Entrée

I had a great meal at Entrée Restaurant & Bar (http://www.entreebattersea.co.uk/) tonight. It's in a prime spot on Battersea Rise, so the buzz of the road gave an added great atmosphere to the already busy restaurant. The decor was very tasteful, with railing reminiscent of a Parisian balcony, ancient pages from a 1910 French newspaper covering one wall, and a sneaky window to peek into the hectic kitchen!

For an appetiser, we were given some delicious rosemary bread, with a refreshing pea and mint soup. Then, it was difficult choosing from such, a good sounding menu, but I eventually settled on some Pea Arancini, which were little balls of pea risotto. They had a great pea flavour, with a slightly sweet touch, although I couldn't figure out what gave them that, however I found the texture of them slightly too mushy and glutinous. They were also accompanied by guacamole and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. We often make guacamole at home, and it's one of my favourite dips, and this one was perfect, and also great with the risotto, which is a combination that I wouldn't have considered before. The vinegar (I love vinegar! :D) gave a great tang to the dish.

Following that, I chose the vegetable ravioli and tomato fondue, following the vegetarian trend (although there were some great fish and meat dishes as well). The plate resembled a summery garden, with coriander, pine nuts and sultanas bordering ravioli topped with Parmesan and pea shoots, and a moat of tasty tomato sauce. I found the vegetables slightly bland, and the pasta a bit watery, but the tomato fondue, as it was called, was fantastic. It tasted fresh and tomatoey, and had a great, clean finish. I also liked the pine nut and pea shoot garnish.

And for my dessert, I had tiramisu. This was my favourite course, because it was one of the best tiramisus that I've had. It was light and creamy, with a hint of vanilla, and a subtle taste of chocolate and coffee, whilst not being too boozy!

My mum had a basil panna cotta, which she says was great, but I'm not a great fan of panna cotta myself, so I wouldn't know. I tried it anyway, and the basil taste was delicate and interesting and the accompanying shortbread was delicious, albeit crumbly!

The food was overall really good, and there was a great atmosphere.

Ukai Sushi

Just been to Ukai (http://www.ukai.co.uk/) Sushi in Soho, for dinner with some friends from when I was a little baby, who now live in Australia. We had a great time, and the food was fantastic!

I started off with some miso ramen and seafood, which was delicious. The prawns were delicately cooked, and I felt slightly embarrassed as I slurped the yummy noodles. I wasn't so sure about the crab (or 'kani') sticks, which I usually snobishly frown upon, but they were, surprisingly, quite tasty!

Then, we had some soft shell crab tempura, which was divine. The batter was crispy, but strangely sweet, which beautifully complemented the soft, and also quite sweet crab.

I also had a salmon, avocado, and unoki mushroom temaki (hand roll), with lots of wasabi - a classic, and tasty piece of sushi. Of course, I also sneaked a spicy tuna hosomaki (roll), while my mum wasn't looking, which unusually wasn't very spicy, but I think this suited it well, and I could appreciate the great flavour of the tuna more.

Finally, the charming waiter, who had an incredible memory (he knew the menu by heart, from the numbers, and remembered all of our dishes), generously gave us a taster of the most amazing sushi roll. It was soft shell crab in a light tempura batter, wrapped in rice and nori (seaweed), and then deep fried again! It sounds odd, but it was actually fantastic, as it gave an extra crispyness to the nori.

A great, enjoyable meal, and I hope to be going back soon, perhaps to their nearer-to-home branch on Lavender Hill!

Alain Ducasse - Le Louis XV

Now that I'm back into blogging and it's my summer holidays, and I'm feeling guilty that I haven't already, thought I might as well write a bit about my visit to France, and eating at Ducasse's 'Le Louis XV' in Monaco.

So...I was on holiday in Nice, with my mum, staying in a friend of my mum's apartment with almost a skyscraper's amount of stairs. We were having a great time, shopping in the market, enjoying fresh courgette flowers and fantastic strawberries, then some volcano somewhere decided to erupt - ARGH! So, flight cancelled, start missing school, work coming in by email, feeling pretty annoyed. And then, the silver lining on the clouds, we were asked to one of the best restaurants in the world. Let's just say we weren't in a rush to get back any more...

Going into Monaco was like a dream world. Preparation for the Grand Prix was being set up, and although we were being transported on the 100 bus, not a stretch limo, and had to stand all the way, so our legs were about to give way, I was still amazed by the beauty of the town. We found our way to Hotel de Paris, through the park, after admiring the square and the massive, grand casino opposite.

We were welcomed in, and introduced to Anaïs, Alain's PR. First we were presented with some strange-looking ravioli-type parcels, filled with spring vegetables, and wrapped with filo pastry. They were slightly warm and absolutely divine. All of the flavours worked in perfect harmony, and even though it was a long time ago, I can still remember the wonderful taste.

We were taken through the elaborate dining room, past the waiters and waitresses being briefed by the head waiter, and the huge chandeliers, and gold leaf. However, the best news was yet to come...we would be eating at the chef's table, in the kitchen! I say in the kitchen, but it's just by the kitchen, so that we could see in, past the cool sliding glass doors to the frantic action inside. It was also a bit like a museum, because the television screens that Ducasse used to use to watch his chefs in the kitchen were still up and running!

First up on the menu was 'Légumes de nos paysans à cru, sauce aux olives de Nice, barbagiuan." These were beautifully prepared, fresh vegetables, bought in the local market, on the day, all raw, as you can see in my little picture. We dipped them in the sauce made from Nicoise olives, although I have no idea what that strange metal implement was for...
This, strangely enough, was one of my favourite dishes. It's the new trend in gastronomy to use lots of raw food, so that the flavour of really fresh, great tasting food can be appreciated in its natural form. It's simple, but a great idea, and is delicious!

Next, I had 'Fines feuilles de pâte aux herbes pilées et Fiore Sardo, asperges vertes et morilles à peine crémées.' This was a delicate green-coloured pasta with asparagus and morel mushrooms. They are the most amazing mushrooms with a superbly intense, almost indescribable flavour, which was highlighted by the sauce which they were in.

After that I had 'Dans une cookpot lutée: Carottes, navets, artichauts, cébettes, petits pos, févettes et cœur de salade.' This cookpot is something new that the chef has developed. It is a pastry casing, filled with vegetables, and cooked. The pastry is only broken just before you eat it to keep the great flavour and aroma in!

Then 'Loup de Méditerranée piqué d'olives, primeurs en marinade croquante, sucs basilic/citron de Menton.' Beautifully cooked Mediterranean sea bass, on fresh vegetables which were marinaded in the juices of the fish. And it was all surrounded by a moat of juices from local lemon and basil.

Following this, and I was wondering if the meal would go on for ever...'Primeurs des jardins de Provence à la truffe noire, huile d'olives taggiasche de terre Bormane, aceto balsamico et fleur de sel." The best vegetables from gardens in Provence, with truffle grated over them. Black truffles are an expensive and rich delicacy, and gave the vegetables a rich, earthy taste. Everything was drizzled in special olive oil, which enhanced the flavours.

Next, we had a selection of fromages (that's cheese in French), specially chosen for us by the chef (I felt so privileged!). We had fresh goats cheese, which I really enjoyed - it was light and creamy and went well with the raw broad beans. I wasn't very keen on the richer, more runny and gooey cheeses, but they were interesting. The harder one was more my kind of cheese, it had a good bite to it.

For dessert, I chose 'Ravioles à la passion, fruits exotiques en brunoise, infusion d'herbes fraîches.' These were ravioli pasta filled with passion fruit, and were crispy on the outside because of caramelised sugar. They were the perfect texture, and were great for me, because of my love of exotic fruits! Talking of exotic fruits, they were piled underneath. You name it: kiwi, pineapple, melon, mango...bliss.

And as if that wasn't enough, we were indulged with some chocolates and mini-desserts - a sugary, nutty crisp; rich chocolate and lovely lemon tarts; and canelés, which are sort of custardy, but caramelised - really tasty.

Déjeuner du jeudi 22 avril 2010 - une journée que je n'oublierai jamais. Merci bien Alain Ducasse!

Delicous lunch

Had a great lunch today: watermelon, feta and watercress salad and a tielle.

The salad, with chopped up watermelon, salty feta cheese and leaves of watercress for that special 'kick', was brilliantly refreshing.

But the tielle really made the meal. It's an interesting speciality from Setés, which my mum brought back from France. It's made with octopus and tomato with lots of spices in a sort of ragu type sauce thing, wrapped in pastry. Difficult to explain, and probably sounds disgusting, but it's surprisingly good! Shame you can't buy them round here, but you could always try making them...?

Tasty Tokiya Sushi!

Just had some delicious take-away sushi from Tokiya Sushi Bar on Battersea Rise.
http://tokiya.co.uk/

Was lovely eating it outside in the evening breeze, after working up an appetite cycling over to fetch it!

We (me and my mum)had some Vegetable Gyoza to start off with, which neither of us had tried before. They are very similar to Chinese dumpling (Dim sum kinda-thing) and we'll probably be going back for more!
Then, one of our favourites, which was a grilled aubergine topped with miso soup, and in my opinion is perfection in soft texture and salty/sweet flavours. We sometimes make it at home, but like everything else, it's so much better when you only have to eat it! :)
The spicy-tuna hand rolls (also called temaki) were also bliss, although I did have to wave my hand over my mouth and have a mouthfull of rice afterwards - very spicy indeed!
We also had some sweet prawn (ebi) nigiri (that's a clump of rice with fish on top) which are wonderfully light and refreshing. Salmon and avocado makizushi (nori surrounding rice and fish), a classic, which you can never go wrong with, and prawn tempura rolls which I wasn't sure about because they had mayonaisse in them, but they were surprisingly nice and creamy, which was great.

This little sushi bar doesn't look like much, but it is definitely some of the best sushi in the area, impecably fresh, carefully prepared, friendly and devilishly delicious!