Las Iguanas Level 2, The Gallery, Westfield, Stratford City

Las Iguanas is a small chain of south American restaurants.  There is an accessible PDF menu on the website  and I thought it looked interesting so myself and a friend went to try the food.  The home page is http://www.iguanas.co.uk

 

As usual, the staff at Westfield were very helpful.  A member of Concierge staff met us at the desk and took us to the restaurant where the manager, a Lithuanian Guy called Justin generally looked after us very well.  He was happy to read the menu to us and explain some of the dishes as required.

 

I had Lamb Empanadas  which are pasties of mildly  spiced slow cooked lamb and a side of spicy cranberry salsa.

 

This was quite comforting and I would describe the dish as a cross between a pasty and a samosa.  It was bigger than a samosa but smaller than a Cornish pastie and there were 2 of them so it was quite a large starter.

 

My main was just called POLLO CON CHORIZO which means chicken with  Chorizo.  The description from the menu is Chicken thigh, smoked pork & garlic chorizo with cannellini

beans & cayenne, slowly braised in tomatoes & red peppers.

With garlicky rice, coriander yoghurt & corn tortilla chips.  This did indeed turn out to be a hearty very comforting casserole and I have to say that even after 2 courses I was pretty full.

 

Never the less, I had a pudding as well which was PECAN CARAMEL SUNDAE.  On the menu this was described as Toasty pecan butterscotch sauce over vanilla ice cream.

With nut-encrusted tortilla wedges.  I think they mean toasted but this is a consistent mistake throughout the menu.

 

That description of the pudding is pretty accurate   and I must say that one of the things that impressed me about this restaurant was the clarity of the descriptions of the menu, keeping bullshit down to a minimum.

 

After 3 courses I was truly stuffed and could not have eaten more.  The bill included a service charge of 12.5 percent which is clearly stated on the menu.  I do not like this policy since I prefer to be left to decide myself whether I want to pay a tip and what that tip should be.  To be fair, the manager did tell us very clearly that the service charge was optional.  It is probably not his decision to impose the service charge as this is a chain.  Either way I cannot fault the service we received.  By the time we finished our meal, the roaming concierge   staff had left as they finish at half 9.  Justin the restaurant manager lead us to the tube station entrance  so he went well beyond the call of duty there.

 

This is quite a large restaurant within the Westfield shopping centre.  The atmosphere was a bit like sitting in a buss station.  It was a bit echoy and it did feel a bit like sitting in the food court at an airport or large train station but the sounds around us were not so loud we could not hear ourselves speak.  This is certainly not a relaxed intimate restaurant where you might go for a romantic meal.  If you did you might be too full to do much afterwards anyway!

 

For 2 of us, the total bill came to £72.  This included a service charge of about £8 so the food and drink bill was about £64 or £32 each.  For that we got 3 generous courses of food, we shared a bottle of house red and had a liqueur coffee each.  I thought the food was interesting and my only criticisms would be the atmosphere of the restaurant which felt too much like just eating in a shopping centre rather than being in a restaurant and the service charge which was put on the bill rather than encouraging people to decide what tips to give themselves.

 

I still give the food an 8 out of 10.  I’ve never been to south America so I can’t really comment on the authenticity of the food.

 

Istanbul, 753 Romford Road, Manor Park, London, E12 5AW

This is a local Turkish restaurant  near where a friend of mine works.  She has been recommending this restaurant to me for a while so a couple of weeks ago I decided to pay this restaurant a visit.

 

Let me say from the outset that I was not disappointed.  As I often do, I ordered a Doner Kebab.  The Doner kebab is often considered  to be so low quality that many kebab shops and other establishments do not take care when selling lamb doners so that they are often made with poor quality meat that is greasy and highly processed.

 

In the Istanbul I was in for a very pleasant surprise however.  Firstly the meat was more obviously  slices of lamb than you would find in most kebab shops.  It was more like a shawama lamb kebab like that which is often found in Lebanese restaurants.  This involves serving a kebab of small chunks of lamb that have been marinated in spices and served quite dry with a chilli sauce if desired.  This meat was served with rice, bulgur wheat and a salad of lots of cabbage, onion, cucumber and tomato and a dressing that I am told contained pomegranate.  There was also a very generous basket of warm Turkish bread provided and for £5.50 each I can assure you that we both were absolutely stuffed to the brim!

 

OK, the lam was perhaps a little greasy.  Not swimming in grease but greasy as lamb can often be.  The taste however along with the feeling of eating proper lamb rather than mashed up rubbish really made up for this.  the well cooked rice and bulgur wheat, crisp fresh tasty salad and high quality Turkish bread really made this restaurant shine as a beacon of quality and affordability.

 

It can take a while to prepare the kebab so don’t go to this restaurant   if you are pushed for time.  Other than this, unless you are a vegetarian of course, I can see no reason not to travel some distance to get to this restaurant.

 

I have no hesitation in giving it 8.5 out of 10 for decent quality and excellent value for money.

 

The bull 13 Brook Street, Brentwood, CM14 5LZ

On Wednesday Night I was looking for a place for myself and a friend from Southend to eat.  Shenfield seemed a reasonable choice as it is part way along the line from Liverpool street to Southend.

 

After looking for a few possible restaurants I opted for the Bull on  Brook Street in Brentwood.  I made this decision after visiting the pub’s website which is:

http://thebullbrentwood.com/

 

This website states that this is in fact a bar and grill.  It sells steaks, various flavours of chicken, Baby Backed ribs, sausages etc.

 

When we got there the food menu was simply not as advertised and the man behind the bar did not seem very apologetic or concerned about this.  The choice of meals seemed to be fish and chips, Burger and chips, Chilli Concarne and sausage and mash.  No steaks or grills to be found anywhere.

 

As by this stage we had got a taxi from the station to the pub we both opted for burger and chips.  At £8.95 I expected something pretty good.

 

The burger we got weighed about 6 ounces I would guess and it was undoubtedly made from reasonable minced beef with the shape of the burger suggesting that it could be home made.  The chips were thick cut frozen chips not too dissimilar to the McCain’s   chips served in Wetherspoons which are actually quite good quality for frozen chips.

 

So there was a good pile of chips and plenty of salad with the burger.  The chips were crispy, the salad was reasonably fresh and the burger was good quality and not over cooked.

 

It was a bit pricy so if I’d actually really wanted a burger I might think along the lines of 7 out of 10 for it.

 

The huge problem, of course, is that the pub simply did not offer the service as advertised on the website.  The guy behind the bar was really not much of a talker.  He didn’t even speak when we first came into the pub.  He said that the website was not his problem and he knew nothing about it. no attempt at an apology.  Add to this the choice of bitter was Courage Directors or Courage  best.

 

If walking to another pub or restaurant had been convenient and if I had known my way round I would have left this pub straight away because frankly having a website that blatantly lies about the food and service that a pub is offering is simply out of order!

 

Despite the food being quite good and the locals being friendly enough, I can only give this pub a 2 out of 10.  The food was expensive, not as advertised and the guy behind the bar could have been more friendly and when we first met him I thought he was bordering on the plain rude!

 

If you live within walking distance this may not be a bad pub to visit occasionally but in general my advice is stay away. It’s simply not worth it.

 

at last: a blog update

I am very much aware that in recent times I have published my opinions on food using AudioBoo and sent an alert that I have done this to Facebook and Twitter.

 

I have now hopefully set up the Access-Eat blog to alert  twitter and facebook when I make a new post and I am hopeful that this will encourage me to maintain the blog rather better

 

kebabish Original 230 Mile End Road, London E1 4LJ

Kebabish Original, also known as The Thrill of the Grill is a chain of fast food restaurants which now has over 60 branches throughout the UK.

 

The restaurant sells grilled food and curry.  This combination is no stranger to Stepney Green.  Stepney Green and mile end is full of rather scummy Bangladeshi restaurants selling low quality chicken, burgers and curries made from dodgy packet ingredients.

 

Kebabish Original is really rather a mixed bag.  It is often quite busy which is partly due to the fact that the chain is fairly well known in London and partly due to the fact that some effort has been made to employ people who can actually speak enough English to help people with the menu and generally make people feel welcome so, surprise surprise, they seem to have been successful in attracting students and others in the area who want quick cheap and cheerful food.

 

Kebabish Original is probably a bit better then than the worst of the chicken places along Mile End Road.  It is probably in competition with outlets such as Lollipop Limited next to the station and Grillz Base (formally Barbecue  Base.

 

Some of the products sold by Kebabish Original, in particular the grilled chicken, the pakora and the samosas are excellent.  The chicken is crispy and it has that nice smoky just off the barbecue taste.  The samosas are unusually large and they are full of vegetables or meat.  The pakoras come in a large portion and they are full of vegetables.  I’d also recommend the sheek kebabs.  They are dense and made from reasonable quality lamb.  The lamb chops are also spicy and generally not too over cooked.  The grilled dishes are served with onions and they reach your table on a sizzling platter which all helps with presentation.

 

I have had the curries from Kebabish Original.  I had a lamb karahi and a vegetable curry.  They were not bad I suppose though they were a little greasy and I suspect that packet sauces play a part here. 

 

The grilled dishes can be served with chips which are fries and they are disappointing.  They are just cardboard, thin  and taste like they are cooked in cheap oil.

 

Kebabish Original sells a chicken tika burger which is really quite pleasant but the quarter pound beef burger is spongy and I doubt it’s 100 percent beef.  If you want a beef burger go to Lollipop limited near by or at lunch time the Greedy Cow on Grove road at Mile End does burger chips and a drink for £5.95 which is excellent value.

 

Sadly, the lamb doner meat is some of the worst kebab meat I have had anywhere, even in Stepney!  It was soft and spongy and very processed.  Hot Lamb Luncheon meat!

 

In general, the food at Grillz Base just down the road a bit towards white chapel is better quality food all round but it is a lot more expensive.  The owners of Kebabish Original seem to want to do a good job and initially the restaurant has been popular so I wish them success.  If they have any control over it however, they do need to up the quality of lamb doner kebabs and beef burgers.  On the whole though Kebabish Original is quite clean and staff are helpful.  I give it 6.5 out of 10 and with a few better quality food products  such as curries and kebabs the  mark could easily go up to 8.

closure of R Bar on Mile End Road London

Finally, after basically limping it’s way along for about 2 years or so the R Bar on mile end road is finally closing.  Today is in fact the last night.

 

This pub has served some interesting food during its time and it’s a shame to see it go.  I’m not sure however that its closure  is really much of a surprise.  I don’t believe the landlord took responsibility enough for the direct running of the place e.g. working regularly behind the bar and becoming a person that locals knew.  It’s important for any pub opening next to wetherspoons to have something unique in order for it to survive.  At various times, the R Bar employed cooks preparing Turkish food and Mediterranean food of really high quality but they never stuck at anything for long enough.  There is a real lack of pubs in the Stepney Area where as it seems chicken places can just be opened at will.  I do believe the area could support at least one other pub if it were ran well.  It would probably need to serve good beer and reasonably priced food, but there is a largish body of students and other well paid people living in the area who would I suspect appreciate something better than Bangladeshi chicken shit to eat every day!

 

I am told that yet another Indian take away is to open up in place of the R Bar.  If it’s another chicken shop then I think there is cause for some complaint to the council as surely there must be limits on the number of any type of business that can just open in an area.  I will keep a look out to see what kind of business does replace the R Bar.  

Sufi Persian Restaurant 70 Askew Rd, London W12 9BJ

Last Saturday myself and 5 friends went to the Sufi Persian restaurant near Hammersmith for a meal and a get together.

 

One of us had a guide dog and there is no problem taking a guide dog into this restaurant.

 

For starters I had Olivieh   which describes itself on the menu as a Delicate mixture of shredded chicken, potato, green peas, gherkins, eggs & mayo.  This was certainly an interesting dish though I would have liked the gherkins to have more prominence..  I am also told that the  Hummus was good though I must admit I can’t remember what everyone else had.

 

For my main dish I had 2 kinds of lamb.  There was a spicy fairly aromatic portion of minced lamb  in 2 thick sausage shapes and a slice of flat lamb about half an inch thick.  This was served with rice and salad. 

We also had freshly baked Persian  flat Nan bread with  sesame seeds which was delicious.

 

For pudding I had a portion of baklava   which is nuts sugar and phyllo pastry  followed by a portion of faloodeh  which is Persian sorbet made of thin vermicelli noodles and rose water served with lemon.

 

2 portions of dessert is a bit greedy but it finished a pleasant and very filling meal off nicely.  Next time I go to a Persian restaurant I will try the stews which sound interesting.

 

The staff at this restaurant speak good English so they were able to explain some of the kebab dishes which sound rather similar to each other.  I would give this restaurant 8 out of 10 as we paid about £23 each for 3 courses and a soft drink and we were all well full.

 

Palmers Restaurant 238 Roman Road London E2 0RY

Palmers is a new British/European restaurant which opened about 2 years ago on Roman Road.  For anyone who knows the area it used to be Winkle’s seafood restaurant.  It is run by a Czech family.  The father works front of house and his sons are the chefs.

 

I visited this restaurant along with my friend and semi regular eating companion on a Monday Miss S for a meal.  Starters cost between £4 and £7 and mains cost between £8 and £20.  The menu changes approximately once every 3 weeks.

 

There were 5 starters including Mackerel with a horse radish sauce, Pork and Black Pudding Terrine with home made piccalilli, Charcuterie    (mixture of cooked cured meats)with pickles, Garlic Prawns and  Buillabaisse (French fish stew).

 

I chose Pork and Black Pudding Terrine and miss S chose Garlic Prawns.  Both portions were reasonably generous.  The Pork and black pudding terrine was served with a mixture of pickled vegetables including green beans, cucumber, cauliflower and pickled onions.  Both dishes came with good quality fresh bread and butter.  The terrine was meaty with good quality black pudding and the prawns were cooked with plenty of garlic.  Over all we were both very satisfied with the starters and I would have happily chosen any of them.

 

The mains included 3 different steaks i.e. rump, ribeye or fillet all served with home made chips and salad, Piri-Piri chicken with new potato salad,  Lamb cutlets on a bed of puy lentils, Lemon Dover Sole, and vegetable   risotto made into balls, fried in breadcrumbs and served in a tomato sauce.

 

Miss S and myself both opted for steaks.  I had the 10 ounce ribeye steak which was beautifully tender.  It came with home made chunky chips and salad.  The chips were crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.    The steak was also served with a pot of Chimichurri and a pot of Béarnaise  sauce because I wanted to try both! Chimichurri sauce is similar to salsa and Béarnaise  sauce is clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks with various flavourings including shallots, Chervil, peppercorn  and    Tarragon.  It has the consistency of slightly thin mayonnaise with a very buttery slightly peppery flavour.  I preferred the Chimichurri.  I also had Sauerkraut as a side dish which was nice but slightly under flavoured compared to German versions of this dish that I have tried.

 

The whole meal was in general perfectly cooked and while at £16 for the steak it might not be the cheapest 10 ounce ribeye I have eaten, it was among the nicest I have ever had.

 

Miss S had the fillet steak and she also says it was beautifully tender.

 

For dessert I had chocolate pudding.  This was really a  chocolate fondant pudding.  The outside was hard and the inside was beautifully rich.  It was clearly made with dark chocolate.  Miss S also had this and found the chocolate to be a bit strong and overpowering.  It really was a chocolate lover’s dream.  Miss S also opted for a second dessert.  She had an apple crumble with pistachio  custard.  She did not seem that keen on this pudding but I was too full to try it.

 

We shared a bottle of fairly pleasant drinkable southafrican red wine which cost about £16

And had an Irish coffee each.  A 3 course meal each with whine and a liqueur coffee will set you back about £40 but the quality of food was excellent and the owner of the restaurant was talkative and knowledgeable about his food.  I am told a Sunday roast costs about £10.95 so I am going to try it in the next few weeks.

 

I give this restaurant 7.5 out of 10.  I would have liked some slightly more unusual main dishes though I could have easily had any of the starters or desserts no matter what the menu.  There are only 5 or 6 dishes for each course so this may not be the ideal restaurant for fussy eaters.

 

I will be visiting this restaurant again without a doubt and I am looking  forward to it. 

The Peterboat, 27 High Street, Old Leigh, SS9 2EN

The Peterboat is a pub owned by the East Anglia Pub Company situated in Old Leigh which is a part of Leigh on Sea near \Southend.  I visited this restaurant with 2 people, Louise and Tina, last night for food and a few beers.

 

I am told that in the summer this pub gets very  busy with tourists but on a Monday in mid march it was pretty quiet.  There were 4 different ales on offer and the Brewers Gold brewed by Crouch Vale brewery was very well kept.  It is the food however that really made this pub stand out.  Portions were very generous and all of us were really quite satisfied with 2 courses.  The food is quite traditional British fare using a touch of wine and garlic to make things a little more exotic.  Starters cost £5 to £7 and mains are £10 up to £18 or so for some steaks.  This is good basic restaurant food but the size of the portions are generous.

 

For starters, Louise had garlic prawns which were cooked in garlic and white wine.  They come with their heads still on but the kitchen staff happily  removed them on request.  Tina and myself had Cockle Leak  and smoked fish chowder.  This was  locally caught cockles, smoked white fish and leeks with bacon and some other vegetables in a thick soup which was more like a stew.  This was served with bread.  It really was a small meal in itself.  We opted for the small starter portion but I understand it is available in a larger portion for a main meal.  The garlic and white wine sauce used  in this dish helped give it a real warm rich hearty taste with bags of flavour.  I don’t generally like cockles from seafood stalls as they tend to be full of grit and they often come in vinegar which I am also not keen on.  I’m glad though that I tried this dish.  I understand the Peterboat is famous for this chowder and that’s totally fine by me. It’s well worth a try!  It’s also worth pointing out that there is an on site cockle shed selling cockles to eat on the premises or to take away.

 

Other starters included white bait, soup of the day, prawn and salmon cocktail and   breaded mushrooms

 

For the main course, Louise had a dish called Peterboat Drunken Chicken  which consisted of chicken in a thick sauce wrapped in bacon.  I think the sauce was quite sweet though I had so much of my own food to eat that I didn’t really try it.  Tina had lamb  Kleftiko which is essentially slow cooked shoulder of lamb.  She said it fell off the bone and was extremely tender.

 

For my main course I had calves’ liver and bacon served with mash  and shallot and red wine sauce.  I also got a dish of vegetables containing cauliflower, carrots and spiced German style red cabbage.  The liver was, as you would imagine, very tender.  The bacon was of good quality and the mash was smooth and creamy.  It was really like very good quality home cooking and I can’t really fault it. 

 

Other main dishes included Lancashire hot pot, Irish stew, home made chicken pie, fish stew, fish and chips, Cajun fish cakes  and belly pork.   we all left the restaurant bursting full, unsure whether a sleep or a walk would be the best thing in the world!  In reality, Louise and Tina had to get home to Southend and I had to get the train back to London so we walked about quarter of a mile or so to Leigh on Sea station and went our separate ways all full and happy with the meal.

 

I did try for dessert but they were all heavy school dinner desserts such as apple pie, fruit crumble, treacle sponge and custard, etc.  there was also a gateaux   I believe as well.  I decided in the end I was just too full to eat anymore!

 

Our experience at this pub and restaurant was very enjoyable.  I liked the fact that the food area was kept separate from the bar.  The restaurant and bar were not far away, there was indeed an adjoining door.  I do think however that keeping the bar and the food a little separate is a good idea which allows the Peterboat to be both a good pub and a restaurant so that those who just want a drink still feel quite welcome.

 

We were almost the only people in the restaurant though a few people did come in later on.  Staff were still very attentive and helpful and they were happy to help us read the menu and answer any questions.  In fact, Tina was able to read the menu but it is good that they offered.

 

In summary, the Peterboat should be seen as a pub with a restaurant attached.  The prices are typical of a mid range restaurant and the food is somewhat better quality than typical pub food with good home made dishes  served in very generous portions.  We paid £33 each for 2 courses and 3 drinks each.  Louise had 3 hot chocolates with whisky and Tina and myself had 2 pints of brewers gold and an Irish coffee each.  I suspect the drinks would have cost about £12 a head    for tina and myself with Louise’s drinks costing maybe £15 so I would say that the 2 generous courses cost us about £20 each.

 

Staff were helpful but then the pub and restaurant were not busy on a Monday evening.  I would give this restaurant an 8 out of 10 for now.  if the service remains as good when the pub is busy then it would certainly deserve a 9.  There  could perhaps be a better variety of starters, but this is splitting hairs somewhat.  If you are in the area then the Peterboat is definitely worth a visit.

 

Lollipop Diner 169 Mile End Road, Stepney Green, London E1 4AQ

This is a relatively new restaurant that used to be called Halal Bite.  It is almost next to Stepney Green Underground station and it is one of the better cheap eats establishments in the area.  Halal Bite shut early last year and it has now been taken over by new owners who renamed it.  It describes itself as an American restaurant but the Bangladeshi owners also make their mark very clear on this restaurant though they do serve some distinctive food that makes them a cut above the rest of the chicken slop shops in the area.

 

They do sell chicken slop.  They do fried chicken and shish kebabs that have that local taste as well as very low quality lamb doner meat but there are numerous saving graces.

 

I have been quite ill for the first 2 months of this year so I have not been out that much.  This eatery provided me with a very welcome break while on the way back from the co-op when I had a chest infection. Staff are generally quite friendly and they are reasonably quick to serve you.  they sell average quality fresh ground coffee and a range of cakes.  They also sell a decent selection of ice cream and they make milk shakes using chocolate such as maltesers, flakes and snickers bars.  These trends have  caught on in some of the posher Bangladeshi restaurants though few are worth travelling any distance to.  This place at least smells clean and staff seem to speak enough English to be helpful.

 

The Lollipop Diner does have distinctive features however.  They make their own beef and chicken burgers for a very reasonable £3.45 for a half pounder.  These burgers are made with 100 percent beef and are in my opinion at least as good as anything you would get in Burger King.  You can buy them as a meal deal with chips but the chips are just average quality fries and are nothing special.  They also sell hot dogs which come with sausages similar to jumbo sausages available from many chip shops.  They are typical chip shop low quality but better than most hot dogs you buy from mobile vans etc.

 

They also sell a range of curries but I am yet to try these.

 

Lollipop Diner is probably not worth travelling to though if the curries turn out to be exceptional I will of course update this.  It is however quite clean.  It sells a good range of food including decent burgers and ice cream.  It does a reasonable cup of coffee for £1.55 and it’s generally one of the best places in the area.

 

The food is a bit variable so I give Lollipop Diner an over all mark of 6 out of 10 with some things such as the burgers being worth 8 while other foods such as chicken dishes being worth a 5 and the doner kebabs are worth no more than 4.

I have not visited this place yet with anyone that has a guide dog but if this is a problem I will of course produce an update.