1 Lombard Street

Review
1 Lombard Street

Venue:

1 Lombard Street, 1 Lombard Street, London,

An apology for the photos with this post; my phone doesn't 'do' atmospheric lighting!

First thoughts:

I'd never heard of this restaurant before, but with a little search online, I found that until this year, it held a Michelin star. The chef patron is Herbert Berger and Tim Richardson is head chef, running the kitchen on a day-to-day basis. Before I go on, I must mention that after our first course, I popped to the toilet. (I know you're wondering why I comment on this, but please read on!) On the way, I came across the kitchens, and couldn't resist having a peep around the doors - well, one was open, so it didn't seem too rude. As I watched the bustle and preparation in awe, Tim Richardson invited me in! I was so excited, and couldn't possibly refuse! He showed me what happened at each section, how the restaurant and brasserie sections were under different chefs and what went where. He was really lovely, happy to chat and obviously very content to show someone round the kitchens without any worries on a busy Friday evening. I just want to record my thanks to him - it really made the evening and to see inside such a fantastic restaurant kitchen was a real privilege! Thank you!


Appearance:

The restaurant is 'housed' in an old banking hall and has a wonderful dome in the middle. We visited the brasserie section and the atmosphere was bubbling: There was a pianist playing at a lovely volume. The food all looked amazing; small, neat portions, beautifully presented.


Taste:

The menu was a five-course set menu that we found on an offer, but the food was excellent. We began with a small cup of butternut squash soup. This was served in a little espresso cup and was rich, thick, creamy and well seasoned with a hint of pepper and spice.

To follow was the fish course. This was Asian inspired Salmon, cooked to perfection; sticky and crispy with a hint of spice on the outside whilst still pink in the middle. It was served alongside a trio of 'sauces': a thick and salty dark soy, crunchy and tangy pickled ginger and what I think was a coriander verde. The salad was served on a bed of something I couldn't quite put my finger on - I'm not one for reading menus properly either - but that I think had the freshness of Kaffir Lime, although I may be mistaken! A shame the waiters didn't place each plate down with the lines of sauce in the same place and going in the same direction.

Main course was rolled lamb served on a bed of mash and, I want to say Kale, but can't be sure! Sorry! It was served with slow-roasted shallots which were sweet and yummy and was seasoned with garlic. The lamb was soft and tender and simply melted in the mouth.

After main course was a tangy granita - my boyfriend's portion was considerably larger than mine, but that's probably for the best! I think it was passion-fruit, but again, didn't read the menu so can't be sure! ( I really ought to pay more attention if I'm going to review regularly!)

We both chose cheese for dessert, a selection of 5: Cheddar, Reblochon, Camembert, Goat's cheese (at this point I had disappeared for another sneak peek at the kitchen and my boyfriend couldn't remember exactly what they'd said!) and Stilton. Now, in good restaurants I'm used to the cheese being served from mildest to strongest (again, my boyfriend insisted it was from hard to soft, but what I thought made more sense) so I was disappointed to find this wasn't the case. The Stilton was in amongst the mild and creamy goat's cheese and the Reblochon, which was possibly the mildest of the 5. If I'd have sequenced them, I'd have begun with the Reblochon, moving onto the goat's cheese, followed by the cheddar, then the Camembert, and finally the Stilton.

We added on coffee that arrived with a whole plate of petit fours - just as many for us two as for the table of 5 next to us! And they were all delicious.

To Drink:

We bought a bottle of French red, think it may have been a Cabernet Sauvignon for £20, which was light and fruity.

Value for Money:

The set menu was £19.95 per person - excellent value. The wine, I thought, was a little pricey, but then it is a top restaurant, and we both finished with 'un cafe'. The bill came to £65, £73 ish with service. The food was outstanding, the atmosphere chilled and bubbling at the same time, and the service very good. I'd definitely return, again and again!

Bread Pots

I was out at a lovely old mill at the weekend, which is now an antiques centre - all sorts of antiques, from architectural, to trinkets - and came across these little terracotta plantpots. Each one is roughly hewn and stands at only about 8-10 cm tall! I really couldn't resist buying them and knew straight away what I was going to use them for - Bread Pots! Well, they were only 30p each!

Dough - all risen as hoped and ready to bake!

I gave them a good scrub with very hot water and soap, but no amount of soaking and scratching could remove some of the embedded soil! Oh well, at least they were 'clean'. I buttered and floured each one well before starting and made a plain white bread dough. I used a Delia recipe, but ended up adjusting proportions as I went along - as usual. I only cooked them for about 20 minutes as I used teeny-tiny pots instead of huge great loaf tins.

I served them with delicious Insalata Caprese to soak up the olive oil and balsamic.

Monday Night Treats

Had a course locally today so got home a bit earlier than usual! Even managed a trip to the shop to buy food (rather than the leaf-blower I spent last week's food money on!) Getting home early gave me lots of time to cook. I had been dying to make Dan's chocolate fondant (more about those later in the week!) and also wanted to use fresh ingredients in a light starter and main.

We began with Insalata Caprese (sorry Dan, I'm really not trying to copy all your brilliant ideas!) I used baby on-the-vine tomatoes, packet mozzarella and fresh basil with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The mozzarella was tasteless, but if I had a local deli, I'd definitely have used it for this ingredient! You can't beat real, fresh, creamy mozzarella balls. I wonder if you can freeze them?! Ideas on a postcard...

I had two pieces of salmon that needed eating, so simply pan-fried them, wilted some spinach with butter and pepper for their bed and baked some herby scones instead of mash / potatoes / rice. All served with a dollop of aioli.

Pudding was delicious, and I won't spoil the later post by telling you now, that they worked out perfectly. All I need now are some of those lovely round pudding-type tins that I can't remember the name of!

Green Thai Curry

A couple of weeks ago I had a rather mad cooking day; one of the things I attempted for the first time was a Green Thai Curry paste so I could cook my own green curry. Well, I finally got round to making the curry, so here it is...

Thai Green Curry

onion - sliced
green pepper -sliced
thai creen curry paste
chicken breast - cubed
can coconut milk
olive oil

First, fry off the onion and peppers in a little oil. You can add anything else at this stage - courgette, for example.
When beginning to get soft, transfer to a bowl.
Add however much of the paste you'd like to a large glug of hot olive oil. I used a good two tablespoons.
Fry off until the aroma is released, then add the cubed chicken.
Brown the chicken, return the vegetables to the pan and add a tin of coconut milk.
Simmer until the chicken is cooked.

Serve with boiled rice, or jasmine rice if you can be bothered!

Painted Pigeon Pate

Not my title! It was a 'dad' suggestion when I told him that the delicious-looking pheasant pate we had been kindly given (thanks Jane!) had been made in Rawtenstall, a place very close to where he grew up in Lancashire. He suggested that (and I'm not agreeing!) people in Rawtenstall may not have heard of pheasant, and so simply painted pigeons to look like pheasants instead! It made me laugh, so I thought I should include that anecdote!

As for the pate, it was part of a very late - as in as late as the Spanish eat - meal served to my boyfriend after he had worked all weekend and returned at 10pm on the Saturday night. I opened up the jar and scooped a quenelle for each of us, served it very simply with a green salad, torn crusty brown bread and a squeeze of lemon. The texture was rough and meaty with visible pieces of everything that had gone into making it, and the taste was rich and creamy. The sourness of the lemon cut through this and the crunch of the salad offered a different texture. Despite eating so late, it started off our meal beautifully and was a real treat.

France vs Britain - the food wars!

Ok, a few of my last posts have extolled the virtues of France and the French way of life, above all, the food. So lets have a recap.

Both countries have access to good quality, local ingredients, but I think Britain tops the list in terms of quality of meat in particular, especially the animal welfare. The food at Stansted really was of the highest quality.

You can have 'slops' in France as well as England, as proved by the demi-pension served during the recent holiday - the food was good and fairly tasty but looked a mess. Whereas in England the food would have been well-portioned in most hotels, here it was slopped onto the plates, almost overspilling at the edges! Like I said though, the taste was generally good, and my boyfriend certainly didn't complain about the portion sizes!

If I based my judgement on just one dish, Tartiflette would win hands down every time, but I guess I can't as I've had some amazing food in England too - and probably not as likely to lead to a heart attack in the coming years! (Although I do admire the French's resolve not to care about these things and their attitude to life - simply enjoy it, and if you can't do that, argue about it!)

Pizza - in France you are far more likely to get home-made dough, odd shaped pizzas, feu-de-bois cooking and a crispy thin base. They are, however, just as likely to leave it in the oven a little too long - see my recent post!

So, to conclude? Well, I don't think I can pick a winner: Both France and England have a lot going for them in terms of culinary skill, ingredient access and food knowledge at the moment. I would offer the advice to ask other people who have visited restaurants for their recommendations before you visit a new place if you don't want to just 'fill-up'.

You are just as likely to have 'bad food' in France as you are in England, and it simply depends on who's in the kitchen at the time of your visit!

Cote D'Azur

Apologies for not writing sooner, but I've only just managed to dig a laptop out from the dust after having a little building work done. It's not the one with the photos though, so you'll have to wait a little longer for me to add those! (Since added!)

Why is it that French airport shops are generally much more attractive than English ones? Is it because even if you buy a children's book from the newsagents there, they wrap it as a present and take time to do it beautifully, despite the queue building up? Or is it simply that the produce looks so much more appetising? Rather than selling everyday chocolate and giant bags of sweets, they sell a range of delicious French cheese, magnums of French champagne, foie gras, saucisson...the list could continue, but those are just a few of my favourites.

The restaurant food is a self-service affair but not as we know it in England. Admittedly, there isn't a choice as at Stansted - see my post about the simple and delicious food at the airport, but the food all looks quite appetizing; the best thing being that you can buy wine in a carafe from a tap! How good is that?! Red, White or Rose from a machine that in England, only dispenses soft drinks -wonder if we could get one installed in the staffroom at school?! No Tartiflette on the menu unfortunately, so we both ordered pizza -not frozen from a packet, but made there in front of you with fresh dough and toppings of your choice, and cooked in a feu-de-bois (wood burning oven). Just a reminder, this is a self-service restaurant in the airport! Usually these are delicious, but unfortunately this once, the girl left it in a little too long and the base was certainly crispy in parts, if not burnt and black. Oh well, the carafe of wine made up for it at just 4 euros!