Fittingly for the final farewell dinner with one of my besties, we went for Vietnamese on Kingsland Road last night. One of the good things about living in Shoreditch is the amount of Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road.
Dinner last night was:
Prawn summer rolls with Hoi Sun sauce
Chilli Squid
Ribs (Pauline ordered these – was not a fan)
Followed by:
Prawn and Papaya salad
Lemongrass and chilli prawns
Whole steamed sea bass with coriander and lime (As usual, this was sublime)
All washed down with a lovely crisp bottle of white.
I do find it amusing and also indicative of our friendship that the (many) farewell's we've had the past few weeks have been around food. One last champagne lunch! One last Tuesday Night Dinner! One last Vietnamese on Kingsland Road! I'll miss G & S dearly - this is very much the end of an era.
Thursday 12 July 2007
Monday 9 July 2007
Lunch at Zetter
I had a business lunch at The Zetter today, and while I've been there for cocktails before, I hadn't eaten there so I was rather looking forward to it.
To start I had "Grilled Green Asparagus With Poached Egg, Teruel D O Serrano Ham & Truffle Dressing" followed by the "Pan Fried Sea Bream With Braised Salisify, Rocket Pesto & Clam Ragout".
The starter had a generous amount of the Serrano ham on the plate, although strangely light on the asparagus. And the asparagus tips were peeled, which I thought to be a little strange considering they were quite young and tender. An all round good dish.
My main course was also lovely. The sea bass was pan-fried perfectly, with the skin being lovely and crunchy and the clams delicious. The 'braised salisify' - which I do admit to not having eaten before today - was more of a novelty vegetable than an automatic first choice. I do think there were a few other vegetables that could easily have worked as well - including something like pak choi if there was a need to bring a bit of fusion into the dish. We ordered a few sides - roasted new potatoes (far too salty but crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside), rocket and Parmesan salad (undressed and as you would expect) and then wilted spinach, which I think had some sort of light soy dressing.
Lunch was finished off with a decent double espresso (no sugar).
To start I had "Grilled Green Asparagus With Poached Egg, Teruel D O Serrano Ham & Truffle Dressing" followed by the "Pan Fried Sea Bream With Braised Salisify, Rocket Pesto & Clam Ragout".
The starter had a generous amount of the Serrano ham on the plate, although strangely light on the asparagus. And the asparagus tips were peeled, which I thought to be a little strange considering they were quite young and tender. An all round good dish.
My main course was also lovely. The sea bass was pan-fried perfectly, with the skin being lovely and crunchy and the clams delicious. The 'braised salisify' - which I do admit to not having eaten before today - was more of a novelty vegetable than an automatic first choice. I do think there were a few other vegetables that could easily have worked as well - including something like pak choi if there was a need to bring a bit of fusion into the dish. We ordered a few sides - roasted new potatoes (far too salty but crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside), rocket and Parmesan salad (undressed and as you would expect) and then wilted spinach, which I think had some sort of light soy dressing.
Lunch was finished off with a decent double espresso (no sugar).
Sunday 8 July 2007
Smoked Eel Salad
Planning Monday night's dinner party has had me thinking about the more unusual salads I've made recently, and one that stands out is the smoked eel salad with roasted butternut, wild rocket, horseradish and pomegranate seeds. There's a wonderful fishmonger in Clapham South, and while I was very disappointed that he'd sold out of clams for the spaghetti vongole that I was planning on making that evening, he did suggest the smoked eel for my starter. The butternut was an interesting twist, and more included because a) not being widely eaten in the UK, I have an obsession with roast butternut and b) I had my heart set on including it in the meal somehow. Not that it didn't work well, I just think the combination of the peppery rocket with the rich, oily eel with the horseradish and crunchy pomegranate seeds can stand on their own.
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