Okay kids, these beans are spicy! And they taste like they have meat in them even though they don’t! What’s the trick? Actually, I haven’t figured that out yet, although I think it has something to do with the dash of vinegar that goes in at the end. Anyway, they are freaking delicious, and if you put some Ibrahim Ferrer on the old iTunes and dim the lights (or squint) you can almost imagine you are in Havana. Buen provecho! Continue reading
When things are looking grim, or when my fridge is empty, I ring up my lovely friends Jess and Will and invite myself over for a meal. This is surprisingly easy, and sometimes doesn’t even necessitate a call. I can wangle an invitation just by sending an innocent text message, like, “Hey! Are you around this bank holiday weekend?” Usually within 24-48 hours (sometimes less!) I find myself getting schnockered with Jess and snacking on bits of swiped fried pancetta Continue reading
Plantains are totally the flavour of the week. They may even be the flavour of the month. I am EXCITED by plantains.
Like bananas, plantains come from herbaceous plants (neat, right?), but plantains are starchier and denser than bananas and so they are a fabulously versatile cooking ingredient. They can be fried, braised, roasted, mashed, boiled, steamed … Continue reading
I really wanted to love Corner Room.
Corner Room is combining flavours in a creative and innovative way. It is affordable(ish). It is the brainchild of a hot chef. The staff persons are sweet and accommodating. But I just liked it. It was a bummer. Continue reading
It may be a kind of a cop-out to review a restaurant that I have been enjoying for two years. On the other hand, that means it’s VERY VERY GOOD AND CONSISTENT. I have a tender place in my heart for Alounak. I want to say it is the first restaurant I went to when I moved to London, however I know for a fact I didn’t go until I’d been here for a few days. So I think there were some lost days which I must have spent clutching my cats and weeping on my couch. In any event, Alounak is my first, and most distinct, restaurant memory in London, and quite possibly the reason I am still here. Continue reading
A friend of mine calls roast chicken “a luxurious meal for one,” which may be why I make it so frequently when I am eating alone. It is also fabulously versatile: depending on the seasonings used, the humble roast chicken can be transformed Continue reading
This is a rich, buttery rice dish with a strong sweet flavour imparted from plenty of fresh dill, enhanced by nutty notes of saffron, cumin and pine nuts. This rice is loosely based on rice served at my favourite Iranian restaurant, Alounak. Continue reading
That, anyway, was the theme of my dinner party last night. Today I have a fried food hangover (perhaps it is just a hangover) and if someone were to sidle up to me with a giant plate of fried ice cream with dark chocolate sauce I wouldn’t have any. Well, maybe I’d have a little. Continue reading
If I were staying at the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green, I would be in trouble, as I would never leave the Viajante Bar. I know, I know, you’re thinking, “what’s a blogger on a budget doing in a swank bar?” Drinking, that’s what. Which brings me to another IMPORTANT RULE: Always leave room in the budget for cocktails. Odds are you’ll need one. (I know I do.)
I have a new favourite cheap eats destination. (By “new” I mean “new to me.” Yalla Yalla has been open in Soho since 2008 and in Mayfair since 2010. I could weep at all the meals I could have eaten, but did not eat, at Yalla Yalla.)
Yalla Yalla could so easily have been precious. It is in Soho. It is trendy. It bills itself as serving “Beirut Street Food” (showing that it has me, and a whole lot of other people, dialed down). It could serve microscopic portions and charge an outrageous amount for alcohol. But Yalla Yalla is not precious, except perhaps literally, like my precious bottle of barrel aged single batch bourbon Continue reading
Susan eats London 