The Sportsman

Haven't been to good updating the blog the last couple of weeks but have been out chowing down at quite a few restaurants as well as getting back into cooking again which has been ace! There's been three standout meals over the last couple of weeks, one was with my brother at Italian restaurant Assaggi for all the wrong reasons which I'll go into next time, a wonderful meal at Arbutus though I ruined it by having Tripe (Disgusting) & the best meal of the lot was at The Sportsman in Seasalter near Whitstable http://www.thesportsmanseasalter.co.uk/.

The Sportsman is a Michelin starred pub which serves local produce as well as lovely ales. It was Daisy's brother Sam whose idea it was to go so I booked a table for sunday lunch & we bombed it down the motorway to get there for 12:45. It's in a lovely part of Kent & The Sportsman from the outside just looks like a nice local pub, very unassuming. On arrival we ordered a local Whitstable ale & peruse the menu which is written on a blackboard. There's lot's of tasty fish & meat dishes & there's probably 3 or 4 things I would quite easily have if not more!

Big Mack

We order at the bar then get shown to our seat where we have lovely homemade bread of Focaccia & soda bread with homemade butter & olives. All very tasty. My starter arrives which is "Smoked mackerel, bramley apple jelly & horseradish on soda bread" which is amazing. The sweetness of the apple jelly with the smokiness of the mackerel & horseradish is delicious! A wonderful starter. Sam had "Slip sole grilled in seaweed butter" which was served very simply by itself but tasted wonderful & fresh & Daisy had "3 poached rock oysters, pickled cucumber & avruga caviar" which she thought was the best of the starters but I didn't get to try any because she only had 3. A little bit gutted. 

Hake

On to mains where I had "Roast hake fillet with cherry tomato sauce & oyster mayonnaise". It was incredibly amazing! The fish was so fresh & the tomato sauce was light & had little hints of lemon thrown in. One of the best fish dishes I've had this year. This was served with sides of new potatoes & mash which were both done to perfection. Sam had the "Roast rack (served pink) of Monkshill farm lamb & mint sauce"which was tasty & Sam enjoyed it but was a little bit disappointed overall. I think he wanted it to be a bit more like a home roast rather then a restaurant style roast, if that makes sense! Daisy had "Gurnard fillet with bouillabaisse sauce & green olive tapenade" which was also delicious. The Bouillabaisse sauce was so tasty & the gurnard was beautifully cooked. It was a bit difficult to decide which was the best out of the fish dishes  but both were excellent.

Crumbles

Dessert was a classic "Apple crumble & Jersey cream" for me, which was tasty & very filling, Sam had "Rhubarb sorbet & burnt cream" which consisted of sorbet with popping candy, a creme brulee & a delicious homemade shortbread whilst Daisy had "Cream cheese ice cream, pear puree & ginger cake crumbs" which was excellent. 

We finished off with a good coffee & some petit fours that sort of tasted purely of butter with a bit of chocolate chucked in. We all pulled funny faces whilst eating them! With the meal I had a delicious house white & a lovely sweet sherry with the dessert & Daisy continued with the Whitstable ale. All very good value, nice friendly service & would definitely go out of my way to eat there again! A wonderful meal & a lovely pub to. 

Pollen Street Social

Daisy sent me a link to Pollen Street Social http://www.pollenstreetsocial.com/ & said we should try it! I had a look & realised the head chef was Jason Atherton who used to cook at Maze, A Gordon Ramsay Restaurant where I remember having one of the most amazing meals ever, a sort of tapas/asian fusion with lot's of other things going on. One of my old friends Grant was coming to London for the night so I booked lunch for the three of us, which at £23.50 for 3 courses sounded like a great deal.

We went on a lovely sunny day & I don't know what it was but there seemed a very relaxed atmosphere in the room, very bright & airy. One of the staff had given Daisy a key with a number on which we had to give in at the end of a meal to receive a special gift, very intriguing. Service was very friendly & I went straight in for a bottle of Italian Red wine, just to ease the journey. On the set lunch menu there were 3 starters, 3 mains & 3 desserts so a perfect & easy way to order because we all ordered different things.

Curd

I chose for starter the "Innes Farm goat’s curd, beetroot, pine nut" which I actually thought was going to be boring but I thought it was the best starter of the 3. Everything on the plate just seemed to go together & just the right amount of seasoning. Daisy had cold "Vale of Evesham pea soup “hot or cold”, mint oil, English crayfish, pea sorbet" which looked lovely but Daisy said it could of done with out the crayfish & the sorbet disappeared straight away. Grant had the " BBQ mackerel, cucumber chutney, frozen ajo blanco" which looked lovely & tasted nice but I got the best starter.

Cod

For main I went for the "Scottish cod ‘aioli’, vegetable salad, cockles" which was very light & fresh. The cod was lovely & tender but could of done with a little bit more seasoning. Someone on the table next to us asked for salt & pepper & the waiter said they didn't have any for customers so I didn't bother asking. Daisy went for the "Roasted Holly Farm chicken, gravy, sage & onion, bread mousse" which looked & tasted delicious. The bread mousse was wonderful & the chicken was very tasty. A great roast. Grant went for the "Roasted Cotswold lamb rump, Summer vegetables, creamed goat’s curd, gooseberries" Which was equally amazing & I think the best dish of the day. The lamb was delicious & I had a lovely crispy bit on the outside, MMMhhhhhh.

Sangria Mousse

For dessert I went for the "Sangria mousse, citrus cream, blood orange granita" which was fluffy, light & had a good wobble to it whilst Daisy & Grant both went for the "Apple caramel “puff”, vanilla ice cream & Calvados" which looked lovely but the "puff" looked a little to crispy to me & everybody else. All pretty tasty though.

Puff

At the end we handed our key in & got given a little box full of....... better not give the surprise away, hahaahahah . Lovely meal though & definitely would go back. Even saw Gary Lineker there to looking rather happy with himself!

Jose

Bones

So on saturday me & Daisy were on on our way to Maltby street market http://www.maltbystreet.com/, a really lovely food market in Bermondsey, when we got a little lost & ended up walking past a amazing looking tapas restaurant called Jose on Bermondsey st http://www.josepizarro.com/. Jose used to be chef partner at Brindisa. We had to try it out. Inside was a lovely, atmospheric & small restaurant which was packed. It was only 12pm & the only space to eat was to stand around a little barrel but we didn't mind!

Livers

We both started with a dry sherry, Jose is also a sherry bar, which was delicious & very muy seco (very dry) called Tio Pepe. We ordered squid with romesco sauce, an amazing dish where the squid was so tender, not chewy or rubbery at all & the romesco sauce complemented the squid amazingly. It consists of almonds/hazelnuts, paprika, tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar and garlic amongst other things & I have read it's from Cataluña. An amazing start. This was followed by 2 sardines which were excellently seasoned & served with sweet onions. Also excellent. Then we moved on to the meat dishes. Lamb albondigas which are meatballs was served in a spicy tomato sauce a little slice of fried toast, again amazing. Then the finale which was chicken livers cooked in sherry. I don't think I have tasted anything quite like it. Very tender, tasty, rich & then we dipped a bit of bread into the sherry sauce, absolutely mind blowing!

Instead of dessert I tried a sweet sherry called pedro ximenez el candado which did the job & was more than sweet enough followed by 2 espresso. I would say definitely that Jose was the best tapas restaurant I have been to in London. Not only was it deliciously amazing but the service was good, atmosphere was lovely & the bill was very reasonable, roughly £20 ahead & I forgot to mention the Alhambra beer I had. Definitely go back!