Author: Sarah Kemp

The Fox & Anchor dinner and hotel stay

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I was invited to stay at The Fox & Anchor pub/hotel in Clerkenwell recently so on Friday, my boyfriend and I packed our bags and headed to this city boozer come boutique hotel for a meal, followed by an overnight stay. We arrived at the pub at 6.30pm and leaned over the bar to let the staff know that we had a room booked. They grabbed the key and told us how to get to our room. We wrestled past the Friday night city punters enjoying their end of the working week drinks and unlocked the door to walk upstairs. Our key told us that we were staying in ‘St. Bart’s’, which actually stands for St Bartholomew’s – one of London’s oldest churches. All six rooms above the Fox & Anchor pub have a name, rather than a number and we had the pleasure of being surrounded by Smithfield, Charterhouse, St Paul’s, Barbican and The Market Suite. I believe that all rooms are pretty similar, each comes with a king sized bed (with a picture …

London Coffee Festival

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It seems it wasn’t just me that got totally and utterly confused by the location of the London Coffee Festival over the weekend. I was sent an email by La Cimbali, one of the main sponsors and the email mentioned that the stand would be in Hyde Park. What I didn’t realise was that this meant the Hyde Park ‘Zone’ in the Truman Brewery, East London. It was a bloomin good job that I phoned to ask which entrance of Hyde Park I should use before I got on the tube, otherwise I wouldn’t have been going at all! I’m sure the lady on the other end of the phone had a right giggle when she got off the phone to me. Then I found out that a few of my fellow Tweeters had had the same confusion. The website didn’t exactly make it much better! Confusion aside, we arrived on Saturday morning for the brunch session. I felt a bit cheated as we were greeted to an empty stage – despite seeing a whole …

Rhubarb cinnamon polenta cake

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Ok, it’s official. I’m now in LOVE with polenta cakes. My recent visit to Petersham Nurseries and an impulse rhubarb purchase from the supermarket spurred me on to try Nigel Slater’s rhubarb cinnamon polenta cake recipe, which I got from The Guardian online. I normally play around with recipes but wanted this to be the same, even keeping in the orange zest that I might have omitted before. The cake was a bit of a nightmare – the batter is very sticky and I used the wrong size cake tin at first. So definitely make sure you use a 20cm tin, no bigger. I also worried because I didn’t drain the rhubarb in a colander after taking it out of the roasting dish but it didn’t matter. I ended up with a delicious, moist, crunchy, course, sweet delight. Ingredients For the filling: 500g rhubarb 50g golden caster sugar 4 tbsp water For the crust: 125g coarse polenta 200g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder a pinch of ground cinnamon 150g golden caster sugar grated zest …

Bistro du Vin

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Last week I was invited to the opening of the first stand alone restaurant by the Hotel du Vin group, Bistro du Vin in Clerkenwell. The event was superb and the great food left a lasting memory. All around the open plan kitchen were plates of oysters, scallops, lobster, crab, razor clams, asparagus, steak… the list goes on. Not to mention the private dining room that was turned into a cheese room for the evening. They’re still trying to get rid of the smell, apparently. So I was delighted to be invited to dine at the restaurant with a few fellow bloggers on Monday evening, Ms Gourmet Chick and Rocket & Squash. I arrived and was greeted with a Bistro du Vin signature Marmalade Martini (£10). The vodka, produced by Chase Distillery was done so exclusively for the restaurant launch. Sixty bottles were provided for the opening and I hear that they have nearly all gone! After a quick get to know you chat, we walked past the impressive meat aging room and were shown …

Isarn

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I love discovering great restaurants when I’m least expecting it. Today was one of those days. I was ambling around Islington in need of refuelling, and while I wouldn’t normally pop into a Thai restaurant, Isarn had been recommended to me about 10 minutes before I entered. The restaurant is long, black and very sleek. Each table is set perfectly with gorgeous Asian crockery and possibly the first thing to catch my eye were the cow skin seats. Cow skin isn’t usually to my taste but i have to say, they work very well. Lights dangle down to create an intimate atmosphere. I dined outside in the small terrace area as it was a hot day and I wanted all the fresh air that I could get. Despite next door being a building site, it was very calming and a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Upper Street on a busy Monday lunchtime. I couldn’t decide which of the set menu lunch meals to have – there are a wide range of options …