More Al Fresco Frolics - Frank's Cafe

This may be posisbly the most over-used phrase of the summer, but what the heck is up with the weather?! Autumn is trying to take over and just when you think that the pathetic excuse we've had for a summer is over, the sun comes out blazing  and your wardrobe dilemmas continue to exponentially increase. I've essentially crippled myself with back ache of late because of the growing size (and weight) of the handbag I've been hauling around so I can be prepared for all eventualities. I was in boy scouts after all.

It's not an overstatement therefore to say that we Londoners have been clinging on to summer as if our lives depended on it. To that end, I am continuing on the theme of al fresco destinations in London that don't often crop up on the 'top 10' list but that are definitely worth a visit, even if we just have to face the fact that it's not really summer anymore after all.

A few weeks ago, it was Becca's birthday celebrations and I was excited to hear that Frank's Cafe was the venue of choice. I'd heard about it before but being an East London girl, Peckham Rye is not a frequent destination for me. In fact, I'd never really been there before except once by accident when I got a night bus in the wrong direction but the less said about that, the better.

Frank's Cafe is on a carpark rooftop about a minute's walk from Peckham Rye station, a short hop on the overground from London Bridge. It's confusing, you have to follow a red line I think. Don't do what I did and go up the first set of stairs you see, that is a fire exit for the nearby cinema, they won't appreciate you trying to get in there. Once you've negotiated the car park ramps and steps and reach the roof, you are rewarded with an amazing view of London, you can see every landmark there is from up there and it's great trying to identify them all and realising that many of them are not where you thought they were (in relation to Peckham at least!). Perhaps it would be more accutate to say, Peckham's not where I thought it was in relation to everything else. Anyway, the view is ace.

The bar itself is great too, lots of choice, lots of Campari and lots of lovely staff. They serve Greenwich Meantime, what could be better? The queues were long but you didn't wait long to get served and the food was fantastic BBQ fair. My favourite being the sweetcorn with lip-smackingly good paprika butter, something I've since tried (and failed) to recreate at home. Not having a bbq was obviously the problem. Probably. It's a really fun place and a fun time was had by all. There is an awning to protect you from the worst of the rain but it is exposed up there so take a rucksack of jumpers and blankets and those rain ponchos that tourists wear (or an umbrella) and you'll be set. 

I thought it was only open for the summer but I think it might be open all year round... so worth a visit then whenever the mood strikes except maybe not in the snow. Although saying that, in the snow I think it would be a bit like being in an Alpine lodge, albeit in Peckham but how nice!?

Gabriel's Wharf - Gourmet Pizza Company

Finally, London has seen a glimpse of summer and Londoners are clamouring to stay outside no matter what. For me, the nicest thing about the sunshine is how everyone is in a better mood and generally London feels like a reasonably friendly city for a change. Of course the other nice thing is having a meal outside and pretending that you're actually on holiday. So where is the first port of call to eat outside? Apparently the entirety of London storm the South Bank to queue for an hour to get a table as when the sun shines, I found that a whole host of south bank restaurants won't take bookings.

A quick scour of my usual London resources reveal lists of top ten al fresco restaurants in London, most of which will set you back a significant amount of cash which is not ideal. So, I've hopefully managed to find some more reasonable  options and as I try them out, will update you here about them.

First up is The Gourmet Pizza Company, Gabriel's Wharf on the south bank.

Gabriel's Wharf is a cute little enclave of shops, bars and cafes that has a really nice feel to it and the Gourmet Pizza Co. is one of the first restaurants you encounter as you enter from the riverside. It makes for a really good outdoor option with a lovely terrace alongside the restaurant and out onto the south bank as well. I rang up at lunch time on the same day and was able to book a table for dinner which was great as I had actually intended to visit a different restaurant that refused to take a booking. It was great being able to saunter to the front of the queue, if a little awkward but I have excellent death stare deflection abilities. We had a short wait for a table which thankfully, was outside. I don't think booking guarantees you outside but I got the impression that you had priority which was good. I would recommend waiting if it's a hot day as the inside temperature in the restaurant was about that of the pizza oven. If you don't book, I would guess that you would have at least half an hour wait.

On to the food, pizza is the obvious choice given the restaurant name! They are all reasonably priced and excellent quality and they offer a range of specials too. On my visit, I had a starter of bruschetta followed by a bacon and goats cheese pizza which was delicious. I was anxious about the level of service in the jam packed restaurant but they know what they're doing and we were served promptly by a very friendly waitress. The food didn't disappoint and it all arrived very swiftly. I mean it's pizza so it was nothing life changing but a good spot to enjoy some wine, pizza and a good amount of judging people watching from the terrace. So next time you're looking for somewhere to eat outside, give them a try and hopefully you'll have as good a time as I did.

Union Jacks

Jamie Oliver, love him or loathe him, his influence on contemporary British cooking is irrefutable. I do have three JO recipe books in my collection and I do enjoy watching his cookery shows, partly for the giggle but mostly for the food. One of the most successful series he's done has to be 'Jamie's Great Britain' with an impressive number of recipes you'll find something for any occasion that's bound to impress.

One of Jamie's latest restaurant ventures 'Union Jacks' ties in with the series' patriotism not just by name as some of the recipes featured appear on the menu. Union Jacks is all about celebrating the best of British produce in a whole new way and has been established by Jamie in partnership with renowned American pizza chef, Chris Bianco.
The website has a nice vintagey feel and I used the online booking system which worked a treat. If you can be arsed to watch the two or three videos on the homepage, you're in for a treat as well! The central location of the London branch is really convenient, a short walk from tottenham court road and holborn stations and a short skip and a jump from covent garden and shaftesbury avenue. A minor drawback from a personal perspective is that it is situated in one of those super shiny new office developments where they leave room for retail/restaurants on the ground floor. I'm not going to rant about it now, but these kinds of locations irritate me - however they have managed to inject some personality into the place so all is well. They also have a very funky looking function room downstairs for anyone who's hatching party plans.
Met with a friend for an earlyish dinner meant that we were in time for happy hour which is always a pleasant treat and the cocktails served with those old skool stripey straws didn't disappoint. I was surprised the place wasn't busier! Happy hour - on a Friday!! The service was friendly and attentive throughout our visit which is always excellent, especially getting recommendations from the staff, all of which were great.
To start we had the smoked trout pate and baby yorkies that I have previously blogged about adapting so I was keen to try it as intended and the waitress spoke very highly of it. We also had the garlicky mushrooms which were the most garlicky things I've eaten in a long time, they certainly lingered. Both starters were absolutely delicious - the trout pate was nice creamy and smokey in flavour and the yorkies were searing hot, straight out of the oven which was great. The combo worked really well because of the contrast, will definitely be giving this a go at home, following the recipe next time.

On to the main event - I had the Empire Chicken, a recipe I've been intending to attempt from the book for a while but haven't quite mustered up the courage energy. It was delicious. The chicken is served on the bone and is amazingly tender with really zingy flavours coming from the spicy rub. Served with a jug of gravy and bombay potatoes - it was quite delicious. I like that the gravy was served separately, it does mean you can regulate the coverage of sauce to your liking.

Despite being absolutely stuffed we couldn't resist the lure of the home made ice creams and chose a scoop each of earl grey and biscuit flavour along with sticky toffee pudding flavour. It was gorgeous. All throughout the meal they were playing amazing 90's tunes as well, some real classics which just added to the atmosphere. So much so that my friend asked if they had a copy of the playlist available, I'm sure that they'll be selling compilations before too long. Jamie's next venture perhaps. Next time, I'll try  out the flatbreads, which are apparently the speciality here. Check it out while it's quiet! No doubt many branches will be cropping up over the city in no  time and there are already plans for a branch in Covent Garden.


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Recipe: Leek, Bacon, Cheese and Asparagus Quiche

I love the feeling when you happen to have two or three amazing ingredients in your possession and a recipe is born. This happened to me recently, I had a mysterious episode where I mislaid a box of eggs. Being in the pub might have had something to do with it, because I lost my copy of Grazia around the same time. After recovering my sanity somewhat, new eggs were bought, a requirement for a weekend breakfast. By the end of the weekend, I had  a box of lovely eggs, some English Asparagus and a hunk of Lancashire cheese. What else could I do but make a quiche? Lancashire cheese and asparagus are a match made in heaven, if I do say so myself and if Nigel Slater says so, it must be true ( I love how he calls asparagus 'Spears of the realm'). The creamy, crumbly cheese works so well with the delicate spears of greeny goodness and asparagus is delicious in a quiche.

So how, I hear you cry, did leek and bacon come into it? Well, I love leeks and thought they would complement the flavour better than an onion or similar and the bacon was on offer. If I were to make this over again,  I would probably skip the bacon but it made it salty and tasty - all the better for a workday lunchbox.

I've never made quiche before and I honestly thought that it would be a lot easier to make than it turned out but I neglected to take the whole pastry thing into account. So, the first thing you have to do is blind bake your pastry crust which firms up the pastry in your quiche tin so it cooks properly and doesn't turn to mush when you add your filling. I'll admit, I didn't make my pastry - I used ready made own-brand supermarket stuff. the trouble was that it was ready rolled a bit too thin so blind baking wasn't that successful - the pastry just didn't firm up as expected however, I carried on regardless.

For the filling I first cooked the bacon in a frying pan with a bit of garlic - the bacon really took on the garlicky flavour which was really tasty in the quiche but if you don't like a strong garlic taste, you can omit this to no bad effect - I tend to get quite carried away. Once the bacon was cooking and nicely I added the chopped leeks. I then blanched the asparagus for about three minutes in boiling water and when I removed them, I plunged them into ice water - a tip I saw somewhere I can't remember that helps the spears to keep their nice green colour. I wouldn't usually bother but I thought it would be a nice idea so that I can arrange them nicely on top of the quiche.

In a mixing bowl, I whisked together three eggs and about 200ml double cream, seasoning with plenty of salt and pepper. I then added about 150g smushed up lancashire cheese (it's so crumbly, it doesn't really grate). Once all the goodies for the filling were cooked, I mixed it all in the bowl and turned it out into the pastry case. Arranging additional blobs of cheese on the top along with the asparagus spears to make it look pretty. Baked in the oven at 180 degrees for about 25 - 30 minutes or until just firm and golden on top.

Once, out of the oven a certain someone crumbled even more cheese on top which did no harm (except to the waistline!). Served with a side salad and with plenty leftover for lunches, this was a really nice sunday supper. In fact, I would say this was even better after a night in the fridge and tasted mighty fine hot or cold.

Herculatte, it's a thing. Or at least it should be.

In the previous post, I was harping on about London's coffee revolution. It comes as a disappointment then, that a recent trip to one of London's independent coffee stalwarts, Grind Coffee Bar (not to be confused with Shoreditch Grind). Grind has a new outpost in the epic temple of mammon that is Westfield in Stratford. Stratfield as I like to call it. The great thing about this is that I can be guaranteed to grab a fantastic coffee to see me off on my merry way to the land of Kent for a parental visit as it is a stone's throw from Stratford International Station where you can catch the high speed service and be in the depths of Kentish countryside in under an hour.

The particular Saturday of my visit, I was in a foul mood. I was very tired and very grumpy indeed, coffee was needed. The strongest coffee, the richest milkiest coffee, something that would really satisfy me and caffeine jolt me out of my grumpity grump. I had just the thing in mind, a Herculatte. Yes, the Classics geek in me enjoys the reference to the eponymous hero, Hercules, but I needed caffeine in Herculean proportions and little else would do. My discovery of the Herculatte occurred in Toronto last Autumn. It was a true beauty to behold after a horrible all-night bus ride from Montreal. It was early and after a particularly disastrous order in Starbucks proved that their stuff just wouldn't cut it, we consulted the trusty guide book and made a bee-line to The Moonbean Cafe around the corner from Kensington Market. What could be better a better caffeine jolt than a triple shot latte? It was some of the nicest coffee I've ever had, this lovely little cafe roasts their own and they know their stuff. After drinking it, I came back to life and was no longer the zombie-off-the-bus-from-outta-town.

So it was on this particular Saturday that Grind Coffee Bar was my salvation, they would surely understand my need!
I know what I want and when I'm grumpy, don't mess with me. Especially if I haven't had coffee and you're the person who I'm expecting to provide me with the coffee that I want. On the menu was a flat white. Perfect, they do it in large as well - brilliant. Most places will only do a flat white in small which is something to do with the quantities or maybe just trying to differentiate it from a latte. Grind however does serve a large flat white but only if you're staying in and not for take away which I just find pointless if they have the large takeaway cups. So, I asked for it. A herculatte. Ok, they probably wouldn't have known what that was so, I asked for a triple shot latte. But no. I was to be let down, they don't 'do' triple shots. To which I just frowned at the guy behind the till (like I said, I was grumpy).

"All our coffees are double shot" as though this would be enough and make it all ok.
"I know, I've had your coffee before. Can I have a triple shot latte?"
 "We don't do triple shots."
"Alright fine, I'll just have a normal flat white"
 "I'm sure you won't be disappointed"

Well, I was because I wasn't drinking a triple shot latte which is what I wanted! No, the flat white was seriously nice but what is more irritating is the cafe's inability to listen to the requests of the customer. It wasn't until after I had left that I realised I could have just bought a latte and added my own espresso shot but the cafe should have offered to do this. I realise it would have made my coffee more expensive but I had pounds in my purse for caffeine purchasing purposes. Even if they'd bothered to ask me why I needed three and not two shots, they might have realised that I'm not a luddite who thinks that the coffee at Grind is going to be weak, I was just in need of that level of jolt. It's a customer service thing. It's also a matter of  personal taste, I wanted everything that is a triple shot latte, the caffeine (did I mention that I needed caffeine?), the milky goodness, the coffee coffee taste. It also probably stems from too much time spent messing around with my own coffee machine and making really strong coffees.

Someone, anyone needs to start selling a Herculatte before I have to go back to Toronto and get one, but that would be an expensive cup of coffee.

They like to grind it in Shoreditch - Shoreditch Grind coffee

London's had a well documented 'coffee revolution' in recent years, with a seemingly ever increasing number of independent coffee shops cropping up all over the city. Good news for the independent businesses and good news for coffee loving Londonahs. More recently and somewhat controversially, the big chains have been upping their coffee game as well, which is no bad thing either but I think a big proportion of Londoners would rather opt for their local indie joint than generic chain. 

We're so lucky to have the variety that there is in London and I quite often find myself on a coffee pilgrimmage of a weekend. This has been made much easier since lovely T bought me a beautiful book, 'The Independent Coffee Book' (London edition). This fantastic little book has info on over thirty of London's independent coffee shops, helpfully divided into London regions with maps included too. What's more they also tell you the type of coffee machine each place uses and whether the company roasts their own beans or not. You don't get much better than that. It's also perfectly handbag sized so I've made a habit of taking it with me of a day when I'm out and about. Keep an eye out for it as it's well worth the purchase. T even wrote little notes in mine giving reasons why we need to go and visit them, which is just amazing. Folks, take note - the book is an excellent gift for the coffee lover in your life - added notes make it so much more personal.  I'm hoping that they're able to release an updated version very soon as it seems that there are many cafes that have opened since its publication that could definitely be featured.

Recently, a particularly hungover Sunday called for a bike ride and some fresh air. Then it started to rain. As everyone in the country knows, it hasn't stopped since. It's rained all April and we're STILL in drought apparently, how can this be?! Anyway, as one not in the know about the ins and outs of our ground water levels, my mantra of 'we need the rain, we need the rain, we need the rain.' is beginning to wear thin.

So it was that shelter was needed and nourishment, well, a bonus as it was the perfect opportunity to visit Shoreditch Grind. Though not featured in the aforementioned book, it's a great little coffee shop just off Old Street roundabout, perfect to dip into if you're waiting for a friend at the maze that is Old Street station.  It's housed in a old building, apparently called The Roundhouse and I really like their old cinema style sign in front, I think they change the message every so often too which is nifty. I'm pretty sure it used to house some kind of mobile phone store before being empty for some time and the cool coffee joint took over in timely fashion because it's slim pickings for decent coffee around there as far as I'm aware.

Promoting themselves as East London's favourite coffee shop, I had to investigate this bold claim, and if the expansion plans mentioned on their website (into the courtyard at the rear of the building) are pulled off, then they may well clinch it. They don't roast beans themselves but have them roasted to their own specifications and they have a beautiful La Marzocco coffee machine for those who know how this can make a world of difference between coffees.

The coffee was  really great and well-crafted as expected and the service was  very friendly. They are clearly enthusiastic about quality coffee AND pastries. A vital mix! My only (minor) issue was the weird stools by the window. Not comfy! They look cool and are an obvious design feature but what happened to nice squishy seats in which to sink and hide from the downpour outside? The decor is spartan but that does work with the whole feel of the place and the 'normal' chairs probably do better on your behind but are still lacking in desired squish factor. I think it's a trait of East London coffee shops to not have sofas... but correct me if I'm wrong. That said, it's worth perching on those ridiculous stools for some of the best coffee in the area. The desire for squish was likely stemming from my hungover state after all. Shoreditch Grind is definitely well placed to serve a wide crowd from Shoreditch hipsters to the local office types and long may they continue to do so, it's definitely earned a place on my mental map. 

A few days in Amsterdam

On a recent trip to Amsterdam, found some gems that I thought I'd share with you here. I'm not going to go into loads of detail about what we did/ate/saw as there is so much to discover there but I have to let you in on where to find a bloody good cup of coffee, some incredible pizza and tasty chips and mayo, all pretty essential when it comes down to it. If you do want to read more about some of Amsterdam's essential culinary treats check out Hollow Legs.
If you're in Amsterdam for a special occasion or you're just feeling fancy De Kas Restaurant is an absolute must. It's an incredible restaurant set in an old municipal green house that the owner and chef saved from being demolished to create an amazing culinary experience. What makes it quite unusual and very special is that they grow a lot of their own produce in the greenhouse on site and in small farms outside of the main city. They also source the best local seasonal produce and create an ever changing menu according to what's in season and what's good that day. I didn't take photos of the food, I don't often take photos of the food.. partly because I'm still behind on the whole smart phone thing and my current phone sucks but partly because I've nommed all the food before even thinking about taking a photo of it! Hopefully I'll get a snazzmatazz phone soon and will be a whizz. All I'll say about the food at De Kas is that it was unbelievably good! Everyone eats the same menu unless you have specific allergies or dislike something they're serving so the nice thing was that as we were eating early, we didn't see what other people were having! Starters were beautiful followed by venison to die for, a trio of perfect desserts and a delicious cheese plate. What's more is that we had the wine pairing (a wine to match each dish) which just enhanced the whole experience. The staff and service were impeccable, with explanations of each dish and the wine as well. What was even better was that it was T's idea to go here as a complete surprise to me and it really was the highlight of the trip.

The next day, a little hungover we wondered over to the main shopping streets in search of much needed caffeine. Coffee@Last came to our rescue. Serving beautiful coffee and brownies, sandwiches or pastries, it doesn't look all that special from the outside. A warm welcome awaits as does some great coffee, they clearly know what they're doing. Though a little part of me feels that it might be let down by its location, right next to a few tacky touristy spots which can be off putting but it's worth a look for a decent caffeine fix, it's right near the station too so we took a stop there right before getting our train out of the city.

Looking for budget places to eat when staying near the city centre can be a bit of a challenge but we spotted this pizza place, Da Portare Via on a stroll of an evening and so decided to give it a whirl. The place is tiny but on later research I discovered that there are a number of other larger branches in the city. They make everything fresh in front of you and they have a beautiful wood fire oven to cook the pizza in, moving them around on one of those giant paddle things. So nice to watch! The pizzas are simple and classic, with lovely ingredients. I had one with Parma ham and rocket that was delicious.

This particular branch is mainly takeaway but is next to a very cool pub and people were coming over from the pub, grabbing piles of pizza to take back to their friends enjoying the beer next door. We were lucky enough to grab the two stools at the front of the pizza place to chow down our pizza but this did mean we couldn't have a beer, they sell only take away alcohol. The people in the pub had a good thing going on! I guess if you go to a larger branch you could probably have booze on site. We stopped by the pub after we'd scoffed all our pizza.
What are the dutch known for if not chips and mayo!? We went down to the market, Albert Cuypmarkt of an afternoon in search of lunchtime snacky and the first stand you come to had your classic fries and mayo and they were the bomb. The market was pretty good too, with a variety of food, sweets and chocolate private parts.. interesting if you're into it.
Amsterdam is a great place with a fantastic vibe to it. T was mesmerised by all the bikes and I was inspired by how stylish the cyclists are and how many there are of all different ages, shapes and sizes, it's brilliant. T sought out some of the specialist bike shops to get some inspiration for ugrading his single speed bike to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats this summer (madness). I also bought some amazing panniers not from a bike shop but from a shop that only sold red stuff! They're going to look great on my red bike! I'll try to post a picture once they're in situ.

Where we stayed: We stayed in a tiny B&B (only two guest rooms) called B&B Margot. It was a lovely room, with a view of the canal and an amazing breakfast each day. There was also a really cute cat (the main reason we chose to stay there, obvs) Here's a picture of her looking desolate at the prospect of our leaving, I think she kinda liked having us around.

 
How we got there: Eurostar. It's an easy journey with a quick change in Brussels, taking about 5 hours in total (not including the wait time). Book in advance and you might get lucky with a £99 return deal, it's worth it I tell you!