Como quieras
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Barrafina Bites!
I've noticed how much I've been eating out, purely from my dwindling bank balance rather than my waist size (I elect never to own a weighing scale, except an electronic one for baking, and so remain blissfully unaware of the harsh realities of what daily three course european dinners can do to you).
I blame Tesco. I really do. Why can't they (or ANYONE) open a DECENT store near me, instead of that travesty of a Tesco Metro that they have (admittedly) two minutes from my flat? It doesn't even have mushrooms (not when I need them anyway)! Thus due to lack of inspiring ingredients, I find myself unwilling to cook anything besides microwave food, which though an extremely alluring option at work after weeks of the only slightly varying canteen menu, simply can't compete with the likes of all these Time Out Critic's Choices restaurants. Of course there's also the simpler explanation of just not having time to cook, particularly when out on the way to the theatre after work (but I needed some excuse to rant about my local Tesco).
And so it was, last Tuesday night, that prior to a wonderful night at Comedy Camp at the the Arts Theatre Club on Frith Street I found myself queuing for a table at Barrafina at 6 pm. My companion NH was convinced that no one could possibly want to eat that early and that we would get a table, so when we did eventually get there after a leisurely wander from Fleet Street, there were about 12 people in front of us. At 6 pm. This led to our usual conversation topic of how we can't understand (we know of course but understanding is something altogether) where all these people are from? Don't they have to work? Who's supporting this economy?! All the time blatantly ignoring the fact that we've scooted off work early (it's all relative) to be ready to eat at 6.
Anyway, I digress. NH was genuinely shocked, but I suppose he saw it as some sort of sign that it must be good. Though if not for the fact that it was another 2 hours to our show starting, I think he would have protested, and I would have found myself at the Nando's down the road. (no slur on Nando's I love it and just had it last night)
The restaurant only has around 25 seats around a bar, not unlike a sushi counter, so doing the maths, 25 seats, 12 ahead of us, we had a bit of waiting. Thankfully, the waiters do a great job of coming around to take your drinks orders and having some wine helps to keep you from staring too psychotically at diners' backs willing them to leave.
Nonetheless, I found the experience of drinking while waiting rather odd in this particular circumstance. I had always thought tapas were meant to be sort of like bar snacks one had with wine before (admittedly a very late) dinner. Except here the wine was clearly playing the supporting role.
Surprisingly the line does move quite quickly, I have a theory it's because you wait so long you're so hungry, you order really quickly, scoff your food down and therefore you're stuffed really quickly and then you have to leave to have a bit of a walk to digest it all. Either that or my staring at those people menacingly worked.
We took our seats right in front of the tortilla making zone. Fascinating. They make these really cute omelettes that look like large babybel cheeses in little brass omelette pans and then pop them out, pat them to check they're just the right squidginess before serving them! You have to see it to believe it.
Anyway, menu's are on the placemats so off we went, ordering the Jamon and Spinach Tortilla, Grilled Chorizo with Watercress, and one of the specials of the day, the featured Langoustines with Salsa - we thought we'd take it slow since we were still waiting for another friend. And yummmmmm... I'm not sure if it's because we had whetted our appetites gawking at other people's food for 30 mins but the langoustines were very fresh and lightly grilled, so that even the slightly uncooked bits tasted lovely. NH loved the chorizo (though I think he loves chorizo anywhere) and the tortilla hit a spot (moist and tasty and of course with the whole presentation it was hard not to love).
Inspired, we then ordered the Grilled Quail with Al-i-Oli, Chips with Brava Sauce and Pimientos de Padron. Think these were less impressive (again maybe because we weren't so hungry by now), though the quail was juicy and tender. The dishes arrived fairly quickly, so that when our friend arrived, we were already finishing...
All in all, a good meal, but far from cheap. Again everything being relative, this place is (from rusty memory) cheaper than its sister restaurant Fino. And you don't have to book, but then of course the downside is the wait. Another thing is that this doesn't seem to me to be authentic tapas (I'm not Spanish so I can't say authoritatively) but instead tapas for foodies - make no mistake, no one there thinks they're just accompaying bar nibbles - made with whatever's fresh and available (and accordingly adjusted prices for affluent Londoners). The people behind the counters are clearly trained professionals, rather than the bar's wife/mother/sister cooking from recipes handed down from generation to generation.
Nonetheless I really did enjoy myself. Food and wine were good and though the bar seating arrangement means that it's it's best a place for dinners for two and the perpetually long queues means it's not really a good place to really drink and graze (this is my own conscience at work - the staff were very sweet, and never once did they suggest we should eat quicker!). Definitely worth a go if you have time.
Food, wine and service for two around £55.
__________________________
Barrafina
54 Frith Street
London W1D 4SL
T 020 7813 8016
__________________________ ¶ 5:55 AM 2 comments
I've noticed how much I've been eating out, purely from my dwindling bank balance rather than my waist size (I elect never to own a weighing scale, except an electronic one for baking, and so remain blissfully unaware of the harsh realities of what daily three course european dinners can do to you).
I blame Tesco. I really do. Why can't they (or ANYONE) open a DECENT store near me, instead of that travesty of a Tesco Metro that they have (admittedly) two minutes from my flat? It doesn't even have mushrooms (not when I need them anyway)! Thus due to lack of inspiring ingredients, I find myself unwilling to cook anything besides microwave food, which though an extremely alluring option at work after weeks of the only slightly varying canteen menu, simply can't compete with the likes of all these Time Out Critic's Choices restaurants. Of course there's also the simpler explanation of just not having time to cook, particularly when out on the way to the theatre after work (but I needed some excuse to rant about my local Tesco).
And so it was, last Tuesday night, that prior to a wonderful night at Comedy Camp at the the Arts Theatre Club on Frith Street I found myself queuing for a table at Barrafina at 6 pm. My companion NH was convinced that no one could possibly want to eat that early and that we would get a table, so when we did eventually get there after a leisurely wander from Fleet Street, there were about 12 people in front of us. At 6 pm. This led to our usual conversation topic of how we can't understand (we know of course but understanding is something altogether) where all these people are from? Don't they have to work? Who's supporting this economy?! All the time blatantly ignoring the fact that we've scooted off work early (it's all relative) to be ready to eat at 6.
Anyway, I digress. NH was genuinely shocked, but I suppose he saw it as some sort of sign that it must be good. Though if not for the fact that it was another 2 hours to our show starting, I think he would have protested, and I would have found myself at the Nando's down the road. (no slur on Nando's I love it and just had it last night)
The restaurant only has around 25 seats around a bar, not unlike a sushi counter, so doing the maths, 25 seats, 12 ahead of us, we had a bit of waiting. Thankfully, the waiters do a great job of coming around to take your drinks orders and having some wine helps to keep you from staring too psychotically at diners' backs willing them to leave.
Nonetheless, I found the experience of drinking while waiting rather odd in this particular circumstance. I had always thought tapas were meant to be sort of like bar snacks one had with wine before (admittedly a very late) dinner. Except here the wine was clearly playing the supporting role.
Surprisingly the line does move quite quickly, I have a theory it's because you wait so long you're so hungry, you order really quickly, scoff your food down and therefore you're stuffed really quickly and then you have to leave to have a bit of a walk to digest it all. Either that or my staring at those people menacingly worked.
We took our seats right in front of the tortilla making zone. Fascinating. They make these really cute omelettes that look like large babybel cheeses in little brass omelette pans and then pop them out, pat them to check they're just the right squidginess before serving them! You have to see it to believe it.
Anyway, menu's are on the placemats so off we went, ordering the Jamon and Spinach Tortilla, Grilled Chorizo with Watercress, and one of the specials of the day, the featured Langoustines with Salsa - we thought we'd take it slow since we were still waiting for another friend. And yummmmmm... I'm not sure if it's because we had whetted our appetites gawking at other people's food for 30 mins but the langoustines were very fresh and lightly grilled, so that even the slightly uncooked bits tasted lovely. NH loved the chorizo (though I think he loves chorizo anywhere) and the tortilla hit a spot (moist and tasty and of course with the whole presentation it was hard not to love).
Inspired, we then ordered the Grilled Quail with Al-i-Oli, Chips with Brava Sauce and Pimientos de Padron. Think these were less impressive (again maybe because we weren't so hungry by now), though the quail was juicy and tender. The dishes arrived fairly quickly, so that when our friend arrived, we were already finishing...
All in all, a good meal, but far from cheap. Again everything being relative, this place is (from rusty memory) cheaper than its sister restaurant Fino. And you don't have to book, but then of course the downside is the wait. Another thing is that this doesn't seem to me to be authentic tapas (I'm not Spanish so I can't say authoritatively) but instead tapas for foodies - make no mistake, no one there thinks they're just accompaying bar nibbles - made with whatever's fresh and available (and accordingly adjusted prices for affluent Londoners). The people behind the counters are clearly trained professionals, rather than the bar's wife/mother/sister cooking from recipes handed down from generation to generation.
Nonetheless I really did enjoy myself. Food and wine were good and though the bar seating arrangement means that it's it's best a place for dinners for two and the perpetually long queues means it's not really a good place to really drink and graze (this is my own conscience at work - the staff were very sweet, and never once did they suggest we should eat quicker!). Definitely worth a go if you have time.
Food, wine and service for two around £55.
__________________________
Barrafina
54 Frith Street
London W1D 4SL
T 020 7813 8016
__________________________ ¶ 5:55 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Mozzarella anyone?
If anyone has had the (mis)fortune to know me back in the day of ICQ, you'd have known that my ICQ nickname was "mozarella" and I was affectionately known by my ICQ friends as "mozzie" which really I think was their way of telling me that I was sponging on them way too often.
(Clearly I had not had the foresight to avoid giving my friends the opportunity of this declaration when I chose the nickname, which came about as I was chowing through a very delicious slice of pizza as I was creating my ICQ account and the cheese inspired me.)
Moving on some almost ten years
(Sorry, that realization almost knocked me out cold. *composing myself*)
Yes, moving on some almost ten years, and my taste in cheese as in many other things, seems to have changed quite a bit. Back then, I was quite fond of the harder cheeses, probably the result of my immature or romanticised perception of cheese - that cartoon emmental favoured by the likes of Jerry or Mighty Mouse. I still love very thinly sliced emmental in my roast beef sandwich from La Fontaine below my office in Hong Kong, and it's not that hard, but I also loved - cheese connoisseurs look away now! - Babybel and Kraft Singles... :)I think I only ever got as exotic as Gouda and Edam (don't laugh).
They seemed such tasty independent snacks, I could eat them without a cracker in sight! But of course I then got to know the wonderful Bries and Camemberts common at all those wine tastings (an all too common university student activity) and Carr's Table Waters became a standard feature of my larder.
Today I am still no connoisseur, and couldn't tell the provenance of my cheese (beast and country) even if it bleated at me. But having recently moved back to London, I am now able to indulge in tasting such varieties of cheeses from such fabulous fromageries as Neal's Yard, which is of course where this bevy of cheeses in the photo are from, from their Borough Market stall.
Thanks to C and R for snaring these British Beauties ahead of our trip to Provence (I think there's still something vaguely ironic about us bringing cheeses to Provence but I haven't quite put my finger on it). They were brought as a gift (or as penance) to our wonderful hosts, C's parents who had to tolerate us in their lovely home for four days. Looking back, I think we should have brought more.
They were labelled on the packaging and C's dad then cut out the labelling and stuck them on toothpicks (oh so cute) though one of the labels must have been lost which explains the mystery cheese. Anyway, the point of this story (not sure if there was one) was that I realised my love for soft cheeses as I dug into that Wigmore... Having said that, it's nice to have a variety of textures so don't think I'll be a cheese monogamist quite yet.
The other point was to use this opportunity to issue an order to my friends... Go forth and seek ye a good cheese shop, start trying loads of different cheeses before buying loads of cheese, have a cheese (and wine) tasting event every week and most importantly, don't forget to invite me.
The End.
_________________________________________
Neal's Yard Dairy
COVENT GARDEN
17 Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9UP
Tel +44 (0)20 7240 5700
coventgarden@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Thurs 11am to 6.30pm
Fri-Sat 10am to 6.30pm
BOROUGH MARKET
6 Park Street, Borough Market,
London SE1 9AB
Tel+44 (0)20 7367 0799
retail@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Fri 9am to 6pm
Sat 8am to 5pm
_________________________________________
PS C, R and J - if you're reading this feel free to put tasting notes on the cheese. Though J, I know you're still dreaming about that cheese at La Prevote so you might not remember these other ones so no worries.
PPS As a vaguely related but very random thought I've always found the idea of men rolling giant wheels of cheese down a hill incredibly funny, has anyone actually witnessed it? ¶ 9:41 AM 0 comments
If anyone has had the (mis)fortune to know me back in the day of ICQ, you'd have known that my ICQ nickname was "mozarella" and I was affectionately known by my ICQ friends as "mozzie" which really I think was their way of telling me that I was sponging on them way too often.
(Clearly I had not had the foresight to avoid giving my friends the opportunity of this declaration when I chose the nickname, which came about as I was chowing through a very delicious slice of pizza as I was creating my ICQ account and the cheese inspired me.)
Moving on some almost ten years
(Sorry, that realization almost knocked me out cold. *composing myself*)
Yes, moving on some almost ten years, and my taste in cheese as in many other things, seems to have changed quite a bit. Back then, I was quite fond of the harder cheeses, probably the result of my immature or romanticised perception of cheese - that cartoon emmental favoured by the likes of Jerry or Mighty Mouse. I still love very thinly sliced emmental in my roast beef sandwich from La Fontaine below my office in Hong Kong, and it's not that hard, but I also loved - cheese connoisseurs look away now! - Babybel and Kraft Singles... :)I think I only ever got as exotic as Gouda and Edam (don't laugh).
They seemed such tasty independent snacks, I could eat them without a cracker in sight! But of course I then got to know the wonderful Bries and Camemberts common at all those wine tastings (an all too common university student activity) and Carr's Table Waters became a standard feature of my larder.
Today I am still no connoisseur, and couldn't tell the provenance of my cheese (beast and country) even if it bleated at me. But having recently moved back to London, I am now able to indulge in tasting such varieties of cheeses from such fabulous fromageries as Neal's Yard, which is of course where this bevy of cheeses in the photo are from, from their Borough Market stall.
Thanks to C and R for snaring these British Beauties ahead of our trip to Provence (I think there's still something vaguely ironic about us bringing cheeses to Provence but I haven't quite put my finger on it). They were brought as a gift (or as penance) to our wonderful hosts, C's parents who had to tolerate us in their lovely home for four days. Looking back, I think we should have brought more.
They were labelled on the packaging and C's dad then cut out the labelling and stuck them on toothpicks (oh so cute) though one of the labels must have been lost which explains the mystery cheese. Anyway, the point of this story (not sure if there was one) was that I realised my love for soft cheeses as I dug into that Wigmore... Having said that, it's nice to have a variety of textures so don't think I'll be a cheese monogamist quite yet.
The other point was to use this opportunity to issue an order to my friends... Go forth and seek ye a good cheese shop, start trying loads of different cheeses before buying loads of cheese, have a cheese (and wine) tasting event every week and most importantly, don't forget to invite me.
The End.
_________________________________________
Neal's Yard Dairy
COVENT GARDEN
17 Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9UP
Tel +44 (0)20 7240 5700
coventgarden@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Thurs 11am to 6.30pm
Fri-Sat 10am to 6.30pm
BOROUGH MARKET
6 Park Street, Borough Market,
London SE1 9AB
Tel+44 (0)20 7367 0799
retail@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Mon-Fri 9am to 6pm
Sat 8am to 5pm
_________________________________________
PS C, R and J - if you're reading this feel free to put tasting notes on the cheese. Though J, I know you're still dreaming about that cheese at La Prevote so you might not remember these other ones so no worries.
PPS As a vaguely related but very random thought I've always found the idea of men rolling giant wheels of cheese down a hill incredibly funny, has anyone actually witnessed it? ¶ 9:41 AM 0 comments
