Great Queen Street Restaurant – Pie Heaven

Where else do you head to in Covent Garden on a wet, windy, dark, cold Tuesday night? Well, anywhere really that is warm, but in Covent Garden with it’s so so restaurants mainly catering to the tourist trade. Head up onto Great Queen street and find an unsigned restaurant and there you will find great British cooking.
We’ve eaten here on several occasions after it opened, but travelling for nearly a year and a half over the last 2 years has meant we had not been here for a while.
Thankfully it was just the same as when we last left it. The décor is still the same, although different sketches now adorn the walls. Those dark walls and low lighting add to the intimacy of the place.
The menu is still as enticing as it used to be, and thankfully the food is as delicious as it was on our last visit.
The thing I love about this place is that you are still able to just walk in and get a table. There is no “Oh my god, you never booked”. It’s either “just let me get a table ready for you,” or “can you wait a few minutes at the bar, and I’ll get you in a tick”. Good service is a thing hard to find in London’s restaurants and they train them well here.
We were not particularly hungry and I could not have faced a two or three course meal. All I wanted was a nice bottle of red and something warm and substantial to energise me on this dreary night.
The last time we were here, they had a beef and kidney pie (for two) with a suet pastry. It was a huge pie, but that suet crust, even though it was pretty heavy was a delight to eat and mixed with the steak and kidney was a new take on that oh so delicious pudding.
Amazingly this time the pies were back on. This time it was just a steak pie. I’m pretty sure I never looked at anything else on the menu, apart from the rib of beef, chips and béarnaise sauce, which tempting, very tempting never came close to a good pie.
I love the fact that they tell you, even though I knew the pie would take around 30 minutes to cook. Fantastic. Time to soak in some wine and munch on their breads, and chat about all and sundry when you are waiting for good food. I always get into a better mood when I know everything is being done properly.
The pie came. It was as big as I remember it. I think it would do 3 people, after starters of course. But these two hungry weary travellers tucked straight in. The huge cubes of beef were as tender as, and the gravy made up of those fabulous juices was divine. The inclusion of a marrowbone instead of a piece of ceramic to create a bit of space so it doesn’t explode. The marrow was soon scooped out and eaten.
The only sides needed for a pie of this quality were some greens. Potatoes would have been a bit too much, and the added a tad of colour to this dark dish.
The crust, not suet this time, was flaky and nicely cooked. Crunchy even. Perfect. Fantastic meal on a crappy night.
After “service charges” seem to be excluded from the bills these days. I love surprises when I return off trips. I have been working on a way of tipping to meet my experience in the restaurant that night.
So, for me 10% is a standard tip. Split 50/50 between the quality of the dish I receive and the service and décor etc of the dining area. Most times I have forgotten about this since we have been back. I tried it in New York, and I think they look at 10% as a bit of an insult. I hear 18% is normal there. So I added to the stereotype of the tight Englishman. But in the Great Queen Street. I could find no fault. Food, service, ambience was all perfect. We will return.

Lina’s Crimes Against Food # 2 : Pastel de Jaiba

Lina and the people of Chile are serial committers of crimes against food, and they all involve fish and cheese.

I know my point of view is seen as food snobbery by a lot of people. But I just do not see the point of having the delicate flavour of fish destroyed by the heavy taste of cheese.

I know a lot of people love this combination, namely a vast majority of Chile’s 17,000,000 population are big fans of it. As it appears on nearly every menu in one form or another in Chile’s restaurants. I’ve also seen it in some high end (if you can call them that) restaurants in Medellin. People seem to love fish and cheese.

Maybe it’s me then who is mistaken, as if the majority love this dish, maybe I’m wrong. But as we live in a free speaking democratic world (supposedly) I can air my opinion and I believe in food terms I am correct and they are wrong.

Take for example Pastel de Jaiba. This is a crab dish, not so similar to a fish pie. The crab is cooked and then shredded and mixed with a white sauce before being put into a ceramic dish. Then mash is layered on top before being sprinkled with cheese and then popped under the grill or in the oven to melt and let the cheese bubble and brown a little.

Now you may think this is a yummy dish. I did actually try it, popping my spoon deep into the bottom of the dish avoiding all melted cheese as I went, but when it ended up in my mouth, all I could taste was cheese. Where was that delicious taste of the crab that would have made this dish awesome. I’ll tell you. Nowhere. It had been jumped, mugged and dragged away by the much stronger cheese. It had no chance. There was only going to be one winner, and by a knock down the cheese won.

I think people will forever argue over whether cheese and fish should go together or not. Let’s put it down to personal opinion. It doesn’t.