Kettners Restaurant & Champagne Bar

Kettner’s is a champagne supernova. It’s an upscale yet laidback restaurant. They make Italian-style pizza with international ingredients. I opted for a "Padana" pizza with caramelized red onion, goat cheese, chicken, spinach, and garlic oil. Light but flavorful. I approved entirely.

They also carry meat dishes, salads, appetizers, and of course desserts. But the real highlight of Kettner’s is their champagne selection. Whether you opt for the excellence of Ayala or the Winston-Churchill-acclaimed Pol Roger, make sure to pack a couple hundred pounds for the entirely-authentic from-Champagne-France selection. You won’t regret it.

29 Romilly Street
Soho, London, W1D 5HP
England, United Kingdom
Tel: 020.7734.6112
Fax: 020.7287.6499
http://www.kettners.com

Masala Zone

Masala Zone’s motto is “real Indian food at unreal prices.” True story. They say London is the best place to get Indian food. Also a true story. This is largely due to the fact that it has the biggest Indian population outside of India and, for the most part, better, fresher ingredients than India. Masala Zone offers a rich selection of Indian food a la carte and for more voracious appetites, thalis. (Thali: Platter.) These include your curry of choice, the vegetables du jour, the daal (lentils or beans) du jour, green sauce, chutney, and rice or naan. I opted for the lamb kolhapuri, which is lamb stewed with the flavors of black cardamom, pepper, and star anise. It’s not too spicy but has a nice heat and a nice kick to it. The vegetables were curried in coconut milk, and the daal was creamy but not heavy. Both would have been great even on their own. And I got rice but a special order of garlic naan on the side. For dessert, I got kulfi – Indian ice cream. The waitress recommended the caramel flavor. And so it was. And it was delicious.

Covent garden: 48 floral st, London, WC2
England, United Kingdom
020 7379 0101
http://www.realindianfood.com

Nando's

Nando’s is the brainchild of two owners. One is Portuguese, and one is South African. The flavors reflect both those colors. When I first walked in, it smelled great. And that’s always a good sign. Their specialty is PERi-PERi roast chicken, but when you place your order, you dictate how spicy you’d like it. Chad and I compromised with “medium spicy” since I’m a heat freak and he’s not so much. The chicken is fresh ("never frozen!") British bird that is marinated for 24 hours. It comes with a side of your choice, and we opted for “spicy rice,” which wasn’t so spicy but was very tasty. Both the chicken and the rice were excellent. Nando's also offers bottles of sauces, spicy or otherwise, to help you customize the flavors to your liking.

Dear Nando’s, please start a branch or ten in the United States. Love, Andrew

10 Frith Street
Soho, W1D 3JF
London, England, United Kingdom
http://www.nandos.co.uk

Pontefract Castle

Another round of British pub food coming right up. Most people know what the famous fish and chips are (fried filet of fish and French fries) and bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes) are. But most people don’t know my favorite pub dish: Toad in the hole. I’m not quite sure why it’s named that because it’s something probably everyone would eat.

At Pontefract Castle, I ordered a “toad in the hole.” Pontefract is one of those places that lets you choose the sausage you want in it. (Toad in the hole is Yorkshire pudding surrounding sausages, mashed potatoes, green veggies, and onion gravy.) I got a venison-juniper-and-gin sausage that had a hint of sweetness and paired rather nicely with my pint of liquid bread Guinness. I don’t know what else to say. Toad in the hole is one of those dishes where all the ingredients are so good, it’s hard to imagine the combination not being good.

71 Wigmore Street, W1U 1QB
London, England, United Kingdom

Trattoria Zaza

Zaza is a bustling trattoria right next to the Mercato Centrale (Central Market). The food is fantastic. Since I went on Good Friday, I ordered from their Seafood Only menu. The risotto con gamberetti e curry (shrimp curry risotto) was excellent, a combination of three foods very familiar and dear to me. But I've never had them all together like tht. Far more familiar were the steamed mussels. They were in a white wine, garlic, red pepper flake and parsley sauce that, although too strong to sip on its own, was perfect to enhance the mussel taste and dip bread in. I finished the basket nearest me. My friends finished all the remaining bread on the table by dipping.

Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 26 Red
Florence, Italy
+39 055 215 411
http://www.trattoriazaza.it

Old Shades

It would be far too easy to make jokes about British food. I'm going to remain positive. The best British food is easily "pub food," the stuff you eat with your pint(s) of beer. Basic meat and potatoes if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it dishes.

Since it was (Easter) Sunday, my Londoner friend suggested we get some Sunday roasts and split them. Sunday roasts are exactly what they sound like: Roast dinners only served on Sundays.

We got roast beef and roast chicken. Both were good. The beef was tasty, moist, and thickly cut. The chicken wasn't the least bit dry or lacking in flavor. Both came with roast parsnips, roast potatoes, mixed vegetables, onion gravy, and of course Yorkshire pudding.

I love Yorkshire pudding by the way.

Although we had drank a few pints of beer with dinner, we couldn't help but order dessert. The bartender told us they had only two slices of "giant chocolate cake" left and that one slice would be enough for both of us.

Good thing he warned us. The quarter of a 9-inch cake he brought us lived up to its name. It was three layers of chocolate sponge cake glued together with chocolate fudge, frosted with chocolate icing, sprinkled with chocolate chips and brownie pieces and served a la mode with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Pretty awesome.

So yeah. I take back any negative comments I made about British food since my last visit there circa 2000.

Old Shades

37 Whitehall
London, SW1A 2BX
United Kingdom
+44 020 73212801

Pizzaiuolo

My friends and I got “antipasti misto,” which sounds a hell of a lot cooler in Italian than “sampler platter” does in English. (Literally it means “mixed appetizers.) The antipasti were mostly delicious carbs … rice balls, fried pasta, quiche, olives, and a huge hunk of mozzarella about the size of my fist.


For my primo, I got spaghetti con vongole (spaghetti with clams). I asked before ordering if the clams were “fresco.” They were. In their shells even. Florentine cuisine’s Achilles heel is seafood due to the city being landlocked. But fresh seafood is delivered daily and available at a higher price than in, say, Sicily. The spaghetti was fantastic. The noodles were perfectly al dente, and the simple mix of garlic, olive oil, parsley, and red pepper flakes complemented the rich clam flavor.

Then came the main event. Most of us had come for “pizza fritta,” which has the option of being aperto (open) or “chiuso” (closed). A closed, fried, pizza is a DEEP-FRIED CALZONE, which is exactly the reason we went. Although Pizzaiuolo is famous for its pizza, I’d say a D-F C is far more unique and exciting. Two versions are available. I got the fried calzone stuffed with fior de latte mozzarella, ricotta, salame, and pepe.

Dessert was a chocolate mousse, cut like a slice of pie and sprinkled with choclate chips.

Can’t forget the Chianti. When in Florence, drink as the Florentines do.

Sabatino

Nestled in a street corner across The Arno, this trattoria is small enough to be cozy but roomy enough not to be claustrophobic. Like any true trattoria, Sabatino is family-run, established over half a century ago. The family business and family recipes are currently in the hands of a third generation of restaurateurs.

They changed locations a decade ago, but the setting is still casual, and all the décor looks gradually added. It’s certainly not an interior-design tourist trap like some restaurants in the city center. One notable ornament is a framed menu from ’66. The prices have gone up but are still low. Their present-day menu has a few staple items like spaghetti and roast beef, but the rest change daily. (Showing Florence’s – and Italy’s – traditionally Catholic heritage, on Fridays the emphasis is on seafood.) The menu is not in English, but piatti tipici Fiorentini are highlighted. Don’t worry if your Italian isn’t perfect; the servers are courteous and helpful. They speak little English, and though service is fast, they are not impatient or condescending when breaking the language barrier.

As for the kitchen staff, the dishes show their skill as well as the quality of the ingredients. The meat is bought daily at the Mercato Centrale, and fresh vegetables are delivered every morning.

Their minestrone is tasty, smooth and pleasantly infused with celery. You’ll have a hard time finding beef as high in quality and simultaneously low in price as their bistecca Fiorentina. And a rich slice of torta di cioccolato e crema will make you consider a second dessert helping and probably ensure a return visit.

Via Pisana 2/Rosso
Firenze, Italia
+39.055.225.955

Rubaconte Ristorante

I’ll skip past the aperitif glasses of prosecco and the requisite bottles of acqua naturale and Chianti because anyone who knows me knows I always enjoy those. Course by course, here we go: The crostini with spicy salami was even spicier than expected because of extra red pepper flakes alongside the ones in the salami. But I still enjoyed them. The shrimp and zucchini risotto was rich with flavors. I would’ve preferred them to either leave the shrimps whole or completely shell them before serving rather than half-and-half, but that is a minor detail. The grilled lamb was delicious, as grilled lamb almost always is but the pea paste it was served on was a nice surprise besides the roast potatoes the menu told us came with them. Three desserts from the selection. Clockwise from the top of the next picture, they are: Cioccolato semifreddo (kind of like semi-frozen Jell-o), poached pear in marroni sauce, and tiramisu. Hands-down the poached pear was the winner.

Via Ghibellina 178/R
Firenze, Italia 50122