lovelychaos

Last weekend I met up with two old friends, Jenny and Grace. Jenny, a (temporarily?) ex-Londoner with a penchant for dinner and cakes (check out her blog here. Natural pastry chef talent ahoy), suggested we went for a decent meal out together, which was more than owed as the last time we had seen each other was a: 18 months previous and b: through the haze of tequila in Edinburgh’s driving sleet.

Having spent a while eavesdropping on London foodie chat, I have already got a comprehensive list of places to visit in future. We decided pretty quickly on Le Cafe Anglais having read lots about it and armed with recommendations from @hollowlegs and @foodieguide, we rocked up on a Sunday night for good eats.

We were whisked up to a very large, open dining room, with lots of light coming through massive leaded windows. I like this. We all got to sit on the pale green leather banquette – I liked that too. Whenever I go out I like to sit on the banquette rather than the chair where there is a choice – I think this comes from fights with my siblings over the years. The Boy always lets me sit on it. I like that too.

Le Cafe Anglais has a huge and mesmerising menu. We were struck with indecision as soon as we were asked for drinks, and tipsy enough to be convinced to order bellinis (Easiest. Sell. Ever.). Having not seen each other for a while we then managed to forget to think about ordering again, until the patient waitress reminded us, also bringing a little dish of fresh radishes. We decided on three hors d’oeuvres between us followed by a main each, tactically leaving space for dessert.

We ordered the much-lauded parmesan custard and anchovy toast, with kipper pate with a boiled egg and rabbit rillettes with picked endive.

The rabbit and kipper were both very tasty, but it was the custard and toast that really shone. The creamy texture and tang of the custard mixed perfectly with the anchovies in the soldiers. We couldn’t get enough of it and it was gone in a flash.

We’d already put through our orders for mains, but it wasn’t long after the hors d’oeuvres were gone that the restaurant manager turned up at the table to ask whether we were in ‘the trade’. Jenny already had a watertight (almost) alibi lined up after visiting the Real Food Festival on trade day, but in the end we explained we had strong interests in dinners, and took a lot of photos. He went on to explain they had had an unknown error (basically, hadn’t put our main order through) and had to cook it. Never mind he said, because he was going to bring us something to help pass the time, and did we like oysters? Yes we said, though Grace wasn’t sure about it, and said she’d rather try something else. I’ll do what I can, he said. Pretty soon we were presented with three extras.

L-R we had mackerel teriyaki with pickled cucumber, deep fried oysters with thai dipping sauce, and octopus with rice and pimienton. They were, again, delicious. The mackerel had a great texture and flavour, though the sauce was possibly too salty for me (I am a bit scared of salt, really). The oysters went fantastically with the sauce, which was fragrant with plenty of fresh holy basil (one of my favourite things), and eating them fritter-stylee was unlike anything I’d tried before. The octopus too was beautifully cooked – which is a rarity as far as I’ve seen.

We were pretty full by this stage – not meaning to eat quite as much before main courses! I’d ordered lamb with tomatoes and pine nuts. It was glorious, really fantastic melt in the mouth meat and as you can see, plenty of it. I loved every bit of it. Jenny had middle pork with lentils which was again very tasty and well cooked, and Grace enjoyed sea bass with hollandaise sauce. We had a great gratin dauphinoise and spring greens with garlic as accompaniments.

By this stage it is fair to say we were fit to burst. However we were impossibly entranced by the Queen of Puddings on the dessert menu. I’d never heard of this, so assumed it to be something just made up by the restaurant. I am a sucker for anything like this on a menu, and had to try it out. We also ordered a pot of Barry’s tea to share with it. As a proper tea whore, I think it’s definitely the right way to finish off a meal.

The Queen of Puddings, as it turns out, is a wonderful jam sponge concoction, topped with meringue. It was delicious. We couldn’t possibly have eaten a single bite more. Our table was cleared to reveal the mess we had made (this was probably all me to be honest, as The Boy will testify), and we polished off the tea before sauntering off into the night, happy.