Mozzarella & more

Last Friday, I went to check out Mozzarella & more on King's Road, the latest opening from 'Made in Italy', a family-run group sharing their love for southern-Italian cuisine. The restaurant was made up to look like a traditional trattoria, with their fresh fish proudly displayed in the window and their vegetables and meats hanging over a deli counter filled with delicious-looking food. It was very popular, with a good buzz of people, and the charming staff made for a great atmosphere.

I was pleased to have some proper olives, boquerones and good bread to whet my appetite, before tucking into an amazing platter of mozzarella, burrata, ricotta, caponata, artichokes and Parma ham. The cheeses are made locally, at a kitchen in Battersea, so they were wonderfully fresh - I loved the creamy burrata especially. The bread was great topped with caponata and rich ricotta, or simply dipped in olive oil and balsamic.

Crispy prawns and squid were well done, with a nice, light batter and a chilli mayo, but I wasn't so keen on crunching through the prawn shell.

The highlight of the meal were ravioli stuffed with crab and Amalfi lemon ricotta - the subtle lemon aroma really complimented the fresh Devon crab meat. They were served with a beautiful cherry tomato sauce and fennel for a nice crunch of texture.

Dessert was a tough choice, with a mouth-watering array of cakes and puddings - a different selection every day, depending on what the chef felt like making! I went for the 'caprese al limon', a fantastic lemon cake with a distinct almond flavour and soft spongy texture - very good.

Everything on the menu sounded tasty, so I hope to go back try some more of their homemade pasta, local cheese and fresh fish. Delizioso!

Dinner - Heston Blumenthal

I've been begging my mum for ages to take me to Dinner, Heston's latest restaurant which focuses on British dishes that have been inspired by cuisine and food concepts originally dating from the 19th or even the 16th century. Finally, as an end-of-Christmas-holidays-back-to-school-and-exams-treat, we went for lunch today!

It was a wonderful setting in the very grand Mandarin Oriental Hotel, but once I entered the restaurant, it could only be Heston: a floating pineapple inset into the wall above the reception, and jelly-mould-shaped lights were pretty wacky, but it was great to be able to see directly into the kitchen from our table (even if that did mean seeing the pigs' ears being prepared as we awaited our dessert!).

The humorously named "Green Goblin" cocktail that I tried had a great fresh aroma, made with lychee and kiwi juice and a touch of maple syrup for an uplifting sweetness.

To start, I had a lemon salad (supposedly influenced by a recipe from c.1730) with goat's curd, buckler sorrel and raisins. I really liked the pickled lemon segments, which had the distinctive sour taste of lemon (something I love - when people serve lemon slices with fish, I tend to suck the lemon dry while no one's looking!) and a tangy bite from the sliver of rind that contrasted well with the goat's curd in both flavour and texture. The dish looked lovely with different coloured leaves drifting about making it almost resemble a garden floor.

I then tried what seemed like a bizarre concoction to me: a crab 'brioche', made with crab-infused butter and custard, lending it a soft bread-like texture and a subtle flavour of crab. It was actually very tasty, served with a white crab meat mayonnaise and a delicious, clean flavoured cucumber ketchup.

For mains, I had cured salmon (c.1670). The fish was very delicate, and the leaves of flesh peeled away pleasingly. The top of the salmon was caramelised, which added a nice crunch and barbecue-like flavour to the fish. The artichokes were tasty (even though I'm not a big fan of them) although I found the beetroot a little hard. Nonetheless, the kidney-bean-coloured beetroot sauce was very flavoursome, with a great vinegar kick.

For dessert I had an indulgently buttery sweet 'loaf' ( c.1630 ) made from orange, which was covered in crispy caramel that added a lovely sweetness, but had a soft, spongy inside which was very orangey and yummy. The mandarin and thyme sorbet was delicious, with a not-too-strong acidity and clean finish. 

It was a fantastic lunch, with very friendly and talkative staff, who really knew the dishes inside-out and seemed to take a real pleasure in presenting them in all their glory. And trust me, they deserve that glory!