Posts tagged restaurant

The Company Shed is one of the places that only those truly obsessed with food in the UK go on and on about. It’s almost a litmus test for foodies. If you mention it and the other person’s eyes light up, then you know they are serious about their love of food.

Here’s why coming here takes commitment.

  • It’s not close. From London, it’s an hour and 15 minutes train ride and another 15 minutes in a taxi. It costs £24 return for the train ticket (per person) and £20 for the taxi (each way).
  • You can get stuck there. There is only one road in and out of Mersea and when the tide is high, you just have to wait until it goes down.
  • The place is not fancy. It’s literally a shed. It’s like being in your uncle’s rustic seaside cottage. If your uncle was a fisherman.

However, once you take your first bite of the impossibly fresh seafood, all the adversity melts away. It is worth every effort and I highly recommend it if you’ve not already been. 

Here’s what you’ll need to bring with you:

  • Bread and butter. All they provide is the seafood and some salad. That’s it.
  • Wine.
  • Any sauces you like to have with your seafood. If you’re a purist (like I am) ignore this. 
The best som tum I have had in London, 101 Thai Kitchen. Fermented crab and fish sauce make a huge difference. Blow your head off spicy.

The best som tum I have had in London, 101 Thai Kitchen. Fermented crab and fish sauce make a huge difference. Blow your head off spicy.

Finally found decent duck larb in London at 101 Thai Kitchen!

Finally found decent duck larb in London at 101 Thai Kitchen!

There are a lot of tapas joints in Barcelona. While I’m sure even the most mediocre ones there are still better than most places you can go to in London, I was looking for some really great tapas when I was in Barcelona in January.

I didn’t have to look further than Cervecería Catalana. This place had everything you could possibly imagine by way of tapas and the ingredients were impossibly fresh. 

It was so good I went two days in a row and contemplated a third. 

My very good friend Tania once told me that when she was a little girl, her mum used to take her to the restaurant that was in Peter Jones. She would order Welsh rarebit and a knickerbocker glory each time. It was a fond memory of her childhood and it involved two food items that being a Canadian, I’d never tried. So I went searching for a place that had both items on the menu. This was no easy feat. Finally I found a place that had both items in stock. The Parlour in Fortnum & Mason is a self-styled, old-fashioned ice cream parlour that is equal parts luxury and whimsy. OK. So it’s high concept, but how is the food? Here’s what I thought: The list of sweet treats was endless. Cakes, sundaes, floats, milkshakes, you name it they have it. It is a dessert lover’s (specifically ice cream lover’s) paradise. The Welsh rarebit is excellent. Strongly flavoured and creamy, it’s served on crumpets and it’s delicious. The savoury menu is very short. Apart from the Welsh rarebit, the savoury items are only so so. I had an open-faced chicken Caesar sandwich that was decent but not memorable. The knickerbocker glory was delicious. Vanilla bean, strawberries and 12 year old balsamic vinegar, frosted strawberry and shortbread ice creams with raspberries, chunks of pineapple, raspberry coulis and topped with whipped cream and candy sugar. Yum. The people at the table next to us were actually staring at it. It’s pretty pricey for ice cream. £12 for the knickerbocker glory and most other ice cream desserts. Everything else is really affordable though. I’ll be going back with Tania to re-live her childhood memory. Only more luxurious of course.

My very good friend Tania once told me that when she was a little girl, her mum used to take her to the restaurant that was in Peter Jones. She would order Welsh rarebit and a knickerbocker glory each time. It was a fond memory of her childhood and it involved two food items that being a Canadian, I’d never tried.

So I went searching for a place that had both items on the menu. This was no easy feat. Finally I found a place that had both items in stock.

The Parlour in Fortnum & Mason is a self-styled, old-fashioned ice cream parlour that is equal parts luxury and whimsy. OK. So it’s high concept, but how is the food?

Here’s what I thought:

  • The list of sweet treats was endless. Cakes, sundaes, floats, milkshakes, you name it they have it. It is a dessert lover’s (specifically ice cream lover’s) paradise.
  • The Welsh rarebit is excellent. Strongly flavoured and creamy, it’s served on crumpets and it’s delicious.
  • The savoury menu is very short. Apart from the Welsh rarebit, the savoury items are only so so. I had an open-faced chicken Caesar sandwich that was decent but not memorable.
  • The knickerbocker glory was delicious. Vanilla bean, strawberries and 12 year old balsamic vinegar, frosted strawberry and shortbread ice creams with raspberries, chunks of pineapple, raspberry coulis and topped with whipped cream and candy sugar. Yum. The people at the table next to us were actually staring at it.
  • It’s pretty pricey for ice cream. £12 for the knickerbocker glory and most other ice cream desserts. Everything else is really affordable though.

I’ll be going back with Tania to re-live her childhood memory. Only more luxurious of course.

Bourdain goes to Au Pied de Cochon, one of my fave places to eat in Montreal, Canada (for obvious reasons).