Pho at...Pho

Working near Liverpool Street puts me in walking distance of Spitalfields Market and a variety of great lunch spots. A couple of weeks my boss and I wandered over to Pho - a family run chain specialising in Vietnamese street food - for a quick sit-down lunch.

We both ordered pho - the big bowls of hearty Vietnamese noodle soup from which the restaurant takes its name - and I was very impressed. The rich, flavourful broth was packed with noodles, greens, and plenty of tender, flaking beef brisket; while a side serving of fresh herbs, raw beansprouts and chilli added a nice element of DIY to the meal - although I stupidly added too many chilis to my soup and ended my lunch with streaming eyes!

"Flowering" tea - so pretty!

All in all, a great little spot: nothing too fancy, but perfect for a relaxed lunch. Perhaps now the weather has turned I'll go back for one of their summery Vietnamese salads.

 

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

 

Coffee at Kaffeine

After breakfasting at The Riding House Cafe with a friend, I couldn't resist nipping across the road to Kaffeine on my way home.

An Antipodean coffeeshop, in the spirit of Workshop Coffee Co, Kaffeine serves up excellent coffee alongside a tempting weekly-changing menu of light bites and tasty baked treats (tragically there were no Afghan biscuits on the day of my visit, but if you ever get a chance to try them, do - these rich crumbly chocolate cookies are one of my all-time favourites!).

The coffee was - predictably - excellent, although the portions are very small (something I always struggle with, having grown up on Starbucks venti lattes!). The food looked great too, and I'll definitely be heading back for lunch one day to check out the tempting array of salads and foccacias.

My lunch: Adobo

I'm on holiday in Malaysia at the moment, working my way up the West coast and soaking up a bit of winter sunshine (I'm lying next to the pool as I write this :)). Malaysia is incredibly multi-cultural, with authentic Chinese, Indian, Thai and Japanese dishes readily available alongside the traditional Malaysian cuisine. Three days in, and I've already tried lots of delicious new things, so I should have some interesting posts to put up very soon - until then, I'll clear a bit of the backlog from my draft folder...

Adobo is in Holborn, a bit out of my usual lunchtime foraging range. I happened upon it on my way back from a meeting the other week. It was 2.30pm, a good hour or two past my usual lunch time, and I was absolutely ravenous... Lured in by the gorgeous smell of grilled meats and Mexican spices emanating from the door, I decided to stop for a bite to eat (at this point I needed something a bit more substantial than a simple sandwich!)

Like many similar Mexican venues (Chilango or Poncho 8, for example), Adobo has a build-your-own style menu - you pick your base (burrito, taco, or salad box), and choose between various toppings to create your perfect personalised dish.

I opted for the salad box. On my base of salad leaves I then added a scoop of black beans, a layer of 'fajita' peppers and onions, tasty chunks of grilled chicken, a dollop each of rich, creamy guacamole sour cream and mild tomato salsa, and finally an extra sprinkling of sweet corn salsa (which the nice guy behind the counter threw in for free).

I don't know if my extreme hunger could have influenced my judgement here...but it was SO good. The chicken was fantastic, and the combination of flavours and textures made for an interesting and extremely satisfying lunch. I just wish there was one nearer my office so I could make it a regular thing.