Pitstop

Pitstop Kentish Town. 114 likes. Pitstop Eatery opens in Kentish Town 20/10/2014 bringing Pan Asian street food to north London, bringing back roast...

Pitstop Kentish Town - Home - London, United Kingdom - Menu, Prices, Restaurant Reviews | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com

Restaurant review

IT was the mid-point of a busy Saturday of culture: post one concert at West Road with the grandkids and pre another one at the Corn Exchange, and we needed FUEL (too much culture can be a bit exhausting: it was time for a little break).

For mains, I’m afraid, we both opted out from some of the more original menu offerings (South Indian Fish Curry, Seasonal Allotment Salad, Roasted Aubergine and Chickpea Dhal with Chilli) and went for good old burgers.

Nick went for the standard Bill’s Hamburger, adding extra cheese and guacamole, while I chose (of course) the vegetarian option, the Halloumi and Hummus Brioche Bun, opting for added chickpea and parsley falafel plus, once more, the guacamole (we also both love a guac).

Nick professed himself more than contented with his burger, the only less-than-positive observation being that the guacamole was a little on the bland side.

Desserts were genuinely a bit ‘we’re just being greedy now’ after the substantial nature of the previous two courses but deciding we needed the sugar rush to see us through to the evening, we both went for it.

El Pastór, London Bridge: restaurant review | Foodism

If fajita Fridays with friends is your jam, then El Pastor should be right at the top of your list of places to visit next.

Don't miss the Negroni El Pastor, where Italy meets Mexico in a smoky and refreshingly bitter concoction of mezcal, Casa Mariol vermouth and Campari.

Two tacos per portion means you can order almost the entire menu and divide the offerings up between the table.

Start with a spicy soap de tortilla (admittedly, cutlery might be needed to really enjoy this: it's a Mexican tomato soup, which is served with crunchy totopos chips and chunks of fresh avocado mixed with creamy queso fresco cheese).

Even if you're not in the mood for sampling the whole menu, don't sidestep the house special: the Al Pastór – melty pork shoulder that's been marinated for 24 hours and tossed up with caramelised pineapple on nutty blue Mexican nativo corn tortillas.

Essence Cuisine Shoreditch London: Vegan Restaurant Review ...

Step through the front door though and the sharp, modern interior – with its mimimalist décor, aluminium walls and concrete bar – and an intriguing menu, tell a different story.

At the recommendation of Essence Cuisine’s well-informed and enthusiastic host we start with garbanzo scramble, a take on scrambled eggs, featuring ‘scrambled’ chickpeas, ‘massaged’ kale, green harissa, asparagus and portobello ‘anchovies’.

It’s a good opener, the chickpeas have a surprisingly fluffy texture and a kick of heat from harissa, contrasting nicely with the subtle crunch of the kale.

The three mains we choose are a little hit and miss: a meticulously crafted heirloom tomato lasagne (see menu must-order); a coriander- and spice-fuelled raw pad thai with wonderfully slurpy, springy kelp noodles, marinated kale, tamari almonds and lime; and a well-dressed but overly salty, unremarkable caesar salad made up of baby romaine, dulse (seaweed), capers, sunflower dressing, sunflower ‘parmesan’, shiitake ‘anchovies’ and croutons.

The beautifully presented heirloom tomato lasagne, with its thinly sliced layers of courgette in place of pasta, tangy sundried tomato marinara, pistachio pesto and creamy, fluffy macadamia ‘ricotta’, is an inspired interpretation of a classic.

Salon, restaurant review: All hail this second coming | London ...

The first course, “mackerel, elderberries, horseradish”, both looked and tasted remarkably good — the fresh line-caught mackerel from Dorset, as we were assured it was, converted into three fillets that had been quickly marinated then heated with a blowtorch, sitting in a pink berry juice, bedecked with caramelised wild elderberries, a few green leaves and a blob of mild, creamy horseradish sauce.

They were sitting in a herby green jus, not overpowered by the cheese, topped with Scottish girolles, some sautéed, others sweetly pickled in wine and bay leaf, pickling being a thing here.

Again, there was a terrific accompanying wine, a Toscana IGT, “Prunecchio”, from Fattoria di Sammontana, mainly sauvignon blanc but with a little malvasia and trebbiano too, fresh yet aromatic, lovingly made (only 6,000 bottles a year).

Again, the wines were sumptuous (although under-described on the wine list): a massive, concentrated 15 per cent abv biodynamic Primitivo, from Fatalone in Puglia, and one of the best Chilean reds I have tasted, Cinsault/Pais, made by Rogue Vine, from dry bush farmed vines in the small vineyards of the Itata Valley, 400km south of Santiago, £45.50 a bottle here and well worth it, presumably secondarily sourced from nearby Indigo Wines.

Bavette alla granseola — spaghetti-like pasta with spider crab — for a last lunch on the Lido before leaving the Venice Film Festival last week, at soothing beachside Da Graziano, one of the few restaurants not attached to a care home where the average customer age is a generation older than me, still.

Restaurant review: DC Diner, Coventry | Life and style | The Guardian

Lots of good restaurants pretend to be French brasseries, Italian trattorias, Spanish tapas bars or retro American burger joints: nothing wrong with that.

That's the textbook sign of a gimmick – that it's the only thing about a restaurant that you notice or remember.

The restaurant is in a plane, a McDonnell Douglas DC6 that took its last flight in 2006 and now lives permanently at Coventry airport.

This plane rolled off the production lines in 1958, and the last thing it did was take part in the filming of Casino Royale; long before that, it belonged to the CIA airline Air America and was involved in covert activities in south-east Asia.

A short, determined search eventually located the filling, which had migrated underneath the soggy chips, presumably during the trip from the kitchen – which is outside, down the steps and along a polytunnel, not far from the loos.

Pitstop | Restaurants in Kentish Town, London