A great piece about the lack of British restaurants on this year’s list.  Still, the British restaurant scene is to be envied with all it’s variety from Supper clubs to Street food to Michelin stars and all.  The sheer number of eateries opening daily is another testimony to our love of good food!

Moshi Moshi

I consider myself to be a proper East Londoner, a know it all of the streets of London, lived here all of my 41 years and worked in and around the capital for over 25 of those years. So, shockingly and embarrassingly I confess that I had never been to Moshi Moshi, in Liverpool Street station, even though it’s been there for 18 years. Yes, yes, stop the sniggering and jibes in the back there please.

Caroline Bennett and her Moshi Moshi concept was the first Kaiten conveyor belt Sushi in the UK before Yo Sushi! was even a fleeting thought. They are prominent figure heads of sustainability in the UK.. if it’s not sustainable then you wont find it at Moshi Moshi. And before you think, Liverpool Street station, seriously..? Being there made me think of what it must be like in your own private carriage on the Orient Express – cosy, spoilt and very exclusive. A hidden little secret. Hang on, come to think of it, do I really want to tell you all about it….?

I started with the sashimi of grey mullet, red mullet, yellow fin tuna, mackerel, salmon and scallops. The selection of fish was so fresh I could almost hear the waves lapping behind me and the fishermen calls from Cornwall and the Isle of Mull where they’d been caught. Every morsel was thoughtfully prepared and presented. My favourite was the scallops. Buttery and soft I can still taste it now, delicate and sweet. They were so silky and smooth, a very ooooh moment. Think I’d better move on to the next course….phew!

Next up was a Bento box trio of treats, a cutesy little number full of flavours that were clever and in perfect tune with my Mediterranean palate. There was a liver and pork roll teriyaki thing going on, a light steamed dumpling and a selection of tofu and steamed veg with a very oh so cute little jug of tahini sauce to pour over (get the Turkish Mediterranean thing there).

Loch Duart Salmon nigiri followed and I felt somewhat smug and above my station whilst I enjoyed the delicious slivers knowing it was sustainably sourced! This was followed by the Temaki Handrolls of Cornish kabayaki and cucumber, a kind of dog fish and a very sustainable alternative to eel. They were savoury, finger licking, nail bitingly delicious parcels of goodness.

Seasonal Vegetable Tempura of courgettes, carrots and aubergines were crispy and as excellent tempura should be. Caroline pointed out that in Japan you don’t see many vegetables on the table so this is her British addition.

I was surprised and a little tentative when the Seasalt and Sansho pepper crispy fried Cornish catch of the day – delicately fried, crispy Haddock  fish bone chips – were presented up. But then when my dining partners and I tucked in, we left not a single scrap on the plate. Sustainability at it’s core, no part of the fish is left unused and we left none of it uneaten!

Seasalt and Sansho

We had a cheeky little fried aubergine filled with miso paste, rich umami flavours for everyone to enjoy! It was soft, velvety and I made greedy noises when I ate.

Finally, we finished the savoury selection with some very desirable little salmon balls (pardon the pun) of thin slivers of salmon filled with salmon roe. A perfect little morsel that I gobbled down in a heartbeat then wondered if my other dining partners would notice if I ate the lot before they could get in there.

Now we know that generally, in Japan, there isn’t really dessert to speak of. However, I am a pudding lover (think Gregg Wallace but female!) and so Moshi Moshi have created a Japanese inspired selection of puddings that consisted of Matcha green tea flavours, bean paste and fruit flavours. My dining partners and I all shared a bit of each pudding but I’m sure I was eating more than anyone else…ahem! They were too good….

Japanese inspired desserts

Moshi Moshi may be in Liverpool street station but you’d never know it, maybe that’s it’s allure, the diamond in it’s crown, a hidden gem amongst the hustle and bustle of the city of London! You may come out of Liverpool Street and dash across the road to Spitalfields for a host of eateries but next time, don’t leave the station, take a turn, up the escalator and treat yourself to some of the best Sushi you’ll ever eat in London..and it’s sustainable too! You can even enjoy a Sushi dinner for two from as little as £20. Well, what are you waiting for…?

For more information about Caroline Bennett and the Moshi Moshi sustainability fish mission go to these links:

Moshi Moshi - Unit 24, Liverpool Street Station, London EC2M 7QH

Good Catch, Making Waves – Caroline Bennett

Moshi Moshi are also part of the Nose to tail fortnight, 30 April to 14 May – a group of restaurants highlighted as ethical places to eat. 

The Whisk – yes, this handy little tool is so useful for a multitude of dishes from simply whisking eggs to creaming butter and sugar. OK, so you probably need some serious elbow grease if you’re whisking up meringues but if you don’t have the snazzy electric variety at least you’ll have very muscular arms!  Note: if you are using a basic whisk the more strands it has the easier your job!  (If you really are a complete kitchen nun and don’t even own a whisk then two forks could also do the job but will take ten times as long.)

The Bread maker – ask yourself one question – what did all those artisanal bakers all those hundreds of years ago do without a bread maker to fling everything in to?  They used their hands and there’s nothing more satisfying than making and kneading dough. You feel the bread from start to finish and learn when the dough is just right for baking. You become the bread maker!  From all the whisking and now the kneading, your shoulder and arm muscles should be thoroughly worked out!  Of course, getting yourself a mixer and a dough hook is a worthy goal to work towards!

The Lemon juicer – If you’re juicing en masse then I suggest at this point you stop reading, raid your bank account and go out to treat yourself to a proper electric juicer as there really is no comparison unless you fancy hours of wrinkled hands, fruit and pulp everywhere and a hump back (I’ve been there…).  However, for the occasional juicing then the back of a spoon or fork pressed firmly into half a lemon can do the job equally as well.  Just watch out for those pips!

Piping bags – OK so admittedly, not everyone is partaking in the cupcake craze, making cakes even Peggy Porschen would be proud of but there are times when a piping bag can come in very handy.  Piping mash is far more sophisticated than a spooned plop and making your own buttery piped French biscuits or Swiss meringues can be fun!   So, if you don’t have a proper chef’s piping bag, (until you go out and buy one), a simple plastic freezer bag with the end snipped off will do the job just fine.

Of course, if you are investing in gadgets then make sure to use them.  Don’t leave them catching dust in the back of your cupboard or top shelf.  Gadgets are invented to make our lives easier and minimise the time it takes to create fabulous food!  In the meantime, as long as there’s cutlery and plastic bags all is right in the kitchen world…

Here’s a couple of fool hardy recipes to get you flipping and flopping through the day, one for proper French crepes and the other for a good old fashioned Drop Scone or Scotch Pancake as they’re sometimes known. Try them with fruit and honey so at least it’s mildly healthy or go all out and indulge yourself with lots of maple syrup and ice cream. However you eat them, have a great day!

French Crepes – You will need:

125g Plain flour

250ml Milk

2 Eggs

1 tbsp Caster sugar

45g Butter, melted then cooled slightly

Sunflower oil for frying

Equipment: Shallow frying pan, palette knife or spatula, paper towels

Preparation:

1. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool slightly while you prepare the pancake batter.
2. Put the flour and sugar in a large bowl, whisk in the eggs, gradually adding the milk to produce a batter with a double cream consistency, so not too runny or too thick.
3. Whisk in your cooled, melted butter.
4. Transfer the batter to a pouring jug, cover with clingfilm and set aside for 30 minutes.
5. In a shallow frying pan pour in a drop of oil and allow to heat up, wiping away any excess with a paper towel. Allow the oil to heat in the pan over a medium heat until it reaches smoking point.
6. Now pour in some batter, just enough to cover the base of the pan, making sure to spread it around by holding the frying pan in one hand and gently tilting it from side to side to spread the batter evenly as you pour it in.
7. Crepes don’t take long to cook at all so be ready to flip. You will see the sides brown and come away from the bottom of the pan as the heat cooks the pancake.
8. Use your palette knife and glide it under the pancake so it doesn’t stick to the pan. Now push the knife under and the middle of the pancake to lift up and flip over very quickly in one action!
9. Put the cooked pancake on a plate and cover with a tea towel whilst you make the rest.

Tip: Apart from the regular lemon and sugar, why not try eating your pancake with golden syrup, nutella, melted chocolate or even something savoury like roasted veg and hummus, or cheese and spinach!

Drop Scones (Scotch Pancakes) – You will need:

250g Self-raising flour

225/250ml Milk (you may or may not need all of it)

1 Egg

25g Caster sugar

25g Butter, melted then cooled slightly

Sunflower oil, for frying

Equipment: Shallow frying pan, palette knife or spatula, paper towels

Preparation:

1. As with crepes, put the flour and sugar in a large bowl and add the egg and half the milk, whisk lightly.
2. Gradually add the rest of the milk and the melted butter. Keep whisking to iron out any lumps. You should have a thicker consistency than crepe batter, like semi-whipped cream.
3. Transfer the batter to a pouring jug and set aside.
4. Put a little oil in the pan, wiping away any excess with a paper towel and heat on a medium flame until the pan is very hot but not quite smoking.
5. Remember, these are smaller pancakes so you will be able to make 3 or 4 small ones at once.
6. Pour a little batter into the pan in three or four places and allow to cook for longer than crepes. They should brown on one side and you will see bubbles appear in the uncooked batter on the top part of the pancake.
7. Now flip each pancake over using a palette knife or spatula.
8. These pancakes are fun to make but can be a little messy as the uncooked batter can fly around as you flip them over but don’t worry, this is normal!
9. Put the made ones in a plate and cover with a tea towel whilst you make the rest.

Tip: Jazz up your drop scones: At the batter stage, you can add cooked, stewed apples or blueberries and mix in then make the pancakes as normal. Serve with golden syrup, lemon and sugar or butter and jam for a perfect afternoon tea! Kids especially love these thicker style pancakes and they’re perfect for little hands.

“The aroma of money and sexy charm floats through the air like a heavenly scent.” I think if I was to sum up my feelings on Novikov Asian dining, that would be it. However, this is the beginning of my review and I think you’d like a bit more than that to tempt you to try it out.
Upon entering Novikov you immediately feel like you are part of a secret club, where only the elite have a special gold and diamond encrusted card to enter. Or maybe it’s just an unspoken and very exclusive nod and a wink. Hospitality and a mass of staff seem to be one of Novikov’s secret weapons. Clearly, being handsome or beautiful is a prerequisite to working here too. The hostesses are all in pretty, flowery dresses and the waiters in black. Very smart but not pretentious. Here you are made to feel comfortable and part of the ‘family’. Our waiter, Tiano, fresh back from Portugal was charming, smart, knew his menu well and very cute ta-boot! The restaurant has a warm, Asian style feel to it, without feeling like a chop house. The glassed in open kitchen, gives you the voyerism without the noise fronted by a beautiful display of vegetables, fish and shellfish, for you to choose your own dinner for the evening and ask for it to be cooked ‘how you like it’. Another winning touch for anyone wishing to dine here, you can certainly do it well.
The menu was a little long and confusing, It seemed that whatever we ordered, though it was all quite delightful came in small portions. Not quite amuse-bouche but neither feast nor filling. Should we forgive Novikov this one little foible? If you have a big fat wallet then maybe…
We ate a ‘New Style Sashimi’ of sea bass, sliced into the thinnest slivers and soaked in a Yuzu vinaigrette, beautifully presented and so moreish we probably could’ve had another plate. This is one of those dishes you never forget and should you be passing by, worth popping in for. For a more traditional Sashimi we ate Akame, a Barramundi fish in Australia and a kind of tuna style if you’re looking for a comparison, albeit a flimsy one and not worthy of this fish. It was so buttery and soft, it virtually melted on your tongue, dancing it’s way down to your stomach like a nimble ballerina.
The highlight of my evening was the Prawn tempura and Avocado Maki roll, I was speechless to even describe the preposterous deliciousness of this morsel of food at the time. How genius, they clearly knew I was coming, Prawn Tempura in a roll..what can I say…bang on the money and some. We also had the most gorgeous little foie gras and beef fried dim sum, dribbling foie gras juice down our chins, my colleague, Christina, just managed to squeeze out an ‘oh wow’.
The desserts were OK, slightly lost in translation but still worth a look in. The sorbet selection is probably the best of them all.
If a suitor should bring you to Novikov consider it a sign, as I remarked to my colleague, “If you were looking to get your leg over…well…you’ve come to the right place.” But we don’t mean this in the trashy sense, oh no, Novikov is far from that. The food is gorgeous, exciting, immerses you in a sea of passion, more than any oyster could ever do. It is an aphrodisiac and all you can say is, “Yes, yes, yes!” When Harry met Sally eat your heart out.

Novikov exudes sexiness without being tardy or cheap. You know you have arrived when you enter this stylish establishment. Yes the price tag is not for the faint hearted but well, that’s the point isn’t it. Let’s hope Novikov can remain this attractive and charming for a long while yet without the need for Botox.

Novikov, 50a Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8HA
Tel: 020 7399 4330
www.novikovrestaurant.co.uk/

Sassy and debauched: the ultimate Valentine’s Day indulgence for Britain’s busy women

Need a little last minute luxury for the gorgeous, busy woman in your life this Valentine’s Day? Or celebrating solo and want to lose yourself in a universe of shamelessly selfish indulgence? New British luxury relaxation label, Pretty Idle, is here to save the day with its first blissed-out collection of artisan chocolates.  

• Pretty Idle Spice – Our secret blend of decadent spices in velvety dark chocolate
• Gem de la Mer – Sexy sea-salted caramel encased in shimmering milk chocolate
• Passion Rocks – Glitzy little squares of indulgent passion-fruit praline
• Boozy Floozy – Fabulously retro cognac and raisin in deep, dark chocolate
• Ooh La La – Sumptuous layers of Parisian praline, feuilletine and white chocolate
• Ruby Rouge – Raspberry ganache with a shameless pinch of saffron