I know this is a literary festival, but there still managed to have an element of food, so it warrants a blog entry. There were lots of activities on offer. We listened to poetry reading and walked around some book stores, wrote our own story, went to the food stalls set up at The Brunswick, where we were able to sample ice-cream and got some venison sausage and pepper sausage, 2 for £6, usually £3.50 each. Paid a visit to the Foundling Museum since it was free, and ended with singing along to the end of Handel's Messiah.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Borough Market
For a foodie, I have to say, I have only had 2 forays to Borough Market. Why? 2 reasons. One. The market is very commercial, the store holders are usually employees or are running small business, rather than a real “farmers market”. This makes the prices somewhat expensive and the service somehow not so personal. Two. It’s just extremely crowded at all times for you to be able to enjoy it fully. Saying that though, you can still find a large variety of food, of pretty good quality here, and most importantly, this is the home of Monmouth Coffees, the best coffee in London I have encountered.
Out of all my experiences, I have so far tried:
- Monmouth cappuccino (2), all made with a double shot of espresso!
- WODL (Raclette) (or the Raclette Guy) for Toasted sarnies (£4)
- Strawberry - 2 punnets for (£2.50)
- Raspbery for (£1) at Jock Stark
- Mortiner cheese, £14.50/kg
- Flour Power City Pain au Levain – white. A naturally fermented sourdough, (£ 2.50 for half a 800g round)
Info
Fri noon-6pm and Sat 9am-4pm
Borough High Street
Stoney Street and Winchester Walk
London
SE1 1TL
Phone+44 (0) 20 7403 8403
Website
Mayor's Thames Festival 2007
My first UK Festival, and according to the veterans, I picked the best. We started off at, what else, the food festival, where we got to decorate a ginger bread house, dance with fairies, walk on the beach, eat giant shrimps from the pan and sample all types of ciders. The weather was great, people were out in force, and the atmosphere was electric.
The highlight is the parade which takes place at night. It’s somewhat similar to Mardi Gras, but since I’ve never been to Mardi Gras, I can’t compare. Think dancing, giant papier mache, revealing costumes, and you get the idea. There were various levels of performance, but was generally a fun night out. The festival concluded with some fireworks over the River Thames, and was a great conclusion to a great day.
Info
San Miguel
A trip to the plethora of eating places in Greenwich made it hard to decide where to go. A lively interior and promise of lamb shanks drew us to San Miguel.
Food
We decided to hedge our bets by ordering both the festival feast and their ordinary menu. The Lamb Shanks slow cooked with carrots, celery and mushrooms was not on their normal menu, and they had nothing about the festival special, so I had to ask for it. They were able to deliver it though, even if I felt I was the only person in the restaurant to have ordered it. The serving was very generous. A huge shank fills the plate, with a big ladle full of the celery sauce, plus carrots, broccoli and potatoes. The meat was a bit dry, especially the outside bit, but the inside bits of meat was quite tender. The Piri Piri Polo (£10.95)- Another House Special. Chicken Breast. Cooked with Chilli and Spices was off their normal menu. I was really surprised with this as it was hot! Not so fiery hot but enough to give your senses a real kick. The chicken breast was as nice as chicken breast could be, very tender. I had actually expected the sauce not to be so creamy though. This was again served with a generous helping of vegetables.
Rating - 6
Atmosphere
A bit like an old school tavern. The interior is quite dark, with a small bar at the front, and an open kitchen, where you can watch the chefs flambee almost everything at the back. There are these orange leaves hanging from the ceiling.
There were quite a few people eating there on this Friday evening, most of them enjoying some tapas with another glass or two.
Rating - 2
Service
Well, our first waiter was a bit clueless on the festival deal, and it seemed most of them were too. It took awhile for them to find someone who knew what was going on, and we had to give them our festival booklet to show to the boss. The waiters were so funny though, and really really nice, making sure that we got what we needed, joked around with us, so that all is forgiven.
Rating - 4
C-factor
My festival feast was £10 including a glass of wine, and they only charge 10% service. I guess it must be very competitive around there.
Rating - 1.5
Brownie Points - 13.5
Info
18 Greenwich Church Street
London
SE10 9BJ
Phone +44 (0) 20 8305 1720
Website
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Empress
We wanted to show off the local cuisine to our Canadian visitor, so another curry house was called for. The Empress have had rave review on toptable, so I was very keen to give it a try.
Food
The food is your basic English Indian. We had to order mild dishes as one of our party could not handle heat, so perhaps that is the reason why our dishes were on the sweet side. We started again with papadams so we could compare. Not as nice as Café Spice, but they had elements of heat, sweetness and sourness, so I was happy. For comparison again, my sweet lassi was really terrible, watery and bland, more like drinking water.
When the other dishes arrived though, I was not happy. The bread was very oily and the curry had big globs of oil floating on top:
- Bhindi Bhaji (£3.45) - okra was diced too finely, so you don’t get that mushiness. Otherwise, too much oil and not enough spice
- Butter Chicken (£6.95) - this wasn’t the sweet mango like concoction I had imagined, instead more brown and gravy like. At least the chicken was tender.
- Chicken Tikka Biryani (£7.95) - Cooked with pilau rice and served with a portion of vegetable curry, garnished with tomatoes, cucumber and a hint of coriander. - the best dish of the night. Fragrant with a hint of heat. And the vegetable curry was good too.
- Peshwari Nan (£2.40) - dry, with not much coconut hit
Paratha (£2.40) - again too oily
Rating - 5.5
Atmosphere
This is a very small restaurant, doing its best to try to look formal, but the décor is quite dated. We were squished in the back, which meant we had plenty of privacy, but not much elbow room.
Rating - 1.5
Service
This is by far the best service experience I have had in an Asian restaurant. The waiters were attentive and smiling, sometimes overly so, and very eager to serve.
Rating - 4
C-factor
Definitely cheaper than Café Spice, but more expensive than Brick Lane. I would probably only come back for the service.
Rating - 0.5
Brownie Points - 11.5
Info
141 Leman Street
London
E1 8EY
Phone +44 (0) 20 7265 0745
Website
St. Germain
Another day of French food after 2 weeks of indulging in France. Never mind, I will take this opportunity to compare London and France while things are still fresh in my mind.
Food
Wow, I don’t know if it’s because I just came back from 2 weeks of fabulous feasting in France, but St Germain made one of the worst French food I have tasted. The menu isn’t really classical French, but a blend of French brasserie and Modern English. Because there was a large group of us, we had to order from a restricted menu. We started with baguettes, which normally would be quite nice, but do not stand up to the test of the baguette in France. The Warm Goats Cheese Galette - onion marmalade, mache salad turned out to be the best dish of the day. Crunchy puff pastry base rests on a bed of rocket, with a disc of just melted goats cheese. The goats cheese of course was not as good as anything I had in France, but it was not overpowering, so even non-lovers of goats cheese can enjoy this. The Terrine de Campagne - toasted country bread & chutney was not bad either. The terrine, yet again, not as good as anything we got in France, even those from the supermarket, but the chutney was outstanding.
Things went downhill for the main, the Baked Herb Crusted Cod - mushroom & pearl barley risotto, prawns, cep cream was firstly let down by tasteless cod. The sauce was strong to compensate for the lack of flavour though, but the risotto was overly salty, the prawns tasteless, and the cream too thick. This though, was much better than the way too salt Coq au Vin - pomme puree. The chicken was tender enough, with soft flesh and soft skin, the “pomme puree” is really just mash, and quite nice. The whole thing was let down by what makes the coq au vin wonderful though – the sauce. Overtly salty, with none of the flavour of the wine shining through, and the onions didn’t do enough to sweeten or thicken the sauce.
Desserts were again a let down. The Chocolate Marquis - clotted cream was way too heavy and way too sweet, not to mention one dimensional, and paired with the rich clotted cream, just tipped the scare into overload. The Amaretti Cheesecake - espresso syrup tasted nothing like cheesecake. A very sweet coffee syrup dominated all flavours, tasting like one of those bad and cheap tiramisu.
Rating - 5
Atmosphere
This place is definitely a favourite with the young and hips, with lots of couples choosing this place for public displays of affection. I wouldn’t say it was romantic at all, with dark brown banquette seating, black chairs and black lamp shades. They did start dimming the lights as the night went on, but I think it’s more due to the cocktails that attracted the crowd.
Rating - 2
Service
Back to the good old lacklustre service. You could hear them breaking things all night long. Service just took way too long. We all arrived promptly at 7pm, but they didn’t seat us until we requested them to several times, and by the time they came around to take orders and stuff, it was at least 9pm before we got to eat.
The wait staff were nice enough, but things were so slow. We often had to wait a long time before all the meals arrived at the table, so long so that we actually didn’t want to wait longer for fear the already delivered meals were getting cold from the wait.
Rating - 2
C-factor
The group menu was 3 courses for £22. However, when you include service and drinks, it turned out to be £35. Definitely not worth it, considering I ate for much less at Michelin star places in France.
Rating - 0
Brownie Points - 9
Info
89 - 90 Turnmill Street
London
EC1M 5QU
Phone +44 (0) 20 7336 0949
Website
Sri Nam Thai Canary Wharf 3
Food
After talking to my colleagues, I found out that the green Thai curry I had last time was one of the worst dishes at Sri Nam. That was surprising, especially because the red Thai curry was supposed to be their best. This time around, I decided to skip the so-so noodles in favour of another curry. The Rendeng Lamb Curry (£7.50) was not too bad, with pleasantly soft and generous lamb pieces, if a bit oily. This came with one solitary piece of potato only, so I was quite stuffed at the end of lunch.
Rating - 6.5
Atmosphere
We made sure we came early on this Thursday lunchtime. The waiter wanted to squash the 5 of us onto a table of 4, but because we were early, we insisted on a table for 6. When we left, there was another party of 5 squished onto the small table.
Rating - 1.5
Service
This time they seemed quite indifferent. I think it was because we started off offending them by insisting on having a large table. Still, our food arrived in food time and we got the bill without too much trouble. See, easy to satisfy really.
Rating - 2
C-factor
Not bad for Canary Wharf.
Rating - 1
Brownie Points - 11
Info
10 Cabot Square
London
E14 4QB
Phone+44 (0) 20 7517 2898
Website
Café Spice Namaste
Food
Slokky really really liked the Papadoms (£4.20) + chutneys (£2.70) 2 types with 3 chutneys and chopped vegetables, and I have to admit, it is not bad, although I have never really been a fan of papadoms or chutney. The Sweet Lassi (£2.95) and Mango Lassi (£2.95) though, were thick and creamy.
We decided to share the Café Spice Platter (£12.95) - 5 vegetarian & 4 non vegetarian mix for entrée. The platter consisted of small portions of the following, which was explained to us, although after awhile, it was hard to remember or even taste which was which. My overall impression though, very nicely cooked meat, the samosas were very fragrant, so a very good start.
- Baingan Pakora - Batons of aubergine, lightly marinated with turmeric, chilli and lime juice, dipped in spiced chickpea batter and deep fried.
- Bhael Poori (V) (G) - The Bombay Walla’s favourite roadside snack at any time is bhael poori. A combination of puffed rice, chickpea vermicelli, crushed crisp poories, diced potato, chopped shallots, fresh coriander and chilli are blended with tamarind and green chutney
- Leeli Chutney ma Salmon - Fillet of salmon marinated in a Parsee style fresh green chutney, skewered and chargrilled in the tandoor. This chutney is derived from my mother’s own family recipe and the family unanimously agrees it is the best way of marinating fresh salmon fillet.
- Murg Tikka (H) - The favourite of many of our guests for more than a decade, Café Spice Namaste’s traditional chicken tikka, needs no further introduction!
- Badak Kay Tikkay - Breast of Barbary Duck, marinated very simply in extract of garlic and ginger with yoghurt, chilli and spices.
- Beef Tikka kaala Mirich Masala - Well hung and matured prime fillet of Scottish Long Horn beef, marinated with crushed black peppercorns and ginger extract, skewered and chargrilled in the tandoor. We strongly recommend that this very superior quality beef be served rare to medium for greater enjoyment.
- Murgh Maharajah (N) (H) - a classic with a definite origin from the Punjab with strong influences of Mughlai cuisine. Breast of corn fed chicken stuffed with minced whey cheese, chopped pistachios and almonds, flavoured with fennel, simmered in a rich Makhani sauce, made with pureed tomatoes, almonds and cashew nuts, flavoured with slow roasted crushed fenugreek & served with saffron palav.
- Tadka Daal (£4.75) - A combination of Toor and Masoor Daal (yellow & pink lentils) cooked and sizzled with chopped garlic, cumin and red chilli. This process of sizzling is known as “Tadka”, hence the name Tadka Daal. Immortalised by our Mr. Brady it is impossible for us to take this daal off our menu. - which was smoky and very thick and just spicy enough not to mask the smokiness.
- Baingan Bharta (N) (£5.95) - Smoked aubergine peeled after charbroiling, chopped and simmered with onions, tomato, garlic, green chilli and cumin. Finished with fresh chopped coriander and roasted chopped cashew nuts. - with their soft but finely chopped eggplant.
- Peshawari Naan (G) (N) (£2.95) - Stuffed with a blend of chopped cashew nuts, raisins, desiccated coconut and cream, and flavoured with cardamom. - here made with fresh coconut slivers instead of desiccated coconut, so the flavour is more subtle and gentle. A hit with me.
Rating - 7.5
Atmosphere
The first thing that hits you is the mish-mash of colour and how this doesn’t seem like an Indian restaurant, especially with that huge front bar. Things started off quietly on this Tuesday evening, but as the night wore on, every table was full, with friends, family, workmates and couples. It was encouraging to see that there were quite a few Indians eating there too.
Rating - 2
Service
As expected, one of the best service I have received…for an Indian place. The waiters were very polite, and they even did the crumb sweeping thing, but I couldn’t figure out why they never took any of our empty glasses away, even if they were clearing other dishes from the table?
Rating - 3
C-factor
Very expensive for an Indian experience, but at least the quality is top notch.
Rating - 0.5
Brownie Points - 13
Info
16 Prescot Street
London
E1 8AZ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7488 9242
Website
Pied a Terre
The other 2 star in London, we saved this one for Slokky’s birthday.
Food
I wanted to get the 10 course degustation, since it was actually cheaper than getting 3 courses + coffee, but because Slokky’s aunt doesn’t eat lamb and don’t like sea bass, we had to order a la carte instead.
Anyway, we started with some green olives and a choice of bread. I sampled the walnut and raisins, Guiness and poppy seed. The poppy seed was a bit hard, otherwise the bread was pretty yummy.
Only one appetiser was offered, but it did include a selection of 4 things: consommé, foie gras sandwich, salmon terrain, bacon wrap. This was delicious and a great way to start the meal.
The Entree of Seared and Poached Foie Gras, White Beans, Smoked Bacon, Pea Shoots and Sauternes Consomme (supplement £5.00) was, incidentally, the best dish of the night. The foie gras taste really creamy and the sauce was poured over, a bit citric like. The Open Ravioli of Poached Oysters with Cauliflower Couscous, Romenesco and Champagne Veloute, Watercress Chantilly was less successful. There was only one of the so called oyster, and the sauce didn’t taste very much of oyster at all. While the pastry was well made, I didn’t see how it added to the dish at all.
For mains, we ordered the >Roasted Rib of Veal with Garlic Gnocchis, Creamed Morels, Roasted Garlic and Sage Jus, which was for 2 person. I didn’t see why that was so. We got individual serving of a cut from a rack, and a scattering of vegetables. There is no way we had a whole rack or piece of veal between us. The veal was still slightly pink, and tender enough, but it didn’t taste of much. The vegetables though were very well done. I especially love the roasted garlic and the fried potatoes, but there wasn’t a lot of them. We sampled some of the Steamed and Roasted Breast of Anjou Pigeon with Chick Peas, Chorizo and Red Pepper Oil and can report that this pigeon tastes very similar to the pigeon at Vermeer .
I was very happy when the pre-dessert was the Walnut Soup with Passion Fruit Mousse and Chocolate Crumble, as that was what attracted me to the degustation. And it didn’t disappoint. A little like a Chinese walnut dessert, but with the tanginess of the passion fruit. I tried the banana in the Roasted Banana, Caramel Mousse, Golden Raisins, Banana and Passion Fruit Sorbet and it was executed to perfection. The waiter recommended the Baked Apple Pudding, Apple Foam, Hazelnut Crumble, Fromage Frais and Anise Sorbet, and it certainly looked very spectacular, with a lattice hovering over the plate. The pudding was quite homely, like a well-made muffin. The apple foam was quite subtle, matching the lightness of the anise sorbet. The Bitter Sweet Chocolate Tart, Stout Ice Cream and Macadamia Nut Cream is a big contrast, with bold, strong flavours. The chocolate was suitably dark, and the stout ice-cream was excellent. The macadamia didn’t taste as fresh as some of the others I’ve tasted.
All in all, I would say the food is good, but not up to 2 star standard.
Rating - 8
Atmosphere
It’s a very small restaurant, about 4 tables in the front room and another 10 or so at the back. I can see that it can get quite intimate, especially when they try to cram a few people onto the smaller tables. I had booked for 4, but then reduced that down to three, so as a result, we got one of the largest tables there, and we had a relaxed, spacious dinner. Still, we could hear nearly everything the Americans at the next table were discussing. Another surprise was there were a few lone diners there, probably on business and exercising their corporate cards.
Rating - 1.5
Service
All the waiters were French or spoke French, as usual. They do the usual, fold your napkin, explain each dish, clean your crumbs. There were certainly a lot of them floating around, but by the looks of things, not enough. We weren’t offered more bread for a long time, our water was not filled up at the right moment. i.e., when there were lots of water left they decided to top it up, but when we actually needed the water they didn’t. The worst had to be the sommelier. They actually have 2 for such a small restaurant, but that still wasn’t enough by the look of things to cater to everyone’s wine needs. I had asked for a recommendation to go with my main. The wine was delivered all right, my glass o was plonked on my table, with no explanation of what it was, and then he left. After waiting about 10 minutes and no one came back, I had to ask for an explanation, which still wasn’t delivered straight away. The wine was good but I certainly didn’t expect treatment like this. The other waiter was apologetic in taking so long for an explanation, but it still wasn’t acceptable.
Maybe my expectations were too high, but they do have 2 stars. They actually got some of the cutlery they laid out for us wrong, so didn’t make for a very good impression. I also expected the waiter to take more time to serving you, for example, the sauce for Slokky’s foie gras was hastily poured on. It always seemed like they were in a hurry, which made us anxious.
Rating - 1
C-factor
You have to order a minimum of a starter and main course, which costs £52.50, desserts £12.50. You all know by now that I don’t mind paying more for quality, but in this case, I have eaten much better elsewhere. All the typical Michelin touches were there, but there was none of the flair and wow factor I have experienced at all my previous 2 star restaurants, Le Gavroche , Midsummer House and of course, my favourite, Noma.
Rating - 0
Brownie Points - 10.5
Info
34 Charlotte Street
London
W1T 2NH
Phone +44 (0) 20 7636 1178
Website
The Royal Oak
The Royal Oak is situated in the posh foodie location of Berkshire, so there is a lot of competition, but also a lot of expectation riding on this.
Food
The selection on offer today was much less than what they had on the website. A small selection of 3 different kinds of breads were offered to start us off with. The selection was a bit dry and not very remarkable. For entrée, the Homemade Smoked Cods Roe Pate with Toast (£7.50) was well received. The thick toast made a good base for strong but not heavy cod roe. This was paired with a light salad that made it very easy to wash down the pate. I decided to forgo the wine and try a locally brewed beer. My beer was as expected, a dark ale with mellow flavours.
I went for the Whole Sand Sole with Herb Butter & Rosti (£16.95), which was very generous. This has one of the best flavours I’ve had for UK fish, and the skin was fried until just golden. Slokky went for the fat slog of the Calves Liver and Bacon with Rosti (£17.95). As usual, liver tastes like liver, although these were the biggest liver I’ve ever seen. The bacon was nice and crisp, but I felt like I needed something a bit lighter to balance the flavour. A bowl of very crunchy vegetables accompanied the meal. The dessert menu looked really good, but we were too full to pursue it.
Rating - 7
Atmosphere
It was a glorious day, so we requested to sit outside, under a vine canopy and with the sound of chirping birds. The good thing about the UK is that there aren’t any flies or mosquitoes to bother you at this time of year, so dining outside is very pleasant.
The place was relatively quiet on a Sunday night, which was great, as it was like we had a little sanctuary of our own. Yattendon is a very small town, The Royal Oak was actually the local pub! And it was nice to see the locals hanging out here.
Rating - 2.5
Service
It’s so refreshing to be out of London some times, just to experience genuine warm service. Our waiter accommodated our request to sit outdoors without any problems. I don’t know how they got such great timing, as we were seated so far away, right at the edge of the garden, away from the building. But they knew at exactly what time to come and take our order, refill our drinks and clear the plates. They were so humble but weren’t over the top.
Rating - 5
C-factor
Unfortunately Berkshire is one of the most expensive places in the UK, so the prices were like London prices, but the service and the setting was top notch, so I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Rating - 1
Brownie Points - 15.5
Info
The Square
Yattendon
Berkshire
RG18 0UF
Phone +44 (0) 16 3520 1325
Website
The Courthouse
We picked The Courthouse because it was supposed to be the oldest pub in Caerphilyl and the fact that their garden had a fantastic view towards Caephilyl Castle.
Food
As it was Sunday, we went for the Traditional Sunday Roast (2 courses £6.49), and chose the Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Potatoes & Gravy option. This came on an extremely small plate, so it was impossible to cut anything. The gravy tasted of nothing, and the roast beef was a bit tough. The Yorkshire pudding was nowhere near as nice as the one from Katie’s Tea Room, but was much better than the one at The Old Explorer. The Pea & Ham Soup came as the entrée, and was a little salty, but otherwise quite bland. The 8 oz Beef Burger (£4.69) - two 4oz beef burgers, served with barbeque sauce was yet again, on the bland side. The chips were uninspiring, although they were quite generous with the servings.
Rating - 4
Atmosphere
Inside, the pub is quite large, but we, like everyone else, decided to sit outside in the beer garden to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather and also to admire the view. Being outside, things were a bit dirty, but otherwise, nothing can beat it on a warm sunny day like today.
Rating - 2.5
Service
I didn’t expect very much from the pub, but the waiter who delivered our meals to the table actually told us off because I had gone shopping at Tesco in the 15 minutes it took us to wait for the food, and was displaying my haul at the table. He said that we weren’t allowed to eat food that had been bought from outside in the beer garden. He should really check before blaming people, and as he was delivering our meal, didn’t he think that we had ordered our lunch from the restaurant already? Plus, why would we want to eat the snacks we got for lunch?
Rating - 0
C-factor
Bland food, impressive setting, rude service equals a no.
Rating - 0
Brownie Points - 6.5
Info
Cardiff Road
Caerphilly
Wales
CF83 1FN
Phone +44 (0) 29 2088 8120
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