The Bonnie and Wild

We had a wonderful lunch yesterday, eating rib-eye steaks marinated in Korean gochujang paste and red miso again.

T's friend was gracious enough to bring over rib-eye steaks for us from Whole Foods.

a little steaks on the stovetop action

I always seem to have a problem of chewy, rubbery steaks when I cook on the stovetop but yesterday's steaks that were really flavorful and tender.

mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinegar and sauteed.

asparagus lightly seasoned with butter and a heavy hand of pepper and sea salt.

triple cooked chips- boiled, fried, baked. T's still trying to perfect the triple cooked chips, as they turned out not as crispy yesterday. I'm thinking maybe he has to fry the bad boys after he bakes them.

This was really a perfect Saturday afternoon lunch.

We headed over to the Belgravia area for our second weekend pub crawl. If you want to see a rich area (money, money, moneeeey!!), check out Belgravia!!

 

We were intending to meet the group at the second pub called The Plumber’s Arms, but when we arrived, we found out it closes on the weekends! After making a call, the group decided to meet at the Shakespearean, a touristy pub right across from Victoria station.

hello cervezas!

I spy, with my little eye....a beautiful rainbow!! I haven't seen one of these in years.. Sigh..

We made our way to the second pub The Antelope and stayed for one glass of wine for muah and a pint for him. No pictures though. I must have forgotten amidst all the chatter among fellow ex-pats. A friend of T’s who seemed to have acquired a mass amount of friends/acquaintances through his diligent networking skills put the pub crawl together. I always appreciate people who do all the gritty work for me, all I have to do is show up! :) Hats off.

We popped into the Grenadier, a lovely looking pub outside and cozy little space inside, but we sadly we couldn't stay..

We hit up two pubs and had to dash because we had a dinner date at The Boonie & Wild, a “part time” restaurant. So, the restaurant is part-time because it’s actually run by a catering company that rents out a fish and chips shop in Chapel Market only on the weekends. The vibe is laid back but the food isn't. I would say that the food is equivalent to a bib gourmand gastro pub. I was impressed by the attention given by our waitress as she really stepped it up, filling our water pitchers, giving us extra bread, and bringing me, the only ketchup left in the kitchen. :)

I've reintroduced gluten back in my life after giving the gluten free diet an experimental shot for almost a month. It was an interesting experiment to see what life is like having to do without wheat, rye, and barley. I'll talk more about it later but I realized I don't have a gluten allergy and I think its best for me to focus on achieving a balanced diet, geared more towards eating fresh ingredients rather than completely avoiding certain things like gluten.

I had the lions share of the bread-- I asked for more after the first bowl was done!

a little white vino to complement our meal

T had the goats cheese and fig appetizer to start. I had a bite of it and it was heavenly-- the creamy goats cheese really complements the figs. I also love the texture of the crunchy little seeds in the figs, nom nom nom!!

I had an equally amazing starter: 4 maldon oysters in a shallot vinigrette= Amaazing and definitely slurpable!!

Our mains were delicious as well, we both had the grey mullet- it looked similar to seabass but it was a bit heartier in texture, and a trio of queen scallops

we had chips and aubergine as our sides. The aubergine was rolled with ricotta cheese and complemented with rocket leaves, tomatoes, and olives.

our first dessert was a selection of four different cheeses, oatcakes, and an pear chutney I believe. All four cheeses were tasty in their own unique way. I was stuffed but somehow, I managed to have one bite too many of each cheese!
Our second dessert was a plum clafoutis with raspberry coulis that had the consistency of a lighter egg frittata. It was quite yummy!

Breakfast this morning was a simple bowl of honey oats cereal with additional almonds and raisins on top.

I hardly ever eat cereal but #1 we've run out of eggs and #2 I'm too lazy to go to the cornershop to get some

 

the cereal made for a nice breakfast substitute

I will never forget: A silent prayer to the hero's of 9/11 and the thousands of lives lost.