Maze Grill Park Walk, London

What do you get when you mix steak and sushi together? Either something disastrous, or maybe just a restaurant that happens to serve both in separate dishes. That is exactly what maze grill produce in their kitchen. It also happens to be a restaurant by the Hell's Kitchen of Gordon Ramsay. I am a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay, ashamingly I have not been to any of his restaurants not even his flagship three Michelin stars restaurant. When I heard there was a new maze grill opening, I knew I had to go.

Set in Chelsea's Park Walk, it's the address where Aubergine, the restaurant where Ramsay's career took off, used to stand. Back in 1993, Aubergine is the first restaurant opened by Gordon Ramsay and was where the chef earned his very first Michelin star. For Ramsay, Park Walk is full of fond memories close to his heart and steeped in history. Initially when the news broke out that Ramsay bought back the lease on the site he'd first come to fame, I was hoping for another fine dining restaurant. When he decided to turn the site into maze grill, it's frankly a lot less interesting but that didn't stop me for a visit. The space is typically classy affair with a touch of casualness. All copper fixtures, subtle brickwork and polished wood. 

Menu

Dessert Menu

Bread

Menu is straightforward. Small plates to share as starters or big plate starters or you can choose sushi/sashimi but the selection isn't large enough for it to be mains. There is a wide selection of steaks, in terms of origin, grass-fed / grain-fed / corn-fed, again etc. so certainly no complaints on the menu. Alternative there are other mains available if steak does not take your fancy. Complementary bread was served warm, soft and doughy with crunchy crust and very creamy butter.

California Roll - snow crab, avocado, tobiko, tempura crunch

Sashimi Selection - tuna, salmon, scallops

English Asparagus - poached egg, purple mustard dressing

The crossover of Japan and Britian(?) starts from the starters and stops at the starters. We began with California roll and a sashimi selection. It was not spectacular, nor awful. In fact I don't understand I am here for a steak but I am eating sushi for starters? It gets all confused. I was not hugely impressed, by all means it was tasty morsels but of the standard of very average Japanese restaurants which happens to be a lot cheaper. On a side note, we also had a English asparagus and for £10 you get like 5 asapagus, the asapagus was cut into half lengthwise making it look like they've used more asapagus. It was lovely, the yolk oozes out when cut into and a nice dressing but I do prefer a hollandaise sauce over a mustard dressing.

Rib-eye - 16oz, USDA grain fed, beef bone marrow & shallot sauce

Rib-eye - 10oz, British native breed, dry-aged for 21 days, peppercorn sauce

Butter Lettuce Salad and Triple-Cooked Chips

Being Mr T, he occasionally have steak and wine night with the banking lads sampling the best of the best steakhouses around London. When it comes to steak, he goes large. I mean at least 20oz (~600grams for you SI-heads). He opted for the USDA rib-eye, 16oz. The waitress had to confirm several times that he wanted such a large portion. Between me and him, we can polish off a 35oz (~1kg) of porterhouse easily. Steaks at its best should be cooked to medium rare. It was served closer to medium than medium rare with the issue of being a thinner piece of meat. The steak was tender eve though it was cooked to medium with a subtle charred flavour. It's no knock out, passable to be considered delicious. Whilst I had the 10oz British native breed rib-eye. On a closer inspection, it was cooked to medium rare being on a thicker side than the USDA rib-eye. I found my piece of steak was much tenderer than Mr. T's, more charred and flavoursome. Equally they're both good quality steaks no doubt. We shared two sides, salad and chips. I liked the buttery dressing on the salad but perhaps can torn the salad leaves into smaller pieces. Chips was decent, crisp and fluffy inside, it was on the ultra thick side and extremely long. There will be a point where you have to cut the chips with your fork and knife to eat. The sauce was good, not amazing but I did liked the little pieces of bone marrow in the sauce.

We ordered a carafe of Pinot Noir "Petit Clos", Henri Bourgeois, New Zealand 2013 (£25) which went very nice with the steaks. The waitress commented on the Pinot Noir being too light for the steak, such a nonsense. Get me the sommelier please.

Eating at a Gordon Ramsay's restaurant comes at a cost, the USDA rib-eye is priced at £3.70/oz. So Mr. T's steak costed him nearly £60, just for that not so big slab of meat. This works out to be £130/kg while at the butcher (i.e. Allens of Mayfair) it costs a third of the price roughly at £45/kg. For the top notch steakhouse such as Goodmans, their USDA's will set you at around £60-70/kg. So we've established eating a hefty premium of beef, you may have to starve yourself for a week to afford it. Unless yourself can cook a piece of mean steak, there's no point forking out so much having a steak in a restaurant especially if they served you an adequate piece. Service was fine but at times we had to pour our own wine. We didn't stay for desserts as it didn't interest us at all. Conclusion, lose the sushi, please. It's not on par with the steaks. Steaks was tasty but does not justified being so overpriced, if it wasn't for the soft launch this meal could have easily set us back just below £200 altogether.

Score Rating: 3.5/5

Price: £50-80/head (50% soft launch, ~£100 for two people)

http://www.gordonramsay.com/mazegrill/park-walk/

Bleecker St. Burger, London

There is only so much you can write about burgers. I did go to two different burgers joints in one week, in fact that week has been non stop eating out that I felt obnoxiously unhealthy. So much carbs and grease, it will not stop me eating burgers and on ward.

Like many restaurateurs/chefs/etc, it is their passion of food which brought them to where they are in the food world. It is no different to Zan Kaufman, a corporate laywer from New York City and with her love of burgers brought us Bleeck St. Burger. The life of Bleecker St. Burger started out as a food truck roaming around London with rave reviews until they settled for a permanent space in Old Spitalfields Market. The food truck still roamed around in London in various locations.

Bleecker Black - double beef, double american cheese, black pudding, onion & sauce

Double Cheeseburger - double beef, double cheese, onion & sauce

Fries and Angry Fries with hot sauce & blue cheese sauce

When looking at the menu, it's hard to resist not to order the Bleecker Black, a piece of black pudding sandwiched between two beef patties cooked medium rare. Oh man, I hate to admit it despite the seeded bun was a let down, it was super duper delicious. The black pudding may over flavoured the beef, but it's that black pudding flavour which makes this burger exquisite. So good so, Mr T stole rest of my burger even though himself had a double cheeseburger. The double cheeseburger was equally delicious, intense meaty flavour from beef dry aged about forty days. The burgers are slightly on the greasy side, who cares. The fries are good, with "angry fries" smothered in hot sauce and blue cheese. I didn't really like the taste of the hot sauce and it wasn't hot either but the blue cheese is nice. Mr T liked it, that mattered. In fact, he liked the black pudding a lot.

Bleecker St. does quality burgers, the Bleecker Black is a showstopper. That is all you need to order along with some fries. It may not be a restaurant, rather more of a hole-in-the-wall kitchen with few benches scattered around the market. I don't know how I will survive eating in the cold but it won't stop me coming back for more burgers.

Score: 3.5/5

Price: £10-15/head

http://bleeckerburger.co.uk

Honest Burgers Liverpool Street, London

Burgers are not hard to cook, right? But it's hard to find a good burger. I didn't actually stumbled into Honest Burgers by accident, I deliberately went there. I've walked past the soho branch many times and seeing the queue it just puts me off. So how do you avoid the queue? Go to a different branch, relatively in a less busier area such as Liverpool Street and perhaps in the evening to avoid the lunch time madness.

The menu is simple with few variations of burgers all reasonably priced and comes with rosemary chips. To make yourself feel a bit healthier, you can also opt in for a side of salad at an extra cost.

Special - beef, smoked bacon, Swiss cheese, honest guacamole and Harissa mayonnaise

Honest - beef, red onion relish, smoked bacon, mature cheddar, pickled cucumber and lettuce

Apple, Beetroot and Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Lemonade

I feel forever late for just managing to catch the honest burgers bandwagon now, better late than never right? So I hooked up with a friend to grub burgers together. The burgers are pink and juicy, really there's nothing I can complaint about. It may not be the most flavoursome, still very tasty and enjoyable. And the size, at least I did not have to disintegrate the burger to fit into my mouth which sometimes just ruin the burger. So yes, I can totally open wide of my mouth to take a ridiculously big bite (very not ladylike). The chips are very good, seasoned with lots of Rosemary, not to thin and not too thick, light, fluffy and crispy. Not a tad of grease in sight. The coleslaw is nice. Fresh and crunchy, somehow whenever I tried to make coleslaw it never taste as good as the one as restaurant. Or that could be I am just bad at cooking.

If you want a good tasty burger at a very reasonably price, honest burger is the place. It's not finger licking good, but it's definitely good enough for me as an after drinks grab on work days. 

Score Rating: 3/5

Price: £10-15/head

http://www.honestburgers.co.uk

Pied à Terre, London

I have a long list of restaurants that I want to go to. It gets longer by the week with so many new openings. Pied à Terre is a one michelin starred restaurant, surprisingly it is not on my top of the list to go. Pied à Terre is the "bigger" sister restaurant to L'autre Pied which I visited earlier in the year and I had a great experience there. With Marcus Eaves as the head chef, I had high expectations, especially after L'autre Pied.

Tasting Menu

NV Vouvray Méthode Traditionnelle Brut, Domaine Sylvain Gaudron, France

We actually bought the deal of 7 course tasting menu with a glass of champagne on Amazon for £49 priory to the meal. It seems a very good bargain, trying to attract more clients by offering the tasting menu at a lower cost. The only downside is the time restriction which you can only book it for certain time and certain day of the week. That didn't stop us from buying the deal. So on a Monday evening, we sneakily left work a bit earlier than usual for the 6:15pm sitting in our business attires. We were served a glass of champagne each upon arrival. Correction, it's actually vouvray a sparkling wine from France and the one we drank is produced by same method as champagne so the second fermentation happens in the bottle. It's actually very good, especially being a blanc de blancs.

Amuse Bouche - Chicken Croquettes.

Amuse Bouche - Prawn Mousse with Fish Roes on Squid Ink Wafer

Walnut and Pumpkin Seeds bread

White Baguette

An array of amuse bouche and bread soon arrived. A miniature size of chicken croquettes left you wondering how do you make it so small, so crunchy with the chicken mousse inside leaving you wanting more. The prawn mousse on a squid ink wafer topped with fish roes has so many different textures, it was delightful. The bread selection is very good, white baguette, brioche, walnut & pumkin seeds bread and black treacle bread.

Salad of Spring Vegetables with Smoked Duck Breast, Garlic Mayonnaise and Shiitake Mushrooms.

Macabeo Sobra Lias, Torre Solar, Spain 2013

This was a dish that I could not take my eyes off, the plating is so beautiful. It was a very refreshing salad with lots of different textures. Smoked duck breast is very oily and flavoursome, it reminds me of ibérico ham. A playful beetroot meringue against other vegetables of soft and crunch. It was also a start of an exploding wine journey to the meal matched with Macabeo Sobra Lias, Torre Solar, Spain 2013. A hint of tropical fruits on the nose combined with crisp, refreshing acidity.

Mushroom and Truffle Soup with Creamed Orzo Pasta, Cured Pyrenean Pork Leg and Wild Mushrooms

Tradizionale Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Sono Montenidoli, Italy 2012

I don't think I could get enough of this fantastic mushroom soup, intensified mushroom flavour and the aroma of truffle lingering in the mouth. The orzo pasta gives it an extra texture along with the cured Pyrenean ham adding another dimension. It can be a bit salty at the end from the intensive flavour. The wine that was paired (Montenidoli Tradizionale Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Italy 2012) cuts through the saltiness very nicely. It makes me drool just thinking about this soup. Intrigue to know how to make such a mushroomy soup now, definitely something I would want to replicate in my kitchen minus the cost of the truffle.

Roasted Corn Fed Poussin with Liquorice Braised Leeks, Button Mushrooms, Spinach and Rosemary

Côtes du Rhônes, Famille Lancon la Solitude, France 2013

There was something on this Poussin dish that I was not looking forward to, liquorice braised leek. I am not against the leek, it is the flavour of liquorice that I dislike. The poussin is cooked to perfection, still retaining its moist succenlant meat. Well balanced dish and seasoned nicely. How happy was I, in fact I could barely get that hint of liquorice and secretly I was applauding in my heart with the joy of no liquorice lingering in my mouth. I could have asked not to have the leek on the dish but I still wanted to have every elements remained on the dish without ruining anything. Good matching wine (Côtes du Rhônes, Famille Lancon la Solitude, France 2013).

Pre Dessert - Pear and Mulled Wine Trifle

Botrytis Viognier, Yalumba FSW8B, Australia 2014 

If you asked me what I drink during Christmas, it's definitely not mulled wine. I don't like the spices in mulled wine, it really ruins the wine. The layer of mulled wine jelly surprised me in the trifle, not overly spiced and can still taste the wine. Surprisingly I liked the trifle more than I thought. Pied á Terre definitely have done a good job on adding the flavour of things that I don't like but when you have a taste of it, the disliken flavours are not brought out strongly meaning I can eat the dish. Paired With a sweet wine (Botrytis Viognier, Yalumba FSW8B, Australia 2014) that adds extra sweetness to the dessert.

Valrhona Chocolate Mousse with Honeycomb, Peanut Ice Cream and Pedro Ximenez Jelly

Madeira, Blandy's Malmsey Harvest, Portugal 2006

Triumph dessert, everything tasted so light and the right sweetness. The peanut ice cream was like an iced cold creamy but extremely light peanut butter. If I can I'd love to have a whole scoop of it. Even better, sandwiched between a fried bun and you get a peanut butter ice cream bao. I think I just suggested something new, don't steal it. The chocolate mousse just melts in the mouth, not overly sickly chocolatey, immensely light. Everything is just so perfect. What took me by surprised was the wine (Madeira, Blandy's Malmsey Harvest, Portugal 2006), it smelts like a port with a bit lighter body than a port and it tasted very similar to port as well. I think I just find a new alternative to our port obsession, Madeira that is.

Petit Fours - White Chocolate truffle, Pâté de Cassis, Passion Fruit and Rum Truffle and Lapsang Souchong Ganache.

Petit Fours - White Chocolate Marshmallows and Pistachio Something(?)

Tablewares from Villeroy & Boch

Ceylan Mulatiyana Hills, Betjeman and Barton

Double Expresso

I hoovered up my desserts politely and when you thought it was drawing to an end, more comes along with the line of petit fours of 6 different varieties. Every single one of them was so fine and delicate that you don't even want to touch it. Loved the lapsang souchong ganache. I can't remember what the green thing was but the marshmallow was a texture that you'd never experienced. So soft that it melts in the mouth, it was a threat to disappearing on the fingers. This is not like your everyday marshmallow. We also had a pot of ceylon and a double expresso. At one point, I wanted to take the teapots away with me. That's how much I liked it but now I do know where to buy it. Betjeman and Barton is a tea brand that I have not heard of before, it's one that I am on the look out for now because it's good.

Looking down the watch, it has gone past 9pm. How did we eat for 3 hours, it went so quick. Pied à Terre is good. I mean very good, food and service was faultless. This would probably be the most attentive service we've received in any places. Imaging being in a restaurant and at most the maximum was 4 tables that was dining. Service can't go wrong, right? There won't be a buzzing atmosphere, well it was not exactly busy. I do like a quiet room for dining sometimes, without distraction and no music playing. My suggestion to experience the impeccable service is to dine on a Monday. Sophisticated decor with bits and bobs of modern touch to it; low light hanging on each table and with the table booth area like, it's perfect for a cosy couple. You can tell I've enjoyed the meal a lot, biased to say I like Pied à Terre more than L'autre Pied. What's even better is their ability to matched such fantastic wines to such tasty food. Hands down to the sommelier.

Score Rating: 4/5

Price: ~£70/head (~£160 for 2 people, including one wine pairing, tea, coffee and service)

http://www.pied-a-terre.co.uk/

Warm Kale Salad with Sweet Potato, Chorizo and Poached Egg (with Florette Salad)

Reading my blog, you may end up deducing that I don't cook. That's very incorrect. I cook a lot, also bake a lot and drink a lot of tea. What do I cook? It ranges from western style to Chinese to Japanese/Korean to Mexican to Indian to other parts of the world. It really depends on what I buy from the market to what recipes I come across to dishes that I want to recreate that I have eaten at some dining establishments. Because of the lack of equipments I have at home, I have to compromise on what I can make out of the recipes. So watch this space, I will be creating a lot more recipes.

I love eating salad, especially drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar. It seems like a boring thing, salad that is. Salad is not just about lettuce. You can be very creative with it and it can be very delicious. In partnership with Florette Salad, I made a tasty salad with two superfoods. Using their new product, baby kale salad along with sweet potatoes. Kale contains vitamins A (benefits our skin and vision), K (it contributes to bone health and blood clotting) and C (helping to boost the immune system), as well as sulforaphane, a chemical compound with antioxidant, anti-cancer and antimicrobial properties, that stimulates natural detoxifying enzymes, contained in cruciferous vegetables. Not only that, it's high in fibre, high in iron and high in calcium. 

Why not try this salad as an alternative for you lunch?

Florette baby kale salad nutrition info: http://www.florettesalad.co.uk/our-products/singles/

Salad

Ingredients

Warm Kale Salad with Sweet Potato, Chorizo and Paoched Egg (for 2 servings)

Florette Baby Kale Salad

3 x small sweet potatoes, cubed

1 x small onion, sliced

2 x eggs

spicy chorizo, sliced

1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)

smoked paprika

salt & black pepper

white wine vinegar

extra virgin rapeseed oil

Method:

1. Boil the sweet potatoes for 6-8 mins until tender, then drain. 
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion, garlic and chorizo for until a little browned.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and fry until crispy. Sprinkle some smoked paprika and season to taste.
4. Meanwhile, heat a saucepan with water until simmering. Add few drops of vinegar to the water.
5. Crack the egg into a container, slowing pour the egg into the water. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the whites are set. Repeat for the second egg.
6. Transfer the sweet potatoes and chorizo into a large bowl, mix in with the kale.
7. Divide the salad onto two plates and add the poached eggs, drizzle some rapeseed oil to serve.
8. Bon apetit!

For more Baby Kale Salad recipes: http://www.florettesalad.co.uk/recipe-category/baby-kale/

I was sponsored by Florette Salad for the recipe.