The view from Arctura in Ostersund

They do a buffet lunch (very typical in Sweden) during the week – lots of salads, fruit, a hot option, soup and drinks – for about £10 and it’s really good.

As well as trying most of the salads, we had some beef meatballs with feta cheese and very nice potatoes. And spent a very happy two hours enjoying the views.

Lunch at Arctura

Where to start?

Em, I’ve been eating some really good meals. Some deserve their own entry – like Michelin-starred Benares in Mayfair and Darcy’s in St Albans. Others, partly because I lack pictures, are being lumped together in this entry.

First off – work lunches at The Zetter and the Corney and Barrow in Holborn. Had the fish of the day at The Zetter, which is about two minutes away from Farringdon Tube (and also about 30 seconds away from where I work). The fish was served with a celeriac puree and some grilled fennel, which was lovely. I also managed to break a glass, thanks to the full-skirt of my coat. Service was somewhat stunted, but food was good.

Next was the Corney and Barrow, for an interesting lunch with a man who once ran Clarks. Had some red snapper and couscous, if I remember correctly. This really was very good, but I overheated sitting beside the window in the midday sun.

Also had lunch at Smiths of Smithfield, owned by the guy off Masterchef, with my brother and his girlfriend recently. Went for the fishfinger sandwich (tasty), brother had a steak sandwich (not so good, he said) and his girlfriend has meatballs (good, I think).

This week, my mission is to catch up.

Sunday roast at The Peahen

The stylist, out for a visit from the big smoke, really wanted Sunday dinner so off we went in search of food. We first tried The Cock, to be met with a very rude man (maybe the restaurant manager on the day) who looked at us with absolute disdain and answered a very curt no when we asked if they were still serving food. He didn’t even bother to answer our question about where might still have dinner. But The Cock was saved by a very, very nice barmaid, who, realising the guy was being an idiot, quickly suggested about four or five other places.

So next we ventured to Bar 62, which was so busy we couldn’t get the attention of staff to find out if they still had food, and then to The Boot, which wasn’t serving dinner any longer.

Finally, we went to The Peahen, a rather beautiful-looking pub/bar, and got us some roasts. Both of us had chicken – the best bit was the braised red cabbage, which was amazing. The rest was good enough, but nothing special. Came to about £30 for two mains and some cokes.

For Christmas, the work team and I went to Woodlands Restaurant in Marylebone.  One of my colleagues is from south India and Woodlands hails from around there too. Five of us were out for the meal – three had never had south Indian food before. So we put our faith in the Indian among us and told her to order whatever she wanted.

We ended up sharing:

Cold starters – also called Chaats:
Bhel poori
Sev poori
Aloo papri chaat

Mains:
Dosas (lentil pancakes for want of a better description)
Paper masala dosa – it’s BIG and stuffed with potatoes
Masala dosa – same thing, but smaller and easier to eat
Chilli dosa – the really spicy one – chilli says it all I guess

Thalis – (large meal platters which come with a little bit of everything)
Delhi Royal Thali and the Woodlands thali

Because I’ve never had south Indian food before, I’ve nothing to compare it to. But I really enjoyed the food, particularly the chaats, so much so I’ve been trying to convince himself we should pay it a visit. Plus the south Indian was impressed – surely that’s a good sign?

Woodlands, 77 Marylebone Lane, London, W1U 2PS

Then she went off to India for a couple of weeks, so we took advantage of her absence and had a really great lunch at the St John back in November.

For starters, we got some oysters, mussels and bone marrow – one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. I love bone marrow – it reminds me of my granny and of being young and of WB Yeats, all nice things really. I hadn’t had bone marrow since I was a teenager but it didn’t disappoint – the wet salt and capers and the marrow were amazing together.

Beef marrow at St John

For mains, I had the rabbit, which was good, but not as excellent as the starter.

Rabbit at St John

One of my colleagues had lamb, another some fish and another beef. All round a carnivore’s dream.

Lamb shanks at St John

Then A suggested a Moroccan place. He hadn’t been to Little Marrakech before, but had heard good things. I’m not always a fan of Moroccan food, but it turned out to be one of the best meals I’ve had in ages.

I wasn’t really in the mood for something that heavy, so I was going to have some fish. But after the waitress brought me a large glass of red, instead of the white I’d ordered, I changed my mind and went for the lamb and prune tagine – so did A and J. It was excellent, probably the best tagine I’ve ever had. But advanced warning: the portions are huge. I got some to take away and had it for lunch the next day.

Himself had the couscous royal Marrakech, a meat feast of chicken and lamb sausages with lots of veggies. And he was very happy with it too.

Then came the belly dancer. It’s a small restaurant and there were quite a few diners, so she didn’t have a lot of space to move around and we didn’t have anywhere to look other than her shaking body! After the first song, she made a beeline for our table and got A up to dance. Queue lots of laughing and some interesting moves from A.

Definitely worth a visit.

So after some googling, himself found The Breakfast Club. We got there quite late, about 11.30 and it was packed – there was a queue outside the door. We waited for about 20 minutes and got a table, the two of us sitting among the yummy mummies and daddies who seem to fill St Albans.

I ordered some blueberry pancakes, served with maple syrup and banana, as well as bacon on the side. The pancakes were good (but not as good as Jamie Oliver’s American pancake recipe) and the banana was perfectly ripe. The only issue was that the maple syrup had already been poured all over the pancakes and this makes me cross. I like to decide how much maple syrup to have, probably because I don’t like lots (although I do love it!).

Himself went for the full English, which comes with The Breakfast Club’s homemade beans. I thought these were lovely – they tasted very strongly of tomatoes – but he would’ve preferred some Heinz beans. Other than that, he loved the hash cakes. We did take pictures, but himself can’t find them.

At the start of November, I went again to The Breakfast Club – this time with some friends down visiting for the weekend. This time I had a rosti, which was really good. But we still have to queue. And it’s expensive – breakfast with a drink seems to cost at least £10 each.

62 Stanhope Road, St Albans, AL1 5BL

We kept walking by what I’d called a gastropub in St Albans and every time I read the menu, my mouth would water. So come my birthday, himself suggested we go there – The Cock Inn – for lunch. I was very excited.

There was a bit of confusion when we arrived. We were standing in the waiting area and the barman asked if we wanted drinks, so we ordered some. Then I think the restaurant staff thought we didn’t want to eat, so they ignored us for a bit. Eventually we got a table and, after a little bit of prompting, himself even got the coffee he’d ordered.

When it came to starters, I opted for the chargrilled black pudding, served with smoky bacon, celeriac and apple salad, and aioli. It was good, but I though the pudding could have done with a couple of more minutes on the grill.

Black pudding at the Cock Inn

Himself ordered the panne of poached egg, with crushed new potatoes, wilted spinach and béchamel sauce. This was excellent – he was very impressed.

Panne of poached egg

For mains, I ordered a pork dish that came with butter beans and other lovely things. This was really good and very filling.

Pork and Butter beans at the Cock Inn

He ordered fish and chips and was slightly underwhelmed. I thought the mushy peas – which were beautifully minty – were lovely. Himself wasn’t as convinced.

Overall, it was a good meal and despite its rather impressive menu, the Cock Inn is as cheap as chip – two courses for £8.95 Monday to Saturday between 12 and 3pm.

If you’re around St Albans, it’s worth a visit. It’s not pretentious as gastropubs are sometimes thought to be – but it does offer very good pub food.

48 St Peters Street, St Albans, Herlfordshire, AL1 3NF

Anyway, Cafe Rouge is another one I try to avoid. I went once when a friend, my older brother and his girlfriend were over visiting me in Leeds – and I don’t really have fond memories. The food wasn’t good and the staff weren’t nice.

But, since we moved to St Albans, himself has wanted to go to the Cafe Rouge here – it’s in a beautiful building and he’s an engineer. Plus, he claimed he’d never been to a Cafe Rouge before and wanted to see if I was exaggerating about it (but I’m almost sure he was there the day I went!). Anyway, on his birthday weekend, I finally relented and we went for some lunch on Saturday afternoon. I asked if I could use my Tastecard and the waitress asked if I’d booked a table. I hadn’t, but the place was dead. She hummed and hawed, then said it would be fine.

Cafe Rouge's art deco large windows

With the Tastecard, the waitress said it was two for one on all dishes. So we decided to order four petits plats – fromage blue (blue cheese, walnuts and bread), houmous and flatbreads, rillettes de canard (duck and smoked chicken coarse pate with bread), and merguez (spicy beef and lamb sausage with harissa mayo). The dishes were all good – especially the sausage.

Four petits plats

Himself also ordered a Cesar salad, while I opted for the salmon nicoise salad. His was ok – mine was actually, surprising, pretty perfect.

Salmon nicoise at Cafe Rouge

We were there for a good while, reading papers, chatting, nibbling on our dishes – and we had a nice time. It was a much better than the last time I went to a Cafe Rouge. But the staff weren’t exactly amazing and when the bill came, it was obvious that the Tastecard discount didn’t apply to all dishes on the menu like the waitress said – only the salads were two for one. We didn’t say anything.

Cesar salad at Cafe Rouge

Cafe Rouge St Albans, 29 Holywell Hill, AL1 3LB

Presentation: 8/10

Food: 7/10

Value: 6.5/10

Venue: 8/10

Service: 5/10

Average: 6.9/10