Restaurant Review: Taberno Do Mercardo, Spitalfields

I'm going to lay my cards on the table right now. I am such a fan of Nuno Mendes. I loved Corner Room and I loved Chiltern Firehouse, so I was always going to look favourably on Taberno do Mercardo.

Portugese food intrigues me, I've never had it before and didn't know what to expect.

Taberno is probably the furthest you could get away from Firehouse, which I'm sure was a very conscious decision. The restaurant decor is very simple: whitewashed, wooden tables and spindly chairs. It's all about the food here.

Ottolenghi's Shakshuka

If you haven't already guessed from my instagram, brunch is my favourite meal of the day. There are a myriad of reasons why it's the best meal. It's at the perfect, not really sure when, time of day, it contains eggs and can be made healthy or unhealthy with the addition of bacon/cheese or avocado, depending on how you feel, and it is fairly difficult to get wrong.

Yotam Ottolenghi will probably go down as the man who mainstreamed shakshuka in the UK. By including it in his incredibly popular recipe books, and then on his menu at his restaruants and delis in London, he made it extremely accessible for anyone to try this exotic sounding dish; the shakshuka. Factor in our ever growing fondness for brunch and middle eastern foods, this dish of baked eggs and spices was always going to be a big hit. That and the fact it's delicious, of course!

I decided to make a little version the other day. The original recipe calls for 8 eggs, I think two for two people is enough.

It's pretty simple, one-pan meal. You just need to prepare all the food and spices, throw it in the pan and let it simmer and cook. 

My favourite kind of cooking: one that I don't have to worry about, with very little washing.

Honest Burgers Breakfast, Liverpool Street

Those working in the City have a plethora of burger option breakfast, what with Patty & Bun and Street Kitchen and now Honest Burgers. Some may call it slightly copycat, but Honest Burgers, who have recently opened their latest outpost in Liverpool Street, have started doing breakfast till 10am. 

Chez Elles, Shoreditch

On a recent wander down Brick Lane in search of lunch, we found a cute French restaurant called Chez Elles, ran by three gorgeous girls.

The place has a feel of a neighbourhood bistro, instead of being on the busy, bustling Brick Lane.

We started with gorgeous garlic snails.

And a ham hock terrine.

Moules et frites!

Bavetter steak.

Along with the best chocolate moulleux I've ever had. So gooey and rich. Just delicious. Along with a scoop of homemade pistachio ice cream.

Not entirely groundbreaking, but for that cake alone I will be back.

Street Kitchen Breakfast

The day after the birthday I was in need of some serious head soothing. Being close to Liverpool Street, what better than Street Kitchen's breakfast.

Hiding inside Broadgate Square is an unmissable, large silver airstream, converted to house a professional kitchen and coffee machine.

Midnight Duck and Waffle Feast

There's a reason it stays open 24 hours and it's time we made the most of it.

The night of my birthday party, after all the celebrations, my boy and I headed for a midnight feast in Duck and Waffle - his first time too!

We started with lobster foie gras creme brûlée - possibly my favourite dish ever from D&W.

Octopus, potato, capers and balsamic.

City Social - The Highest Restaurant in Jason Atherton's Empire

Jason Atherton is pretty much everywhere right now. Opening up many restaurants in the past two years all over the world, not just London, with a few gaining Michelin Stars, he is the man of the moment. So his latest opening in Tower 42, one of the skyscrapers in East London was very anticipated.

You enter in a lift, but unfortunately unlike Duck and Waffle, there is no view.

The dining room is gorgeous. Huge lacquered woods, sexy reflective low ceilings, giant ghurkin-facing booths, and floor to ceiling glass offer the most incredible views.

Pattty & Bun Breakfast!

My favourite burger joint now does breakfast in their Liverpool Street branch! From 7.30am-9.30am, they serve their brand of breakfast to those in need.

And it's really really good.

Here's a view inside the "P&B Bacon". Bacon, cheese, egg, green tomato salsa, ketchup and brioche.

Then the "P&B Sausage." Sausage patty, egg, cheese and brioche.

Sager & Wilde, Hackney

In an unassuming, rather random, corner of Hackney stands a cute little wine bar named Sager & Wilde.

Walking in, I was truly astounded at the beauty and general loveliness of the little place. Beautifully designed, it was incredibly romantic, with a dimly light bar, exposed brick and original features throughout. Shame I didn't go with the boyfriend!

The menu is very fairly priced and changes every day, a clever way to lure wine lovers in. You are allowed to taste anything you want to make sure you'll like the wine. Great for someone like me who is picky with wines.

We sat in a back corner, on a little raised wooden bar, surrounded by candles. It is first and foremost, a wine bar but excellent offerings of charcuterie, cheese and small plates are provided.

Most importantly, all the wine ordered was excellent. They will work so hard to find a wine that you really love. Don't be afraid to say no!

We felt peckish, so ended up ordering all three kinds of charcuterie on offer, coppa, salame piccante and finocchiona.

And once we had a taste of that, we couldn't stop so went ahead and also ordered n'duja on toast, air cured tuna with almonds and delicious boquerones in a rocket salad. 

The atmosphere is just perfect inside, quiet, calm and unassuming. The evening was wonderful and I can't wait to go back, this time with someone to experience some romance!

Hawksmoor, Spitalfields Bar

I love chocolate. I love salted caramel.

Almost a year ago now, I saw a post on Hawksmoor's Twitter flaunting the delights of what they called a "salted caramel rolo". I didn't need to see a picture, the name alone made my mouth fall open. Forget some of the best steak in London that Hawksmoor is famed for, oh no I just wanted my mitts on that baby.

I have been trying to get my hands on them ever since, but had never found the time. That is until a few weeks ago. I went with a friend over to the bar in Hawksmoor, Spitalfields. 

Open up the side door and head down to the basement, where you asre greeted with some spectacular mood lighting. Although it was bright sunshine outside, down there it felt like it was always 9.30pm.

As soon as we sat down tap water was brought over without us even having to ask. A fantastic and much appreciated touch, one that we really noticed as it doesn't happen enough. The service throughout was excellent.
We had some gorgeous cocktails, one gin and marmalade, one gin and London Pride, and then started to feel a bit peckish.

Hawksmoor has a new bar menu, so we thought we might as well try out a few things. We skipped out on burgers having already tried them before (delicious, by the way) and tried a few of the more interesting sounding things on the menu.

We ordered ox cheek nuggets, ox cheek french dip, pig's head poutine, smashed watermelon and triple cooked chips with lime pickle mayo. Did I mention we were hungry?

It was an absolute feast! Where to begin....

Well our absolute favourite was the ox cheek nuggets. So tender and tasty, they also added a blob of melted cheese in the centre of the nugget that added to the deliciousness of these gorgeous little things. The mayo that came with the chips was so zingy, a real treat.
The pig's head poutine was rich and tender. Sat on a bed of chips, cheese and gravy it was a posh and I'm sure much tastier version of French Canadian fast food. 

The Ox cheek French dip came in the most beautiful brioche bun, the dip was delicious and again the meat was perfectly tender and moist.

The watermelon smash was our healthy bit....refreshing chunks of watermelon and cucumber with mint and a bit of heat came from a few pieces of chilli.

We were so full by this point, but oh no there was no way we were giving up!! The dessert menu at Hawksmoor is incredible, too many things sounds too delicious.

We went for peanut butter shortbread with salted caramel ice cream. The shortbread was thin and crisp, and the peanut butter flavour was not too overwhelming, but perfectly subtle enough to complement the  salted caramel ice cream. The flavours did not compete, which can be the case when the salted caramel is too strong or visa versa.

The came the absolute cherry on top of my already wonderful meal.

Salted. Caramel. Rolos.

My happy face.

They were pure perfection. Everything I had been hoping for, they did not disappoint in the slightest.

The salted caramel flavour was strong inside the crisp, cold chocolate shell. It melted and oozed out but still held its shape. I still recommend popping these whole however, for the full effect of the flavour.

Simply beautiful and so worth the wait. 

Next time is steak time.

The Breakfast Club, Spitalfields

An old uni friend came to visit back in April, who I literally hadn't seen for about a year, so I wanted to take her to some cool places in London, have great catch-ups and make some fun memories for us.

She arrived pretty early on a Saturday, nice wake up call for me, into Liverpool Street and we decided to get brunch first thing for a good catch up (my fave). I love East London, there are so many independent, chic cafés, bars and restaurants to choose from. Astonishingly, I have never been to the Breakfast Club before and there is so much hype about this place, even though it's been around for a while now. I see queues outside the Soho branch at like 4pm sometimes. So we headed to Spitalfields!

Courtesy of The Breakfast Club's Google + page

Already a queue outside the door, we decided to just risk it and wait. The queue that was said to only last 20 mins, lasted instead over an hour....hmm reminds me of another time.....

A queue with a view. Jealous of everyone eating.
That neon heart sign says "Sex, Drugs and Bacon Rolls"

Once inside, at about midday, the queue was about twice the size it was when we had stood in it. GO EARLY!!

The setting was cute, booths for the larger numbers, some high tables and chairs and thick, rustic wooden tables scattering the room. It had a quirky industrial feel - you can see the metal scrap yard-esque chairs surrounding the tables. Quirky because there was a large Smeg fridge on one wall - which in fact turned out to be a door. Great touch.

Courtesy of The Breakfast Club's Google + page

Oh and I am sucker for a great bathroom. I should have a blog just dedicated to bathrooms, but I think other patrons might find it a bit weird to see me taking pictures of a cool bathroom, when they just want to wash their hands. I just really appreciate when effort has gone into making a really modern and chic or rustic and old-school bathroom. When it's not just run-of-the-mill.

Not the most snazzy I've ever been to, but the bathrooms here had some seriously cutesy wallpaper:

The My Little Pony Craze has spread to restaurant bathrooms....

I was feeling like I needed a bit of a health kick (we'll see how well that turned out....) so went for something savoury, even though their pancakes look incredible. We both went for the same thing (great minds) chorizo hash browns, but I added feta to mine.

Along with two smoothies, instead of coffee (shocking I know). I got a "Green is good" concoction - spinach, mint, mango and apple. Seriously - SO yummy. And S went for a "Blue Monday" - blueberry, strawberry and apple.

Fresh smoothies are amazing, their colour was just incredible:

They were so thick and filling they were a meal unto themselves.

Now the food...in hindsight, I was never really going to enjoy this dish because I hate fried eggs - and really greasy food in general. But it did taste great. The chorizo sausages were excellent, the potatoes and the peppers and mushrooms, all lovely. And the feta added an extra depth - although 7 cubes for a £1 more...not sure it was all that worth it. But I adore feta cheese so I would do it again!

But.....I hate greasy food. This plate had clearly been cooked in so much oil, it was swimming in grease. Understandably, as the whole plate was fried food, but did it really need that much oil?! The chorizo - although one of my favourite foods - came in giant, fat sausage form, which was unbelievably off-putting. Grease and fat poured out of them as you cut into it. I could only stomach eating one of them. I expected them to come as thin chorizo, or cut up pieces. I have never seen chorizo in British sausage form - maybe that's just me being naive though.

I'm not someone who counts calories - can you see how many burgers I eat?! - but I do like to eat healthily once in a while. The meals I cook for myself are pretty healthy, but I figure that allows me to have more chocolate! But here's the thing, I never like eating things that are worse for you just for the sake of it. For example, if a recipe asks for butter and olive oil in the pan I will usually just pick one or the other. Or I'll always choose a low-fat plain natural yoghurt, as it tastes exactly the same as full-fat but it's better for me. (That doesn't stand with Greek yoghurt though!!) I like to grill my sausages and bacon, instead of frying them in a pan because there's less fat and grease then. I am that person that cuts the fat off bacon, unless it has gone super crispy. Sue me.

So the meal was a bit of a backfire for my health kick then. It tasted great, don't get me wrong, but I hate grease and the dish just made me feel queasy. The taste of the chorizo and the grease just lingered in my mouth for the whole day. And that's not just my opinion, S said it had a really strong after taste too! But I don't think she was as bothered about the grease as I was. I guess on the plus side it filled us up for the entire day - we only needed a snack later on - but for me it was that heavy, lethargic, bloated, my-cholesterol-must-be-sky-high-right-now, I-feel-so-sorry-for-my-blood-sugar-levels, kind of feeling.

For some reason on the day I was feeling really indecisive. There was nothing on the menu that really grabbed me. I look at it now and I can pick out a good 4 different dishes that I want to gorge on right now! I don't know why I didn't go for one of them. Definitely should have gone for the cinnamon and apple french toast, or the breakfast burrito. Just nothing with fried eggs. Probably would have been healthier for me!!

Next time. There will be a next time because I want to rectify my memory of the Breakfast Club. I know the food in there is good, I kept lusting after plates I saw going to other people's tables. This dish was just not the one for me. And now I really can't stop thinking about that French toast.