Rotorino, 13th March

I had wanted to go to Rotorino since it first opened but neither of my foodie partners in crime were keen. They may have had a point, as it was a little hit and miss.

My companion was a bit of a glutton and wanted to do it right – a primi, secondi and thirdi course. Plus dessert. I knew I wouldn’t be able to manage that much but was happy to try a bit of his along the way. He ordered the bresaola as his primi, whereas I, of course, couldn’t resist the bread-based starter of ‘Three toasts’ – three rather large slices of bread topped with tomatoes, cannellini beans and cime de rapa (not all at once). These were great actually, but incredibly filling. Each one provided a very different flavour profile and I'm not sure which I liked most. Light and juicy tomatoes, earthy and rich beans or the irony tang of the greens. 

Luckily, I was not a fan of the gnudi we ordered to follow this and contented myself with only one of the rather claggy balls of pumpkin with sage. They sat in a buttery, thick sauce which did nothing to stem the overall stodge. Genuinely did not want to eat more than one of these. One of the most unpleasant textures my tongue has ever been presented.

The pasta with sausage, chilli and breadcrumbs however, was very pleasing and just the kind of buttery pasta dish I enjoy. It was a little light on chilli (as most things are for my tastes) but I liked everything else about it. My friend assured me his steak was very good, and I availed myself of one of the mound of fried potatoes he’d got with it (very apt, considering he is Irish).

We debated about sharing a dessert, which somehow turned into having one each. I had the panna cotta with rhubarb, he had cannoli. The Sopranos were mentioned more than once in this meal.

The lack of delicate presentation aside, for the panna cotta, it was alright – the rhubarb was on point but I was neutral about the panna cotta itself. Mayhap I was just too full to enjoy it.

Visually stunning

And I confess I've never really got cannoli. These ones were the same as others I've had - I could take 'em or leave 'em.

L'entrepot and Chicken Shop/Dirty Burger, 8th June

Sunday was a rather indulgent day, mostly because we used London Wine Week as an excuse to get out early and make the most of our wristbands. First, we had brunch at L’Entrepot which were participating in London Wine Week, though we didn’t sample anything there as it was a little too early.

Instead, we had coffee and eggs. I had the gypsy eggs and Alison had avocado, fried egg and tomato bread (you may recall she had something similar at Hackney Bureau). But look at it – who could resist that beautiful guac’?

I don’t know much about gypsies, but they make some damn fine eggs. Eggs are baked in a rich tomato sauce and this is studded with chorizo and new potatoes and topped with a herby crème fraiche. You get a large slice of sourdough to scoop with, and I would highly recommend taking along an avocado-loving friend so that they order the other dish we had, and share their avocado with you.

The eggs were cooked perfectly for me – a little ooze but not too runny and the whole thing was just a perfect combination to set you up for the day.

Alison’s egg on toast was great, if a little basic compared to mine. And the coffees we enjoyed were smooth and rich. Perfect!

We then took in the sun and wandered up Kingsland Road to Rotorino where we eschewed their Riesling blend (way too harsh for our first alcoholic drink) for a Barolo instead. Rotorino is on my List but I won’t say much about them now as I want to come back to try their food. It was much larger than I thought it would be though, and hardly anyone was in there! I didn't expect that for such a trendy place.

Perusing our LWW books we saw Sager and Wilde were taking part and couldn’t resist another visit. They were also offering Riesling as their LWW white but it was far too sweet for us so it was red again. That was perfect – a little lighter than I normally like but great for such a warm, summery day.

Chicken Shop

By this time I had an appetite again so I met Stephen for dinner at Dirty Burger/Chicken Shop. We walked right in, no wait and sat at the bar where we were told we had to be out in an hour (seemed a little harsh given the place wasn’t full although we were in and out in no time anyway). I had the quarter chicken, he had the bacon burger and we ordered fries to share.

And then we ordered the butter lettuce and avocado salad because we saw it being made and it looked amazing. Such vibrant greens were too inviting to resist.

That came first and we tucked in. The avocado was very creamy, the greens fresh and crunchy and it had a mustard seed dressing which was very nice though became a little overpowering towards the end.

Stephen thought his burger was up there with the top dogs and I must admit it looked pretty good when it arrived and even better when he cut into it and revealed the medium rare centre. It disappeared in five minutes flat.

For some reason my camera went into 70s porn filter mode

I never liked crinkle cut fries as a child but I’m prepared to reappraise them based on the Chicken Shop’s version. These were nice and crispy, although a lot of them were also very thin which meant you didn’t get much potato. They came with a garlic mayonnaise that was pretty outstanding.

And so, my chicken. It was very good, nice flavouring on the outside, tasty chicken within, cooked really well. They were a little heavy handed with the salt for my personal tastes but that’s my only minor complaint. Otherwise I thought it was a great, fast, cheap dinner. A good informal alternative to Le Coq, although I do think I slightly preferred Le Coq's chicken. If I hadn’t eaten out once already that day I might have stayed for dessert or tried a few other sides but I can only be so gluttonous in one day, so off home we went.