The ‘BB’ Burger at Bar Boulud Knightsbridge

Words & Photography by Marina Benjamin and Luiz Hara

Name: Bar Boulud

Where: Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, 56 Knightsbridge, London DW1X 7LA, http://www.barboulud.com/london

Cost: Starters range from fish soups to salads and are priced from £9-19 while sharing boards of charcuterie start at £30. Mains are a selection of bistro dishes (£9-£34) and desserts (£6-12) are modern inflections of French classics. The Menu Buchon (working lunch) is good value, with 2 and 3 courses for £18 and £21 respectively.

About: Bar Boulud occupies a swish street facing location on the ground floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. At lunchtimes, a crowd of tourists and shoppers, business folk and families, pours through the giant front doors, making for a bustling brasserie atmosphere within. 

The wait staff is completely professional yet an informal mood prevails, which is all the better to eat with. You won’t find the haughty pretentious of haute cuisine here - instead the restaurant gets on with feeding people delicious and hearty food that hails from provincial France; the steaks might come with chimichurri; the burgers with green chilli mayo; and the fries arrive, thin, crisp and moreish, in paper cones that sit in metal tins.

There is a sense of fun about Bar Boulud, where playful snacky additions top and tail the menu, from cheesy puffs made of gruyère-infused choux pastry at one end, to truffles textured with puffed rice at the other. And the drinking can verge on frivolity: there is a Gin menu that stands on its own and boasts not only gins flavoured with saffron, but tonics tinged with elderflower, cardamom, watermelon or lemongrass. Every now and then, depending on who’s visiting, or indeed, on a whim, the sommelier might decide to open a 6 litre Imperiale of wine and treat lucky diners to extraordinary vintages from Bordeaux or the Rhone Valley at a fraction of what they’d normally cost.

What We Had: We came with one goal in mind: The London Foodie’s ongoing appreciation of the top-notch burger. Yet having travelled through London on an unseasonably warm day, cross-town from meetings elsewhere, we were hungry enough to be tempted by the aforementioned gougères (£5), and a zingy starter of gravlax (£12) – delectable slices of salmon cured in gin but curiously missing the usual dill borders.

I love a restaurant that takes pride in its bread, and Bar Boulud gets extra points on this count, because it serves pointy sheaves of well-textured baguette with exquisite pats of creamy butter, salted just right.  If you’re not careful you could fill up on bread alone. Or even better, bread washed down with a glass of the Francois Monay house Champagne, sold at a very reasonable £12.95 a glass.

The burgers, when they came, brought a whiff of Americana with them. Sitting in regal solitude on their rectangular white plates the char-grilled patties looked fit to bust out of their buns, in explosions of generous demi-rare redness, juicy and properly textured in a visibly granular way. 

Bar Boulud offers just three kinds of burger: The Yankee (£17), which consists of 8oz of prime British ground beef, minimally accompanied by staples from the vegetable crisper drawer – lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. Cheese is optional. I opted to have it, but was a little disappointed that it had congealed on the way to our table and wasn’t the hot and molten sludge I’d been anticipating. The meat, however, was faultless; soft enough to adhere, but grainy enough to fall apart at the merest contact with tooth. And packed with flavour too.

Other options include The Piggie (£19), topped with barbecued pork, jalapeno mayo and cabbage, and served in a cheddar bun; and the ‘BB’, priced at a royal £24. This stunning confection of patty, foie gras and short ribs stuffed into a black onion seed bun with a slick of horseradish mayo, could challenge the healthiest of appetites. My dining buddy claimed his ‘BB’ was sublime and symphonious, and neither of us left a crumb on our plates.

It just so happened that the day before we visited, the sommelier had opened an Imperiale of Chateaux Clos Marsalette Bordeaux (2013). It was smooth as you like, and dreamy with warm red fruit tastes and aromas. This was available at £16 a glass, but you can also enjoy a 125ml glass of Barons de Rothschild Legende de Lafite at Bar Boulud for just £5.90.

Likes: Scrumptious burgers that set a bar for others to follow, and the best bread and butter in town. The Chateaux Clos Marsalette Bordeaux wine was exceptional.

Dislikes: I’d like to see a range of condiments offered with the burgers, mustards and relishes that you can add on and play with. This, it seems to me, would be in the spirit of friendly build-your-own dining that Bar Boulud cultivates so well.

Verdict: Bar Boulud is a great lunch spot in the heart of Knightsbridge – writing this, I can’t think of much else I’d rather have right now than their BB Burger & frites with a glass of Chateaux Clos Marsalette, perfection! Recommended.

San Pellegrino's 'Live in Italian' Dinners by Four of London's Best Chefs at Harvey Nichols

This summer from the 10th July to the 7th August 2016, San Pellegrino will be hosting four dinners themed ‘Live in Italian’ at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor, which will be transformed into an Italian alfresco terrace for the occasions.

Resident ‘Live in Italian’ chefs Ollie Dabbous of Dabbous, Theo Randall of Theo Randall, James Lowe of Lyles and Alyn Williams of The Westbury will each host every Tuesday of the takeover. The chefs will create a 4-course menu with Italian influence, accompanied by S.Pellegrino and Italian wines.

Tickets for the S. Pellegrino ‘Live in Italian’ dinners cost £40 (plus £2 booking fee) per person and can be purchased online at https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/spellegrino-presents-live-in-italian. This is the line up:

12th July, 7pm: Ollie Dabbous (7pm)

This is the one I signed up to, so do say hello if you come to this! 

Ollie Dabbous: The founder of Fitzrovia’s celebrated Dabbous, Ollie Dabbous, will bring his innovative take on modern European cuisine and unique style to the S.Pellegrino ‘Live in Italian’ Terrace on the 12th July at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor. 

19th July, 7pm: Theo Randall

Theo Randall: Naming Italy ‘his favourite place to eat in the world,’ and renowned for his simple, rustic, Italian cuisine, Theo Randall will bring his relaxed approach to fine dining to the occasion.

26th July, 7pm: James Lowe

James Lowe: On Tuesday 26th July Lyles’ James Lowe will bring his focus on quality ingredients, charming service and love for entertaining to Harvey Nichols to remind guests what Italian dining is all about – an innovative menu worth crossing London for. 

2nd August, 7pm: Alyn Williams

Alyn Williams: Alyn Williams will bring his Michelin star and progressive, sophisticated cooking style to Harvey Nichols serving a brilliantly accomplished, playful menu.

Outside of these times, the S. Pellegrino ‘Live in Italian’ Terrace on the Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor will be open for lunch every day from the 10th July to the 7th August 2016, the menu will be curated by the Italian Supper Club.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit - https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/spellegrino-presents-live-in-italian

Thali - an Indian Neighbourhood Restaurant to Cross London for!

Name: Thali 

Where: 166 Old Brompton Road, London, SW5 0BA, http://www.thali.uk.com/html/home.html

Cost: Thali's a la carte menu offers small plates priced at £3.50 to £11.95 and main courses ranging from £10.95 to £14.95. The eponymous thalis are steel food plates with various small bowls containing a variety of different hot and cold dishes costing from £12 to £19. There is also a seasonal tasting menu priced at £45 per person.

The wine list is extensive including some greats like the Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape 2009 (£109), and Penfold Grange Hermitage 1999 (£385) perhaps reflecting the restaurant’s Brompton Road location. Entry level wines include a Chilean Chardonnay from Concha y Toro and a Cuvee du Roy Merlot 2014 from France at £18 each. 

About: Opened in 2008, Thali is a charming neighbourhood restaurant in Earls Court serving North Indian cooking created by Head Chef Dila Ram, formerly of Bombay Brasserie.

We were surprised to find it heaving on a rainy Tuesday evening when we visited with a seemingly local crowd. With white plaster and bare brick walls decorated with vintage Bollywood movie posters, and a bicycle rickshaw hanging on the wall, Thali has an elegantly casual but inviting feel.

What We Ate: We opted for the tasting menu. This featured 8 different options starting with a delicious dish called palak chaat made of marinated baby spinach, shallow fried in chickpea flower. The spinach was served very crispy topped with lightly sweetened yoghurt, coriander and tamarind sauce, onions and tomatoes. Sweet and crunchy, with refreshing tartness from the tamarind and yoghurt, this was a really lovely start to our meal.

The Archari chicken tikka followed. Marinated for 10 hours with some delicately aromatic spices, these chunky, succulent pieces of chicken breast were then grilled and served with a tangy mustard sauce.

The next dish was another highlight of our meal, not only for the delicious combination of flavours, but also for its presentation - grilled, lightly spiced scallops and cherry tomato halves were served in a creamy, delicate sun-dried tomato and basil sauce. I loved this dish – delicate yet packed with flavour.

We also had lamb chops braised in yoghurt laced with garam masala spices (green cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns, mace, cinnamon and nutmeg). Accompanied by a mint and coriander sauce, the lamb was super tender, served still slightly pink, and with a delicious savour from the tandoor oven.

And then onto the mains, there were three. One of these was Thali’s venison Bhuna, spiced with garam masala, okra, onion, cumin and tomatoes cooked in a tandoor oven. Bhuna is a traditional Indian style of cooking in which spices are fried in oil to extract their flavours, meat is then added and left to marinate for 24 hours before being cooked in its own juices. This process made for a intensely flavourful dish, rich in aromatic cardamom and other spices and with tender and succulent venison (a meat that can sometimes be rather dry if not properly cooked).

The prawn paithya featured Bengal king prawns in a tomato and onion sauce. Paithya (or pathia) dishes are cooked in a hot, sweet and sour sauce, based on tamarind pulp with garam masala spices, garlic, onion, jaggery sugar and tomato. I loved this but felt that the accompanying sauce tasted similar to the earlier scallop and tomato dish.

The final main was a well made chicken biryani, served with a refreshing  cucumber raita.

To accompany, there was an odd dish of spinach with garlic, cumin and cottage cheese, which I thought had a slightly odd, muddy texture (the spinach had been creamed with the cheese) - for me, the only weak dish on the menu.

The other accompaniments were a deliciously buttery naan, made on the premises, and a side dish of lovely okra fried with onions, tomatoes and fresh coriander.

The dessert of the day was milk dumplings – these were served hot with a warm cardamom syrup topped with chopped pistachio nuts. Though a delicately flavoured dessert, we felt it was not at par with some of the other dishes on the menu. Also a tiny dumpling per person does not quality as a proper dessert course in my opinion.

What We Drank: We shared a bottle of Duas Quintas Tinto 2012, from Ramos Pinto, Portugal (£26) - a fruit-driven, very drinkable red with soft tannins. 

Likes: We loved the crispy spinach starter, the grilled scallops and tomatoes as well as the venison main. Great service.

Dislikes: The dessert was uninspiring and a tad ungenerous, the spinach and cottage cheese accompaniment had a challenging texture though flavours were pleasant.

Verdict: There is some very good cooking at Thali. Dishes are delicately flavoured and expertly executed. I would love to return one day. Recommended. 

The White Truffle Menu at Brunello Restaurant

Name: Brunello Restaurant (White Truffle Menu)

Where: The Baglioni Hotel, 60 Hyde Park Gate, SW7 5BB,
http://www.baglionihotels.com/category/baglioni-hotel-london/

Cost: The Truffle Menu consists of three courses, and costs £49.50, or with a glass of Moet & Chandon Rose and a glass of Dom Perignon, costs £119.50. The wine list is quite comprehensive, with entry level wines starting from £29.50, and wines by the glass starting at £6.50.

About: With a shelf-life as short and sweet as the eponymous fungus season itself, Brunello Restaurant at The Baglioni Hotel is serving its special Truffle Menu only until 6th December 2015. I enjoyed my stay at The Regina Baglioni Hotel in Rome last year (reviewed here), and so was interested to check out their sister hotel in London. Having had a great time during my visit to the truffle auction in Alba recently (read more about that here), I was intrigued to see a white truffle menu on offer in London.

Baglioni is one of the leading hotel collections in Italy, with properties throughout the country, as well as London, Marrakech, and it is about to open new hotels in south Asia. Part of the Leading Hotels of the World collection, The Baglioni London is situated a stone’s throw from the Royal Albert Hall, opposite Hyde Park. The interior is plush to the point of opulence, personally I found it a tad OTT, but there were plenty of people there who seemed to be having a great time and enjoying it.  

What We Ate: I don’t normally describe amuse bouche, but the one offered at Brunello’s was one of the best dishes on the menu.  Truffled mashed potato was served with a poached quail egg - a lovely little dish heady with truffle aromas, and a sprinkle of fruity Espelette pepper.

The menu proper started with freshly made tagliatelle with parsley, 36 months aged Parmesan cheese, melted butter and shavings of white truffle. I loved the simplicity of this dish, which accentuated the heady aromas of white truffle. The pasta was served al dente, the sauce well seasoned.

To follow, we had Italian-style sliced beef entrecôte with roast potatoes and white truffle cream.  Cooked medium-rare as requested, the beef was of excellent quality, very tender and flavoursome, so much so that I felt it masked the delicate flavour of the white truffle cream. I enjoyed the beef very much and the course as a whole, but could hardly taste any trace of white truffle.

Dessert was two crunchy cannoli filled with chestnut cream, served with a classic vanilla and white truffle sauce. This was probably the best course of the dinner, the combination of vanilla and truffle in the sauce reminding me of eating a ripe durian fruit - sweet, perfumed, savoury and earthy all at the same time.

What We Drank: We started with a glass of Alma Bellavista Cuvee Brut Franciacorta (£12.50 per glass, £58 per bottle). Franciacorta is becoming increasingly popular in the UK, and is Italy’s answer to Champagne, with many showing the toasty, brioche characteristics of the best Champagnes. Alma Bellavista was a rich, slightly creamy Franciacorta, made by the traditional method, and was an excellent match for the tagliatelle, butter and truffle dish.

With the beef, we had a glass of Anna Maria Abbona, Dogliani Dolcetto Superiore, Maioli 2012, which like the truffles comes from Piemonte (£12.50 per glass, £49.50 per bottle). Youthful, fruit-driven and with gentle tannins, the mid-range option on the menu, this was more than a match for the flavoursome beef, but again we felt overpowered the truffle sauce. There were only 3 choices of red wines by the glass on the menu - the entry level was priced at £6.50 while the one above the one we ordered, a Brunello di Montalcino cost £25, which perhaps would have been a better choice for the truffle sauce. With the dessert, we had a glass of Sicilian Solidea, Passito di Pantelleria 2009 (£16 per glass). Served very chilled, this was a rich sweet, raisiny wine, and delivered a wonderful end to our meal.

Likes: It's always a pleasure to drink Franciacorta, and there is a good selection at the restaurant. I loved the vanilla and truffle sauce in the dessert. Fantastic service. 

Dislikes: The opulent Italian decor may not be to everyone's taste. The beef, though excellent, was in my opinion not the best choice as a main course on a truffle menu - perhaps some simple polenta, gnocchi or risotto would have been a better accompaniment to the truffle.

Verdict: An opportunity to try the fresh white truffles of Alba in a central London location, and at one of Italy's best hotel collections. At £49.50 for a three course truffle menu, it will not break the bank!

Stelle di Stelle Pop-Up Dinners at Harrods - Giorgio Pinchiorri and Annie Féolde (3-Michelin Stars, Enoteca Pinchiorri of Florence)

Words & Photography by Matthew Brown and Luiz Hara

Name: Stelle di Stelle Pop-Up Dinners at Harrods

Where: Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road, London, SW1X 7XL, http://www.harrods.com/content/the-store/restaurants/stelle-di-stelle

Cost: Stelle Di Stelle offers two set menus, one for lunch and one for dinner. Dinner includes six courses and an aperitivo for £115, or £140 with matching wines and beer. At lunchtime, a four-course menu and aperitivo is also available at £65 or £85 with matching beverages.

About: Stelle Di Stelle is a series of pop-up dinners taking place on the lower-ground floor restaurant at Harrods (in the space previously occupied by Frescobaldi) and is run in association with Identità Golose, a culinary association established to promote modern Italian cuisine. 

From September 2014 to January 2015, Harrods welcomes five of Italy’s best restaurants, with 13 Michelin stars between them, to take up residency in-store. Hosting for one month each, the Italian chefs will provide diners with a special edit of their signature dishes. 

For December, Stelle Di Stelle is being run by restaurateur and sommelier Giorgio Pinchiorri and head chef Annie Féolde, of the three Michelin-starred Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence. The partnership between Pinchiorri and Féolde is one of the most long-standing and illustrious in Italian cooking. Enoteca Pinchiorri began as a wine cellar and tasting room in Florence in 1972, with Annie Féolde starting to serve dishes to accompany the wine in 1974. It went on to become one of Italy’s best restaurants. Féolde was the first woman in Italy to be awarded three Michelin stars, whilst Pinchiorri has amassed one of the best wine cellars in the world, with over 145,000 bottles and a particular focus on Italian wines.

Today, Féolde is supported by head chefs Riccardo Monco and Italo Bassi and remains dedicated to using culinary experimentation to give new life to the history and cuisine of Tuscany.

What We Ate: Visiting in the evening, we went for the six course set menu with matching wines.

The meal began with an aperitivo of Grana Padano flakes and prosciutto - both the cheese and the ham had a creaminess and an understated saltiness that gently whet the appetite. They were accompanied by a selection of Italian breads, including a traditional Tuscan white loaf and a Focaccia so light and delicately flavoured with rosemary it was a great accompaniment to the amuse bouche.

The first course was a chestnut mousse with pancetta, pine nuts and rosemary-infused olive oil. The mousse was silky in texture, making it light without being overly aerated and fluffy. The saltiness of the pancetta and the crunch of toasted pine nuts perfectly complemented the subtle sweetness of the chestnut.

This was followed by octopus cooked in olive oil with pumpkin cream, coffee pearls and watercress sprouts. In a 3-stage cooking process the octopus was poached and cooked confit, before being roasted ahead of serving. This ensured that the flesh remained tender and soft, even in the thickest parts of the octopus tentacle. Alongside the smokey coffee flavour, the pumpkin cream supplied an unlikely warmth and depth to the dish, a theme that would continue in the meal’s second seafood course.

For the third course, however, we were served a poached egg with Alba white truffle and Grana Padano fonduta. The combination of truffle and cheese brought a new intensity to the meal, and was given balance by the addition of a broccoli mousse. There is an Italian tradition of using egg as a pedestal for the bold flavours of truffle, and here the addition of fried breadcrumbs provided a welcoming contrasting texture.

The egg was followed by another excellent dish, fusilli al ferretto with artichokes, scampi and liquorice powder. The fusilli al ferretto are a star of the Enoteca Pinchiorri menu, and Féolde’s spirals of pasta are slender and tightly wrapped, giving both a more delicate appearance and a stronger texture. Like the pumpkin cream served with the octopus earlier, the artichoke provided a warmth that resounded throughout the dish, offset by the sweetness of the liquorice powder.

The fifth course, a rack of lamb topped with garlic and thyme and served with soft and hard polenta with cavalo nero was similarly impressive. I enjoyed the contrasting textures and clean flavours of the polenta against the medium-cooked lamb and the addition of white thyme crumble.

The dessert, we are told by our waiter - a combination of bread, chocolate, oil and salt -reflected Féolde’s memories of her childhood in Florence, in which these three ingredients were given to children as a reward for good behaviour. A chocolate mousse was served inside a dark chocolate bar, and alongside a dark chocolate crumble. The bar was sandwiched between an olive oil and salt-infused biscuit, the sharpness of which was a much needed counterpoint to the richness of the chocolate. Despite this, however, the dessert lacked the complexity of the other dishes. The trio of flavours was delivered well, but the dish lacked either the lightness or the depth that generate true love for a dessert course in my opinion.

What We Drank: Unsurprisingly, given its name, the focus at Enoteca Pinchiorri is as much on the wine as it is the food, and that was no less the case here. Appropriately for the time of year, the meal included a duo of Ferrari Astis. The first, served with the Grana Padano and Prosciutto, was a light spumante providing a great background to the salty aperitivo.

The second course was served with a Rosso Di Montalcino Doc San Polo 2012, a Tuscan red with light tannins and notes of plums, blackberries and black cherries, making it a good companion to the hearty seafood dish. 

It was followed by the second of the Astis, a Special Edition 2002 Vintage Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore. Unlike the spumante before it, made with a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, this blanc de blanc wine was made to a blend that Giulio Ferrari had kept secret his whole life. The fruitiness typical of Chardonnay was complemented by an incredible brioche flavour, developed over more than 10 years of ageing. This depth made it a worthy challenger to any champagne, and an ideal companion to the bold flavours of the white truffle and Grana Padano.

Surprisingly, the fourth course was served with a beer, the Moretti La Rossa, a double bock beer made with 100% malted barley. This gives it a dark amber colour and a rich sweet taste that went well with the caramelised artichokes and liquorice powder. A wine might have stood more delicately in its place, but the beer brought out the most comforting elements of this wholesome pasta dish.

The lamb was served with a Poggio Al Tesoro Mediterra IGT Toscana 2011, another Tuscan red made with a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah grapes. This was an undeniably full-bodied wine, with notes of tobacco, black pepper and plum and a chewy consistency that made it a strong companion to the meat course.

Finally, the dessert wine, a Giovanni Allegrini Recioto Della Valpolicella Classico DOCG 2010, had an incredibly complex sweetness, with aromas of prune, blackberries and clove that made it a valuable companion to the simplicity of the dessert.

Likes: There is so much to like about Giorgio Pinchiorri and Annie Féolde’s takeover of Stelle Di Stelle. Fantastic ingredients and traditional combinations are brought to life with such complexity that they feel brand new. Surprises on the pairing menu, such as magnificent Giulio Ferrari Trento DOC 2002 and the Poggio Al Tersoro Toscana gave the meal a celebratory feel - ideal for December.

Dislikes: Few rooms could do justice to the quality of the Italian cuisine on offer here, and this space on the Lower Ground floor of Harrods is not quite one of them. It does succeed in providing an escape from the end of year mayhem on the shop floor, however, and ensures that the focus remains on the artistry on the plate.

Verdict: If you haven’t made it to Giorgio Pinchiorri and Annie Féolde’s three Michelin-starred Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Stelle di Stelle at London’s Harrods may be the opportunity you were waiting for, and right at our doorstep. Recommended.