Fri 2 - Balls & Holy Cow!

First off, bacon sandwich from The Butcher in Leadenhall market.  They were quicker today, and the bacon's fine.

Lunch was fish & chips at The Sterling (Balls Brothers).  Crispy skin (extremely yellow, odd), fresh fish, decent chips, good service.  Sooo much better than the same dish from Gilt last week.  Balls Brothers are on a roll at the moment, haven't had a really bad meal there for ages.

Dinner was a selection of curries from The Holy Cow, of which there are now seven branches across London.  It's expensive (here I go again) at about £40 for a decent meal for two.  Amazing though, if you've got one nearby then go for it, you won't be disappointed.  They had delivery time issues for a while but seem to have got on top of it now.  They delivered just shy of their advised hour waiting time.

Thu 1 - Drunken BK

Banana and smoothie.

Look like I didn't take a picture of lunch, and I must admit that for the first time since I started the blog I can't recall what I had.

I do remember getting a bit pished after work, and having this "Whopper with Cheese" from BK on the way home at about 9.30 (an early exit from work-drinks before anything really bad happened).

The flavours of the condiments always overpower the other components (i.e. burger and bun).  A good thing.  Take it from a one time BK employee, the meat on it's own tastes like sh*te.  In my own humble opinion of course.

Wed 29 (Feb) - Ampitheatre Restaurant at the Royal Opera House

First, the only good food part of my day - a sausage sandwich from The Butcher in Leadenhall Market.  Whilst it's the best sausage sarnie in the city, I wish they were a bit quicker sometimes.  I'm already late enough for work by my own doing, without having to watch the cooks discuss the finer points of making bechamel sauce whilst doing nothing about the breakfast I've ordered.

Being the leap year, today's effectively a freebie.  Thank God, as that means I can rightfully forget about the terrible meal that was served to us at The Amphitheatre Restaurant, Royal Opera House, which we were visiting to watch a performance of Don Giovanni.  I chose a starter of hot-smoked salmon and beetroot salad.  No complains here, there were a couple of different textures of beetroot, the salmon was fine, leaves were fresh, but something you could knock-up at home.

All four of us opted for the same delicious sounding main of seared scallops with leeks and truffle.  Huge mistake x4.  The scallops were not seared, but had been baked with the other ingedients, judging by the pastry encrusted shells that they were served in.  The leeks were almost fully disintegrated, and overpowered by pepper, the tiny shards of truffle rendered unrecogniseble amongst the other flavours.  For a dish priced at £21 we received three scallops each (one cut in half), that were totally tasteless and of a curiously unfamiliar texture.  It was finished with an orange coloured sauce that tasted only of butter.  The Ampitheatre Restaurant, and by association The Royal Opera House, should be ashamed of serving this.  Needless to say, we opted out if desert.  A word for the waiter, who was eager to please and exceptionally polite.  The opera itself was great, and that's from an uncultured pleb, but there are so many good restaurant within a five minute walk from here that thankfully if visiting this beautiful venue you won't have to put up with the rubbish we were given.  It doesn't even look good . . .

Tue 28 (Feb) - Pixxa & Vongole

Smoothie and banana for breakfast.  Getting fed up of writing it, I may stop soon.

Pixxa for lunch today, a margherita and a salami.  Reviewed before, just as good this time.  Reheated slices but you can taste the quality.  All the same, £4.60 did seem like a lot.  I've said this a lot though, maybe I'm just a bit tight.

The lovely V made some canapes for dinner, smoked eel or smoked salmon & avocado, both varieties sitting on blinis with a horseradish/creme fraiche base.

Next up (V cooking again) was linguine alla vongole (pasta and clams).  Not as enjoyable as on Valentines Day, not sure if this is due to the occasion making the Vday experience better or that it was oilier and a tad greasy today.  Plus I was left with a repeating fishy taste, which left me none too optimistic for my chances of making it to work the next day.

Mon 27 (Feb) - K&C and Pret in Quality on Same Day Shock

Amazing, two chain food firms (one far larger and less quality than the other I should add) both managed to serve up some quality food on the same day.  Both these items have been positively reviewed before.

First up, Rhubarb & Custard muffin from Konditor & Cook.  Not disimilar to the last time I had it, except the custard filling was too low down, making it harder to eat at desk, but no less enjoyable.  Before and midway-through pics below.

For lunch, the "Vietnamese" chicken baguette from Pret.  The only decent thing I've had there so far this year.  But credit, it's a tasty sandwich.

No dinner tonight, naughty me.

Sun 26 (Feb) - Snack Board & Currywurst

Once again I couldn't haul myself out of bed until gone midday, no doubt weighed down from the Byron and beers from last night.

I treated myself to brunch of mozzarella, duck pate, roasted peppers, moruno tomatoes and ham.  A special mention for the duck liver pate from MacFarlanes, which was smooth and rich and ducky.

There were a couple of Lidl German style pork sausages left in the freezer, so I made some mashed potato and currywurst sauce to accompany them.  The currywurst was made by gently frying a shallot, then adding ketchup, water and curry powder, then gently simmered until the desired consistency was reached.  I'd never tried this before and was a bit surprised that it worked, as it sounds a bit odd.  I took a leaf out of Hestons mash recipe by infusing the milk with potato skins, and also ricing the potato before pushing through a sieve.  These two tips definitely had a positive effect on the end product, which was particularly potatoey and lumpless.  I also fried some onions, to within an inch of their lives unfortunately.  It didn't spoil a good dinner though, a refreshing alternative to S&M with beans or onion gravy.  Ok, so not that alternative.

Sat 25 (Feb) - Pix Bar & Byron

I started off with a very late breakfast of smoothie and banana, to stave off the scurvy.

I found myself in Soho late afternoon, and stumbled across Pix Bar, which specialises in pintxos, best described as tapas on sticks, as you'd typically find being served in the Basque Country.  The attractive looking snacks are lined up on the bar and priced according to stick length, so you just help yourself and eat at your leisure.  When you're finished, the sticks are totted up and you pay your bill accordingly.

We opted for a chorizo with quince jelly & manchego, Spanish-style potted shrimps (i.e. paprika added), a large jamon croquette (the only duff item, with the bay in the bechamel overpowering everything else), as well as rare tuna and some ham, both on bread with their own fancy garnishes.

This is another interesting addition to the casual dining scene that's flourishing in this part of London, with the added benefit that it doesn't have permanent queues.  This might have something to do with the price though, costing £30 for a couple small of glasses of house wine and six pintxos.  The quality of food is high, but it wasn't filling and we left ready for dinner . . .

Byron, the rapidly expanding quality burger chain, was our destination.  I ordered a Byron beefburger (cheese, bacon and a big-mac style sauce).  The meat was still a little pink (for me, a good thing) though the side of zuchinni fries were a little limp, as if the oil hadn't been hot enough when frying.  Byron reminds me of Pizza Express; reliable and enjoyable but never exciting.  Oh, and coming to a high street near you sometime soon, if it hasn't already arrived.