the Ping Pong family, just around the corner.

Chive and prawn, seafood, and har gau dumplings

With the same focus on good quality dim sum and tasty Asian dishes (rice and noodle bowls, hearty soups, and even a Chinese burger), Now is like Ping Pong, but quicker!

I ordered the seafood dim sum and a sticky seafood rice roll to go, for a healthy but satisfying lunch. The dim sum was very good - perfectly steamed, with a delicate flavour and no hint of sogginess - while the rice roll, pleasantly glutinous in its banana leaf wrapper, was flavoursome and filling. I'll be heading back soon to check out the rest of the menu!

   

Lunch at Sauterelle, The Royal Exchange

Yet another leaving lunch, this time in the fancy environs of the Royal Exchange. Upstairs from the beautiful main hall, Sauterelle has a set lunch menu with two courses for £20 (or three for £23.50). Our meal took a bit longer than expected - almost an hour and a half - but the location was lovely (with arched windows looking out onto the main hall) and the food was good too.

The set lunch began with an amuse bouche - tasty quenelles of smoked fish pate served on slivers of toast - followed by some fantastic bread (happily, the bread basket came round three times). With a choice of white, brown or seeded, served warm and slathered with copious amounts of excellent butter, this was one of the highlights of my meal.

The set menu offers a choice of three starters or mains, and with a varied selection of meat, fish, and vegetarian dishes there was something to suit all of us. I began with the trio of beetroot: almost too pretty to eat, this was an artfully presented dish with jewel-bright slivers of fuschia and yellow beetroot peeking out from a tangle of fresh salad leaves. The smear of beetroot puree, dotted with nutty pumpkin seeds was an interesting addition to the dish, while the tangy goats curd was an excellent counterbalance to the sweetness of the beetroot.

The ham hock and foie gras terrine was the most substantial starter: a huge portion of layered pate served with toast, red onion marmelade, and a baby leaf salad. The marinated sardines was a slightly daintier option, almost as pretty as my beetroot, with a colourful green bean and potato salad and a tear-drop shaped pool of vivid green watercress mayonnaise.

For mains, we were given a choice of butternut squash risotto, seared gurnard, or confit leg of duck. I opted for the gurnard. A firm, white-fleshed fish, this was served with cauliflower puree and ratatouille, and drizzled with a rather unpleasant curry oil. I was intrigued to try the yuzu* jellies, but couldn't seem to locate them on my plate!

Confit duck leg came with an enormous helping of sausage cassoulet (as with the terrine, it was much larger than the other dishes) - while reportedly tasty, it did receive some criticism for being slightly unrefined, and apparently felt a bit too close to 'sausage and beans' given the smartness of the location.

The risotto was a brilliant buttercup yellow, highlighted with a garnish of lime-green basil oil and sun-dried tomatoes. I forgot to ask how it tasted, but the picture looks pretty good (if a bit blurry), and - in the absence of any voiced complaints - I am assuming it was tasty!

With two courses taking close to 90 minutes, we didn't have time (or the stomach capacity, to be honest!) for dessert, so we hurried off back to the office. The food was good, but the most impressive thing is the location - definitely a good spot for a business lunch with overseas clients.

*A tart Asian citrus fruit

 

Taberna Etrusca

A few weeks ago I moved jobs, and with lots of people to say goodbye to at my old firm, my final weeks included an impressive number of leaving lunches. One of these was at Taberna Etrusca, just off Bow Churchyard, where my friends and I took advantage of a set lunch menu offering two courses of tasty Italian fare for £17.

To start, we were given a choice between minestrone soup, Insalata Caprese (aka buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad), or pan-fried chicken livers with shallots, pancetta and mushrooms. Aside from me, everyone went for the salad, which looked very good: plump slices of mozzarella atop a fan of sliced tomato, all drizzled with concentric rings of tasty vinaigrette.

My minestrone soup was slightly less photogenic than the salad, but still tasted pretty good. A thinner, less tomato-based soup than I would usually associate with minestrone, this consisted of a (slightly over-salted) clear broth packed with finely chopped vegetables - a light yet warming start to the meal.

For the main course there was fresh tagliatelle with a creamy smoked salmon and baby spinach sauce, pork escalope with asparagus and cream gratin and mashed potato, or pan-fried haddock with a cherry tomato, caper and canellini bean sauce.

Two of us opted for the fish; three flaky haddock fillets in a pool of tomatoey stew. The sauce was good - crammed with sweet cherry tomatoes, tart capers and tasty canellini beans - but, as with the minestrone, it was slightly too heavily salted for my liking.

The two remaining members of our party went for the pork and the salmon options. The pork escalope was highly praised: served with a generous portion of mashed potatoes and drenched in a rich asparagus cream, it did look very good!

The smoked salmon and baby spinach tagliatelle also went down well, and is something I may attempt to recreate at home (cook fresh pasta for 2 minutes, drain, stir in cream, smoked salmon, and baby spinach leaves...and you're done!).

All in all, it was a lovely lunch, and somewhere I will definitely come again - although I wouldn't recommend it if you're in a rush!

Girly lunch at Haz

After our trip to Kurumaya last month, the girls and I decided it was time for another get together (especially since I'm soon to be leaving my current job - cue multiple leaving lunches!). So we headed to Haz for some Turkish cuisine.

Karisik kizartma - almost too pretty to eat!

There are a few good set lunch menus on offer - including an impressive selection of mixed mezze for just £9.95 - but we were all in the mood for something a bit heartier. Instead we went A La Carte, with four of us ordering dishes from the Charcoal Grill menu (which come with rice and vegetables) and one from the vegetarian menu.

The meal started with olives and baskets of delicious Turkish flatbread. Still very slightly warm, this was thick, doughy and incredibly good, and I ate far more than my fair share. And the main courses were equally tasty.

My tavuk shisk chicken was lovely - big meaty chunks of chicken, with a spicy exterior and a fantastic chargrill flavour served alongside a portion of tasty stir-fried vegetables*. My own quibble was that the meat was very slightly dry - it could probably have benefitted from a portion of yoghurt dip or spicy tomato sauce, and if I go again, I'll make sure I order some on the side.

The cevizli kasarli kofte - skewers of minced lamb with halloumi and walnuts - also went down very well, as did the kuzu shish (juicy cubes of spicy chargrilled lamb - simple but delicious).

The vegetarian karisik kizartma was a particularly attractive dish: a colourful selection of fried aubergine, peppers, carrot and courgette, arranged in a sunburst around a mound of thick Turkish yoghurt and finished with a drizzle of rich tomato and onion sauce.

Haz also has a take-out counter, and if the food there is anywhere near as tasty as that in the restaurant proper, it could definitely be a very appealing alternative to my standard Eat/Itsu lunchtime fare! I'm sure I'll be checking it out soon...


*I asked for a double portion of veg in exchange for my rice...but I'm not sure if they forgot or if the portions are just very small!

 

Dinner at Polpo and cocktails at the Zetter Townhouse

I had been meaning to go to Polpo for so long that it was starting to become a bit of a joke (especially considering that the Farringdon branch lies a mere 10 minutes from my flat). So I was very glad to finally get an excuse to try it out the other week on double date with my brother and his girlfriend.

Situated on a side-street just across from Smithfields meat market, the restaurant has a great atmosphere - dimly lit, but not overly so, with a nice bar and a cosy dining area. We started off with drinks at the bar, before moving to a snug table in the corner of the restaurant. Polpo has a fantastic menu - everything is designed to be shared (my favourite way of eating) and while the availability of house wine in litre bottles was reminiscent of my uni years*, the quality of the food definitely wasn't.

We began our meal with a selection of cicheti (traditional Venetian-style tapas). Unable to decide between the array of tempting dishes on offer, we ordered a couple of sampling plates and tried everything. The eggplant and Parmesan involtini were excellent - silky slivers of aubergine wrapped around gooey cheese and salty Parmesan - but my surprise favourite had to be the arancini. These balls of rice, rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried, may sound like a grease/carb overload, but were actually delicious and unexpectedly light; a creamy risotto-like interior in a crisp golden shell. The crostini, spread with anchovy and chickpea puree, were also delicious - the combination of salty anchovy and earthy chickpea was fantastic - and the potato and Parmesan crocchette were predictably tasty. Even the more challenging pairings - grilled fennel & white anchovy and the pickled cauliflower & fennel salami - worked well, and the four of us polished off the plate with ease.

Next to arrive was a platter of mixed seafood (deep-fried calamari, king prawns in their shell, and juicy chunks of white fish, all coated in a light golden batter) and two orders of meatballs - beef & pork and lamb & mint. Tender and meaty, and served with a richly flavoured tomato sauce, these went perfectly with our side of creamy cauliflower gratin.

We only ordered one pizzette between the four of us, but I would have happily eaten more - it was delicious! A much lighter take on pizza, with a thin, perfectly crisp flat-bread base, our Fiorentina featured a heavenly melding of wilted spinach, gooey mozarella and soft-cooked egg, all dusted with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan shavings. Yum.

For the meat course we shared sliced flank steak with rocket and white truffle cream, chicken involtini, layered with pancetta and flavoured with sweet balsamic vinegar, a dish of tasty chilli and garlic prawns, and a side of rosemary roasted potatoes (which made a surprisingly strong go at stealing the show).

The desserts were also fantastic. The panacotta - a delectable blend of vanilla, rhubarb, and pistachio - was one of the best I've had: rich, creamy and sumptously smooth, punctuated with juicy chunks of jewel-toned rhubarb and nutty slivers of green pistachio. The ice cream** - a scoop each of sweet vanilla and intense dark chocolate - was excellent, and the chocolate salami - crammed with nuts, chocolate, and chunks of biscuit and served in fat, crumbling slices - was also delicious.

After our meal, we headed North to the Zetter Townhouse. This elegant townhouse - filled with elegant sofas and carefully selected antique furniture - has the same homely-yet-exclusive feel as a Mayfair member's club, and boasts an impressive cocktail menu. We sampled the Master at Arms (rum, port and grenadine), Les Fleurs du Mal (rose vodka, lemon juice, and a hint of absinthe) and the Red Grape Kir Royale (red grape cordial with Perrier Jouet champagne). The cocktails were slightly too strong for my liking (I'm a raspberry mojito kind of girl, embarassingly enough), but the others enjoyed theirs, and they were 'manly' enough to keep the boys happy. A great place to end the night...

A boxing kangaroo - the perfect accompaniment to 'manly' cocktails

*Not in how it tasted, I hasten to add! Just in terms of serving size...
**This is usually served as one scoop in a cone, but we skipped the cone and had an extra scoop of ice-cream in its place

Oh-so-tasty steaks at the New Street Grill

Last week, a craving for red meat led my boyfriend and I to New Street Grill for an impromptu Monday night meal. Just off Devonshire Square, this stylish restaurant has a sophisticated-yet-intimate vibe; and with smartly dressed French waiters, exemplary service, and a very impressive wine list, it's a bit more special than your usual steak joint.

New Street Grill boasts a very appetising menu, featuring everything from game to seafood, but we were here for steak, so we ignored fought off temptation (roast venison, confit duck leg, lobster macaroni...) and turned our attention to the list of cuts.

I opted for the 250g fillet steak (£33), and received a thick slab of beautifully seared meat. The inside was perfectly rare, while the exterior sported a deep brown gloss with a buttery, almost caramel flavour. Paired with a side of roasted beetroots, carrots and celeriac and a copper dish of creamy peppercorn sauce, it was just what I had been craving.

My boyfriend went for the 350g rib eye (£32). A slightly fattier cut than my fillet, this was incredibly tender, but without (I thought) quite the same intensity of flavour. His accompanying bearnaise sauce was somewhat inferior to my peppercorn (but then, I'm not a fan of tarragon, so I may be biased), but his side of macaroni cheese (complete with smooth cream sauce and a crisp, golden parmesan topping) more than made up for it.

Both steaks were served with a bundle of watercress and half a head of roasted garlic - I ate a clove or two (sweet from the slow cooking process, but still quite potent) which made a lasting impression on my breath!

Paired with a bottle of red (a French Cabernet Sauvignon, for a very reasonable £20 - although the wine list does tend towards the pricier end of things, with many stretching into the £1000s), this meal was a real treat, and if you're a meat-lover, I highly recommend giving it a try!

 

After-work drinks at Madison

One day earlier this summer - after unrelenting weeks of rain - the sun came out...

...and, jumping at the chance to finally have a few out-of-doors, after-work drinks, a bunch of us headed to Madison, for (slightly overpriced) drinks on its fantastic roof terrace, overlooking St Paul's cathedral.

While the drinks were nothing out-of-the-ordinary (the usual, pricey City fare...and as the boys were quick to complain, the beer did not come in pints), the location was fantastic, and despite the 10,000 or so other people who seemed to have had the same idea as us (no joke - we had to go down to the basement in the lift in order to get to the top, as every 'up' lift was wedged full), with the fresh air and amazing views, it still didn't feel too crowded. Perhaps - if the sun comes out again this side of winter -  we'll go back for some tapas...

Photo, from a more atmospheric-ally cloudy day