Books for Cooks and also.. why no pictures?
First things first:
My camera is broken! I'm still tweaking my letter to Oprah. It goes something like this:
"Dear Oprah. I need a new camera. A really nice one with some fancy lenses. I promise to be a better person if you send me one."
Now let's move on to the Books for Cooks part.
If I were 15, I might explain my experience at Books for Cooks like this:
OMG! WTF! LOL!
But 15 I am not, and Books for Cooks demands a bit more explanation.
But it must first be mentioned that after I've finished writing my letter to Oprah, I will be penning a plea to Books for Cooks to let me work in their test kitchen.
Books for Cooks is a pretty small store, but it is absolutely loaded with books all about food and cooking. As if that wasn't good enough.
No kidding, it actually gets better.
Tucked away in the back, is a small open kitchen and a mere 5 tables served at any one time.
Every day a few recipes are selected from among the cookbooks in the store, and lo and behold this is what is on the menu for lunch that day. Hello dream job? I never knew you could be that dreamy.
But as a customer, and not a staff member, here is the exciting part:
Three courses cost a mere 7£.
Or you can select two items for 5£.
Insert coughing fit here. Because now I realize that perhaps my shampoo is a bit too expensive.
Here is the lovely lunch that I got to enjoy the other day for a MERE 7£.
First course: The best mint pea soup I have ever had with a generous slice of a caramelized onion and goat cheese bread--still hot from the oven.
(If I had been a good girl, I would have stopped here, because my belly was perfectly satisfied by this point. But I figured I could be a good girl some other time. I mean, 7£ people. You just know there was no stopping here. You just know, right? )
Main course: Meatloaf with balsamic sweet potato mash and tamarind chutney. Yum and yum and yum.
And. AND. A choice of one of 4 desserts: Rhubarb crumble, flourless chocolate cake, plum cake, and a lemon blueberry polenta cake. I chose the plum cake but my stomach was on strike by that point so I took it home and generously gifted it to G.
I had a stupid grin on my face during that whole lunch.
And for hours afterwards, I'm sure anyone who passed me could hear me mumbling: "omg. wtf?"
Because really, it made me that happy.
I've got to work on that letter. Forget Oprah, my dream job is at stake here.
Get thee to Books for Cooks
4 Blenheim Crescent
Notting Hill
London W11 1NN
Tel 020-7221-1992
Fax 020-7221-1517
My camera is broken! I'm still tweaking my letter to Oprah. It goes something like this:
"Dear Oprah. I need a new camera. A really nice one with some fancy lenses. I promise to be a better person if you send me one."
Now let's move on to the Books for Cooks part.
If I were 15, I might explain my experience at Books for Cooks like this:
OMG! WTF! LOL!
But 15 I am not, and Books for Cooks demands a bit more explanation.
But it must first be mentioned that after I've finished writing my letter to Oprah, I will be penning a plea to Books for Cooks to let me work in their test kitchen.
Books for Cooks is a pretty small store, but it is absolutely loaded with books all about food and cooking. As if that wasn't good enough.
No kidding, it actually gets better.
Tucked away in the back, is a small open kitchen and a mere 5 tables served at any one time.
Every day a few recipes are selected from among the cookbooks in the store, and lo and behold this is what is on the menu for lunch that day. Hello dream job? I never knew you could be that dreamy.
But as a customer, and not a staff member, here is the exciting part:
Three courses cost a mere 7£.
Or you can select two items for 5£.
Insert coughing fit here. Because now I realize that perhaps my shampoo is a bit too expensive.
Here is the lovely lunch that I got to enjoy the other day for a MERE 7£.
First course: The best mint pea soup I have ever had with a generous slice of a caramelized onion and goat cheese bread--still hot from the oven.
(If I had been a good girl, I would have stopped here, because my belly was perfectly satisfied by this point. But I figured I could be a good girl some other time. I mean, 7£ people. You just know there was no stopping here. You just know, right? )
Main course: Meatloaf with balsamic sweet potato mash and tamarind chutney. Yum and yum and yum.
And. AND. A choice of one of 4 desserts: Rhubarb crumble, flourless chocolate cake, plum cake, and a lemon blueberry polenta cake. I chose the plum cake but my stomach was on strike by that point so I took it home and generously gifted it to G.
I had a stupid grin on my face during that whole lunch.
And for hours afterwards, I'm sure anyone who passed me could hear me mumbling: "omg. wtf?"
Because really, it made me that happy.
I've got to work on that letter. Forget Oprah, my dream job is at stake here.
Get thee to Books for Cooks
4 Blenheim Crescent
Notting Hill
London W11 1NN
Tel 020-7221-1992
Fax 020-7221-1517
Labels: london, London restaurants
posted by Michèle at 6:06 AM
10 Comments:
OMG!! WTF...this made me laught out loud:
Insert coughing fit here. Because now I realize that perhaps my shampoo is a bit too expensive.
hahahahooo gafaw
love you!
Mmm. I think I'll add that to my April in London itinerary! (I've actually heard about the place before, but hadn't got the address)
oh-oh.....I'm jealous!
I love that place...and need a dream job!
I say...go,girl,go!
How ironic that the first food you write about contains PEAS! Maybe G has missed his calling and should be fortune-telling. Welcome back.
I don't even know you and I'm so happy to have you back. I found you when you'd already left, read everything you posted, tried your recipes, and then was sad that it was over. Welcome back!
Alisa, people are going to think Im paying you for the compliments. But I'll take them darlin. Keep em' coming. Im pleased as punch to make you laugh!
Pille, I wholeheartedly recommend that you try to get in for lunch. You cant make reservations unfortunately but if you show up right for noon I hear your chances are good. I think by 1:30pm or so it starts to clear out a bit too.
Melissa, you feel me on this one dont you! How great would that be to browse through a wealth of cookbooks pick a few recipes each day and actually get paid for doing it? Oy.
CJ, I think G IS a bit psychic, although I have to sort through all the snoring in order to be able to hear his predictions. He does his best work when he's sleeping it seems.
Anonymous, aw shucks. That's nice to hear, thank you!
omg michele! i'm thrilled to see oswego tea up and running! :)
i *adore* books for cooks. i don't even want to admit how many times i was in the shop to have lunch during my trip to london. i wish they had that same concept at the cookbook shop in hogtown. sigh.
Chris, thank you! I appreciate all the positive words, it does a girl good I tell you. I agree with you--the concept of Books for Cooks is so great that it's a shame that it's not more common. And I bet something like that would do extremely well in Toronto.
Now you paying me to make comments....THAT would be a dream job!
Wish I'd written this. Heck, wish I'd been there.
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