Restaurant Review: Francesca’s Italian Kitchen

Last night S and I dined at Francesca’s Italian Kitchen as per a good friend of ours’ recommendation. She said it was excellent so we had to try it for ourselves. And overall, it was pretty spectacular!

Several things stood out: the slow-cooked beef (housemade) gnocchi (probably best in town), the tolerable noise level (I am so used to dining at Italian restaurants where I can’t even hear myself), the artsy pasta guide on the inner bathroom doors (who doesn’t like a good read whilst on the toilet), and the physical location of the place (I love anything close to New Regent!).

And of course it wouldn’t be a review if I’m not a slight bitch about it so… We ordered polenta fries as a starter, they were forgotten, and brought to us midway through our mains (yeah, yeah, first world problems). Speaking of polenta fries, they were good but not as amazing as The Bicycle Thief’s. In my opinion, those are much better. As for the pappardelle ragu, I think Cafe Valentino does theirs better, and the pumpkin brûlée, well, it was pretty unique in flavour but also highly diabetic. In other words, too much sugar (you know, even for a brûlée).

Despite the grumble, I’d rate our experience an 8/10!

My Favorite Healthy Sweet

Raw, vegan, gluten-free and refined-sugar free orange chocolate truffles. Have you tried them yet? Recipe HERE.

A Healthier Potato Salad and Cheesecake

Both recipes inspired by Petite Kitchen 

Potato Salad:
3 large potatoes of choice
1 small-medium cucumber
2-3 medium gherkins/pickles (chopped small)
A handful of dried blackcurrants
1/2 cup of raw pistachios (chopped small)
A large handful of fresh mint (roughly chopped)
Juice of one lemon
4 tbsp natural yoghurt
a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Pepper

Scrub potatoes well then cut in to small cubes. Place in a large saucepan, cover with salted water and bring to the boil. Then simmer, uncovered until just cooked. Be careful not to overcook!

When ready, strain potatoes and set aside to cool.

Once cooled, combine and toss all ingredients in a large bowl.

Cheesecake: 
6 free-range eggs
1 cup natural yoghurt
1 cup of mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup of almond meal/almond powder
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp vanilla essence

Topping:
Note: alternatively, you can use 100% store-bought fruit jam. 
1 cup of fresh or frozen strawberries
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup of water

Decoration:
Silvered almonds and flowers

Preheat oven to 180C

Grease a round cake tin then line with baking paper -grease that a little bit too.

Combine all cake ingredients in a food processor and blitz until combined. Since my blender couldn’t fit/handle all the ingredients at once, I managed this part by blending in batches at a time.

Pour batter into a cake tin and bake for about 45-50 min or until set. Note: batter will be very runny, this is normal.

Keep a good eye on the prize, if the top starts prematurely browning because your oven is shit like mine, use a sheet of tin foil to cover the top.

As your cake bakes, add all topping ingredients to a saucepan, bring to the boil then simmer until juicy and thick- set aside to cool.

Once both topping and cake have cooled, bring the two together in the most perfect union using the back of a tablespoon..

Decorate with silvered almonds and small flowers. Last but definitely not least, Instagram it.

A big shout out to Daniel and Mariko for having me over, listening to all my Japan problems and giving me kind brotherly and sisterly advice and my tummy, vegetarian gyoza and perfectly cooked brown rice!

That Time Yuko Turned Her Lounge Into A Kushikatsu Restaurant

Kushikatsu is one of Osaka’s soul foods. Click HERE for a detailed video. Tonight, Yuko out did herself by basically turning their lounge into a kushikatsu joint! It was incredible. I am so full.  First, we dipped our sticks of meat, seafood and vegetables into a white sauce of egg, milk and flour (as a sort of glue) then panko, a Japanese-style breadcrumb then, hot oil.  Before eating, we smothered our fried goods in kushikatsu sauce, which at a kushikatsu restaurant you can ONLY DIP ONCE! I write that in capitals because it’s a big well-known rule however; at Yuko’s, we had our own individual set of sauce, lemon and salt which we could freely double-dip into. For dessert, we had my vegan, sugar and gluten free crumble (with 2 tubs of ice-cream LOL). How great is this ? I heart sharing love and culture through food!

New Recipes

I have been experimenting…

1. Savory oats. Basically, make porridge as usual then crack a free-range egg into it, stir for a minute and season with salt and pepper. This time, I also added a tablespoon of home-made basil pesto. Finished with pumpkin seeds and avocado. The verdict? GOOD!

2.Coconut baklava balls. It’s almost Persian New Year (March 21st) and so, the perfect time to attempt to healthify my favorite Iranian sweets. These turned out pretty amazing (if I can say so myself). Next, I’ll try healthifying (like how I made up a word?) the original baklava, as well.

1 1/2 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut plus a little more for coating
1 cup almond powder
4 tbsp melted coconut oil
4 tbsp honey or maple syrup
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp rose water (optional)
1/2 tsp cardamom or more depending on taste
a pinch of sea salt

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender for 1-2 min or until the mixture starts to come together like a dough.

Use your hands to form small balls (wet them to prevent sticking).

Roll the balls in the extra coconut until well coated then transfer to a plate.

Refrigerate for at least 30 min before nomnom.

Step By Step Thai Vegan Curry

Do you remember how a few posts back, I confessed that I wasn’t really a chef? Well, this is a perfect example of that. Tonight I cooked vegan curry with a ready-made paste (gasp) AND it was delicious. Here’s how:

STEP ONE: gather your ingredients
1 preservative-free Thai curry paste
1 small can coconut milk
1 onion
3-4 small potatoes or sunchokes
1 large carrot
1 small broccoli head
some snap peas
1 punnet white mushrooms
(all veggies chopped small-medium)
1/2 cup raw peanuts
small bunch of fresh parsley or coriander

STEP TWO: heat a pan, add paste, 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water, bring to a boil. 

STEP THREE: add onion, sunchokes and carrots then cover and cook for 15-25 minutes.

STEP FOUR: add broccoli then cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Step FIVE: add snap peas and mushrooms and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

TO FINISH: top with peanuts and herbs.

DAS IT, YO!