Sheesh, Chigwell

Sheesh is a family run restaurant that sits in the rather splendid building that was once home to Ye Olde King’s Head pub in the centre of Chigwell, Essex. I’ve visited several times and have never had a bad meal here, and what’s more, the atmosphere is always electric - filled with a buzz that is hard to achieve in local restaurants outside of the centre of London.

Primarily, a Turkish theme runs throughout the menu, with some other Mediterranean influences - this is basically a ‘posh kebab house’ as my Dad would call it with a few bells and whistles. As I’ve said, the location and venue is in itself fantastic - as well as a vast dining area, there is also an outside terrace that is heaving in the sunshine and the bar upstairs is lively and they have regular performers on to keep the crowds in after their meals too.

I visited Sheesh a few weeks back on a Friday night with three of my girlfriends, Steph, Jade and Jemma for a meal followed by drinks and dancing in the bar.

We started with some appetisers to share – firstly the ‘Karisik Meze’, a selection of homemade dips including taramasalata, hummous, tzatziki, a tomato and onion dip and two aubergine based dips, one smoky, garlicy baba ghanoush-style dip and one oily tomato based dip. All were great but particular mention must be made for the tarama and the aubergine/tomato dip – delicious.

Clearly the four of us wouldn’t be content with just dips being the greedy sorts we are. To complement our dips we also ordered some fried halloumi cheese, gorgeously salty with that almost crust of flavour on the outside and a nearly-gooey interior as well as a plate of ‘sigara boregi’. A plate full of filo pastry cylinders filled with cheese and spinach –calorific but exceptionally tasty. With a satisfying crunch as you bite in, but filled with the most moreish soft and tempting centre.

Jade and Jemma each chose a dish from the ‘specials’ menu, veering away from the traditional dishes. Jade opted for the ‘Kleftico’, different from the Greek version that I know, this was a lamb shank cooked slowly in a tomato and vegetable sauce with the potatoes cooked in the sauce. Not being a fan of lamb, this is something I wouldn’t normally try but the aroma of it was incredibly appetising and so I tried a small little mouthful and was pleasantly surprised. The meat was so tender from the long, slow cooking process and was filled with flavour. Jade certainly enjoyed.

Jemma chose the ‘Kremali Tavuk’, a special of chicken breast served in a creamy red and green pepper and mushroom sauce. The chicken was succulent and moist and the cream sauce was to die for – delicious with some of the pita dipped in. A portion of asparagus made up the rest of Jemma’s meal and it really is worthy of mention alone. It came drizzled in a garlic and herb butter that is simply to-die-for and is then scattered with sea salt which gives that added, flavourful crunch – sensational.

Steph and I both ordered from the huge charcoal grill situated at the end of the main section of the restaurant. We wasn’t sitting in that area on this particular evening, but if you are making an evening of it at Sheesh, try to request a table in this area as it is fabulous to watch the kitchen staff at work – but be warned if you are heading out elsewhere after your meal, you may find yourself coated in eau de kebab.

I chose the ‘Tavuk Sis’ or chicken shish kebab which was exceptional as always. The chicken was juicy and beautifully spiced with just a hint of chilli. Served with a colourful salad of sliced onion, carrots, red cabbage, green leaves and a chopped tomato and cucumber combo as well as a whole, raw chilli the kebab was sitting aboard a flat-bread. Several sauces come alongside anything cooked on the charcoal grill – all of varying heat - Steph and I were both keen on the extra hot which packed a serious punch. A great dish.

Steph embarked on a Woman vs Food mission and chose the ‘Karisek Grille’ – the mixed grill, a selection of all of the meats cooked over the grill. Now all four of us love our food, but we were impressed by Steph as she managed to eat all of the meat on the grill (with a little help from us having the odd nibble).

She had no complaints whatsoever and as well as the same flatbread and salad that came with mine, Steph’s meal consisted of the chicken shish that I had, lamb shish, a lamb chop, a marinated chicken wing, a lamb kofta, and a minced chicken meatball. All were pleasing, but Steph’s particular favourites were actually the chicken and lamb shish that Sheesh do so, so well.

We had an impressive three bottles of the Moko Black New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at the table too and after paying the bill, around £180 including service, we headed up to the bar to enjoy the live singer. A lovely soulful singer who belted out some absolute old school tunes, veering between Motown and modern songs, it wasn’t long before the combination of great atmosphere and a round of Aperol Spritz and Champagne cocktails had the four of us up dancing, and we were not alone.

Service was good throughout the evening and we really did have a fabulous time. My only slight gripe would be the fact you can only have the table for a certain amount of time, and when our two-hour slot was up the waiters were hovering around us quite blatantly, which as we were only heading upstairs was a tad irritating.

I would certainly recommend Sheesh for a good night out in Essex – great food, drinks and atmosphere are provided so the only thing you need is good company like I had on this particular evening.

Bubbledogs

Even before its’ opening last year, Bubbledogs was surrounded by a flurry of media hype. I’ve been meaning to go for a while and recently made it with a group of ladies who I’ve been working with, including the lovely Sarah of Little Lady Eats. We found that going en masse is a sneaky rue to avoid the tell-tale queues up the street – that’s right folks, you can book a table at Bubbledogs, you just have to be in a group. We had booked a couple of months in advance mind, but nevertheless, we were in.

Situated on sophisticated Charlotte Street, the whole concept of Bubbledogs is a clever one – Champagne combined with ever-so-trendy hotdogs, very now, very New York.

Eight made up our group and we were spread over two high tables on stools, towards the back – towards the much-lauded ‘Chef’s Table.’ We strutted immediately past the relatively long queue and found a rather narrow, wooden interior that immediately put me in mind of a ski lodge. The walls were adorned with drawings of dogs, which some in our group found cute, and I could see the connection, but being unmoved by animals as I am (unless eating them of course), I could take them or leave them.

As it was a mid-week work treat and not an extravagant evening, we ordered a couple of bottles of the house Prosecco, which was excellent and priced at £32 a bottle. The helpful waiter also explained that this was cloudier in appearance that other sparkling wines and had less fizz due to its’ preparation being different – I was impressed with the knowledge. After a quick toast amongst our number at making it through January, the single most depressing month, we moved on to the food. `

In what our group deemed as a rather hostile move by our, up until this point jolly group, the waiter informed us after we’d ordered that we would be required to ‘vacate the table’ at 8:30pm – precisely an hour and a half after we’d arrived. Never a fan of this style of time-managed dining, it was even more infuriating that there had been absolutely no mention of this when booking, or even on our arrival nearly thirty minutes prior. It did sour the mood a little, but hotdogs are obviously not going to take long to prepare so it was actually a notion that would and should’ve been left unsaid, but there you have it.

So naturally, Little Lady Eats and I were keen to try as much as possible so we ordered a different dog each and split them in order to try two each – a Sloppy Joe (chilli dog) and a Swedish Viking which was the special that evening, we both opted for the pork ‘dog.

The Swedish Viking was actually a great combination of pickled cucumber, sweet mustard, crispy fried onions and ketchup. The only disappointment was the actual sausage, which was of questionable quality. Don’t get me wrong, the hotdogs are reasonably enough priced, given the location at under £10 a pop, however bland, rubbery meat was the standard in our dogs and I thought it could have been better. When I was in Stockholm a couple of years back with six friends we enjoyed a hotdog or two when inebriated from the numerous street sellers which were priced at around £1-2 and frankly the meat was better there.

The Sloppy Joe was a ‘chilli dog’. Now Sarah and I were both expecting chillies or a chilli sauce in there, which is obviously down to our own lack of dog-knowledge – what we were instead greeted with, was a chilli con carne topping. Once again the meat of the chilli was of poor quality, the flavour was hiding in the overcooked, almost crusty meat and it was frankly a disappointment.

Aside from the dogs we had ordered one each of the sides on offer for each of our two tables. The standout side, in fact the tastiest thing I had that evening, was the sweet potato fries. These were soft, fluffy and sweet in the centre but crispy, perfectly seasoned and delicious on the outside. They were served with an absolutely to-die for truffle mayonnaise, and though the dish was a simple one it was completed elevated by the gourmet accompaniment.

The other two sides were incredibly average – a coleslaw that was perfectly edible, but nothing to write home about and a portion of ‘Tots’. I was fairly excited to try the tots as I remember an episode of Friends where Joey mentions them, but found they were in fact, a combination of a potato rosti and a croquette – very school dinner, very unappetising.

Given the hype around the opening, I was always going to try out Bubbledogs for myself, and now I’ve been, I’m unlikely to return – however I’m still glad to have given it a whirl. The reasonably priced menu cannot be denied and there’s certainly no hiding the fact that here in London, there is a huge appetite for conceptual restaurants like Bubbledogs. The long queues along Charlotte Street suggest this will remain a ‘hotspot’ for some time yet, but for me Bubbledogs just didn’t live up to it’s hype and from now on I’d rather spend my money on restaurants that rely on the food to guarantee repeat customers rather than a quirky concept.

Brasserie Zedel

I’ve long wanted to try Brasserie Zedel, not least because of the praising reviews I’ve read, but because I simply love the French classics and the menu just looked so reasonable – it’s been on my list for a while. I tried to get a walk-in table recently with a couple of friends on a Friday evening and failed due to the popularity and having made my way down and viewed the rather opulent looking space that was once The Regent Palace Hotel, my interest was further piqued.

I finally got to try it out one cold Thursday evening in January with my friend Jade and I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Having viewed the menu online during the day I was determined to try the unbelievably priced, £11.25 set menu. However once we arrived and saw other dishes flying by I couldn’t resist trying some of the other delicious sounding dishes on the menu. I will return to try the much-lauded steak hache dish though, that is a certainty.

The brasserie area is simply huge with high ceilings and a busy, buzzing atmosphere, the constant sound of companionable chatter filled the room and it couldn’t help but put you in a good mood.

Once seated, we selected a bottle of the house Sauvignon Pays D’oc, a light, refreshing and crisp white – this helped with our decision-making.

It took a lot of deliberation over the menu, as there just wasn’t a dish on there that didn’t sound good. It’s a fairly short and simple menu, but one with lots of fantastically classic and delicious sounding dishes. Finally I selected the ham hock and parsley terrine as my ‘entrée’. Served with a basket of warm white bread, the terrine was lovely. Made up of coarse chunks of fantastically salty ham surrounded by the tell-tale jelly of a terrine. With vivid green parsley hues throughout, it was a pretty plate of food and was just as pleasing on the eye as it was on the mouth. 

Jade opted for French onion soup, which is the best I have tried in the UK for sure. Fragrant, soothing and with an almost addictive flavour, I would highly recommend this dish. And considering the location of the restaurant in the middle of Piccadilly Circus, an absolute bargain at only £2.25 a bowl. Served with cheesy croutons that were inhaled rather rapidly by Jade, we were both impressed and looking forward to the main event.

We both selected truly classic dishes, Jade the Boeuf Bourguignon, and I the Confit de Canard. The slow-cooked beef Bourguignon had the most tender, stewed beef, combined with an irresistible flavour of red wine. Served on a bed of the creamiest pureed potatoes this was a little plate of heaven – real comforting, solace food.

My confit duck was quite frankly glorious - crispy, fatty and utterly delicious at the skin, with a soft and tender, melt-in-the-mouth meat centre, that just fell straight off of the bone – an absolute sensation. The duck was served on a bed of white beans in a simple tomato sauce which made for the perfect accompaniment for the knock-out duck.

We also ordered the creamed spinach as a side and were both surprised when it arrived as it looked like a little pot of pesto, however it tasted fabulous. Buttery spinach with a hint of garlic and creamed to perfection. Each dish was served on a white plate with the signature red trim and the 'Zedel' name on which I thought was quite a nice touch too.

We couldn’t manage dessert but we were in such a good mood we couldn’t resist trying one of the Champagne cocktails to sit and enjoy the ambience of the restaurant. We both had a classic Kir Royale which was the ultimate finale to an evening of perfectly executed French food.

The service throughout the meal was faultless, our waitress was attentive, knowledgable and very patient with my French pronunciation. I have to say she was also incredibly tolerant of a very rude male couple seated beside us who were clearly after a free meal. They sat and enjoyed a full rib of beef, and after Jade and I had endured watching them both literally gnawing at the bones, at the very last bite one of the men proclaimed to have found a hair that had completely put them both off of their meal. He kicked off at the waitress and then, in turn the maitre d’ and they handled this rude pair excellently. You would think this kind of spectacle could put a dampener on the end of our meal but it simply added to our voyeuristic entertainment.

We paid around £75 including service and every penny was money well spent.

If you haven’t yet made the trip to Brasserie Zedel, make a booking now, I urge you!

Afternoon Tea on a Budget

Bea's of Bloomsbury
Last week my best friend, Larni and I celebrated becoming another year older (she is a whole three days younger than me) with a week-long marathon of fun and frolics. This tradition began 11 years ago and we are reluctant to give it up. This time around we found that food and alcohol featured highly, as did the fabulous West End show Legally Blonde and yet more alcohol.

We naturally celebrated with our own family and group of friends too, but our first treat, was just for the two of us and just about sums us up together - Champagne Afternoon Tea - in other words an afternoon of cakes and sweet things with a good glug full of bubbles - perfect.

It has to be noted that we were actually planning on doing outdoorsy, sight-seeing activities, mainly visiting the Tower of London, but good old England in June let us down and on the morning as the rain came and came we wondered what to do instead. Afternoon tea was suggested but I was doubtful we would find a slot anywhere, early, being so last-minute, and I didn't want to go for a late sitting as I was booked in to eat at Les Deux Salons on the evening.

As luck would have it, I had noticed a few days previously something on Twitter about Bea's of Bloomsbury doing Afternoon Tea, so I called, and we were in. I've long been a fan of Bea's, having previously worked just off of Theobalds Row, where the original resides, so I was quite keen to try out the newer addition to the family in the new shopping centre at St Pauls, One New Change.

I was delighted to find the decor modern, quirky and stylish. There was a brown theme throughout with the odd splashes of colour, and the ceiling was adorned with various lampshades in the guise of teapots, ingenius.

Many visits to the original had been on seriously stressed out days when only the thought of a coffee cupcake, a cup of tea and a natter with one of the girls could get me through the day, it almost represented a safe haven for a certain trio of friends, and the friendly staff at this branch with the delicious array of cakes was one of the reasons why we often returned.

I was immediately impressed that the owner of this establishment have clearly kept their staff selection skills up to scratch, the waitress who served us was accomodating, friendly and informative. We ordered our tea and informed her that Larni is a vegetarian, and she immediately went off to check if all of the cakes were veggie-friendly and to change the savoury sandwiches of hers to meat-free.

The sandwiches were actually small sections of crusty, white baguette and mine were a chorizo and cream cheese with a little green leaf. They were lovely, the smokey saltiness of the chorizo was complimented perfectly by the cream cheese.

One small complaint that we had was that actually, the meaty sandwiches were side by side with the veggie ones, to the point that one of them was actually touching the other, while this may seem a trifle point, let's face it if it was an allergy we were talking about, those wouldn't have been placed on the same plate at all, and really I don't think this should be treated differently. However as we were laden down with goodies, we ploughed on, I had the offending sandwich and found it didn't offend me in any way. It was a buffalo mozarella with tomato and a basil pesto - the pesto had seeped into the bread a little and given a magnificent flavour. It was like a little sandwich taste of Italy, lovely.

Next was a plain scone, the original, quintessential part of any respectable afternoon tea. It was lovely, buttery, light and crumbly, had a good moist texture and excellent seasoning so as not to be so sweet, which I often find scones can be. These were lovely with our pot of fresh clotted cream and strawberry jam too. They were however rather large, and I only eat half to make sure I had room for all the other goodies.

Two signature cupcakes were included in the tea, and as I've tried a number of these before, I was pleased to see two that I'd yet to try. One was a vanilla cupcake with a cassis topping, beautiful to look at with a pinky-purpley icing. The other was a chocolate base with a pistachio cream finish which was the minty green you would imagine, side by side they looked so pretty, it was almost a shame to crack into them. Somehow we found the strength though! We halved them both so we could try everything, and found that not only did they look good, they tasted great. The icing on both was immense, the kind where you'd happily stick your finger in and eat a little minus the cake. The cupcakes were both light and fluffy and in keeping with my favourite coffee ones of old.

The top layer of our tea was a selection of brownies and marshmallow. The marshmallow were just for me as these contain gelatine, which our friendly waitress kindly informed us of. They were lovely, the stuff of childhood memories, only better.

The final three treats I've deliberately left till the end - brownies. Those who know me will know I'm not a fan of brownies, I find that whenever I'm confronted by one they tend to lack flavour and be quite dry. I have been known to voice my irritation when they seem to always end up on dessert menus these days in some format too. However I will openly admit defeat where neccessary, and after trying this trio of brownies, I can say that I may be fast converting to the brownie-lover brigade.

The first was a Valrhona, or in other words a rich chocolatey affair, which I can vouch was very, very far from dry. The dark chocolate flavour was lovely and for the first time ever, I was left wanting more. The second was a Belgian Blondie, or in other words my favourite flavour of any cake - white chocolate! It was heavenly. I kept awaiting the moment where I could nod to Larni and say 'See this is why I don't like brownies!'. Perhaps it would come with the final treat - a peanut butter brownie - perhaps not. This was actually my surprise dish of the day, it was incredible. Not only was it not dry, it was creamy, it was chewy, it had a glorious nutty flavour running through the almost caramel like texture with chocolate, this was like food heaven. It reminded me a Snickers bar, but a bite size portion in glorious, wonderful cake format and all in one perfect texture.

On top of all of this wonderful confectionary we had a pot of Jing tea, and to mark the occassion of our birthday a glass of Moet & Chandon - we felt it'd be rude not to.

We both thoroughly enjoyed this very English tradition and it has to be said that if anyone is looking to experience a real Afternoon Tea without the expense of The Ritz and the like, this is a top-notch, quality alternative.

We had the Champagne Afternoon Tea which at £22.50 is very cheap for the capital. However if Champagne is not for you then it is only £15 per person for the standard Afternoon Tea - definitely a bargain.

Bea's of Bloomsbury's is a quirky, sophisticated venue with cakes to die for and great service. I'm hoping to see more of these around the capital, and hope they retain their excellent staffing and high quality food.

One final note: if like Larni and myself you enjoy the Champagne Afternoon Tea at Bea's and find that one glass of bubbles is just not enough, copy our style and pop a few doors along to Searcy's where you can enjoy one of their Champagne cocktails. They have daily deals on, but as we were feeling flamboyantly decadent after our fun afternoon we ignored these and went for a Strawberry Bellini and a classic Kir Royale and both were fantastic.

http://www.beasofbloomsbury.com/

http://www.searcys.co.uk/one-new-change-champagne-bar/home/