New Capital Chinese Restaurant 9 Nelson Street, Liverpool Liverpool, L1 5DW

I visited this restaurant on a Sunday about 4 weeks ago while visiting a friend.  I had a pork bun and hot and sour soup as a starter and a spicy dish with mince meat and bean curd as a starter.  the soup and main were both good and spicy and portions were massive.

 

Staff did not speak the best English but they clearly wanted to be helpful and a good attitude certainly goes a long way towards making a meal enjoyable.

 

I have only been to this Chinese once but the portions of food were so big I had to take some home and the quality was decent so I would certainly recommend this place.

I give it 7.5 out of 10.

 

 

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Shahenshah 135 Wilmslow Road, Rusholme, Manchester M14 5AW

The Shahenshah is a largish comfortable Indian restaurant in the Manchester district of Rusholme which is famous for curry houses.

Myself and a friend visited Shahensha at about 3 in the afternoon on Saturday.

Shahensha has a large menu though it seems to specialise in Punjabi food.
I had a Mushroom Pakora for starter and my friend had a portion of Veg Samosa. these were average unremarkable starters. I would have liked a little more spice in mine but at least it was freshly fried and not microwaved.

I had a main dish called Haleem and my friend had a main dish called Punjabi Lamb Special. we both gave the food 7.5 out of 10. Mine was very tasty though perhaps a little watery. I know that Haleem is a slow cooked dish with plenty of liquid but there seemed to be a fraction too much water and it could have done with a bit more of a tomato flavour. The curry was not greasy however and it seemed to contain a decent amount of fresh spices and some vegetable.

My friend's Punjabi Special was meant to contain chilli garlic and ginger. He says that it was a nice curry though the ginger and garlic could have been more pronounced.

Staff were friendly and attentive. while English was not always that good, I felt that staff made a reasonable effort.

Over all this is a reasonable place to eat without being absolutely mind blowing. the menu has lots of differently named dishes that I suspect may be relatively similar. this seemed a good safe place to eat, but while looking for the correct address for the Shahenshah I found the following manchester Evening News article describing how the restaurant was shut down for hygiene reasons in April 2008. I do not know if it is owned by the same people now. look at http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1062930__filthy_curry_house_fined__

Before reading this I thought there are better and worse places in Rusholme to eat. many kitchens are I suspect not as clean as they might be but the fact that the owners didn't even bother to show up in court concerns me and means I cannot really recommend the Shahensha unless it has changed hands.


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this is a small place which is primarily a take away though it has a few tables inside.

 

I visited this eatery while on a visit to Liverpool with a friend.  We went for a quick bite to eat before going out on the beer.

 

My friend had a hot and spicy pizza which he rated as being of average quality, I believe he gave it roughly 5.5  out of 10.

 

I had a Lamb Shish kebab and sadly mine was not as good.  the kebab came wrapped in a japati which is lighter than the Nan Bread many places now use and personally I prefer this.  It's just a shame that what came inside the japati was of such low quality.  the lamb was not really recognisable as lamb.  it was tough and rather lacking in flavour and it took some chewing through.  the chilli sauce was at least quite potent and the salad was of reasonable quality.  given the awful meat however I can not give this place more than 3 out of 10.  This means that the average mark shared between the 2 of us is 4.25 which is well below average.

 

In summary Hardman Pizza Co is alright if you are passing and fancy a quick pizza but it's a disaster for kebabs.

 

banger brothers the piazza euston station

I visited this sausage shop wile travelling home from euston station after working nearby.
banger brothers is a small stall located on the piazza just outside the station.
Lets cut the pretentious crap, its the place where people gather for a quick fag before getting their trains.
I was offered a choice of sausages served in a bun and wile for testing purposes i should perhaps have gone for the basic british sausage, i actually chose the polish smoky sausage instead.
The sausage was of high quality with a really smokie flavour and it came with crispy shallots and pickles.
At 3 pounds 95 its not cheap but i would rather pay that 4 a really good sausage than 2 pounds 50 for something of poor quality
Staff were reasonably helpful though not particularly enthusiastic.
I must say i am really looking forward to trying the other kinds of sausage available. This is a really welcome addition to the food on offer at euston station. For more info including the menu visit http://www.banger-brothers.co.uk
I hope this stall keeps up the quality and proves to be successful. I give it 8 out of 10.

Original Kebabish 154 The Grove Stratford East London E15 1NS

this is part of a small chain in east london which sells a now quite familiar format of indian food  donna kebabs and burgers.  The food in Original Kebabish was acceptable and portions were generous.  I had a Lamb Tikka roll, 2 meat samosas and a portion of Aloo Chat which in this case was really a potato curry.

 

The samosas were larger than average and quite full of meat.  Its a shame they were microwaved rather than fried fresh.

 

The Aloo Chat was a nice warming potato curry with onion in it.  I suspect it was just a packet sauce but it was pleasant enough and not too greasy.

The Lamb Tikka Roll was quite generous and tasty though the lamb was a little tough.  the lamb was however chopped up quite small and combined with peppers and onions.  the lamb had also been marinated in yogurt and spices which makes it lamb tikka.

 

The food at Original Kebabish was acceptable without being in any way outstanding.  those 3 dishes cost me just under £8.00 which is really quite acceptable.  Quality was certainly a step up from that offered by places like the Perfect Fried Chicken places found around Stepney where I live.  most of these should really be avoided.  This being said, I wouldn't travel specifically to visit Original Kebabish though if you are near by it is quite a reasonable option to take.

 

Over all I give this 6 out of 10.  Prices are competetive and food is of reasonable quality without being top class.  Portions are quite generous.

 

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This is a pub which tends to sell 3 or 4 real ales such as Tribute and Black Sheep plus others.  Beer is reasonably well kept so if you are in this part of ipswich visit for a drink. drinkers are encouraged even though this pub does food which I will concentrate on here.

 

Dave the chef in this pub seems to really like his fish dishes which change from day to day but may include a mixed fish curry, fish pie or a Portuguese fish stew.  This pub does not leave meet lovers disappointed.  offerings include a big mixed grille with chicken, liver, chops and steak.  Venison austridge and kangaroo stakes are also often available.

 

Yesterday I went to this pub with some friends and ordered mixed fish in garlic butter. 
This included Tuna, Swordfish, Octopus, langoustines, fresh sardines and white fish fillets  as well as about 20 mussels. all this was smothered in garlic butter .  there were also 2 bits of garlic bread and on a side plate there was a mini home made fish pie in a shell with squid, small prawns and white fish in a garlic white sauce covered with mash and cheese.

 

So this dish came to £16.00 but it was massive and all the fresh fish was of extremely high quality.

 

while this pub does mainly fish dishes other food lovers will not be disappointed.  this is really one of the largest food menus I have ever seen in a pub.

 

Staff are very helpful and friendly.  there is a very acceptable range of real ale and the food is better and more plentiful than you will find in many gastro pubs.  As this is a pub, I was not surprised to find that guide dogs are very welcome here.  I give this pub 8 out of 10 and highly recommend it.

 

Mr. G's Cafe 104 mile end road

this is the nearest cafe to my home. It sells good sandwiches with generous amounts of fillings. Breakfasts are also pretty good and I would recommend the liver which is cut thin and quickly fried.

On the down side roast potatoes are often a bit on the greasy side and the oil used is poor quality, maybe they just need to change it more. They do shepherds pie there and the mash is far too lumpy. They sometimes do a home made steak and kidney pie which has plenty of filling though the pastry tends to be rather soggy.

This cafe is pretty good though I think the quality of some of the hot dinners is disappointing.

There is no problem with guide dogs in this cafe and my overall mark is 6 out of 10.

Nico's Cafe Cambridge Heath Road Bethnal Green London E2 0EL

Nikos is a good honest traditional cafe. It sells many British favourites including bacon and egg, really good quality bubble and squeak, roast dinners and shepherds pie. It also sells home made steak pie which is great value and really large. Nico's also does a curry a spag bol and a couple of Greek dishes, Stifado and Cleftiko.

I have liked all the food I have tried in this cafe though the sausages are no better than low average. This cafe is rightly known for serving large portions. Staff are friendly and there is no problem bringing guide dogs in. This is a really decent cafe right next to Bethnal Green tube station and well worth a visit.

I give this cafe 7 out of 10 for decent service and unbeatable value.

Belgo is a small restaurant chain in London.  There is a wide range of beers and a loosly belgium typed menu including mussels and typical double fried chips as served in Belgium.

 

I visited the Belgos in Clapham for a friend's birthday.

 

I had a starter of a warm salad of duck bacon black pudding and hard boiled eggs.  there were also potatoes and

garlic croutons on the side.  This was very enjoyable and there was a decent portion.  As a main I had the mussels Mariniere which are described as steamed with white wine, garlic, cream and celery.  I have had these in Belgium and there was not enough sauce though they were quite pleasant.  I also tried a friend's steak which was quite tender though it was burnt on the outside and slightly raw in the middle. she did ask for it medium rare so it should be a bit pink in the middle but not burnt on  the outside.

 

My pudding was a

Bread & butter pudding made with brioche, orange confit, dark Belgian chocolate and Mandarin Napoleon liqueur.  this was a really interesting twist on a bread and butter pudding and I really enjoyed it.  It was not as heavy as a typical english bread and butter pudding but the taste was more interesting and varied.

 

Over all, the starters and the puddings were great but I felt the mains were a little limited.

 

There was a massive range of belgium beers available and there should really be a drink for all tastes here.  at £5 to £6 a beer though it is not cheap.  some beers are on draft and having halfes could keep the price down.  Despite the poor range of mains and less than perfectly cooked steak I would give Belgos 6.5 out of 10 if it were just food and drink I was measureing.  for more info and to read the menus visit www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk

I do have some serious concerns about the level of service at Belgos. 

Staff were friendly but service was slow and we had to ask staff over a few times to order the next course or we had a bit of a wait to put in a drinks order.  There is supposed to be a 2 hour turn around time on fridays and saturdays and a member of staff even asked if it would be ok to bring the bill with the pudding but the bill didn't come and we had to get our coats on and almost threaten to leave without paying before they saw us and gave us the bill.  given this level of service we did refuse to pay the discressionary service charge because the service was poor.  when we didn't pay the waitress then tried to give us a sob story about restaurant pay being poor.  that's not my problem.  3 beers and a 3 corse meal cost £35 and with those prices a restaurant should be able to afford to pay staff reasonable wages.  The chef was from albania by the way.  Dig that authentic belgium touch!!

 

 

over all then there is potential here to have a really decent place but the service must be improved and I suspect more staff would be needed.  I can't give an over all mark of more than 5.5 out of 10.

Suvai Chettinad restaurant 207 High Street North Eastham London E6 1JG

This is a south indian restaurant generally known as the Suvai.

The food is South Indian rather than the food available in many curry houses. Alcohol is not served though I believe you can bring your own in.

This restaurant sells a wide range of south indian dishes including Dosas with various fillings and the curiously named Chicken 65 which is spicy battered chicken. They also sell a range of south indian curries and various rice dishes. The quality of food is excellent with plenty of fresh spices being used. You would struggle to spend more than £15 per head in this restaurant and you can probably eat quite well for £10. It is also worth noting that there is a big range of vegetarian options on offer.

I was recently in this restaurant with a friend who had a guide dog and we had no problems.

If you are looking For quality of food and value for money this restaurant is truly hard to beat and I would highly recommend it. English can be a little difficult and there is not always everything available that is on the menu but it's worth it despite occasional disorganisation.

I am happy to give this restaurant 8 out of 10.