Camino Victoria
Camino Victoria is a fairly newly opened tapas place in one of the various new developments on, or near, Victoria Street. It was a nice warm evening, and lots of people were outside enjoying some food and drinks. If you're not near Victoria, they also have four other branches in London.
We sat inside in the comfortable seating room, and started ordering our dishes.
We went for the traditional tapas: Padron Peppers, some were hot and spicy, and some were sweet and mellow; Tortilla de Patatas, which had a lovely gooey centre; Patatas Bravas, with a pleasant spicy ketchup sauce; Croquetas, with its cheesy centre; Arroz Negro, a cuttlefish black rice, with squid ink; and Talos De Chorizo, soft mini tortillas, with minced chorizo, butternut squash, and some yoghurt.
There were three talos in the serving, but you can upgrade to have a fourth one — excellent when you're sharing with two, and frankly something that should be available for every sharing dish, when the number provided do not divide between the size of the party.
With our dinner, we also enjoyed a bottle of a really lovely cava, because we felt like it and it was Friday.
We were in the mood for some dessert, and shared a couple of chocolate truffles to finish our meal.
All the tapas were tasty and well presented, but not absolutely outstanding. For that, you'll probably have to head to Spain, and visit a really good tapas place — we've had bad tapas in Spain too! But if you'd like a taste of Spain in London, then Camino Victoria will do just fine.
Albert's Schloss
If you are in search of a bierkeller (German for beer cellar), with a band, and where you can dance on the tables (but not the benches), then Albert's Schloss is the place to be.
Luckily for us, there is also upstairs Schenke (think: German bakery café), and in the cellar there are many tables for less entertaining dining far away from the band. Here it is quiet enough to have a conversation over burgers, bratwursts, schnitzels, and other alpine fare. And the accompanying beer.
And this is where we found ourselves on this Friday evening.
Hiding away in the back, next to a ski gondola converted into a dining place, we started with a half pint of a traditional German beer. My wife chose the Currywurst as her main, two thick sausages with a spicy sauce and fries. I selected the Cordon Bleu schnitzel, a flattened chicken breast stuffed with Gruyère and ham, served with a mushroom sauce and served with Parmesan fries. The schnitzel wasn't of Austrian proportions — it did actually fit on the place — but was well cooked, and certainly enough
We washed our mains down with another half pint, and as we were quite full, we decided to have a digestive. You can get schnapps by the dozen, in all kinds of fruity flavours, but we went for something more classic. My wife had a Genepi, a slightly fruity grape schnapps, and I enjoyed a Mentzendorff Kümmel, which had a slight caraway and aniseed flavour to it.
We enjoyed Albert's Schloss, and it was great value. But it's not the place for a romantic or date-night dinner. Great for a group or a party with friends though.
Mowgli
Mowgli is situated on Charlotte Street, not far from Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. A section of this street is dedicated to restaurants. You can find anything there. Mowgli is a new addition, replacing Côte, which has gone from this location and many others.
Mowgli is part of a chain, that specialises in Indian Street Food. When we arrived, was a good buzz in the restaurant, with half of the tables full. Unlike last week, we were not the youngest.
We didn't fancy wine, and instead enjoyed a cocktail. My wife had a delicious Smoked Cardamom Old Fashioned, and I chose the Masala Espresso Martini.
Their menu is extensive, but almost overwhelmed with choice. As this was our first visit, we took the lazy option and went for the Street Food Sharer, in the “meat” variety (vegan and vegetarian options are also available). Our starters included a trio of dishes: an Indian take on Patatas Bravas, fried cubes of potato in a sticky turmeric masala, with some raw onion and chilli sprinkled over it; gunpowder chicken, lightly battered and fried; and the most delightful yoghurt chat bombs that were crisp and filled with chickpeas, a yoghurt, and spices. The latter was the star of the show, and as they were liquid inside, not possible to share. Which was a problem, as we were given five for the two of us.
The main consisted of three curries (chosen by the chef), rice, and Roti breads. All three curries (Butter Chicken, Temple Dahl, and Agra Ginger Chicken) were excellent, although I still find my own butter chicken much better than anything you find in a restaurant.
The desert was a scoop of ice cream. My wife enjoyed a scoop of mango sorbet, and I had a scoop of salted caramel to finish our meal.
It was a great and tasty meal out, in a modern, but not loud setting. It's an excellent place to come for a meal after a busy day of shopping (or not), and we expect to return to try more of that menu (and especially the yoghurt bombs).
Soutine
We booked Soutine a little later than normal, but there was no problem for us to get a table on a warm and sunny Friday evening in St John’s Wood. When we arrived and were shown to our table, I immediately thought that it had a resemblance of Brasserie Zedel, near Piccadilly Circus. Which ended up making sense as it has the same owner.
The interior consists of mostly wooden panelling, and loads of mirrors, giving the inside an airy, but cosy atmosphere.
We started with the smoked salmon crumpet for me, and a single oyster for my husband. We ordered a carafe of Chardonnay to share. For the main I had the rather calorific souffle suisse, which was delicious, but perhaps not something to have too often! As a consolation, it did come with a salad.My husband had the roast lamb, which was very tender, and was served with a mushroom flower and some rocket. With that, he had a separate class of Côte du Rhone.
We were originally expecting to be able to order off the set menu which according to the website should have been available, but alas was not offered.
The food and ambience was nice, but we couldn't quite shake off that we were by far the youngest in the restaurant!
Don't Tell Dad
Lonsdale Road has many restaurants. They come and go, and we've been to plenty of them in the last few years. But Don't Tell Dad is pretty new.
During the day it's a bakery, but during the evening it turns into a restaurant. It's hip, so booking is a must.
The interior is modern, and full of wood. It wasn't noisy, and it was easy to chat. As our starter, we shared a couple of truffle and cheddar beignets — cheesy balls with shavings of more cheese — and a couple of oxtail crumpets. These were well braised pieces of meat in gravy, upon soft crumpets with some fried crumbs for texture.
We did not fancy ordering a bottle of wine, but instead chose to have a cider with our starter, and a glass of wine each with our main. Unfortunately, the cider only showed up after we finished our starters.
My wife picked monkfish as her main. This was served on the bone with artichoke and a dill béarnaise. I selected the roast lamb, which was served with courgette, chickpeas, and a salsa verde. Both dishes were delicious. However, to be critical whilst the food and wines were lovely, they didn't turn up at the same time. Our wine turned up so far in advance of our main, that we’d nearly finished the glasses of wine when it arrived
Still feeling a little peckish, we also had dessert. Madeleines for my wife, and an olive oil and chocolate mousse for me. Both desserts could easily have been shared between the two of us, and we probably should have. We opted to go for the matching dessert wines, and again there was a significant delay in between the wine and the desserts appearing.
Once they finally arrived, the madeleines were soft, but not so crunchy on the outside. The chocolate mousse was covered in nicely bitter chocolate flakes, and juicy blood orange.
The food at Don't Tell Dad was very nice, as was the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the service was very slow with long waits between the courses. In addition to that, the drinks were served at odd times, and not with the food which they were ordered to go with.
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