I discovered the Only Running Footman while I was attending a seminar nearby, and popped in the first time out of curiosity. I had about half an hour to wait before my seminar, so I ordered a glass of champagne. I was surprised when it cost £12.95, which seemed very high! In mitigation, it was a 175ml glass rather than the usual 125ml, and it was Jacquart brut. I have to say that it was very good, and I enjoyed it despite the price.
My dining companion wanted fish, and I wanted to eat only lightly. The solution was to eat at FishWorks in Swallow Street. We shared a wooden platter of assorted seafood starters, of which I ate a couple of whitebait. For my main course I chose fritto misto, and managed to give away about a quarter or a third of it. That left both of us happy, and the food here is very good.
I was visiting Charles Street in Mayfair, and came across the Only Running Footman quite by chance. It looked good, so I arranged to meet a friend for lunch there on the following day. I ordered the poached smoked haddock, which came with Colcannon potatoes (nicely firm), poached egg (superbly soft) and hollandaise sauce. The fish was very delicate and lightly done, just as it should be.
My friend had the Footman burger with caramelized onions, chilli jam, wilted spinach and a cider jus. It looked very good, and the fat chips alongside were excellent (I tried a couple). This is quite a good discovery.
I attended a wine tasting at the Cork & Bottle, this one devoted to wines from Southern France, and pretty unusual ones. Xander, who also writes on this blog, was there, too, and will probably cover the wines. I’ll just point out that the canapés we were served with the wines looked pretty good, and tasted that way, too.
Two of us stopped off at the London China Town in Gerrard Street, Soho. It still has the words “Hotel de Boulogne” set in tiles on the floor of its entrance, and reflecting a previous life of the building. I’ve been before, and I remember eating the special ‘crispy duck menu’ which is very good value. For £10 they serve crispy aromatic duck with pancakes, spring greens and onions, followed by shredded beef with chilli, sweet and sour chicken, and egg fried rice. We drank a Still Bay chenin blanc from South Africa with it
I never really thought of eating spare ribs at the Slug and Lettuce; it seems rather a heavy dish for lunch. But I ate a small piece from the plate of my lunchtime companion and found it very tasty. Looking at the quantity, and mentally subtracting the bones, maybe there isn’t all that much meat. I might try it sometime.
On this occasion, however, I’d ordered a chrorizo and pepper tostada, rather like a pizza without the mozzarella. Very good, and we drank vintage cava with the meal.
Wow! A real surprise. Someone sent me a bottle of the Wine Society’s rose champagne. I didn’t even know there was such a thing, but it was quite excellent.
I suppose it says a lot for the (still relatively) new Prezzo at Cambridge’s Quayside that you often cannot get in unless you have booked or are prepared for a long wait at the Pickerel across the road. We booked, and I started with the calamari served with garlic mayonnaise. I went on to have the lobster and crab tortelli, served with baby spinach and red chilli in a creamy saffron sauce. It was new on the menu and is delicious – a great addition I’ll be eating again. The others were not eating seafood, so I shared a Tooma River shiraz, a nice spicy wine at 13 percent.
I used up some of the leftover (somewhat-soft) steaks in a stovetop hotpot. I boiled sliced carrots for 8 minutes, then added half a pint of beef stock. In went chopped green pepper and onions, and then courgette slices. I sautéed mushrooms lightly before adding them. I seasoned it, and only after it had simmered long enough to cook the vegetables did I add the chopped up meat, since that needed to be heated but not cooked any more. I added Tabasco sauce just before serving to spice it up.
This was not a great success. I bought frying steaks and decided to grill them instead. First I tenderized them using proteolytic enzyme derived from papaya and coconut oil amongst other things. I sprinkled it on and pricked the steaks with a fork. I fear I misjudged the time for this, however, because the steaks came out softer and less juicy than I prefer. They were palatable enough with Dijon mustard, though, and I ate them with fried sliced potato, fried sliced courgettes, and sautéed mushrooms with garlic.