Elliot’s in the Park, Victoria Park, London

I’m still in a foodie daze, fresh from the heady delights of my first ever supper club dining experience - Elliot’s In The Park at The Pavilion Café.

The team at the pavilion are preparing to open Elliot’s restaurant in Borough Market in October and as a precursor, they’re treating a select group of diners to sneak previews, at this rather elite Friday night pop-up taking place until the end of August.

My mother and I mingled with the other diners in the early evening sun on the picturesque jetty framed by the lake. We were treated to champagne and nibbles in the form of popcorn chicken served in wooden crates with pine cones and radishes in green pea foam and some sort of sesame seed concoction that was supposed to mirror dirt. Strange, but it worked.

We chatted to some of our fellow diners, locals Matt and Paul who come to the Pavilion Café for their Sunday brunch most weekends and it was great to meet fellow food blogger youngandfoodish.

Elliot’s in the Park Pop Up, The Chef:
The weekly-changing menus have been created by chef Isaac McHale, who’s been all over the place this summer, gathering ideas for the autumn restaurant opening. His time spent at this year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants winner Noma in Copenhagen had a lasting effect on his cooking style and this year he’s already done stints at Indewulf in Belgium and in New York working at restaurants including Momofuku and Corton.

He also makes a mean cherry compote, which each guest got an Elliot's-branded jar of to take home at the end of the evening.

Elliot’s in the Park Pop Up, The Food:
We began with a beautiful dish of English asparagus with mussels, tarragon sauce and vibrant orange edible flowers.

Isaac's focus is on fresh, local food. He's working with Chegworth Valley Farm in Kent who are providing orchard fruits and heritage vegetables for his menus.

The second course was an equally picturesque plate of Cornish Mackerel with speckled splodges of Celtic mustard, sprigs of dill and pickled cucumbers.

Local winery Bottle Apostle on Lauriston Road have matched a different wine to each course. Our American dining neighbours Avery and Drew lucked out sitting next to my mother as she doesn't drink. Throughout the evening they were willing her to keep having her glass filled up by the waiters and divvy out any excess liquid into their glasses.

The third course was pork shoulder with bacon pieces, crumbles of crackling, broccoli and pea puree.

Strangely the 5-course tasting menu (priced at a very reasonable £50 with wine pairing) included two dessert courses. The first our waitress pitched as a palate cleanser of sorts. This was a fragrant little bowl of goat’s cheese foam with a blackberry compote and crumbled Speculoos.

The second pudding was a gorgeously seasonal strawberries with elderflower sour cream and was filled with the joys of summer and fit for an English wedding.

Finally we headed off in to the night, chaperoned by owner Pheobe who let us out of the park gates clutching our Elliot’s jams.


Elliot’s in the Park Pop Up, The final word:
These guys are the real deal. There was no element of phony PR-driven ‘pop up’, just a really special evening filled with great food and wine, interesting people, and a serious dining outfit taking place behind the scenes.

Roll on October when we can check out Eliot’s in Borough: www.elliotsboroughmarket.com

Elliot’s in the Park is nearly booked up but you can try to nab one of the remaining dinners by calling the café on: www.the-pavilion-cafe.com

Images on this blog post courtesy Eve Aspin: www.paulaeveaspin.com

Livin’ is Easy at The Summerhouse, London

This week Foodie In London was delighted to bag an invite to London’s latest pop-up restaurant The Summerhouse in Maida Vale.

The Summerhouse, What’s The Deal?: From the owners of the nearby canal-side restaurant and bar The Waterway, this temporary eatery is modelled on a New York Hampton’s beach hut. With pebble flooring, sailor striped wallpaper, boating memorabilia on the walls and even its own mooring space for river arrivals, this is faux beach kitsch 'eat your heart out'.

My friend and I spilled out of Warwick Avenue tube station and walked around in circles for a while until we found the correct way along the picturesque canal towards the restaurant. What a beautiful village of London this is to dwell in. Breathing in the early-evening air and gazing up past the huge mansion houses I realised there was a reason I hadn’t been in Maida Vale for as long as I could remember – none of my friends can afford a house this damn expensive.

The Summerhouse, The Food: We arrived and were offered a cute table for two by the plastic awning right onto the canal. We kicked off with some fresh fruit cocktails. Moi - a 'Basil and Strawberry Mojito' and the gal pal – a 'Summer Pimm's' made with blueberries, blackberries, mint and cucumber.

"Well that went down a treat and you can quote me on that." - were my friend's exact words once she had demolished her drink and started making loud noises with her straw, sucking on ice at the bottom of the glass.

To start, we shared a clam chowder which was creamy, well seasoned, and as good a bash as any London kitchen could do to re-create the USA classic (head to Cape Cod if you want to try the real deal). We also shared some popcorn shrimp. This was served up in two mini white sand pails (you get what they've done here?) alongside blue and white striped napkins, a sweet chilli dip and watercress garnish – top marks for presentation. The shrimp coating was soft and fluffy and not too greasy.

Next came the mains, eventually. Luckily we weren’t in a rush but Maida Vale 'ladies that lunch’ might have a bit more to say to the waiter on the matter. I went for whole seabass with caper and butter sauce and she had The Summerhouse signature fish pie.

Some might say my seabass was practically cremated, but I happen to be big on crispy skin and this was oily, crunchy and delicious. The fish was also served in the best possible way, whole, with the head still on. I can’t stand squeamish eaters who are happy to shovel down meat by the bucket load but as soon as they see the first resemblance to the being from where it has derived get all squeally and start shrieking 'urgh I can see its eye, it’s looking at me'. If you don’t like it, eat vegetables.

The fish pie was delicious but was a filled with aubergine and tomato ratatoille interiors – a dramatic departure from the classic dish. However, we both agreed that fish pie can be too creamy a lot of the time and it did say that the pie included ratatouille on the menu – so I think it deserves The Summerhouse thumbs up.

To drink, we ordered a bottle of Billi Billi Pinot Grigio from Mount Langi Ghiran, Victoria, Australia. It wasn't cold enough and tasted pretty dull but we did order a Pinot Grigio I suppose.

Dessert was my dining highlight of the night. We ordered a watermelon and strawberry platter for two which came again with another beach pail of clotted cream. Our waitress confirmed that the strawberries came from Heulva in Spain. They were some of the most beautifully ripe, sweet, juicy and good-looking strawberries I have ever tasted.

The Summerhouse, Toilet watch: Fun, fun, fun. Bright interiors, proper expensive throw-away hand towels, more pebble flooring and fish print wallpaper. Top marks for effort in the bog.

The Summerhouse, The Final Word: Probably not worth venturing all the way across town for, but this temporary dining addition will have the locals smiling all summer. A pop up of the greatest proportions.

The Summerhouse
Opposite 60 Blomfield Road
W9 2PD
Tel: 020 7286 6752
www.thewaterway.co.uk/Summerhouse/

Central Perk Coffee Shop Pops Up in Soho

Calling all pop-up bar fans, coffee addicts and lovers of the cult TV series Friends…

A pop-up bar modelled on the Central Perk coffee shop from the hit TV series Friends has appeared on Carnaby Street.

Head down to pick up your FREE coffee and soak up the re-created Greenwich Village coffee scene.

I popped along to check it out and although I did have to queue for a while, it was worth the wait as Gunther was there in the flesh having pictures taken on the 'Friends sofa'!

The coffee's not bad either. Latte, Cappuccino, Americano, take your pick. Just don't ask for a skinny OK? That's taking the pop-up coffee concept a little too far, as I learnt when the server smirked at my request.

You'll have to be quick. It will all be over on 5th October.

Download your free coffee voucher and directions here:
www.warnertv.com/friends/