The Grill on the Market: Smithfield, London

The Grill on the Market

Date of Visit: 21^st October 2013

Ambience

I have been here a few times before and the atmosphere is always good, regardless what day of the week it is.  It is always buzzing with people and there tends to be live music in the later hours of the night (mainly using the large piano which is permanently situated in the foyer area).

Dimly lit surroundings and booth like seating areas reminds me of the set-up of Browns.  Being a school night, the restaurant had a good mix of intimate couples and larger parties.  They even have a semi private area which was booked by a party to celebrate their birthday. 

Food

This place has a good selection of drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.  I tried a Strawberry and banana based smoothie which was lush as it had real strawberry bits in it and a Raspberry, peach and orange based drink which was nice in taste but a little off-putting in aesthetics (think orangey liquid with red bits in it).

I was a little disappointed to see the scallops had been removed from the menu in the starters section and even more disappointed to hear there were no oysters today (apparently they only get deliveries if the oysters were of a certain standard).  From previous visits, I recall the oysters to be fairly big and very fresh.

Anyway, we ended up ordering a sharing platter and mussels with chorizo for starters.  The sharing platter consisted of Calamari, duck spring rolls, lemon flavoured chicken skewers and fish cakes served with 3 dips (hoi sin, sweet chilli and a sour cream).  The squid was soft (i.e. not chewy at all) but it wasn’t fried very well (I suspect the oil wasn’t hot enough as it wasn’t crispy in the slightest).  The spring rolls were ok but the chicken skewers were a strange flavouring.  The fish cakes however were good; albeit being a little salty.  The mussels used to be very good at this place too but on this visit, they were small and a tad over-cooked.  At this point, we are wondering if the chef had changed since it had been about a year since we last visited. 

For mains, we all opted for steak since this was our recommendation and it did not disappoint.  Forget Gauchos, the steak here is fairly priced and is of good quality and normally cooked well.  Most of us had fillet steak cooked at different levels (rare, medium and medium-well) but the T-bone was also tried.  Everybody applauded the steak and how it was marinated well and was easy to slip down the throat (e.g. no jaw aching chewing).  I personally opted for a fillet cut, cooked medium but it was pretty rare (the rarest I’ve eaten) but I didn’t send it back because whilst it was blood red, it wasn’t bloody at all.  I added baby scallops, crayfish and prawns to my steak as an additional topping but it wasn’t that great value or tasty in my opinion.  Each steak was served with chips/potatoes of your choice and we ordered a few sides which included asparagus, garden greens and a side salad.  You could also order sauces but frankly, the steaks don’t need sauce but they were good for dipping the chips =)

Service

The service was very good – fast, efficient and the server was knowledgeable of the menu.  At no point did we have to wait long for service; needless to say, we gave a good tip on top of service charge. Happy days!

Summary

So the starters were a little disappointing and not the normal standard of Grill on the Market (at least not what we’ve experienced in the past) but the mains were excellent and the service was great so it would still be one of my recommended restaurants especially if you are a fan of steaks.

The steak is definitely the best I’ve had in London.  Locanta in Birmingham used to be just as good for steaks but unfortunately, the standard dropped considerably since they changed hands. 

Next on my list to try at this restaurant is the wagyu beef burger which is also reasonably priced at under £20.  We will be back =)

Brigade Bar & Bistro: London Bridge, London

Brigade Bar & Bistro

Date of Visit: 17^th October 2013

Ambience

We arrived at the restaurant at 18:15 and the bar area (just as you enter the main entrance) was already busy and rather noisy.  The noise did travel to the dining area but it was bearable.

The chairs were old and tired (some well so knackered that you “fall into” your seat).  Décor wasn’t anything outstanding and the place could do with a little revamp but otherwise the atmosphere was lively and it seemed quite popular as a drinking venue.

The restaurant had an open kitchen which is quite reassuring - since everything is on show, I would imagine the hygiene levels/cleanliness to be better.

Another observation is the lavatories are miles away from the restaurant/bar (a few flights of stairs/hallways).

Food

We skipped starters and went straight onto mains which I had trouble choosing between ravioli or a burger.  In the end, I opted for the lobster and salmon ravioli which was small enough to be a starter.  It was literally medium sized ravioli filled with lobster meat and salmon.  Needless to say I wasn’t full from it so I had to go for desserts to end the meal.  There wasn’t much flavour to the dish but it didn’t need much flavour as it allowed the seafood flavour to shine through.

For dessert, I opted for a bakewell tart which was served with clotted cream ice cream.  I thought it had too much raspberry jam/compote inside the tart as it wasn’t deep enough; therefore every bite contained half of the raspberry filling which meant it overpowered the almondy cake texture/flavour.  However, a nice brew made up for it (they serve tea pig tea here) =)

Service

Service was generally fine but the wait between main course and dessert was noticeably long and I had to chase it up as my tea was getting cold.  After the chase up, the dessert arrived straight away.

The bill paying process was also a tad slow since the whole restaurant only had one credit card terminal which we had to wait for another couple of tables to finish using it first.

Summary

Overall, the food was ok but really nothing special and I would probably say the same for the whole experience.  One word: mediocre!

Carom at Meza: Soho, London

Carom at Meza

Date of Visit: 16^th October 2013

Ambience

The setting/décor has quite a middle-eastern feel with thin curtain like drapes and red/dark lighting.  The sides of the restaurant were filled with cosy looking booths, whilst the centre tables were paired with low seats.

The red surroundings made it feel like a love theme yet the majority of the tables were catering for small to medium sized groups.

Food

My vegetarian friends commented on the broad veggie dishes that were on offer and they tried a number of dishes which apparently were quite good.

Drinks wise, we tried a couple of Indian inspired cocktails – some sort of lychee and rose water based drink with saffron and a twist (Lychee Rose Collins) but we couldn’t work out what the twist was since it was compared to the normal lychee and rose water concoction.  I went for the Carom lassi which was yoghurt mixed with mango, rose, cardamom spiked with Russian Standard vodka and apricot brandy.  It sound exotic but it was a little disappointing as it lacked a mango taste and was fairly bland.

For starter, I tried a sizzler kebab trio which consisted of grilled salmon, chicken thigh tikka and a small lamb chop which was served on a sizzler pan, accompanied with a mint dip.  I thought the salmon was slightly over-cooked but the chicken and lamp chops were quite nice but the flavours were edging on the bland side given Indian marinades are normally quite strong/spiced.

For mains, I had a king prawn Kerala curry, baked basmati rice, garlic naan bread and I also tried some of the braised lamb curry.  The king prawn curry was meant to be mango based and whilst the colour matched the description, I didn’t think the taste did.  It was quite creamy but with no spice at all.  Also, it was literally a few prawns (hardly tiger sized) and the sauce – not even a few sliced onions! The lamb curry was much better… the meat was tender and the sauce was a little spicy so much better for dipping the naan bread.  The sides were quite standard for any Indian restaurant.

Desserts were good – I opted for the chocolate fondant with chilli and white chocolate hearts and pistachio ice cream whilst my friend had the sticky toffee pudding with cinnamon ice cream.  The chocolate fondant was a surprise.  It was served warm and chocolate inside literally poured out like a lava after the “wall’ was broken.  It looked amazing and tasted rather good too.. not overly sweet but the surprise were the chilli and white chocolate hearts.  The chilli taste was pungent but I liked that little extra kick because chocolate and chilli works quite well in my opinion.  However, we did not all come to the same conclusion as my friend preferred the dessert without the chilli kick.

As for the sticky toffee pudding, it was as sweet as ever but the cinnamon ice cream was a nice complement.

Service

The service – I couldn’t wait to get to this section!  The service from the servers were pleasant and they listened well when taking our orders (e.g. they managed to communicate our requests to the kitchen).  However, there were two things that let us down on this evening.  The first being that we asked if we could sit in a booth before we were seated but upon checking, we were told it was not possible as they were fully booked which was fine until we realised at the end that some of the booths remained unoccupied all night (we were sat there for 2.5 hours).

The second which was the biggest problem was the attitude of what we presume was the manager.  We encountered an issue whereby my friends had booked the table via toptable (2 courses for x, 3 courses for x) and upon being seated, this was made very clear to the staff there.  However, nobody explained to us when we placed the order which menu we should have ordered from to get the deal.  Anyway, the manager came to speak to us before we got the bill as we reminded them we booked via toptable.  He was rude, unapologetic and very patronising! Not only did he not apologize once for the misunderstanding but he belittled us by saying that nobody needed to tell us which menu to order from as it was obvious but it clearly wasn’t. Nowhere on the menu did it say “set menu” (instead they used fancy names like World Traveller).  Admittedly we should have probably asked the question (but 2 out of 4 of us didn’t even know we had a “deal”) but equally they should have handled it better.  Knowing we had booked via toptable, they should have either only given us the set menu and explained if we wanted anything from the a la carte, they could bring us that menu or provide both menus and explain that the small sheet of paper was what was included and anything on the other pages would be additional costs.

Anyway, it wasn’t like we were trying to get away with not paying so after an unacceptable service level from management we asked for the bill and left without paying the service charge which ironically they didn’t bother adding to the bill.  Getting it wrong was partly our fault but the rudeness of the “manager” and his tone of voice was offensive and frankly he needs to go on a course to deal with customers in a professional manner.

Summary

I shall not be returning to this place on the customer service received alone as we did not feel welcome and we were treated as if we were trying to get away with not paying for what we consumed.  In addition, I didn’t think the food was that great – I’ve had plenty of better Indian meals in my lifetime to not care about returning here and it will not be one of my recommendations either.

Anyway, I will end this by saying that guy needs to be FIRED or sent on a few courses!

Tay Do: Shoreditch, London

Tay Do

Date of Visit: 2^nd October 2013

Ambience

1 word – GREEN! Sound familiar? Yes, this place is almost as green as Song Que (almost because the staff wore white shirts as opposed to bright green ones).  My friend reckons the restaurants painted green are the more popular ones judging by how busy they get.

Again, this restaurant is small with tables cramped in tightly.. a running theme across all of the Viet restaurants?

Food

Between two of us, we shared a few starters and a main which were recommended by our server.  This consisted of Vietnamese spring rolls, a beef salad, prawn & pork cakes with rice paper and a hot & spicy crab vermicelli in soup. 

The portions of the starters were surprisingly on the large side and they were delicious.  I’m not normally a big fan of fried things as I hate the taste of food drenched in oil but the Vietnamese spring rolls were really good.  The filling was full and flavoursome and the outer skin was slightly sticky/gooey but not oily in the slightest – perfect when dipped in the fish sauce.   The beef salad was very very tasty as the thin slices of beef were served slightly rare which was well marinated.  The marinade gave the meat a nice kick as it was sour yet spicy and the salad was very refreshing.  As for the other starter, we had to roll the rice paper ourselves which was messy but great as you could fill it with whatever you wanted.  We started by filling the roll with mint leaves, prawn/pork cakes, vermicelli, lettuce and fish sauce but we later learnt that it was even tastier filling the roll with the marinated beef from the salad dish.  Yummy =) oh and the mats provided to separate the rice paper and for rolling purposes were great!

I wasn’t overly keen on the main dish as the soup base was overpowered by tomatoes and it was not hot or spicy in the slightest as the name suggested – to me it tasted like bolognaise.  Credit should be given for the amount of crab meat in the dish but it wasn’t to my liking.  However, my friend thought it was nice.

Service

Whilst we were discussing menu options, I felt the presence of one of the servers hovering around our table with their eyes on us but I had to tell him to give us a few more minutes since I felt a little rushed.  He came back about a minute later asking if we had any questions – of course we did.. they didn’t seem to have a couple of things we were after so we asked for recommendations and he seemed openly honest about what he would recommend and what was just ‘ok’. 

Most of his recommendations proved to be good ones but I have one complaint.. we requested for two things – for our fresh orange juices to not have ice in it and for the food to not have coriander but both were present even though he had repeated after us so he clearly understood the request.  This clearly did not get communicated to the kitchen staff though.  The coriander issue wasn’t a huge problem since most of it was garnish which could be removed easily but the drinks were a let down as we were only left with ¾ of a glass after we took out the ice cubes ourselves.

Summary

Overall, I enjoyed the food much better than Song Que and they had loads of other yummy sounding dishes on the menu including the pork cheung fun thing but we didn’t get to try that so I’m likely to return to this place but not after I’ve tried a few other Viet restaurants along the Pho Mile. Yes I’m on a mission =)

Song Que: Hoxton, London

Song Que

Date of Visit: 26^th September 2013

Ambience

1 word – GREEN! I don’t mean environmentally friendly, I mean colour décor!  The whole restaurant is bright green, from the counter outside the kitchen and bar area to the front door and the walls.  I think the colour of the t-shirts of the servers were also green?  I can’t remember now but it was insanely OTT.

I wouldn’t say it’s a really small restaurant but it appeared very cramp as the tables were all joined up to save space and the walkways between each set of tables were narrow.

Don’t expect much of an atmosphere here – it really isn’t designed for a great ambience but does the food make up for it?

Food

Between two of us, we shared a few starters and a main.  We had a prawn and papaya salad, grilled quail, prawn paste wrapped around sugar cane, prawn cupcakes and a chargrilled pork and Vietnamese spring roll vermicelli dish.  I’m disappointed to say that nothing stood out for me.  The quail was nice but naturally I am comparing it to the quail I tried at Mien Tay and I remember it to be tastier there.  The prawn cupcakes were different but even now, I’m not entirely sure what it was.  The base was slight doughy and each one was topped with a tiny shrimp.  I mean it was ok but not what I would call “tasty”.  The chargrilled pork with the vermicelli was dry and almost tasteless.  Perhaps me having a cold at the time affected my sense of taste a little but the food was a disappointment to my friend too.

Service

The service was fair – we had no issues with ordering the food and everything came quickly but it was towards the end of the meal that we felt a little rushed since there was a queue of people at the door.  I had almost forgot to order a take-away but as we asked for the bill, I remembered.  They asked us to pay for the bill at the counter (probably wanting us to vacate the table earlier) but we told them we were not prepared to stand whilst waiting for the take-away.  In the end, we got our take-away in a matter of minutes.  Was the speed of delivery impacted by us hogging a table?  Quite possibly.. either way, the staff at no point was rude to us.  However, they could be a little more helpful.  For example, I asked if they had lemon grass pork with vermicelli or rice and the answer was no but they had chargrilled pork with vermicelli instead… but they clearly had lemon grass pork with other items on their menu.  My point is they could have suggested it was fine to substitute one for another.

Summary

Overall, I felt the food was very average but it seemed to be popular amongst the locals.  The menu was extensive so arguably some of the other dishes may have been better but there are too many other options around the area before I’d be tempted to give this place another try.

Song Que was recommended to me but frankly, it wouldn’t be one of my recommendations.  However, I am now determined to try out the other restaurants along the Pho Mile (especially since I may not be working in the City for long) to find a really good one so we don’t have to trek all the way to Blackheath area for Mama Pho/East Café for a nice Viet meal.

Various places: Little Venice, Camden Locks, Urban Food Fest @ Shoreditch, London

Date of Visit: 21^st September 2013

A day out in London led to strolls around the canalside, walks through the markets and plenty of food.  We started the day with Brunch at Café Laville in the Little Venice region.  Whilst the view was nice (we were sat outside, overlooking the canal where you could boat and people watch), I thought the food was mediocre.  I opted for egg benedict which was ok but really nothing special.  The others had different forms of big breakfast.  I tried the grilled mushrooms and it was super salty and the saltyness continued through to the bacon etc.

After taking the boat (aka, the scenic route) to Camden locks, we had dessert in the form of Dutch pancakes with Nutella – it reminded me very much of ‘gay dan jai’ in HK but I prefer the Chinese version since it doesn’t require any sauce, making them less sweet.  Oh and the Dutch turns the pancakes over manually one by one – business opportunity to sell them the ‘gai dan jai’ turners? Hehe

Anyway, the next food stop was Shoreditch for the Urban food festival.  We were disappointed with the size of the “festival” when we arrived as it was set up in a car park area with about 15-20 stalls but we were thankful for proper tables and stools in the middle of the area and we were lucky to bag a table space at the beginning.  Despite the small area, we managed to find some tasty food as we made our way round the stalls.  First up was the Jerk Chicken stall where we tried a quarter chicken served with plantains (unfortunately with no fries as their fryer was playing up) and a Jerk Chicken wrap.  The Jerk chicken was tender and the outside was tasty but I don’t think it was marinated long enough as the inner parts were lacking some flavour. 

Next up was a fire stoned pizza (pepperoni and jalapeno) from StreetZza– the thin base was crispy and it had a nice sharp kick to it – a pretty good pizza I must say.  We then tried Korean burgers in the form of rice burgers and noodle burgers.  They were a strange concept but it was quite tasty, especially with the kimchi sandwiched in between the rice or noodle and the meat.  Next, we tried the Argentine style steak sandwich and a couple of Empanadas (half moon of pastry puffed with savoury filling) from Portena – we tried the beef filling and the spinach filling.  None of these were great… the pitta style bread for the steak sandwich was cold and the meat quite chewy and there wasn’t much flavour to the meat.  The Empanadas were dry and again, lacking some flavour.

There were a couple next to us who tried the frog legs and whilst I’ve had frog legs before, these looked awesome as the legs were still very much attached to the main body so you could still make out it was a frog.  We decided to give it a go too and the verdict was that it was quite fleshy and the taste was very peppery - for those who have not tried frog legs, the texture is in between chicken and cooked white fish.  The strips of sweet potato it was served with was a nice bonus.

So, with all the savouries out of the way, we ventured into Portuguese desserts which consisted of Nata (Portuguese egg tart), Orange Cheesecake and a Coconut based dessert – I can’t remember the name so I’m going to call it a coconut bomb!  All three were rather sweet and we weren’t keen on the orange cheesecake – it did not resemble a cheesecake at all (e.g. no crumbly biscuit base and no cheesecake filling).  Instead it was like a tangerine sugar sponge like dessert.  The coconut bomb was also very sweet but you could taste the coconut bits which added a nice texture.

To end, I took home some macaroons since some weird and wonderful flavours were on offer.  I opted for the following flavours:

-          Strawberry Milkshake

-          Margarita

-          Cosmopolitan

-          Apple Pie

-          Bacon (yes, it has real bacon bits in it)

-          Mint Chocolate  

BANK: Brindley Place, Birmingham

BANK

Date of Visit: 14^th September 2013

Ambience

Firstly, this restaurant is in a great area, close to the NIA and Broad Street.  We had no issues in getting a table despite not having booked on a Saturday night (probably because we arrived for early dinner about half 5). As we were shown to our table, we passed the bar along a long corridor which was fairly dark but the seating area for food was bright with large side windows offering views of the canal.  We were seated at the end of the restaurant on a half booth table overlooking the canal.

The servers were smartly dressed and as it got darker, small tea lights were placed on each table.  The overall atmosphere and the view was quite appealing – even the toilets are worth a mention here… the entrance is along the corridor opposite the bar but it blended in with the rest of the wall but what was notable is that each cubicle (at least in the ladies) had its own sink and hand dryer so you can top up make-up etc. without prying eyes.

Food

The food here is excellent.  For starters, I tried the scallops which were served in a shell (3 pieces) on a bed of mashed potato.  The scallops were cooked to perfection and tasted fresh albeit, a little on the small side (but adequate for starters).  We also tried a tart which we expected to be a caramelised onion and goats cheese tart from the Daily Special menu but as it was ordered, the waiter advised that the tart was quite big, given it was a main – this we were surprised about since the price indicated it was a starter (a little over £6) but it didn’t faze us since we said we’d all try a bit.  When it arrived, it was huge but very tasty.  We assumed we had got what we asked for as the tart was topped with caramelised onions, cheese which didn’t taste as strong as Goats cheese and butternut squash.  We didn’t remember seeing butternut squash on the description but we shrugged it off as it was very tasty indeed.  The tart based was very light as it was filo pastry instead of a short-crust base as we had all expected.  Anyway, it turned out that the tart was a Butternut squash, Spinach and Devonshire cheese tart from the a la carte menu under mains.

For mains, we had a Haddock and leek risotto, fish and chips and a Malayan Chicken.  I didn’t try the battered fish but the batter looked slightly overdone and a little oily but apparently the fish itself was good.  The leek in the risotto was too overwhelming for my liking but it was smooth and creamy.   The Malayan chicken appeared to be the best dish as the chicken breast was soft and very nicely marinated.  You could taste the spices with every mouthful and the thin green coconut curry like sauce it was served on helped to create flavour on parts where the spices could not reach (i.e. the inner parts of the chicken).  The sweet potato cubes it was served with was nice but my only complaint is that it contained small amounts of coriander which was not mentioned on the menu – I’m biased since coriander is my pet hate but given it’s quite a strong spice, I would have expected it to be mentioned.  Anyway, since the amount was very small, it didn’t spoil my dish but it did mean I had to be careful with every bite.

Service

The service was good and our waiter was informative and helpful.  When the bill arrived and we noticed the tart costing over £12, we queried it, showing the price of the tart on the Daily special menu and he immediately corrected it without question.  It was only when we left the restaurant that we confirmed there was a Main tart on the a la carte menu.

Summary

I really enjoyed dinner at BANK – it was great food at reasonable prices with good service and a nice view.. what more can you ask for?  Good drinks? I heard cocktails at this place is really good too so that will be something to try next time if I ever return.  

Shanghai Blue: Arcadian, Birmingham

Shanghai Blue

Date of Visit: 14^th September 2013

Ambience

It had been a few years since I last ate in the Arcadian but for dim sum, I remembered the place upstairs to be decent but as we entered, I realised it had changed names, design and possibly management too.  The interior was a lot darker, with solid looking dark tables and matching coloured chairs – it felt like the revamp was aiming for a more modernised feel, as opposed to traditional Chinese which is fine but it makes me wonder if it is more catered to the Western audience.

Food

We sampled a number of dishes: Prawn and chive dumplings, shanghai pork sil lung bao, Schezuan spicy dumplings, prawn cheung fun, fish congee, vegetable spring rolls and steamed custard sponge.  The prawn dumpling skin was a little dense but otherwise the filling was good, the shanghai dumplings were a flop – I clearly wanted to compare it to the ones from Beijing Dumpling and to prove my theory correct and I wasn’t wrong… the ones here at Shanghai Blue were a disappointment since the inside juice left the dumpling before you even picked it up and the skin was thick so double flop in my eyes. 

On the other hand, the Schezuan dumplings were tasty and had a good kick to it – they were basically pork wonton in a spicy broth served with pak choi.  I hadn’t realised how big of a portion this dish was until near the end as there were only two of us eating it and I had at least 5 pieces so at a guess, there must have been about 10 pieces in a portion.  Thumbs up!

The prawn cheung fun and the fish congee were good but the congee would have been tastier if it was served with cut up doughsticks (as opposed to crispy wonton skin which lost the crispiness as soon as it was soaked up by the congee).  Apparently, congee looks and tastes like GRITS in the US – never heard of it in all my adventures to the US so will keep my eyes peeled on the next trip.

I didn’t try the spring rolls since I wouldn’t choose fried food for dim sum but apparently it was good.  As for the steamed custard sponge (a bit like ma lai goa but with thin layers of custard resembling layered cake), it was nice but we waited until the end to eat it and unfortunately by then it was already cold but it would have been great if eaten whilst hot.  School boy error on our part!

Service

It was pretty quiet when we entered since it was pre-noon so we got served drinks promptly.  Towards the end of the meal, it got busy but service was not affected as they had a fair few servers.  Food arrived pretty quickly and more or less all at once so there were no long delays as you sometimes can get during the peak of dim sum time.  One small thing was that we felt eyes constantly on us from the servers waiting near the kitchen entrance which so happened to be by our table.

Summary

Food was fine here and reasonably priced (total meal was about £34 for three of us) – the only real disappointment was the Shanghai dumplings – everything else was decent.  You don’t really have too much of a choice for dim sum in Birmingham so perhaps the standard is good for the area but I have friends who are regulars to Chung Ying Garden so that might be worth a try too.

Beijing Dumpling: China Town, London

Beijing Dumpling

Date of Visit: 8^th September 2013

Ambience

What attracts customers into this small restaurant is the chefs making the dumplings are on show to the outside world via the shop front.  You can see that everything is freshly made and the hygiene must be at a good level when everything is on show to the public.  At least this is what lured us in the first time we visited and ever since, we’ve not hesitated in returning.

Don’t expect fancy décor at this place or much of a great atmosphere; go here for the cheap and cheerful food.

Food

We’ve been to this place several times before and we know the siu lung bao is always good here so we opted for the original pork ones as well as a spicy pork portion (8 in each portion).  As usual, they were exactly as siu lung baos should be.. full of juice once you bite into the dumpling but watch you don’t burn yourself when it explodes in your mouth!  Most Chinese restaurants offering this dish as a dim sum do not prepare it well – the common problems being that all the juice leaks out as soon as you pick it up (i.e. before it even goes near your mouth) or if the dumpling skin is too thick.

In the past, we’ve also tried the crab siu lung boas as well as the chicken ones and whilst they are nice, the original pork ones are best.  The dumplings in soup is also worth trying.

What we had for mains: Fried Ho fun with beef and Zha jiang Sauce with noodle. We’ve had the latter before and I remembered it to be yummy but this time, it lacked spiciness so was plain sweet and some of the noodles were clumped together.  On the other hand, the beef Ho fun was pretty good – sure it was oily but it wasn’t drenched like you get in most places AND it didn’t have the burnt taste that you can sometimes get too (Ho fun is arguably the hardest type of noodles to stir fry as you need a lot of oil to prevent it from burning).

Service

It was a very busy lunchtime and we had to wait a bit for a table but once we were sat down, the service was pretty swift.  The great thing is that they served some of the dumplings in two lots (4 and 4 later) – probably because they didn’t have enough in the steamer but it worked well for us as dumplings are best served smoking hot and it would have proved a challenge for two people to finish 16 dumplings before it got cold!

Summary

Tasty dumplings at Beijing Dumpling is well worth a visit in itself – meals here are always cheap, cheerful and satisfying and service is always quick.  What more can you ask for in a casual meal?  We will be back!

They need to open something similar in the city instead of the pontsy dumplings at Now near Liverpool St station.  If anybody can recommend good dumplings in the City, let me know…

Maxwell’s: City Centre, Oxford

Maxwell’s

Date of Visit: 7^th September 2013

Ambience

This restaurant is located in the heart of the city, in between shops on the main stretch of shopping ville.  We didn’t quite know what we were letting ourselves in for since you had to walk up a flight of stairs before you reach the restaurant.  As soon as we entered, the first impression was “student dig” – it reminded me a lot of Belushi’s in London.  It had very dim lighting and the whole place was set out like a student hide out: big serving area in the bar with shoulder height walls separating the bar area from the rest of the venue and tables dotted around the side.

This didn’t put us off as I had missed lunch and was starving by 5pm so it was intended for a quick snack before heading back to London.

Food

I tried a cocktail called “kiss me quick” which was essentially Malibu and apple juice and an oreo milkshake – both were ok but Malibu and pineapple is much better :)

As for food, all I had was half a rack of BBQ ribs which was served with coleslaw and Cajun chips.  I didn’t have high expectations at all but I had a feeling I made the right choice when two tables near us was served ribs too (I figured it was a popular choice as there were plenty of other things on the menu for people to choose from).  Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that the meat was soft and almost fell off the bone with ease.  The Cajun spice sprinkled on the fries made a difference and overall, it was pretty good.

Service

No issues at all; service was quick, responsive and friendly.

Summary

Well, it has to be a thumbs down for ambience but a thumbs up for the food.  With that said, I’d say it’s ok for a casual meet-up but I would avoid it if you wanted a “nice meal out”.  I think that says it all really.

Ketterner’s: Soho, London

Ketterner’s

Date of Visit: 6^th September 2013

Ambience

As you enter the restaurant, there is a bar on the left which was very busy even about 6ish and as we were shown to our seats, we passed a grand white piano which was used later in the evening for live music.

The surrounding was chic but not over-dressed and the tables were all laid out nicely with cutlery and wine glasses.

As the night went on, the restaurant became noisier as a result of a full capacity room and the live music but it wasn’t troublesome at all – if anything, it added to the buzzing atmosphere.

Food

The drinks menu inspired us to try various cocktails and all were worth a try, especially the St Germain Fizz (St Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Raspberry and Prosecco).

We were served some bread & butter (which wasn’t warm) to start and we shared a couple of starters: oysters and mussels.  The Oysters were fresh but on the small side and the mussels weren’t bad but I couldn’t really taste the garlic or parsley in the sauce.

For mains, the most popular dishes around the table were the Duck Confit, the Crab Linguini and the Steak.  The Chicken Paillard was also on the table.  Personally, I opted for the Duck which I found was soft but it was a little dry.  The fondant potato on the other hand was savoured and the stack of onions in the middle of the potato added texture and flavour to the side.

The crab linguini was nice but I thought it could have done with more of a spicy kick (i.e. more chilli).  I didn’t try the chicken myself but apparently it was uber dry and did not taste like free range chicken at all.  Speaking of meat being dry, the birthday boy ordered a medium-well steak but it was over-cooked and very dry and chewy… to the point of which it left a dry flossed meat texture in the mouth even after you’ve chewed the meat to death.  On top of that, the peppercorn sauce it was served with was strange – it was slightly sour and tasted funny.  However, the medium cooked steak and Bearnaise sauce appeared to be fine.  The chips served with the steak were in mini fryers which were cute.

We skipped dessert as we had cake awaiting us at Patisserie Valerie’s but Ketterner’s brought this on themselves.  When I asked if I could bring a cake into the restaurant, they advised we could but there would be a “cakeage fee” of £6 per person unless if we ALL ordered a dessert each.  Since there were quite a few of us (8 in total), I did not want to commit everybody to having to order a dessert so I ordered a cake elsewhere instead.  What does that mean for Ketterner’s?  Well, they missed out on tea/coffee for all 8 of us for starters!

Service

The service was good as the servers were quick to take our drink orders when more guests arrived and they made a note of who ordered what so they didn’t have to shout the dishes across the table or relied on us to remember what had been ordered.  Starters were served very quickly but there was a bit of a delay between starters and mains but this wasn’t an issue as we were in no rush and appreciated the time to catch up with friends.

Summary

Some of the food was a little disappointing but it’s a nice little restaurant which caters for a lot of functions (given the various sizes of private rooms available).  I’d say it’s worth going to for a few drinks but I wouldn’t recommend it for the food as such since there are plenty of better restaurants in bustling Soho. 

TGI Fridays: Croydon, London

TGI Fridays

Date of Visit: September 2013

Ambience

We went to TGI for lunch so it was pretty quiet but the interiors were dark and they appeared to have changed the theme to comic books with marvel stars appearing on walls etc.  The tables were sticky and the restaurant had a funny smell.  It wasn’t a pleasant ambience at all but we were hoping the food would be better.

Food

One reason why we opted for TGI was for the new Tapas menu which was only available on Fridays so we tried five dishes including Cajun shrimps served with Jack Daniels dipping sauce, pretzel bread served with a chilli and cheese dip, mini meatball sliders, BBQ chicken skewers and bacon taquitos.  The better dish was the shrimps which were crispy and the JD sauce is always good.  The pretzel were huge pieces of bread which resembled cut up French buns but it was soft and had the salty pretzel topping but I preferred dipping them in the JD sauce as opposed to the cheesy one.  The meatball sliders were just about warm but not particular tasty – it lacked flavour and oomph.  The BBQ chicken skewers were not served on skewers but as fillets of chicken breast which were dry and you could tell it had not been marinated but instead the BBQ sauce was slopped on the top.  As for the bacon t taquitos – what bacon?  We saw and tasted chopped up tomatoes and onions wrapped in tortilla (cut up in bite sizes) but where was the bacon?  I didn’t find these appetising at all.

Drinks wise we had a couple of non-alcoholic cocktails which were half filled with crushed ice… meaning you didn’t get much juice if you drank it slowly.

Service

There wasn’t many servers around but it was fine because it was quiet and we had no issues/delay with the service. 

Summary

It had been several years since I visited this TGI branch (the last time, a friend puked up after a birthday celebration so we avoided it for a while) but it became apparent why we were not regulars.  The food was neither disgusting nor delicious but it can definitely be improved on.  Surprisingly the portion sizes weren’t bad for “tapas” dishes but there is no use in bigger portions when the food is not up to scratch!  Two words: Disappointing experience.

Galvin La Chapelle: City, London

Galvin La Chapelle

Date of Visit: 27^th August 2013

Ambience

Galvin La Chapelle is a classy and sophisticated restaurant in a beautiful setting.  As I was seated, I noticed a couple of things: how comfortable the chair was and how quickly somebody came over to place our napkins on our lap.  As my eye wandered, I noticed a VIP area at the top of the stairs and draped curtains by a couple of larger tables.  I thought it was a great way to provide privacy for guests who required it without feeling cut out of the whole restaurant atmosphere.

The restaurant was surrounded by large windows which let in a natural daylight, fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and intricate detailing around the arches, like the outside of an old building.

Food

As the last guest arrived, we were served a glass of champagne each and presented with the menu. We were ordering from a set menu so we expected it to be as limited as Rhodes but we were pleasantly surprised that there were four choices of each course. 

For starters, we tried the smoked mackerel on a bed of salad with berries, the ham hock terrine and the Pollock served on a bed of salad and topped with a tiny egg (quail egg?).  My favourite was the Pollock as it resembled a flaky fish cake and the egg was nicely cooked, with the yolk being runny and the buttery sauce complemented the fish well.

For mains, we opted for the meaty dishes; ox cheeks with pak choi, baby corn served in a sweet broth and chicken topped with beans on a bed of mash potato.  The ox cheeks were soft and had quite a bit of flavour but it was rather meaty with very little veg.  I was expecting only two cheeks but we were surprised with three cheeks in a portion.  The chicken breast was unusually soft (i.e. not dry at all) and the way to describe the mash is “melt in the mouth smoothness”.  In my opinion, the presentation of the mains were a let down.

Desserts consisted of Apple Tarte Tatin with Crème Fraiche and Varhona chocolate ganache, honeycomb & coconut sorbet.  The servers were happy to substitute crème fraiche for vanilla ice cream and when it got served, we were shocked by the size of the portion (it looked like a quarter of a whole cake)!  I wouldn’t say it was the best apple tart but it was adequate.  On the other hand, the coconut sorbet was refreshing and lovely but a bigger portion needed to be served with the rich and super-sweet chocolate ganache.  The honeycomb was interesting as it added texture to the dessert.  The desserts were nice but it definitely required a good cup of tea… why we waited until halfway through the dessert to order tea I’m not sure but it was very much needed.  It was pointed out that there were only two teabags in the teapot for 5 of us but that isn’t unheard of in my world – slightly skanky but it is probably the norm.  I guess it would have been nicer to have a teapot each but one cup was sufficient for me.

Shortly after dessert, we were served petit fours which consisted of baby macaroons and chocolate truffles.

Service

The service here was excellent; very professional and courteous.  Despite ordering from a set menu, I did not feel as though we got less attention or attentiveness from the servers.  We were not rushed to place orders even when one person was running late by half an hour but they were quick to offer drinks as and when people arrived (yes we arrived in dribs and drabs).

At the end of our meal, the ladies were given a small gift as we parted the restaurant which consisted of a couple of chocolate truffles in a small favour box.  I thought that was a nice touch which left a lasting impression on the restaurant. 

Summary

I would say this restaurant is worthy of a Michelin star based on the service, atmosphere and the food.  Whilst the food wasn’t amazing, at least it was more creative than what we experienced at Rhodes.   I would love to try some other dishes on the menu to see what other surprises there are.

The setting is great if you are out to impress, be it a date, a business meal or similar. Yes it is on the more expensive side but the set meals are reasonable value for money but bring deeper pockets if you like a good wine as they have some expensive drinks on their menu.