London: The Providores and Tapa Room

Two updates in two days? Am I mad? Er, well maybe but not for that reason :)

The current countdown is 13 days to go and I'm still excited! I've been doing a bit of NY foodie reading. For example, I just looked at Village Voice's 10 Best Sandwiches in New York...and to be honest, I'm not even a huge fan of sandwiches. But I've recently grown fond of them thanks to student living in London, therefore looking at all of the different sandwiches – Katz's anyone? – are making me drool and even more excited! (To all my friends living in NY, you know it's in your best interest to show me around the area for the best (affordable) eats!) Also, my partner doesn't know it yet (well he will once he reads this..) but we will be making a mandatory stop at Magnolia Bakery once I arrive. Yep.

Following from Caravan, I'm going to talk about the Providores and Tapa Room, which is in a very nice location of Marylebone. Both owners are kiwis, one of which is none other than Peter Gordon (who also set up Dine by Peter Gordon and Bellota in Auckland). He's also involved with a bunch of other places around the world as well. He's one of the biggest culinary names in NZ, so I had been itching to go with someone from the very beginning.

The Providores and Tapa Room
109 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4RX (Closest tube station: Baker St)

It actually took me 10 months to get my butt over to The Providores and Tapa Room. It happened to be my friend's 24th birthday, so I decided to take her out for a special birthday brunch – which ended up being the start of very long, fun, and productive birthday for her! I was  rather lazy in terms of booking a table for The Providores, so we went to the Tapa Room (since they do not accept reservations). I wasn't sure what to expect on a 11.30am on a Sunday, but I guess I was rather naive in my thinking that it wouldn't be packed. It was. There was a queue. The restaurant consists of two floors: the ground floor is the Tapa Room (not named after Spanish Tapas, sorry) which has a diverse all-day menu and breakfast & brunch menu; and the first floor is The Providores, which happens to be a "more formal affair" (as quoted directly by the website, heh) than the Tapa Room. Gordon's known for his eclectic take on fusion cuisine, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

After a bit of waiting in line, we managed to get a table of sorts. Service was pretty quick, but not in a way where they were trying to rush you outta there. While the birthday girl ordered a cappuccino (£2.80), I decided to start my day with a simple banana smoothie (£4.70) – tasty but not as cold as I expected it to be.

For brunch, I was at a loss of choosing between the hot-smoked salmon with two poached organic eggs and spinach on walnut toast with yuzu hollandaise (£12); or the french toast stuffed with banana and pecans with grilled smoked streaky bacon and vanilla verjus syrup (£8.80). Birthday girl happened to make my decision a lot easier since she decided to go for the salmon and eggs. (If possible, I prefer to order something different than what my fellow eating partners order....unless I have no choice in the matter).

French toast + syrup + bacon = already a match made in heaven. Easy maths. But the Tapa Room's spin on the classic french toast made it even better. Rather than the banana being placed on the side, it was sandwiched within the eggy bread itself. Before I started eating it, I was thinking....where's the friggen banana? Whoops. Look and chew first, Jess. The pecans provided further crunch which was needed, and the verjus syrup was delicious, with the french toast appropriately not being overly drenched in syrup. The saltiness of the bacon was needed, however I would have loved the bacon to be crispier (I love my textures).

As for birthday girl's dish, she was not only intrigued by her eggs and salmon dish (a spin on eggs benedict really) but she really enjoyed it too. I did try a bit of the salmon and it was really good!

As mentioned previously, the service was excellent and well attentive. Dishes arrived pretty quickly, which was pretty good in light of the busy atmosphere on the ground floor. We had such a good experience, that we decided to come back again for dinner to try out the all-day menu.

And so we did. My indecisive meter (from 1 to 10) was at 11, and birthday girl (well it wasn't her birthday anymore) was feeling the same way too. So we asked our lovely waitress for some recommendations and how many dishes we should share. She first asked as to whether we had any allergies (birthday girl has an allergy to most seafood bar salmon), and then asked birthday girl whether she could eat food that was prepared or cooked alongside seafood. For example, the chorizo croquettes were fried in the same oil that was used to deep-fry a squid dish. Birthday girl said nope. After giving us her recommendations and then taking our order, birthday girl was pleasantly surprised by how careful and accommodating they were in terms of her allergies, because most places normally don't ask such questions.

The first dish we shared was the chargrilled lamb on Greek pita with chermoula, edamame salsa, tomato, rocket, and tahini yoghurt (£13, see above). The lamb was actually cooked differently (so not chargrilled) due to birthday's allergies, but regardless of that fact, it was tasty, fresh, and full of flavours. A bit hard to share considering the amount of rocket overflowing from the top, but a lovely dish nonetheless.

I did actually order the chorizo croquettes with goats cheese pesto (£6) for myself, because I really wanted to try it (and was being my hungry self). Even birthday girl wanted to try it!! Heh. (Long story). Not only did it sound delicious, it tasted delicious! I was really skeptical about the notion of goats cheese pesto, but it really worked. The creaminess of the goats cheese came through and complemented the croquettes well. 

The last dish we shared was one of the waitress' recommendations: sweet potato, cheddar, feta and sweetcorn tortilla with urfa chilli yoghurt, cherry tomatoes, salsa rossa, and coriander salad (£9.40). The cherry tomatoes are missing on the plate, because they're all on my plate!

Birthday girl was a huge fan of dish. It takes a lot for birthday girl to be impressed. The tortilla with all the bits and bobs had so much flavour, with the salad providing the needed freshness to round the whole dish up. One big problem though, much to our dismay...birthday girl found a stone once she took another bite. This was alarming. We alerted to another waiter about this stone, and then the waitress that had served us previously came over to us after a bit of time and told us that it came from the coriander that they grow themselves. They usually sift out and clean the coriander before it's used in the kitchen, and yet somehow this stone managed to stay put. While I completely believed them that such a thing had been a rare occurrence (she was very much embarrassed), at the same time, it's hard to forgive a no-no like that since birthday girl could have choked on it, you know? Birthday girl was so disappointed because she, like myself, really enjoyed the food that we ordered. The waitress took the dish off our bill with our bill barely amounting to anything; and after all of the faint dramatics, we left.

It's a hard one to assess when something like that ruins your experience. So I'll leave it at that. But actually in all honesty, despite this blunder, I did try to convince my partner to come with me to the Tapa Room again...but we didn't have the time.

Next blog: Yum Cha Silks & Spice! Come on board for the dim sum train. It sure is a treat!

London: Caravan Restaurant, Bar & Roastery

Lately, it seems like I always start my posts with..."NO! I haven't forgottten about my blog!!" I haven't. At all. If anything, if you asked my friends, they would tell you that I'm always taking photos of things that I've eaten and whatnot. Never fear, I will still be talking about my London food adventures.

The first eatery that I will be talking about is Caravan. It's kind of fitting that the first place I start talking about is connected to my home country. That, and the fact that I'm momentarily back in New Zealand. [In two weeks time, I will be trekking to the US for the first time and the excitement I have is unexplainable! It's always been a future destination of mine and funnily enough, the first thing I think about when I think of New York for example is not the Statue of Liberty or whatever, it's Momofuku!! Ha.]

Caravan Restaurant, Bar & Roastery (Exmouth Market)*
11-13 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QD (Closest tube station: Farringdon)

In terms of a good feed and a good drink, Exmouth Market is the place to go. I must admit that I only travelled to Exmouth Market twice, but I wish I had gone a bit more than I had. Caravan had been on my list of places to go for a few months, knowing that the head chef/owner was a kiwi (and previous head chef at the Providores, which I will be reviewing sometime soon too!). But it wasn't until my lovely flatmate recommended the place to me that finally made me move my butt! So my partner-in-crime and I decided to go for a nice lunch at Caravan on a Monday. The deal with Caravan in terms of its all-day menu is small plates. They have a few large plates on offer, but I'm a big fan of small plates as a matter of wanting to try more than one plate of food.

For drinks, I ordered the Caravan old-fashioned lemonade (£4.50). A sour buzz gets me going for the day! Loved it. My partner ordered the elderflower spritzer (£4.50) which actually tasted better than the drink I ordered. Now that I'm away from London, I realise that those prices are rather excessive for something as non-alcoholic as those drinks, but are actually rather standard prices for London. If you know me, you'll also know that I can be very indecisive when it comes to food (thus the small plates are a blessing in disguise). Seriously, sometimes if I know where I'm going to eat in advance, I'll check out the menu online and pick a dish to save time, but never end up choosing it once I get there because I seem to find something else on the menu (...that I may or may had not seen earlier). If I am feeling really indecisive, I'll ask my waiter/waitress for a recommendation. This is what I did in terms of the snack dish that we shared. The waitress, like me, was indecisive – weighing up between whether she liked the cornbread or the wontons better. For the record, she decided that she couldn't choose since both were pretty good.

For our snack, we ordered the blue cheese and peanut wontons (£4). I had done a bit of reading and heard about the crazy combination and how it actually worked, so I thought why not?

I was pleasantly surprised actually by how the blue cheese was not that overpowering. I'm pretty neutral against blue cheese – which is strange considering the majority either love it or hate it  – but it surprisingly worked, especially with the crunchiness of the wontons and sweetness from the sauce. Following the wontons, we shared three small plates: the oozy arancini (£5), the cured salmon with wasabi dressing (£7.50), and the salt and sichuan pepper squid with chilli mayo (£7.50).

All the dishes were fantastic and full of flavour. My favourite dish was the arancini. The oozniess of the cheese once you cut into it was delightful and made my tummy warm. My partner's fave was the cured salmon. He couldn't stop raving about it once we left. Fresh, clean flavours, and the wasabi dressing was subtle rather than overpowering. Don't forget about the squid though. Contrary to what my parents think (they think I can't handle chili),  I like the use of chili when it doesn't completely overpower the dish. In this case, the squid had the right amount of heat and the mayo that accompanied the squid worked well with it. Yum.

We were actually pretty full but I was still thinking about cornbread in the menu. So we (okay, I on behalf of us, heh) ordered it. The cornbread with the chipotle butter (£3.50) was amazing. I really appreciated seeing actual corn in the cornbread, but the butter with the cornbread really makes it melt-in-your-mouth stuff! Yummmm. My partner really liked it too (maybe not as much as me) but thought it was rather heavy.

Food arrived to our table relatively quick as it was not so busy when we arrived. Service wasn't too shabby. The bill below shows that lunch wasn't exactly cheap, but is it a good treat to have once and a while? Definitely. It was my partner's favourite place to eat during his time in London, and it was one of mine too.

Next update: Providores & Tapas Room! Woo!

* Another Caravan just opened up in Kings Cross/Granary Square (in Granary Building). Wish I had the time to visit that one before I left as well.

Depot Eatery & Oyster Bar

Some days there aren't enough hours in the day. Today is not one of those days.

In about six hours time I'll be heading off to London, which will be my home away from home for at least the next twelve months. I have finished packing, I have cleaned my room, I have sorted everything that I've needed to sort out (hopefully), and I'm officially bored. I thought I'd use some of my remaining time left to blog, since I've got so many places to blog about!

The last two to three weeks have been quite hectic. I've tried my very best to catch up with people, and most of the time it's been through a friendly drink or a quick (or not-so-quick) bite to eat. Some of the food that I've eaten has been great, some hasn't been so great. But the company I've been dining with with has been priceless. I thought I'd start off with one of the great today – Depot Eatery & Oyster Bar, owned by kiwi chef/tv presenter/fisherman/food writer Al Brown. Al Brown also co-owns Logan Brown Restaurant & Bar in Wellington, a fine dining restaurant which has won numerous awards, and is one place I must try if I ever decide to visit Wellington....

Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar

86 Federal St, Auckland City

Depot is one of the new eateries that have recently opened as part of SKYCITY Auckland, located next to the SKYCITY Convention Centre and Hotel, and adjacent to Peter Gordon's Bellota. Prior to my night out at Depot, I was aware of the amount of hype about the place. Rave reviews left and right, I almost thought that I'd feel nothing but disappointment. That usually happens when something gets hyped up so much. Depot prides themselves on being "not overly precious or pretentious - just fun, fast, and fresh" and operates on a no reservations system. My two friends and I arrived early at Depot at 5pm on the dot and it was 90% full. Okay, we went on a Friday and most likely people had left work early for a drink and a quick bite to eat, but nevertheless it was still impressive! The longer we stayed there, the busier it was.

As we followed the waitress to our table, Al Brown, who happens to be chatting to people at one of the front tables, says hello to us. Awesome. Cutlery can be located in mackerel cans at each table and the menus are a bit different from the norm – coloured + folded A3 pieces of paper – each person with a different coloured menu. I'm pretty sure that you're allowed to take the menus away with you (if not...then um, oops?) While we were trying to deliberate on what to share, a small complimentary plate of pita bread triangles with a side of hummus was given to us to share, which was a nice, yet unexpected touch. Delicious by all accounts. My friends both ordered lemon, lime and bitters ($4.50) to drink and it tasted pretty good too (I had a weeee sip).

After much deliberation, we decided to share one dish from the 'small' menu, one dish from the 'a bit bigger', and one from 'on the side'. Unfortunately, one of my friends and I had eaten a late lunch not too long from eating at Depot, so we only limited ourselves to three dishes (okay four, including dessert). My one regret from my Depot experience was not ordering a side of oysters – after all, it's an oyster bar... in case you forgot what the place is called. My regret is more to do with not establishing from the start whether the others were keen on oysters too. I'm so used to dining with people that cannot stand the taste of a raw oyster, I just assumed that they wouldn't want to order it! It wasn't until after we ordered that I found out that they could eat raw oysters too! D'oh!

The first dish that arrived was from the "small" menu: battered snapper tortillas with slaw, coriander, and green tomato salsa ($18). The tortillas were refreshing, light, and absolutely tasty. The batter on the snapper was just right, as the dish would have easily been ruined had the snapper been too greasy. I'm not a big fan of slaw either, but it was really delicious! I would definitely order this again if I ever get the chance to go back (most likely not for awhile, sigh).

The second dish we shared was from the "a bit bigger" menu: 12 hour smoked brisket with red beans and rice ($24). The brisket was deliciously tender and was surprisingly more spicier than I had anticipated, but in a good way. However, the little side of sour cream is a handy addition if you don't want it to be too spicy. One minor quibble would have to be the rice though – that definitely needs a bit of improvement.

The third dish was from the "on the side" menu: potato skins with manchego and porcini salt ($10). I think I was expecting them to be a lot more thinner than they actually were, but seriously, any potato is a good potato in my book! I think melting the shaved manchego on top of the potato skins would have made the dish even better to be honest, as opposed to just shaving the manchego cheese only. For texture and for taste purposes. The potato skins were a bit greasy, but I wouldn't hesitate with ordering it again.

Last of all....dessert. The menu doesn't actually provide any dessert options, but I've read about Al Brown's sugar pie and I had to ask. I asked the waiter about their dessert options and there were two options – one of them being sugar pie, and the other being a warm gingerbread with stewed tamarillos. While ordering both was tempting, I asked the waiter to recommend which one he'd choose. (Although I'm pretty sure that I was going to order sugar pie regardless of his answer...even though it sounds like OR is pretty much a heart attack waiting to happen). He initially said both, but resigned to choosing sugar pie ($9) in the end! I was so eager to try it, I forgot to take a picture of it. So the picture below is a version of a seriously demented piece of sugar pie with some whipped cream on the side, post-numerous bites. Whilst a bit small to share between three people, it didn't disappoint. We took our time eating this too. For something that sounds rather sweet, it wasn't overly sweet. Actually the first bite seemed a bit sweet, but after a few more bites, the level of sweetness was fine (this coming from someone who's not really into sweeeeeeeet desserts). Luscious, morish, and caramel-y. I think I enjoyed it so much that I probably scared the waiter into oblivion.

Overall verdict: For a quick bite to eat and share with friends, I wholeheartedly recommend Depot. Al Brown has got a good thing going on at the moment. Great food, great service (who happen to know what they're talking about), great atmosphere. Go! To avoid waiting time, try and go early rather than going at peak times. You might have to wait for a table and who knows how long that will take!

Next update will be once things have settled down in London: Jack Tar & Marvel Grill (A Trip to Wynyard Quarter: North Wharf).