BAO London (Fitzrovia)

Bao London opened their second branch in Fitzrovia this year, which is larger and more spacious than their Soho branch. It has a tapas bar layout but with BAO style design, which is simple like their first branch.

The menu is different to the Soho branch with the classic bao being the only item that both branches serve.

Raw Langoustine, Dulse, Aged Soy, Oyster Leaf (£4 3/4) had a refreshing flavour. But it did have a strong fishy taste and not to every one liking.

Beef Cheek & Tendon Nuggets (£4) is served with a spicy sauce. The tendon gives the nuggets a mixture of textures – where the beef cheek has the creamy soft texture and the tender has a jelly texture.

Duck Hearts, Chilli Garlic Sauce (£5.50) was surprisingly to be my favourite dish. I love the tender texture of the duck heart and all the flavours worked well. The sauce is not as spicy as I thought and only has a slight kick.

Fried Chicken Chop (£5.50) is served with a raw egg yolk and hot sauce. I requested the hot sauce separately as it was spicy for me. The chicken was moist and succulent in a crispy coating.

Sanbei Octopus (£6) comes in a fairly spicy sauce which was tangy and vinaigrette. The octopus is more on the chewy side than tender. It came served with fat that is deep-fried and topped with fragrant Thai basil.

Classic Bao (£4) is made up of braised pork, ferments, coriander and peanut. This is the same bao found in the Soho branch. The bun never fail at BAO, which is fluffy and soft.

Cod Black (£5) is made up of fried cod, ng sauce and hot sauce. Again I asked for the hot sauce to be served separately. This bao is definitely a recommendation to order. As well as the duck hearts this was has to be the other favourite dish at BAO. The fish is deep-fried in a black battered and under this you will find moist cod meat.

Beef shortrib, Marro, Eryngii (£3.40) comes with the soy cured egg yolk. The sauce is served separately and Wai Ting (one of the co-founder) explained to us to eat this dish, you pour the sauce over the rice and mix every thing together.

At their Fitzrovia branch they do not serve their bao ice cream. Instead they do two milkshake which uses Gelupo ice cream. We tried the chocolate and rice milkshake which tasted like chocolate milkshake. Personally I felt for £5 it was expensive and I would rather pay for their bao ice cream.

It is not cheap to eat at BAO London. For two people we spent about £26 each including service charge.

(Not Sponsored. Prices and Menu correct at the time of dining)

BAO London (Fitzrovia branch)
31 Windmill Street,
Fitzrovia
London,
W1T 2JN

http://baolondon.com

The Nineth

In 2015, my best new opening in London that I have tried has to be The Nineth.   The resturant is brought to us by chef Jun Tanaka who is working at his nineth restaurant to date but this time being his very own restaurant.

The Nineth opened its door last November and during then I took the opportunity at their soft launch to see what Jun brings to Charlotte street and the Fitzrovia area.

The restaurant serves French Mediterranean style food and all for sharing. That is what dining out is all about as food is at it best when it is shared.

We started our evening with sharing a few of the dishes from the snack section of the menu.

Oxtail croquettes

Duck scotch egg

Barbajuans

It was followed by a selection of Hot Starters with my favourite being the Rabbit confit lasagna, mustard bechamel. 

King prawn macaroni, chives and ginger

We also tried the Razor clam ceviche from the hot and curd section of the menu. This dish reminded me of my first dining experience at The Pearl when Jun was still working as a chef there.

It was then on to what you could consider as the mains. We each choice a dish to share from the fish and meat section, along with a few selection of vegetable dishes to accompany them as sides.

I found it wonderful to see a range of fish dishes on the menu, especially serving them as a whole fish which make them suitable as a sharing dish. It feels like home and the word family would come to mind.

We choice two fish dishes and each one was beautifully cooked. I am sure my mum would had approved, as the fish was well clean.

Whole roast sea bream, lemon and miso, smoked aubergine.

Roast plaice, chicken wings, shallots and beurre noisette.

Whole roast quail, smoked bacon, foie gras, lardo and grapes was full of flavour and cooked just right. The grapes made a good combination with the dish and it surprisinly worked. It has inspired me on what you can do with grapes. It’s more then a fruit!

Smoked duck breast with caramelised chicory and walnuts

To go with our fish and meat we tried a selection of vegetable dishes.

The Pommes cocotte, rosemary and confit garlic was a taste of Winter, actually more like taste of Christmas. The roasemary brought fragrant to the dish and the garlic was perfectly roasted until soft.

Honey roast winter vegetables, Bleu D’Auvergne

Green lentils, chorizo and red pepper salsa

Fricassee of Jerusalem artichokes

We completed our meal with dessert with my favourite being the Pain Perdu served with honeycomb and vanilla ice cream. The Nineth French toast had a crispy outside with a eggy custard on the inside.

Tarte Tatin served with rosemary ice cream was a sticky tart, which I felt was on the bitter side. The most interesting part of the dish was the rosemary ice cream. You have a very high chance of knowing it is rosemary as the flavour was very strong.

My overall experience that evening did not felt like a new opening. The food was beautifully cooked and the front of house all seem very informative with the menu as well as providing us with excellent service.

Dining at The Nineth was like fine dining experience but on a more casual and cosy. It will be a restaurant I am looking forward in returning.

The Nineth
22 Charlotte Street,
London,
W1T 2NB,
UK

http://theninthlondon.com