Moroccan Style @ Mamounia Lounge Mayfair

Back in November, I received an invite to sample the newly refurbished Mounima Lounge in Mayfair, but Christmas time in the travel industry includes having to go to many Airline and Hotel parties, oh how I tire of them… Yeah right….

The Legendary Burgers @ The Hard Rock Cafe

Having received an invite to sample some of the burgers on the new Legendary Burger menu at the Hard Rock Café, it was something I couldn’t pass up. 

Burger and Lobster

I’m not sure if Burger and Lobster would have been possible a few years ago. Imagine a restaurant opening with only 2 things on the menu and both for the same price. Unthinkable. Just shows how far we have come I guess.

Taiwan Tourism Appreciation Lunch @ China Tang

After the nonsense of the Hangzhou Tourism Dinner, my boss owed me a good Chinese meal. Actually the only reason I got to go is because he is in India, and someone from the company had to go and fly the flag at the Taiwan Tourism Appreciation Lunch. Yes me.

I’ve never been to Taiwan, we don’t sell that much of it to be honest, but the European office (who are based in Frankfurt) want to keep us onboard. So once or twice a year they host a luncheon and recently it has been held at China Tang, which is inside the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. Very posh.

I’ve seen many debates about whether Chinese food can climb the dizzy heights of European food. We all know it can and has been for hundreds of years. It’s just we have got so used to our palettes being over salted, that the delicate flavours of Chinese cooking is more or less lost on a lot of people. This includes me a lot of the time. Plus as with most people in the UK, growing up with cheap Chinese takeaways, these have really put the boot in for 99% of the population taking Chinese food seriously. I know of a few people whose idea of high end Chinese food is at a large buffet restaurant in north London. So does Chinese food work in a 5 star hotel?

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau put on a bloody good show. It was a small affair with only about 20 of us. 6 people from the Tourist office and their PR firm, a couple of guys from Eva Air, a few scrounger traveller journos trying to get free trips out of us tour operators. Fat chance, and a few tour operators who actually pretend to sell Taiwan. A jolly bunch we were.

You can really tell that Capitalist China knows how to play the game better than Communist (?) China. I like Capitalist China.

Walking down through the Dorchester, you can see that it oozes money and sophistication. It really is a lovely hotel. Although I wouldn’t want to stay there. Have you seen the décor in those rooms?

We were to meet in the bar downstairs and do some power networking before the main presentation. Thankfully the presentation only lasted 5 minutes, unlike the Hangzhou one, which lasted an hour. Big difference between Communist China and Capitalist China. I’m liking Capitalist China.

The presentation was short and sweet, and really they hit the nail on the head. For such a small country it has a hell of a lot going for it. Shame I’m off to the mainland later this year. It could have been an interesting trip with a stop over in Bangkok enroute.

After the power networking and short and sweet presentation the lunch was served in one of the private rooms adjacent to the bar. China Tang is a pure Cantonese restaurant and it really showed in the food. We started off with some dim sum. A nice way to kick of an afternoon of eating, drinking and more power networking, and more drinking.

The highlights of the dim sum were the Har Kar. These steamed dumplings were well seasoned and the shrimp really shone through, the skins was very translucent and I’m sure you could have seen through them. I would have looked properly but it popped in my mouth so quickly.

The scallop dumplings were thick, plumpy and had a wonderful scaloppy taste. They were steamed to perfection and were still had a bite to them.

The satay and spring rolls were ok, nothing special and as good as you get in China Town. Yeah, not that impressive.

Next up we had a couple of ducks cooked in the classic Peking style. It was pretty impressive to watch the girls deftly cut those birds down, and at such great speed. The skin was not as crispy as I’ve had it before, but it was good none the less. The flesh was pink and juicy and it went down a treat. I would have eaten more but the old girl next to me was picking all the food up with her hands, and she didn’t look too healthy. She actually reminded me of a mad old cat lady. I declined the offers of more Peking duck.

The mains I guess you could say, or even course number 3 had some classic Cantonese favourites like wok fried prawns, which had a very sweet sauce. Stir fried beef in black pepper sauce. These little morsels were so tender, they literally disappeared as soon as they hit my tongue. The guy from EVA Air was 100% certain they used a tenderiser in the kitchen. Could have been, they were very soft like little morsels of beefy air.

Of course they had the classic sweet and sour pork, with raw peppers and pineapple. A little homage to the cheap and easy Chinese takeaways that have made a good dish so bad. Respect.

I was slightly shocked that this top notch restaurant would serve virtually raw green peppers. Unreal.

I’ve only ever had sweet and sour pork in two countries before. England and China. It sucks in England, and it does at China Tang as well.

All in all the food we had was passable I’m just glad I never had to pay for it. But everyone had a good time, which was it was all about.

So if you’ve been to China and are thinking of going back, then maybe head off to Taiwan for a completely unique experience.

An Invitation to eat at the Thieves Market or Chor Bizarre

Chor Bizarre is not your normal Indian restaurant. For starters there is no flop wallpaper, that mainstay of any old curry house, but then again we are in Mayfair. Instead there is a kaleidoscopic of interesting artifacts that make you feel you are in someones house rather than in a restaurant. Very different indeed.

We were seated at a large table for two with very grandiose chairs that made me feel like I was a Maharaja. Maybe in a former life.

Immediately some papads were placed on the table with a trio of chutneys. Sweet mango, a very sour lime pickle and a cooling mint yoghurt.

The mango was too sweet and was the least liked of the three. The sour lime pickle hit the spot and reminded me of the sour pickles I ate routinely in India last year. I’ve nearly run out of my Mothers Recipe pickles, thankfully some people form work are venturing out to India this week. My order has been placed. The mint yoghurt was very cooling and brought a bit of balance back to my taste buds.

We are not greedy people and even though we were on a comp’d meal, I still cannot over order. I hate waste, always have and hopefully always will. But this does limit me to what we can taste on the menus.

The menu as like the restaurant décor does not sit in any one region. It is a real mixture of India, serving food from Kerela to Kashmir. Ordering was going to be fun.

Well we were here to taste and we decided on a couple of starters to share to get our taste buds a moving. We opted for the Dakshni Crab (White crab meat flavoured with South Indian spices, served with salad and coconut chutney £8) and the Aloo Tikki Chaat (Pan fried patties of mashed potatoes filled with spiced lentil and green peas, served warm, topped with yoghurt, tamarind and mint chutney £6.50)

Presentation of the dishes was first class. Both plates looked spectacular and clean. The portions were a tad small, but we are in Mayfair after all.

Unfortunately both dishes were very under seasoned for my Western palette. It seems to be the way my taste buds are these days. At Leiths we were told to season, season and season again. It’s amazing how much salt we were putting into dishes there. Maybe I need to retrain my palette.

The cooking of the two starters was faultless, texture wise they were spot on, but we really couldn’t get any flavour off the crab or from the patties.

The coconut chutney was really good though. Nice texture and taste, I could have eaten a lot of that. Again with the tamarind and mint chutney it was the star that outshone the patties.

For the mains we ordered a Seekh Kabab (fine lamb mince kababs £15), Paanch Mirch Ka Paneer (Juicy chunks of cottage cheese cooked flavoured with five mirchis (peppers), black pepper, white pepper, bell peppers, green & red chilies £10), a Dal Makhani (thick black lentils, simmered overnight in the tandoor oven £6.50) and a couple of Reshmi Parantha £3 each.

The mains were a vast improvement on the starters. All were spiced to perfection. As the wife has totally gone off real heat these days, we are eating a lot more milder food. So what we had suited her down to the bone.

The kebabs were tender, well spiced and juicy, they came with an onion salad and went down a treat. I wish we had ordered more of them, maybe another 3 plates. They would have not gone to waste. I’m eating a lot of Turkish kebabs recently and these were subtly and delicately spiced. They were a delight to eat.

There was not enough of the paneer for my liking. Too many peppers, which some of the bell peppers still being a tad raw. The sauce was nice and comforting and made for good mopping up with the paranthas.

I always judge a restaurant by its dals, and based on the dal makhani here it deserves a big slap on the back, a hug and many blessings. They were as dal makhani should be, thick, creamy, rich and slightly smokey. I now understand why Punjabi men are so portly. It’s because they eat this dish on a daily basis. Awesome.

Amazingly after all that dal we managed to tuck into a pudding, which I do not normally do, but after last year and eating many retro puds I could not resist. I had to have the rice pudding flavoured with mango and cardamom.

This was a perfect ending to a good night. The pudding was cold, just how I like them. For some reason as a child I never ate hot sauces on puddings. My custard had to be cold when poured onto my hot sponge pudding. My rice pudding had to be left in the fridge until it was cold before I would touch it. I was a little awkward back then.

Thankfully it was not fridge cold so the flavours were able to seep through onto my taste buds. The rice was still a tad al dente, which reassured me it was not out of a tin. The mango and cardamom oozed through to give it a rich exotic flavour. Brill. I wish I had asked the chef for the recipe, as it brought back memories of my childhood. A real blast form the past.

Overall Chor Bizarre is a tad expensive for an Indian restaurant, but it does fit the area and clientele it gets. We arrived at 8, and left at nearly 11 and it was full constantly. A testament to the cooking and their dal makhani.

They are currently offering from between 30% to 50% off the food menu at certain times in June.

It is a truly different experience and maybe one you all should try. Order the dal makhani you will not be disappointed.

Big Boys Steak Night at Goodman

This was definitely the best steak I have eaten since leaving Argentina at the end of February 2010. Even the steaks at Garufa, BuenAyre, Hinds Head (although that comes in a close second), and our short recent trip to Paris, which I still have to write about if I can remember any of it now, didn’t come close to these babies.

I’m not going to say too much about the décor, as everyone in London bloggerland has eaten there already and knows how it is. Its dark woods lend it to a tad corporate or even clubroom feel. But it has a nice vibe to it, especially on a Saturday night.

So let’s get down to business shall we. The steaks and cuts. You can also read a more in-depth write up of Goodmans here and here, so I shall dispense with the technicalities of how the meat is bred etc.

Our table of three were very impressed with the service, our waiter a French sounding guy from northern Brasil. It knocked us for six I can tell you. The training at Goodmans must be pretty good, as he was very knowledgeable about the cuts, the feed and taste, texture of the different cuts they had on offer.

The plate he brought us to show their prize cuts, consisted of two USDA ribeyes, one bone in and one boneless. The same with the two sirloin cuts and also a grass feed fillet from Scotland.

It’s quite an impressive thing to do, it’s braver than having an open kitchen, although that is very in vogue these days. Yawn. The marbling on all the cuts was pretty good I have to admit, and it showed the quality of the meat to you in one fail swoop.

We opted for two ribeye, bone in, and a sirloin bone in. I think my two friends ordered theirs medium, where I went for rare. A gasp of approval from the waiter. I guess not too many people order their meat rare these days. In Café Boheme, we used to get a lot of people asking for their steaks medium rare, and then sending them back asking for it to be well done. Idiots.

Sides were truffle chips, green salad, honey glazed carrots and some creamed spinach. Not sure if I could taste the truffle oil on the chips, but they were damn fine chips none the less, which is what you need when you are eating a great steak. The salad was good and in the Argentine style. Glazed carrots were sweet and carroty. I never tried the spinach, as it was gone before I thought of trying it, so I gather it was jolly nice.

OK the steaks. My bone in sirloin was amazing. Just to get a 400g piece of meat alone on a plate definitely has the wow factor. Nice cross hatch grill marks, the hallmark of a good American steakhouse. Although this is a Russian one, but you get my gist. It was cooked perfectly rare, just how I like it. It had been properly rested so there were no juices flowing freely on my plate. These boys know their stuff.

The fat had been trimmed and nicely rendered and had a smoky crispness to it, that was a pure delight to eat.

The meat itself was tender, juicy and well flavoured. You can almost taste the sweetness of the meat through the cows being grass fed on large open pastures. I’m sure they led a happy life and they would have been proud that the chefs treated them with respect and cooked them to perfection, and equally pleased that we enjoyed them so much. Well maybe not, but it’s a good dream to have none the less.

We each had a pudding, I had the American Cheese Cake, which was too cheesy and heavy after a glorious meat fest meal. I actually couldn’t finish it, but then again I am not much of a pudding guy.

All in all including tip (well deserved), a couple of bottles of wine, some desert wine and a meal fit for a king we spent about £85 each. Money well spent. I now have to take the wife here, as she was cursing me for going without her. Now there won’t be any problems with me returning here that is for sure.