Lunch at Ottolenghi's

Last weekend I had a weekend away in London to see my sister- the main purpose of the trip was to go and see Wicked, the musical as a belated Birthday present, but more on that in another post.

Em had seen Ottolenghi’s in Islington while out with her friends and had been looking for an excuse to splash the cash to go there- so me coming down apparently was the perfect excuse! It’s the chef Yotam Ottenleghi’s restaurant and has the best window display of food I’ve ever seen. My mum has his book Plenty- but the recipes involve a crazy amount of ingredients and are relatively complex, so coming down to the restaurant and having the pros do it was a great way to try out some of his food!

Em looking suitably excited

We headed down from Angel tube station for an early lunch and there was already a serious queue there, but the set up is a kind of salad buffet that the waiters serve for you- so it meant waiting for a table was occupied by salivating over the amazing spread- and I didn’t even get a chance to photograph the incredible pastries and breads.

The entire menu sounded incredible and it was pretty hard for Em and I to choose. However, our waiter was amazing at recommending things to try and pretty much ordered for us! I went for the salmon with mango, papaya, coriander, spring onion and chilli salsa (it’s pretty rare for me to get a decent piece of fish on a student budget), the radish slaw and aubergines with walnut yoghurt, nigella seeds, herbs and spicy walnuts. Em went for the filo pastry, basmati rice with lentils, chickpeas, pistachios coriander and toasted spices and roasted root veg.

 

Possibly the best salmon and salad I've had

The food was out of this world- you could see why each dish had so many ingredients, because they all played their parts in the flavourings of the dishes. What was amazing was everything was so wonderfully flavoured, but not overwhelming or an attack on your taste buds. It also was so filling! What effectively was a plate of salad kept me going the entire day, to the point that Em and I only had a tiny meal before the theatre that evening and were fine hunger-wise. I was seriously impressed.

 

There was too much choice! 

Also, an added bonus was that lovely waiter- we were debating between trying a grilled pepper dish and the roasted veg for Em, so he came over partway through our meal with a little taster plate- it was also delicious and is one of those things that makes a restaurant- after all, the food is part of the experience.

It was about £30 for the two of us- so pretty pricey in my book, but considering how little I ate for the rest of the day (a rare occurrence for me) I guess I saved money elsewhere? All in all, it was worth the wait- certainly join the queue if you’re ever in Islington, but he has four restaurants all over London- just check out the website.