Roka, Canary Wharf, London.

(From left to right) Sweet potato with soy, chicken and spring onion skewers,  rice hot pot,  brocolli with miso.

I had a lovely meal at Roka with friends from work. If you find yourself in the Wharf, and are looking for some tasty Japanese food that goes beyond just sushi, I would recommend it as the food is delish.

However, one slight word of warning - Roka is one of those restaurants with a 'concept.' A 'concept' that they feel obliged to explain to you before you order. If you're like me, you are likely to get slightly annoyed by this. The 'concept', as it was, turned out to be nothing more than 'everyone shares what they order.' Which is fine, y'know, because I like trying as many things as possible and so normally end up sharing with friends. However, it vexes me slightly when I am told, in an *ever-so-slightly-condescending* manner how I am to eat the food that I have paid for. Anyway, as I said, this is a minor beef really, as the food is so good. Rant over.

We ate:

tori no kameshi  - rice hot pot with soy chicken and shitake mushrooms

 koika no kara age - fried baby squid with shichimi and lime

kihada maguro no tataki - tuna tataki with apple mustard dressing

yakitori negima  - chicken and spring onion skewers

We also had a couple of side dishes – sweet potato with soy and broccoli with miso.

My favourite bit was definitely the tuna tataki, which was truly spectacular.  It was almost worth the guilt. I KNOW it’s endangered, we really shouldn’t be eating it, I GET IT, I do. It’s just…well, it really is very tasty isn’t it? The Bear was suitable peeved at me when he heard that I’d ordered tuna (he studies marine ecosystems and stuff, so knows about this shiz). I promise to be better from now on guys, honest. Mackerel all the way!

Hawksmoor Spitalfields, East London.

Ribeye steak, trotter baked beans and jersey royals.

                       

Gather round children, and I will tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a cow. A very tasty cow, with beautiful creamy marbled fat running through all its dark, succulent muscles.

Every night the cow dreamed his beefy dreams. “When I grow up, I want to be a steak. Well, not just one steak I suppose, but many steaks: ribeyes, and rumps, and sirloins and fillets...huge porterhouses, prime ribs and chateaubriands...oh how I wish to be a myriad of steaks!

When I grow up, I would like to be eaten in a place where cocktails and red wine flowed freely. Where potatoes were embraced whatever their size: the small, new potatoes being drowned in butter and herbs, and the large being sliced into chips to be sizzled in dripping, or else thrice-fried. Where beans come baked with a pigs trotter to become pools of porky unctuousness. Oh how I wish!

When I grow up, I would like the people who eat me to be amazed at my delicious beefiness. Where all steaks taste so umami that if they were an umami equation, they would be 'marmite x worcestershire sauce x parmesan x anchovies x soy sauce = the steaks'.

I wish for my flesh to be sauced with a gravy of my own bone marrow. And perhaps, just perhaps, to be followed by an ice cream sundae containing breakfast cereal. I don’t even know why on earth I wish that last bit, but Oh! How I wish!”

And you know what kids? Well that little cow, well...his wish came true.

Welcome to Hawksmoor.

Fillet steak, lettuce and herb salad and bone marrow gravy.

Last week I visited Hawksmoor’s Spitalfields branch with my friend Julia from work. This was the first time I had been to the Spitalfields branch, but I had been to the Seven Dials branch once before with the Bear, on our 3 year anniversary. It was the best anniversary ever. They let us share a burger instead of starters, we drank numerous cocktails and lots of very good pinot noir, we had a porterhouse steak BIGGER THAN MY HEAD, chips which had been cooked in beef dripping (causing outbursts which went a little something like “Oh. My. God. WHYAREN’TALLCHIPSLIKETHISNOMNOMNOMSOGOOOOODNOMNOMNEEDMOOORRREE....”) and our waiter even gave us a couple of glasses of champagne on the house when he heard it was our anniversary. In short, it was perfect.

On this visit, things were a tad more restrained, but still resulted in us both clutching at our bellies moaning “so full...so full of steak...need to sleep.” Having had the forsight to remember how full I was on my last visit, I eschewed carbs to make more room for beef in my belly (The aforementioned beef dripping chips are only offered at the Seven Dials branch so I was not missing out. If these had been on the menu I no doubt would have ordered them). This plan worked well and I finished my 400g ribeye. Julia, who had ordered some buttery new potatoes, had to leave some of her fillet, despite it being a mere 300g.



My dinner - note the lack of potatoes.


The menu is pretty much the same in both branches, except:

1)       No beef dripping chips in Spitalfields (boo!)

2)      BUT the bonus of trotter baked beans in Spitalfields (yay!)

Quite frankly I think the two just about cancel each other out.



You pay us now, yes?

Go. For the love of all that is good and beefalicious, go now.

Hawksmoor,
157 Commercial Street,
City of London,
E1 6BJ

Galvin La Chappelle, Central London

Well, I played a blinder last night. Five course meal, matched wine with each course, plus a couple of glasses of champagne to start...and no hangover. None. Zero. Zilch. I feel positively fresh. It is a minor miracle.

Last night I had a work dinner at La Chappelle, which is about a 5 minute walk from Liverpool Street Tube Station. I must admit I hadn’t heard of the restaurant before, but have to say I was pretty impressed.

Here’s what we ate:

Menu

Broad bean soup with smoked duck

2009 Saumur Blanc, “Les Bessières”, Les Vignerons de Saumur

***

Grilled fillets of mackerel, Spring vegetable Barigoule

2008 Peyroli, Mas la Chevaliere, Domaine Laroche

***

Roast breast of corn-fed Goosnargh duck,caramelised endive tatin, apple & frisee salad

2009 Brouilly, Château de Pierreux 

***

Selection of French farmhouse Cheeses

***

Apple Tart Tatin, Crème fraîche

NV    Ambré Rivesaltes, “Solera”, Domaine des Demoiselles 75cl    

Very nice it was too. My favourite course had to be the duck, which was served deliciously pink, and went perfectly with the apple and frisee salad. The only bit I was a tad unsure of was the dessert wine, which tasted like a super-sweet brandy (bizarre). That being said, I’ve never been too keen on dessert wines – give me something crisp and dry any day – so maybe this is just a reflection of my uneducated palate more than anything!

Galvin La Chappelle

35 Spital Square,

London,

E1 6DY