Papa J 60 Peel Road Whealdstone HA3 7QU

Full menus and history of Papa J are given at the website

http://www.papajs.co.uk

I have been to this 6c eatery once before and was happy indeed to get the opportunity to visit again on Saturday.  This place describes itself as an  Indian Tapas Restaurant and Bar which is quite unusual in itself as Tapas are Spanish and the portions are generally quite small so you can hope to get 5 or 6 down.

 

At Papa J, however,  the food is generally south Indian and I suspect that even the heartiest eater would struggle with more than 3 of the dishes.  They look quite expensive at first until you take the size of the portions into account.  Depending on what you have, 3 dishes and a couple of beers could cost you up to £30 but for a restaurant this is not bad.  As a bonus, and a very welcome one at that, you get real ales including Adnams and IPA when I visited, as well as the usual wine list, lager, tea and coffee etc.

 

I had a dish called Chicken 65 regularly available on south Indian menus.  I don't know why it is called chicken 65, maybe someone can leave a comment and tell us!  I also had garlic mushrooms which were fried in very thin crispy batter and included plenty of chillies.  My Keema Nan was also fresh and generously stuffed with mince meat.

 

The people I visited with live near Papa J and visit quite regularly.  I would too if I lived near by because although Papa J is a restaurant it manages to keep a reasonably informal pub atmosphere.  Staff are helpful and I am pleased to say that there is no problem taking guide dogs here either.  Full menus and prices are available at the website given above.

 

I have no hesitation in giving Papa J an 8 out of 10.  The only thing that may let it down is that for those into South Indian cuisine, there is not every dish that you might expect to find in  a typical south Indian restaurant.  Don't let this stop you visiting however!

 

 

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Bavarian Beerhouse 190 city road london EC1V 2QH

I visited this place last Thursday with a few friends.  We were going there primarily for the food and a couple of beers.  we were hoping to have some good food a few drinks and a chat but it seemed the office party thing had already got going and there were a few groups of people generally making a lot of noise.  We were near a speaker which was cranked op a bit to make itself heard over the noise. a CD of Christmas "favourites" like Feed the World, Frosty the Snowman etc. Not for me!!!

 

We were approached reasonably quickly by a person who said she was our waiter for the evening.  We struggled to hear her but finally got drinks ordered and it took 10 minutes for them to arrive.  Not a good start at all and with the noise etc I was tempted to walk out at that stage.

 

Well that's the bad bit of this entry out of the way because from this point onwards everything was good.  Yes it was a bit difficult to be heard but staff were helpful.  They came to each of us and asked what we wanted and in the main they even remembered who had what.

 

The food and beer are a little pricy for sure but the quantities of food were massive.  One of our group had a pork shank big enough to feed 3 hearty eaters.  I had a spiced sausage platter as a main that came with 5 different sausages,  some nicely balanced but thick stodgy mashed potato shot through with cheese and sauerkraut which brings a welcome bit of bite to cabbage.  There are some decent desserts as well including Apple Strudel, and Bavarian pancakes with raisins.

 

Beer was also pretty decent.  Most of us opted for a dark wheat beer which was tasty and generally went well with the food.  It is available in half pints pints or litre mugs called Steins.              

 

The menu here is quite limited and there is only one starter and one main for vegetarians but the quality of what there is available is excellent.  The helpfulness of the staff and the quality of the food certainly outweigh the general noisiness of the environment.  I don't know how busy it gets when there is no party going on, but on the day we were there I would give quality of food and helpfulness of staff 8 out of 10 but the atmosphere of the place gets a 2 because of the noisy party and dreadful Christmas music, all before the end of November! 

 

There were 3 guide dogs with us by the way and this caused the staff no problem at all which is another thing in favour of the Bavarian Beerhouse.

 

You can read full food and drinks menus by visiting the website  http://www.bavarian-beerhouse.com

 

I certainly hope to go back here in the not too distant future!

 

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