Eat Brazilian: Preto, Victoria

A lot has been said in the blogosphere about some people’s motivations, about why people blog and what benefits can be gained from it. Personally, I blog for fun. I started doing it to keep my mind active during a challenging time for me and carry it on today for my family globally to keep an eye on what I am up to. And because I love to eat. I love food and pretty much everything about it. About ingredients, about where they come from (the people, the countries) and most of all, the sensations you get from tasting it (mostly good, but sometimes bad). I blog for my friends, for my family, for myself and not forgetting, for any other random who may come across this and want to spend the time to read my thoughts. So if you read this, I hope you enjoy my ramblings. And if you do, please come back, you are more than welcome.

Now to bring it down a level, copious amounts of beverages followed by a meat feast!

It’s the end of the financial year and things haven’t gone too badly (sort of). Everyone has worked hard and generally, our customers appreciate us. So what better way to celebrate than a few beers down our local and then off to an unlimited Brazilian buffet!

I know many of you know I moan about how few good options there are for food in Victoria. Lunchtimes are either spent getting something from M&S or heading out with the rest of the team to one of the many chain restaurants around here. Options are few and far between, but on Wilton Road, there are a few semi-decent options. After debating the dodgy Mexican, a rather good Turkish (Kazan, which I need to visit in the very near future), another chain fake dim sum place (not even going to mention their real name) and a Brazilian buffet, the choice was simple and Preto it was.

Lubricated from post work drinks at the local boozer, we arrived in good spirits and ploughed in. To get us warmed up (and probably an attempt at reducing the intake of the pricier meat), they introduced us to the “salad” bar. I have “salad” in inverted commas, as there was actually very little salad on show, but was heavy on carb based goods. However, they did have my personal favourite pão de queijo (cheese balls, although don’t quote me on that) amongst other strange things I wouldn’t expect (potato gratin, onion rings and lasagne anyone?).

After a while, the churrascaria got fired up and a rather grumpy man started coming round with various bits of meat on a large metal skewer. These included beef, things wrapped in bacon, pork loin, lamb and chicken. All that was missing from the meat groups were duck and venison, probably a little too dear for an all you can eat. The meat was of a pretty decent quality and was cooked well, retaining its juices, with the pork loin definitely the highlight for me, whilst the beef ribs were fatty and unappetising. Shame they were also so tight, apportioning a meagre one slice per person at a time.

He kept it coming for a little while but started avoiding our table after half an hour. It could have been due to the impromptu karaoke we decided to have, but some members of our party wanted more meat and frankly, the grumpy man was being far from accommodating. After a few words with management, the grumpy man chose to brave our table and no further problems were encountered.

A fairly enjoyable if hazy evening. I believe its £20 a head, which isn’t too bad; just make sure you bring a decent appetite to get your money’s worth and try to avoid the grumpy man.

Preto, 72 Wilton Rd, Pimlico, SW1V 1DE

Eat Modern European: Maze, Mayfair

Its Monday, its my birthday and I have the day off. What a better a way to spend it than having lunch with my dad. Today's destination, Maze in Mayfair.

One of my favourite shows on TV is the Great British Menu, a competition putting two chefs from the same region against one another in the vain hope that at the end of it all, one of their dishes makes it to the end of series "banquet". Before this show, I hadn't really heard of Jason Atherton, but he managed to get two of his dishes through to the banquet and I vowed to give his restaurant a visit.

After a relatively painless bus ride and a short trek past the American embassy, we were there. As soon as we entered the front door, we were treated extremely well. Drinks orders taken, menu's brought to us and explained and bread fresh out the oven in the blink of an eye. Excellent service which was maintained throughout the whole lunchtime.

Order of the day was the Set Lunch menu. Maze works on a "many small dishes " basis. From the main menu, the waiter suggested you go for 4 dishes per person. As we were opting for the set lunch we had choices from a selection of 9 savoury and 4 sweet courses. Between me and my dad, we managed to cover all but one of the savoury courses and had 1 sweet each. It was a lot to take in, here's how it went:

Marinated Beetroot, Sairass Cheese, Pine Nuts

First up and pretty disappointing. Although well presented, the cheese overpowered the whole dish and I was struggling to pick up the beetroot. Didn't think the pine nuts added anything.

‘Prawn cocktail’, tomato fondue, lettuce ice, cocktail sauce

This was an excellent dish. Arriving in a cocktail glass, the lettuce ice was sprinkled on separately and added a lovely refreshing twist to a classic dish. The cocktail sauce was in puree form and together with the tomato fondue and the prawns, formed a great contrast in textures and flavours. One of our days favourites.

Smoked Cornish mackerel, mackerel tartar, olive jelly

Owing to my aversion for really strong tasting fish, I stayed well clear of this. My dad thought it was ok.

Braised shin of veal, pea and broad bean risotto, aged parmesan

A soft and flavoursome piece of meat. The accompanying pea and broad bean risotto was fresh as a summers day and the smooth fresh flavours were a fantastic contrast to the deep and meaty veal.

Red mullet bouillabaisse, saffron aioli, croutons

Again, my fish aversion meant I avoided this. Tried the bouillabaisse, which tasted pretty good.

‘Warm Scottish breakfast’ London cured salmon, smoked haddock risotto, egg and bacon

This was the star of the show for me. I'm very wary of "re-inventions" but this dish really worked. First we were presented with the salmon (twice cooked, cured then grilled on one side) which had a deep Portobello mushroom puree along side. Accompanying this was the smoked haddock risotto, containing one quails egg yolk and a sliver of bacon. I normally hate salmon (the fish thing again) but even I couldn't resist this. The flavours of the mushroom subtle alongside the slightly salty cured salmon. Although the risotto was almost a secondary dish, the yolk reinforced the richness of the risotto and was absolutely delicious. A winner.

Confit shoulder of lamb, pea purée

Now, I have eaten a lot of lamb recently. Tayyabs lamb chops (nigh on unbeatable) and loads of lamb at Taste of London (from Tamarind, Benares & Toms Kitchen). All slightly different and all lovely in their own way. This was succulent and melt in your mouth as you would expect, but nothing really that memorable. I'm beginning to think once you've tried one, you've tried them all. I'm still waiting for that lamb dish to blow me away like those lamb chops...

Roasted Barbary duck, parsley root, English cherries

Our last savoury dish and pretty disappointing. The "cherry" gravy didn't taste of cherries and the duck, well, it just tasted of duck. Boring.

Chilled cherry and mint soup, toasted marshmallow, cherry sorbet

More cherry and this time slightly more successful. The cherry and mint soup was sweet, whilst the sorbet a nice tart contrast. It could have done with being more chilled.

Rice pudding, raspberry jam, pecan ice cream, maple syrup

A pecan pie in rice pudding format. Sweet, unctuous and delicious. The pecans added the contrast in textures and added another dimension to an already great dish. Hitting the raspberry jam at the bottom was like unearthing a hidden treasure. A great way to end the meal.

Phew, a lot to get through. A nice concept and a good way to try out what the kitchen is capable of. It was good, but was it great? Hmm, not really. Although the service was impeccable throughout, the food never quite lived up to it. I'm still waiting to be blown away, and one day, I will find that meal that fulfils that criteria on every level.

Maze (website), 10-13 Grosvenor Square, W1K 6JP

Eat Malaysian: Rasa Sayang, Chinatown

I'm a pretty poor Malaysian. Having been brought up in Europe, I've never really been in touch with my heritage. And when it comes to food, I think I am probably even worse. I don't like fish, I don't like laksa and I don't really like rendang either, amongst many other things.

However, there are quite a few things I do like. These include fruits (such as durian, rambutan, mangoes, lychees...geez, I'm drooling at the thought of these), roti canai, chicken rice, char kway teow and mee goreng. Most of these are readily available at most mamak stalls and are so dirt cheap that the prices would make you cry.

Anyway, walking through Chinatown this weekend, looking for somewhere to eat, I decided to visit a Malaysian restaurant I've had my eye on for a while. On entry, I was pretty embarrassed not to understand a single word any of the waitresses said and when they realised I could only speak English, had a little chuckle to themselves and showed me to a table in a rapidly filling room.

I ordered a Teh Tarik whilst I perused the menu. Teh Tarik literally means "stretched tea". This comes from the appearance of stretching as the condensed milk sweetened tea is passed between two cups in order to cool down the boiling hot tea. There was no such exuberance on show here but it was very nice.

To start with, I ordered some roti canai, a Malaysian flatbread, served with a small bowl of curry. Whenever I go back to KL, Section 17 is one of the first places my family over there take me and we gorge ourselves on roti straight from the oven. This was never going to compete with that. The roti could have been crispier and the accompanying curry had a very strange sweetness to it. It was ok, but that is all.

I was quite looking forward to the Hainanese chicken. Its a pretty basic dish of boiled chicken, to break it down in the basest of terms. The stock formed from boiling the chicken is normally included in a soup and used in the rice so the flavours of chicken run through the entire dish. I'm sorry to say, although it certainly looked the part, I found the whole dish quite bland. I enjoyed the rice, with flecks of ginger running through it, but the chicken itself didn't really have that much flavour and was quite fatty. Even doused in soy sauce, it didn't really take on any of that lovely soy flavour.

All in all, the experience was meh. For those unaware of that means, it basically means it was just ok and nothing more. It's not expensive, by any means (my food came to £10) but when you consider how much you would pay for this food on the streets of KL, I really yearn for a return to Malaysia. It has been over 5 years since I was last back and not a lot beats the hawker stalls for value and taste. I'm so glad that I will probably be heading down in the new year, although I'm not sure my waistline will agree.

Rasa Sayang, 5 Macclesfield Street, W1D 6AY

Eat Vietnamese: Cafe East, Surrey Quays

Surrey Quays is home to all sorts of weirdness. It has an assortment of pubs ranging from the trendy to the derelict. It is home to probably the worst shopping centre in London (saved only by a massive Tesco's which never actually has anything you want), Europe's only fully digital cinema and a rather large bowling alley. Oh yes, entertainment central.

What I have also found out recently, is that it appears to be home to a rather vibrant Vietnamese community. There are a few Vietnamese restaurants dotted around, and the one I seem to hear about the most is Cafe East. Now I come to Surrey Quays quite a lot to visit the quite excellent cinema and was totally unaware to its existence. So last week after watching the pretty amusing film, "The Hangover", sister no 1 and I went in search of this gem in Surrey Quays' crown.

We actually found it at the bottom of the massive car park outside the cinema and bowling alley. We even headed back out to the main road only to nearly miss it and loop back upon ourselves. Once we got there, we discovered that it was full to brimming with Vietnamese people, a sure fire way to guarantee the authenticity of the place. After a short wait, we were shown to our tables.

First, I wanted to sample some of their drinks, my sister going for the iced coffee whilst I went for Che Ba Mau (an interesting symphony of colours in a glass). The coffee was strong and refreshing and although mine was slightly erring on being a dessert, packed to brim with sugared kidney beans, it was very refreshing, just what the doctor ordered on a hot day.

Starter: Banh Cuon

We wondered if we should go for the summer rolls (everyone goes for the summer rolls!) and it certainly felt like summer but opted for the banh cuon instead. And what a dish. These are essentially rice noodles stuffed with mince meat, accompanied by a sausage of sorts and topped with bean sprouts and fried onions. All this and a spicy fish sauce based dipping sauce to boot. Light and refreshing, a cacophony of flavours synonymous with Vietnamese food.

Main: Bun Bo Hue

Beef brisket in a spicy soup with vermicelli noodles. Cant really say too much about the flavour of the beef but the broth that it came in was amazing. First you got the flavours of the deep beefy broth, then the lemongrass starts tingling your taste buds, all rounded off by a quick hit of heat. It was like a multi layered gobstopper in broth form! Not what I would have chosen, considering how warm and humid it was, but pretty good nonetheless.

Main: Bun Ga Nuong

Essentially a crispy chicken salad. The chicken was seriously tasty. Not sure how they packed it with so much flavour but the skin was crisp and the chicken moist. This came with a mountain of salad and vermicelli noodles doused in fish sauce, a decent accompaniment but frankly, there was way too much of it. By the time the chicken had gone, I still had over half the salad left!

I guess the Vietnamese don't do dainty, but Cafe East serves great food in great volume at great value. People often mock me for living in South London, but when you get gems like this on your doorstep, it makes you proud to be a saarf Londoner.

Cafe East, 100 Redriff Road, SE16 7LH

Eat French: Le Petit Parisien, Camberwell

One of my old favourite haunts in Camberwell used to be the "Dark Horse" in the middle of Grove Lane. I say used to as it’s been a while since it closed down and was replaced by Le Petit Parisien. A French restaurant in Camberwell, interesting.

When Le Petit Parisien first opened, it received quite a stinging attack on the @camberwellblog (website here). It wasn’t very well received and it sounded like it was still finding its feet. One thing that really impressed me was that the management responded to the criticism and said it was working on rectifying a few of the wrongs outed on the blog. What this told me was that the place was willing to admit that it had made some mistakes, but most importantly, that it was listening to its clientele. People’s opinions will inevitably influence others, but I would rather make my own mind up so off I went.

Initial reaction is that it hasn’t really changed that much. It’s received a lick of paint and few new windows but the décor remains pretty much the same. That’s no bad thing, however. I was always quite fond of the place.


The menu is simple and sticks to some French classics. I went for the steak whilst sis no 1 went for the duck confit.


As we waited for our mains, we were brought a small portion of olives. I found this rather odd, not really something I would expect from a French restaurant. I saw some perfectly good baguettes on the counter and was sort of hankering for a bit of that. But not to worry. I wasn’t seeing any of the service problems that other people had commented on and was having an enjoyable, quiet evening.


The steak arrived and was medium as requested. This was accompanied by a really delicious Béarnaise. Creamy and quite subtle. French Fries were crispy and very tasty if a little on the salty side. Steak is easy to screw up but this was above average. It was tender and flavoursome with a nice char. Not quite up to Hawksmoor standard but a welcome addition to Camberwell.


My sisters duck confit wasn’t quite as successful as my steak but was still quite enjoyable. It was a little on the oily side and the duck was a bit dry in places but the flavours were there and was swiftly polished off. Not too bad.

A quick dinner came to under £15 a head with service so it’s not going to burn a massive hole in your wallet. Honest opinion, its not quite the Dark Horse but I enjoyed myself and will certainly go again. A decent addition to Camberwell’s smorgasbord of restaurants.

Le Petit Parisien
16 Grove Lane, SE5 8SY

Eat European: Terroirs, Covent Garden

Last Saturday saw the first official meeting of “The Unspecified Day of the Week, Maybe Once or Twice a Month Club" for those who like to eat a lot (I realise the name needs a bit of work). It was tasked to me to find a suitable location for our inaugural meeting, and after generating a lot of good press in the food blogging world, Terroirs was the location of choice. Accompanying me were the two co-founders, the cannon and the irrepressible (and for once, not late) sis no 2.


Terroirs is about food and wine, where its all about "the purity of the product". Along with the one sheet food menu came their many page wine encyclopaedia. Impressive if you fancy a glug, but we were here to eat and stuck to the water. The food menu is succinct, straightforward and comprises mainly of rustic style dishes. We took an executive decision between the three of us to order as much as we could physically manage.

First to arrive was some bread and butter alongside a portion of duck scratching. The duck scratching were basically fried bits of duck skin and nuggets of meat. These were really delicious, and unbelievably moreish. The sourdough bread, although hard work owing to its chewiness was well worth the extra work, and smothered with the unsalted butter complemented the salty morsels of duck wonderfully. These vanished almost as soon as it hit the table and next time, I'm making sure I order a portion to myself.


Duck Rillettes - Bit of a duck overload here. After the scratching came the rillettes, unctuous and rich. These were also really good, with deep duck flavours bound together with the natural duck fat. Accompanying along side were a mini bowl of cornichons, which frankly, were just not sharp enough to compete with the creamy richness of the rillettes. I know a piccalilli of sorts would have gone down very well.


Globe Artichoke with Anchoiade - This is a dish with an aspect of sentimentality for me. One of the dishes my mother used to cook for us when we were kids was a simply cooked artichoke doused in a garlic and herb based vinaigrette. Fresh and lovely on so many levels. The Terroirs version comprised of said artichoke (with the spiky bits of the heart removed, result!) accompanied by an anchovy based dip. I baulk at the thought of anchovies so stayed well clear of the dip, but the cannon dove straight in. Then stopped abruptly. Although a fan of anchovies, this was too much for her delicate taste buds, declaring it too strong and overpowering, could definitely benefit from being milder.


Piperade Basquaise with Chorizo - In my eyes, the star of the show. The slow roasted, stewed peppers had a really smooth and slightly gooey consistency. It sang of caramelised sweetness. This was nicely contrasted with the savoury smokiness of the paprika rich chorizo. I felt that this was a really well balanced dish and although strictly not mine, I snaffled tasters here and there and when its owner gave up the fight, I happily assisted in clearing the pan clean.


Pot Roasted Quail, Italian Artichokes, Pancetta and Gremolata - This arrived in a mini creuset and its unveiling felt like we were opening a present. We huddled round as I lifted off the lid and sounds of "oooh" could be heard echoing around the dining room. It was very pretty but with the tasting came disappointment. I thought that the quail was actually quite bland and the meat tough. The jus was tasty but very heavy with rosemary and muted the rest of the flavours in the dish. I'm afraid I don't think the Gremolata added anything.


Whole Dorset Crab - Sis no 2 opted for the crab. Although on the small plates menu, I don't think anybody could confuse this as one, its a whole crab for heavens sake! Owing to my particular aversion to this particular crustacean (most crustaceans actually), I abstained from the tasting but was told that it was very nice. And for £12, cant really complain, that's pretty good value for a whole cooked animal!


Alphonso Mango Rice Conde - This was essentially a rice pudding with bits of mango through it. My family are all mango fans and my sisters is a big rice pudding fan so she was very happy with this. Personally, I thought it could have done with being a bit sweeter, a strange request for the naturally sweet alphonso mangoes. Are these mangoes in season yet?


Panna Cotta and Raspberries - A simple dish well executed. The cannon hits another home run with her choice yet again. Sweet vanilla panna cotta with sharp tangy raspberries.


Crepe and Griottine Cherries - A nice dish with aspects of heaven and hell. The crepes were filled with a luscious custard which escaped and oozed all over the plate once the crepe was broken. On the minus side, the cherries and sauce were extremely kirsch heavy. Alcohol is often used to complement the dish by giving a warm sensation on the back of the throat. This felt like someone was trying to burn it down. It overpowered the taste of the cherries.

Terroirs, in a nutshell, is a great addition to the London dining seen. It had its highs and lows, but when the highs are so memorable, then the lows pale into comparison. The food was flavoursome, the service pleasant (although one of the waiters did manage to spill water all over our table) and a great ambience. The best surprise? The bill. Coming to just under £25 a head for a packed 3 course meal inclusive of service is fantastic value.

I know our little "club" is looking forward to its next feed. Let hope its as memorable and enjoyable as this one. Salut!

Terroirs (Website) 5 William IV Street, WC2N 4DW

Eat Thai: Mango Tree, Victoria

A good friend of mine has made the rather brave decision to leave his job and pretty much go it on his own. I really admire his decision, it takes a lot of balls to launch yourself into something you don’t fully understand and are ultimately fully responsible for.

So where is this minor monologue meandering to? Food of course! One of the things my friend has to learn about is search and as that is my field of expertise (ahem...) we decided to have a conflab over a “lunch meeting”.

Working in Victoria, you soon realise that you are hardly spoilt for choice when it comes to decent non chain dining establishments. So I logged onto the Taste London website (of which I have become a member) and with a highly appealing 50% off, Mango Tree, a local upper end Thai restaurant, was the destination.



Mango Tree is just round the corner from the Queens gaff and the insides are elegant and clean enough for her majesty herself to pop round for a pad thai or two. As we sat down, we were handed the labyrinthian menu (it's absolutely massive and quite confusing) and ordered some non-alcoholic cocktails. Although these were tasty, at £6 a pop, we were entering the realms of ”taking the piss”. What the hell were they made of? Ambrosia?


As they were running some “Lobster Specials”, I opted for the lobster tempura. These were a total let down. The meat was bland and erring on being well done. The accompanying spicy sauce was like kebab shop burger sauce, only not as nice and not a hint of spice. This dish should have been arrested for crimes against crustaceans.


A main of Pad Ka Pow Moo (stir fried pork with chilli and holy basil) was far better although for a chicken dish, this was very green bean heavy. The accompanying egg fried rice was nice but priced at £4 for a small bowl was outrageous.

I hate to say it but Mango Tree is a big rip off. Clearly marketed at those with big expense accounts, even with the 50% discount, it cost well over £20 a head, not really a cheap lunch. The Queen may well be able to afford it, I somehow don't think she is going to pop round if she reads this.

Mango Tree (website)
46 Grosvenor Place, SW1X 7EQ