Ziloufs review Islington Upper Street - something for everyone

Address: 270 Upper Street, London N1 2UQ
Tel: 020 7226 1118
Nearest Tube station: Highbury & Islington

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £15pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ****
Service: ***
Ambience: ****
Ziloufs is among the long list of restaurants along Islington Upper Steet that doesn't usually open for weekday lunches. "We did try but found that there's not much of a crowd," the friendly waitress replied when we asked. Looks like Carluccio's further up along Upper Street has soaked up all the demand. A pity really as Ziloufs does look every bit the place to hang out on afternoons.

After a light breakfast that Saturday, we were all ready for a more substantial lunch. I made a booking via Toptable, headed out and received the reservation confirmation a couple of minutes later. Neat.

Ziloufs is actually much larger than its facade suggests and I couldn't help but noticed that it literally caters for everyone. Alfresco dining - check, large bar area - check, comfy leather sofas - check, proper dining tables - check. The decor is eclectic to boot; I spied a Chinese vase, Singer sewing machine and a ancient CRT TV placed alongside each other in a corner.



One thing about Ziloufs is that it doesn't actually serve lunch. We were presented with a brunch menu at 2pm and the most substantial item on the menu is Ziloufs' Big Breakfast (£8.50).

"It looks good," I took some time to appreciate the presentation to an otherwise unimaginative named dish. Instead of the normal mix mesh, Ziloufs' breakfast actually looked inviting. The kitchen managed to arrange two poached eggs, hash, mushrooms, sausages, ham, bacon, beans and toast neatly on a plate – an achievement in itself. Other than the mushrooms that were a tad tired looking, the dish far exceeded my expectations. The hash deserves a special mention. One way to distinguish between a factory made and a handmade hash is its compactness. The former is usually fluffier (think McDonald’s) while the latter is more compact and you can actually taste the bits of potatoes. Ziloufs' was superb in that respect. Infused with bits of spring onions, it really stood out on the platter. If only it was serve a bit warmer.



With dessert in mind, Wife went for a lighter option - maple glazed French toast (£4.50). The two thick slices of toast came with rashes of cured bacon. While Wife liked the toast, she didn’t really care for the cured bacon. “A bit too heavy” was her verdict. I thought that while its toast cannot be compared to Ottolenghi’s, it wasn’t bad at all considering its price.



Dessert came in the form of sticky toffee pudding with honeycomb ice cream (£5). After downing my Big Breakfast and possibly half of Wife’s French toast, I shouldn’t really be touching the dessert. The waitress served the dessert and very helpfully slid two dessert spoons onto the table. I couldn’t resist it and started attacking the pudding.

There was this bitter sweet aftertaste to Ziloufs' toffee pudding. The tinge of sweetness no doubt came from the raisins embedded in it. Thick melted toffee moisturized the pudding with a generous scoop of honeycomb ice-cream topping over it. The mix of sweet and bitter made this dessert irresistible.



Also irresistible was Ziloufs' chai tea latte (£2.40). It was the first time I had come across one with a anise seed planted at the surface; I’m more used to using it to season my duck dishes. It was an interesting addition though for it added quite a bit of depth to the already spicy thick and creamy tea.

Ziloufs turned out to be much better than we anticipated. Reasonably priced dish, great ambience and excellent service. If only it has a proper lunch menu. Apparently, dinner starts at 5pm and Ziloufs offers a two course dinner for £16. A good reason to return I suppose.




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Cafe 1001 Brick Lane review - Dray Walk's street meat grill

Address: 1 Dray Walk, Brick Lane
London E1 6QL
Tel: 020 7247 9679
Nearest Tube station: Shoreditch High Street

Price: Below £10pp
Service charge: N/A
This is a guest post by Susan, a professional carnivore living in London.

I have had the dubious honor of eating “street meat”, that is meat that has been prepared in a cart or on a roadside, in nine countries on four continents. It has become something of a personal quest for me to find the “Holy Grail of street meat-dom”. It may be a totally impossible goal, but somewhere out there, there must be some erstwhile street side vendor preparing the perfect burger, kabob, or gyro. I try to approach every street meat experience with zero expectations, so that I can be pleasantly surprised if it is good, and not terribly disappointed if it is not. Consequently, while on a recent trip to London, I approached my trip to Cafe 1001’s outdoor corner grill in Brick Lane with few assumptions, and the simple idea that it was yet another adventure in curbside barbecue.

"...I was a handed a
styrofoam container so full
that I couldn’t close it."
I am uncertain whether it was my timing (I ordered the mixed grill just before a pack of people showed up), or the way I look (I come from a very mixed racial heritage which renders me mildly exotic looking everywhere-great at bars, not so great at immigration), but for my £6 I was a handed a styrofoam container so full that I couldn’t close it. After making my way to the curb while juggling my bag, the aforementioned container, and a bottle of water, I sat down and surveyed my spoils. I was pleasantly surprised to find the container full of an honest-to-goodness salad made up of lettuce and four or five vegetables that were not lettuce! All of the vegetables were fresh, clean, and tasted good. Dumped on top of the salad were two grilled chicken breasts, a long sausage, and half a grilled potato. The chicken was seasoned, completely cooked, and actually quite excellent. The sausage was also heavily seasoned, a little salty for my taste, but again, very well prepared. The only disappointment was the potato. It was not bad, by any stretch of the imagination, but in comparison to the rest of the greatness on offer in my foam tray, it was less successful and tasted overcooked. Looking around me at the hordes of over people digging into similarly brimming styrofoam containers, it is apparent that the two men slinging meat and vegetables around in the Cafe’s outdoor kitchen are doing something right. For those of you, like me, who enjoy rucking up to a new spot and grabbing some cheap eats, I can honestly recommend trying out Cafe 1001.

Susan is an amateur interior designer and professional carnivore living in London with her two daughters. She frequently writes on behalf of a leading discount sofa website and a variety of food blogs.


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Angel Delicatessen review Islington Cross Street - quiet backyard a welcome sanctuary

Address: 48 Cross Street
London N1 2BA
Tel: 020 7226 1951
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £10pp
Service charge: N/A
(50p charge for card payments)
Taste: **
Service: ***
Ambience: **
We are biased when it comes to small Italian delicatessens. Mainly because we had been going back to just one - Saponara, which was literally right at our doorstep. Regardless of where you stay, you would have your favourite Italian deli. It can be somewhere that churns out half decent paninis or even a mean cappuccino but you can always count on it for a relaxing meal and not have someone pushing the bill subtly onto your table without prompting.

We had a Sunday brunch at Angel Delicatessen along Cross Street once before. While we found its panini passable, it didn’t create a huge impression. Alfresco dining is not exactly an option though there are a couple of tables on the pavement unless you fancy the dust in your face (or even worse, in your expresso) compliments of the occasional traffic. The narrow pavement also mean that passersby would have to negotiate their way round your table too.



That was before we discovered that Angel Delicatessen offers some seating in its backyard as well. In many ways, Angel Delicatessen reminds me of a small home setup – an extension of a home which owners decided to branch out into food business. Its backyard with its open drainage pipe (bubbling and gushing throughout our meal) and patchy wooden panels segregating the toilet are cases in point.



The service was extremely warm though rather haphazard. This is the first place that I have come across where food came before our cappuccinos. And quite some time later at that. In all honesty, our parma panini and Italian sausage penne pasta weren’t out of this world. But given its prices (panini just over £4 and pasta not more than that), we can’t really quibble, can we?



All in all, Angel Delicatessen can be delightful pit stop for a light bite. Head to its backyard for more privacy. If you can ignore the gushing open pipe, it is a welcome change to the hustle and bustle of the traffic along Islington High Street and Essex Road.


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Kirin Ichiban Yutai Kushiage London pop-up restaurant - perfect for a light bite

Kirin Ichiban Yutai Kushiage pop-up
3 - 8 Aug 2011
Just beside Big Chill Bar at Brick Lane
(just google for Big Chill's location)
P isn't one who goes for beer but he was all smiles as he was downing a bottle of chilled Kirin Ichiban at Kirin Ichiban Yatai - a pop up food stand, which we were invitated to earlier in the week. "It's light to the taste, not overwhelming at all... I like it." was his verdict. Small wonder, as the beer is made from the unique ichiban shibori process (or "first press"). Consider that the premium cut of beer.

Naturally, you are not expected to drink on an empty stomach. Shinya Ikeda and Yashuhiro Mineno, the head chefs of an upcoming restaurant Kushiage (opening early 2012 in central London) presents a selection of seven kushiage (literally means "skewers deep fried") items on the menu. Deals start from a mere fiver. After tasting the selection, I would definitely recommend going for the fish cakes balls and pork & leeks.



The words "deep frying" often connotes the likes of heavy battering. Not so for kushiage. Not only these light bites are lightly battered, they are evenly spread and clean oil is used as a rule to avoid over-frying.

A perfect light meal with a bottle of Kirin Ichiban, especially if you are looking to hangout in the Brick Lane area after work. Need I say more?

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Gilbert Scott Kings Cross' St Pancras Renaissance Hotel review - be prepared to be pampered

Address: St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
Euston Road, London NW1 2AR
Tel: 0207 278 3888
Nearest Tube station: King's Cross

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £50pp
Service charge: 12.5% + £2 cover charge pp
Taste: ****
Service: *****
Ambience: ***
This is contributed by Wife who apparently had a delightful lunch at Gilbert Scott. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous after hearing her talk about it the entire evening. All photos in the post are contributed by L, her lunch mate, who obviously is a much better photographer than yours truly.

L and I had lunch at Gilbert Scott, one of the new additions to London's culinary scene, the other day and it was a very pleasant experience. We went not with high expectations given the mixed bag of reviews in the press but left the restaurant suitably impressed. The restaurant has a old world decor, not surprising I guess given the history of the building, with high ceilings, large windows and oil paintings (presumably) adorning every available wall. It might not be everyone's cup of tea and in the harsh afternoon light flooding through the windows the room looks rather tired which is surprising given that it has opened not too long ago. I imagined with the soft glow of the evening light the room might look much more inviting.



For starter, I had Cornish squid with chorizo (£7.50). I thought my squid was perfectly cooked, not too chewy, made fragrant by the sweet spicy oil of the chorizo with the edge smoothed by the crunch of the pea shoots.



L loved her starter (Dorset crab - £10), she thought the flavors were delicate and subtle.



Dorset snail and chicken pie (£16.50) was my main. Why snail and chicken, I wonder? They are the most unlikely bedfellows. An unusual pairing that I just had to try and I am glad I did. The chewy texture if the snail balanced off the tenderness of the chicken which tasted as if it had been slow cooked. The pastry was rich and buttery though a tad too thick.



L had Cornish sea bass with apron seaweed and surf clams (£18). She was very impressed by her dish - the skin was crispy, seasoned perfectly with the seaweed adding a depth of flavor to the claims.



There was a number of interesting choices for desert but I went for Mrs Beeton's snow egg (£6.50). It reminded me of the tastes of my childhood - the snow egg was just like candy floss and the sweet peanut sauce had echoes of rojak sauce. Again another unusual pairing which was rther creative though I can't help but feel that it would have been more interesting if perhaps the peanut sauce is slightly savoury.



L had orange marmalade Jaffa cake with Earl grey ice-cream (£7). The Jaffa cake was meant to be an upside down cake - it had chocolate on the inside with the marmalade on the outside. L loved the Earl Grey ice cream (I had a spoonful and agreed that it was heavenly) but she wasn't a fan of the Jaffa cake. Perhaps a better pairing for the Earl Grey ice cream would have been madeleines straight out from the oven?



All in all we had a wonderful time, made all the more special by the attentive service of Nick who went out of his way to accommodate us.


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How to make barbecue meat (adapted from chicken satay recipe)

We are currently hooked on Rick Stein's culinary travel series. All thanks to BBC iPlayer, we managed to catch his Far Eastern Odyssey where he covered Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

He not only experienced the dishes that each country or region is know for, he presented his version of the recipe while giving quite an extensive background of how the dish come about. To give him some credit, there are more hits than misses in his recipe adaptations.

Though he has conveniently skipped Singapore (I suspect he couldn't get a permit for that as I hate to think that the island state has nothing to offer for his culinary show), there are some familiar recipes like satay, chicken rice, laksa, fish curry just to name a few.

There was a spot of sunshine over the weekend in London so we decided to do an adaptation of satay in the local open field. It was surprisingly easy and tasted rather decent. Seems like it's going to be a proper summer this time round, why not give it a go?

Barbecue skewered chicken (adapted from satay ayam recipe)

Serves 2
Preparation time: 30 minutes

4 large deboned chicken thighs
3 teaspoon of cooking oil
50g of shallots, finely chopped
20g garlic, crushed
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp kecep manis
2 tsp of coarse black pepper
3 kafir lime leaves, finely shredded
1 red pepper
1 green pepper

Soak 8 x 18cm bamboo skewers in cold water for 30 minutes.
Cut chicken into chunks roughly 2cm by 2cm with some skin attached to them.
Heat cooking oil in a pan, add shallots and fry over medium hear until golden brown.
Tip oil and shallot onto a mixing bowl and leave to cool. Stir in crushed garlic, soy sauce, kecep manis, kafir lime leaves and black pepper. Marinate chicken chunks and leave it standing for at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop up the peppers into regular chunks and take care to remove all the seeds and the centre white part.
Skewer the chicken and peppers. I recommend starting and ending with a piece of pepper to keep chicken compact. They are great for that extra crunch as well.

If you don't have a garden, you could always head out to a local field like me. There is really no need to get any specialized equipment. Waitrose sells a reliable disposable barbecue pit for £2.99 and you literally just need only a single match to get it going. Just bring a small bottle of water along just in case things go awry.

Enjoy your summer!

Recipe is adapted from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey. 

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