Lita
Following the lead of a better-known, piano-playing food critic, we visited Lita, a new restaurant in Marylebone, on a nice spring evening. We didn't want to sit outside with the smokers, so we chose to sit inside. What we hadn't expected was to be sat right in a corner in the back—the darkest (and most humid) spot in the restaurant.
With the menu came a spiel of: "We recommend a starter each, and then two or three of the small plates, and then one or two from the big plates. The small plates are just little bites." — I am paraphrasing here, but you get the gist. Without looking at the menu, we already thought that, taking the advice would mean we would end up with way too much food — we've been in similar situations before. Seeing the price of each of these "small" and "big" dishes were, also put us right off. Ultimately, we can always order another dish.
Instead, we opted for a more reasonable selection, at least in our opinion. We started with wild-farmed sourdough, with cultured butter, and smoked Basque sardines with a cherry sauce. I have no idea what wild-farmed sourdough is, nor cultured butter; but it was nice bread with some good butter. The sardines were nicely cured, and the cherries added an enjoyable sweet tang. It wasn't a lot of chow though.
As our intermezzo dish we chose their salad of Provencal asparagus, peas, and broad beans, served with a poached Braddock Whites duck egg. A light and refreshing dish, with the white and green asparagus having just the right amount of crunch.
And finally, as our main we picked the poussin, which was served with an apricot jus. On the side we had a basic green leaf salad. The poussin was perfectly cooked, and easily came off the bone. I've never had chicken and apricot, but thought the combination worked really well. The salad was, well, salad. Flopped out of the bag and dressed with a fairly basic oil and vinegar dressing. Being critical the leaves were too large to eat in a mouthful, so a bit of light chopping by a chef would have improved it; alas.
With our meal, we shared a carafe of Chardonnay, which was perfectly nice. In most circumstances, we would have had a bottle. But they start at £54 here, which is a little over the top.
The food that we had, was delicious. But we really ought to have had a look at the price ranges in the original review, or on the menu before we booked. We didn't think the value-for-money ratio worked out here. I don't think we will be back here, also because it felt a little pretentious. Marylebone has both better and more affordable places to dine in.
London Shell Co.
We walked the last mile to the restaurant on a lovely, warm spring evening. It is situated on the east side of Hampstead Heath, not far from Highgate Cemetery. Nearby are several independent shops.
As the evening was warm and sunny, many people sat outside, but we sat inside, on one side of the little restaurant. On the other side, there was a fish counter with fresh-looking fish and seafood. The back wall had a rack full of bottles of wine to have in or take out. A fridge next to it was for the white and sparkling wines to have in. The atmosphere was very relaxed.
The menu was a blackboard, with numerous tasty-sounding dishes in three different sections: cold plates, hot plates, and sides/desserts. Although nearly all the dishes sounded delicious, we each chose a dressed and undressed oyster to start our meal. But not after we had perused the wines on offer—we selected a Greek Savatiano.
The dressed oyster had a slightly spicy sauce with a nice burn that did not overpower the oyster's flavour. The undressed oyster was fresh and enhanced with a few drops of lemon juice.
After our starters, our mains arrived. My wife had picked a ray wing dressed with salty caper butter, and I had selected the whole plaice with lobster sauce. The lobster sauce alone was to die for—lovely, sweet chunks of lobster meat with a powerful tomato undertone. It went very well with my perfectly cooked fish. The other dishes coming from the kitchen also looked enticing. On the side, we shared some new potatoes.
We don't usually have three courses — two is plenty — but it was a lovely spring evening, and a dessert seemed appropriate. My wife had a slice of a traditional British custard tart topped with a little nutmeg, whereas I had opted for the fresh strawberries served with white chocolate cream. Although white chocolate can be cloying sweet, this wasn't, and therefore a delicious final to our meal whilst sipping an accompanying dessert wine: A nice relaxed meal with fabulous fishy food.
The Cow
We visited The Cow on a warm spring evening and went through a packed bar downstairs to the much quieter upstairs restaurant. This place had been recommended to us, so we were keen to pop along and try it out.
We were welcomed with some lovely bread and butter and had some mackerel pate to share to start with. The pate was nicely flavoured but could have done with being served with more bread, as there was too much pate, for the amount of bread, even if we loaded it on.
I chose the Monkfish, which was well seasoned and had its defining chewy bite. The vegetables that came with it added flavour, as did the tomato. What let the dish down was the watery sauce underneath it.
My wife selected the cuttlefish with peas. The cuttlefish with the peas and sauce was pleasant. The slice of sourdough helped up mopping the flavourful sauce as well, although it did make the dish a little soggy.
When we left, the downstairs area was even busier, with no place to even stand. Overall, whilst it is clearly a local favourite, we found it a bit overhyped, and we will probably not go back.
Sudu
We went on a rainy Saturday evening. Sudu is pretty close to where we live, but this was our first time.
The exterior is painted a dark grey and is a little unprepossessing, however once inside, we were in for a treat.
We were quickly seated in a busy restaurant and saw many delicious-sounding things on the menu. My husband chose the beef rendang, which he had served with plain basmati rice. I picked the chicken satay served with coconut rice and a plain roti. This was washed down with a couple of tiger beers. The service in Sudu was quick and attentive but not intrusive.
The food arrived fairly quickly. My husband's beef rendang was nice and spicy, as it should be, with nice tender chunks of beef that worked well with the rice. My chicken satay came as chicken pieces on skewers with a bowl of a spicy, peanutty satay sauce into which the chicken could be dipped. The coconut rice was subtly flavoured with coconut. Once the chicken skewers were finished, I poured the remaining satay onto my rice. The roti was delicious, slightly crispy on the outside but soft and a little fluffy on the inside and not overly greasy.
The food coming out to neighbouring tables also looked great, so it is likely we’ll be going back to try something else from the menu.
Granger and Co
We went to the branch on Marylebone High Street, in a building previously occupied by Patisserie Valerie. The front of Granger and Co. is pretty unassuming, however once inside it really opens up. The rear dining room is a large modern airy dining space around two floors high, with comfortable seating and art on the walls. It has a slightly mid-century modern vibe. Despite the size and height of the room, the acoustics was great, and we could hear our conversation perfectly.
I arrived a little early and was seated in a corner seat. From there, I could admire the room while perusing the menu. Once my wife arrived, we quickly settled on our food choices.
We started with courgette chips with an aioli. The chips (slices of courgette) had a lovely crisp batter, with juicy courgette inside and arrived sprinkled with black sesame seeds. We squeezed a few drops of lemon juice over them, which really brought them to life, especially when dipped in the delicious aioli.
For the main course, we both selected an onglet steak—medium rare. It was well-cooked, flavourful, and moist. It was served with some greens, baby lettuce, and onion rings. We enjoyed a bottle of Tule Rosso wine, which worked well with the food.
After our main course, we both fancied a little dessert. Not too much, as we were mostly full of delicious steak. We settled on a tiramisu, which had good, slightly boozy coffee flavour and was nice and creamy, and formed a delicious end to our meal at this Australian restaurant.
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