Grain Store, King's Cross

King's Cross is an amazing place. Those who knew the area a couple of year ago would have laughed at this idea as it was widely known as a seedy, rough druggie haven. However with the recent millions being invested in the area - the newly developed apartments, offices and station, it is now a shiny new beacon of light in the capital (and the druggies have moved on to Euston). Street food lovers know already that Kerb runs from 11-2.30 every tues-fri along the Boulevard outside the station. The brilliant Caravan (sister to Exmouth Market incarnation) recently opened too in the old warehouse next to Central Saint Martins and Shrimpy's is inside The Filling Station next to the canal - yes the hipsters have firmly moved in. 

Another brilliant restaurant opened just this year right next to Caravan, adding to the new fabulousness of the King's Cross area and as soon as I heard the concept I knew I had to come here. A collaboration between Bruno Loubet and The Zetter Group's Michael Benyan and Mark Sainsbury with drinks by Tony Conigliaro, the guy who created the menu at the "best new bar in the world" Zetter Townhouse - the menu celebrates vegetables by making them the star of the dish and fish or meat the accompaniment.

I finally got down here on my birthday, feeling a little worse for wear having been out the night before, and needing a major dose of health. 

A huge, spacious interior greeted us with super high ceilings, (fake?!) furs on the wall, wood everywhere a hell of a lot of exposed brick and light flooding in from all directions. It felt very natural, minimal and recycled - in a good way. It all added to a feeling of wholesomeness and pureness about the place. The long bar is placed opposite the kitchen pass, which also turns into a work bench where you can see chefs preparing the food. A lot of chopping went down from what I saw.

Take a little walk around the restaurant before you leave because you will see walls lines with pickled jars and all their produce ready to be used - a lovely touch.

Grain Store is another restaurant that doesn't divide its menu into starters and mains - which I love, it allows much more freedom. So my sister and I decided to order only smaller plates to try as many things as possible and, as our superbly camp and absolutely brilliant waiter said - "we shall just have a little feast here!"

We went for sprouting beans & seeds, miso aubergine, crispy citrus chicken skin, potato wafer

Courgette, broad bean & prawn falafel with raita

Butternut squash ravioli, sage & mustard apricots, pumpkin seed oil

Peach, salted watermelon & basil salad, salmon confit

The first thing that jumps out at you is the colours. All these dishes were so beautifully presented and so wonderfully colourful. They were all incredibly fresh, light but did not scrimp on flavour at all. Both my sister and I are falafel fiends and we agreed that the falafel were some of the best we'd ever had.

The ravioli was full of butternut squash flavour - a surprise for me having been disappointed one too many times that I could not taste a trace of squash in ravioli - and the crunch of the seeds left the dish interesting and exciting. Salmon, watermelon and peach - a combination I would never have putt together was delightful.

It felt healthy and virtuous, angelic even, and incredibly delicious.

Feeling satisfied and pleased with ourselves for being good we then chose dessert. My immediate thought when reading: white chocolate rice crispy, dark chocolate mousse and almond ice cream, was an image of a Rice Krispie white chocolate cake - and that did not appeal. However I shouldn't have been so naïve because of course this wasn't a cake that you make for 5 year olds. This was little pieces of white chocolate heaven.

Thickly coated crispy puffed rice - and nothing at all like the cereal, almost had a hardened marshmallow like texture, with real white chocolate flavour, a flavour which if I'm honest often escapes me and I think it rather boring. The mousse and almond ice cream were the perfect accompaniment and contrast - both light as a feather but one more unadulterated and the mousse was probably the most obscene thing we'd had that day.

I will have to go for dinner next time because I need to try the "surprise tasting menu" for £35 a head. After this wonderful meal I definitely trust them to serve me anything they like!!

After lunch, I had a little beautifully wrapped surprise from Liberty waiting for me :D

 Pretty good birthday I'd say!

Valencia

I found it really difficult to write this blog post, mostly because I really wanted to do Valencia justice. I thought it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been and completely fell in love with the place. So here goes....

I had my doubts before I went to Valencia, I have been to Spain previously and never really liked it, having been to the tourist-laden areas void of any real Spanish culture.

However having only spent a couple of hours in Valencia, all the old memories of Spain were wiped away. 

It is an astonishingly beautiful city, every building is reminiscent of it's grand old days, each with some magnificent painting or masonry. Most also have the most incredible, huge double doors at the entrance, probably with the original wood and metal nuts and bolts. I think I annoyed S with amount of times I said "Look at that DOOR!!!"

The weather is pretty much guaranteed over there and Valencia also lies right next to the beach so those, like me, who need a Summer break with some sea in it too, it is perfect.

From what I can tell, Valencia, the 3rd biggest city in Spain, has not been affected too badly by the recession and the troubles of the Eurozone. Designer shops, extremely well-dressed women and men in suits all litter the streets, so it is still a fairly bustling and rich city in the grand scheme of things.

There is an area of bars and clubs in Valencia, (you'll know where it is from the direction hoards of people are travelling) but during the day it is does not look seedy or dirty at all. It is a nice area, we even ate there one night (where we also happen to see the most gorgeous man in the history of the world. Seriously, he was not real).

Things you HAVE to see (after the jump!) :

Homeslice

A little brag to be made. I had Homeslice when it came from a stall in Netil Market and also when they popped up in Browns of Brockley. I am a Homeslice fan from the beginning so this was always going to be great.

I headed to their bricks and mortar home in Neal's Yard, Covent Garden to pick up a slice. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the front windows had all been thrown open, giving a lovely inside/outside Mediterranean feel.

They change their menu on a fairly regular basis, always including some garlic based pizzas, classic tomato and some cream based ones.
Unfortunately, they only have a select few pizzas available by the slice. I really wanted to try the ox tail one, but I just couldn't eat a 20 inch pizza by myself, so instead I went for a slice of the garlic and lemon based artichoke and courgette pizza.

Really flavoursome and lovely. Fresh and garlicy, but not too strong that I felt I would keep away vampires for the rest of the day. They really are some of the best pizzas I've ever had.

They will do a 20 inch pizza with a half n half of toppings, so you can try more than one kind, or share with someone. I will definitely be doing that soon!

Prosecco is on tap, the wine comes in a magnum and they simply measure how much you've drank and charge you accordingly. Pretty cheap stuff. Just don't drink the whole thing, that will set you back £44.

The slices are pretty large and mine filled me up nicely! For only £4 a slice and £20 for a 20 inch, it's a steal.

Get yourself down there and support these great guys who make really fantastic pizza!