Story

A lot of heart and soul has gone into Tom Seller’s first restaurant, Story. The beautiful menu is derived from his reputable training (Per Se and Noma) and also that from his own life and family. The 6 and 10 course tasting menus are very much in line with the current trend; a blend of incredible technical execution, a bit of quirk and earthy, well crafted small morsels of food. What you can expect from your plates at Story is in style with that of Roganic, Dabbous and Nuno Mendes.

The Bucket List Update

Since posting my London Foodie Bucket List almost a year ago I have been working my way through it like a woman on a mission, and can honstly say I've nearly finished the list. Most places I have posted about indipendently, however I have had a long list of restaurants on my 'to do' list for some time.

Wild Honey



We went to Wild Honey for my lovely boyfriend's birthday last September. The booking was actually made on his request, which I am glad about because admitidely I would have kept pushing it down my list otherwise.

I can honestly say this was one of my favourite meals of 2012. I ordered the duck foie gras terrine to start followed by the bouillabaisse. William had the pork belly starter followed by the lamb with vegetables and dauphinois potatos. Although each sounds relatively simple what was delivered to us was not only two beautiful crafted meals served up over a number of individual stunningly attractive dishes, but also dishes that were rich and warming in flavour. Every mouthful we ate at Wild Honey was a joy to take.

Yauatcha

We visited Yauatcha randomly while out one night in Soho. I think this is the best way to go; no hype, no anticipation, just rock up and pay a little more than you want to on a large selection of dim sum.

Don't get me wrong the dim sum at Yauatcha is nice and I thoroughly enjoyed my evening, but to me it was a little over manufactured like they type of food you get at Ping Pong. We ordered a selection of what sounded like the more exciting dumplings and dim sum bits, however regretfully nothing was memorable enough to stick in my mind. Each of the dumplings we did have were packed full of filling and there certainly wasn't a shortage of crab meat or char siu pork. The restaurant and bar are cool, the clientele usually in suits are fine to dine next to however there really is nothing special to me about Yauatcha. I would go again for a quick bite when I get a dim sum craving, however I wouldn't make it a special occasion.

Pitt Cue Co



I first visited Pitt Cue Co in its pop up meat van on the soutbank and was pleased to see that it's incarnation in its permanent soho spot it just as good. The pulled pork from Pitt Cue Co is still delicious with its smoky BBQ flavours. Old favourites like the ribs and pickled slaw are still on the menu and still just as good.

The Soho location is fast, affordable and is still of the same excellent meaty quality that made PCC famous.

The Riding House Cafe



The Riding House Cafe is a very cool place, and it's location lends its self perfectly for accessibility for any meal.

I visited for a business lunch with a large group of colleagues. We were seated quickly. The wait staff were courteous and friendly, yet let us be to 'talk shop' before taking our orders. I was hungry, but I could tell my superiors appreciated it.

I ordered the smoked haddock kedgeree, it was delicious. The curry flavours were strong but did not over power the smokiness of the haddock. The soft eggs were a nice touch and added creaminess to the disk. I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch at Riding House, and hope to go back soon with a group of people it would be more appropriate to try more of the menu with.

Bone Daddies

London has done a full circle when it comes to asian street food, specifically ramen. Although this craze feels like the newest, hottest thing lets remember a handful of years ago, before the burger vans, pulled pork, American fast food and small plates craze there was the Asian street food trend steer-head by Wagamamas (of all places!). Wagamamas may now be just another chain restaurant, but ramen is back in full swing in a number of indipendent restaurants popping up around London.

Bone Daddies has just joined Soho's gastronomic scene and is gathering queues for what I can claim is the best ramen I have had in London. The menu offers 8 different kinds of ramen, a variety that its neighbour Tonkotsu lacks. I went for the Tantanmen, which was fragrant, smokey, and almost coconutty. Absolutely delicious! 

About time we went to Bob Bob Ricard

I fell in love on my first visit to Bob Bob Ricard, with it's grandeur, it's art deco and art neavou interior and it's super lux Champaign on demand button.

I can firmly say the Russian and Eastern European with an American flare cuisine that Bob Bob plates up is authentic and delicious. The dishes were rich, flavorsome, and for what is traditionally a very stodgy and full fat style of cooking, everything we ate at Bob Bob tasted expensive. The tartares, both venison and tuna were divine, I recommend these for a melt in your mouth experience, but perhaps even more exciting were the soufflé desserts.

As the vodka continued the flow, and the dishes continued to wow us, we easily decided Bob Bob Ricard was a new favourite in Soho.

Cuzco, Peru restaurant recommendation: Fallen Angel

We visited Fallen Angel in Cuzco on a recommendation from a friend of a friend, but this quirky, stylish and at times plain mental restaurant exceeded all our expectations.

The decor is out of this world. You step off the hectic streets of Peru into a weird haven of the bizarre. The walls are sky blue with fluffy white clouds. The tables are bath tubs filled with gold fish and as you walk for room to room you stumble further into this mad world.

Left with a bad taste: The Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs&

I've shelved this post for some months, it's not my way to publish a bad review or in my nature to endeavor to tarnish someone's reputation however, when myself and 4 friends all came down with food poisoning after eating at the Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs& and the restaurant did nothing, I thought I best let you all know.

We went to the Kitchen Table, hidden in the back room of Bubbledogs& just a few months after its opening. The entire evening was lovely. Although the "tosserati" (Marina O'Loughlin) were out in full form the five of us managed to sift through the pretension and engage in only a handful of ego feeding conversations with our neighboring guest, to enjoy a wonderful experience.

The meal was lovely. It was presented in a logical narrative as the plates went from light to rich, raw to cooked, seafood to red meat to dessert in what seemed to be a natural transition of cold to warm to hot, back to cold. The arrangement was flawless.

It wasn't long after eating at the Kitchen Table, that one by one each of our group of five fell ill with what could only be pinned as food poisoning.

Prague restaurant recommendation: Cafe Savoy

At first glance you're left breath-taken by the grandeur of the lovely art nouveau Cafe Savoy in Prague. The high-ceilinged 19th century interior is stunning, and the food is excellent. This  popular dwelling for the cliques of the affluent, intellectual and expats offers a classic and rich menu that makes subtle nods to traditional Mediterranean fare, including the likes of crayfish soup, escargots, foie gras, steak tartare and veal entrecôte. 

Every fine detail at Savoy is perfect, from the presentation of a bowl on your table before having your waiter poor the thick soup into it, to the delicate little pastries available from the bakery. The staff speak English and are eager and willing to offer recommendations. The sommelier is also very knowledgeable and approachable. 

My recommendations: the steak tartare and chicken liver dumpling soup.

New York restaurant recommendation: Katz's Deli

Katz's Deli is my number one foodie recommendation in New York City, and well worth the visit to the East Village.

You arrive to the manic deli and are given a small pink ticket that you are advised to hold on to with your life as it is necessary for paying your bill. Don't lose it, basically. There are two options, wait for a table where a waiter will take your order, or line up at the take away counters and shuffle through the canteen style arrangement until you have everything you could want wrapped up in your brown paper bag. However exciting it is watching the guys heap sauerkraut onto hotdogs and salt beef sandwiches, we thought it would be a whole lot easier and neater to join the queue and wait for a table. While waiting for a table the feast for your eyes that is this place unfolds in front of you. Rammed from wall to wall, the tables are full of people feasting on the biggest sandwiches you've ever seen.

Kimchee, Holborn

I'm not entirely sure where to start with Kimchee in Holborn, the experience was a real mix. Good, well cooked food and possibly the worse service I've experienced. There was a lot of hype around Kimchee when it first opened, and I suspect they have kept up pace thanks to the tasty food and affordable prices.

Nose to tail eating: St. John Hotel

Fergus Henderson’s nose to tail cooking philosophy summarises quintessential great British cooking. Most excitingly, he now deserves a big congratulations for receiving the surprising first Michelin star for St John Hotel in Soho this month. The menu that consists of hearts, livers, trotter, marrow and kidney is likely to be stomach turning for some, but for me the exciting use of offal was the draw card.

The best way to do a St John meal is in a big group of non-fussy eaters and share a bit of everything. We ordered a veritable feast for five.

Devilled Pig's Skin and Smoked Cod's Roe was incredible, crispy yet melted on your tongue, salty with a little heat from the paprika. The saltiness of the smoked cod roe complemented this perfectly, but could easily stand as a strong dish on its own.

Another highlight was the Snails, Duck Heart and Lovage. I was surprised when my English born dad who we were dining with shied away from the duck heart claiming it reminded him of English boarding school offal. Luckily that didn't deter us more adventurous foodies who dove right in. The dish was an interesting concoction of garlic and soft textures from the heart and snails, definitely worth a visit.

Unfortunately, the Rabbit and Borlotti Beans was a disappointment. The rabbit was under-cooked, making it chewy and difficult to separate from the bone. The Chicken and Trotter Pie for Two (or more like a family of four) is definitely worth splurging for. The pastry was crisp and buttery, with a creamy gelatinous filling.

Desserts at St John are outstanding. Based on our friendly and informative waitress’s recommendation we ordered the Baked Cheesecake with Fig, Honeycomb Ice Cream and a serve of 6 Madeleines to ‘take home’. I’m going to take a big stand and say this is may be the best cheesecake I have ever eaten. It cannot even be described, but oh my, the baked goats cheese with sweet fig syrup is not something you are going to want to share, I'm salivating just writing about it. Equally, the Madeleines were crispy on the outside, warm, soft and fluffy inside, and moorish as hell. Needless to say, they didn't make it home.

Foraged and found, a little bit of Noma in London: North Road

In the same year Noma prestigiously reaffirms its number one restaurant in the world rating, London's very own Danish invasion, North Road is awarded a Michelin star less then 18 months after opening.

Christoffer Hruskova, who has recently moved on from North Road took much inspiration from Noma. North Road's decor is simple and post modern in it's scandanivian design, paired with the unique and adventurous Nordic style of cooking using a myriad of unusual and foraged ingredients.

Having not experienced much in the way of haut scandanivian cuisine I praise North Road if only for it's welcomed and thorough introduction to a style of food I won't experience anywhere short of a trip to Copenhagen.

Each course on the tasting menu was interesting, ingenious and intriguing with lots of raw textures, natural sweeteners and curious smoked and salted flavours.

Our three orderves compliments of the chef were each a work of art on a plate, preparing us for what was to come. Smoked potato filled with fish protein mayonnaise, marinaded quails eggs and pork scratchings to remind us of North Road's British influences. Each of the three mouthfuls were perfect with fierce flavours.

First on the tastings menu was deliciously fresh raw Doeset crab served natural and dressed with apple vinegar. Scottish Lumpfish roe with buttermilk snow, onions and burnt chicken skin. This dish was perhaps the only thing I didn't like about the meal, the buttermilk snow over chilled the dish and added an unsettling texture to the roe, and I personally found the burnt chicken skin bitter. I look at this dish as a brave addition to the menu as its certainly not to everyone's taste.

The heavily smoked native Dorset lobster with raw wild and cultivated vegetables packed a rich, strong smokey flavour. The fresh and smooth melting texture of the lobster was compliemnted perfectly by the crunch of the raw vegetables. This dish was devine and I think I would re-visit North Road just for it. The asparagus three ways with wild garlic and a salted pheasant egg yolk was technically impressive. When pierced the runny egg yolk that had been perfectly detached from it's white mixed with the garlic and pine dressing to create a thick and creamy sauce. To the eye this was one of the more simple dishes, yet one of my favorites.

We were starting to feel like this meal would go on forever, and were more than happy for it to. After a change in wine to accompany a heavier meat we were served the lamb and sweetbreads topped with sea kale. The dish was uncomplicated, resting on the strength of the perfectly cooked lamb.

Each of our four desserts were ingenious. Barley, pine, malt, hay and sea moss were infused together to create concoctions including an edible rock and cotton candy tree with edible soil.

Hruskova took the simplest of flavours and added ingredients you never even thought edible and created flavours unlike any other in a contemporary, delicious and truly memorable meal.

Brasserie Zedel: a pleasant surprise in Piccadilly

Brasserie Zedel seems refreshingly out of place in Piccadilly Circus among the chain restaurants and tourist traps. Zedel however is neither. The recently opened brasserie is grandeur in scale and style, yet incredibly affordable which makes you wonder if it will last.

The menu is extensive, offering close to everything you could want from a French brasserie. The dishes are authentic and extremely reasonably priced; the Prix Fixe is astonishingly priced at £11.25 for three courses. I favoured the a la carte menu, realising three courses wouldn't cost me much more then £20. The fish soup (£4.25) was incredible; thick, meaty and flavorsome. Salmon tartare was tasty and what it lacked in excitement was redeemed by the price-tag (£6.50).

Steak Haché, Sauce au Poivre et Frites . . . . £7.50
Perhaps best value on the menu is the steak haché with peppercorn sauce, and frites. How this is priced at a mere £7.50 I will never know. The chopped steak is perfectly cooked on the pinker side of medium rare.

Café gourmand (£3.50) saw two delicious bites of French patisserie sweetness and plunger coffee end the meal. Perfect.

Brasserie Zedel has already become my go-to restaurant in London. Having visited twice in a few short weeks knowing I wouldn't leave begrudging my bill and I would thoroughly enjoy what I ate. Zedel simply makes me question menu prices generally. I have recently eaten far less exciting and bland meals and paid four times the price. You can’t seem to get anything more than a burger and fries for £20 in London at the moment. Let’s hope we’re seeing the start of a new trend and other restaurateurs follow suit.

Concombre à la Crème - Prix Fixe 3 courses - £11.25

Tartare de Saumon . . . . . £6.50

Soupe de Poisson et sa Rouille . . £4.25

Choucroute Alsacienne . . . . . . . £11.95

Café gourmand . . . . . . . £3.50

No waffle: Duck and Waffle

It's the opportunity to take in some of the most breath taking views in London that excited me most about visiting Duck and Waffle. Located on the 40th floor of the Heron Town, the restaurant boasts an incredibly swanky cocktail bar and post-modern dining room that is not only astonishingly beautiful but is also incredibly trendy to hang out in, if you can get past the sea of suited up city-types.


Soon to go 24 hours, D&W is sister to the American chain SUSHISAMBA, but brings a very modern British style to the family. The menu is made up of a number of small plates including breads and bar snacks, raw, small plates, brick oven (served in hot skillets), and for the table. Unlike much of the other restaurants who have jumped on the small plate bandwagon, D&W offers hearty and rich meals meaning you don't need to go crazy and order one of everything on the menu.

The pigs ears were a great bar snack and worth a try but not really my bag. They were deep fried, crunchy and flavoured with a salty BBQ seasoning that I unfortunately relate too closely to Texas BBQ Pringles. The mackerel tartare was citrusy, dressed well and finished with creme fraiche. Served slightly too chilled, the fishy flavours didn't really surface until the dish had rested on the table for a short time. Compliments of the chef, the raw scallops were excellent. Fresh and served resting on lime dressed apple slices on top of a salt block, they were a very pleasant surprise.

Feeling brave in saying so, my favourite dish of the night was the foie gras all day breakfast. Seemingly controversial amongst fellow bloggers, the dish is inventive and worth a try if only to decide you hate it. Fried quails egg, crisp streaky bacon and duck foie gras sat on top chocolate-hazelnut spread bread, the whole thing is dressed with maple syrup and finished with black puddings. For me, this dish worked incredibly well as a whole. The foie gras was rich and almost melted on the toast with the creamy egg. The saltiness of the bacon brought out not only the richness of the foie gras and egg but also the surprising sweetness off the chocolate. Not necessarily needed but a nice addition, the black pudding was rich but under seasoned. My dinner partner however, felt almost the opposite about this dish claiming the chocolate simply overpowered it all. I agree in essence this may be the case for some but if you get the good side with just the right amount of chocolate the dish is perfect.

bbq-spiced crispy pig ears / £4

mackerel tartare / pickled cucumber / smoked vodka / crème fraîche / £6

foie gras all day breakfast / £12

shetland mussels & clams / n’duja / fennel broth / house bread / £10

roasted essex beetroot / goat curd / honey / watercress / £8

In some places the food was hit and miss, but hey let's put it down to teething problems. After discovering the rather exciting breakfast menu I have booked a table to return later this month. This is saying something as I rarely find time to re-visit a restaurant in London. I expect I will be blown away again by what will this time be an early morning view of London waking up. I can only hope the food impresses me again in round two.