Myrtle
From the archive: We visited Myrtle in December 2022
We had a wonderful tasting menu with accompanying wine pairing to celebrate my birthday (21 again). Myrtle specialises in using Irish ingredients, and overall the presentation was excellent, without being pretentious, the ingredients and the food in general was definitely the star.
I don’t think they have a Michelin star yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if they’d get one soon. The location was a bit odd, as it was very far away from any sort of public transport or major town centre. It doesn't matter much for us, as we’re not the type of people that like our valet parking.
The food itself, again, was superb. I particularly liked their additional black pudding starter, made with beef black pudding, instead of the traditional pork version. All the other dishes were great too. My favourite was possibly the sea bass with potato scales, and tasty sauce.
As with a tasting menu, we also went with the wine pairing, putting us back £167/person—excluding service charge (12.5%).
Of course, the reason we ended up here was due to Anna's (the head/executive chef) appearance as a judge on Master Chef.
Chez Tony
We were in Paris for the Paralympics, and on our first night we had time for a real meal. My wife suggested this restaurant as she had been here many times when visiting Paris for work. I had heard a lot about Chez Tony already.
When we arrived, we found the place empty inside. Tony came over from the terrace across the street nearly immediately and recommended that we sat outside, as the weather was great, and it was going to be stuffy inside. He was totally right after we (briefly) tried sitting inside first.
The menu is a blackboard that gets put on a seat close to you. They don't really do starters, and henceforth their menu is dinner. From snails and foie gras, via a beef tartare and cheese burger, the menu eventually leads to pieces of beef: filet mignon de porc (pork tenderloin), and escalope de veau. There is even fish and chips. My wife usually enjoys the cheese burger on her work trips.
The "piece de boucher" (butchers piece of beef) seemed the most appealing to us, and we ordered one each served medium rare. While dinner was being prepared our chosen carafe of a nice Côte du Rhône. I can't remember which one, but it was delicious, went well with our steaks, and it was empty by the time we finished our mains.
The steak was cooked perfectly medium rare, and the fries were nice and crispy. The peppercorn sauce had just the right amount of pepper to it.
We did find a little space for dessert, and shared a crème brûlée. Tony suggested, after tapping it with a fork, to wait a for minutes before enjoying it, so that the crème had some time to set. By this time, the restaurant had also filled up, and it was full when we left. Mostly locals too!
This is not a fancy restaurant, but one that does what it does well. No fuss, no snobby waiters, but good French cooking; and with a good ambiance.
Cafe Pacifico
We had visited Cafe Pacifico a few times in the past already, but we hadn't been back for a while, nor written up a review.
As it was a warm day, having Mexican food seemed like a good idea, and starting with a large margarita an even better one.
Cafe Pacifico has fairly standard items on their menu, not nearly as adventurous as Polanco where we dined a few weeks ago. We started our meal to share a couple of Empanadas, with a flavourful filling and a subtle chipotle salsa on the side.
By now our margarita was empty, and we ordered another one while waiting for our main, for which my wife picked the Chicken Chimichanga with black beans. A lovely dollop of guacamole and cream was perched on top. I chose the Sea Bass and King Prawn Tacos. These came in "tempura style" (i.e.: battered and fried), and were served with grilled pineapple, some red onions, and a slightly spicy mayonnaise.
After our mains, we were eventually given the dessert menu. We were quite eying up the churros, but it took so long for staff to return that by that time we had changed our mind and decided not to have any.
In my opinion, there could have been a little more spice and flavour in most of the dishes, and service wasn't the speediest. But it's still a reasonable option for a meal after a hard day of shopping in Covent Garden. We would also have benefitted from ordering a bottle of margaritas, instead of 4 individual large glasses.
Brother Marcus
Brother Marcus has a few different locations. The one we visited is right beside South Kensington station. It's a light filled comfy restaurant, specialising in middle eastern style sharing platters.
We like eating on the earlier side, which meant that we could benefit from the "pre-show set menu". This consists of a "rip and dip platter", consisting of three dips, olives, and fluffy pittas; and then a veggie and meat mezze per person.
The dips platter arrived swiftly, with our choice of roasted beetroot hummus, baba ghanoush and taramasalata. All the dips were delicious, and the pittas were indeed fluffy. A bottle of Kokotos wine showed up soon after, although I probably should put bottle in double quotes, as it was filled from a tap. That didn't do anything against its tastiness though.
As is usual in restaurants like this, everything comes when it's ready, so our table was soon overflowing with dishes. The pan-fried halloumi was sweet and sticky with a watermelon jam. The crispy aubergine skewer, crispy, but not dry and served with a creamy labneh sprinkled with grape molasses. The calamari had a well-seasoned coating, and was served with a green aioli. A little sprinkling of chilli added a little kick. And finally, the moist and well-spiced lamb koftas came on a smooth bed of aubergine begendi (béchamel sauce).
Close to many of London's top museums, the pre-show menu was excellent value at £25 per person. We can recommend this modern place, which after a day out shuffling around old museum pieces will certainly fill your belly.
Mountain
Another hip restaurant, one, that recently had acquired a Michelin star, although they don't seem to mention that on their website. There was however a difference in prices between booking and eating.
When we arrived, we were explained that the menu consists of three sections: a selection of starters, a selection of smaller plates, and mains. They recommended getting a starter and small place each, and a main to share. We have heard this spiel before, and knew it was going to be too much (quantity of food and cost).
We did our own thing, and had a starter and small plate each instead.
For our starters, my wife chose the cured dairy beef, lovely thinly sliced meat with some almond shavings. It was perfectly moist with an earthy flavour. I picked the anchovies and cheese, which were served on sourdough bread. The cheese was whipped, with some oil sprinkled over it. As you expect from anchovies, they were salty, which the whipped cheese was a perfect accompaniment for.
As my main course I selected a mackerel with grilled peas. The mackerel came wholly grilled on a bed of caramelised chopped onions, and the aforementioned grilled peas. There was a sprinkling of herbs on top as well, to make the plate less beige. The combination of the meaty fish and caramelised onions worked great. My wife opted for an omelette, stuffed with girolle mushrooms. The omelette was fluffy, wonderfully moist, and filling!
With our meal, we also enjoyed a lovely bottle of Psarades, a Cretian white wine.
The food at Mountain was great, and the atmosphere inviting with a large open kitchen. Do make sure to request a table on the ground floor though. It is a bit on the pricier side, especially if you also share (or not) a main as well.
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