La Polenteria - Concrete - Boom Burger

Tuesday 18th March - March has been a bit of a restaurant fest on The List but I've got to eat somewhere and pasta & pesto won't cut it every night of the week (actually it probably would).  

Last week I made my way over to La Polenteria in Soho with one of my siblings, Sister Jo, hoping that she might produce some overdue birthday presents. She sadly arrived empty handed, but I soon forgot once we were greeted by our awesome waiter, Francesco, who kept us royally entertained throughout our meal.

La Polenteria specialises in, surprise surprise, polenta-based dishes. Fat free, gluten free, high in fibre, no cholesterol - makes a change from pulled pork, burgers and triple-cooked chips!  Polenta dishes are hard to come by in London, unlike in the north of Italy where polenta is said to "run inside the veins" of the people, so La Polenteria may just be on to something.

We started with a plate of tiddly Polentini, tasty polenta-based canapés including one bold combination of blue cheese and raspberry jam that got the thumbs up.

Polentini at La Polenteria

On Francesco's advice, we went for the Wild Boar and Tuscan Sausages with Borlotti Beans for mains.  Whilst they weren't the most photogenic dishes in the world, they were comforting, generous plates of delicious meat & polenta mash.  They will be soon be adding a Cuttlefish in Black Ink Sauce option, but fish wise there is already the traditional Baccala'alla Vincentina, salt cod with a bone that you can unsheath like a sword apparently!

The meal flew by with Francesco's tales of his D&G sunglasses model days and his proud presentation of the Evening Standard review which was dominated by a huge photo of him.  Before we knew it, we were onto dessert.  Whilst you can go for the full house with a lemon polenta cupcake, I decided to go for the attractive Ferrero Rocher cupcake.  It is impressively entirely vegan, though it is most definitely not healthy.  Most of the puddings would feel more at home in a café, but La Polenteria is such a laid back place that it gets away with it.

We shared a lovely bottle of Sauvignon Blanc on our visit, but I would return for the interesting beers, including the large wax-sealed Baladin Isaac & a smaller Birra Antoniana, neither of which I had seen before.

Thanks to Francesco & co for a very pleasant evening.  La Polenteria offers something a little bit different in Soho, and is perfect for a speedy, filling, affordable meal in London.

Francesco!

Afterwards, I wandered over to Southbank for a couple of drinks with Team List regular Tim, with no particular place in mind.  We soon settled on an old favourite, the relatively unknown and underrated Concrete which is tucked away amongst the raised walkways around the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

By day, Concrete is a café with pastries, salads and hot food. At night, Concrete becomes a bar with eclectic music playing in the background.  Get there from 5-7 for "laughing hour" 2-4-1 deals on selected drinks, or just settle in with a Curious Brew later on.  I spotted some Southbank Gin behind the bar - I would imagine it is a standard London Dry Gin.

Concrete displays regularly changing works of contemporary art, and a concrete-mixer outlined by fluorescent pink strip lighting - created by artist David Batchelor - is displayed outside the cafe.

Concrete mixer by David Batchelor

Tim chanelling the Sistine Chapel with some exposed cables

Wednesday 19th March - The next day, I was out for food again, this time in the wild West of London near Ladbroke Grove. I was happy to make the journey as I knew that Boom Burger was waiting for me at the far end of Portobello Road.

I wrote about Boom Burger when they popped up at the Earl of Portobello pub last year, and I have been dreaming about their bacon jam, plantain fries & chicken wings ever since. Now, Jamaica-born Josh de Lisser has found a permanent home for his burger joint that started life in his Notting Hill garden.

Caroline joined me in Boom Burger's funky little new house, which has seats in front of the kitchen, a couple of booths, and some outdoor tables which will come into their own in a month or two.  There's a little bar in one corner from where sweet Pina Colada, Rum Punch and So Sorrel cocktails appear. Red Stripe is probably the way to go considering the food though.  You order everything at the counter, fast-food style.

No, it's not a lifestyle blog, it's just an AWESOME PACMAN NECKLACE

We started with Stamp & Go, saltfish chilli and herb fritters which were enjoyable, but these were totally upstaged by Boom Burger's Jerk Wings marinaded in a house jerk sauce & served with jerk mayo.  I am going to put it out there and say that these are my currently my favourite chicken wings in London, though I will admit I need to a little more research in this department.

The wings are a tough act to follow, but the signature Boom Burger (with cheese & bacon jam) and Jerk Boom (jerk chicken, with fried plantain, rocket, mango and pawpaw sauce) coped well with the pressure, and deserve to be considered amongst London's best burgers. You can also order Veggie, Brunch & Fish Booms, as well as a couple of Boom Salads.  Whilst they all sound delicious, it would take a lot of willpower to not order exactly what I had again!

Last but not least - the plantain fries.  So simple but so good, served up with a load more jerk mayo. You may not want to share these.  

Make sure you go hungry to Boom Burger, as prices are low, portions are generous, and you will want to eat everything.  We had to go for a 45 minute walk after our feast before we felt we should sit down again.  Fingers crossed, Boom Burger will expand to Battersea soon so someone can just roll me home next time.  

Boom Burger thoroughly deserves to keep its spot on my Favourites page - go and eat there now, thank me later! It is closed on Mondays - for full opening times and more details, head to their cool, colourful website - www.boomburger.co.uk

Lanes of London - Moo Cantina

Tuesday 14th January - For me, a trip to Park Lane usually means paying my sister about £2000 for all of her bloody hotels before losing another £200 to Income Tax straight afterwards, but I took a chance and advanced straight to Lanes of London, a new bar and restaurant next to the Marriott Hotel.

I was a tad early for my 6.30 appointment so I hung around outside watching the Aston Martins and Bentleys roll by, wondering whether I was slightly out of my depth.  But as I entered the attractive bar and was warmly greeted by Angharad from Luchford PR and Bar Manager Francesco, it quickly became clear that Lanes of London is a very welcoming place.  I was shown to a table of thirsty bloggers, including Le Cool, Beetroot & Beluga and We Love Food, where we worked our way through Francesco's finest.

Lanes of London's aim is to represent several areas of London's diverse food (and drink) scene all under one roof, focusing on Brick Lane (Indian), Kingsland Road (Vietnamese), Edgware Road (Lebanese) and Portobello Road (British).  The cocktail menu is split up accordingly.  

Francesco has had fun creating twists on classics to fit into different sections, including a refreshing Raita Gin Fizz, the amusingly named Vietnamito and Pi-Nam Colada, and a peaty Hung Que Sour (a whisky sour with Hung Que - aka Thai Basil).  The Brick Lane Bruv cleverly makes use of Paul John Brilliance, an Indian whiskey, which is boldly combined with pineapple, lime juice, chai syrup and Meantime pale ale.  Each section has its own sharing punch (priced at £18.50) which can be stacked on top of one another, creating a multicoloured Lanes of London punch selection.

There is room for more interesting beers than Meantime, Hue and Kingfisher behind the bar - surely they are missing the Lebanese Almaza beer for starters?

We moved to the restaurant where the lively Roger took over proceedings, talking us through the menu. Whilst it is again split up into sections, the idea is that you order from all corners and get a bonkers mix of dishes turning up to share.  It is a system that benefits larger groups as you can get through a lot more of the menu as a team.

Roger and friends proceeded to bring us all manner of tasty treats, cooked up by the capable Anshu Anghotra who handled the massive range of styles admirably.  Highlights included the Fattoush Salad (Sumac, lemon & olive oil dressing), Cornish Lamb Cutlets (with peas & beans, and mint pesto), Salt Baked Pumpkin Salad (with Black quinoa, goat's cheese, pumpkin seeds) and Samosa Chat (with chickpeas, yoghurt, pomegranate, and tamarind & mint chutney).  The Beef Brisket Sliders with Roasted Bone Marrow to dip into were so popular that they were reordered several times.

For dessert, we were presented with several decadent Double Chocolate Brownie Gateaux (one of which I took home in a doggie bag for hungry flatmates!) and some quirky miniature tins of ice creams and sorbets. A refreshing lychee sorbet hit the spot, but the chocolate banana crunch ice cream was too reminiscent of sweet shop bananas.

There are plenty more tempting sweet options, including posh Jammy Dodgers.  In a nice touch, you are given a postcard with the full dessert menu on to fill out if you wish which they will send out for you for free.

Francesco popped by before we left and brought along some of his interesting gin collection.  As his Langley's No.8 hadn't yet been opened, we decided it was time and he created a very boozy "G&T" which was mostly G with a couple of dashes of this and that.  If you are very nice to Francesco, he might even let you sip from his limited edition William Chase hip flask that he keeps on him at all times!

It was a lovely evening of top quality food and drink from the Lanes of London team, and very affordable given its location.  They open bright and early for breakfast at 6.30am I believe, and they also run an afternoon tea and Sunday roasts - many excuses to try it out!

Thursday 16th January - I can never resist a good soft launch, especially when somewhere decides to open up just down the road from where I rehearse with Kensington Symphony Orchestra.  I managed to convince 18 hungry musicians to head over to Moo Cantina for half priced Argentinean steaks and snacks, late on a Thursday night after a 3 hour rehearsal.  The 50% offer is running til January 31st so there is plenty of time for you all to pop in!

We were pleased to find that Moo Cantina is actually run by Argentineans rather than British imitators, and our hosts were extremely winning throughout our stay.  They have confidently set up in a very large site in Pimlico, with a big central bar area and plenty of room for diners around, all decorated very nicely.  They show live sport, though the TVs don't dominate the restaurant - this could be a very fun place to come next summer for Argentina matches.

Anywhere that has a piano instantly gets extra points from me, though this one needs a bit of a tune - I would stick to some honky tonk / Scott Joplin saloon style playing, rather than four hands Rite of Spring that two of our party launched into.

On to the food, nearly everyone went for steaks which are quirkily priced per 100g - make sure you order enough!  Steaks received thumbs up down the table - as their sister site Moo Grill says, "Argentina is like a spa for cows", hence tasty meat!  As well as steaks, they have a wide range of gourmet sandwiches and classic Argentinean dishes, most of which are under £10.  If you are feeling particularly peckish (as one viola player was), order the Moo Grill (for 2) complete with steak, sausage, sweetbread (not what you think), roasted peppers and provolone cheese.  Hats off to the chefs for delivering 18 meals at the same time, right at the end of a busy evening.

The drinks menu is also pretty extensive with a wide range of wines, interesting beers (including offerings from Moncada in Notting Hill and Oregon based Rogue, and a massive 970ml bottle of Quilmes), and a Moo G&T menu too.  

Thanks to the staff for a fun evening - we will return with some Piazzolla tangos next time!  Does anybody have Yo Yo Ma's number? (Email users click through to the blog to see video below)

Also, points for the best meat / composer based pun that KSO hasn't already thought of. So far - Beefhoven, Shosteakovich, Rackoflambinov, Moosorgsky and Porkofiev are my favourites.