Spice Market Raw Bar at W Hotel, London

Hallelujah. Praise the lord. Big in the scene, etc. etc. After a year and four months at long last I HAVE AN I-PHONE AGAIN.

My last one vanished somewhere between the sofa and the corner shop when I was pregnant and the f**king insurance w**kers, f**ked me over and I have been using an old knackered blackberry ever since – and as you can see I am still not over this.

So obviously on my first evening out in town with my new phone clasped firmly in my hand (you’ve heard about the masked bicycle phone thieves right?), I got snap happy while on my way to the launch of Spice Market’s Raw Bar.

I walked through Trafalgar Square and the fountains were lit up and looked so pretty:

Looking up at the colossal W Hotel on the corner of Leicester Square:

So What Exactly Is The Spice Market?

Spice Market is an Asian-fusion restaurant at the W Hotel, sister to the Spice Market in New York’s Meatpacking district. The menu is inspired by legendary French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s travels around South East Asia and the street food scene he encountered there.

Over here though, it seems executive chef Peter Lloyd is in charge of the kitchen and he has developed a new ‘raw bar’ menu that is made up at the bar in front of diners and is based entirely out of raw ingredients. Shaved rare tuna with chilli tapioca and Asian pear; salmon ceviche with avacado; and beef tartare with pickled cucumber were some of the canapés we sampled. All of the dishes are citrus-filled, fresh and zingy with barely a carbohydrate in site.

Happy raw bar chefs hard at work:

The medley of cocktails on offer as we entered the restaurant:

 

I'm keen to return to the Spice Market and sample the raw bar dishes in their entirety as I must admit after the canape-sized portions my journey home was via a takeaway pork bun from Chinatown. Finally, below, it just goes to show that even with today’s state of the art technology there is still some skill involved in good photography. Apologies to those at the Raw Bar as this photo is not the remnants of my Saturday night kebab but is indeed a Raw Bar salad. Don't worry it tasted better than this looks.

 

More from me on The Spice Market's Raw Bar  

 

Spice Market RawBar on www.julib.com   *Foodie Mom in London was an invited guest to Spice Market Raw Bar launch  

Salt Yard Cookbook Launch – Cut Above Canapes in Covent Garden

Last night saw a launch party, to celebrate the arrival of the Salt Yard cookbook, upstairs in the Opera Tavern.  I was delighted to receive and invite and with foodie friend in tow, braved the winds to head up to Covent Garden.

Salt Yard Cookbook Launch – What We Ate

With a glass of prosecco in hand, we sampled some of the best canapés I’ve had in a long while – to be expected from one of London’s most renowned tapas restaurants.

I haven’t eaten at Salt Yard or Opera Tavern but I have had lunch at sister restaurant Dehesa and have never forgotten the wonderfulness of the ‘courgette flowers with Monte Enebro and honey' – WOW.

 Last night we sampled:

• Scallop ceviche with pomegranate and fennel

• Salt cod fritter with orange alioli

• Crispy pork belly with quince and marjoram

• Wild mushroom and truffle empanadilla - I challenge anyone not to like garlic, mushroom and truffle in deep fried pastry

• Mini Iberico pork and foie gras burger – the meat patty was pink in the middle yet chargrilled on the outside, the bun was sweet and tough and it came with a jalapeno on top – awesome!

The low-lit downstairs of the Opera Tavern looked sultry and great for a date and is now added to my long list of London restaurants to visit.

More information about the Salt Yardcookbook

*Foodie Mom in London was invited to the Salt Yard cookbook launch