Category: Xander

Awana have Malaysian

Awana is a Malaysian restaurant in Chelsea. I went there for my birthday the other day. I started with a spicy (as hell, in a delicious way) soup which contained unusual clusters of mini fungi (pictured). The soup really was lovely. I followed it with a noodle dish. Lovely...

Sample this

The Sampler is great, located in South Kensington. Where else can you have small glass of a 1970 Rioja? The sample has vacuum sealed wine dispensers, with everything from £4 a glass Montrachet through to £50 a glass Margaux. I spent a pleasant hour in there drinking things I wouldn’t normally...

One night in Paris, VA

When I was in America recently I popped over to Paris for a spot of dinner with Chad and his girlfriend Missy – her account of the dinner, with plenty of food-porn-pictures can be read here. The Ashby Inn is in Paris, Va – just over an hour’s drive...

Tarta de Santiago

This was simple! First because I didn’t make it, my girlfriend did, and second because it was really simple. Tarte de Santiago – perhaps the only Spanish desert worth eating. A simple cake made out of ground almonds and eggs. The top of the pie is usually decorated with...

Days of summer

Summer turned up just in time for the end of summer and I prepared a picnic on the grass outside. Simple lettuce tacitos. Romaine lettuce forms a sorta wrap or taco. Into each taco I placed some cherry tomatoes, anya potatoes (microwaved for 4 minutes and placed in cold...

Tube temperature control

To combat the intense London heatwave I picked up a tub of ice cold (back of the fridge) fruit juice before I plunged into the hellish bowls of the earth at Green Park tube. I also managed to position myself at the front of the carriage (car for my...

Sausages and experimental mash

Farmers market sausages which I cooked in the oven on top of a dish full of roughly chopped peppers, onions and mushrooms. The new idea was the dairy-free mash. This time I boiled the potatoes in just enough water to which I added a chicken stock cube, thyme, garlic...

Abokado

Abokado is a chain of fast, fresh and healthy food. It is bloody fantastic. They do amazing wraps, (both tortilla and rice and seaweed sushi style wraps), excellent tubs of hot noodle soups and delicious sushi trays such as the one I picked. The wraps are sold in singles, unlike...

Making your Marques

I had not come across this wine before but bought it as part of a mixed case of 6 from Majestic (you have to buy 6 bottles and I prefer to get an assortment rather than 6 of the same). It’s a fairly classic Spanish Rioja from a good...

Spanish feast

To accompany a bottle of the fantastic Viña Ardanza Rioja Reserva 2001 I prepared a spanish meal. Tortilla with baguette, cured ham and pan tomate. I’ve written numerous blogs on tortilla production, ham essentially makes itself (take it out of the packet) and pan tomate is made by grating...