The Roundup - 2012

So 2012… I have to say, it wasn't been a classic for many, many reasons. I've done a lot of working (you may have noticed that the posts dry up as the stress levels rise) and not nearly enough eating (well, that's my opinion). Hopefully the balance will sway back the other way in 2013 and I'll be back in the saddle...

Rather than 'treat' you to a top 5 or a top 10 that will inevitably be better written (and certainly better researched) by one of the pros, I thought I'd end the year by mentioning a few of my favourite things and linking to some of my favourite posts that you may have missed. In no particular order...


Opening of the year - Brasserie Zedel: 
The food isn't ever going to win an award, but it's fine, ridiculously cheap, served in the most wonderful surroundings and in doing those things so well in the centre of Piccadilly Circus managed to change the game for London restaurant openings this year. Oh and they do a mean cocktail too... (full review here)

2012 / 2013 - Food trends of note:
Street food, burgers, ramen, ceviche and the no reservation hype machine. Over. Them. All. Now... Next year I think we're going to start with much of the same, though expect the American invasion to continue unabated. Hot on the heels of MASH (Danish but heavily American influenced) and STK on the Strand, we'll be getting a sister to Keith McNally's iconic New York dinner hall and bakery Balthazar, the Standard Grill, the long, long awaited La Esquina and in the biggest news to anyone obsessed with the trend of 2012, Danny Meyer will be opening Shake Shack in Covent Garden. You ain't seen a queue till you've seen a Shake Shack queue. In slightly more interesting news, expect a few more Peruvian / Argentinian openings, a return to London for Eric Chavot and the first international venture from the father / daughter team behind the legendary Arzak in San Sebastian. 

My personal food trend: Dim Sunday

I've had a bit of a Chinese obsession this year (yeah, I know, alongside the burger obsession, the steak obsession and the calorie obsession) which has wonderfully and    reasonably frugally manifested itself in a huge propensity to do dim sum. As a weekend hangover cure, it knows no equal. Freshly steamed parcels of sweet prawn, herby pork and umami filled dumplings arriving in an endless stream to your table. We've mainly been at the redoubtable Dragon Castle and the slightly less salubrious Hong Kong City, both South East London and both highly recommended.

Openings of interest: 

Antico (lovely little Italian on the bottom of Bermondsey Street, great for eating fresh pasta and laughing at the 3 customers in Greg Wallace's place across the road) Ceviche (fresh, loud and exciting Peruvian joint), 10 Greek Street (wasn't too impressed, but I know others are wowed), La Bodega Negra (tasty if pricy haute Mexican) and the Green Man & The French Horn (a grotty Covent Garden boozer given the Terroirs treatment).

The worst things I ate:

Or, things I do in the line of misguided duty... ChaCha Moon was pretty bad and Carluccios as repressively pointless as ever but, the winner has to go to the King's Cross abomination that was Bistro de la Gare. 

Some of the best things I ate:
Damn it, despite declaring an end to my burger reviewing, any list has to include one of the many, many burgers I've slammed down my impatient cakehole… maybe one of the specials at still quality chain Byron (their three cheese is a heady delight), or one of the many MEATempire patties I've noshed, or indeed maybe the exceptional off-menu effort from Covent Garden stalwart Joe Allen, serving poverty stricken actors since Yanni Papoutsis was a lad.

Other than those, I had the best BBQ of my life while in New York recently, slow, soft smoked brisket served alongside headsplittingly strong cocktails in jam jars by Williamsburg hipsters Fette Sau (www.fettesaubbq.com). I may have been a little drunk, but I'd be willing to swear that it's worth the plane fare just for another go on one of their pulled pork sandwiches.

I'd also go a long distance for Jose Pizarro's fabulous croquettes (thankfully I don't have to) and I've been pulled back to Indian street food specialists Roti Chai a couple of times for tender, delicately spiced and moreish chicken lollipops. It's been a good year! Hype aside though, nothing beats the satisfaction of great food, simply and well cooked. And no matter what 2013 brings, it's almost certainly going to bring a couple of trips to perennial favourites like Zucca, Hawksmoor and Andrew Edmunds.

Unequivocally though, the winner has to be the fresh bread and pomegranate sauce starter at FM Mangal, foodie crack cocaine and one of the best kept secrets in South East London (until Rayner told everyone…)

 That Shake Shack burger... coming your way soon!

 A pile of sliders... 

 The most perfect veal chop from Zucca

  And ramen... This one from Bone Daddies 

When you wish a pie would satisfy - The Bree Louise - Dec 2012

As far as quality boozers serving food in the vicinity of Euston, there's not much competition. So wailing on a real ale pub serving fresh, home made food (probably for miles) feels a little harsh, like doing a Simon Cowell routine after a kid's carol service. But, in the interests of integrity...

The Bree Louise sits on one of those windblown residential side streets that exist adjacent to every hub train station in the Western world, where the patina of train grime is smeared across the windows like a derisory smear of margarine on a First Great Western ham sandwich. 

Despite the unwelcoming approach and the initial, unstructured look, the overly bright, overly heated single room isn't the sort of itinerants' boozer of last resort, filled with dealers, hooligans and the odd poor sod who missed the 5:15 to Leighton Buzzard. It's actually much better (or worse) than that. The Bree Louise is one of those 'proper' pubs. The kind of pubs where men have beards, toilet facilities are 'functional' and it's acceptable to order a half of NoseSplitter or Noggin's Best before comparing fisherman's knit or World of Warcraft anecdotes with your closest (male) friends. For the Bree Louise is a CAMRA pub...

Now don't get me wrong, I love a real ale as much as the next man, but there's something about the nerdier than thou that can emanate from the REAL ale drinker that winds me up. It's the same sort of aggressive apologist behaviour that attaches itself to train spotters, obscure indie music fans and Evertonians. A 'get the digs in now, but we know we're right', folded arms attitude that occasionally makes for a very closed shop. 

Thankfully, as well as 'Award Winning' ales, ciders and perrys (and a couple of lagers), they also serve a range of 'Award Winning' pies (and obviously feature as an 'Award Winning' pub in a guide book somewhere, given the number of confused tourists wandering through…) 

Less thankfully, with the exception of an off-piste haggis effort, the pies we had were fairly sloppily constructed, with that deeply unappealing pub habit of slopping an inch or so of pre-prepared casserole into the bottom of an earthenware bowl before covering it with a frozen puff pastry shell and reheating to order. The cider sauce was far too thin, if well enough flavoured, but there were just four small sad beige chunks of pork floating around in it, several inches below the carapace, like turds trapped under a swimming pool cover. 

I suppose for £8 a pop, it's difficult to complain too vociferously about the food, but it didn't do it for me at all. The pub is recommended if you genuinely have missed the 5:15 to Leighton Buzzard and can't face the Weatherspoons*, or need to regale chums with your latest live roleplaying anecdotes over a pint of Old Badger, less so for anything else.

* Let me make this absolutely clear. The Bree Louise is a HUGE improvement over the Weatherspo'Neill-style sticky floored hellholes you normally find near stations. It's just that isn't saying much...