Tapas'd up at Barrafina

If you like the idea of a tapas bar serving fresh sea food, chances are that you will like Barrafina. This small L shaped bar opened in 2007 and judging by the queue outside its door, its pretty popular. The interior is quite compact, with stools dotted along the bar and the chefs cooking away in front of you. As there is no reservation you have to be prepared to wait, we ordered glasses of white wine, olives and  bread and deliberated on the specials.

I decided on the Carabinero and some Padro Peppers, the hubby went for the Octopus and Milk Fed Lamb from the regular menu.

Both the Octopus and the Lamb were quite good (I had a taste of both) but it wasn't as good as my Carabinero, I mean look at that big fat shrimp in all its red glory: cue picture of very happy me.

Of course while all this eating was taking place, I saw the person next to me order a Tuna Tartar. Just looking at it made me want to try it, but too late, the tuna's finished. But at that point I saw someone loading fresh lobsters onto the ice tray and I went for that instead. And it was a treat.

Nice and juicy with a light salad, the lobster was the star for me. Besides all the food and wine, the bar is also a great spot to people watch. You see a good mix of people and the atmosphere is buzzing. Watching the chefs get on with their food preparations is fascinating, sort of like a live cooking show.

We ended our meal with a much needed coffee and two Crema Catalans, caramelised on the outside and creamy on the inside.

If you are in and around London this summer, pop over for a visit. I visited the Frith Street one but there is a new Barrafina in Covent Garden too.

Lunch at Flesh & Buns, London

Since I have already written about Bone Daddies, let me now show you around its sister concern Flesh and Buns. If I have to choose from either of these two places, I would definitely go for Flesh & Buns. The place is bigger and brighter, the foods great and made in front of you (its an open kitchen) and you have a variety of seating options: sharing tables, booths and round tables if you go with your friends and family. Its also located near a very cute pet store which houses loads of interesting stuff, sort of Korean fashion for man's best friend. I bought a faux fur pink jacket for Lilly and she was quite a fashionista in our nook of the woods last winter. Anyways back to Flesh & Buns, here's what it looks like:

And here's the menu, lots of options for everyone. The drinks here were better than Bone Daddies or maybe my selection was better. Who knows but this meal was a success.

And one more thing, this place has interesting anime wall paper in the loo, so basically you have something to read while you pee or do the number two. I actually have an uncle who always checks the loo before ordering food in a restaurant, this would have been a good fit for him. When we went in the place was quite empty but slowly it filled up, a good mix of families, groups of friends and city types. So now to the business of food, we ordered a plate of sashimi and a whole load of sticky pork belly and fried sole as our mains.

 
The sashimi was good, the fried sole was better, perfectly crispy and great with a spritz of lemon on top. But the pork, aah it was heaven. I always have a soft spot for pork and this was awesome, sticky, slightly sweet with light fluffy buns to sandwich them in. The buns reminded me of the thukpas at Tee Dee, Majnu ka Tila in Delhi.

It does require a bit of an assembly job, but the end result is pretty awesome, so no complaints. Flesh & Buns do dessert as well but we were pretty stuffed by the end of the meal. No complaints though.

Ramen at Bone Daddies

This year has been a bit quiet on the travel front but I thought I would post a few pics from some of my previous outings. First up is Bone Daddies in Soho. My first impression is that this is a nice place to go during winters, mainly because of the seating arrangements, bar stools across the window and sharing tables for big crowds. On a hot summer night this would not be my first choice, but on a cold winters day, with reindeer noses and puffs of steam coming out of your mouth, it is your own cozy nook to enjoy a bit of good food. By the way, from the looks of it, this place is always crowded, and of course no reservation unless there is a big group. So hope for the best and be prepared to wait a bit. And dress casual, and girls, please no sack sized bags. Its pretty annoying when you have to share your teeny tiny table space with a big designer bag of the person seating next to you. or better still, invest in a handbag hanger, that way everyone's happy.

Back to food, we were pretty hungry and thirsty when we came in so we went for soft shell crabs and fried chicken.

Went for a round of cocktails which were passable. But the mains more than made up for any disappointment in the drinks department.

What I liked about the food at Bone Daddies were that broths were hearty and flavoursome and not some insipid liquid with strips of meat and noodles floating around. This was broth with heart, enough flavours to pack a punch and very very filling. A perfect bowl of satisfaction on a cold winter's night. 

Tray baked triple cheese toast : perfect for brunch

In my book cheese is always good, for tea as well as breakfast and brunch. Continuing from my last post, let me tell you about one of my favourite brunch food. The genesis of this recipe is part Nigella Lawson's triple cheese strata and part my need to create tasty dishes using the supermarkets marked down buys, which means stale baguettes and cheese thats at its end by date. This is a very flexible recipe, so feel free to adapt it to your own liking. The following quantities makes very generous portions for two people.

Ingredients

1 onion (Nigella's recipe uses spring onions, I use whatever is available, which more often than not, a red onion)

1 baguette

Choice of cheese (Mature cheddar is a staple, the rest depends on what I buy)

Sour cream (two generous dollops)

3 eggs 

Coriander (for garnish)

Method

Preheat your oven to 170 Celsius. 

First I melt my cheese over medium heat. Once the cheese has melted, I take it off the gas. If I am using mozzarella, I just cut it into bite size chunks and add it to the hot cheese, it will melt anyway once in the oven. Nigella blitzes all of this in a food processor, I tried that a couple of time, but find melting the cheese works more for me. I then whisk up three eggs, add pepper, a bit of cumin powder, and a bit of sea salt (the salt quantity depends upon the kind of cheese used. Sometimes I skip this step altogether).

I then cut up the stale, slightly hard bread into medium sized round slices and arrange it in a baking tray like so. And sprinkle finely chopped onions or spring onions over it. 

Next, I add the sour cream and egg mixture to the melted cheese which should have cooled down by now. 

And then I pour the liquid over the bread and pop it into the oven for about 25 mins. I add a bit of coriander on top for a fresh hit and there, its done. 

This dish is easy to make but is a real treat. Its part toast, part cheese omelette in the best possible way. The original recipe is assembled overnight and kept in the fridge, I prefer mine this way as the bread  gives a very satisfying crunch. And it really works well as a lazy brunch, as you can see from the empty  tray. 

Cheesy tea time cake: cheddar, cranberry and pecan nuts

One of my favourite food blogger is Joy and I have been following her blog since 2010. And on twitter and instagram too if you must know. What makes her such a darling is that not only is she a great baker, but her food photography is to die for. She was responsible for the great baking experiments of 2013 which ended up in me buying only baking stuff on my US trip (Well baking and multiple trips to Sephora). And last week she posted an unbelievable recipe of a savoury cheddar cheese with cranberry and pecan nuts and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to make it. And here I ran into a problem, I couldn't find any cheddar cheese powder in any stores around my area or online. King Arthurs Flour is available only in the US and I didn't have a food dehydrator or the time to make my own cheese powder so I did what I had to do, I adapted the recipe. Joy's version is a bread, mine is a hybrid between a bread and a cake. But its darn good. Especially right now when the weather is just so depressing and horrible. I have this for my post gym snack with a cup of hot tea and all rights in my world. And let me tell you there is nothing like a bit of cheese post workout, nothing. So without further ado let's get started. 

Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients

self raising flour (1 1/2 cups, I ran out of plain flour so used this)

soda bicarb (1 teaspoon, Joy uses the same amount)

Baking powder (1 teaspoon, used less than the original recipe as I was using self raising flour, If using plain flour, put in 2 teaspoon baking powder)

Salt (1/2 teaspoon)

Sugar (6 tablespoon, this is double of the original recipe, and I used cane sugar)

Butter (120 gms, cut in cubes. Not sure how much Joy uses as thats in oz.)

Wet Ingredients

Egg (1 large)

Buttermilk ( I used the Dale Farm pot which is 250 gms)

Yogurt (1/2 cup)

Extra bits

Cheddar cheese (200 gms grated, extra for toppings, I had to make up for the loss of cheese powder. You can put in a bit more if you prefer)

Dried cranberries (100 gms, I used this as I had some left over from my mince pie filling. The original recipe uses fresh cranberries)

Pecan nuts (a very generous handful, roughly chopped)

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 Celsius. 

Sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt together. I don't know the scientific reason for doing this but I have always seen my aunt doing this and I have just taken it from there. To this I add the butter (I take this out of the fridge about 1 hour before so thats its cold but not too cold) and work it into the flour with fingers. The mixture will remain crumbly, not to worry. 

Add the cranberries, nuts and grated cheese to this crumbly mixture.

I then whisk all the wet ingredients in another bowl and add to the flour mixture. Fold the batter in gently and add the sugar. The consistency should be slightly gloopy and I know there is a lot of stuff in the bowl, but it works. 

Grease a 81/2" x 41/2" loaf tin and spread the batter evenly. Grate over some more cheese for a more cheesy crust. 

I baked this at 190 Celsius for 40 minutes. Everyones oven is different so its a bit difficult to give a specific time. The best way is to insert a skewer into the middle and if it comes out with no gloopy bits, then you are done. I like to rest my baked goods in the oven for about 10 mins before bringing it out, so I time it accordingly. You can also create a foil tent to cover the top if it should brown too much during baking. I faced no such problems with this one. 

Winter nightcap: mulled cider

The moment we step into the new year there is an urgency to start everything on a fresh slate. I however have been struggling to get into any kind of active zone right now. Its been a combination of events, a very hectic holiday season, my pets been sick and a very close family member passed away suddenly. Being so far away from home makes you feel a bit helpless at times like this so I have turned to baking with a vengeance. But before I post my baking recipes, I want to share a something a bit more familiar and comforting : mulled cider. Technically, mulled wine or cider is more of a holiday drink and I don't deny that I guzzled quite a few glassful down at christmas parties but I like it most at bedtime while reading a book. This version has been supplied by the much maligned domestic goddess of this tiny island, Ms. Nigella Lawson and is part of her spectacular Nigella's Christmas series. I made a couple of tweaks to it keeping in mind taste and pantry provisions but the bulk of it remains the same. Do bear in mind that different ciders give different flavour. If you are using something like Kingston cider, reduce the level of sugar as this cider is very very sweet. Something like Stella gives a more appley tang which I like. So without much ado, here goes:

Ingredients
Cinnamon stick (I used a whole stick)
Cloves (a couple)
Cardamom pods (I use the green ones not the black, in other words the choti elachi)
Apple cider (1 bottle)
Brown sugar (3 tablespoon)
Rum (a generous Patiala peg)
Clementine (halved with tops studded with a clove)
Bay leaf (I use the indian variety because I have it in my pantry)
Tea (1 big mug of Lady Grey which mirrors the orange flavour, the original recipe uses apple infusion tea)

Method

I brew the tea separately in a mug and tip it into a pan along with the sugar and the spices. To this spiced tea I add the juice of a squeezed clementine and the shell with its studded clove. This adds to the orangey flavour that we are going for. I then add the cider and rum to the pan and after the fizz settles down, I bring the liquid to a gentle boil. And thats it. Done. Now all you have to do is pour it into mugs, take to bed, get under duvet and curl your toes around a hot water bottle. A good night's sleep guaranteed.

Fall time, fun time

Autumn is definitely becoming my favourite season of the year. The British summer is overhyped, this year we have been lucky, but generally we have such sporadic bursts of sunshine that its not worth it. Last year we had precisely 10 days of sunshine in all, so that's not a good number at all. Fall on the other hand is perfect. Its not too cold, the leaves change colour and best of all, you can get your mitts on  all the wonderful Christmas gift offers which start to trickle in as early as October. And then of course there is Starbucks festive flavour offering. I am not a huge coffee fan but I love the Spicy Pumkin Latte and the Orange Mocha Latte so I have been a regular at my local Starbucks. Oh, and there is Halloween, good fun if you want to play dress up as adults. Sadly, my favourite club Priory got shutdown so we had to make do with a trawl down Belmont Street with stints in Slain's Castle and Revolution. And then there is Diwali, one of my favourite festivals. All in all, the last two months have been fun.

My garden gave the last of its bloom, I have been lucky with my roses this year. Even Lilly agreed that mommy's gardening skills have improved. 

Diwali was quite fun this year. For starters, we won the series against Australia. I had bought some crackers to light but as it was raining very heavily, I had to make do with sparklers instead. There was mixed success with homemade Gulab Jamun, but that's another story.

There have been many walkies recently with Captain, Lilly on the other hand hates going for a walk, she's more of a home girl but even she enjoyed a recent outing to this beautiful park near our home. 

And then there was the Guy Fawkes Night and the Winter Lights Festival at the beach. This is one event I really enjoy, of course it s$@t cold, so you have to layer up. But its great fun playing with the faux jedi swords and singing along to the Proclaimers 500 miles. Seriously if you are in scotland, this is one song that you have to be able to sing along, its sort of equivalent to Om Shanti Om, circa Rishi Kapoor. 

That's what I have been upto recently. Now that the weather is changing, I am looking forward to Christmas and New Year's Eve. Let the party begin.