Princi

The Italians - Pucci, Prada, Gucci - you've got to love them. Now in London we have what is known in Italy as the "Armani of Bread", Princi. Fittingly located within a short dash of both Selfridges and Liberty the new Princi cafe/bakery is just as stylish as you would expect. A huge counter runs along one wall showcasing a myriad of pastries, pizza and pasta. Along the other wall is a water feature. I'm not that keen on water features as they don't seem to serve much purpose other than make you need to go to the toilet but the inclusion seemed to reflect a little of Alan Yau's influence on Princi. There is seating along the length of the water feature and several waist high counters where you can stand to have your coffee and pastry Italian style.
You head to the counter to order in what is a very haphazard system, however the entire process is conducted with such charm that you don't really mind. Princi seems to be staffed exclusively by Italians. I am not sure whether such an overt discrimination policy is legally allowed in hiring staff but it means that the coffee is good and everything is served with a friendly Prego. There is a very impressive wood fired oven at the front of the shop so I decided it was essential to order the pizza to test the oven out. The pizza was excellent, deliciously light with a smoky crisp base. My lemon and berry tart was equally good with clusters of juicy berries hidden underneath the lemon curd.

I was at Princi for lunch however it is open until 12pm at night and apparently there are plans for 24 hour opening as with Princi in Italy. It's nice to know that some Italian sustenance is on hand whether for a shopping pit stop or a quick bite before heading out in Soho.

Details: 135 Wardour street, Soho, W1F OUT (Ph 020 7478 8888)
Damage: Such a bargain even my mother would approve
8/10

Easy Apple Crumble

It is hard to think of a dessert more simple than Apple Crumble. Even my mother, who is an excellent cook but not much of a baker (sorry Mum) can produce a decent Apple crumble. Crumble was developed out of necessity in Britain during World War II. Strict rationing meant that the ingredients to make an actual apple pie were hard to come by and the time to make a pie was also lacking so improvisation led to the humble apple crumble. It is still a dessert you can turn to when time and ingredients are limited. To make things a little more special for a dinner party try serving the Apple Crumble in individual ramekins.

Ingredients
8 cooking apples peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 pinch cinnamon

For crumble topping
300g plain flour
175g brown sugar
200g butter, cubed at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 180C

2. Place the butter, apples, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan over low heat and cook for around 5 minutes or until the apples start to break down slightly.

3. Meanwhile combine the ingredients for the crumble topping in a bowl and rub the butter into the sugar, flour and cinnamon until there are no chunks of butter left.

4. Spoon the apple mixture into a baking dish or individual ramekins and top with the crumble topping.

5. Bake for 10 minutes or until the crumble topping starts to turn golden.

6. Serve with cream, ice-cream or custard.

The Oak

MTV boyfriend had a long overdue catch up last night with our friends Suz and Ben at local gastro pub The Oak. More gastro than pub, the whole downstairs is set out as a restaurant with a bar in one corner the only nod to The Oak's pub origins. The room has high ceilings with the walls painted a dramatic black colour in contrast to the simple wooden tables and chairs. At night time candles on every table add warmth to the space. The boys ordered beers and Suz and I were delighted to find that you could order a few of the wines by carafe for those times when you want more than one glass each but are not keen on a full bottle. The Sangiovese we ordered was very quaffable and reasonably priced at £7.

We started with some bruschetta which was served as individual pieces of toasted bread along with a pot of chopped tomato and basil so that you could construct the bruschetta yourself. For a main course I ordered the wild mushroom risotto which was suitably creamy and studded with fresh English porcini and morels. They could have been a little more generous with the serving size (rice is cheap!) but this at least left me room for dessert.

The star of the show at The Oak is the pizza. A wood fired pizza oven is visible in one corner of the kitchen and during our meal a chef stood there the whole time expertly kneading dough and twisting it in the air like a giant pizza frisbee. The best of the bunch seemed to be the "Prosciutto pizza" which had a perfect thin, crisp base topped with tomato, parma ham, mozzarella, rocket and Parmesan (pictured). There was so much rocket in fact that MTV boyfriend kindly pointed out that my photo looks more like a photo of a garden bed than a pizza.

We shared desserts and MTV boyfriend predictably ordered the creme brulee as he is drawn to it on a dessert menu like a moth to a flame. The creme brulee at The Oak is "thyme infused" and served with a strawberry and basil coulis. It was good, but the thyme infusion was unnecessary, why mess with a classic dish like creme brulee. I stole a finger lick of the chocolate mousse and was glad to find that there was no mucking around here, it was rich and fluffy and served in a little basket of sesame seed tuille with creme anglaise.

The Oak is cozy and congenial: an excellent place for a pizza fix. The downside is that for what you get the price is not cheap.

Details: 137 Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater, W2 5QL (Ph 020 7221 3355)

Damage: Pricey

7/10

Hummingbird Bakery

I regularly read A Cup of Jo by New York writer Joanna Goddard although the focus is more puppies and clothes than food. However, I thought it was particularly prescient this week as I was feeling susceptible to the winter blues and Joanna posted about the best things to do when you are feeling a little down in the dumps. It got me thinking about the things that cheer me up:

1. A cup of tea.
2. A jog in the park.
3. A new book.
4. Painting my toenails red.
5. A cup cake.

There is something about these tiny little cakes that instantly enlivens you. I think it must be the childhood birthday party memories that they evoke combined with the sugar hit. I've tried a few places but my favourite is Hummingbird bakery. Their cupcakes are light and fluffy and topped with thick, rich icing in the style of the famous Magnolia bakery in New York. Hummingbird's Red Velvet cupcakes are to die for, but when I went down there on Sunday to treat myself to a pick me up I was unable to resist the daily special of carrot cake cupcake (pictured). There is room to eat in at their tiny shop front but they are also happy for you to takeaway and this is often the better option given how packed the shop is with people queuing for cupcakes. My cup cake was a little dry but delivered just the mood booster that I was after. So much for the winter blues when you have cupcakes.

Details: 133 Portobello Road, Notting Hill W11 2DY (Ph 020 7229 6446)

Damage: Varies but about £2 for a cupcake

Roast Sweet Potato and Chorizo Salad

When it's colder outside than it is inside your fridge it's time to turn to a warming winter salad of roasted sweet potato, chorizo, spinach and fetta. This salad is substantial enough to be a meal in itself or it is a great accompaniment. The best thing about it is that it is very easy to make, all the work is done by your oven as the sweet potato soaks up the chorizo juices and flavouring giving you plenty of time for a cheeky glass of wine while you wait.

Ingredients

6 sweet potatoes scrubbed and cut into wedges

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to season

2 chorizo sausages thickly sliced

150g baby spinach leaves

100g fetta

1. Preheat the oven to 200c, lay the sweet potato on a tray lined with baking paper and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper before roasting for 20 -25 mins.

2. Add the chorizo and roast for a further 15 mins.

3. Remove from the oven and combine the roasted sweet potato and chorizo with the spinach leaves making sure that you dribble all the delicious juices and oils from the baking tray over the salad to form a ready made dressing.

4. Crumble fetta cheese on top and serve immediately.

This recipe is adapted from a Jill Dupleix recipe in The Times, she includes orange juice in the salad however I find that the taste of the chorizo really overpowers the orange flavour anyway. The recipe is my contribution to Waiter There's Something In My... Roast.

El Pirata DeTapas

I learnt a lot at El Pirata Detapas last night. While MTV boyfriend and I lingered over our meal in this relatively new tapas bar in Bayswater I learnt that one of the girls at the table on my right has found out that her ex boyfriend is potentially in a new relationship through Facebook and that the older couple on my left could not believe how cold the weather is this weekend. I didn't actually want to find out so much about my fellow diners lives but the tables at El Pirata Detapas are so close together that you have the intimacy as if you were sitting cheek to jowl at an actual bar combined with the ignominy of having to squeeze your bum against your neighbours table just to manoeuvre yourself into a seat.


So I wasn't happy with the tables at El Pirata Detapas but the food and service were both pretty good. We opted for what was billed as the "degustation" menu at £16 per head. This kicked off with good sourdough bread with aioli. The aioli was very strong on the garlic so I made sure to have just as much of it as MTV boyfriend so that there were no breath issues later on in the night. The bread was also served with a "selection of charcuterie" and roasted piquillo peppers. The peppers were intense and sweet, however I was disappointed that our selection of charcuterie was obviously pre-prepared rather than the jamon being freshly sliced from the large leg displayed at the end of the bar.

I ordered some Sangria which came in one of the smallest glasses I have ever seen without a skerrick of lemon, orange or other fruit to jazz it up. Clearly, I should have followed the lead of MTV boyfriend and gone for a beer instead. Our next flurry of dishes arrived and creamy serrano ham croquettes, paprika crispy fried squid and asparagus topped with shavings of manchego cheese (pictured) were all spot on. The next dishes of chicken in garlic sauce and pobre potatos which comprised a medallion of slightly soggy potato slices topped with fried onion were a bit more lacklustre. Roasted pork belly with rioja jus was beautifully presented in a perfect square of pork belly dripping in jus and accompanied by a sliver of pear and roast potato. The flavours were delicious however I was disappointed to find a large bit of gristle in the pork belly.

We finished off with one of El Pirata DeTapas' signature dishes of calasparro rice pudding for dessert. Calasparro is a Spanish rice which I have to say did not taste any different in a pudding to general rice however the pudding was saved somewhat by the topping of little crispy bits of rice which tasted and looked quite similar to rice krispies (or rice bubbles if you are Australian like me).

If I went back I would order my own dishes rather than eat off the degustation menu as I don't think the selection offered was that exciting and if I ran El Pirata De Tapas I'd get rid of a few tables to give those having a Facebook relationship crisis a bit of privacy.

Details: 115 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater W24UP (Ph 020 7727 5000)
Damage: Reasonable
6/10

Langtons (Gourmet Chick in Ireland)

I went to Ireland last weekend as my good friend Clare who lives there is about to get married and it was my last chance to see her beforehand. A big group of us went for dinner at Langtons in Kilkenny to celebrate. Located on the main street Langtons is a hub of Kilkenny social activity comprising a maze of rooms all packed with people eating and drinking. Don't go to Langtons looking for your traditional local Irish pub this is quite a slick affair with lots of polished wood and huge long mirrored bars topped with chrome.

They have dining for large groups down to a fine art and we were ushered in and out with a minimum of fuss. To begin I had the golden fried brie which was served on salad with sweet chilli jam, cherry tomatoes and red onion. Fried and cheese are two of my favourite things so I really could not recommend this dish more highly although you will have to take into account that my views when eating anything that combines these two elements are rather biased.

Mains were a little more disappointing, I chose the savoury stuffed fillet of pork with brandy and apple sauce (pictured). This was served on top of hard little spheres of mashed potato. In fact, whatever you ordered was served on top of mashed potato. For good measure, a couple of roast potatoes were also added on the side. I know that Ireland is famous for its love of potato, however it seemed like the duck breast or salmon may have been better accompanied by some Asian greens, rice or really anything else.

The dessert selection also looked better on paper than reality. My toffee and brown bread ice cream gateau with hot butterscotch sauce sounded decadent but was disappointingly gluey. Langtons is convenient for a big group however the food was lifeless and uninspired. You will be better off to try elsewhere to experience Irish hospitality and cuisine.

Details: 67 John Street, Kilkenny, Ireland (Ph +353 56 7765133)

Damage: Reasonable

6/10

Ottolenghi

I'm a regular at Ottolenghi. Not quite as regular as MTV boyfriend (they start making a coffee for him as soon as he walks in) but regular enough that I am familiar with most of their salads and cakes and have firm established favourites on both fronts. However, last night I entered a whole new world of Ottolenghi, I went there for dinner. Despite being such a fan, I had never made it for dinner as the Notting Hill Ottolenghi is only open for breakfast and lunch. So I had to head over to Islington to get my dinner fix, but it was certainly worth it.

The Islington Ottolenghi is set in a long narrow white room that is probably triple the size of the teeny tiny shop front Ottolenghi occupies in Notting Hill. However there are still the familiar piles of pastries and meringues in the window and the futuristic white plastic chairs and tables. The occasion was my friend Lucy's birthday so there was a big group of us and we had ordered various plates to share.

The vegies came out first; grilled zucchini with Parmesan, pine nuts, chervil red basil and truffle oil. When they say grilled, they mean it and the black char markings gave a subtle smoky flavour to the zucchini. Marinated roasted aubergine was served with preserved lemon, parsley, pistachios and pomegranate yoghurt sauce. If you have ever picked up the Ottolenghi cook book you will know that lemon and yoghurt are present in most dishes, and here they were used to create a sweet piquant sauce that added zing to the soft fleshy eggplant.

Plates of fresh sweet corn polenta appeared next scattered with feta, mushrooms and truffle oil. I have never seen such runny polenta, but it was incredibly delicious and creamy. Roasted lamb cutlets with slow cooked tomatoes, pine nut tabouli and yoghurt mint sauce were perfectly pink with a little kick added by harissa rub on the lamb. My only disappointment was probably the scallops which were grilled and served with baby gem lettuce and prosciutto. There was nothing wrong with them, there just wasn't enough of these juicy seafood taste sensations. We finished off the evening with some birthday cake. Of course it was Ottolenghi style fabulous.

I know that Ottolenghi is expensive for a casually styled cafe, however I think the innovative and thoughtful combination of ingredients and the quality of the produce used makes it all worthwhile. Now if only I could convince Notting Hill Ottolenghi to open for dinner.

Details: 287 Upper Street, N1 2TZ (Ph 020 7288 1454)

Damage: Reasonable/Pricey

9/10

The Engineer

Primrose Hill is such a lovely name for a place and the denizens of Primrose Hill are equally beguiling. Even when the weather is a bit dreary there is comfort to be found in heading to this pretty part of town and cocooning yourself in a pub to while away a Saturday afternoon.

The Engineer is a beautiful old pub with a relaxed atmosphere. Staff were young and friendly while not in the "too cool" school of bar staff. The food is your standard gastro pub fare with a slight twist. I went for the miso marinated cod with mash, bok choi and soy sherry sauce. It was all a little bit gastro meets Nobu but I have to say that it worked. MTV boyfriend had the baked chicken breast on a warm salad of chorizo, beans and harissa. The chicken looked a little dry but the salad provided an interesting counterpoint.

The dessert options were a little more limited, my lemon posset with blueberries was incredibly rich and we all agreed it probably could have been half the size and still have been a bit too much. Vanilla ice cream with drunken raisins was simple as could be but delicious as hell.

Details: 65 Gloucester Avenue, Primrose Hill, NW1 8JH (Ph 020 7722 0950)
Damage: Reasonable
7/10

Food at 52

As a present for MTV boyfriend I bought him a Fish and Seafood cooking course for the two of us at Food at 52. He was not fooled and complained that this was more a present for me than him but with the lure of plenty of delicious food and alcohol he agreed to attend.

Food at 52 is run by John Benbow out of a beautiful old house in Clerkenwell. It is a small class and totally hands on, there is no observing from a distance. John is friendly and approachable and the atmosphere in the class was very relaxed. Importantly, in my book he was not at all stingy with the wine which was free flowing as we cooked and ate.

We cooked four different recipes which we were then given copies of to takeaway. The fish and seafood course was especially good as you learned the actual techniques for filleting different sorts of fish. Disappointingly there was no sign of the lobsters that feature on Food at 52's website, however I suppose the use of ingredients such as mullet instead means that the classes do not run at a complete loss. I have previously posted on one of the dishes that we cooked - Fennel and Fish Soup.

John is an easy going and patient teacher, however be warned that he does not appear to have any actual expertise as a chef or as a cooking instructor other than having attended a few courses himself for enthusiastic amateurs. To be honest, this did not really effect our enjoyment of the day and even MTV boyfriend was prepared to admit that this cooking caper was not too bad after all.

Details: 52 Great Percy Street, London WC1X9QR (Ph 07814027067)

£70-85 per class.

Big Easy

New Orleans is often affectionately called "The Big Easy" and Big Easy tries to replicate the atmosphere of an American rib and crayshack. Although, I doubt that many people who eat on Kings Road head there after "a hard day's fishing".

The tables at Big Easy are laid with cheery red and white checked table cloths while the wood panelled walls are covered with signs spouting home-spun wisdom. I can't help but feel as if I have wandered into the movie set for Sweet Home Caroline. MTV boyfriend and I are there with a group of nine friends and it seems that most people at Big Easy are part of a large group soaking up the party atmosphere. We order cocktails to begin, my Big Easy Mule is delicious but quite potent. If only it wasn't a school night.

A huge platter to share arrives at our table loaded up with a selection of the different entrees on offer. The "Voodoo" chicken wings are very good with quite a spicy kick to the sauce lightly covering the plump chicken wings. I am not so keen on the breadcrumbed unidentifiable fish or the greasy deep fried calamari.

Our group splits along gender lines when the main dishes arrive, the boys have all found it impossible to resist the BBQ ribs while the girls have gone for the seafood options. My roasted 1kg Maine lobster is literally half a lobster complete with all the accouterments for cracking the claws open. It is not the best lobster I have ever had but for £14.95 including a Margarita and chips it's not bad.

I manage to swipe a few of MTV's boyfriends BBQ ribs but I am not that impressed. The servings are absolutely huge with the ribs presented on what would usually be known as a platter rather than a plate. The BBQ smoked baby back ribs are smothered with a dark and sticky "special recipe" BBQ sauce and served alongside beans and coleslaw which the boys ignore. It is messy work and bibs are provided much to our amusement. There is something quite primeval and satisfying about munching on a rib however the serving sizes are just ridiculous and it seems to me that this dish is more about size and style than substance. To prove this point, there is an "Honour" board on the wall listing people who have managed to eat seven servings of the ribs.

We can only laugh with incredulity when the dessert menu is offered, there is really no hope of that. It's a fun place for a night out, but the enjoyment is more in the novelty value than the quality of the food. I leave still expecting the cast of My Best Friend's Wedding to emerge and Cameron Diaz to rise up from one of the tables singing "Say a little prayer".

Details: 332 Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW3 5UR (Ph 020 7352 4071)
Damage: Pricey
6/10

Bruschetta

I have been reading, Glynn Christian's, How to Cook Without Recipes It's a really interesting book that includes a section on poncing around in the kitchen. No more poncing from me from now on! However, I do think there is a role for recipes, even if you can identify the flavour trails, recipes give you techniques for combining those trails. Plus, reading cookbooks is a pleasure that I don't want to forgo.

The book is premised on the concept of flavour trails in food. For example, tomatoes have a classic affinity with basil, garlic and olive oil. Which got me thinking of some freshly made bruschetta for lunch.

This is my recipe for bruschetta, however in the spirit of Glynn Christian there is no need to be prescriptive. Fetta or boccocini is amazing atop bruschetta and so is some parma ham if you have that to hand. The most important thing is that the tomatoes are the best quality you can find.

Ingredients

8 slices of ciabatta loaf

2 cloves of garlic, one peeled and one crushed

1 shallot finely sliced

4 tomatoes peeled, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

1. Mix the shallots with 1 tbsp of olive oil and allow to stand for 10 mins.

2. In the meantime, toast the ciabatta bread or grill on searing hot griddle pan then rub the the bread with a slice of the peeled garlic and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil.

3. Mix the shallots and oil with the tomato, crushed garlic and basil and spread on the ciabatta. Season with salt and pepper.

The Pelican

Tucked away in a quiet back street of Notting Hill, The Pelican is a nice little boozer. It's cosy inside with dark walls, polished floorboards and stacks of board games in a corner. Prices are quite cheap for food and drink alike which is a boon in this neck of the woods.

The Pelican isn't trying to be a gastro pub and clearly the food served is mainly intended as a sponge to soak up the alcohol. Still, a little effort would be nice. Essentially the entire menu is cooked in the deep frier and my fish and chips did not even have a piece of token salad to ease the clogging of my arteries. It was unlovingly plated with the huge piece of cod strewn across a pile of thin and unsatisfying fries.

Salt and pepper squid seemed to have been fried in the same heavy batter as my cod and there was no lightness of touch or even the mix of Asian spices that you expect from salt and pepper squid. MTV boyfriend's burger was slightly better (at least it hadn't been deep fried) but the bun was flaccid and accompanied by the same disappointing fries.

Try your hand at Monopoly by all means, but it's best to stick to the beers here and head elsewhere for your meal.

Details: 45 All Saints Road, Notting Hill W11 1HE (Ph 020 7792 3073)
Damage: Such a bargain even my mother would approve
3/10

Buttercup

I am not usually a fan of shopping centres, but the weather was SO awful on Saturday, I had shopping that had to be done and the clincher, they were giving away free champagne in lots of the shops. Champagne is something I find hard to resist, but free champagne ...

So off I trotted to the new White City London and it was very big and very brash and everyone seemed impervious to the darkening financial clouds. What they did have though was an outlet of Buttercup, the cup cake shop from South Kensington.

They had trays of confetti coloured cup cakes and even special Halloween cup cakes. I stuck with the Chocolate Purist cup cake because that's the type of girl I am. They use Belgian chocolate so the cup cake was suitably velvety and decadent. It was very good, although perhaps not quite as good as Hummingbird's cup cakes. Still, it was a nice place to sit down with a cup of tea and get away from the madness and the lure of free champagne.

Details: Buttercup, White City, Shepherds Bush W12 7GF
Damage: £2.50 per cupcake

Leith's Knife Skills Course

When you tell people you are doing a knife skills course they look slightly aghast - "living in London can't be that bad can it?" they ask. Of course, there is no cause for concern, this is knife skills for cooking purposes to save time and tears in the kitchen.

The course at Leith's School of Food and Wine is ridiculously popular, there are six separate classes of eight on this chilly Saturday morning. Everyone appears equally inept as the mysteries of rocking the knife and the pivot chop are explained to us. We work our way through mountains of onions, leeks, potatoes, carrots, celery, herbs and even learn how to cut the perfect lemon wedge. The course is really like no other I have been on before as you don't actually learn how to make anything, the only finished meal is the bowl of vegetable soup which the staff prepare for you at the end of the morning out of some of the vegetables you have massacred at an earlier stage. Unfortunately you don't walk out able to slice and dice like the best of the celebrity chefs on TV either. However, you do learn plenty of tips and techniques that you can practice at home to make your knife skills more professional.

The knife skills course felt like the sort of stuff they teach to people training to be chefs on their first day. This seemed much more beneficial and useful in day to day life than learning how to make an elaborate recipe that you will pull out occasionally at dinner parties. After a bit more practice with onions at home, I may even be able to shock people entirely by telling them that I am taking an Advanced Knife Skills course.

Details: 16-20 Wendell Road, London W129RT (Ph 0208749 6400)