Category: UK

47 Mussel Row – Littlehampton

I am not keen on doing restaurant walk ins, have had too many disappointments. However sometimes you have no choice and occasionally you are lucky enough to find a gem. We were driving along the Sussex coastline, looking for somewhere suitable, we made a detour to check out Bognor Regis! – nothing looked interesting enough to even get out of the car, so we drove on to Littlehampton.  This was much better, with its large Victorian Houses overlooking the park and the sea, and its newer developments overlooking the River Arun and the golf course. There we found a nice looking bistro called 47 Mussel Row.

We ordered Mussels in batter with a garlic dip, good apart from a couple of mussels that were a bit gritty. This was followed by a lovely piece of Skate, which was perfectly cooked.

So as walk ins go, this was most definately one of my better experiences.

Marks out of 10

Food 5.4

Service 5

Ambience 4 (it was a quiet day)

 

Another good place to visit if your are in the area is Arundel, it is a lovely town and I would recommend taking a  30 minute stroll along the River to have drinks or lunch at the Black Rabbit Inn.

 

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Blueprint Cafe – focusing on the view

Had lunch at the Blueprint Cafe, it’s a hard location to beat.  They sat us at a great table by the window with a panoramic view of Tower Bridge and the Thames.  They also supplied a pair of binoculars, so the view is obviously a big attraction.

It’s been years since my last visit, and  the decor/style of the place has certainly changed. It’s a much more casual venue these days.

Food wise it was a bit hit and miss (more miss than hit).  The Razor clams I had were nothing special, too much lemon juice for my taste. The mackerel was a bit overcooked, but the pickled cucumbers with mustard and dill that accompanied it was delicious – click here for a recipe

For main course I had grilled leg of lamb with tomatoes and courgettes, the lamb was perfect (well apart from the fact there was not enough of it and there was a real glut of vegetables).  The meringue dessert was rather messy looking but tasted good, however the strawberry shortcake was less successful,  not my idea of shortcake. It was  more like oatcake, with cream and strawberries, basically rather dull.

So in conclusion, great view, OK food. I would make a return visit, but next time I will lower my expectations and focus on the view.

 

 

Update : April 2012 – The Blueprint Cafe has a new chef, Mark Jarvis. He has worked at Texture and spent some time working for Raymond Blanc.

 

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Toast – Food, Wine, Music and Polo!

Made the trek out to Ham Polo Club, to attend the 10th Anniversary Toast New Zealand Event.  It was a trek, 20 minutes on a very busy train to Richmond from Waterloo, another 20 minutes on a packed local bus – seemed like all the Kiwi’s in London were heading for the event. Then a long walk to get to the ticket office to pick up our complementary tickets (longer because we were wrongly directed to go to the VIP entrance).  We eventually got in, pretty much as the England v New Zealand Polo match was finishing.

There were just two rows of stalls, laid out in the best possible way to cause congestion. I would have been horrified if I had paid for my ticket – ticket  prices were between £20 and £150.   However there was live music and the weather was good.  We stayed for about two and a half hours, which was two hours longer than we would have, if we had not been lucky enough to grab a couple of seats at one of the tables next to the stands and have a few glasses of a rather lovely Pinot Noir from the Saveé Sea Vineyards.

The highlight of the day was actually the walk back from Ham to Richmond.  Next time I will just bring a picnic and find a good spot by the river.

This was a special one off Toast event, so not 100% typical, but based on my experience at this event and my friends experience at past Toast events.  I would not recommend them if you are seriously into Food and Wine.  Toast is really just somewhere to socialise with a group of friends and listen to the music, more a concert than a food event.

 

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Foodies Festival @ Hampton Court

Spent most of bank holiday Sunday at the Foodies Festival in Hampton Court.  They are set up at  different locations throughout the year.  There is going to be one in Edinburgh for example during the Edinburgh Festival in August. Foodies focuses on seasonal food and drink, specialty and local produce and local restaurant talent.

The weather was good, always a real bonus at this type of event. The show itself is not as big or as well attended as Taste, but I have to admit I prefer this one. Very few queues,  space to see what you want to see, easy access to tables and chairs.

We attended several sessions at the Chefs Theatre, including  the one from Gary Lee of The Ivy, who made a real point of stating that he was not a celebrity chef.  The highlight here though, had to be Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi of Caffe Caldesi. Katie had been on Saturday Kitchen the previous day and there was some hilarity as she compared cooking with James Martin to cooking with her husband. The BBC missed a trick not having them both on together. They are a great double act.

There were unfortunately not too many top restaurant stands.  Benares was the most high profile one. However there were some very good small stands.  They included Lauden, one of my favorite chocolatiers, Doughmasters who made lovely club sandwiches using bread that was baked while you wait (not something you see often) and a stand selling Whoopie Pies – the trend following on from Cup Cakes,  I had a maple syrup one, delicious.

On the drinks front, Joe Wadsack at the Cordorniu wine presentation was very good. He is a real raconteur. The El Dorado Rum tasting was fun and the champagne supplied by Eminent Wines (pictured), much to my surprise, really cut through a spicy Jamaican Pattie I had just eaten. So yes maybe good Champagne does go with everything.

Will definitely try and do this event again next year.

 

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Bar Boulud – Busy! Buzzy! Burgers! (Closed)

There have been lots of recent reviews about Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental. Most of them hightlighting just how quickly this restaurant found its feet.  Certainly on our visit, barely two weeks after opening, it was running very smoothly indeed. Especially when you consider just how busy it was.

The first thing that hits you when you sit down, is the level of service. There are a lot of staff both in the kitchen and in the dining room. It is actually quite entertaining to watch them skillfully almost dance around each other.

This is a great people watching venue. The Tables are very close together and there is an almost frantic buzz of activity and noise when the service is in full swing.

Bar Boulud menu combines French charcuterie and bistro cooking.  So to start we shared a small plate of charcuterie. The waiter made a point of explaining that all the Terrines were home made. It was certainly a good varied selection (although not the best charcuterie I have had in London,  Almeida does a really good charcuterie trolley which I thought had the edge on the Bar Boulud selection).  For the main course we tried the now famous “Frenchie” burger (a great burger almost as good as the one in Moovida – praise indeed) and a more traditional Steak frites.  The burger looked small but was perfectly cooked and actually very filling, as was the equally well cooked steak.

For dessert we choose the lightest dish on the menu, a sort of tropical fruit sundae with lovely moist coconut biscuits in it. It seemed to be the most popular dessert.

We ordered a la carte and had some expensive wines so our bill was over £100 for two people, but Bar Boulud can be more reasonable, the set menu for example is £20 for 3 courses.

My only criticism is that it was all a bit frantic…but then that’s what a busy bistro is. So do not expect a quiet lunch.

For more on Bar Boulud, see

UPDATE : July 2021 Closed

 

Athenaeum – Evergreen

Had Afternoon Tea at The Athenaeum – they’re celebrating the first anniversary of the hotel’s living wall – a vertical garden. At £27.50 for Afternoon Tea and a glass of Kir Royal (if booked via toptable), this is a lot cheaper than the fabulous Pret a Portea at The Berkeley my favorite afternoon tea venue. To be honest though I have to say that the Athenaeums Afternoon Tea it is not in the same league as the Pret a Portea.  However it is still a better than average venue to experience a typical English Afternoon Tea.

Included in the Afternoon Tea is your choice of teas, 2 rounds of sandwiches, 2 small scones, 3 items from the cake trolley and just when you think it is all over, Crumpets or Tea cakes.  Rather strangely we had lots of jam for the Crumpets and Tea cakes, when we did not need it, and not enough for the scones. You may also find  if you like stronger tea, that you need to ask for it, as the tea can be quite weak.

 

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