noredmeat.com

I am currently travelling through South America and not suprisingly many of the highlights have been the food. But before I get to that there is one more London establishment I have been meaning to post about. I think I must be the last food blogger in London to visit Polpo! But, I finally made it to the Venetian style bacaro in Soho for some Italian-style tapas and it was fantastic! It’s small enough to be cozy, yet big enough to have a great atmosphere, and most importantly - tasty food.

I had carefully planned to go super early for dinner – as in 5.30pm on the dot when they open! Committed? That’s me. I even ensured we had a super light lunch to maximize the chances of us being hungry for dinner so early. Besides feeling like we were going early for the ‘seniors special’, it turns out we were the smart ones when we saw the number of people waiting to dine when we departed.

Arancini filled with mozzarella

The menu consists of ‘cicheti’ meaning small plates, and then categories such as meat, fish, bread, vegetables, and cheese. The arancini stuffed with mozzarella were small balls of salty crusted cheesy rice.  Bite-sized indulgence and a taster of what was to come.

We also shared the Sicilian bruschetta which was Mediterranean vegetables in a  tomato sauce on toasted ciabatta. The vegetable topping was lukewarm and I wasn’t sure if this was intentional or not, but the combination was still tasty.

Sicilian bruschetta

The mushroom piadina was my fave. Loads of wild mushrooms stuffed inside and on top of a char grilled piadine bread. Quite a large serving also, but at £5.50 it was one of the higher priced plates.

Wild mushroom piadina

The zucchini, basil and parmesan salad was nice and crunchy and full of flavour. There was loads of parmesan in this dish which many people would love.

Zucchini, basil and parmesan salad

The man loved the chilli and garlic prawns with chickpeas. I had some of the sauce which was nice but for some reason I can’t eat hot prawns.

Chilli and garlic prawns with chickpeas

Determined to try something totally new to me, we ordered the chocolate salami which is an Italian and Portugese dessert. It’s basically like a biscuit, but it’s made of dark chocolate and chunks of walnuts, cookies and I think even some apricot made it into this one. There is no meat in it at all – the name is due to the fact that it looks like salami which I think is quite comical!

The flourless orange and almond cake was pretty good also – nice and moist with a drizzle of honey I think.

Flourless orange & almond cake with mascarpone, and chocolate salami

Polpo also does a sgroppino which I highly recommend, I just couldn’t fit it in after all we had.  We did have the ‘mock sgroppino’ at the start, which is lemon sorbet blended with san bitter dry (an original sgroppino is made with prosecco), and it was awesome. Kind of like slushy. Beware though- the alcoholic sgroppino is quite strong!

Polpo is a great little eatery with a fun atmosphere and great food. If you have to wait at the bar, I hear the wines are good and you can even order by the half carafe. Get down there!

Find them at 41 Beak St, Soho W1F 9sB (Ph. 020 7734 4479) Tube: Oxford Circus

1. The Providores, London
2. Mildred’s Vegetarian Restaurant – London
3. The River Café, London

One of the final ‘must dine at before we leave London’ places before we left was The Providores in Marylebone! So in our final few weeks in London, I just had to make it happen. I’m not sure what took me so long, but I’m definitely glad we made it. It’s a lovely place and the food was amazing. NZ chef and co-owner Peter Gordon operates a truly fusion menu that is adventurous and intriguing. (There is no eggs benny, but other similar and more exciting menu choices.)

The downstairs tapa room operates a ‘no bookings’ policy, so you just need to risk it and turn up. Problem is, I’m not really one for waiting in line (especially for breakfast or brunch) when I’m hungry. So I made a reservation for the upstairs Providores room (which has the same brunch menu on weekends).

I was very impressed with my choice – which was quite adventurous for me – sweetcorn and blueberry fritters with avocado, tomato and rocket salad. I was hesitant about the inclusion of blueberries at first, but figured the chef probably knows his way around taste! He was right, they were super tasty! The salad is covering most of the fritters here, so sorry about that!

Sweetcorn and blueberry fritters with avocado, tomato and rocket salad

Another veggie dish I was leaning towards was the sweet potato, feta, rocket and herb tortilla with yoghurt, basil pesto dressing, pine nuts and greens. Luckily one of the carnivore crew ordered it so I was able to have a bite. It was pretty tasty and had many of my fave ingrediets, but was served cold. Shame, as I think it would have been better warm, but that’s just my humble opinion!

Sweet potato, feta, rocket and herb tortilla

We all shared a plate of chocolates and biscuits which was a nice and light finish. The plate was quite festive also! Faves were the delicious hazelnut praline chocolate and the ANZAC biscuit - a taste of home!

Plate of biscuits and chocolates

If you are willing to risk the line at the downstairs tapa room, go for it. There seemed to be more of a relaxed vibe, but also looked quite squishy. Otherwise, make a booking for upstairs.

The dinner and lunch menus also look incredible – I wish I had enough time (and money) to do that.

Find them at:

The Providores and Tapa Room
109 Marylebone High Street
London, W1U 4RX

t. 020 7935 6175

1. Ottolenghi, London
2. The River Café, London
3. Mildred’s Vegetarian Restaurant – London