Saint George and Dragon, Clyst St. George, Exeter, EX3 0QJ

This is a nice country pub with low ceilings, an open fire and generally a good traditional pub feeling though it is really more of a restaurant  than a pub.

 

We were a little underwhelmed by the size of the portions and the quality of some of the produce left a little to be desired.

 

For starters I had seared king scallops with slow roast belly pork and Braeburn apple and mustard dressing. It was very nice but I got only 4 scallops

and a tiny piece of pork, no more than one mouthful. There was also loads of dressing poured on but no way of mopping it up so had to get an extra portion

of garlic bread. Roy and Martin had Tomato and basil soup which was the soup of the day and they said the portions were adequate and it came in small high

bowls rather than British soup bowls which is good. Debbie had the forest and flat mushrooms in white wine and herb cream with crispy bacon and toast.

The bacon was just a standard rasher and it was not smoked. She said the size of the portion was reasonable and it was quite a good starter.

 

Mains is I think where the real problem with portion size and quality came. I had venison steaks which came with caramelised onion gravy, a flat mushroom,

A plumb tomato and steak chips

 

Usually the venison would be served with a red wine sauce or perhaps a juniper berry sauce but the gravy here turned out to be no better than Bisto onion

gravy, a real disappointment. The Venison was well cooked and there was a reasonable amount of it and on the table they had a sweet garlic and onion chutney

which I used all of to create a slightly more interesting sauce by mixing it with the gravy. The chips were soggy, slightly undercooked and almost certainly

frozen. The portion was not generous. For £16 this is not really good enough and if all I had to eat was a main course I would give it a 4.

 

Martin had the mixed grill which should have consisted of lamb cutlet, black pudding, white pudding, sweet cure Bacon, rump steak, sausage, egg,

tomato, flat mushroom, garden peas and chips. He’s not that big an eater and we thought that if this meal was as good as advertised, he would probably

be overfaced and need to share his food. as it turned out he had no problem getting it down. The black and white pudding was no better than average and

there was one thin slice of each. The lamb cutlet was mainly bone and the steak was chopped up into little pieces and dotted about on the plate. The amount of each ingredient was rather small and the chips were of course the same as mine.

 

Roy had the Shropshire chicken which was a chicken breast stuffed with Shropshire blue cheese, spinach and fig on roasted route vegetable risotto. He said

it tasted good but the portion was tiny.

 

Debbie had the Sole and smoked salmon roulade on buttered wilted spinach, samphire and baby potatoes with white wine and dill cream. She also said her

food was nice and well cooked but the portion was tiny.

 

As I have often said, I do hate the practice of selling meals in a restaurant and then making people purchase extra side dishes for exorbitant prices.

It’s far better to quote a price and then give people a choice of a couple of side dishes from a list that are bundled in with the price.

 

Presentation generally seemed to be more important than ensuring that people got value for money. I do accept that presentation does matter but at the

end of the day you are eating the meal not keeping it for posterity in a glass cabinet. Decent restaurants look after the eyes but consider the belly first!

 

The puddings fared rather better on the whole. Roy and martin had Apple, pear and sultana crumble. This was described as being ideal for sharing but they

said they got a decent portion of it though it was still really only a generous portion for one.

 

Debbie had the cheese board. . It was supposed to consist of local cheddar, brie and stilton served with celery, chutney and Bath Oliver biscuits.

 

Amusingly, the stilton was not available because it had gone mouldy but Debbie was given a choice of which cheese to have as an extra. I have never heard

of bath Oliver biscuits but they turned out to be a bit like Cornish wafers. These have a slightly soggy consistency and would not be my choice of biscuit.

Only having one kind of biscuit is also rather lacking in imagination. She said the portion size was quite reasonable.

 

Before the meal, I joked about the possibility of having the chocolate trio. This cost almost twice as much as the other puddings and was meant to be for

sharing. Oh dear. It was lightweight!!

 

It consisted of Double chocolate torte, which turned out to be chocolate flavoured clotted cream with a thin layer of sponge at the bottom, giant profiterole

which was rather dry with a little cream in it and a chocolate brownie which was a touch dry but the richest part of the pudding. This was for me a real

disappointment and I heartily wish I had gone for one of the ordinary puddings, the raspberry crème brulee perhaps.

 

This eatery is a pub and the drinks are well kept and there is a decent range of real ales and wines. 2 of us had pints of St Austell tribute ale which was very well kept.

We also had a bottle of rose which was an Italian merlet. It was fairly dry but fruity and for £10.75 a bottle it was well worth the money.

 

2 of us went for liqueur coffees and these were a real disappointment. The coffee was low quality instant coffee and there was no cream. Measures of spirit

seemed to be very minimal and I even wondered if my Irish coffee contained real whisky at all or just some kind of syrup or essence. Debbie had a brandy

coffee and she seemed no more impressed than I was.

 

Staff were generally friendly and reasonably helpful but the service was rather slow considering how quiet the restaurant was. There were other people

eating for sure but it was not crammed full.

 

Over all then our view of the food was that, with the exception of the chips and the way in which the venison was served, it was well cooked though portion

size was underwhelming to say the least with emphasis put on presentation at the expense of the actual eating experience. It should be possible to do rather

better than this for the money. The bill for 4 of us came to £129.00 including drinks. Drinks were generally well priced and of high quality but avoid the

liqueur coffee. The unanimously agreed mark was 6 out of 10 though looking back on the experience over all this could be a touch generous.

 

for more info including menus visit

http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/thesaintgeorgeanddragonclystsaintgeorge/

 

Merlins Tandori 193 Wellingborough Road Northampton NN1 4EA

                this is a curry house in Northampton.  This is not really a review of the food but a warning about the restaurant itself.  If I know a restaurant accepts guide dogs then I mention it.  This restaurant however recently refused 2 friends service on the basis that they were trying to get in with a guide dog.  this happens quite often most of the time when restaurant owners express reservations, they are generally amazed at how calm and well behaved the dog is once they have been persuaded to let the person stay.  My friends were able to record the event of them being thrown out and I have included the Audioboo link to the audio at the end of this post.  I understand they have already taken the story to the local press and I understand they intend to carry on the fight until the owner of Merlins either unreservedly  apologises  or the restaurant closes through lack of visitors.  The reviews I can find are not very complementary about Merlins anyway and there are plenty of other good restaurants including curry houses near by on the same street.  The reaction of one customer in Merlins when Adam appeals for support is also fairly disgraceful.  for more visit

http://audioboo.fm/boos/500542-no-guide-dogs-allowed?playlist_direction=forward

The Chronicle, 3 Chapel Hill, Exmouth Devon EX8 1NY

Last month 3 of us went to the Chronicle to celebrate a friend’s birthday.  The Chronicle is a new restaurant in Exmouth which sells food similar to that which you might find in a decent gastro pub.  Prices are reasonable and the chef prepares the food herself.   This is genuinely a family run restaurant.  There is the chef, Kathy and her partner Ricardo and that’s it.  Both of them were friendly and they made us feel welcome. 

 

For starters Debbie and myself had a cold starter of Smoked Trout served with pickled onions and Celeriac.  Martin and Roy had the soup of the day which was Celeriac and apple soup.  The soup was good and thick.  Our starter was a generous portion with plenty of trout.  The starters came with brown bread and home made warm soda bread.  For Main I was undecided.  I wanted scallops with black pudding mash and leaks and also rather fancied the pork seared in cider with   potatoes gratin and cabbage.  I had fish for my starter so the pork won.  The  potatoes were really nice and creamy and the cabbage was till crispy.

 

Debbie had the duck which had plenty of meat on it.  Roy had chicken and Martin had a pasta dish with minced pork and beef.

 

All the dishes were fresh.  Martin didn’t have a pudding.  Roy and myself had chocolate not together pudding which was a chocolate sponge with clotted cream and chocolate sauce in separate pots.  This was very pleasant but not as exciting as I would have thought.  Debbie had cheese and biscuits and the portion was huge.  It came with brie,, Devon blue cheese and cheddar with plenty of water biscuits, celery, pickled onion, gherkins  and walnuts, grapes and apple slices.  There was loads  of it and my only criticism was that there was only rather boring water biscuits. A variety would have been nice.

 

After our meal Debbie got chatting with Kathy the chef who was happy to discuss the way she cooked dishes such as the soup which was particularly thick and warming.  Ricardo  was also a friendly talkative front of house person.  This restaurant is perhaps a little off the main drag and it has a lot of competition.  I see that it has some very good reviews on trip advisor and I wish them well.  The website is

http://www.chronicalrestaurant.co.uk

 

On this page it says the restaurant is open at lunch time.  For the time being at least this is not true and they should correct this.  This restaurant would certainly not be out of place in any city in the UK and I hope it succeeds.  I give it 9 out of 10 and would certainly visit it if you are in the area.  My only criticisms were the slightly boring chocolate pudding and the lack of a biscuit choice but these really are minor points.

Graham Page

Mobile: 07753 607980

Fax:  0870 706 2773

Email: gpage@useit.plus.com

MSN: gabriel_mcbird@hotmail.com

Skype: gabriel_mcbird

 

The Mexican, 17 - 19 The Parade, Exmouth, Devon, EX8 1RS

This restaurant  is a Mexican restaurant in the centre of Exmouth.  Menus are available at the website http://www.eatmexican.co.uk

 

I visited this restaurant yesterday with 2 friends.  In brief, the menu is a little limited but the portions are large, the quality of food is good and the staff were generally attentive and professional.

 

For starters I had grilled spicy sausage  which came with bread and a bit of salad.  The sausage was cooked in red wine  which brought out the spicy meaty flavour nicely.  The bread was really a bit like bloomer bread, quite thick but nothing really memorable.

 

One of my friends had the corn tortilla chips which came with Guacamole, tomato salsa and sour cream.  The corn tortilla chips were fresh and the dips were quite plentiful.  Another friend had  Mixed Jalapenos and Jalapenos stuffed with  Jalapenos stuffed with Feta.  These were really tasty and the chillies were again fresh and not soggy.

 

For main Myself and one of my friends had the  Chicken Mexicana.  This is described on the menu as A chicken breast cooked in a sauce of hot chillies, garlic, white wine and tomatoes and accompanied with chilli potato wedges and salad garnish.  This is typical of the rest of the menu which is descriptive and helpful without being over flowery or making false claims for the food.  I found the chicken quite spicy without   being killer hot but Debbie, who does not eat hot food, found the chicken quite fierce I think.  Debbie went for the lamb Burrito.  This was filled with lamb stew cooked with almonds and the flavour reminded me a bit of Moroccan   food.  It was very tender and quite rich.

 

None of us had a main course as we were all quite full.  I ate some of Debbie’s main course in fact.

 

Instead of a dessert, we had Liqueur coffees.  Myself and Martin had Irish coffee and I think Debbie had Quantreau    coffee.

 

We also had a beer each.  Mexican beers are really nothing special and they insist on putting a piece of lime in the top.  I am told this is done in Mexico to keep flies out of the beer and this could make sense in hot climates.

 

The wine list looks quite extensive with house wine costing £12.95 a bottle.  This is a fair price and wines were not generally dearer  than about£16 a bottle.

 

The staff were helpful and knowledgeable about the food.  Our server warned us that the Chicken Mexicana was hot and she advised us that we would probably not need extra side dishes unless we were particularly hungry.  I appreciate this degree of honesty.

 

Our meal came to just over £67 for 3 of us. This may seem quite expensive but as I have said the portions were generous and the food was high quality.  Even though the menu is a little limited, I would go back to this place at least one more time.  I would like to try the Fajitas and possibly the Devilled mushrooms and the lunch time menu also looks quite appealing.

 

Over all then, the menu is rather limited particularly in the area of main meals but the quality of the food and helpfulness of the staff compensate for this.  I give the  Mexican 7.5 out of 10 and would certainly recommend it even for those like me who generally find Mexican food in the UK to be rather lacking in variety and expensive.

 

 

salsa restaurant 34-36 London Road, Southend

Last week I visited the Salsa Restaurant in Southend.  Generally the food was good, staff were helpful and while the prices were maybe a little high they weren’t totally unreasonable.

 

The menu offers Mexican, Portuguese and Italian food.  I went there with 2 other people.

 

for starters I had mushrooms stuffed with pate. the menu did not say what kind of pate was used and I would have liked a little more of it perhaps. the mushrooms were served in a thick crushed tomato and garlic mixture which also had a hint of chilli in it. Ideally the pate could have been slightly more strongly flavoured but I suppose it's hard to please all people and I'm not saying that this dish was bad in any way. I'm just expressing personal preference. One friend had prawns cooked in garlic and white wine and the other had calamari. Both liked their starters.

 

for main I had a Portuguese casserole containing Tomato, mixed meat, sausage, red kidney beans and spices. I had this with sauté potatoes. This was really quite nice though I would have liked a bit more spice in the sauce. I eat anything so mixed meats to me were not a problem. some of the meat had a kidney kind of taste with a more meat like texture. I wonder if this was heart? Nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned but if you are fussy it is worth asking. Black pudding was also included in this dish and though I am not worried about this, the black pudding was not mentioned on the menu. in general This was a basic really hearty dish and the quality of the meats was quite high. a bit of black pepper might have improved things a bit, I could have asked for some. The sauté potatoes were also fresh and made from real potato rather than frozen and they were well cooked. One of my friends had Beef in a wine and garlic sauce which and the other had Chicken, bacon and broccoli in creamy Parmesan sauce with penne. both people liked their dishes and commented on freshness and quality of ingredients.

 

For pudding I had Crème Brulee which was home made and full of rich thick custard. it was meant to be flavoured with baileys and though you could tell the flavour was there it was very much in the background. the waitress advised me that this is because children can eat this pudding so understandably the amount of baileys had to be kept to a minimum. one of my 2 friends also had this pudding and we agree that it was still quite rich and satisfying.  It was served with vanilla ice cream which was quite acceptable but not remarkable in any way.

 

The other person with me had a vanilla cheese cake and again liked it.

 

to end the meal (there is a posh French term for this I am sure) I had an Irish coffee which was made with good strong fresh coffee and plenty of whiskey with cream. I think there should really be some sugar in it as well but in many places poor quality instant coffee is used so the good fresh coffee was a nice touch.  2 of us had Irish coffee with the third having rum and hot chocolate. Normally rum and hot chocolate is not on the menu but hot chocolate is so making one with rum was not a problem for the staff. this flexibility is certainly a plus point. the measure of rum in the chocolate seemed very generous indeed and I wonder if the required amount of rum accidentally got added twice? no complaints there though!

 

The waitress who helped us was very friendly and patient. she went through the whole menu with us and we did not feel rushed. She also seemed reasonably knowledgeable about the food and in general she was attentive without being too in your face. we did not have to wait ages for the bill and she calculated our bills separately as well as giving us the price of the lot. this was thorough and it gave us full flexibility in deciding how we should split the bill.

 

for 3 courses, a bottle of wine and a liqueur coffee each we paid just over £30 a head excluding service charge. Tips go directly to the person who serves you by the way. this is not dirt cheap but you can pay a lot more for a meal of this quality. portions were generous and, importantly, the staff were helpful and knowledgeable. Good staff can make all the difference between a good night and a disaster so examples of good practice are very much worth a mention. I gave this restaurant 8 out of 10 and at least one of my friends thinks I am being a bit harsh. it is true that my criticisms are minor but for me an 8 means very much worth a visit. If anyone else who has visited this restaurant puts together a well justified argument for an extra half mark then maybe I can be persuaded.

 

Graham Page

Mobile: 07753 607980

Fax:  0870 706 2773

Email: gpage@useit.plus.com

MSN: gabriel_mcbird@hotmail.com

Skype: gabriel_mcbird

 

Albion Cafe, 2-4 Boundary Street, Shoreditch, London E2 7DD

I visited this eatery about a month ago after an assessment in the area.  Albion Café describes itself as selling:

Typical British caff food, nothing challenging or complicated, just straightforward hearty ingredients and recipes.   First of all, some of the foods such as Rabbit stew are hard to find in most if not all British cafes.    The menu includes breakfast served throughout the day, fish and chips, pies, sandwiches, puddings and fruit crumbles. Open all day for coffees, teas, English ales, juices, biscuits and cakes. The late-night menu includes Welsh rabbit, kedgeree and hot chocolate with shortbread.

 

Secondly, the food might be basic British but the prices are quite fierce.  I had a full breakfast, a dessert of mixed berries and pastry with cream, a coffee, a grapefruit  juice and  a ginger beer.  That little lot ended up costing me over £28.

 

It’s worth looking at prices in detail where I have them.  In particular the breakfast came to a rather heavy £10.00.  a typical greasy spoon will sell something similar for half that price so is the extra £5 really worth it?

 

My breakfast consisted of:  one egg, 2 rashers of bacon, one sausage, a tomato cut in half, a large flat mushroom, black pudding, bubble   and squeak and beans.  I also got 2 slices of fresh bread and all the butter I needed.

 

The egg was fried and the yoke was hard.  This is how I like it but that might not please everyone.

 

The bacon was of good quality and had quite a porky taste which I liked.  It could have been thicker.

The sausage was certainly of good quality and better than  most cafes have to offer but it wasn’t absolutely premium by any means.  I have had similar quality sausages from the co-op where you get 8 Cumberland sausages for about  2 pounds.  One sausage seemed a bit stingy to me as well.

 

The tomato was unremarkable.  Just an average tomato cut in 2.

The flat mushroom was equally unremarkable.

 

The black pudding was spicy and it had a nice crumbly texture.  This was pretty good quality and this was some of the best black pudding I have had in London.

 

The bubble tasted as though it had been made with coleslaw.  It seemed to contain mainly mashed potatoes with cabbage that had a slight hint of vinegar to it.  Not that nice at all I’m afraid.

The baked beans were also rubbish.  They were quite hard like some of the cheapest brands of baked beans and they had a rather watery tasteless sauce.

 

The bread was fresh crusty bread which tasted really nice.  It was sliced thick and generally quite satisfying.

 

So in general, this breakfast was a mixed bag with better than average parts to it.  £10 seems far too much to pay for what you actually get.  I think a price of £7 might have been more realistic though this is the top end of what I think the breakfast is worth.

 

The dessert was a bit of a disappointment.   It was described as mixed berries with Chantilly cream and puff pastry.  Chantilly Cream is whipped cream with added sugar and vanilla.

 

The  berries and cream was separate to the puff pastry which came in a block like a small croissant.  The pastry was rather tough and though it tasted ok the texture felt less than fresh.  I would have thought the berries and possibly the cream would have been inside the pastry.

 

The coffee was fresh ground and of a decent quality.  The ginger beer was just a standard bottle though the grapefruit juice came in a half pint glass making it quite generous compared to the small glasses  of juice you often get with breakfasts in the UK.

 

 

I would have considered £20 or £21 acceptable for the amount I had if perhaps on the expensive side.  I do not know what the other parts of the meal cost individually though I did get the waitress to go through it at the time to make sure that no mistake  had been made.

 

Staff were generally quite helpful and prepared to go through the menu.  At this price I would certainly expect nothing less.

 

More information including some sample menus can be found by visiting the website at http://www.albioncaff.co.uk/

 

Even the website has a pretentious name.  the couple on the table next to me were in the process of selecting a honeymoon apartment  in the Seychelles with a rep for example.  Don’t pretend it’s a basic caff when it isn’t, it only makes it look more pretentious.

 

In brief, the food was quite good and staff were very helpful but the place is simply far too expensive.  I can only give it 4 out of 10.

 

 

Update, Soma Kitchen, 230 Mile End Road, Stepney, London, E1 4LJ

The Soma Kitchen has started to lower some of its prices and they have started selling kebab wraps for £5.50 which includes a can of coke.  Also you can get a Lamb Shawama for £6.45 where as the price used to be £8.45.  This is more sensible pricing I think.  People still do complain of long waiting times however.

Soma Kitchen, 230 Mile End Road, Stepney, London, E1 4LJ

This is a new restaurant in Stepney green describing itself as an exclusive Mediterranean restaurant.  It is in the same building as the old Soma Bar and it follows a trend of pubs turning into halal eateries.

 

Really it’s a rather expensive kebab shop that also sells a few soft drinks as well as freshly made juices which are also on the pricey side   .

 

The kebabs are really very good and they are some of the best in the area.  The Lamb Shawamas and lamb shish kebabs are certainly the best you will find in Stepney but the bar is hardly set particularly high by the competition!!

 

I visited Soma Kitchen with a friend and despite the good quality of the kebabs I have some concerns about this restaurant.  There are problems that need to be addressed if the Soma Kitchen is to be a success.

 

We had  Falafel, lambs liver and Dolma as a starter.  The Dolma was described as stuffed pepper and indeed Dolma is stuffed vegetables which can include peppers.  We got stuffed vine leaves however and my friend wanted the peppers in particular as stated on the menu so she asked for them and what came back was like something from out of a tin.  We think it probably was tinned and this is not good.  Initially we were also given pastry stuffed with cheese rather than the liver so we had to send that back too.  Some of the staff seemed to have problems with the menu and I ended up wondering if they could actually read or maybe they had just not bothered to familiarise themselves with the menu.

 

.  With the exception of the stuffed peppers, the starters were of a reasonable quality when we finally got them.

 

I have had the Lamb Shawama kebab here in the past and it was very good.  This time I had a lamb dish fried with tomato and peppers.  It tasted too much of tomato for my liking , as though it had lots of tomato puree  in it.  I don’t know how the dish should taste however so this is not a criticism.  My friend had chicken Shish which was plentiful though she commented that the rice was a bit cold.

 

We also had a fresh carrot juice with Ginger which was made in the restaurant.  It tasted a bit watered down to me.

 

 

We ended up paying about £14 for a starter, a main, a carrot and ginger juice and a tea.  Some money was deducted for the difficulty we had with service.

 

If the service had been good we would have been happy to pay the full price which would have been about £17. I would have given it about 6.5 out of 10.  Chaotic ordering procedures and staff with little knowledge of the menu and poor English who sound like would-be local Asian gangsters does little in the way of making the restaurant feel exclusive or even high quality and I really think these serious teething problems will need to be addressed if the restaurant is to attract students, lecturers, hospital staff and other locals that will need to use it if the place is to thrive or even survive long term.  It is unlikely that the chicken shop masses of Stepney will even give the Soma Kitchen a look in as it is probably beyond their price range.  This is  fair enough when it comes to the kebabs.  I have had a Lamb Shawama in the Soma Kitchen and it was nice and very large.   There was loads of everything. the meet was spicy and of good quality.  There was also plenty of salad and pita bread.  At £8.95 it is not something most people would eat regularly and a smaller kebab for £5 might be a good seller.

 

My friend and me both agreed that we could give the Soma Kitchen no more than 4 out of 10.  If they sort things out in a month or 2 I will report back.

 

brilliant restaurant Southall

This review was posted by Adam Holdsworth on his blog

http://daggersdukc.blogspot.com/

 

This contains comments from Adam about whatever he is doing at the time.

 

The article below is a review of the Brilliant Restaurant which I will certainly visit if I am in the area.

 

 

 

Food: Indian

Contact details:

72-76 Western Road, Southall, Middlesex UB2 5DZ

www.brilliantrestaurant.com

 

We visited The Brilliant in Southall, Middlesex, today. As I grew up in nearby Hayes, I was miffied that during my time there, my parents had never taken

me here, as it had a good rep even back in the early 80s - it is actually a Southall institution, having been in the same area since the early 70s. As

Southall is one of the demographically "Indian" suburbs in Britain, let alone London, calling your restaurant The Brilliant in this environment is almost

a taunt: "come, criticise me, tell me I'm not brilliant, tell me I'm rubbish". In its favour, it has won plenty of awards. But the only award that matters

to us (insofar we came from distant suburban East London to be here) is what we think of it. Will we return? Will we recommend it to our friends? Was it

in fact, brilliant?

 

Let's find out.

 

Firstly, the guide dog situation. It is really, really difficult to eat Indian or Chinse while being accompanied by a guiding beast. There is a point,

after you've had maybe the third or forth row about whether the dog is allowed in, when you just assume that you will go into an eating establishment,

all guns blazing. Though I refuse to take nonsense from anyone about this (to refuse a guide dog is breaking the law and ignorance is no defence in my

opinion). Not a problem in The Brilliant, perhaps aided by the fact that one of the staff was obviously a dog lover and wanted to pet Nicki the Labrador

while she was being good beneath the table. They get a huge brownie point for the no-fuss welcome. What a relief.

 

The decor here is cool but in a friendly, inviting way, with dark wooden floorboards, spotlights and a clean, no-fuss style that doesn't intimidate but

still has enough sophistication, suggesting this interior design has been thought through. No job lot tables here - everything is in dark brown and dark

orange. All just-so. (9 out of 10).

 

Our service was friendly and the food arrived in a timely manner without any hanging around (a pet hate of mine is being left for ages after the main course

before your dessert order is taken). Service then was brisk and polite. (9 out of 10).

 

We ordered poppadoms as a pre-starter. I tend to find that a good, crisp, not-too-greasy poppadom indicates how the rest of the meal will turn out I was

right on this occasion, as we'll see. By the way, we ordered spicy poppadoms and blow me down, they were peppery. Fortunately, we both love pepper and

there are plenty of chutneys to dump them in to assist sweetening them up and bringing down the heat level a bit.

 

Our starters were tilapia fish pakora (9 out of 10). The high mark is given for the light batter made of gram flour, which didn't in any way kill off the

delicate flavour of the fish. I had meat samosas, filled with finely minced lamb. I give these 7 out of 10 - better than average and good quality meat.

 

For the main course, we had a lamb curry which Lynn described as basic but tasty and awarded it 6 out of 10. I had the lamb masala which on the menu, was

described as coming with a thick sauce flavoured with ginger, tomato and garlic. It left nothing to be desired: this was a dish delivered exactly what

was promised. I can barely think of anything to fault it on and will give it a full 10 out of 10 because it really was that good. Bravo. If my stomach

had been any larger I would have gone for second helpings.

 

Desert was a better than average pistachio kulfi which I'll give 7 marks for. It was served on an unusual long plate which didn't do anything for the flavour,

but did add a little interest presentation-wise.

 

So overall, was the Brilliant, brilliant. I think so. It is one of those establishments where you think every award was justified and gained from hard

work and attention to detail, as well as old fashioned customer service, rather than from "I'll scratch your back if you give me a plaudit" mentality.

There are few Indian restaurants this good in my view and I would go there far more often if only had the fortune to live closer.

wok and grill, Chronos Building, mile end road London

This restaurant used to be part of a small chain called Pandoos which was clearly designed to be a bit like Nandos.  It sells a range of grilled dishes and stir fries.  When it was Pandoos it sold curries but now it concentrates more on the stir fries.  Unusually for halal food outlets, the Wok and Grill also sells beef and steaks.

 

I had crispy chicken as a starter followed by stir fried spicy beef and rice.  The chicken was crispy though its texture was rather watery.  The beef was good and spicy but there wasn’t much of it.

 

It seems that most of the staff are the same as those who ran Pandoos so many of the same problems apply.  One member of staff speaks half decent English but the others don’t and they don’t seem to care much about what they do either.  I tried to ask what pudding they had and a member of staff babbled through about 4 of them.  I asked for descriptions and he either didn’t understand my question or didn’t want to understand so I decided not to bother with a  pudding.

 

I had to ask for the bill twice and finally got given a bill for £18.99 which seemed rather a lot for 2 main courses and a drink so I questioned it.  It turns out my bill was really £14.68.

 

That £18.99 looks like a figure the guy serving me just made up.   I don’t appreciate being deliberately overcharged by someone who either does not have the brains to calculate the bill or the prices to hand.

 

The food was fairly poor anyway but as I was nearly overcharged I don’t think I will be going back to this restaurant unless I get evidence that the quality of the staff have improved significantly.

 

I can only give this restaurant 3 out of 10