Casa do Frango
This restaurant is situated in the new-ish development Sir Simon Milton Square, close to Victoria Station. We've visited this area previously when we dined at the Rail House Victoria, and at Camino Victoria, which are both close by however on a warm summer evening we decided to go for some Portuguese cuisine.
Casa del Frango, specialise in Portuguese grill dishes. We started with a pair of Salgadinhos, crispy filled empanada pastry with kale, mushroom, and caramelised onions. These were hot and fresh and vanished quite quickly.
For my main course, my husband chose the lamb chops, which were also nicely grilled and still moist. I picked the beef skewers, which were also well cooked. Neither of these dishes came with sides, so we ordered some house rice to go with our mains to make a full meal. Without the rice, we'd likely still have been hungry.
Even after that, we still liked some dessert, and had one each. I had a Bolo de Bolocha, a Portuguese biscuit cake with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel, which was possibly a bit too sweet and creamy overall. And my husband had a classic Pastel de Nata, a custard tart. This came served with cinnamon ice cream on the side.
Casa do Franco in Victoria is pretty good, but the service was slower than ideal, and in particular we had to wait a while to order. The food was nice, but the restaurant felt expensive and a little “big box”, lacking something in ambience. So although we like Portuguese food, I’m not sure if we’d return here. However, as there are many other restaurants in this development, we’ll no doubt be back in the area to try another soon.
The Jones Family Kitchen
This restaurant is located in Eccleston Yards, a recently renovated pedestrian-only historic courtyard, not far from Victoria Station. The Jones Family Kitchen is, what might be described as a “steak focused restaurant” but they also have a few other options for those avoiding red meat. As well as a cosy dining area inside, there is a large outside terrace, where on this warm and sunny evening a lot of people were enjoying their meals and drinks.
To start, we enjoyed some cheese polenta balls, which were served with a spicy mayonnaise. These were soft and crispy in all the right ways, and the mayo serving was very generous… so generous that we were able to enjoy it with the chips we had with our main course.
For our mains, we both chose the same cut of meat, a 10 oz sirloin steak, medium rare. I opted for no condiments, but my wife added some béarnaise sauce. On the side, we shared a portion of triple cooked chips, and green beans. The steaks were perfectly cooked, well rested, and slightly charred on the outside, with the fat mostly rendered. The beans were nice and soft, and the chips crispy on the outside. Some of those chips got dipped in the spicy mayonnaise mentioned earlier. We also enjoyed a bottle of Rioja, which accompanied our steaks nicely.
Afterwards, we fancied a little dessert. I had a scoop of apple sorbet, and my wife picked a rhubarb ice cream that tasted remarkably like peach ice cream—still tasty though.
It's a bit on the pricier side if you go for steak, but the food was of excellent quality, and the service attentive. There are several other interesting looking restaurants around the same courtyard, so we might be back for those too.
Spicy Grill
We don't usually venture out to this part of North London, but on this warm Friday evening we found ourselves at Spicy Grill, a Korean BBQ restaurant in Golders Green. There is a large Jewish presence in this area, which meant that about half the restaurants were closed, due to it being a Friday evening.
The restaurant itself is an open space with a scattering of smaller tables along the walls, and a larger table for groups in the middle. Each table has its own grill.
The menu is extensive, with salads, appetizers, tempura, different meats for barbecuing, and even seafood. You can grill it yourself, or the kitchen can do it for you.
We settled for some pumpkin croquettes and seaweed rolls to start. The croquettes had a crumbly coating, and were slightly spiced. The seaweed rolls were crunchy on the outside and filled with glass noodles. There were served with a sweet and sour dip, that worked well with it.
For our mains, we ordered Bulgogi marinated beef and pork belly. We opted to have the grill on, and cook these ourselves. The pieces of meat were sliced thinly which meant for a quick cooking time. With this, we had some steamed rice and a selection of sauces. We thought that this would not be enough for the two of us, so we also picked a fried tofu salad. This wasn't really needed though, but still enjoyable to have some freshness. The tofu was prepared to actually have some flavour. With our mains, we also enjoyed a bottle of Cass, a Korean lager.
It was a good spot, although a little far away. We were the only two non-Korean-looking people in the restaurant, which probably says something about its authenticity. If you're in the area, then Spicy Grill will provide a solid meal at a reasonable price. When walking to catch the bus home, we noticed another Korean barbecue restaurant, which may get a visit on another day.
Cottons
It's summer, which means trying out some food from a tropical place makes perfect sense. Cottons is situated next to Vauxhall Bridge alongside the Thames. There is a big outdoor space, where in the sunshine, cocktails, and music would be a ball, but this is a British summer, so it was a bit nippy, and a risk of rain! Instead, we sat inside the spacious establishment. While looking over the menu, we figured out it was happy hour, which meant two-for-one cocktails. That meant two of the same for the price of one, not two different cocktails for the price of one. And that is how we ended up with two cocktails each: An Exotica Sour, and a Rum Punch. Both delicious, and vaguely deadly.
We started of with a starter each. My wife choose the salted cod fritters, and I had the jerk chicken spring rolls. The spring rolls were served with some salad and a sweet chilli sauce. They almost had an Asian flavour to it. The salted cod fritters were served with a spicy tomato sauce.
Mains wise, my wife picked the curried mutton, served with rice'n'peas. The flavour had a good depth to it, and although it was a little spicy, it wasn't overpowering. The meat was soft and tender. As my main, I selected the pork ribs and fried chicken combo. The ribs came in a fairly spicy sauce, which worked well. The red and green chillies that were sprinkled over them, did not add much heat. The fried jerk chicken was a little too salty to my liking, but the sauce that was coating the ribs fixed that soon. Some fried plantains and rice'n'peas completed the meal. The sweetness of the plantains helped with balancing the heat.
We were quite full after this, and decided against pudding while finishing the last of our (second) cocktail.
The restaurant has a good atmosphere, the service was speedy and attentive, and the food delicious and affordable. It's a great spot near the river, and if the sun comes out there will be a Caribbean atmosphere too.
The Chalk
We have been to this location before, which is just off the Kings’ Road in Chelsea, when it was still called the Butcher's Tap and Grill. But Tom Kerridge, the proprietor decided to go in a slightly different direction. He renamed the pub "The Chalk", with an updated concept. Where the original concept was mostly pub fare with (big) cuts of meat to grill, it is now a more traditional gastropub with more refined dishes, and less of a focus on steaks and similar cuts of meat. Overall, we thought it has shifted a little more upmarket (not surprising given the location), and that perhaps Tom is trying to emulate of the success of The Coach in Marlow, with its one Michelin star.
The restaurant wasn't quite full when we, arrived and were seated in a cosy booth in the downstairs area. We were fairly peckish, so opted for some starters to get going. My wife had the 'nduja and smoked mozzarella sausage roll, which had a good kick to it. I picked the cheese and onion scone, which came with a very generous serving of mustard and herb butter. With our starters we enjoyed a half of the Rebellion IPA — sadly they had run out of their other two cask beers, although that does offer an excuse to pop back another time.
As my main, I chose the rolled shoulder of lamb, with was served with charred onion wedges, ratatouille, and a crispy parcel. The flavours all worked well together. My wife enjoyed the butter roasted ray wing, which came with pickled cockles, diced cucumber, and an anchovy and garlic dressing. As the wines are fairly pricy, instead of a bottle to share, we just had a glass of wine each to match our dishes.
We could have left it there, but felt the need to have some pudding as well. For that, we shared a Chelsea bun sitting in a bath of spiced custard with dried raisins or currants in, in.
It's still a good spot, but we were not in total agreement whether it had improved since it was the Butcher's Tap and Grill. We might give it a go in another year or so.
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