Boo in New York - Momofuku Ssäm Bar

The only must visit place for me during my recent New York trip was a Momofuku restaurant.  I didn't even mind which one.  David Chang's restaurants have always been on my wishlist, I'm a regular reader of his Lucky Peach magazine and as luck would have it, I was staying at my friend Suz's place in the East Village, a stone's throw from the Ssäm Bar.  We ended up lucking out and not even requiring a reservation for a group of 6, walking in at around 10pm on Halloween looking to fuel up before heading to Brooklyn for the night.

 

Starting with drinks, I tried the juniper#3, gin apricot, campari and lemon.  Served unexpectedly in a tumbler, it was short and really tart, great start.  Ellen's choice of a celery sour won, so great.  The scotch based Penicillin also went down well.  Cocktails here are excellent.  

We each opted for some buns ($10 for 2), Nibs and I shared the steamed variety with pork belly, hoisin and cucumber.  Really, really amazing.  I just love these things.  The pork was so succulent and tender, I resisted the urge to order more.  The girls also enjoyed the buffalo pork buns with blue cheese and hot sauce, and some of the veggie ones filled with mushrooms.

Molly's choice of country hams ($12) was brilliant, smoked ham with bread and red eye gravy from the small dishes section of the menu.  Other dishes falling into either raw, fall, fish or meat sections.  Non meaty options at the table included the scallop ceviche ($15) with lotus root, the kimchi mason jar ($5) and a fresh chilled market bean salad ($10) with XO and radish that had an almighty kick to it.  All excellent dishes.

For main I couldn't resist the beef offal stew with turnip and kale ($23).  The broth was fragrant and rich, the meat included tendon, oxtail and tripe.  Also pictured below is the fried moo kimchi with yuzu mayo ($8).  Everything we ate was incredible, there wasn't a single miss.  We shared some kind of pie for dessert which I have to admit wasn't particularly memorable, but it's me, not them.  Desserts = meh when you're in New York for Halloween and you have parties to go to.

 
I think this place is amazing.  As well as incredible food and cocktail menus, they also offer BYOB, group bookings with set menus, weekend brunch and drinks only at their bar, Booker and Dax.  If I lived in New York (one day yeah?) I'd be here all the time.  Loved it.  Just don't expect the politest service ever, they have a constant stream of diners and need to turn tables quickly so have little patience for indecisiveness or lingering guests. 

'Emojis, assemble'.  Best Halloween ever.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 2nd Avenue
East Village
New York
10003
9/10

June Round Up

Here are my eating highlights from both London and Montreal over the last 5 weeks (confess some late May eats have crept in here as I was too busy getting the Kid wed to blog). 

LONDON

Nopi

Em and I head to Nopi for brunch after a ridiculously early morning screening of Maleficent at Leicester Sq Odeon.  I had the Shakshuka with spicy tomato sauce and smoked Labneh.  

 

There was a lot of red pepper to contend with, I confess I’m not the hugest fan of red peppers, sometimes they disagree with me, but everything was perfectly cooked, most importantly the eggs.  Runny yolks, yes.  I hate when they’re overcooked, I’m looking at you Caravan on Exmouth.  Great bread and a decent flat white too.   Not the cheapest brunch and front of house seemed outraged we’d not booked a table.  Weird WEIRD mirrored toilets, really quite disturbing.

Nopi

21-22 Warwick St

Soho

W1B

6.5/10

Antidote Wine Bar

Fast forward on the same day and Art and I drank a shitload of wine and needed to soak it up with some cheese and meat.  I just didn’t have time to fit in a full meal here, which is a shame as I would have loved to, particularly based on the quality of these boards.  

Wines are all organic, you can buy bottles to take away and the bread is the talk of the town, really very good.  Menu is overseen by Mikael Jonsson of Hedone fame, so no wonder it’s good.  We probably spent around £40 each, but were there for most of the afternoon and had a couple of bottles of wine.

Antidote

12A Newburgh St

Soho

W1F

8/10

One Leicester Street – Leo’s Pop Up

Fast even further forward, still the same day (oof) and we had dinner at One Leicester St.  It was the last night of a 3 month long pop up which saw Leandro Carreira (ex- Viajante chef) take over the kitchen Thur-Sat.  

It was a communal affair with guests sharing a 7 course tasting menu for £88, wine pairings included.   Highlight was the iberico presa with baked beets and the langoustine with honey carrots.  Really fun night, obviously not something you can enjoy yourselves (unless you went) but keep an eye out for Leo’s next venture.

One Leicester St

Erm, 1 Leicester St

WC2H

7/10

Berner’s Tavern

Bel and I head back to our old fave the Berner’s Tavern for my last night in London.  We lashed right out and got the chateaubriand for 2 with foie gras, roasted baby artichokes and truffled mac and cheese.  

There is so much good stuff going on with this dish, it’s just incredible.  So much truffle.  It’s really rather good value at £80 for two.  We drank Prosecco, obvs and stopped off in the Punch Room.  Love and miss this place sooooooo much.  Well done Jason.

Berner's Tavern

10 Berners Street

Fitzrovia

W1T

9/10

Koya Bar

Another old fave I had to make time for was Koya Bar, Nibs and I popped in for lunch and both opted for the special udon which was poached chicken in soy milk broth with sesame.  It was really simple and clean, as all their dishes could feasibly be described.  We shared the mackerel sashimi also from the specials board, I always always order their specials, they’re so interesting.  Miss you Koya.

 

Koya Bar

50 Frith St

Soho

W1D

9/10

Bull & Last

Also popped in for a Bull & Last bloody mary and Sunday roast combo with Bel which saved me after the Kid’s hen do!  They really know what they’re doing with a bit of beef.  Lemony pud was really good too.  We lurked about for the pub quiz then hit Aces & Eights, classic NW5 Sunday.

Bull & Last

118 Highgate Road

Kentish Town

NW5!!

8/10

MONTREAL

Café Melbourne

On my first Saturday back I met Sarah for lunch at Café Melbourne.  I remember walking by this place in February when I visited, it was approx. -15 and I was slipping all over the place in the snow, determined to have a wander about and get a bagel from Fairmount.  What a difference a few months makes, it was a boiling hot day, we sat in the window and ordered coffee and ‘jaffles’.  

Jaffle meaning Aussie toastie, think Breville.  I got the mac daddy, of course, filled with actual mac cheese and served with a nice bit of pickle and some ready salted crisps.  The big concern with toasties is usually that they’re so hot they burn, but I found the opposite was true of this one, the second half was barely warm when I got to it, perhaps I was chatting too much.  Good coffee though and they had a Donna Hay magazine in there and good world cup banter. 

Café Melbourne

Saint-Laurent

Plateau

H2T

6/10

 

Bishop & Bagg

Speaking of the world cup, I watched an England match at Bishop & Bagg an English inspired ‘pub’.  In inverted commas because it’s absolutely not a pub, but they’re trying!  They have an English menu too, curries, a ploughman’s, kebabs.  

 

I had the lamb kebabs which look an absolute mess here but were really very good.  Reports of the ploughman’s were along the lines of don’t do it to yourself.  I sound negative but I actually really like the place, and I live near it now, woo!  Apols for the shocking photo, finger included so you could see the wrap, pitta type thing.

Bishop & Bagg

52 Rue St Viateur Ouest

Mile End

H2T

7/10

 

Le Gros Jambon

Another greaso lunch with Sarah, this time close to work, Le Gros Jambon appears on this list of the best Mac & Cheese to be found in Montreal, so I had the chicken tacos.  Need to go back for the mac cheese, newsflash - it’s almost too hot to eat macaroni cheese.   It’s upsetting, and I need to stop moaning about/talking about/checking the weather.  

The chicken tacos with a side salad were my attempt to make a healthier choice at this diner.  Really liked them actually.  Nice guacamole, sour cream and salsa accompaniments, and it was served individually on a tray for your own construction.   I rather like that.  

 

Cute, kitschy décor and cheap, about $12.

Le Gros Jambon

286 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest

Old Montreal

H2Y

6.5/10

Nora Gray

One Saturday evening a group of us went to Nora Gray, a restaurant opened by an ex-Joe Beef chef and front of house duo.  It comes highly recommended by food people so I was super excited and it proved to be the best meal I’d eaten so far in Montreal (until my birthday meal at Liverpool House, but more on that soon).

My starter was cavatelli with tomato, anchovy and fennel.  The pasta was perfect, all home made and great value at $12 for a bowl.  Love Italian meals where it’s the done thing to eat pasta as a starter, they are genius.

Again, shocking picture but it's very dark in there, all candle light and orange.  I couldn’t resist the special main, pork belly with turnips and polenta.  It was sooooooo good, around the $30 mark.  We drank a load of red wine and left very very happy.  It’s a slightly odd area of the city, Griffintown, up and coming allegedly, but it feels like it’s out in the sticks with very little else around it.  Worth the trek though for sure, I’ll be back, they're awesome. 

Nora Gray

1391 Rue St Jaques

Griffintown

H3C

9/10

The Lockhart

Everyone's been talking about this place. We booked at short notice for dinner last week and had a really great night.

The Lockhart's been open since the middle of last year and some clever person has seemingly been on a recent PR drive to advertise their Southern States inspired menu.  That or things must have improved significantly in the kitchen because it's been hard to escape them for the last month or so.  It's a concise but regularly adapted menu, I was sad that the fried chicken wasn't on on this particular day but there were plenty of other delectable offerings.

Dish of the night was a side order of cornbread.  It smelled like cake.  So much butter, so very very good.  Dense and sweet and made to order, we ate all of this and I felt so full up but could not face leaving any of it.  Such a bargain at £4 too.

We shared the catfish goujons (£3, above) and the chicken oysters (£5, below) for snacks to begin with.  I preferred the former, amazing creole remoulade accompanied.  The breadcrumb coating was excellent.

One major niggle, I hate if menus are small with say 4 choices for main and then 1 or more of the dishes sell out early on a regular basis. Art wanted the pork on this occasion but they had sold out.  Same happened at Foxlow, they had sold out of both dishes I had wanted to order and I have to say, I wouldn't go back because of this.

Two things about the meal have stuck with me. The mallard gumbo starter (£8) was incredible and the cornbread was out of this world good.  Chef Brad McDonald's menu is innovative and exciting and my main of shrimp and grits (£17) was also fantastic but I was so full up, I only managed half of it.  I was so annoyed at myself.

Go. Go with a large group of friends so you can order everything. Check that they have the fried chicken on before you book. I'm still seething every time I see other people have been lucky enough to try it. By all accounts they do a very decent brunch too.

The Lockhart
24 Seymour Place
W1H
8/10 

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November Round Up

How is it December already?  Absolute madness.  November was a good eating month, my wallet and my waistband are really bearing the brunt of me trying to make the most of my few remaining months in London.

F.A.T Residency @ Sharps X Dunne Frankowski
That's a mouthful.  I'd read Lizzie's post about this place and immediately planned a trip.  Bel and I met for lunch, there was a dog roaming around, the smell of toasted cheese wafting about the place, we knew we'd love it.  We Both opted for the stilton and kimchi but everything on the menu appealed and is under a fiver, there's also a daily special, a hotdog and a french dip beef roll.  Loved it.  Will be back, it's so fun and the coffee's pretty great too.

Coal Vaults
This place has only just started opening for lunch, we were outnumber 3:1 by the staff and were the only diners in there for the hour, I didn't expect much but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the beef stew.  It's pretty good quality for £7.50 though a tad small, the accompanying garlic mash was excellent.  The lunch menu is very compact, a soup, a terrine, 2 sandwiches and this and slightly overboard on the garnish here guys, but I hope they do well, the service was really nice.

Drakes Tabanco
I went through a phase a while back of eating at Copita a lot, the people behind it have recently opened Drakes Tabanco, a sherry bar with large barrels of the stuff behind the front bar, on Windmill Street, just a few doors down from Dunne Frankowski @ Sharp's as it happens.  The food was great, there seemed to be a mix up with our booking so we ended up staying at the bar rather than eating in the small room at the back.  We shared the chacuterie board to start for £17.50, it was packed with meat and we had 2 lots of bread.  Highlight was the goose rillettes.  Best plate of the night goes to the pig cheeks with hazelnuts and mash (£15).  Such a lovely combo.  We also had the beef short rib with parsnip mash (£14).  We sampled a variety of sherries throughout the evening.  Nice little place.

Foxlow
I was a little disappointed with Foxlow to be honest.  Granted our booking was late, 9:30 (leaving plenty of time for a pre dinner stop off at Zetter) but the menu is pretty short and they had sold out of the thing I wanted to order, the Iberico pluma and also my 2nd choice bacon rib.  I was pretty annoyed.  I ended up going for the 200g deckle steak (£22), a cut I'd not heard of before, it's a part of the ribeye apparently.  It was very nice, but it wasn't what I wanted. 

I haven't mauled it pre photo, it came cut like this.  The peppercorn sauce was nice.  If you're going, have the 10 hour beef shortrib with kimchi (£16), it's incredible, Art ordered this and I have a stupid thing about not ordering the same main course as your fellow diners, I should have made an exception for this, it's really bloody amazing.   Special mention to my starter of crispy five pepper squid with lime (£7), it was excellent. 

Mash
Hannah, Sarah and I took advantage of the 50% off steak first birthday offer from Mash (Modern American Steakhouse) early in the month.  I had the American ribeye with peppercorn sauce and we had an impressive array of sides, fries, mac & cheese, creamed spinach and mushrooms.

We had 2 lots of a good nice baguette and a bottle of red, recommended to us by the waiter.  The room is absolutely enormous and it was heaving due to the offer being on for the week.  I prefer steak at Goodman and Hawksmoor but who can resist the lure of 50% off your meat?  We abandoned an idea to head to nearby Gelupo for pud as we couldn't find room.  Keep meaning to go there, perhaps for a hot chocolate....

Street Feast
Rounded the month off nicely with a trip to Street Feast at Hawker House.  I'd foolishly eaten a late lunch at MEATmarket so wasn't up to much, a few Street Feast Fizz's and some brilliant pasta from The Cooking Cooks and I was a goner.  Their fettuccine with white Bolognese was incredible as was the beetroot conchiglie in cheese sauce.  Mmmmm.  So so good.

Not the greatest picture I've ever taken, but there were mounds of Parmesan and excellent hand made pasta.  Loved it.  They're at Netil Market most Saturdays, check them out. 


F.A.T Residency @ Sharps X Dunne Frankowski
Sharps
9 Windmill St
Fitzrovia
W1T
9/10

Coal Vaults
187b Wardour St
Soho
6/10



Drakes Tabanco
3 Windmill St
Fitzrovia
W1T
7/10



Foxlow
69 St Johns St
Clerkenwell
EC1M
6.5/10



MASH
77 Brewer St
Soho
W1F
6/10

Kaspar's @ The Savoy

Back in June when the Kid and I attended the Taste of London preview evening, we tried the salmon hotdog from Kasper's.  Declaring it one of the best things she's eaten Kid booked us in for a celebratory lunch at Kaspar's after finishing her final exam earlier this month, woo!  Well done Kid!

We were hideously late, party due to TFL and partly due to the weather but they were ever so polite about it.  Charlie and Nibs arrived on time and tucked into the fantastic bread whilst they waited for us.  They served more as soon as Kid and I sat down.

As we were celebrating we ordered a bottle of fizz to get started.  Kasper's being a seafood bar and grill, we all did the sensible thing and ordered fish.  Sad to see the salmon dawg was no longer on the menu, Kid opted for the lobster club.  Having declared en route that she detests avocado, she was a tad disappointed when it arrived.

This was so good that it actually changed Kid's opinion where avocado is concerned.  Usually a texture issue, it was not a problem with this sarnie, it was all about the lobster followed by the bacon.  The obligatory side of fries was also well received.  £28 isn't cheap but there was plenty of lobster and the setting is special.

Nibs and Charlie had the royale fruit de mare platter for £45.  Consisting of half a lobster, oysters, crab, prawns and scallops.  The seafood was exceptional, I was gifted an oyster.  Fries don't come with this so on the side they were an extra £4.

I opted for the fish pie, £19.  Plenty of fish in there, mussels, salmon, prawns and plenty of boiled egg, which always makes me very happy.

Topped with a lot of Parmesan mash, I couldn't actually finish it, and that very rarely happens.  A side of garlicky chilli broccoli went down very well, also £4.  We were too full for dessert so we decamped to the pub for the rest of the day after our lunch of indulgence at The Savoy and Five Guys later in the evening!  It's obviously not going to be cheap but it really is a lovely setting and the service was exceptional, I'd say it's well worth splashing out.

Kaspar's @ The Savoy
The Strand
 WC2R
7.5/10