London dining: S&M Cafe

My first dining stop in London was the S&M Cafe in Notting Hill for a quick lunch after landing. No, there were no whips or chains involved. Rather the S stands for Sausage and the M for mash. I vaguely recalled eating at a super cute little restaurant on Portobello under a bridge, but I didn't recall anything else about it. The boyfriend and I were cold, wet and hungry, so we sat out down Portobello to see if we could find it. Sure enough at the end of the road, there it was, a low key little restaurant that specializes in all variety of bangers and mash.

The decor is a little bit kitsch, but you definitely don't go to S&M for the atmosphere. There are other things on the menu besides bangers and mash, but why would you come there and not indulge in the namesake food?

I chose the sausage made with beer, and it came atop delicious vegetable flecked mashed potatoes and gravy. Perfect for such a gloomy, jet-lagged day!

Want to make your own version? Check out this simple recipe from recipezaar:

Ingredients

• 6 plump sausages
  
• 4-6 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
• salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• nutmeg
  
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 glass white wine
• 1/2 chicken stock cube, dissolved in 300 ml water
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

• Grill or fry the sausages.
• Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until tender.
• Drain potatoes and mash with milk, butter, salt and nutmeg until smooth.
• For the gravy, heat oil in a frying pan and sauté onions until nicely browned.
• Stir in the flour and then the mustard, followed by the wine. A few seconds later add the stock and allow to thicken.
• Pile the mash onto a plate, followed by the sausages and lovely spoonfuls of the gravy.