Stripped Back, Hackney

What do you say about a chef who went from working as a head chef at Roganic, to subsequently deciding to strip back and pop up at a bare-boned stall at a weekend market? Awesome!

Roganic opened to much fanfare and though I eventually manage to get there, I was a tad too late as Ben Spalding had already left. So I had to wait patiently for his next venture and Stripped Back emerged. After what seemed to be a tiring and exhausting few weeks for me, I managed to free up my Saturday and headed to Broadway Market.

Makeshift tables and stools marked the stall with a 3 person team holding the fort. It is right next to a children's playground which is good for anyone with kids as you can watch your kids playing while you delve into some culinary delights. Arriving at what is considered prime-time lunch hour, I was relieved to discover that there were two empty seats for IJ and I. It didn't take long for us to decide on the 6 course lunch menu at £27.50 instead of the 4 course version.

Take a seat and you initially get served with a ginger ale & beer fizz with heather honey out of a whipper.

 

It was sweet and refreshing before tucking into some bread and butter. I enjoyed the yoghurt malt loaf which gave a hint of sweetness lingering at the end.

The next three courses were to me the highlights of my meal starting with a roasted & marinated chestnut mushroom, flaked almonds, baby gems and Saint Agur blue cheese. The melted blue cheese played nicely with the flavours of the mushrooms and almonds, blending into a symphony that reminded me of peanut butter.

Rare mackerel, tarragon & raw broccoli came next with ripe figs, dashi broth & fig leaf oil. The dashi broth was really subtle and clean which allowed the mackerel to shine through. I love the fig leaf oil as it added an extra depth. Who would have thought of ripe figs with its sweetness adding another layer. Such creativity and innovation. I was enjoying myself now.

Next was Ben's version of a Maltese dish, rabbit stew. It was one of those comforting and warm the soul type of dish but I felt that it needed just a little more spice kick to it.

From here, we moved onto the desserts starting with blowtorched pineapple, salted caramel, peppered creme fraiche and Oreo's. I love the idea of it though I think it needs a touch of acidity to bring the whole thing together.

I did not enjoy the warm chocolate, muscat grapes, sweetened pinenuts and jersey milk at all. I love pinenuts but the addition of it seemed to throw the whole dessert off balance. A spoon of mango puree and salted peanut butter rounded off the meal. All three desserts seems to play on the salty/sweetness combo and I personally would have preferred more variations. Do I really want three takes on salted caramel, salted peanut butter etc..?

After paying for our 6 course did we discover when we were chatting to another couple that we actually missed a course, which was the pig's cheeks. I think that it was a mixture of both me not looking at the menu to know what to expect and leaving it to the team and the slight confusion of them having to do everything that led to that.

Desserts aside, I truly admire the talent and creations from Ben Spalding and those first few mains were really wonderful. I now wished I had gone back and requested for those pig's cheeks, said to be one of the highlights. 

Will I recommend: Yes
Will I come back: Yes
Have I had better: That will be a no for the mains but yes for the desserts

@_strippedback, London Fields Primary School playground, Westgate Street, E8 3RL

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Lamberts, Balham

Balham wouldn't usually be a place that I would have thought of frequenting. Along the south part of the Northern line, the popular destinations would have been Clapham or a jump to the Victoria line to Brixton.

As it happens, a friend of mine lives around the Balham area which found me heading there for a catch up lunch.

We found ourselves in a restaurant called Lambeth. It was a comfortable setting which exudes a charming modern vibe.

We opted for the fixed menu (2 course £17, 3 course £20) which offered quite a good selection.

I was genuinely surprised with the quality of the food which all came out consistently well seasoned and delicious.

This is one place that I wish was in my neighbourhood. Good food and Great value - what more could you ask for.

Potted salt beef, slow cooked egg yolk, herb salad, game chips

Isle of man kippers, potato pancakes, creme fraiche and honey

Roasted leg of blackface lamb, caramelised onions, smoked bacon and chestnut mushrooms

Pork tenderloin, crushed charlotte potatoes, apple and hazelnuts

Treacle tart with clotted cream

Will I recommend: Yes

Will I come back: Yes

Have I had better: Yes

Lamberts, 2 Station Parade, Balham High Road, London, SW12 9AZ

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Boisdale, Canary Wharf

Boisdale is a jazz venue and its opening in Canary Wharf offered a different experience to its diners.

Decked out in a hue of deep red, it lends a charmed richness. The place is huge and spans over two levels.

I would say that you don't come to Boisdale expecting excellent food. What you come for is solid food even if it is a tad boring, to have a good time and to listen to bands playing. A worthy note goes to the oysters, excellent they were, clean and fresh. Definitely refreshing. Food is a little on the £££ side and whether it conveys a value for money would be up to the diner.

Conversations will need to be either a shouting match when the band is playing as the volume is just way too loud to be able to hold a gentle conversation or temporary silence.

I'll say come here when there is a band or jazz singer that you're interested to listen to.

Will I recommend: Yes

Will I come back: If there is a band that I'm interested playing.

Have I had better: Yes

Boisdale, 14 Cabot Place, Canary Wharf London E14 4QT

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Burger and Lobster, Mayfair

London has been cold and dreary lately. With the chilliness in the air, my heart and body started craving for something warm like noodle soup. So it was with anticipation and excitement that I set a date to head to Brixton Village to try Mama Lan with SC. As it turned out, Brixton Village isn't open on a Tuesday night and Khao Sarn was full. I suggested Roti Chai and we ended up back on the tube heading towards central London instead. As we thought about where our hungry tummies were going to eat and where we should come out, we spotted Green Park on the tube line and began to wonder if there was anything around there.

I turned to SC and said that I think there is a new place called Burger & Lobster that could be there but I wasn't sure, I only remembered that it was in the west. We looked at each other and thought, should we risk it? or head straight to Roti Chai. We decided to take a risk and hopped off at Green Park. A quick confirmation on google maps revealed that we indeed came out at the right stop and walked that few minutes to our destination. Even for a Tuesday night, the place was packed but we were lucky to get a seat without waiting. Burger & Lobster don't take reservations and do note that if your entire party hasn't arrive, you won't get your table.

Burger & Lobster only serves two things, burger and lobster (apologies for the pun!). Have you check out their website? It shows two tables with one having lobster and the other a burger, it was simple yet punchy and hit the mark.

SC and I ordered one of each and a bottle of wine.

Our order took a while to arrive but our lovely waiter, Rihanna kept us informed of the status which was great. Since it's Christmas time, we were happy to wait while catching up and sipping our wines.

Our lovely lobster and burger arrived and we proceeded to wear the bibs provided to us.

On the first few bites, the burger stood out more. It was a good piece of meat patty, wonderfully seasoned and delicious. It is after all a Goodman burger as this is their latest opening.

We ordered our lobster grilled and it came out with a good bouncy bite to it. As we continued our meal, the freshness of the lobster starts to hit you. I was hoping for the soft sweetness of fresh lobster which was not boldly evident in the first bite, but that might be because I ordered it to be grilled instead of just steamed, I'm not sure.

Looks can also be deceiving as we nearly contemplated ordering three dishes instead of two like the table next to us. Thankfully, we did not as there was a whole lot of meat in that one lobster and it took me a good steady concentration of 30 minutes to extract all that juicy meat out.

The accompanying garlic butter was fragrant and not overly rich which went well with the lobster. The lobster and burgers are definitely the stars of the dishes with the salad and chips playing a side role.

SC and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and the place has a great relaxed and informal atmosphere to it. I also have to make a special mention to our lovely waitress, Rihanna who only made our experience so much better. She checks on us regularly to make sure that we were good and even showed us the tanks where the lobsters were kept. This was a tip that I got from the twitter-verse, thank you!

The best part of Burger & Lobster is yet to come, both dishes are priced at £20! Decadence without breaking the bank, I love this place already and I can see myself coming back regularly. We need more places like this in London, places that serve delicious food at great value.

Much to my surprise, a chat with Rihanna revealed that Burger & Lobster only opened its doors on Saturday so a random change of events and chance led us to dining here in its very first week. To Rihanna, thanks for taking such good care of us.

Will I recommend: A resounding yes
Will I come back: Yes
Have I had better: No

Burger & Lobster, 29 Clarges Street, Mayfair, London W1J 7EF

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York Eats: Rose & Crown and Maxi's

I love heading to York as I always discover great food places to eat. The shopping isn't too bad either with an outlet here and is the only outlet that houses a 'Phaidon' outlet store in the UK. Yes folks, if you want Phaidon books, they are sold at reduced prices here.

I was back recently to attend a birthday BBQ party and stayed a few days more to chill out. I did some lovely walks, book shopping and of course indulged in some gluttony too.

Birthday boy took us for lunch at Rose & Crown. We went for the lunch menu which was priced at £13.95 for a 2 course and £17.95 for 3 courses.

For starters, I had the Crispy Battered Tiger Prawns. Tiger prawns they were not but the batter was light and crispy.

Haddock in Yorkshire Beer Batter with chunky chips £12.95

Mr. Doctor ordered the Haddock in Yorkshire Beer Batter which is basically Fish n Chips! It seems to have gone down well as I did not try it, I did try the chunky chips and they were good.

Whole grilled plaice with chorizo and spring onion risotto £14.5

I usually do not order risotto as it is one of those dishes that seems to have a higher failure than success rate in places that offer it. Seeing that this was the Rose & Crown, I thought that it should be safe to order it here and be rewarded with at least a decent version.

I was so wrong! The grilled plaice was cooked perfectly but I couldn't say the same about its other half – chorizo and spring onion risotto. The spring onions seemed out of place and was conflicting with the chorizo. That is still a minor flaw in comparison to the risotto itself. The rice was drowned in a pool of creamy-rich cheesy sauce that itself was sour. I cannot believe that the chef did not even taste test this or else the sourness would have been picked up. The wine that was used in this has gone sour. I was frankly left disappointed.

At least the side of vegetables were nice and crunchy. The entire meal to me was boring and there wasn't anything that I had which makes me want to come back for more.

Will I recommend: No
Will I come back: No
Have I had better: Yes

Rose & Crown, Main Street, Sutton on the Forest, York YO61 1DP

Maxi's York

Another place that birthday boy brought us was to Maxi's for dinner and dim sum.

Octopus cake with kai lan £10.5

steamed egg with dry scallops £9.8

Yam Croquette £2.4

三色糯米糕 £2.6

美心流沙包 £2.7

马蹄糕 £2.4

云南水饺 £3.6

Not being sure what this 'Yun Nam dumpling' was when we saw it on the menu, it was ordered and out came dumplings in a clear broth. It was good.

Char siu cheung fan £2.6

Porridge £3.9

Will I recommend: Yes

There were some highs and lows in the dim sum offerings here but one that I would happily come back to when I'm back in York.

You can never really go wrong with the cheung fun and porridge and the offerings from Maxi's were satisfying.

Most places tend to have the turnip cake but not the water chestnut cake which I prefer. With a bouncy gelatinous texture and bits of water chestnuts interwoven within it that provides a refreshing crunchy contrast, it was made exactly how it should be and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I fell in love the first time I was introduced to the 'liu sha bao' in Shanghai and try to order this whenever I can find it on the menu. After such a long hiatus, eating this here was bringing back the same wonderful feeling that I had eating it for the very first time.

When I ordered this tricoloured glutinous rice cake, I wasn't expecting what was placed in front of me in the end. The rice no longer retained its stickiness and wasn't very tasty either. 

Mr. Doctor insisted on having his yam croquette which he dutifully received. It wasn't very good though.

I couldn't remember the name of the fish that we had but it was nicely fried with a good crispy skin and sweet tender meat.

I spied a few items in the dim sum menu that wasn't easily available in the London dim sum places that I have been. This led to my convincing the gang to come back for dim sum which we did.

This was a much raved by the birthday boy and I do agree. The entire base is lined with dry scallops which is a lot actually. The steamed egg was smooth and slid down like silk.

During the dinner round, we had the Octopus Cake with Kai Lan. The octopus cake was chewy and with a good rubbery texture to it. The Kai Lan was crunchy and fresh.

Will I come back: Yes
Have I had better: Not at this price and standard

Maxis York, Ings Lane, Nether Poppleton, York YO26 6RA

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Oxford Eats: Portabello, Gee's and Cibo

I had to travel to Oxford for work and though I didn't get a chance to really explore the colleges and its grounds, I did manage to sample my way through a few eateries.

Portabello Oxford

Smoked trout and salmon mousse

The smoked trout and salmon mousse had a slightly creamy texture which played well with the trout and salmon mix. It was lovely and clean.

Grilled herb crusted haddock fillet with sautéed baby spinach

I wasn't too enamoured by the herb crust but the haddock fillet was grilled perfectly.

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Coach & Horses, Clerkenwell

The first time I had a scotch egg was at my work canteen. Needless to say, it was cold and tasted like cardboard. It even gave me a tummy ache actually. 

Now I love dishes that have eggs in them. Determined to find myself a good scotch egg, I found myself at The Coach and Horses. 

Charcuterie Board £10
Spiced potted venison with pickled beetroot, york ham with piccalilli
Bresaola with pickles, scotch quail egg with nettle pesto

My dinner companion and I settled on ordering the charcuterie board where I will still have my egg and he has more options than just eating an egg!

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Golden Hind, Marylebone

I love my fish and chips. Coming to London, I was excited and was expecting awesome fish n chips to be found everywhere, Be it newspaper wrapped or served on a fancy plate. Sadly, it seems that what London has to offer is quite elusive. I was told that to find a good one, it will have to be outside of London. 

That is until I heard of Golden Hind which came recommended. That got me quite excited and I happily roped in some friends for dinner there. 

Watching food passing you with its aroma enticing was too much while we waited for a late party to arrive. We decided to order some starters to tide our tummies over.  

Feta cheese fritters £3.4

Whole tail scampi £3.6

Interesting fried little bites. I like the crispy batter and both were tasty without being greasy. 

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