Terroirs Wine Bar: Tapas & Charcuterie in London

If you could dream up the perfect wine bar then this would probably be it: an atmospheric little gem tucked away on a small street between the Strand and Covent Garden in the heart of London's West End, serving great food and wine at terrifically reasonable prices. Opened in 2008 by Guildford-based wine merchant Les Caves de Pyrene, Terroirs serves lovely tapas, charcuterie and small plates that while mostly French, have some Spanish, Italian and British touches and the occasional Middle Eastern influence, with a menu of ever-changing dishes such as Grilled Stone Bass with fennel, garlic purée, pickled radish and orange, Cornish Leaf Salad, Lincolnshire Smoked Eel and celeriac remoulade, Pork Jowl, with Hispi Cabbage and Black Garlic, and their signature Pork & Pistachio Terrine. And then there's the wine — to say its pivotal is an understatement. Terroirs’ wine list is impressive, with an intimidatingly long wine list of natural wines, many of which are organic and biodynamically produced, sourced from small scale, artisan winemakers — in short wines that encapsulate the notion of 'terroir'. The length and unfamiliarity of the list might be momentarily overwhelming, but one of Terroirs' knowledgeable group of sommeliers are soon at hand to discuss the tempting selection of delicious wines served by the glass. With warm, friendly and professional service, inspired menu and excellent wines, Terroirs has become a firm favourite with theatre goers and workers in the area, and it's easy to see why — it's also one of our favourite places for lunch after visiting the National Portrait Gallery or Tate Modern.

Terroirs always has a lovely selection of open bottles for wines by the glass

Warm and friendly, the restaurant is split on two levels, with a lovely zinc bar for single diners which offers a view of the tiny kitchen

An impressive selection of wine bottles line the wall behind Terroirs leather banquettes

The short but delicious daily changing menu of inspired tapas, charcuterie and small plates 

Simple table settings with a starched linen napkin, locally made earthenware plates and 

modern stemware etched with Terroirs iconic logo

Peirano Estate Illusion merlot

Terroirs Forlorn Hope Albariño by the glass 

A rich and delicious Albariño not from Spain but amazingly from California

Little Bread Pedlar Paul's Baguette

Pork & Pistachio Terrine

Selection of cheeses: Le Caussenard from Aveyron, Black Cow Cheddar from Dorset, Mini Cerney Ash Goat Cheese from Gloucestershire, and Dovedale Blue from Staffordshire

Terroirs Roasted Guinea Fowl with tropea onions and red peppers

Pan Seared Mackerel with radish, fennel and parsley finished with some olive oil and lemon

Fresh local asparagus with morels

www.terroirswinebar.com

Ed Wilson’s Salad of Anchoïade, Fennel and Breakfast Radishes

Makes 3 cups

Recipe courtesy of chef Ed Wilson

A simple emulsion of anchovies, garlic, vinegar and oil. This is perfect as a dip for raw vegetables such as fennel, carrots and radishes. This recipe makes quite a substantial amount, but it will keep very well covered in the fridge.

Anchoïade:

4 3/4 oz tinned anchovies drained of any excess oil

3 good sized cloves of garlic

2 fl oz of good quality red wine vinegar

3 cups vegetable oil

Water for thinning

Vegetables:

Fresh radishes with the leaves still attached

Julienne of fennel

In a food processor, add the anchovies, garlic, vinegar and purée to a smooth paste. Very slowly start to add the vegetable oil in a slow stream like you are making a mayonnaise. The anchovies act in the same way as egg yolk’s in mayonnaise and as a protein, will emulsify the oil. Be careful and keep a close eye as the oil starts to emulsify. If you feel it becomes too thick, add a little water. This will do two things: It will thin the anchoïade, and will also stabilise the emulsion too which will stop it from splitting.

When all the oil is incorporated and you have a lovely thick garlicky, anchovy emulsion, put in a pot and dip away. Cut the fennel into julienne strips and the radishes in half lengthwise and chill in iced water. To serve, arrange a few crisp chilled radishes, crisp fennel julienne on a plate, with a bowl of anchoïade on the side for dipping. Delicious.

Crepes with Salted Butter Caramel

Serves 6 (makes 12 approx)

Recipe courtesy of chef Ed Wilson

Pancake Batter:

6 oz white flour, preferably unbleached

A good pinch of salt

1 tsp castor sugar

2 large eggs and 1 or 2 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups milk, or for very crisp, light delicate pancakes, milk and water mixed

3-4 tsp melted butter

Salted Butter Caramel:

18 oz caster sugar

4 1/2 oz unsalted whole butter, diced

9 fl oz double cream

1/2 oz Maldon Salt

Put the caster sugar into a large pan over a medium heat and stir continuously until it turns into a rich caramel. You need to do this by eye, but aim for a slightly dark mahogany colour. If it is too light, the butter and cream will dilute any caramel flavour and it will lack that slightly burnt sugar taste that makes this sauce so good.

When you are happy with your caramel very carefully add your cream to stop the cooking. Be really careful to not do it too quickly as the caramel has a tendency to spit. When you have whisked in the cream, add the butter bit by bit until it is all incorporated and you have a smooth rich caramel. Allow to cool to blood temperature and then add the fleur de sel and mix so you get an even distribution. Ed says it is very important to allow the caramel to cool before doing this so that the salt crystals do not dissolve and you then get that lovely crunch.

Sieve the flour, salt, and sugar into a bowl, make a well in the centre and drop in the lightly beaten eggs. With a whisk or wooden spoon, starting in the centre, mix the egg and gradually bring in the flour. Add the liquid slowly and beat until the batter is covered with bubbles. Let the batter stand in a cold place for an hour or so — longer will do no harm. Just before you cook the pancakes stir in 3-4 dessertspoons melted butter. This will make all the difference to the flavour and texture of the pancakes and will make it possible to cook them without greasing the pan each time.

Make the pancakes in the usual way. Heat the pan to very hot, pour in just enough batter to cover the base of the pan thinly. A small ladle can also be very useful for this. Loosen the pancake around the edge, flip over with a spatula or thin egg slice, cook for a second or two on the other side, and slide off the pan onto a plate. The pancakes may be stacked on top of each other and peeled apart later.

To serve, spread a little salted caramel evenly over the warm crepe. Roll up or fold into a fan shape. Serve two per person on warm plates.

Clos Maggiore: London's Most Romantic Restaurant

Once described by a famous patron as “like eating inside of a fairy tale” Clos Maggiore is the most romantic restaurant in London and perhaps the world. An oasis of calm in the heart of Convent Garden, it's crowning glory is its gorgeous conservatory with canopy of fairy lights and white cherry blossoms complete with the warmth of a roaring log fire on chilly nights, evoking a dreamlike atmosphere in soft candlelight. Influenced by the stylish country inns of Provence and Tuscany, head chef Marcellin Marc is committed to sourcing local seasonal products throughout the year such as lamb from the Welsh mountains, seafood from the coast and vegetables from Kent, to create perfectly balanced menus which have consistently been recognised and awarded with AA-rosette awards. Arriving for dinner, we were seated at a lovely romantic table for two in the inner sanctum — the magical blossom-filled conservatory. Deceptively small, Clos Maggiore has only about 15 tables with a team of dedicated staff that are charming, professional and second-to-none. Champagne and parmesan scones appear compliments of the chef, a waiter offers a choice of homemade breads and focaccia, and the sommelier will pair each dish with wine from the restaurant's globally renowned wine cellar which boasts over 2,500 selections appealing to all occasions, a daunting wine bible ranging from a modest bottle of ‘Vin De Pays’ to the greatest names in the wine world. A stellar evening from start to finish, our dinner at Clos Maggiore was delightful and delicious, like a culinary fairy tale with a soul satisfying happy ending.

Once described by a famous patron as “like eating inside of a fairy tale” Clos Maggiore 

is the most romantic restaurant in London

Chef Marcellin Marc's menu of modern French-influenced cuisine 

Two glasses of Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Brut Rosé Champagne

A copper pan of gorgeous freshly baked cheese scones

Butter with sprinkle of Maldon Salt

Marco Felluga Pinot Grigio by the glass

Chargrilled Sicilian Aubergine Stuffed with Courgette, Pepper, Fresh Basil, 

Sweet and Sour Datterino Tomatoes with White Onion Pissaladière

Smoked Burrata from Puglia and Green Asparagus,

Fennel and Broad Bean Salad with Lemon Honey Vinaigrette and Smoked Almonds

Oven Roasted Free Range Chicken Leg Stuffed with Duck Livers and Morels with 

French Pea and Morel Casserole

Roasted Black Iberian Pork Loin with Roasted Potato Gnocchi 

and Pancetta, Braised Red Chicory with Pork and Onion Sauce

Pork and Onion sauce poured over the Roasted Black Iberian Pork Loin

Truffled Mash Potatoes

Wilted Spinach

Roasted William Pear with pistachio iced cream and gingerbread

www.closmaggiore.com

Hand Picked Devon Crab, Brown Shrimp and Cauliflower Rémoulade
Serves 4
Recipe courtesy of Chef Marcellin Marc

For the crab:
7 oz white crab meat
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp Philadelphia cream cheese
1 tbsp chopped flat parsley
2 tbsp diced green apple

For the cauliflower rémoulade:
3 1/2 oz blanched cauliflower florets
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp chopped flat parsley

For the shrimps:
2 oz peeled brown shrimps
Extra virgin olive oil


Mix all the crab ingredients together and check the seasoning, then do the same for the cauliflower rémoulade ingredients. To serve, place the crab in the centre of each plate, and on each side add the quenelles of cauliflower remoulade, then on the top and around the the salad, add the brown shrimps. Finally, drizzle the dish with extra virgin olive oil.

Braised Shoulder of Loire Valley Rabbit with Sweet and Sour Black Radish & Wholegrain Mustard Mousseline
Serves 8
Recipe courtesy of Chef Marcellin Marc

Rabbit:
8 rabbit shoulders
2 tbsp rosemary and thyme, chopped
Salt and pepper
3 1/2 oz caul fat
1ltr duck fat
2 sprigs each of of thyme and rosemary
3 garlic cloves
3 bay leaves

Sweet & sour black radish:
1 black radish
3 1/2 oz honey
7 oz water
7 oz sherry vinegar

Wholegrain mustard mousseline:
3 large egg yolks
1 cup vegetable oil
1tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
Salt and pepper 
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1/2 cup whipped cream


To make the rabbit, remove the 2 bones from each shoulder with a small boning knife. Keep the last small bone as this will help to hold the final shape. Lay the meat down on the chopping board and season with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Roll each shoulder so that it looks like a ball, with the little bone inside sticking out. Then wrap it in the caul fat, which will maintain the shape during cooking. Place the 8 shoulders in a deep ovenproof pan with the duck fat, rosemary, thyme, garlic and bay leaves. Cook for 4 hours at 200°F. Drain the shoulders carefully and brown them under a grill in the oven.

To make the black radish, peel the raw radish and slice it paper thin with a chopping knife. Mix together the water, honey and vinegar. Add the sliced radish and boil gently for 2 minutes. Set aside and leave to cool down in the liquid until completely cold.

To make the mousse line, begin by making a classic mayonnaise by mixing all the ingredients together and then gently folding the whipped cream in the mixture.

To serve, place the slices of black radish carefully in a circle on each plate. Place the shoulder in the middle of each plate, then shape three quenelles of the mousseline around the rabbit or place it on a side as you wish — enjoy!

The Tate Modern + Picasso: Love. Fame. Tragedy.

Picasso embarked on a passionate love affair in 1932 that led to a year of furious artistic creativity, and thus inspired The Tate Modern’s summer exhibition 'Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy', concentrating completely on his output for that one single year. He was playing with shape and colour too, but at the centre of it all was the face and the body of Marie-Thérèse Walter, his new 22-year-old lover. While Walter’s name is not so familiar outside the art world, her face is probably better known, in all its aspects and angles, than that of Picasso himself. Her strong nose has been accentuated in a hundred abstract studies and sculptured heads, many of them included in this show, mixed with family photographs and rare glimpses into his personal life. Although close male friends knew about his secret life and colluded with it, for eight years Picasso successfully hid it from his first wife Olga Khokhlova, the Russian ballet dancer and mother of his young eleven year old son Paulo, maintaining a delicate balance between looking after his family while fully engaged in his steamy relationship with Marie-Thérèse. The exhibition brings these complex artistic and personal dynamics to life with an unprecedented range of loans from collections around the world.

Picasso’s split existence between his homes and studios in his Normandy chateau in Boisgeloup and central Paris capture the contradictions of his life at this pivotal moment: divided between countryside retreat and urban bustle, established wife and recent lover, painting and sculpture, sensuality and darkness. The year ended traumatically when Walter fell seriously ill after swimming in the river Marne, losing most of her iconic blonde hair. In his final works of the year, Picasso transformed the event into scenes of rescue and ruin, creating at the same time an analogy for the thunderclouds gathering over Europe: from the crisis of the Great Depression and mass unemployment, to the rise of Fascism including in his native Spain. The result is a dramatic finale to a year of love, fame and tragedy that pushed Picasso to the height of his creative powers, cemented his celebrity status as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

With a rich industrial heritage, London's Tate Modern is located on the site 

of the former Bankside Power Station

In 1932, Picasso embarked on a love affair that led to 12 months of furious creativity, with the Tate Modern’s 'Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy', concentrating on his output for that single year

Picasso in his studio

Marie-Thérèse Walter in 1928 at Picasso's french Château de Boisgeloup

Russian ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova, Picasso's wife and mother of their son Paolo

Seated Woman by Window, Oct 30 1932

Bronze 'Head of a Woman', 1931/32

Reading, January 9, 1932

A young woman photographing Picasso's 'A Young Woman Playing the Mandoline'

The Mirror from March 12, 1932

Nude, Green Leaves & Bust, March 8, 1932

Le Rêve (The Dream), Private collection, January 30, 1932

Picasso's sculpture workshop in the stables at Château de Boisgeloup, 

with Bob, the family’s Pyrenean Mountain dog

Nude in Black Armchair, March 9, 1932

Girl Before Mirror, March 14, 1932

www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Picasso’s Omelette Tortilla Niçoise 

Serves 4 

Back in 1964, Pablo Picasso shared with Vogue’s food columnist Ninette Lyon two of his favourite recipes: one for Eel Stew, the other for Omelette Tortilla Niçoise. 

6 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion

4 peppers, red and green

3 tomatoes

2 tbsp wine vinegar

8 large eggs

Salt and pepper

In a flat-bottomed frying pan, heat oil gently, adding the onion, sliced and separated into rings. After 5 minutes, add the peppers, seeded and diced. Mix and cook gently for a few minutes, then slip in the tomatoes, seeded, peeled, and cubed. After mixing and seasoning, cover pan and let simmer over a low flame for 1 hour. Vegetables should not stick. Uncover the pan, pour in the wine vinegar, and let cook until liquid is reduced. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Pour them over the vegetables, mix well, and let the omelette cook gently without touching it. When it is well set, put a big plate over the pan and reverse the omelette onto it, then slide it back into the pan on the other side. Finish over a higher flame until golden underneath. Cut the omelette tortilla like a pie, and serve with a bowl of garlic-mayonnaise seasoned with saffron.

Picasso’s Eel Stew 

Serves 4

6 tbsp olive oil

6 tbsp butter

12 small white onions

1 tsp sugar

2 yellow onions, chopped

12 mushrooms

1/3 lb salt pork, cubed

2 shallots, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 eels of about 1 pound each, cut into four- to five-inch sections

1 bottle of good red wine

1 tbsp flour

Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper

Bouquet garni: thyme, bay leaf, parsley, fennel, and a small branch of celery

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan, add small white onions and sprinkle them with sugar. When golden on all sides, cover the pan and cook gently, turning onions carefully from time to time. Be sure they are well caramelized without sticking. After 10 minutes add the salt pork cut in cubes; when transparent, put in the mushroom heads, and let simmer.

At the same time: Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of oil in a casserole. Cover the bottom with 2 chopped onions, minced shallots, garlic, and chopped mushroom stems. Put the bouquet garni in the center and the sections of fish around it. Season and cook gently for 5 minutes, then cover with wine. Bring to a boil, then lower flame as far as possible, to simmer, without boiling, for 15 minutes.

Drain the pieces of eel and place in the frying pan with the small onions. Keep warm over a low flame. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, return to high flame and reduce, uncovered for 5 minutes. Work 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon flour into a paste, and add it in bits to thicken sauce; stir to boiling point before removing from stove. Cover the eel stew with sauce; and serve surrounded by croutons fried in butter.