L'Autre Pied, Marylebone

Michelin starred restaurant, L'Autre Pied, awarded its one star in 2009, had an offer on Groupon for their 7-course tasting menu at half price. Well worth checking out if it's still on! Some may call it cheap, I know someone who calls it Value For Money. If the deal is no longer on, they also do a pre-theatre and set lunch menu so you can get a taste of their style for under £30.

UPDATE: L'Autre Pied is offering a special Easter menu of 5 courses for £39 between 14th - 27th April. Online bookings only, check menu here http://ow.ly/vhcwK 

L'Autre Pied is the sister restaurant of Pied a Terre, the two star Michelin restaurant, just around the corner (and pop-up Pieds Nus) all masterminded by David Moore.

The style of food is modern, set in a relaxed non-fussy atmosphere, unlike some other French restaurants out there (cough Gauthier Soho cough), so the diner can relax and enjoy their meal with no worries about uber correct etiquette and being quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Dishes are imaginative, precise and beautiful to look at. So much detail and precision goes in the placing of every ingredient; some are very close to works of art.

Although 7 courses long, plus amuse and pre-dessert, I left feeling comfortably full and not over-stuffed. The food felt light, virtuous and *almost* healthy. 

It was a joy to eat. Without further ado, here are some pictures.

Salad of Radishes with Black Quinoa, Crème Fraiche, Fennel and Dill

Flame Grilled Mackerel with Hazelnuts, Apple Tapioca, Celery and Miso

Roasted Sea Bass with Ras el Hanout, Butternut Squash, Celeriac and Soybean

Fillet of Roe Deer with Toasted Hay, Parsley Roots, Carrots and Peanut Crumble

Apple Mousse with Lime and Olive Oil Puree, Caramel Meringue and Yoghurt

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!

The Lockhart, This Time For Brunch.

And I thought it couldn't get much better than dinner at The Lockhart. I was so so wrong. Lockhart is fast becoming one of my favourite places to eat in London.

Warning. This post is delicious. And full of one of the best brunches I've ever had in London.

However, best to start with the bad so it's out of the way. A coffee is £4. I nearly choked. But that is London. Moving on.

Starting with the best fried chicken in London on a pecan waffle with maple syrup. There are not enough words for how good this was. It blew my mind.

Equally as interesting and delicious, though not as sweet, was smoked pork hash with a fried egg. I can't tell you what else the pork was mixed with, some kind of creamy sauce, but all I know is that it was delicious.

To finish, we went for 1235 doughnuts, made by head chef Brad McDonald himself, sold in Columbia Road market. These were a little disappointing, mostly due to the fact I've had St. John's Bakery doughnut - maybe the best in the world - and more recently Justin Gellately's - of Bread Ahead Bakery in Borough Market - Salted Honeycomb and hazelnut praline doughnuts, which are very very good indeed. 

Here the salted caramel doughnut filling didn't taste of much at all, and neither did the pastry itself. However the chocolate filling was very good. They are by no means perfect, which Brad McDonald has acknowledged by saying he wants to tweak them to find the perfect doughnut.

Still, by no means a bad doughnut. I'm just being very picky!

If you haven't been to The Lockhart yet then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!?!

GO GO GO GO NOW!!!!

Polpetto, Soho

Polpetto, sister of Polpo and child of Russell Norman, has re-opened, moving from Dean Street, to a bigger site on Berwick Street.

With rising star Florence Knight at the helm and banking on the already popular, tried and tested Venetian, no-reservations, small plates concept, this was always going to be a good. If you're looking for somewhere in Soho to eat, the Polpo/Polpetto group are always a safe bet.

Starting with a delicious blood orange and thyme alcoholic cocktail and some foccacia to keep us going, we waited for a table for around 35 mins after entering at 7.30 - not too bad. 

I'll admit, Polpo is never somewhere I'm going to be mind blown by the food, unlike say Chiltern Firehouse, the food here is too simple for that, but it is somewhere in Soho that you can go where you know you will have good food and always be pleased by the experience.

First to arrive was the creamy burrata with agretti and chilli. Really good creamy burrata.

Next up came the mussels with wild roasted garlic and canellinni beans. Good, if a little fiddly, having to pick out the beans from inside the sauce and I'm not sure mussels lend themselves that easily to the sharing concept, though the sauce was fantastic. 

The only serious disappointment was the soft poached egg and black truffle. I thought this was going to be so so good. Unfortunately, what came was a rather sad-looking poached egg. 

The black truffle flavour, usually my favourite, hardly came through. Perhaps some truffle oil should have been added for a fuller flavour, or simply a little bread to mop up the deliciously runny yolk. In my opinion this dish needs some work. It could be so so so good.

Then came my second favourite dish, the scallops with creamed and whole white broccoli with lardo. Really good.

And, they saved the best till last, the bacon chop with whitty pear butter and walnuts. The smell was incredible and that butter, more of a sweet jam, was deliciously sweet paired with smokey bacon.

We were stuffed at this point….but still managed to be tempted by the milk pudding with rhubarb and rose. Deliciously sweet flavours all mingled with the tart rhubarb and the texture of the milk pudding was perfect.

So an enjoyable evening was had, and a place in Soho I know I can always go and be satisfied, however not wowed.

Chiltern Firehouse, Marylebone

Andre Balazs, the billionaire hotelier, owner of the glamorous Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles and the Mercer in New York City among others,  has opened his first restaurant outside of the USA, in Marylebone, London at number 1 Chiltern Street.

The Chiltern Firehouse is no different, glamour exudes from every pore of one of the oldest converted fire stations in London. As you walk up to the gates you are greeted by male models in top and tails, then taken along to the restaurant where you are greeted by female supermodels in the most gorgeous clothes who then pass you along to your model waiters to go to your table. Everyone is beautiful. And so is the food.

Sitting at the best seat in the house, the bar by the open kitchen, we got to see Nuno Mendes do his best work in one of the most beautiful industrial kitchens I've ever seen! A marble work surface extends to the bar, with shiny brass fixtures and grand old fittings.

We started with crab doughnuts, delicious crab stuffed in between pastry buns.

Then to start we had a deliciously spicy DIY steak tartare, which we saw being put together right in front of us!! It came with smokey special Firehouse hot sauce, which added another level (and heat) to the dish.

Then we had tender grilled octopus, finished in a big green egg, with a gorgeous smokey taste, with aubergine and ceps.

Then on to the main, we had chargrilled iberico pork with roasted garlic and lemon and textures of I' not sure what but added a lovely depth to the dish.

And then, my absolute favourite, slow roasted short rib (served on the most beautiful wooden plate) with hazelnut puree and bone marrow. It came with a huge knife that wasn't necessary as it cut through it like butter. So smokey and beautifully tender, I was in heaven. Firm contender for dish of the year….

Then to finish we had a chocolate tart, one of the richest and best chocolate tarts I've ever had. The chocolate monster inside was thoroughly satisfied. It came with beautiful texture of thin biscuit and ice cream rolled in crisp hazelnut.

We also had a dish that was reminiscint of the panna cotta from Corner Room, Nuno Mendes' old haunt. It was frozen apple panna cotta, with a herb granita. Inside the hypnotic swirls were a hidden meringue centre and the whole thing was sat on apple pieces.

Stunning. A light and delicious dessert, that almost felt healthy.

Expensive, yes. But oh so worth it. Sadly, I don't see myself going back any time soon as I hear the only people who can get in are celebrities and those who have booked 3 months in advance. But if you can, get on that waiting list. It is SO worth it. Nuno Mendes did not disappoint!

Lockhart, Marylebone

Sometimes when I look at a menu, nothing really grabs me. Sometimes I'm right, and it's not that great and sometimes it's down to my pure ignorance of the food and I'm proven very very wrong. And I love to be proven wrong when it comes to food.

I heard a lot about Lockhart's new chef and menu, but knowing nothing about Southern food, I just wasn't grabbed by the menu so I didn't bother to come. Very very stupid. Then I read about the hype. And, jumping on the bandwagon yes I know, I knew I must have been in the wrong here.

I started with an incredible cocktail of vodka, CACTUS LIQUER (amazing), lime and cranberry.

Now, knowing nothing of Southern American food, I had to ask a lot of about what was on offer. To start we had chicken oysters in a mustard and bbq sauce (top in picture) and the incredibly named catfish gumbo.

The gumbo was delicious, however I can't remember exactly what a gumbo is anymore. But it was good.

This all came along with their house bread which had salty pork crackling dotted inside - so addictive - but we also ordered a side of corn bread, which is baked fresh to order.

It's more like cake than bread, with a sticky sugar glaze. It was so moist and an absolute delight.

My favourite dish of the night was the shrimp and grits. I could have eaten a vat of this. Fat, juicy prawns mixed with chilli and grits - a gorgeous cheesy polenta sauce.

Then we had the stuffed quail, stuffed so much with "dirty rice" - a mix of offal, it was looking like a baby chicken.

By this point I was way to full with porky bread and corn bread to fully appreciate the dessert of rice doughnuts with fennel icing sugar and chocolate sauce hidden underneath.

It was nice, but I think I may have enjoyed their other offering - a deconstructed lemon meringue pie - more. I hear it's very sweet and I have the sweetest of all teeth.

The bill came in this adorable old book. I love these kinds of touches!

Lockhart is expensive, but so so worth it. A crash course in incredible Southern dining, it's real, hearty, need to go to the gym tomorrow, incredible tasty food. They have recently started opening for brunch too, which I can't wait to tuck in to - maple, fried chicken and waffles, hello! 

I feel so foolish for not heading over to Lockhart sooner. I'm ashamed to say I knew nothing of Southern food before and was proven well and truly wrong.

Pieds Nus, Marylebone

David Moore, the chef who runs Michelin starred restaurants L'Autre Pied and Pied a Terre, has opened up a pop-up restaurant just off Marylebone high street, in the space left by Roganic, called Pieds Nus (see a theme?).

Pieds Nus literally means bare feet, but in culinary terms it means simple, fresh, quality food. He has followed the less is more approach to food, where only a few ingredients on a plate allows the best flavours to come through. To allow the diner to fully appreciate this concept, a sharing menu has been created, where all dishes are simple and very precise. 

You know a place is going to be good when the bread is this divine. Hand whipped butter, along with a milk loaf and a bacon and onion brioche.

Pickled, raw and charred vegetables, with celeriac oil. Beautiful, vibrant and fresh, already you understand what the chef is trying to achieve.

98 degree, 12 hour slow cooked pork belly with potato and carrot. Absolutely beautiful, the pork melted in your mouth and the crackling was some of the crispiest and crunchiest I've had.

There was also 42 degree confit salmon with cauliflower and pink grapefruit - which so shouldn't have worked but was amazing, proven by the fact we ate it too fast and there is no picture proof. 

Tarte tatin.

A gorgeous, colourful dessert of a deconstructed New York cheesecake, with blackberry ice cream. So full of flavour.

Pieds Nus is only open until March 11th, so if you like what you see you don't have long to try it out but apparently the chef is on the lookout for a permanent space, so you might just be in luck!