Leon

Working on The Strand I often rely upon Leon at lunchtimes. Their rise has been swift with new branches speedily popping up across the city (and closing in the case of the shortlived Villiers St location which was a fairly silly idea considering it’s close proximity to The Strand.)

Anyhow, The Times branded Leon ‘The future of fast food’ and I was certainly hooked from my very first visit. Many of the sites open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, quite a remarkable feat for cook Allegra McEvedy, serving up fresh, seasonal and healthy produce all day long.

Her cookbook contains most of the recipes for the dishes


And, having flicked through the book, it’s very much on my wish list for this year with superb illustrations and easy to follow instructions. As mentioned before on my blog, I am a huge fan of the Original Superfood Salad, a stalwart of my diet, I have returned to having this roughly every other day in a bid to beat the bloat acquired in New York. (More Boo in New York posts to come btw when I get the photos sorted). I find the combo of quinoa, feta and peas so fresh and dreamy that I genuinely find myself craving this dish if I have gone without for a while. At £3.80 to takeaway, it won’t break the bank either. The Evening Standard declared it 'the ultimate credit crunch restaurant,' though I'm not sure they meant it kindly.

Soups too at Leon are always winners, my particular favourite being chicken barley broth, and they come with a wholemeal flatbread. In all, with a frequently changing menu Leon never fails to disappoint me whether I’m giving into that feta craving or boldly trying something new.

Leon
Various locations
London
8.5/10

Busaba Eathai

As an early Christmas present Thomas purchased tickets for us to see Josh Hartnett in Rain Man at the Apollo Theatre. The play was very enjoyable, Josh seemed somewhat distracted, perhaps by thoughts of Alison Mosshart who the next day was rumoured to be his latest conquest, and, to my surprise, the star of the show turned out to be Adam Godley who played Raymond.

Anyway, I digress. Following the show we fancied a bite to eat and head to Busaba Eathai on Wardour St. We regularly eat at the Store Street Busaba in Bloomsbury but have in the past been put off of this one due to the often lengthy queue.

Feeling particularly hungry I opted for the Thai Calamari followed by the Tom Kha Chicken Soup. I was mightily impressed upon first trying the calamari however, the portion is quite large and by the end of the dish I found it got a bit sickly. One to be shared perhaps, or, at least, eaten as an accompaniment (as it is intended in their defence) rather than as a first course. The soup was tasty and the lemongrass chicken very succulent but it was served with egg noodles rather than glass as advertised because they had run out. This made the dish heavier than anticipated and I was unable to finish which annoys me. I found the overpowering flavour of galangal didn’t enhance the taste of the broth at all and could have been omitted, I find it quite unpleasant. It looks rather like ginger in its unprepared state but, unlike ginger, it is quite offensively aromatic and, in my opinion, quite unappetizing.


Thomas had chicken wings then ginger beef with sticky rice. The chicken wings were undercooked so reluctantly were sent back which was not at all well received by the waiter. I don’t have picture but it wasn’t particularly pretty!

In summary this busier of the Busaba outposts is not one that I will hasten to return to but I would say you should not be put off as they usually serve a far higher standard of food in a buzzy and lively environment. I particularly recommend the Green Chicken Curry and the Char-Grilled Duck.

Busaba Eathai
106-110 Wardour St, London
5/10

Boo in New York – The Burger Joint

On day 2 we ventured downtown and got the ferry to Staten Island (view from the ferry pictured above!) Realising upon reaching our destination that we were hungry and not feeling the rapidly decreasing temperatures we head back to Manhattan on the next ferry. From Battery Park we then cabbed to Le Parker Meridien in search of The Burger Joint, a secret 'authentic' US burger place hidden in the lobby of the hotel behind giant red velvet curtains.

Upon entering the lobby we instantly saw the queue and joined the line, a recurring theme of the trip being waiting patiently for a table. It took around 30 minutes and was 100% worth the wait for what was one of the the best burgers I’ve ever had with the tastiest char.

The venue, as the name perhaps suggests, is not for the indecisive diner with speed being of the essence. We ordered 2 x cheeseburgers (the other option being no cheese), cooked medium, with the works (you can have either with or without – no messin’) which consisted of gherkins, tomato, lettuce, onion, ketchup and mustard, 2 x fries and a pitcher of Sam Adams beer (on tap!)

It was incredible. I enjoyed everything about this experience and only regret that in the rush there was no time for photos. This picture from their website is a fairly accurate visual representation though I strongly urge any visitors to try for themselves, no words or pictures could do it justice.


Expect some jostling for a table (an argument almost ensued between the English couple in front of us and the group of Spanish people behind us) and, as mentioned, a possible lengthy wait. As we left there were many children in the queue though I wouldn’t say the place is particularly family friendly.

The music is pretty loud but typifies the backdrop and the décor (etchings scrawled on the walls and tables as well as photos and posters) provides plenty to look at once you finally get a foot in the door! I would highly recommend this place and for me it was one of the highlights of the trip.

The Burger Joint
Le Parker Meridien
119 W. 56th St, NY
8.5/10

Boo in New York - Katz's Deli

I’m back from New York having gained about 10lbs and my initial opinion was that undoubtedly the standard of food there is higher than in London. However, upon reflection I believe it might be that, as my chosen holiday destination, I was willing to spend more money on eating out in New York than I do when I’m at home.

The discovery of the NYC Zagat Restaurant Guide was a definite highlight of the trip and it proved to be a very reliable source when selecting dinner destinations. Zagat is a well-respected publication in New York with many establishments proudly displaying their ‘Zagat Rated’ stickers for all to see in their windows.

It uses a numerical system to rate eateries in food, décor and service categories (up to a maximum of 30) as well as giving an average price. Contributing votes are cast on the website by diners themselves making these reviews more reliable than most.

Zagat awards Katz’s Delicatessen (where we went for lunch on day 1 of the trip) with a very respectable 23 for food. The deli’s claim to fame is that it was the setting for the famous scene in ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ that and it’s Pastrami on rye sandwiches. We both had one of these.

They come served with mustard, gherkins and cucumber and we had root beer to accompany it.



Katz’s is a bit of an ordeal come lunchtime, we arrived at about 1:30 on a Sunday and the line was to the door. It’s a bit every man for himself and strength of character is required both to obtain a seat and to order at the counter.



The sandwich was well worth the struggle. Deliciously salty and tender the meat, plenty of it, falls apart and is just the right amount. I expected to feel pretty bloated afterwards but it’s actually remarkably light. I think the bread could perhaps be improved upon and a little more mustard might not have gone amiss. The gherkins were pretty standard but the combination is a classic.



I’m glad to have tried root beer but it tasted a bit soapy for my liking. In all the Katz’s experience is not for the faint hearted but if you’re up to it you certainly won’t be disappointed.

Katz’s Deli
205 East Houston St, NY
8/10

It's Christmas!!

After a really busy couple of weeks at work it's finally Christmas!! Each year it somehow manages to sneak up on me and I find myself with startlingly few presents purchased and wrapped with only a few days to go. I'm all done at last, on Christmas Eve, and yet again I am vowing to never leave it so late in future (one year I was very organised, it felt much the same only the shopping was less stressful).

The following things make me realise that's it's Christmas:

Eating lots of nuts and chocolate


Seeing The Snowman on TV


Finding myself reading all my cookery books repeatedly planning the Christmas lunch


And having some Christmas ham at my Auntie Shirley's

I'd ticked all these boxes by the 23rd of December this year. I'm off to New York (via Frankfurt) to celebrate New Year and Thomas' birthday. I'm most excited about the prospect of indulging in burgers, cocktails and pastrami on rye NYC style! Waldorf Astoria here we come! Merry Christmas.

The Black Orchid, Muswell Hill

Last Friday night Thomas and I returned to The John Baird in Muswell Hill, a pub which has a thai restaurant attached to it.

For starters we chose Tempura prawns with sweet chilli dip and pork dumplings which were amazing! Both dishes were well executed and flavoursome, the only downer being that we ate them too quickly, next time three between the two of us perhaps?

I had the jungle curry with chicken for main course, something that I was inspired to try out by a former housemate who loved extremely spicy food. I have dramatically increased my tolerance for hot food over the last year or so and now I adore it. I was not disappointed by the Black Orchid’s version of this curry but I do think that having become accustom to Indian curries I found the sauce to be a little on the thin side. Though it certainly warmed me up on one of the coldest nights of the winter so far!

Thomas had the cashew nut curry with which he was particularly impressed and likewise with the chicken wings he had whilst waiting for me to arrive. With 2 sides of rice the total bill was £35. Incredibly good value and well worth the visit further North.

I must say though in Thai restaurants I hate that the waiting staff swoop as soon as you place your knife and fork down, even if your companions are still eating. This never equals good manners in my book but the waitresses here were very efficient and it's all part of the deal. The down side to the evening was that we had to sit in the bar as the restaurant was full and spent the entirety of the meal listening to a group of drunken teachers moaning about their pupils. One of whom, a languages teacher, was particularly loud and evidently angry at one point yelling “what’s French for I don’t fucking care?” Charming. We tried to numb the pain with tequila, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

8.5/10

Haché, Camden

Having read complimentary things about Haché I persuaded my boyfriend and Rob to eat there (despite not actually knowing the precise location “somewhere near the Subway in Camden,” it’s certainly very handy to have 2 companions with Iphones in just such situations!

Along we trotted to Inverness Street (of course, it’s not near the Subway at all! Oops) and I must say I had bigged it up somewhat, something which I felt I could do with confidence due to the gushing reviews posted by Dos Hermanos, the well respected food blogger. They claim that Haché provide ‘easily the best’ burgers in London. (They did plump for the 14oz steak burger though, this is no longer even offered, instead it's a 12oz).

The name haché is a reference to the chopping method used to form these hand made patties as apposed to the usual mincing. I opted for the Steak au Naturel, Thomas had the Steak Catalan with chorizo and chilli and Rob took the Steak Blue Cheese. We threw in some fries and grilled halloumi for good measure and all concluded that actually, whilst the meat is good quality and cooked superbly to your liking, it is not better than GBK. I do have a slight problem with GBK, 3 infact, 1) I was once very ill after a visit there when I indulged in the Chicken, Avocado, Bacon burger (though I think this a conplete coincidence and in no way down to the food), 2) I find them very difficult to manage, preferring to eat my burgers with my hands rather than knife and fork. They are enormous and I often find myself going for a junior burger because of this which disappoints me because I am not a junior, but even they are very good, and 3) You have to go to the counter and order for yourself, I am generally a very lazy person.

At Haché you are directed to a table and the waiting staff bring you your food and drink, that’s what we like! How novel. And their burgers are indeed very good. The 3 of us agreed that their downfall is the bun. The ciabatta bread is a little dry and overly floury. The bill was reasonable considering that I had wine and there is a service charge included.

I believe that my quest for the ultimate burger will end in New York come New Year but in London I have to say that GBK reigns supreme. I did have a very good cheese burger at Bistrotheque so I would rate them second with Haché coming in a close third.

6.5/10