Friday Night Dinner: Mriya Neo Bistro
Out of the way, near the Brompton Cemetery, behind an unassuming shop window, a cosy little restaurant is hiding. It is named Mriya, which means dream in Ukrainian. The small restaurant has a short menu of Ukrainian dishes, in Ukrainian and English.
When we arrived, a fiery horseradish infused shot of vodka, to go with a canapé with Salo (a slice of salt-cured pork subcutaneous fat), which we'd pre-booked was waiting for us. An excellent start to the meal.
For once, we decided on a wine first, and chose a Ukrainian white wine from the Odesa region. It was nice and crisp, and worked fine with the rest of our dishes.
As our starters we shared the Matthias forshmak, chopped herring served with boiled potatoes, onions, and eggs; and a cheburek, a deed-fried turnover filled with (in our case) a four cheese blend. We enjoyed the forshmak with some bread and whipped butter.
After our starters, my wife picked as her main the salted cheese varenyky (dumplings) with wild garlic pesto. The filling was flavourful, with the wild-garlic pesto adding a bit of a kick. I decided on the Kyiv fried chicken, with mashed potato. The chicken was filled with a delightful garlic butter, and had a nice crisp coating. The mash was very smooth, and was served with two sauces.
After all of this, we also decided on a sour cherry varenyky to share as desert. And to round our meal off, we enjoyed that with a shot of a sour-cherry infused vodka. Budmo!
Friday Night Dinner: Hans' Bar & Grill
Hans' Bar and Grill sits just of Sloane Square in Chelsea. It is attached to the 11 Cadogan Gardens hotel, but has a separate entrance on a pedestrianised part of Pavilion Road.
We sat in the upstairs part in the middle of a spacious room. After umming and ahhing about which dishes to pick, and whether to have any from the set menu, we decided on sharing the Truffled Mac & Cheese Croquettes to start. Three 1½ inch cubes, filled with mac & cheese showed up, slightly breaded and fried. They were nice, but they could have been a bit cheesier.
For our mains, I selected the Woodland Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto, which came with some Parmesan crackling. The risotto had a good bite to it, which I like, but it was a little skint on the asparagus. My wife chose the Cured & Roasted Loin of South Coast Cod, served with some fresh peas and brown shrimp on top. Although tasty, the portion was disappointingly bijou, and the fresh peas in the description turned out to be a quenelle and a smear of pea purée.
As we were still a little peckish, we also had a desert. My wife had a sticky toffee pudding, which was nice enough, but again a bit bijou. I had an apple crumble pie, which is just like an apple crumble, but then in a crispy pie case.
Although the food was pleasant, but not great, we found the experience a little "odd". Perhaps that was also because we were the only ones in the room having dinner — the tables on either side of us were only doing drinks — or that with every opening of the door there was a cold blast of air. We won't be returning.
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Friday Night Dinner: Fish!
Close to Borough Market, Fish! is a long-established seafood restaurant, and along the street from Mallow which we visited a couple of weeks ago. Fish! is located in a glass lined and roofed building, which I suppose in summer could get quite warm. My wife — who picks the restaurants — commented that she had never dined in Fish! but had been fancying trying it for several years. When we arrived at around seven, the service was just getting going.
We were shown to our table very speedily, by a friendly waiter who briefly explained the menu. We decided to go for a calamari to share to start, which came with a very garlicky mayonnaise. An oyster each add some extra flair.
My wife enjoyed a sightly "brunchy" main of smoked haddock with bubble and squeak, and a poached egg on top — unfortunately the poached egg was set, rather than being runny. The dish came with a pot of a well-made hollandaise sauce which finished things off nicely.
I had the roast Sea Bream special, which was served with cockles and mussels in a slightly spicy tomato-y sauce. The skin was crisp, and the bisque delicious enough that I ask for a spoon to slurp up the leftovers.
For dessert, my wife enjoyed an apple ice cream with a shot of Calvados, Affogato style — these paired really well and made a nice change from the traditional espresso and vanilla ice cream version. I enjoyed a dense chocolate mousse. Delicious, but probably a little too much!
With our meal we enjoyed a crisp bottle of Txakoli, a lightly sparkling wine from the Basque region of Spain that we very much enjoyed when we were in San Sebastián last summer. This paired well with the food and was an immediate choice when we saw it on the menu.
If you like fish and seafood, we can recommend Fish!
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