Can you dine out and stay slim?

10 April 2012

Want to know if it's possible to watch your weight

EXPENSIVE RESTAURANTS

The Glade at Sketch
9 Conduit Street, W1; 0870 777 4488.
Head Chef: Anthony Garlando.
Average price for two (including drink): £100.

Starter
Mimosa egg (170 cals, 13.1g fat) Boiled egg with fresh herbs, cooked ham, ricotta and fresh mushrooms.
Ingredients: 1 egg white, 1 egg yolk, 2ml olive oil, chopped chives, one Paris mushroom, 20g baby spinach, 10g lean cooked ham, 20g ricotta cheese, and 5ml cream.

Main
Pan-fried skate (250 cals, 11.6g fat) With chickpea flour, capers, gherkins, lemon, parsley and green-papaya butter.
Ingredients: 160g pan-fried skate, coating of flour, 20g rocket, 5g sliced almonds, 5g capers, 5g cornichons, 5g shallots, dash of lemon juice, 5g butter, 20g green papaya. For the cappuccino sauce - 100ml of whole milk, and 5g liquorice stick.

Dessert
Fruit salad with blueberry-and-olive cake (200 cals per slice, 10g fat)
Fruit salad of strawberries, red and white currants, rock melon, grapes, apple and pear. The cake is a mix of flour, olive oil, blueberries, egg and milk. One small slice per serving.

Health verdict: "Skate provides one of the recommended two portions of fish per week," says nutritionist Dianne Boaden. "The meal would be more balanced with a side dish of boiled new potatoes, and at least one portion of vegetables. The sauce is made using whole milk and butter and would be healthier if lower-fat dairy products were used. The cake is made using olive oil but this will not affect the total fat content in the dish. The egg is a useful source of vitamins A, D, E and B group plus essential minerals such as iron and zinc."

TOTAL CALORIES: 620
TOTAL FAT: 34.7g

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Amaya
19 Motcomb Street, SW1; 020 7823 1166.
Head Chef: Karunesh Khanna.
Average price for two (including drink:) £100.

Starter
Prawn consommé with lime and coriander (54 cals, 0g fat).

Main
Caesar salad with pepper and chicken tikka (162 cals, 16g fat)

Dessert
Three Refreshers - coconut water jelly, melon and ginger sorbet with blackberry foam (40 cals, 0g fat).

Health verdict: "This menu is very low in fat, but still is hardly a meal as it provides so little energy or much in the way of any nourishment apart from the main course. It would be better if it included some wholegrain bread or something similar served with the soup and actual fruit for dessert to accompany the jelly sorbet and foam."

TOTAL CALORIES: 256
TOTAL FAT: 16g

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Locanda Locatelli
8 Seymour Street, W1; 020 7935 9088.
Head chef: Giorgio Locatelli.
Average price for two (including drink); £90.

Starter
Minestrone di verdure (90 cals, 11g fat)
Seasonal vegetable soup.
Ingredients: 200ml vegetable broth, 1tbsp olive oil, chickpeas, onion, garlic, potato, celery, carrots, green beans, mange tout, spelt, courgettes, basil, pumpkin, lentils.

Main
Sgombro alla griglia, insalata verde (700 cals, 54.3g fat)
Char-grilled mackerel with green salad.
Ingredients: 250g mackerel, stuffed with garlic, rosemary and lemon. Green salad of mizuna and a handful of rocket, 1tbsp olive oil and 1tbsp white wine vinegar.

Dessert
Selezioni di sorbetti (0 cals, 0g fat)
Selection of sorbets in green grape, figs and basil flavours.
Ingredients: Fruit, water, vegetable gelatin with no added sugar.

Health verdict: "The vegetable soup is full of fresh, colourful vegetables supplying valuable antioxidant vitamins together with protein in the lentils and chickpeas," says Boaden. "Pulses may provide useful amounts of dietary fibre. The mackerel contains the weekly recommended intake of oily fish, which may help improve inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. The green salad comes ready dressed with olive oil and vinegar, but some customers may prefer to have the choice of whether to add it or not. The meal would benefit from the addition of high-fibre starchy foods such as wholemeal bread, brown rice or pasta, which are not high in calories if you do not add sugar or fat."

TOTAL CALORIES: 790
TOTAL FAT: 65.3g

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MODERATELY PRICED RESTAURANTS

Leon
35 Great Marlborough Street, W1; 020 7437 5280.
Head chef: Allegra McEvedy.
Average price for two (including drink): £35.

Starter
Mezze dish of Moroccan meatballs in tomato sauce (140 cals, 6.7g fat)
The meatballs are grilled before being braised in the tomato sauce.
Ingredients: 80g lean lamb mince, 5g fresh flat-leaf parsley, mint and basil, 1g oregano, 1g garlic, 80g plum tomatoes, 0.5ml extra-virgin olive oil, 1g harissa.

Main
Grilled black-leg chicken salsa verde with organic basmati rice and slaw (580 cals, 21g fat)
Ingredients: 195g free-range black chicken leg, marinated in lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. 66g organic brown basmati rice, 5g mixed pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds, 5g parsley, 5g mint. For the salsa verde: 6g fresh basil, 7g parsley, 5g mint, 4g capers, 3g anchovies, 4ml extra-virgin olive oil, 4ml lemon juice, 2g spring onions. For the slaw: 30g white and red cabbage, 5g celery, 15g beetroot, 15g carrot, 13g pickle, 3g sultanas. For slaw dressing: 5ml extravirgin olive oil, 2ml cider vinegar.

Dessert
Hot Valrohna Brownie (404 cals, 29g fat)
Ingredients: Belgian dark chocolate (53.8 per cent), Dorset butter, fructose, Valrhona chocolate (70 per cent), free-range eggs, ground almonds, walnuts, orange oil, coffee, salt, vanilla essence.

Health verdict: "This menu will provide useful sources of iron and other essential minerals that the body can easily assimilate. The meat is lean, the chicken is free-range, and fresh herbs, rather than salt, are used to provide flavour," says Dianne Boaden. "The recipes avoid refined (white) carbohydrates - sugars that send blood sugar levels soaring and then plummeting, leading us to be hungry all the time. The organic basmati rice used in the main course has a low glycaemic index (GI), and the raw slaw provides one of five of your recommended daily portions of fruit/vegetables. You may wish to leave out the dressing to reduce the total fat intake."

TOTAL CALORIES: 1,124
TOTAL FAT: 56.7g

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Wagamama
Restaurants across London.
Average price for two (including drink): £30.

Starter
Bowl of edamame (39 cals, 2g fat)
Ingredients: salted, steamed green soya beans.

Main
Yaki soba (370 cals, 7g fat)
Ingredients: soba noodles, yaki soba sauce, spring onions, small onion, prawns, chicken breast, egg, peppers, beansprouts, oil.

Dessert
Wild Berry Sorbet (90 cals, 0g fat)
Ingredients: berries, sugar, water, fresh blueberries, mint.

Health verdict: "The nutritional quality of soya beans is superior to that of other pulses as they contain more protein and are also a good source of iron, B vitamins, calcium and zinc. Soya beans are also low in fat, most of which is unsaturated. Soba (wholemeal) noodles are packed with fibre and will also have more taste than regular noodles. There is no fat in the sorbet and so this is a refreshing end to a healthy meal."

TOTAL CALORIES: 499
TOTAL FAT: 9g

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Roka
37 Charlotte Street, W1; 020 7580 6464.
Head chef: Nic Watt.
Average price for two (including drink): £70.
Starter
Maguro no tataki (140 cals, 4.6g fat)
Tuna tataki salad with apple mustard dressing. Raw tuna, seared on the outside, sliced then lightly dressed in an apple and mustard dressing.
Ingredients: 100g tuna, 40g daikon radish, 10g spring onion, 60ml apple mustard dressing.

Main
Kani Kama Meshi (510 cals, 7.7g fat)
(Rice hot pot with king crab and wasabi tobiko). Crab risotto without the cream and butter. Miso (fermented soy bean paste) is high in protein and low in fat.
Ingredients: Half a cup of rice, 100g crab meat, 10g miso, lemon zest, chilli, fresh ginger. All cooked with fish stock (dashi), soy, sake and mirin.

Dessert
Strawberry and mint jelly with jasmine flower ice cream (25 cals, 1g fat)
Ingredients: Fresh strawberries set with gelatin, and mint tea set with gelatine. The ice cream is a milk and strawberry purée infused with jasmine flowers.

Health verdict: "Fresh tuna provides one portion of oily fish and with the crab meat is an excellent source of lean protein. This would be a more balanced meal with a side dish of asparagus spears and a little rice. Go easy on the soy sauce as it can contain a lot of salt."

TOTAL CALORIES: 675
TOTAL FAT: 13.3

Figures for calories and fat content at all six restaurants are approximate.

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