I spent a few lovely days in London recently. Ostensibly, I was over for the London Oyster Championships where Federico Fiorillo of Bentley’s in Mayfair shucked ten oysters in 1 minute and 5 seconds…can you imagine?
As ever, it was an opportunity to check out the London restaurant scene.
I only had a couple of days, but I made the most of the short interlude.
Dalla on Morning Lane in Hackney was a new find, a deceptively simple neighbourhood Italian that feels just like a family restaurant in Naples. Sounds a bit random but check out the Luigi Caccia Dominioni door handle on the loo door, just one of the many little design details that surprises. We loved the food, small plates of deliciousness. The menu changes regularly but there are a few dishes that the local regulars protest if they disappear from the menu, the Frittatina drizzled with 12 year old aged balsamic, the meltingly tender stuffed tortellini, the tiramisu. I particularly relished the Cotoletta di Maiale alla Bolognese con Prosciutto Crudo and Fonduta Parmigiano.
Mitchell Damota heads up the kitchen with Gianmarco Leone.
Put Dalla on your London list and even though it is quite a schlepp from central London, we’ll definitely be back for more.
While you’re in the area, you might want to call into Violet Cakes on Wilton Way and pick up some of Claire Ptak’s sweet treats and celebration cakes that lure people from all over London.
Talking about delicious bakes, we went all the way to Brixton to find Maya’s Bakehouse. Some of the most delicious and original bakes I’ve come across. Crusty sourdough and an intriguing range of sweet and savoury buns and slices. The onion soup bun was one of the best things I’ve tasted in a very long time, a layer of melting cheese in a round brioche bun with deliciously caramelised onions on top.
How fortunate are folks in Brixton to have Maya’s Bakehouse around the corner?
Another new find was a Galician restaurant IBAI which Grace Dent, restaurant critic of the Guardian, accurately described as “A swanky restaurant that lacks pomposity”.
IBAI is a Basque influenced restaurant that specialises in aged Galician Blond beef steaks edged with a layer of delicious yellow, flavour packed fat. There’s also beautiful Wagyu and Black Angus. It’s cooked over fire, charred on the outside, rare and succulent on the inside – a truly memorable piece of beef with a choice of sauces. At lunch, between four of us, we shared one ribeye from a 12 year old Galician Blond that had been aged for 65 days with a bowl of dripping chips. There were several slices, and the T-Bone left over for a guest to take home for supper for himself and his dog!
Superb as it is, I mustn’t give the impression that it is all about the steak, the little appetizer bites and starters are definitely worth a detour alone.
The truffle panisse and the flavour of the tender sweetcorn with black truffle will live on in my taste memory for a very long time! The boudin noir with melted Galician Ossau-Iraty cheese and the Croque IBAI sandwich with a layer of carabineros, the red prawns of Galicia, are not to be missed and on and on…
By the time we came to dessert, we were almost defeated but somehow managed a refreshing cider granita, I’m still haunted by the thought of the IBAI pan perdu with hazelnuts and rum and of course, there was a wobbly Basque cheesecake and much, much more. Richard Foster originally from Chiltern Firehouse is the head chef.
St.
Paul’s Cathedral where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were wed is
just a street away and the beautiful but less visited 1901 Church of Saint
Bartholomew the Great is also close by. Little Britain mentioned in Great
Expectations is just around the corner. Man does not live by Bread Alone!
Dalla’s Frittatina with 12 year aged Balsamic
A special thank you to Dalla Restaurant for sharing this recipe with me.
Serves 1
2 eggs
1 tbsp grated Parmesan
1 tbsp finely sliced spring onion
pinch of salt
To Cook
olive oil
butter
To Serve
12 year aged balsamic vinegar
Whisk all the ingredients for the frittatina well in a bowl.
Meanwhile, get a nonstick pan nice and hot and add a teaspoon of oil and a teaspoon of butter. Add the egg to the pan and move it around a bit with a rubber spatula as you would an omelette. Continue to fry on one side until it has some colour on the bottom but still runny on the top.
Slide onto a plate and with another plate on top to invert the frittata so the crispy side is on top.
Drizzle
with a bit of 12 year aged balsamic vinegar and serve hot.
French Onion Soup with Gruyère Toasts
French onion soup is probably the best known and loved of all French soups. It was a favourite for breakfast in the cafes beside the old markets at Les Halles in Paris and is still a favourite on bistro menus at Rungis Market. In France this soup is served in special white porcelain tureens.
Serves 6
Serve with a glass of gutsy French vin de table.
1.35kg onions
50g butter
1.7 litres good homemade beef or chicken stock (or vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)
salt and freshly ground pepper
To Finish
6 slices of baguette (French bread), 1cm thick, toasted
75g grated Gruyère cheese
Peel the onions and slice thinly. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion, toss well and cook on a low heat for about 40-60 minutes with the lid off, stirring frequently – the onions should be dark and well caramelised but not burnt.
Add the stock, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, bring to the boil and cook for a further 10 minutes. Taste and correct seasoning.
Ladle into deep soup bowls, put a piece of toasted baguette covered with grated cheese on top of each one. Pop under the grill until the cheese melts and turns golden. Serve immediately but beware – it will be very hot. Bon appetit!
Useful Tip
Hold your nerve: The onions must be very well
caramelized otherwise the soup will be too weak and too sweet.
Dripping Chips
Serves 4-6
4-6 large potatoes (Golden Wonders or Kerr’s Pinks)
Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until almost fully cooked. Peel, cut the chips to desired size.
Heat dripping to 160°C, make sure the deep-fry has plenty of dripping.
Cook the chips in batches until golden, drain well.
Note: (do not overload the basket, otherwise the temperature of the oil will be lowered, consequently the chips will be greasy rather than crisp. Shake the pan once or twice, to separate the chips while cooking).
To Serve
Heat the oil to 190°C and fry once more until crisp and a deep golden colour. Shake the basket, drain well, toss onto kitchen paper, sprinkle with a little salt, turn onto a hot serving dish and serve immediately.
How to make beef dripping
The best beef dripping is made from the fat that encases the beef kidney. Try to buy organic if available. Remove any traces of blood or plumbing. Chop the fat into small pieces. Put into a roasting tin and cook in a very low oven at 150°C/Gas Mark 2 for about an hour or until the fat has rendered out of the suet. Pour off the liquid fat into a stainless-steel or enamel bowl at regular intervals. Beef dripping solidifies and will keep for months in a fridge. It can be diced and used to make a delicious old-fashioned cake.
To melt beef fat, simply warm it gently. The fat will liquefy and can be used for roast potatoes or for deep-frying. Myrtle Allen always believed that the best chips were those cooked in beef dripping, and I agree. It is rich in Vitamin D and, in my opinion, is far preferable both in flavour and health terms to the cheap and low-grade oil that is frequently used to deep-fry.
It’s important to strain the beef fat through a fine tin sieve after each use, otherwise the little particles of food will burn when the oil is reheated. Beef dripping can be heated to 230°C/Gas Mark 8 provided the oil is strained and does not burn. One can use it up to five times.
