Foley’s Restaurant

The food at Foley’s restaurant is creative where it uses different flavours from around the world to bring you modern dishes. It is small plates which make it great concept for sharing.

It has a simplistic menu which is split in to four section – bits and bobs, veg, meat and from the sea. Each section is not big but enough to give a selection of dish to choose.

Our meal started with complimentary lotus seeds that has been turned to popcorn like snacks. It was crunchy with a spicy kick. The flavour reminded me of the taste of Indian cuisines.

Bits & Bobs
We tried the Ceviche endive tacos (£6.50). This dish is endive filled with tuna, octopus, cucumber, coconut miso leche and peanuts. It was refreshing dish that had flavours of Asia but combining the concept of tacos and ceviche from Latin America.

Charcoal grilled chicken thigh ‘ends’ (£6) are small pieces of moist chicken thighs garnished with spring onions and sesame seeds. The chicken did not have much flavour and rely on the dip to bring it alive. I could not taste the Korean BBQ that was listed as one of the ingredients for this dish.

Veg
The only dish we ordered from the veg section was the Aubergine (£8). This was served with pomegranate, dates, chilli lime yogurt, puffed quinoa and feta. It was the least favourite dish by every one on our table. The flavour of the dish did not work for me. I found the dish too fragrant for my taste buds. A friend described it well that it was like a breath of washroom air freshener.

Meat
Cornflake crusted popcorn chicken (£8) is served with pickled shimeji, corn, endive, and choriz. The chicken is in a crispy coating which you bite in to moist chicken. The flavour does not come from the chicken but combining it with all the different components on the dish, especially the refreshing corn sauce.

Sticky beef (£9) is served with daikon cucumber som tam, avo & kaffir lime purée and crispy shallots. The beef was tender and the texture seem to me as beef cheek. Just like the chicken the beef is best enjoyed with the som tam and purée.

The som tam has a light vignette flavour, otherwise it could easily spoil the dish. The kaffir lime purée is another refreshing dish. It seem to be a popular theme on the menu at Foyle’s restaurant.

Pork belly (£9) consist of tamarind BBQ, apple, green papaya, buttermilk, cured red onions, toasted cashews. This had the same fragrant flavour that we found in the aubergine, but a bit more subtle. In terms of flavour and texture I do prefer the beef over the pork.

Lamb rump (£12) is confit belly, herb hummous, spiced peppers, cornbread, feta and dukkah. This dish is flavour from mediterranean cuisines. I like corn but I am not a fan of cornbread which would not be a surprise that this dish did not get my liking. It is not a dish for those who do not like the flavour of lamb as it was fairly strong.

From the sea
Nori wrapped tuna (£11) is made of compressed nashi pear, shitake, edamame, seaweed, yuzu mayo and tapioca. This was flavour of Asia with a modern touch. The tuna was nicely served and worked well with the fragrant shiitake. The only thing I was trying to work out with this dish is where was the tapioca.

Hake (£9) is made up of tamarind, fennel, coconut, crispy chickpeas, okra, coriander and kale. The fish was nicely cooked and being hake it has flavour similar to cod. The flavour of coconut gives this dish the flavour of Thai cuisines

Grilled octopus (£9) consist of back sesame mayo, spicy pork mince, peanuts, bok choy and house made sriracha. The octopus was beautifully tender and had the flavour of lemongrass.

We finished off the meal with dessert which unfortunately none of the homemade ice creams were available that evening. I was intrigued to try the blackcurrant sorbet which could not just be a few scoops of ice cream with a price tag of £7.

Instead we settled on the three main desserts on the menu, Fatboy elvis, Baklava cheesecake and Panna cotta. It was three desserts that brings three different flavours around the world.

Fatboy elvis is made up of warm chocolate chip banana cake, banana cream, peanut honeycomb, bacon crack and strawberry jam. Our version came with out peanut honeycomb as we asked for no nuts. Otherwise it would had been a much pretty boy.

This dish has a stong banana flavour which goes well with the strawberry jam. But the jam did bring the feeling of breakfast. I thought this dish would be very sweet but it was actually not. The banana cream balance the strawberry jam out and the banana cake itself was not sweet. I could not say if the peanut honeycomb would had made this dessert sweeter then I tasted on our version. But I would say that I would happily have it with out the bacon crack.

Baklava cheesecake (£6) is a decronstructed cheesecake made up of cardamom cheese, puff pastry, walnut pistachio and rose petals. It was a clever created cheesecake to imitate a baklava. It is lighter and less sweeter than having an actual baklava. The cheese was fluffy and light which made this dessert less heavy then a typical cheesecake.

Panna cotta (£6) is made up of coconut, lemongrass, lychees, chilli and chocolate crumble and basil. I could not see the chilli and chocolate crumble which could had been excluded as we had a friend with nut allergies. But the dessert did not disappoint as I love the frozen lychee that was garnished on top of the panna cotta. This was my favourite dessert on the menu.

Folye’s restaurant has a selection of drinks including their house cocktails. The most spectacular on the menu and the most expensive is Happy days (£13.50). This come served in a magnificent pineapple and is made up of Elyx vodka, coconut water, pink grapefruit juice, agave syrup, lime juice, pineapple juice, ginger juice and bitters. We asked for a mocktail version which excluded the vodka. It was a refreshing drink which is great for the warm weather. I picture having one on a beautiful white sandy beach and blue ocean under warm sunny blue sky.

Another cocktail that we asked to be turned in to a mocktail is the The basil foley (£8). The original cocktail is made up of Strawberry, basil, blood orange liqueur, Chambord, cranberry and black pepper.

Overall I thought it was brave for the chef to be so creative with all the different flavours. However, not all the combination of the flavours work for me especially the fragrant flavour in the aubergine.

The restaurant was able to accommodate a friend with nut allergies and all the dishes we ordered could be excluded with nuts. This meant there was not a single dish we ordered that she could not try. So do bear in mind that most of my photos will be slightly different if it had nuts.

There were some part of the service that could be improved with staff being a bit more friendly and having a better knowledge of the dishes, as ours seem to find it hard to describe them

(Not sponsored. Menu and prices are correct at the time of visit)

Foley’s Restaurant
23 Foley Street,
Fitzrovia,
London,
W1W 6DU

http://foleysrestaurant.co.uk

Little Bao (London Pop Up)

Little Bao is a popular Hong Kong restaurant that gives a mix of Asian and American twist to their food. During September, Little Bao came over in London for a one week pop-up to showcase their creation. I actually did not plan to visit the pop-up as I was flying over to Hong Kong and had aleady had it as a place to visit. But by chance while looking for a place to have lunch I came across a cute looking baby face and to my surprise it was Little Bao.

The menu is simple with three section, For Sharing, Baos and Sweet Endings.  It was exactly same as their Hong Kong restaurant but it includes what should highlight Little Bao.

We started with the K-Wings (£7.50) which was coated in a of femented beancurd and gochujang glaze, given it an Asian twist. I could taste the femented beancurd which reminded of Asian flavour and my mum cooking at home who would use fermented beancurd in her braised chicken dish.

Short-Rib Pan-fried Dumplings (£10) consisted of dumpling filled with slow braised beef short rib and served with celeraic coleslaw. The pastry of the dumpling was thin and cooked with it being crispy on one side. I really enjoyed the flavour and the texture of the celeriac coleslaw.

LB Fries (£5.50) I thought was unique as the fries was coated in a mixture of spice. It created a sticky fries which were flavours of Thai and Vietnam.

As its name Little Bao then the icon dish would be their selection of baos. On the menu there was four different baos to choose and they are £6 each. I tried the pork belly bao which consisted of a thick slow braised pork belly, served with shiso salad, sesame dressing and hosin ketchup.

I thought the texture of the bao was not as fluffy as other places in London. But the combination of the filling were interesting with different Asian ingredients.

Finally we finish with a LB ice cream bun (£3.50). A green tea ice cream drizzle with condense milk sandwich between deep fried bao. The bao reminded me of deep fried mantou that you can find on some dim sum menu and it will be served with condenses milk.

Unfortunately, Little Bao is now back in Hong Kong. So if you want to visit them then you will have to fly to Hong Kong. The restaurant is first come, first served so do expect queue if you visit them at peak time.

http://www.little-bao.com