limster's Recent Activity
Chowhound Post
Game for lunch: London
Haven't had time to post, but had an outstanding 8 course tasting menu at Trinity a couple of months ago at begining of grouse season where the star was a duet of grouse pie (beautiful meat, rich gravy, brilliant crumbly crust, gorgeous oven dried peach and strawberries) and roasted partridge with black summer truffle mash and apple sauce. A bargain at £45. Comparable to a meal at Autre Pied, but for less, and Trinity had slightly better edited dishes.
It's a bit out of the way in Clapham, but 12 hours is plenty of time.
Chowhound Post
Itadaki-Zen, King's Cross, London
Thanks for pointing out the place. Looking forward to hearing about their soba and other things.
Chowhound Post
Galvin La Chapelle, Spitalfields, London
Good butter - dense but creamy, rounded flavour with just the barest hint of tang in the finish. Reminds me a little of the butter from Normandy I used to indulge it once upon a time. Rustic,crusty country bread.
Dorset crab, blended into a mousseline-like texture, separated by thin sheets of pasta, is described as a lasagne. There was a decent amount of flavour, but the fibres of crabmeat were sparse. Chanterelles were cooked to a straw mushroom like softness, and fairly gentle in flavour, although the usual nutty intensity of the mushroom wasn't too obvious, (perhaps muted as to not overwhelm the crab?). Lovely fronds of chervil, for just the right fragrance against the crab and the foamy sauce (slightly sweet - shallots? white wine? - with maybe a hint of shell fish - crab? - and something vaguely nutmeg-ish). And perhaps it would be silly to say that the lasagne was not el dente (never ever had it that way in a French restaurant), but I wished for more textural contrast, a firm bit would have been great against the softer crab paste. Not great, but not horrible, saved chiefly by the balanced multilayered sauce, which suggests careful technique in its conception.
Veal cheeks slough easily into moist tender strands, with one cheek seemingly breaking more easily than the other. It is topped with zingara, in this case perfectly cut thin batons of ham, black truffle, perhaps an additional type of red meat, a cut with coarsely cut parsley. The sauce is again well made -- a rich shiny cloak, stocky and rich, sliding smoothly on the meat, without any trace of excessive stickiness, probably demi-glace and/or the braising liquid. A fairly smooth mashed potato, with lemon zest somewhere, a mildly bitter acidity with a citrusy fragrance that cut the intensity of the sauce and the cheeks.
An enjoyable cheese cart. Vacherin mont d'or was a definite choice as it is in season now. fairly well conditioned, although it wouldn't hurt to ripen a touch more. Epoisse, besides its usual pungence (slightly muted here), also gave off a hazelnut like flavour, again slightly more ripening wouldn't hurt. Clean chalky flavour from a chevre. Semi-soft, creamy morbier. An interesting (Normandy?) cheese, on the softer extreme of semi-soft, coated with crumbs soaked in calvados (iirc), gave off a nice rich flavour and good woodsy complexity. And finally a hard-ish Bleu de Basque balanced fumy odors with nutty qualities.
A blueberry souffle rose beautifully, an inch or so over the rim. Intense and true berry flavour, but a very faint powdery texture, and overall more rich and dense rather than airy. Reminded me of my souffle experience at Galvin bistrot de luxe. A clean sweet milk ice cream next to it seemed light by comparison.
Hard to complain about the beautiful saucing, a good mark of a technically accomplished kitchen (or at least saucier), and on the whole it was a fairly enjoyable experience for classic technique driven French food. But there were imperfections here and there (opening blues?) that make me cherish some of my past favourites a bit more, especially at this price range.
An atmospheric space, a impressive work of stone, wood and light. There's also a bistrot-like cafe attached to the restaurant with a different kitchen.
Chowhound Post
Itadaki-Zen, King's Cross, London
A fairly new all vegetarian Japanese place, across the from the Travelodge. A fellow chowhound spotted it as we were headed to Kings Cross station, which piqued me to try it.
A thin sheen of mayo on bright short strips of peppers (red, green, yellow), the light creaminess a nice foil for the raw crisp vegetable.
Hijiki, a black seaweed, was simmered in a medium to full bodied soy sauce, the centre of gravity in the dish a heavy umani, modestly rendered. A very slight bit of sweetness from carrots and a fair amount of what I thought were bits of inari-like tofu (but not as sweet and with more substantial whitish tofu bits beneath the skin; rather tau-pok like for those familiar with the Hokkien term). And a few strategic green peas, more for colour than taste. A pleasant, minimalistic dish, nicely composed, I might have liked it a shade sweeter. Satisfying and ingredients of good not great quality.
I liked the crispy but light kakiage tempura, a meshwork of carrot and onion strips (and perhaps other vegetables) mixed with tempura batter and deep fried. The sweetness from the onion and carrots really comes to life under the graceful deep-frying. It is nicely bolstered by a pile of zaru udon, cool medium thick noodles with a good chewy quality, eaten with a dipping sauce spiked with a dab of wasabi and sprinkled sesame seeds. Great contrast of texture and temperature between the tempura and udon.
Desserts delight. A soy milk pudding, jelly-like in texture, sweetened by a dark syrup (palm sugar?) and bolstered by what I'm guessing is a sweet paste made from toasted soy bean powder. The warabimochi was brilliant -- slightly warm, with just the right bouncy, chewy quality than gave way rapidly to a decisive rip as a one bit in. This was a variant made from sweet potato flour. A toasty nutty aromatic coating of kinako (powdered roasted soy bean) and sesame seed.
Quite inexpensive for the quality, various starter sized small plates for ~£4-5 or less, noodles/rice main courses at ~£7-9, desserts £3.50-4. The warabimochi is totally worth seeking out, and the other dishes have an honest, comforting, homey quality. A serene and elegant but unassuming room adorned with the colours of sand, wood, leaves and petals.
Chowhound Post
Some places in Primrose Hill, London
• Trojka
A menu with Russian, Polish, Georgian and Urkrainian dishes, cooked by a Polish chef.
Borscht was pleasant, if not as hearty as the version at Potemkin, leaning more on the vegetables, and perhaps a shade more Polish.
A solid and satisfying rendition of blini with smoked salmon and a fair amount of sour cream/smetana with a salad on the side.
I love kasha/buckwheat and was glad to have its toasty nutty flavours beneath a brawny Ukranian goulash (don't know what makes it Ukrainian, it's the menu's description) that had notes of peppery sweetness and spice.
Chicken Kiev is an enjoyable rendition of the classic, the melted butter gushing with a cut. Pleasant surface breading, tender chicken. The side of ratatouille was ok but nothing special.
Good flavour in the apple filling of the crepes, thin with a gentle bit of chew. A bready/cakey roll richly filled with gleaming poppy seeds that give off countless delicious pops.
Unassuming but fairly enjoyable dishes. Perhaps a notch below Potemkin for the stuff I had, but a nice bit of colour nevertheless. Maybe worth trying some of the Polish dishes.
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• Limani
The smaller, more intimate sister restaurant of Lemonia.
Pretty good fried anchovies, with a light coating of batter. I prefer the crispier and slightly more flavourful rendition at The Lighthouse in Archway, but this wasn't bad.
A fairly good squid, tender and snappy. A side of ordinary spinach.
Aromatic halva (made with ground sesame), disintegrating to an enoyable sandy textur.
Not bad, perhaps a touch more pricey than I would have liked.
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• The Queens
More ham than mushroom in the porky ham and mushroom terrine, the saltiness combining well with the sweetish apple chutney, and sharp gently bitter cress. Warm toast for contrast in temperature and texture.
Lamb chops were tender, with a good rim of fat, but I would have liked lamb to have a slightly deeper flavour, even though it was nicely cooked and somewhat tasty. A herbal, minty mash and dark green kale made pretty good accompaniments with a fairly savoury sauce. A solid if fruit forward pinot noir was a decent match.
A very likable sticky toffee pudding, I loved the deep vein of salt than ran through this dessert, and the sauce penetrated every pore of the moist pudding.
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London: Lunch time near museums
Noodle Bar in Leiscester Sq/Covent Garden area for Lanzhou style hand pulled noodles.
Chowhound Post
London: Lunch time near museums
To add a couple: Viva Verdi next to Tsuru for hams and cured meats from Emilia-Romagna as well as pasta, all excellently made, and without any fuss.
Best Italian at Borough market is one of more notable places that opened there this year, with honest, well made soups and other savouries, as well as good cakes. Their espresso are more rounded and less acidic than Monmouth's.
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Help!!! Dumplings!! [London]
I like the shui2 jiao3 at Superstar in Chinatown, but haven't been in a year or so.
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I'm a foodie and I'm proud
He's done it a few times in the past. Here are a couple of examples:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/301841
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/286572
If you do a search, you're likely to find more.
Chowhound Post
I'm a foodie and I'm proud
Sorry for the confusion. The first point was to clarify what "trail blazing" might involve in practice, which is what you and others were discussing. The second point is a bit of a digression, but I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight an approach that is productive rather than diversive.
Chowhound Post
I'm a foodie and I'm proud
>> assuming you have the opportunity or money or social networking arrangements
In no particular order:
"Money"
Sometimes eating certain places take a lot of effort, other times it doesn't. Wealth isn't a prerequisite -- one of the best chowhounds on the UK board who has uncovered a good number of places is a student with next to nothing in the money department. Places vary in price range, more expensive doesn't always mean more delicious.
"Opportunity"
As for opportunity, it's a bit like exercise, one works it into one's routine. Walk a different route to work, drive down a different road to visit a friend. Stop by a different sandwich place. Try a different salad. Drink a different brand of milk or juice. Use a different jam made by a different person. Little things matter -- they add up. Rome wasn't built in a day. I know chowhounds with insane work schedules, or mostly eat at home.
"Social networking"
I eat by myself ~50% of the time. I'm happy to contribute what I thought about the 2 dishes that I ate out of a 100. Boards like chowhound are ideal for such scenarios because hundreds of people sharing information about 1 or 2 dishes from a place = hundreds of data points about that place. The boards are a networking opportunity.
With all the accusations of snobbishness, the boards here actually present a very egalitarian opportunity for anyone and everyone to share new information that they have uncovered.
>>to run the risk of eating out "blind" and, presumably, having a fair percentage of less than stellar experiences."
Yep - to separate the wheat from the chaff means trying both "wheat"s and "chaff"s. There are potentially ways of biasing one's chances, but there's no substitute for exploration; it comes with the territory, and it makes the finds more exciting.
And the boards aren't restricted to eating out. The home cooking board is really active.
>>"So, returning to the slagging off of "foodies" in the CH manifesto as eating where they are told then, yep, that's me. Much happier to be a foodie, so described, than a Chowhound, so described."
The goal of the board is not to slag off on anyone, but rather to share information about what is delicious to eat. As I and others have mentioned in prior posts, some of which I've linked to in this thread, the manifesto is about getting people to go out and try stuff and discover delicious food. One may not like how that goal is presented, but the presentation is a separate issue from the goal itself.
Be whatever make you happy, it depends on your priorities in life. But if what you want to do is to find the most delicious stuff to eat, the approach you describe is insufficient. That's why sites like this exist, so that everyone can go out and find their own deliciousness and share whatever information they have, because it's easier for everyone as a collective effort.
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I'm a foodie and I'm proud
Your post focuses on one interpretation of the manifesto. Here's an alternative interpretation:
Eat and think critically for yourself. Rather that simply using information that is out there, create new information by exploring and discovering new delicious things to eat.
Chowhound Post
I'm a foodie and I'm proud
>>>"If Chowhounds confined themselves to "blazing trails," then once a Chowhound has eaten at a restaurant, other Chowhounds should not eat there, because the trail is already blazed."
Ideally that would be the case. There are lots of places in the world to eat at and not enough information about all of them.
But restaurants can be variable from day to day, or dish to dish. One meal is rarely enough to generalise to the whole restaurant. A kitchen with great pork may not be as skilled with fish. Blaze trails, yes, but to do so in a thorough way -- which may require lots of people sampling dishes over a long period of time when different cooks are on duty, over different seasons when different ingredients become available etc.
Sure there are lots of people that just come to ask about what's good to eat. There's no reason to be rude to them. Today's questioner may be tomorrow's explorer.
>>>"Shouldn't these people be off blazing?"
Absolutely. And we should persuade/encourage them in the most efficient and effective way possible. Give a guy a fish and tell him of all the delicious fishes in the ocean so that he can't resist learning how to fish.
There's no need for pitchforks and torches -- it's about enouraging a certain type of behavior, which can be changed regardless of who the person is.
Chowhound Post
I'm a foodie and I'm proud
>>"Basically, Jim Leff started his own club and is defining what it is to be a true member. Of course, anybody who signs up can call themselves a Chowhound, but to be a true Chowhound, you have to be willing to explore."
I think it's not so much defining a true member as defining an ideal, like "tell the truth" or "be kind to everyone." Not everyone attains these ideals, and perhaps no one does, but they're there as something to aim for.
Chowhound Post
I'm a foodie and I'm proud
Here are some threads in the past that have covered this topic:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/527407
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/565812
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/596660
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/561147
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/657067
Chowhound Post
Best Crispy Aromatic Duck in London?
That may be hard to find. Even places like Min Jiang which have been highly rated for their Peking Duck, have been reported to use hoisin sauce rather than tian2 mian4 jiang4, the complex sweet fermented wheat sauce in the classic version of the dish. Would be grateful to hear of any place that does it properly or if some of these places can switch to the proper sauce on request.
In addition, from what I've read on chowhound and elsewhere, some of the 'proper' Peking duck renditions can be rather elaborate, encompassing a whole banquet where each course is centred around a different part of the duck. Yet to hear of something like that here.
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Amorino, Soho, London
Forgot to add that they also sell hot choc (24 different flavours, looks like prepackaged single servings whisked in hot water).
The L'inimitabile tasted of giandujia, a seamless combination of hazelnut and chocolate.
Yogurt was mildly tangy, and the density of the texture made it feel like frozen greek-style yogurt. (In fact the texture of all their gelati I tasted were roughly like that in terms of consistency.)
Amarena -- a white cream base that barely peeked out from good intense, intoxicating cherries.
Mango was also true to the multifacted and rich flavours of the fruit even if it captured the fragrance slightly less effectively; Alphonso, according to the menu.
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Offal for a newbie
This old thread might still be somewhat handy: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/452260
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Love Ottolenghi's , but they're closed for time we need , anywhere else like it apart from Fig & Olive Islington [London]?
Compared to Ottolenghi, Cocomaya has slightly more refined technique in the baked goods and more elegant eye candy (but different types of baked items). They also offer a small selection of salads and sandwiches which are somewhat comparable to Ottolenghi in quality (but stylistically a little less exuberant) and slightly less expensive (but also a smaller serving).
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25 things diners hate about restaurants
At some places with careful wine service, the sommelier would also be responsible for monitoring the status of the wine to see how well it has opened up upon decanting etc.
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Amorino, Soho, London
An outpost of the gelato chain; somewhat comparable in quality to Scoop. On the whole the gelati had a thicker creamier consistency compared to the more lightly textured ones at Scoop. Still very smooth and seamless.
Vanilla has a class basic vanilla flavour, but not as fragrant/floral as Scoop's.
Coffee was excellent, a true milky coffee flavour.
Pistachio was indeed nutty, less of the greener pistachio flavour, and more of toasted pistachio.
Ecuadorian chocolate was solid, a pleasant deep choc flavour, with all the right fruity, nutty and woodsy notes.
Marron glace/chestnut had a good sweet chestnut flavour with a hint of powdery chestnut in the texture.
Worth checking out, potentially a decent rival to Scoop. I like Scoop a tiny bit more for the slightly more elegant texture, and some of the flavours might be a hint more pronounced at Scoop, but it's hard to say without a side by side comparison.
They also sell coffee drinks, chocolates, jams, Italian biscuits, balsamic vinegar and other little bites.
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Opening soon in Soho, London
Noticed a new branch of Fernadez and Wells on one of the side streets running east of Wardour on St Anne's Court.
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Taste of Beijing, Soho, London
Extreme saltiness isn't a characteristic of those chive turnovers or of the cuisine in general, this sounds more like a batch to batch variation. BTW, if you want more than Cantonese or Sichuan in the area, there's pretty good Foochow/Fuzhou (Northern Fujian) at New Aroma in Chinatown, Shanxi style hand pulled noodles at Noodle Bar in Covent Garden and of course various Southern Fujian and Taiwanese items at places like Kee Lung and Leong's Legends also in Chinatown.
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Calling London Sushi Buffs
When to Mai a long while ago, and quite liked it (http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5244... Very grateful for the update hope to hear more reports on other stuff at Mai.
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Best tea shop in East Bay?
Some varieties of single bush Phoenix oolongs from Canton develop a lychee flavour naturally without added flavour. IIRC Teance sells them.
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Lunch at the Hélène Darroze restaurant at the Connaught [London]
Ate there a while ago - pretty good: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/653660
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in [London] for 3 nights
Sorry, was referring to the Ooze near Goodge St.
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London--Any great restaurants near Canary Warf?
How is the Gun these days?
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Goose sandwich @ the stuffed goose stall, Borough Market, London
I was there on a Friday, so I'm guessing that it would also be open on Saturdays. Not sure about thursdays.
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Goose sandwich @ the stuffed goose stall, Borough Market, London
They sell jars of goose fat, and geese stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken (gooducken?).
