Sometimes I feel like I’m in Barcelona

So, Barcelona.

A lovely day at the W Hotel beach, with obscene volumes of cocktails and sangria.

Food was taken in the form of funny little tins of cubed cheese in oil and anchovies in the same, with plain, high-end olive oil crisps – I constructed a sort of sandwich featuring the above. 

Later we had a meal out at Shoko restaurant, with even more copious cocktails. Some sushi appetiser followed by prawn and avocado tower with rare steak & mash for mains. 

Then onto CDLC, this time for many a bombjeager – required both for the digestive properties of the J and the awakening abilities of the RB before onto Opium nightclub and four bottles of Grey Goose. Absolute carnage.

Senor Humpo 

 

Sainsbury’s Snacking

Returning to the office around midday meant that I picked up my lunch equipment from city Road Sainsbury’s. Half a tub of Moroccan inspired hummous was waiting in the fridge back at the office so accompaniments were needed. Two breads billed as cheese and tomato were ample dipping apparatus. I also picked up some dried apricots and a small vegetarian sushi selection for later as I was planning on a fairly hefty shift and would need something to keep le wolf from le door (lunch club archive reference there for those that have been reading since the beginning).

Needless to say I had eaten it all within the hour.

Doug the Devourer

 

 

Savage Bail

A lunch I’d like to forget really quickly.

I’d stuffed myself on the standard Friday breakfast buffet today, that was a higher grade of mini cheese croisants, superb little bacon brioche baps, smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, fresh fruit and the like. The idea was that I’d gorge myself so much that I could skip lunch altogether.

However the inevitable (mild) stomach grumblings combined with talk of colleagues popping to wasabi meant I went along for the ride, intending to buy a couple of maki rolls, just really as something insubstantial to keep the wolf from the door.

In wasabi however, I was tempted by a seaweed-wrapped triangle of tuna onigiri. I imagined matchstick slivers of raw tuna accompanied by a japanese mustard-mayo and red onions, and with that in mind picked one up and took it back to the office.

When I unwrapped the little triangle though, my heart fell. Instead of the delicious tuna meat I was hoping for, I instead was greeted with the horrible shredded fish that has an uncanny resemblance to cat food. How could I have been so stupid. A foul-looking layer was sandwiched inbetween two sides of rice. 

I layered up almost an entire sachet of wasabi in the mix, but after a few mouthfulls, about half way through, I had to abandon ship. Terrible. Horrible. Awful. I deposited the uneaten remains in the bin, further disheartened that I was consigning this over-fished lion of the sea to a place other than my stomach. I couldn’t take it. Completely rank.

A colleague took such pity on me she offered me a Waitrose pink lady apple, which I gratefully accepted if for nothing more than to banish the taste of this unmitigated disaster from my palate.

HungryHungryHumpo

 

Sushi and Moussaka

After a rather epic weekend in so many ways lunch today needed to be fairly hearty. My leftover portion was a helping of mushroom and lentil mousska from the ever reliable Moosewood Cookbook. A dependable if not overly glamorous tome of vegetarian cooking. Fearing that I didn’t have enough to steer me through  what are becoming increasingly busy days I nipped out the EAT on Great Eastern Street and grabbed a pack of vegetarian sushi. Calmed as I was by the thought of some overdue iodine (from the seaweed) entering the bloodstream the actual sushi was as expected from places like EAT: fairly bland but for the soy, wasabi and ginger ramping up the taste experience. The mousakka was delicious. A glass of water provided some much needed hydration.

Doug the Devourer

Tsunami – Take 2

Only back in the office two days, and there was an opportunity for a media lunch which I obviously grabbed with both hands.

Returning to a restaurant I’d last visted over a year ago despite the proximity to my offices, Japanese Tsunami fitted in with my attempts to have a healthy start to 2012.

Huge bowlfuls of delicious Edamame, one salted and one spicy were the start, followed by some good chicken gyoza dumplings and tempura prawns and vegetables.

Then, an item insisted on by one of my fellow diners as soon as we looked at the menu, the sushi large volcano. Pictured below, this was a stack of lobster maki rolls covered in a creamy sauce with roe and chilli. Epic, and tasty.  

Finally a tray of mixed sashimi that was a slight disappointment. Though the fish was all quite fresh it was not especially flavoursome, and pales into insignificance against the sashimi eaten at the Maldives last month, or Umu in December either.

The main plates arrived and the four of us shared concerns we’d massively over-ordered. Wasabi lamb was dependable as ever, my colleague chicken teriyaki (healthy choice) was quite bland and not a dish I revisited. My ‘must-have’ was the Aberdeen angus fillet with sea urchin and foie gras butter. It delivered on my expectations and won over two other diners depite their earlier reservations.

Black cod was a delight – with the accompanying pot of slightly sweet, thick sauce which was possibly the meal highlight. Fears over overdoing it were allayed as we were content without being stuffed. 

Thus, with a pot of Jasmine Silver Needle white tea, I shared a scoop of passion fruit and a scoop of mango ice cream. The former a sweet, fruity treat, the latter not mango-ey enough and too creamy. 

I was the only member of the quartet to drink, and even then a solitary bottle of Asahi after my coke. Tsunami was not as good as previously though it may be my own developing tastes rather than any deficiency in their food. Still a fine restaurant and a lovely way to cap my first days back at work this year.

Alex-san

Umu

A last minute drop out for a team lunch opened up a space for yours truly on Wednesday, with Laurence and his team-mate Petra. This restaurant has been on my radar ever since a fellow colleague ranked it as one of her favourite restaurants in the world. Arriving slightly late thanks to an over-running conference call, I joined the others with a G&T aperetif before looking over the luxurious, and huge, rice-paper menus.

The tasting menu option was put forward by our hosts, and taking the strain out of choice making (as well as being one of the reasons this Michelin-starred restaurant is acclaimed). Suffice to say we all jumped at the chance, and everyone ordered the sushi Kaiseke tasting menu. I had a last minute change of heart (as I inevitably do when all order the same course) and opted for the Kaiseki tasting menu which featured sashimi over sushi though for almost all of the other dishes was identical.

We kicked off with my first taste of abalone, the sea snail considered a delicacy the world over. Sake steamed, it was served with two different kinds of jelly, one green and seaweed tasting, the other orange, served on top of the abalone and lending an acidity to the pale flesh. Novel, chewy, and the whole dish having a great depth of flavour that stayed on the palate, in all a very positive start.

Following this was a very posh equivalent of miso soup. Containing a tasty strip of John Dory fillet and turnip, this was served in a tofu broth lifted with ginger. The third course was where my plate differed from my fellow diners; I was served a special chefs selection of traditional sashimi.

The pink fish in the middle was tuna belly – and possibly the tastiest piece of sashimi I have ever eaten. Seabass, to the right, and red mullet made up the other fish on this dish, and it was served with two dipping sauces, one suggested for the white fish and one for the tuna, though I tried all combinations. I also ate enough wasabi here to guarantee face tingle. An excellent plate of food.

The fourth was a single white spoon, arranged into yin-yang shape of sea urchin and foie gras custard. We were advised to eat it in one go, and I was sad to do so as again this was stunning. Tasting of the sea in the best possible way, it was a rich and interesting mouthful of heaven that lives long on the palate and the memory. A stunning depth of flavours again.

The first main course proper was another broth, a hot pot of turbot and snow crab with vegetables. Though good, this was not in the same league as previous dishes and sadly, as it contained crab, one of my least favourite courses.

Following that was an excellent meat plate, a small blob of pumpkin purée with finely sliced, bright pink wild mallard sitting on top. Dressed lightly with a red, sake infused sauce, this dish was back to the earlier highs, and was one of those you wished you could eat much more of.  

Dishes seven and eight were sadly not in line with this generally awesome standard. The last savoury course was again where my menu differed, as I had a dish of fried burdock and root vegetables over rice and egg sauce, with admittedly excellent Japanese pickles. The sushi selectors here had a plate of classic sushi that I would have preferred over the vegetable and rice combination, though again this was still tasty, just some way short of the majority of previously fine dishes.

The final course was a dessert of satsuma ice cream in an unusual jelly like skin, with mousse, almond powder (which looked very suspicious) and frozen white mushroom.

It looked stunning, but as with most desserts in good Asian restaurants, I wasn’t overwhelmed. We initially puzzled at the bizarre knife, however it was needed to slice through the unusual gelatinous shell of the ice cream – which Laurence abandoned altogether.

Following this we had some sake from the huge sake menu – a half bottle of Dewazakura Gingko sake, which was light, fruity and sweet and a fine end to a wonderful meal. We were also served a plate of petit-fours to accompany.

The green tea bon-bon was a moisture draining oddity, whilst the citrus jelly was overwhelmingly zingy – I reflected at the time through a scrunched up face it was the most ‘orange’ flavoured thing I’d ever eaten. This place would be out of my price range to visit outside of business – there’s no getting away from the fact it is very expensive. For the most part however it is also very, very good, and I warmly thank my hosts for treating me to its delights. One of said hosts actually writes a rather fine food blog.

Alex-san

Birthday Buns

So on the 27th anniversary of my birth I had decided to spend the day making a few pickles and some sloe gin. Part of this involved braving the crowds at Westfield Stratford City to pick up a few choice kitchen implements from Lakeland. Surprisingly (or not) busy for a Monday I found myself puckish around the lunching hour and also in the Japan Centre shop. Pursuing the food options I nearly went for some sushi but was enticed by what I think is Japanese Curry Bread.

The label read very bizarrely and it had to be tried. I liked it a lot. Not anything special really but it’s uniqueness made up for that. An intriguing mix of Oriental curry sauce, cheese, and a doughnut cake casing were all I can actually remember and I can’t find anything online that is the exact description but still it was gone in moments. Intriguing stuff.

Doug the Devourer

 

Sushi & A Crab Salad

Another bit of dithering round a sandwich shop prefixed today’s lunch, but today was Eat instead of Pret. Same outcome though, I didn’t get anything. Largely horrified by the sat fat volumes of many sarnies. As I type that, horrified that this is a current issue for me but the waistline will reap the benefits. 

So I strolled next door to Wasabi, and picked up a few sushi bites – two salmon maki rolls and a inari nigiri, as well as a crabmeat salad and a 5p sachet of wasabi (they really should let you have this stuff for free).

Back at the canteen with regular dining pal Laurence (he’d chosen a chicken katsu curry but struggled with the sticky-rice stodge throughout), I got stuck in, starting with the salmon rolls before moving onto the suprisingly generous crab salad – drizzled in soy. Tasty. Suprisingly so, given it was almost certainly largely crabstick in origin. The sweet fried beancurd nigiri was the finisher sloshed down with water. Very satisfying.

I’ve also happened across a rather spendid new fruit tea variant this week, of which I enjoyed a cup thi afternoon – Apple & Blueberry from the Twinnings fruit sampler packs. Not quite up to the Mango, Orange & Cinnamon I so enjoy but a delicious brew nonetheless.

I also enjoyed an afternoon treat of neopolitan cake, treated by a colleague, accompanying a cup of coffee. The cake,, from our canteen downstairs, was divine. Envious looks allround.

GlaDOS (The Cake Is A Lie)

Snacking on Sushi

A short hop from our new offices lies a branch of Lunch Club regular eatery, Wasabi.

After a weekend of gluttony comprising a mega McDonalds, an undistinguished Jabu and a gorgeous Greedy Greek, I wanted light.

Two salmon maki rolls, a prawn tempura hand roll with avocado and a piece of tofu nigiri completed my meagre order. A few bits of licquorice back in the office rounded out my week-starting lunch.

Al 

Sushi Selecta

Cuttlefish nigiri, tuna hosomaki, salmon hosomaki, tofu nigiri, crab roll, seaweed gunkan & spicy salmon gunkan. Delicious.

A lovely stroll down to Villiers St with former colleague and regular sushi partner to Wasabi. As well as the above order I wasabi and soy, in a little plastic pot which most of my pieces were dunked in. The seaweed gunkan and tofu nigiri, the sushi I most like to finish on for it’s sweet taste, were particularly good.

A white tea afterwards completed this lunches theme .