My restaurant highlights for September / October
- anna
- Nov 2, 2018
- 6 min read
Restaurant visits worth highlighting over the next 2 months
As also October has gone, I want to share with you the best 5 restaurants I visited over the last 2 months.
Most of them are pretty new also to me, the only one I have been before is Temakinho, a fusion sushi place is Soho which was started in Italy and has now been exported to sunny Ibiza and grey London and which does some amazing sushi and cocktails.
By the way, these are positive highlights, but If I have to mention a negative one for sure Sea Containers (the restaurant inside the Mondrian in Southwark) comes to mind – ridiculously expensive – we paid £85 each for a normal and average dinner you can easily get from the gastro pub close to where we live. Avoid to go there, unless your primary driver is to choose a restaurant is the location, which is very cool and suggestive - I have to admit.
Below a few highlights on these restaurants, in case you want to try them.
1- Kricket: 9/10
Price: 9/10
Food quality: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
I visited Kricket in September with Francesco and another Italian couple (which is also a foodie one) and it was absolutely delicious!
Kricket is a Bib Gourmand restaurant according to the Michelin guide and it serves Indian food revisited with a modern twist. Food is tapas style and thought to be shared, but (unlike many tapas style restaurants in London) portions are pretty big so you will get satisfied no worries!
The waiter suggested us to order ~ 3 plates each and share them, and we trusted him :). We started with some appetizers, a very tasty bhel puri (a snack made with puffed rice) and samphire pakoras and then went on with some bigger plates, but still to share, of which I recommend the char grilled plaice with a vinegar marinade, a vegetarian curry with roasted pumpkin and paneer and another great dish with hake. Naturally all accompanied by kulcha breads and rice.
The price for the dinner was also quite cheap around £35, especially as Kricket is a popular restaurant in the heart of Soho.
For sure a place where I will return and which I suggest you to try!
2 - El Inca Plebeyo: 8.5/10
Price: 8/10
Food quality: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Value for money: 8.5/10
I discovered this small Ecuadorian restaurant really by chance as it is quite hidden at the end of Essex Road. In reality, me and Francesco wanted (and still want! :)) to try this Neapolitan pizzeria, Oi Vita, which is also on Essex Road, but it does not take reservations; so we decided to go there and see if we could find a spot, whist booking something else for back-up – and that’s how I booked El Inca Plebeyo.
Unfortunately (but in the end not that much :)) Oi Vita had no tables available that night, so we went for our back-up choice, which revealed itself a very pleasant surprise instead.
The place is cosy and warm with decorations and colors that remember a typical Southern American restaurant; Ecuadorian cuisine is very similar to the Peruvian one (so you will find ceviche, tiraditos, but also some meat dishes) and there are just a few differences which the waitress kindly explained to us, for example Peruvian ceviche has less marinade or the variety of potatoes in Peruvian dishes is much wider.
Me and Francesco decided to share the dishes, choosing approximately 3 each. Among the things I liked the most there is the ceviche (both the mixed seafood one, but also the veggie one with mushrooms and truffle oil, which we ended up ordering again), the tuna and seabass tiraditos and another hot ceviche with corn and quinoa inside.
With a glass of wine each and a dessert (a Quinoa Pudding, which he liked) we paid around £50 each, which, considering all the seafood dishes we got, is reasonable.
All in all, a nice discovery and suggested to who wants to eat a good ceviche in London!
3. Temakinho: 8.5/10
Price: 8.5/10
Food quality: 9.5/10
Service: 7/10
Value for money: 9/10
It is a long time that I know and visit pretty regularly this place, as it is originally from Italy and I used to go there in Milan. They have opened around 2 years ago in London too (and I believe they are going to open a new one in 2019 in Tower Bridge) and we use to go there at least every 2-3 months.
Temakinho serves fusion (Japanese-Brasilian) sushi and it is mostly specialised in temaki (hence the name) - which are almost like a big ice cream cone, where the ice cream is a tartare of either salmon, tuna or other fish and it is amazing! – and rolls. They do very good capirinhas too, the passion fruit one is my favourite.
When we go - the last time we went in September with Giovanni and Giulia (our foodie friends I was mentioning before) - we usually get some appetizer to start as a ceviche or a tartare and then a temaki each and a few rolls to share.
I personally do not like sushi with too much dressing and fried stuff, as I believe you lose a bit the concept of sushi and also, end up not tasting the taste of fish itself anymore, but in Temakinho you can find both the options. Among my favourite choices are the spicy salmon temaki and for rolls the Carnaval, Pioneiro or the more classic Spicy Tuna or Salmon.
The bill is usually reasonable and, depending on how much you eat and drink, It can vary between £40 and £50.
The only negative note on Temakinho is the service, which, I am sorry to admit, is pretty awful. The last 2 times we went – the first one we were served after more than 1 hour as there had been issues with the order and the second one we booked online for 4 people and they put us at the counter (which is very annoying if you are 4 in order to talk and share food) without specifying, so we had to wait until they found us a new table.
All in all I really love the food here, so I will continue to go, but a bit of improvement in the service levels could be appreciated!
4. Lahpet: 8/10
Price: 8/10
Food quality: 8.5/10
Service: 8/10
Value for money: 8.5/10
I read about this Burmese restaurant (a region close to India) in August when back from holidays and decided to give it a try with Francesco one night for dinner.
I think Lahpet started in Old Spitafields with a stall – and it is still there too – and then recently opened this branch very close to Shoreditch station. The place is very small, loud and busy, but also nice and vibrant.
We decided to get a few starters to share, one very good being a yellow pea paratha with a very crunchy texture and flavorsome filling, the other one – steamed dumplings filled with shrimps – had a bit of strange and gummy texture which we did not like.
As main I got a stuffed aubergine with dried shrimps and mushrooms with the house rice ,which was very good and also Francesco was pleased with his meat choice (a pork and mustard curry).
Another highlight was my dessert, an avocado mousse with strawberries and blueberries, was very refreshing and good.
The above with 3 glasses of wine (yes Francesco cannot make it with just one :)) we paid ~£50 pp, also in this case in line with London average for this kind of restaurants.
Overall worth a visit, at least to try a new type of cuisine which is quite niche.
5. Briciole: 7.5/10
Price: 7.5/10
Food quality: 7.5/10
Service: 8/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
The last restaurant I would like to talk about is Briciole, an Italian restaurant in Marylebone, which I recently tried with Francesco.
Briciole is quite a big restaurant, which also has a deli section and a counter with fresh produce as cheese or cold cuts they sell to customers. The food is pretty varied, with a vast selection of Italian cheeses and cold cuts, but also pasta dishes and mains.
We got some starters to share, of which a very tasty grilled scamorza cheese, tomato bruschettas and Francesco got culatello too (an Italian cold cut).
As main I got the smoked tuna carpaccio with friarielli as a side and Francesco got some wild boar pappardelle, which he was a bit disappointed about as in his opinion is was not 100% wild boar.
Another small issue we has was with Francesco’s glass of wine as I remember the first one they served him was a bit acid, so he had to ask for a new one.
The above with a dessert (Francesco got tiramisu, which was good according to him) we paid ~£50, an ok price for what we eat.
All in all, good Italian restaurant worth trying, even if It did not really struck me for something in particular.
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