Goddard's Pie & Mash and Greenwich Market

Greenwich market is one of those places I can wander round for ages. I love the variety of stalls and little shops around the edges, the mixture of arts and crafts as well as clothes and antiques is always interesting. But the thing I like most is the huge variety of food available there. A truly international mix of authentic street food stalls at the river end of the market provides a mouthwatering scent in the background as you pick your way between the rows of stalls. More of that later though.

Pie, mash & green liquor is about as regional as food gets. Peculiar to East London, traditional pies are minced beef in flakey pastry. Personally, I like two pies, one mash and plenty of green liquor with a liberal sprinkling of white pepper and vinegar on everything. Originally the liquor was made using the juice of the eels that had been jellied, but these days it's pretty much just a gravey-like parsley sauce. Goddard's and Manzie's have been the two main rivals in south east London since the 1890's, both have their fans and both have their strong points. I always thought Goddard's had better pies but Manzie's did better liquor. It's been many years since I've had either, so when Josie suggested pie & mash for lunch today I was delighted! Inside Goddard's was exactly as I remember the Deptford shop looking nearly thirty years ago, with the traditional refectory style long wooden tables and benches, cream tiled walls, and real fast food. Josie chose a steak & kidney pie with mash and gravy, while Dee opted for a chicken & mushroom pie with mash and gravy (philistines...gravy. Really?) while I stuck with my traditional choice. It was every bit as good as I remember, and as good as I hoped.

If pie & mash doesn't appeal then wander along to the river end of the market. There you will find such a variety of food stalls I guarantee you'll find something to tickle your taste buds. There is everything from paella to dim sum, pizza to Moroccan cuisine, crepes to sushi, cupcakes to South African wurst. On a previous visit we tried the teriyaki, fresh tempura prawn and cooked to order chicken teriyaki on sticky rice was the stand out choice. Next time we're there I think I'll try the dim sum, it all looked so good it's really difficult to choose though. It's great to see some slightly more unusual food on offer as well, with Italian fried rice balls stuffed with all sorts of fillings, Ethiopian vegetarian dishes, Moroccan fusion food, as well as some slightly more mainstream things like fresh crepes and fruit with chocolate fondue poured over the top. There is a cupcake stand featuring a vast array of full sized and miniature vegan cupcakes, all beautifully decorated and presented, and a really good baker selling lots of different breads, cakes, pastries and macaroons.

Churros are Mexican straight donuts. Very tasty, covered in sugar and cinnamon.

The guys on this sushi stall were making california rolls and maki rolls while we watched. If it wasn't for the fact that we had sushi Saturday night I would have given it a try.

The food being produced on this dim sum stall looked particularly good. A wide variety of steamed buns, fried and steamed dumplings, char siu pork, all sorts of yummy looking things.

Greenwich is certainly worth a visit just for the history. The National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory, the Royal Park, and soon to reopen phoenix-like from her own ashes the Cutty Sark (one of the fastest tea clippers ever to set sail) in her fully restored glory are all worth the trip alone. Grab lunch from one of the market stalls, or perhaps one of the little independent tea rooms or restaurants around the town in preference to the generic chain places like Nandos or Zizzi. I don't have anything against them, it's just that there is better, fresher, more imaginative food available at very reasonable prices right there in the market.

My birthday day out in London.

Saturday was my birthday, so Dee took me up to London for lunch, shopping and a good mooch round the West End. We caught the high speed train to St Pancras, then jumped a tube to Piccadilly Circus. At this point I still wasn't sure where we were going or what was in store as Dee had done a great job of keeping me in the dark. We walked round the corner into Haymarket, then turned right into the start of Jermyn Street. Jermyn St is probably best known for its tailors and shirt makers, but there are a number of cute little arcades, shoemakers and cafés as well. Well worth a stroll along if you're in the area and fancy seeing how the other half live!

At the far end of Jermyn St is Franco's, a very upmarket Italian bistro and café where Dee had booked us a table for lunch. We were greeted just inside the door by the hostess, who knew it was my birthday from the booking and made just the right amount of fuss of us as she showed us to our table in the main dining room. The restaurant has a very light, modern take on the 1920's look, with beautifully dressed tables and plenty of space for diners. Much of this space is achieved by the careful and clever seating arrangement, where no diners are required to sit facing a wall. We were sat against one side wall on a table that was a generous size for two, and would have been a cozy fit for four, but because we were sat next to each other we were both looking into the room, rather than opposite each other as is usually the case.

We had a glass of limoncello each to warm us up a bit while we chose from the menu (which had a slightly retro feel and look to it, although the dishes themselves were modern takes on Italian classics). Without having discussed it first, it turned out that both of us had decided to order things we wouldn't usually choose. And yes, before you ask, there were scallops on the menu and no, I didn't order them! I figure we'll have our fill of scallops at the Rye Scallop Festival at the end of the month. Prices ranged from around £8 to £20 for starters and from £16 to £30 for main courses which in Kent would be quite pricey, but here in the West End of London is remarkably good for high quality food. There was a very well balanced selection of dishes to choose from for each course, with seafood very much in evidence along side pigeon, beef, veal and lamb dishes. The waiting staff were almost all Italian, which is usually a good sign, and they were clearly keen for us to enjoy our meals. We ordered our starters, a lobster, cous cous and black truffle dish for me and beef carpaccio for Dee, and chose a bottle of 2006 Barbera to wash everything down with from a very good wine list indeed. My dish was packed with chunks of lobster and had plenty of black truffle shavings on top, like all the best Italian dishes the flavours were simple and elegant. Dee's beef just melted in the mouth, and the pepper flavours from the rocket salad and the truffle shavings were balanced by parmesan shavings and really high quality, wafer thin slices of lean beef.

We both went for really traditional main courses, pasta for Dee and risotto for me. Dee followed my lead from the starter and had lobster linguini. Like all good Italian restaurants, Franco's makes all its pasta fresh every day and it really shows. The linguini was cooked to perfection, just the right side of al-dente with enough bite left in it to give good mouth-feel, and packed with flavour. There was no shortage of lobster meat here either, and with a little very light tomato and pepper sauce to pull everything together the whole dish was perfect. My Atlantic prawn and lime risotto was absolutely delicious too, but was a very different type of dish indeed. If I'm absolutely honest, I couldn't pick out the lime at all, although it is possible that the lime is just there to stop the dish becoming too stodgy and if that's the case then it certainly worked. There were very few pieces of prawn, but the prawn flavour ran deep through each mouthful and was strong on the finish. It was one of those dishes that you're disappointed that there isn't more when you get to the end, even though the portion size was generous. As is often the case with risotto, it wasn't much to look at but is certainly made up for that in taste and texture.

By now the restaurant was about three quarters full and the atmosphere was building nicely. There were several tables of Italian diners (another good sign!) and some young family groups as well as several other tables of two. There were plenty of members of staff around, so the dining room filling up had no impact on our service and each passing waiter glanced towards us and our table to make sure we were ok. Dee ordered tiramisu to finish, which turned out to be about the size of half a house brick but light as a feather. The coffee liqueur in the sponge base was far from overpowering, and the sheer volume of cream meant that Dee was unable to finish it. After a long and agonising internal debate, I chose the chocolate torta caprese with home made pistachio ice cream for desert over affogato (a shot of espresso poured over vanilla ice cream), which turned out to be a mistake. Torta caprese is a sort of dry, dense sponge cake, a bit like a dry brownie. This one was a little too dry for me and the tiny ball of ice cream did little to change that despite being delicious because the whole thing was smothered in icing sugar so thick that I had to tap it off each fork full before I could eat it. Such a shame, because up to that point the food had been excellent. The presentation was spot on throughout, with my torta served on a glass dish decorated with piped chocolate saying "Happy birthday", a lovely little touch.

We ordered tea for Dee, a strong cappuccino for me, and a plate of petit fours to finish off. Tea in restaurants is such a hit and miss affair that Dee's expectations weren't high, particularly as the Italians are better known for coffee, so it came as a lovely surprise when the pot of tea that arrived was just right. This cheered me right up, because if the tea was that good I had high hopes of a really good cappuccino and I wasn't disappointed. Strong, rich, full of flavour, what a way to end a meal. Another slight stumble though, as the petit fours did not arrive with the drinks. We reminded the waiter, who was most apologetic and rushed off to sort some out for us. We finished our drinks, and still no petit fours. The maitre d' was quite embarrassed, particularly as it was her that took the order in the first place. So much so that she made sure they weren't on the bill, but put a selection in a little box for us to take home.

All in all, we had a wonderful lunch that was packed full of simple flavours and interesting textures excellently prepared. The presentation was excellent, the restaurant itself was delightful (and if you eat from the set lunch menu, very reasonably priced indeed!) and but for one or two tiny things, our meal would have been perfect. As it was, it was the best Italian meal I have had outside of Italy itself, and better than many I have had inside.