Pollen Street Social

I had a huge treat recently - an invitation to Pollen Street Social for a fellow foodie's birthday celebration. This was my first visit to Jason Atherton's flagship restaurant, which famously was awarded a Michelin star within six months of opening, and it more than lived up to expectations.

The tables are simply laid with white linen and country-chic design tableware in a buzzy dining room area with contemporary art from the likes of Gavin Turk. The overall effect is relaxed and welcoming, making it a perfect choice for anyone who might feel intimidated by the idea of Michelin-starred dining - or for a casual but wonderful birthday dinner.

Once greeted and seated, we had this very welcome selection of amuse-gueule, a literal taste of things to come: smoked salmon, sweetcorn muffins and my absolute favourite, crisp and delicate little beetroot and blackberry tartlets, full of contrasting flavours and perfectly balanced.

For starters we had the Wye Valley asparagus with native lobster and shellfish hollandaise, and the Eyemouth crab salad with apple, coriander, lemon purée and black garlic, and brown crab on toast. Gorgeously plated and precisely balanced, this was an outstanding dish.

Central to Pollen Street Social's ethos is a commitment to sourcing top quality seasonal produce from British suppliers; exhibit A, the Wye Valley asparagus.

Mushroom tea, served from a very elegant and covetable white tea set, was next up; earthy yet delicate and a great transition into the main course.

Again, a near-impossible choice for our mains; I opted for the Cornish lamb loin with braised neck and roasted artichoke, served with a salad of crisp baby vegetables, merguez sausage and curds and whey. I can't help but think that this was a good call. The combination of the two cuts and cooking methods of lamb was really interesting, with the beautifully rare, springy loin contrasting with the deeper, soft braised meat, cut through by the sharpness of the salad. It was again one of the most beautifully plated dishes I have seen.

My companion chose the South Coast Dover sole, which was served with Cornish fish soup poured over at the table and an Orkney sea scallop on the side. If I hadn't been feeling quite so smug about the lamb, a serious case of meal envy would have ensued. 

I've never quite understood why the portions always look comparatively small in top restaurants, yet you leave feeling perfectly full. It could be that there is another little tasty something brought to you at every feasible opportunity - this one being pre-dessert and a perfect basil and foamed yoghurt ice.

I don't really have a sweet tooth but you can't really go to Pollen Street Social without having dessert, courtesy of Leo Maple and the crew. Chocolate heaven comes in the form of the bitter chocolate pave with chocolate ice cream, olive biscuit and olive oil conserve.

And just when you think you've seen it all . . . along comes the banana soufflé with the wonderfully retro rum and raisin ice cream and lime. It looks spectacular and tastes even better.

We briefly debated ordering a coffee somewhere else on the way home but decided we were way too comfortable; yet another good call, as it turned out. Not only is the coffee fabulous - single estate from El Salvador - but it comes with 'mignardises', which in this case turned out to be an array of yummy extras including chocolate ganache, Turkish delight beautifully presented in an antique tin and a Bakewell tart, still gently warm from the oven. 

Wandering around downstairs on my way to the ladies' I stumbled (did I mention the awesome house white?) across this slightly Lord of the Flies glass-sided meat locker; quite a lot of the prep takes place at bars in the dining area so you can see the masters at work.

I don't know why, but this is my favourite shot of the evening; a bit blurry, rushed, but for me - a glimpse of where the magic happens.

Yours, Michelin-star struck,

Girl About Town xx

Portobello Road Market

Portobello Road Market is actually a series of markets stretching over half a mile from Notting Hill Gate tube station to just past Ladbroke Grove; I usually take several leisurely hours to cover this allowing for dodging the crowds, browsing and the odd purchase, plus a pit stop or two for refuelling.

You can start at either end but as it's on a hill most people seem to start from Notting Hill and walk down, and on manically busy Saturdays when the antique market is in town it can be easier to just go with the flow.
Assuming you have picked a Saturday to visit, follow the crowds out of the station past the chocolate-box mews houses (look out for George Orwell's blue plaque) and you're straight into the antiques section of the market, which goes from Chepstow Villas to Elgin Crescent - you can download a useful map here: http://www.portobelloroad.co.uk/getting_there.asp

Serious antique hunters should arrive by 9am latest (NOT 5.30am as some guide books say - none of the traders will be there!) but for those of us who are just there to soak up the atmosphere and idly browse, the market doesn't start closing up until around 4pm so it's a perfect lunchtime destination. Also, don't neglect the arcades off to the left; there are plenty of goodies to be had in there as well as from the stalls.

You can pick up some incredible bargains here. I don't necessarily mean investment pieces (although I'm sure that's possible), more just beautiful, characterful touches for your home that would cost a fortune in a designer shop. I love hunting around for mismatched silver cutlery and I have a friend who has gradually collected a set of gorgeous old fine china cups, saucers and tea plates, all in different patterns and styles, which look truly fabulous together and give simple tea and cake a real frisson of glamour. Amongst the silverware, glass and china there are lots of other wonderfully quirky collectables: antique printers' trays and blocks, metal advertising signs, worn leather footballs and wonderful old tins in all shapes and sizes - the old-fashioned food ones like Homepride, Oxo and Tetley make great kitchen storage!

After Elgin Crescent this segues into a food market which on Saturdays covers not only standard fruit and veg but also artisanal breads, cakes and baked goods, olives, flavoured oils, chutneys and relishes etc. If you happen to be here around packing-up time (just after 4pm) the traders are often keen to offload the fresh produce, so you can grab yourself some cut-price treats to take home. This area also offers a wide range of freshly-cooked street food, perfect for a quick energising pick-me-up before heading off down the hill.

The next section of the market, from Talbot Road to the Westway, is more like a standard weekend market with a range of new goods. Quality can vary enormously from stall to stall and you will find everything from 'original' art, jewellery, scarves and rugs to clothes pegs, batteries and watches. Keep an eye out for the regular shops as well though, as Portobello Road is home to some fabulous independent retailers; the rather wonderful Street Sensation website offers you a virtual shop-by-shop walkthrough map here:
http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/ptbello/pb_intro.htm

Look out particularly for the Oxfam Bookshop (172 Portobello Road) - if you are a bibliophile like me, declutter your shelves and drop your preloved  books here, then browse their shop and take home a whole new selection, all for charity. If I lived nearer, this would pretty much be my library. Also well worth a visit is Books for Cooks (4 Blenheim Crescent), which is an unbeatable combo of eclectic cookery book shop and working test kitchen/cafe. As soon as you open the door a waft of baking lures you inside and soon you're sampling the very recipe you're looking at on the page. Genius. They also run workshops on making everything from pasta to sushi upstairs in their demo kitchen - check their website for details:
http://www.booksforcooks.com/

Another fabulous coffee stop is newcomer Casa Nova (140 Portobello Road), which promises 'chocolate and something more'. It delivers on both counts; my coffee was really good, gutsy with a nutty depth that really hit the spot, and arrived with some freshly-baked biscuits drizzled with chocolate. There was an extensive choice of cakes and pastries to go with, as well as a range of delicious hand-made chocolate. For those with a real sweet tooth or in need of comfort, you must try the hot chocolate. It is literally that - like drinking warm melted chocolate, an oddly Willy Wonka-esque experience but highly recommended.

As you near the Westway you start to get into the fashion market. This is a great place to pick up vintage clothing, bags and accessories as well as hand-made pieces from young designers, usually fashion and textile design students; worth it to know you're unlikely to turn up at a party in the same outfit as someone else, and fabulous bragging rights if they were to make it big! Some stalls have a theme, maybe military or evening wear, whereas others are just a treasure chest jumble.

At this time of year it is worth checking out this season's fashion for coats and then rummaging through the racks; basic shapes like the peacoat or riding jacket don't change and you can find a bang on-trend winter coat or two for a fraction of the high street price. The best stuff is under the Westway; the market does continue on and into Golbourne Road but it degenerates into car boot type second hand goods past Cambridge Gardens.

Obviously the market is a tourist attraction but Portobello Road is fundamentally a working market for Londoners and a great Saturday afternoon out; I haven't managed a trip there yet without leaving laden down with fabulous finds. Go, enjoy.

Yours, vintage clad,

Girl About Town xx

Paul A. Young fine chocolates

Wandering along the rather lovely pedestrian area of Camden Passage in Islington a few weekends ago I found myself outside one of Paul A. Young's three London shops. Rude not to go in and have a quick mosey round, I thought; after all, this is where London learned what 'fine chocolates' really meant and where the master chocolatier's rise to culinary stardom truly began in 2006.

Named as one of the most influential male foodies under 40 by Channel 4 Food and variously described as 'a modern day Willy Wonka', 'an incredibly creative flavour alchemist' and 'the Heston Blumenthal of chocolate', Paul A. Young creates some of the most unusual and borderline bizarre flavours of chocolate out there. Probably most famous for his Marmite (or perhaps his Christmas Port and Stilton) truffles, recent tweets about new truffle flavours in the pipeline include Stichelton (a traditional English blue cheese) with Bramble, and Black Pudding, Calvados and Caramelised Apple.

A visit to the Wardour Street shop later that week resulted in the purchase of one cheesecakey Goat's Cheese, Lemon and Thyme, one Miso and Seaweed with Toasted Sesame Seeds, one Tomato, Basil and Olive Oil and one Thai-flavoured Tom Yum truffle. All fabulous and all purely in the the interests of research you understand, nothing to do with gluttony whatsoever. No sir. The things I do for my readers.

You don't have to have adventurous tastebuds to share in the chocolate blissfulness; flavours do vary with the seasons (and with whatever new combo has sprung to mind) but on my visit they included a delectable Banoffee Pie, an unexpectedly green-tasting Pimms (fabulous - try one, you'll see what I mean), a zingy Raspberry Ganache, a perfect Bakewell Tart and a classic Champagne. Whatever you go for, do not under any circumstances miss the award-winning Sea Salted Caramels; these are quite possibly my favourite chocolates in the world, ever. The silky smooth near-liquid caramel centre is a deliriously good combination of sweet and salty in perfect balance, encased in top-quality chocolate. 

Truly artisan, all the chocolates are hand-made in small batches on the premises using only fresh ingredients and must be eaten within seven days. Seven days?? Hah - you'll be lucky if they last seven minutes. As if that wasn't enough, the shops also sell his deservedly legendary brownies - unbelievably rich and very much at the fudgy rather than cakey end of the scale - and now the new awesome Billionaires Salted Caramel Shortbread. You can also buy jars of salted caramel sauce and chocolate in bars, some made here and some artisan bars only available in the UK in Paul's shops.

National Chocolate Week 2012 runs from 8th-14th October and sees a range of special events including new products in his existing shops and a pop-up store at The Folly in Gracechurch Street that will be there all month; check out his website for details:
http://www.paulayoung.co.uk/

Now this is really HOT chocolate.







Yours, seriously sugar-rushed,
Girl About Town xx 

Ice-cream worth shouting about

It's a scorchingly hot English summer's day (What?? A girl can dream . . . ) and your public transport advisory bottle of water just isn't cutting it. You need real refreshment - and fast.

As a self-confessed foodie, I like to seek out the most carefully-sourced, freshly-made, high quality dishes available and am always intrigued when respected tradition is gilded with an imaginative, contemporary gleam. Sadly, such ambitions are frequently more than my purse strings can bear - until of course we start talking gelato.

Ice-cream is relatively cheap, which makes top-quality gelato eminently affordable. One of the many advantages of London's vibrant multiculturalism is that we have experts in all manner of culinary disciplines, armed with traditions and skills learned at their grandmothers' aprons in regions across the world, all a short stroll or a few tube stops away.  Here are a few of my favourite gelateria and why I think you might want to give them a try.


Gelupo   http://www.gelupo.com/
Sister restaurant Bocca di Lupo's hot young chef Jacob Kennedy delivers traditional smooth gelato in some innovative flavours - think ricotta, chocolate and black pepper.


Gelatorino   http://www.gelatorino.com/

Recipes from an award-winning Turin gelato master and top-quality ingredients. Try the Breakfast in Turin coffee/chocolate chip flavour in an Affogato with espresso - the perfect pick-me-up.


Oddono's   http://www.oddonos.com/
One of the first to bring real Italian gelato to London and still going strong - flavours vary all the time and I know I should try something other than the pistachio, but it's just so darn good. Apparently Gordon Ramsay is a fan, and I'm  not about to disagree.

Scoop   http://www.scoopgelato.com/

Now with a new store on the Old Brompton Road, Scoop are hosting a Signatures special over the weekend 14th-16th September (see their website for details). Go along, and see what ordinary ice-creams want to be when they grow up.

Chin Chin Laboratorists   http://www.chinchinlabs.com/
Okay, I confess, this one is not about Italian heritage but pure showmanship - although the ice-cream is surprisingly good (especially the chocolate) and the special flavours can be imaginative, it's really all about the liquid nitrogen. Ice-cream making as a spectator sport anyone?

See - you can be cool and sweet at the same time.





Yours, with sympathy for the brain-freeze,

Girl About Town xx