The Delaunay, London

On Sunday I met up with my year abroad friend, Fran, hoping to emulate the "gastronomic and alcoholic delights" of our time in Toulouse. We decided to go for brunch at The Delaunay, as I had heard a lot about it from other friends. 

The Delaunay is only the second place I have ever eaten which is posh (or pretentious?!) enough to have a doorman; it was pouring with rain and my feet were absolutely soaking in my pumps so I did have a slight fear I'd be looked up and down disparagingly (posh people would NEVER get their feet wet!), but actually the greeting was very friendly and I felt quite comfortable walking in. 

The actual restaurant is really pretty - every table covered in pristine white tablecloths, with silver containers filled with nicely shaped bread, silver butter dishes and jugs of water (which kept being replenished).

The panelled walls, glass fronted cabinets and cakes displayed in glass cake stands gave the whole place a classic and elegant feel, and there was a constant hubbub of chatting which gave it a very friendly atmosphere.

The menu contains numerous traditional brunch options, but also has an Austrian twist - schnitzel is on offer, as are "wieners"! It was really tricky to choose as there were several things I could have eaten, but in the end (with the help of the waitress - "you can have omelettes at home!") I decided to go with the Austrian theme and have the Viennese hot dog with potato salad, sauerkraut and caramelised onions.

I also had a side of rosemary roasted pumpkin

I found it quite a novelty that somewhere which appeared so smart would serve hot dogs, so I was interested to see what it would taste like. To start with the most positive aspects, the potato salad and the pumpkin were delicious. The potato salad had a wholegrain mustard dressing on it which gave it a nice tang, and was far nicer than the overly mayonnaise-y potato salads you often get. The pumpkin was soft and sweet and the rosemary made it really flavoursome. The sauerkraut was fine - not too vinegary and sharp, but was nice and crunchy and so added texture to the hot dog, and the caramelised onions were good as well. The hot dog itself....there isn't much negative I could say, but I wouldn't rave about it either - it was just a hot dog really! The brioche bun was soft and sweet, and the hot dog fairly tasty, but nothing special at all - I think hot dogs definitely need more toppings (chilli and cheese preferably!) than this one was provided with, and I was left feeling like maybe I should have ordered something else. However, for £7.50 it wasn't horrendously overpriced, and it may have been unfair for me to expect very great things. 

Fran went for the Eggs Arlington (big version!) and a side of wilted spinach

 The eggs were really nicely presented, and there was so much smoked salmon on them that it made the £18 cost seem slightly more reasonable! The wilted spinach was well seasoned and not soggy at all (as spinach is prone to be!) and probably complemented the dish well - an Eggs Arlington and Florentine combo! One thing is still puzzling me about this meal though - I'm still not sure if there is a difference between Eggs Arlington and Eggs Royale - does anyone know?!

I was actually quite full just after the first course, but as the pains au chocolat were priced at £3.75, I really wanted to see if they were worth the price, so I ordered one of them! Fran went for Sachertorte, one of the cakes displayed in the cases!

So...the £3.75 pain au chocolat...the pastry was amazingly light, buttery, and crispy, and there were thick cylinders of rich dark chocolate running through - it was an excellent pain au chocolat, but worth the money? Potentially worth more than a usual one, but I've had some equally as nice in Toulouse for about €1.50, so it's difficult not to feel a little bit hard done by! Fran's Sachertorte looked amazing, with its shiny dark chocolate topping and elegant "Sacher" piped along the top, and it tasted just as good - very moist and rich!

Overall I enjoyed my trip to the Delaunay as the food was good (not great, but good!), but it was a funny mixture between things being quite overpriced, or just not being that special...Also there is a £2 cover charge per person which I always resent paying when it's just presented on the bill at the end - why don't they just incorporate that into food prices and not make people feel ripped off when they have to pay £2 extra for nothing?! So anyway, I'm glad I went, if only for the experience of a posh London brunch, but it isn't somewhere I would rush back to - I've definitely realised I'm a burgers over posh brunch kind of person!

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Thai Corner, Reading

After the hectic Christmas mentioned in my last post, I am trying to get back into blogging more frequently, and what better place to start than one of Reading's independent restaurants?!

Thai Corner is somewhere I had been meaning to revisit for ages - I went with some friends from work when I was still at school and loved it, so wanted to go back and see if I could trust my younger self's judgement! Laura, a friend from uni, was working in Twyford this week so James and I met up with her for what we hoped would be a lovely Thai meal!

The restaurant is not in the nicest location - near Primark, and on the edge of the town centre, it could definitely be in a more salubrious area, but the interior of the restaurant is actually very smart. The dark, shiny furnishings and bar, coupled with dim lighting, made it feel quite formal, but not oppressively so - the waitresses were very friendly and there was quite a loud and buzzy atmosphere.

We decided to choose three starters to share - chicken satay

Spicy thai sausage with roasted peanut and ginger (bit of a rubbish picture, sorry!)

And thai fishcakes with sweet chilli dipping sauce

They were all really good, but I think my favourite was the spicy sausage! It was extremely spicy, but stopped just before being unbearably so - you could still taste all the flavours and the cool ginger cut through the chilli kick! The fishcakes were delicious too - thai fishcakes are always more dense than western ones, I find, which I really like, as you actually feel like you're eating fish as opposed to mashed potato plus breadcrumbs and a little bit of fish! They also avoided being greasy and tasted fresh and well flavoured. The chicken satay was probably my least favourite but only because it was the least remarkable - the satay sauce was nice and peanutty, but the chicken was a tiny bit on the dry side, so I found you really needed the sauce. The presentation was nice for all the dishes - the little vegetable carved flowers in the side salads were much admired, and then dipped in the satay sauce.

For main, I went for thai red curry with prawns and sticky rice

I loved the little bamboo pot which they served the sticky rice in! Presentation doing well again - the vibrant colours of the curries also looked great against the white bowls. The sauce was creamy with a lovely flavour of coconut, and a hint of spice; although I might have preferred it to be a bit hotter, it meant I could appreciate the flavours in the sauce more. The prawns were fat and juicy and the veg added bulk and a nice crunch, and the sticky rice soaked up the sauce and all its flavours and was just delicious!

James had exactly the same as me but with egg fried rice...

...which I tried and which was light, fluffy and suitably eggy, and Laura had thai green curry with chicken and jasmine rice

The portions of rice were very big and next time I would probably share one to leave room for a whole pudding to myself - as it was, James and I could only share one! I was torn as to what to choose, but James thought we should have something described as a coconut pancake - banana fritters will have to wait for next time!

I have absolutely no idea what the pancake was made of, but it was a really interesting dessert!  The coconut was dessicated so had a slightly grainy texture which wasn't altogether pleasant, but paired with the ice cream it tasted like a thick coconut custard in a thin batter, and it was delicious!

I think it's safe to say after this meal that I definitely can trust the judgement of my younger self (although how I wish I could take back half of those Nandos trips!). I can't comment on how authentically Thai-tasting the food might have been as I have never been to Thailand, but it is Thai owned which must count for something - and the most important thing is that I thought the food was delicious. I'll hopefully go back soon as there are so many other dishes I would love to try - the "Gang Mussaman" being next on my list!

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The Rusty Bicycle, Oxford

I can't believe how long it has been since I last wrote a post! My only excuse is that Christmas in retail is too mental to even contemplate doing anything productive when you get home - sitting around watching films and eating Christmas party snacks was my biggest achievement during that time. Anyway, it's now (slightly) less mental at work so I can get back to blogging!

I went to The Rusty Bicycle way back in December with my friend Fran from university. I'd been googling a lot of possibilities and this place looked perfect - a nice cosy pub for a winter's day! You can find their website here. It was quite a long walk to get there from the train station, but all that means is you can eat more as you've already burnt more calories, so I look on it as a bit of a bonus!

I really liked the interior of the restaurant - it had tasteful Christmas decorations which added to the rustic, countryside pub feel, and I really liked the chalk board drinks menu.

Also they put out tap water for you to help yourself to, and we know how much I love that!

The menu was quite impressive - classic pub food but with interesting modern twists, like the pumpkin, chickpea and coconut pie. Not your everyday pie filling!

For starter we shared the whitebait with lemon aioli

I loved the presentation (the bowl was so pretty), and they ticked another box with the tiny little mayonnaise jar - it's so sweet! The whitebait was delicious too - it tasted really fresh and I liked the way it wasn't completely battered or breadcrumbed, as it meant you got more of the fish flavour rather than just the coating.

For main I went for the beef, lager and shitake pie - nothing better than a nice stodgy pie! And it came with mash, the comfort food of dreams.

As I've said before, I normally prefer pies which are shortcrust pastry all the way round, rather than them just having a puff pastry lid, but this was a really nice pie! The pastry was butter and extremely flaky, but had managed not to get soggy from the filling - no mean feat! The meat inside was tender and the gravy thick; it also had a really interesting asian flavour, something I wasn't sure I'd like but wanted to try, but that I now think worked really well. The mash was fluffy and smooth, and dipped in the pie gravy was delicious!

I also went for a side of chips with cheese and rosemary as I just couldn't resist...

Again, lovely presentation...and the chips were amazing! Soft with fluffy centres, and they had done the best thing ever - layered the cheese!!! I always used to ask them to do that for me where I worked at uni, so it was a dream come true to find somewhere that did it without even being asked. I'm sure everyone else has felt the pain of getting to the underneath chips and there being no cheese left, but no such bad luck here! The cheese was nice and mature, too, and the rosemary made it taste a bit like a roast dinner, but not in a weird way! An interesting and clever addition. (Also Fran tried one and liked them so much she got her own portion, but they were such huge portions that we probably could have shared - and I never say that!)

Fran went for the chicken, mushroom and tarragon pie

She really enjoyed it and thought the mash and buttered greens were great as well - the pie was packed with meat and the mash looked just as creamy and fluffy as mine!

Sadly we were both far too full for pudding, but if I went back (which I hope I do) I would definitely save space for the warm chocolate brownie and some salted caramel ice cream! One final thing - the people working there were really friendly, which added to the welcoming atmosphere of the place. I wish I could make it my regular!

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