Haven’t done a review for a while so here we go… This review actually should’ve taken place a couple of years ago, except for the fact that I got confused, and booked a table at the underwhelmingly shit Steak and Lobster, instead of Burger and Lobster.
Before I dive into the actual review, just for comparison, Steak and Lobster has a near identical (although slightly less interesting menu), obviously is based around the same ‘surf ‘n’ turf’ concept, but the interior is weird and sterile, the service was a bit shit, and the food was dead. Literally of course, the steak and lobster were dead, but going beyond that. Dead af. Bland and uninspiring. I’m not sure I could paint a less glowing picture.
So after this unintentional restaurant visit, I’d been pining for the real deal. Pining for two years in fact. And today was finally the day that I got my Burger and Lobster.
This is not acceptable lighting.
I can probably concede that the only thing Steak and Lobster did better was the lighting. I have a thing about poorly lit restaurants. Really does my head in, and the Burger and Lobster in Soho at least was like this. That is, however, pretty much where the negativity ends.
To start, the three of us shared the Lobster Croquettes. These were super creamy with a lovely level of spicy flavour from the bed of Chipotle mayo. The little avocadoey blob on top doesn’t add much but it does look pretty. These aren’t cheap. You get 4 croquettes for £9.50, and you can bet that we divided that last one up between us into incredibly precise thirds. But at the end of the day, it’s a lobster restaurant, so if you’re on a budget, just don’t bother in the first place.
I’d always thought that I’d end up having the Lobster Roll here, but ultimately after some intense social media stalking, I decided that the B&L Beast Burger looked exciting. It consists of a thicccc AF beef patty (medium rare ofc) with a solid chunk of lobster meat on top, gooey melting Brie, truffle and tarragon mayo, fennel and Chinese cabbage. It is such a satisfying burger. Part of me thinks the flavour of the lobster gets a bit lost when it’s served like this, but despite that I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It really is a bit of a beast.
I was super tempted by the melty Gruyere Spinach on the side, but decided to be slightly less naughty, and opted for the tenderstem broccoli instead. As far as veggie sides go, it was nice and buttery, but obviously there are more interesting options. I did however, have to try one of my friend’s Truffle Chips of course. I was surprised that they were proper thick cut chips rather than fries, and if I’d known I might have been tempted myself, although we all agreed that despite the truffle smelling quite strong, there wasn’t much actual truffle flavour from them.
Finally we come to dessert, which I had told myself I wouldn’t have. But why stop myself if I change my mind? Gutted I didn’t get there last Easter for their Creme Egg Cheesecake, but rather than going for their plainer White Chocolate Cheesecake, I was taken by the Cranberry and Hazelnut Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream.
First off, it definitely ticks the gooey box. It was super soft and melt-in-the-mouth. The hazelnuts and cranberries were both really nice additions, both in terms of texture and flavour. My only complaint would be the warmth of the brownie. Normally when something is served with ice cream on the side, it’s so hot that the two kind of melt together, and the hot-cold contrast works beautifully. With this dessert, the brownie seemed to be kind of lukewarm in the first place so that delicious contrast wasn’t quite there.
Service was great, super friendly, and the menu has a decent selection of mains combos.
There is probably a gimmicky element to the lobster craze, which accounts for the high cost of the food, but if you’re willing to look past the food as a trend, for me at least, it was a good quality, tasty meal. £25 for a burger with a small amount of lobster in isn’t ideal, but I’m in London, I know what I’m getting myself in for, so there’s no use in complaining.
As I often tell people with a sickly sweet smile at my place of work when they scoff at the pricing,’It’s fine, you don’t have to buy it.’ 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
When I visited Morocco about 7 years ago now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that taken by the food. I entirely put this down to the fact that I was still in my fussy phase at 18, rather than the food actually not being good.
Tagine and Cous Cous were frequently on the menu, and apparently neither of these satisfied me back then. Added to that was the fact that I was on a school ‘expedition’, so most of the meals that I was eating had been cooked for me by our hosts, whether that was Rashid’s wife in Taroudant or the amazing team who looked after us during our camping trek in the Atlas Mountains. Looking back now, this gives me even more reason to be in awe of the food. No choice, just delicious home-cooked (or mountain-cooked) meals dished up for us every breakfast, lunch and dinner. It really was a treat I should’ve appreciated more.
I’ve not really eaten much Moroccan food here either. I once had a tagine from Giraffe at Birmingham aiport, and despite having had some lovely meals from there before, it really wasn’t good.
Other than that, my inspiration for this probably has to come from my Dad’s leftover lamb stew, that we’d have the day after a Sunday Roast. For years I refused to eat it if it had apricots/dates in, as the idea of mixing sweet with savoury really didn’t work for me, but now that’s my favourite part.
I’ve finally come up with my own recipe for it, along with a side dish for mopping up all the sauces, inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Cheat’s Paratha’.
Of course it would be more ‘authentic’ to serve with cous cous, but ultimately you can choose whichever side dish you wish. This one’s satisfyingly indulgent, but I guess cous cous would be the slightly more health-conscious option.
A few disclaimers before I get to the point.
I don’t do recipe writing. It’s not my forte, but I do want to be able to share my successes. Because of that, my way of instruction won’t be the most precise – you’ll have to trust yourself to go with instinct sometimes, but the basic guidelines will be there.
Serves 2
For the stew
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 tin of chickpeas
1tsp tamarind paste
1tsp ginger paste
2 tsp rose harissa pasta
1tsp ras el hanout
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of dried apricots
small handful of dates
leftover lamb
water
salt/pepper
Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion and garlic.
When fragrant tip in drained chickpeas.
Add the pastes and spices, give it a good mix and cook for a few minutes.
Chop dried apricots and dates into smaller pieces (generally I’d chop apricots in halves or quarters and dates into thirds), and add these along with the chopped tomatoes and seasoning.
Chuck in the leftover lamb and add enough water so that everything is almost completely submerged.
Leave to cook on a low heat for preferably a couple of hours (if you’re massively impatient like I often am, a shorter cooking time just to reduce the liquid slightly will do)
This stew-style sauce should still be liquidy when ready – don’t expect it to reduce down completely. You are aiming for the perfect balance between a thick pasty sauce and watery broth.
For the ‘Paratha’
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
1 chilli
½ ball of mozzarella
1 tsp chilli powder
As I mentioned before, this is inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s Cheat’s Paratha. Certainly not a paratha (type of flatbread) in the typical sense, instead of having to make the dough from scratch, here you are just using puff pastry. It ends up having the most amazing soft, spongy texture, and I’ve just added a couple of extra ingredients to make it even more delicious.
Cut your ready-rolled puff pastry into 2 rectangles (you probably want enough that when you roll it into a ball, it’s a fist size).
Roll each rectangle into a ball.
Finely slice your chilli, and tear the mozzarella lump into smaller pieces.
There is no precise technique to this next bit – basically divide the chilli/mozzarella mix into two piles – one for each paratha, and press the puff pastry ball into that pile, constantly pushing the dough around so that the chilli and mozzarella becomes incorporated into the dough. At this point you can also sprinkle over as much chilli powder as you can handle. You want to knead the dough/push it around for a couple of minutes so that the mozzarella and chilli are evenly distributed throughout the dough rather than just being concentrated in one area.
With a rolling pin, roll them flat into circles – I like mine quite thick, so I’d probably go for the thickness of two pound coins. If you’ve used rubbish, cheap mozzarella like me, don’t worry if the dough is incredibly sticky and wet, it might seem like a disaster but it will still work fine.
Heat a frying pan on high, and once rolled out, add your paratha to the dry pan. There’s no specific cooking time, but you want to leave it until it’s crisped up and is no longer sticky at all on one side, and then you can flip it to crisp the other side. A couple of minutes should be enough, but just monitor it and use your common sense.
When fully cooked, you should find that they are browned up on both sides but that the centre is soft and slightly gooey and when you pull it apart, the cheese should stretch between both sides.
Serve the stew with your paratha on the side for a cheesy, spicy dipping experience!
Would love to know if anyone ends up trying this, so please leave a comment or connect with me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn.
Hello. I currently feel like a big bag of poo and can barely
motivate myself to write, but if I continue to lie here watching Netflix all
afternoon/evening hoping my illness will disappear I am going to go mad. If the
poo reference hasn’t put you off, please continue to read.
This is the second post in my ‘ultimate’ series, bringing
you my top recommendations. This time things are a little bit different – we’re
not talking dining out, but rather cooking at home.
Home cooking can be daunting – potentially time-consuming,
requiring a load of obscure ingredients, and with a risk that it might not go
to plan at all. But don’t let that put you off! It can also be massively
rewarding, and I’m giving you a head start in providing a solid set of recipes
that have worked a treat for me, leaving you with delicious and creative meals
to dish up to your friends and family.
Just a little note on the ‘Effort Level’ section. This is
based more so on how long it takes to make and many elements and/or techniques
are involved. Just because something is high in effort, it doesn’t necessarily
mean it’s difficult to make, only that you might need a bit more patience!
We’ll start with my favourite breakfast and brunch recipes…
7. Cauliflower Hash
and Eggs
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in ‘Time to Eat’
Effort level: Medium
Dietary info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)
This one was a big surprise for me. I find it quite difficult to make something cauliflower-based that I enjoy, but this grated cauliflower hash was actually so tasty, what with all the flavour from the chilli and chives. The fried egg isn’t supposed to leak like this but overall I think my attempt looks pretty impressive, so if you want something filling and can be bothered to go wild with a grater then defo have a go at this.
6. Granola
Recipe by: Rachel Ama in ‘Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats’
Effort level: Easy
Dietary info: Vegan (contains nuts)
You might find yourself thinking, ‘why would I make granola when I can just buy it?’ But personally I found it really satisfying knowing exactly what had gone into it. You can customise with any additional dried fruits etc, and I also enjoyed junking it up a bit by adding the vegan cookie dough from Doughnut Time’s Ice Ice Bae Bae doughnut in there too.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a savoury pancake more so than sweet. This one was more like the size of a crepe but with the density of an american pancake and so one was plenty enough for lunch. Again, you can customise the toppings, so along with the chorizo and spring onion, I had some manchego that needed using up so I dropped that into the batter as it was cooking so that it melted into the pancake. Only downside then is that when you flip the pancake the melted cheese sort of sticks to the bottom of the pan. But it still worked and most of it stayed within the pancake.
4. Sweet Potato Cakes
with Poached Eggs
Recipe by Kyle Boyce (London Grind), available from BBC Good
Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)
Like with the Cauliflower Hash, this one is slightly more effort just because of all the gratey-gratey but it is worth those extra few minutes of prep time. The result ends up being a crunchy delight, topped with a (hopefully) gooey-yolked poached egg. Bursting with flavour.
3. Sausage and Egg
Bap with Spicy Tomato Sauce
Recipe by: BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains pork, eggs
One of my absolute favourites. I actually attempted to make the white baps as well but I won’t necessary include that in my analysis of the recipe as they were way too stodgy and hard, but following the recipe and using shop-bought rolls would work perfectly. The sausage patty was delicious, my fried egg perched beautifully on top, and the spicy tomato sauce brought everything together. This is very easy to make, I’ve just given it a medium effort level due to the different aspects that you have to work on separately. You could go wild and add bacon too for the Full English experience.
2. Cinnamon French
Toast Drizzled in Chocolate
Recipe by: Rachel Ama in Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats
Effort Level: Easy/Medium
Dietary Info: VEGAN!!
Vegan French toast is the most exciting discovery I have made recently. I won’t spend too long talking about this one as I mentioned it in my last post (Meat Me Halfway: Week 2). You do not need eggs at all to create the mixture to coat your bread, and this one was really delicious, although I fucked up the chocolate a bit and it wasn’t supposed to be quite so runny.
1.Semolina Halva with Cheat’s Paratha
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains ghee, nuts
This is my ultimate breakfast/brunch recipe. Well, not my recipe sadly, but my favourite recipe to follow. I had no idea what this even was when I got this recipe book but thought I’d be a bit adventurous and try it out anyway. I perhaps wasn’t as open-minded back then because I wasn’t massively optimistic about liking it. But let me tell you, this is beautiful. The buttery, orange flavour with the crunch of the nuts and slight sweetness from the dried fruit; not to mention the ‘parathas’, which in this case are literally just balls of puff pastry rolled and flat and dry-fried. They end up warm and slightly spongy, and then you can pile the semolina on top, or even indulge in them taco-style if you’re an animal like me.
Next up let’s have a look at lunch and dinner. I split up the categories in this way because I couldn’t decide what exactly constitutes lunch, and what would be classed more as dinner, so this seemed more logical.
15. Butternut Pasta
Soup
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain, in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: High
Dietary Info: Vegan
I never used to be a fan of soup, not really classing it as a proper meal but I’ve made some really tasty ones in the past year or so. I’m always in two minds about these kinds of ‘pasta’ soups. I’ve tried a few and for me personally I don’t think the orzo or whatever pasta shape it is enhances the dish in anyway – I either want pasta or soup, not an odd combination of the two. But whether you add the orzo or not, this is a delicious soup, managing to be super creamy without the addition of cream itself. The chipotle flakes add a warming kick, making it perfect for these long winter nights.
14. Canneloni Filled
with Spinach and Ricotta
Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta
Effort Level: High
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy
Making your own pasta is a bit of a ballache but it is really rewarding, knowing you’ve made every element of the dish yourself. It’s not actually difficult, mainly just mixing your egg and flour to make the dough but then obviously it does require a pasta machine to create the sheets (they’re not particularly expensive). The béchamel with the passata, and ricotta filling makes this stuffed pasta dish super indulgent but the flavours go way beyond tomato and cheese.
13. Blender Beetroot
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat
Effort Level: Low
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy
This is honestly one of the quickest and easiest things to make, requiring so few ingredients. Once the beetroot has been blended, your sauce is sorted. When added to the pasta, everything turns a beautiful deep purply pink. Top that off with feta and dill and you’re good to go.
12. Bhel Puri Salad
Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG
Effort Level: Low
Dietary Info: Vegan
Salads are generally dead. So uninspiring, leaf upon leaf of bland rabbit-food textures. HOWEVER, just look at this one. I was shocked. This salad is so delicious, and yes that’s partly because instead of leaves there are poppadoms and Bombay Mix but it’s still mostly comprised of radish, tomato and onion so is still pretty healthy. I loved the crunch, it was incredibly refreshing and so vibrant with all the colours.
11. One Tray Peanut
Chicken
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains nuts, meat
One that worked a treat for my packed lunches at work, just
as tasty cold. The combination of the peanut butter with the thai green curry
paste is delicious, and the broccoli, gnocchi and chicken make a really
interesting combination. It’s not difficult to make as you can just chuck
everything in a baking dish together but it does require a fair few
ingredients.
10. Amazing Tomato
Curry
Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts
I made this just last night, using a load of cherry tomatoes rather than larger whole tomatoes as recommended. This is super creamy, and one of my favourite things is the interesting addition of mango chutney to the actual curry towards the end of its cooking time. This adds a lovely sweetness that is normally reserved for dipping. Serve with rice (or as I did, Nadiya Hussain’s Masala Eggy Bread).
9. Shell Pasta with
Prawns and Saffron
Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, dairy
A deliciously creamy-below-the-surface béchamel pasta, with
a crispy top after being grilled before serving. Always slightly more effort to
make a béchamel sauce rather than using a tinned tomato sauce or jarred pesto,
but worth it ultimately, and the fact that this is pretty quick to make overall
compensates for this tiny bit of effort.
8. Rigatoni with Soft
Cheese and Pecorino Sardo
Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta
Effort Level: Easy AF
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy
Another Gino one right here, and one that I avoided making
for ages because there was no photo in the book (anyone else also tend to
neglect these recipes??) but when I eventually got round to it, it tasted
beautiful despite being so so simple. Again, it’s super creamy, but without
having to make a béchamel – this one is just butter, cream cheese and milk.
Ironically I don’t have a photo of my finished thing either, probably because
it looked so uninspiring with no colourful elements to brighten it up, but
trust me when I say the flavour was surprisingly good.
7. Samosa Pie
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: High
Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs
When this recipe actually worked out for me I was over the moon. Anything that involved me making my own pastry from scratch, I was sure would be a complete disaster but just look at it! The hot water pastry was actually very simple to make, and the samosa filling tasted so authentic. 100% recommend this recipe if you’ve got a load of people to impress!
6. Green Spinach and
Lemon Risotto with Crispy Prosciutto
Recipe by: Rosie Birkett via BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains pork, dairy
Risotto is slightly more time-consuming to make, constantly topping up the stock until the rice is plumped up and creamy, but this recipe is worth it. The blended spinach gives it a beautiful colour and the crispy prosciutto on top adds some variation texture-wise.
5. Stuffed Curried
Aubergines
Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts
Aubergines can be dry and tasteless if you don’t cook them well, but add a delicious curry paste with a whole load of spices, sandwich it inside the aubergine and roast, and you end up with a soft, creamy, dreamy vegetable. I paired this curry with Rachel Ama’s coconut rice rather than plain boiled.
4. Prawn and Salmon
Burgers with Spicy Mayo
Recipe by: Elena Silcock via BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, eggs
The first time I had a salmon burger was at an amazing restaurant in Lisbon, and for some reason, I remember wondering how on earth they made them, as if making a burger out of fish would be the most complex thing in the world. It’s actually not. This burger has so much flavour, the spicy mayo is a beautiful addition, and providing you’re not attempting the buns yourself, is actually pretty straightforward to make.
Cooking whole joints of meat can be quite daunting. I’ve only started trying it recently, and I have had a couple of disasters. But this lamb turned out beautifully – tender and almost creamy, and the pesto sauce is something different to traditional roast lamb with just a blob of mint sauce on the side. You’ll have to excuse the odd combination of sides on the plate below – I wouldn’t serve this odd combo up to anyone else but I was just trying a few recipes at the same time. I froze the leftover lamb and had it in a few other meals later down the line, including Greek Lamb with Orzo, and a Harissa Lamb Pie and the meat was still delicious in both.
2. Beef Burgers with Bacon Jam
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: All the meat, plus eggs
Another burger recipe here, and one that I adored. I used blue cheese instead of whatever cheese was in the recipe but other than that I think I followed it pretty accurately. I’ve come to love the idea of a fried egg to top a burger, and the bacon jam was also super tasty, despite my scepticism reading the instruction to add coffee powder…
1.Meatloaf Roll
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time
to Eat
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs
So this is it. One of my absolute favourite lunch/dinner recipes. I’ve made this a couple of times now and anyone who’s tried it has really enjoyed it. It is slightly more effort what with all the elements you have to combine, but at least there’s no expectation for you to make your own puff pastry. Fuck that. Also, any marmite haters should ignore the fact that diluted marmite coats the pastry in between the crust and the sausage meat centre, because I don’t like marmite, but actually the very tiny amount adds a deliciously subtle sweetness when you bite into it. The eggs lined up in the centre make for a super satisfying sight when you cut through the roll. Such an interesting meal, and one that won’t disappoint on flavours.
Exciting section coming up. This one is all about the desserts (dancing lady emoji). So there are actually only 3 in this section, and they are all Nadiya recipes, in case you hadn’t already noticed how much I love her.
3.Gingerbread Melt in the Middles
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy
In third place, we have these little gingerbread cookie cups filled with a melted chocolate centre. This is another recipe that didn’t come with a picture, and when I started trying it I don’t think I’d actually read the recipe through beforehand so didn’t really have any idea what I was making. These turned out such a treat though. Cooked through, the biscuit cup is buttery and delicious and then cutting into it, the melted chocolate centre oozes out. I served this with Nadiya’s Cardamom Ice Cream that she makes alongside her Banana Tarte Tatin (a recipe that actually failed for me lol).
2. Burnt Almond Butter Fudge
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy and nuts
I’d never realised fudge was this straightforward to make. It is slightly disconcerting when you realise as you’re making it that it’s pretty much pure sugar, but the flavour is stunning. This one had the most incredible smooth, creamy texture. I’m never a fan of the kind of fudge you have to sort of scrape bits off with your teeth rather than being able to bite straight into it (reminds me particularly of shitty cinema pick & mix fudge…). The almond flavour was lovely, and it’s given me the confidence to try making my own flavour variations of fudge using this recipe as the base.
1.Choco Lime Roulade
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs
This is my favourite dessert recipe. Often my favourite recipes end up being unexpected ones, or basically the ones that I think are going to be a disaster, and actually turn out to be pretty impressive. I 100% assumed this sponge would break up as soon as I rolled it, but it didn’t at all. I found the chocolate/lime flavour combination really interesting and unusual and I would definitely serve this up to guests again!
We’re nearing the end and it’s my final section – snacks and sides. Either dishes that you could eat alone when you’re peckish mid-afternoon, or that you could combine with the above recipes.
4. Banana Honey and Hazelnut Smoothie
Recipe by: BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Low
Dietary Info: Contains nuts, dairy
In fourth place is actually a drink/smoothie, but one that is a great breakfast addition. The honey stops the banana flavour from being overwhelming and the little chopped hazelnuts on top add a lovely little crunch. You could always use soy milk as I did to make it dairy-free.
3. Chunky Halloumi
Chips
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs
Who doesn’t love halloumi. Especially halloumi that’s fried. These squeaky cheese chips are delicious, with the saltiness of the halloumi and the added chilli and za’atar for a spike of flavour. If you want to be particularly indulgent, wrap these in prosciutto before frying.
2. Naan Bread
Recipe by: Miriam Nice via BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy
Another recipe where the result shocked me. I couldn’t believe how perfect this naan was. From the teardrop shape, to the soft, spongy texture, to the pronounced flavour from the Nigella seeds. Despite learning in India that this kind of naan we’re used to having here doesn’t actually exist there (no teardrop shape, more just like a big, circular, flat and less spongy flatbread), this still was incredibly satisfying to produce and looked shop-bought in a good way. Dipping this into my soups and curries was heavenly. Also freezes well.
So I already raved about these in my last vegan blog so I don’t want to repeat myself other than saying these were insanely delicious. You don’t have to make the chia jam yourself if that’s too much effort, using shop bought is fine. Head to the website in the link above for a huge number of other variations of these little energy balls, all of which I want to get round to trying at some point!
And there’s my full round-up of the best recipes I’ve tried
in the past year or so. The above have all produced fantastic results for me so
I definitely recommend trying some of them out. I think the majority of them
can be found online, although it’s always worth investing in a few solid recipe
books if you’re looking for inspiration.
If you end up trying any of these, I’d love to see the
results, so tag me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn so I can check them out!
My reviews so far have all been of London restaurants, so it was nice to head home to Nottingham for a couple of days to explore more of the foodie scene there. Gotta put the ‘travel’ in foodtravelsldn somehow…
Persian Empire is somewhere we’d never been before but had seen fab reviews on Trip Advisor. It’s in a city centre location where you might not typically find the best quality food, but so many good reviews surely meant something.
The interior is a bit basic and dare I say, slightly tacky,
but I’m all about the main focus being on the food itself.
To start, we shared a mix of 5 starters for 4 people with a side of flatbread. They came well presented on a rotating dish; I’ve numbered each of the dishes to review them individually.
Your simple hummus. A lovely, thick and creamy texture with lots of flavour. Bland hummus always sets off alarm bells but this one hit the mark.
Olivier. Chicken, egg, mayo and potato with gherkins and peas. I wouldn’t have known this was a typical Persian dish, and the flavour was giving me generic egg-based salad feels, but I did actually enjoy it and was great piled onto the bread.
Ghel Gheli. Lamb meatballs with prunes. These were flavoursome with moist mincemeat sitting on a juicy sauce.
Kashke Bademjan. This shredded aubergine was delicious. The way it had been cooked gave it a tender, almost meaty texture.
Last, and to be honest, least, was the Sabzi Paneer. Basically just cubes of feta with walnuts and various herbs. Each element sat there in isolation, none of the flavours or textures working well together harmoniously. Nothing unpleasant about this at all, but just not one that I’d recommend.
Quick mention about the flatbread – perfect thickness – not wafer thin and crunchy but not heavy and stodgy either. A great balance and the ideal side to accompany the mixed starters.
Onto the mains, and typically, whenever I head to middle eastern restaurants I tend to always go for lamb over chicken. This time I decided that I’d change things up a bit and stick to chicken. The Fesenjoon caught my eye on the menu straight away. It’s a pomegranate and walnut chicken stew served with either rice or bread and salad. Really rich in both colour and flavour, it was delicious. The shredded chicken soaked up the creamy sauce, and the pomegranate added the perfect amount of sweetness to the stew. The saffron rice was a solid accompaniment – not wildly exciting, but just what you need to mop up all the sauce.
I couldn’t leave without satisfying my dessert stomach, obviously, so I shared the Faloode with saffron and pistachio ice cream. Faloode is basically rice vermicelli soaked in rose water syrup. For me, any food this bright in colour immediately makes me slightly sceptical. My brain is automatically shouting ARTIFICIAL… and admittedly this dessert was divisive. For me, the flavours were quite unnatural and I didn’t associate them with saffron or pistachio. The vermicelli in the syrup was also incredibly sweet and I just found it to be too much. Its crunchy texture also didn’t really work for me. Having said that my Mum really enjoyed it, so just goes to show that our tastes are entirely subjective.
The service was great throughout. Waiters were lovely, and
attentive but without being overbearing. It’s also fantastic value for money.
Starters are generally under £5 each, mains around £10 and desserts under £4.
Even with a couple of rounds of drinks the final bill was a pleasant surprise.
So whether you’re a Nottingham local, or find yourself
visiting in the future, I definitely recommend this place. It’s not at all fancy,
but if you just want some hearty, flavoursome food, this is the place to go.
Looking up ‘Let’s eat’ in perfect Farsi might be a bit
ambitious so for now I’ll stick with…
¡Comemos! 