Kopapa - Fusion for Sharing in Seven Dials

If you like the concept of sharing food (some people really don't , remember Joey Tribiani ;)) you will really like Kopapa 'the home of the most exciting and innovative fusion food in Seven Dials' (near Covent Garden). It is an all-day café, bar and restaurant serving breakfasts and weekend brunches together with a lunch and dinner menu featuring small plates, sharing dishes, main courses and desserts. 

I love sharing small plates, it allows you to taste everything and makes the dining experience much more of a joint experience. The only thing I don't share is dessert ;) I'm of the chocolate-caramel type and if there is too much fruit in my dessert I just consider it less of a treat, it's just too healthy :), it's just not sinful enough. 

We made it very easy for ourselves, we were a party of four and basically ordered all the small plates on the menu with the exception of the Miso sweetcorn and the Tempura spicy dhal inari pocket, and the addition of the salmon salad and two bread baskets. And of course dessert after - not for sharing :)

I find fusion food exciting! It usually means that you will get served combinations you have never had before, or get to taste ingredients you have never even heard of!  And as Kopapa is a sister restaurant of The Providores - which I love - I was expecting good things!

I think it was quite unanimous at the table that the squid was the best dish! The salmon salad was amazing too as were the scallops. We had ordered the Buffalo mozzarella with tomato salad, mint & black vinegar Medjool dates   as well, but that was a bit disappointing due to lack of flavouring, it wasn't seasoned to our taste and lacked some kind of vinaigrette or marinade. Dessert wise I could definitely recommend you the peanut butter parfait with Original Beans 75% Piura Criollo chocolate delice, sea salt caramel & chocolate crumble - it was presented beautifully and tasted like a pimped-out super deluxe snickers :)

Bread basket for 2

The bowl of squid was amazing! Deep-fried sesame & Urfa chilli salted squid, sumac mayonnaise   

The salmon salad

Pomegranate glazed lamb breast with Turkish yoghurt   

Spring rolls of slow roasted tom yum pork, coriander & wombok with lime mayonnaise 

Queenie scallops, sweet chilli sauce & crème fraîche (left) and Warm individual potato & caramelised onion tortilla with black olive & feta dressing    (right)  

Slow-cooked venison

Hansen & Lydersen smoked salmon cone with goat’s curd & tomato 

Peanut butter parfait with Original Beans 75% Piura Criollo chocolate delice, sea salt caramel & chocolate crumble

Two scoops of sorbet

Kopapa Café and Restaurant
32-34 Monmouth Street 
Seven Dials, Covent Garden 
London
WC2H 9HA

Sake No Hana - Japanese foodie heaven in London

You might have noticed that I really enjoy Asian food and last Friday I got a nice treat from my fiance when we went to now one of my favourite restaurants: Sake No Hana near St. James Park in London. 

(a new favourite in the category 'for special occasions' :) as it is quite a pricey restaurant) 

The interior of the restaurant was designed by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma who choose to use a lot of light coloured wood which gives the space a warm feel and blonde golden hue.

We started out with a white miso with wild mushroom and red miso soup with asari clams, followed by mirin marinated black cod with chili miso, Chilean sea bass with miso in toban and sliced rib of beef with vegetables, tofu and shiitake mushrooms which was cooked at our table. We choose rice and spinach as side dishes.

All of the food was absolutely delicious, but the beef especially was a dish where both of us just could not get enough from. The taste of the beef that was brought to our table in thin slices - carpaccio style was cooked in front of  us in a hot pot that contained vegetables, tofu and mushrooms as well as a large shot of a marinade based on soy sauce. Absolutely stunning!

Interior by Kengo Kuma

Open kitchen where all the chefs greet you in Japanese when you come in, at least I suspect they  said something like hello or welcome because I don't understand a word of Japanese :)

Love this warm and natural interior! 

Red Miso Soup and White Miso Soup

Top: the Chilean Sea Bass, Bottom: the Black Cod

Wooooo, the beef is being cooked at our table!

Smelling the deliciousness in the making...

Definitely one of the best things I have eaten in a long time! It tasted amazing!

My handsome fiance riding the escalator down from the restaurant as a Boris Johnson look-a-like ;) (for those that wouldn't know him, Boris Johnson is the mayor of London)

Form more information on Sake No Hana
visit http://sakenohana.com/london/

L' Eto Caffe: Afternoon Indulgence In London

What to choose, what to choose, I want it allllll - the cheesecake, the chocolate truffles, the tiramisu yum yum yuuuum - this was racing through my mind when I passed by L'Eto Caffe in Belgravia. 

And even though you can have an amazing healthy lunch there as well, I was most attracted by the 'caffe' for an afternoon cappuccino and dessert - oh I know cappuccino only for breakfast according to Italians, well forgive me this sacrilege ;) 
I guess I should go for a breakfast there and drink the cappuccino then ;) 

http://letocaffe.co.uk/

Le Stoefer

There's a new cosy hang-out in Chatelain serving original luxe fast food (the new trend apparently in foodie land), le Stoefer. To be more precise, their specialty are pittas with flair!

Be prepared to be amazed by some pimped out pittas with funny names in a French-Flemish composed language such as the Chike Dingues! (= Fancy Stuff) - a pitta bread filled with grilled chicken pieces, eggplant and zucchini in garlic, grilled onions and a Parmesan sauce - or  Dikkenek (= Big Headed) - a pitta bread filled with ground beef fillet with fresh herbs, string beans, carrots, foie gras and a tarragon sauce.

Yesterday evening I met up with some friends to indulge in these fancy large pittas and we really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place - the warmth of the interior with its wood paneled walls,vintage style light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and antique bar stools (but be careful though when you go sit on them, you can really hurt yourself when you're as enthusiastic as  myself and sit down without properly watching :) just look at the picture of the bar stool and you'll understand)

Happy Faces Happy Pittas

the bar stool

Comfort food, cosy interior, comfortable bar stools once you sit in them correctly, and comfortable prices (at 9 Eur for a M-size pitta and 13 Eur for a L) What more do you want for a friendly night out in one of Brussels coolest areas!

Definitely going back!

De Stoefer

103, rue de l'Aqueduc
1050 Elsene (Brussels)

Brunch at 202 in Notting Hill

I'm a big fan of the Sunday brunch. It is the perfect moment to catch up with friends and hear about their weeks, or Friday and Saturday night escapades.

For a relaxed brunch with the uber-hip crowd in Notting Hill (always a fantastic spot to do some people watching - by this I mean look at their outfits, love the style there), I would recommend you to try 202 on Westbourne Grove .

Mix of concept store and restaurant, it offers a cool collection from clothes, accessories and books to home decoration items. The food in the restaurant is delicious in its simplicity and will leave your taste-buds very content. With personal favourites Eggs Benedict with Parma ham, Warm goat cheese salad with proscuitto, figs and toasted pistachios and Prawn liguini with chili and tomato.

A tip for stylish wining and dining in Antwerp: Le John!
Last Friday I really needed to catch up with some friends and this restaurant was the perfect spot! We had a great time talking away in this beautiful minimal but warm interior in which a relaxed atmosphere was created with the soft lighting and the jazz playing in the background. An excellent house aperitif, wine list and delicious menu made the foodies happy and the friendly service was the cherry on the cake!

Le John

bar restaurant
03 289 92 25
Kasteelpleinstraat 25, Antwerpen

Valentine Breakfast

This really would be my ideal Valentine breakfast! What could be better than your man whisking you up some pancakes in the morning for an ultimate breakfast in bed. Sooooooo much better than a dinner in a fancy restaurant on this 'hyped' day. His effort would really show true love (and cookery skills if he manages this :) ) A LOVEly start of the day!

Also I read an article in Psychology Today that food can affect your behavior  even just by looking at it. In an experiment where people were asked to volunteer their time to help a stranger, those who were given a sweet candy were more likely to say yes than those given a salty cracker or sour candy. So the taste you have in your mouth can really affect the way you behave. So I would say bombard everyone with sweets tomorrow! Wouldn't it make for a sweet world :)

Serves 4 (or two very hungry lovebirds)

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

What You’ll Need:

• 60g unsalted butter, at room temp
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 4tsp sugar
• 16 Strawberries, sliced
• 200g flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• 200g mascarpone

What To Do:

1. Beat together the butter, cinnamon and sugar. Dollop it into a saucepan and melt over a medium heat. When the butter starts to froth add the strawberries, toss well in the butter and turn off the heat.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, egg, and milk until smooth. Heat a heavy based, non-stick frying pan or bake stone and grease with a little oil. Pour small amounts of batter into the frying pan (about 2 tbsp per pancake), once the top has bubbled and dried flip the pancake and cook the other side till golden. Keep warm whilst you make the rest of the batter
3. Reheat the strawberries gently while you arrange the pancakes. Place a pancake on each serving plate and spread with mascarpone then arrange some sliced strawberries on top. Repeat this layering until all the pancakes are used up. Top the stack with any remaining strawberry slices and drizzle over the melted cinnamon butter.

from Vivastrawberries.com.

Healthy Noodles

In Selfridges' Food for Thought section, I found these amazing noodles! Zero Noodles! I am not going to lie, I love pasta but the love handles that come with it, not so much. Especially with wedding dress fittings planned. So I am extremely excited with this alternative! I tried them out for lunch today and prepared myself a stir-fry with these noodles, spinach and string beans as well as too boiled eggs and a dash of soy sauce- simple yet very tasty and healthy! 

Lunch! Zero noodles with spinach, string beans and egg

These noodles consist mostly of water actually (96%), the other main ingredient is Konnyaku (or Konjac) Glucomannan Flour (3.8%). I researched a bit what these noodles were, are they seemed too good to be true and I found this funny article about them: The Shambulance: Zero-Calorie Noodles? by Elizabeth Preston who is the editor of MUSE, a kids'science magazine and also writes her own blog Inkfish on various scientific subjects. 

The main take-away of my short research is that it is a vegan product made from mostly water and flour originating from the root of  the Konjac plant which is grown mostly in Asia. The calories are negligible and also the taste is almost absent but that's ok if you use the noodles in a miso broth or you add soy sauce to your dish. I'll definitely prepare them again!