“8 HOURS” baked tomatoes in sweet Oloroso - what a dish!! @ Cambio de Tercio-Tendido Cero-Tendido Cuatro-Capote & Toros.

I went to Cambio de Tercio the other night after work with Andy and experienced some really unique and exciting dishes!! 

Since the opening in 1995, Cambio De Tercio has concentrated on Modern Spanish cuisine.

The restaurant is located on Old Brompton Road, the nearest tube is South Kensington.

The interior of the restaurant is bursting with personality. 
Filled with bright colours and huge Spanish paintings which look really effective and bold on the vibrant walls.

Andy had been here before and hadn't shut up about it. He knew exactly what to order but we also went for a few wild cards too. He had not stopped going on about the '8 hour Tomatoes' so these were definitely on our list!

We sat down to eat at 7pm and by 7.30 the restaurant was totally full! I really loved the buzzing atmosphere, it seemed like this was the place to be......and it was :)

We started off with two glasses of house Cava which was refreshing and exactly what you need after a long day at work. 

And then we were on to the wine :)

Andy chose this and assured me I would love it.

It was really beautiful, we have similar tastes in wine.

Happy times, bring on the food :)

We started with this -

The famous deconstructed Spanish Omelette from EL BULLI (El Bulli was a Michelin 3-star restaurant in Catalonia, Spain. It was voted one of the best restaurants in the world but is now closed)

Think warm gooey cheese omelette .....but that doesn't do it justice. It was soooooo delicious and different and YUMMY. 

Next we had .....

Sardines marinated in sherry vinegar, Arbequina olives, baby gems and Martini Rosso jelly.

This was a wild card. It didn't amaze me. 

It was too strong in flavour but it gave the wine a real kick! 

And now the dish I had been waiting for..........

8 hour Tomatoes!!! 

Baked tomatoes in sweet Oloroso - Oloroso ("scented" in Spanish) is a variety of fortified wine.

WOW

DREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAMY!!!!

I was in a good place :)

It tasted like a kind of sweet tomato jam, each mouthful just melted in your mouth!

What a great idea and such a unique 'signature dish' to promote the restaurant.

I will be going back for more very soon!!!! 

Next up, one of my favourites! 

I was really looking forward to this and it did not disappoint.

The octopus was juicy and just perfect :) but ooohhhhh the sauce!!! The cheesy, potato sauce was amaaaaaaaaazing, similar flavours to the El Bulli dish.

Time for some MEAT........

Grilled lamb cutlets!

They were tender, pink and bursting with flavour.

And to finish our Spanish journey......

Crispy Serrano ham Croquettes, thyme and tomato sauce.

Andy was full up so I ate them ALL!!!!! Soooooo goooooooooooood, really appealing to the child within :)

What a FANTASTIC meal!!!! 

I couldn't manage dessert but we were given complimentary chocolates which were HEAVENLY.

I also ate all of these so as you can imagine it finished the meal off well!

You can really take your time in a restaurant like this, each course is exciting and full of different and exciting flavours. That's what is so lovely about the Spanish style of eating.

If you like Spanish food you MUST check this place out!!

http://www.cambiodetercio.co.uk/cambio-de-tercio/en/

Sunday goooooooodtimes at 'The Crown Tavern' on Clerkenwell Green

It was my friends birthday on Sunday and we arranged a big get-together with friends and family to celebrate!
As the weather was going to be nice and warm we wanted to find a place where we could all eat outside.
My friend Laura was also bringing her tiny two month old baby so the venue had to be baby friendly and not too busy.......hmmmm this is hard to find in London on a warm day!

I remembered a pub me and Andy had been to in the winter that did AMAZING roasts and they had an outside seating area too, it's located on Clerkenwell Green and is a bit of a hidden gem.

It's a really gorgeous, old gastro pub in a lovely part of London, right by an old church and surrounded by trees and traditional London phone boxes.....the perfect place to unwind, relax and enjoy the sun.

We managed to put a few tables together outside which was perfect!

We started off with a couple of meat boards:
Meat board - Trealy Farm meats, cured beef, scotched quails eggs, olives, bread & oil

And a few plates of squid:
Salt & pepper squid with lime mayonnaise

The squid was sooooo delicious, most of it vanished within minuets! The meat board was very generous and really tasty, we all just shared the plates around and snacked for a while.
We ordered several bottles of Prosecco too.......of course ;)

For main courses most of us ordered beef roasts, yummmmmm.
21 day aged, West Country beef all served with homemade Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables & red wine gravy

Other main courses:

Mains

Chicken Caesar salad with croutons, anchovies & house Caesar dressing £9.75

Cider & tarragon battered cod & skin-on chips with crushed peas & tartare £11.00

Handmade British cheese burger & fries add bacon £1.25 / BBQ pulled pork £2.50 £10.25

Wild salmon fish cakes, lemon creme fraiche, potato wedges, celeriac & apple slaw £10.50

Gnocchi with wild mushrooms, roasted squash, spinach & cannellini beans £11.00

Southern fried chicken with fries, apple slaw & a house pickle dip £14.00

8oz 21 day aged rib-eye steak with fries, baked tomato & watercress £17.50

~ add peppercorn / Bearnaise sauce £2

A great selection.

I remembered the roasts being really good and as I had recommended the pub I was hoping they wouldn't let me down!!

The roasts arrived.......

Everyone was was really pleased!! My beef was succulent and tender and the red wine gravy was rich and full of flavour. The carrots were sweet, juicy and perfectly cooked.....I did miss my favourite creamed leeks but you can't have it all! There was a side order available of this but after all that squid I don't think I

could have managed much more!

It was such a lovely day!! The surrounds are so peaceful you forget you're in hectic London!

My friend Laura and her baby Jude, awwww so cute.

The inside of the pub is absolutely beautiful and full of charm.

It's hard to find a place like this where you can spend the whole day in such a quiet and pretty environment. Usually most beer gardens or al fresco dining areas are packed on a hot day, with different groups of friends all boozing and being loud. Jeez I sound like an old lady but sometimes you just want to chill out somewhere calm and spacious.

On the next hot day we have here in London you will find me back at 'The Crown Tavern' drinking Prosecco and taking advantage of the fantastic menu....I will definitely be ordering more of that squid!!

Friends, family, booze and good food. Fab day :)

 http://www.thecrowntavernec1.co.uk/

MORITO - recent discovery!

On Saturday Andy and I went for a walk.

We were starving and went on the hunt for somewhere new!

We walked from our house in Angel (London) to Exmouth Market.

Exmouth Market secretly hidden in-between Angel and Farringdon and has lots of interesting restaurants, bars and cafes. It's got a really cool, trendy vibe.

We walked past a little Tapas restaurant called Morito and thought hmmm we're really in the mood for some Tapas :)

We were seated by the window which was lovely, it's so nice to be able to look out the window and see the world go by.

The cocktail list was far too good so we asked them for two of their most popular ones.

We had a 'rebojito' which is fino, lemonade and mint.....

.....and a 'cava pomegranate' cava and pomegranate juice......

They were both beautifully refreshing and bursting with flavour. We had never tried fino and lemonade before but it's now our new favourite drink!

So time to order some foooooood!!!
It's always so hard with tapas, every dish sounds amazing!

We started with the lamb chops, cumin and paprika with a dish of  chickpeas, pumpkin, coriander and tahini.

Both dishes were outstanding! The chickpea dish especially had such unique flavours, I couldn't stop eating it!

The puntillitas arrived - fried baby squid. Really nice but nothing special.

To go with our tapas feast we ordered a carafe of red wine - borsao garnacha/syrah @ £11. It was really bold and fruity and went really well with each dish.

Then the next dish arrived....charcoal grilled leeks and romesco YUM!!!!!

Romesco is a nut and red pepper-based sauce from Spain. It is made from a mixture of roasted almonds, pine nuts and hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil and peppers. I had never tried it before but I love it...will try and make it at home :)

And then one of my personal favourites! Pulpo a la gallega - octopus, potato and paprika.

WOW! It was the BEST octopus I have ever had!!!! Next time i'm ordering two!! Sooooo fresh and delicious!!

It's crazy to think they cooked all that amazing food in that TINY kitchen!!!!!

What a great discovery! It's funny how it's been so close to our house all this time but we had never been. We will be going there allot now!!
Tapas is so much fun and it's so nice to relax and take your time between each dish.

The menu changes daily with different specials so you can always try new dishes.
Prices range betweem £4 - £8 per dish, depending on what you have.
Check it out!
http://www.morito.co.uk

LA FROMAGERIE...cheese heaven :)

I felt in need of a little treat this weekend, so me and Andy headed to La Fromagerie.
There are two of these in London, one in Marylebone and one in Highbury.

We went to the Highbury shop....good bye diet! I think a cheese and wine lunch is in order!!

La Fromagerie is one of the BEST cheese shops in all of London with different cheeses sourced from all over the world.

As we walked in it looked very quaint and cosy with an intimate tasting cafe for 6...a few benches for eating. At the back was a maturing cellar.....basically a chilled walk-in cheese room....CHEESE HEAVEN :)

The smell was incredible and I couldn't wait to start sampling all the delicious cheeses and of course swigging it down with a juicy glass of red!!

We sat at a bench by the window and browsed the menu......we ordered a French cheese sharing board and a charcuterie plate (which were both around £8) with some olives, fresh bread, crackers and two selected glasses of house red to accompany the cheese.

There were 5 different cheeses on the sharing board, each one was just beautiful and she explained where they were from and what kind of cheeses they were.

FRENCH CHEESE BOARD

CHABICHOU, POITOU, Goat

Fresh tasting soft, yet quite close textured cheese

COULOMMIERS, ILE DE FRANCE

A velvety white crust housing a mellow rich cheese

SALERS D`ESTIVE, AUVERGNE, Cow

Firm texture with a definite edge when aged, in the style of a cheddar

LANGRES, CHAMPAGNE

Inside is a rich, moist, spicy cheese which should be almost melting

BLEU DE GEX, HAUT Jura, Cow

Threads of blue veins work their way through the creamy, crumbly pate

The charcuterie plate consisted of various hams, one with truffle which I hadn't tried before and also duck rillettes which is a kind of pate made with succulent duck, really tasty and great to spread on warm bread :)

The house wine we had was a French Cabernet Sauvignon and it went beautifully with the cheese.


This is where we sat...

After an hour or so of indulging ourselves and watching the world go by from the window, we had another look around the shop. There are so many delectable treats it's hard to take them all in and also hard not to try and eat everything!

Despite being HUGELY tempted by the all the cakes and pastries we opted for cappuccinos to wake us up from our heavenly cheese coma.

I will be going to the one in Marlebone soon, which is a bigger version of this place, to try more delicious treats.

It was such a lovely lunch and really nice to do something different.
I strongly recommend this absolute gem.
Unfortunately you cannot book so I suggest if there are more than two of you to go to the one Marylebone.

Right I'm off to the gym now!!!

http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/