Hereford Road, Notting Hill

Note: I was dining with @samanthanewbery and @harrywilkinson. Follow them on Twitter cos they're ten out of ten nice.

Hereford Road is by no means a new restaurant, as you may know. Opened nearly three years ago by Tom Pemberton (ex head chef of St John) it aims to deliver more of the same, on the street of the same name. Locally sourced and seasonal ingredients, with offal playing a part in the starters and the main courses - calf's brains with tartare sauce, and lamb sweetbreads, for example.

I was here to try out the set lunch menu. Seemingly a bargain - three courses for £15.50. All of the options also appear on the a la carte menu and there's no skimping on portion sizes. As well as the prix-fixe, there's a one-dish "express lunch": one main, a glass of wine and a coffee for £9.50.

Home made bread and (not home made) butter. Pretty good stuff: well made bread and high quality butter, at the appropriate temperature.

Photo by me.

Grilled sardines, parsley and lemon.

Photo by Samantha.

Grilled sardines, parsley and lemon. 

Why do I even bother? Look at my photo, then look at Sam's. I might as well have drawn mine in Microsoft Paint. Anyway... The description I've given in bold is off the menu verbatim - the 'ingredients list' style is one of the simplistic features that Pemberton and Hereford Road employ, paralleling their menu with the style of cooking and perhaps even the greater mindset at the restaurant. On the fish, freshness is always the first issue that creeps into my mind. Flaking the flesh away from the spindly bones gave an early insight: the fish came away with the right level of ease, pulling apart but still retaining a firm, not mushy structure. The initial tasting note was of scorched flesh from the grilling, with the parsley and lemon zest complementing the fresh, oily fish. A squeeze of lemon completed a simple but good starter, despite the last sardine being overcooked and rather cottony in places.

Another reason I like eating sardines: they make me feel like a cartoon cat when I've finished with them.

Harry's beetroot, sorrel and cow's curd. He seemed to like it.

Sam's crispy pork, chicory and mustard. We all liked this one. Probably the best starter of the lot. Really well composed of complementary flavours. Plus it had bits of pork belly dotted about, which always makes everything better.

Photo by me.

Onglet, chips and aioli.

Photo by Samantha.

Onglet, chips and aioli.

(Much better composition, more sharp, better colours...) Sam and I both had the onglet as a main course. Otherwise known as a 'hanger' steak (due to its 'hanging' from the diaphragm of the cow) or 'skirt', it's an economical (cheap) and unforgiving cut - you can only cook it rare or take it to just medium-rare, otherwise it'll be tough, chewy and a waste of flesh. Apparently butchers used to keep this for themselves as no one else would take it or want it, but Hereford Road seems to be all about the unloved cuts of meat. The steak came out already pre-sliced against the grain, which some may not like but I do, and looked perfectly cooked; the exterior had caramelised and developed a crust, whilst the meat inside was rare, pushing medium-rare in places and as juicy as you'd expect. There were no problems with the tenderness of the meat, nor the flavour for that matter. Onglet is one of the stronger tasting cuts, similar to the neighbouring kidneys, and the meat shone with the right amount of seasoning added. It was equally good with some of the pungent aioli, the strong garlic matching the flavourful beef.

The chips are triple cooked and nearly creep into roast potato territory, through size and structure- and taste-wise. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they were a touch too oily (perhaps the oil was too cold for the first fry?) but were still delicious.

Harry's mackerel, tomatoes and rocket. No messing about, give the lad a whole grilled fish. He seemed to enjoy it, once again.

Photo by me.

Lemon and almond tart.

Photo by Samantha.

Lemon and almond tart.

A pretty nice tart, which I can't remember too well to be perfectly honest. The crème fraiche worked nicely with the slightly bitter candied lemon zest.

Caramel ice cream.

Two generous scoops and two delightfully buttery shortbread-like biscuits. Smooth and almost stringy ice cream with minimal ice crystals, and a great burnt-caramel taste. Marvellous ice cream.

The bill.

Very good for a three course meal - about £22 including a beer and tip.

We spent a couple of hours at Hereford Road, with the service being quite relaxed - perhaps it was because the restaurant was empty, save for two other tables dining inside (and two outside) on a Friday lunchtime. I'm not sure how busy it still gets in the evening, but nearer to opening I remember having to book a while in advance. Maybe people have forgotten about Hereford Road? The set lunch, whilst hardly pushing the boundaries of cooking or using top end ingredients, proves a good, budget-friendly option for the area.

Koya, Soho

There are some incredible openings set for 2010, as you can see here. For me though, one of the most exciting restaurants debuted a couple of weeks ago, namely Koya in Soho. Despite hearing about it and noting that it was next door to Mooli's, I sort of forgot about it until reading this thread on Chowhound. The positive report there, and then from various Twitter users and bloggers oiled the hype machine and I had to go. I wasn't going to review this place originally, just post some pictures, but I might as well describe the food a bit.

The menu. Irasshaimase indeed. A simple concept (they specialise in udon) with quite a complex menu. Complex in the sense that it is double-sided, and as well as small-plate starters you have about thirty udon options (and then some extra toppings, if you wish). These are separated: hot noodles in hot soup (eaten mostly in Winter); cold noodles in hot soup; cold noodles in cold soup (a more Summery dish). Prices range from about £6.50 for a simple bowl to £11 or £12 for more extravagant udon.

Onsen tamago (£2). Literally 'hot spring egg'. As David Chang explains in the (rather brilliant) Momofuku Cookbook: "The story I was told is that old ladies would bring baskets of eggs with them to the natural hot springs that are all around Japan - hot springs and public bathing are important national pastimes - and while they were there, the hot spring water cooked the eggs at a constant temperature of around 60 degrees C or 141 degrees F.) The technique produces eggs that, because they've been slowly coaxed into cookedness, are creamier and more unctuous than regular poached eggs." He's right. The tamago here is oyster-silky, with the yolk and white sticking together and floating in the dashi. The soup complements the rumour of eggy flavour. A great dish and certainly a must-order at Koya.

Kakuni (£5.50). Pork belly braised in apple cider, served with shallots and karashi. Not quite as tender and melt-in-your-mouth as it should be, but it still retained a good flavour and despite the slight bite, it was pleasant to eat.

Saba udon (£9). Smoked mackerel in a hot broth, with hot udon noodles. The dashi is made from scratch in the restaurant using katsuobushi and is absolutely miles ahead of anything else I've tried in London. The mackerel was firm and the implied smokiness was decent, whilst the greens (shiso and others) wilted beautifully into the molten broth. The hand-made, fresh noodles were fantastic: chewy and slippery - all those good things.

Niku udon (£8.50). The thin slices of shabu-shabu like beef look unappetising in this picture (they look like an OAP's ear) but they had a good flavour and were predictably tender. The noodles were once again brilliant and the stock worked well in this bowl, amongst the spring onions and masses of sweet, yellow onion.

Tap water was placed on the table immediately as we sat down, which is always nice. For two people, the bill came to around £30 for everything; a decent price to pay for a seriously good lunch. My advice would be to go and sit down at the counter (space for four) and watch the team in action and speak to the approachable chef. In terms of noodle soup dishes in London, the bowls we tried here would probably rank above other favourites of mine: the beef brisket ho fun from HK Diner; the la mian from Zheng Zhong Lan Zhou La Mian Noodle Bar; and the Asakusa udon from Asakusa. Koya has received a lot of early praise and will continue to do so. It deserves all the success it can get for offering something different and is a welcome addition to a foodie friendly Soho street.