Pickled Plates Supper Club, London

More than ever, eating out is becoming a social experience. My instagram is awash with people's culinary snaps. Chefs and critics may bemoan bloggers, vloggers and the like for reaching for the camera with every dish they're served, but it's all part of a new social era. Social has become virtual, but it's also gone back to basics too. Supper clubs have sprung up across the UK. What can be more social than someone inviting you into their home to try their food? One of my very talented friends Polly, a trained chef, and Hana, with a background in events, have created a superb social dining experience with their Pickled Plates Supper Club. Earlier this year we got a group of friends together and went along to their home in Walthamstow to give it a try.

Pickled Plates Supper Club Menu

We arrived excitedly and were greeted with a cocktail of whisky, blood orange, ginger and bitters. If all greetings were with a cocktail that was this good the world would be a better (and drunker) place! I can imagine that if you didn't know your dining compatriots then starting off with a boozy cocktail is a great way to get the conversation flowing. Handwritten menus, tea lights and succulents dotted artistically around the table - this is an instagrammers paradise - created a wonderfully cosy atmosphere too.

Whisky, Ginger, Blood Orange and Bitters

Polly and Hana are big fans of Lee Wescot from the Typing Room and James Lowe at Lyles. Both chefs are about celebrating British food with a modern twist and this is certainly echoed in the Pickled Plates menu. A canapé of haggis, neeps and tatties, were crispy, coated, deep fried balls of good Scottish stuff. It's worth adding at this point that they were great at catering for my gluten allergy too. They had sourced gluten free haggis and cooked mine separately and they were delicious. A rabbit rillette was well seasoned, pickled beetroot and radishes cutting beautifully through the richness of the rillette, beetroot crisps giving added texture and a cassis dressing bringing all the components together. The salt baked celeriac was a real triumph, with a wonderful depth of flavour, and provided a superb companion for a perfectly cooked chunk of whiting. The crispy chicken skin provided a sumptuous, salty seasoning for a creamy clam and prawn butter sauce.

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

Wild Rabbit Rillette

Pan Fried Whiting with Salt Baked Celeriac

When I read toasted marshmallow on the menu for dessert it conjured up images of bonfire night. I'll be disappointed with the Guy Fawkes version in future, because this toasted marshmallow was something else! A big, creamy, silky square, blow-torched to give just the right amount of caramel notes and then served with the acidic hit of blood orange and perfect (gluten free) shortbreads, it was a brilliant dish. The bring your own bottle policy - plus cocktails and a sloe gin accompanying the cheese course - meant that things were probably starting to get a little hazy! But I've got just enough recollection of the deliciously nutty comté, served with plum and juniper jam, a candied walnut and again gluten free oat cakes for the coeliac.

Toasted Marshmallow with Blood Orange and Shortbread

Sloe Gin, Comté, Plum and Juniper Jam, Candied Walnuts and Oatcakes

It was a great night, with great friends and great food. So if you want a fantastic social dining experience check out Pickled Plates, you'll also get the bonus of having some brilliant food to instagram!

Our Pickled Plates Team For the Night

Herman Ze German, London

After a great theatre trip to the Globe in London we needed a late night place to eat. Step up Herman Ze German! I love the current restaurant trend of sticking to one thing and doing it well. Honest and Bird have it sorted for burgers and chicken. Now Herman Ze German has it sorted for German sausage! They have a comprehensive allergen menu on their website which clearly indicates their gluten free options. I went for the Chilli Wurst with pommes (chips) and sauerkraut. The sausage tasted great, with just the right amount of chilli, crispy and salty pommes to mop up the american mustard and ketchup and sauerkraut giving a tasty pickled flavour to cut through everything. There are a few outlets dotted around London. It's no frills dining and we were in late so we were joined by a few drunken revellers but for good, gluten free food at inexpensive prices it's a great place to go.

Herman Ze German - Gluten Free Chilli Wurst, Pommes & Sauerkraut

Tredwell's, London

I've been spurred into writing this blog today. As you can see from the timings of my posts, I'm not always the most frequent blogger. But today I felt the need to write this one in particular. Today, a number of top chefs decided to publicly criticise the new allergen regulations which require restaurants to make information available on 14 allergens. Their criticism of the EU regulations were made public in a letter to the Telegraph (where better to slate alleged EU bureaucracy than British right-wing media). Interestingly, when you search 'allergen' in the Telegraph search bar, the first item that pops up is an advert for home allergen testing kits! The article in question quotes Thomasina Miers, whom I'm a big fan of, as saying: "It is a total fiasco and in my view is the responsibility of the allergee to ask." Unfortunately, I think she sadly misses the point. We do ask. Since I was diagnosed coeliac nearly 5 years ago I've asked every time I've eaten out. It's a pain, but I'm used to it. What the new rules mean is at last restaurants should have the answers. 

One restaurant which certainly had the answers was Marcus Wareing's new restaurant Tredwell's. It's menu I'm holding up as the exemplar on how to make allergen info clear and simple to understand. When it's backed up with food which is excellent too, it's a dream come true for 'burdensome' allergy sufferers. If restaurants can get it right like Tredwell's does, they are more likely to get my custom and that of other allergen suffers. They are widening their market, it hardly screams fiasco to me.

Down the apples and pears cocktail

Tredwell's is a more casual addition to Wareing's restaurants and boasts a more relaxed and informal atmosphere. The place was bustling when we arrived on a Saturday night. We took seats at the bar for a pre-dinner cocktail. The cocktail was seriously good, my 'Down the apples and pears' had Belvedere vodka, with apple, pear and elderflower, finished with a hint of thyme which perfectly balanced the sweetness. Our server knew the menu well and recommended that we share a couple of the starters. There was plenty of choice for those with a gluten allergy and there seemed to be a concious effort to avoid the use of unnecessary allergens. My wife and I shared sticky chicken wings and a chicken satay dish. Both sound simple, but were brilliantly executed. A moreish BBQ glaze on the chicken wings made them some of the best I've ever tasted. The satay was silky smooth with almost a mousse-like texture, and served with tender poached chicken and a chilled cucumber relish.

The starters were always going to be warm up acts when the headline act comes under the banner 'Braised beef short rib'. A huge hunk of meat, that was braised so the meat melted away from the bone, served with perfectly balanced gravy. Sweet potato fries were crisp and came with a knock out BBQ mayo. The 'on trend' addition of kale to the slaw worked really well too. 

Braised Beef Short Rib

Sweet Potato Fries, BBQ Mayo and Kale Slaw

We somehow found room for desserts and I couldn't resist the allure of salted caramel soft serve, which really was just a Marcus Wareing McFlurry! It was everything a dessert should be. Unfortunately, the 'virtuous' chocolate brownie was everything a dessert shouldn't be. Desserts weren't meant to be virtuous and sadly this meant that the brownie was the one let down of an otherwise impeccable meal.

Salted Caramel Soft Serve with Honeycomb

I think the food, drink, service, and consideration for all their diners means Tredwell's is on to a winning formula. The requirement is simple, for restaurants to know the food they are serving. More restaurants embracing this philosophy can only be a good thing.

Honest Burgers, London

I don't know why it's taken me so long to blog about Honest. The moment just seemed to pass because it's so well known in the gluten free community. But not blogging about it just seems to do Honest a grave injustice because quite frankly they do the best burgers I've ever had! Since I first heard about Honest on twitter a couple of years ago we must have been more than half a dozen times and I don't even live in London. If I did, I think it could be seriously detrimental to my health!

Honest Burgers started out in 2011 on a small stall in Brixton market. The focus was on using quality ingredients to create a small but perfectly formed menu. A couple of combinations of beef burgers, a chicken burger and a veggie option - simple. And it's proof that concentrating on doing a few things very well is the way forward - the burgers are mouthwateringly good. The burger served medium, unless you request otherwise, is unlike any burger I've ever had. The quality of the meat simply shines through. They don't over complicate things either. The 'Honest' burger comes with cheese, smoked bacon, relish pickle and lettuce - all the components of the perfect burger. They have branched into a 'special' but they only do one at a time, meaning that the focus on consistent quality never falters. Moreover, Honest banished the dark days when coeliacs and gluten free followers had to contemplate having a burger without a bun. The bun is good too. Far too often gluten free buns can disintegrate into nothing, this one stands up to the task, soaking up all the delicious juices. The chips have taken a back seat in this review so far, but again, they are simply the best chips I've had on the side of any burger, anywhere. Simply fried and then seasoned with a rosemary salt, they are the perfect accompaniment. 

Honest burger, with chips

Honest's attention to it's gluten free followers goes above and beyond. A couple of years ago they had a burger served with deep fried (breaded) Camembert, which suddenly meant the chips were off the menu for coeliacs due to cross contamination. But they listened to the feedback and this year they developed the same burger but with gluten free bread crumbs. They have also created the best onion rings I've ever had, gluten free beer battered onion rings are really something special. Giant hoops of onion with a golden crunchy batter - they're really spoiling us now. 

Gluten free onion rings

I can't wait to try this month's special at the weekend - an Indian inspired burger with tandoori rub, a (gluten free) vegetable pakora, halloumi and cucumber raita. Oh and don't forget you can wash this all down with a gluten free Estrella Daura Damm Lager - perfection.

They have a number of restaurants dotted around London now, check out their website for more details.

Yalla Yalla, London

The trend for street food has taken off during 2013. With the likes of Yalla Yalla, you can see why. It's billed as serving Beirut Street Food, providing a mix of Lebanese and Middle Eastern dishes. There are currently three branches dotted around London and we headed to one in Soho. It's a little café with cushioned benches, walls adorned with various pictures and trinkets giving the feel of a real neighbourhood place. We arrived at around 5pm and were seated straight away but an hour or so later and people were having carafes of wine in the street as they waited for tables. I'm sure it won't be long before they'll be investing in a mobile app queuing system which seem to be the new thing in London. 

Halloum Meshoue - grilled Halloumi cheese with tomato, black olives, fresh mint and olive oil

As always when we were handed menus, I mentioned I was gluten free. I was informed that this wasn't a problem and to take a look and decide what we fancied, the waitress would let me know what they could do. There's a fantastic selection for coeliacs or those on a gluten free diet and all of the dishes we fancied could be done without any issues. We went for sharing some mezze dishes, small tapas style portions which were great value. All the dishes packed the punch of flavour you would expect from the complex spicing and flavours of the Middle East. Halloumi was nicely browned, it's saltiness offset by a fresh salad of olives, tomato and mint. Batata Harra a sort of Middle Eastern version of Patatas Bravas was arguably the dish of the night. Expecting it to be more of a 'filler', I was impressed with crisp potatoes, fluffy in the middle and beautifully seasoned with cumin and chilli. Tender chicken wings were perfectly complimented by a bright garlic and harissa sauce. We also chose the chicken livers, I've never really been a fan but these had the accolade of being one of Time Out's 'top 100 dishes' so I couldn't resist trying them again. I'm glad I did, they were sautéed perfectly leaving them soft and tender and served in a sticky garlic and pomegranate molasses sauce which I couldn't stop dipping the potatoes in. The only disappointment was the Shawarma, hummus was fresh and vibrant but I found the lamb a little dry given how on point the rest of our dishes were. 

Hommos Shawarma, Batata Harra and Jawaneh Meshoue

One of Time Out's top 100 dishes - Sawda Djej

With places like Yalla Yalla giving street food a great name, I can see this trend continuing into 2014.

Pitt Cue Co., Soho, London

We found Pitt Cue Co. in one of my girlfriend's monthly food magazines on where best to eat certain nationality foods during the Olympics. As you can see from some of my previous posts on Pulled Pork and Ribs, American food is definitely one of my favourites. So when we went to London to soak up some of the Olympic fever and watch team GB get humped at Volleyball, we decided we'd sneak a visit to this hotly tipped Soho restaurant.

My girlfriend had previously emailed Pitt Cue Co. to check on gluten free options and they reassuringly and promptly emailed back to say most things were naturally gluten free and that the chef himself was gluten free so he knew what he was doing. We arrived in sunny Soho at about 2pm and was told there'd be about a 20 minute wait for a table so we grabbed a tasty Cornish cider and stood in the street. After 20 minutes we were escorted downstairs to a darkish room which couldn't have sat more than 20 people. If you don't like sharing your table then this probably isn't the place for you. We got our own table for 4 but there were plently sharing and the place had a real buzz. It is tiny, and the very limited website says that they only operate a first come first served basis as it's so small. But it's true what they say good things come in small packages!

Cornish Cider

Our server explained the menu with an enthusiasm that demonstrated how passionate Pitt Cue Co. are about their food, explaining in detail the different cuts of meat on offer and how each is cooked. There were plenty of options for those who are gluten free / coeliac and lots that could be adapted (e.g taking away the bread bun).  I couldn't turn down the Beef ribs which were beautifully tender, the meat falling off the bone and packed with smoky BBQ flavour. There's a good selection of sides. I had mine served with pickles, a green chilli slaw and bone marrow mash which were all extremely tasty. A friend had a lardo dog which received a review as impressive as the dog looked! A hot dog topped with pulled pork, lardo (an Italian pig fat) and american mustard. If you like American food, Pitt Cue Co. does it very well indeed and better than almost any I've tasted State-side.

Beef Ribs and Bone Marrow Mash

Lardo Dog with BBQ beans

Texture, London

My reward for sitting through a Steps reunion concert (don't ask!), was a trip to the Michelin starred Texture. I had wanted to go to Texture since I saw the creator Agnar Sverrisson, put together a stunning looking dish on Saturday Kitchen. Sverrisson is from Iceland and combines the best of British ingredients with those from his native country to create some outstanding dishes. 

We had a reservation at 12pm on a Saturday so we were the first to arrive in the extremely elegant restaurant. The service was superb, certainly the best I've received since being gluten free. We opted for the very reasonably priced lunch menu and they were more than happy to adapt dishes, with seemlingly nothing being too much trouble. The main I opted for was served with fregola, a type of pasta, but our waiter said the dish would work just as well with quinoa. Coeliacs will agree, it's really positive when they can actively suggest alternatives rather than the "we'll just leave it off" attitude. Their understanding of catering for coeliacs was very impressive. They immediately brought me an alternative to the breads, a type of thin crisp served with a dip that tasted like an incredibly fresh tzatziki which woke up the taste buds for the beautiful food which followed.

We started with an amouse bouche which certainly lived up to the restaurant's name. A celebration of all things pea, combining a number of textures which delighted the palette. There was a frozen pea sorbet, a silky smooth pea purée and pea shoots all of which tasted so fresh it felt like they had been hand picked that morning. A great start to the meal. I followed this with the Wye Valley asparagus which was served with hazlenuts and a parmesan 'snow', once again such freshness that really did justice to the asparagus. My girlfriend had the smoked salmon, which was beautifully cooked and combined with simple Asian flavours.

Pea amouse bouche

Wye Valley Asparagus

Scottish smoked salmon

I proclaimed my main course at the time to be 'the best I've ever had' and looking back I think I still stand by this! Cornish Pollack cooked to perfection, served with lemon, sea vegetables and as mentioned quinoa which had bursts of fennel seeds. All of the dishes were exquisitely presented showing off some very exciting cooking. The menu description of 'English corn fed chicken with lemon, onion, peas and potato' - when you see the photograph - doesn't come near to doing the dish justice and this was also met with high praise.

Cornish Pollack

English Corn Fed Chicken

The waiter informed us that the dessert was something new that they were trying out. If this is experimenting, then they shouldn't stop. A perfect combination of valrhona chocolate, wild strawberries, salted caramel, seaweed and nuts with an anise ice cream! Many of the dishes had a dusting of a powdered seaweed which  just seemed to serve as a flavour enhancer. Once again modifications were made to ensure mine was gluten free, without detracting at all from a fantastic dish. 

Valrhona chocolate with Anise ice cream

Best main course I've ever had... Actually Texture may have gone one step further and could quite possibly be the best restaurant I've ever had the pleasure of dining at! Sublime food combined with exceptional service - it doesn't get much better.

Nobu, Berkeley Street, London

With this blog, I think I'm going to have to leave the pictures to do the talking. The tasting menu that Nobu, in the heart of Mayfair, creatively put together to cater for my gluten free needs stretched to 12 courses. 12 courses of some of the finest Japanese inspired food I have ever eaten, but I'll admit I was struggling to keep up with all the descriptions! There is a fusion with South American ingredients in many of the courses such as Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno. I would struggle to do justice to the complex flavour combinations and subtle balance that these dishes carried. Some real highlights were a beautiful lamb cutlet in a fiery red chilli sauce, oven baked prawns with spinach, truffle oil and parmesan and some beautifully cooked savoy cabbage with truffle. The only dish that wasn't to everyones taste was the sweet shrimps and scallops.

They catered incredibly well for my gluten free needs. The four of us opted to have a tasting menu, which our waitress said wouldn't be suitable for coeliacs. Instead, they put together a bespoke menu selecting dishes which would be suitable and on the odd occasion mine was served separately (using gluten free soy sauce). It was a Saturday night, and the bustling, dimly lit restaurant had a great atmosphere with people enjoying sensational japanese cuisine. It's perfect food to share and talk about and all the dishes certainly ensure your palette is kept on it's toes. We opted against having the dessert courses for some more savour, they were incredibly flexible and creating a magnificent dining experience.

Yellowfin Tuna with jalapeno and yuzo

Sweet shrimp and scallops

Pickled salmon rolls in green chilli

Oven baked prawns with spinach, truffle oil and parmesan

Cabbage steak with truffle

Chilean Sea bass Yasai Zuke

Roast white fish with truffle

Waygu Beef with Enoki mushrooms

Tuna and Salmon Nigiri

Waygu with dried miso and crispy garlic

Chicken with dried miso

Pan Fried Scallops with Jalapeno

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, London

I've always been a huge Jamie Oliver fan. My first cookery book was 'The Return of the Naked Chef' and these were some of the first recipes I tried. His risotto recipe is engraved in my memory I've used it so many times. I've always enjoyed his philosophy of creating dishes with great flavours. When I found out I was going to Jamie's first restaurant Fifteen as birthday treat, I was extremely excited!

Fifteen is situated near Old Street tube station in North London. It's down a side street and seems a little off the beaten path. Upstairs is the trattoria and you go down stairs to the restaurant. When you walk in your eyes are greeted by an elegantly styled restaurant with an eye for detail without being in anyway pretentious. The open kitchen is a great touch as you're able to see the apprentices at work. Fifteen was set up by Jamie Oliver to give unemployed young people opportunities to work in the industry and profits go to the Jamie Oliver Foundation.

We were brought our menus, which change daily, and the waitress went to check what I could have which was gluten free. As the kitchen was open, I saw her hand it to the chef who then scribbled on what I could have and what they could modify which was great to see. The waitress did bring bread over for my girlfriend and it would have been nice to have been offered something as an alternative like olives, but it's a minor niggle.

Quite simply, the food was stunning.

I started with a prosciutto, artichoke, savoy cabbage and parmesan salad which just let the quality of the ingredients really stand out. My girlfriend had the Burrata (a gooey mozzarella) with char-grilled radicchio trevisano and honey glazed walnuts. I tried some of the mozzarella which was beautifully gooey and tasty. The second course was the absolute stand out dish. A risotto with 6 hour braised shin of scotch beef. The beef just absolutely melted in the mouth, full of rich parmesan and then lifted by a hint of lemon and parsley. It was a big portion for a second course, but there was no way I was leaving any! My girlfriend had the beetroot gnocchi which also received rave reviews (although I'm sure she was a little jealous)!

Prosciutto Di San Daniele with Shaved Italian Stem Artichoke, Savoy Cabbage and Parmesan

Burrata (A Gooey Mozzarella from Puglia) with Char-Grilled Radicchio Trevisano and Honey Glazed Walnuts

Risotto (Vialone Nano) with 6-Hour Braised Shin of Scotch Beef with Flat Leaf Parsley, Lemon and Parmesan

Main courses equally didn't disappoint. My venison was beautifully cooked, dark and carmaelised on the outside and blushing pink in the middle, lifted by little bursts from the pomegranate seeds. The lentils served with it were again perfectly cooked but lacked flavour. The rare breed pork with potato and olive 'al forno' and a cavlo nero pesto was delicious. The pork succulent and juicy, the potato's creamy and pesto bursting with flavour, a really great dish.

Dorset Venison Polpette (Slow Cooked in Sicilian Tomatoes, Chilli, and Dry Porcini) with Lentils Di Castelluccio, Swiss Chard and Chilli Dressing

Pete Gott's Rare-Breed Pork with Potato and Olive 'Al Forno', Watercress and Cavlo Nero Pesto

My girlfriend always makes the mistake of ordering chocolate fondant for dessert when it's on a menu. She makes an amazing chocolate fondant but 'likes to compare'. It looked perfect to me but whether it lived up to her standards, I'm not sure! My lime pannacotta was certainly the best pannacotta I've ever had, silky smooth and served with a zingy lemon sorbet and crispy slices of caramelised orange. A perfect combination on the palette.

Lime Pannacotta with Lemon Sorbet

Amedei Dark Chocolate Fondant with Caramelized Blood Orange and Creme Fraiche

Definitely one of my all time favourite dining experiences - I'd go back just for that risotto!

Wahaca, Covent Garden, London

Wahaca is billed as 'Mexican Market Eating'. Having been to Mexico and tasted the fantastic street food they have there, this had a lot to live up to. Wahaca is the product of Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers. I was lucky enough to see Thomasina do a cooking demonstration at Jimmy's Farm Festival the year before last. She clearly had a real passion for mexican food and flavours and I have wanted to go to Wahaca ever since.

Thomasina has done a fantastic job with Wahaca. It's certainly the most authentic mexican food I've had outside of Mexico and tasted fantastic. We opted for a selection of the street food. Highlights had to be the Pork Pibil tacos, beautifully slow cooked tender marinated pork and Queso Fundidio, a mexican cheese fondu with cactus and carmelised onions. Make sure you save room for the dulce de leche ice cream too - salted caramel ice cream with Valrhona chocolate - sensational. The atmosphere was great, perfect sharing food, and all very reasonably priced.

There's just one minor grumble. Being gluten free can be tricky and it's made even trickier by confusing allergen menus. Our waitress was quick to get the menu for me, but it was difficult to understand what I could and couldn't have. The menu only referred to things which either contained wheat, contained no wheat, or couldn't guarantee trace free. Coeliacs will know that it's more than just wheat that contains gluten but thankfully mexican food doesn't use a lot of gluten containing ingredients. I was absolutely fine with what I ate but it would have been nice to have had no doubt in my mind.

Overall though, will definitely be going back!

Queso Fundido

Mexican Pork Scratchings with Guacamole

Wahaca, Covent Garden, London

Chicken Wings a la Mojo

Black Bean Tostados

Pork Pibil Tacos