Exmouth Pizza Time

It's a pizza place where you make your own pie! We give you the dough, the sauce, the cheese, you pound it, slap it, you flip it up into the air, you put your toppings on, and you slide it into the oven! Sounds good, huh?

Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld episodes “The Couch”)

The other day we were nearby of Exmouth market and decided to get a pizza in Santore. A busy Italian place, noisy, fast pace, and serving terrific wood oven fired pizzas.

Pizza Time

To change for a while I got a Panuozzi Estate, classic combination mozzarella, fresh chopped tomatoes, and Parma ham. But also tried the pizza capricciosa. The pizza was really lovely, great crust, and nice flavours. The panuozzo is like a pizza without the tomato sauce. A wood fired sandwich originated in Gragnano Campania, bread made on the pizza oven and then filled with fresh ingredients. A great discovery, nice flavours, no fuss but correct execution.

Panuozzi

Quality ingredients brought from Naples, friendly and good service, lovely Italian rustic non-pretentious food, and huge portions including pizzas al metro. Another great Neapolitan pizza place in London.

Santore

T: 020 7812 1488

Italian Cuisine / Pizzeria

Approx Damage: £18pp

Area: Clerkenwell

Borough: Islington

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Brunch in Clerkenwell

A couple of my friends are coffee maniacs which is priceless as they can give you excellent tips of where to have really good independent coffee around town. So the other day I went out with my Sarah to have brunch, even though that I promised after reading Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential not to eat brunch again, and actually also not to eat fish on a Monday in a restaurant. Anyway temptation of a lazy Sunday before Thames festival I ended in St Ali having brunch.

The Place

Inside

They opened in April, Australian concept, just a simple cafe place, wood everywhere, giving a rustic but industrial appearance or it might just be the huge coffee roasting machine at the back, no reservation which is becoming a common practise here in London, open from 7am to 6pm seven days a week.

The Roaster

The Menu

Got to the place ordered a filter coffee from Guatemala, and My Mexican Cousin breakfast, you know to keep everything in a Latin-American state of mind. Sarah got bits and pieces from the menu, scramble eggs, thyme roast mushrooms, and a tomato salad.

The Guatemalan

The Mexican cousin was ok, it was corn fritters, baby spinach, grilled halloumi, and kasundi with poached eggs. I think the fritters were too dry, it needed some sort of sauce to take it to next level. The coffee was magnificent, good aroma and taste. Overall a nice brunch, relax, good time to catch up and wind up on a Sunday afternoon.

The Mexican Cousin

Sarah's Cousin

Mexico reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Diplomat's Club” when Kramer is betting on flight arrivals.

Earl: This could be Mexico City.

Kramer: Come on Seattle, let's go.

Earl: Come on, Mexico City!

Kramer: Seattle, yeah!

Intercom: Flight 42 from Mexico City.

Kramer: All right, come on, let's go again.

St Ali

T: 020 7253 5754

Coffeehouse

Area: Clerkenwell

Borough: Islington

Twitter: st_aliUK

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Burger Wars Episode XXXI: The Sith Burger

One place I was really looking forward to visiting was Brasserie Malmaison. The restaurant of the Malmaison boutique hotel in Clerkenwell, just a couple steps from the Smithfield market. There were two main reasons, first I have read good reviews about the burger, and the second one to see the Butchers Block, I’ve been dreaming going there since I read a review by Kang. Their promise simple British classic, big portions and not compromise in quality..

The Hotel

Butcher's Block

Got to the place, a modern atmosphere, good service, and pretty straight forward menu. Didn’t take me long to decide as the main was already chosen, a brief browse to the menu to ask for the fried squid, and the Mal burger.

The menu

The squid was superb, oh my god! I think one of the best ones I have had, the batter was amazing the dipping sauce brilliant, and the rocket gave a balance between the peppery flavour and the sweetness of the dipping sauce, and the presentation of the dish was spot on.

The star of the night

The Mal burger, naturally reared ground beef supplied by Donald Russel comes with bacon, melted gruyere cheese, gherkin, lettuce, tomato, and onions, a special tomato base sauce, home made fries, and I asked as a side the tarragon aioli.

Mal Burger

The verdict, brilliant! The burger was amazing, medium rare, cook to perfection, amazing flavour, the sauce, the bacon, and the cheese giving an extraordinaire uniqueness to the bloodiness of the patty. The fries on the other hand for me swing and a miss, oily and soggy.

The damage, 16.45 quids for the Mal burger, fries, and a coke.

The conclusion, Malmaison met the expectations, the burger was spectacular, the squid stole the show, sadly the fries failed to deliver. I would give them a solid 9, Chef John Woodward just get those fries crunchy to get you into the top three burgers in town, apart from that keep it the good work.

This is a real bad boy

Mal could be translated to Spanish as Evil, and that reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Face Painter” when Puddy paints his face as a Devil to support his hockey team.

Elaine: That poor priest. He was just visiting from El Salvador. Now he's gone completely loco.

Jerry: The one Puddy screamed at in the car?

Elaine: Yeah. He thinks he saw the devil. He won't leave his room in the church basement.

Jerry: Well, that's what you get for getting mixed up with a face painter.

Elaine: I mean, what compels a seemingly normal human being to do something like that?

Jerry: Got to support the team.

St John British food in the middle of Smithfield

Finally I went to St John, I’ve been trying to go since I saw Anthony Bourdain “No Reservations” episode in London and Edinburgh. The place was opened in 1994, and it’s one of a select group of restaurants here in London with 1 Michelin star.

St John's Menu

For those that aren’t familiar with the system, the scale goes from 1 star to 3, where 1 star indicates a good restaurant to stop on your journey, 2 stars is excellence cooking worth a detour, and 3 stars indicates an exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey. To give you a better idea of the Michelin system in the UK there are 4 restaurants with 3 stars (2 in Bray and 2 in London, Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck one of them), with 2 stars 14 restaurants (7 in London), and with 1 star the list is a few over 100 (and only 39 in London).

The Dinning room

The history of this Georgian building is vast, the place in the past was originally a smokehouse, later abandoned and also used as squats, greenhouse, Chinese beer store, and rave. Now completely transform internally but externally pretty much as it was built. You can find two distinctive areas, a bar for a more informal gathering and the dining room a bright white room. The staff was knowledgeable and helpful, and a quiet ambience to indulge yourself in their specialties.

Roast Bone Marrow

Roast Bone Marrow

But let’s talk about the food, I ordered 3 courses, for start I had to go with the Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad, just amazing, for it was a first time and the flavour and taste of this dish is superb. As a main I went for the Middlewhite & Courgettes, good taste from this distinctive pork pig breed, but I have a huge problem here, the pork wasn’t with the right temperature, it was warm but starting to go cold, it was obvious the dish was out waiting to be served, a mistake you might pass to any regular restaurant but when you’re eating in a place like this you expect only perfection, if that would have happened to a Michelin inspector they would have probably loss their star. Courgettes were great and inexplicable at the right temperature. To end the meal I couldn’t leave without trying the Blood Cake and Fried Eggs, I love black pudding, the blood cake was great, the egg gives another dimension, good taste, and amazing flavour.

Middlewhite

In conclusion a great meal, taking apart the small fluke they had with the cold Middlewhite, good wine selection to go with your food, and friendly staff, definitely a place to go. Be prepared to spend at least 50 quids eating there.

Blood Cake & Eggs

One of my favourite quotes in Seinfeld is in the episode “The Jimmy” where George Steinbrenner accused George of being stealing equipment.

George: You hem... wanted to see me Mr. Steinbrenner?

Steinbrenner: Yes George, come in ,come in. You know George I've been your biggest supporter around here and that’s why I was so disappointed to hear that you been pilfering the equipment.

George: George would never do anything like that.

Steinbrenner: No why would I. I own it.

George: Right!

Steinbrenner: So what are you saying?

George: Why would George steal from the Yankees?

Steinbrenner: He wouldn't.

George:  'course not

Steinbrenner: Exactly... I don't what the hell's going on here.

George: Sir?

Steinbrenner: Nothing.

George: Well seems it's about time for George's lunch.

Stein: Yes it is. Well let’s see what I have today. Darn it It's ham & cheese again and she forgot the fancy mustard. I told her I like that fancy mustard. You could put that fancy mustard on a shoe and it would taste pretty good to me. oh! she made it up with a cupcake though. Hey look at this. You know I got a new system for eating these things. I used to peel off the chocolate now I turn them upside down, I eat the cake first and save the frosting for the end.

St John
T: 020 7251 0848
British Cuisine
Borough: Islington
Area: Farringdon
Twitter: SJRestaurant

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Burger Wars Episode XVI: Smith or Smithy if you like

In my search I ended in Smiths of Smithfield (SOS) John Torode place, the problem here is that they have a bar downstairs with a chicken burger and in the 2nd floor a dining room with a beef burger, so I decided to try both.

Ground Floor Menu

For the first visit I tried the ground bar, the place was packed, but I had the chance to sit in one of the sofas, I’ve been there a couple times for drinks, the place has a nice ambiance. I took the menu to scan for my next victim, the option there is a chicken burger, chicken fillet, lettuce, tomato, garlic mayo, and chips.

The Chicken Burger

The verdict, the taste wasn't bad, the garlic mayo gave a nice touch to the chicken, but the bun was saggy, the fries undone, so in general not a good experience.

The damage, 13 quids the chicken burger, fries and a beer

The conclusion, not good at all, I had a big expectation of this place, I still have to try the 2nd floor burger, hopefully will recover of this weak start. For the chicken burger I give them a weak 5, the taste of the chicken and the garlic mayo were the only things that save this train wreck.

Ground Level

What’s your purpose in Port Royal, Mr Smith?

On the weekends you also can try a 6oz beef burger, but after a disappointing chicken burger I decided to give them only one more chance, so I went for the Dining room at the 2nd floor, a 10oz beef burger with mature cheddar, old spot bacon, and tomato chutney. Surprisingly this time was the other way around, the burger was almost perfect, nice flavour, the patty was amazing, the bun slightly toasted, the bacon with the cheese gave a good balance, and the tomato chutney a sweet touch.

10oz Burger

The Infamous Chips

The verdict, the 10oz burger almost spotless. To be perfect I would let the cheddar to melt. But amazing flavour and good balance. The chips were fat and crunchy but again undone.

The Damage, 21 quids for the 10oz burger, fries and a beer.

The conclusion, the dining room in the 2nd floor very good, please do not waste your time in the ground level as the chicken burger was a disappointing experience. So for the Dining room a solid 8 there is room for improvement with the cheese and the fries which were consistently terrible in both floors.

Dining Room 2nd Floor

This double dilemma reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Switch” when Jerry tries to switch the girl he was dating with her flatmate.

George: Do you realize in the entire history of western civilization no one has successfully accomplished the roommate switch. In the middle ages you could get locked up for even suggesting it.

Jerry: They didn't have roommates in the middle ages.

George: How do you know?

Jerry: Well, for one thing, they didn't have apartments.

George: Well, I'm sure at some point between the years 800 and 1200 somewhere there were two women living together.

Burger Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Braunvieh

In this occasion I went to Dollars Grills & Martinis with Carla. I got a tastelondon trial card, so the first thing I did was to look for the places that I’m going to visit and see if I could use the discount card over there. The place has a nice décor, and the service was really friendly at the beginning. We got the menu and Carla asked for a pornstar, I said to her "really a pornstar?" If she’s having a pornstar can I have a supermodel? The waitress immediately told me there was no supermodel but you could have instead a rockstar, minutes of hesitation and I said what the hell, bring two pornstars, what could be better than one pornstar, definitely two pornstars right? We got the pornstar martini and then ordered the burgers. Carla asked for the sweet cure bacon and mozzarella dollar burger (rare) and I asked for the sweet cured bacon, avocado, buffalo mozzarella and peanut sauce million dollar burger (medium rare). 

The difference is that the million dollar burgers have 1 once more than the dollar burgers, and they are more exotic, so you can have a spinach, parma ham, mozzarella, and chili sauce burger, or a mango salsa, mozzarella, jack cheese, jalapeno, and guacamole burger. On the other hand the dollar burgers are more classic, jack cheese, mozzarella, bacon and mozzarella, jalapeno and mozzarella, camembert and cranberry, or a red peper mango salsa and jack cheese burger. All the burgers come with fries.

We got the burgers and I felt like I was in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, bases loaded, winning by one, and the your best closer throws a wild pitch, the burgers were well done!!! Seriously, what part of rare you didn't get.  After complaining, the service went from bad to terrible. It took hours to get the bill, and according to the waitress the place imposes the 12.5% service which was a lie, because looking today at their menu in small prints at the end it says it’s optional, what do you think?, for me now it was fastball and the batter connect a line drive to left field, consequence we lost the game.

Million Dollar Burger

The verdict, the burger wasn't bad, except for the fact it wasn’t how we ordered, but taste wise was good. I’m not a big fan of those fancy combinations they have for the million dollar burgers, and the difference in size between the million dollar and the dollar burger is insignificant or at least really hard to notice. The fries were good, really thin and crispy. The service was just terrible.

The damage, without taking in consideration the tastelondon discount we should have paid 23 pounds each, for the burger, fries and the martini. Thanks to the card we only spent 17 pounds each.

The conclusion, nice place, weird combinations, flavors not bad at all, but a terrible service and overcooked meat, In general I can’t give them more than a 5.5 for the whole experience. I really don’t think I will come back, maybe when they have a supermodel, so as in the Seinfeld episode “The Soup Nazi” my only comment is NEXT!.