Tag Archives: recipe

No 8 Sevenoaks Sunday Roast

Posted on by under Europe, food, restaurant reviews, Restaurants

Sunday Roast in the country. You can’t beat it, especially when it’s in a restaurant that knows how to cook beyond the beef. Nick laps it all up

One of the great reasons to live in South London, aside from it not being North London of course, is how easily you can reach the real countryside of Kent. And then carry on to the coast, if you want. Or indeed France.

Fancying a Sunday Roast that wasn’t in a pub overwhelmed by uncontrolled toddlers, while their parents hid behind copies of The Observer, we fired up the planet destroying ICE car and pointed the SatNav to Sevenoaks.

Within a short while of leaving vibrant Brixton, we were barreling down cheerful A roads winding between fields, the car astonished at for once actually making it all the way to fourth gear.

It took just over an hour to reach Sevenoaks, it is only 21 miles from Charing Cross after all, it would have been quicker, but for some Sunday road closures. It’s a pretty little town that has suffered a bit from the plate glass window rash that spread throughout the UK. As someone once said, what’s so exciting about the inside of a Building Society that you want to display it to the street?

Parking is quite easy, if restricted to a few hours, but we managed to get close to Number 8, a 16th century building next to one of the classic old Lloyds Banks and set back from the road to allow al fresco dining in the summer.

Number 8 is run by chef/restaurateur Stuart Gillies with his wife Cecilia, and Stuart is a well-seasoned pro, having run the Gordon Ramsay group globally as MD and then CEO, so you know this is going to be proper and professional. People like to have a pop at Ramsay,  but I’ve never had a bad meal at any of his spots.


Inside it is very pleasant, warm and very full, the locals obviously know a good thing and these look like prosperous people used to high quality. I wore my quilted gilet to fit in and it was a good choice. I am not the only one sporting farmer-core fashion today.

Not being a pub, No 8 can offer more interesting starters than your local boozer and we share a gorgeous whipped hummus topped with sesame seeds and chives, scooped up with (slightly oily) toasted focaccia, along with deliciously creamy Iberico ham croquettas on a lively smoked chili salsa.

So the roast, obviously there is beef, aged Chart farm beef to be precise, chicken, mushroom tortellini for the vegetarians, and fish for those not fancying a pure roast.

Which happens to be my wife today, so she goes for seabass, mashed potato, lemon grass coconut sauce and buttered greens, while I go classic on the beef with green veg, roast potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. And gravy, definitely.

Both are winners, the beef the best I’ve had for a very long time. Thickly cut, which is a good sign as pubs are inclined to slice the beef thin as they know it’s going to be chewy. This is anything but, very soft and packed with flavour. Generous amount of it too.


The spuds are also good, they are not faked by being deep fried, which always annoys me, but properly roasted. This means they aren’t as crisp as they might be, but they’re really nice inside. Soft and mashable into the gravy, as well as the unadvertised but very welcome sweet potato puree. Broccoli is bright green and al dente, while the beans are a trifle squeaky but better than being overdone. Very good

The gravy is my one criticism, there’s nothing at all wrong with it but I prefer it to come jugged on the side and not floating my dinner. It’s messy, as my shirt now testifies. I prefer to make my own gravy decisions. Lovely Yorkshire Pud, not a monster but crispy and fluffy.

P’s decision to go for the fish bears out. She says it’s great, the mash creamy, the fish skin crispy and the sauce delicious. Once again, this is a benefit of eating Sunday lunch in a restaurant and not a pub, you get proper cheffing.

And good desserts, too. Lemon Posset with a cinnamon and sugar tortilla is very unctuous, and  Glazed Banana and Walnut bread with a toffee sauce and creme fraiche, is just what Sunday ordered. We’re happily stuffed and leave just in time before our parking runs out.

Did I mention the price? A very reasonable two courses for just  £29.95, and 3 courses £34.95 Or just have roast chicken or beef for £24.*

Anyone who fancies a nice trip to the country for a decent Sunday roast dinner should consider Number 8 as a Number 1 option.

*Prices correct as of February 2026

no8sevenoaks.com

8 London Rd, Sevenoaks TN13 1AJ

Hankki Restaurant Review

Posted on by under restaurant reviews, Restaurants

Hankki means ‘one meal’ in Korean, but when Nick and K went in they ate enough for an army. 

Just on the fringes of Chinatown, a few doors down from my once beloved Wong Kei ( it eventually got too self-aware and ironic), Hankki is the kind of place Instagrammers love. It’s not completely traditional Korean, the full on cooking can be a bit challenging for some, and it has made sure it’s brightly lit with a very youthful vibe out front. The staff took one look at K and me and directed us out to the back, we were far too old and vibe killing.

Actually though this was a good thing as we got to sit at a nice large table, and we were going to need all that space as the dishes soon started piling up to satisfy our venerable greed. The centre of the table had a BBQ skillet which our waiter, sensing our intentions, fired up straightaway to get good and hot.

There are various set menus available, from £31 to £46 per person and they’re all generous in choice and taste, but we dive straight in to a la carte with some prawns in batter which are properly crispy but not overly exciting, whereas the fried squid is lively with, I assume, gochujang, Korea’s marvellous fermented chili paste. 

This is perfect for knocking  back in quantity with cold beer, so that’s what we do. I really like the fact it is all in odd size pieces, the tiniest and best bits being almost all batter, just like it used to be in UK fish and chip shops.

Talking of batter, the seafood pancakes (Haemul Jeon) feature a lot of batter around a good selection of seafood and the all important spring onions, nice and crispy on the outside, a little bit oily inside, but very delicious. We then have to drop  our follow-up slices to deal with Kimchi Tofu soup.

It’s more kimchi than soup and that’s fine by us as we both love kimchi and its full on funk. This hot and sour soup is often made with pork, but this is cubes of tofu along with garlic, ginger, spring onion and daikon. Spooned onto rice it’s frighteningly addictive and we shovel it down like it was going to run away.

But hold on, there is now Chicken Noodle Cheese. A tangle of bouncy noodles with lots of chicken thigh and topped with cheese. Plenty of Gochugaru and Gochujang are pumping out heat with a hint of sweetness to balance it. The cheese topping binds it and there is a fried egg included, although it’s hard and I think it should be soft so it can be broken and stirred in. Absolutely delicious. 

We really could call it a day and roll out happy, but there is the BBQ to be dealt with. Plates of raw Hankki beef, Bulgogi Wagyu Sirloin, spicy chicken and sweet soy octopus to griddle and eat along with more kimchi, cucumber, daikon and other assorted pickled vegetables and sauces.

We do our best. The Wagyu is of course divine, the basic beef great, the chicken tender and soon charred,  and the octopus, depending on how long we leave it on the grill, nice and tender or overdone.

And we’re done, lolling back in our seats and groaning slightly with no room for the IG special, Yuzu cheesecake in the shape of a miniature dog. We see it being served as we leave soon after and it is so realistic it’s a bit unnerving.

We absolutely loved our Hankki feast and with so much on the menu it’s a place to go back to again and again. Bold flavours, plenty on the plate and a great atmosphere. ‘One meal’ indeed, but what a meal.

www.hankki.co.uk

7 Wardour St, London W1D 6PE

Greek Pig Panigyri Feast: A Unique Dining Experience

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Just because it’s winter, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the summery warmth of a Greek Pig Panigyri Feast

They’ve got the electric heaters going full blast at Pyro tonight, Mad Ed Milliband would be livid if he knew about it in his luxury hotel in Brazil.

They do need them though, because even on this unseasonably warm November evening, I blame Climate Change of course, there’s a bit of a chill breeze blowing around our legs.

Pyro’s veranda is not a bricks and mortar structure, but a kind of large ‘beach hut’ with walls made of clear plastic that roll down for the winter. This would be effective, were it not for the fact that the one next to our table stops a good thirty cm short of the ground and the breeze is making my trouser legs flap like sails.


I don’t care, we’ve soon got cosy rugs wrapped around our legs and we’re enjoying ourselves too much to be put off by a draft. The whole place is welcoming, warmly lit, charmingly decorated and with a great Greek feel to it. If the sun was shining you really could be in an island taverna, and not simply south of London Bridge.,

Chef Yiannis Mexis is the man behind Pyro, and he cooks on live fire, which is always a good way to cook. I can see the practical benefits of induction hobs in modern kitchens, but they add nothing to the flavour.
At Pyro every Wednesday from now and going forward, it’s the Pig Panigyri Feast, a Greek village festival. Inspired by Gournopoula, the Messinian tradition of roasting suckling pig over an open fire.It’’s a set menu designed to be shared with friends, although couples can also enjoy it just as much. We actually sat with two strangers and it couldn’t have been nicer, as we bonded over crackling, pork fat and Greek wine and the terrace filled up with other pork afficianados.


There are two cocktails for the set price. Pre feast was a Midas, a great combo of cinnamon infused tequila and aperol which set us up nicely for the arrival of sourdough potato pittas cooked on the griddle and with a good helping of syglino, a smoked pork fat.

These pittas are fat and round and delicious and prove perfect for loading up with the creamy sheep’s milk labneh with pork and a smattering of chick peas. Superb, as is the smoked aubergine puree with roasted garlic, this time scooped up with perfect crispy tranches of crackling. A dusting of pomegranate seeds add colour, but do get caught in my teeth.

If you only know souvlaki from the excellent album by Slowdive, you can’t have been to Greece where you find it all over the place. Meat grilled on a skewer over charcoal, it’s often served in a pitta with toppings. Here some Iberico pork’s goodness is further enhanced by sweet smoked prunes, almonds and an inspired topping of sour apple and radicchio. Another winner dish.


And from out of the fire comes more, this time a ‘Mykonian’ style sausage, curled like a Cumberland, it’s porky perfect and you can taste the fresh herbs embedded inside. An accompanying stew of butter beans, or ‘gigantes’ offers up super soft beans infused with flavour and cheerfully doing the backstroke in a rich tomato sauce topped with barely cooked kale and lots of lovely sage.

And the main event arrives, suckling pig (s) have been spit roasted over myrtle, an evergreen shrub found all over Greece. Suckling pig is not something for anyone who’s in denial about where meat comes from, I find it a bit hard to look at myself so I didn’t watch for long and waited for it to arrive portioned at our table.


Succulent, quite fatty, very tasty and set off by burnt clementine chutney and partnered with potato cooked in pork fat served with skordalia, which is a garlicky puree with potatoes and nuts, plus a fat-cutting salad of bitter leaves it did a great job of leaving us sated.

We managed to still eat Greek walnut cake, or karydopita, with creme fraiche before washing it down with Aegina, a crazily creamy vodka cocktail bursting with Greek yoghurt foam.


It really was a proper  feast and a celebration of pig,  and I really recommend you get your trotters in the trough asap.

53b Southwark St, London SE1 1RU

pyrorestaurant.co.uk/

You Be Chef. Light Up Your BBQ Game

Posted on by under chefs, Europe, food, food producers

These boxes of deliciousness from the Isle of Wight  are just the thing to make your barbecue sing

Okay yes I know, the weather has been a bit awful. Not that it ever stops me BBQ’ing though because I have the best BBQ in the world, the Weber Kettle, and it has a lid.

In the UK we tend to refer to anything cooked over charcoal as BBQ but, to be more accurate, what we Brits tend to do is grill.


BBQ means the food is not cooking directly over the charcoal, but instead is ‘oven cooking’ with the BBQ lid on, This is what traps the delicious smoky aromas and is perfect for large pieces of meat. That lid also means you can cook in the rain. I also have a remote thermometer so I can monitor the temperature inside the meat without leaving the house. Cunning, eh?

So we got ready to cook with one eye on the sky and the lid at the ready.

You Be Chef comes from the Isle of Wight, via chef Robert Thompson. Not only does he have an MBE, but he also won a Michelin star in 2007.

Robert is a champion of Isle of Wight produce, and is a big part of the Island’s food scene. His idea was to take the island’s produce, write recipes around it, and send the food and instructions all over the UK.

Our trial chilled box arrived on the hottest day of the year (so far) and was thoughtfully left on the front doorstep, in the blazing sun, by a delivery driver who obviously didn’t think it was worth ringing our bell.

Luckily he did at least send me a text and so I was able to call my wife to rescue the parcel before it melted away, or became victim to our local ‘porch pirates’. They will pinch anything round here, even though they have no idea what it is they’re nicking.

Unboxing was fun, each panel revealing a message, and it was good to see most of the items were in recyclable packs, some sort of cardboard material. 

We had the Tandoori Lamb Burger for two. So we had the burgers (natch), and then in various packs – Sesame Challah Buns,  Pont Neuf Potatoes with Garlic and Flat Parsley Butter; Onion Rings – Fried in Curious IPA Beer Batter with Black Onion Seeds; Rose Harissa Hummus; and Crushed Avocado with Lime, Beef Tomato slices, Feta, and Baby Gem Lettuce. Oh and there was Red Onion, Mint and Lime Salad and flavoured grilling oil.

It all appeared good, but for the lettuce leaves, which clearly had not enjoyed their journey and were rather limp and tired looking.

Juggling the oven times for the chips and the onion rings was a bit tricky. After some thought we cooked the rings first in our brilliant Ninja Foodie,  then took them out and kept them warm while we cooked the chips, then we put the rings back on top for the final minutes to get them hot again.

The burgers were a large diameter, I had my doubts they would fit in the buns, but once cooked they became the right size.

Now I am no chef, but I was surprised when the instructions said to give the burgers six minutes a side. I was so doubtful, that after rubbing them with the supplied grill oil,  I only gave them three minutes a side, after which time my trusty Thermapen read 62C in the centre, which is just right. I suspect there may be a typo in the instructions and it really means six minutes in total.

We added, as per instructions, the feta to the top of the meat for the last minute to warm it up, then split our buns (ooo err madam) toasted them lightly, and put the lettuce on the bottom (it’s important to ‘waterproof’ the bun from the juices), then added all the other ingredients to create an impressively stacked burger.


I’m a survivor of the burger craze which swept social media a few years back, ending only when the biggest influencers realised they were killing themselves eating so many monster burgers a week and gave up, so I know what to look for and this burger was perfect.

It had size, but with heavy pressure it was compressed to be eatable. And very good it was too, with the lamb superbly juicy and spicy. The other ingredients all added to the pleasure, particularly the salty feta and the limey avocado. The buns were a bit sweet for me, but fine.

The Red Onion, Mint and Lime Salad was rather like shredded pickled onion, no bad thing and mint is always an ideal partner for lamb.

The onion rings were crunchy and also sweet. We liked them a lot, but couldn’t eat all eight, and the chips were excellent, although dangerously hot inside so we had to leave them to cool for a bit. They were great dipped into the hummus, which was not as spicy as feared.

It really was a great BBQ blow out. Having everything ready made was a game changer and made it all so easy. And it didn’t rain.

Order your boxes at www.youbechef.com

Beef Brisket Mondays at Smith’s Bar and Grill Review

Posted on by under Europe, food

Low and slow is the recipe for success with this cut of meat. Smith’s Bar and Grill have pretty much nailed it

BBQ-ing brisket is a kind of religion in the US of A, especially in Texas. It’s a slow process, ten to twelve hours in a hot smoker, if it weighs around five kilos. Anything smaller will dry out.

It’s a labour of love and skill. I tried it once in my Weber Smokey Mountain and well after darkness had fallen the meat still wasn’t cooked and a small rebellion was going in our garden with guests demanding I go out and buy sausages as they were so hungry.

Available only on Mondays at Smith’s Bar and Grill restaurant in Paddington, this Beef Brisket Platter is slow-cooked for 13 hours and served with mac-n-cheese, pickles, corn and sweet potato fries.


I had to try it, to learn something about its cooking if nothing else, and on a hot day sitting by the Grand Union Canal seemed like a very good idea.

An idea that appeared to have occurred to a lot of people, as the terrace was full and the platters were flying out from Head Chef David Reyes’ kitchen at lunchtime.

It’s not terribly easy to find the canal when you leave Paddington Statio  if you’ve not done so before, or it’s been a while. So much has changed in a relatively short time. I went in a large frustrating circuit of the station and found myself pretty much back where I started, before a kind local put me straight.

It’s a lovely location with some houseboats bobbing on the water, some other boats converted into bars and restaurants, and well-heeled locals languorously drifting along what was once the towpath.

So the platter. £40 to share, which isn’t bad at all, and served on a wooden board as these things so often are

The corn has been sliced into quarters lengthwise, which is not a bad idea. It’s a lot easier to eat this way, less butter down the shirt. The mac n cheese is gooey in a good way, and who can resist a pickled gherkin? Not me.

The sweet potato fries I am not sure about, I like the taste, but they’re as limp as a politician’s handshake. I’d have preferred standard fries, but I know that Americsns do like sweet things with their meat.

Well what about that meat? I’m coming to that. I like to see a good ‘burned’ coat on slow cooked ribs and brisket but this didn’t have it. It’s called ‘bark’ and it comes from chemical reactions, as well the Maillard reaction and polymerization with the rub ingredients.

However there was ‘pinkness’ in the outer edges, clear evidence of smoke getting in, and it did taste very good. The meat was ‘cut with a spoon’ tender and with enough fat remaining to keep it all moist. We were actually rather impressed and tussled over the last slices, although there were plenty for two.

At £40 for two it’s a bit of a bargain and you can get a bottle of red or a white wine selected by Head Sommelier, Maurizio Titone, at 50% off every Monday. An opportunity to discover new fine wines at a fraction of the price.

Swaledale Lamb. From The Dales to your door

Posted on by under Europe, food

If you don’t have a decent butcher on your doorstep don’t worry, you can still get the finest meat delivered

I don’t live in a ‘nice’ London postcode. Waitrose won’t set up shop anywhere near us and Ocado has an armed escort and throws the shopping at our door rather than risk stopping.

Well not really, but we do lack posh shops and the nearest proper butcher is many miles away. So we are at the mercy of the big supermarkets, and much as I like lamb, particularly at Easter, I have had too many expensive disappointments from supermarkets to ever buy it there again.

So Swaledale had me in interested with their talk of being an award-winning Yorkshire-based online butcher that works in partnership with small-scale, sustainable farms on The Dales. They specialise in heritage breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs, wild venison, and native game birds, supplying many a top restaurant.

The Dales are particularly noted for sheep farming, with hardy breeds such as Swaledale, Lonk, Dalesbred and Herdwick all foraging freely on the lush grass, herbs and flowers. The result is smaller, darker-fleshed lamb that tastes of the ‘terroir’, although I suspect many down to earth Yorkshire people would gag at such fancy French talk.

So we tried out some of their lamb by post. Lamb chops, because a perfectly cooked lamb chop chewed off the bone is one of life’s’ great pleasures. We also chose some Merguez sausages because we were intrigued to taste a Yorkshire merguez. Another great pleasure is eating merguez slapped into a buttery baguette, a staple snack at every French bric a brac market and always served with a barquette of freshly cooked from frozen frites and glass of raw vin rouge.

And just for ‘fun’ we also had some mutton chops. A lot of people give mutton a miss, it’s regarded as a bit old fashioned and can also be a bit too ‘gamey’ for modern tastes, but good mutton is well worth seeking out.

The lamb chops were excellent. The plan was to grill them on our new Weber, but while I factored in the weather I forgot it gets dark at 6pm, so we cooked them on a cast iron grill on the kitchen gas rings. Three to four minutes a side with the grill hot as Hades, the internal temp checked with the trusty Thermapen – overcooking lamb is a criminal offence, or should be.

The Merguez were the best I’ve tasted outside North Africa, quickly frying to an attractive gold colour and with a firm snap to the skins. We ate some cooked with red peppers dobbed with a poached egg, and the next day sliced into pieces in a couscous. My suggestion that we should also have them for breakfast was vetoed.

Finally the mutton chops. For these we thought we’d be a little adventurous and used the recipe from the take it easy chef for mutton chops karnatkas style. This involved pressure cooking the chops in some water and spices before adding a masala mix and simmering for twenty or so minutes.

Indian cooks use pressure cookers a lot, they’re fast and energy efficient. Here the cooker turned the meat very tender without taking hours of slow cooking. Lots of flavour and an authentic taste.

So we were impressed with Swaledale’s lamb. As traditional quality butchers become harder to find, and hard to afford, mail order meat is certainly a great way to go.

swaledale.co.uk