Has Anyone Ever had a Bad Meal at St. John’s?

Tradition goes in our house that when it is your birthday, you can choose a restaurant to eat at. In the past this has included the likes of the River Café, Locando Locatelli, Theo Randall (ex Head chef of the River Café). Lina this year choose Comptoir Gascon, as she was yearning for their Cassolet and some good Foie Gras. I thought she was going to choose St. John’s as it is one of her favourite places to eat. But she surprised me.

We have eaten there on several occasions, the last being exactly a year ago, where I kinda mixed my birthday and us leaving the UK for a 6 month trip through Asia. (See Below). We had a blast that night, about 12 friends eating and drinking our way through their menu.

As I am now working as a chef, and the pay is lowsy, I was looking at some bargain lunch deals. The River Café has 3 courses for £24, Odettes has 2 courses for £12. But unfortunately we couldn’t do lunch…

So when it came round to my birthday, there really was only one choice. St. John’s it was….. A 9pm slot was booked, which gave us time to hit Vinoteca opposite for some pre dinner wine. If you’ve never visited Vinoteca either for just drinks or food, then GO…..

It is the place that does the kind of food I love to it. Simple food, well cooked, no fanciness on the plate, and all washed down with some fantastic wine.

Now, I could go into detail about how great their food is. Well it is, but I’m not. What I really love about St. John’s is the simplicity of it all. The dining room is white. The waiters wear white jackets. There are no works of art on the walls. Just clothes pegs. You are there for one thing and one thing only. The food.

Now, Fergus Henderson, as we know have championed the whole concept of “Nose to Tail Eating.” And we are eternally grateful for him for this, but I am not here to go on about that, or I would still be writing this next week.

What I most love about St John’s is when you read the menu and you read Roasted Marrow Bone and Parsley Salad, that is what you get. It’s pure simplicity, and I love it.

So this my 39^th birthday. We shared a starter of the Roasted Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad, which comes with some toasted bread and salt for you to gorge on that yunkshus marrow. It fits well with the salt and parsley. A marriage made in food heaven.

I noticed through a visit, that Whole Foods are now selling bone marrow. Tempting.

For mains, Lina had some Chitterlings, which are pig intestines. These came with some fresh peas, onions and a great gravy.

I opted for one of their specials. Simply Old Spot Chop with Butter Beans. Guess what I got. Exactly that. This was a big throw back to the 70’s for me, as that was probably the last time I was offered butter beans. The pork chop was not served pink, as some restaurants in London like to do, but cooked through as I remember it so well.

For pudding we shared a strange mixture of poached rhubarb, ice cream and toasted brioche. Now I love rhubarb, I love ice cream, I adore brioche, but together it was a strange yet not unpleasing combination. It had been 2 years since my last rhubarb fix, as we missed the season last year. Rhubarb isn’t that big in South East Asia. Although it is indiginous to North East Asia. But somehow it worked but it didn’t. Odd.

I’m wondering, that before we leave London for pastures new, will we eat at St John’s ever again?

Am I in Spain, not quite ……

The other night we decided to pop along to rhe much published Barrafina. A trendy tapas bar in Soho, owned by the Hart brothers. There are no reservations taken, so it’s on a first come and first serve basis. The restaurant has about 20 stools all along the L shaped bar, from where you can watch fish being cooked on the flat top grill. Jamon being sliced off the leg in front of your very eyes. A marvellous sight for any carnivore. The place was buzzing which always adds an element of excitement to your meal. But you would expect this place to be jammin’, as it is the “IN” place to be seen at the moment in Soho. And packed it was. We only had to wait about 30 minutes, as a lot of people were pre-theatre dining. But with a clear crisp bottle of Albarino white wine, the wait flew by. As I said the wait flew by and in no time we were seated at the bar, and given a list of the days specials, which were all fish. The menu is easy to read and digest. Nothing really out of place here than you would find in an upmarket tapas bar in Spain. We opted for some Jamon Croquettes, what we thought were patatas bravas, but turned out to be fries with a mildly disappointed sauce (as we were with it.). A little but too runny small tortilla, and one of the specials, a beautiful piece of well cooked haddock. The croquettes were sublime, that combination of deep fried potato and ham rolled in breadcrumbs never seems to amaze me. We do a veggie option in the café with goats’ cheese and herbs. Eat far too many. The idea of doing French fries instead of cubes of potatoes is no short of stupid. This isn’t the golden arches you know, and if you say the sauce is brava then make it so. Not some tomato sauce with a little bit of paprika mixed in. The one portion tortilla is cooked in the same small frying pans we fry our eggs in, and is a great size for a tortilla. Unfortunately the inside was still a little bit too runny. Needed a little bit more salt, or have I become over salted working in a French (in style) café. The haddock was beautifully cooked on the flat top grill. Fantastic. Cooked all the way through, but still moist and the flavour was great. Hats off to the girl who cooked it. To finish off we shared a portion of chocolate tart. Nicely cooked pastry and good chocolate filling. For some reason since working at Café Boho, I have developed a sweet tooth, which never used to be there before. Maybe as I said it’s the amazing amount of salt I am now consuming, or maybe it’s the lack of food I am eating and I am getting my energy from the copious amounts of lemon tart I consume on a daily basis. All in all it was a good night, but would I return.... It's unlikely, unless I happen to walk past and there was space and I was a little peckish and fancied a little something with a glass of wine .....

The Difference between home and restaurant cooking ……

There are several differences between being an avid home cook and cooking in a restaurant.

1.    The extremely long hours and little sleep.

2.    The ability to multitask.

3.    There is no room for error.

4.    The pressure of cooking 3 or 4 dishes at once and getting everything perfect.

5.    The sheer volume of food to produce, and the little time you have to do it.

6.    The abuse when it all goes tits up.

7.    The Prep.

8.    Crap pay.

9.    Staff food. Sucks.

       10. The guilt when you send something out that you know is not 100% perfect. But you have no choice

Whose Idea was it for me to Work in a Professional Kitchen

Rather late in life, I decided to really get to know how to cook. So I took a 6 month full time cooking course at Leiths School of Food and Wine in London. I was a pretty good cook, and enjoyed it immensely. So when I started the course, I realized how much I did not know. Incredible, but I enjoyed the new learning experience. The theory side kinda bored me a lot, but had to learn the hows and whys.

After I finished in March, we popped over to Asia for six months. (See blogs below). On our return in October I decided to work in a restaurant, kinda wishing I had done it back in March or April, but Asia was fantastic and I am so glad we went.

Luckily enough I got a job in a new restaurant that was going to open in a new shopping centre in West London. The head chef was an ex teacher at Leiths, so thankfully I was taken aboard. In the kitchen there was 7 of us to begin with. 4 commis, a junior sous, a sous and head chef. This over the following 6 weeks dwindled down to just 5 of us.

The menu originally was fast healthy food for ladies who were going to lunch in this new shopping centre. They still came in but not as many as was predicted. Recession maybe.

Like in Sushi bars we had or a conveyer belt where the cold starters were to go. Thankfully this idea was aborted after the 2nd week. It became clear with the lack of customers there was a lot of wastage, as everything has to be cleared within 2 hours. So in the end I was making to order. A better idea.

The restaurant never fully recovered from a shamble of an opening, and we slowly went down hill over the next 2 months. Although we were really busy for weekend brunch …. Not enough to keep a place alive. So the owner closed up shop quite suddenly 2 weeks before Christmas.

For me it was a good introduction into kitchen life as we were not too busy but busy enough to give me an idea of what it was like. The hours were painful though as there were so few of us we used to do shifts of 16 hours. A killer. Normally at least three times a week.

I had a few weeks of doing nothing before Christmas before my Sous Chef gave me a call and got me a trial in a kitchen that is part of the Soho House Group here in London.

Now if I thought Ito was a killer. Nothing could have prepared me for this. I normally do 7 or 8 shifts a week, which are nine hours each. A few doubles in there for good measure. But sometimes the aount of work is relentless. Just to prep my station takes me several hours and if I am doing two at once. It’s a killer. At 38, my body can not really take much more of this. I’m hoping to last to the end of March, then take it week by week.

At one point I realized that over 3 days, I had slept for 15 hours, and eaten very very little. No wonder I was so mashed. All I do on my days off is sleep.

Now this sounds like either I’m moaning or torturing myself. The thing is I am really enjoying the job, and wished I had done this when I was younger. Much younger. I am learning so much more. Basically all I learnt in college does me no good here, as restaurant ways are a lot different from there and at home. 

Shopping Malls

One place where you can always find good places to eat in Asia is in shopping centres. This is due in fact to the seriousness that Asians take shopping. It's not a simple fact of popping into a mall for an afternoon of browsing. It's a day out, it's a family day out, and half way through their shopping expedition, nourishment is needed. Shopping centres are seen as an elitist thing in Asia, people expect there to be good places to eat, and there are. 

This is the opposite of how things are in the UK. All you normally find in shopping centres in England are cheap and cheerful jacket potato, fast food and a multitude of chain restaurant. Pilling out cheap and dour food. It may fill the belly, but it certainly does not nourish the soul.

We ate at several good restaurants in malls in Asia. The best ones were in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Mainly because the food there is so good anyhows it spills over into the malls. But even these countries have some cheerful food for the masses who can not afford to eat in the higher end places. Fast food Asia style. Noodle soups, curries and the like, all good belly filling stuff. 

I have found that working in a restaurant in a shopping centre in London, where we cook everything from scratch even our own bread everyday. The chain restaurants around us are packed to the hilt, where we are busy but not over filling. I am wondering if this is because people are unwilling to pay a little more for their food in these economic downturned times, or as I more suspect people are more happy with bland fast food. As many of us were brought up on this. I blame the microwave and the supermarkets for pushing those ready to eat meals at us. Thankfully my family never brought that many of them, although my mum is kinda living off them now, but she always disliked cooking. 

I wonder if we as a people will accept good restaurants in shopping centres. A good place to get a good cooked fresh meal in good surroundings. Instead of badly rushed cooked processed food. Maybe when we are told times are better we may start to eat better food in these centres or maybe get more of a better choice, as it isn't that good there.

Alila Manggis

To end our trip of Asia we decided to spend a few days somewhere close to the sea. We had stayed in some real dives on this trip. Had Yao springs to mind with its 5 cockroach rating. A few places in Laos were very basic but still ok. It's just how Laos is. So after scouring a few websites to find somewhere casual, chic and really cool to end our trip. I found the Alila Manngis. It's a few moments from the wonderfully dull seaside town of Candidasa. 

The hotel itself is really cool. It has no beach, so the pool area is the focal point. It is an inverted pyramid shape. Enough space around it to relax without having to listen to the people next to you. 

The restaurant though is a big draw here. Sea Salt is its name. The chef is an Australian, so she is used to cooking with tropical ingredients for Western palettes. It is set within a traditional Balinese pavilion and is inspired by a nearby Organic Sea Salt Farm. The views over the coconut garden, pool and sea are magnificent.  

There is a cooking school and it seemed to be very popular but at $100 I thought it was a tad expensive, especially after our disastrous evening in Kota Bharu. 

The pool side menu was short and sweet. There was enough to keep you going through the day till the evening. 

Sea Salt had quite an extensive menu, mainly Western influenced but they still had a few Balinese favourites there. It also has a good wine list. We were quite happy at that, as it had been some time since we had drunk wine. 

The salt they used as I said came from a nearby Organic salt farm. It was really good. I had some just on some bread and it wasn't too sharp, a nice mild salty taste.   The bread they served was good and cooked in the kitchen that day. The homemade basil olive oil and chilli oil were quite nice to dip the bread in also.

For some reason when we arrived there I had massive cravings for some familiar food. Maybe it was the surroundings etc. No idea, but my cravings were silenced. The first night we had grilled chicken served on a bed of polenta with a tomato and basil sauce, and a fish (forgotten what type) smeared with a spicy sauce and wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled. Both were excellent and well cooked. 

The highlight of the stay was the Sea food platter. It was a huge plate of different sea food cooked in Balinese and Indonesian style. The centre piece was the crab with it's lovely flesh. When it comes to crab or lobster it's all hands with us. The prawns were divine and one of the curried fish spoke to me in biblical terms. The rice I think we never touched. It was all about the sea food. 

Sadly our stay came to an end. We spent the last morning by the pool, refusing to leave. We wanted to stay for ever. We nearly did. 

Alila Manggis

BBQ Pig in Hindu Ubud

One of my most favourite meats is pork. Any cut will do me, from their trotters to the legs, through its belly to it's ears and snout. I am a fan of nose to tail eating. Waste not want not is my motto. 

After travelling through Malaysia and not really seeing or eating any pork for 6 weeks. I was in desperate need of some good old hog. I had heard off several tele series, magazine articles and friends about this small restaurant in Ubud that serves one of Bali's best known dishes. Babi Guling. Bar-B-Q'd Pig. 

Ibu Oka is situated at the Northern end of Ubud right opposite the Royal Palace. It is an unassuming place, but then most restaurants in Asia are unpretentious. There are a few wooden benches outside for the oversized Australians who can not sit on the floor inside. The small tables nestle nicely in the cramped eating room, the straw mats are quite surprisingly comfortable to sit on. 

There is only one thing on the menu, but you can have it two ways. The "Spesial" is a mixture of all pig. You get a good mix of blood sausage, crackling, some choice cuts of juicy meat from different parts of the pig. I had some delicious ear and  it's crispy tail on one visit. Yes we made several visits here. This is all served on top of a good helping of rice. 

The "Pisah" is a bigger version of the above. The rice is served separately and really is large enough to share. Well we are finding that, as many months of noodle soup has shrunk our stomach considerably. Is that a good thing or a bad thing these days. When you have some fantastic juicy pork to eat, it's bad. 

Ibu Olak opens around 11 am and closes up shop around 4pm. I am not sure how many pigs they cook each day, but I have seen 3 being cut up and deposited onto plates. The pigs are stuffed with a special spice mix which is supposedly secret, but I am sure if you know the right people then it won't be that hard to find out. Bali is like that. Failing that there are many recipes for a Bali Spice mix that I am sure would do the job just as well. 

As I said the pigs are stuffed with the spice mix, sewn up and coked in a wood fired oven. This all takes place in the early hours, good reason for them to close early afternoon in my view. It's open seven days a week. The best time to get there is around noon, as the pork is still hot, the later you leave it, the cooler it will be and the less likelihood of you getting the choice cuts. 

There are also lots of little snacks to eat whilst you are waiting for the meal to arrive. Mainly deep fried crispy pig skin, which are sold in little bags and left temptingly on your table for you to try and resist. There is a wide range of sauces for you to spice up your rice or meat. Kecap Manis being my favourite sauce of all time. The chilli sauce they have is dangerous. Too much and it burns your mouth to the point of actually setting it on fire. Thankfully the beer is very cold there. Phew. You do get through quite a lot of it, as the dining room has no fan but is open to the elements. Sadly the wind does not wish to enter the place, I assume this is because it too would be tempted by the delightful pig on offer and never want to leave. 

Ibu Oka

Jalan Tegal

Sari Number 2

Ubud

(Opposite the Royal Palace)

Bali

Via Via Cafe

It was a bizarre 24 hours that took us from Lombok to Yogyakarta via Jakarta. We had spent one night in Senggigi, Lomboks' premier beach resort. Well after the paradise of Gili Meno, anything was going to be second rate. You can not beat heaven that's for sure. 

We decided to get out of Lombok. So we took a taxi to the airport and asked how much fares were to Yogyakarta and Denpasar in Bali. Yogya was very expensive and Bali's next flight was in the late afternoon. So after much discussion and a flip of a coin that we have for making difficult decisions. We settled on Java. Then we noticed that the next flight leaving Lombok was to Jakarta. We asked how much, and it was not that much more expensive than flying to Bali and it left in less than 2 hours. Out came the credit card and off to Jakarta we went. 

We were counting on that we could get a train ticket out that night to Jogya. We however did not count on the fact that Ramadan was ending, and it's a time when every single Indonesian is on the move. 

We soon found out that the thought of leaving that night was but a dream. Apart from standing for 10 hours we were going nowhere that night. Asking in the information centre we found that we might have to stay at least 3 nights. Not a great thought. So we queued up to buy a ticket, when as by a  miracle 2 seats appeared for a train the next morning. Heaven sent. Pachamama was looking out for us. Thankfully noone brought those last two seats before we got to the front of the queue. Tickets in hand we found a hotel, ate, slept and arrived back in the train station 12 hours later for a fantastic trip through the Java countryside. 

I was expecting something similar to Ubud in Yogyakarta. Well it is, but only about 100 times bigger and busier. But still as loveable. Well almost. 

Yogyakarta has 2 sides for tourists. The part by the train station with its small lanes and cheap hotels and restaurants and a slightly plusher side 3 km's South. In the plusher side we found 2 very good places. One to satisfy my addiction to caffeine and the other my desire to eat some good tasting food. A happy soul I was.

The Ministry of Coffee (Great name) sells the best cup of coffee I have tasted in Indonesia. Actually the best since we left Vietnam. Java coffee at its best. Quite strong but with some great nutty taste to it. I was in coffee heaven. It was quite a trek to go there, but as the local cyclos were so cheap it was well worth it. 

The other place ViaVia Cafe, which was a bit further up on the same street satisfied my belly. Indonesian food is good, but like the food in Malaysia, everywhere sells the same and after a while a change is called for. 

It's a pretty cool place. There are about 10 of these cafe's dotted around the Globe in the most random places. They are owned by a Belgium group who believe that travellers should be able to get a good feed plus a nights sleep at these rest stops. Great idea in my view. A modern day inn or Ryokan if you are Japanese. This particular one also sold tours arranged by local guides and sold locally produced handicrafts. I imagine they all do the same, but do not know for sure. 

For lunch or for dinner, we did both, it fitted our need for some good and different food. I have to say though that it wasn't the best food I've had on this trip, but they did a pretty good job of it though. Looking at the photos the salad is a little chunky, like the onions with the fish, but all was cooked pretty well. Well the kebabs could of done with a bit of cumin to spruce it up a bit, the fish we had was a tad over cooked, hey ho. All in all t'was pretty good food they delivered, and that is all that matters, and they saved us from another meal of Nasi Goreng and the like. We needed saving for a time. 

www.viaviacafe.com

Gili Meno - Island Food

We were not sure what to expect from the Gili Islands. They seem to be very touristy as everyone always goes to the Gilis. We chose to goto Gili Meno the quieter of the 3 for some well deserved R'n'R. As if we haven't had enough of that over the last 6 months. 

The boat trip which was in a smallish boat bouncing around in some rather choppy water did it's best to see me sitting on the deck with my head in my hands and looking rather pale and in a cold sweat. This is how I cope with sea sickness.

The good fun was when we arrived to our Gili and we changed into a smaller boat to take us ashore. The sun had set already and darkness was upon us when we were told we had to do a beach landing, as there was no jetty there. Now I know what it is like to be a smuggler. Being taken ashore under darkness very quickly at the most secluded part of the island. Very pirate like. 

We chose to goto Gili Meno in the end because Sunset Gecko was the only place who replied to our email (via Tokyo). Thankfully, the places on the other 2 islands still haven't replied. Our gain. 

The food on the island is very much travellers fare. Some places do it well, some do not. Sunset Gecko does it very well. Things looked good from the off, as we were given a coconut cream milk shake with a sprinkling of green tea powder on top as a welcome drink. They are owned by some kind folks from Japan, hence the reply from Tokyo. Their food has some Japanese twists and turns in it, especially in the sauces because of this. 

Actually everything they did was a cut above everything else on the island. Not only in quality of the cooking but also the quantities, which once or twice left us with the feeling that we would not need to eat the next day. 

Thankfully breakfast was not included like most other places we have encountered in Indonesia. This allowed us to get into a routine of not waking up till about 10am. Wandering out to the beach, ordering an ice coffee. Drinking this while we pondered what we could do that day. Which was always to wander to the Northern part of the island, as there was no wind there and sit in the sea and look at the marine life until we were hungry. Then we'd stroll down the Eastern side to one of the many places there and eat some lunch, nothing to heavy, until we felt like making the intrepid journey through the centre of the island to Diana's for a couple of sunset beers. Life sometimes is best when it's not complicated. 

We'd either eat at Gecko's in the night or stroll back to the Eastern shores as every night the restaurants there line up the days catch of fabulous looking fish. Some fresher than others. It's simply cooked over charcoal, and depending which restaurant you goto you could get just rice or with one we got sweetcorn, jacket potatoes, salad and sauces. Heaven. 

I never got to try the Barracuda, but I was told it was very good. I seemed to always settle for either a Red or White Snapper grilled over coals and washed down with a cold beer. Life is so simple sometimes. Why complicate it. 

Geckos did the best Nasi Goreng, Nasi Campur and the best creamy Coconut Curry ever. I never got to try their fish dishes but I was reliably informed they were pretty special. Every dish we had with them was presented very well. Presentation is half a chefs job done. I forgot to ask where the Chef came from, I am sure she was not Indonesian when I said goodbye to her. She looked faintly Japanese but I could be mistaken. 

Sometimes I'd like to have a small place on the beach cooking unfussy food for people using good fresh ingredients, instead of the small town we will be in one day in Colombia. Not sure how the local population of Paisas will take to my style of cooking. Only time will tell. If I can do as good as Sunset Gecko, I will be a happy man. 

SQ Krisflyer Lounge and Business Class flight to Bali

As a travel agent I had flown Business Class with many airlines and experienced the delight that it is. But as I am no longer a travel agent this has now become a thing of the past. But as luck would have it, I managed to acquire enough miles to be able to travel Business Class on Singapore Airlines on the short distance between Singapore and Bali. 

The flight itself is just over 2 hours so I would not get much joy out of that, but to be able to use their lounge at Changai Airport was something I was looking forward to. Quite sad I know. 

As a Business Class passenger you are allowed to choose your own meal off their website. As it was a freebie I decided to go the whole hog, and chose a Chilean Seabass with Olive Mash and sautéed veg. Now I was getting sad. 

The lounge is a place of pure relaxation. The lights are dim, there is some subtle music in the background. There is enough space around to give everyone space to relax and rest before their flight. 

There is a multitude of snacks and drinks to choose from. Thankfully it is all self service. For some reason this made me incredibly hungry and thirsty. I had a couple of plates of the boneless duck that was on offer. Also some marinated and grilled chicken wings. But best of all was the aged cheddar I managed to eat as well. Thankfully all washed down with a lovely Zinfandel Red. I think I polished off a bottle within an hour. All this was finished off with a magnificent brandy and a few strong cups of expresso. Only because I could feel myself getting more and more drunk as time went on. I blame my self imposed beer denial programme to get rid of my belly. 45 days with hardly any alcohol. Never again. It got me nowhere. 

I also could of had some very lovely looking ravioli's with a lovely creamy mushroom sauce topped off with some parmesan cheese. But as I rarely eat past outside of Italy anyhows and I've never tasted it in Asia, I'm not going to start now. This is a personal prejudice as i have found that few Asian chefs can cook Western food that good anyhows, and I know a lot of people think pasta is very easy to cook with a tomato sauce, but you would be surprised how many people can not do this simple task. Either the pasta is over cooked and has lost that Al Dente taste or the sauce is too runny and smoothers the pasta. Not what I like. 

The Asian dishes on offer, like noodles, soups and curries did not really interest me that much after I had seen the duck. 

Luckily for me I was not too far gone as I just noticed the time and my flight was boarding. Somehow I managed to get to the plane about 15 minutes before take off. Never done this before. I was shown to my seat with courtesy, amazing as I could not really string two sentences together. 

I was offered a pre take off cocktail, as I was in Singapore and flying with the national carrier why not go for a Singapore Sling. Add more fuel to the raging fire. I ordered a glass of Australian Sav Blanc to go with my meal. 

To be honest from this point I really can not remember really much, the meal was edible, but my taste buds seemed to have died on me. The wine I do remember was quite refreshing. 

Thankfully for all concerned I was not offered any more alcohol.

By the time we were getting close to landing I had sobered up and was able to order several cups of coffee and water, to which the staff were only to pleased to give me. 

As I left the plane I could see a look of relief off the crew that I had caused no trouble on board. I was relieved too and very embarrassed. But as I will not be flying Business Class again, I did enjoy the experience. Would I do it all again. God yes, but hopefully I would not get as drunk again.