At home in Gokyuzu

In between house duties, house duties and more house duties I have occasionally managed to go for a little wander around my new area. I was told that of the millions of Turkish restaurants lining Green Lanes, that one stands out so last weekend I tracked it down. 

Gokyuzu doesn't look particularly special from the outside - just one of many Turkish restaurants with kebabs in the window and a steaming hot counter for takeaway just inside the door. You can tell from looking in that it is nearly always full, that plates are also pretty full and that the people eating there look relaxed and satisfied. This place makes you feel as though you are one of the family as soon as you step through the door. They immediately lead you to a recently vacated table (the turn around is tremendous) and seated. 

Seconds later a basket of warm flatbread and a dish of tzatziki is placed in front of you, closely followed by menus. If you look around, you'll notice that regulars don't really look at these and just order a long string of things before going back to their conversation. The place has that kind of casual atmosphere that can only be created by 2/3 of the tables being made up of people who go there at least once per week. I love it and am fully intending on becoming one of them very soon.

Most dishes come with rice and salad. They serve the salad first with the meze even when ordered as part of the main so you can pick on lovely fresh veg throughout. The mixed meze is a delight, especially the aubergine dishes which you can choose from. 

Meat portions are hefty and great value, making sharing pretty much mandatory. If you slightly under order you'll find yourself full. If you order a normal amount, you'll be stuffed and if you over order you can take a huge bag of it home with you. Their meat is lean and grilled - perfect for leftovers.

 

As we were finishing up our meal, I spotted this incredible looking dish on the table next to ours. I immediately asked what it was and found my neighbour to be a fellow food blogger! Celia Brooks writes a fantastic recipe for this herself, which I'm yet to make myself but will very soon. The dish is called Yayla Corbasi and is a rice and yoghurt soup. Celia's post gives the history of this traditional Turkish dish so head over there to take a look (link here). I can't wait to make it at home.

In the meantime I'm already planning my return to Gokyuzu to taste theirs... Like I said, soon I'll be part of the furniture.

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Review: Fino in Fitzrovia

I first went to Fino two years ago with a very good friend and his dad. As regular customers they knew just what to order and the food was fantastic. So when I was invited there by a couple of friends on Friday night I resolved to get through my work as quickly as possible to join them. I was in one of those moods where nothing really mattered apart from having a good time. I ordered with my eyes and left feeling full to the point of nauseous. I don't regret it for a moment and am very happy to have tried such a huge array of dishes.

If the name rings a bell it may well be because it made it to the semi final's of Gordon Ramsay's 'Best Restaurant' TV show in 2010. I don't know about it being the best but it certainly is very good and consistent. My one criticism is that there are just too many things on the menu where you aren’t really sure what the dish is. Its nice for getting to know your waiter but annoying since there are too many to ask about (and there is no reception downstairs for Googling!). At the risk of exposing my own ignorance, here are some examples, morcilla iberica (black pudding), pluma iberica (pork shoulder), corvina (a type of fish), morcón iberico (a type of chorizo), mil hojas (mille-feuille), santiago tart (almond torte)… you get the picture… but hopefully this review will be useful reading to anyone wishing to go there!

With tapas it is often hard to know how much to order but I would aim for one of the para picar (small dishes) per person and two or three of the bigger dishes. We tried the crab and the ham croquetas and found the crab croquetas to be much better. They had a satisfying sort of lobster thermidor cheesiness to them whereas the ham had too much béchamel for me. The pimientos de padron were good as always and the potato and chorizo chips were nice but not really chips at all! They were more of a crispy chorizo spring roll.

The clams were, I think, the nicest dish we ate (hence the lack of photo - they smelt so good I got over excited, ate them and forgot!).  The pancetta wrapped squid was also delicious, perfectly done but a bit samey – we had one between two whereas I think one would easily serve four. Unfortunately  the 'crispy' pork belly was more chewy than crispy but the meat itself was tender. 



The pork shoulder with confit potatoes was good but not stand out and the black pudding and quails eggs was extremely overpowering. It was like black pudding chorizo with a very smoky farm yard smell and flavour. 

If you like tortillas Fino's are very good with totally liquid centres. They are extremely filling if you don't want to spend too much. The roast aubergine and prawns sounds delicious but again had way too much béchamel and was a little sickening. The crisp fried artichokes on the other hand were absolutely scrumptious. They were young, tender ones with just the right amount of crisp and a beautifully glossy aioli on the side. 

I also had the plate of manchego since I remembered that theirs is very good and it didn't disappoint. To finish we had the Santiago tart and mil hojas.  The Santiago tart is a bit of an acquired taste but the mil hojas were pretty good. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture again... (must think before I eat!)

We ate a lot and spent around £45 each including a very pleasant bottle of house red. You could definitely eat there for less though if you aren't feeling excessive.  

Dabbling in Dab

The weekend is coming and for me that means a big weekly shop at my local farmers market, yum! I have recently been experimenting with the 'catch of the day' / whatever is cheapest at the fish stall since it seems that whatever I buy there is so fresh it is delicious.

What the fish stall at Parliament Hill Farmer's Market catch varies a lot, but if you see any sand dab, they are well worth a shot. Sand dab are by far the most common flat fish, and very sustainable as wild fish go. When the fish stall does sell them, they you can probably get around three for a fiver so there is no excuse not to treat yourself!

It always amuses me that, like sole, dab are of a type of fish that is born with eyes on the left and right of its head before one eye travels over and the fish becomes a flat fish as it grows up. The sand dab I bought had a delicious, delicate flavour to them much like good lemon sole but much cheaper. The fish are admittedly a little smaller than the more expensive flat fish so arguably a bit more fiddly, but if you cook them right the flesh will slide beautifully off the bones.

My recipe is very simple so you can taste how fresh the fish are.

Dab and Salsa Verde

Serves 3

Prep time: 15 mins

Serving suggestions: warmed up ciabatta and a couple of salads

The Fish

3 large sand dab

1 teacup full of plain white flour

Salt

Pepper

Oil for frying

Lemon to serve

The Salsa Verde

20g basil (leaves picked)

20g mint (leaves picked)

20g parsley ((leaves picked)

4 anchovy fillets

1 small crushed clove of garlic

1 tbsp capers

250ml extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

For the salsa

Finely slice the herbs (if you use a food processor it won’t be quite as nice) with the crushed garlic, anchovies and capers. I like to use a mezzaluna such as this one since it really speeds up the process. 

Then stir in the lemon and oil until all incorporated and you are done.

For the fish

Dust the fish in seasoned flour. Heat up a large, flat pan with a coating of oil to a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, drop the fish in and cook for 3-4 minutes per side. 

Quick Review: Bar Esteban

This Wednesday, I wrapped up warm and braved the blustering wind and rain up Crouch Hill to find refuge in red wine and tapas. I was pleasantly (and very) surprised to find some of the best Tapas in London accompanied by impeccable service and a great wine list to boot. Since going, I've discovered that the chef is indeed Pablo Rodríguez López, ex Morito super star so it makes a lot of sense that it would be this great.

I wasn't prepared to review so I took some iPhone snaps for your viewing pleasures. 

Crisp cava and ice-cold beer. 

Exposed brick work and specials scribbed on the blackboard - obviously...

Salt cod croquetas which were perfectly cooked and satisfyingly flakey in the middle (see second picture). I had mine with a dab of tabasco...

Chorizo bursting with spicy red juices. 

An array of beautiful vegetable dishes including spinach with pine nuts and Pico - a mixture of courgette, aubergine and tomatoes cooked much like a ratatouille. This was my favourite bit about Bar Esteban (apart from the dessert). It is rare for tapas restaurants to have as good and non greasy a selection of vegetable accompaniments to the meats and grease that tapas is so famous for. These were perfect.

Finally, the star of the show: a perfect crema catalana with a brittle burnt sugar topping and creamy nutmeg-spiced filling. So good.

I am something of a Crouchy snob. It is sooo far away from civilised public transport options and a little too luvvy for my liking on a Sunday morning (prams everywhere). However Bar Esteban makes it worth the journey, or you know, if you're in the area pop in. They have tables but also space at the bar, so they'll be able to accomodate you in some way.  

Website here, call in advance or try your luck. 
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Market-Fresh Crab Salad

Sometimes there is nothing better than a beautiful, zingy, fresh crab salad. This one is really good, even if I do say so myself. I buy the crab already cooked from the fish stall at the Saturday Farmers Market in Parliament Hill where they are around £6 for a really big one. You can buy them already dressed but there is a mark up and I personally love getting every last bit of meat out of them, and bashing them about in the kitchen!

If you too are going to prepare your own crab, you will need some newspaper, a big heavy cleaver, and a skewer, as well as a sieve  3 bowls (one for white meat, one for brown and one to sieve the brown meat into) and a bag to put all your rubbish in.

First twist all the legs of and put aside to deal with later.

Next, bash the crab's back a few times on a hard surface until you can pull out the central leg socket bit. Remove the dead man's fingers from it. Now, this but has lots of delicious, flaky meat that you can ease out with your fingers or with a skewer. This is easier on a large crab where the fleshy pockets are larger. If its smaller, neatly cleave the thing in two and work from there, being careful not to put any cartilage in with the meat.

dead man's fingers

Now remove the squiggly white intestines and stomach from the main shell and then scoop out all the brown meat and crab shell wet, white meat into a bowl and sieve.

Now set to work on the claws and legs, cleaving them open and pushing out the meat with a skewer.

Finally check all the meat for bits of shell with your hands.

Ingredients (serves 3)
1 large crab (prepared for you if you don't want to get your hands dirty - I personally do)

1 fennel bulb
Juice of 1 lemon
2 handfuls of coriander
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of fennel or carraway seeds
A handful of cherry tomatoes
3 small handfuls of young salad leaves
Salt and pepper

Firstly, slice your fennel super finely, ideally with a mandolin setting on a food processor, otherwise a mandolin will do but take much more time. Slice your cherry tomatoes in 4.

Next, chop your herbs finely and place in a bowl with the white crab meat, tomatoes, fennel and 2 tablespoons of the brown meat. Add the mayonnaise, seeds, half the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix it all up, taste, and add more seasoning and more lemon juice to a level you are happy with.

Dress the salad leaves with a squidge of lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Make beds of it on the plates. Push your crab salad into a mold and turn out onto the salad. Serve with some nice toasted bread.

Porky's v Meat Liquor: Step away from the BBQueue

We don't usually give bad reviews, but in this instance, we're just trying to helpfully suggest that you weigh up the other options before weighing in at Meat Liquor. It's just not worth the wait when there are so many other, better quality BBQ options out there. 

My favourite (Elle speaking) has to be Pitt Cue Co. in Soho, whereas Flo is less of a meathead (ahem) than me so I recently suggested that she head down to Camden's newest venture: Porky's. Here's what she thought.

Flo: I know that Meat Liquor has been massively over reviewed, and that an apologetic 'I know you've heard it all before' has resounded through blog after blog but.... as I was passing by before any queue had formed, I thought 'why not'. It is a real love or hate place and I was curious which boat I'd be in.

I have to say that even without the much grumbled about queue, I hated it. But rather than rant for half a page, I have paired this review with the lovely, similarly cheap, simple menued alternative of Porky's in Chalk Farm.

So why did I hate it? Well, to begin with, I like to be able to see what I am eating and felt like every sense was stifled in the dim red lit room blasting out terrible 90s pop and rock. This made it impossible to talk and with the pretty obnoxious and slow 'fast food' service, there wasn't much else to fill the gap.

And the food? I ordered the regular cheeseburger which was marginally better than McDonalds and I suppose only twice as expensive, and the cheesy chips which were covered with indigestible quantities of raw diced onion. The Mr had the dead hippy (a sloppy double cheese burger) which was considerably better.

Massive queue had formed by the time we left

All in all, I would leave it for a bad date who you don't want to really see or hear, and if I wanted to be properly looked after (which I always do) but still go somewhere casual, I would head straight to Porky's. The place itself is stripped down and fit for purpose, great for spending time with people you actually want to spend time with. It is trendy without being try hard and without needing to hire hipster, disinterested staff. 

 

Their real driver however is their hero product of pulled pork, which comes in at just £8.75. It is succulent, tender and really hits the spot with a good measure of sauce from the squirty bottles on the table. The porky burger is pretty good too though I only had a bite to try. In the end the product speaks for itself and I will definitely be a repeat customer.

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The best sushi in London: Asakusa

A few weeks ago I had dinner at Nobu, Mayfair on a Tuesday. That Thursday, I also ate at Asakusa: tiny tucked away Japanese restaurant in Mornington Crescent. The difference in quality, taste and price was incredible but quite the reverse of who you'd expect to come out on top. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing Nobu down, but Asakusa blows it entirely out of the water. This is definitively the best sushi in London and a lovely little North London secret for those in the know.

                  

We started with some hot sake chosen from an extensive menu (they also have a sake taster menu if you want to learn more about sake than whether you prefer it hot or cold). Then we cleansed our palettes with some seaweed salad and an assortment of Japanese pickles. 

On to the sushi. Don't forget to check their specials menu for more unusual sushi options. We had mackrel, tuna and a beautifully delicate sea bass. The wasabi they use melts into the soy with no effort, the fish arrives gleaming on a bed of vegetables, seaweed and pink ginger. Everything is presented simply but to perfection. 

For our next course, we had a grilled mackerel with grated radish. The black cod is also fantastic and the best value I've ever seen in London but we didn't get a picture this time around, as we arrived at 10.30 so they had run out. We finished up with spicy prawn inside out rolls and green tea. The sushi rice is fluffy, the prawns delicate and the sauce adds a tingle. 

As it was late, our night cap was a green tea otherwise we would have had a cheeky plum wine. 

A friend of mine told me that the Asakusa chef is Michellin Starred but prefers to run his own, smaller, more authentic restaurant. This attitude is reflected in the family atmosphere, interesting conversations overheard in corners and a thoroughfare of Japanese regulars coming through the door. You step inside and immediately feel at ease. 

Better than Nobu. Go now before the word gets out.
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