Mini Restaurant Review: Dim Sum at Gerrard's Corner, China Town, London

One of my long-time regular China Town haunts for dim sum is Gerrard's Corner (on the corner of Gerrard and Wardour).

I'd arranged to meet an out-of-town friend and her husband there for a dim sum lunch. I met Carol l on a foodie chat board and we've met a few times at GTGs now. Although she's my mum's age we have so much in common and are very much alike.

Over a couple of chat-filled hours, we slowly worked our way through 16 dim sum items!

Whelks with satay sauce
King prawn dumplings
Seafood and scallop dumplings
Paper wrapped prawns
Crispy bbq pork puff pastry
Deep fried squid
Deep fried stuffed prawns with sugar cane
Steamed lobster dumplings (x 2)
Octopus thai style
Deep fried dough stick cheung fun
Scallop cheung fun
Yam croquette
Glutinous rice in lotus leaf
Deep fried prawn rolls with garlic
Crab and mashed prawn dumplings

All washed down with copious amounts of tea (Jasmine for them, Oolong for me) it was a bargain at only £15 each!

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Off The Cuff Port, Shropshire Blue and Cream Sauce

Just thought I'd share a very simple steak sauce I made on Saturday night ... I made it up as I went but it came out very well.

I used a flat-bottomed and heavy-based cast aluminium pan that I allowed to get really hot before cooking the rump steaks (oiled the meat not the pan) to medium-rare (which was pure guess work but spot on).

The steaks were then put aside in covered dish to rest.

Turned the heat down to low.

With the pan still hot from the higher heat I'd been using for the steaks, I sloshed in a generous glug of sweet red port which bubbled fiercely and immediately reduced. Within 30 seconds I had a thick, sticky reduction.

To that I added a very generous glug of double cream and stirred the two together to create a beautiful pink sauce.

Into that I threw a generous handful of crumbled Shropshire Blue (had been thinking of Stilton when deciding what to eat a few hours earlier but remembered I had a chunk of this that I bought back from Wales with me). Stirred until the cheese melted in.

Pete was, in the meantime, making a creamy mash (with home-grown potatoes) which he served onto the plate along with the steaks. I mixed the juices that had come out of the meat during resting into the sauce before serving.

It was GORGEOUS! Far better than I expected having so completely made it up! And we've not had steaks come out so well before either!

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I've finally found a beer for Kaveys!

I was working at a client site on Friday; Pete was at home. In our emails discussing what to have for dinner Pete mentioned that he'd gone to the Tallyho pub for lunch at that they had a beer festival on and did I fancy going there for dinner. I am not usually keen as I've been disappointed with the food at this Wetherspoon's pub more times than I can count. But you've got to keep a husband sweet by playing to his beerloving now and again so I agreed!

Not only was my meal really good but we found a beer I really, really liked!

It's called Namyslow Original Plum Beer and it's Polish, made by a brewery that's been brewing since 1321. It's a dark red-brown colour and it's bitterness is balanced by fruity sweetness. Gorgeous!

The only downside is that the brewery doesn't bottle so, short of buying it by the barrel, I'm left hoping the Tallyho bring it back for another beer fest sometime soon!

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