10 Greek Street

10 Greek Street is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it white tile and matt black-fronted restaurant in the road parallel to Frith Street down from Soho Square, an area already blessed with some of the best eateries in town. Opened around 18 months ago and run by Luke Wilson (ex manager of Exmouth Market's The Ambassador and Liberty Wines rep) at front of house and Cameron Emirali (former Head Chef of the Wapping Project) in the kitchen, there is a no-reservations policy for dinner, although you can book lunch or the private dining room.

The no-frills approach continues inside with a stripped down but stylish, relaxing interior: dark-grouted white rectangular wall tiles (which always remind me of those grand Victorian bathrooms, but in a good way), garden flowers in milk bottles, bare walls and blackboards displaying the daily changing menu. The cutlery is in a container at your table, which gave me a sudden post-traumatic stress flashback to eating in Texas until a glance at the menu brought me back to the here and now.

The menu segues between tasting plates, starters and main courses; we had a sharing head on, and our unflappable waitress was happy to oblige. You can have tapas-y nibbles, starters, starter portions of main courses and/or main courses shared between two, and that's before you get to the desserts. Oh, and even though the menu changes daily, they still have specials: while we were perusing the menu, we plumped for the starter special, a Parmesan-crusted duck egg with truffle mayonnaise.

Truffles are like expensive perfume - a little goes an awfully long way, and they can very easily become overpowering and unpleasant. I need not have feared, as this was a spectacular introduction to our evening; the egg was perfectly soft-centred, the coating beautifully golden and crisp and the truffle mayonnaise flavoured with a deft but sparing hand.

We decided to share a combination of starter options and then see how we felt about ordering a main. The first to arrive was the octopus, potatoes and paprika; for me, this was a perfect summer dish that looked beautiful and reminded me of long mellow evenings at a beach-side taverna or trattoria. Generous pieces of unexpectedly tender octopus, peppery olive oil and the spike of paprika balanced perfectly with soft chunks of potatoes to soak up all the flavours - wonderful.

10 Greek Street also has an excellent and very reasonably-priced wine list that gives you the choice of a small 125ml glass, a 375ml carafe, or a bottle for most of the wines available, meaning you can easily and affordably marry up wines and dishes should you choose to. We went for a carafe of the crisp and citrussy Vermentino, which was really good and went well with everything we ordered.

Next to arrive was the spaghettini, girolles, leeks and summer truffle: again this was a really carefully put together dish, the flavours complementing each other beautifully. It was quite a sizeable portion for a starter, especially considering that it is very buttery and quite filling. We then had the clams, chorizo and peas which was again a good size, served with toasted home-made bread. I was beginning to appreciate that the decor (and indeed the website) reflect the whole ethos of the food at 10 Greek Street: nothing fussy, nothing pretentious, nothing unnecessary, concentrating on quality and balanced (although sometimes unexpected) combinations that really work. This was delicious; excellent chorizo, again not allowed to overpower the dish but complementing the clams and the fresh peas beautifully.

It was at this point, just as we had decided that we couldn't fit in a main course and would head straight for desserts, that the table next to us got their dish of rare spring lamb, white beans, preserved lemon, watercress and chilli. I knew I wasn't hungry enough but I couldn't help feeling a pang of envy, it looked so good. I suspect that every diner in the place was mentally planning their next meal there - although of course you can't as the menu changes daily, depending on seasonal influences and Emirali's gifted imagination.

Chatting to owner Luke Wilson, I asked how he would characterise a menu that offered dishes as diverse as monkfish wrapped in vine leaves, spaghettini with girolles and plaice with brown shrimp. Acknowledging a strong Mediterranean influence together with a classic British feel but given a fresh and inspired twist, and given that 'Cam's cuisine' is not yet a recognised term in food writing (though give it time - Cameron Emirali has both vision and talent, and lots of it), 'Modern European' is about the closest fit.

We chose two very different desserts to share - a gooseberry and elderflower crumble with crème anglaise (basically a very light pouring custard) and raspberry sorbet with vodka. Neither disappointed; the crumble was light and beautifully textured, the fruit retaining just enough sharpness, and the sorbet was smooth, fresh and zingy, with the vodka adding a little kick of interest at the end.

If you haven't tried 10 Greek Street yet, or if the pared-down look has put you off, go. Go now. Trust me, you won't be disappointed - this place is a gem. I'm already planning my next trip.

Yours, a new card-carrying Cam Cuisine groupie,

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