Morgan M
489 Liverpool Road
N7 8NS

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, June 3rd

The Victims: Sarah, Gaby

The Damage: Gaby paid.

The Background: If you haven't noticed, I do like to eat.

But I like exploring more. Some of my favorite blog posts–the blog posts I really enjoy writing—are not the ones that are all about a dinner out and a London restaurant review.

I like the adventure posts. The getting-on-a-London-bus-and-going-somewhere posts. The something different posts. I enjoy a good day out, with multiple stops, some with food. Some without.

When I first started my blog, I borrowed a post from business writer Seth Godin about creating a blog disclosure statement and posted my own on my About page. My Disclosure Statement has gone through various iterations over the years. For a long time, it said something like "I will go out of my way NOT to write about things that other people want me to write about, except when there's a lot of champagne involved." And for somewhat of a shorter time, I removed my Disclosure Statement completely because I felt like I was violating it so utterly and completely.

Case in point. My friend Sarah runs a site for new moms in London. A month or two ago, she went to an event about women in business and met Gaby, who just happens to do PR for restaurants, many in London. Sarah says, "You must meet my friend Krista." Gaby knows my work and says something like, "Krista from Londonelicious? The London food blog? I'd love to." And we all arrange to meet up for lunch at Morgan M in Highbury, a place I've always wanted to go to. And a place that Gaby does PR for.

I like Gaby instantly. I want to help her understand bloggers and blogging and Twitter and all those good things. I like Morgan M instantly as well. It's peaceful and relaxing and a great "Ladies who Lunch" sort of place, and you know that I not-so-secretly wish that I were a lady who lunches. Instead, I'm a lady with a full-time job, an addiction to restaurants, a passion for blogging, and a train that leaves for Paris at 5 p.m. on a Wednesday.

The Entrance: I like how I'm met at the door of Morgan M. and how they take all my belongings away; I've come straight from work with a lot of stuff that I need to run home with after lunch and throw in a suitcase and turn around again and head back to Kings X with. (Are you still with me?)

I like the plates at Morgan M. They're pretty. And I like how while I'm waiting for Gaby and Sarah to arrive, the staff offer me my choice of good magazines. Not bad magazines. Good magazines. (I choose a travel magazine.)

I feel a little pressured to order the tasting menu, which is what Sarah and Gaby opt for. I am on a bit of a diet these days, and really I am not that hungry. Plus I'm heading to Paris and I know I have a multi-course dinner to look forward to. So with some negotiation, I manage to secure just two courses (plus an amuse-bouche) to Sarah and Gaby's five courses (plus amuse-bouche). (Generally, Morgan M prefers that the entire table opt for the tasting menu, but I think I must have looked panic-stricken at the thought of a full menu, so they relaxed their restriction for me.)

The Conversation: After we order, we go back to talking about bloggers and London food and restaurant bloggers and restaurant reviews in particular. Gaby says that she's counted, and there's something like 70 of us London food bloggers these days. I note that she should start looking at the wine bloggers too because for a restaurant like Morgan M with such a nice wine list, I think she's got an additional market.

We talk about the real food critics and I learn that although the big ones have budgets and pay-their-own-way, the smaller ones get everything comped. This makes me angry because here I am, paying my way for everything (or, well, nearly everything), and some of the professional restaurant reviewers actually get all their meals for free? But then, I get angry at myself; if I just went around London accepting restaurant freebies all the time, I'd kinda feel like somebody's mistress. All the nice things, but no respect in the morning… 

Somewhere around here–or maybe it was sooner–our amuse bouche arrives. It's a chilled cream of broad bean and horseradish foam and I love it. Think summer! It gets me pretty excited about whatever will be coming next.

One blog we talk about over lunch is LondonEater. Kang's blog is a young one–he just started last summer–but he does seem to have quite an appetite and his photography is really great. (I should note that I did bring my real camera to Morgan M, only to find that the batteries were dead. Hence the Blackberry photos.) His prose, in my opinion, is quite effusive and eager. Lately, Kang has accepted invitations to a number of restaurants, who have comped his meals. This has me wondering: what if every guy or gal with a decent food or restaurant blog in London knew that they could possibly bag a free meal at most restaurants, just by dialing for dollars? Would it change the game a bit?

I talk about my own experience with accepting freebies directly from restaurants. There was my meal at Cafe Anglais with fellow London food bloggers Lizzie and Niamh and owner Charlie McVeigh. There was my wine tasting and sushi session at Tsuru. And my German meal at Vinoteca. And now there's my meal at Morgan M with Gaby. All were memorable, fun, and delicious experiences. Maybe that's all they should be. But there's a "but" in there somewhere.

Over my very nice starter of lightly seared yellow fin tuna, provencale vegetables, tapenade, and red pepper and basil sorbet (the sorbet was very surprising–I processed red pepper and basil, but not sorbet, when I read the menu), we talk about my on-again/off-again ethics policy. It's back on these days. Somewhat because of my inherent Catholic guilt. Somewhat because I hang out with a lot of economists and know that there's no such thing as a free lunch. And somewhat because in the last few months, I've noticed a shift in two types of things…

1. The volume of e-mails and invites I'm getting from companies and their public relations departments.
2. The types of things my fellow London food bloggers (myself included) are posting about.

I can only speak for myself. I won't say it's no fun–it's always fun–but it's less fun for me to blog about a free meal. It feels like work. And although I always say I'll write whatever I want, there is this odd pressure to write in a certain way. Maybe this would be different if I reviewed restaurants professionally. This is, after all, just a very time-consuming and sometimes expensive hobby for me. But writing about free meals all the time feels a bit like cheating. And it's even less fun for me to blog about the same free meal that other food bloggers who got the same free meal are blogging about. I kinda like it when I am able to write about something unique.

Plus–I have to think about it from the restaurant's point of view: If a restaurant were to pay for the meals of food bloggers, one London food blogger at a time, that would be an expensive proposition that may not lead to much in the end. As I like to remind people, never OVERESTIMATE the power of my blog. I may get a couple of hundred visitors a day, but in a city of 8 million people? Drop in the bucket. Gaby pointed out that although I may not think my audience is that large, the important thing is that it's very much made up of London restaurant enthusiasts. I don't disagree. But still…if you look at all the comments on all the main London food and restaurant review blogs, there's a lot of audience overlap. I remember joking at one fabulous event that a bunch of us were invited to, "When do you think they're going to figure out that we all know each other?"

OK, back to the food. The menu, which Gaby very kindly let me take with me, says I had the seared fillet of John Dory, Braised Cuttlefish, Barigoule Vegetables, Steamed Courgette, Saffron, and Enbeurre sauce. I remember being surprised that there were potatoes in the dish. This was a good, respectable main, but it paled a bit in comparison to the lovely broad bean cream and the surprising seared tuna.

I told Gaby that if she really wanted to engage with London food bloggers, she should do a communal event. Something informative and educational that you could invite a bunch of people to–not just one or two. How cool would it be if Morgan M were to invite a bunch of food bloggers into the kitchen to prepare a dish and get to know the chef and staff? This would communicate the restaurant's key seasonal message. (And the fact that they offer a veggie tasting menu!) Or, I suggested, how about a session with Morgan M's sommelier? Tell us about the wine list and why it was constructed the way it was constructed. Or maybe just a Q&A with the chef along with a few small tastes of menu items? Perhaps I'm weird, but there's more joy in it for me with those sorts of communal and educational experiences than there is in a free meal. I think the content is more interesting than something like "And then we had the freshest of scallops, straight from the sea." And I somehow feel less conflicted about saying yes to a freebie when I'm learning something new. I don't know…you tell me.

The Desserts: They were lovely, but I only had a bite or two of each so I don't feel ready to comment. One was a dark chocolate moelleux and the other a raspberry soufflé. Also, there was a really really great rice pudding. Yes, a lot of dessert!

The Verdict: I loved my meal at Morgan M. And I very much enjoyed meeting Gaby and getting the scoop on things from the perspective of a super-nice and super-knowledgeable London restaurant expert. The experience, however, has me thinking about the ethics and hidden pressures of freebies. (Acknowledged or not.) Do you say "yes," because at the end of the day, you're not getting paid for this and you're just out to experience new places? Or do you say "no" because you don't want to provide anyone with free advertising?

As I wrote earlier, what if every guy or gal with a decent food
or restaurant blog in London knew that they could possibly bag a free
meal at most restaurants, just by dialing for dollars? Think about it. (I am sure at least a few people have tried and/or will try dialing around. Let me know how that's worked out.)

Shortly after my lunch at Morgan M, LondonEater was invited to dine for free as well, so you can read about Morgan M on his blog too. 

The post Morgan M, Plus Some Thoughts on Freebies first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

La Creperie de Hampstead
77 Hampstead High Street
NW7 1RE

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, 24th of January, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: Less than £5

The Background: Julie and I have just been to California Nails to, well, have our nails done. This place fascinates me because it is ALWAYS full of Americans. I know a lot of Americans live in Hampstead, but surely, there are more British women in Hampstead than American women. Apparently, British women don't believe in getting their nails done. Or maybe they're just boycotting California Nails for some reason.

I try to convince Julie to come with me for a crepe, but she gets lost is some sort of celebrity gossip mag (a rotten excuse if I've ever heard one) and misses our post-manicure rendezvous.

The Entrance: There's a big queue for Le Creperie de Hampstead. (Hereafter known as "The Crepe Cart.") I must have waited at least 15 minutes. When I finally get up to the front of the queue, one of the most unpleasant women of all time takes my order. She must have been having a REALLY bad day. My favorite was when an American dude behind me somewhere in line asked to no one in particular "What does savoury mean?" (We don't use "savoury"so much in the States. Maybe among foodies. But not really otherwise.) The woman at the counter yelled, kinda snottily if you ask me, "WHAT'S SAVOURY? IT'S THE OPPOSITE OF SWEET." I know that means so much sense to a British person, but it really wouldn't have made sense to me five years ago.

The being said, this woman is a WORKHORSE. She is making crepes like there is no tomorrow. She's got an amazing system going. One of these days, I need to go back and take a video. It was that amazing.

The Food: I go for a ham, mushroom, and cheese crepe with tarragon sauce. It takes ages to prepare. One sweet crepe after another goes past me, while I'm still waiting for my ham and cheese. But finally, it arrives…

And it is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

Really. The crepe is nicely toasted all around the edges. It isn't floppy. The tarragon sauce is wonderful. The only thing that could have been better were the mushrooms. They may have been tinned. Honestly, with some fresh button mushrooms, I would have died and gone to heaven. Now I understand the queues.

The Verdict: I will go back here many times. Many.

The post La Creperie de Hampstead first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

El Molino
379 Holloway Road
N7 0RN

Date of Last Visit:Saturday, November 21st, 2008

The Victim: Me

The Damage: Less than £15

The Background: Muna is getting married soon. It's black tie. I need something to wear. She sends me to one of the most bizarre places in London I have yet to experience. Fonthill Road by Finsbury Park tube.One shop after another, filled with strange and sparkly poufy things.

You know I'm more a Boden-kind-of-gal. Or Banana Republic. Hmmm.

But I'm here. And I need a dress. A long one. It takes me a while. But I persevere. And I'm done at lunchtime! How convenient!

Now, Google Maps. I love Google Maps. I GPS my location. I search for restaurants in the nearby area. And hey, there's a Japanese one. You know I like Japanese food. It's called Hana and it's on Seven Sisters.

And well, at 12 noon, it's not open. So I Google again. And I'm taken to a Spanish place on Holloway Road. So I go.

And I'm the only one there. And no one really seems to speak Spanish, as far as I can tell. (Although maybe it was Catalan?) 

One tortilla. (Very good. Just the right size.) Some croquetas. (OK. Just okay.) And my big mistake…asparagus with bread crumbs, which turned out to be CANNED/TINNED asparagus, deep fried. Revolting. Yuk.

The Verdict: Everyone seems to really like this place. Except for me. But really, the tortilla was good.

The post El Molino first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Friday, 18 January

The Victims: Gerry, Ben

The Damage: £10 or so?

The Background: In Chicago, one of my favorite bars in the entire world was Delilah’s on Lincoln, just south of Diversey. Great music. Mixed crowd. Excellent beers. (Who doesn’t love $2 PBR’s???) So when Gerry and Ben were talking about Big Red and the music and the crowd and the bar, I got pretty excited about the prospect of visiting because it sounded a lot like Delilah’s. Now, going to a bar when you’re taking a break from the sauce is an interesting thing…but out of all the people I’ve encountered this month thus far, the folks at Big Red gave me the least amount of hassle. Tap water? Fine. Diet Coke? Coming right up. Cranberry and soda? Done. Gotta give ’em credit for not blinking. I get the sense they’ve seen it all before.

The Entrance: Big Red is dark, and I’m very grateful for the smoking ban. The crowd early in the evening is gentrifying. Later in the evening, it’s punk and goth and a little metal thrown in. Plus some dear old regulars, who I have to wonder about. Do they like totally dig Metallica? Because the juke box is playing Metallica. And Muddy Waters. And Talking Heads. And at £1 for three songs, I’m a sucker.

The Food: I go for the burger and fries; Gerry and Ben opt for fajitas, which look much better than they taste, apparently. My burger is serviceable but they forgot to toast the bun, which is unforgiveable. That’s a lazy man’s burger.

The Decor: The neon promises Coronas and Coors Light, neither of which are to be had. TVs blare "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" It all feels so random, yet so right.

The Loos: Need a power washing. But I’ve seen worse.

The Verdict: I’ll go back for the crowd and the juke box. But first I need some tatoos.

P.S. Added a new post code. N7. Now that hasn’t happened in a while.

The post Bar Food: Big Red first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.