The Steeple Times

Tag: Anthony Brown

  • Breakfast hawks

    Breakfast hawks

    A review of Hawksmoor Guildhall, EC2V

     

    In the first of a series, we publish a number of the most popular articles from the blog that conceived The Steeple Times. Here, in a February 2012 piece, Matthew Steeples reviews a boozy breakfast at Hawksmoor Guildhall with Anthony Brown. After seeing an image of their breakfast on Facebook this morning, we were reminded just how good it truly is, so if you haven’t tried it already – you really should.

     

    On arrival at the Hawksmoor Guildhall, in the heart of the City of London, I immediately found myself thinking about Edward Hopper’s iconic painting Nighthawks.

     

    Nighthawks (Art Institute of Chicago, 1942) by Edward Hopper (1882 – 1967)

    The main dining area at Hawksmoor Guildhall

     

    Here, in this vast space, which can seat 160 in the restaurant and 75 in the bar, was a venue that very much combines the feel of an old banking hall with something akin to a friendlier version of the American café diner in Hopper’s Nighthawks painting. Though, to my mind, the City is indeed a lonely place, the welcoming staff and the somewhat noisy suited brokers created an atmosphere that truly reflected the stature of this fine establishment.

     

    My companion and I wrongly assumed that this relatively new restaurant had simply taken the space of something that had been there before. In fact, this was just a clever trick. The owners, Will Beckett and Huw Gott, collaborated with the Macaulay Sinclair design studio, who were also responsible for their Seven Dials site, to create a style that combines solid mahogany panels made out of Natural History Museum specimen cabinets, a bar formed out of the counter of a Dutch bank and teak flooring taken from the University of the Arts Building near Bond Street. The result is truly impressive.

     

    We opted to share the Hawksmoor breakfast for two priced at £35. This superb offering was served in a large pan with a smoked bacon chop, the most phenomenal sausages made from pork, beef and mutton, black pudding, short-rib bubble and squeak, trotter baked beans, fried eggs, grilled mushrooms, roast tomatoes and HP gravy. Served with unlimited toast, not that it was actually required, this bargain of a meal was a breakfast fit for a king. After this, you really won’t need to eat again for several days.

     

    Also on offer for breakfast, on a menu designed by the Hawksmoor’s executive chef, Richard Turner, are wild mushrooms on toast with poached eggs Hollandaise (£10), a 200g fillet steak with fried eggs and hash browns (£25) and a twist on McDonalds in the form of the sausage and egg HkMufin (£8.50). Scotch pancakes come available with streaky bacon and maple syrup (£6) or with roasted plums (£5).

     

    Urged to try the breakfast cocktails, we sampled the Hawksmoor’s Marmalade Cocktail (£8) of gin, lemon juice, homemade orange bitters and a dash of Campari and another named Shaky Pete’s Ginger Brew (£8.50) that consisted of gin, homemade ginger syrup and lemon juice topped with London Pride. The first was sharp and a perfect awakener and the second, described on the menu as “a turbo –shandy for the discerning drinker,” surprisingly worked utterly brilliant in terms of the ingredients it combined.

     

    Open for breakfast from 7am and serving until 10.30pm at night, this is a restaurant of which the Metro’s Marina O’Loughlin rightly comments: “As Homer Simspon might say, mmmnmnhrhmm…”

     

    Hawksmoor Guildhall, 10 Basinghall Street, London, EC2V 5BQ. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7397 8120. Website: http://thehawksmoor.com/locations/guildhall

     

    Follow Hawksmoor on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/HawksmoorLondon

     

  • Ferrari's 'F'lipping 'F'ool

    Ferrari's 'F'lipping 'F'ool

    The case of a Ferrari FF driver with more money than sense

     

    Last November, on my way to a lunch at The Stafford Hotel with The Steeple Times restaurant critic, Anthony Brown, I took a photograph of one of my favourite vehicles, a Ferrari FF, in Curzon Street, W1.

     

    Emblazoned with a Westminster City Council parking ticket, this particular FF, baring an Arabic registration “66 C,” was especially noticeable as it was “wrapped” in orange and black and I took a photograph of it.

     

    My photograph of the orange-black “wrapped” Ferrari FF in Curzon Street, Mayfair, London, W1 in November 2011

    After sharing the image on Facebook, I received, in Margaret Thatcher style fashion, the following reply from the renowned designer, Bruce Oldfield: “No, no, no!” Another friend, Anne Marie Legault added: “It doesn’t fit with the neighborhood.” Karen Ashworth, a Mercedes SL 500 driver and friend from my school days, summed up the thoughts of the majority though when she stated of the car: “I’m not a fan to be honest!”

     

    I subsequently saw the car a few times in the months that followed but never imagined that I’d see it on the Mail Online website and would certainly never have predicted that it would have ended up as an advert against uninsured drivers outside New Scotland Yard.

     

    The very same Ferrari FF outside New Scotland Yard today
    Instead of a parking ticket, this Ferrari FF now has a police notice glued to it’s windscreen
    28-year old His Highness Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi. His nickname is “RRR,” which supposedly stands for “rich in real estate resources.”

    The Steeple Times picture of the week, following on from this morning’s coverage of it, therefore, has to be of this particular FF. It turns out that it is owned by His Highness Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, the 28-year old son of His Highness Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, the ruler of Ajman, and was recently impounded in South Kensington, London after he hadn’t bothered to insure it. Having paid £227,000 for such a magnificent vehicle, one would have thought he’d have the brains and finances to have done such. Plainly the age of excess and stupidity is still with us.

     

    Read the Mail Online’s coverage of the story at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2209551/Going-fast–Ferrari-proudly-display-outside-police-headquarters-deter-uninsured-drivers.html

  • Just what the doctor ordered

    Just what the doctor ordered

    A review of Elistano, Chelsea

     

    Lunch in the company of Rex Leyland, who co-founded The Restaurant Doctor with Pierre Koffman and Terence Martin, is always a pleasure as he is frankly one of the most passionate foodies I’ve ever encountered. We recently met, along with the former restaurateur Anthony Brown, at Elistano in Chelsea and a good time was had by all.

     

    Elistano, 25-27 Elystan Street, London, SW3 3NT

    Leyland is a character whom the Evening Standard once described as an “excitable bearded man.” He founded the Chelsea institution Foxtrot Oscar with Michael Proudlock and variously owned other restaurants including Jake’s in Hollywood Road and Busby’s. Now based between a gargantuan houseboat at Kew Bridge on the River Thames and a home in Spain, his insatiable enthusiasm for food, cars and planes is quite wonderful. You can follow him on Twitter @Rexthesex.

     

    Elistano is itself a restaurant that I have known for some years as a good friend, Guy Mountford, worked there whilst he lived in the UK. He sadly suddenly had to return to South Africa after breaking up with a girlfriend and in the following period many changes have followed. As is often the case in the restaurant business, chefs and managers have come and gone at Elistano but now the venue seems to be back on track after a much needed facelift.

     

    One of the problems at Elistano was that it was just too noisy. Owner Derek Taylor has successfully rectified this by installing sound reducers and this has somewhat solved the problem. The décor has also been updated considerably and my only criticism would be that the flooring remains stuck in 1972. In time, I am sure this will be replaced also.

     

    To start, we shared a selection of small plates and salads. Mr Leyland was especially impressed with a Vitaminica salad (£12.95) that he described as “fabulous” but Mr Brown’s beef Carpaccio (£10.95) was unfortunately fridge cold. My choice of chorizo sausage in red wine sauce, however, was a little too fatty and somewhat disappointing.

     

    I continued with a delicious chicken escalope with rocket and cherry tomatoes. At £12.50 this was great value for money and the chips (£3.95), surprisingly for an Italian restaurant, were exceptional.

     

    Mr Brown opted for the 8oz rib eye steak with béarnaise sauce and a grilled tomato (£17.95). All meat at Elistano comes from the restaurant’s neighbour, Jago’s butchers, a terrific local business, but sadly on this occasion the cut was mostly fat. Himself living across the road from the restaurant, he did however comment that on previous visits this particular steak had generally been a most suitable choice.

     

    We concluded with Elistano’s homemade tiramisu, as well as trifle (both at £5.95 each) and a cheese selection (£7.95). The tiramisu was perfectly executed but the trifle was somewhat lacking. As I see only too often, the cheese was served fridge cold. This is an error that would have resulted in a meltdown if a certain American I know had been present and it is a mistake that restaurants should take heed to ensure does not occur. White wine should be served from the coolest of fridges. Cheese should be at room temperature.

     

    The wine list at Elistano understandably is mainly Italian in focus. A 2010 Pinot Grigio is pefectly quaffable and priced at £24 a bottle. Variety comes in the form of a list that ranges from a half-litre carafe of house wine priced at £11 to an £89.50 Montepulciano. The Vina Zaca Rioja (£29.95) we tried was also especially good.

     

    Elistano is somewhere one can rely on for good simple cuisine at reasonable prices. Yes, it has faults but so do all restaurants. This is a neighbourhood restaurant that truly deserves a chance.

     

    Elistano, 25-27 Elystan Street, London, SW3 3NT. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7584 5248. Website: http://www.elistano.com

     

    Follow Elistano on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/elistano

  • Arthur's delight

    Arthur's delight

    A review of Arthur’s Cafe, Kingsland Road, E8

     

    Arthur Woodham was born on Christmas Day 1927. He and his family have run a traditional British café in Kingsland Road, Dalston since 1935.

     

    Arthur is a truly fascinating gent who likes and maintains a routine. I met him at La Brasserie in South Kensington one Saturday last year and in the time since we’ve become firm friends and meet each week. When another of the group who regularly gather at the happy hour asked what made him come to South Kensington for drinks, Arthur jovially replied: “I don’t drink in my manor.”

     

    Arthur’s Cafe, 495 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AU

    The oldest cafe in the Kingsland Road, Arthur’s itself attracts a wide and varied clientele of builders, locals and old ladies. The actor Ade, who appeared in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, is often to be spotted here and others include the businessman Stephen Annett, who ventures over from Kensington for breakfast from time to time. Arthur welcomes all with a cheery smile and his family, equally, are hospitable in the extreme.

     

    At Arthur’s Cafe, no toast is served after 11.30am and no chips are served before noon. Serviettes and glasses are placed on the tables at 11.30am also and at this juncture Arthur puts on a fresh jacket. Here indeed is a well-run business where sequenced order reigns.

     

    The menu is simple but the ingredients used are of the highest quality. A particular highlight of the full English breakfast had to be the sausages. Arthur proudly told us that these come from a butcher who also supplies Marks & Spencer and frankly they were amongst the finest I’d tried in an age. Equally, Arthur’s mustard was powerful and punchy and I must highly commend that as well as the delicious crusty bread.

     

    Tea at Arthur’s Cafe is very much of the builder’s variety: robust, rich and strong brown in colour. A note of sophistication comes also in the form of the San Pellegrino Aranciata orange juices that are also available.

     

    Arthur Woodham

    We’ll leave the final word with Arthur himself:

     

    “I like it, this is my life. You’ve got to like it to keep in it. I meet people. I speak to people. In the cafe, if you like it, you make a lot of friends.”

     

    Arthur’s Cafe, 495 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AU. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7254 3391.

     

    Watch a video feature by Cavan Clerkin on Arthur’s Cafe at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHh3FNG8OU

  • Iris Bond

    Iris Bond

    A personal secretary to Mohamed Al Fayed whose evidence was key in the 1999 Neil Hamilton “cash for questions” libel case. This Chelsea resident brings grace and style to any gathering she attends and also has an extensive knowledge of all things operatic. An evening in Bond’s company is always a pleasure.

  • Anthony Brown

    Anthony Brown

    Former restaurateur whose family are city legends. His pride and joy is a classic Mercedes-Benz Grosser and he’s often to be found propping up the bar at La Brasserie teaching Cockney rhyming slang. A maestro in the kitchen, feasts by him are hugely sought after.

  • The blini baron triumphs

    The blini baron triumphs

    A review of Novikov’s Asian Restaurant

     

    I went to Novikov expecting something brash and “oligarch-tastic” having read articles that bigged up this recent Russian arrival at the heart of Mayfair as just such. As Wayne Rooney once said: “How wrong was I?”

     

    Arkady Novikov

    Novikov is owned by Arkady Novikov, a man who heads an empire that includes over 50 restaurants in Moscow, supermarkets, multiplex cinemas and florists. Dubbed the “blini baron,” the maverick Novikov employs some 7,000 people in total and counts a clientele of Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin and Naomi Campbell amongst his patrons. He doesn’t have an office as he prefers to work out of whichever restaurant needs his attention at any given moment and keeps his employees on their toes by aiming to visit each of his restaurants at least once a week. Novikov Berkeley Street is the first foray into restaurant ownership outside of Russia for a man who also purchased the late Gianni Versace’s Villa Fontanelle on Lake Como for £26 million in 2008.

    Gianni Versace pictured outside the Villa Fontanelle, near Moltrasio on Lake Como in Lombardy, Italy

     

    Novikov London is a vast 400-seat restaurant and bar that is open daily from 7.30am to 11.30pm and split into three parts. In this colossal space, which cost some £8 million to create, is an Italian restaurant and a large wood paneled bar but what I got to try along with my esteemed dining companion, Anthony Brown, was their superb pan-Asian restaurant.

     

    A natural haunt for Mayfair’s wealthy “hedgies,” the clientele of the restaurant also numbers Rhianna, David Walliams, Lara Stone, Tamara Ecclestone, Nick Candy and Holly Vallance. Here indeed is a place where the modern day equivalents of Jay Gatsby can feel perfectly at home.

     

    The pan-Asian restaurant is understated and dark. Though I personally found that the tables were a little too close together, I was especially impressed by the knowledgeable and friendly staff as well as the open “market” area showcasing the finest seafood, fruit and vegetables.

     

    Novikov’s “market” area showcasing seafood, fruit and vegetables

    The menu parades diners through a culinary tour offering a spectacular selection of Asian dishes. Divided into sections that include dim sum, maki, sushi and sashimi, we started with some edamame with sea salt (£4) before trying a most sophisticated Thai yam bean dumpling (£6) and some steamed king crab and parma ham dumplings (£9). The 5-piece prawn tempura with a tesuyu sauce (£17) was simply divine but the only disappointment was that the wasabi was not quite punchy enough.

     

    We continued with a California maki roll (£12) that contained some of the most fantastic crab I’ve ever tried. Accompanied by deliciously juicy ginger, this was one of the highlights of the meal but the undoubted number one hit was the unagi (£17), a dish made from Japanese freshwater eels. Sweet yet also salty, this grilled dish alone will make me revisit Novikov again and again. Our next choice was  yuzu soy dressed tuna sashimi (£17) that had been flash cooked for 2 to 3 seconds. This was itself delicious but the citrus was a little overwhelming.

     

    For the main course, we opted to share a 180g chilli ginger spicy beef fillet (£24) served with steamed jasmine rice (£5) and a roast half duck with a Chinese spiced soy sauce (£22). The former was phenomenal and definitely deserving of a mention in despatches.

     

    For pudding I opted for a green tea crème brûlée accompanied by a punchy guava sorbet (£8) that was unusual and delicious. Mr Brown’s poached pear, however, was a dish that he described as “a little pedestrian.”

     

    Novikov’s Asian restaurant

    Novikov is somewhere that I urge readers to try. Deservedly lauded as “Russia’s most successful restaurateur,” Mr Novikov is on to a winner in Berkeley Street and I predict further openings in Europe will, in due course, be equally well received. His attention to detail and fastidious nature are, in my opinion, plainly what makes him and his restaurants such a runaway success.

     

    I’ll leave the final word with Mr Novikov himself: “People often ask me whether I plan on continuing to expand. I always tell myself, ‘Enough. Stop.’ But I just can’t!”

     

    Novikov, 50a Berkeley Street, London, W1J 8HA. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7399 4330. Website: http://www.novikovrestaurant.co.uk

     

    For more information on the Novikov Restaurant Group, go to: http://eng.novikovgroup.ru

     

    Follow Novikov on Twitter at: http://www.twiter.com/NovikovLondon