British love

Something I love about Britain is the pub culture. You have probably noticed this from my Chiswick pubs series reviewing The Old Packhorse,  The Bollo,  The Gunnersbury, The Pilot, The Lamb and Smokehouse. I, of course don’t just go to pubs in Chiswick.

One of my favourite pubs in London is The Black Lion on Kilburn high road.

The Black Lion
274 Kilburn High Road
London NW6 2BY
West Hampstead

The Black Lion pub is a beautiful old English pub steeped in history dating back to the Roman times. It has a friendly atmosphere and the service is really polite and upbeat, the people who work there seem like they really enjoy it. In the winter it even has open fires surrounded by couches where you can snuggle up with a winter warm drink.  I really love the atmospheric Victorian charm it has about it.

The food is delicious and what I would consider pretty reasonably priced. The quality and freshness of the food is second to none and I have never had anything I didn’t like.

I usually opt for the Tapas menu where you can get 4 plates for £14. This way I get to taste a lot of different flavours and its great way to share food with friends.

Looking over the Tapas menu now I realise I have tired most of the dishes on there!

Some of my favourites are

Italian style mixed olives

Fresh pitta break & homemade hummus

Toasted bruschetta with tomato, onions & cucumber

Deep fried calamari and hand cut triple cooked chips

Trio of sliders, chicken, pulled pork and beef

They also have great Sunday roast options. Beef, Chicken, Lamb, Pork belly and vegetarian Wellington. The biggest range of roasts I’ve seen in pub.

I have tried the Lamb

and the ½ corn feed chicken

Both were very good. The Yorkshire puddings were the best I think I have ever had. The veggies were so so but with the gravy were very tasty. The meat (both the lamb and chicken) was tender and full of flavour. Exactly how you want a Sunday roast to be. It is literally drenched in gravy though so if you aren’t a big fan make sure to request yours on the side.

I actually haven’t ever had the A La Carte menu but they seem to have a good range of starters, mains and desserts in a very traditional English pub style. I can’t see them not being as good as the tapas or Sunday roasts so I look forward to trying some of the dishes one day…especially the chocolate brownie!

The Black lion is also a lovely place to just go for a drink. They do some really great cocktails and of course they have lots of beers and wines.

There is nothing about the Black Lion I don't like so go check it out and let me know what you guys think.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM

Time to try one of the new crazes in London. The edible art that is the Amorino rose ice cream.

 

Amorino
41 Old Compton Street,
London
W1D 6HF
 

Amorino is an ice cream shop created in 2002 by two childhood friends Cristiano Sereni and Paolo Benassi. The quality is so good there ice cream is sold around the world and made according to traditional Italian methods with a dedication to using the very best ingredients from all over the world.
 
When you walk past their first London based shop in Old Compton street, you can help but want to go in. I has a really warm, inviting atmosphere.  Once inside you are presented with the counter of all the amazing flavours. Their products are not cheap but it isn’t a something you are going to have every day, more a special occasion treat.
 
You have a lot of different choices. Drinks, cakes, ice cream cups but what they are known for is there Amorino rose ice cream cone. So that’s what I decided to go for.

How it works.
One main flavour forms the "core" of the ice cream, and the rest of the flavours which you choose are petals carved and put around the cone to get the pretty looking flowers you see above.
The first flavour you chose becomes the core so make sure you pick your favourite as this one. It’s like you get one full scoop which is your core and then small carvings of the other flavours you choose around it.
 
They have a really great selection of flavours from mango and passionfruit sorbets to amaretto, tiramisu and speculoos gelatos.

There is a flavour for every taste bud.

I got a Ciocclato base with Tiramisu and Amarena petals. The flavours were really good. Full of flavour and rich and creamy. It was a perfect end to a fun night with friends.
 

Again it isn’t a place I am going to go to often as it’s pretty pricey for ice cream but it is somewhere you have to check out at least once. I have no doubt you will enjoy it.
 
 

The Blues in Red

Sometimes when I get blue I bake because it makes me forget whatever is going on and lets me focus on something. 

Although Im feeling blue, I decided too change it up a bit and I took my first shot at Red Velvet cupcakes.

Red Velvet cupcakes

Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 large beets
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup coconut oil
• ¾ cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Methods

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Remove beet leaves and scrub the beets clean. Place each beet on a large square of foil and sprinkle with the salt, olive oil and a splash of water. Wrap each beet loosely with the foil.
3. Place foil-wrapped beets on a baking sheet and roast until a knife or fork comes out with ease when inserted into the beet, about 30 minutes. Remove the beets and set aside to cool just enough to handle.
4. Preheat oven to 160 C. Line a 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
5. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
6. Peel the cooled beets and grate finely, until pureed.
7. Add coconut oil, milk, eggs, vinegar and vanilla to the beet puree and mix together. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, until combined. Scoop batter into lined cupcake tins, filling about ⅔ full.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Let cakes cool

Turns out cream cheese frosting is not easy when you don’t have an electric mixer. Yes I know, a baker without a mixer…crazy. Well until I invest in one it is all hand mixing for this little baker. Without the mixer my fluffy cream cheese frosting turned to a cream cheese glaze...which in the end was actually pretty nice…just not the effect I was originally going for.

Cream cheese glaze/frosting
Ingredients

• 300g icing sugar, sifted
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese, cold

Methods

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together. For best results use a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment or a handheld electric whisk on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. I on the other hand used a wooden spoon to begin with and then a whisk and mixed by hand.
2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. If using a mixer, turn it up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Again for me I hand whisked it until it was mixed together, it just never really got light and fluffy, more glazy liquid.
3. If yours is fluffy spoon or pipe the cream cheese frosting on top of the cold cakes. For me I coated a few times with the glaze and let them dry.

If I do say so myself they tasted pretty awesome. An intense flavour and super sweet. One with a cup of tea will do the trick quite nicely.

Try out the recipe yourself and see how you like them…hopefully your icing works out a bit better than mine but either way they will taste great!

The way fast food should be

When most people think of fast food, they think of greasy, fatty, oily food made with subpar ingredients that is dirt cheap. One of the biggest issues with this is although you may enjoy it while you are eating it, it makes you feel pretty icky after you finish it. Stodgy, stodgy, stodgy!

But who said fast food has to be that way and has to be bad for you!

A great example of good, healthy, decently priced fast food is Leon.
Their slogan is even ‘Naturally fast food’

Leon
101 Tottenham Court Road
London
W1T 4TT

Is the one I go to most often but there are about 30 other locations which you can find here.http://leonrestaurants.co.uk/restaurants/

They have a great range of quick, fresh, healthy option for eat in or take away. They have hot boxes, super salads as well as healthy wraps and light bites.

Everything I have had from here has been fresh, tasty and delicious. I’m going to share a few of my favourites.

The Chicken & Chorizo Club Hot Box

Chargrilled chicken thigh with slices of roasted Spanish chorizo, topped with sweet red peppers and a handful of chopped parsley.

This box is

• Low saturated fat
• Low glycemic load
• Wheat free
• Gluten free

Similar is the Chicken & Chorizo Club Wrap

Chargrilled chicken thigh and slices of roasted Spanish chorizo with fresh leaves, pink cabbage, slices of pickle, garlic aioli and Leon chilli sauce in flat bread wrap.

Grilled Halloumi Wrap

A great vegetarian option. Grilled halloumi, fresh leaves, pink cabbage, baby plum tomato, parsley, aioli and sweet chilli jam in a flatbread wrap.
 
The Chicken Burger

See burgers don’t have to be bad, Leon have worked on a burger that tastes good and does you good. Chargrilled butterflied chicken thigh with fresh rocket, fresh tomato and pickles, finished with punchy olive oil herb mayonnaise, served in an artisan sesame seed topped bun. It is low in saturated fat.
 
Chargrilled Chicken Superfood Salad

 

Chargrilled chicken thigh served on fresh leaves with pink cabbage, peas, quinoa and semi-dried tomatoes. Topped with fresh herbs and toasted seeds

This salad is

• Low saturated fat
• Low glycemic load
• Wheat free
• Gluten free

Hummus and flatbread

Chickpea dip with tahini, lemon juice and olive oil, topped with roasted peppers
My all time favourite is the

Fish Finger Wrap

Cod fillet from sustainable shoals, served with cos lettuce, slices of pickle and Leon own-made tartar sauce in a flat bread wrap.
It is low in saturated fat and dairy free
 My other favourite is the 

Leon baked fries

Crispy baked potato waffle fries sprinkled with Leon seasoning.
 The waffle shape reminds me of being a kid. They taste so good and as they are baked they aren’t that bad for you right?

This is definitely my go to fast food option if there is one around and one of my favourite airport snack if I am travelling out of Heathrow terminal 2 or 3 or Stansted.

Try it out and it will change your view of fast food, I promise you.

The Blues

By now you have realised a large part of my life of late has been baking. It just makes things seem better, life seem calmer and the world not such a scary place…don’t ask me why. I guess it’s like a form of meditation for me.

Yesterday wasn’t particularly a bad day, but the weight of a lot of things going through my mind made me grab out the mixing bowl and go for a classic to get me over these blues.

Blue Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 200g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 100g caster sugar
• 65ml vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 65ml milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g tinned blueberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Place the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.
3. Place the oil, egg, milk and vanilla in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
5. Add the blueberries and fold in.
6. Spoon mixture into 8 muffin paper patty cases and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
7. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

The came out really good. Very fluffy and light and were great with cup of tea.
 
Try them out yourself for a nice and easy home baked sweet treat.

Simply Good

One of my favourite areas in London is Camden Town. With the hustle and bustle of Camden market, the leafy streets, live music, the Etcetera theatre and the many different walks of life you will bump into there. Another thing I love is the food, the street food of the market and the amazing restaurants in the area.

I blogged a while back about one of my favourite Japanese spots, Bento Ramen in Oishii (おいしい). Another place I like to frequent in Camden is just minutes away from Camden Town tube, Simply Fish.
Simply Fish
4 Inverness St
Camden Town
NW1 7HJ
020 7482 2977

This place is super simple and that’s probably the thing I like about it. It is a good place to go when you are wanting a healthier eating out option to.

They have there world classics, salads and there platters full of seafood treasures, but the thing I like the best is the "create your own fish meal" which is what I usually get.

How it works
You choose your fish, how you want it cooked, what sauce you want with it and then your sides.

The first time I came I had the sea bass because I had never tried this type of fish before and it was sooo good. Simple, fresh and tasty. Everything you want food really.

I recently went with my cousin and his partner. My cousin, not the most adventurous when it comes to fish, went for the
British Fish & Chips, Minted Peas & Tartar Sauce

I got to try a little and it was very tasty. My cousin gobbled it up which was a success for a usual non fish eater.

I originally also chose from the World classics menu and got the crab risotto.

As you can see from the picture it doesn’t look very crabby...so I was a bit disappointed when it came out. When I tasted it, it tasted good. Nice herbs and a tomato, vegetable stock base but no sign of any crab flavouring or crab pieces. I talked to the waiter about my disappointment and was offer to swap my choice.

I went back to the trusty create your own fish meal choosing Swordfish, grilled with hollandaise and sweet potato wedges.

It was so good. Again this was my first time having swordfish. A really meaty, tasty fish cooked to perfection. I usually don't like to cause a fuss but I was glad I had voiced my disappointment with the risotto and got to enjoy this.

My cousin’s partner got the salmon, baked, with hollandaise, with the mushrooms and lemon & Basil new potatoes. 

Again another great dish. I got to taste some and the salmon was so good. I also sneakily ate probably a quarter of the mushrooms which were really tasty, sautéed in butter and garlic.

I also really like their choice of juices with so many flavours, mango, apple, guava, lychee, cranberry, grapefruit and of course orange. My favourite is the lychee, closely followed by the mango.

As we know I am not a big alcohol drinker but they so also have beers (as you can see above) as weel as cocktails, mocktails and wines.

If you want something quick and simple which has good portion sizes which you can keep healthy than this the place for you…oh yeah and you have to like seafood, it is a fish restaurant after all.

Chiswick pub eats Part 5

Hitting the next instalment of Chiswick pub eats, the Smokehouse.

Smokehouse
12 Sutton Lane North
Chiswick
London
W4 4LD

First thing to note is that this is a review of the Smokehouse lunch time menu because it is a completely different menu at dinner which I have yet to try out.
*Note to self to put that on my foodie bucket list.

The smoke house isn’t only new to me, it’s new to the area. The pub/restaurant opened in April 2015 on the site of what used to be a local favourite, the Hole in the Wall pub. This is the second Smokehouse in London, with the original being in Islington. They are both run by famous BBQ chef Neil Rankin who use to be the head chef of one of my favourites, Pitt Cue!

With a name like Smokehouse you don’t have to guess what it’s all about, grilling and smoking, whether its meat, fish or vegetables. It’s not your typical pub food in any sense of it. Rankin uses his creativity and background in the classics to bring a twist to the traditions of fire-based cooking.

I’ve been twice so far. The first time I had the Smokehouse Pulled lamb BBQ wrap.

It was crazy filling, I got through half and couldn’t fit in any more. A fair few of my male friends were in the same boat. We ended up taking back leftovers as the taste and flavours were too good to let them go to waste.

The second time I went I got the Longhorn Limousine cow burger with Korean pulled pork.

The burger comes with a super tasty meat patty topped with Korean pulled pork served with a spicy tomato salsa that has a real kick to it. Really tasty

I also tried the Caramel potatoes 

Now these were a bit of a trip. I enjoyed trying them but not sure I’d get them again. The potato was cooked to perfection and then covered in a caramel toffee sauce. As the potatoes cooled though the caramel got pretty hard which wasn’t great. No one really wants to wrestle with their potatoes!

Other people in our group got the

Smokehouse Pulled pork BBQ wraps

Smokehouse Coal baked aubergine BBQ wraps

And one of the more interesting things on the menu the Buffalo ribwich; slow roasted pork belly, spicy buffalo sauce & blue cheese mayo.

I may have to try this the next time I go…if I’m feeling adventurous.

The service was really lovely, friendly and efficient and the staff were a good help when needing drink suggestions. They offer 10 beers on tap, 60 in the bottle and source wine from small family owned vineyards only. The place has warm atmosphere and I loved enjoying the sunshine while we ate out on the terrace.
 
The Smokehouse is a great addition to the dining options in Chiswick. The prices are a bit higher than the other pubs I’ve reviewed in Chiswick but if you want something a bit different The Smokehouse is the place to go.