6 favorite restaurant cookbooks
Want to serve food at home that’s indistinguishable from a restaurant dish? Then be sure to dive into one of the cookbooks below.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the fanciest kitchen appliances at home; these books were written by chefs for home cooks. All you need to do is work a little on your plating skills, and a restaurant-worthy dinner will be within reach.
The Slanted Door
This is where you go in San Francisco for modern Vietnamese food. Chef Charles Phan’s book contains all the dishes that made his restaurant so popular. From shaking beef salad to carpaccio with deep-fried rice paper, fried scallops with Vietnamese beurre blanc, and even an entire chapter devoted to cocktails.
NOPI
Ottolenghi naturally couldn’t be left off this list. He does ask a little more of the home cook, with ingredients that can sometimes be difficult to find and somewhat more complicated recipes. But even so, it’s perfectly manageable at home. The sole with brown butter, nori, and fried capers is absolutely delicious. Or make the tomatoes with wasabi mascarpone or sweet potato pancakes with yogurt and date syrup.
Momofuku Milk Bar
If you like impressing people with desserts, this book belongs on your shelf. It’s the sweet branch of David Chang’s ever-growing empire, where the desserts are already iconic. You’ll soon be making that crack pie, compost cookies, cereal milk ice cream, and over-the-top carrot cake with liquid cheesecake and white chocolate cookie crumbs all by yourself.
The Palomar
I’ll admit it: the lively atmosphere of an evening at the bar of The Palomar in London is difficult to recreate at home. But as long as I can eat that wonderfully airy kubaneh bread with white tahini sauce and tomato sauce at home, I won’t complain. Recipes from modern Jerusalem are beautifully photographed in this book. Favorites include tuna tartare with whipped crème fraîche, schus and sesame cookies (the one shown at the top of this article), and lamb chops with freekeh and cauliflower cream.
Spuntino
At Russell Norman’s London restaurant—you may remember him from Polpo—the focus is on New York comfort food. Think buttermilk fried chicken, burgers, and the ultimate mac and cheese. But also the restaurant’s signature dish: truffled egg toast, boozy desserts, and chic cocktails. Norman takes you to his favorite hidden gems in Manhattan and Brooklyn, from candy stores to delis.
The Fat Duck
Okay, for many of the recipes in this book you do need some wacky ingredients or kitchen equipment. But cooking at home like Heston Blumenthal really is a dream, isn’t it? The book contains 50 of his signature dishes, such as his famous snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream. And even if you never cook from it, this book will still look beautiful on the coffee table.
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Image from: The Palomar, €24.95, Fontaine Uitgevers B.V.
