The Gay Hussar, 2 Greek Street, Soho, London W1D 4NB

This is a comfortable fairly intimate restaurant on Greek Street just of Tottenham Court Road.  I went with my friend Tabor as we had a voucher from NCrowd to eat 2 courses and a glass of wine for £15 each.

 

I am told that the decor in this restaurant is actually a bit faded.  It’s full of pictures of politicians who have visited and I can see why they might want to.  The portions were generous and the food was high quality.

 

For starters I had mixed Hungarian Hors d’Oeuvres which had a bit of most of the starters including sausage, Salami,  cured herring, asparagus, peppers, fish  Terrine and  goose and pork paté

 

Tabor had Fish Terrine which comes with  beetroot  sauce and cucumber salad as well as some egg mayo, though that extra bit was not on the menu.  Both starters were generous.  My starter cost £9 but really there was enough for 2.  For £7.50 there was a generous rich portion of fish terrine which contained salmon we think.  it was very rich and tasty.     My mixed starter gave me a good idea of the other choices on the starter menu including the sausage and salami which were both very good quality.

 

For mains I had  Stuffed cabbage with minced pork, sauerkraut, bacon, sausage and a thick gravy with galuska which are dumplings.  It was a huge portion and the sausage, bacon and pork mince in the cabbage were all clearly of good quality.  I did think that having the sausage and bacon did tend to make the dish too salty but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Tabor had the Duck Livers Sautéed with onions, bacon and paprika which also came with potatoes.    

 

On the normal menu, my stuffed cabbage would have been £15 and Tabor’s duck livers would have been  £16.  This does seem quite a lot of money to pay for main dishes but we are talking west end here and the size of the portions was definitely on the large side.

 

 

I managed a dessert as well.  I opted for Chestnut Puree flavoured with Dark Rum and Vanilla which cost £6 but there was loads of it.

 

Staff were generally quite attentive without being full on and too in your face.  The restaurant is carpeted with plenty of soft furnishings which should mean you can have a nice cosy conversation though there was a posh rather loud woman sitting behind me who was rather loud and full of her own self-importance.  She told the person she was eating with and talking at that she lives in Parris where she has lived for many years.  They can keep her!

 

Lastly, once we had eaten, the bill arrived very quickly indeed and I really appreciate this quick service.

 

 

 

In general I would give this restaurant 7.5 out of 10.  not cheap at all but the quality is very good and it’s reasonable for SoHo.

Stepney City Farm, Stepney Way, London, E1 3DG

Stepney City farm is a working farm covering 4 acres of land in Stepney Green in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.  4 acres may seem small for a farm but in a city like London, where prices of land and buildings are frankly ridiculously high to the point of not being long-term sustainable, local people  are lucky to have a farm of this size they can visit.

 

Many people in London literally never go outside London and the M25 so Stepney City Farm, and the handful of other city farms in London help children and indeed adults who ought to know better, see and understand that lamb chops come from real living animals.  They are not created pre-wrapped and ready for the supermarket shelves!

 

Pigs, ducks, goats, sheep and other animals are reared on the farm.  Salad crops and other vegetables are also grown but for the purposes of this blog, the main focus is the shop and café.

 

The café is open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday  between 09.30 and 14.30 and on Saturday and Sunday between   10:00  and 16:00

 

This café sells food that is either produced on the farm or produced locally in London and the surrounding area.  Generally the salad and vegetables are grown on the farm with meat brought in from the Ginger Pig which is a well-known butcher and supplier of top quality meat in London.

 

I’ve had a lot of food at the farm over the last 18 months or so as it is only a 10 minute walk from where I live.  Among my favourites are the home-cured bacon sandwich which includes thick bacon and homemade door-stop bread with homemade tomato  chutney.  If I remember correctly, it costs around £4.50 but it’s a big sandwich and the bacon is far thicker than that which you buy in a shop.  I also highly recommend the home made cakes.  There’s usually flapjacks, brownies and a really nice vegan  banana bread which comes with Almond butter.

 

Sunday is brunch day and the bacon is home cured, and the black pudding and sausages are home made.  The breakfast also comes with homemade baked beans, potato roti, egg, mushrooms and homemade bread with tomato jam.  It costs £7.50 but it’s a good big plate full.

 

Tea and coffee are also available.  My only criticism here is that the cups are rather small.  This is understandable as space in the café is quite limited and the cups do stack easily if required.  In an ideal world though, I’d like to have the choice of a mug.

 

In general this is a really nice café and it’s well worth combining a visit to the café with a look round the farm.  Sometimes popular dishes do run out quickly so what’s on offer can be slightly unpredictable.  Given the space available though, and the need to conserve   rather than waste food I think the chef and other staff do a good job and I would highly recommend a visit.  Being a city farm, there are lots of activities for children.  This is probably not the place for you if having any crying child within 10 metres of you makes your hairs stand up on end and causes you to start screaming!

 

On Saturday there is a farmers market between 10 and 4.  There are stalls selling vegetables, meat, bread and cakes.  Often there is also a stall selling precooked food also and the café generally does food too.

 

It’s hard to mark the food here as it is very good but visitor numbers are unpredictable so you may have to wait a while when it’s very busy.  Due to size the range is quite small so if you are a very fussy eater, check to see what is available.

 

Over all I would give the café 8.5 out of 10 and I think most people will find a visit to be quite enjoyable.

 

For more information visit

http://stepneycityfarm.org

or telephone 020 7790 8204

 

Ink restaurant, Suttons Wharf South, Palmers Road, London E2 0TA

I visited this restaurant last night with my friend tabor who bought a voucher which gave us champagne,  canapés and 3 courses for £20.

 

The food tasted lovely with some really interesting and indeed unusual flavours  but this is easily the smallest meal I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

 

I realise of course that presentation of food is important.  Many people eat with their eyes so taking time to consider how food should be laid out and what it should be presented in is of some importance.  However, it is the food itself that should take centre stage and one important function of a meal out is that it should replace a meal you might have at home or somewhere else.  As you are eating out, you might well try something different but when all is said and done you are going out to eat so the food should at least provide the average eater with a decent meal.  I’d be surprised if we got more than 150 grammes of food for the whole meal at this restaurant.  It was a pitiful portion of food served in a pretentious way.  The restaurant was visually I am told pleasing but minimalist. 

 

When we first got to this restaurant, we were the only ones in but by the time we left there were 2 other tables.  At this stage service was still friendly but somewhat slow.  This was not helped, particularly for my friend, by the inadequate heating.  There was only a portable oil heater.

 

Below is a section taken from the About part of the website.  Feel the bullshit!  There’s nothing here about being full or satisfied or any such thing.

 

Here at Ink we’ve stripped everything back, focusing on simplicity and pure aesthetics.

We combine the beauty of nature, with distinct flavours and rich textures, sourcing fresh produce locally within the East End of London.

Headed by Chef Martyn Meid, Ink was established in April 2014.

Originating from a small port town, Martyn  has mastered the craft of  Nordic cuisine, having a unique approach to curing, pickling and smoking meat and

fish.­­­­

The menu is developed along with the season, Martyn’s uses of ingredients create exceptional dishes both in taste and presentation.

Celebrating the  true beauty of ingredients Martyn manipulates them to create enticing dishes found on the menu, including 148h salted cod topped with

tomato textures, in which he dehydrates and smokes the tomatoes, served alongside confit potatoes drizzled with lemon oil.

The true concept of Ink lies in the definition, each dish has an artistic element to it,  Martyns philosophy in his approach to each dish is to connect

people with space, plate and emotion. 

 

After leaving this restaurant I went for a full 2 course Thai meal and I told the staff at Ink that despite some really interesting food, the portions were insultingly small.

 

There are some audioboos (or audio booms as they are now called).  To hear them visit http://www.audioboom.co.uk/mcbird

 

First then the canapés.  We got a tasting spoon  with 1 piece of what they called leek ash which is leek burned to a crisp with some salt added (or that is what it tasted like).  I’d rather call burnt leek something other than leek ash if possible.  It was about half a centimetre square.

 

The one mushroom was one of those with a long stem and a tiny head.  I don’t know what they are called but just having one is pathetic.    This was such a small amount of food that bringing it out at all felt like an insult, a bit like forcing a prisoner to take food by licking up the crumbs off the table mat of a prison officer!

 

Next came the starter.  I opted for the cured venison described on the menu as Cured Venison with Beetroot textures and Cranberries.  There were 3 tiny strips of dried cured venison which was tasty and salty.  Beetroot of various kinds was served including pickled and shredded and there were 3 cranberries. Again, this was tasty but tiny.  The price for this on the menu was £10.  I only hope you get a little more for the  starter at that price.

 

 

Next came the main which was little bigger than a decent sized starter.  I’d guess there was a couple of ounces of salted cod with various vegetables.  The menu description is:

148h Salted Cod With Tomato Textures, Confit Potatoes, Tomato Oil and Leak Ash 

 

This tomato textures seems to mean smoked tomato, dehydrated tomato and oil from the tomato.  The confit potatoes were  mixed with herbs such as thyme and cooked in butter but they were just whole baby potatoes and there were only 2 of them.  I can again only hope that if you go for the a la carte menu you get more food.  This main dish actually cost £16.50.

 

The pudding, Salted Chocolate, was the most interesting of the lot.  It was very thick and slightly rough textured chocolate mousse with salt and bits of  pork crackling ground up in it. This sounds wrong but I assure you it actually worked.  There were only about 2 teaspoons of this pudding.  My friend thought this was enough as it was certainly very rich and chocolaty, but I’d have liked a much bigger portion.

 

 

Drinks are very expensive but not absolutely stratospheric, though nearly so!.  House wine costs£18 a bottle. Beer is £3.50 for 330 ml bottle and jack Daniels is £8 a shot.  It doesn’t say whether this is a 25 mil glass or a 50 mill glass.

 

In conclusion, food tasted lovely but the portions were insultingly small and I only hope that those on a la cart get bigger portions.  Despite offering some interesting food, this restaurant is very pretentious.  I’d stay well away unless you have plenty of money and you feel you need to be seen eating something but don’t really want to eat.  Despite reasonable service, I can’t give this restaurant more than 2 out of 5.  It’s expensive, but with decent sized portions I’d give the restaurant a 6 for trying something different though some of the language is vague and as I say, pretentious!!!

 

 

Cristina's Steak 8-10 north street, barking, IG11 8AW

This restaurant is tucked quietly down a side street not far from Barking Market.  Arguably it’s a little off the beaten track, but the food is generally of high quality and it’s only a 10 minute slow stroll from the station.

 

At the time of writing, I have only been to this restaurant for the Christmas menu in recent times.  I have written a trip advisor review about this and I will post a link to it once the review has been published.  For now, I will briefly discuss the Christmas dinner.

 

Firstly, this is in general a fairly traditional Christmas dinner though carrots are glazed, the peas are cooked with parcel and a little mint and the sprouts are cooked with walnuts.

 

roast potatoes are soft on the inside and really crispy outside.  The beef I had was tender and I am told by friends who were with me that the turkey is also excellent.  For my starter I had sticky  apple and raisin winter salad  which was a little sweet but plentiful in size.

 

The main course was huge.  There was plenty of tender slow cooked beef and mountains of roast potatoes and vegetables.  The pigs in blankets were clearly homemade and the sausages used were of very high quality.  All of us were full to bursting and I can think of very little that I would change though I do have a few suggestions.

 

Firstly, before the starters, we were given pretzels    and nuts in their shells.  Unfortunately, the nut crackers were not up to the job so we largely ignored the nuts though my friend Andy was able to crack them with his hands.

 

Secondly, there is no fish option for the main course.   This does not affect me but many people I know eat fish and vegetables but do not eat meat.  There is a Vegetable Wellington available as a main course but I don’t know anyone who has tried this yet.

Graham Page

 

Mobile: 07753 607980

Fax:  0870 706 2773

 

Email: gpage@useit.plus.com

 

Skype: gabriel_mcbird

 

Twitter: gabrielmcbird

 

tinned fish restaurant

This is taken from the Propel newsletter dated 16/09/2014 and anyone at all who eats here must truly have more money than sense.  I know nothing more other than the information printed here, but if the restaurant is successful I’m thinking of setting up a Japanese pop-up selling only pot noodles made up and poured on a plate with a bit of salad round them.  There’s a rather ugly side to the food industry in Britain that is involved in making people think they are eating something better than they really are and charging the earth for it.   The prices here look outrageous but at least they are not trying to hide the fact that they are selling tinned fish.  If people are stupid enough to throw their money away at this place then arguably they deserve a wage cut as they don’t have the brain power necessary to deal  with the amount of money they have.

 

Tinned fish restaurant opens in London: A pop-up restaurant selling only tinned fish has opened in Upper James Street, Soho, London. The restaurant, Tincan, is the brainchild of the architecture company AL_A (sic), whose team apparently came across a similar restaurant in Lisbon. The menu at Tincan features 28 different types of tinned fish, all of which are served with bread and salad. Prices start from £7 for more common tinned fish, and rise to £28 for a tin of wild red tuna, or blue-fin tuna. Other tins include anchovies, baby sardines, calamari in ink, clams, cockles, cod liver, mackerel, mussels, octopus and scallops. Everything from the tables and chairs to the light fittings has been specially designed for the restaurant by AL_A, which describes Tincan as “bringing the culture and sensibility of an architect’s studio to a restaurant”. The restaurant is open for the next six months from midday to 11pm Monday to Thursday, and 11am to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

 

Remoli Pasta 14 fresh food, Great Eastern Market,Westfield Stratford City shopping centre

Most shopping centres are unpleasant and full of chain stores.  Westfield Stratford City is, at the time of writing, the largest in Europe I believe and in general, I really am not keen on shopping centres.

 

If you can look past these undoubtedly negative aspects of all shopping centres, Westfield Stratford does have something going for it.  For blind people there is the roaming concierge.  If you go to the   helpdesk at the front and ask for assistance to the store you want to go to, someone can generally help.  As always, Westfield Stratford is largely made up of expensive shops with the odd cheap clothes shop thrown in. the only supermarkets are Waitrose and M&S and shops stocking odd and expensive fashion brands are very much in evidence.

 

The main purpose for this blog though is food.  There are some quite unusual places in the shopping centre which are not chains.  There’s Caribbean Scene and rhythm Kitchen for Caribbean  food for example and there is tap east the shopping centre pub that brews its own beer. 

 

Today I am reviewing Pasta Remoli which is a stall in the Great Eastern Market which is at the other side of the market to the underground.  There are tables to eat, but they are in the shopping centre just next to the shop.  The shop does in fact offer take away pasta dishes as well as pasta, sauce and ingredients that you can take home.

 

I was looking for a place to eat with a friend who is a Gourmet Society card holder and this seemed to be the only restaurant offering the gourmet society deal in in the area that wasn’t a curry house.  When reviewing where to eat I was struck by the number of ;positive reviews on Trip advisor.  Out of 75 reviews, 51 were excellent, 20 were very good and 4 were average.  I needed to try this place out and in fact I wish I had done so much earlier.

 

The menu on the website is a bit tricky to view so I’ve included a sample of the pasta dishes available here  so you can get an idea of price.  I had the

 

Ox tail Agnolotti in its juice(Agnolotti is a kind of ravioli ). £7.00

Ham & parmesan tortellini in chicken, mushroom & pea sauce £7.00

Pappardelle in Italian sausage ragu £7.50

Tagliatelle with Bolognese £7.50

 

Fish dishes

 

Seafood Spaghetti£12.90

Spider crab ravioli in spicy cherry tomato sauce £8.95

 

Vegetarian dishes

 

Fusilli with Arrabbiata sauce (spicy tomato sauce with chilli) £6.00

Potato Gnocchi with Basil pesto sauce £6.80)0

 

Pasta with seasonal vegetables sauce

Chili, garlic, parsley, courgette, cherry tomato & buffalo ricotta £6.50

 

Black truffle mushroom ravioli in cheese sauce £7.50

Spaghetti tomato & mozzarella £6.00

Spinach & ricotta ravioli with butter, sage & parmesan £6.90

 

I had the Ham & parmesan tortellini in chicken, mushroom & pea sauce with mozzarella   and parma ham  on bread as a starter.  My friend Miss S had the Black truffle mushroom ravioli in cheese sauce and the Spinach & ricotta ravioli.

 

Both of us agreed that the pasta was fresh and not dried out and that the quality  of the ingredients was generally high.  There are various chain stores claiming to be authentic Italian.  Carluccios is probably the most well known but I have found that some of the food from this chain certainly  has a bit of a left lying around feel to it.  This was really not the case for Remoli.  My mozzarella and bread was fresh   and the pasta was cooked in a tasty sauce full of flavors with a rich consistency.    The portion of pasta was also quite generous and for the money the food was excellent.

 

This may not be the place for a romantic dinner but if you are out and about and you want some really high quality pasta at a competitive price then I would say you need go no further than Remoli pasta.  They will also sell bottles of wine. These hold about half a pint and there are no proper glasses so you have to do with a large plastic cup.  Still with food such as this I have no complaints and the staff were friendly and helpful.  I think most if not all were actually Italian as well.

 

I’d like to eat in more comfortable surroundings I suppose but the food is great and prices are very reasonable.  There’s little not to like and I give this restaurant a score of 8/10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TianTian Chinese restaurant, 166 mile end road, London E1 4LJ

this is a new Chinese restaurant which opened on Mile end road about 3 weeks ago.  It replaces an eatery called the spice rack which generally sold rather poor quality fried chicken and curries in my opinion and it used to be called the spice cottage.

 

The new owners sell both pork products and alcohol so it's not halal.  I have nothing against halal  food but it's nice to have a food outlet where the range of products sold is not limited  by the wish to only sell hall food.

 

This restaurant is quite new, so it's not on places such as 4Square or Trip Advisor at the time of writing.  It is one of a reasonably new Chinese restaurant which has become popular in London, selling more spicy dishes which I am told are associated with northern china.  they also sell more unusual parts of animals such as pig intestine or sliced tripe  as well as dishes more  familiar to those visiting Chinese takeaways and restaurants in the UK.

 

The menu is not online yet so as I have no sight, I needed to ask staff to help by reading  the menu to me.  In general, the staff were helpful though some limitations to English made deciding what  I wanted to eat a little tricky.

 

On my first visit I had cold beef which came with preserved Chinese vegetables and a hot chilli pork dish with rice.  I had been told that the cold beef dish was a starter but it was as big as a main meal.  I also therefore ordered lamb barbecued on a skewer.  The 2 dishes with rice cost me about £15 but they were enough for 2 meals. and I also had a cold Chinese green tea which came in a can as well as a tiger beer.  The total came to just under £21. 

 

In general, I thought the meat was a little processed but the vegetables that came with the pork dish were good and fresh.  both dishes were also spicy and I quite enjoyed the preserved vegetables that came with the cold dish which were pickled and spicy.  In general, both dishes had plenty of spice and flavour.  The barbecued lamb was tasty but rather fatty though at the price I can't really complain.

 

On my second visit I had a portion of vegetable spring rolls.  they were a little bland, but they came with a sweet chilli sauce.  for main I had beef in chilli sauce with mixed vegetables which included broccoli, carrots, cabbage and peppers.  the vegetables were lovely and crunchy and the beef, while being a little spongy, was still very enjoyable.  the food was not too greasy and it was well spiced.  I also had a tiger beer and this meal came to £16.  I ate it in one meal, but I was very full.

 

Not having access to the full menu, it's hard to rate TianTian with any accuracy but the 2 meals I had were promising and they suggest that this is easily the best Chinese restaurant within easy walking distance of me.  Ingredients  were of acceptable to good quality, with vegetables standing out and it was pleasing that the food was not greasy.

 

 

Great Times Chinese restaurant, Lancastria House, 77-79 Lancaster Road, Preston PR1 2QJ

This is a Chinese restaurant that has existed in Preston for 30 years.  It has recently set up a website  at http://www.greattimes-restaurantpreston.co.uk/

and it has also recently started accepting credit and debit cards.

 

I visited this restaurant as part of a group out for a meal to celebrate a friend's birthday.  There is an  A La Carte menu  and a fixed price 2 courses for £11.95 menu.  Both can be viewed on the website and they are both accessible.  On this particular day we  chose the 2 courses for £11.95 option.

 

I had the duck spring rolls for a starter which tasted of the aromatic duck generally offered with pancakes.  they were well filled with duck and some of the best I have ever had.  Other people in the group had the Lucky Lettuce, the salt and pepper pork chop and the pork spring rolls and everyone seemed happy with their starter.

 

For main I had beef  sirloin in hot and spicy sauce.  Beef Sirloin with various other sauces was offered on the 2 course menu but they only offered chicken in hot and spicy sauce.   Still, they were happy to cook the beef in this  way when I asked.  The beef was of high quality, they were prepared to spice it up a bit and there was plenty of it.  It's always nice when staff are prepared to adapt food slightly to the wants of the customer.  Others tried beef in garlic sauce and  Szechuan pork.  Everyone seemed happy with their food.  there was a big bowl of fried rice in the middle of the table to share and there was plenty to go round.

 

There is the usual range of bottled beers and wines, with some lager available on draft.  Nothing amazing that stands out here, but it's good to have a range of drinks to go with your meal.

 

Great Times may not be the most amazing exciting and varied Chinese restaurant I have visited but the food generally  consists of high quality ingredients and staff are very helpful.  I found that staff generally spoke a reasonable amount of English and they were happy to help explain any parts of the menu required.  they are also happy to accept guide dogs.

 

In general then, this is a good restaurant for an enjoyable hassle free meal out with friends  I give it an over all score of 8 out of 10.

 

Graham Page

 

Mobile: 07753 607980

 

Fax:  0870 706 2773

 

Email: gpage@useit.plus.com

 

Skype: gabriel_mcbird

Twitter: @gabrielmcbird

 

Anima D'italia, 114 mile End Road, Stepney E1 4UN

This is a restaurant that claims to be Halal  in Stepney Green.  I'm not sure who runs this but it's not the most authentic Italian restaurant and, unless you choose to limit yourself to Halal food, this restaurant is not worth travelling to.

 

I have visited this restaurant twice and I must admit I was happier with the food second time than I was with the first time.

 

I first visited this restaurant in late December and I had Risotto rice balls with bolognaise sauce and cheese as a starter and a main dish of Italian sausage and prawns with roast potatoes.  The Risotto rice balls were made with basmati rice rather than risotto rice.  other than that they were tasty enough but using the wrong kind of rice made a mess of the texture.

 

On the main course, the prawns were fine but the Italian sausage turned out to be a cheap beef breakfast sausage and I refused to eat it.  to be fair to the staff they did agree a £5 discount because of this.  I was left feeling very disappointed but, as I usually do where convenient, I did go back to the restaurant last Sunday to give it a second try 2 months later.  A group of students I passed on the way told me the restaurant was very nice and friendly.  I was disappointed to find that I was not even allowed to bring in my own wine.  It's meant to be Italian after all!

 

This time round I had Brochette as a starter.  It had tomatoes and onions with it on bread that was rather lacking in garlic but it was not bad.  The main was A dish of Penne pasta with minced beef, beef slices, mushrooms and cream.  this turned out to be a very pleasant rich dish that did have an Italian vibe to it at least.  there was also plenty of it.  for pudding I had a Panna Cotta which was actually pretty good, though I don't know whether it was bought in or made on the premises. the person serving did not know.

 

I asked for black pepper and parmesan cheese.  it turned out that the pepper grinder was broken and I was told no one had asked for it.  Very odd!  I've never visited an italian restaurant and not been offered black pepper.

 

Given that there is a strong possibility  that this is local bangladeshis playing at being Italian, this restaurant is not bad.  I paid £17 for 3 courses and 2 glasses of lemonade which is not a bad price.  Saying this, it's very very far from authentic and I wouldn't go there for a special occasion.  if you insist on Halal food though, it may be worth a try if you want something different.

 

Staff were friendly enough, so I'd give this restaurant 5 out of 10.

 

 

 

Holborn whippet, Sicilian Avenue Holborn London

 

This is a real ale pub I have been intending to visit for some time.  Yesterday Angus Corie and myself went there after work and tried the beer and food.

 

The Holborn whippet is certainly a good place  for beer.  There’s generally at least 5 beers on and some ciders, interesting keg beers and lagers.  It’s a very busy pub, particularly at about 6 in the evening when it gets full of people leaving work.  despite this, we were served quickly and the bar staff were really very helpful when it came to finding us a table and telling us about the beer and the food.  Pints generally cost from between £3.40 and £3.70 which is very reasonable for central London.  All the pints were kept well and on the beer front I have no complaints at all.  I’d highly recommend trying out this pub,  though  keep in mind that it gets extremely busy after work during the week.

 

I was not so impressed  by the food.  I had a steak sandwich with fries.  The fries were cheap frozen things like cardboard which were hollow and generally not particularly satisfying.  The steak sandwich I had was a good size but the steak itself was rather tough and a bit tasteless.  My friend was not over impressed with the burger and the range of pizzas was very limited.  Corie had a pepperoni pizza which was of decent quality though a bit soggy in the middle.  It had plenty of jalapeno chillies on it which suited me but apart from burgers and steak sandwiches, there were only 3 pizzas on offer.

 

The burgers cost £7.50 with fries with a steak sandwich costing £8.  For that I would have expected a little better quality and a little more choice.  I wouldn’t really go to this pub for the food, I’d go for the ale.  I think a better option might be to sell basic sandwiches and maybe cold pies rather than the very limited range of hot food currently on offer.

 

We went to this pub hoping for good beer and decent food.  I think it would work if the pub really concentrated on the beer rather than giving the limited food such prominence.  On that basis I give this pub 6.5 out of 10.  I like the fact that they keep people up to date with new beers on twitter and that the staff were really friendly.  By just serving cold but good quality sandwiches and pies, I think the pub would be more honest and I would give it an 8 out of 10.

 

Visit the website at http://holbornwhippet.wordpress.com/

 

 

Graham Page

Mobile: 07753 607980

Fax:  0870 706 2773

Email: gpage@useit.plus.com

MSN: gabriel_mcbird@hotmail.com

Skype: gabriel_mcbird

 

Fresh, 275 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1BY

Fresh is a small coffee shop on 2 floors right next to Whitechapel station.  They sell a range of paninis and sandwiches as well as pies supplied form a farm in Dorset and cakes from the Heavenly Cake company in Hertfordshire.  The coffee is good quality and, at under £2 a cup this is somewhat cheaper than the high street chains such as Starbucks and Costa.

 

I visited this shop twice in the last week and there is building work going on to extend the shop and provide a take away hatch at the front.  There was no seating down stairs temporarily while this work went on  but staff were happy to help me find a seat upstairs.

 

The pies sold by this coffee shop are of good quality and they come with mash and salad.  At the time of writing, they warm the pies up in the microwave but the owner tells me that a pie oven is definitely on the list of things to get.  That’s a good job as microwave ovens ruin pastry, making it soggy and greasy.  I have recently had a beetroot and goat’s cheese pie which was unusual.  Beetroot becomes sweeter when it is hot and this relatively simple pie filling tasted delicious.  There was also a sausage roll which did have rather a lot of pastry for my taste though there was plenty of filling.

 

I rather like the bars they sell which are supplied by Heavenly Cakes.  These are biscuit based and usually have chocolate on them.  I’ve tried the cappuccino bar and the lemon meringue   bar which were both absolutely deliciously overindulgent.  There’s also a good range of unusual bottled and canned juices and fizzy drinks such as San Pellegrino and Snapple (which is owned by doctor pepper in fact).

 

The food outlets in this particularly deprived area of town is increasingly uniform and supplied by Bangladeshi chicken shop merchants who tend to all run with particular fads and trends.  We are currently seeing the demise of shops selling ice creams and smoothies, probably because loads of people set up shops selling the same things at the same time so they cancelled each other out.  this shop is somewhat different however and it really is a gem among some distinctly unappetising food outlets.

 

I give an overall mark of 7 out of 10.  This would be at least 8.5 if they had a decent pie oven rather than just a microwave.

 

 

giraffe, 304-305 The Loft, The Gallery, Westfield Stratford City, London E20 1ET

Giraffe is now a medium sized restaurant chain  with 46 restaurants in the UK.  It has a reputation for selling fairly healthy food though it is a bit expensive.

 

Myself and miss s decided to take  advantage of an offer giving us 40 percent off our food bill and we also got half priced wine as well.  My over all verdict on the food here is that the portions are quite generous though the menu was a little unimaginative and I would not want to pay the full price for the food.

 

As usual with Westfield Stratford restaurants, the atmosphere is far from intimate.  It feels and sounds as though you are eating in a walled off area in a shopping centre which is true but places like Kings Cross station do a better job of allowing units to create their own atmosphere.

 

for starters then I had olives which were fairly plain but good quality. and I had them with a barbecue duck tostada which was duck in orange sauce with salad in a crispy tortilla a bit like a taco.  this was tasty though I thought there was not much duck.

 

Miss s had   something called Pot Stickers which were essentially Chinese style chicken dumplings.  I didn't try these but she said they were tasty.

 

For mains I had baby back ribs with skin on fries and crunchy coleslaw.  the baby back ribs were nice and tender and smothered in barbecue  sauce.  they were messy but the meat fell easily off the bones.  The fries were crispy but there was no skin in evidence and I can't say whether they were frozen or not.  generally I like fries thicker than these were though the fact that they were properly cooked meant that I didn't mind them.  the coleslaw was a real disappointment though.  It was just salad with a bit of extra cabbage in vinegar.  no mayo or anything to make it creamy!

 

Miss s had chicken with  garlic in parmesan  breadcrumbs (posh chicken Kiev basically) served with mash.  she said she quite liked this though she was not keen on the mash as it tasted instant.  I didn't try it so can't say.

 

Miss s still felt hungry so she had a BBQ Chicken & Smoked Cheddar Quesadilla which came with salad and some of that horrible crunchy coleslaw which as I have already said was particularly grim.

 

 

Miss s did not have a dessert but she had a cointreau hot chocolate instead.  I had the frozen vanilla yogurt which tasted more of yogurt than vanilla though it was acceptable.  I wish I’d gone for the fruit sorbet instead.

 

I finished off with a cointreau hot chocolate myself and miss s had 2 of them.

Over all the food was reasonable, with a few exceptions.  the menu is not extensive but it seems that most dishes are cooked quite well.  without the food discount it would have cost over £45 each and while the quality of the food was pretty good, it was not mind blowing and at full price it would have been rather expensive.  given the helpful nature of the staff, I give this restaurant a 6 out of 10.

 

I can see no reason not to eat here unless coleslaw is important to you, though given the price tag it's not a place to go on a tight budget.

 

Royal Beacon Hotel Exmouth EX8 2AF

I visited this hotel with 3 other friends on the 21^st December for a Christmas dinner.  Unlike other places I have visited, it was not necessary to choose the menu in advance.

 

For starters, I had Ham Hock Roulade  with soused carrot purée, piccalilli and poppy seed toast

 

This was a reasonably generous portion and the quality was good.  It came served on a wooden board but the food was quite easy to eat so this was not a problem.  I found the soused carrot purée a bit on the strong side for me but then I don’t always like overpowering vinegar.  The piccalilli was absolutely beautiful however.  it was homemade, it had enough vinegar to give it bite and it was full of crunchy vegetables.  The extra toast went well with the ham hock roulade which bulked out the starter nicely.  I would also say that the ham hock was a bit on the salty side even though ham generally is quite salty anyway

 

Debbie had the Pan Seared Scallops  with fennel puree and crisp Parma ham.  This was a nice dish but there were only about 4 scallops    which I thought was a little bit on the mean side especially as they were served on a large dinner plate.

 

Roy had the winter vegetable soup and this had a lot of different chunky winter vegetables in it and it was of good quality.

 

Martin had the Baked Camembert  with Garlic, Rosemary & Thyme with crusty bread 

 

He particularly enjoyed this and thought it was a decent sized starter.

 

For my main I had the Country Beef  with Yorkshire pudding, a rich red wine jus and honey shallots

This turned out to be a cut of top side of beef which was tender and really flavoursome.  I felt however that the roast potatoes were a little soggy and generally a bit underwhelming.

 

Roy had the Traditional Roasted Devonshire Turkey  with an orange, cranberry and

chestnut stuffing, bacon roll and a turkey jus 

 

this was also a reasonable portion and he said it was quite well cooked.

 

Martin went for Roasted Cod Fillet  with a pea and parmesan risotto and bacon lardons.  He was recovering from a stomach bug though he got no vegetables with his meal (see below).  He said it was well cooked and quite easy on the stomach which is what he wanted.

 

Debbie had the Grilled Fillets of Sea Bass  with crab risotto and shellfish bisque.  She felt there could have been more of it and gain she had no veg but she said the food was of generally good quality.

 

When we got the main courses delivered, a dish of vegetables arrived separately consisting of broccoli, carrots and parsnips.  These were fine with roast dinners but I’m not sure they were the best choices for Martin and Debbie.  Roy and me therefore ate the vegetables.  There was probably enough vegetables for 3 decent portions so we did eat plenty but there was no way enough for 4 people.

 

I think that each person should be given a bowl of vegetables or the fact that one bowl is for 4 should be explained.  It may be that if we had asked, more veg would have been given.

 

For pudding, Debbie and myself had the cheese and biscuits which came with celery, apple and quince jelly.  This was quite nice but there was only a brie and a cheddar   cheese.  I’d have liked a blue cheese as well and in general it came on a big plate but it was quite a small portion even though the quality was quite acceptable.

 

Roy had the Christmas pud which he said was quite good and Martin had  the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream and baileys anglaise   I believe.  He said this was pretty good but baileys anglaise   is really  Baileys custard and it would probably be clearer if they stuck to that rather than trying to be pretentious.  If I’m wrong here I’m happy for there to be comments posted!

 

In general we all thought the food was of reasonable quality.  Staff took our orders while we were in the bar and called us through to the restaurant when the starters were ready.  I thought this was a nice touch that got the evening off to a good start.  We thought that the portions were perhaps on the small side as the meal cost  £22 for 3 courses, but Christmas meals often do not represent best value.  I would have to give mine a 7 out of 10.  Poor slightly soggy roast potatoes  and a rather limited selection of cheese were my only real complaints  though the quantity would probably not  have been enough if the veg had been divided up between 4 people rather than 2.

 

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.