Monthly Archives: March 2013

Aurelia, London

by Qin Xie | 1 Comment

Published on Bon Vivant on 15th March 2013:

Just a stone’s throw from the Royal Academy is Aurelia London, a Mediterranean restaurant nestled in the heart of Mayfair.

The restaurant is named after Via Aurelia, the historic route which spanned across the Mediterranean, from Rome down to Santiago de Compostela. The food pays homage to the same landmass, where rabbit and swordfish appear alongside plenty of olives, garlic and anchovies.

Everything is light, delicate and calling for glorious sunshine and ice cold rosé.

You can go as formal or informal as you like and sharing is definitely encouraged – this is no stuffy Mayfair restaurant.

A selection of breads and the house olive oil begins our lunch at Aurelia London. The peppery notes in the oil did well to indicate that it was an extra-virgin olive oil of sound quality – a good start.

Crisp, thin slices of octopus rostie, sprinkled with a light dusting of chives, soon arrived atop boiled new potatoes, skins still on. The hint of heat in the mild Galician flavours were offset by the cool tuna carpaccio which served as the other starter.

The carpaccio, doused in a slightly sweet sauce, rested on top of a finely shredded bed of salad was topped with yet more chives.

The food at Aurelia London was rustic but good; rather like the restaurant’s interiors which were lined with little portraits and vintage photographs, all reminiscent of little bistros in the Côte d’Azur. It has just the right amount of kitsch to put you right at ease.

For mains, monkfish a la Provençal offered an interesting contrast against the pappardelle with rabbit ragu. Tomatoes, olives and plenty of parsley made a delicious sauce, well matched to the relative firmness of the monkfish. The rabbit ragu, with a shaving of creamy cheese, was more reserved in flavour but well placed for the wintry London weather.

After two well-portioned but light courses, there was still plenty of room for dessert. Carefully arranged red wine poached pear with ice cream and warm chocolate fondant with orange compote provided the answer.

The menu at Aurelia London, filled with Mediterranean flavours, managed to be both wintry and light. All was washed down with fresh mint tea and all just over an hour.

It’s not committed to a single cuisine but with so many restaurants specialising in smaller and smaller niches, Aurelia London is probably one of the few places that’s still focusing on a wide region and doing it well.

It’s obvious really; if they’re packed on a Monday lunchtime, they must be doing something right.

Will you be eating insects instead?

by Qin Xie | 1 Comment

Published on Yahoo Lifestyle UK & Ireland on 12th March 2013:

Also published on Yahoo! US News on 12th March 2013:

grasshopper at Wahaca

They say that on average, we eat around one pound, or just over 450g, of insects a year. Ok, there’s been claims made for anything between one and five pounds, but who’s counting? Either way, it seems like an awful lot of creepy crawlies to be ingesting for something that’s not considered food in the Western world.

The reality of course is that insects have been on the menu for a long time. Grubs and grasshoppers are often considered delicacies in South East Asia while the world’s best restaurant, Noma, boasts live ants on its menu. That dish made it to London during Noma’s pop up at Claridge’s last year. Even big department stores like Selfridges have been stocking insect-laden sweets for years; particularly eye catching have been the scorpion lollipops.

Unsurprisingly, eating insects has been the subject of much debate over the years with the likes of the Wall Street Journal, The Economist’s More Intelligent Life and most recently The Guardian weighing in. The argument is that, with its high protein and low fat content and the fact that it can be cheaply produced, it’s economical, sustainable and even healthier to eat insects.

The latest to join the insect trend is celebrity chef and MasterChef 2005 winner Thomasina Miers’ chain of Mexican restaurants, Wahaca.

Read more at Yahoo!

Are women any closer to full gender equality in the UK?

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published on Yahoo! UK News on 8th March 2013:

It’s International Women’s Day – a celebration of gender equality and women’s rights around the world with more than 100 years of history behind it. In the UK alone, there are hundreds of events around the country marking this day.

With that in mind, there’s no time like the present to examine gender equality in the UK.

Here’s the boring bit: government statistics on gender equality varies but they tend to indicate increasing equality across the board. In education especially, girls are increasingly achieving more than boys. Certainly, legislation has helped increase the number of women in work, at boardroom level and in male dominated industries such as engineering and science.

Of course statistics are always open to interpretation.

From personal experience, in the food and drink industry, the numbers tend to be balanced.

Read more at Yahoo!

The Rooftop Cafe at The Exchange

by Qin Xie | 1 Comment

Published on Bon Vivant on 6th March 2013:

Underneath the towering shadow of The Shard is an unlikely restaurant – the Rooftop Café at The Exchange. Part of an office building, the Rooftop Café is not easy to find but that’s one of the reasons why it’s such a great hideaway.

Open since January this year and despite being right next to The Shard, the Rooftop Café at The Exchange has somehow managed to maintain its views. Inside, the open kitchen is the first thing to greet you as you enter. The stripped-back dining room is spread over three little pockets of space, divided by banquettes and chairs. Comfortable, but not too cosy.

The food is simple but the menu changes daily with four options per course. For a menu so small, it also offers a surprising number of dishes suitable for vegetarians.

The starters were charmingly simple. We had pancetta with poacher (cheese), pear and walnut and goats curd with green beans, shallot and capers. Warm, light and a very ingredient led introduction to the food at the Rooftop Café at The Exchange.

For mains, there was the truffled mushroom ravioli with parmesan and the special – a chorizo stew. The pungent truffled filling of the ravioli was cased in delicate fresh pasta that broke all too easily.

The chorizo stew, laden with chick peas and lightly spiced, was topped with dressed salad and bread. Both dishes were well-portioned and balanced. Other dishes available included the scallops with black pudding and seared apple.

The wine list, mostly European, is also compact, varied and interesting. Their focus is on sustainability and small producers and it really shows. The wine we had, a red made from a blend of three grape varieties indigenous to Italy, was sealed with a beer cap top and a basic label. Impressive is the fact that only 200 bottles of it were produced and while difficult to get into, it proved a good match for the food.

A banana cake with salted caramel ice cream and orange cake with crème fraiche were ordered for dessert. The soft citrus of the orange cake worked well with the zest blended into the crème fraiche while the banana cake with the ice cream was another classic flavour combination.

The food at the Rooftop Café at the Exchange is simple but delicious and the service is helpful and attentive. It’s a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere to catch up with friends or go on a date where there’s no pressure of challenging food or the cold silence of fine dining.

Like the food, it’s the perfect antidote to the wintry weather but it also bears delightful possibilities for the summer with the rooftop terrace.