Cooking The Books

City Caphe

A while ago a lady contacted me about banh mi, saying how she was starting a new Vietnamese food venture in the city and how my banh mi post from Hanoi had inspired her to recreate the pointed ended baguettes of that region when they did.  I was more than intrigued so soon as I'd heard it had opened - not from her I should add, but from London Eating - I hopped on the tube and made the rather-long-for-lunch journey from Mayfair to Bank. 

Upon entering I was struck by the decor.  They've tried to recreate the feel of Vietnam here and, outside of the lack of 35 degree heat and uncomfortable humidity, they have succeeded.  I love the sun bleached colonial yellow walls, the handwritten food related Vietnamese messages around the tables and the inclusion of a real life banh mi hawker cart, imported from Vietnam and stuck at the end of the counter, is the kind of attention to detail I like.

On this trip I was mortified to find they didn't have banh mi yet due to a lack of baguettes, my mortification was short-lived though when I turned to the old faithful beef pho, which was a respectable example of this dish.  The stock - made themselves - had good flavour, a strong beef aroma and nice aromatics. One of my favourite things about it was the cut of beef which came complete with a little grizzle and fat, maybe not to everyone's taste but I wouldn't want it any other way as it provided variety of texture and flavour and reminded me of Vietnam. I was pleased to find the accompanying sliced red chilies had a bit of heat, which isn't always the case. 

My dining companion's rice with char-grilled pork was described as having lots of flavour, a bit of chew but nice and moist. A free salad comes with the main dishes which is basically some pickles, cucumber, coriander and some animal - mine pork and prawn, my friend's chicken - which makes a nice side to the meal. One criticism would be the pickles were a little flat, the vinegar not coming through as much as I would have liked.  We shared some summer rolls too which had a good balance of herbs, noodles and prawns, the dip that came with them was an interesting peanut affair that I'd not had before.

Along with the salad all customers were given a free cafe sua da, a cold Vietnamese coffee topped with condensed milk - I'm assuming as an introduction with the hope of repeat trade.  Julie has since said they also add fresh milk, to improve the taste for the Western palate, but I was instantly transported to a Hanoi street corner by the chicory overtones of the bean, which is bought from Ca Phe VN on Broadway market.  If you've never had one of these before I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.

After my first visit I got in touch with the owner Julie to let her know I'd been, saying I would introduce myself next time, and she invited me back the next day to taste their pre-production banh mi.  I could hardly turn down that offer so after work I made my way back across town to see if their dedication to finding the right baguette had paid off.  The bread, which is by far the most important thing in a banh mi, was light and fluffy on the inside with a thin, crisp crust - just as it should be.  Julie said they'd spoke to a number of Vietnamese bakeries, in Vietnam and abroad, before settling on the recipe which ended up being pure wheat flour, which was in line with other bakeries they'd spoke to.  A lot has been said about the importance of rice flour in banh mi but here it's definitely not missed.

I ate all the fillings and favourites where the classic (rolled belly, pate and Vietnamese luncheon meat) and chargrilled pork, the five spice in that setting the banh mi off a treat.  Chicken was chicken, beef fragrant with lemongrass and the vegetarian fried tofu with oyster mushrooms surprisingly meaty.  Whilst eating I got to meet the family behind it, who were all lovely, and regale them with my tales of eating in Vietnam on my travels.  Well sated I left promising I would return for the production item. 

I was worried that the location was a bit out the way but having returned now they're fully in operation that doesn't seem a problem, there is no shortage of customers.  I needed to try the banh mi proper so ordered the classic (I just can't turn down all those different porcine delights) to see how it compared to my tasters.  As before the bread was light and crispy and the fillings crunchy and flavoursome, being a glutton for heat a little squirt of the provided chili sauce takes them another step up.  Trying to work my way through the menu a bit the banh mi was joined by some fried spring rolls, nice and meaty with a gorgeously pungent nuoc cham (fish sauce and vinegar based dip).

Having now been twice I'm happy to say City Caphe is definitely doing things to my taste and it won't be long before I hop on the bike again for a Mayfair to Bank lunch time banh mi.  A welcome addition to London's burgeoning banh mi scene.

City Caphe, 17 Ironmonger Lane, EC2V 8EY

X-Burger House, Kilburn

The first thing one notices about X-Burger House, the new Brazilian burger house in Kilburn, is that it is in the middle of nowhere.  Well to those that live in Kilburn or Willesden (or wherever it is to the south of these) it won't be but if like me you've come from the West End you're talking 7 stops on the Jubilee line and a 10 odd minute walk from the tube station.  A veritable marathon.  I've just changed team at work though and a long goodbye lunch was on the cards so I grabbed a couple of colleagues and set about the journey. 

Once you've made the trip it's a pretty nice place, decked in clean lined modern furniture and light and airy from the large south facing windows.  The kitchen is open and a till area deals out takeaways to what amounted to 4-5 people in the hour we were there.

The X in X burger is short for Xis, or Cheese, and every burger here has the magic ingredient.  On top of this we're treated to various toppings from the usual bacon and fried egg to the less usual chicken hearts, peas and sweetcorn - which I'm guessing show off the Brazilian heritage.  Sides again run from the usual chips and onion rings to the less usual polenta chips and chicken hearts.  It is cheap dining, with burgers running from £4.50 to £7 something, sides about £2 a glass of coke a quid.  The menu also had some steak sandwiches and hot dogs but I didn't get to try those. 

I decided to eat the bacon X (cheese) burger and went for the 7" - over 5" - option.  I wasn't sure if the " was a dodgy shorthand for oz or if the burger would be 7" tall, out the two I was guessing 7oz but it may have meant 7" diameter as this was the widest burger I've ever seen.  With such width, 7oz of meat or not, it has got to be a thin burger and my guess would be around the centimetre mark, it definitely looked like it had been made fresh though, the rough edges a tell tale sign of something hand shaped or squashed flat on the griddle. 

We weren't asked how we wanted our burgers cooked and mine arrived moist with the slightest hint of pink. With such thin burgers it's going to be hard to have them much less done if you want a decent amount of charring though, which is pretty important for flavour and definitely wasn't lacking.  Unfortunately the burger seemed to carry on cooking at the table and whilst the first half was pretty moist it got a bit dry towards the end.  From the toppings bacon was streaky and salty and and in decent quantity and cheese of the thin sliced real variety, sliced tomato added to the moisture. 

All in all it was a decent burger, although I would've preferred it less cooked through.

Sides were pretty damn good.  Homemade chips were crisp on the outside and fluffy inside, quite roast potato like in flavour.  Onion rings had a great crunch but maybe lacked a bit in onion.  Polenta chips were a revelation, perfect chip shape with crisp exteriors that gave way to buttery soft polenta - get in there quick though as by the end the last couple had lost their crunch due to the steaming middle.  One criticism of all three would be the portions were a bit small (we only ate two polenta chips before I took that photo), this criticism certainly couldn't be levelled at the chicken hearts with onion though which - at less than £4 - was absolutely huge, literally hundreds of the things griddled till brown and with a hint of thyme - absolutely gorgeous.

Whilst it may not be the best burger in London X-House Burger is a cut above the average burger bar and definitely superior to the average Kilburn offering.  The Brazilian influence makes for a really interesting menu, with great sides, and I may even return to see what peas and sweetcorn are like on a burger.  I'll even go so far as to add it to my list of reasons to go to Kilburn which now contains - The Luminaire, The Tricycle Theatre, Angeles and X-Burger House.

Goodman City

Yesterday morning Richard Vines tweeted about a soft opening at the new Goodman City branch offering 50% off food.  I adore Goodman's restaurant in Mayfair and this is without ever having eaten a steak there, their burgers are enough for instant infatuation for me, so when the opportunity arose for 50% off I jumped to it.  50% offers abound - sure - but I normally think of them as a sign a restaurant isn't doing as well as it could and this certainly doesn't apply to Goodman.  I rallied some troops and a table for 8.15 was booked.

The interior of the new branch is much like the original, albeit with a bit more of an industrial feel with the exposed pipes near the ceiling.  There's the dark leather, dark wood, some booths and a bar.   One welcome addition though is the huge window to the meat aging room.  A dining room table sized opening into a world of stainless steel shelves and vast lumps of beef in varying stages of controlled decay.  Our waitress said it reminded her of Damien Hurst but for me it was like some huge food porn cinema screen stuck on pause.  I was transfixed.

When dining with others the grass isn't always greener, I don't always have food envy, but I do always want to try everything.  The Asian way of dishes in the middle of the table is far better suited to my inquisitive (greedy?) nature and whilst it can't be used for everything one western meal that it works perfectly for is steak, assuming the restaurant in question is like Goodman (or Hawksmoor) and has enough variety to get a good spread going. 

We did just that ordering a Wagyu ribeye (300gr), 2 x USDA Ribeye (400gr), a USDA sirloin (350gr) and a USDA on the bone sirloin (650gr), aiming to stick it in the middle so everyone could try the different cuts.  Everything was ordered around medium-rare to let the marbling melt down nicely.  We had wanted to try the grass fed Belted Galloway - as recommended to me by the Goodman grill-man himself - but alas our procrastination in ordering led to them being sold out, a 650gr on the bone rib would have been perfect too.

The wagyu was a melt in the mouth delight, the meat was tender but the most amazing thing for me wasn't the effects of the intramuscular marbling - as gorgeous as it was - but the intermuscular fat.  This was the softest, most tender fat I've eaten, collapsing under the teeth and probably so soft (alas I didn't try it) to suck through the teeth. I enjoyed the sirloin, especially the dry aged on the bone, but for me the star was the rib-eye, having the perfect combination of juicy fat and meaty chew, not to mention the perfectly seasoned and charred outside common to them all.  It's hard to put in to words just how good a steak these guys turn out though and I think a picture says far more anyway.

Accounting for the bone we probably ordered dead on 2kg of meat between 5.  I'm guessing the ladies probably managed 250gr each which left the men at the table 500gr each.  Nothing compared to some but with starters and sides I was well stuffed by the end, the last 150gr going down a lot slower than than the first 350.

With the 50% off food our bill of 3 starters, steak, a few sides, 2 puds and some dessert wine was a very good value £43 each.  Without the soft opening it would have been nearer £70 but even then I'd definitely have felt I got my money's worth and will be returning in the not too distant future to try their grass fed offerings at full price.

I've now had steaks at both Goodman and Hawksmoor and would find it hard to call a favourite, they're both so very good at what they do.  The burger has only been tried at Goodman though and it would be unfair on them, and myself, if I didn't give Hawksmoor's burger a go too.  That will have to wait to the new Covent Garden branch though as a midweek lunch in the City is a no go for me.

Canteen Cookbook - Welsh Rarebit

A few weeks back I was asked to attend an evening of fish and chips at Canteen, the small chain of British Restaurants.  I've been to Canteen a couple of times before and have always enjoyed it so was more than happy to say yes.  Canteen was set up by a trio of lads (rather young lads, makes one feel a tad unsuccessful) to fill a gap in the high street dining scene, whilst many of the world's cuisines are represented they thought (and I agree) there was a wallowing void where the country's own food was concerned and set about filling it.  As they've gone from one to four establishments in a fairly short time period they must be doing something right.

Fish and chips is their best seller but their version could be thought a bit controversial by the purists, no beef dripping here (damn pescatarians) and - even more so - a coating of breadcrumbs over batter, although they did turn us out a bit of battered fish that evening, not that that's any use if any of you lot visit.  I surprised myself by preferring the breadcrumbs anyway. The fish there varies dailies and we got plaice, I was never going to complain with a giant plaice goujon and chips (crisp without and soft within), especially with the much maligned but personal favourite mushy pea which had been kept beautifully green through the addition of bicarb (a fine tip from Chef and owner Cass).

I left the evening well sated and more knowledgeable about the constraints of a commercial kitchen, not to mentioned armed with the correct tools to keep my peas colourful - I also left with a shiny copy of the Canteen cook book. 

I am a cook book addict, I started this book with the intention of cooking the books (geddit?), specifically the couple of hundred cook books that sit on two bookshelves in my kitchen.  I failed miserably, moving onto restaurant reviews, travel, made up recipes and recipes pilfered from the internet and altered.  I still love my cook books though and this one is a great addition to the already sagging shelves.  The recipes are all British - obviously - with lots that will be familiar to you if you've eaten there before - Arbroath smokie, peppery salads, pies galore (their second best seller) and scotch egg to name a few.  A Welsh rarebit has been on my to-eat list for ages though (plus I'd found a warm and flat half-can of bitter leftover from the night before) and so I decided to test their version out - and here it is.

There was a good balance between cheese and other flavours, the wholegrain mustard adding texture where previous rarebits I've eaten have been smooth.  It worked well, which is always a plus point for ones first recipe attempt from a book.  I think next up might be their pork pie as I fancy giving the northern delicacy of warm pork pie with mushy peas a go, will give me a chance to try out Cass's green pea tip too.

Welsh Rarebit, 2 slices

50ml milk

25ml ale

12.5gr butter

12.5gr flour

75gr decent strong cheddar

1/2 egg yolk

1ts  Worcestershire sauce

2TB Wholegrain mustard

2 slices bread, I used granary

Method

Mix the milk and ale and warm up.

Make a roux with the butter and flour, cooking for a couple of minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.

Beat in the milk and ale till smooth.

Take off the heat and mix in everything else except the bread - obviously - and stir till melted and combined..

Toast the bread then spread the mixture liberally on to one side. 

Toast until golden, it colours very easily so turn the grill down a bit below full whack or put the grill pan on a lower shelf.

 

 

 

A Quick Lunch at Empress Sichuan

My first read through Fuchsia Dunlop's Sichuan Cuisine was a seminal moment in my life.  I'd always been a fan of Chinese food and here was something that was obviously Chinese but also so obviously different from anything I'd seen.  I'd had Kong Pao Chicken from English takeaways but nothing in this book resembled the sticky battered chicken and peanuts, just recipe after recipe of chillies, Sichuan pepper, oil and offal along with stories of however many different cutting methods and the careful balancing of hot, sour, salty and sweet - I literally couldn't find a recipe I didn't want to eat.  Within a couple of years I was travelling around China, eating my way through Chengdu and it's not stretching the truth to say how big a part that book played. 

Sichuan cookery (chuāncài/川菜) is now my favourite cuisine so you'd think I'd be lapping up the trend for Sichuan eateries in London.  Truth be told though I very rarely make it to any of them, I've eaten in Snazz Sichuan and love a quick bite in Baozi Inn but as far as meals out go I find it quite tricky to find people who fancy the onslaught of heat.  The one time I did manage to drag folk out (my birthday, the aforementioned Snazz Sichuan) I received a few unhappy texts the next day as people dealt with the morning after effects of bowls full of oil and chili, it's not been repeated.

  Today I had a bit of time on my hands at lunch though and a quick look in the newish Empress Sichuan window showed me a lunch menu I'd not noticed before. With lots of things sub £5 it looked perfect for a quick bite.  Being well versed in the art of solo Chinatown lunches I headed in and the first thing that hit me was how far removed from my usual Chinatown lunch this was.  No angry Wong Kei waiters and wipe clean tables here - mood lighting, racks of wine, tablecloths and, for some reason, rock and roll music and
memorabilia.  A cheerful waitress showed me to my booth but I declined the menu, having made my mind up the instant I saw the list outside.  There are few things in the world tastier than pig stomach (and when eating Sichuan it has to be offal) so 'noodles with pig stomach in a spicy sauce' was requested.  Wanting to test the kitchens with something I'd eaten in Chengdu, and made myself from Fuchsia, zhong dumplings with chili completed the order.

The noodles arrived, flat wheat noodles (no egg in the Sichuan style) bathed in a deep red glossy broth and speckled with the lumps of intestine.  Sichuan food is very hot and should make you sweat and the colour of this red liquor suggested it would do what it should.  The first mouthful let me know there wasn't going to be any sweating today though.  There was chili, sure, but in no great quantity, not something I would expect from any Sichuan food really, let alone something described as spicy.  Over my shoulder I heard another lone diner ask for chili sauce.  There really should be no need for that when eating this cuisine, the gf frequently cites not being able to eat for a week when we were in Chengdu and here folk were asking for extra chili.  Don't get me wrong, this was a gorgeous bowl of noodles - the noodles had just the right chew, the soup was rich and meaty with the smoky hint of sesame oil lingery on the palate, the pig intestine was flavoursome and cooked beautifully, melting in the mouth which such rubbery organs are not want to do.  It just didn't have much chili, I wasn't warm let alone sweating.

Next up were the zhong dumplings.  I'd had these a few times in Chengdu and each time you had the wonderful balance of fiery oil and almost bland pork filling.  Whilst these had more heat these were not the hottest zhong dumplings I've ever had, in fact they've not the hottest zhong dumplings I've had this week, the honour of that goes to a bowl I had in Cha Cha Moon at the weekend.  Heat or not though these blew the Cha Cha Moon portion away which, whilst flavoursome and chili hot, suffered from a heavy handed sauce, more reminsient of bang bang/strange flavoured sauce with far too much oil and the overwhelming flavour of sesame paste shining through.  This is before you've got on to the fact that they serve this sauce over won ton, crisp with water chestnut instead of the soft bite of a zhong dumpling.  Add to this Cha Cha Moon charge over £4 for 4 and here I got about 10 for £3.80 and there's no comparison.  Back to the sauce though and here it was delicious, oily too - as it should be - but balanced at the same time, hints of sesame oil and chili not overpowering the lightly flavoured pork filling, the whole thing lifted with the familiar citrus numbing of Sichuan pepper.  My lips tingled and I scoffed the lot down in record time but I still hadn't managed anything near a sweat.

So first impressions of this place are mixed.  The food is very tasty and the dining room a cut above most Chinatown restaurants.  I think most folk would go here and absolutely love it, in fact based upon this it's a Sichuan place I could easily take the gf too, assuming she's not still too haunted by Chengdu to step into anywhere bearing the region's name.  I'll be back myself too for lunch as it makes a lovely change from the Cantonese on offer everywhere else.  As a hardened Sichuan cuisine eater though I would liked to have seen a lot more chili, leaving wet around the collar and flushed of cheek, and I will return of an evening to see whether the main courses will let me achieve that goal.

Empress of Sichuan
6-7 Lisle St,
London
WC2H 7BG