The Quality Chop House

Great British cuisine

A rather unusual name, The Quality Chop House is a British restaurant, wine bar and butcher shop located in Farringdon with a grade-II listed dining room which looks like a chapel, I went for dinner and noticed you only get a fixed tasting menu if you choose to sit in the historical dining room. As it gives me a good chance to try a range of dishes, I was happy to give the tasting menu a go but for less adventuress people I would advice to sit in the wine bar as it offers you a daily changing a la carte menu.

bread and radish

devilled eggs

Kensington Pavilion

Smart cooking in Kensington

Adam Simmonds shouldn't be a stranger to any British based foodies these days after becoming one of the winners in the latest Great British Menu programme on the BBC, serving a D Day banquet to the war heroes at St Paul Cathedral. He is now the head chef at the members club Kensington Pavilion whose restaurant opened to the public. The newly revamped restaurant has a beautiful champagne bar positioned in the middle, along with a deli counter and kitchen counter on either side.

Kensington Pavilion

Head chef Adam Simmonds

Confit mackerel, oyster mayonnaise, horseradish

Anchor and Hope

British gastropub goodness

I really am not a fan of queuing up for restaurants, it is just painfully annoying to wait and waste your time away. However if the food is really special and highly recommended, I would give it a try but would avoid peak time, and over the years it has worked out pretty nicely for me such as visiting early hours or on a Monday. The legendary Anchor and Hope pub in Waterloo is one of those places and a Monday visit resulted in a table right away but however I did have to share a table with others which is somewhat unheard of in the UK.

Anchor and Hope

potted shrimps

The Rum Kitchen

Rum jungle in London

The Rum Kitchen in Notting Hill is a popular bar and kitchen to the young professional in the area, it gets very busy on a daily basis, both of my visits were on early evening weekdays but already full of people which is somewhat impressive considering everywhere else around the area was half empty. The Rum Kitchen is all about rum cocktails and soulful Caribbean cooking, a concept that has a mass appeal to me as I am a big fan of rum!

Rum kitchen

Chicken Shop & Dirty Burger

Best of both worlds

I've got to admit, when I first visited the original Chicken Shop and Dirty Burger in Kentish Town, I went a little bit too far and ate at both sites one after the other as I rarely travel to Kentish Town but I really wanted to try both Chicken Shop and Dirty Burger. That evening I could barely walk after downing a Dirty Burger as well as a half chicken plus some sides. So it seems like the owner aka Soho House wanted me to relive the moment and launched both places under one roof in Whitechapel.

best of both worlds

hello chicken...

Launceston Place

Exceptional taste and value

This is my fourth visit to this Michelin starred Launceston Place in Kensington. You might wonder why I keep returning to this restaurant and the answer is simple: Launceston Place produces some of the finest cooking in London, and when price is also factored in, you are getting probably the best quality food in terms of value for money. At least that is for me anyway, having eaten at most of the Michelin restaurants as well as some of the highly regarded places in London.

Launceston Place

canapes

bread

dill and cucumber

Typing Room

Edgy modernism

Typing room is the new restaurant on the former site of Viajante in the Town Hall Hotel. When it was announced that Nuno Mendes was to leave Viajante and join Andre Balazs's multi million project Chiltern Firehouse back in February, the Town Hall Hotel wasted no time to appoint Lee Westcott to take over the space with the backing of restaurateur Jason Atherton. Lee Westcott used to worked at 22 Ships (A tapas bar by Jason) in Hong Kong and it has become one of the hottest places to eat out.

Typing Room

bread

crispy fish skin, chicken wings &
courgette and basil profiteroles

Honest Burgers Oxford Circus

As awesome as burgers can get

Honest Burgers has continued to expand in 2014 and is now one of the most successful independent burger joints in London, founders Tom and Phil got the formula spot on with its well sourced meat and quality garnish in the burgers, serving it in a humble setting at a very affordable price.

Honest Burgers Oxford Circus

fried sausage and curry

Fera Claridge's

Foraging its way to global recognition

Fera

When Gordon Ramsay and Claridges decided to call it a day in 2013, everyone was wondering who would take over the prestigious Claridges' dinning space. After months of rumours and speculation, it was announced that Simon Rogan, chef patron of 2 Michelin starr L'Enclumes and Cateys' 2013 chef of the year award. Regarded as one of the most talented British chefs right now, it makes sense that the hotel selected Simon to take over Claridge's and I wasted no time to book in as I was hugely impressed by his London pop up Roganic and his special dinner teaming with Alyn Williams at The Westbury.

Street food special

London street food adventure

Over the past few weeks, I spent sometime visiting the finest street food vendors across London, for the first time I visited the ever popular "Kerb" event and "Real Street Food Festival" in Southbank in April and it really opened up my eyes after tasting some top level street food with the inspiration coming from around the world. Here are some of the highlights over the two weekends:

Bao

Bao is one of the hottest street food vendors in London right now, with a numbers of awards including the Young British Foodie 2013. They had taken the infamous Taiwanese gua bao to perfection with Londoners falling in love with its well executed braised pork belly wrap in a light soft bun. The quality of Bao's buns are second to none and even better than some of the top dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong that provide similar offerings.

http://www.baolondon.com/