Wednesday 16 April 2014

Franklin's - East Dulwich

Oh dear, this was supposed to be the crowning glory of my latest visit to the smoke. And while, in many ways, it was a lovely evening I'm afraid I can't share it with you in the way we would both want. Why is this, I hear you ask! Well, look no further:


Yes, dear readers, I'm afraid I got a bit happy with the snappy and after the second bottle, things went a little awry. However, as a true profesh, I will post everything anyway and leave you to peer through the fuzz and gloom yourselves.

So, from what I can recall of the evening, Franklins started life as the deli which is situated next door. This proved so popular that they branched out (about 10 feet across the road) and opened the Franklins restaurant. The food changes daily depending on what's available from their various locally sourced (where possible) suppliers and the menu was short with limited options - not a bad thing so long as everything tastes top notch.

So, there were several starters, I had the brown potted shrimp which were tasty... I think. Certainly the Child and Mrs P. had several 'tastes' which is a good sign.



I think Mrs P. had this:



But I don't know what it was/what it tasted like. I do know that The Child liked the asparagus (top pic) which suprised everyone, but not as much as the oyster that she had a crack at. After eating it, she pulled a face and declared it was 'too salty!' Still, I'm pleased with that - it wasn't a full on puke after all!

For mains, I then had duck, Mrs P. had a steak and another diner had fish:





I'm pleased at this point that all three photos are at least recognisable! These were great. everything kept simple, although in the case of the duck and the steak - perhaps a little too simple as sides had to be ordered in addition. I would love to give you a blow by blow recollection of these but you'll have to imagine it. What I can tell you, is that they were all delicious! However, the last plate remains a bit of a mystery. I think it was possibly lamb but I actually have no idea. I'm sure it was tasty but I can't remember *sadface.



Then pudding:



I think this was a brownie but to be fair, I was in no position to make any judgment calls by this point. I remember, leaving with Mrs P. and a very tired Child happy but 50 quid per head lighter (The Child doesn't count, she just shared a bit of everything). It was an enjoyable evening, the restaurant is small and cosy with great food and great atmosphere. The service was slow but the place was full on a Saturday night and we were busy enjoying ourselves. While Franklins is clearly a solid choice for dinner and I doubt you'll have anything to complain about, for me it doesn't have the 'wow' factor. Perhaps if they had given me a story about why the items on the menu were there today, something that tells me what in that menu is why they opened the restaurant in the first place - what they were trying to achieve. I don't need luxurious or posh, just honest done honestly.

http://www.franklinsrestaurant.com/

Wednesday 9 April 2014

East Dulwich Market (again)

I might have mentioned about my pseudo love affair with East Dulwich, and this weekend I had the opportunity to illicitly flirt with my concrete Mistress once again. An afternoon free from wife and child meant that I visited all the corners, crannys and market stalls I could handle. Joined in this endeavor by my aforementioned not-quite-brother-in-law, I ate, drank, sniffed and caressed to excess in this urban garden of temptation.

Although coffee and beer featured prominently in the day, I want to focuss on two specific experiences; The Dogfather and Drum And Kettle Popcorn. These two market stalls are renowned in blogs from far and wide and I had been itching to give them a good going over.

The Dogfather


'I don't normally like <insert food type here>, but I love this', is a phrase that usually forces me to me to scoff like a public schoolboy, uncontrollably and without mercy. However, I found the phrase forming in my brain like a poisonous cloud of cliche as I munched through the sausage and unusual toppings. I opted for the signature 'dog and was glad for it. Soft onions, sauerkraut, chorizo, cheese, jalapinos and tomato-y sauce were placed on and around the beef hotdog which wasn't nearly as disgusting as your usual boiled, artifically smoked, flacid, pink frankfurter. In fact, the more I ate, the more I decided that it wasn't disgusting at all. It was nice, really nice. So now you understand my problem, do I commit the ultimate sin of hipocrisy, or keep silent and flagelate myself later for not expressing my true feelings. In the end, I found a third way: I muttered it conspiratorially to my almost-b-in-l while sitting on a wall and stuffing the sausage, bun and top combo into my gob. In conclusion, you should buy one of these - they ain't cheap, at over 6 quid for a hotdog, these are pitched at those of you who simply can't resist. But after eating one, I count myself firmly in that number.

Drum and Kettle Popcorn



Having been a fan of the saltysweet popcorn mix for a few years now and introduced countless family members, friends and randoms to its many pleasures, I watched this corn being freshly popped and flavoured with excitment and growing desire. The corn was bagged and took it's place as a single brick in a wall of popcorn that marched across the side of the stall. I chose the smaller of the two bag options and enjoyed hugging the still warm stretched plastic as we wandered up the road. I managed to keep my hands out until after my Dogfather but then I started munching. A salty caramel mix, they were everything I had hoped. The perfect accompanyment to a movie night in, these beat the socks off the standard Cinema version - fully recomended.

So, goodbye East Dulwich. I will return soon, and we shall dance again.

Wednesday 2 April 2014

Dairy Milk with Lu and Ritz biscuits

On the face of it, we all know this shouldn't work. Why would anyone buy these when Chocolate digestives have already been invented? Just don't bother Mr Cadbury, your work here is done.

But...






These chocolate and biscuit combos seek a different path. The proportion of choc to 'cuit is weighted heavily in favour of the cocoa and with four squares per pack it actually falls into the  category of 'well, I've had two, I might as well finish them off'. So are they any good? I liked the ritz, Mrs P liked the Lu*. They both lived up to the promise advertised and I hope they stick around but I doubt it. Their very strength will be their downfall, they taste great with tea but rather than take on the mighty digestive, Cadbury are pitching them as a snack which is simply crazy when compared to a penguin or rocky bar. Niche at best, but for lovers of the salty sweet, this is as close to a salty penguin as you're gonna get.

Enjoy while you can.



*Tee hee, snigger

The White Hart - Fyfield, Oxfordshire



The White Hart is an interesting venue as it tries desperately to be the genuine Gastro-pub experience. The ambience is right, with the wooden beams criss crossing the hall and the minstrels gallery above. The bar just off the entrance served just the right number of bespoke, craft ales alongside the standard lagers and even the tables were solid, laid with hefty cutlery and decent glass ware.

The menu was suitably 'gastro' with local this and seasonal that, reasonably priced and predictably full of posh pub grub. If I sound a little dismissive about the place, perhaps that is a little unfair. It was.... fine. I had the meaty sharing platter which was, as anti-pasti platters go, fairly well equipped and was nicely set off with some weird green bread:





Which tasted mainly of fennel. On the platter, I always like a good artichoke so I was pleased to see that included, the meats were all nicely selected, with peppery and paprika-ry salami style alongside a small, dark wild boar cut. Most unusual were the slices of duck. Lovely yielding meat with a decent bit of fat (bottom left in the picture if you were wondering).

However, while it had everything going for it, The White Hart was missing the one thing that would bring me back - heart. I was brought here for a business lunch and if I have the opportunity in the area again, I will probably pop by. But for destination dining, I would suggest looking further afield. I didn't get personality or any real sense of authenticity. It was as if someone had read up on Gastro-pubs and decided to open one with every single box ticked. Good food, tick. A few proper ales, tick. An old out of the way pub that could do with a facelift whilst maintaining all the original features, tick, tick and tick.

If I lived in the village with this place on my doorstep, I might well be championing it's virtues. But I don't, so I'm not. I'm sure it will win a few awards and bring local punters flocking, but for me it was all a little too contrived to travel almost an hour to get to.