Eat out: London #4 Franco Manca

In the last of my blog posts on London’s many tasty eateries, let’s look at a big personal pizza-y favourite, Franco Manca.

Franco Manca, Southfields

Have I mentioned I love pizza? Honestly, my ideal dinner consists of a tasty veggie pizza, great glass of white wine, and a good friend. That is exactly why Franco Manca continues to be a personal favourite. It always reminds me of heading to London as a student to meet my sister in Chiswick, where we’d almost religiously frequent the Franco Manca for a hit of its delicious sourdough pizzas.

francomanca.co.uk

On returning to London, however, it turns out these pizza places are popping up all over the shop, with about 10 locations across the city and one having even opened in my old stomping ground, Southfields!

The menu is simple but delicious. There is a small selection of pizzas, with two ever-changing vegetarian and meat specials, which are joined by a handful of basic starters, (the green olives are pretty darn tasty), a couple of salads, and a few desserts – the lemon sorbet covered in a limoncello shot made by head buzz and my heart melt.

It’s safe to say I’m fully and emotionally invested in the current sourdough pizza trend. Served up with chilli oil and topped with some roasted veg, olives, and plenty of cheese it’s so darn delicious and filling!

francomanca.co.uk

Also, and I know I risk sounding like a five year old, I love pizza restaurants with open kitchens. Somehow pizza just tastes more authentic when you can watch two frustrated, flour-covered Italians arguing beside the wood-burning brick oven.

Veggie verdict: 7/10 – there are only a few vegetarian pizzas, but they’re always happy to play around with toppings.
Price: Pizzas cost anything from £4.50 to £8, while a glass of wine is £3.50
Find out more: francomanca.co.uk

Eat out: London #3 Bonnington Cafe

Next on my list of great eats in London – or rather Greater London – is the Bonnington Cafe.

Bonnington Cafe, Vauxhall

This one is courtesy of my good pal and blogger extraordinaire Flick (aka They Called It The Diamond Blog). East of Vauxhall station and down a couple of rather dubious-looking dark residential streets, you’ll discover the Bonnington Cafe. From the outside, it resembles a slightly eerie knick-knack store and, from the inside, somebody’s front room.

Much to my relief on first frequenting it, the Bonnington Cafe turns out to be a fun and tasty, community-led, and 100 per cent vegetarian (*high five*) restaurant. Run as part of the Bonnington Square Community Centre, the restaurant doesn’t have just one chef, but a ever-changing array of cooks that changes night-to-night. It’s worth checking online first for a clue of what dishes to expect.

The menu is very simple, with just two starters, two mains, and two desserts to choose from and, although I can’t remember the name of our chef, I do remember tucking into a plate of spicy maffe senegalese red bean stew with rice, and wheat-free almond chocolate cake.

London isn’t exactly renowned for its community feel – surprise surprise! – so this homely initiative is a refreshing change, as well as a great way for a local community centre to earn some cash. My personal favourite part of the restaurant was the BYO policy and, while it’s not exactly the most glamorous of eateries, it’s a great place for an easy catch up with a couple of good friends over some tasty food.

Veggie verdict: 10/10 – it’s a meat-free zone, suckers!
Price: Starters and desserts are set at £3.50 each and mains at £7.50 – well, at least, they were on the day we went.
Find out more: www.bonningtoncafe.co.uk

Eat out: London #2 Seoul Bakery

After enjoying some rather delicious and fun restaurants when I was last roaming around London I decided to dedicate a few blog posts to them. Next up is Seoul Bakery!

Seoul Bakery, St Giles High Street

For first discovering this hidden gem I have my lovely sister to thank. Just off the manic bustle of Tottenham Court Road, Seoul Bakery is the ideal destination for anyone with a heart full of love for Asian food, but not necessarily pockets full of cash.

(Flickr/ Kate Pugh)

Between me and two friends, we dined merrily on Korean dishes including veggie bibimbap, noodle soup, and veggie kimbap, all for less than £30. So basically, it’s a London student’s dream!

But with a seating area smaller than most people’s living rooms and certainly not big enough to swing a cat, (although I tend to judge restaurants that partake in this activity), it’s best to always expect a queue and be ready to rub shoulders with your fellow diners on shared tables – just hope they haven’t opted for the far-reaching and splash-prone noodle soup.

The fact the walls are laden floor-to-ceiling in messages, doodles, notes, and photos only adds to the restaurant’s quirky feel.

Veggie verdict: 4/10 – beware the unlabelled fishy sauces
Price: You can easily enjoy a small feast for £10
Find out more: There isn’t a website, but try the Timeout review for more info and (far better) pictures.

Eat out: London #1 Pizza Pilgrims

During a recent visit home, I was happy to find myself residing in London town for a few days. While only there for a short time, I was determined to take full advantage of the capital’s delicious food establishments – of which there are many! Some of them were so very enjoyable, in fact, that I thought I’d dedicate a few blog posts to them. So, first up is Pizza Pilgrims.

Pizza Pilgrims, Kingly Court

Being the unimaginative and pizza-loving blogger that I am, I have to admit I’ve written about Pizza Pilgrims before. Business must be going well, however, because this particular Pizza Pilgrims, just off Carnaby Street, has only recently opened.

As well the welcome benefit of being significantly bigger that its Soho sister, this pizza place has the added of factor of being a ‘Frigittori’ which, as a waiter informed me, means “fried stuff”. And what tasty fried stuff it is too! A friend and I happily tucked into the Arancini Rosso, otherwise known as tomato risotto balls with smoked mozzarella, which, despite the rather petite portion, are surprisingly filling.

But the best bit is obviously still the freshly baked sourdough pizzas. Shamefully, I can’t remember the exact pizza we had, (it wasn’t really around long enough for me to store the toppings to memory), but I can say it was vegetarian and fantastic!

I’ve always loved the style of their restaurants too. With laid back staff, lamps made from hollowed-out parmesan cheese cases, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle poster, what’s not to like?

Veggie verdict: 7/10
Price: Average price for a pizza is £9 and a ‘cuopo’ of Arancini Rosso is £4.50
Find out more: pizzapilgrims.co.uk

Eat in: pineapple and tofu fried rice

Several much-loved belongings had to stay behind in England when I moved to the UAE. Among those items were my knee-high walking boots, favourite winter coat – both of which were deemed as not very desert-friendly items of clothing – as well as my many beautiful but hefty cookery books.

Then on first perusing a supermarket in Dubai, I found that the lack of some food stuff and high price of others meant that many of my well-practised and (almost) perfected dinners were no longer a viable option. Zut alors!

Many of these day-to-day dishes, however, had been developed and ‘refined’ during my student years, when my main specifications for any meal were that it be cooked in less than 10 minutes, create minimal washing up, and be suitable for eating in a bowl while sitting crossed-legged in front of the telly. I can still make a mean stir fry!

Although I still stand by some of those credentials, I saw the move to the UAE as a good opportunity to broaden my food horizons and, without my trusty cookery books, I have taken to the internet in search of simple and tasty meals to adopt.

Rather unsurprisingly, there are some jolly good food blogs out there and many that push the current foodie trends of vegan, raw, and gluten-free style cooking, which means there are plenty of great recipes suitable for a hungry vegetarian, such as myself.

One such dish is this pineapple and tofu fried rice from A Beautiful Mess – this sister-run site is now less of a blog and more an online lifestyle magazine that is forever uploading delicious, simple meals that are mostly very veggie-friendly or at least easily adapted. I opt out of adding the fish sauce to the fried rice and like to use a softer tofu as I think it’s generally tastier and soaks up more flavour, but otherwise it’s a darn tasty dish.

As someone who’s been an out-and-proud vegetarian for the last decade, I’m ashamed to say that despite consuming many kilos of tofu in restaurants and take-outs over the years, I’d only cooked it a couple of times before moving to Dubai (please forgive me veggie police!). However, fearing I’d become a sickly, nutrient-deficient fool stumbling around in the desert sun, I’ve started packing more of this soy-goodness into my meals. It turns out tofu is really flipping easy to cook and if you bake it beforehand rather than fry it then it’s a lot healthier too.

By the by, before anyone makes the wildly-misguided assumption that I’m a health food fanatic, I should point out that the writing of this blog post was sponsored by cheese on toast and a three-pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

P.S I am well aware that photography and, more specifically, food photography is not my strongest skill so don’t be a judgemental meanie and trust me that this is a really rather tasty dish. Promise.

My favourite places to eat right now

London is full to bursting with delicious, unusual, independent(ish) restaurants. I’ve been making a bit of an effort recently not to simply opt for the nearest chain and actually bother hunting down all those great eateries I’ve been meaning to go to. (Saying this, a cheeky Pizza Express with an Orange Wednesday is still a classic).

So here a couple of my favourite places to eat right now:

PIZZA PILGRIMS:

You can’t seem to escape these guys, along with their three-wheeled pizza oven van and rather delicious-looking pizzas, at the moment. You can find Pizza Pilgrims at food festivals, regular festivals, on the streets of London, and they even have their own book out. Despite this, until last week I had still managed to miss actually tasting the pizza itself! So it’s a jolly good thing they’ve just opened a restaurant on Dean Street, hey?

A cosy, green pizza-y haven on a corner in Soho, Pizza Pilgrims feels stylish but not overworked with a no-nonsense menu and fab chequered table mats. But most importantly the pizza is dam tasty!

The crust if that lovely soft, almost chewy dough that I think might maybe possibly be sourdough (I’m no dough expert!). And not all the pizzas are topped with a tomato base. You know it’s a classy pizza place when the chefs are cocky enough to eschew a tomato base!

It reminded me slightly of Franco Manca, which is another rather fantastic pizza place! I do believe I’m a fan of this pretentious pizza trend that’s around at the moment.

EAST STREET:

Inspired by Asian food markets and hidden on Rathbone Place, close to Tottenham Court Road tube station, East Street serves up a range of authentic, colourful and yummy delish dishes from across the eastern continent, including Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, as well as Indonesia, Philippines, Japan and Korea.

This is also a surprisingly wallet-friendly restaurant with some jolly fantastic offers, such as the Eastern Express Menu which allows you to fill your belly for less than £9 and the 25% student discount! So why not join forces with a friend (or two) and choose multiple smaller meals and make some delightful Asian-Tapas inter-continental experience?

All the exciting flavours and smells, along with funky Asian street signs hanging above you and manga films projected on the far wall, make for a pretty exciting place to eat. Plus the staff are rather friendly – just don’t ever do what my friend did and exclaim to the waiter: “This is just like Wagamamas!”

Safe to say he was not impressed.

Maltby Street Market

A little while ago I wrote a feature about my first visit to what quickly became one of my favourite London markets, Maltby Street Market. For one reason or t’other I never did anything with it, but thought rather than it go to waste why not post it now?

Historically speaking, Southwark began life as a melting pot of different cultures showcasing their expertise. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries thousands of mainland Europeans flocked to London and its southern suburb and a couple of hundred years later 50,000 French Huguenots, fleeing religious persecution, followed suit.

It was this way that exotic trades such as pottery making, leather tanning, cloth and silk weaving were established in London town – gosh I love history!

Back to 2013 and I’m reminded of Southwark’s historical roots as I wander around Maltby Street Market found along Druid Street and Rope Walk. It may not be textiles and tanneries, but the area of make-shift stalls hidden among the archways of a railway line is quickly gathering a reputation for providing quality food from across the globe.

With no more than 20 traders this little market – open on Saturdays from ‘9am until the gin runs out’ – is rumoured to be the destination for those tired of the crowds and tourism of neighbouring Borough Market.

I, like everyone everywhere, love Borough Market but the prospect of a new competitor is too tempting. So with my bag packed, stomach ready and multiple alarms set, I’m up at the crack of dawn (or at least what feels like the crack of dawn on a Saturday) to investigate.

At 9am Rope Walk, decked out in bright bunting zig-zagging across the narrow street, is only just waking up. After a much-needed and delicious coffee from Craft Coffee I spot a man wearing a colourful cravat taking a great deal of care arranging perfect cheese pyramids on his stall. A small man sporting a large top hat, and wheeling a sign as tall as himself, stops to introduce himself to cravat-cheese-man with a handshake and a simple “la enchanté”, before wheeling on and carrying on with preparations. It was at this point I decided I loved Maltby Street Market.

During the week Rope Walk is used by a wood salvage company and rather than empty out the archways, the Saturday traders adjust to their surroundings, using the piles of wood as shelving to display their produce. In one archway bright orange bar stools turn dusty work benches into a gin bar!

Maltby Street Market is like a global tour for your stomach. With trains trundling overhead you can indulge in fresh French pastries, Grecian honey and oil, American-style breakfasts, South African Peri Peri chicken, Spanish ham, French and Swiss cheese, London gin, and good British cakes, to name just a few.

There is such a lovely, friendly, small-town feel to the market, which is something I’m definitely not used to in central London. But Rachel McCormack, Mrs Maltby Street, tells me this is no coincidence.

She explains her choice of traders is very deliberate and, receiving two to three stall requests every week, she can afford to be fussy.

“They must fit in with the ethos of the market and there has to be a good a mix”, Rachel says between greeting passing customers in either her strong Scottish accent or fluent Spanish.

“We want people to know they are getting good food at good prices.”

I also got a chance to chat to stall-owner Edd Kimber, winner of the first series of The Great British Bake Off (wahey!), and discovered the importance of harmony between stall-owners and good quality of produce at this market.

“I really like it, it’s very friendly, has a really nice mix of people and a good atmosphere.”

He adds: “Having a train go over the market is weird, but it is very London. It adds to the whole thing. It’s unique in way.”

Grant Hawthorne, Cape Town-ian stall owner and chef behind the market’s South African Peri Peri sauces, confidently explains: “The people here are intelligent, they know their stuff. The customers come here for a reason.”

Being the hard-hitting journo that I am, I decided to find out more about the rivalry with Borough Market. However my interrogation skills don’t come to much and Rachel is quick to rebuff any notions of inter-market competition.

“The competition is not between the markets. It is with the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s,” she says.

“The point is to get people to come here and not to the large supermarkets. People should buy straight from the producers.”

So no scandalous rivalry , but one sugary pastry, a few blueberry pancakes, a multitude of free samples, including a small tot of gin, later and I leave Southwark feeling content, if perhaps a little queasy.

All in all I’d say a successful morning!

Seed & Bean: funky festival chocolate

Continuing on from my last post, here is another blog entry I did for YOU magazine. Yes, essentially re-blogging myself does make me a lazy blogger, but the sheer beauty and deliciousness of the chocolate makes up for that (I hope).

Gone are the days of the lowly humdrum chocolate bar. Now, it seems, chocoholics are on the hunt for the funkiest flavours and jazziest packaging and the latest offerings from Seed & Bean provide just that.

As the official chocolate bar of this year’s Glastonbury Festival and with packaging featuring the psychedelic retro designs of artist Matt Lyons, this is chocolate at its most stylish.

The smooth and delicious treats come in three flavours: Milk Chocolate with Cornish Sea Salt and West Indies Lime, White Chocolate Raspberry and Vanilla, and Dark Chocolate with Sicilian Hazelnut. The white chocolate option, which tastes like real raspberry ice-cream, was a big hit in the YOU office.

To top it all off Seed & Bean also have top eco credentials, as the UK’s only 100% ethically accredited chocolate company – even their wrapping is biodegradable!

At £2.29 each, these bars will be out in shops from September, but if you can’t wait until then you can find them online now, seedandbean.co.uk.

Simmons bar: Cocktails at King’s Cross

While having a jolly lovely time at a YOU magazine work placement recently I wrote a couple of entries for their blog – yay! Take a gander at my review of Simmons cocktail bar.

But then I also thought to post them on my own blog, (that is what they call multi-tasking street smart moxie!). So check out it out:

London is full to bursting with weird and wonderful bars. But just a two minute stroll from King’s Cross station, Simmons is possibly the kookiest of them all.

This quirky watering hole offers the perfect setting to unwind after a long day with a couple of friends and a cocktail, or should I say tea cup, in hand.

Friendly, intimate and with an interior design best described as eccentric-aunt-chic, this bar has lashings of character. Sit at the old school desks – complete with childhood doodles – and admire the many shelves adorned with mis-match lamps, vintage books, the odd royal memorabilia and an impressive collection of international beer cans.

The eccentric style doesn’t stop at the menu. All served in dainty tea cups, (and teapots for those sharing, of course), the newly revamped menu offers a range of concoctions, including a range of dessert-inspired drinks – the Toblerone cocktail with Baileys, Kahlua, Frangelico and cream is not for the faint-hearted, believe me! And for the truly indecisive the obliging staff are often more than happy to whip up something off-menu. Cheers!

Find out more at Simmonsbar.co.uk

Foodie Festival (aka Gorge Fest 2013)

I am a fan of food; a big fan of food. In fact I’d go as far to say it’s all I eat.

So when a friend offered me a last minute ticket to the Foodie Festival at Clapham Common this weekend (8th-9th June) I almost bite her arm off at the invite!

With expectations high and stomachs empty we entered the maze of food stalls, bars, cookery showings, music and free samples. There were hundreds of stalls and pop-up restaurants serving dishes from across the globe – Indian platters, burritos, pizza, paella, sushi, BBQ, oysters and even battered fish from Poole, Dorset (woo!) to name just a few.

After all that there was dessert! Cakes, cheesecakes, mini shot-glass puddings, ice lollies, there was even one stall offering deep-friend sweets and another serving icecream made using liquid nitrogen. I had something called a Peanut Butter Fudge Cake which, despite possibly being all of my recommended daily amount of calories, was darn tasty (Narna’s Chocolates).

Oh and of course there was drink, a lot of drink – enough to pick up a mild drinking habit in one afternoon. You could even opt for a coconut freshly hacked open by a man wielding a machete in an uncomfortably blasé manner, (drinking straight out of a coconut will never get old).

Occasionally our attention was drawn away from the stalls and we were lucky enough to see Amber Rose cooking up a tasty looking cake from her book Love Bake Nourish in one of the theatre tents.

So, I may have eaten more than was physically necessary but I had a jolly good time doing it and it’s safe to say we were not disappointed.* Apparently there are a few festivals like this happening around the south of England, check out details on the Foodies Festival site.

*Well actually, it would have been great to have a little sunshine but I can hardly blame the festival organisers for the weather (…much).