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.

Posillipo Ristorante Italiano, Broadstairs, Kent.

Having decided to go to the new Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate today it didn't take us long to decide where we should have lunch while we were down there. Last time we were in Thanet we stopped at Broadstairs for fish & chips and spotted a very promising Italian restaurant called Posillipo and filed it away for future visits. Since I mentioned it in my previous blog entry a couple of people have said it's worth a visit, and since Broadstairs is right next door to Margate it would have been rude not to!

As I mentioned before, Posillipo is right next door to a large, empty branch of the Prezzo chain. To be fair to Prezzo, it looked like a really nice place, so why was it so empty? Well, it must be hard to compete with genuine Italian food being cooked right next door when you are only able to offer "formula food" no matter how good it is. Right from the word go we loved Posillipo. We were made to feel very welcome from the moment we opened the door to go in. The long dining room was about three quarters full, mostly with families, and had a real buzz about it. The building backs on to the sea and has a small conservatory on the back that was just big enough for two tables of four, and steps down to a large decked area that will be a lovely place to eat in the summer. We sat at the end of the main dining room and still had a reasonable view of the sea. The dining room itself is decorated in a homely way, lots of terracotta paint, bottles of herbs in oil on little wooden shelves....very Italian in feel and style. As a whole, Posillipo couldn't be further from a "fancy" restaurant. No tablecloths, only paper napkins, wicker based seats, but it all adds to the authentic feel! I had a good lunch in a very similar looking and feeling place just outside Brescia in Tuscany a few years ago.

And so to the food. After such a big build up it had better be good, right? Well, it was. As well as the regular menu, which featured an imaginative mixture of classic Italian dishes, pizzas and pizze bianche, pasta and risotto dishes, there was a portable specials blackboard with a few extra starters, mains, and loads of deserts listed on it. We opted to share the mixed seafood platter from the special starters, and followed it with a pizza each. The seafood platter wasn't cheap, at £13.95 it wasn't expensive either but the price was enough to raise our expectations a notch. It didn't disappoint. It was piled with crayfish, baby clams, pickled anchovies, prawn cocktail, smoked salmon, crab meat on toasted ciabatta and a couple of huge grilled tiger prawns. We were thoughtfully provided with a bowl for the shells and some hand wipes, both of which were necessary as it turned out. The baby clams were the only slight disappointment as they were lacking in flavour, but the rest made up for it. Dee's not a fan of anchovy, but in this lightly pickled form rather than the oily, salty things you usually get she liked them enough to eat three or four. I'm ashamed to admit that there were two pieces of crab on toast when the platter arrived, but so anxious was I to get stuck in that I'd taken a bite before I remembered to take a picture!

While we worked through our platter the tables around us were served with their main courses. We saw linguini with muscles that was beautifully presented with a ring of muscles in their shells around the edge as well as in with the pasta, a likely choice for Dee on another visit as she feels about muscles how I feel about scallops. To Dee's delight, the table next to us ordered the pizza capricciosa she'd chosen, giving her a sneak peek. It looked fantastic! The front window sign writing mentions a wood burning pizza oven and hand made pizzas, and you can just tell that's what you're getting. The capricciosa has a tomato base with mozzarella, ham, mushrooms, salami, sliced eggs and black olives on it. Each ingredient brought something to the dish, either in flavour or texture, and as a whole it worked very well indeed. Together with the carafe of house red wine it was absolutely spot on, in spite of looking a bit like an English breakfast on a pizza base.

I decided to continue the seaside/seafood theme with my choice, I went for the house special Posillipo pizza. Another tomato base, but this time with king prawn, octopus, squid, clams and muscles. There was a fair bit of garlic involved as well, I'd say. The chunks of octopus and huge squid rings were generous and not at all rubbery. It's very easy to over cook squid, which gives it that distinctive elastic band texture, but the chef had avoided that pitfall presumably by adding it late in the oven time. There must have been nearly half a pint of prawns, a good dozen clams and muscles on there as well as a massive tiger prawn, all of which made the pizza base a bit soggy but no less tasty for it. Pizzas ranged from £6 to £12 each, and at just £9.95 Dee's capricciosa was an absolute bargain, particularly as it came as no surprise to our waitress that she couldn't finish it all. No problem, would madam like a box to take it away? Yes, madam would. So that's lunch tomorrow sorted as well!

So all in all we had a superb sharing platter, two excellent pizzas, a carafe of red wine and a bottle of sparkling water, all for £47. To continue the theme from my last entry, I think this is tremendous value for money. Alright, the seafood platter is easy enough to do, and was perhaps lacking in fresh ingredients (however, it is the end of January after all!), but it was delicious, and that is all that matters. The pizzas and atmosphere were fantastic, the wine was tasty and the staff friendly and efficient. It will be very difficult for us to go to Broadstairs and choose to eat anywhere else.

Go there, order a pizza and a desert, sit and watch the sea while you finish your glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or whatever your tipple is, and let the friendly family atmosphere wash over you.