Wagamama Canary Wharf 2

I know, I came back, but there isn’t really much choice for a quick meal at Canary if you don’t fancy the sandwich variety.

Food

I decided to give the ramens here a go, and picked an old favourite in Australia, to see how they do it. Salmon Ramen (£9.55) - noodles in a pork and chicken spiced miso soup topped with a grilled fillet of salmon, seasonal greens, menma, spring onions, wakame and carrots. Garnished with mixed sesame seeds is actually very different to the Australian one. The soup is actually not that bad - if they had not masked it with loads of chilli and made it too salty. The salmon is definitely worst than Oz, but they cooked it well, so it was still pink in the middle. The noodles are very pleasant too. The Ebi Raisukaree (£9.50) - stir-fried black tiger prawns in a coconut and lime curry sauce with ginger, galangal, chillies, coriander, green and red peppers, red and spring onions and mangetout. Served on japanese-style rice and garnished with sliced red chillies and a wedge of lime is a dish I haven’t encountered before, and never again. It reminded me of the kai sen gohan I had last time, except this time, the rice seemed to be drowned in a pool of curried oil. That’s right, you can actually see the oil floating on top of the sauce. The sauce itself was quite acceptable, so another nice dish was ruined.

Rating - 5

Atmosphere

Because we arrived early (before 6pm), we managed to grab one of the prime spots – a 2 person table right by the window, with a view of the shopping centre traffic below. This was great as we could watch everyone come and go, including two very busy new mums….

Rating - 2

Service

I have to say, Wagamama Canary Wharf has one of the better service of all the Wagamamas I have been to.

Rating - 3

C-factor

As usual, I never visit Waga unless I have a 2 for 1 voucher, and this was no different. So…value was ok, but would I ever pay full price for this? No way.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 11

Info

Jubilee Place
45 Bank Street
London
E14 5NY
Phone +44 (0) 20 7516 9009
Website

The Real Eating Company

Food

We were already full from our first lunch, and was originally only stopping by for some dessert, but the menu just sounded too tempting, so we ended up sharing another starter for our second lunch. The Dorset crab salad with tomato (£8) was beautiful. Wonderful, fragrant and sweet crab meat, with a dash of dressing and roe, with fresh salad leaves, tomatoes. It was the perfect dish for a summary afternoon. The rest of the menu sounds very tempting, but we definitely didn’t have the stomach for that. Oh yeah, the cappuccino (£2.50) was bad...but useful if you're thirsty since it came in a huge cup.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

We managed to snare a table out on the pavement, where we pretended to be yuppy types, eating our lunch in the sun, posing in our weekend gear and checking out the traffic. It was actually quite nice, and I can actually imagine myself doing that… if I make £100,000 a year… I actually expected to see the communal table here, but they haven’t implemented that. Instead, big wooden tables are the go, and a counter full of cakes on display. There’s also the “deli” upstairs where you can pick up goodies, or enjoy a cheese platter.

Rating - 2.5

Service

Very very friendly. There is table service, but for some reason, Slokky ordered at the counter? Well, that meant we couldn’t tip the waiters.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

Well, as expected for Hove, it’s not cheap, but then again, the quality of the food was excellent.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 14.5

Info

86/87 Western Road
Hove
BN3 1JB
Phone +44 (0) 12 7322 1444
Website

Slug & Lettuce America Square

I wasn’t so impressed by Slug last time I visited, however, promise of a free tasting of the new summer menu lulled me back, and I have changed my opinion of them.

Food

Since they weren’t getting my business, I felt that I had better order some drinks, so the Guiness (£1.99 for ½ pint) was my contribution. We were served two platters which consisted of :

• Olives (£2.45) -Green and black olives, in an onion, garlic & pepper oil mix - nice and juicy, but otherwise…just olives
• Ciabatta Bread Strips and Dip (£3.25) - A selection of red pepper tapenade, pine nut & basil pesto and olive-oil-topped ciabatta strips, served with balsamic dipping oil - the sauce was not too strong, but the bread was soft.
• Tempura Prawns (£4.25) - Large king prawns, in a light tempura batter, served with a sweet chilli sauce, seasonal salad leaves and an orange & poppy seed dressing - beautiful batter, which surprised me. Nice and crunchy, but not too much. In fact, it was quite light and offset the prawns nicely.
• Chicken and Dips (£4.50) - Southern-fried-style chicken breast pieces, served with spicy Reggae Reggae Sauce® and sour cream - has a bit more taste than your frozen food variety, but that’s about it.
• Roasted Veg and Brie (£5.25) - Warm roasted peppers and red onion with melted Brie, in crunchy baguette, served with chutney - delicious flavour, but didn’t really work in the bread as it made the bread extremely soggy.
• Chicken Caesar Wrap (£5.95) - Warm flour tortilla with chicken breast, Parmesan and cos lettuce, in a Caesar dressing - I really like this one, moist chicken, excellent dressing
• BBQ Chicken and Bacon (£6.95) - Chicken breast, with crispy bacon, Cheddar cheese and a BBQ sauce, in crunchy baguette - another winner, the bread had depth and the saltiness of the bacon was offset by some nice BBQ sauce.
• Bruschetta (£4.25) - With pine nut & basil pesto, roasted vine tomatoes and melted fresh Italian mozzarella - a bit cold when I had it, but the tomato was sweet and the mozzarella had flavour … so it should’ve been good right?
• Cumberland Sausages (£8.25) -British pork sausages - ummm, pretty unremarkable.

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

This Slug at Tower Hill is definitely better situated than the one at <>. It’s an old converted factory, with high ceiling and bits of exposed beams from the old factory. The space is large and tables spaced out. There are areas with coaches, tables, niches, all spread out around the place, so you never felt it was too noisy. There’s another area for groups to use, and indeed there was a group there having their trivia night. So, great space, but there weren’t that many people there on this Wednesday night, so things could feel a bit quiet, but Slug County Hall can definitely learn a thing or two from this Slug.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Surprisingly warm. We found it a bit difficult to get any attention, but once we went to the bar to ask, they gave us plenty of attention. We were shown our table, made to feel comfortable, reassured that our food would be served soon, and when we asked for water, they were more than willing to oblige. This was surprising, for such a casual place and the fact that we were eating for free.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

Well, it was FREE, so I can’t complain, can I? Having said that, the quality was good enough that I actually would pay the price they stated on the menu for them…but nothing more. I thought we might have to do some sort of evaluation at the end of the night, but we weren’t asked for anything, so effectively, we just got a free meal and a nice night out.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 13

Info

1 America Square
London
EC3N 2LS
Phone +44 (0) 20 7702 2381
Website

Phoenix Palace Chinese Restaurant

I don’t know whether or not I was looking forward to this…afterall, I’ve not had a good yum cha experience in London yet.

Food

The menu was strange, a lot of old favourites were missing, but in a way, it was pleasing to see some new stuff, especially on their “specials” menu. We ordered:

• Prawn dumplings (£2.70) - thick skin, pleasant filling, a bit small though.
• Pork & prawn dumplings (£2.50) - not a strong pork taste at all, it was very different to what you usually get, and not in a bad way
• Prawn & chive dumpling (£2.70) - disappointing and bland, with very bad skin
• Chicken claws in black bean sauce (£2.30) - sauce was a bit too weak, but cooked nicely
• Barbecued pork buns (£2.30) - quite nice, moist and not too fatty
• Vietnamese crispy spring roll (£2.40) - not enough filling and ordinary
• Briny pork croquettes (£2.20) - haven’t had one for ages, but this one was again too small, so there wasn’t enough meat to fill the thick skin.
• Rice pasta roll with prawns (£4) - fresh prawns, but paper rolls were not that smooth
• Rice pasta roll with mashed beef (£3.40) - bland, maybe their soy sauce is not strong enough?
• Baked egg tarts (£2.30) - again, very very small, you can put the whole thing in your mouth in one bite, but at least the pastry was very good.
• Liquid gold custard bun (£3.8) - different and one of my favourites, with the salty and sweet working well together
• Garlic spare ribs cheung fun (£4.5) - the sauce was again too subtle, but the pork was poached very nicely.

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

We arrived quite early for Sunday lunch as we knew there would be a rush later on, and so it was very quiet to begin with. By the time we left, at around 1pm, the party was in full swing. I was happy to see a mixture of Chinese and others, mostly with family, coming along. The décor reflects all other Chinese restaurants really, and they, like most places, don’t have trolleys.

Rating - 2

Service

Most of the staff can’t speak proper Chinese – any dialect, but at least they can speak English, so we did manage to get what we want. The level of service varied, some quite efficient, others woeful. We didn’t get asked about tea for about 5 minutes, and we had to order a waiter over to get some. As it was only 11am and there were not many people, I expected better. Little did we know, about a minute later, another waiter came over asking for tea. We explained that we ordered already, and she actually said to us, in broken Chinese, “Yes, but you better tell me if you actually want to get any tea”! After than that, and the fact that they kept wanting to clear things off our table, service was quite acceptable.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

This came to £12 p.p and we were reasonably full, but not bursting. Quite acceptable for London.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

3-5 Glentworth Street
London
NW1 5PG
Phone +44 (0) 20 7486 3515
Website

Barry at the Tureen

Barry at the Tureen is a breath of fresh air from the same old cookie cutter variety of restaurants you find nowadays.

Food

The food is simple, retro fare, carefully prepared. We started off with some nibbles in the forms of rice crackers! Then some fresh homemade bread, still warm from the often, spread simply with butter. I decided to pair my meal with a viognier 2006 French (£4). For starters I had the Mushrooms stuffed with crab and garlic, which were fragrant, beautiful, oily. The aroma hits you before the taste. A great start. The Fresh salmon cakes with a basil mayo was less successful, but the simplicity and the fresh ingredients lifted the dish from ordinary to something special.

Maybe because we were by the sea, but we decided to go for fish for the mains. The Marlin steak sauteed with lime and cream was nice and juicy, but as the steak was unadorned and the sauce very simple, the dish was really relying on the quality of the ingredients. However, the steak let it down in this case. The Scotch salmon boned escallope oven-baked with a red pesto, cheese and crumb crust had more flavour in the crust, but the fish itself was fresh, if a bit bland. So…still to be vowed by the seafood.

Desserts were varied, the Blackberry liqueur soufflee served frozen sounded interesting, and I even enquired how this would be served, but in reality, was just some very alcoholic ice-cream. The Gooseberry fool was more successful, rich, creamy clotted cream, paired with some sweet and juicy gooseberry. Very indulgent.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

I knew before we came that this was going to be an intimate dining experience. Seating only 18 people in a small room with décor that reflects a past era, but in a tasteful way. We arrived first (in fact, we had the whole place to ourselves for one hour) and got to pick the best seat, right next to the bay window, so we could watch the passing parade. None of the décor was out of place, it made you feel relaxed, and reflected the style and presentation of the food.

Rating - 2

Service

Barry was there to greet us and made us feel welcome. We had a chat about our visit and how we should’ve visited the Royal Pavilion. I even had a chat with their waiter. Many are repeat customers and Barry knows them quite well, but he makes all feel welcomed. Service was very personal, but not so professional, which works quite well here.

Rating - 4

C-factor

Brighton is certainly not cheap, and our 3 courses was £25 each. They also add on a 15% service charge, which is even more expensive than London! At least their service was top notch, so they deserved it!

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

31 Upper North Street
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 3FG
Phone +44 (0) 12 7332 8939

Pizza Express Canary Wharf 3

I’d never been impressed with Pizza Express on all my previous visits, but maybe third time lucky?

Food

After trying the pasta and the new style Romano pizzas, I thought my mistake has been that I needed to go for the classics. So that’s why we picked the Pollo ad Astra (£8.25) - Torn chicken and peppadew sweet peppers, mixed with cajun spices, garlic and red onions and the Parmense (£8.25) - A classic combination of flavours, asparagus, Parma ham and grana padano, then finished with a free range egg -We can cook your eggs hard or soft. Please let us know which you prefer. Well, even with the totally different toppings, it was hard to tell the difference between the two, so tasteless were the flavours. I commend them on the base, which was lightly charred and very nice, but the thing was let down by some flavourless tomato sauce and some plain flavourless cheese. You can imagine how little of the flavour they provide, as even I who prefers subtle flavours rather than bold, was complaining. The only things that had any sort of flavour were the peppers (there was 4 pieces on the whole pizza) and luckily, the ham, which edged the flavour of the Parmense up a notch. So, I think it’s a case of 3 strikes you’re not. I won’t be coming back again unless I am forced to.

Rating - 4.5

Atmosphere

I was surprised by the amount of people that were dining early there, like us. I guess it’s a very family friendly place. There were definitely more than your usual shares of prams there. I hope I don’t have to resort to these sort of places after I have a family though…

Rating - 1.5

Service

Same old, same old. Being ignored and having to wait at the front, really slow service even though there were many waiters. The waiters acting like they don’t really want to serve you…etc etc.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

This time we had buy one get one free, otherwise, I wouldn’t really come here unless I really had to.

Rating - 8.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

200 Cabot Place East
London
E14 4QT
Phone+44 (0) 20 7513 0513
Website

Zebrano at the Establishment

Food

Food was great for a bar, and ok for a restaurant. So, to take advantage of happy hour, I had Bellini – raspberry puree & schnapps topped with champagne (£8). I really wanted a peach one, but they didn’t have peach, so I settled for the raspberry, which tasted like medicine. The Lychee Martini (£7) – Vodka, Lychee Liquer, lychee juice, orange bitters was better, but probably too sweet for my taste. So, the drinks not so great, but the food was better. We ordered a selection of tapas and platters to share :

• Calamares Fritos Con Salsa Tartara (£4.50) – deep dried squid rings served with tartar sauce - just like it says, calamari rings, not that remarkable, but the tartar sauce was great.
• Brocheta De Pollo En Salsa De Habitas Con Estragon (£4.50) – skewered marinated chicken, split peas and tarragon sauce - juicy and tender, the sauce was subtle
• Pan De Nueces Tostado Con Ragu De Setas Salteadas (£4.25) – wild mushroom ragout on toasted walnut bread - very hard to share, so I dunno why it was tapas, as this came out as a pate on one piece of bread. I think the flavours was a little too strong on this, and made the bread too soggy to work.
• Chorizo Al Vino (£3.95) – Spanish sausage cooked in white wine - not much wine taste and not very juicy, but nice chorizo flavour.
• Queso De Cabra Frito Con Higos Y Miel (£4.50) – deep fried goats cheese with grilled figs & honey - surprisingly sweet, more akin to eating this as a dessert, especially with the figs and honey.
• Patatas Ali-Oli Con Azafran (£2.95) – Saffron and aloili potatoes - I thought this would be like the potato bavas that I always order, but they were like fat chips. Not one of their better dishes, the potatoes were not quite golden and crunchy enough, although the sauce was very nice.
• Tabla De Charcuteria Salada Y Dulce Con Parfait De Oca Y Pollo – Selection of Spanish charcuterie & foie gras parfait - the platters are definitely the best. This had a mixture of different, tasty charcuterie, with olives, gerkins, pickled onions making up the plate. The cheese and quince paste was a good offset, but what was the deal with the foie gras? How were you supposed to eat that as there was no bread provided?
• Delicias De Salmon Ahumado, Carpaccio De Atun Con Lima, Cobgrejo, Buey De Mar Con Aguacate Y Boquerones (£12.95) – Platter of different toppings with smoked salmon, lime tuna Carpaccio, crayfish tails ,crab, avocado * marinated anchovies serve on French bread - a good sharing plate. My favourite being the smoked salmon and sardines.
• Zebrano Platter (£11.95) – selection of chicken, chorizo & lamb skewers served with chunky chips and deep fried goat’s cheese - after the success of the other platters, I thought I would order this. While it was very good value as a platter, the food was all stuff that I’ve eaten before, except the lamb skewers, which was very flavoursome again.

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

I was surprised there weren't more people at Zebrano. We were seated in a spacious corner of the room, prime for people watching. There were comfy coaches, little leather stools, and low tables, great for finger food, harder to go to eat stuff that fall apart, and to try to not get anything on your clothes. The room was painted red, with chandeliers and mirrors adding a glamorous feel.

Rating - 2.5

Service

The service was charming, with lots of flirting thrown in. It started off being a bit strange. I’d made a reservation, but they seemed to be very puzzled by it. However, I found there was a table reserved for me, they’d even printed out a sign with my name on it.

All the waiters would come and sit next to you when you order, which is quite personal, and I like. One of them kept coming around to ask if everything was ok, but they weren’t too intrusive. I kept thinking about whether they were on their best behaviour because we could pay whatever we wanted, or they behaved like that normally. Never mind, it was refreshing to have good service, and that certainly paid a part in the amount of money we left them.

Rating - 4

C-factor

Not many people know, but Zebrano has been trying an experiment where they don’t put a price on the food bill. Instead, you fill in what you think the food is worth and pay that. Well, I think their experiment was quite successful. Our food bill came to around £63, while the drinks were quite cheap as we ordered it all at Happy Hour, where it was half price. We decided to pay £15 per person, as we were quite pleased with everything. We could’ve paid £5 I suppose but I think they deserved their money. It didn’t seem like that many people were there just for the deals (hardly any Asians in site), and they could make a lot of money with the drinks anyway.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 14.5

Info

18 Greek Street
London
W1D 4DS
Phone +44 (0) 20 7287 2051
Website

Arang

My first Korean restaurant in the UK, for a surprise birthday party. I have heard some good things about this place, so I was definitely looking forward to comparing this with the Australian Koreans.

Food

They had these Korean drinks on the menu, so I decided to give them a try. The Rice punch (£1.50) was very likeable, with a wok-fried rice flavour. The Cinnamon punch (£1.50) was also refreshing, but a bit medicinal tasting.

There were lots of choices on the menu, which we took a long time to debate, but we needn’t have bothered, as they strongly pushed us to have the set menu. That was fine by us as it saved us thinking, but what was not acceptable was the awful food.

These were what we were served, among others. (oh, and they can’t spell English either).

Appetisers:

• miso soup - very nice, but they can’t really get that wrong, can they?
• Kim Chi -Koreas famous preserved cabbage spicy pickle - a bit spicy, and again, yum. I was hoping they would bring some rice though.
• Suk Joo Namul - Midly seasoned green bean sprouts - yum
• Moo Namul - Thinly sliced white radish freshly seasoned - quite sweet and not too crunchy
• Oi So Bae Gi - Preserved cucumber spicy pickle - again, yum
• Shi Kum Chi Namul - Seasoned spinach - a tasteful and healthy side dish - as usual, my favourite
• Kak Doo Gi - Pickled diced white radish - the hottest and one of the best dish of the evening

After a good start, I am afraid things went downhill, and didn’t pick up again until the bbq.

Entrée

• sauce O Jin O Pok Um - Fried squid with vegetables & red pepper paste sauce - nothing really wrong with this, except they don’t give you enough seafood and this more resembled Chinese food cooked for Westerners than any Korean food I’ve eaten.
• Sweet & sour pork - This was becoming more Chinese as we speak. The pork was fried and didn’t taste of anything. The whole thing was covered in a sickeningly sweet sauce, so it was good that they hardly gave us any.
• Tang Soo Sae Woo - Shrimps battered, deep fried & covered with sweet and sour sake sauce - I was really disappointed when another dish with the same woeful sauce arrived. No wonder they wanted us to order only the sets, they just need to throw in different ingredients into the same old sauce.
• Yeon No Gui - Grilled salmon with terriyaki sauce - was the best of the entrees, but only because the other dishes were not up to standard. This was at least edible…

We deviated from the set menu here for a special request, the pork and oyster with kim chi wrap, which was interesting and quite nice! So maybe their food is not so bad afterall if you avoid the set menu. Still….they were the ones who steered them towards it, so I blame them. My mood didn’t pick up for the 2nd entrée, the Mo Deum Chun - Assorted meat, fish & vegetables, pancakes with sauce , which was cold, uninspiring, and all the meat and vegetables taste the same.

At last, the BBQ:

• Bul Ggo Ki - Sliced & Marinated beef - nice, but as the waiter didn’t leave us tongs, overcooked
• O Jing O Gui - Fresh squid with seasoned soya - quite tender
• Sei Woo Gui - Prawns with special sauce - big and juicy, but we had 3 to share between 6 people
• Pei Zhu Gui - Fresh scallop with seasoned soya sauce - again, overcooked because of the waiter. We wanted to cook it in the shell, but they deshelled it for us for no reason at all

We ended with Fruits, a half orange slice that was extremely sour and a couple of grapes to share amongst four. As you can tell, I was not impressed. As the evening wore on, I just got more and more annoyed at their antics. I won’t be coming back.

Rating - 2

Atmosphere

There were a few of us, so we got a “private room” at the back of the restaurant. This really just meant we couldn’t see anyone else and they couldn’t see us, but we could hear everything from the outside, including a very loud rendition of happy birthday.

This meant that we couldn’t observe what the other tables were doing, but the room itself was quite small, so we couldn’t really move around, and because of the noise, we had to shout to get heard. There were three grills built into the centre of the table, but no exhaust fans, so either they have not many barbeques or they have a very strong exhaust fan. Or the fact that they turn the air-con so it’s like 5oC in there might have something to do with it.

Rating - 0.5

Service

This was definitely below average, especially from what I’ve come to expect for Korean service. Maybe it’s because we were in a group, since reviews I’ve read always say their service is great. Let me explain. They virtually forced us to order the set menu because it would be easiest for them, so we did, and they still couldn’t get it right. People got all different food and more importantly, different amounts, even though we all got the same menu, as they suggested. I had to ask them several times for missing items, and they just said they were busy, but did eventually deliver. I wonder what would happen if I didn’t ask for it? The food distribution was extremely uneven. For example, we got ½ a plate of meat between 6 people, whereas 4 people got 1.5 plates.

Other unforgivable behaviour:

• spilling sauce all over one of the girl’s designer jacket and bag, and then having to fight to get the dry cleaning bill paid for
• carrying the hot used BBQ grill away, without even a drip tray or anything, while we were sitting there
• not leaving any tongs for us to cook our meat, so we had to use our chopsticks (which were wooden and not silver!!)
• not telling us how to eat anything or what anything they actually deliver are
• not letting us pay by credit card separately, and then after we convinced them we couldn’t pay the bill otherwise, took a long long time before we settled the bill

Rating - 0

C-factor

£28 p.p including service (really should’ve asked for the service back). It doesn’t sound like a lot, but the quantity we got were so tiny, I am sure all the boys, if not the girls, left hungry. Not to mention the very revolting nature of the food. At least it meant I didn’t pig out. Oh how I miss Strathfield Korean, right at my doorstep.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 2.5

Info

9 Golden Square
London
W1F 9HZ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7434 2073
Website

Gourmet Burger Kitchen Canary Wharf

What was supposed to be a quick bite before watching The Royal Opera on the big screen at Canada Square Park, turned out to be a pretty slow affair.

Food

Since this is a gourmet burger place, all the burgers are served on a sour dough sesame seed bun and meat cooked medium, which was not a problem with me. I was recommended the Portabella (£7.35) - Whole portabella mushroom ,sweet red peppers, rocket, mayonnaise, red onion & pesto, which was nice as separate ingredients, but I thought didn’t work very well in burger form, especially since all the ingredients can’t stay together in the bun and is virtually impossible to eat as a burger. The more traditional Jamaican (£7.35) - 100% Aberdeen-Angus Scotch beef, mango and ginger sauce, salad, mayonnaise & relish worked much better, with a zingy dressing lifting the beef to a bit different. Of course we had to get GBK Fires (£2.65), which were nice and fat, and didn’t really need the Smoked Chilli Mayo (£1.50) (the mayo was really good though).

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

It was packed out, with couples, groups, but I noticed a larger than usual proportion of Asians, who all seem to be clutching their buy and get one free voucher, so that must explain things. Otherwise, it’s your standard burger joint, with the added advantage of being able to watch the kitchen prepare the burger and the waiters getting confused on the orders.

Rating - 1.5

Service

They have this bizarre system where it’s a mixture of formal and informal dining. When you get there, you are shown to a table and given menus by the waiter, but then you get told your table number and you have to go to the counter to order your meal, McDonalds style, all the time trying to remember the right table number. There were a lot of people dining there on this Wednesday evening, so it took a long time to line up and order. Fortunately, they are pretty quick with the orders, so once we got it in, we didn’t have to wait for long.

Rating - 3

C-factor

As far as burgers are concerned, I still think what they charge is pretty steep, even if it is gourmet and all. Still, for a quick feed and a place to sit down, it’s not too bad. I still can’t distinguish between them and the Fine Burger Co, or any other gourmet burger chain for that matter.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

Jubilee Place
Canary Wharf
E14 5NY
Phone +44 (0) 20 7719 6408
Website

Cha Cha Moon

Food

Like wagamama, Cha Cha is based on the concept of a dai pa don. There is a good but small mixture of soup noodles, lao mian and wok dishes, as well as a scattering of sides and drinks. Each dish is prized at £3.50 and verges on the small side, but that’s the great thing about it. You can eat here and finish your dish without feeling overly bloated, and if you are still hungry, you can always order two!!

Out of several visits (2 of which occurred on the same day…hey, at £3.50, you can actually afford to eat here twice!!), we tried:

• Roast Duck Noodles - roast duck, wolfberry, pak choi,wonton noodle - the soup tasted fresh and a bit medicinal, and the roast duck was of top quality, very flavoursome, and the noodles still have bite.
• Singapore Char Kway Teow - Chinese salami, fish cake, clam, Chinese chive, beansprout, egg, hor fun - lovely and beautiful wok breath, with the light balance of soy in the sauce. the noodles were silky smooth, with shallots rounding out the dish.
• Penang Prawn Noodle - prawn, egg, beansprout, lomian - the most disappointing dish, possibly let down by the sub-quality prawn here. They were quite generous with 4 big pieces of prawn. Unfortunately, the meat was mushy and the broth was too light in flavour. You also only get half an egg and not enough chilli kick.
• Zhajiang Mian - pork, fermented soya bean, cucumber, red chilli, mian - now this has the right amount of chilli kick, and extra whole chilli if you don’t have enough. Definitely better than previous versions of this I’ve had, as this is much less oily (don’t get me wrong, it’s still oily, but just less). The sauce was fiery and this was presented with big slices of cucumbers instead of the matchsticks, which I quite enjoyed.
• - I didn’t personally try this but I heard it was great.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

You can’t see the restaurant from the outside, it’s just a small discrete entrance. The restaurant is in a vast open space, with an open kitchen on one side and a bar at one end. Tables are arranged a la Wagamama, with 5 long tables each seating about 20 filling the space. Inside it’s completely dark, with the lights coming from the open kitchen and the sliding doors to the outside courtyard seating area. Dark purple is the dominating colour, with the waiters all donning purple t-shirts reflecting “the moon”. Very cool yet functional, just don’t expect the sun.

Rating - 2

Service

Varied. When we got there for lunch, it wasn’t that busy, so service was swift and our food delivered quickly. It also meant that the waiters weren’t busy so that one of them actually had time to tell me I wasn’t allowed to take photos, for reasons he did not explain. Needless to say, I ignored him and kept snapping away.

For dinner it was a different ball game, the place was full. We were told to wait in the queue, only to find another couple got shown to a table right after us. Of course I was not pleased, but they rectified the situation straight away. Like Wagamama, the dishes are delivered in whatever order the kitchen decides to cook them. Which of course never works well if you have multiple people dining, but ensures that the food is reasonably fresh, but sometimes mean you just sit there and watch other people eat. Luckily, we had an extremely alert waiter, who managed to follow up on all my orders which were very very slow indeed. I admired his multi-tasking skill, his ability to remember and do many things and still be positive.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

For the quality, £3.50 is a very good price. How long the prices will stay that low, who knows. Just make sure you get there ASAP.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 15

Info

15 - 21 Ganton Street
London
W1F 9BN
Phone +44 (0) 20 7297 9800

Browns Bar & Brasserie West India Quay

The setting for our ladies night, yet another pub/bar at Canary Wharf. Browns is yet another chain, and I heard mixed reviews about the place, so I approached with apprehension.

Food

We started off with two Antipasti Plates, served with a bowl of fresh breads. The Italian Meat (£10.50) had the usual sliced meat, with olives, chargrilled vegetables and cheese making up the rest of the plate. I didn’t try much, but what I tried tasted like any standard antipasti plate. You can’t really muck it up. The Seafood (£11) was more unusual, in that you don’t see it very often. The plate consisted of some smoke fish (which I didn’t get to try), a vinegared fish – very nicely balanced with firm flesh, fish salad (plain), and some skewers of prawns (terrible, as prawns go). The walnut and raisin bread that came with it was excellent though. My favourite entrée was actually the Flatbreads, thin and crisp, topped with Garlic, Rocket and Parmesan (£4.85), which was crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle, with fresh rocket and not too much Parmesan to overpower it.

I didn’t drink (alcohol) since I was not feeling too well, but the organic Farm Pressed Juice - Apple & Crushed Ginger 250ml (£2.00) was a treat. I love ginger in drinks and this, paired with the cloudy apple juice, was refreshing. My Swordfish Salad (£13) - chargrilled line-caught swordfish steak with baby spinach, tomato and puy lentils was pretty simple, nothing that hasn’t been done before, but I liked it that way, a simply grilled fish that was thankfully not overcooked (in fact, they seem to undercook all the food here as the people who ordered steak can attest). The salad was fresh, otherwise not overtly special.

I was too full for dessert after that, but the cold did make it order a Cappuccino (£3), which was huge, but tasted like all the other bad cappuccinos I’ve had.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

We decided to take advantage of the sun (or more likely, non rain) and sit outside. Actually, the decision was probably because the smokers wanted to be able to enjoy themselves a little more than usual. There were lots of people there, co-workers, friends, family, hens night, they all seemed to be there. As a result, the atmosphere was great, with everyone enjoying the great outdoors.

Besides the fierce wind and the fact that a pigeon knocked the coffee out of my hand, it was great.

Rating - 2

Service

A little slow, but is understandable because they were so busy. What is not acceptable though, is them forgetting one of our dessert order and getting the wine order wrong, and delivering dirty glassware to our table!!

Fortunately our waiter was apologetic and didn’t make the bad points worst.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

Fortunately, we only paid for our part. For a “pub” meal, it is very expensive. But for Canary Wharf, it’s quite acceptable, as the portions are quite generous and at least the taste is not bad. Much better than Ta Tasca next door.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

Hertsmere Road
London
E14 8JJ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7987 9777
Website

Atma Restaurant

I chose this for a quick stop before a movie at Finchley Road instead of the offerings in the food court. The food was great, but they certainly weren’t quick. Would I come for a quick fix before a movie? No, but I will come for a pleasant meal with friendly service.

Food

I still think a good judge of a good restaurant is in their lassi. As usual, we opted for mango and sweet, both of which were lovely and thick, balanced by some complementary spicing.

We booked with lastminute.com, which had a 2 for 1 deal. There was limited choices on dishes in the deal, but as it was the first time we’ve visited, that was ok by us. We had:

• Pappadams with Assorted Chutneys - two little dishes, nothing exciting, but gets us going while we wait for quite awhile for our other dishes.
• Tandoori Chicken Salad - Tandoori Grilled Chicken in Mint and Tamarind dressing with Fresh Salad Leaves, Pomegranates, Coconut and Cashew nuts - I love this, especially the addition of the pomegranates. The chicken was moist and beautifully flavoured, and the coconut and cashew added a welcomed crunch. The dressing was not too oily, but quite heavy.
• Tandoori Salmon - Fresh Salmon lightly marinated in Mustard, Ginger-Garlic and smoked with Cloves and Cardamom - juicy salmon, the flavours worked quite well with the marinade.
• Lamb chops - two generous chunks, very flavoursome, with nothing else to mess it around
• Salmon with raita - a bit plain, but at least the fish was moist.
• Vegetable Stir Fry - Green Baby Beans, Mange Tout, Broccoli and Cashew nuts tempered with fresh Coconut and Curry Leaves - this was very much like a Chinese stir-fry, except the flavouring is Indian. A little hot, very crunchy and nutty, this was really great.
• Takka Dahl - definitely not as good as Café Spice’s version, this nevertheless was pleasant.
• Naan - quite disappointing. Not oily, but dry and not hot or anything.
• Cucumber Raita - Yoghurt with chopped Cucumber, Onion, Tomato and toasted Cumin - quite refreshing, but then again, it’s not that hard to make raita right?
• Fig & Ginger Ice cream £4.50 - unfortunate that we had to stuff this down, as it was very nice indeed. I was just going to have a bite and then leave it, but I couldn’t help myself and finished off the whole thing.

We supplemented our deal with this from their a la carte menu, Duck Masala (£13.95) - Oven roasted Duck brushed with Black Pepper & Sea Salt served with crispy Okra and Black Lentil Sauce. The presentation was very Western, with the vegetables at the bottom, the duck stacked on top, and the sauce poured over the whole thing. The duck was moist, a little sweet. The vegetables were a bit dry and didn’t really work that well.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

Atma has tried hard to make their restaurant “modern”, and they succeed to some extend, with timber furnishing, flowers and nice prints. It still retains some of its ethnicity though.

We dined quite early but the restaurant seemed to be filling up with regulars, but was not even half full when we left.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Slow but very accommodating. We needed to leave to catch a movie, so I informed them of that when we arrived. They said not a problem, but we couldn’t finish our meals and had to leave while trying to stuff that last bit of ice-cream into our mouths, not a good thing. However, the waiters were very nice, and followed up the kitchen each time we asked, and they were very meticulous in everything, how they place our cutlery, the way the straws face, the exact position of the dishes. Still, it’s not a good feeling to be anxious.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

£22.95 p.p which was for the two for one deal. I guess then it works out to be about the same price at other Indians, but the ingredients are better and the portions are definitely generous.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 12.5

Info

106c Finchley Road
London
NW3 5JJ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7431 9487
Website

Taste Festival London 2008 and a Few Add-Ons

Our first weekend in London since February, so I made sure I use it to my full advantage. The showpiece was of course the Taste Festival, but more on that later.

The first festival we hit was the Docklands Festival, which reminds me of the Sydney Festival. Indeed, one of the performance comes from Melbourne. There are multiple mini-events, usually dance and visual related, around Canary Wharf and Greenwich. I found the experience hit and miss, with some very good shows and some very boring ones.

We let the rain die down before venturing out to West End Live, a showcase of all the West End musicals. Unfortunately, all the good shows were on in the morning, but we did manage to catch Avenue Q and High School Musical among others. We also got given loads of freebie showbags. They must be very desperate to hand them out so they can go home afterwards. This one is good enough for me to go back to the next year.

And so we go with our hands full of goodies to the Taste Festival. I had been warned of the popularity of this festival, much like the Food & Wine Fair, except you have to pay a lot of money to get in, and the money doesn’t go to charity.

So, what do you actually get for your money? A few of London’s top restaurants, with a big smattering of Michelin stars, and others to round out the list, special events such as cooking classes and wine workshop, producers and alcohol sellers. We decided to hit the biggies (Le Gavroche and L’Atelier du Robuchon) first, then have a wonder around, maybe attend a few workshops. Well, we didn’t expect it was going to be so difficult and take so long, as the number of people was just staggering!! Here is what we spent our crowns on:

Restaurant	Item	Crowns	Comment
L'Atelier du Robuchon	Baby Burger au foie gras et aux poivrons verjutés - Beef and foie gras burger with lightly caramelised bell peppers	8	definitely worth the scrum and the wait. It’s all about balance here, the right amount of beef, the smidgen of sauce and a taste of foie gras combined to make this one tasty burger. We are going to try out the beef and foie gras pairings ourselves
L'Atelier du Robuchon	Chocolate sensation au chocolat Araguani, sorbet au cacao amer et biscuit Oreo - Creamy Araguani chocolate, bitter chocolate sorbet and Oreo cookie crumbs	6	Heavenly. A generous pot of molten dark chocolate with little raspberry squirts, with little crunchy bits. So good I can’t even describe it, except to say I really wanted to lick the cup.
Launceston Place	Roast middle white pork risotto, cracking, apple sauce	6	I have to admit, we only got this one because it was discounted from 10 crowns to 6, but I was kinda intrigued by that cream foam. I think the sweetness worked quite well with the pork pairing, but was disappointed that the risotto was quite hard.
Le Gavroche	Bisque de homard parfumee a l'Armagnac (Classic lobster creamed soup flavoured with brandy)	6	Wow, I even managed to get a very small piece of lobster in the soup. Very strongly flavoured with brandy, but it retained its intensity.
Le Gavroche	Daube de boeuf a l'ancienne et gratin dauphinois (Braised beef in red wine and creamed potatoes)	10	I was disappointed with the size of this, as you only get a £1 coin worth of beef. I remembered the meat being so heavenly at Le Gavroche before, but this didn’t live up to expectation. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but just not out of this world good, which was what I was expecting.
Nahm	Pla tort nahm sahm rot – crispy fish with three flavoured sauce	8	Not as spicy as I had hoped, nevertheless, the sauce definitely had a kick to it.
Saltyard	Confit of Gloucester old spot pork belly with cannelini beans	6	Got this one ‘cos it was cheap. I was pretty full by this time. The pork was cooked beautifully, with a nice crunchy crackling, and the fat was just melt in the mouth. The cannelini beans have of course soaked up all the juices and was full of flavour, and a little bit mushy, jus the way I like it.
Tamarind	Meen Kozhambu: Cubes of kingfish simmered in a sauce of tomato, tamarind and coconut milk, flavoured with curry leaves, mustard and fenugreek seeds; served with steamed rice and haricot beans	8	The sauce was very pleasant, the kingfish being firm, takes to the sauce quite well. I wish they were a bit more generous with the beans though.
Tom's Kitchen	Seven Hour Braised Lamb Shoulder with Balsamic Onions and Mash	10	Definitely melt in the mouth soft, with a complex sauce and heavenly mash.
Zilli Fish	Cotolette d'Agnello e Gamberi ai Ferri: Surf & turf, chargrilled marinated lamb chops & spicy tiger prawns	10	They had a very orderly line, and was quite generous with their servings, 2 cutlets and 2 prawns, so we lined up. The flavour though, was excellent, with a spicy tomato salsa and very soft, fine lamb chops.
	Fair-trade coffee	2	The place where Slokky got conned into getting a cup by the lady in the stall. The most offending thing was that it wasn’t even made in an espresso machine. The taste was at bad as it sounded.

I also managed to pick up some delectable dried fruit from Urban Fresh Fruit. and puy lentils. We also managed to stay there long enough to get into the Bertinet Kitchen "cooking" school, where we “made” Somerset strawberry croustillant with pastry from Dorset. This involved about 1 minute of rolling pastry and then putting cream and strawberries on top after it has been baked for us. All in all, a good day out.

Info

L'Atelier du Robuchon
13-15 West Street
London
WC2H 9NE
Phone+44 (0) 20 7010 8600
Website

Launceston Place
1A Launceston Place
London
W8 5RL
Phone+44 (0) 20 7937 6912
Website

Le Gavroche
43 Upper Brook Street
London
W1K 7QR
Phone+44 (0) 20 7499 1826
Website

Nahm
Halkin Street
London
SW1X 7DJ
Phone+44 (0) 20 7333 1234
Website

Saltyard
54 Goodge Street,
London
W1T 4NA
Phone+44 (0) 20 7637 0657
Website

Tamarind
20 Queen Street
London
W1J 5PR
Phone+44 (0) 20 7629 3561
Website

Tom's Kitchen
27 Cale Street
London
SW3 3QP
Phone+44 (0) 20 7349 0202
Website

Zilli Fish
36-40 Brewer Street
London
W1F 9TA
Phone+44 (0) 20 7734 8649
Website

Brodies

Another work drinks, another bar at Canary. Brodies is situated by the riverside. This though, has to be the most generic looking bar I have ever been to. Apart from the floor to ceiling glass panes which allow everyone to see the action inside, you can’t really distinguish Brodies from everyone else. The space is actually quite small compared to where we usually go, but the service seems to be faster – probably because they are catering to less punters. We had a few plates of nibblies to go with our drinks. While there was quite a bit of variety going around, the food itself taste bland, but I guess that’s not important for a bar that caters to Thursday work drinks, as long as they keep them keen, which Broides seem to do very well.

Info

43 Fishermans Walk
Canary Wharf
London,
E14 5HD
Phone+44 (0) 20 7719 0202
Website

Real Food Festival 2008

Yet another food festival in London, but this time with a difference. No, not the product mind you, but the fact that we were going to get in for free because we volunteered to help out at the event. This festival is about small producers, so most of the show is filled with the usual London farmer market stall, including the usual culprits from Borough Markets. What I really liked was being able to meet the producers from other parts of the UK, especially Scotland, Jersey and Wales.

So what did we actually do as volunteers? Well, we started off by donning the lovely white oversized t-shirts and yellow wrist bands. Once decked out, we manned the booth at Peelham Farm Produce, and besides eating their scrumptious sausage samples, tried to tell a few people about the farm. Then it was off to hand out pamphlets about the event to all the stallholders, and trying out their products at the same time.

Highlights were:

• The scrumptious flavours at Fairfields Farm Crisps
• The really delicious Callestick Farm Cornish Dairy Ice Cream. Unfortunately they didn’t have any for sale, otherwise I would’ve lapped it up.
• The usual high standard and free tasting at the Duchy Originals booth.
• The gorgeous, but not yet available in London Pyman Pates, so we decided to buy 4 for £10.
• Lovely Scottish Connage Organic cheese, 3 for £10 with oatcakes and a cooler bag

Cool stuff:

• The chatty and very nice lady at Clippy's Apple Preserves .
• The really nice tea lady who gave me a juice when I was very thirsty.
• Rabbit skinning demonstration and hands on activity, although I didn’t stay around for the actual skinning part.

Free stuff:

• The generous people at good natured juice handing out 2 L of juice
• Gails giving away the end of day stock in a free for all.
• The nice man from Paterson-arran giving me a Flaming Choc Giant Cookie for free because I was a volunteer

Info

Website

zebrano bar

I know, in London for 5 months and only been to one bar. After my experience today, I don’t think I will be going back to another one for a long time. I prefer my bars where I can sit comfortably, drink fabulous cocktails and hang out and catch up with my friends. Zebrano bar did manage to offer one of the three. My mojito (£4) was fabulous. They certainly didn’t skim. I think I had a whole lime tree in my drink, as well as enough mint to erase any trace of foulness (I guess they cater well for the smokers, druggies, garlic lovers who frequent). The sour and sweetness was perfectly balanced. And that was the best thing about Zebrano…

Things looked ok enough once you get past the security guard. There were various “cool” people hanging around upstairs, but downstairs is where all the “action” is. By action I mean really drunk but skimpily dressed people dancing around and making a fool of themselves in a dark space. The huge space was full of people so there was really nowhere to sit, although one of those corner spaces might’ve been nice. In any case, you can’t talk anyway since they play really really really loud, ear piercing music, and not just because I am old loud, but so loud your eardrums actually hurt. We left when our throats got hoarse from all the shouting.

Info

14 - 16 Ganton Street
London
W1F 7BT
Phone+44 (0) 20 7287 5267
Website

Islington Market

This market is the most homely of the lot. I like it for the fact that there are quite a few different stores here that are not at the other markets, and the fact that there are lots of fruit and vegetable and meat producers. We picked up some beautiful (and huge!!) Portebello Cup mushrooms (£6.90/kg) and 3 bags of apples and pears. They have lots of cakes and bread too but I refrained on this occasion. The only problem is, we can’t get our milk at this market.

Info

Every Sunday 10am – 2pm
William Tyndale School (behind the Town Hall)
Upper Street
Islington
N1
Website

Marylebone Market

We are well on our way of working through all of London’s Farmers Market. Marylebone Market is held every Sunday, and our main reason we were going was to pick up unpasteurised milk from Lincolnshire Poachers , who apparently have the best. And they probably do too, as we got there 1 hour after the market opened, and they had sold out. Fortunately they told us that we could pre-order next time. There was no milk at the Alham Wood cheese store either, but I did pick up some lovely and creamy buffalo cheese.

The stalls are very similar to Notthing Hill, there are your vegetables, meat, cheese, bread and cakes, as well as some jams and pickles. There are also seafood and a French catering stall to add to the mix.

There was nothing particularly appealing, so picked up some good looking pork belly and vegetables only. We left though, with a potato pie (£1.20) from the bakery.

Info

Every Sunday 10am – 2pm
Cramer Street Car park corner Moxton St
Just off Marylebone High Street
London
W1
Website

A Day @ Notting Hill

After having gone to Borough Market a couple of times, I was looking for an alternative, and Notting Hill Farmers Market fit the bill. Don’t get it confused with the nearby Portobello Rd Market. This is a small market with everything you need and not too much to distract you with. There’s that community feel, and best of all, prices are quite reasonable. Same as the supermarket, so why wouldn’t you buy straight from the farmers? We picked up:

• Milk (£1.49 for 2 pints)
• St George Goats Cheese (£21.99/kg)
• Apples and pears (£1.80/kg)
• Brown California sourdough (£2.70)
• 6 mince pies (£1)
• Pain au chocolate (£1.45)
• Leg of mutton (£10)
• cabbage (£.50)
• 2 English spinach for £1

We will definitely be back.

Since we were so closed, we decided we should check out Portobello Road Market, so we joined the hordes and hordes of tourists heading the same way. The police handing out beware of pickpockets at the entrance to the markets was a bad sign, but the market was quite charming. Lots of antiques (not sure if they were real antiques or jus for show), lots of colour and noise. If it wasn’t for the huge crowd, this would actually be a lovely day out.

To get away from the crowd, we actually got some decent coffee from Coffeeplant. The cappuccino (£1.60) was most definitely more than passable. We were tempted by the street stall seller shouting out “6 tiramisu for £1”, but as expected, the tiramisus were really bad. We also picked up some King Edwards (£0.25/kg) before heading home.

Info

Notting Hill
Every Saturday 9am – 1pm
Car park behind Waterstones, access via Kensington Place
junction of Kensington Church Street
W8
Website

Portobello Road Market
Every Saturday
Portobello Road
London
W11 1LU
Website

London Chinese New Year Festival 2008

We tried to go and see the parade, but unfortunately there were people lined up tenfolds on the streets already, I couldn’t even see anything. So we tried to go to Trafalgar Square to see the festivities there. People were everywhere too. There was no food stalls so I was disappointed, and I was dismayed that there were several Chinese taking advantage of the situation and selling so-called Chinese memorabilia to the unsuspecting. I thought this was going to be good, but the celebrations in Oz are much much better.

Info

Website