Rockwell
Rockwell is a bar/restaurant on the ground floor of the Trafalgar St. James hotel. They specialise in small plates, and also have some Wagyu beef dishes on their menu. The recommendation was "two to three plates each". For once, we followed this, and it was spot on.
We selected six dishes between the two of us. The Ibérico ham croquetas, which were served with a saffron sauce and some pecorino shavings, showed up first. These were served hot with the ham joined by a flavourful cheese sauce within the croquette, covered by a thin, crisp shell. At the same time we also received the gnocchi with beetroot. These were adorned with hazelnuts, beetroot cream, and rainbow chard. The flavours worked well together, and the sauce was scrumptious. The fried potato terrine with aioli were soft and butter on the inside, with nice crisp edges which added a lovely texture.
A little later the other three courses turned up. The zucchini fritti were well-made, but were a little dry and could have done with a sauce. As my main, I chose the crispy sea bass with Salsa Verde. The skin was crisp, the fish flaky and moist, and the Salsa Verde added a little acidity. My wife preferred the Wagyu rosemary grilled bavette steak. Unfortunately, that was the real disappointment of the meal. It was dry, and, given it was allegedly Wagyu, criminally tough. It did have an interesting marinade, but this overwhelmed the flavour of the beef. If you're serving Wagyu, the flavour and texture of the meat itself should be the highlight, but I think the chef missed that memo.
The wines start a bit on the expensive side, so instead we had a carafe of a tasty Prunus Dão Tinto from Portugal. Curiously, this was presented by pouring 500ml out of a bottle into a carafe at our table, but the bottle itself did not appear to be listed on the wine list.
Just like at Theo Randall a few weeks ago, on Friday evening there is entertainment. This time, in the form of a jazz singer, who proceeded to “reinterpret” aka massacre well known tunes, by artists including Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams and Maroon 5. However, unlike at Theo's, the music was at a conversation stifling level. It also involved the singer walking around the restaurant. As an observation, it was probably not entirely the singer's fault as the restaurant generally had terrible acoustics. It was quite difficult to hear our conversation over the table before the music started.
Rockwell was an intriguing experience. The food was generally good, but the music too loud, and the criminal treatment of the Wagyu beef a let-down.
Kudu
We went to Kudu, a restaurant offering a menu inspired by South African Braai on a wet Halloween. Let me start by saying, that whilst there were vegetarian items on the menu, this is very much not a restaurant for those who enjoy a meat free cuisine.
We started our meal with a delicious tin of freshly baked bread, about the size of a large American muffin, helpfully portioned into four pieces. This was accompanied by a dish of a very tasty melted butter, featuring bits of bacon for the bread to be dipped into. This flavoursome starter set the tone for the mains.
We enjoyed a spatchcock poussin which was coated in something slightly crunchy, salty, spicy — and delicious. The poussin was moist and tender and came off the bone very easily. Alongside this we had the lamb, which came on the bone, and partly sliced. This too had some sort of marinade or spicing applied, and was also tasty. If I'm being very critical, perhaps the fat could have been rendered a little more. We also had with our mains a dish of roasted carrots draped in a curry-ish, sauce, and in some ways I wish I'd had two of those. But alas with all the meat, there really was no room.
From our high table seat we could see across about half the restaurant, which was busy. We noticed that many diners were unable to finish their food, so there were many "doggy bags" of leftovers being packaged up. We didn't need to do a takeaway, but this is only because we were more restrained on the side dishes.
We'd go to Kudu again, but next time I'd probably have the spatchcock chicken between two, and a few of the sides and snack dishes to go with it.
Theo Randall
You can find Theo Randall on the ground floor of the posh Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane. The restaurant itself is elegant, but not pretentious. On Friday evening there is live music. We were seated at the other end of the spacious dining room, which meant being able to enjoy both the music and having a chat.
Besides their à la carte menu, they also have a monthly "regional tasting menu" consisting of five courses, where three of them are paired with wine. We opted for this tasting menu, which in October was from Umbria.
We started our "journey" with an Umbria cocktail, which was fruity with a slice of dried strawberry as a decoration. With this, we were enjoying some focaccia and a bruschetta, which was topped with a flavourful roasted tomato salsa.
Our first course, the Antipasto, consisted of beef carpaccio with marinated artichokes and pecorino cheese. Strangozzi (think square cut wheat spaghetti), serviced with Italian sausage and a white wine and black truffle creamed was the Primo course. The pasta had a good bite to it, and the sausage was nicely cubed. The sauce bound everything together.
Our Secondo, or "meat" course, was roasted guinea fowl breasts with pancetta and a sweet wine. It was served with squash purée under the crisp skin, and laid on a bed of lentils and some braised greens. The guinea fowl was still moist, and the skin crisp. The textures worked very well together.
We finished the evening with Dolce, a chocolate and hazelnut cake with a Vin Santo gelato. The cake was rich and on the denser side, but the ice cream offset that. We were a bit cheeky, and enjoyed a glass of dessert wine as well with this final course.
I believe the menu was good value, as the food was very tasty. The matching wines accompanied the dishes well. The dishes themselves were well presented, well cooked, and the whole meal was just the right amount. Perhaps not a restaurant to go to on a weekly basis, but if you have something to celebrate, or perhaps a fancier date night, it's a great spot, close to the centre of London.
27 Old Compton Street
27 Old Compton Street is a restaurant close to Shaftesbury Avenue. It sits among the busy streets of SOHO, it is hip, and it focusses on pasta.
I had the Pumpkin Ravioli, and my husband the Cacio e Pepe Bucatini. We thought the dishes to be lovely, but in our opinion the pasta was a little too al dente for us — another 30 seconds in the pan, and it would have been perfect.
We followed with a portion to share of their only dessert, a pistachio sweet gnocchi — these were little gnocchi sized doughnuts with a liquid pistachio filling with a scoop of ice-cream and some crushed and chopped pistachios (mind the inevitable squirt when you cut in).
Next time I'd have the courgette fries too which the table next to us had and looked great.
We were in and out in about 45 minutes.
Duck and Rice
In SOHO, in the hubbub of central London, Duck & Rice is a busy establishment with a lively atmosphere. There is a big tank of Pilsner Urquell tank beer downstairs when you get in.
We arrived a little before seven, and the place was nearly full, with hip people a fair bit younger than we are, as well as a some people about the same age or older. The menu is fairly extensive, but focuses on Cantonese food.
We started with some sesame prawn toast as starter. The two pieces of toast were cut length wise, resulting in four tasty morsels. They were moist, flavourful, and the right amount of crispy.
Our mains came shortly after the starters, way before we could finish the toast. I chose their signature dish, the "Duck & Rice" as my main dish. My wife had the king prawn Katsu curry rice, but I believe she was slightly wishing she'd had the Duck & Rice as well. That isn't to say that the prawns weren't well cooked, or the sauce wasn't perfectly nice, but sometimes you just have to have the signature dish; like the table of three next to us, but the missus was willing to "take one for the team" and ordered something else (thanks!)
The Duck & Rice consisted of a roasted duck, with a sweet and crispy skin, over a well cooked rice. I was initially concerned as the duck also came with a leg with bones. I'm not too keen if I have to effectively gnaw meat off bones (spare ribs excluded). However, it was only the one leg, and I was pleased the rest of the meat was off the bone, as well as being perfectly cooked, spiced, and paired perfectly with the rice. Because the skin was slightly sweet, so were the juices that seeped into the rice. The cucumber added a pleasant bite of freshness.
Instead of having wine, it made much more sense to us to have a beer, especially because they have some exclusive ones (we like beer). Which meant that with our dinner we enjoyed a Duck Pale Ale and an Orion Lager.
When we booked, the table was reserved for two hours. However as the service was quick, and we only really had two courses, and one drink each, we were in and out in a smidgen under an hour. The quick service, and the location of Duck and Rice, close to many theatres, might make this an ideal spot for a pre-theatre meal.
We might be back at some point, to try some other intriguing dishes.
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