The Quality Chop House, Farringdon, London restaurant review

There's clearly a good reason why the Quality Chop House has its name instead of something else like the Fine Fish Homestead.

It's because they really know what they're doing when it comes to cooking meat.

And perhaps ordering the fish isn’t the best idea.

With over 150 years of history, the Quality Chop House has been under new ownership since 2012 and head chef Shaun Searley’s cooking is consistently lauded as some of the best in London by many people whose opinion I respect. That includes Mrs G, who much to my chagrin, has been a couple of times on her own without me.

During the pandemic, we had one of the Quality Chop House’s superb eat at home kits, and I resolved myself to one day visiting to try their legendary confit potatoes.

Located in the slightly weird hinterland of Farringdon, Quality Chop House’s pair of characterful dining rooms have some lovely original features, including wooden bench seating and ornate cornicing. 

Their menu is gripping across the board from snacks such as Cotswold gold chicken skewers with XO sauce to starters like Suffolk lamb shoulder with beef fat paratha, and desserts including sticky toffee pudding with vanilla custard. When it comes to mains, the focus clearly lies with hunks of meat such as Tamworth pork loin chop and Aberdeen Angus sirloin, many of which are served in sharing sized portions.

Excellent glasses of blackcurrant rich QCH Wines house red (£6), Domino de Punctum viognier (£8) and Holder Vineyards chenin blanc (£10) kept us busy throughout the meal.

Snacks and starters were all top drawer.

A slab of fat rich mangalitza brawn (£15) was big on buttery tongue and flecked with sweet carrots and the acidity of gherkin. Crisp and mustardy remoulade was the ideal accomplice, but it was served in the weeniest of portions.

Smoked short rib croquettes (£6) were filled with shreds of tender smoky meat and had a textbook crisp crumb. What really elevated the snack were big dollops of red eye mayonnaise with a good savoury pokiness.

Finally, the creamiest of Angel Delight textured smoked cod’s roe (£8) was served with light and crisp hot doughnuts that were seasoned with the zip and zing of salt and vinegar. 

Onto mains, and we had a good old wait. By way of apology, we received complimentary top ups of our wines – the first example of the Quality Chop House’s consummate hospitality.

A Barnsley chop (£34) was a handsome beast with its crisp fat and glistening meat. It was bang on in terms of its beautifully pink tender flesh and rich lamby flavour. I’d go so far as to say it was one of the best lamb chops I’ve ever eaten.

Mrs G’s monkfish (£36) in comparison was sadly veering towards the rubbery. It’s one of the most unforgiving of fish at the best of times and it didn't quite hit the mark. However, full marks go to a silky swede puree with the caramelised richness of brown butter and a glistening bordelaise sauce, which was seasoned with the meaty smokiness of eel instead of bone marrow.

When Mrs G fed back that it wasn't quite right but at the same time didn't want to wait 40 minutes for a whole new main, the excellent front of house team deducted both desserts and coffee from our bill. 

Sides were absolute belters.

A generous portion of al dente purple sprouting broccoli (£8) was topped with a decadent combination of salty and creamy warm Caesar dressing and crisp breadcrumbs.

Quality Chop's confit potatoes more than delivered on their reputation. Perfectly crisp with distinctly thin layers of soft and buttery spud on the inside, I could eat them by the bowlful. Thankfully, there were five bricks of them for £8.

For dessert, a slice of chocolate tart (£10) was pretty good with a fruity and bitter dark chocolate filling that was balanced by the sweetness of a flurry of caramelised white chocolate. But, it was sadly lacking a crisp pastry case, which would have provided some welcome texture contrast.

Blood orange cheesecake (£10) was the far superior pud with its crisp buttery base, light and tangy cream cheese filling, and fragrant blood orange jelly top. A dappled pool of orange sherbet really made the dessert pop, delivering lip-tickling acidity with each mouthful.

A couple of pieces of enjoyably creamy fudge were a prelude to the bill's arrival. 

With the superb lamb chop, my lunch at Quality Chop House more than lived up to its name. However, despite Mrs G's underwhelming fish, the rest of the excellent cooking, first class service and delicious wines mean it’s still a restaurant that we’d both gladly return to any day of the week.

The Details:

Address - The Quality Chop House, 92-94 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3EA

Web - https://thequalitychophouse.com/

Telephone -  020 7278 1452

Kolae, Borough Market, London Thai restaurant review

The best meal we ate in London in 2023 consisted of flame-cooked spice-loaded food from a restaurant located in Borough Market.

It looks like 2024 is going to go exactly the same way.

Whilst last year it was all about Rambutan's Sri Lankan cooking, this time it's the Thai food from Kolae, which is owned by the same team as the acclaimed Som Saa (who also happened to do an epic home delivery kit during the pandemic).

Set in a former coach house, it's a characterful place which exudes history from its well-worn brickwork. Downstairs, there’s an open kitchen with flashes of flame and wafts of smoke that draw you in, whilst upstairs, a cosy dining room is intimate without feeling cramped.

Kolae focuses on southern Thai cooking, especially the eponymous cooking style where ingredients are coated in a curried coconut marinade and cooked over flame.

I wanted to order everything on Kolae’s menu and fortunately with its small plate format we were able to make a fair dent. If you’re a chilli wuss, then it’s also worth noting that certain dishes come with a spice warning from the exemplary front of house team.

A short drink of lemongrass and pandan rum milk punch (£11) hid its booze exceptionally well. Scented with notes of lemongrass, liquorice and vanilla, it was beautifully fragrant yet easy drinking. Mrs G tucked away a couple of delicious glasses of wine, an Alsatian crémant (£9.85) and a skin contact garnacha blanca and muscatel blend (£12.55).

A tower of warm crisp chicken skins (£5) was a bar snack extraordinaire. Beautifully crisp with the warmth of garlic and turmeric, the occasional shard had a nugget of tender flesh still attached to it. They were great dredged through a dip with a fiery hit of chilli and balancing acidity.

Kolae’s mussel skewers (£6) were probably the best mussels I've ever eaten. Coated in a sticky, savoury marinade before being cooked over coals, they were compellingly tender and meaty with a great lick of smoke.

A kolae chicken skewer (£7) was more of the same in a very good way. Generous in quantity for seven quid, the beautifully juicy meat had nicely caramelised edges and an excellent savoury smokiness going on. It was the polar opposite to the dried-out, one note peanut sauce coated satay skewers which you so often encounter in British Thai restaurants.

Green mango salad (£10) was uncompromising in its chilli heat, and I had to swiftly crack open a packet of tissues. Super fresh and cleansing with plenty of citrus acidity, the toastiness of roast coconut, and crunch of fried anchovies, it was a lovely contrast to the richer dishes.

Kolae crown prince squash (£12.50) was another standout - deliciously soft, lightly sweet, nutty and smoky, it was coated in a rich marinade that was fragrant with lemongrass and topped with crispy shallots. On the side, a sweet and sour ajaad relish contained a crunchy mix of cucumber, radish and ginger (I steered well clear of the chillies).

A gati fish curry (£16.50) was described by the waiter as a 7.2 out of ten in terms of chilli heat. However, after the spice onslaught of the mango salad, it felt like a soothing balm in comparison. Laden with precisely cooked pieces of stone bass and sweet meaty prawns, the creamy coconut curry sauce had lovely layers of spice. 

A generous bowl of sticky rice (£3.80) was flecked with grains of nutty wild rice and was perfect for mopping up all those sauces. With dishes arriving as and when they’re ready, we did have to show some restraint as the rice was the first dish to arrive and the curry was the last.

Very often for dessert, all I want is a little bonne bouche rather than a full-blown pud. Kolae’s young coconut sorbet (£5) exactly fitted the brief. Creamy ice-cream like sorbet was drizzled with a thick sticky salted caramel that was lightly fragranced with tea and scattered with crunchy peanuts. It was a killer combination.

Kolae serves brilliant and deliciously different spice-packed Thai cooking. Throw in the good value pricing for central London, excellent service and interesting booze, and Kolae is an unmitigated success. I wonder what Borough Market has in store for me in 2025…

The Details:

Address - Kolae, 6 Park St, London SE1 9AB

Web - https://kolae.com/

Koottaan, Cathays, Cardiff Keralan restaurant review

I rarely start a blog post by talking about the service at a restaurant. 

But, the two members of front of house staff at the newly opened Koottaan Curry Club in Cathays were so warm, knowledgeable and enthusiastic that we ordered dishes from the menu that we wouldn't haven considered. And they were glad to big up the authenticity credentials of the food served by their all-Keralan team. 

In fact, with front of house staff this passionate, it puts Koottaan in a good place to weather the storm of opening a restaurant in the most challenging of times for the hospitality industry.

It helps that Koottaan’s cooking is delicious too.

With another branch in Bristol, which is currently closed for "a brand refresh, refurbishment and menu development," Koottaan also appears to have links to Cardiff's Mint and Mustard, Chai Street and Mattancherry. 

On the menu are plenty of familiar Keralan dishes, including lamb and fish curries, chicken 65, biryanis, and idli with sambhar. 

But there’s quite a few dishes that we haven’t encountered before such as mutta roast - “a sumptuous twist on eggs”, pal kappa beef – “blending the hearty essence of cassava with creamy coconut milk”, and the eyebrow raising porrotacos – “a creative fusion that blends the concept of tacos with Kerala’s beloved parotta”.

A pair of recommended soft drinks set the tone for the new flavours we encountered during the meal. Narangha Sharbath (£3.50), was like a Keralan version of Sasparilla, combining a sweet syrup made with a herbal root and the zesty contrast of lime soda.

Kochi kanthari (£3.50) was as savoury a soft drink as it gets. Made with tangy yoghurt, fiery birds eye chillies, fragrant coriander and soda, it was a bit like a watery, salty, spicy and fragrant lassi. I don’t think I could have drunk a whole one but I’m very glad to have tried it.

Pazham pori beef fusion (£12.95) was deliciously different, combining crisp and golden slightly sweet plantain fritters served with an earthy slow-cooked beef roast curry that packed a good hit of chilli and plenty of fragrant curry leaf and coconut. It was a lovely balance of semi-sweet and savoury.

Now, if you’re like me and you live for kothu parotta, the king of comfort food dishes, then you absolutely need to make a beeline for Koottaan’s kizhi parotta (£12.95). A silver parcel cocooned layers of golden flaky parotta, which was crisp in parts and soft in others from its soaking with curry sauce. 

In between the layers of parotta were big flavoured tender beef and chicken curries, a spiced omelette. For good measure, it was then topped with pieces of crisp battered chicken 65. This dish was essentially a reconstructed special kothu parotta and I’m 100% here for it. I can also recommend frying up the chopped up leftovers the next day to make your own homemade kothu. 

Our final plate, chatthi choru (£12.95), was a smorgasbord of Keralan dishes, including vibrant mango and creamy coconut chutneys, tender beef and chicken curries, potently fishy sardine fry, masala omelette, crisp poppadoms, and chicken 65.

It was a good dish, but it didn’t hit the same level as the other two we ordered, in part because there were so many different things on the plate that it was hard to find a focal point and also because of the huge amount of Keralan matta rice on the plate compared to the curries.

Armed with leftovers, we sadly didn’t have room for dessert. I guess I’ll have to go back to try Koottaan's compelling sounding gulab jamun brûlée.

Whilst there’s a wealth of southern Indian restaurants in Cardiff, I think it’s fair to say that Koottaan still manages to bring something different to the table. With their unique Keralan cooking and passionate front of house team, it’s a new restaurant which is well worth checking out.

The Details:

Address - Koottaan, 93 Wyeverne Rd, Cardiff CF24 4BG

Web - https://www.koottaan.com/

Telephone - 029 2025 0000

The Kardomah, Swansea cafe review

 

“My Home Sweet Homah”

That’s how Dylan Thomas, described Swansea’s Kardomah Café. 

I may as well leave it there because Thomas’ four-word summation will be far more eloquent than anything I’m going to blurt out over the next few paragraphs.

I think it’s fair to say that the Kardomah had a special place in Dylan Thomas’ heart. As part of the Kardomah Gang, a group of Bohemian artists, musicians, poets and writers, he used to regularly hang out at its previous incarnation on Swansea’s Castle Street in the 1930s. 

Whilst it was sadly destroyed in the Blitz, the Kardomah relocated to Castle Street in 1957, where it’s been operated by the Luporini family since 1970. 

Crossing the Kardomah’s threshold and walking past its many original features, including the cash desk, retro dessert trolley, wood-panelled walls and tiled pillars, immediately transports you back in time. 

It shines through in their laminated menu too, which features cooked breakfasts, toasted sandwiches, roast dinners and jacket potatoes, amongst many other things.

Despite being over 100 years old, the Kardomah certainly hasn’t slowed in pace. Orders are taken and dishes bussed back and forth at a quickfire tempo by the friendly front of house team, many of whom are wearing traditional uniforms. 

Coffee, the Kardomah's own house blend (£2.50), had a good roasty caramel vibe and light bitterness. It’s a nice touch that you can get a free refill before 11.30am and its 95p afterwards.

A jacket potato (£8.50) ticked all the right boxes with its lightly chewy ochre skin and soft innards. Topped with a generous quantity of old skool tuna mayo and accompanied by a dollop of thick coleslaw with a good tang of salad cream, it was a dish which did exactly what it promised.

A Welsh breakfast Saturday special (£10.95) was advertised on the door on the way in. The fry-up was a nice halfway house between a high end brunch and a greasy spoon. Thick cut bacon was top-drawer and a mound of briny cockles punctuated the dish with their salinity. 

Slippery laverbread tasted delicately of the sea and a frilly-edged fried egg, sweet roasted tomato, filthy fried bread and a buttered slice were all bang on. It was only a giant Richmond-esque skinless sausage which I wasn't convinced by - I'd much prefer a course ground juicy number with a snappy exterior.

I couldn't resist a retro trifle for dessert. Sweet strawberry jelly dotted with fruit salad, set custard and thick whipped cream combined well for a very reasonable £3.25.

With its well-priced and down-to-earth cooking, I can see why the Kardomah was packed with families and friends off all generations. 

It's a Welsh institution and one which I hope will be around for another 100 years.