Another Food Blog

I was actually a guest of the Wax Chandlers, but while their own hall is refurbished, the lunch was served at the Cutlers’ Hall instead. The reception to meet a few members and other guest was over large glasses of a deliciously dry but unidentified sherry. The first course was fantastic: it was open ravioli of lobster and John Dory with champagne sauce and toasted brioche. ‘Open ravioli’ means it was served on a thin disc of pasta, not folded into an envelope. It was served with a Vermintino di Bolgheri 2003, again deliciously dry.

The main course was roast quail stuffed with fig and grapes in a Saint Hubert sauce, served with caramelized apricot rosti potatoes (scrumptious) and a parcel of Savoy cabbage (less so, but still nice). It came with a 1998 Chateau d’Angludet. but I quickly reverted to the Vermintino. The chilled raspberry soufflé with vanilla clotted cream had four symmetrically placed fresh raspberries on top, but I could only manage a quarter of it; enough to pronounce it very good. The Duque de Braganca 20 year old tawny port was liquid excellence, and I managed a single chocolate truffle with my coffee.

This was a pretty indulgent lunch which could have distorted the entire fabric of the space-time continuum, but I thought “What the hell?”

After a few comments on blueberries I mused aloud how they’d taste covered in dark chocolate. I found out. I recall from childhood a clip of sweet centres moving on a wire rack through a wall of molten chocolate, but I don’t have that kind of equipment. What I did was to melt some dark cooking chocolate in a pan, and stir in some blueberries. They came slightly chilled from the fridge. When they were suitably coated I spooned them out onto a kitchen towel and separated them. I used cold water to speed the setting process, and finally put them on a clean paper towel into the fridge.

They tasted very good, with an excellent contrast between the slightly bitter chocolate and the sweet fruit inside. I doubt they’d keep fresh for more than a few days in the fridge, so this is something you make to eat, not to save. I doubt that it’s a problem, though, since each one leaves you wanting another, and my guests devoured the lot in pretty short order.

I used to quite like the Ha! Ha! Bar in Cambridge before it healed up. The food was OK, and the same applies to the one off Victoria Street. I thought the one near Charing Cross at 6 Villiers Street would be similar. Oh dear. My companion described the meal as “dire,” with fish fingers (3) which were hard on the outside and dry inside, accompanied by tasteless fries and limp lettuce. My burger was firmer than burgers should be, and also fairly dry. The advertised Dijon mustard, horseradish, garlic and parley were tasteless, and the bun was dry, too. Heavens, even the raw purple onion was too dry to eat! The service was not very good, in that we had to wait far too long for the wine to arrive, and the asked for glass of water never came at all. The only redeeming feature was the oaked Mendoza Malbec (13.5%) which had lots of up-front fruit and a vanilla finish. But it wasn’t sufficient to get me through those doors again.

The Jindalle in Panton Street is very close to Piccadilly and Leicester Square, and well placed for an evening which includes movies or theatre. The style is Korean, but there are other oriental dishes on offer. Each table features a recessed grill on which the food is cooked. Between the three of us we ordered ‘assorted vegetables in batter’ and ‘pan-fried crabmeat with chef’s special sauce.’ The latter was rather disappointing because it consisted of rather bland crabsticks which would have been better uncooked. The vegetable dish was mostly batter, but a sweet and flavoursome batter it was. To follow we’d ordered sliced beef marinated in Korean-style sauce, and sliced pork marinated in spicy cause. These came with big squares of pepper, carrot, mushroom and potato, oil-brushed and cooked at the edge of the grill while the meat cooked in the middle. This all went down well with a Heywood blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot (14%).

The good, affordable food could be the reason the place is so popular with young people. On this night it was crowded with oriental boys and girls, dressed stylishly and talking and laughing volubly together, but not intrusively. We were the only Western faces in the room.