Iconic places to visit in London - Bar Italia- Soho

Bar Italia, Britain's most famous coffee Bar celebrates its 60th birthday this year. 

History tells that Britain's first espresso coffee bar was Moka, in Frith Street, which opened in 1953, however, Bar Italia, few doors down in the same street, had that time, already operating for four years, and survived as a landmark venue, and made its name in history as a character of Soho's Italian community.

It has a "cool" star clientele, from Rocky Marciano in 1960's (who wanted somewhere he could eat proper Italian food) to David Bowie and Kylie Minogue. Even before The Polledri family opened the business, the building had a place in history- it was there where John Logie Baird first demonstrated television.
The current boss is Tony Polledri, he is the son of the founder.
Fundamental to it all is that Bar Italia has always been an Italian social centre, Italians go there to watch the news and football on television.
Being there at some times is just like being in Italy!

Tasty bugs and other delicacies...

This trend started few years ago, I guess, with celebrities eating strange things and  bugs in an Australian Jungle for a TV show, but today, visiting Selfridges (the biggest department store in Oxford Street, London) something called my attention, a shelf full of edible insects, bugs and odd things.

You can find there,many delicacies like this photo below : Thai Green curry Crickets.

Civet coffee, also know as Kopi Luwak, is the most expensive and coveted gourmet coffee in the world. But it comes from a very unusual source, the droppings of Asian Palm Civets, a cat like animal native to Indonesia.

Yes, that's right, Indonesian cat poo, £25 for 150 gr.

Monkey Picked Tea is a wonderfully refreshing brew that has been hand - or rather paw - picked by monkeys!

and Scorpion Vodka.

Isn't it delicious!

 photos by Fabio

Sushi Bar

Kyoto Sushi Bar is my "new discovery" Japanese restaurant. Actually it looks like a Cafe, but it is more than that: good Japanese home cooking, excellent sashimi and a good range of bentos.

I tried a few items from their menu and my favourite was tempura prawns - delicious!

The staff are friendly and welcoming although service can be slow and they can get stressed. Japanese stressed?! Yes, the staff were a little bit stressed, maybe because it was busy, but the Sushi Chef kept calm all the way. The photo top right shows deep fried Oysters and the photo at the bottom shows baby squid. They were both fresh and crispy. Try them with a Sapporo Japanese lager. I recommend it!

Kyoto Sushi

26 Romilly Street, London W1D 5AJ

07940 995023‎

Swedish Christmas

I have spent Christmas day with my lovely Swedish friend Sara,

These are some examples of our Festive Swedish Christmas menu:
Gravlax (cured salmon), Christmas Ham (mustard coated),  beetroot salad, dill sauce, potatoes au gratin, made with double cream and anchovies, Brussels sprouts,meatballs and tiny sausages,herring with dill sauce, red cabbage, some salad and bread .
God Jul! ( Merry Christmas!)

Early Christmas!

This year we've celebrated Christmas, early!
Yesterday, we pretended (Jonathan and I ) it was Christmas and I cooked Duck with apricots and pork stuffing, served with orange and spices gravy, roasted vegetables( parsnips, cassava roots, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms with thyme, rosemary herbs) a nice salad (palm tree, from Brazil, tomatoes and lamb lettuce).
After we "stuffed" ourselves, we had a long break and had a cheese selection ( Camembert, Taleggio, Stilton with cranberries and apricots, Emmental) with Port wine and some Rioja.
Delicious! and if it was not enough, we finished off with a Matured Christmas Pudding, flamed with Courvoisier VS Cognac and Rich Baileys Irish extra thick cream.

       Merry Christmas everyone!  and Bon Appetit!
             

Cooking with Love

In my opinion,Cooking is a demonstration of love, giving and caring.
Our hectic lives make cooking very hard and we need to make an effort.It is not difficult at all, but we have many excuses for not doing it.Last week I have decided to cook for a special person in my life.
Here, it is!
The result:

Chicken Fricassee' with potatoes Crisps, rice and green salad
(Recipes on request)

                                        
                                                         Coconut Pud (Manjar Branco)
                                                                                with  Prune Sauce

 
These recipes don't come from any book, they were not tested in a industrial kitchen, ingredients not measured precisely , these recipes come from the heart.
It's very rewarding ,specially when this special person really appreciate it.
Bon appetit!

Beware of Christmas Dinner Parties...in Chain Restaurants

Me and 9 other friends went to Carluccio's Convent Garden yesterday, for a gather, celebrating the festive seasons...
Anyway, we got there, set around a lovely table, got a nice reception (a bread tin with different types of bread) a plate of sliced cold meats, mozzarella, olives, grilled peppers, etc, all you expect from a Italian.
Let's not forget Carluccio's is a chain, enough said, everything after that, went downhill...
Jonathan,very excited to see his old friends from Cambridge, talking with his hands like a Italian man from Sicily, accidentally threw red wine over the table and me, we used our napkins to dry the little mess(they use paper, not linen) as nobody (Staff) noticed, we asked for new napkins, I am still waiting...
We had to ask for tap water for the table, it wasn't offered.
I called the waitress a (French girl) again and asked kindly for a slice of lemon, still waiting...as you read this...
Then, came the Main course, we pre-ordered from the "Il menu di Natale" my main : "Agnello alla griglia"Chargrilled lamb leg steak served with peperonata.came hard as rock with undercooked peppers.
I had to call again our waitress to say I could not eat that "thing", she agreed to change for a Chicken breast wrapped in Parma ham served with Pesto ( Which pesto? It wasn't present) and "dead "rocket leaves.
We had desserts, it was fine, then came the bill;
    The Bill
 1-We had a deal with wine, £ 2 off, if we ordered Valpolicella, and Pinot Grigio,(they have charged full price)
2- One person did not had dessert and asked for extra potatoes instead, (they charged the extra potatoes)
3- They also charged for my Chicken, that was the replacement for "the thing", should not be charged at all.
4- They also added 12.5% for service charge Which Service????
Napkins? Lemon?
I imagine that French waitress was very annoyed with me and hated me for asking for so many things.
If only she did her job properly....