London Appetizer

Cafe Des Amis - New Summer Menu

Cafe Des Amis, one of my favourite London restaurants, has just published their new a la carte summer menu. Please see below.

You can book a table online here.

Starters    

soup of the day - £5.00   
french onion soup, toasted gruyère croûton - £6.00   
normandy style rope grown moules marinières - £7.50   
cannelloni of grison dried beef with brousse cheese, mango and ginger dressing - £8.50   
classic steak tartare, hard boiled quail’s egg - £8.50   
salad of confited tomates with san daniel’s ham, parmesan dressing - £8.50
half dozen oysters marennes d’olérons no.2, shallot & moscatel vinegar - £11.50   
anti pasta salad - £6.50   
crab eblysotto with cardamom - £7.95   
tartare of scallop with citrus and avocado, horseradish cream, dill & rice vinegar - £9.50   
aubergine and ricotta ravioli, sundried tomato dressing - £8.50   

Main courses

normandy style rope grown moules marinières - £12.50   
crab eblysotto with cardamom - £13.55   
classic steak tartare, hard boiled quail’s egg - £16.00   
red mullet fillet, niçoise bohemian vegetables, pumpkin seed oil - £14.50   
“waterzooi” of chicken, seasonal baby vegetables - £17.50   
veal with sauce gribiche, vegetable “pot au feu” - £16.75   
simmentale beef sirloin, sauce bordelaise, mashed potatoes with marrow and herbs - £21.50   
cabbage and vegetable parcel, beetroot dressing - £10.50   
red tuna steak, tomato salsa, crushed sweet potatoes with argan oil - £14.50   
roasted lamb rump, tapenade infused sauce, aubergine cake - £17.50   
roast duck breast, sauce griotte, polenta with dried fruit - £18.00   

Café des Amis Restaurant & Wine and its two private dining rooms are available for hire
visit our website www.cafedesamis.co.uk for more information.

Bel Canto Restaurant - a unique opera and dining experience

Recession hit opera buffs are abandoning their boxes at Covent Garden in London’s West End and heading to the Square Mile to feast on Mozart, Puccini and Verdi - accompanied by different arrangements of Medaillions, Confit and Chantilly.

Bel Canto restaurant is proving to be the perfect antidote to the £600 seats at the Royal Opera House. For £55 a head diners can enjoy some of the best arias, duets and choruses in town.

The restaurant – which serves French cuisine - attracts young opera stars from around the globe hungry to make their singing debut in the Capital.

Already famous in Paris, Bel Canto ‘opera dinners’ has now found a stage in London and a growing reputation as the place to hear the best opera up close and personal.

Located near the world famous Guildhall School of Music and Drama Bel Canto offers music students the chance to gain precious live performance experience as well as earn a crust.

Every performer has to be invited to audition by the owner Jean Paul Maurel and his and artistic director wife Antonina.

At regular intervals during the evening up to four of the performers will burst into song, moving between tables while belting out popular arias from Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and many more. 

“The effect on our customers is a joy to see. Even those who are experiencing opera for the first time are visibly moved by the evening,” says Maurel.

“It’s not just a business for us, but a passion. Many people have an image of opera as being elitist and expensive.  Well here we are proud to offer affordable fine dining combined with performances which are unique.”

Christina Petrou is a Guildhall music graduate, making ends meet teaching singing by day and performing opera by night while she acts as a waitress at Bel Canto’s.

“Bel Canto offers me the chance of live performance - which is invaluable in my line of work. It’s very intimate, and very exciting,” says Petrou.

“This is the best bit, we really feel like we connect with the audience, and when it’s a full night, everyone has a really good time.”

Bel Canto can be found at:
Mark Lane off Fenchurch Street London, EC3R 7AA
Website: http://www.lebelcanto.com
Telephone Number: 0207 444 0004

Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley - information and reviews

Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing opened his eponymous restaurant ‘Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley’ at the hotel in mid September 2008. The new restaurant replaces Petrus, of which Wareing was chef patron for nine years.

Marcus Wareing has built a loyal following and distinguished reputation as one of the country’s most respected chefs and ‘Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley‘ continues to offer guests some of the capital’s finest culinary experiences, displaying his technical brilliance in the creation and execution of French cuisine that has already won him two-Michelin-Star acclaim, as well as countless other acclaim and accolades. His menu offers modern, light cuisine evolved from his classical French background using the best seasonal produce available.

Commenting on his new restaurant Wareing says: “My name is on the door for the first time, but I remain in familiar surroundings with the same loyal and dedicated team around me. That brings a new sense of energy that will help us to produce ever better dining experiences for our guests and I am determined to make this London’s finest restaurant.”

Marcus Wareing is one of the few top chefs in London restaurants who is actually in the kitchen for every service. A key element of Marcus’ culinary philosophy is to focus on the main ingredients of each dish and employ techniques to intensify their natural flavours. His is not molecular gastronomy but superbly executed haute cuisine.

At the heart of the restaurant lies the Chef’s Table seating up to 8 guests. It is intimate and luxurious, strategically positioned to oversee the workings of the kitchen and the theatrics that each service brings.

Restaurant Manager is Giancarlo Princigalli who has worked with Marcus for 7 years. Head Sommelier James Lloyd formerly of Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road has recently joined the restaurant to oversee its impressive wine cellar. His philosophy for the restaurants’ extensive wine list is for it to evolve into a more accessible and rounded collection. Predominantly French with an emphasis on Bordeaux and averaging at xx bins, the list now reflects the current appetite for more affordable varieties as well as continuing to celebrate the special rare vintages for which it is well known.

Set lunch is available at £35 per head for three courses, an a la carte menu at £75.00 for three courses with a Tasting menu at £90.00, and Chefs Table at £1000.00 for 8 guests (excluding wine and water). Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley is open Monday to Saturday, and offers a Chef’s Table in the kitchen for up to 8 guests. The reservation line is 020 7235 1200.

You can read reviews of Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley on The London Restaurant Review

Gazette Restaurant, Balham

The wife and I dined here last night and I enjoyed it.  During the day, Gazette is a buzzy cafe cum brasserie, a place to pop in for a coffee or a croque monsieur.  By night, the candles on the tables create a more intimate atmosphere, unfortunately made less intimate by the fact that the tables are too close together.

It was packed on the Thursday night we visited with a 30 something crowd, mainly couples and the odd table of four.  The menu is French, fresh and updated daily.  There is a good selection of fish and meat dishes and a big wine list.  Starters are priced around £7 and mains around £13.  50cl carafes of wine means you don't need to pay for a full bottle between just two of you.

I had a goats cheese salad to start with - the green salad was crispy and fresh and the goats cheese on baguette had a lovely creamy, melty and spicy flavour.  The pair of quails for main course were OK but a bit fiddly - my fault really, I should have gone for the roast chicken instead. The side order of chips was excellent - big and crispy, not oily and a big portion.  My wife's main of calamari risotto was disappointing - the risotto was far too creamy and lacked bite and the fried calamari were placed on top, so the risotto did not pick up the fishy flavours.

Service was very friendly, if a little erratic - they could have done with another member of staff on hand.

Downstairs gets opened up for private parties or at the weekends to deal with spillover - it is pretty cosy down there.

Overall a positive experience. One thing to be aware of - lack of plates.  All dishes get served in pans or on boards -  a bit weird but all part of the fun!

You can book Gazette online here.

Tel: 020 8772 1232

1 Ramsden Rd
Balham, SW12

Cafe Rouge Holborn - Restaurant Review

A recent addition to the Kingsway/Holborn restaurant scene, I decided to check out this new Cafe Rouge on a Monday lunchtime with a friend.

We pitched up around 12.30 to an almost empty restaurant and were shown to a nice table by the window.  You can smell the newness of this place - it's been open for a couple of months but it is spankingly clean, spacious, bright and a delight to be in.  You could actually pretend you were in the middle of a busy bistro in Paris.

Even better was the credit crunching set lunch menu - 2 courses for £8.95.  I had the liver pate with crusty bread as a starter -  a decent portion and very tasty.  Following this I had the bangers and mash - 3 good quality sausages served on a creamy bed of mash and a moat of rich gravy.

Well fed after those two courses we asked for coffees which took an age to arrive, but by then the restaurant was completely full and the atmosphere buzzing.

I didn't check out the loos, the service (apart from the coffee wait) was friendly and efficient.

Overall worth coming back to.

Details:

Cafe Rouge

77 Kingsway

Holborn

London

Greater London

WC2B 6ST

Tel: 0207 430 1416

Website

Le Caprice Restaurant, Mayfair, London

Le Caprice is just round the corner from Green Park tube and behind The Ritz Hotel. The full address is:

Arlington House

Arlington Street,

Mayfair

SW1A 1RJ

Tel: 0207 629 2239

Website here

Cost per head=£90 for lunch

OK that sounds expensive but it did include two glasses of champagne, a glass of pudding wine, three courses and coffees. This is a lovely restaurant with near perfect service. Not stuffy. Excellent food. I had the wood pidgeon on toast as a starter, venison for main course and creme brulee for pudding. The only thing that didn't work was the creme brulee, which contained a lot of mushy figs that destroyed the texture of what would have been a great brulee without the figs. Only other niggle was that the restaurant was quite cold. Apart from that, Le Caprice has a formula that has kept it in business for years and will keep it in business for years to come (I hope).

Read more reviews on

The London Restaurant Review

Cafe Des Amis Du Vin, Covent Garden, London

Another visit to Cafe des Amis and it did not disappoint. Two of us pitched up around 8pm on a Thursday night without a reservation and were lucky to bag one of 2 remaining tables.

Service is consistent here and so is the food, although the bill seemed slightly higher than usual - mind you we did have a couple of aperatifs and I finished off with a Cognac, so that always bumps up the total.

My tuna starter was excellent but a little on the meagre side - I filled up on bread. The main of lamb with sweetbreads and associated 'bits' was excellent - gamey, tasty and filling. We skipped pudding and coffee.

The wine was a South Western France Syrah, priced at about £28. The wine list overall could be improved but you can generally find something worthwhile.

In summary, it still remains a favourite of mine and also remains very un-touristy, which considering it is right next to Covent Garden station (admittedly tucked away) is a pretty amazing thing!

You can book Cafe Des Amis online here and read more reviews

Cafe Des Amis Du Vin
11-14 Hanover Place
Covent Garden
WC2E 9JP