Bertie Blossoms
Bertie Blossoms is a tapas bar/restaurant near Ladbroke Grove, at the Northern end of Portobello Road.
We were sat at a table upstairs at the small cosy restaurant, going past a large abstract artwork by the owner. There were a few tables occupied, with the bar downstairs relatively busy too. It is not a large establishment, but it felt cosy and welcoming. The upstairs was a little low, so careful if you're tall like me!
The menu contains of a few bar snacks, and a dozen or so sharing plates — tapas style. We ordered the Padron Peppers from the snack menu, and the Gambas al Ajillo, Baby Carrots, Woodland Wild Mushrooms, and meatballs from the "To Share" section.
The dishes were served in a random order, with the meatballs first. They were served with a spicy Nduja sauce and topped with grated cheese. The baby carrots were served with some yoghurt, a Labneh, and had some toasted hazelnuts sprinkled over it. The wild mushrooms came with some toasted sourdough, which was great to lap the remaining juices up with. The gambas were whole, but it was easy to remove the flesh from the shell. Some focaccia on the side helped with the cooking juices again.
All the dishes were well presented and flavourful. Our only gripe was that many of the items of the sharing dishes came in odd numbers. And perhaps that half of the music was Ed Sheeran songs (played at a discreet volume) — but then again, that isn't bad considering he owns the place.
Mallow
Mallow is a plant based restaurant housed in an old building just outside Borough Market, around the corner from the Golden Hind.
We picked Mallow, as my wife had heard three separate groups of people raving about it when she was out and about in London. One group at the gym, one on the tube, and the third group whilst walking down Regent Street.
Whilst there were many lovely sounding things on the menu, we opted for the set sharing menu, with wine pairing, as an introduction to what Mallow had to offer.
The menu started with some plump Gordal olives, alongside some pimped up hummus (or tahini chickpeas as the menu puts it), served with squashy flat bread. We also enjoyed some tofu in a smoky red pepper sauce topped with some pickled veggies — there was a slight aniseed flavour which my wife is normally not a fan of, but found it palatable enough. Our starters were paired with a fragrant rosé wine.
The middle courses were a mushroom tortellini (which the table next door decided against, as its "default veggie you get everywhere"), and a mixed salad. The tortellini was tasty, with a good mushroom-y filling. We also enjoyed the lovely mixed salad with juicy bits of tangerine, a light dressing, candied nuts, caper berries, and pine nuts. These two came with a crowd-pleasingly fruity red wine.
Finally, there was a coconut Pasanda curry with cauliflower and tofu cubes. It came served with a flavoured pilau rice, which included almonds, pomegranate, and apricots. This was paired with a medium bodied white wine.
We considered dessert briefly, but were both too full, so we called it a night. We were delighted that when we asked for the bill, the waiter came with it, and the card machine — no hanging around here.
We would definitely return to Mallow, but would probably pick off the à la carte menu, and have fewer dishes — but even as people who aren't into a plant based diet, this was food we enjoyed, and we didn't miss the lack of meat or fish.
The Island
I had many a pint in The Island when I moved to London 16 years ago, as it was the closest reasonable pub. I don't remember haven eaten there, but having walked past more recently, I suggested it for a Friday Night Dinner.
On a rainy evening we headed to this pub in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. It was already buzzing outside, with people hiding away from the rain under the awnings, smoking away. My wife could also unfortunately smell this cigarette smoke when seated inside, close to a window, which put her off the food.
For our starter, we picked a scotch egg to share. It was nicely flavoured with a runny yolk, and was served with a sweet curry sauce. For my main I choose the slow roast free-range pork belly, served with white beans, winter kale, salsa verde. The skin wasn't particularly very crackly, and a little chewy at times. The white beans were OK, but could have been a bit softer too. My wife had the onglet steak, which was served with gentleman's relish and fries. The fries were nicely cooked and crispy, but the steak was cooked medium to well-done, rather than the ordered medium rare.
But what left down the meal, and the Island experience generally was the haphazard service. Upon arrival, it was speedy, although my wife, who arrived first, had to wait quite some time for the table to be prepared. We felt left to our own devices after our mains. It took a very long time for the dessert menu to show up, and then a significant amount of time before we could request, and then receive the bill.
One of my personal pet peeves in restaurants is that when the bill is presented, the waiting staff often do not have the payment terminal with them, and have to go and fetch it separately. This is a waste of everyone's time especially as we'd like to get going, and I'm sure the restaurant would like to fill the table with some more paying guests. In this case with the meal being mediocre it was more annoying than usual.
Unfortunately The Island didn't live up to my memories, nor our expectations, and it seems unlikely we'll be back for a meal or drinks.
Sunday in Brooklyn
James Street is full of restaurants. It's near Oxford Street and Bond Street, so an excellent place to enjoy a meal after a hard day of shopping, if that's your thing. We hadn't done any shopping, but after a week at work, a relaxing dinner is always welcome.
Sunday in Brooklyn is their second venue — their first one is in Notting Hill — and styled after a Brooklyn Brunch spot. So good for breakfast (weekdays) and brunch, but they also serve dinner in the evening.
We were seated in the front room with a bunch of other pairs of diners. The vibe was relaxed. The menu is fairly extensive with starters, salads, Italian plates, burgers, and mains. We weren't overly hungry, so picked the corn ribs to share as a starter. These were cut into quarters, slightly crispy, and were served with a slightly underwhelming peanut-flavoured dip (it wasn't really necessary as the corn ribs were delicious by themselves). They weren't the easiest to eat — fingers required — but yet very tasty.
For her main, my wife selected the flame grilled salmon. This came with a smashed avocado and pineapple salsa. Although tasty, the salsa being cold, whilst the salmon was hot, was a little odd. On the side, she also had a green bean and almond side, which worked better with the fish than the cold salsa. I had the grilled sirloin steak, with a peppery three pepper sauce, and served with a side of crispy and garlicky fries.
After our mains, we did have a look at the dessert menu, but opted against it. Even though our waitress was highly recommending having the Sunday Pancake™ that they're apparently famous for. We were too full— maybe something to try another time.
We enjoyed our Friday meal at Sunday in Brooklyn, and perhaps we should come back and have an actual brunch, and then also try their signature pancakes.
The Porter's Table
The Porter's Table is part of the massive new Guinness Open Gate London development, which features a brewery and tour, a beer garden, and several restaurants. They have a different approach to the original Open Gate in Dublin, where they mostly try out new beers on unsuspecting punters.
Where Gilroy's Loft specialises in seafood, The Porter's Table is focussed on grilling vegetables, fish, and meat. And of course there is a fair amount of different beers to sample as well.
After finding the restaurant, we soon got ourselves one of those while looking over the menu.
We originally only chose the frickels as our starter (beer-batter deep-friend cornichons), but after realising that we didn't have any vegetables with our mains, we decided to add the seasonal Brussels sprouts. When these came (after the frickels, and before the mains), we were glad that we did. They were prepared with beetroot and orange, which made for a delightful combination.
For her main, my wife had the butcher's skewer; lovely cubes of rib-eye, marinated, and grilled on a skewer with red peppers, tomatoes, and red onion slices. I had the pork chop, which came with half a roasted bulb of garlic, cut through horizontally. I enjoyed prising the sweet roasted cloves of garlic flesh out of the papery skin. My meal was seasoned, and nicely moist. We ordered some chips on the side, which were crisp and fluffy. The serving of mayonnaise was too small, but I nearly always find that his the case.
The food was nice, but the service was quite haphazard. Orders went slightly wrong, and were offered food that we hadn't ordered — nor did the tables next to us.
We'll likely return to the Open Gate, but probably to try Gilroy's Loft (the seafood restaurant), or the beer garden with food truck later in the year when the weather is much improved.
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