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On a Saturday night we had hoped to have dinner at the re-opened Hawley Arms, fair enough, last ditch attempts to book a table were a little on the wishful side so we arrived, nonetheless, and found a table. We grabbed a menu and were told that the kitchen was closed, half an hour before the advertised time. Even this was fine, we were peckish but could cope with focussing on drinking for the evening and address the food issue later (then, the table was literally whisked out from under our feet).

This was never going to be a cosy, feet up leisurely affair, that’s why we went there! It was fairly easy to snag a table at which to continue drinking because we arrived before the queue formed and a jolly good time was had by all. Copious amounts of gin later and we were out on our ear. It occurred to the group (Thomas and I and the visiting Kid and Crann) that we had been hungry several hours ago and the cashews, hula hoops and wotsits had barely touched the sides!

Now, I am slightly loath to review the Tufnell Park Kebab and, as I’ve mentioned before, it was once an all too regular haunt on route home. We had to wean ourselves off. They even gave us a Christmas present, a mug and a card, bless them.

Reluctant as I am to tell all, it seemed like the best idea ever in the early hours of Sunday morning! After an evening drinking the only thing for it is a carb fest and I had exactly that with hummus, chips and salad in a pitta bread, I usually opt for the grilled halloumi but felt his time that chips with ketchup were an absolute must.


The chips here are proper chip shop chips, I’m not claiming freshness, I have no doubt at all that they are frozen but they are gloriously thick and soggy, not everyone’s cup of tea but exactly what I require in a chip.

The fact that they also serve regular fish and chip shop food is the reason, cod, saveloy, pies, chicken pieces, as well as traditional kebabs are all to be found here.


Thomas went for the usual, chicken shish with chips. We’ve, thankfully, not yet reached the stage where we can order ‘the usual’ but the guys do always ask me if I would like hummus, as they know I like it! Ha.


Chicken shish too for Crann and chips and salad in pitta for the Kid, who, as usual, ate very little and, at the time was accused of making it look absolutely vile, in a way that only the Kid knows how! With retrospect, how great can chips in pitta bread covered in mayo with a sprinkling of red cabbage and cucumber ever look?


The sauce options for the kebab are limited to chilli or garlic, both of which are acceptable. The whole thing is infinitely satisfying at the time but guilt inducing in the sense not only that it provides pretty much zilch in terms of nutrients but also that I feel I’ve let myself down by eating this kind of food.

Am I a snob? I can admit that I loved it at the time even if I was a little bloated, so at least i'm not in denial. The memories of watching an episode of Rogue Traders once upon a time which focused on these kinds of outlets was not even enough to deter me it seems. Perhaps the alcohol is the answer. Ho hum, it was done.

Having read some rave and some lambasting reviews of Rossopomodoro it was with trepidation that I suggested we dine here when my Mum came to visit. It's close to work and pretty cheap so I decided to trust the positive reviews, some even claim this to be one of the best pizza restaurants in London.

A brief bit about the place, Rossopomodoro is an Italian chain serving food and wine inspired by Naples, they claim to source a superior quality of ingredients than many of their counterparts. All sounds good but due to the 'cook to order' nature of the food prep here, it seems slow service is often an issue. This did not seem a major negative as we were planning on a leisurely evening, aiming to arrive around 6:30. There are 3 branches in London, we visited the Monmouth Street one.

Upon requesting an outdoor table the waitress glared at me in a manner akin to how I imagine she would look at her sworn enemy. I'm putting this down to a language misunderstanding, we actually found the service to be perfectly acceptable after this blip and the food was served with a smile for the rest of the evening, we waited for a maximum of 10 minutes for any one course.

The best dishes were indeed, as reported, the pizzas. The charred thick bases were brilliantly smattered with air pockets and whatever oven they're using here certainly makes for a perfect dough. Thomas and I both ordered bianco pizzas without tomato sauce. I selected the acerrana topped with mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes (advertised as sliced but in fact whole, lazy!), rocket and caciocavallo cheese, a hard cheese which retained it's shape and didn't melt, like shavings of Parmesan.

Thomas opted for the Ventura with mozzarella, parma ham, rocket, Parmesan and basil. We both agreed that this is the best pizza we've had in London (but we're still to sample the delights at Franco Manca.....) and my Mum thought it was the best she'd eaten anywhere. I feel that the toppings could be improved upon, the cheese was great but the sun dried tomatoes were a bit over dried, hard and a tad boring. Still, this is much more like it and miles ahead of other chain pizza places, you know who you are.

My Mum had the Rossopomodoro salad with tomato, egg, olives, smoked aubergine and buffalo caciocavello cheese, she was happy with it.

What stood out for me was Thomas' buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad. The quality of the cheese was beyond anything I've been able to locate in London, and I've tried pretty hard and sampled a lot of what's on offer. This is the closest I've come to matching the quality a mozzarella brought back to the UK by a Neapolitan colleague following a trip home. For me good tomatoes, cheese, basil, a high quality olive oil and a tart and fruity balsamic vinegar is an unbeatable flavour combination. Simple but special, I know others decry this sort of fare due to its modest and uncomplicated nature but, for me, such fresh and delectable ingredients can be just as good as more complex and refined flavours.

We sampled a couple of desserts too which were more of a disappointment, the chocolate and almond cake was dense and powdery, very rich but with an artificial flavour, it was served with custard ice cream and some squirty cream. Nothing remarkable here, slightly better was the almond ice cream with hot nutella sauce, there's little room for error when melted nutella is involved!

I like this place, for a West End chain restaurant their sourcing of ingredients sets them apart from other similar establishments. I would go back for a ball of mozzarella and a nice glass of Italian wine one evening, as it's just around the corner from the office this might just become a regular haunt.

For our next dinner out whilst the kitchen undergoes renovation, last Tuesday I tried my luck at very late notice and managed to bag a table at Polpo for the very same evening. There had been a cancellation and I was booked in for 2 at 7:30, perfect.

Upon arrival however, I discovered the chap on the phone (who had been very polite) had booked me in for 7:30 on Friday. We were asked to wait at the bar, rammed with diners waiting to be seated (including Mark Hix and Stephen Terry), I was almost ready to admit defeat when owner Rusell Norman led us to a table. He left Caprice Holdings not long back and this is his bash at a solo venture. Phew.

I was pretty excited about trying this place so expectations were high. I liked the vibe immediately, relaxed, dark, romantic, buzzy and cool, the waiting staff have just the right amount of nonchalance, I loved it and couldn't wait to sample the dishes.

To begin with we sampled 3 starters, the idea is to order a series of small plates so the starters are all very reasonably priced, less than £3 and are very small, more like appetizers or nibbles really. We had fig and proscuitto, salt cod on polenta and an anchovy and chickpea crostini. We halved each and it was a good start indeed, it took us all of 2 minutes to devour the lot, worth noting that the polenta was perhaps a little on the dry side but the cod was excellent and the anchovy and chickpea was an interesting mix.

We had a selection of mains which were all served promptly as we finished with the starters beginning with the pork belly with radicchio and hazelnuts.

This was deliciously fatty, the meat succulent and incredibly flavoursome but I found it to be far too salty. The pairing of radicchio and hazelnut is rather masterful, the bitterness of the leaves and the crunch of the nuts working brilliantly to complement but not overpower the pork.

Apologies for the darkness of the pictures, in order to recreate that oh so Venetian atmos us bloggers must forgo a decent snap. Next up was the grilled sliced flank steak and mushrooms. Again I thought the meat was rather salty, not as much as the pork but still, seasoning seemed a bit heavy handed. The steak was nicely cooked with the mushrooms providing a nice contrast in texture on a bed of peppery rocket.

We also had a fine tomato and tapenade pizzetta, again high in salt but tapenade by it's nature is pretty salty. There were a scant few slices of tomato, I was underwhelmed by this to be honest, I thought the base would be crispier but it was in fact rather doughy. Not hugely memorable. The fish dish, mackerel tartare with horseradish and cucumber was great but perhaps a little under seasoned. I do not recall getting much horseradish in the dish but I thought in all it's a well conceived and fresh tasting plate of food. It looked pretty too, served alongside a flatbread.

We also had some beets, which were very good, and some parmesan and potato croquettas. These were nicely cheesy and crisp on the exterior with a fluffy piping hot centre. I'm yet to try a croqueta that beats those at Barrafina and these sadly did not, though they are valiant contenders.

We were tempted by desserts trying both the honey and walnut semifreddo, served cutely in a cone, and ciambella, a sponge cake covered in cream and a chocolate sauce. The 'sponge' (described as such by the waiter) was pretty dense and drier than your average sponge. The sauce was the great thing about this dish, delightfully rich and naughty.

I've read some other mixed reviews of Polpo but our experience was good overall. The closeness of the neighbouring tables did mean for uncomfortable maneuvering at times, particularly when toilet breaks were needed but, like the lighting, arguably it adds to the experience.

I will eat here again, but I'll leave it a couple of months in the hope that some of the teething problems are ironed out. With the booking mix up and the incredibly over salted meat, the evening was a tad disappointing however, some dishes were great, and it was excellent value for money, at under £30 each for all the food and a carafe of red.