Sabrina's Passions' Reviews

Long time neighbourhood favourite, Joe's on Draycott Avenue, has long housed the chicest locals and ‘ladies that lunch’ who break up an otherwise strenuous day of shopping with a spot of lunch in this monied part of town. Packed to the rafters on weekends with glamorous types and yummy-mummies, it has recently seen Greek Cypriot TV Chef Maria Elia take the helm and I popped along to see what interesting new things Maria has done with the menu.

I didn't really know what to expect to be honest; a lot of the food in the area is overpriced, over-hyped and generally somewhat lacklustre for serious food devotees like myself. I was actually incredibly surprised to discover how innovative, well balanced and beautifully conceived the dishes were. I couldn't wait to try them! Chef Maria Elia was a gracious hostess and popped up to say a brief hello before sending out little ‘tasters’ – dish after beautiful dish of seductive plates just waiting to be savaged by a ravenous Persian girl like myself.

The first course, served on an elegant slate platter, was a beetroot and Beluga lentil salad with a sharp Greek yoghurt adorned with both golden beetroot as well as the classic deep purple beetroot also. This is just the kind of food I love to eat. Not heavy, not greasy, light and healthy but without sacrificing flavour or enjoyment. I could have eaten this 10 times over and been eternally happy.

The next course is possibly one of my favourite delights of the sea; the humble octopus. Scary looking for some but absolutely delicious and a staple of Greek culinary culture. If you haven't tried Octopus before, you are absolutely missing out! A delicate curled tentacle gently resting on a mix of braised barley and onions with a scattering of fennel seeds and elegant strands of fresh dill. What a treat; a fantastic combination and a great dish that I simply wouldn't have expected on a menu in this part of town.

Now admittedly pigeon is not one of my favourite things but every once in a while, I… More

I have amassed a mountain of respect for Marcus Wareing. Brought into our line of vision by Gordon Ramsay, who he has since eclipsed rather massively through his culinary achievements and dedication to staying firmly in the kitchen, where a good Chef should spent the majority of his working time. With Restaurant Marcus Wareing, his highly successful first restaurant at The Berkeley Hotel, firmly established… opening a second restaurant was the next natural step for Wareing. Interestingly, The Gilbert Scott is also located within a very glamourous hotel, the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, which is certainly a good business decision in my opinion, although Chefs of Wareing's calibre never have problems filling tables. In fact, since its opening in late April, The Gilbert Scott has been fully booked almost constantly although securing a table certainly isn't impossible if you book in advance.

The hotel is grand in a very old-school way; luxurious and old-money, rather than the boring overly styled sort of establishments that seem to be taking over the City. On the particular evening I dined, I was joined by wonderful food loving friends and we settled in at the bar with it's comfortable leather slouchy chairs and attentive service. A truly lovely place for dainty Negronis and other such classic cocktails; we could easily have whiled away many an hour in the bar alone.

Finally seated at the table, we peruse the menu and each settle on our chosen dishes for the evening. Decadence is the order of the day and how well-suited to The Gilbert Scott, it is. Lobster is one of those choices that I am always ashamed to make. Lobster is lobster, it's not exactly the most adventurous choice on the menu but never one to be swayed by general concensus, I opt for the lobster salad and I wasn't disappointed. Wonderfully meaty morcels of lobster meat, juicy and sweet with mixed leaves, croutons and an almost Marie Rose-like sauce and fennel shards proved to be the perfect opener to the meal… More

I have to just say how impressed I was by the lastest offering to the Old Brompton strip from the same owner that gave us ‘Cambio de Tercio’, ‘Tendido Cero’ and ‘Tendido Cuatro’ (2 out of 3) of which are located virtually next door to one another. Capote y Toros is a small space with perhaps 25 covers maximum, with walls lined with over 100 different labels of sherry from dry clear variety to the deeply dark and syrupy aged types.

I had accidentally gate-crashed a dinner and sat perched on the edge of the table but found the staff to be most accommodating and considerate of my unexpected arrival. A platter of wafer thin slices of 5J Jamon was served along with chorizo cooked in sherry with a divine tomato sauce, black pudding, stuffed piquillo peppers, the most deliciously moist octopus and wonderful little meatballs in a sherry-soused tomato sauce. Each dish bursting with flavour with just the right amount of sauce/juice to be mopped up with a hunk of bread.

My friends ordered a flight of sherries to accompany the meal and I got a little taster of each along with an unexpected education of how versatile sherry actually is. I never thought I would be a drinker of sherry but I really enjoyed the less dry, aged and almost syrupy sherries… How wonderful. No wonder the place with heaving… Trendy local blondes greet the owner affectionately with kisses and hugs and you immediately see why yet another opening on the same 10 metre strip of Old Brompton Road, makes absolute sense in every way. Good luck to them and I will most definitely be back, the very next chance I get!

When my friend invited me to dinner at Vinoteca, I heard the word ‘Vino’ and being someone who doesn't actually drink wine (unless its a dessert wine) I wasn't overly enthused. Tucked away in Seymour Place, behind Edgware Road, Vinoteca is an intimate buzzy bistro with walls lined with scores of different wines and a list of over 285 wines available for purchase. They don't take reservations and although the restaurant was totally full, we didn't wait more than 10 minutes before we were seated… this in itself means extra brownie points for them in my opinion.

The menu is an informal mix of hearty rustic dishes, Tapas style dining and other delicious sounding combinations each paired with a wine recommendation, for the devoted wine drinker. The kitchen is visible and the Chefs pass is in plain sight for all to see. Not feeling overly hungry (yes, a rare event in my lifetime) I chose the goat cheese and beetroot salad with vinaigrette dressing and walnuts and my friend chose the salad of smoked eel with potatoes and mixed leaves. Now eel is something that I have always said, you would have to kill me to make me eat and how on earth people eat jellied eels, is beyond me! But, when the salad was served up, it did look rather good. My friend offered some to me and I was quick to turn her down but changed my mind in the spirit of trying new things and was surprised how delicious it was. My own salad was pretty straight forward but really gratifying. I love beetroots, yellow and purple and love goats cheese and walnuts, so it was a winning combination for me.

I realised that for the first time in my life, I accidentally ordered an entirely vegetarian menu… This has NEVER happened before… so once my tagliatelle with Pied de Mouton mushrooms arrived, I was hoping that it would do the trick for me and I wasn't disappointed. An extra heavy hit of garlic which luckily I love was a suitable companion to the mushrooms and the al dente ribbons of homemade tagliatelle; very satisfying. My… More

I visited Nopi during their soft opening, where a 50% discount was extended to all diners allowing me to try as many dishes as I liked. With my fellow Ottonlenghipiles in tow, we reviewed the menu divided simply into meat, fish, vegetable and dessert categories.

Carpaccio of rose veal and beetroot with Kashk (Dried whey, a common Persian ingredient) was pretty good although the kashk was overly diluted by yoghurt and lacked the intense saltiness familiar to me. Scallops with pickled daikon radish and apple were nicely caramelised and though soft on the inside, imparted a slightly unpleasant fishy aftertaste in my mouth which felt they like had ‘stewed’ rather than the desired searing expected. I was more hopeful of our lamb cutlets with a spiced aubergines and goat cheese but the cutlets were rather lukewarm and although the aubergine was delicious (similar to Sicialian Caponata) it didn't do much to mask the excessively rare nature of the lamb and the worryingly solidified stretch of cold fat on one of the cutlets. Fortunately the second cutlet fared a little better and combined with the aubergine salad and a bite of the goat cheese, made for an explosion of Mediterranean flavours.

Sea bream with an accompanying salad of fresh coconut, mint and cashew was less successful; the fish was overcooked and chewy and the salad a little too bland for my liking. But the slow cooked pigs cheeks with a celeriac and barberry salad were fantastic although I find myself asking why almost every dishes comes with a salad? A nice, smooth root vegetable puree would have been a better pairing with this kind of braised meat in my opinion. Twice-cooked baby chicken with lemon myrtle salt and chilli sauce was nice but not as tender as I would have liked although the lemon myrtle salt was a zingy and aromatic revelation.

Next up came a whole ball of Burrata cheese with blood oranges topped with coriander seeds. This dish just didn't work for me; the coriander seeds interfered with the creamy… More

Never will many eateries score so highly for me as this simple, unfussy new addition to the city. Initially hearing my colleagues ramble on about it made me think it was some dodgy Cafe, serving up greasy Vietnamese fare but oh how wrong I was.

Delilcious, simple, reasonably priced and thoroughly welcome in the Square Mile! Great salads, Banh Mi baguettes, lovely warming Pho noodles and great meat/rice dishes all under £6. A complete and utter bargain if you ask me; no wonder the place has queues outside the door each lunchtime.

Chef and Godfather of Fusion cookery Peter Gordon's Kopapa Cafe deserves a special mention as it is literally the first place in London that I wishes was located right next to my house. Reason? Because on weekend, this is just the kind of place where I could happily indulge in breakfast/brunch or a languid lunch with friends and family. The menu is absolutely superb with a wide variety of breakfast and lunch dishes that are truly captivating and exotic. Along with the more traditional breakfast dishes, you can get ‘Turkish eggs’ a wonderful dish I had when in Istanbul. For those wanting to avoid the key breakfast ingredients, why not try a mouth-watering seared tuna with a side of papaya salad? This clicks of ruby seared tuna with a sweet and citrusy dressing.

There is a delightful little counter bar where you can get full service and watch the friendly staff conjure up magical smoothies and exotic blends of juices using Tamarillo, Kiwi and the like… On display in the corner are 3 mini-mountains of baked goods including blueberry and white chocolate muffins, chorizo and feta cheese muffins and HANDS-DOWN the most amazing date scones you will ever try. The coffee is absolutely superb and in such a touristy neighbourhood as Covent Garden, you will be hard pushed to find better coffee and with 2 Greeks and a Polish friend in tow, I can't afford to go anywhere where the coffee is dreadful! Overall the whole experience was such so unhurried and pleasurable and the staff are beyond attentive and accommodating.

Whilst it may not be cheap, I have always found the service at Locanda Locatelli to be excellent. In fact it was the service that from day one, drew me in and encouraged me to make repeat visits. The food is excellent and LL is home to the best scallop dish I have ever had… The Capesante Al'Aspretto di Zafferano is a revelation of carefully balanced flavours. Plump scallops with celery and a saffron vinaigrette are a great way to kick off the meal. The one thing about LL is that the food is pretty simple. If its innovative, stylised cooking you are looking for then you are better off spending your money elsewhere. My Italian friends blast LL for what is essentially overpriced and very simple and rustic cookery… But where quality is concerned, there is no scrimping here. The standard of cookery is excellent, even if the skill involved isn't overly complex.

I always like to choose fish when I eat here but depending on the time of year, they do a mean pork and also veal chop, cooked to perfection, juicy and succulent. I am always happy to pay those prices for beautifully cooked and prepared food.

The only down side is that the dining room is a bit lifeless, which is why I prefer to lunch here as dinner's lack ambience.