Two great London restaurants and a perfect Friday night meal

Posted by petra08 on July 6, 2012 · 4 Comments 

It was a very nice week and it went by quite quick. I had some great food eating out. Luckily I could decide where and Wednesday we went to Salt Yard, it is one of the best, in my opinion, tapas places in London. It is a mix of Spanish and Italian influence on the food and it is always great! http://www.saltyard.co.uk/restaurant/
We had some lovely smoked almonds and Padron Peppers to start with along with a G&T. Much to my delight they had Sipsmith Gin, very smooth and it is brewed not far from my part of London in Hammersmith. http://www.sipsmith.com/

After that and joined by more friends we had a mix of tapas for sharing, interestingly ranked and no one’s list was the same but here are the tapas that makes us all want to come back!
• Jamon Iberico Bellota, full of flavour, melt in your mouth
• Truffle Macaroni & Cheese, what can I say, creamy mac & cheese with fresh black truffle, it is possibly a piece of food heaven
• Ceviche of sea bass with pomegranate molasses and coriander, smooth fish, a dish packed with flavour
• Seven hour shoulder of lamb with broad beans, crushed peas and mint, fall apart soft, soft meat
• Courgette flowers stuffed with goats cheese and drizzled with honey, lightly battered courgettes flowers, stuffed with goats cheese, simple and delicate
All this was washed down with a couple of bottles of Albarino, San Campio, Terras Gauda. I had never had this before and I will make sure to track it down and stock up at home!

Thursday night was completely different. This time heading East with inspiration from the bustling, busy streets of Bombay at The Dishoom, a Bombay style café serving Indian street food tapas style. I guess the tapas style is where any similarities to the Salt Yard ends.
The atmosphere is busy and full of positive energy. We started at the bar with a “tipple” in this case this was a Chilli Martini. When all seated I ordered lots of dishes such as Pau Bahji, lamb curry, chicken tikka, paneer tikka, black daal, naan breads and it was all really devouered. We had Voigner wine and Meantime beers to go with it and another chilli martini for dessert, it was quite sweet.

After all this food I wanted to cook something Friday night but I didn’t want to spend too much time and I also wanted it to be quite light as well. The veg monger had some fresh corn on the cob, in season and so sweet and crispy! It was a perfect starter.

There were also Portobello mushrooms and this is what I wanted for dinner. I went to the butcher and got some mincemeat before I headed home to cook dinner.

I prepared the mince as for a meatloaf and what didn’t fit in the Portobello mushrooms, I made in to meatballs for brunch tomorrow.

I put the oven on 175C and removed the stem from the mushroom. I then added the mince inside, spiced with garlic, paprika powder, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper and baked it for 25 minutes. I then ate it with wholegrain mustard and parsely gravy and it was a perfect portion sized, carb free and homely, Friday night dinner.

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Filed under Albarino, Allotment/Veg, Beef, Bread, Broad beans, Cheese, Chicken, Chilli, Fish & Seafood, Garlic, Gin, Herbs, Manchego, Meat, Mushroom, Onion, Peas, Peccorini, Pork, Potatoes, Restaurant review, Rice, Seabass, Spirits, Spring onion, Starch, Sweet corn, Voigner, White · Tagged with Curry night, Dishoom, Salt Yard, Tapas