Cooking & Tours

Conger Steaks and Spicy Prawns with Sweet Potato and Spinach

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Ever since I went on a deep sea conger fishing trip from Brighton about a year ago, I got my mind set to cooking some of those lovely eels. Back then, none of our group were able to catch a single conger eel, but luckily enough there is Borough Market. You don’t find conger on offer very often, but during my last visit they had a whole big conger resting there on the ice in the display tray, untouched yet by anyone. I ordered three 1.5-inch thick steaks, and the guy behind the counter started chopping away like a young Bruce Lee. I also purchased some prawns, herbs, spices, sweet potatoes and normal potatoes The rest of the ingredients I already had at home.   Conger has a proud history as a food fish in Europe. The 12th Century Norman Taxation Pipe Roll mentions two establishments for the drying of […]

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Cooking & Tours, Food

Our Killer Californian Clam Chowder Cheat Sheet

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As most of my recipes (and my wife, who likes Jamie-Oliveresque, precise instructions, keeps reminding me), the following is not strictly speaking a proper recipe, more like a cheat sheet that mentions main ingredients that have worked well in the past, both mandatory and optional, and basic cooking procedure. I’ve been to San Francisco in March 2003 on a business trip. This is when I had my first clam chowder experience at Fisherman’s Wharf (I hadn’t even had anything similar before, like a thick, white, creamy, European-style clam or mussel soup or something) and I immediately fell in love and have been experimenting with various recipes ever since (not claiming to be an expert, though, far from it, and definitely not a purist, so: purists, please do not be offended by the liberties I’m taking). Ingredients (4 persons) 100g to 300g jar of high-quality, ideally whole/un-chopped, large canned clams (weight […]

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England, Restaurants

Serious Seafood in Southampton: Soleto

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During our recent visit to the New Forest we took the train to Southampton and hired a car from there to get to our final destination near Brockenhurst. On our way back we stopped for dinner at Soleto, Southampton’s top location for seafood, an Italian restaurant ranking #14 out of 639 on Tripadvisor, and proud holder of a Certificate of Excellence. The owner, who also happens to be the chef, greeted us upon arrival, gave us some recommendations and cheered us up with some anecdotes from his life. We decided to go for the mussels (£9.50), a mixed salad (£3.50), and the “Fish Medley” (£24.95).   Both dishes arrived fairly quickly and we tucked in. The mussels were among the nicest ones we’ve had in a while, really lovely sauce too. The seafood platter was equally delightful. I particularly liked the squid and the cod, both of which had near-perfect […]

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London, London restaurants

Kensington Place – Tasty Seafood in a Relaxed Atmosphere

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UPDATE 31.03.2019 – Kensington Place closed on 24.03.2019 after 32 years. Many food critics found very kind words for this restaurant that pioneered the new London restaurant scene when it was opened in 1987 by Nick Smallwood and Simon Slater in the same year as Bibendum and the River Café. We enjoyed our recent visit to Kensington Place. The friendly staff led us to our table next to the tall window front. We immediately liked the bright, unpretentious, modern, relaxed atmosphere.   After short deliberation, we decided to go for the 2-course set menu for £15 with oysters and whitebait for starters and the fish of the day (cod fillet) for the two of us. As optional sides we chose French fries (£2) and creamed spinach (£3.50). The oysters, which came highly recommended to us, did not disappoint. The whitebait were phenomenally delicious, just the right texture and not too […]

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England, Restaurants

Wells Crab House – Seafood Lovers’ Heaven

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During our recent trip to Norfolk we visited Wells Crab House, which had been recommended to us by fellow bloggers Ourworldforyou. We absolutely love this little seafood place. It is located in a tiny blue building (and an adjacent building) right next to the harbour in small fishing town Wells-next-the-Sea, where it is ranked the #1 restaurant out of 30 on Tripadvisor. The restaurant is run by Kelly (who had been very patient with me when I re-scheduled our visit three times over the phone/text messages) and her husband Scott.    Ms B opted for the sea bass fillet (£19), I went for the crab (from Andy Frary’s Andorra Star 2 boat) and lobster (from Billy Ward’s Malfreen boat) with fries, dressed blakeney leaves, home made pickles and bloomer bread (£29). As dessert Ms B chose two scoops of ice cream (Eton Mess and salted caramel for £3.20 total). I […]

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