Zucca (Again)

I've been here a few times before and have posted on it here. I waxed lyrical about this restaurant as it serves delicious, simply modern Italian food at great prices. The last time I went here you could have an aperitif, three great courses with wine for £35 ish each. The only issue is that everyone else loves it too! We haven't been back for ages since you need to book weeks in advance and that's just not something I generally like to do.

With a booking 6 weeks in advance, we went back this weekend. We had a booking at 8:30pm and rushed to finish our drinks in a nearby bar so that we would be on time. Having tuned up on time, we were kept waiting for nearly 20 minutes to be seated. Not a good start.

I noticed the recent additions of table clothes (I preferred the bare white tables before) and an extra couples of pounds on the price of each main course. Had Zucca turned its back on its self proclaimed philosophy of providing excellent modern Italian food at affordable prices?

What we ate:

Bitter Greens with Pangrattato. The greens were very bitter but not unpleasantly so.

Carpaccio of Sea Bream. The chili makes this dish for me. Recommended.

Zucca Fritti. Crispy batter and sweet zucca (pumpkin) made for a tasty treat. I agreed with Mike that they needed a bit of extra salt to bring out their best. The presentation was better than it looks below as I forgot to take a picture before we started to dive in.

Bresaola with Rocket and Parmesan (forgot to take a picture). Good quality Bresaola. I enjoyed it.

For mains I went for the Veal Chop. A satisfying large hunk of meat turned up. The veal was very tender, well seasoned and had a good charred BBQ taste. The fat was sweet and had rendered down to warrant eating the majority of it. The spinach was over seasoned but well cooked. Recommended.

PJ went for the Octopus with Polenta and Covelo Nero. I didn't taste as good as the last time I had this here. There was less of a charred taste from the grill which I really like, but it was very succulent and tender as it should be.

A big gripe of ours with Zucca is that they never usually have chocolate on the dessert menu. You should always have chocolate on the dessert menu. This time however, hurrah, they had a Chocolate and Hazelnut Tart. Not being a huge dessert lover, I found it pleasant (the base slightly over done) but wouldn't necessarily order it again.

Dinner came in at £45 each, up about £10 a head I would say since our last visit 10 months ago (ish). We all really enjoyed the food and I still think that the food delivers great flavour although I would like to have seen some new dishes on the menu, with much of what was on offer this time also there last time. I would say in terms of value for money that Zucca has gone from being an absolute steal to in line with its peers. This is probably a good business decision since the place is still packed. Service was not as attentive as it once was, and we had to pour own own wine and call over waiters to order drinks/food a few times.

Zucca is still a great restaurant but has gone from a "must go" to a "recommended" destination.

Monster Munch Rating: 75%

http://www.zuccalondon.com/

Barbecoa

We went to Barbecoa a few months ago just after it launched. This new venture (apparently costing £3m to put together!) is a joint venture between the enthusiastic and likeable Jamie Oliver and some dude in the US who apparently is a bit of a legend when it comes to proper American BBQ meats. I have been dying to get some proper BBQ in the UK having been disappointed on more than one occasion with Bodean's. Where can I get pit beef, burnt ends, smoky brisket cooked long and slow over open coal and all those other mouth watering goodies that Adam Richmond of Man v.s. food schooled us on?

It makes me weep, it makes me yearn. I need a BBQ pit that puts down massive smoke rings on ribs, smoked sausages and pulled pork that has been lovingly prepared by people who baste on a secret blend of spices with mops for hours on end. Where do I get this stuff in the UK????

Needless to say I was excited at the thought of getting something resembling proper BBQ at Jamie's new joint.

I started with the Baby Back Ribs (£9.00). Fail. They were cold, hard, and just not juicy and succulent. They had clearly been sitting on the side for a while under a heat lamp. There was also too much black pepper me which overpowered the rest of the flavours. I preferred Bodean's rendition.

Ordering the mains was a bit of a fuss. I originally wanted the Pulled Pork Shoulder. No cigar. They were out. OK, how about the Bone in Strip Steak? Guess again. The Rump Steak? Nope. What! I had to settle on the Pork Belly which to be fair was pretty good, it's just not what I come to a BBQ joint for, and at £16 is pretty pricey for a piece of meat that cost no more than a few pounds.Chips were good but rich at £4.

PJ also wanted the pulled pork, but had to settle with the short rib. The picture looks great I agree, but it really did lack flavour. Where's the smoke?

I think we skipped dessert and went back to the lounge and had some more drinks. The restaurant looks fantastic and the bar is a really nice place to hang out on the big couches with a spectacular view. Sorry Jamie, but I can't help but think that we should have skipped dinner and stayed in the bar.

p.s. the best bit about Barbecoa is the butchers that is attached to it. Open 6 days a week, it is really convenient and sells great quality meat. It's really quite a spectacle seeing whole sides of beef hanging up and whole ribs roasts air drying. I recommend you go down and pick something up.

Monster Munch Rating: 60%

http://www.barbecoa.com

Bull and Last

A lazy Saturday afternoon led us to the Bull and Last over in Kentish Town/Hamstead way. I had been here before after a particularly fruitful afternoon mushrooming on Hamstead Heath with Fungi to be with (recommended). Back then, the place was packed though and we didn't have a reservation so, if I remember rightly, we just had a drink and left.

This time however, with a reservation in hand, we headed back for lunch. The place does get very busy and it is worth ringing ahead, probably by a week or so. When we arrived, the menu wasn't out of the kitchen yet, but I spied some large deep fried balls on the pass and enquired as to what they were with the waiter (uber friendly, but not in a creepy way). They were either arancini or scotch eggs. They were scotch eggs. Yes. Result.

Good examples with a nice runny yolk:

We were a bit stuck as to what to order for a starter. I wanted either the fish or meat board but both were fairly punchy price wise (£12 each) so we decided to share two boards amongst the three of us. Just as well as they were pretty large.

The fish board had some cured salmon with capers, fried calamari, a croquette, smoked mackerel, potted shrimp and some rye bread. Pretty good but not amazing.

The meat board wasn't the usual assortment of charcuterie, coming with a really good rich liver pate, duck "proscuitto", some kind of terrine (I wasn't wild about it), pigs head croquette et al.

We also got a side order of "pig trotter wonton with sweet chili sauce". The batter and sauce were great but I couldn't really detect what was inside. It could have been anything. I did clean the plate though. Anything fried with sweet chili sauce floats my boat.

Feeling pretty full, I began to regret ordering the fish and chips for main. Having said that, the chips were great, the fish perfectly cooked and the batter delicious and crispy apart from the yeasty taste from the occasional soggy bit. Pretty good stuff though.

PJ had the "pork knuckle/hand" with sauerkraut which was in my opinion a little tough.

PJ then also had some kind of chocolate truffle thing for dessert which she seemed to like. I had a coffee and we were on our way. The food here is very good for a pub. It is easy to see why the place is packed. The service is the best I have ever had in a pub and strikes the perfect balance between being efficient and being intrusive.

Monster Munch Rating: 75%

Bull and Last
http://www.thebullandlast.co.uk

Le Cafe Anglais

It has been a while since my last past I know. Bad me. I will try and be better.

I have been to Le Cafe Anglais a couple of times before and have always been impressed by its solid French brasserie style food and attractive Art Deco style dining room.

We were walking around Bayswater one afternoon and didn't fancy the Chinese food we usually seek out in this part of town, so thought we would head to Le Cafe Anglais which is on the top floor of the Whitely shopping centre.

They do a good array of Hors D'oeuvres at £4.50 each so we ordered a selection of them as we thought this would be more fun that just getting a single starter each. I also couldn't find anything deep fried on the usual starter menu, which is what really persuaded me in all honesty.

Parmesan Custard and Anchovy Toast. This is a killer. Strong cheese and salty, umami filled anchovies squashed in between crispy bread. I was using my fingers to scoop out the last bits of the cheese once I ran out of the addictive toasts. Try it.

Rabbit Rilettes with Pickled Endive. This is the first time I have had rabbit rillettes. Similar to a coarse pate or confit, the meat was extremely tender. Although it was tasty, I didn't love this dish. That was until I had the pickled endive which was hiding beneath the toast. The sour and sweet endive had been pickled with a few spices of which I could make out star anise and clove (I think). This went fantastically well with the rich and fatty rilletes.

Salsify Fritters. I admit I couldn't really taste the salsify in here but the batter was delicious and went so well with the expertly made hollandaise that I didn't care. They cured my deep fried cravings, at least for a moment or two.

Le Cafe Anglais seem to specialise in rotisserie style meats. They have a big wall of rotisseries, similar to those you see in French markets. I wasn't in the mood for this though, and went with the skirt steak with red wine and shallots. Slightly gamey and served medium rare, I enjoyed the skirt steak which went well with the salty fries (£15.50)

Feeling indulgent after the Hors D'ouvres, PJ opted for the fish soup which was served with cheese, croutons and a spicy rouille. Initially we felt it wasn't quite "fishy" enough and that maybe some more shrimp heads or similar should have been included in the stock. After adding some more salt however it was suitably fishy but not overbearing as some fish soups can be (£8.50).

Rather than having pudding here, we opted for a gelato from the stall just outside (not bad).

We like Le Cafe Anglais. It's a good place for a lazy lunch on a Saturday or even a bull blown meal with aperitifs and digestifs. It is reasonably priced for French food in London and the service was friendly and efficient.

Monster Munch Rating: 75.00%

Le Cafe Anglais
8 Porchester Gardens
London
W2 4DB

0207 221 1415
http://www.lecafeanglais.co.uk