Rog T's Food Blog #3 - Two great restaurants in two days!

One of the things I've been looking forward to writing about here is the great places to eat that I visit in London. Last week, I visited two. One was a second visit, the other was a new place for me. Lets start with Friday night. We were going to see Lovers Rock legend Carroll Thompson at Ronnie Scotts. A group of seven of us were meeting beforehand for something to eat. Last year we had a good meal at Prixe Fix on Dean Street. They do a deal where you get a discount if you order before 6pm (sorry I couldn't find the deal) so we booked for 5.45pm. We have been there before and always had good meals and found the staff friendly. For a starter I selected Aubergine roulade stuffed with chickpea & tahini mash, tomato and fresh basil sauce to start and followed that with a main course of House smoked, braised Beef short ribs with smoked aubergine, mushroom and barley Risotto. For dessert, I had Traditional Apple Tarte Tatin with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  We washed it down with the House Red. The aubergine was very tasty and enjoyable. The ingredients were fresh, which to my mind makes a big difference, especially with herbs like Basil.  

The smoked beef short rib was delicious, falling from the bone. I loved the smokiness. I've never thought about doing a smoked beef short rib, so it will definitely be something I try myself in the summer, when we get to barbeque season. For me, this was a successful visit as I got an idea for a recipe to try. I've never tried smoking meats before and this really pricked my interest. Should this work out, I'll share it. The apple tarte was perfectly pleasant. I am not really a pudding person, but we had time to kill so it seemed polite to have something! The staff are pleasant and the ambience is good. I would go as far as to say it's probably our current favourite pre show restaurant in the West End. In short good food and good value. Trip advisor rates it as #610 out of #21,617 London restaurants. I had a look through the reviews and the bad ones were by and large pretty old. I suspect that it would score higher with recent reviews.

On Saturday, we were in Camden Town for funk legends, The Real Thing at The Jazz Cafe. We again met friends for a pre gig meal. We settled on Andy's Taverna on Pratt Street. If I am honest, Greek cuisine is not something I eat a lot of.  Grilled meats and kebabs are something I tend to associate more with holidays to the Med, where after a few days of the same sort of food I get bored with it. However our friends were keen and I am not a Prima Donna, so we agreed. I was pleasantly surprised. I opted for the mixed Mezze for £22. It would give me a chance to sample a wide range of their wares. It included a Kleftiko, which my Greek mates tell me is usually the way to gauge a good restaurant. The cold starters, humous, tzatsiki, taramasalata, etc were the usual fare. Tasty and fresh, the bread was also nice and fresh. The hot starters of calamari, haloumi and bacon were also fresh and tasty.  The main course was a selection of grilled meats, chicken, lamb, sausages and the aforementioned kleftiko. When they came out there was suitably large portion and it was all cooked to perfection. The Kleftiko was superb. Our group all agreed that it was excellent and we will definitely be back. The restaurant is ranked #24 of 21,617 London restaurants. The ranking is well deserved.

Two great gigs, two great great meal's. What is not to like! As  a general rule (and rules are made to be broken) most of my reviews will be of places that are great places to eat as part of a night out. It will be one of the themes of the food blog. To me, food is part of a picture and I think this is something many other food bloggers seem to miss.