Wheelers: Surprisingly Good

Combine the following factors:  a Mayfair address (and associated rent) and an absent celebrity chef.  Generally not a good combo.  Wheelers  is a Marco Pierre White restaurant a stone's throw from St James's Palace.   Things were not looking good.  The reviews I checked supported my scepticism:  Hardens said"if there are any attractions to eating here, our visit failed to discern them". I was concerned.  We were meant to be impressing the client, not scaring them away!

The menu is dominated by fish - a nod to a historic restaurant on the same site (albeit not run by Marco Pierre White).  There is a reasonable lunch menu priced at two courses for 18, three for 22.  The a la carte is significantly more - we mixed and matched.

I started with potted duck with peppercorn - moist duck with a hit of pepper.  The accompanying  sourdough was good.  Others had the prawn cocktail and the beetroot and goats cheese salad - both were less engaging..

For main I had the wing of Skate and snails.  Classic combination, perfectly cooked, reasonably priced at 17 quid.  On the side we had excellent triple-cooked chips and some (heavy) cauliflower cheese - the flour in the white sauce had not been cooked out, a basic mistake I would not have expected.

The Dover Sole was the other dish of choice - again a well executed dish, although expensive at 30 pounds.

So was my fear misplaced?  Absolutely.  Hardens and Zagat should reconsider their scathing reviews from a few years ago.  There is nothing new about what Wheelers are doing, but what they are doing, they are doing well.  Don't expect fireworks and do bring your expense account - you will leave smiling.

Green Goat: some mighty tasty fish

Street food has been buzzing in London for years now - from Eat Street to Whitecross Street, Broadway to Borough, Brockley Market to Brick Lane - traders such as The Rib Man and Big Apple Hot Dogs have obtained near legendary status.  Cue five minute segment on prime-time BBC series with standard celebrity chef on street food in the Capital.

In fairness to Lorraine Pascale, other than for The Rib Man, she (or should I say her team of researchers) has not gone for the obvious choices.  And so she ended up at the Green Goat on Whitecross Street -  the daily strip of street traders that satisfies the crowds of suits billowing out from the City.  Now I am a regular here (my office is round the corner), but never had I made it past the delights of Luardos (excellent burritos), Hoxton Beach (best falafel in London - freshly cooked), and Wild Game Co. (simply incredible venison steak roll).

So when LP started banging on about this van at the top of Whitecross Street serving up the freshest fish in London (shipped up overnight from the small Cornish fishing fleet), cooked by two chefs - one ex-Caprice, the other formerly of Petersham Nurseries and Club Gascon - I really was taken aback.  How long had this been going on?  Why had I not eaten there?

I've been a few times now - I had the mussels the first time in a fresh mariniere sauce (with pancetta), hard to eat as street food but tasty nonetheless.  Th second time I had the sardine burger - super fresh, it went down a treat.

While both were good, I just didn't get round to writing about them.  This week though I had their whiting with a slow cooked chorizo and bean stew.  It was, in their words, a "bangin' eat".  If this was being served  at a "proper" sit-down restaurant, the Jay Rayners and AA Gills of this world would be beside themselves with joy.

Needless to say, I now need to try their signature chorizo and mackerel burger pronto.  Bringing sustainable, fresh, delicious fish to the masses at incredibly reasonable prices -  these guys deserve a standing ovation.