Lanes of London

I was invited along to an event at the Marriott hotel in Marble Arch for the opening of a new “concept” restaurant, Lanes of London.

It’s a beautiful setting and the staff were friendly, reasonably knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The food was surprisingly good considering the concept and the range of cuisines that they covered as a result.

It’s the concept of Lanes of London that I have a bit of a problem with. It’s not even a problem with the concept per se, more with the concept in this particular setting.

They cover four “Lanes” of London which represent different cuisines that our fair city has become famous for. So Brick Lane represents Indian food, Kingsland Road represents Vietnamese, or seemingly more generic “South East Asian” food, Edgware Road is Lebanese and Portobello Road is classic British.

So first of all, I realise three out of the four “Lanes” are actually “Roads” but I’m willing to let that slide, linking Portobello with British food is also pushing it a bit I guess but again, let’s leave pettiness out of things.

The real problem is that having all these cuisines and serving in small tapas-esque sharing plates means that depending on your group you can end up with a very strange selection of mis-matching dishes. This I think would be fine in a relaxed (I’m thinking Hackney) hipster place where the novelty would make things amusing, here it just feels a bit odd in posh surroundings and with the style that Lanes of London is going for.

 
Anyway, in no particular order, let me take you through some of the Lanes of London items we sampled this evening using press photos provided and starting with a cocktail.

The Arack Panch was a rice wine based cocktail from Sri Lanka with pomegranate seeds and lime. It was a little sweet but not at all bad.

The Beef Brisket sliders served with bone marrow as a topping were probably the highlight, with tender patties we could have carried on eating these all night.

I found the butter chicken a little bland and the roti that came with it a bit greasy but it was popular with others at the table so maybe I just like it hot.

The Hung Que sour was an alternative take on the whiskey sour with added lemongrass. It wasn’t that dissimilar to an average whiskey sour was our verdict.

These are the Jammy Dodgers – served to us in a Lanes of London metal box to take away and a cake rather than the biscuit you may be used to. Incredibly sweet but quite a treat.

The Kafta Meshwi were Lebanese meats with a babaganoush dip, pretty good if a bit fatty.

The Lamb Cutlets with greens were tasty although not really enough to share and very much on the bone.

The interior of the Lanes of London restaurant is done out stylishly although having to walk through the reception of the hotel and down two flights of stairs to the toilets was a bit of a mood killer.

The pumpkin salad didn’t last long but was kind of inoffensive and forgettable to be honest.

Another favourite of mine, perhaps because it took me back to Indian street food was the smashed up samosa Chaat, the pastry snack mixed with a tangy tamarindy sauce and chickpeas, straight off the stalls of Mumbai.

I’m a massive fan of a gourmet Scotched Egg, I attended a workshop on making these way back in the day, and this was an OK rendition but I thought the yolk could have been more runny and the breadcrumbs slightly less crisp. They were perhaps a little overcooked.

So, Lanes of London, friendly staff, weird concept, decent food, wrong setting would be my summary.

Hunters and Gatherers at the Rooftop Cafe in Le Cool

This Hunters and Gatherers event is being held at the Rooftop Cafe at the Exchange building, just in the shadow of the Shard. It’s a new place, only opened in January and there is still a bit of work to be done but it offers some good lunch options for those around London Bridge and a cool little space to get away from the hustle as well.

Hunters and Gatherers event in Le Cool

This event focuses on local produce. They are offering ales brewed with hops from the East End and an English sparkling rose. Hunters and gatherers is the theme and this is represented by the foraged wild Kentish mushrooms and presumably locally tracked meat.

They are planning on opening a roof terrace with a cover which will be great once the weather starts to improve a bit. You will be able to sit with the Shard looming in front of you and with views over the other rooftops around the area.

Weekend Notes… Recipe Yum…

I’ve been writing for  Weekend Notes and Recipe Yum recently and thought I’d compile a few links to some of the best articles and recipes here.

Billingsgate Fish Haul

These sites both offer good incentives for writing reviews of where you visit and can give some great ideas for what to do in your spare time. If you want to write for them you can become my “Cadet” by signing up here for Weekend Notes.

My trip to Billingsgate Fish Market was a Christmas present from @notinkansas and I had a great morning exploring the produce and learning how to prepare the catch. I ended up with a Sea Bass, a grouper, some monkfish for @LoveLeluu and a couple of John Dory as well as a Lemon Sole Fillet.

You can read it here Billingsgate and see what I did with some of the haul I brought back here.

For a great break before Sophie and I returned to the UK we spent some time on Ko Samet, an island near Bangkok in Thailand. My thoughts on the resort we stayed at, Tubtim, can be found here. It was a beautiful island getaway and although not as interesting as Ko Phangan we had a great time there.

When we returned to the UK a mini tour of the North took in Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Halifax and Hebden Bridge. We also paid a visit to Bronte country – Haworth.
It was such a change of scene! I do like going to extremes and the Thai beach to a quaint English canalside is certainly up there. We actually found ourselves visiting many canals, from the Regents canal in London to Foxton Locks in Leicester and then up to Burscow and Leeds for the Leeds-Liverpool before ending up in Hebden Bridge. Beautiful places and good for a weekend away.

Haworth Steam Train station

You can check out my profile at Weekend Notes here.

Bloggers Barbecue at the Ship Wandsworth

Being chastised immediately on arrival at the Ship by the lovely Gail for not Blogging enough, it seems prudent for me to counter that vicious, if entirely accurate, claim with a post about the wonderful evening that we all just spent there..

I’ve liked the Ship for a while, having been to a couple of masterclasses at the place and, while it’s kind of tucked away, the location is great, down by the river and no distance from Wandsworth Town which is pretty easy for me to get to unlike most of London from where I’m staying at the moment.

It was great to know that there was going to be a bunch of people there who I hadn’t seen for months as well, even if my London head isn’t really on again yet, and may not come back at this rate.  My Blogger head certainly wasn’t really on, my camera remaining firmly in pocket the entire night..

So anyway, I won’t reel off a list of bloggers present, I didn’t meet half the assembled anyway, but it was a thoroughly pleasant bunch with literally no maniacs present at all.  I can skip over that part and allow myself more time to wallow in the food; the food that left me so full that I wasn’t able to carry on drinking the lovely Sambrooks Wandle ale or even find room for the cocktails on offer.

~ To Start ~

Smoked Fish Platter with Chili Squid, Chorizo, Pea and Fennel Salad and Oysters

The smoked fish was a wonderfully presented platter with huge rock oysters, salmon and haddock as well as tuna fishcake things  on little cracker whatnots.  Initial yum factor kicking in nicely, we didn’t have long to wait before the next course of more traditional barbecue fare came rushing out behind.

~ Miniature Mains ~

Sliders with Bacon and Cheese in a Homemade Bun

Cocktail Sausages, Mustard Mayonnaise Dip

Butterflied Lamb leg, Rosemary and Chilli Jam

Trimmed Dingley Dale Pork Ribs, Smoky Coca-Cola Sauce

Falafels, Homemade Sweet Chili Dip

Platters of Mixed Salad, Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese, Fries, Coleslaw and Nicoise Salad

Where to start with this lot.. I’ve been informed that the “sliders” were more mini-burgers than bone fide “sliders”, but since it was the first time I’d come across the term (they don’t eat beef in India ALRIGHT?) I wouldn’t have even known what it meant.  They were very tasty and smothered in gooey cheese.

This is just another example of the battle I have between my self-destructive side and the part of me that wants to become some sort of enlightened yogi.  I can’t have everything though, so on Tuesday I chose burgers.  The falafel was good as well though, and that would probably fit into a sattvic diet, but really, who am I kidding.

In fact the best part of the mains was undoubtedly the most meat-oriented and probably unhealthy, given the coca-cola sauce which was of course all shades of wrong on the one hand, and all shades of right on the other.  There is no middle way here, apart from maybe the lamb, that was nice, with a dipping jam, I mean it’s not quinoa but it wasn’t fatty..

~ Desserts ~

Summer Fruit Eton Mess

Chocolate Brownie with Ice Cream

Jaegerbomb Jelly

Yes, you read that last one correctly; and amazingly they were pretty nice.  I didn’t sleep especially well that night though so perhaps the red bull still did its evil work..

I really should have waited for the Eton Mess though rather than dive in with the jellies because the mouthful I had was in-credible, summer fruits and just mouth-watering. It was ultimately maddeningly frustrating that none of us could manage to fit more than a mouthful at this stage because it was one of my favourite parts and the plate we had was enormous.

So a very successful evening but like I say, I didn’t take any photos so you’ll just have to imagine; suffice to say, The Ship is somewhere I’ll be going back to.

Gelupo in Soho

London – Eating & Drinking – Cafes & Coffee Shops – Ice Cream Parlours

From the Bocca De Lupo team accross the road this is an awesome Ice Cream parlour/coffee bar/deli offering some fantastic flavours.

Pear, Cinnamon and Ricotta, Pistachio and Ricotta, Coffee and Honey in the ice cream were fabulous and unusual.

The sorbets were where it came into its own though I think, we were dubious but while tasting were told – they don’t taste like sorbet – and they really don’t.

Chocolate was rich and dark while the coffee was just unbelievably good, like a creamy iced coffee in a tub. Matched with the coconut to take the edge off, what a treat.

The deli is fab as well, with a range of frozen sauces that you could probably pass off as your own, some fantastic meats, olive wood implements and even a whole octopus in the freezer.

Check out my review of Gelupo – I am Marshy1903 – on Qype