Poppies Fish & Chips, London

On my days off I have taken to spending a lot of time googling and compiling lists of more restaurants I want to eat at - on one particular day I was typing in things like "best pie in London", "best burger in London" (a matter in which I have a lot of interest!) and, the search that led to this particular visit, "best fish and chips in London". Poppies appeared on a lot of the lists which I then read, and so I decided a visit there had to be paid, and I enlisted the help of my interrail friend, Anne Marie, to sample it!

We went to the Spitalfields branch, and as you can probably see from the front of the menu, they've given the whole restaurant an old-fashioned post-war feel, which I thought gave it a really fun atmosphere - even the waitresses are dressed in 1940s style clothing. Apparently the owner (Pop!) has been serving fish and chips all his life, which adds to the authenticity of the place. They also support sustainable fishing.

You can see the menu online here. For starter we decided to share the hot seafood platter - scampi, calamari, whitebait and cod bites - what's not to like?!?

The best thing about it was the whitebait - it tasted unbelievably fresh! The batter was crisp and light and not greasy at all, which can be a fish and chip shop's downfall!
For main we both decided to go for something a bit different from the usual haddock and cod, so we chose halibut - I had tried battered monkfish at the Magpie in Whitby (another amazing fish and chip place which I need to revisit and blog about!) and wanted to try another meaty fish and see how it compared! Normally when I get fish and chips as a takeaway it's not actually fish I get (I'm a battered sausage fan!) but in this kind of restaurant you've got to try the fish as you just know it will be great!

I had the obligatory side order of bread and butter (but look how nice and thick it is - no white sliced here!).

Anne Marie also had a VERY generous sized portion of curry sauce - it almost looks like a starter of soup!

The fish and chips here most definitely did not disappoint - the batter was, again, light and crispy, and the fish was amazing! Piping hot inside the batter, fresh, and really meaty.

Yum

The chips were soft, fat and delicious, and when doused in salt and vinegar may have been the best fish and chip shop chips I have ever had! I also love tartare sauce and this one went perfectly with both the fish and the chips - I had two pots of it and nearly needed more!

Very happy

Never ones to be defeated by a mere starter and main, we decided to have some traditional English pudding to finish off our meal - apple pie and sticky toffee

Both were warming and just what you need before heading back home on a cold November night! I especially liked the apple pie with its slightly flaky yet also deliciously stodgy pasty. I will definitely be coming back to Poppies, whether it's for a sit down meal or for a takeaway traditionally bundled up in newspaper - not sure I'll be able to resist going back to my battered sausage roots though!

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The Breakfast Club, London

The Breakfast Club is probably equal to Meat Liquor as another one of the most blogged about places to eat in London, but again it is time for me to jump on the bandwagon and tell you all about my visit!

I went with Olivia and Fran, two friends who I met on my year abroad; we had to schedule this trip about two months in advance seeing as we're now working women (!) so the expectation had been gradually building.

There are five Breakfast Clubs at the moment, with a sixth coming soon to London Bridge; we went to the Battersea Rise one as it is near Olivia and Fran, and we had heard the Soho one would have horrendous queues. We arrived at about quarter to twelve to see a queue, but it was shorter than we expected.

It only took about twenty minutes to get to the front, and as we wisely spent the time discussing and comparing our "restaurant to do lists", the time until we were seated flew by!

Perusing the menu 

Deciding what to eat and drink was not actually too tricky a matter - we had had two months worth of time to look at the menu online after all!

For drinks Fran decided hair of the dog was the best way to cure her Hallowe'en party induced hangover and went for a mojito.

I chose the Blue Monday smoothie (blueberries, strawberries and apple), which was absolutely delicious - ice cold and not too thick or, on the other side of the coin, watery..

...and Olivia went for the Green is Good smoothie (spinach, mint, mango and apple) which I would have chosen were it not for the inclusion of mint (I don't know why but I just really dislike it in food or drink!)

Now onto the main attraction....I had chosen (after much pre-visit preparation and consideration) the breakfast burrito with a side of "home-style fried potatoes"

The burrito was absolutely massive (much to my delight) and was packed full of spicy chorizo sausage, cheese, scrambled egg, peppers, mushroom and spicy pepper sauce, and it came served with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. It really was absolutely delicious - the chorizo was very flavoursome and added a kick, and I was pleased because the cheese managed to hold its own against such a strong flavour and I could taste it very well. The eggs were really soft and fluffy and I liked the occasional crunch of the pepper. All this combined with the guacamole in particular was great. As for the home-style fried potatoes, I wish they actually were a style I could make at home! They were soft without being soggy or greasy, and I ended up finishing Olivia's as well!

Fran chose the Huevos al Benny, which was an English muffin topped with poached eggs, chorizo, roast peppers, avocado, fresh chillies and spicy hollandaise.

Yum

It looked amazing and Fran really enjoyed it - she even bravely kicked the spice up another notch and added some extra fresh chillies and Tabasco sauce!

Olivia chose the chorizo hashbrowns which, I have to say, seemed to be the best choice portion size wise - mine and Fran's were generous but Olivia's was on another level - as she said, she rarely gets defeated by food, but this did defeat her (hence me finishing the potatoes...!)

It was home-style fried potatoes with fried eggs, chorizo and mushrooms, and looked absolutely delicious - I might order that next time I go actually...although I would miss the cheese!!

I really wanted to get pancakes to finish the meal off but at £8 for pancakes and maple syrup and bacon I thought I might be going a bit far, so I had the Mango Go smoothie (mango, strawberries and apple) and Fran had another mojito.

We then went onto Paul (reminiscent of our Toulouse days, seeing the Paul in Jean Jaurès metro every day) to satisfy the pudding need still further, where Olivia had a chocolate macaroon, I had a "tartelette aux fraises" and Fran had a "tartelette au chocolat".

I just love confectioners' custard (crème pat to any bake off fans!) so I always pick off and eat the strawberries first, then just eat the yummy custard and sweet crumbly pastry together - delicious! All in all it was an amazing catch up and food day, and I will definitely be back for more Breakfast Club, and be trying to recreate both the burrito and the potatoes at home!!

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Edamame and Indulge, Oxford

A blogging double whammy - two great restaurants in one day!

Today I went to Oxford with Izzy to meet up with Omnya, for the first time in three whole years, for a day of school reminiscing and eating.

Knowing my obsession with food, and having an almost equally large one herself, Omnya had suggested a wide variety of Oxford only restaurants for us to choose from. We ended up picking Edamame, a Japanese restaurant which immediately looked promising from the small queue which had already formed along the street.

Perusing the menu in preparation

It probably took us about twenty or twenty five minutes to get to the front of the queue as the restaurant is very little, but it's so nice and cosy inside! I actually think it's nicer to have to queue than to have a big, more clinical and less homely type of restaurant which can seat people quickly and cater for large numbers, but has far less character. It was really warm and welcoming and had lots of little wooden tables with wooden stools - however you don't feel crammed in at all, which is a refreshing change from some popular restaurants who seem to think it's okay to put tables so close together you can barely get out!

Edamame has three different menus - one for lunch (every day except Mondays and Tuesdays), one for the evening (Fridays and Saturdays only) and a sushi night menu for Thursday nights. You can find the one we ordered from here.

"Try and look like you like each other" got this reaction

 I don't like tea (green or otherwise), but it was free!!! And I liked the cup

I'm not very au fait with Japanese food (my only knowledge comes from Wagamama and loving the chicken/yasai katsu curry) so I took a while to choose...after asking the waiter for his opinion and deciding, then Izzy changing her mind, then us both deciding to share so changing the order again, we finally settled on our dishes.

Izzy and I shared the chicken miso ramen and the chicken curry (we avoided the katsu as we didn't want to completely stick to what we know!), and Omnya went for the "salmon teri". I also got an additional side of sticky rice to soak up some of the extra ramen sauce!

I started with the ramen which was a huge (and very pretty!) bowl absolutely filled with with noodles, veg, chicken and so much sauce! I am completely useless with chopsticks so attempting to eat the noodles (and leave the other half of the food in an acceptable condition for Izzy) was a challenge, but one I valiantly took on - it probably wasn't attractive to watch but never mind.
I really liked the crunchy veg as a contrast to the rest of the food, and the noodles were well cooked and the sauce very well balanced. However, we had asked for a spicy sauce and neither of us found it to be so, but I suppose it's better less spicy than so spicy you keep needing more water! The sticky rice was also perfect with the excess sauce.

The curry was really delicious too, and much easier to eat, so it was finished within the space of not-very-many minutes.The breadcrumbs were crispy and, considering they were deep fried, not greasy at all. The sauce was nice and thick, and they gave enough of it to coat the rice and the chicken - nothing worse than too little sauce!

Luckily for me Omnya got quite full so I got to try the salmon! It was amazing and is probably the thing I would order again if I came back (followed by the ramen, then the curry - not because I didn't like the curry, but because it's probably easier to get a good one of them elsewhere than it would be the other two). The sauce was sticky and sweet and the salmon was meaty and tasted really fresh.

After lunch we went to Omnya's college (New College) to fulfil some Harry Potter dreams

Home of the Malfoy ferret scene!

Attempting to recreate Malfoy sitting in the tree - "I don't care what your father thinks Malfoy - he's vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic"

Kissing couple magicked apart by Umbridge bench?!!?

Omnya came out with a quote which probably encapsulates my life quite well - "I'm glad you guys still know all the words to Harry Potter - some things never change".

After all this excitement we went on to continue the gastronomic adventure with dessert at Indulge café.

So true!!!!!

True again!!!!

Just as true as the last one to which this is almost identical!! (Running out of fun dessert related "facts"?!)

It was a cool café with brilliant quotes on the walls (see above...!), large comfortable booths, and kiss fm playing in the background which satisfied my clubby music taste but might not have been to everyone's liking!

After much deliberation I decided to go for a waffle with nutella, oreos, strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

It was amazing! The waffle was freshly made so was really soft and fluffy, and the toppings were just perfect - they were very generous with the nutella which is always a good sign.

Izzy chose a waffle with nutella, banana and strawberry sorbet

And Omnya went for ferrero rocher ice cream (despite my mocking for it being pathetically small....!)

All in all it was a day of culinary, Harry Potter related and reminiscent delights and I've left feeling fat but with new restaurants to add to my favourites list!! (Also Omnya showed me a burger place called Atomic burger which I feel I will be back to try soon....)

Just for fun, some old pictures of us...!

The last time we met up...a favourite pose, politically correct til the end

Angry farmers..I'm not sure why...but we were very sheltered (and weird) at Kendrick...

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