Posts Tagged ‘Coffee’
Monday, November 7th, 2011
So…….back in time a few weeks we hit the last stop on our trip, New York. It’s been a couple of years since I was last there, and to paraphrase DOOM, it still is a hell of a finer town. Knowing we only had a few days of our adventure left, we rolled up our sleeves and ate our way right to the core. I’m probably going to do some longer posts on a couple of other discoveries, and I didn’t make it to The Dutch which I REALLY wanted to check out, but here are a few highlights.
Where to start…hmmmm. The first time I went to NY, probably back in ‘97, my mate Matt took me to The Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station. I vividly remember sitting in the back room saloon surrounded by brash New Yoikers shouting at each other and guzzling plates of oysters whilst I sat slurping a New England Clam Chowder in a happy jet-lagged daze. The wife and I decided to pay it a visit this time, and I’m happy to say nothing’s really changed. It’s certainly a tourist attraction, but it is still rammed with every shape and size of New Yorker having lunch, doing deals and chewing the fat (oysters). We sucked down a couple of zinc-ey Long Island Bluepoints, a bowl of that creamy, soothing chowder and a very tasty crab-cake sarnie all, washed down with a couple of glasses of super chilled Sauvignon Blanc. As far as classic New York lunches go, it’s hard to beat, and good to see an institution like this still chugging away.
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Tags: America, Bacon, Baked Beans, Blade Runner, Bluepoint, Christina Tosi, Clam Chowder, Coffee, Crab Cake, Crack, Cumin Lamb, David Chang, Egg Williamsburgh, Five Leaves, Grand Central, Greenpoint, Hand Pulled, Hipster, Home Made, Milk Bar, Momofuku, Moustache, New England, New York, Noodles, Oyster Bar, Pie, Pork, Ricotta Pancakes, Road Trip, Sage, Sandwich, Scrambled Eggs, Shanghai Cafe, Soup Dumplings, Stumptown, The Big Apple, Xi'an Famous Foods
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Friday, June 3rd, 2011
So last weekend we got balls deep in our new neighborhood, and had a proper explore. We headed east on 24th street into the slightly less gentrified realms of The Mission, and basically got very excited. SO. MANY. GOOD. PLACES. TO. EAT down there. We only scratched the surface, so there will be more coming from this ‘hood for sure, but we definitely wet our whistles.
After checking out all the crazy murals plastered over the buildings down there (the missus was rather taken by the ones featuring the buff winged Navajos), we got grazing.
First up, we hit up ‘Mexi-Catessen’ La Palma. The are undoubtedly better places to get Mexican grub in San Francisco, but we liked the buzz of this deli / eatery so we decided to grab a bite. Me, a carnitas (pork) Super burrito, and the missus chicken tacos. Neither were outstanding, but definitely filled a hole, and we’ll definitely be back. They do good looking rotisserie style chickens, and tasty looking Papusas stuffed with all sorts of tasty things.
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Tags: 24th Street, Blue Bottle, Burrito, Carnitas, Chorizo, Coffee, Contraband, Donuts, Dynamo, Kaffiene, La Palma, Navajo, Pie Mission Pie, Rhubarb and Strawberry, Rital, San Francisco, Tacos, Taqueria Vallarta, The Mission
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Photo: Dan Harrison
Having packed and said goodbye to our flat, I’ve been feeling a little bit melancholy about leaving London, and I started to think about what I’m going to miss. Particularly food wise.
Here are my Top 10 food based ‘missing you already, London’ things in no particular order:
1. Polpo, and it’s sisters in all their forms.
2. My kitchen. Hope we can find an apartment in SF with a decent range.
3. My morning cup of coffee from Kaffiene.
4. Mangal 1 for its meat, fire and eccentricity.
5. Pizza and pasta from Maletti. Still so good after all these years.
6. The St John Bread & Wine bacon sandwich. In fact, everything St John.
7. My local Italian restaurant in Battersea, Antipasto & Pasta. Family run, solid, good atmosphere.
8. Lahore’s lamb chops. Wonder if there’s any good Pakistani food in San Fran?
9. Raymond Blanc on the telly.
10. The Anchor & Hope / 32 Great Queen Street.
I think I’ve probably cheated a bit by doubling up, but its my blog so I’ll do what the f**k I like.
Things I’m not going to miss? Public transport. Living hell.
Tags: 32 Queen Street, Antipasto & Pasta, Bacon Sandwich, Coffee, Kaffiene, Lahore, Maletti, Mangal 1, Meat, Pasta, Pizza, Polpetto, Polpo, Raymond Blanc, Spuntino, St John, St John Bread & Wine, The Anchor & Hope
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Monday, March 14th, 2011
I realised the other day that I hadn’t done a ‘Local Hero’ for AGES, and by chance I happened to pass The Market Coffee House the very same day. Serendipity in the truest sense.
When I was thinking about the whole ‘Local Hero’ side to this blog, The Market Coffee House was exactly the kind of place that I had in mind. Special, but unpretentious, and quietly plugging away at doing what they do best without all the bluster, PR and twitter noise that’s become so common.
I first started going to The Market Coffee House when I worked around the corner in Spitalfields what now seems like ages ago. Before the days of the Aussie and Kiwi coffee shops, the MCH was my go to place for a decent cup of coffee. Back then, it was the only café I can remember that had proper Baristas who took great care and attention over each and every cup. They also sold their coffees in the smaller cups that have now become more familiar. Quality over quantity before it was fashionable.
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Tags: Bagel, Barista, Cake, Coffee, Fan, Food, Local Hero, London, Market Coffee House, Spitalfields, Tasty
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 4th, 2010
Just got back from a not long enough weekend in Paris.
My good lady was out there all last week working for ‘the man’ on the auto show, so I Eurostar-ed it over on Friday night to pay her a visit.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m Francophile, and love Paris in particular. Obviously the food is a big part of this for me, but it’s not always the big meals you have that make you realise how much you love a place’s culture. Sometimes it’s the simple things, like the breakfast we had on Saturday morning. We went to a cafe across the road from our hotel and just had coffee and a croissant. But, saying ‘just’ would be doing it a disservice. The croissant was amazing. Fresh as a daisy, light fluffy, and tasted amazing. It really didn’t need any jam or butter. Miles apart from the hard and heavy buggers we get over here.
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Tags: Cafe, Ceps, Coffee, Croissant, Croque Madame, Fois De Veau, Food, Girolles, Market, Paris, President Wilson
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Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Having recently turned one, I’m in a reflective mood, so I thought I’d list my top 10 food highs and lows of the year. In no particular order.
Photo: MrLerone
Highs
1.Polpo – my new favourite restaurant. Very good Italian style tapas eating.
2.Sydney Breakfasts – just the bomb. I wish i could start every day Sydney style.
3.Whole Foods Market – the big one on Ken High Street is like heaven on earth.
4.Good Coffee – being shown what real coffee should taste like by Campos and Kaffeine.
5.Stuffed Courgette Flowers – still really chuffed about making these bad boys in France.
6.Engagement Dinner at Brasserie Balzar – the perfect Parisian place to pop the question.
7.Ramond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets – for my money, the best cookery show of the past year
8.The Santa Barbara Shellfish Company – one of the standout meals from our California road trip.
9.Good Mexican Food – from Benitos Hat to La Super Rica the Mexicans have been killing it. Me gusta.
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Tags: Balzar, Borough Market, Breakfast, Campos, Coffee, Courgette Flowers, Falafel, Just Falafs, Kaffeine, mexican, Polpo, Ramond Blanc, Scotts, Sophie Dahl, Sourdough, Sydney, The Wolseley, Tierra Brindisa, Whole Foods
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | 1 Comment »
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
Been crazy busy since we got back from Oz, so have got a bit behind on the writing stuff. But back to the land down under for a quick coffee related post.
As mentioned previously, there’s been a bit of an Australian coffee shop invasion in London over the past year or so. Places like Lantana, Flat White, Milk Bar and Kaffeine have their own style and atmosphere, but all have one thing in common. Great coffee. As I understand it, ‘coffee culture’ hit Australia and New Zealand about the same sort of time as it did in the UK in the early 90s, but interestingly instead of succumbing to the big brands pumping out the brown liquid passing itself off as coffee sold the length and breadth of our high streets, our Antipodean cousins adopted a more artisan based approach. In fact, such is their devotion and knowledge of good coffee that even the mighty tentacles of Starbucks have failed to gain a foothold in Australia. As my friend Mutber put it, “…you can’t sell a bad product to an educated audience.”
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Tags: Australia, Campos, Coffee, Crema, Flat White, Newtown, Sydney
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | 2 Comments »
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Photo: Neets & Dre
Hand To Mouth is off to Australia for a couple of weeks to meet and greet the future outlaws and extended family.
As well as (hopefully) lapping up a bit of much needed sunshine, I’ll be getting my teeth into Sydney’s cafe culture, fresh seafood, and if I get my way, a few meat pies from Harry’s Cafe de Wheels.
Have a cracking Easter.
Tags: Australia, Coffee, Family, Holiday, meat Pies, Seafood
Posted in Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
