A Taste of the Carnival – (without the crowds)

Escape the mayhem this weekend by heading slightly North of the carnival to Mango Room in Camden. Put down that take-away box full of questionably cooked chicken, stumble out of the packed parade and into a chilled reggae refuge.

Whether you’re planning on celebrating, having a business lunch or a romantic soupçon, Mango Room can accommodate your needs by treating you to a choice of three different rooms to create the vibe you’re looking for. Enjoy the jazzy art-work whilst listening to the lilt of vintage ska and reggae originals

The menu contains West Indian favourites enhanced with a modern twist. There is obviously the option of staple eats such as saltfish, snappers and scallions but why not start with Marinated Ebony Wings in Chili, Pepper & Garlic, before trying the classic Curried Goat with Caribbean Spices? Then, nothing can quite get you in that sweet-tasting holiday mood than finishing off with Jamaican Rum Flambéed Bananas with Cinnamon Ice Cream & Maple Syrup.

Fancy a tipple too? No problem. Enjoy a beverage from The Rum Shack bar; you can sample a taste of the Caribbean at a very reasonable price – A Jamaica Breeze is laced with ginger infused Appleton Special – stir it up with crushed ginger, cranberry, lime and pineapple juice. Irie!

Now ditch that too-heavy headdress and enjoy a parade of spices; a cortège of courses at Mango Room.

Written by Hay Brunsdon

Thai Square

You wouldn’t know it, but this longstanding Soho outpost is part of the Thai Square Thai restaurant chain. Why that hasn’t been made apparent in the branding and simply left as “Soho Thai” is anyone’s guess. But don’t let that put you off. 

Thai Square is a highly respectable name and any establishment that’s part of the group is likely to at least offer cooking of the same calibre. Soho Thai doesn’t disappoint is that sense. Sure, it’s a menu that pretty much gives you all the favourites from the Thai repertoire, but the quality is good and there’s plenty of choice. 

Start with tod mun pla – sturdy fish cakes, spices with fish paste add an interesting partnership with lime leaves and long beans. Perhaps another notable option could be the cee krong moo, made of char-grilled marinated spare ribs. There are plenty of soups, salads and pan-fried dishes to choose from, but one can’t help but be attracted to the house special dishes. 

From the latter, if you are looking for simplicity and earthy flavours, then look no further than the gai yang, which serves up grilled marinated spring chicken with sweet chilli sauce. If you are in the mood for seafood, equally arresting though more punchy, is the pla neung manow – a dish made of steamed sea bass with lemongrass, crushed chillies and lemon. 

There’s a fair choice of accompaniments and vegetarian dishes too. The standout from the noodles section of the menu though has to be the old favourite pad thai, which on evidence of how they make it here, is richly satisfying and densely flavoured. 

Alas, the only let down of visiting this restaurant is the no-frills approach to the decor, which the owners would be well-advised to spruce up. 

Over-indulgent Interiors

Julia Child once philosophized “if you’re afraid of butter, use cream,” and I like to use this not only as advice in the kitchen but also as a life motto – I interpret it playfully; if you can’t get your mitts on something great, then simply find something else amazing!

I’m particularly hedonistic when it comes to handicraft, and we, at Restaurant Guides have thoroughly enjoyed coming up with six indulgent interior design ideas for more daring delicatessens.

1. Menus printed onto napkins – it would save the cost of printing (and the embarrassment of pretending you actually know how to use the laminator) and it’d look fabulously rustic with a small, set menu.
2. Mysterious shots between courses – after falling through a rabbit-hole of flavours during your supper, you would then be gifted with curious little bottles labelled ‘drink me’ – to cleanse the palette, of course.
3. Chinese Laundrette. I would love to sit in a higgledy-piggledy nest of a restaurant furnished like a homely kitchen. You would write your own order down on Housewife’s to-do list, table numbers would be clipped on with clothes-pegs and your food would arrive in washing baskets, fashioned into trays. Menus would be in the form of small origami t-shirts and trousers, hung up on very miniature washing lines at the side of each table
4. A restaurant in a hay loft, we’re picturing hay bales everywhere, covered in gingham cushions and the room lit by tea lights hanging from shepherd crooks
5. Secret supper clubs – branding/ guerrilla marketing idea – luggage labels would be left around London’s food markets with instructions on where to find a pop-up restaurant – ‘with this travel tag, journey into this restaurant at a discounted price.’
6. Tree-house HQ/ Invisible waiter. Remember when you would fashion party cups into walkie-talkies? Imagine ordering a meal that way whilst never actually seeing your waiter (they’d be taking extra care with your meal in the kitchen) and it’d then arrive through a hatch, and be lowered on a pulley system… What’s the password?

Would you enjoy these audacious décors? What would you design? What would Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen do?

Interested in sumptuous soupçons or inspiring restaurant interiors? Check out our beautiful boards on Pinterest

Written by Hay Brunsdon

Falling through a rabbit-hole of flavours.

Imagine a scenario in which you are required to secure your coat and light-emitting possessions in a locker before you’re allowed inside. Psychologically this prepares you for an intriguing experience. Much like at a theme park when you stash your goods before intrepidly tripping into the twilight zone with both hesitancy and a paradoxical sense of wild abandon.

This was my first impression of Dans le Noir ? As I was guided into the oubliette-esque Dark Room, doubly shrouded behind thick, black drapes, I not only abandoned my sense of sight but also my sense of inhibition.

I can think of no other restaurant where it would be socially acceptable to inflict your company upon the strangers sat at the next table along, but this is just a part of the playful social experience that is Dans le Noir ?. We played a real-life version of the game Guess Who?, we found out the lovely, romantic story of how a couple met – within 5 minutes of meeting them ourselves, and we heard a man unashamedly serenade a stranger with a Queen tribute performance.

And, whilst my dining partner refused to allow me to pretend that we were Katy Perry and Russell Brand, I did embrace my inner thrill-seeker … like somnambulantly stumbling down a rabbit hole and complying with a mysterious bottle demanding ‘drink me.’ With a sense of wonderment I daringly ordered the Surprise White Menu and found myself greedily devouring what turned out to be crocodile!

The fascinating part of the Dans le Noir ? experience is how much you surprise yourself. Not only do you try all manner of tasty treats but you also get a brief glimpse into what it might be like to be blind. The question mark in the restaurant’s name is particularly poignant in that you exit the restaurant actually questioning your relationship with others, and your preconceptions of how you interact with strangers.

Yes, when you take away someone’s sight their sense of taste is reborn, the sounds and scents are intense, the texture of the food you grasp in your hands adds another layer of appreciation for the food. And yet, more importantly you’re flabbergasted, startled into reconfiguring how you are connected to the people around you based entirely upon the way in which you see them.

In short. Food; phenomenal. Experience; cannot be beaten.

Written by Hay Brunsdon

Islington’s Elysium of Tasty Treats

At Mythopolis, 277 City Road sunlight streams through the open front and across the olive green walls and hand-painted tables. Customers are warmly greeted by the restaurant owner; Giannis, and talked through the wide range of great mezes and poikilies.

The idea behind the meze is to ‘try a little of everything.’ I interpreted this as a personal challenge and have to say that I was completely satisfied when, halfway through the meal, I had to undo my belt by three notches.

We were treated to a triad of tasty dips including a refreshing tzatziki and a tangy tyrokafteri, before feasting upon a convoy of moreish courses; mussels in a spicy tomato sauce, minced lamb coated in a delicious mix of mustard and yoghurt, paired with gorgeous garlic mushrooms and sautéd potatoes.

The Greek salad was the ideal fresh and flavorsome accompaniment to our souvlaki – mounds of pork, lamb and some of the most succulent chicken I have ever tasted. To finish off we were gifted with Greek yoghurt nestled beneath a rivulet of zesty wild berry coulis, which was sweet and refreshing in equal measure.

The entire fleet of mini-meals evoked thoughts of summer evenings and that warm scent of Mediterranean clay ovens – not bad for a Tuesday night in the city, then!

The Olympic Offer: Feast Menu

When 10 people order The Full Catastrophe Meze, 10% will be discounted from the food bill, when booked through Restaurant Guides.

For your own celebration we are happy to come up with a bespoke menu, including the sumptuous lamb kleftico. At the weekend the basement is a cavern of entertainment and stays open until 3am!

Written by Hay Brunsdon

Levantine cuisine in a den of decadence

Kenza, 10 Devonshire Square. A sybaritic smorgasbord for all of the senses – feast your eyes over the opulent interiors, and your taste-buds on the treasure trove of rich spices and flavours.

 ‘A blend of authentic home-style cooking, traditional favourites and refined, courtly offerings, combined into a decadent exploration of Middle Eastern food cultures,’ pair this with furnishings inspired by a royal Moroccan riad, and a troupe of beautifully artistic belly-dancers and you’ve got a palatial evening planned out.

Decadent dishes include:

Muhammar                                                                      

(Slow roasted whole marinated lamb shoulder with organic couscous and lamb broth & dried fruits)

 Mashawy samak                 

(Salmon glazed with pomegranate, grilled sea bass, Tiger prawns with mixed baby leaves salad , tahini dressing  & citrus rice marmalade , harissa and garlic sauce.)

Swing by to try out the well priced Afternoon Express menu, or while away an evening in this luxurious nest – enjoy the enormously varied Feast menu whilst the belly-dancers epitomise the femininity inspired at the heart of Kenza.

 

Tea for two…

During a recent trip back to Stroud in Gloucestershire, I spent a delightful weekend cavorting around beneath hay wagons (trying to re-create Laurie Lee’s scene from Cider with Rosie.) And, as a poet myself, it got me thinking about how authors write about food.

Laurie Lee once wrote that ‘bees blew like cake-crumbs through the golden air and white butterflies like sugared wafers.’ In The Darling Buds of May, H E Bates speaks of the ‘may-trees carrying blossom as rich and thick as Ma’s lavish Jersey cream… broad belts of quivering laughter slapped across the strawberry field.’

Both descriptions are detailed, delicate and slightly sensual. It makes me crave good country cooking, or want to snuggle up with a cream tea in a quaint little tea parlour.

If anyone is planning a trip out of London and into the Cotswolds, you simply must visit Well Walk Tea Room in Cheltenham. Crammed full to the brim with antiques and curios, the setting is almost as delicious as their sumptuous cakes. I enjoyed home-made lemonade, cheese and beans on toast followed by honey and ginger ice-cream. The staff were an absolute treat (I respect anyone who mockingly gives me a slapped wrist for not eating my crusts!) but what buttered me up the most were the lip-smackingly reasonable prices!

Written by Hay Brunsdon

Tuck into a filling Trattorian feast.

Does this weather make you want sprawl out in the breeze, maybe with the sunlight dappling over your dinner table, as you tuck into a filling Trattorian feast? Or do you just fancy sipping on a little Limoncello as you nibble upon a chilled Berry Panna Cotta?

Why not pop down to Frantoio at 397 Kings Road? Not only does it feel like another country with all the windows flung open but the staff are charming, the food is homely and it’s also known as a local celebrity haunt. You know a restaurant is doing something right when their regulars include a mixture of elderly couples from Chelsea, as well as football fans on a Saturday afternoon.

Favourite dishes include: Medaglione Di Manzo Con Funghi Prataioli (beef medallion with a mushroom sauce), and Linguine Al Frutti Di Mare (with seafood baked in a paper envelope.)

Though the best treat is probably their new promotion; the ‘Credit Crunch Munch’ – £15 for 2 courses, or £18 for 3 courses 7 days a week!

That Price? On King’s Road, Chelsea? Si, per favore.

Written by Hay Brunsdon

Greek treats and Hellenic feasts.

Photo by Maddy Sharp

To continue with the Mediterranean theme, this week Restaurant Guides are offering great deals on Greek treats and Hellenic feasts.

When I think of Greece, I envisage fresh white-washed buildings, illuminated with brightly painted arched gateways all entwined with the regal purple hue of a bougainvillea plant. I imagine myself toeing stones in clear, shaded rock pools whilst breathing in that lofty smell of pine trees, that tangy aroma of plump lemons wafting from a nearby grove.

That’s all well and good but what of the festivities, the joyful jamboree experienced when you sit down to an opulent Greek feast?

Elysée Restaurant, at 13 Percy Street offers an authentic Greek dining experience with a modern twist. Relax in their roof garden to the melodic twang of the bouzouki; an Old Fashioned Dionysus cocktail in hand, or simply sate your appetite on a veritable feast of sumptuous home-cooking.

Classic morsels include Stuffed Vine Leaves with Minced Lamb and Parsley, Grilled Village Pastourma & Loukaniko Sausages followed by an extensive range of both meaty and monkfish skewers. Gorge on Greek cuisine whilst enjoying a varied meze of traditional music and entertainment. Opa!

Are you ready to take on such a feast? Visit The Elysée for an odyssey of flavours.

Their early evening set menu at £20 per person for large groups that wish to dine early evening before 7.30pm

Their regular £37.50 set menu will be offered at £30 per person, from 7.30pm until the early hours. Please note that there is a £5 per person live music cover charge in addition.

Written by Hay Brunsdon

Trails of bougainvillea and trays of baklava.

Laurence Durrell, (author of Bitter Lemons of Cyprus) once said ‘Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. They flower spontaneously out of the demands of our natures.’ I heartily agree. Twice a year for the last ten years I have visited Northern Cyprus, and every journey there has been prompted by a powerful desire to sup on the gorgeous Turkish Cypriot cuisine.

I take great delight in cavorting beneath stone archways and trails of bougainvillea at Bellapais Abbey; sipping on Raki; nibbling upon mezes of Borek and grilled halloumi cheese. I happily spend days on end gorging on lamb that has been roasted so slowly it almost melts in your mouth and then, finally, eating my weight in honey-soaked baklava.

‘Travel can be one of the most rewarding forms of introspection…’ And, whilst I have no shame in travelling over 2000 miles to enjoy a good lamb kofte. Let us not forget the full range of Turkish restaurants that London has to offer. Follow this link to discover a huge harem of flavours.

Written by Hay Brunsdon