Wednesday 24 June 2009

Spaghetti Bolognese - Italian Kitchen, Holborn

Spaghetti Bolognese - Italian Kitchen, Holborn

I've been browsing through some of my older stuff on Flickr and come across these from a meal I had ages ago at Italian Kitchen in Holborn. And in the spirit of keeping this post short and sweet, here they are :) It's about £10 for their lunch special with a soup or salad as a starter and a choice of pasta and sauce as a main.

Spaghetti Bolognese - Italian Kitchen, Holborn

My Spaghetti Bolognese was rich, hearty and filling. I couldn't really fault it ... yes, it was a little heavy but I wouldn't want to go an Italian restaurant and be served a ragù 'lite'. And the pasta was nicely al dente :)

Italian Kitchen
43 New Oxford St, London, WC1A 1BH

Friday 12 June 2009

Happy Birthday to Me - Cakes from Konditor & Cook

I'm no fan of my own birthday. Really ... do I really need another reminder of how old I'm getting? :) I do, on the hand, enjoy other people's birthdays. Just as long as it's not my own ... However, there are a few out there who very sweetly refuse to to forget (thank you, you know who are:), hence the two slices of cake from Konditor & Cook. And very good cake they were too. Good enough to tempt two colleagues to share them with me one sunny afternoon in the park.

Curly Whirly - Konditor & Cook, Waterloo

The Curly Whirly came in the form of chocolate sponge with a vanilla bean frosting. Nice, light with a slight tartness, which I think can be owed to the cream cheese in the frosting. The curly whirliness came from bits of pipped chocolate icing .. nothing greatly exciting. It was a good piece of cake. Solidly normal .... as a Victoria Sponge.

Chocolate Raspberry Fudge Tart - Konditor & Cook, Waterloo

The Chocolate Raspberry Fudge Tart on the other hand ... was wholeheartedly chocolate down to it's soul. Rich, deep and broken only by a layer of raspberry puree sitting just above the pastry. The pastry, however, was a bit of a disspointment. It would have been delightful if they had used a buttery pastry crust or crushed chocolate biscuits (think cheesecake here) if we were going for the full chocolate whack. Instead it was lacklustre, boring and verging on tasting like stale pastry.

Konditor & Cook is certainly worth a try. I didn't manage to find that many reviews for them online but I have asked around and they do seem quite well known with five branches across London.