The USP: Vietnamese street food, but prepared so beautifully that what you get is a pick of wonderfully slurpy Pho soups or burgers sandwiched between buns so soft, they’d float away if they could.

The Food: So about those steam bun burgers. Apparently they’re the first of its kind in the food world, served in a steamer and available in three varieties: beef, pork or prawn. I could have eaten the prawn burger twice over, filled with a brill combo of with coriander, mango and wasabi Mayonnaise. And even though I’m not the biggest fan of Pho, a fat bowl made with rare sliced beef (PHỞ BÒ TÁI) surprisingly won me over. The sweet potato fries also deserve an honourable mention. Crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle? They could do no wrong. 

Budget:  Super friendly on the wallet, with the burgers a delightful eight quid and the Pho coming in at just under nine. No wonder there were queues.

Good for: Those hitting up a West End show, after work eats and maybe a cheap date (but the food’s so good, no one would mind).

Visit: vieteat.co.uk/pho-bun

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We went in: palm wine, suya (spicy beef), jellof, doh doh (fried plantain),  fried fish, chicken with tomato stew, pepper soup, edikangikong (vegetable soup), egusi (a melon soup) and pounded yam were shared among us, and by the end of the night, we were making Nigeria holiday plans for 2016 (!). It’s a cuisine that’s seriously underrated in the mainstream but it very rarely fails to impress – so kudos to 805:  you’re doing Nigerian food proud. Check out pics from last night’s dinner:

Welcome to Nigeria @jimstenmanldn ! ;-P

Palm wine selfie (forgot to re-fill my glass)

Tasty!

Warming up with Suya

And pepper Soup. It could easily be my last meal – LOVE IT – even though it’s frustrating to eat #dontdotripe #wheresthemeatmeat?)

Salutes to Paul for attempting to eat egusi soup and pounded yam the “traditional” way

Jellof rice and chicken with stew – a winner, every. time.

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The USP:   Eggs, obviously.  But not your typical scrambled, fried or poached to break the morning fast, but as the tasty star to mouth-watering trimmings like mushroom ragu and crisp polenta or  hearty fried chicken / shrimp / braised beef / pork belly buns that you can imagine is a whole lot sexier than a fried egg sandwich.  Although they do one of those too – with sweet corn salsa – and it is quite sexy.

Having a break… At Egg Break

A photo posted by Matilda (@mstillytilda) on Sep 17, 2015 at 11:37am PDT

The food: Generous and no doubt, Instagrammable. The shrimp with green chilli, tomato and pineapple salsa was a joy to wolf down, with french fries and smoked bacon, one of their many breakfast-y sides. I also polished off the very naughty but nice baked salted caramel custard with creme fraiche for afters.

Budget: The prices here are my kind of cheerful for West London. A full English is a tenner and the buns range from £6-10, while sides are £2-4 and sweets roughly £4-6.  So three courses for 20-ish quid? Bargain. The £7 cocktails will bump that up, but I’d happily splash out on a few Aperol Spritz’s or their Pisco sours come pay day.

Good for: Brunch, lunch or dinner after a Portobello stroll.

Visit www.eggbreak.com for more details.

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Located on the edge of Mayfair, this tiny spanish restaurant has been serving authentic tapas for over 20 years – and being in the game for two decades is clearly a testament to their reputation.

The menu boasts of lamb cutlets, chicken and chorizo, deep fried squid, Iberian ham, wild asparagus, lemon and garlic anchovies, you name it – and everything we tried tasted like the chef wanted you to experience Sunday dinner in his beachfront villa – and that TLC was also apparent in the stylish presentation of the food and warm customer service.

Mind you, If I had to pick one dish deserving of all the plaudits, it’d be the “langostinos al chef” – four grilled prawns served in a rich and tasty tomato and white wine sauce that deserved to be mopped up with copious amounts of bread afterwards.

I was also a big fan of the “calamares con arroz negro” – squid in black rice. As my friend warned, it’s not a dish for date night (our lips were tinted black), but the delicious flavours made it absolutely worth it.

Save the plane ticket to Spain and hit up El Pirata if you fancy genuine tapas that wins on all fronts.  For more information visit hwww.elpirata.co.uk  – and check out more pics from our recent visit below!

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The Reveller’s location is the obvious draw and as we’re sat inside, we can’t help but feeling like tourists in our own city, especially as we’ve never seen the Bridge from this angle before. The restaurant doesn’t shy away from themes that would impress tourist types either; there’s a medieval vibe going on in the interiors – and the Perkin Reveller‘s name is even a nod to The Canterbury Tales. But thankfully, there’s a balance between the old and the new, with a stunning, sparkly terrace that’s clearly a hit in the summer and a reasonably-priced menu taking quite a modern and stylish approach to fine dining.

For instance, the seasonal leek, white bean and bacon soup is almost too beautiful to eat, but it’s polished off within minutes, and followed by the most perfect steak I’ve had in months. It’s served with wild garlic and hearty sarladaise potatoes, a French classic.

Dessert is just as amazing – and while I imagined yoghurt and apple crumble would be a little awkward on the tastebuds, it’s actually a remarkable combination. Meanwhile, the burnt cambridge cream is pretty much an English twist on creme brûlée but is as authentic as it comes.

It’s always great to come across a restaurant that ticks so many boxes – the pricing won’t make your eyes water either – so there’s no doubt this lovely discovery will be one of my top recommendations for a while. For more information visit www.perkinreveller.co.uk.  Check out more pics from our recent visit below! 

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• Steak tartine sandwich – For the carnivores like me! Sourdough bread sounds delish, along with the garlic aioli and caramelised onions. Courtesy of Chef Spike Mendelsohn
• Open prawn sandwich – Came across this on the Jamie Oliver recipe network and liking the idea of zucchini (orcourgettes), rocket, mushroom and prawns.
• Arugula and goat’s cheese tartine – My best friend is a vegetarian, so I think she’d love this. You can’t go too wrong with goat’s cheese either in my book.
• Hot tartines – This is less of a recipe but more ideas for tartines, from the New York Times

  Do you love tartines too? Any recipes you recommend?

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East London Liquor Company Gin Cured Salmon

Serves 12 people

Ingredients

• 1 side of Salmon Fillet – skin on and pin boned (1kg)
• 300g Rock Salt
• 100ml of dry gin (preferable East London Liquor Company)
• 250g Caster Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Juniper Berries
• 1 Teasp Black Peppercorns
• 35g Dill – Roughly Chopped
• Zest of 2 Lemons
• Zest of 2 Limes

To serve

• Crusty Sour Dough
• 250ml Crème Fraiche
• Cornichons – small jar
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Dill – finely chopped

Method

1. Toast the peppercorns and juniper berries in a dry pan for 1-2mins.
2. Once toasted then crush them in a pestle and mortar. You don’t want to grind then to a powder, only lightly crush them.
3. Then in a large mixing bowl place all of the ingredients (except the salmon) and mix so everything is incorporated well.
4. On a clean work surface, then lay cling film for the salmon to sit on. It’s best to use two lengths and overlap so they make one sheet. I like to let the cling film overhang the work surface to its easy to roll up, and you want to roll around 50cm in length.
5. Place the salmon fillet onto the cling film and pat dry using kitchen paper, and then spread the curing mixture over the fillet evenly.
6. Then carefully wrap the fillet up. Once wrapped, re-wrap in 3 more layers.
7. Place this into a roasting tin or something of similar size, and then place another roasting tin on top of the salmon to weigh this down. You can use tins/jars for added weight.
8. Then put this into the fridge and leave for 2-3 days. After this time remove from fridge and unwrap, and then discard cling film and rinse under a cold tap to remove the rest of the cure. Pat dry using kitchen paper.
9. To serve, slice the salmon into thin slices and serve with toasted sour dough and crème fraiche.

Natalie’s cookbook Winning Recipes: For Every Day comes out on 2nd October.  For more info, visit: www.nataliecolemanchef.co.uk/book. 

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