Month: February 2021

Olley’s Fish and Chips – Lockdown 3.0

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Address: 65 – 69 Norwood Road, Herne Hill, SE24 9AA

Tel: 0208 671 8259, 0208 671 5665

olleys@olleys.info

https://www.olleys.info/

Casting around for a new theme for the week we decided on British and as we had already had some haggis, we made a beeline for fish and chips. We reviewed Olley’s Fish and Chips in one of our takeaway competitions – see here and here. We have always given it a high rating (if we ever did ratings) despite the fact that it is expensive. They have with several delivery options – last time we went with Uber Eats, but this time chose Deliveroo. Continue reading →

Hakkasan – a special present delivery

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Takeaway website – https://hakkasan.com/mayfair/delivery-takeaway/

We ate it in Brixton, but it didn’t come from Brixton. Hakkasan is a Cantonese restaurant in Bruton Street, Mayfair – we know it isn’t open, so we couldn’t squeeze it into our five minute bus ride section. But it was a Christmas present and we think that every now and again we need a bit of a boost with a high class meal – this was it for the month. The website talks about the Michelin star and that it has “…dishes inspired by ancient recipes”. It has a fantastic menu and a fantastic way to begin the Year of the Ox

Our set menu for two included starters of Classic steamed dim sum and Crispy pork salad, main dishes of Stir-fry black pepper rib eye beef with Merlot, Grilled Chilean sea bass in honey, Black truffle roasted duck, stir fried pak choi and Steamed jasmine rice. This is a lot of food for one evening so we left the duck for the next day.

I think I will run out of hyperbole in describing the food – the dim sum was pretty and incredible, the pork – just as it is described crispy and the best (I am not prone to over-promising) the best I have ever had). the beef was peppery, the fish just cooked (they clearly solved the scientific equation for cooking and steaming on the Deliveroo journey), while the next day’s duck was easily eaten and came with homemade rice and vegetables.

No more words – just pictures.

We were delighted to receive a promissory note for this posh dinner as Christmas present from a friend. So we don’t know the cost, but we would like to thank him again for such a fabulous gift.

Chinese Week during Lockdown

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The Year of the Ox has started, so it is Chinese week. It began with a blow-out meal from Hakkasan, which we didn’t quite finish. So with the leftovers we produced a duck inspired meal with wok fried vegetables and jasmine rice – both from the Chinese supermarket in Electric Avenue. None of the pictures looks that appetising, but they were all delicious.

We love mushrooms (Tesco’s finest) so this is again a stir fry with seaweed and coriander – again from the Chinese supermarket

Mapo tofu – tofu again from the Chinese supermarket. They have loads of things to browse but it is difficult to choose one type of soy sauce from the many on offer. But they do have some that is gluten free. The only problem with Mapo tofu is the grit from the ground Sichuan pepper that never seems to be in small enough grains.

To make a change from rice, our last dish in Chinese week was spicy spinach (chili spice) with noodles – an incredibly tasty but fantastically easy dish to make. A long time family favourite that introduced the children to spicy food. Back then the only place to buy oriental ingredients was the little Chinese store in the long-lost Station Arcade.

Pizza Brixton – takeaway

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105 Brixton Hill, SW2 1AA

phone: 020 3417 0471

website: http://www.pizzabrixton.co.uk/

Opening times:

Sun – Sat 12:00 – 23:00

Another week of lockdown 3.0 and we were still on the lookout for a new experience. Also the end of Italian week. We ended up with pizza! This place has a good score on Deliveroo and we hadn’t tried it for a while. We reviewed it some time ago (see here). The menu is certainly a little different to the run of the mill. As well as the margherita, napoli, marinara and funghi, they also had pistacchio, caramellata and salsiccia and porcini.

We chose a the salsiccia (tomato sauce, mozzarella fior di latte, Italian sausage, porcini mushrooms, grana padano, basil) and the pistacchio (mozzarella fior di latte, crema di pistacchio, mortadella, crushed pistachios, basil) – look carefully if you are vegetarian – the little symbols have a key at the bottom of the menu.

The pistacchio one was definitely nutty and the basil was a great smell and taste. I am not fond of mortadella, but it was good on the reheated portion the next day.

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The salsiccia version was lovely – hot occasionally with a bite of of the Italian sausage and the rounded taste of the mushrooms.

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You can see that they are not so particular about having them perfectly round, but I suppose it gives them more of a artisan look. Anyway, we enjoyed them both, but mostly on the following day. The reason was they were a little burnt on one side and we ate that one on the first day leaving the softer, less carbonised pieces to the next day. We know a pizza oven can be a little unpredictable but …. check the underside before tucking in.

The bill, without any drinks and before adding a tip, came to £29.71, good value when you have leftovers.

Italian week during lockdown.

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We are trying to improve our culinary creativity by concentrating on a specific country’s cuisine and doing our best with the ingredients provided in Brixton. We are following up our Maremma takeaway (see here) by going for Italian. The first offering in “Italian week” was designed by happen chance – you agree to all the substitutions in the online shopping and then discover that you now have not a standard sized haggis but the jumbo one. This fed us on Burns night, with some going to neighbours and family (no contact delivery nearby of course) but we still had some leftover so, after the haggis toastie, we invented “Left-over haggis with rigatoni”. Which was delicious with the added tomato and impossible to eat without a glass of red wine.

Our latest box from En Root (see here for details) contained aubergines this week and with the excellent Lidl parmesan we were able to produce “Melanzana Parmigiana” (Aubergine Parmesan) with some culture clashing patatas bravas and beans.

One of the favourites of the week was produced from the “Friends of Mine” Italian delicatessen in Coldharbour Lane. They sell large bags of coffee beans and an array of wine, cheese and pastries. We cought our Pasta di Semola di Grana Duro con vino Barolo – Pink pasta – and matched it with a mushroom cream sauce.

But towards the end of the week and in the current rainy weather you need something hearty and we did have a lot of leftover veg. So we made a sort of Italian vegetable soup – but not a classic minestrone. We used the stuff in the fridge plus home-made pesto and again some leftover rigatoni. Warming and delicious and surprisingly vegan, apart from the Parmesan of course.