Steaks Galore, Parmesan Chips and Ice Cream at Boyds Grill & Wine Bar

Name: Boyds Grill & Wine Bar

Where: 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5BY, http://www.boydsgrillandwinebar.co.uk/

Cost: Hot and cold small eats are all priced at £5. Charcuterie and cheese platters for sharing between two cost £19.95. Grilled meat or fish main courses range from £14 to £50, with most being around the £15 to £20 mark. Side dishes are £4.

The wine list is comprehensive, with a focus on classic French regions, but with a good representation of wines from England, the rest of Europe and the New World. There is a good selection of wines by the glass. By the bottle, the entry-level white is a Solano Blanco 2014 from Galicia, Spain at £21.50. The red, at the same price point, is a Tarabilla Tinto 2014 also from Galicia. Prices ascend as far as the Cos d'Estournel 'Les Pagodes de Cos' 2009 at £192.50. 

About: Situated on the ground floor of the The Grand Hotel, Trafalgar Square, Boyds Grill & Wine Bar is set in a sumptuous room, dating back to the origins of the hotel, with black and white marble walls and floors, and a glamorous copper-topped bar in the centre of the dining area.

The menu, designed by Executive British chef Nate Brewster, features an extensive range of grilled meats, all cooked on a high heat, eco-friendly Synergy Grill, which claims to retain the natural juices of the meat and give it an authentic barbecue charred flavour.

Signature dishes include a Tomahawk rib steak, served with two sides and two sauces (1.2kg, £70 to share), and braised short rib sandwich with caramelised onion, rocket and jus (£10.95).

There is a range of British meats to choose for the grill, including British Wagyu beef, Scottish Black Gold beef, Welsh lamb, Suffolk pork and Norfolk black chicken.  For those with fish and seafood in mind, there is a selection of small plates and fish dishes.

If you get to visit Boyds Grill & Wine Bar, the Dessert Bar experience is not be missed – for £11.95 per person, the pastry chef will prepare (and demonstrate) up to 11 different types of ice cream and sorbet using liquid nitrogen, but more on that later.

What We Had: We started with a selection of small eats (£5 each) and a glass of fine Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 2010 (£10 per glass). The salmon tartare with avocado, mango and chilli was zingy, well seasoned and beautifully presented.

Equally good were the Mac n Cheese croquettes (with Wookey Hole cheddar), served with Boyds own bbq sauce. Crunchy on the outside but cheesy and delicious inside, I love Mac n’ Cheese in any shape or form, and these were no exception.

The duck liver parfait with crispy brioche, fig and mandarin meringue was also good – I particularly liked the citrusy, sweet meringue combined with the creamy liver parfait, a revelation.

I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek fish and shellfish goujons deep-fried in beer batter and served with a curried hollandaise much like a posh chippy's curry sauce.

We were very impressed by the eclectic and surprisingly well priced wine list, we went a bit overboard on our choices. Accompanying our starters, we ordered 3 different whites: the Austrian Gruner Veltliner, Lossterrassen Weingut 2014 (£8.25 per glass) was a good example of its kind, with apricot and gooseberry flavours. The Croatian Primus Reisling, Bolfan 2012 (£7 per glass) was rich and off-dry, with green apple and mineral aromas. Best of all was the Puilly Fuisse 'Vieilles Vignes' 2014, from Domain Patriarche, Burgundy (£10.25 per glass) - made from 100% chardonnay, this was rich and concentrated with subtle tropical fruit aromas. 

The starters were followed by a scrumptious meat platter (all Boyds meat comes from British farms), including pork chop (£17), Black Gold rib eye, lamb hogget (£18), and Wagyu minute steak. Lamb is a sheep aged up to 1 year, while the hogget is aged between 1 and 2 years (over 2 years it becomes mutton). The hogget had a great depth of flavour while still retaining the tenderness of lamb.

Boyds gets its Wagyu from Sussex, where native cows have been crossed with Red Wagyu from Australia and the USA. The final product is a 28 day dry-aged, beautifully marbled and tender cut of beef.

Sides (£4 each) were assorted seasonal vegetables, Parmesan fries and triple cooked sweet potato wedges, served with lemon, thyme and Port jus, and a Béarnaise sauce (£1.95 each). The Parmesan fries were among the finest chips I have ever had the pleasure of eating - light, fluffy, crisp and cheesy all at the same time.

With the meats, we had an outstanding glass of Gevrey Chambertin 'Vieilles Vignes' 2011 from Domain Gerard Seguin (£67 per bottle). Refined and elegant, this had delicate redcurrant fruit and a surprisingly long finish.   

The Chateauneuf du Pape 'Le Calice de St-Pierre' 2014 (£47 per bottle) was altogether more robust as would be expected from this hot climate area, and more than a match for the richer meats, with black berry fruit and a good grip of tannin. 
  
One of my favourite red wines is Chateau Musar 2007, from the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon (£61 per bottle). This was an excellent vintage, with brambles, plums, leather, tobacco and just a hint of mushroom. 

After dinner, there is an option for diners to have the Dessert Bar Experience (£11.95 per person), where some amazing ice creams are rustled up to order.

The Dessert Bar experience includes up to 11 different ice creams and sorbets, from a mind-boggling array of fruit creams and purées, where guests are invited to select their favourite flavours. They are then mixed with liquid nitrogen at -190 degrees centigrade, to create an amazingly light and airy ice cream. The Dessert Bar Experience can also be enjoyed on its own, without any requirement to eat dinner at the restaurant.

We started with “Dragon's Breath” – a selection of flavoured, superchilled meringues that literally froze the breath, followed by the ice creams.

Some highlights were intensely flavoured and creamy blackberry and raspberry ice creams. The Jack Daniels ice cream came on a classic vanilla base, while the lemon sorbet made with Limoncello was mouthwateringly refreshing.

We went on to have some increasingly unusual flavours - why go for vanilla when you can have smoked strawberry, smoky bacon, English breakfast tea, canned pork and picallilli, dill and cream cheese, and even smoked salmon and wasabi!

With dessert, we had a chilled and creamy cocktail of Baileys, Sambuca and Espresso that went down a treat. 

Likes: Trafalgar Square location, elegant dining room, fantastic chips, a great selection of grilled beef, Wagyu and other meats. The small eats are well made and very reasonably priced. Loved the Dessert Bar Experience!

Dislikes: None

Verdict: A perfect meal for me at Boyds Grill and Wine Bar starts with their Black Gold rib eye accompanied by the scrumptious Parmesan chips and a large glass of 2007 Chateau Musar. The Dessert Bar is an experience not to be missed, and is worth a trip to the restaurant in its own right. I cannot wait to return. Highly recommended.

Plum + Spilt Milk - British Classics by Mark Sargeant

Name: Plum + Spilt Milk

Where: Great Northern Hotel, Pancras Road, London N1C 4TB, http://plumandspiltmilk.com/

Cost: The average cost per person is in the region of £40 per person for a three-course meal not including drinks. The à la carte menu for dinner has starters ranging from £8 to £12.00, fish, meat or vegetarian mains from £9.50 to £32, puddings at £8.50, and a British cheese platter at £9.50. 

About: Opened in 2014, Plum + Spilt Milk is the restaurant on the first floor of the recently restored Great Northern Hotel in King’s Cross, with Chef Director Mark Sargeant, formerly head chef at Gordon Ramsay's Michelin-starred restaurant at Claridges.



Chef Sargeant also owns Rocksalt Restaurant and The Smokehouse upmarket fish and chippie in Folkestone.

The restaurant occupies a prime corner spot on the first floor of the Great Northern Hotel. With smart new solid wood parquet flooring, wood panelling, a high ceiling and banquettes of white leather and wood curving around the tables, the restaurant has a traditional British atmosphere, with tall windows overlooking travellers rushing through the restored Victorian facade at King's Cross Station.

Plum + Spilt Milk’s unusual name comes from the purple and cream liveries of the trains that used to run out of King's Cross Station, and today the restaurant markets itself as serving 'simple classics, beautifully cooked'.

What We Ate: The menu is short but well thought out, as is the wine list. For starters, we had roasted corn-fed chicken oysters (£9.50). I can't recall ever seeing chicken oysters on a menu - delicate and tender, they are my favourite part of the bird. Here, they were well-seasoned, flavoursome, and served with grilled leeks, shallots and capers.

Orkney scallops (£16 as a starter), on a bed of rich cauliflower purée, came with roasted cauliflower, samphire and sherry vinegar caramel. The scallops were sweet and tender, with crunchy cauliflower florets and a deliciously rich caramel.

For our main course, we spotted a Beef Wellington for two (£80) on the menu which we could not resist. The beef comes from Scotland’s North Highlands, and is 28-day aged.

The Wellington itself was very well made, with tender beef fillet having a great depth of flavour, and cooked medium-rare as requested. There was a tarragon-infused pancake (crêpe Cellestine) around the fillet, then a thin outer layer of puff pastry.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Wellington, my only minor regret being the lack of a duxelle of mushrooms between the beef and the pastry, which would have added an extra layer of flavour and texture.

The Beef Wellington was served with roast new potatoes and honey-roast baby parsnips with a hazelnut crumb, and buttered winter greens. The accompanying red wine jus was amazing - rich, velvety, glossy and packed with marrow flavour.

The desserts at Plum + Spilt Milk were excellent. The plum and spilt milk (£8.50) was a delicious concoction of baked brioche topped with caramelised plum, and a milk ice cream - magnificent.

The iced peanut and salted caramel mousse (£8.75) was also truly impressive. An upmarket version of Snickers (which I still think of as a Marathon bar), this had a smooth peanut parfait with just enough unctuous salted caramel to offset the sweetness. I felt a pang of sympathy for my peanut-allergic friends and family!

What We Drank: We shared a bottle of Avaton 2012 from Domain Gerovassiliou in Macedonia, Greece (£39). With a rich aroma of cherries and cedar, and gentle tannins, this was robust enough for the beef but not so powerful as to overwhelm the chicken oysters. In fact, it was one of those rare red wines that was a pleasure to drink on its own, but revealed unexpected depths of flavour and complexity in combination with the rare beef. Restaurants often focus on wines made from familiar French grapes, no matter which country in the world they come from, so I am always on the lookout for wines that buck that trend.  For me, this blend of three indigenous Greek varietals (Limnio, Mavrotragano and Mavroudi) was a winner, and at a very reasonable price for this quality.

Likes: The cooking was consistently good. I particularly enjoyed the Beef Wellington and the desserts. The wine list is varied and has some unusual and good value options. Good service.

Dislikes: Nothing to do with the food, but to my mind, the walls were crying out for some artwork. 

Verdict: For those who say there is no such thing as British cuisine, Plum + Spilt Milk is the answer. For excellent produce from the British Isles, cooked with love and skill, there are not many places I would prefer to eat. Recommended. 

Galvin HOP - Pub Grub with Knobs On!

Name: Galvin HOP

Where: 35 Spital Square, London, E1 6DY, https://www.galvinrestaurants.com/section/62/1/galvinhop

Cost: Starters cost from £6 to £10.50. Main courses range from £7 to £19, with desserts priced at £4 to £8. The average cost per person is around £30 excluding drinks.

About: Brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin, well known for Galvin La Chapelle next door as well as well 5 other Galvin restaurants across London and 2 in Edinburgh, launched Galvin HOP in January 2016.

With their background in successful Michelin-starred restaurants over many years, this venue represents a foray into the more casual though upmarket pub offering. The Galvin 'Pub Deluxe' (which descriptor they prefer to somewhat jaded label of 'gastropub'), is situated on the site of the former Galvin Cafe à Vin in Spitalfields Market, a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street Station.  It is a traditional pub where you can stand or sit at the bar and enjoy a pint, but with the option of some seriously good food.

The pub has a stone-coloured floor, with cream and green wall tiles, and two environments - one a darker, traditional pub-style room, the other a conservatory with a flat plate-glass roof. There is also a heated, covered outdoor area to smoke or for City types to enjoy a Havana cigar from the thermidor. On the Sunday lunchtime we were there, the place was packed with a mix of families, tourists and Spitalfields Market shoppers.

Galvin HOP is an innovative partnership between the Galvin brothers, Pilsner Urquell, and Maille, the French mustard maker. Urquell comes from Plzen in the Czech Republic, where the company has been making beer since 1842, and the recipe has not changed since then. Galvan HOP has four huge copper tanks containing unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell over the bar, filled by weekly deliveries from the Czech Republic. 

Maille is a premium French mustard brand founded in 1747, and well known for its fine Dijon and wholegrain mustards made with Chablis Premier Cru vinegar. The menu at Galvin HOP offers classic pub dishes and a range of premium hot dogs. Uniquely, it has a professional hot-dog station by the entrance, so people can eat in or take away. The 'Luxe Dog' is a range of gourmet hot dogs served with Maille's seasonal mustard.

What We Ate: I was lucky to have a chat before lunch with the Sous-Chef Chris Barrett, who showed me around the spankingly new kitchen. He suggested a range of dishes he felt I should not miss. We started with an appetizer of tarte flambée (£8.50) - a lovely wafer-thin and crisp base, topped with crème fraiche and smoky Alsatian lardons baked in their state of the art wood oven.

Next came a mixed platter - Galvin gala pie (£7.50), Cumbrian sausage roll (£3) and steak tartare with toasted sourdough bread (£8). The gala pie had traditional water pastry made with hot water, flour and beef fat, with a filling of minced pork, kidney and liver, herbs and a hard-boiled Clarence Court egg, all topped with a jelly of Marmite and pork stock. It had a fine crust of crisp pastry, and a richly flavoured, not too offal-laden filling. If like me you have reservations about meat and kidney pies, this is definitely a dish to try at Galvin HOP – it will change your mind I’m sure.

The sausage rolls were light with deliciously buttery pastry and a flavoursome filling. It was a delight to see this pedestrian British snack given the Galvin treatment, generously brushed with Maille truffle mustard. 

For me, steak tartare is always a good way to judge a restaurant, in addition to being one of my favourite things to eat – highlighting freshness of ingredients, seasoning and presentation. Galvan HOP's version had hand-chopped fresh, good-quality beef, well-seasoned with herbs and caperberries and served with crisp toasted sourdough. I very much enjoyed it.    

There are three hot dog options on the menu, and we went for the Galvin Dog Deluxe with a portion of straw chips (£8.10). This had a Frankfurter sausage made from beef and pork, and a choucroute of white cabbage and carrot, topped with crispy shallots and Maille truffle mustard, all served in a soft bun made in-house from potato flour. I loved the choucroute, an unusual but delicious Alsatian addition to the hot dog, which added freshness and acidity. The bun, though delicious, was a tad too soft and did not hold it all together, so I resorted to knife and fork.

The Galvin HOP's fish pie deluxe (£17), served with a side of glazed carrots and peas, was filled with smoked haddock, prawns, scallop, and salmon, topped with mashed potato and Pecorino cheese. With a rich, creamy and cheesy sauce, this fish pie was delicious and as good as it gets.

But what about Galvin HOP’s Sunday Roast? On the day we visited, we tried the Brisket Beef Sunday Roast with all the trimmings, including Yorkshire pudding, cabbage, roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots (£16). Cured in salt, then slow roasted for 18 hours, this was a super-tender and well-flavoured piece of beef. The meat was thoroughly cooked, with no pinkness (as would be expected from cured beef), which I thought detracted from its appearance. 

For dessert, being rhubarb season, I ordered the Yorkshire rhubarb doughnut (£4) - this was light and fluffy, and I just wish I had had room for more.

What We Drank: The Galvin brothers and Pilsner Urquell are collaborating at Galvin HOP, and the latter’s unpasteurised draft beer features on the menu at £5.50 per pint. Bottled beers cost from £4 to £4.50, including St Peter's Old Style Porter and Lindemans Kriek cherry beer. Wines are available on tap by the glass, at £4.50 to £6.80. By the bottle, the entry level white is a Languedoc blend of Grenache Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Ugni Blanc (£18.50), with the red being a Tannat/Syrah blend from Gascogne (£23).

We started with a half pint of unpasteurised draught Pilsner Urquell (£4), which was a classic clean, refreshing beer. We then tried the Roosters Fort Smith American Pale Ale, from Knaresborough, UK (£4) - served from a can, it had a wonderful aroma of hops and a rich, complex flavour. The Adnams Broadside English Strong Ale (£4.50) was a rich, dark beer with chocolate and coffee notes.

Likes: The Gala pie, the steak tartare and the fish pie were stand-out dishes for me. The opportunity to drink fresh, unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell is a rare one, and there is a small but delicious range of craft beers. Super friendly service.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: The newly opened Galvin HOP is a great option for top quality pub grub, gourmet hot dogs, unpasteurised Pilsner and craft beers. Conveniently located whether for a quick City lunch or a more leisurely Sunday roast for weekend shoppers at nearby Spitalfield Market, it ticks all the boxes. Recommended.

Sunday Brunching at The Richmond

Name: The Richmond

Where: 316 Queensbridge Road, London E8 3NH, http://www.therichmondhackney.com/

About: This was our second visit to The Richmond in Hackney, but this time we came to try their Sunday Brunch menu - you can see our earlier review here.

The Sunday Brunch menu offers the extensive selection of British oysters for which The Richmond has become known for (also available at other times), as well as a selection of meat and fish dishes that reflect an Antipodean, rather than a traditional British version of Sunday lunch. This is not surprising since the restaurant is owned by Australian executive chef Brett Redman (formerly of The Pavilion Café in Victoria Park).

The Richmond looks even more elegant in the daylight – the dining rooms and bar are tastefully designed in a striking, dominant red colour, with bare dark wooden tables and subdued lighting.

What We Ate: From the starter menu, we chose the English crab muffin (£7) - tender fresh crab over a toasted muffin, the whole thing dusted with lovely Espelette pepper – perfection.

The Grilled dived scallops and preserved lemon butter (£7) was also delicious - plump and meaty, and still adherent to its shell, although definitely singular rather than plural as described on the menu.

For main course, we had the lamb shoulder (£17) - slow cooked for 12 hours, then roasted, this combined crispy skin with the tenderest of meat, and was served with confit tomatoes, anchovies, samphire and aubergine – the blending of land and sea ingredients here worked well, the saltiness/umaminess of the samphire and anchovies (two of my favourite ingredients) with the lamb meat was so damn clever.

I hardly order chicken in a restaurant, unless it is of outstanding quality and The Richmond’s did not disappoint. Their spit roast poussin with pumpkin and sage stuffing (£18) was served with a rich, concentrated and velvety Marsala gravy that saw me scraping my plate! The poussin meat was sweet and succulent, and of excellent quality. The restaurant uses a wood fire to cook all its meats.

To accompany our mains, we shared a side dish of cauliflower cheese (£4) – the cauliflower was cut up into tiny pieces, mixed with cream and cheese and finished off under the grill for a crusty top – I congratulate the chef for making such an uninspiring vegetable taste so utterly delicious!

Deep-fried desserts are just the best things on any menu as far as I am concerned and so the apple beignets (£7) had to be ordered. Served with a fromage frais sorbet, the beignets were airily light, filled with apple puree, and dusted in cinnamon. I loved these babies.

We also had the brown butter financier (£7) - served with poached pears in cinnamon (I can never enough cinnamon in my life!) and crystalised almonds, this was also very good.

What We Drank: The Richmond is renowned for their cocktails and I urge you to order them when you visit. Sunday brunching can only mean Bloody Mary and that is what I had – lightly spicy, and strong, it got our brunch off to a very good start. Dr G opted for The French 75 which blended gin, sparkling wine and lemon, and had a refreshing intensity of lemon.

The wine list is extensive, and focuses almost exclusively on Europe. There is a good selection of wines by the glass or 500ml carafe. The entry level white is a Cotes du Rhone at £29, while for the reds, it is a Tempranillo from Castilla, Spain at £27. There are also some well-chosen British craft beers, as well as a couple of Belgian and USA options.

From it, the sommelier suggested a Loire red to accompany our challenging combination of lamb and poussin main courses. The Domaine de Veilloux 2013, Cheverny  a blend of Pinot Noir, Gamay and Cabernet Franc (£34) was light, but with a good weight of red cherry fruit and little tannin. This was a good choice that stood up to the lamb without overpowering the poussin.

Likes: There is some excellent cooking skill on display at The Richmond, and it's great to see a neighbourhood restaurant where complete confidence in the skill of the chef is justified. Service was faultless.

Dislikes: None. 

Verdict: Fantastic cocktails, highly skilled cooking and a gorgeous restaurant, what is there to dislike about The Richmond? There are very few places in London I can think of where I would rather be for Sunday Brunch. Highly recommended.