Anatolia Restaurant

Dilemma, nowhere to eat in Cambridge…and all the options were same same. We settled on Anatolia because of the cuisine, and the fact that they were running a good price set menu for lunch.

Food

We ate from the set menu, and had varying results:

• Mixed Meze:
  • Spinach Tarator - strained yoghurt with spinach, garlic and olive oil - pleasant, if a bit oily. We moped it all up with the bread though
  • Stuffed Vine Leaves - vine leaves, pine kernels boring
  • Pilaki - pinto beans in a tomato sauce - like baked beans, only better
  • Cacik - Yoghurt with cucumber and a hint of garlic - nice and refreshing
  • Humus - puree of chick peas, tahini, lemon and garlic - not really the best I’ve had, just better than the shop bought stuff
  • Tabbouleh - parsley salad with mint, bulgar, tomato and onion - again, very average
  • Borek - filo pastry filled with cheese, parsley and herbs - very oily, but tastes good
• Chicken Shish - Marinated grilled chicken on a skewer - a little on the dry side
• Kul Basti - Grilled fillets of lamb with oregano and mint sauce - tastily done
• Baklava - Crushed nuts in a filo pastry topped with syrup - very standard, and probably something we didn’t need

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

The restaurant is situated on two level, with a clean modern look on the upper level – but with cheap and tacky furniture, and a more Turkish feel downstairs with gold colouring, exotic decorations and an open kitchen. When we were there for lunch, only the upper level was open, but the toilets were located downstairs, and when I ventured down, there was a darkened restaurant space, with a guy sitting in the darkness in the open kitchen, grilling shish kebab. The whole thing was so comical, especially when he was surrounded by all these Turkish junkets.

Rating - 1.5

Service

We were served by what seemed like the owner and another waiter, who was very friendly. However, someone sitting close to us was Turkish, and the three of them started chatting and bonding over their shared heritage…and they started neglecting the rest of the clients. We waited for ages before

Rating - 3

C-factor

£9.95. Good value for lunch.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 12.5

Info

30 Bridge Street
Cambridge
CB2 1UJ
Phone +44 (0)12 2336 2372
Website

Crispy Duck

After visiting Kiasu yesterday, I didn’t want to visit another Malaysian place, so I declined C&R and went next door to Crispy Duck.

Food

Your typical menu really, but seeing their name was Crispy Duck, we thought we would also try the duck. The Shredded duck with pancake didn’t look very promising. In fact, it looked like they had removed half of the meat and given us the leftover. Nevertheless, we worked with what we had and wrapped it up to eat. The duck itself didn’t taste like much, but we just piled on the hoi-sin sauce, and didn’t notice the difference.

As for the mains, I had a sip of the congee, and it was actually quite pleasant. The Fukien fried rice was also surprisingly nice. The rice has been generously coated in a thick sauce, loaded with seafood and vegetables. Simple things done well.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

The place, like most other Chinatown restaurants, is spread over several levels. They managed to half fill all of their floors, so it wasn’t too loud or too crowded there. In fact, there was quite a bit of space to move around and be comfortable. In terms of décor, it looks like any of your old style Chinese restaurant, with the meat hanging at the front, white tiles, practical furnishing.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Another place of rude service. They were so indifferent and the service so lacking, we might as well serve ourselves. All the Asian countries have now improved their service, they should really keep up.

Rating - 1

C-factor

Very cheap, and the portions aren’t bad either.

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 10.5

Info

27 Wardour Street
London
W1D 6PR
Phone +44 (0) 20 7287 6578

Kiasu

Well, they had the most people and the most stickers out the front, so it was an easy choice among the row of restaurants on the Bayswater stretch.

Food

The menu consists of your old favourite and a few twists. We decided to test out the staples, so we had Soy Bean Milk (£1.80), which was watery and disappointing. The Char Kway Teow (£7.20) – Hot off the wok –rice noodles with prawn, egg, Chinese sausage and bean sprouts. Singapore style (sweet dark sauce), which we asked for hot, was not that hot at all. Still, it maintained a nice wok breath, although I found the sauce was too sweet. The ingredients were a bit skimpy. The Nonya Laksa (£7.60) – White rice noodles in spicy coconut gravy garnished with prawns, fish cake and daun kesum was agreeable enough, with a sauce that is pungent and coconutty. They were again very skimpy with their ingredients, but Slokky drank all the sauce, so I guess it is one of the better ones you can get in this country.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

The place has the interesting blue décor. The waiters are also decked out in blue uniform. The whole operation reminds me of Cha Cha Moon really, minus the long communal tables. The clientele though, is a bit less cutting edge, with families and not so “cool” types. There were a few native South-East Asians, so we felt better.

Rating - 2

Service

A notch above Chinatown rudeness. For an Asian restaurant, the dishes certainly came out slowly…it was a 20 minutes wait for our food, and it didn’t arrive at the same time either. We don’t mind too much, but don’t eat here if you are in a hurry.

Rating - 3

C-factor

Quite expensive for what you get. There were only 2 prawns in my laksa.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

48 Queensway
Bayswater
W2 3RY
Phone +44 (0) 20 7727 8810
Website

Pho Café Farringdon

So much to look forward to, so much anticipation, and in the end, so much disappointment. Pho Café was not the saving grace I was looking for.

Food

The menu is not as varied as your typical Vietnamese, but contained variations of Pho, Bun and Goi (Salad), plus a few starters to add variety. Things started promisingly with my apple, pineapple and mint (£2.95) juice. Slokky got the apple, pineapple and coconut juice (£2.95), and both were freshly squeezed. It could have been a bit colder though. We ordered the Cha Gio (£3.75) - fried pork spring rolls to share, which were fresh and had a nice light dipping sauce to match. As usual, we always test a Vietnamese restaurant by their pho, so we ordered the Pho Tai (£7.45) - thinly sliced fillet steak (all beef pho's served with beef stock). This was so, so disappointing. The soup was very substandard, with no depth and maybe even worst….hardly any flavour. The accompaniment was only a few bean sprouts, a sprig of basil and a slice of lime, not the pile of sprout and aromatic herbs of other establishments. I, who prefers fresh to heavy, added all the chilli into the sauce, and I still could not make it taste good. Even worst, the noodles were flat and the beef was almost non-existent.

Bun Hue Chay 9£7.45) - hot and spicy brisket soup seemed like to be the exact stock base and noodles as the pho, except with a spoon full of chilli paste added. The only thing I can say is…well, now you have flavour. The only thing it had going for it was the brisket. I would have preferred it to be more sinewy, but the beef was soft and flavoursome enough to please.

After the shocking mains, I skipped desserts. Slokky tried the “regurgitated” coffee though. It didn’t taste any different to the coffee we brought back from Vietnam.

Rating - 3

Atmosphere

It’s a small place, a little away from the hustle nad bustle of St John Street, but still close enough to be popular with the office workers and locals. In fact, the place was full to bursting, and extremely warm. It makes a nice and pleasant hang out…now if only the food was better.

Rating - 2

Service

The waiters were all airheads. They were nice and all, but none of them even know what the dishes were or who ordered what, so there was so much confusion when the food came. They had no anticipation, and we had to ask them for everything. They kept reaching over us to remove our plates, sometimes before we’d finished with it.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

For Farringdon? Average. For pho? Appalling. For decent food? Outrageous.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 6.5

Info

86 St. John Street
London
EC1M 4EH
Phone +44 (0) 20 7253 7624
Website

Bluebird Restaurant

Bluebird is situated in the trendy Clelsea area, so I expected lots of rich posers to be dining here, but the client is more mixed than I thought, all enjoying the classic British food.

Food

The menu was interesting and intriguing, with classic British dishes and lots of different types of pies. I chose the Soused Cornish Gurnard - pea shoots, fennel, coriander, rapeseed oil to start. This was even better than the waiter described. The white flesh had been cured so that it is a smooth, fishy jelly. The accompaniment was light and complemented the sour poaching liquid. The Duck Confit & Ham Hock Terrine - piccalilli, celeriac, toasted brioche was more conventional, but still extremely yummy. I enjoyed the thick toasted brioche that came with the dish too.

I opted for Haddock & Prawn Fishcake - spinach, sauce tartare. You can actually distinguish and taste the fish and prawn in the fishcake, in that it wasn’t all mushed together. I really like that. The Fish Pie - day boat fish, tarragon sauce was excellent. A dry wine sauce formed the base of fish pieces accented by tarragon…I was tempted to try desserts but we wanted to get home early….but this place is so good I want to come back again.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

Bluebird is one good looking restaurant – the name actually derived from the “garage” that was this place before it became a restaurant. So that explains the enormous space. They have a big open kitchen down one side of the restaurant, with neat little divisions dividing the rest of the space up. There is a huge bar in the centre of the room, with the counter illuminated. I only wish they have a little more light as I couldn’t read the menu at all!

Rating - 2

Service

Very professional, I was amazed. I asked the waiter to describe the gurnard dish, and she did it without any problems. She was able to tell me the accompaniment that came on the plate, what the taste and texture was supposed to be. Each course was delivered with clear explanation, and the waiters were also friendly. Top notch service.

Rating - 4

C-factor

We dined here on the toptable rewards point. I was surprised, as we were allowed to choose from any items of their normal £15.50 two course menu, instead of the restricted choice I expected.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 15.5

Info

The Kings Road Gastrodome
350 Kings Road
London
SW3 5UU
Phone +44 (0) 20 7559 1000
Website

Michael Caines at ABode Hotel Canterbury

Michael Caines is supposed to be a Michelin Star winning chef, although this place has not been decorated with any awards…still, I had my hopes up.

Food

The execution of the food certainly has Michelin star pretensions. Luckily, the food was executed well and tasted wonderful. I felt like I ate a mini mini tasting menu. There was a choice of 3 for each course. We had:

• Twice baked Roquefort soufflé - poached haddock, quail’s egg, hollandaise sauce - the egg was done just right. The hollandaise tangy and creamy. A great start to the meal.
• Boudin Blanc - wild mushroom puree, roasted almond foam - excellent, with a creamy texture and great accompaniment.
• Roast Topside Kentish Beef - pomme puree, wild mushroom, red wine jus - a very small piece of beef, but really good quality. Not too much nees to be done really – the pomme puree were really creamy.
• Pan Fried Mackerel - Serreno ham, smoked red pepper puree, basil and aged balsamic vinegar - I like mackerel, at least it has some flavour. This was not exceptional, but I admire the chef for getting the produce shine through.
• Orange Rhubarb Charlotte - orange cream, poached rhubarb - you can’t go wrong. I love rhubarb 
• Banoffee fool chocolate fudge muffin - caramel and cream sauce - not much banana, and a bit sweet… and I was really looking forward to this

This was all finished off with Earl Grey, which also came with 6 delectable and fussed with Petit 4s.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

The restaurant is situated in a nice clean space, right in the centre of town. Modern lines, white table cloth, with a small bar down one end. The colour is black with accents of orange, in the flower on each table and the uniform of the staff. The restaurant was full enough for a Saturday lunch time to give it a good atmosphere, although the clientele lean towards the old rather than the new.

Rating - 2

Service

Seems like the staff are on training wheel. When we were presented with our meals, the boudin blanc was explained as “chicken”, the mackerel as “fish” and the beef was called “meat”…really, I think I could have figured that out myself. They were so half-heard in their crumb sweeping they shouldn’t have bothered, and one of the waiter was acting really gay too.

Rating - 1

C-factor

It was £9.95 for 3 courses. While it sounded like a bargain, the portions were very very small, like tasting menu portions. We were actually not full afterwards – which really is not such a bad thing. In saying that, the ingredients were top rate and the food tasted very good, so I think they have priced it just right.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

The Abode Hotel
High Street
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2RX
Phone +44 (0) 20 7403 8403
Website

Lau’s Buffet King

My first, and hopefully my last, Chinese buffet

Food

The selection was quite varied, I actually skipped half the stuff, but I tried the following:

• Sweet and sour soup
• Fried chicken wing
• Crispy seaweed
• Crispy won-ton
• Spring roll
• Curry Samosa
• Sweet and sour spare rib
• Salt and pepper spare rib
• Peking Spare rib
• Egg Foo Yung
• Singapore Vermicelli
• Beef in black bean sauce
• Sweet and sour pork
• Pork in pepper sauce
• Lemon chicken
• Braised mushroom
• Stir fried vegetable
• Salt and pepper prawns
• Mussel in black bean sauce
• Pork & Veg in XO Sauce
• Stir fried beef with mushrooms
• Beef in black bean sauce
• Stir-fried roast pork
• Seafood & Mushroom Fried Rice
• Fried banana
• Fried pineapple
• Ice-cream with fruit salad

I only managed to eat 3 plates worth, plus soup and dessert…I must be getting old, with my metabolism slowing. Usually I can polish off at least 4 plates. Anyhow…all I can say is I had a fried taste in my mouth for a long time after that. And that’s all I want to say about it. If you are into this sort of thing, I suppose this is one of the better restaurants to be in, because of the foot traffic, you can be sure that the food is fresh.

Rating - 5

Atmosphere

Well, we visited here on Valentines Day, but it didn’t stop singles, friends, couples and families all dining here. We saw a huge line formed out the front, and that’s why we thought it must be good…It was so busy, they filled two whole floor of the space, and there were still people waiting out the front! I really don’t know the reason, except that food in Newcastle must be terrible in general, to have such a line-up of people shoving each other out of the way to get in.

While busy is great for a buffet in that you always get fresh food, it meant that you have to wait a long time in the line to get to the items you want. And as for the décor, the least said about this the better.

Rating - 1

Service

The waiter took the time to explain to us how the buffet works. Exactly how much it would cost if we leave at a certain time. They seemed to be very experienced with the common questions that they must get ask. Other than that, they took away the plates at a regular enough interval, and filled up the food when supplies ran low, what more can you ask for?

Rating - 3

C-factor

£5.50 for lunch. Extras for drinks. Not that cheap in my opinion. I thought people might be going crazy and loading up plate after plate, but most people seemed to only have 2 plates + dessert and call it a day…seems like it might be a good business idea to start up an Oriental buffet in Newcastle…

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 9.5

Info

44-50 Stowell Street
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 4XQ
Phone +44 (0) 19 1261 8868
Website

Mango Tree

The sister restaurant of one of my favourites, Awana, but serving Thai cuisine. I was definitely looking forward to this.

Food

Like Awana, there is a very interesting cocktail menu, and even quite a few non-alcoholic drinks. I had the Serendipity, with rum and pear being dominant. You got quite a kick from it. If you prefer your cocktail sweet, stay away, but this one certainly had oomph, which seemed to contradict the name really. Slokky had the Exotic ONe - Fresh passion fruit juice, lychee juice, cranberry juice, fresh dragon fruit, coconut cream, lime juice, brown sugar syrup, ONe fizzy drinks which was excellent. Very refreshing. There were 3 or 4 choices on the Awards menu:

• som tum (v) - green papaya salad with cherry tomato, snake beans, peanut and spicy lime sauce - not as good as the papaya salads from Thailand, and a little bit too sweet for my liking…but I do love papaya salad…Don’t be fooled by the description. The salad consisted mainly of papaya and not much else.
• Tod Mun Pla - Spicy fish cakes seasoned with curry and kaffir lime leaf served with sweet and spicy sauce - nicely fragrant with herbs, and with hints of fishiness. Not too peppery and not too spicy. I like it.
• Gaeng Kiew Wan Gai - green curry with corn fed chicken - A little bit sweet and not hot enough for my liking…but otherwise the flavour was great, and certainly much better than the version at Sri Nam. There wasn’t much chicken in it though.
• Pad Ka Pow Pak (v) -stir fried mixed vegetables with chilli and basil - had the required wok taste, but otherwise the sauce was quite plain and boring
• Cheese Cake Lychee Na-Now - lychee and lime flavoured cheese cake with Lychee jelly - really yummy Asian flavours
• Ice Creams - Chocolate & Lemongrass, Very Berry, Banana with Sticky Rice - I loved this, reminds me of all the great ice cream places in Asia.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

Busy cannot even being to describe it, it was absolutely full to bursting, with so many groups and couples everywhere. I usually find myself being one of the first people in a restaurant at 7pm on a weeknight, but not here. The whole place was already filled up when we arrived, with only a few tables left, which were filled by 7:30pm. I was glad we got a relatively good spot by the window, as we got a little bit of privacy. Definitely not a place for a date but great for groups.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Considering how busy the place was, the running of it was much better than I expected. We did have quite a wait for the main course – and they got one of our orders wrong, so we ended up eating one meal before the other. They did manage to fix the mistake quickly. It also took forever for the bill to come. I think if the place was less busy the service would be very good, as they seemed relatively well organised.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

We went as part of the reward meal through Top Table. I had previously tried the 2000 points reward (twice) before, and it was not bad, not generous though, so I had some doubt on what we would get for the 1400 points reward. I was pleasantly surprised at the generosity. It seems like we dined from a restricted lunch menu, which costs £20 for 3 courses. So as we got it for free… Anyway, they always do 50% discount deals so I don’t think anyone ever pays full price? Looking at how popular the place is, I am sure they’ve got it right.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 13.5

Info

46 Grosvenor Place
London
SW1X 7EQ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7823 1888
Website

Levant

Food

We had a selection of meze for entrees, including:

• Baba Ghannuge - Grilled aubergine dip, tahina & lemon juice - really beautiful, nice and smokey, and the accompanying flat bread was excellent too
• Kibbeh lahme - Lamb and cracked wheat parcels filled with minced lamb, onions and pine nuts - a bit oily but full of flavour
• Samak mekleh - Deep fried baby squid with Red Pepper Dip - just like normal salt and pepper squid, but the red pepper dip was exquisite, really fresh and with subtle spicing that brought out the sweetness of the peppers.
• Soujok - Spicy Armenian sausage, tomatoes, garlic & parsley - like kebabs really
• Qasbet d’jaj - Sautéed chicken livers, pomegranate
  & crispy onion - a bit different and livened up with the pomegranate

We were pretty full already, as the entrees were generous. For mains we had:

• S’csou Darna - Braised lamb shoulder, slow cooked chicken & merguez sausage served with steamed couscous, vegetable broth, golden sultanas, chickpeas, harissa & garlic stew - they actually didn’t give us the stew, but we were really quite full already with the entrees and couldn’t be bothered asking for it. Actually, we had forgotten it was on the menu until the people next to us ordered the same thing and they got the stew. Oh yeah, and the lamb, beautifully cooked, melt in the mouth, the couscous was not too sweet, excellent dish
• Mixed grill - Kafta laham, kafta d’jaj, shish tawuk & laham meshwi on a skewer - a little bit boring, some of the meat was dry, while others were spiced heavily. Not bad but not great

And dessert was still to come, on a 3 tier dessert platter

• Sniwat Fawakih - Fresh fruit platter with orange blossom - at this point we were just trying to cut the fat with the fresh watermelon and grapes
• Shay Bel Naanaa Wal Halawiyatt - Mint tea with baklawa - both mint tea and baklawa were excellent
• pistachios - didn’t touch much of this, this platter would be great to accompany drinks
• Turkish delight - there were 3 flavours, and all were really yummy.

Overall, excellent standard and very generous.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

We ate at a very odd time, 3pm. At first we weren’t sure if there was anyone dining. Surprisingly there were a couple of people there. The restaurant is situated in the basement level, but was huge. The waiter decided to sit us right next to a couple who were getting very intimate with each other. Apart from that and the fact that all the wait staff seem to be preparing for the dinner rush…it was weird. The ambience must be quite nice normally, with a nice bar area where you can have drinks. Normally they have belly dancers too…

Rating - 2

Service

I thought they could have put in more effort actually. It was hard to get any attention, and their blender was broken so they couldn’t make drinks?!?! Surely they would lose less money by going out and buying a new one.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

We had the meat feast for £29.50 p.p, with a discount from toptable of course. We had so much food leftover, but the dessert was so nice, I was forcing myself to eat more at the end. Good food and good value, maybe if I came for dinner I would have had a much more enjoyable experience.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 13

Info

Jason Court off Wigmore Street
76 Wigmore Street
London
W1U 2SJ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7224 1111
Website