A Wong, London

For innovative accessible Chinese food A Wong is in my view one of the leaders in the country. Since trying the mindblowingly good Peking duck feast last year I was intrigued with the dim sum and regular dinner menu and it was only until recently that I could return to sample both. The attractive aspect of the dim sum menu is being able to order per individual piece rather than a portion, ideal for lone diners and couples; it may mean it costs more but the quality more than makes up for it.

During a leisurely lunch we tried the following starting with Shanghai steamed dumplings with ginger infused vinegar.

Pork and prawn dumpling, pork crackling, the restaurants take on the classic siu mai.

Clear shrimp dumpling, sweet chilli sauce, citrus foam – har gau, my all time favourite dim sum.  

Quail egg croquette puff

Baked roasted pork buns with a sugared coating

Sesame buttered smoked chicken

Yunnan mushroom, pork and truffle dumpling

Crab, seafood and beancurd cannelloni, pickled cockles – packed with crab with a nice crunch the fried beancurd adding texture.

Foie gras sticky sesame dumpling

Scallop puff with XO sauce

Deep fried prawn ball with abalone and chilli vinaigrette

63 degree ‘tea egg’ with shredded filo – mopping up the oozing yolk with the shredded filo was addictive. 

Smoked duck and jellyfish and pork crackling salad

A week before my dim sum visit I returned for the dinner menu. The dishes we tried were all based on classic Chinese dishes but with Chef Andrew Wongs own twist. They had a homely flavour feel yet retained the restaurant grace in terms of presentation.

Sweet and sour rib with toasted sesame

Dry braised salt and pepper tiger prawn

Crispy duck: Mrs. Chow’s  pancakes and plum sauce

Dong Po slow braised Blythburgh pork belly

Dry fried French beans with minced pork

Scotch beef rump with salsify, preserved plum powder and oyster sauce

Chef Cheng’s prawn stuffed chicken wings with black bean sauce

Crispy chilli, caramelised beef, pickled carrots

Razor clam with braised sea cucumber, pickled cucumber, wind dried sausage

Theres something very comforting about mopping up white rice infused with the sauce from the dishes above. In short, A Wong is a must try.

Duck & Waffle, London

If heights and views are your thing then brunch at Duck & Waffle is a great option for high rise dining in London. Based on the 40th floor of Salesforce Tower (formerly Heron Tower) it is a short stroll from Liverpool Street station, the area is quiet and calm at the weekends compared to the hustle during the office working week.

The menu is very interesting and the duck congee caught our attention from the eggs section. Congee was a common dish during our upbringing so this interpretation with grilled duck hearts, slow cooked organic egg, spring onion, ginger and hazelnuts appealed. It’s hard to make congee look pretty as it is basically rice porridge but this was one of the prettiest congees we have ever had. The texture of the rice was well judged not too hard or over mushy and the duck hearts retained its bite. With the classic flavours of spring onion and ginger it’s hard to go wrong, although the soy sauce was a touch heavy handed.

We wanted a light brunch and this continued with yellowfin tuna tartar with avocado, balsamic, radish and lashings of foie gras. Another pretty plate and the tuna was lifted by the balsamic, a very good tartar.

The light brunch plans were soon destroyed by the extremely rich foie gras crème brûlée with butter roasted lobster and toasted brioche. Passing the test of cracking the top albeit burnt, I spread the foie gras brûlée on the toasted brioche before adding lobster pieces creating a luxurious brunch item. A couple of mouthfuls of this and I struggled to eat anything else. I was surprised when I saw a lady on the table opposite having this to herself, I don’t think I could finish it!

On a previous visit I tried the wild cornish pollock meatballs with lobster cream and parmesan and enjoyed the dish so recommended it to Mrs Nom. However this time the dish was not as good as I had remembered.

A very leisurely brunch, the price of the food is quite reasonable with our dishes costing between £10-£16, and they make for good sharing dishes. Although with a few drinks the bill can soon rocket. Duck & Waffle is a very popular destination and justifiably so.

Dishoom, London

I wanted something different for breakfast and Bombay café inspired Dishoom stood out. Starting with the house chai, the spice warmed me up but despite it being offered with unlimited refills I don’t think I could have more than two.

The first dish from the menu that took my fancy was Kejriwal, two fried eggs on chilli cheese toast. Reputably named after a member of the WIllingdon Club in Bombay who took a fancy to the dish. It certainly made for a breakfast with a twist and now makes normal cheese on toast appear boring.

Another Dishoom take on a classic breakfast item was the bacon and egg naan roll. Smoked streaky bacon from The Ginger Pig which is dry-cured for five days with rock salt and Demerara sugar before being cold smoked over oak chips. I may well have to ask for all my bacon sandwiches in naan bread in the future which may cause a few raised eyebrows. 

Barrafina, London

Every time we walk past Barrafina on Frith Street in Soho the queue seems to be out the door. With limited counter seating and a couple of tables there are constant waits of over an hour. We decided to brave the wait one Saturday night and were pleasantly surprised when it whittled down quite quickly, from out of the door to seated in under half an hour. Perhaps we were lucky to join the queue when a raft of diners were coming to the end of their meals. The patience of the staff needs to be commended as at least twenty people stormed in expecting to be seated oblivious to the waiting diners along the wall bar, each being batted down and told to join the end and wait.

Once seated the ever changing specials board was being updated in front of us. The whole lemon sole with dill vinaigrette caught our eye and it was a whopper. Fresh fish cooked on the bone with not much else and it didn’t need it.

Gambas al Ajíllo, big juicy prawns and no one batted an eyelid when I sucked the heads which are the best bits.

Grilled quail with alioli, the breast was nicely deboned and which made eating the quail a doddle. Octopus with capers, a large portion of meaty chunks of octopus again simple but effective.

Chorizo, potato and watercress, the simplest dish gave us our carbs. The chorizo was top notch and rounded off a light meal.

The service at Barrafina is exceptional despite the lack of space and popularity, dishes are served when they are ready and at a leisurely place so that diners are never overwhelmed with all the dishes arriving at once. Most of the food is cooked in the open kitchen in full view of the counter seats which adds to the atmosphere. If you happen to walk by my advice is to get in line!

Sasuke Ramen, London

It’s always good to walk into a ramen joint to find the majority of the customers are Japanese, the birthplace of ramen. Tucked down Great Windmill Street in Soho, I spotted a lunchtime deal of any ramen and a side for an additional £1.50 so I dragged a colleague along. Sasuke is a small ramen joint with benches and a couple of small tables, ideal for a quick fix.

Quickly scanning through the menu I settled on a miso broth ramen and a side of chicken karage which arrived first. The batter was perfectly crispy and devoid of any trace of oil with the chicken meat still moist, with four large pieces on a skewer it was my chicken karage of the year so far. My colleague had gyoza which was average with too little stuffing for my liking.

The miso ramen was topped with big pieces of chashu pork with enticing pork rind surrounding it. The ramen reminded me of egg noodles in colour and was thicker than any other ramen I have tried before. It was cooked gently and remained firm and bouncy. The miso broth was a little too salty as and next time I would probably stick to a tonkotsu based broth.  If only I could get lunch like this in Liverpool but then again eating too much ramen and chicken karage surely would not be a good thing!

Lima Floral, London

We recently found ourselves wanting a light dinner following an epic lunch at Gymkhana earlier on in the day. Trying to think of a few seafood places we were wondering around Covent Garden and popped across Lima Floral on Floral Street which opened last month and is the younger sibling of the Michelin starred Lima in Fitzrovia on Rathbone Place. The cuisine is Peruvian and not having tried ceviche before it seemed the perfect candidate for a light meal.

We chanced our luck at a table in the main dining area but as expected at 8pm on a Friday night it was fully booked and heaving. Although luck would have it that they had a downstairs bar area serving piqueos, tapas sized dishes which were even better for our appetite as well as scoring a comfy booth.

The menu is split between five sections, we ordered a selection from each of them to try a variety of different dishes. From the tiraditos part we tried salmon with yellow chilli pepper and camote chips. 

From the causas section we chose tuna with Amazonian cashew, blue potato, and uchucuta. A very pretty dish with striking colours, matched with delicate flavours.

We started with sea bream ceviche with yellow tiger’s milk from the ceviches section and this quickly became our favourite. The tiger’s milk and dash of lime lifted chunks of sea bream, a very refreshing dish. We enjoyed it so much that we ordered another ceviche dish of scallops, heirloom and tree tomatoes. Whilst not hitting the heights of the sea bream ceviche flavour combinations it was still good, although a little small even for tapas sizes.

From the antichuchos skewers part we had veal heart with anticucho marinade. The veal hearts were grilled very well and not over done which could make them too tough to eat.

Finally from the tostadas section we chose octopus with botija olives, annatto cream and red shiso. My one gripe with tostadas is that they are fiddly to eat and I usually end up picking at the topping and then eating the crispy tortilla separately. The flavours were once again on point and complimented each other, the flavour combinations from nearly all of the dishes were new to me but I am now definitely a fan of Peruvian cuisine.

To wash down the exquisite food we had to have a classic pisco with lime, sugar, egg white and angostura bitter. These go down quick! Overall, despite it being early days it is a great place for a quick pre-theatre nibble or light meal and drinks with dishes ranging from £5.50 - £8. Next on our list is to try the full a la carte.

Flat Iron (Denmark St), London

Flat Iron is one of my favourite cheap eats in the food mecca that is Soho. I became an instant fan when I visited the original Baek Street branch last year. Where else can you get a sublime flat iron steak for a tenner? I’m not surprised at the success and Flat Iron recently expanded with its second outpost on Denmark Street in Covent Garden.

I was intrigued with the Yorkshire wagyu burger special with truffle hollandaise. The restaurant frequently tweets enormous cuts of meat of which they butcher in house. The burger was recommended rare by staff and that was perfectly fine by me. A huge stoking burger was presented on the same boards on which they serve the steak. The outside of the burger had a nice charred crust and the truffle hollandaise oozed out the side, simple presentation but very tempting and inviting.

The outside of the burger carried a dark char and I wondered about the meat inside, but I needn’t have worried as it was perfectly pink and rare inside. It takes some skill to do this as my attempts at home tend to completely overcook the meat in the middle. The burger was moist yet without leaking juice all over the bun. The truffle hollandaise was light without overpowering the delicate beef which obviously was the star, simple great, fatty, beefy goodness. My burger of the year so far, well worth the £15 asking price for the quality.

Mrs Nom was a Flat Iron virgin before the visit and she went for the signature steak. After amusing herself with the mini meat cleaver knife she was amazed by the well-seasoned, rare flat iron steak presented to her. She couldn’t believe how much she enjoyed it as she’s not usually a steak kind of girl. To balance the protein we had a nectarine and fennel salad with dill vinaigrette.

A little except on the bottom of the menu kindly asks customers to not pinch the novelty knives as the business expends a great deal to source quality meat and providing it at low prices which would be not be possible if they incurred avoidable costs. At £10 for a quality flat iron steak, it must be one of the best meat cheap eats in central London.