Two London restaurants you’re going to love

It’s rare to find a restaurant that excites almost universal approval but then, like buses, two come along at once. Just before Christmas everyone was raving about the new outpost of Margot Henderson’s Rochelle Canteen at the ICA. This month there’s a general love-in for Parsons in Covent Garden

What do these have in common? They’re central which certainly helps - it’s nice not to have to trek over to Hackney for once, both have a good atmosphere and friendly service but above all they serve the kind of food we all - well, maybe I’m speaking for myself - want to eat.

Parsons

First of all, Parsons, which is freshest in my mind as I ate there this week. It’s been opened by the team behind 10 cases bistrot a vin opposite (also congenial) and occupies a small white tiled room that looks as if it could have been a fishmonger in a former life. In fact, I’m told, it was once a restaurant called Diana’s Diner) The slight downside to the size is that the tables are decidedly cramped which adds extra impetus to pacing yourself and ordering two dishes at a time..

The menu is based on fish - some of which are changing daily specials though I’m thankful that the potted shrimp croquettes (is this the best incarnation yet of croquetas?) and sea trout tartare with Bloody Mary jelly (equally clever) are both on the regular menu as is the lobster mash though that had proved so popular the night we were there that it had sold out.

Other highlights were the impressively tender octopus with pork fat potatoes (basically roasties. What’s not to like?) and some fat juicy grilled prawns off the specials board. The fish pie was sound if not stellar - maybe we were just feeling miffed about the mash.

The only dish that didn’t quite work, as Fay Maschler of the Evening Standard points out, was the crab pissaladière but I liked the idea so much I felt I had to give it a go. I agree it's not quite right. The base, while authentic, is a bit heavy, it's not crabby or oniony enough and there are some weird very un-Parsons like blobs of what tasted a bit like tarragon mayo all over it. Have a second portion of the croquettes instead.

As you’d expect from its parentage the wine list is impressive, particularly for such a small place though we in fact drank quite modestly (a carafe of Xarel-lo - the grape that’s used to make Cava). And then had to have two more glasses. We should have ordered a bottle.

As is the way with small plates you can run up quite a bill (in our case £108.56 for two) but you don’t have to eat as much as we did - though I warn you you probably will.

Rochelle Canteen at the ICA

At Rochelle Canteen’s it’s the pies that have attracted the attention - the rabbit and bacon pie in particular .Why is it so good? The nostalgia of the concept, the smoky flavour of the bacon which tastes as if it’s been hacked from a flitch that’s been hanging in an outhouse for weeks, the crisp, crunchy texture of the suet crust pastry and just the right proportion of filling to lid. It’s a madly generous portion for one

Margot Henderson cooks the sort of big-flavoured food I yearn for (her Turkish coffee cake from her wonderful cookery book You’re all Invited is one of my dessert staples).

We also tucked into a perfect plate of fresh radishes with smoked cods roe, fluffy salted hake croquettes with a punchy saffron mayonnaise, a simply marvellous Jerusalem artichoke, salsify and watercress salad (the perfect winter salad) and braised fennel sausages and polenta. No surprise then that we didn’t have room for a pud though we were sorely tempted by both the quince, meringue and cream and the pear and almond tart.

The white-painted room verges on the austere - very reminiscent of St John (same design team I wonder?). A lovely light for instagramming I confess I immediately thought (shame on me) followed swiftly by how perfectly it fits into the ICA.

The wine list oddly isn’t anything to write home about - or wasn’t when I went in November. Quite short, not much choice by the glass, just the house wine. They could expand that a bit given a lot of people will be lunching there midweek and might not want to sink a whole bottle. On the other hand you might. Go anyway …

I ate at Rochelle Canteen as a guest of the restaurant but guessing food would be about £30-35 a head if you weren't too greedy

10 of the best Bristol restaurants

The last time I did a round up of the best places to eat in Bristol was back in 2014. Since then the food scene has exploded to such an extent that I hardly recognise my original list.

It’s no longer possible to cram everything into one post so these are simply the places where I tend to eat most and which I feel represent a particularly Bristol vibe. (Yes, there are notable omissions but this is a personal take!)

In alphabetical order with the neighbourhood they're based in in brackets

Bar Buvette (city centre)

If you’re familiar with the natural wine bars of Paris and London you’ll feel totally at home at Bar Buvette which is owned by former River Station chef Peter Taylor and his partner Max Ososki. It serves the simple kind of French bistro food that’s hard to find these days (think duck confit and lentils) plus a great selection of charcuterie and Auvergne cheeses (Peter also presides over the fabulous Auberge de Chassignolles up in the hills from Brioude during the summer). Great natural wine obvs which rocks my boat but is not all scary!

Open evenings Tues-Sat, lunch Thurs-Sat. No reservations

Bell’s Diner and/or Bellita (Montpelier and Cotham)

I’m slightly hesitant about including Bell’s as the brilliant Sam Sohn-Rethel has just left but I’ve a great attachment to it and it’s such a Bristol institution it would be impossible to leave it out. The menu is based on fashionable Moorish (and more-ish) small plates and a great short, largely organic and biodynamic wine-list. I always find it hugely difficult to make up my mind what to order but it usually includes the salt cod fritters and the charcoal-grilled chicken oyster pinchos with chipotle and harissa yoghurt. Book in the atmospheric front dining room if you can.

Open Mon-Sat dinner, Fri-Sun lunch

Bellita is its more casual offshoot - more of a wine bar with (very nice) food. Smart, little drinks list - all wines from women winemakers. Lunchtime deal of 3 small plates for £10 is an incredible bargain. Can be (understandably) noisy but a great place to hang out with friends.

Open Mon-Sat evenings, all day Thurs-Sat

Birch (Southville)

If you forced me to choose just one restaurant that represented the soul of Bristol it would be this unpretentious small restaurant in Southville. It's run by Sam Leach and Becky Massey who used to work at St John’s and the Quality Chop House respectively. Sam cooks a short, veg-centric menu which changes from week to week depending on what their allotment produces. Eating produce this fresh is a revelation. A typical summer dish would be tiny sweet raw peas with fresh mint and a cloud of shaved Pennard Vale cheese. Desserts and home-baked sourdough bread are blissful.

Open: Wed-Sat evenings so be sure to book (Closed the first 3 weeks of August 2017)

Box E (Wapping Wharf - city centre)

Only in Bristol could you have Michelin standard food in a 14 seater container*, part of the booming Wapping Wharf development. It’s run by Elliott Lidstone (ex The Empress at Hackney) and his wife Tess and offers, clever, imaginative, contemporary food from the one man kitchen. Fish and veg are a particularly strong suit. I had some marvellous red mullet there recently together with this stylish little snack of spiced whitebait. Recently voted no 85 in the National Restaurant Awards top 100
* of which 4 are 'kitchen table' counter seats where you can take the chef's 7 course menu (£45)

Open Dinner Tues-Sat, lunch Wednesday-Saturday. Outside terrace during the summer.

Bulrush (Cotham)

Another rising star of the Bristol firmament Bulrush has just been placed at no 27 in the National Restaurant Awards top 100. It was good when it opened but has really shifted up a gear in the last year. Clever, slightly Scandified food (chef George Livesey is a fan of Faviken) in a modest Cotham neighbourhood restaurant. For £48 the tasting menu (also available for vegetarians) is ridiculously good value - they also do a £18 set course lunch on Thursdays and Fridays.

Open Tues-Sat eve, Thurs-Sat lunch. Closed from August 13th-September 7th 2017 for summer holidays

Hart’s Bakery (Temple Meads)

My regular pitstop en route to London Hart’s Bakery is conveniently situated just under the arches at Temple Meads. Great croissants, cakes and fatally irresistible sausage rolls (try the mushroom and barley one - the best veggie sausage roll I've ever tasted). You can also eat in which qualifies it for inclusion in this list.

Closed Sundays and Mondays, Open 7-3pm the rest of the week

Lido (Clifton)

With its amazing setting overlooking an outdoor swimming pool Lido’s the perfect place for a summer meal (or for undoing all the good you’ve done in the pool and the spa) There are two sections, an upstairs restaurant where you get a bird’s eye view of the swimmers ploughing up and down and a poolside cafe and bar which has a tapas-style menu. Chef Freddy Bird has done time at Moro an influence reflected in the number of dishes that are cooked in their wood-fired oven. There’s a fixed price lunch and early evening menu at £16 for 2 courses or £20 for 3. Oh, and their ice-creams are heavenly.

Open all week.

Pasta Loco (Cotham)

If you get the urge for a pasta fix head for Pasta Loco on Cotham Hill (which is also home to Bellita and the very congenial Bravas tapas bar) They do a great set lunch for just £12.50. Exceptionally warm friendly service. I use it for lunch *meetings* - at least that's my excuse. The creamy sauces, whatever they currently are, are especially good. Booking essential in the evening.

Open: Mon-Sat evening, Tue-Sat lunch

Wallfish (Clifton)

5 minutes walk from my flat, Wallfish is basically my local. Chef Seldon Curry used to cook with Mark Hix in Dorset and that coastal influence still marks the menu. Order the mussels, if they’re on, and a whole plaice or sole with brown shrimps. BYO on Wednesday evenings. £12.50 lunch or early supper from Wednesday to Friday. Great weekend brunch and open Sunday nights which is a boon. Oh, and try and get a table upstairs (or rather don’t because then I might not get mine)

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Wilson’s (Redland)

I’ve only been to Wilson’s once which should really disqualify it from being on this list but I've been gagging to go again and everyone I know who lives closer to it than I do (and both Jay Rayner and Tom Parker Bowles FWIW) continually raves about it. Jan Ostle who worked at Clove Club in London cooks a short, simple menu - I have abiding memories of a stellar roast chicken. Booked to go next month (July 2017) so will update.

Closed: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday lunch. (If you can’t get in try No Man’s Grace next door which is also excellent)

Here’s the original 2014 list which I’ve updated with closures but by and large it's woefully out of date.

Antica Macelleria Cecchini: meat heaven

Hunting horns toot, large slabs of raw meat surround you. Antica Macelleria Cecchini is not the place to go for a romantic night out or - heaven forbid - with a vegetarian.

But it’s an experience not to be missed if you’re within striking distance of Panzano in Chianti where celebrity butcher Dario Cecchini has been working in the family butcher’s shop for the past 40 years

A large painted polystyrene cow proclaims the entrance and there is Dario himself (if you’re lucky) beaming menacingly. The side counter of the shop is stacked with lardo-clogged rillettes smothered on crostini and steak-thick slices of fennel sausage for you to graze on. There’s a fleeting glimpse of the cool room with carcasses even bigger than Dario himself then you’re led through a secret door to a dining area upstairs with an open fire, a long shared table and MEAT. SO much meat.

Dario’s sidekicks start to slap it over the coals while the maestro wanders around roaring, blowing a horn, occasionally bursting into song and slicing up the choicer cuts himself. It’s a steaklovers dream: Chianti crudo (chunkily cut beef tartare), carpaccio di culo (seared rump), costata all fiorentina (strip steak), bistecca Panzanese …. The meat is just the rare side of blue. A plate of choice pieces of fat is handed round…The beast we’re eating is a Chianina, one of a herd of rare cattle reared by our host Giovanni Manetti of Fontodi. Given that it’s seven years old and aged for 46 days you do feel you should treasure every morsel.

We’re thankful for a gigantic bowl of raw carrots, celery, fennel and onion on the table which bring some light relief from the protein. There’s also a bowl of beans, swimming in olive oil and a baked potato to anoint with yet more fat. Surely there can’t be any more meat but then another fanfare and “fi-OR-en-TINA” and Tuscany’s most prized cut comes out. I can barely manage a mouthful. I swear never to eat meat again*

For the amount of food you get the set price of 50 euros (just over £40/$57) is ridiculously cheap especially when you can bring your own wine, in our case a 1990 Fontodi riserva they no longer make (though I feel the more vivid 2006 Flaccianello works better with such rare meat),

How a tiny butcher’s shop became such a mecca for meatlovers is a tribute to the personality of Cecchini, a man who you won’t be surprised to hear goes down well in Vegas. They should give him TV show. Man vs Beef. Dario would obviously win.

*although somehow I managed to the next day. This is Tuscany, after all.

Macelleria Cecchini is at 11 via XX Luglio, Panzano in Chianti and is open every day for lunch at 1pm and dinner at 8pm. Reservations advised. Tel: 39 055 852176

Sartoria: a smart West End Italian

I’ve always been a fan of Francesco Mazzei’s cooking so when he suddenly left his previous restaurant L’Anima I couldn’t wait for him to pop up somewhere else.

It’s taken a while but now he seems to have found his natural home in the revamped Sartoria in Savile Row.

Like L’Anima it’s a posh sort of place designed to appeal to city boys on expense accounts (this part of Mayfair hosts a number of hedge funds) though I noticed there were a fair amount of what looked like well-heeled Italian businessmen there too. It’s warmer and more convivial than L’Anima with plenty of potential for people watching so you want to make sure you get a corner table rather than one that leaves one of you with their back to the room. (We managed to get ours changed. I can recommend table 6.)

Seduced by the idea of lobster tagliolini my friend Thane and I rapidly dismissed the affordable option of the set lunch menu in favour of exploring the à la carte. We were going to have a starter and a primo then felt we ‘should’ have a main and at least a couple of the sides should be explored. All in the interests of doing the menu justice, you understand, not because we’re pigs.

The lobster was just fantastic with fat chunks of sweet meat, silky pasta and a really intense shellfish sauce. We also loved the burrata with ‘torpendino’ tomatoes and smoked aubergine with an amazing hit of fragrant basil leaves and a chunkily cut beef tartare with anchovies and truffle. The fritto misto we ordered was slightly less impressive with as much courgette as fish though there were some delicious little monkfish tails lurking in it. And someone had been a bit too heavy handed with the nutmeg on the double baked potatoes with mozzarella, a dish that sounded more seductive than it tasted, even for this potato lover. Nice fresh rocket salad on the side though.

On the next door table a couple were tucking into a vast veal milanese that would comfortably have served three, served with an overflowing bowl of courgette fries. Seeing us eyeing it up they generously offered us a taste - and that was tops too - cut more thickly than the usual escalope from good veal with plenty of flavour.

After this we resolved to resist the zabaglione we’d had our eye on but hadn’t reckoned with Francesco sending out a couple of desserts - a really faultless tiramisu - not too creamy, not too sweet, and a clever, ravishingly pretty plate of lemon-curd stuffed meringues with crisp shards of rhubarb. It would have been rude not to really ...

We kept our bill under reasonable control by sticking to wine by the glass, a Verdicchio and a Pieropan Soave to start with, and a gorgeous Fiano di Avellino from Guido Marsella which was perfect with the lobster. It would be easy to be led into spending a good deal more by the persuasive waiters - although there are bottles for as little as £25 on the wide-ranging Italian wine list.

One of the big attractions of Sartoria is that it’s open all day so should you suddenly crave a tiramisu after a particularly fraught shopping session in Regent Street you could indulge the whim. Or, even better, plan a power breakfast. I particularly like the sound of the eggs purgatorio with spicy tomato and ‘nduja sauce (Francesco, coming from Calabria, is the man who started the whole nduja craze).

Sartoria is pricey but if you go with the idea of dropping in for a dish it’s affordable. And very cossetting, I must say.

Sartoria is at 20 Savile Row, London W1S 3PR. Tel: 020 7534 7000

Disclosure: we were given complimentary desserts and aperitifs