Out

I had a birthday recently, and I made a resolution that I would stop eating prepared meals.  Too often I’d stop at the supermarket on my way home, buy a carton of soup, not be able to eat it all, and forget the other half, sitting lonely in the fridge until it made its inevitable trip to the bin.  I knew it was stupid.  I’ve got a freezer.  I like making soup, and it’s really not that hard to make extra for the freezer.  On the face of it, it is a flawless plan.  Not that I just eat soup, but having a selection of things in the fridge to make a quick salad, a stir fry, some tahini-dressed rice, really isn’t that hard.  I’m good at planning meals, mainly because I think about food a lot, so it seemed to make sense.

But, as with the case with most of my plans, sometimes it just doesn’t work out like you mean it to.  However, the determined sort of girl that I am refuses to go back on this resolution, and so I’ve managed to stay away from the soup counter.  It does mean that occasionally, I eat a whole pack of oatcakes with hummus and cheese, or chocolate hobnobs.  But I do need real food every once in a while, and sometimes I just have to go out.

I don’t want to be a restaurant critic, but luckily, with the places that I have eaten in the past weeks, I have nothing to criticise.

First, there was NOPI for lunch.  Then there was Fino for dinner.  Then the Drapers Arms for chips and starters to accompany a bottle of rose, and most recently, the Modern Pantry for supper.  All have made me want to cook more, and made me want to cook better.  After NOPI I rushed out and bought Plenty.  I’ve been looking at it for a long time, but have decided, for the time being, that anything I cook out of it will disappoint me, because that lunch at NOPI was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.  There was the most delicious burrata, miso quail, pig’s cheek, aubergine, prawns and sea bass, brought to our tiny (and overflowing) table to be met with ever-mounting excitement.  Towards the end my stomach was actually aching, but, not wanting to miss out on pudding, we still shared chocolate with peanut brittle.  I have one warning about NOPI, you have to go with someone you trust, because there is an overwhelming temptation after the first bite of one of the dishes, to eat it all and not to share any of it.  Of course, this is not the ethos of the restaurant, and is mean.  But I’m just saying it’s very hard to share something that delicious.

Oh, and I can’t write about going to NOPI without mentioning the bathrooms.  I won’t say anything more. Just go, and go to the bathroom.  Almost as good as the food.  Almost.

Fino for tapas was a similar eating experience, in the way that there were small sharing dishes, but there was a very different feeling to it.  Fino is refined and slightly more reserved.  It was delicious, but perhaps slightly less memorable than NOPI.  But really, they are not comparable.  Fino was amazing.  Pimientos de padron, a meat plate, a platter of manchego and quince jelly, quail, and the tomato and chorizo salad is something that I will continue to attempt to recreate; I’ve tried once, and it was good, but not Fino level.  Perhaps I need to go back again, just for one more taste.

The Drapers Arms is always good for food.  I am sad that the oysters have been taken off the bar menu, as I still don’t understand why oysters have seasons.  If anyone can give me a definite answer on that I’d be most grateful, unless anyone tells me they migrate, because if there’s one thing I know, it’s that oysters can’t swim.  We thus ignored the bar menu, and just ordered a couple of starters and a bowl of chips, along with a really lovely bottle of rose.  It really was good.  But anyway, the food.  We had razor clams and beetroot cured trout, and, of course, the chips.  The perfect chips.  Fat, crispy but not dry, and the best level of salty.  I love the fact that there is a pub so close to my work that does food this good.  So often I end up at a pub, not having had time to eat, and sometimes I want something more than crisps.  Or even olives.  And the Draper’s, well, what more could you want from a pub?

So, finally, The Modern Pantry.  The restaurant was full, so we ate in the café, which was perfect.  St John’s square was full and bustling, and it was so lovely to be able to watch the world going by with a good friend.  I had the scallops, the most delicious scallops, but I also stole a chip from my good friend (while he was distracted by the bustling square…) and, although the drapers arms chips were fantastic, that chip, well, it could have been the perfect chip.  I think they might have been fried in dripping, because they tasted deliciously meaty.  And, the very best things about them, is that they had a crust.  I don’t know how it was done, but they had an almost roast potato crust, but on a chip, with fluffy juicy insides.  If I could’ve stolen another, I would’ve stolen another, but unfortunately said friend enjoyed them as much as I did, and next time I looked at his plate, they’d all disappeared.  Overall, it was a really great supper, and the modern pantry definitely warrants a return visit.  Or five.

I will return to cooking soon, but for the time being I am very much enjoying being fed.