Belgravia

Mr Lasagna – The Fasta Pasta

March 13, 2017 by Adrian Leave a Comment

Mister Lasagna Belgravia

23 Elizabeth Street, Belgravia, W1J 0AD

I have to be honest. Lasagna is one of my guilty pleasures. It’s the sort of dish I used to cook and eat regularly when I was younger but as the waist thickens anything that doesn’t involve raw fish and pea shoots seems indulgent. However I have walked past the Soho branch of this new group a few times and looked with envy at the trays of pasta goodness whispering to me seductively. So when an invite arrived to review the third London Mr Lasagna in Belgravia my resolve collapsed.The story goes that the founder of Mister Lasagna, Alessandro Limone, moved from Naples to London in 2014 and missing the homemade pasta of his childhood started a market stall selling the squidgy squares. His restaurants now offer 24 freshly prepared lasagnas everyday, including bolognese, truffle, vegetable,carbonara, würstel & potato, ham & cheese, sausage & broccoli. Vegetarian options include spinach,artichoke, pumpkin & blue cheese,mushroom, pesto, arrabbiata and asparagus. You can also choose from nine complementary sauces to complete the dish: bolognese, béchamel, four cheese, pesto, spicy tomato, tomato and three new sauces, Siciliana (tomato with aubergine), Amatriciana (tomato with bacon, onion) and Meatball Ragù. To make matters even more disastrous for my waistline the menu includes two dessert lasagnas, Nutella and Oreo as well as cannoli, the ricotta stuffed pancakes. For those pretending that Lasagna can be a healthy option they supply a vegan version, and also 2 gluten free options: Bolognese and Vegetarian that are also dairy free. A selection of soups (pumpkin, potato and sweet potatoes), as well as fresh pasta with a selection of sauces completes the menu.The Belgravia site is unpretentious with simple wooden chairs and tables and is perfect for a quick pitstop or for a sit down waiting for a takeaway. We tried four of the offerings. The Bolognese had a richly flavoured ragu whilst The Carbonara was saltier filled with pancetta and Pecorino cheese. You could really taste the basil in the Pesto version And the succulent Vegetarian was built on a base of aubergine, courgettes and onions. We were so full that our dessert of white and dark chocolate cannoli was almost too much. But with Half portions at £3.50, Regular at £5.90 and the Trio at £7.80 you can afford to try out a few of the lasagnas to see which is your favourite.

Opening daily from 7:30am, Mister Lasagna serves fresh Italian coffee, sweet pastries and traditional savoury tarts for breakfast and during the rest of the day offers a refreshing alternative to other fast-food options.

There are three Mister Lasagna restaurants in London

Mister Lasagna Soho, 53 Rupert Street

Mister Lasagna Piccadilly, 5 Air Street

Mister Lasagna Belgravia, 23 Elizabeth Street

Kouzu – Review

February 8, 2015 by Adrian Leave a Comment

Kouzu Belgravia

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21 Grosvenor Gardens, SW1W 0JW

020 7730 7043/http://kouzu.co.uk/

It is fascinating to watch the London Japanese restaurant scene mature with chefs from top-end joints starting to branch out on their own. Ex-Zuma head chef Ross Shonhan has added a rock’n roll vibe to the burgeoning West End ramen noodle scene with Bone Daddies and brought stuffed Taiwanese buns to our attention in Covent Garden at Flesh & Buns. At Kouzu another Zuma alumni, chef Kyoichi Kai from Kyushu in southwestern Japan, has decided to stick to the high-end of the market, and we have been asked along to review.

Situated a stone’s throw from the hustle of Victoria Station, the restaurant sits on the Belgravia boundary with interiors that are a mixture of functional Japanese restraint and luxe glamour. There is a mezzanine sushi bar and a ground-floor cocktail bar as well as the main restaurant area which gives a flexibility to your dining options; new lunchtime and pre-theatre menus will add to that.

The menu is in the same ballpark as Dinings, one of my favourite Japanese London restaurants, and offers a contemporary take on the cuisine fusing traditional elements with western influences and produce.

We order a couple of cocktails; the Yuzu Bellini (£12) is dry and crisp with the sharp, citrus tones of the yuzu perfectly balanced with the fizz. A Pink Grapefruit Margarita (£9,50) is similarly well-mixed and unsweetened and both are perfect for wetting our appetites.

You could coat my Chelsea boots with truffle and I would probably eat them. Yellowtail with truffle dressing (£15) was really delicious, the delicate fish marinaded and infused with the gorgeous flavour of the tastiest of tubers and set off by the allium crunch of the micro-salad garnish.

My dining partner announced that her foie-gras and spinach with teriyaki wasabi (£12) was a phenomenal dish. The seared foie had great flavour and the teriyaki wasabi sang with an umami spicy, savoury richness.

Kouzu specialises in ‘Aburi’ sushi-it’s a nigiri sushi (fish on top of rice) with a partially grilled topping. Aburi O-Toro (£8.50) used the fatty toro piece of the tuna belly which is the most prized part. The tuna and the shrimp Aburi Botan-Ebi (£7.50) were both soft, silky and smokey. This way of preparing sushi was new to me and the grilling of the fish completely changes the taste perspective of the dish. Prawn Tempura Roll (£10) had a light, crisp texture with the whole roll being lightly fried.

Beef fillet steak (£31) was really tender and full of flavour coming with a deeply reduced red wine sauce, and beautifully crisp veg.

Roasted Black cod (£28) had a subtle citrus flavour that brought out the sweetness of the fish. I love black cod and this is a different take to those early iterations of the dish available at Hakkasan and Nobu that established it as a London staple.

The desserts at Kouzu are fascinating combining unexpected savoury elements with the sweeter. Goji tea creme caramel had an almost seaweed flavour-it was light and frothy but offset by the rich sweetness of the salt caramel ice cream.

A honey and sesame plate with sesame ice-cream had savoury textures barely sweetened by the honey.This was a very satisfying dish.

There is a seriousness of purpose about Kouzu that I really enjoyed and a commitment to flavour,texture and composition (Kouzu means composition in English) that manifests itself through the whole experience. It is a more intimate space than Zuma but less cramped than Dinings and delivers a level of dining equal to both of them. If you are interested in high-end contemporary Japanese food and have a budget you should try it.

Review-Ametsa with Arzak Instruction

March 17, 2013 by Adrian 3 Comments

Ametsa with Arzak instruction Belgravia

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5 Halkin St London, SW1X 7DJ

(020) 7333 1234/www.ametsa.co.uk

If Ametsa with Arzak Instruction is going to win any prizes, the gong for unlikeliest name is theirs for the taking. It is the London outpost of 3 Michelin-starred Arzak, the San Sebastián restaurant co run by Elena Arzak – voted Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female Chef in 2012 – and her father Juan Mari Arzak. I have recently returned from a short trip to San Sebastián (its Basque name is Donostia) which has an extraordinarily sophisticated informal food culture as well as being regarded as Spain’s top food destination. So I was really excited about my trip to Ametsa.

The food at Ametsa is described on their website as ‘New Basque Cuisine’, ‘pairing the earthy flavours and techniques of Spain’s Basque region with modern, surprising twists featuring locally-sourced and organic produce from land and sea.’ This set the scene for something cutting edge but still gutsy and full of flavour.

The room is light and airy with white walls, metal chairs, red banquettes and wooden floors. It overlooks a modern urban garden and the most distinctive feature is on the ceiling-an array of glass tubes filled with spices. It looks a bit like a row of oversized suppositories.

I was lunching with her Ladyship and we nibbled on rather over-crusty bread and butter and sank a couple of glasses of Louis Roederer Brut Premier whilst we checked out the food offer.

We went for the Lunch Tasting Menu with wine (£52 or £68 including wine for three courses with two options at each course). It didn’t seem particularly good value with low cost ingredients such as mackerel and ox cheek and didn’t offer much if any price advantage on the a la carte choices. Just for reference the price for the the set lunch at Pollen St Social is £29.50 for 3 courses with similar ingredients. For £55 you can get 6 courses at Roganic (see our review). But as it was billed as a tasting menu it seemed appropriate to put ourselves in the hands of the Arzaks-so we went for it.

Rice with fish mousse

A couple of ‘aperitivos’ arrived reminiscent though in no way as interesting as the ‘snacks’ at El Bulli. Rice with fish mousse was an agglomeration of puffed rice with a dollop of rough fish mousse on top. The mousse tasted fine-the sort your mum might have rustled up in the 70s whilst wearing a Frank Usher floaty number- but the construction fell to pieces as soon as it was picked up leading to an annoying sketch where we were failing to pick bits of mousse off the tablecloth with crumbling rice puffs.

Cheese Puzzle with Turmeric

Cheese Puzzle with Turmeric was a puzzle. The puzzle was why would anyone want to serve it? It was rubbery with a vague aftertaste of processed cheese. It wasn’t witty, modern, post-modern or ironic-just a waste of plate space.

Asparagus and Artichokes

Things picked up with my starter of Asparagus and Artichokes. Gently poached, the vegetables had a terrific depth of flavour and a sensuous mouth feel. In this instance the white asparagus was a better call than our domestic green as a foil to the artichoke.

From Egg to Chicken

Her Ladyship went for ‘From Egg to Chicken’. This was a much more conceptual dish with a slow poached egg sitting on what I think were dehydrated chicken flakes and covered with an opaque sheet made out of seaweed. A warm stock is then poured on top and the egg is meant to scramble. However the liquid wasn’t hot enough and the egg didn’t do what it was meant to leaving a rather gloopy mess that tasted of very little. At this level and price it wasn’t good enough.

With our starters we were drinking a very crisp and minerally tasting Albariño-La Liebre y La Tortuga (the hare and the tortoise) from the Rias Baixas area in the north-east of Spain.

Ox cheek with Vanilla

For our mains her Ladyship chose Ox cheek with Vanilla. The meat was flaked, wrapped in filo pastry and served with a sauce which she described as being like an oily gravy. This dish was a success, the ox cheek was very tender with a taste similar to bison and it was a substantial main course. She accompanied the dish with a wonderful Hito, 2009, Ribera del Duero. This was a robust red made from the Tempranillo grape and aged for 8 months in oak. I am nearly always impressed with reds from the Douro/Duero and find that they are great value.

Mackerel Green and Black

I went with the other main option-Mackerel Green and Black. A slowly poached piece of mackerel with a garlic and herb and olive sauce. The fish had a richness and depth of flavour that is not always present in mackerel. I drank a Silencis 2011 made by the Raventos Blanc family in the Penedes region near Barcelona from the Xarel-Lo grape. It was fruity with a hint of smoke and citrus and was a great match for the fish.

Butternut Squash and Ground Cocoa

For dessert we chose Butternut Squash and Ground Cocoa. This had a good mix of textures and the sweetness of the squash worked well with the relatively unsweetened cocoa.

Clove Custard with Roasted Pineapple Ice Cream

Clove Custard with Roasted Pineapple Ice Cream was pretty delicious. The clove custard had a subtlety that didn’t overpower the pineapple and the thin chocolate wafer added a bit of cocoa crunch.

I would like to have told you about the wine that we had with our desserts. Message to Ametsa-if you are offering a 3 course tasting menu with wine, make it clear what you are offering…

There was some top-class cooking on display at Ametsa and some disasters. I also don’t think they have a clear idea of how the London market works. A tasting menu at this price should use some better ingredients which it didn’t or else be brilliantly executed which it wasn’t. The wine offer should be clearer and although the service was all right, the staff couldn’t always give the level of detail about the food that some annoying customers (like me) want.

In a recent Evening Standard article old man Arzak, when asked why they were opening the restaurant said “To capitalise on our brand and make more money.” I wonder if they will?