Covent Garden with Rachael

The weekend before last, I met up with one of my oldest school friends, Rachael, in London, for a well overdue coffee and catch up. I say coffee... I mean lots of food, of course, with a coffee thrown in on the side. 

London's a half way point for me and Rachael; she lives slightly north and I'm obviously a stone's throw away in Brighton. She also used to live there, and I have other friends that currently reside la-bas, so it's always nice to meet up and see what's new in The Big Smoke.

We both wanted to do a spot of shopping, but first and foremost... was lunch. Rachael had a vague recollection of eating some really good poached eggs last time she was about, somewhere in the Covent Garden area. And that was about all we had to go on! So with no restaurant name in mind or any real idea of which street we were looking for, we moseyed on down the cobbled streets and chatted away happily, until 10 minutes later we suddenly turned a corner, and KOPAPA was there! (on Monmouth Street, WC2H 9HA, by the way). "This is the one!" Rachael squealed excitedly, and we skipped inside. There was a bit of a queue, but we were seated within 10 minutes.

After a cursory browse of the menu, we quickly decided on sea salt caramel milkshakes, ‘Turkish eggs’ (two poached eggs with whipped yoghurt, hot chilli butter and two slices of toast), and the West Country beef burger with tomato chilli relish, smoked aioli, Emmental & crispy bacon. 

The milkshake was probably my favourite part, as you can probably see... Rachael loved her eggs (they did look good!) and my burger was nice, but... it didn't rock my world. I'd definitely go back, but would probably go for the soft-shell crab burger next time, which sounded delicious!

With one dining establishment just not enough, we hit the sales for a couple of hours, and almost immediately hunted down the next. This is why I love Rachael (ONE of the reasons...!). We may have come a little way from our Haribo days (it was probably a main staple of our diets before, during, and after Geography and Maths lessons), but boy, do we love our food. And unashamedly so. To Benugo we went!

Benugo was a cute little cafe we happened across by accident on Long Acre. It was lovely! A simple coffee shop with some handsome-looking baguettes and baked goods on offer, it has an almost studio-feel to it when you first walk in, with it's wooden floors and spotlights hanging from the ceiling. Downstairs was my favourite, though. I could have stayed cosied up there for hours, hiding away from the rain in one of the cute alcoves set behind red brick archways.

Rachael was getting impatient waiting for our seats... :o) 

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around Covent Garden, admiring the pretty lights, the busy main square, the atmospheric cloudy sky, and the random performers on the streets. I do love London for a weekend visit!

And then it was time for us to go our separate ways...

I'm looking forward to our next trip already - lovely to see you, Miss Rachael :o)

A Taste of Sahara

I love a good kebab. What's not to love? Meat, mmm. Fresh salad, mmm. Fresh houmous, mmm. I went to a great little Turkish restaurant for the first time a few months ago with some work friends and loved it, so the other week, when Sarah stumbled across Sahara (a Lebanese, North African and Middle Eastern restaurant in Brighton) with it's plethora of Arabic cuisine (which is apparently mainly influenced by Turkish food), I jumped at the idea!

You can find the menu here.

We went for Katie's birthday, who was visiting for the weekend (happy birthday Katie!) None of us had been before, so with an air of anticipation, a group of us trooped across town to embark on our Sahara adventure...! (I've just noticed how similar Sarah's name is to Sahara. Sarah loves Sahara. Sarah loves Sahara. Sarah loves Sahara. Type that 10 times fast).

Inside was beautiful! Moroccan tin lanterns, draping silk curtains, heavy wood and rich colours... it looked really authentic, and a little bit like Aladdin's cave! We excitedly took our seats in a little circular cove hidden away in the corner, and poured our own drinks (you can take your own) while we studied the menu.

Jade and Sarah were loving the decor. Look at Jade caressing that carpet! :o)

Finally, we were ready to feast! The table was soon heavy under the weight of Saltan's Mixed Kebabs (Shish, Tawouk, and Kofta kebabs), Lamb Tagines, and a big vegetarian platter.

I am SO glad Dry January is behind us...

After rich, heavy meals all round, there was only one logical next move. Dessert.

Vanilla and Toffee Pecan Honey Pot for Lucy, a Lemon Meringue cake for Annie, and Baklava for me and Sam (if you haven't tried it... do).

It was such a nice evening! The food was just what you want in the winter: rich, filling, and delicious; the service was friendly and welcoming; and the atmosphere was great too! You might actually easily walk past this place from the outside, which would be a shame - I loved how much effort had gone in to the decoration inside, and how authentic it felt! :o) Clearly a few others shared the same view...

Happy birthday Katie, hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did, and sorry it's taken so long to get the pictures up! :o)

Rosti Relocated!

So a little while ago, I went to Terre a Terre in Brighton, and decided that I wanted to give one of their Rosti recipes a go myself. I had a think about the ingredients, and thought it would make quite a nice brunch, especially with a bit of bacon thrown in the mix! Ladies and gentleman, I would therefore humbly like to introduce... Rosti Relocated!

To serve one, you will need:

For the rosti:
Medium sized frying pan
1 potato
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
Sea salt and fresh pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Knob of butter

For the sauce:
28g fresh flat leaf parsley
4 tbsp fat free natural yoghurt
1 clove garlic
Juice of half a lemon
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Everything else:
100g pancetta
180g fresh baby spinach
1 egg
Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Grate your potato, either by hand or with a blender.

2. Put your grated potato in a mound on a clean tea towel, and tie up tightly so that you squeeze out as much of the water as possible. It took a few tries to get mine nice and dry! Once you've got it as dry as possible, season generously.

3. Dice your onion (again, I used my blender here - such a time saver, and no more tears for me!) Put in frying pan along with the garlic, olive oil, butter, and cook on a medium heat until translucent.

4. Add the potato and push down firmly so that the rosti takes a circular shape and is as compact as possible. Fry for 10-15 minutes and turn carefully, before frying the other side for another 10-15.

5. Get your pancetta frying in a separate pan with a little oil. You'll be adding the spinach to this later. You want it nice and crispy.

6. Time for the sauce! Warm through your parsely with a little oil and the clove of garlic in a pan, before whacking in the blender with the yoghurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Blend, blend, blend, and then blend some more! I found out parsley doesn't blend too easily. I really wanted a smoother sauce, but hey, you live and learn! Once the sauce is as pulped as you can get it, transfer back in to the pan and warm through on a low heat. If it's looking a little runny, add a little cornflour.

7. Add your spinach to your pan of pancetta and warm through until wilted.

8. Poach your egg in another pan (there were a lot of pans involved in this little dish...)

9. Pile it all up! Carefully transfer your fried rosti onto your plate. Pour the sauce around it. Top with the spinach and pancetta. Finally, balance your poached egg on top, add a little grated cheese, and season to taste.

Voila!

This recipe may not have looked quite as pretty as the one at Terre a Terre, but DAIM it tasted good! The only disappointment was that I got distracted while poaching my egg (could've been a bird, could've been a plane...) so the yolk wasn't runny in the middle :o( That oozy yellow gunk would have been great running over the pancetta and into the potato. Mmm. Ah well, next time! :o)