Many workers’ Mondays are spent recovering from the weekend just gone and this is just the case with the Blue Tomato office; it came as a welcome relief then, that we were offered a veritable cushion in which to crash land into the oncoming week in the form of a culinary tour of St Martin’s Courtyard. So, stories from Saturday and Sunday packed firmly in our pockets we ventured out into the Covent Garden courtyard to sample the crème de la crème of the café and restaurant scene.
First up was Suda, billed as a Siamese Rice Bar and the perfect place to begin our day’s adventure; the décor is minimal and cool (in every sense of the word, it was a little heavy on the air-conditioning for October!) an the staff are very kind and courteous in explaining the menu, which lists a tantalizing array of Asian-infusion dishes. The grilled lamb chop with lemongrass and chilli dressing is served with Som Tum salad and very moreish sticky rice and definitely deserves special mention, seeing as the juices are sealed in by what we guess is a delicate pan-searing procedure and are left to explode in your mouth at the first bite. The cocktail list is impressively innovative as they all contain an Pan-Asian twist, such as the Bangkok Sour, a surprisingly refreshing concoction of Thai rum shaken with Thai tea, fresh lemon juice, sugar and egg white that adds an appealing foamy top.
Without wanting to get too Thai-ed up (ouch…), we moved on to Dishoom, London’s first Bombay Café where a fabulously flamboyant waiter takes us through the expansive menu and warns one of our team against the hot Cognac Chai, seeing it as too early in the year for a warm cocktail (n.b. the Blue Tomato team member defied these ordered and enjoyed a delicious, albeit seasonally inappropriate beverage, thank you very much). The Cheesy Naan was an unexpected delight, with all four of our cohort decreeing that all Naans should come with some sort of dairy accompaniment, while the Dishoom Calamari’s texture danced just on the right side of rubbery with a zesty lime and chilli giving it a well needed oomph. The Kulfi’s on a stick were an all round hit, with both the mango and pistachio flavours being enclosed within a toffee/ice cream casing that delivered Proustian rushes of our summers past sat on the front porch sucking on Milk Maids…
Next up is Jamie’s Italian, probably the best known of the St. Martin’s Lane development, but not necessarily deservedly. Having been named after the famous naked chef, one could presume that Jamie’s is an up-market gourmet restaurant – but one would be wrong. Jamie’s gives the impression of an earthy, warming Italian chain restaurant that has adopted the chef’s cheeky, casual charisma and offers a relaxed experience with the promise of some good, hearty Italian food.
At this stage of the lunch challenge we were admittedly not famished but were keen to give Jamie’s a fair go and keenly examined the menu. As four reasonably sized bowls of pasta arrived at our table, we’re disappointed not to sample the selection of ‘Top Italian Breads’ and test the truth behind the ‘World’s Best Olives on Ice’, but are always happy to try the dishes the chefs or owners deem their best.
Our waiter speedily reeles off what each dish was, flagging the Prawn Linguini as the most popular amongst their customers, and identifying the mass of black worms as the scallop and squid ink spaghetti. Unfortunately, the colour was the most interesting thing about the dish as the flavour was completely MIA, though it must be mentioned that the scallops were cooked perfectly.
The prawn linguini was seasoned well – though we’d have liked a tad more chilli – and it was, as it is in most Italians, a safe dish. However, this is not to say it was not enjoyable and the freshness of the handmade spaghetti was accentuated by the light tomato and garlic sauce. Saved from being cast aside as fellow safe dish to the sad linguini, the Spaghetti Bolognese was topped off with some delicious, herby breadcrumbs and was delightfully seasoned with generous helpings of rosemary.
Our highlight was the mushroom Panzerotti. A team member declared that mushroom dishes were never usually her preferred choice, yet the half-moon pasta filled with brown cap and poicini mushrooms gave a pleasant surprise. The chilli was enough to compliment the ricotta and parmesan flavours, ensuring the strong mushroom taste didn’t overwhelm. The dish offered a tasty amount of both sauce and texture.
The Jamie’s experience already had a lot to live up to, and was by no means bad or unsatisfactory. Despite the promised warmth and heartiness, it lacked the pukka element one would expect from a restaurant owned by the guy who refers to blending as wazzing.
After we’d had our fill at Jamie’s we waddled over to Cantina Laredo and were greeted by the very friendly (not to mention fairly gorgeous) waiting staff who directed us to our booth and recommended a round of margaritas to get us started, (they had us at ‘hello’, but this was still a nice touch…) With the plethora of tequila-based cocktails providing sufficient lubrication, we decide to venture forth into Cantina Laredo’s food menu and pick out a selection of gourmet Mexican dishes to satisfy our (dwindling but not yet done) appetites. A huge selection of tapas is placed before us, with each dish looking more tasty and tantalizing than the next and we started to regret that we hadn’t hit this place first; still, we are professionals to the end and we dutifully gorge ourselves on the mountain of Mexican food that covered our table. Particularly impressive is the guacamole that was made right in front of our eyes by the charming waitress who manages to keep up good banter with the table as she chopped, ground and mixed all of the ingredients that equated to one of the freshest and satisfying guacamoles that we had ever tasted. Of all of the outstanding dishes the one that truly shone out was the Pescado Tacos, which consisted of fresh fish mixed with marinated vegetables, fresco cheese and chipotle aioli in soft corn tortillas and quite literally melted in the mouth with a reassuring crunch.
The final station on our whistle-stop tour of the courtyard is Bill’s, a rather unique café restaurant both in its decorative interior (think underground pirate ship meets gigantic chef’s larder) and its seasonal ingredient-based menu. The mezze board and a few sides is all that we can muster at this point, however they certainly do not disappoint and if their quality is an indication for the rest of the menu then we shall definitely be returning at some point in the near future. The hummus and olives have their own idiosyncratic seasoning which elevates them above your standard fare, and the Mediterranean vegetable are accompanied by a pesto that is both soft in flavour and course in texture, a tough act to pull off.
Well, there we have it; if you ever find yourself with an empty diary and an even emptier stomach then feel free to explore a few of the cafés and restaurants listed here. You could always do it the old-fashioned way and sample them one at a time, but where’s the fun in that?!
Written by David Harfield and Sophie Jones.
Date posted: 02/12/2011
Category: News.
Tags: bill's produce store, burritos, cantina laredo, covent garden, dishoom, guacamole, indian restaurant, jamie's italian, leicester square, london, london restaurants, lunch, mexican restaurant, siamese, st martin's courtyard, st martin's lane, suda.
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