Monthly Archives: May 2018

Reviews

Restaurant Review: Southam Street, Notting Hill

SouthamStreetNHYM

Southam Street. All photos courtesy of NHYM apart from this one, courtesy of the internet. NHYM 2018. 

I am always excited to hear about new restaurant openings in Notting Hill, because one easily gets bored (yawn) and tired by the same old stalwarts (ie. ‘Shall we go to Osteria/The Oak/e&o?’ etc…) So when Southam Street invited me to write a review of their new restaurant, I was more than happy to oblige since I love Pan Asian food and I love Notting Hill. So last Thursday, I took some friends along to try it out.

Southam Street is a Robata and Raw restaurant set over two floors with a top floor Tequila bar. That night we were seated on the ground floor, which has a scandi feel to it: white-painted exposed bricks, Danish-style chairs and industrial pipes coming out of a very cool ceiling.

Golborne Road is having something of a renaissance and this restaurant is just one of its recent openings. 108 Garage established itself as ‘the one to watch’ when it opened in 2017 and received brilliant reviews, quickly finding a spot in Bloomberg’s Best 100 restaurants in the UK: So it is unsurprising that the duo behind 108 Garage opened a new resto down the street called Southam Street (and that duo is a story in itself with Luca the Italian banker and Chris the Gumtree Chef.)

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Double Salmon Roll. NHYM 2018. 

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Yellowtail Tartare. NYYM 2018

We started out our meal with some of the raw offerings: The Double Salmon Roll and the Yellowtail Tartare. The double salmon was fresh and succulent, just as any good sushi restaurant in Mayfair with triple the price. The yellowtail tartare was good, but perhaps less memorable.

BaoBunSouthamStNHYM

Bao Bun. NHYM 2018. 

But let’s cut right to the chase. The Korean fried chicken Bao Bun is really the piece de resistance in this restaurant and is – literally – everyone’s favourite. We all ordered one, but one of our friends liked it so much, he ordered two. Someone said they would come to Southam just for it and my husband still raves about it.

ThaiSaladSouthamStNHYM

Thai Salad. NHYM 2018. 

I personally also love the Thai salad with mi-cuit salmon and salmon roe mixed with grapefruit, shallots, and lots of herbs – it is delicious and after the salad and the Bao Bun, I could have gone home happy.

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Iberico pork. NHYM 2018. 

But instead, we kept ordering, and had the wagyu beef sliders, which were very tasty, and the Iberico pork pluma – also very good. As sides, we had asparagus grilled on a Robata a la Nobu style, which I really liked, and broccoli in sesame sauce. All quite delicious.

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Rump Steak and Broccoli. NHYM 2018. 

The rump steak was a bit on the fatty side and could have used a bit more sauce/marinade, but by this time we were so full that we didn’t really care.

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Fondant. NHYM 2018. 

For dessert, the chocolate moelleux hit the spot, which rivals Nobu’s as well and the panna cotta, which wasn’t panna cotta, but a chawan mushi (Ok, the Japanese version of a panna cotta) was equally delicious.

SouthamStreetPannacottaNHYM

Strawberry Chawan Mushi. NHYM 2018. 

It was all very beautifully decorated with edible flowers and pretty colours. The only – little – downside to the whole experience was the service…which was slightly inexperienced. Cocktails came at staggered intervals, and questions about the food were met with head-caught-in-headlights stares: ‘How are the sliders? Uhm. I don’t know, I haven’t tried them. How is the Iberico pork cooked? Uhm, I don’t know, let me ask’ which happened a few times, but having said that, they were very friendly, mostly attentive, and did try.

Overall:

Southam Street is a great little addition to west London’s dining scene with some excellent dishes (crispy chicken Bao Bun and Salmon Roe Thai Salad) and some old Nobu-style favourites. The service could use some refining, but the food and the friendliness was enough of a distraction to keep us happy all night long.

Thank you Southam Street for a wonderful Thursday treat!

xx

NHYM

http://www.nottinghillyummymummy.com

@NHyummymummy

**Southam Street invited me and three friends but all views and opinions expressed are my own**

 

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Reviews, Travel

Review: Limewood & The Pig, Hampshire

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Limewood Hotel & Terrace. Photos Courtesy of NHYM 2018

We first heard about Limewood about 10 years ago after it first opened through a friend and colleague’s of my husband’s who raved about it and kept telling us that we should go, saying that it was her favourite country hotel. But then, something overwhelming happened: we had kids and you-know-how-it- is, only hotels with kids clubs came onto our radar and we said we would go when our children were older. Well, they are now – a little – older, and we finally made it to Limewood last weekend for the most glorious weekend in the history of UK bank holidays. We wanted to run to this friend to tell her how much we loved it, but sadly we couldn’t, because this friend succumbed to her fight against breast cancer a few years ago. So, it was with some sadness that we loved this place, a place that for us, will always be linked to her.

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Garden. Limewood. Courtesy of NHYM 2018. 

I tell my children to appreciate everything we have and not to take anything for granted, whether family, friends or our health – all of which I have lost at some point. When I feel myself getting angry and frustrated by little things, I try to tell myself not to ‘sweat the little things.’ And in some ways, the harder times I’ve experienced over the years have taught me about appreciating the happier times and how to be happier overall.

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Limewood Pathway. NHYM 2018. 

But enough philosophising, you’ve probably come for a hotel review, rather than a lecture on happiness! So, back to Limewood: so much of it is ab-fab. We had a wonderful ‘Pavilion’ which is comprised of two interconnecting rooms, one on the ground floor where the kids stayed and one on the first floor where we stayed. It felt like your own little house at the back of the hotel’s garden with plenty of space, charm and was very family friendly where we could open our door and let the kids run around wildly in the garden.

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Bathtub in bedroom. NHYM 2018. 

Our bedroom had a large four-poster bed and a bathtub literally amongst the trees. It felt as if you were in a treehouse somewhere far away. Limewood is in the middle of the New Forest (not in the outskirts like Chewton Glen) with wild ponies roaming around freely, which we saw when we went tandem bicycling.

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Limewood Bar. NHYM 2018.

Other parts of the hotel I really liked were the bar, the huge spa and pool, and the breakfast room called the scullery. What differentiates Limewood from many of the other grand old hotels is that it is a boutique hotel but with 5 star amenities and it is equally as luxurious as any 5 star. It is just the right size and is beautifully designed, from the rooms to the breakfast room, whereas some of the larger hotels can become impersonal like the Grove or the Four Seasons.

ThePigNHYM

The Pig. NHYM 2018. 

On Saturday, we went to the Pig, which is the sister hotel of Limewood. It is basically its younger, hip sister, equally beautiful, but more rustic-chic than grownup Limewood, in a drinks-in-a-jam-jar kind of way.

ThePigConservatoryNHYM

The Pig Conservatory. NHYM 2018. 

The restaurant is in a very cool conservatory with food that is all locally sourced. Like I said, hipsterville. We ate outside on the terrace because it was so beautiful out, but would love to go back at night one day as it is apparently quite stunning as well for dinner. The Tomahawk pork is its claim-to-fame, so be sure to order that if you go.

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Limewood Grounds. NHYM 2018. 

Back at Limewood, the children spent hours on the swings, but we also went bike-riding, swimming in the pool and to a cute little farm Longwood, when we decided that Paultons and Peppa Pig World didn’t quite flow with our weekend plans ;). There were plenty of children because it was a bank holiday weekend, so if you’re looking to go for a romantic weekend as a couple, don’t go on a BH weekend!

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Back Garden Limewood. NHYM 2018. 

Everything about the weekend was stunning: the weather, the hotel, the food, and the room, although I couldn’t have called it a relaxing weekend: there were moments when I longed for a kids club, but nonetheless it was absolutely lovely and we will certainly be back. Everyone I speak to loves it there and I can understand why. Our friend would have loved to hear that we finally made it there ten years later and loved it too.

xx

NHYM

http://www.nottinghillyummymummy

@NHyummymummy

**In memory of my husband’s Limewood-loving friend who fought so bravely and strongly against breast cancer**

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