Looks like the Big Sweary Gordon empire has finally got hip to the vegetables in “soil” trend from, ooh, about five years ago. But rather than coming up with a playful way to present real veg, his team at Southwark’s Union Street Cafe have gone their own merry way with this extraordinary dessert: carrot ice-cream in a cone covered with orange chocolate, with chocolate-biscuit crumb and topped with candied celery. Bugs Bunny would be proud.
This intricate, extraordinary dish from Noma suggests that anyone dismissing René Redzepi’s extraordinary creativity is on a hiding to nothing. There’s a marvellously full description in the caption; note especially the base painted with “a paste made from Danish wood ants”. He may be influential, but the ant thing continues to leave me cold.
I love that Wimpy still exists. And I love that, with its foray into social meeja, it’s trying to get all hep to the scene, daddio. Sadly, it’s not quite got Twitter, bless it. Of course, it could be a fiendishly clever marketing ploy to underscore its iconic retro status … Nah, maybe not.
Love it when this happens. Which reminds me, too, of the legendary Chihuahua muffin Tumblr sensation.
New York’s Rice to Riches, a cafe dedicated to selling only rice pudding (for example, “hazelnut chocolate bear hug” rice pudding and “the end of rum to raisin” rice pudding). Its honesty is refreshing and it works – I now need to know what the shitty flavours are. (Although I’m guessing “man-made mascarpone”, “‘Oreo’-gasm” and “take me to tiramisu” might be contenders.) NB: for the world’s best rice pudding, head to Asturias, Spain.
.@Fish_dogs are popping up at @thehatandtunpub from 29 July to 14 August, 6-9.30pm Wed-Fri. Swing by for crab fries! pic.twitter.com/iY3nCgqm47
— London Eating (@londoneating) July 22, 2015
Mark Hix, a man better known for his chic, artist-infested restaurants, has quietly gone into the fastfood/streetfood market with his fish dogs, “the Rolls-Royce of fish finger sandwiches”, the Citroën van popping up at posh destinations such as the Port Eliot festival for literary types. I have to salute him for this creation: chips liberally loaded with crabmeat and dusted with paprika. Catch them popping up at the Hat and Tun pub in Clerkenwell, east London, and consider these this week’s GIMME.
Stephanie Goldfinger, self-styled “vegetarian comfort food maker”, has come up with this piece of loveliness, the heritage carrots left almost entirely to their own devices (unlike certain aforementioned carrots). Absolutely simple, absolutely beautiful, entirely vegetarian.
Sobrasada croquetas, Barrafina Drury Lane @BarrafinaDRln pic.twitter.com/oasjD1adPN
— Bitten & Written (@bittenwritten) July 17, 2015
The Hart brothers’ mini empire of upscale tapas joints (with chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho) has gained another outpost, this time on the fringes of London’s theatreland. I worried that a restaurant I genuinely treasure might be diluting its brand, spreading itself a bit thin, and that the experience of scoring a barstool and slowly working your way through as much of the menu as you can might be rendered a little less of a major event. I’m pleased to report that the Drury Lane branch is every bit as lovely as its siblings, the menu sufficiently different to keep diehard fans happy, the paleta de bellota Cinco Jotas as sweet and nutty as you like, these croquetas destined to be as legendary as the crab versions at Adelaide Street in Covent Garden. And best of all, on a lunchtime visit this week, no queue!
