The Eyeful

London is just one of those cities where a great dining experience can be just around the corner. Unfortunately, it is also like every major western city where around the corner you will find a fried chicken shack or a cup of really watered down Ethiopian coffee. In order to avoid such pitfalls of horrifying consumption you really have to keep your eyes and ears on the prowl for new and interesting places. While riding the No. 14 bus up Piccadilly Road, my eyes caught sight of one such place called Napket. After quickly googling their menu and noting their by line of ‘Snob Food’ I instantly Facebooked my friend with an invitation to join me for dinner.

The following week I met my friend on Piccadilly road for our arranged date at Napket. Alas our meeting point was the granddaddy of the macaron, Laduree, and given that I recently classified the macaron as the synthetic cousin of the cupcake my spirits were crackling like the fine underbelly fat of a roasting piglet. Luckily in entering Napket my spirits were lifted by the cool interior contrast of the black panelling and furnishing with the hanging silver chandeliers and exposed brick walls. In researching online I discovered that this eating area is referred to as the ‘living room’ with the ‘library’ room placed further inside the establishment for those intending to only consume beverages.

Having dotted on the unmistakably ‘wow factor’ ambiance I can get to the bread and meat of the matter. The ‘living room’ and the ‘library’ were both being attended to by the same two person waiting staff. Thus it was no surprise to us that we had quite a wait to place our order as well as to actually lay our taste buds upon it. However, the Eastern European staff was pleasant and a bit quirky. When we inquired about their bread (something the pantry by the entrance of Napket makes look very tempting) we were told ‘I’m sorry but the bread is still in the oven, would you mind waiting for when it is out?’ I believe the grimace on my face may have confused the waiter…

Eventually I was served my order of a French Onion soup with a gruyere crouton. It is debatable if this was a soup or rather a dish with an enormous piece of toasted brown bread with cheese submerged in a bit of broth. This visual technicality turned out to be only a nomenclatural technicality as this dish was indeed French Onion soup. It had that unmistakable caramelised onion flavour while the ‘crouton’ had the rich and heavy cream taste that is typical of a gruyere topping. I must admit, this rustic (check out the cast iron dish it was served in) interpretation of one of my all time favourite soups was mentally refreshing but physically far too satisfying. I believe the soup could have done with more broth and a smaller portion of ‘crouton’ as the overall package was a bit heavy. Having said that, if I was Bobby Brown and the soup was Whitney Houston, I would totally hit that bitch again and again.

Helena Maratheftis, my dining companion and photographer (she took the accompanying photos) had placed a far superior order to mine. Whilst I forgot the formal menu name it was a chicken casserole dish which I sampled and subsequently proclaimed divine. The chicken was absolutely perfectly, it was soft and tender with a light meaty after taste that indicated it was cooked lovingly in the ‘just right’ amount of herbs and spices. Having said that, I would like to caution the reader that I do not know the extent to which this review of the chicken dish was biased by the ‘BUT MOMMY I want what she has!’ syndrome.

Napket, it is a place to feast your eyes and share some intimate moments with your plus one or plus more. If you so should choose to go beyond the many cafe-esque beverages on offer in order to dine then be prepared to be spoiled. With home comfort foods gone professional, Napket more than satisfies the stringent demands of proper food snobs like us here at Love Food Love Me and does so at reasonable prices. If you are in London you are always welcome to treat me to a meal here.

Napket (Piccadilly), SnobFood Ltd
www.napket.com
5 Vigo Street, London
(44) 20 7734 4387

Cranachan Café

While in Glasgow visiting friends I found myself having lunch at the Cranachan Café in the unlikely (for Scotland) bourgeoisie shopping arcade of Princes Square.  The café’s specialty is as advertised “Coffee & Modern Scottish Fayre” and it is mighty good fare, despite its cutsie Scottish spelling.  

Off their menu I chose to order the Cullen Skink soup ( I’m always attracted to menu items that could easily be misread or mispronounced…I like Poisson) which is a traditional Scottish soup consisting of smoked haddock pieces swimming in a creamy broth with leeks and corn.  Cranachan claimed this was their specialty soup which meant it could either go terribly right or wonderfully wrong, with absolutely no room for anything in between.  Thus, I was anticipating being served a liquid version of Janet Jackson and her exposed nipples, a hit or miss affair depending on mood and timing.

When the dish arrived it had an appearance a bit like that of a  leek and potato soup  and it was also  served with two pieces of hardy looking brown bread.  I could not help but feel I  stepped into a minimal security cafeteria prison where a white collar criminal was about to pinch my credit card details at any moment. My concern thankfully vanished with the first spoonful of Cullen Skink:  the creamy broth had a slightly heavy semi-sweetness about it while the haddock was a melting excursion of meatiness. These flavours made a wonderfully soothing winter soup reticent of a proper New England chowder (found mostly in New York where no actual New Englander is available to perform a culinary massacre).  What made the dish particularly delicious, however, was the brown bread that was served with the soup ( I must admit that if I miss anything by living in the UK it is decent bread). It was flavorsome and absorbent bread perfect for dipping into soup (and perhaps even for some sharp cheddar and Irish butter), the kind of bread one would like to be served for their last living meal. I wish Mary, Queen of Scots, had this delightful bread before her head ended up decorating one of Queen Elizabeth’s front parlors. Imagine the scandal of Elizabeth trying to wipe a smirk of the dead Mary’s face! Alas, even in death Mary disappointed the Scots (and me) but fortunately, back in present times, the bread was a very tasty affair for me.

Unfortunately, however, the combination of the heavy bread and creamy soup meant I was too stuffed to have pudding with my friends, who ended up ordering a sizeable scone (think face, body and stringy limbs of that round headed scientist from the Muppets). I did try the other thing Cranachan advertises, coffee and that happily was a very nice cup of coffee. I highly recommend you visit Cranachan if you find yourself in Glasgow and in need of comfort food, pleasant service and perhaps even some refreshing décor (Timorous Beasties design marks are found throughout the premises).

(For more details please visit Cranachan’s website: http://www.cranachancafe.co.uk/ ).