HUBBARD & BELL, THE HOXTON HOTEL

The latest opening from Soho House Group, Hubbard & Bell is an all-day cafe, bar and restaurant at the new Hoxton Hotel in Holborn - serving food described as "top nosh with a French-American twist".

The all-day restaurant has an open kitchen serving grilled meats, seafood and small plates, in addition to a wide choice of breakfast dishes and a weekend brunch menu.

I have popped in a couple of times to have coffee in the cafe, and really enjoyed the ambience and feel of the place, and the coffee of course - for the coffee geeks out there, they serve Origin Coffee from a bespoke La Marzocco machine.

So, last Sunday we decided to try the Sunday brunch menu. It looked like they were pretty fully booked, so we were offered a couple of seats at the counter. I usually do enjoy sitting at the counter in restaurants, but it seemed exceptionally hotter than usual, so we requested to sit in the cafe instead.

 

| Bellini |

- prosecco peach -

We had the option of ordering the Sunday Roast option, but we decided to go for the more exciting range of a la carte dishes.

To start off, we had a salad and some cured meat to share.The greek salad was very light and refreshing with deliciously creamy feta, and it was my first time trying cold smoked mutton, which was really tasty.

| Greek Salad |

 

| Mutton |

The scampi was grilled with garlic, chilli and olive oil, which gave it a lovely aroma and flavour. Octopus dishes are always a must-order for me, and this didn't disappoint me. A decent portion of three delicious tentacles, served with chorizo, potato and capers - nicely grilled, with a nice touch of earthy and spicy flavours from the chorizo.

And of course, another one of my favourite meat dishes - suckling pig, served porchetta style. The juicy meat complemented by the flavours of the chervil, parsley and capers. There was also tasty bits of crackling that gave it a bit of crunch.

| Scampi |

 

| Octopus |

| Suckling Pig |

 

And then we moved on to dessert...

| Banana Split |

This was Lili's selection - a banana split, so it basically speaks for itself...

I love chocolate in general, but I am not quite a fan of a chocolate sorbet...I enjoy fruity sorbets, but generally still prefer my rich and creamy ice cream versions. 

But if you enjoy sorbets, this might be up your street!

 

| PBJ Ice Cream Coupe |

Anything with peanut butter always catches my eye, and I was happy with my dessert selection - a mixed tower of ice cream, berries, jam and crunchy caramelized peanuts. It was maybe a bit more 'hollow' than I was expecting, but overall a pretty satisfyingly sweet dessert.

I used to always wander away from Holborn towards Soho/Covent Garden, as I couldn't decide on a decent place to stopover. But it looks like this midtown area is becoming more exciting these days, and this place has definitely become one of my favourites.

Service has been very friendly and courteous on all my visits so far, which is always good.

And knowing me, I will definitely be back again to have a lounge in the lovely cafe, and to try the regular all-day menu. And the rest of the desserts. The Chicken Shop downstairs also sounds rather tempting.

This might take a while.

I wonder what the rooms are like...

The Cheekster, signing out x

Address: 199-206, High Holborn, London WC1V 7BD

Tel. No.: 020 7661 3030

Opening hours: 07:00-02:00 (Mon-Fri); 08:00-02:00 (Sat); 08:00-00:00 (Sun)

SEA CONTAINERS & DANDELYAN BAR, MONDRIAN LONDON

We recently visited Mondrian London at Sea Containers, the first ever Mondrian branded boutique hotel outside of the United States, that launched on 30th September 2014. We had lunch at the restaurant, a modern dining room with a great view of the River Thames. 

The Sea Containers restaurant is named after the landmark building on the South Bank. 

The 'farm to table' movement is integral to the Sea Container's kitchen and its menu, with produce naturally sourced from organic farmers and Fair Trade cooperatives from around the UK and the continent.

The restaurant is headed by Culinary Director for Sea Containers, Seamus Mullen, with his team led by Executive Chef Luke Rayment, who are committed to bringing fresh, seasonal and sustainably sourced food to the table for diners to enjoy. Located on the Ground Floor, there is an open plan kitchen and visible wood fired oven that produces delicate and natural smoky flavours, a characteristic of Chef Seamus Mullen's cooking.

 

We started off with a couple of drinks from the restaurant cocktail menu. Wilkes had the Peach & Sage Negroni, whilst I ordered the White Flower Collins Royale. The negroni was nice with hint of sage, but mine tasted just like a plain lemonade, so I wasn't too impressed with it, and the straw also looked a bit out of place...?

 The menu is split into categories: 'Small Plates', 'Raw', 'Vegetables', 'Large Plates', and 'Family Style'.

For starters, we ordered the lamb meatballs, which were well marinated and had a nice, 'bouncy' texture. Probably the prettiest presentation for a meatball dish that I have seen so far. We also ordered the octopus - slight smoky aroma, but could probably do with some stronger flavours, and slightly less chewy texture. The slaw was also a bit dull with not much flavour apart from the slight saltiness from the olives.

| Oven Roasted Lamb Meatballs |

- Soft sheep's milk cheese, cucumber, Moroccan spiced vinaigrette - 

| Celeriac & Grilled Octopus |

- Peas, watercress, Castelvetrano olives -

 

Moving on to the mains, the grilled monkfish had a nice, meaty texture, served on a bed of delicious buttery grilled mushrooms. The chopped salad was quite creamy with generous chunks of tender grilled onglet steak. There was also nice bits of crunchiness from the walnuts. The blue cheese does come in quite big chunks, so it may be best to maybe cut them down a bit and give it a good mix, otherwise you might just get some big, strong mouthfuls of cheese, like both of us did.

| Grilled Monkfish |

- Clams, Fino sherry, grilled mushrooms, roasted carrots, cavelo nero -

| Chopped Salad |

- Grilled onglet steak, watercress, blue cheese, walnuts, pear, avocado vinaigrette -

 

This may only be an accompaniment, but I would definitely recommend getting the oven roasted wild mushrooms, especially if you are a huge mushroom lover, like both of us. Fragrant, buttery, and just plain delicious.

And finally, for dessert, we ordered the flourless chocolate cake and apple pie - both very good.

The chocolate cake was very rich and indulgent, and the apple pie was lovely and warm with a tasty and crumbly base.

 

| Flourless Chocolate & Chilli Cake |

- served with vanilla ice cream -

| Apple Pie |

- served with cinnamon ice cream -

 

On the whole, a pleasant meal that came up to approximately £60 per person - price is definitely above average, but I guess that is what you would expect from such venues.

There were a few more dishes that would have been interesting to try, if we were not limited by our stomachs...

It may also be ideal to try going in a group of about four people so that you can try the larger family style dishes. 

And if you love cocktails, it would definitely be worth proceeding over to Dandelyan down the corridor, like we did right after our meal...

Dandelyan is the seasonal cocktail bar at Mondrian London, with Ryan Chetiyawardana, A.K.A. Mr Lyan, who's first bar in East London 'White Lyan' was recently awarded 'Best New International Cocktail Bar' at the Tales of the Cocktail awards. The bar is described as 'a journey of discovery where you can experiment with new tastes and enjoy unexpected combinations'.  

 

We sat at the bar where we were well taken care of by Steve and the rest of the friendly bar staff.

The cocktail menu is divided into four different categories - 'Cereal', 'Vegetal', 'Mineral', and 'Floral'. We ordered a couple of cocktails each - I went with Steve's recommendations, both of which I really enjoyed.

| Crytal Lyan |

 

 | Dry-Hopped Gimlet |

And here I present you Steve, with his happy and serious 'shakeface'...

 

 

| Koji Hardshake & Southbank |

For those you of that feel a bit peckish, Dandelyan also has its own food menu, created by the Sea Containers group.

The bar area is quite vast and a great place to relax and have a drink in the day or when the sun goes down...

On the whole, an interesting new venue that is worth a visit.

The Cheekster,  signing out x

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BRUNCH AT SMITHS OF SMITHFIELD

A week behind, but here's a short post about our brunch experience at Smiths of Smithfield last weekend, thanks to another one of my competition wins. The best prizes are always the ones that involve food...

"Smiths" of Smithfield is the Grade II listed four-floor restaurant in the heart of Smithfield Market, which is known to serve simple food made from the finest ingredients, in a casual and relaxed atmosphere.

We dined in the Ground Floor Cafe which was very vast with exposed brickwork and plenty of large windows that allowed in plenty of natural light from outside.

 

  

 

We ordered three different dishes to share between us.

Our first dish was the eggs benedict with ham. The eggs were perfectly poached with nice runny yolks, served with some tasty slices of ham and toasted muffins.

 

The second was the smoked haddock fishcake which was nice and round-ish, with a lovely moist texture inside. And a lovely golden crisp outer coating. Served with another nicely poached egg with a runny yolk.

Our third option was the BBQ pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw, lettuce and tomato. Tender meat, nice marinade and overall a simple and hearty dish.

And to finish off, an indulgent bourbon biscuit 'n' cream milkshake...

 

Overall we were happy with our orders, and would have probably have loved to try more if we weren't already so full! I guess that we will just have to leave the waffles and pancakes for our next visit.

A nice relaxing atmosphere and another great option for brunch on the weekend, or during the week if you work in the area. They also have a separate menu for their Dining Room and Top Floor, which can be found on their website.

The Cheekster, signing out x

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