IMLI STREET AN INDIAN PLEASURE

Hello guys here we are, I hope u all had a nice week and let's dig in.
This week we have something very different, we go in India, well we didn't actually go in India we went in Soho, and we eat Indian food at the amazing Imli Street.

I have to say I don't have much knowledge about Indian food, but I can say I felt in love with it.
Imli Street is a nice restaurant in Soho, Wardour street, they have a nice bar whit stools so we decided to eat at the bar. The staff were vey friendly and the barman let us try e few wines before decide what to drink...We had two glasses of wine, one Chardonnay, CL and a Sauvignon Blanc, NL, both very good, is weird eat Indian with American and New Zealand wine, but what else can we do!?
Let's dig in... we started with a couple of appetizers, the first one was a Samosa Chaat - Punjabi vegetable samosa, yoghurt & chutneys (Samosa is a fried or baked pastry with savory filling), it was very nice, loved the yoghurt and chutneys.

Then we had a Tandoori Jhinga- Prawns marinated with organic tomato powder, paprika & ginger, very tasty a bit spicy but very good

And then here it comes something very good, Macchi Tikka (love the name :-) - Salmon chunks with coriander, crushed spices & dill leaves, this was very good, salmon perfectly cook, the sauce was very good it was a simple pleasure

Now we just gettin better, here it come the Chicken Tikka Masala - Tandoor grilled chicken in tomato-onion sauce & dried fenugreek leaves (fenugreek is a annual plant in the family fabaceae, with leaves consisting of three small above the to oblong leaflets), this dish was so good, so rich in flavour, so tasty, we order even a plain Naan, Indian bread, real good, which we ate with the sauce...omg we had to order a second basket of bread it was so yummy.

Then the masterpiece, Lamb Shank - 6 hours braised shank with browned onions, yoghurt & spices, this was amazing, the meat was so tender, the sauce so rich it was a real pleasure.

We even had a portion of rice with cumin and saffron, to eat with the meat, I loved the spices in the rice

Then we had a desert which was recommended by one of the waiters, we didn't have time to choose a desert cos the kitchen was closing so we let him pick one for us, a Kheer - Rice pudding, chocolate caramel, golden vermicelli, it was good but if I had to pick one I probably wouldn't pick that one.

The bill for two people was around £100,00 included service charge.
We had an amazing dinner, the food was so good and the service was good...
Will I come back? Of course, I can't wait to try the whole menu, I think I'm in love with Indian food,
Alavidā (Good Bye)

STICK'S N SUSHI

Another week has started and here we are with a new post...this week we have something very different...lady and gents this week we'll be talking about Sushi!
Last night I decided to come back in Covent Garden but not to say hello to my friends at the Opera Tavern, not yet for our third visit, but to go and try some sushi, at the STICK'S N SUSHI. Sticks’n’Sushi serve high-quality, fresh food based on a unique combination of traditional sushi and yakitori sticks from the grill. So for those less keen on fish, there is a selection of chicken, pork, beef and vegetable skewers - all grilled fresh to order. 
Sticks’n’Sushi was founded 18 years ago by brothers Jens and Kim Rahbek and Thor Andersen. Taking inspiration from their half-Japanese, half-Danish background, they created a unique cuisine that combines two culinary traditions.
So the introduction has been done, let's talk about food!
Just one more thing before the food, I love the design of this restaurant...brickwall, suffused light, wood floor...a very nice restaurant...but we are here to talk about food, so let's dig in!!!

We had a reservation and we went down in the basement and get a table at the counter...next to the chef...I prefer the floor upstairs but the restaurant was packed so there was not table available...

We started with a glass of white wine, I have to say the wine list is not vey big, but is not a wine bar and they are not famous for the wine so it's quite understandable, I just checked the website cos I don't remember the name of the wine, the wine list of the website is not the same of the restaurant....anyway I had a glass of white wine from New Zeland...it was good, just good! My partner in crime had a cocktail...Takeshita Rising, with star anise infused shochu, marasquino liquor, and hint of fruits...even this it wasn't super good but it wasn't bad either...

Then we started with a couple of starters, and here we had the best dish of the night...HOTATE KATAIFI BITES, which means scallops in kataifi (Kataifi are a type of thin noodles, they are made ​​of flour and water that is poured through a sieve onto a hot metal cooking tray. The noodles are very 
short. They are used to make Middle Eastern desserts and other foods around the Mediterranean sea)
with miso aioli, trout roe and cress; this dish was so unique, full of flavours, it was a pleasure, this is what I'm looking for, this is why I started this blog, this is why I eat out, cos I wanna eat food like that, not simple average food, but something unique extraordinary, something that gives u pleasure, like an orgasm...maybe I went to far, ;-) but I just want this to be clear...I want to be impressed, and trust me on this if u knew me you'd know, I'm not easy to impress...I'm very picky.

So the kataifi dish was amazing, then we had something different, I chose a Tuna Tartare, with avocado, shiso mix & pine nuts, served with nori chips & spicy miso dressing,  which I have to say, didn't impress me too much; the Stick's n sushi menu has pictures, so the customers can have a better understanding of the food, in this case the picture was way better then the real dish, so it looks better, on pic then it tastes...this is not good, yes the food has to look good, but not on pic on the plate, but it has to taste better then how it looks, well this wasn't the case.

Then we had, chose from my partner, and somehow I knew it wouldn't be a good choise, a Beef 
Tataki, beef smoked cheese, chives, yuzu kosho dressing (is a type of Japanese seasoning, It is a paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt, which is then allowed to ferment), soy roasted almonds and spicy goma dressing; as u probably understood, I didn't like it, again the pic on the menu is much better then the real dish, which was a very thin sliced cold beef, with some garnish...

Then we chose a mix of rolls, we had 4 different rolls, 8 of each of them, the first one was the Hell's Kitchen roll, with tempura shrimp, avocado, spicy sauce, topped with tuna & barbecue sauce; I have to say I don't really like the barbecue sauce but in this case the combination between all the flavours was excellent, probably the best roll we had that night...
then the Salmon Ceviche roll, with red onion, cucumber, avocado, topped with salmon, coriander & lime marinated, prob the best roll after the Hell's Kitchen...

Then we had 2 very similar rolls, and this was my fault, cos I didn't read the menu properly, the Ebi Cocktail roll and the Formidable roll, both with avocado, cucumber and tossed in sesame, but one topped with hand peeled shrimps mayo and chives, and the other one topped with salmon tartare and trout roe...both good but slightly below the previous two...

Then the desert, we had Crumble with yuzu curd & meringue, and a white coffee Crème Brùlée, both good, the portion was very small, and I had to say I was very happy about that, cos usually the desert are quite a big portion and after a dinner I believe is good to have a small portion of desert which is not quite heavy as the big ones...well done!

The bill was a bit more then 120 pounds, for two people.
I have to say something about the service; a restaurant can be run in different ways, and the service can be organized in different ways; one way it could be to divide the floor in sections and having one waiter taking care of each section or no sections and everyone take care of everything; I don't know how Stick's n Sushi decided to organize the floor, but I was asked "how is everything?" three times in 5 minutes by three different people, and I was asked few times if we needed more drinks again by different people, in a short period of time.
If the floor was divided in sections, so having only one waiter taking care of us this wouldn't be happening after reply the first time.
What I 'm trying to say here is that it could be a bit annoying all this, a waiter has to be like a Samurai, walking between table, watching over the customers and realize what the customers need, without asking too many questions and without being to noisy and too annoying...
But all the waiters were polite and at the end the service went smooth and we enjoyed our night.
So will I come back?...probably yes!
Those kataifi bites...omg!

ZOILO...a little argentinian paradise in London!

I'm back...this week I'm very happy...last night I had a nice dining experience!
Few weeks ago a friend of mine told me about a new argentinian tapas bar around Oxford Circus...I've never really had an argentinian restaurant experience, and since I love tapas bar I decided to give it a try!
So I put on some nice clothes and with my inevitable companion I headed down to Oxford Street!
We didn't have a reservation but it wasn't hard to get two seats at the bar...I have to say Zoilo has a nice design, brick wall, nice bulbs hanging on the ceiling, and a suffused light!

I soon realized that the menu was quite small...4 snacks, 3 empanadas, 3 sea, 4 land and 3 sides!
Instead I really enjoyed the wine list with a few Malbec to choose from!
I went for the best Malbec on the menu, a Decero 2011 and Fabre Montmayou Reservado 2012, simply delicious! The Malbec is a very strong wine they both were above 14%!

Then the food...we started with a selection of house bread & butter, oh my gosh that bread was so good, we had to order a second basket!

Then we had Provoleta, almonds & oregano honey...it was so delicious, I'm not really in to cheese, but I was very impressed, it was very tasty and the cheese, almond and oregano honey combined togheter created an amazing dish, somehow reminded me of the cheese on top of the best pizza u can imagine! Stunning....

Then we had Braised pig head croquettes & quince jam, again not big fan of the pig head or pig ear cos they have a very strong taste, and even this time the dish had a quite strong taste, which was balanced by the quince jam but I have to say the result was quite good, so pig head croquettes...why not!

Then the empanadas, we had the one with spinach, goats's cheese, raisins & pine nuts, it wasn't the best dish of the night, since the empanadas is quite a simple dish, with simple ingredients, it wasn't anything special, probably the best empanadas I hate so far, but still an empanadas! Let's move forward...

Then main courses...Chimichurri beef burger, smoked bacon, provolone, onions & pickles...I love burgers and I never had one with Chimichurri sauce (Chimichurri  is a green sauce used for grilled meat, originally from Argentine, it is based on finely-chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano, and white or red wine vinegar) and I have to say it was quite delicious, cooked as perfection, juicy meat, the bacon wasn't crispy as I like it to be, provolone cheese, the same we ate as a starter was quite good, and the sauce was very good, beef burger...well done!

Then the Caramelised pork belly, grilled scallops, sweet potato & chorizo, I found the combination pork belly/grilled scallops, which was cooked as perfection, quite fascinating...the dish was great, nice flavours, pork not to fat, properly cooked and very tasty...vamossss

Breast of duck, pumpkin, cabbage, quince & granola...another well executed dish...I loved the crunch of the granola, and the pumpkin cabbage and quince to offset the duck flavor, well done!

We had a side dish of  chips, which looked and tasted good, I think the dish had a bit too garlic, but it's a personal taste, anyway loved the chips!

Then it comes the desert; I have to make a point here...it's very hard to find a very unique desert nowadays, wherever I go, Spanish, Italian, Argentinian or French restaurant, the desert menu is not the same but quite similar, I had pannacotta in an Italian restaurant and in a Spanish one, I had Creme brûlée in a French one and in an Argentine one...so I wasn't impressed when I read the desert menu, like I wasn't in every other place I have been...anyway....
we had a delicious, I repet this, DELICIOUS Dulche de leche Crème Brûléè & "banana split" ice cream, with an amazing glass of desert wine, which I can't remember the name, but I do remember the taste, wowwww....and then a Chocolate Fondant, not quite good as the Crème Bruléè but still a great desert, whit an other amazing glass of wine.
I have to say I was very impressed about the wine in this restaurant, both Malbec and desert wine!

The bill was around 100 pounds plus the service charge!
It was a great night, stunning restaurant, great food and amazing wine, good service, the barman Tommaso along with the manger and the rest of the stuff have done a great job, thank u guys!
Will I come back?!...
Of course and next time I will try the fish and the white wine...Zoilo see u soon!
Gracias papi 
 ;-)

OPERA TAVERN...not sure yet!

This week I'm a bit confused...after the great last week dinner at TOZI, last night I had dinner in a Italian/Spanish tapas bar, OPERA TAVERN, in Covent Garden...I had to say I already had a dinner in this restaurant last year, and it was an amazing experience, the meat was fantastic, the Presa Iberica excellent, the Pigeon, oh my gosh great, wine, desert everything was fantastic...but, this time I can't say the same, last night I went for the fish, so that I could have better understanding of the food, but I was disappointed, the food is not bad but I had such a high expectation...
We didn't have a reservation and we were lucky enough to find two seats at the bar,which it was fine for me, actually I really like seat at the bar...
I have to say the service was very good, we were served by a spanish and a south african guy, both very nice.
Let's go down to the food...cos at the end this is what is all about....
We decided to eat fish so I picked two white wines, one glass of italian Blanc de Morgeax, Rayon (Priè Blanc, Valle d'Aosta) 2012, and one glass of the spanish Villa Narcisa (Verdejo Rueda) 2013, both very good even if slightly different, I have to say the spanish wine was a bit better then the italian.
Even if we opted for the fish we decided to start with the hamon croquettas, good but not delicious, when I think at the hamon croquettes, I think at the Barrafina (tapas bar in Soho) ones, best croquettes in Town, don't worry very soon I'll be talking about Barrafina...is one of the best tapas bar in London; anyway...as I said good but not superb...here is the pic

then we ordered a grilled lemon squid, which I have to say it wasn't what I expected, it tasted like grill, and u would say, "obviously it was grilled", I know, but it seems to be at a sunday afternoon barbecue with my friends instead of being in a nice restaurant in central London, anyway I didn't like it at all, it was a bit chewy, and again grilled calamari, not thanks, I'm not in a barbecue mood...

then we chose one of every fish tapas on the menu, which includes, salt cod croquettes, pan seared scallops, chargrill octopus (again grilled), grilled tune (again) pan fried hake, pan roasted sea bass...
this is the exact order;
Pan seared scallops with butternut squash purée and iberico manteca, well again it didn't impressed me at all, it wasn't bad or anything like that, but it didn't have that "x factor", and for "x factor" I mean it wasn't like "woooow" I was like "mmmm...that's it?!"...anyway scallops failed...

then we had the octopus with chickpea fritter, red pepper and mojo verde, and here it comes again the grill...noooo! The octopus like the calamari tasted like grill...and when I think at the spanish octopus dish I imagine "AGAIN" the octopus of BARRAFINA, I can't wait to write about this amazing tapas bar in Soho...but not yet....now let's go back at Opera Tavern...anyway the octopus like all the other dishes wasn't bad but just it wasn't anything special...so octopus quite failed...I'ven't been impressed by anything yet, apart the wine which was very good!

I almost forgot, the chickpeas Fritter, it just doesn't make any sense to me and to my palate!

Then we had tuna, again grilled but I couldn't really taste the grill but something else really concerned me...the tuna was cold...I'm like? How can it be cold if it was cooked just few minutes before been served...as matter of fact it wasn't, I soon found out, after asking one of the waiters that it was meant to be a tuna salad, I was very disappointed that I didn't finish the food...again it wasn't bad but I wanted something more and different then just a salad...

Then it comes the salt cod croquettes with saffron aioli, not bad but again nothing special, and they look almost like the ham croquettes, but we already knew it, because the waiter told us in advance, the saffron aioli sauce instead was fantastic...

The last two dishes pan fried salted hake and pan roasted wild roasted sea bass...the presentation was almost similar, and obviosly they tested different but the result was pretty much the same...avarage food which didn't impresse me at all!

Here it comes the desert which it was a bit of a consolation...just half the way...cos we had a delicious Dulche de leche panna cotta with chestnut crumble and yoghurt sorbet, with a glass of an amazing Moscato Rosa, and then a chocolate truffles with pistachio biscuits, which was just cookies on a plate, not impressed!

Then it came the bill, and I was impressed to realize we had a big discount, didn't really understand why, but it was appreciated!
So will I come back?! Not sure, maybe I will give a third try, but not sure...can u see, I'm still confused!
OPERA TAVERN is an italian and Spanish tapas bar, but apart from the wine I have to say there's no much of italian food in there...and for the Spanish food?! Well I can say I loved the meat and didn't like the fish!
Adios/Ciao Opera tavern!

TOZI, real Italian food in London!

TOZI...finally real italian food!
After the very bad experience at Polpo last week, Russel I don't know if I could ever forgive u, last night I went to TOZI, a Venetian-Italian restaurant and bar in Victoria.It was a Triumph since the beginning, stunning restaurant, there's a very nice atmosphere, and finally everybody where italian, from the hostess, waiting stuff and management!
I mean, would u go to a German restaurant and be served by an italian waitress? Nope...why? Simple the restaurant experience is not only food and drink but is the whole experience that matters, and if I was german and I went to a german restaurant and the waitress was italian I'd be a bit disappointed!
So as italian I was happy to know that everybody was italian...anyway...lets talk about food!
Tozi serve Cicchetti, small sharing plates, like the spanish tapas, like Polpo, but the difference is simple the quality in Tozi is astonishing.
We didn't have a reservation, stupid, but we were lucky enough to find a table available.
We were approached by our waiter, who explain us the menu, he was impeccable, the service went smooth, it seems to be back in NYC, one thing I want to say about the service, u may know or not know but the service in London is quite differente from NYC, anyway the service at Tozi is like NYC, waiters, busboys, runners, is a pleasure for the customer.
From our table we could see the open kitchen...

We started with a couple of Cicchetti, actually first of all our waiter brang us a basket of lovely bread...

then we had a pizzetta with butternut squash gorgonzola and walnut, it was simply amazing, what a difference between the Polpo pizza, which was simply disgusting, this was a real Italian pizza, perfectly cooked and very tasty; and look how beautiful it is (pic below), there's no way a pizza that beautiful could taste bad, you could realize how good is it only looking at it...divine!

then we had a fried courgettes, which was ok, nothing special, but still well executed, and then a selection of cured meat...oh my god it really seemed to be back in Italy, in the meantime we were drinking a glass of delicious Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, 2012...which was served, and here I mention again the Polpo family, in a proper wine glass!

Then here it comes the Burrata, oh my gosh...it was simply melting in my mouth, again delicious; the Burrata is a fresh italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream, the outer shell is solid mozzarella, while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture; I took pics of every dish we had but unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of the burrata, we couldn't wait to dig in ;-)


Then the pasta, we had two different pasta the first was an amazing buffalo ricotta ravioli and truffle, the pasta was perfectly cooked and very tasty, then we had mezzi paccheri wild boar, again super delicious.

In the meantime I had an other glass of wine, a Carignano del Sulcis Grotta Rossa, 2011/2012 from Sardinia.
At least but not last we had Ox cheeks, girolles and red wine sauce.

We end our dinner with a couple od desserts, delicious fig tart with vanilla ice cream, lime and basil sorbetto and passion fruit and campari sorbetto, while we were drinking an amazing Passito di Noto Planeta, 2010 from Sicily.

And then I had a coffe, which I regret, not because it wasn't good, but just because, and I usually don't drink coffe, after all that amazing food I had such lovely flavor in my mouth which was destroyed by the coffe...I sincerely don't understand all this fuss about the coffe, in Italy almost everybody drinks a cup of espresso after the meal, but if you think about it really doesn't make sense, most of the time the coffe flavor doesn't really match with the dinner you had, and it ended up destroying all the lovely flavors I had in my mouth!

The total bill was a bit less the 130 pounds, for two people, included service charge...it might seems a bit expensive but we had 6 glasses of wine, and lots of food.
Will I come back?...Oh yeah...I can't wait.
TOZI real italian food in London!