Off Great Eastern Street

The sea bass at Ba Shu

The lobster at Ba Shu, which was amazing

September is gone! October is upon us. My bank account dwindles…London is just too exciting! There is too much to do! Too much to see! Too much to EAT. Yet, my London restaunt blog sits ignored. Let me try to do something about that. Here’s where I’ve been eating lately. If you can’t tell, I’m on a bit of a Chinese and Spanish kick at the moment.

Gourmet San, Bethnal Green. My friend JP and I did a little Szechuan crawl one night, inspired by our mutual love of Sichuan Folk off Brick Lane. We had high hopes, but Gourmet San let us down. It was dirty and smelly and the service was distracted. Everyone told us to order the lamb skewers. They were off. Very off. No desire to go back, like ever.

Ba Shu Fang, Bethnal Green. The red velvet chairs make it feel a bit like Valentine’s Day, but our Szechuan lobster was outstanding. I have been dreaming of this place ever since and might actually make the trek over for lunch today. Also great, the sea bass. Check out the photo gallery for pics of these two dishes. Best quote: “Our new chef is from Chengdu. Our old chef was Hainanese. Our new chef…he is more….professional.” Ask the staff for their recommendations. The menu is a bit tough going for the unadventurous among you!

Yipin, Angel. Somehow, this place got a Bib Gourmand. I want to like it more than I do, so I keep going back. (It’s convenient.) But no, I just don’t like it. Like Gourmet San, also dirty. Everyone tells me this place is great so maybe I need to give it a third try. But my first two attempts have been less than stellar. Ah, but they do bring you peanuts to start your meal.

Jose, Bermondsey. I will happily eat here every day. Love everything. The jamon! You can taste the acorns! The boquerones! The croquetas! ALL of it. Go go go go go.

Pizarro, Bermondsey. I liked Pizarro, but I like it’s sexy busy sibling Jose better. Pizarro is more serious, more sedate. Jose is a party. Still delicious though.

Iberica, Farringdon. I really like the space here more than anything. Maybe whoever did the decor can come over and do my flat. I also really like the staff. They are very happy and helpful people. Ah, and their pinxtos at happy hour are a great value. But given the choice, I would still go to Jose. (Just in case that’s not clear or anything.)

More to come…I’ve also been to Mission in Bethnal Green and I am about to go have a big bowl of ramen on Upper Street. Good times!

The post Where I’ve Been Eating in London Lately, Autumn Edition first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

How I miss you.

Sadly, the average American supermarket is full of cheddar. Cheddar. And while I do respect the cheddar, I also appreciate a little bit of variety.

So I was happy to discover Pastoral on Lake Street in Chicago's downtown Loop. The people who work there actually KNOW SOMETHING. They're real cheesemongers! It's lovely. And they even have some Neal's Yard. So it's almost like "home." Almost.

The post Cheese, Glorious Cheese first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Paxton & Whitfield
93 Jermyn Street
SW1Y 6JE

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, January 17th, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £20

The Background: Bryan and Stacey have invited me over for dinner. As the non-cook in the group, I've been assigned the cheese plate. I have to stop at Fortnum & Mason for some foodie gifts, so Paxton & Whitfield, famed London cheesemonger, it is. And I am glad.

The Entrance: Cheese, cheese, and more cheese! I like that at Paxton & Whitfield, the cheese is all out in front of you in nice big wheels. OK, it's like this at Neal's Yard too. But at Paxton & Whitfield, it all just seems so much closer.

The Selection: I put myself in the hands of the cheese monger. I ask for an all English plate. Something creamy, something blue, something different. £20, I've got three cheeses: a smoked cheddar (which ends upbeing my favorite), a stilton, and of course something that I've completely forgotten. Not because it was unmemorable, but because my memory is as holey as swiss cheese.

The Verdict: Pricey, but worth it.

The post Paxton & Whitfield first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: 16 September 2008

The Victims: Many. Lea from Unchained Guide, a great directory of independent shops in London. Rob and Emily from Qype, who organized (and paid) for everything. Tim.  Helen. Chris from Londonist and his own gig. And many other London food and restaurant bloggers and aficionados.

The Background: A few months back, I was invited to a Qype chocolate tasting. I cancelled at the last minute. And I’ve felt terribly guilty about that since. An invitation to La Cave a Fromage was a chance to redeem myself. So I went. (And also felt guilty because I do love the Trusted Places guys too, you know.)

The Entrance: I am smack dab on time, and everyone is ready to get started. Amnon, our host, is informative and interesting. I think he also knows we’re hungry. We start with a brie and then there’s an English ewe’s milk, and then a Gouda and then an Italian blue cheese. We’re then poured a very interesting wine–the one in my last post–and it’s a wine made of WHEY. Yes, WHEY. As in CURDS AND. We move on to a cheese from Burgundy and then a weird goat cheese. I’m still waiting for the official names of what we had, but the English ewe’s milk cheese was my absolute favorite, particularly with a little fig paste.

What I Learned: Parma ham should be aged no longer than 17 months.

The Verdict: I really liked La Cave. This was a freebie, a total freebie. Amnon used to work with big supermarkets, so he’s put a lot of thought into the layout of the shop. There are no tills. There are no counters. It’s all eye-level. There are a lot of options and the staff seem friendly and informative. If I should ever find myself in South Ken–perhaps before a night out at boujis, because you know I hang out there all the time–I’d drop in for some cheese.

The post La Cave a Fromage first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

La Fromagerie

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, August 10 2008

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £12.50

The Background: My parents are good, decent hard-working people. And they’ve raised a total snob.

How else to describe my decision on a Sunday morning to take myself off to Marylebone for breakfast? I don’t live anywhere near Marylebone.

But it would be nice to live there. I can imagine myself, wandering the High Street, with my brother-and-sister West Highland White Terriers. And big sunglasses. Of course.

Instead I’m there trying NOT to look conspicuously American. I did leave the baseball cap at home…

The Entrance: It’s just a little after 10 when I arrive at La Fromagerie. The place is comfortably full but not overbearingly so. There are still tables to be had. I set myself up in a corner and ponder the contents of all those cardboard boxes.

I also ponder the menu…

And I’m concerned by rules on it. They can’t reheat food. They can’t cook to order. You must spend £10 between 12:30 and 2:30.

I understand maximizing the bottom line, but just because I order "just" an orange juice on Monday at 1 p.m. doesn’t mean I’m not going to go whole hog on Tuesday. Or Wednesday for that matter. Doesn’t it all just average out? I think I have spent too much time calculating expected values.

The Service: They’re nice. I get concerned by the mention of filtered water on the menu and how if I spend £1 on filtered water, they’ll donate it. I just want tap water and wonder if this is a possibility. "Of course it is!" says my server. Thank goodness.

The Food: I try for the Croque Monsieur, but they’re out of Croque Monsieur. I find this fascinating. How can one be a cheeseshop and be out of cheese and meat and bread? Hmmm. Maybe they were missing special bread. Or special ham. They couldn’t be lacking in cheese! So instead I get the gravadlax and it arrives, beautifully so. And it is good.

The Verdict: I like La Fromagerie. I can’t help it. I should note that I had a better experience here than at their Highbury cousin.

The post La Fromagerie Marylebone first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, June 15

The Victim: Me

The Damage: About £10 for two hunks of cheese and little lemon tart.

The Background: Sometimes I think about what I would do with myself if I were independently wealthy. (Surely I can’t be alone in this.) Thinking about all the possibilities can keep me occupied for HOURS.

Although I don’t claim to be overly passionate about cheese, I do like cheese. And I like cheese shops. And I really liked La Fromagerie in Highbury where I was so overwhelmed by the amount of goat’s cheese on offer that I surrendered myself to the somewhat surly cheesemonger and had him pick me out two. I would tell you what I ended up with, but he didn’t really tell me (but nor did I ask), and they didn’t put any information about the cheeses in my bag. (Is it really that hard?) So now f I go back, I’m going to have to start all over again.

So when I have the millions that I deserve, I will open a cheese shop. A friendly and helpful one. Really people, is it really that hard?

The Verdict: I’ll ask more questions next time.

The post La Fromagerie first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.