Posts tagged london

Remembering Marylebone…

… Missing London.

I don’t really know what brought my mind to Marylebone but I miss it. I miss the delightful little streets with a mixture of the small independents and the larger high street shops. I miss going “Shall we walk up to Marylebone since it’s on the way to Baker Street which is convenient to go home?” I miss the Le Creuset shop, hunting for those (non-existent: Stylist made a mistake in one of their issues) 14cm “spring-hued” stoneware casseroles. I miss the one time I had a glass of red wine in Le Pain Quotidien which turned into two. I miss the little gastropub on the high street, ducking in on a frigidly cold and rainy winter evening in search of a smidgen of warmth. I miss having a pain au chocolat and a latte watching the world go by on a Sunday morning. I miss having dinner late one evening, eyeing the full length window that overlooked the quaint little high street with a promise to return on summer’s eve.

I miss London.

Buen Ayre in London

Has it really been that long?

I had been wanting to try Buen Ayre out for a while, since an ex-colleague told me about it - said that they do the best meat there. So as part of operation Try As Many New Places As I Can Before I Leave London, Buen Ayre was definitely on the list..

Me, happy as a lark at the thought of copious amounts of meat. And red wine. And did I mention meat? Apologies to the vegetarians (Ling).

We arrived early so we managed to get a table walk-in but lots of tables had been reserved. We even managed to get a table by the window which was kind of cool. Buen Ayre is located on Broadway Market in East London.

First up, starters.

Beef Carpaccio with rocket and parmessan cheese. Is there ever such as thing as “too much” beef? Well, it did have some rocket on it. Wafer thin and fresh as can be with a good glug of olive oil and freshly grated Parmesan.

And then to balance the meat out, we decided on the provoleta - grilled provolone cheese. Served straight from the grill, hot and stringy with a smattering herby goodness.

And then of course the beef, a 10oz grilled Argentine fillet steak, nicely charred on the outside and cooked to a perfect medium rare inside. This definitely ranks way up there on the “Kay’s fave steaks” list.

Oh and by the way, Broadway Market is one of my favourite markets in London. Go on a Saturday when the sun’s shining and the skies are blue. Check out Coco&Me’s cake & tart stall - I love her lemon, chocolate and mixed berry tarts. Check out the Cat & Mutton (gastro)pub for lunch and a pint. Check out the Vietnamese sandwich stall - there’s always a queue. And if you’re lucky, you may even get to see an older version of Wolverine at the coffee stall in the middle of the market. Since it’s summer, relax in the park or over by London Fields and finish the day with a good steak at Buen Ayre.

On Portobello Road

I’ve known Eric since we climbed Mt K together in April 2004 (I had to check. Photos on Flickr.) And then when I was working on the Mercedes-Benz account at Batey, Eric was in Sales & Marketing at Daimler-Chrysler. Eric’s been working in Germany for the last few months and made it to London a few weeks ago and our first stop was Portobello Road. Here are a few pictures form that day. Eric just outsid the Travel Bookshop (13-15 Blenheim Crescent W11 2EE).

Buskers doing their thing. I don’t remember what they were playing but they weren’t bad and there are worse things than standing in the sun listening to music.

Toy retro campervans reminscent of the late 60s and 70s where flower power was the only way to go. These toy campervans were sitting in the back of a car or a van and they were just so cute.

Nothing shouts spring like flowers in bloom. Although I hardly buy flowers myself because all I do is accelerate kill them, I will missing seeing them in the market stalls.

Spanish paella! It smelled so good! I am very tempted to buy a paella pan from Brindisa but I’m not sure if one actually requires a paella pan to make paella. Is it like ‘it’s not a tagine unless it’s cooked in a tagine’ thing?

Books for Cooks (4 Blenheim Crescent W11 1NN). Another one of my favourite bookstores. I could spend hours in there just looking at the books and trying to prioritise and decide which one(s) to buy. As it is, majority of the books that I’m shipping back to Singapore are cookbooks. But not just any ordinary cookbook! I’ve got French bookbooks from Paris and Lille, Williams Sonoma ones and a signed copy from Serendipity 3.