Aqua Kyoto, Soho

Catching up with friends in London for the day is one of my favourite outings. I was there last week to catch up with friend who moved to the Middle East but is home for holiday. Having spent 9 months in a country where no pork product is allowed, she really craved for pork pies, bacon, sausage rolls........ and alcoholic beverages!

After a coffee and a quick bite (contained bacon, of course) at Costa just off Regent Street, we moved on to the next venue in Soho - Aqua Kyoto, sandwiched between Regent Street and Argyll Street. Suited on 5th floor, we sat on the terrace to enjoy the glorious London skyline whilst enjoying a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Telegraph described it as one of London's best rooftop bars. From the ground floor entrance to the actual restaurant/bar entrance, the decor was minimal and in black, presents a chic and mysterious ambiance. Since it was only early in the afternoon and we have much to catch up on, a bottle of wine seems like the best choice. Considering 12% service charge is automatically added onto the bill in most London hospitality establishments, I did expect somebody to carry our wine bucket and glasses to the terrace but no body offered a helping hand. Poor effort in terms of service.

Behind the bar is a huge dining area with a sashimi/ sushi counter in the middle. At the time of our visit there was no diners but I wouldn't mind a revisit to sample their food menu. It is a shame I was too immersed in our conversations that I forgot to capture the London skyline and the venue, never mind!


  

Heartwarming Supper - Beef Cheeks Casserole

Despite the bad weather, the road isn't actually too bad and I've finally ventured out to the supermarket. Apart from restocking on the kitchen basic, I haven't really thought about what's on the evening menu, until I made a new discovery when walking pass the butcher section in Waitrose - beef cheeks!! It was very reasonably priced, if I remember correctly it was about £6.80 per kg. I bought 2 cheeks and that came just over 1 kg, and that's enough to serve 6.

I have only ever tasted beef cheeks once back in December last year at Pinocchio's, where Dave ordered 'Slow Cooked Cheek of Beef' for his main course. It was a rich and flavorsome dish, the meat was tender and it melt in the mouth. The only downside of this dish was that there was a huge quantity of pancetta, which made the sauce rather salty and overpowered the beef a little.

You guessed it! Beef Cheeks Casserole was on the dinner menu that night:-

Serves 6

1.2 kg beef cheeks
Splash of rapeseed oil
Sprinkle of plain flour
200g pancetta
2 stalks of celery, halves
1 carrot, ditto
2 cloves of garlic, ditto
2 medium onions, chopped quarterly
1 leek, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 dozen of black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
1 star anise
1/2 dozen of juniper berries
1/2 tbsp of dried thyme
1/2 tbsp of dried rosemary
1/2 bottle of good quality red wine
250ml organic beef stock, or organic beef stock cubes
250g button mushrooms
Salt and pepper, to taste

To Serve:
Golden mixed potato mash (sweet potato & potato), peas and broccoli

1. Cut each cheek into 6 portions and prepare all the vegetables 
2. Mix the flour with a pinch of salt and pepper, then sprinkle the meat with the mixture.
3. Heat the oil in a large, ovenproof casserole dish (i.e. Le Creuset cast iron) then brown the meat on both sides and set aside.
4. Heat a little more oil in the casserole dish, add the vegetables (apart from the mushrooms) and cook gently until soften.
5. Return the meat into casserole dish, add in all the herbs, spices, peppercorns, and berries.
6. Pour in the wine and stock, bring it to boil and turn down the heat to simmer for an hour.
7. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 190C/ 370F
8. Season with salt and pepper, mix in the mushrooms then place the casserole dish into the oven for a further hour. To avoid the meat drying out, check the liquid level and turn the meat from time to time.
9. Now, prepare the vegetable of your choice and the make the mash.
10. Take the casserole dish out after if has been into the oven for an hour. Keep it cooking on the stove with low heat. 
11. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat (and any vegetable in there) from the casserole dish. Discard the spices, peppercorns, berries and bay leaves 

Turn up the heat and reduce the liquid by 1/3.

Serve the meat, mash and vegetables evenly for each portion, pour the reduced sauce over.

The verdict and feedback from Dave was that my version was much tastier than Pinocchio's, as it was seasoned just right, the meat was tender and can really taste the beef. If I had more preparation time I would have marinated the beef with spices and red wine over night for a more in depth flavour. Overall, I thought this was pretty good effort as first attempt :p